USANA Convention 2007

Second time around - we were experts this time! We arrived a day early for a home office tour, knew where to shop and where they sold the 4% beer! Once again, I was joined by Andrea and Lee-Anne - although this time neither was pregnant! Team FirePower had grown significantly, and we had a name! There were about a dozen of us from the English speaking side of the team that year.

It was a very different experience this time. The energy was different, there had been a few challenges for the company in 2007, although we still achieved record growth even with those challenges. We had the chance to meet some amazing associates from around the globe. One of my favorite moments was when Werner Berger spoke (http://www.wernerbergerstory.com/) - he is the oldest North American to have summited Everest, and a USANA Associate. Hiking to Everest Base Camp has always been one of my dreams, and meeting Werner was very special for me. I still have his autographed poster in my office.

Now that I had been in the business for a year, I was starting to having a better understanding of what it was all about. I was also given an award this year, for Top 25 Preferred Customer Enroller. I was very proud of this honour - but it goes back to what I was saying before -this award was based soley on my own efforts and not of my team. I still had a long way to go.

Time of Transition - August 2007

When I returned from Switzerland, I found it challenging to get back into the routine of my day-to-day USANA business. I had filled my schedule with tutoring clients on a summer program, and spent most of my days driving all over Oakville and Burlington, while packing my parents home in Oakville. This was a time of transition and of emotion as well. My parents had decided to sell our family home in Oakville to live their dream of driving an RV around North America. They had been testing out the idea for over a year and knew that they could now do it. The challenging of emptying a house that had been our family home for 16 years was upon us. I spent the better part of my time packing and throwing out much of what had accumulated over the past 29 years in Oakville. We ended up going to the dump with over 700 lb of "junk" to be disposed of - this is after a garage sale and selling much of the furniture. I was also in transition, since I was going to Salt Lake City at the end of the month and I still hadn't found a place to live. I quickly chose what I thought I would need in my new home, and put everything into storage. I temporarily moved in with a friend, to give me a month to figure things out.

We had a large gathering in the backyard, one last time, to see Louise and Jerome off on their adventures. It was a great party - we had about 50 guests and the party went well into the night! As we said good-bye to our home in Oakville and to our parents, for the time being, emotions ran high. It happened so quickly, I moved my bed into my friend's place on the Monday night, slept on the couch in the house for one last time til the movers arrived the next day to move what was left into storage. The following day, I was in Salt Lake City and Jerome and Louise were on the move!

Summer of 2007- Back in Switzerland

Once my business got off the ground, I started to enjoy things more and work more closely with some of the leaders on my team. I had made the decision the year before to return to Switzerland for one more season on Summer School - this time only for the month of July, at Aiglon College. From a business perspective, this probably wasn't the best idea. I thought I could continue my business remotely from Switzerland but it turned out to be more challenging than I had imagined. I love spending time in Switzerland, and temporarily giving that up has been very challenging for me. When I do go back, it will be when I am financially free and can rent a chalet for a month to go skiing!

Leaving my team for the month was also a challenge. I still didn't really understand the business and how things worked. It definately made a difference leaving for a month so early in the biz.

I loved my time there, although I did not enjoy working for someone else and answering to a boss. It made me realize how much I enjoyed not have to answer to anyone and not having set work hours. Besides teaching French, I did as much climbing as possible (not much since it rained the whole month!) and spent a few days in Chamonix, eventually hiking below Mont Blanc on the glacier. Even now, I still miss the mountains, but I also know that the journey I am on will have a much higher pay off in the end.

The turning point - March 2007

There comes a time when you start to question your choices, and in early March 2007, I did just that. I was just earning enough to cover my expenses and had recently consolidated my debt, so I no longer had any credit to rely on (scary proposition at best!). For some reason though, things "just weren't working". Have you heard that before? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt this way. I knew that part of the journey involved personal growth and that although I had been working really hard for over 6 months - my hard work wasn't really working. So it was time to take a break, step away from it all and be alone with my thoughts.

I climbed into my lemon of a car and drove down to the Poconos (in Pennsylvania). I had a car full of books, empty journals and about $100 to my name. I arrived amid a small late winter snowstorm to a large, one bedroom timeshare. I spent the next 6 days reading nine books and completing almost half of my journal. I practiced meditating, did a little bit of training, walked in the woods and spent a lot of time in silence. It was a pretty amazing experience for me, it's something I had never done before. It was a very creative time for me and it allowed me to let go of a few things that were holding me back, both in business and in relationships. One of the most amazing things that happened while I was away is that I actually earned a pretty good cheque in my USANA business. That was a real surprise for me - I took time off, yet my income increased ... interesting.

I also wrote a 6 page description of my ideal partner ... 6'2" tall, dark hair, blue eyes... this story gets more interesting later on.

January 2007 - The beginning of my first full year in USANA

When I made the decision to leave school and start my business full-time, I had no idea what that meant. There were many meetings in Leanne's kitchen on Clark Ave. - she certainly seems to have it all figured out (Leanne saw the vision from the start - she is a phenomenal leader). I wasn't so sure myself. When I look back now, and see how little money I actually made in my first 4 months in business, I am surprised I stayed in the business! I never thought it was a way to get rich quickly, but I certainly had very high expectations.

The first time I attempted a Silver Run (one of the levels in USANA) was in December 2006 - the same time Leanne did her first Gold Run. This probably means nothing to most of you, but for those who are in the business, you'll understand. It was a crazy idea - I did not have a team or the volume - but I was maxed out on one side. I went for it - Andrea still has the email I sent out. One of the things I had yet to figure out about this business is that it's not really about me, but about the team and their successes and their leadership. I was still very naive and still focused solely on my own efforts.

Christian, Leanne and I at Niagara Falls, Jan 2007

I distinctly remember having a huge argument with my sister when we celebrated my birthday in January. It was about money (what else is new?) and I remember saying that I had made less than $800 that month - so I couldn't pay for a round of drinks (something of that nature). It was pretty ugly - and it really bothered me that I was earning so little each month. But there was something that I knew deep down - that this is the only way out - and so I kept on building, learning and growing - as uncomfortable as it might have been for my family and friends (sorry everyone!).

RESET - October 2006

One of the more popular USANA items is the RESET Program. It's a 5 day high-fibre cleanse that helps you to curb the carb cravings, kick start healthy eating and lose the first (or last) few pounds. I had yet to do this program, for many reasons, one being that I had never lost weight. From age 18 to 30, I had weighed between 145 - 152 lb. I was about 150 lb when I came home from Switzerland. Now, I didn't believe that I could actually be any smaller, since I had completed two full Ironman distance triathlons and never lost a pound. Training 12-15 hours per week in the months leading up to the race, you would think I would have lost a few pounds -but I never did. Ok, I did work at Hershey's when I did Ironman Canada - so that probably didn't help! This is photo of Lee-Anne and I after Ironman Canada in August 2003. I was fit - but certainly not thin.

At the request of a few friends, I ordered the RESET kit to do it together - never believing I would lose any weight. It was challenging, but I got through it, and lost about 4 lb. I assumed I would gain it back, since I had never lost any weight before. The amazing thing was that my carb cravings were gone!

I continued on my journey of learning to eat in a healthy, low glycemic way and followed the maintenance program with USANA. This involves a Nutrimeal Shake for breakfast, my supplements and healthy, low glycemic lunch and dinner. I have several healthy snacks two or three times a day. And the amazing thing is that I kept losing weight. As did my whole family! Here's a great photo of the 4 of us at Christmas in 2006.

My first USANA International Convention

Our first trip to SLC - September 2006, with Lee-Anne (5 months pregnant) and Andrea (7 months) and myself (not pregnant, just 20 lb heavier ... you'll see ....). It was an adventure and an exciting time for us. We had just started our businesses and had NO IDEA what was in store for us.

We had a chance to meet our team from Quebec, Martin and Roxane & Natalie Dion. The energy and passion of all of the amazing people we met really changed my life. After two days of convention (I think it was after I heard Tim Lewis speak) I made the decision to drop out of school. Everyone asked me if I really knew what I was doing (of course I did!) - which I didn't. They tried to warn me that it was going to be very hard to make a decent living in a very short time with a network marketing vision. I didn't hear them - I had visions of Gold Director dancing in my head. Leanne was excited to have a partner to do this with, as she had decided to leave her very well paying corporate job to give this network marketing thing a try full-time.

This is a photo of our team at the time, mostly our cross-line and upline from Quebec. There were about 10 of us from the yet to be named team in Ontario.

Andrea and Lee-Anne, with then VP of Finance, Fred Cooper. We've always loved Fred - now the President of USANA.