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.