A Serendipity Story (aka How I never thought I'd be in Direct Sales and how KEEP Collective changed my whole life)

When I decided to be stay home with our son, I wondered if I would miss work. My husband has long referred to me as a to-doer... I always have to be to-doing something to stay busy. 

And after the newborn glow wore off, I realized I really did miss working. I missed the interaction I got with people. I missed setting goals and achieving them. I missed feeling like I had a purpose outside of our home. I missed feeling productive. 

I knew, though, that I wasn't ready to go back to teaching. I LOVE teaching. It's my passion and my heart. But it's a lot of grading and a lot of outside hours and a lot of time away from Henry that I wasn't ready to do yet. So I started looking for other options. And that's when I jumped in to KEEP Collective, my favorite direct sales company of all time. 

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be doing direct sales, I probably would have thought you were nuts. I've never sold a thing in my life. I was an English major with an education minor! I never took a business class. The closest I'd come to being a businesswoman was working at our local grocery store as a cashier when I was in high school. So to say I wasn't a natural saleswoman is the understatement of the year. But I wanted something flexible that I could do from home, and direct sales seemed like a natural fit. 

And so direct sales it was. Generally speaking, I feel like DS companies get a bad reputation. And arguably, there ARE some bad DS companies out there (just as there are bad... everythings... out there). I knew I wanted one with an excellent reputation, excellent customer service, and a great entry level starting point (because I truly thought I would never build a team to work with me and I wanted to make sure I could still make money without others involved). I also didn't want to have a lot of inventory. Our house is already overrun by baby. I didn't want to add a lot more clutter to our home. 

So why KEEP? So, so many reasons. First, I fell in love with the company the first time I laid eyes on it. A company that focuses on telling stories through beautiful jewelry is right up my alley! I LOVE the story telling aspect of KEEP. Not only do I get to show (and wear!) gorgeous jewelry, but it's special and unique and it represents what we hold closest to our hearts. That's a company I can get behind. 

As a company, our mission is clear and purposeful. KEEP wants to help women live their happiest and best lives. And they give their designers the tools to do that. The training materials, resources, and human support they offer sold me immediately because I clearly didn't know a lot about direct sales or how to get started. But KEEP made sure I got off on the right foot and hit the ground running. 

I also LOVE that I keep no inventory on hand. Everything is ordered by the customer directly through the company, so I never have to worry about a surplus of items sitting around. And when a hostess throws a Social, she never has to worry about distributing the orders. Everything ships directly to each customer, which means no one is waiting on a busy hostess to sort and deliver. 

But let's talk about serendipity. I absolutely believe life leads us exactly where we're supposed to go. And everything fell in to place when I joined KEEP. The company had just announced an incentive to trip to go to Cancun for free. It was just a few months before the holidays, and the holiday season was projected to be a big one for us. 

So I jumped. And I've never looked back. 

Besides having a thriving business, I've met some of the most amazing women in the world. They're both my teammates and my customers, and I wouldn't trade my interactions with them for anything in the world. I literally talk to my mentor and my pacing partner daily, and when I miss a day talking to them, things feel, icky. I've met women who have taken the leap with me, and they've joined my team. These women are smart and funny and motivated and tenacious, and working with them daily is so enlightening. 

I've earned that trip to Cancun. And I've promoted high enough that I get to attend our Director's Retreat in Napa. To say direct sales has changed my life is the biggest understatement of understatements. 

The moral of the story is, sometimes serendipity intervenes and leads you right where you're supposed to be. It absolutely did for me. Direct sales has changed my life, and I know many other women (and men!) who can agree. This holiday season, remember the Direct Salespeople in your life (I know KEEP's Black Friday sales are amazing, and I bet other company's can say the same!). Chances are the customer service they offer will be second to none!