On Turning Five

I know what some of you are thinking right now.  Julie, back in March you blogged about turning 31 so how can you possibly blog about turning 5 now?!? Well, that is an excellent question!  This week is my 5^th anniversary as a consultant with Thirty-One Gifts and so I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the past five years.

Rather than formatting the post like my usual posts I thought I would change things up and write a thank you letter to Cindy Monroe (our CEO) and the rest of the company with my thoughts on turning 5.

Dear Cindy Monroe and Thirty-One Gifts:

Five years ago I signed up to be a Thirty-One consultant despite the fact I had never been to a party.  I had also never actually seen a product.  I think I might have browsed through the online catalog a little bit.  Maybe.  But I knew two things.  It was only going to take $99 to start my business.  And the person who shared Thirty-One with me was confident I could earn the $200 I needed each month to make a car payment.

So I jumped in with two feet and haven’t looked back since.  It’s been a wild journey filled with more ups than downs and this week on my fifth anniversary I wanted to take a minute to say thank you.  Thank you for pursuing your dreams so that mine could come true.

Thank you for helping me move back to California to be my family.  When I first started selling Thirty-One I was living in Philadelphia and loving it.  But as the years passed I started to miss my family more and more.  Unfortunately, teaching jobs are really difficult to come by in California so moving home wasn’t really an option…until I had the option to stop teaching because of my income with Thirty-One.  And then living by my family was a viable option. And when I think back on some of the things my family has gone through in the last two years, I am beyond grateful that I was able to be here for them during that time instead of being 3000 miles away.

Thank you for helping me gain confidence in myself.  I was 5 when I decided I was going to be a teacher when I grew up and honestly I was pretty sure that was the extent of my skill set.  I did a lot of babysitting as a teenager and then started teaching right out of college so I didn’t have a lot of confidence that I could anything other than teach a classroom of kids.  And then this summer at National Conference I had the opportunity to share about social media with 6,000 people.  And I realize I am capable of so much more than I ever thought possible. 

Thank you for a support system that is more amazing than words.  I can’t even explain how much the one-on-one coaching, leadership calls, and support system have meant to me.  To know that others are invested in not only the success of my business, but in my personal growth, means the world to me. 

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a piece in helping others dream big.  When I first started selling Thirty-One I had NO idea what it meant to get team members but I was told to do it, so I did.  And then I was able to walk with them while they set goals, encourage them as they worked towards those goals and then cheer for them when they met those goals.  This experience has taught me that one of my great passions is inspiring others to be the best possible version of themselves. 

Thank you for showing me how to dream big.  I didn’t fully realize what it meant to dream about a life that looked different from the one I had until I joined Thirty-One.  And then wow, I watched as you and so many leaders in the company showed me what it meant to dream dreams so big they were downright scary.  But then you also showed me how to chase those dreams.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for an incredible five years!

Julie

I am beyond thankful for these past five years with Thirty-One and it is my hope that every person that reads this will walk away believing this one truth…

I’d love to hear, what is your biggest dream?