For A Life Less Ordinary with Forever Living

By Julia Harris

My story starts on a cold rainy morning in November 2013 where as usual on a Friday morning in South East London I was teaching a step class at my gym that I owned for 31 years.

You see what was different about this morning was that everyone in that class were regulars who I knew well but this morning even I couldn’t shake them out of their lack of motivation, and they were all moaning, moaning about feeling tired, feeling run down, the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

I have always believed in the law of attraction and actually remembering thinking “there must be a product range out there to help this” and thought no more!!

Lo and behold 3 days later a young lady called me at my gym out of the blue and asked to see me regarding a product range. As you can imagine I was intrigued so a couple of days later I met up with her.

She then did what I later found out to be a 1:1 and unlike many people I had not heard of Forever Living or had a clue what network marketing was.

However, what she didn’t realise was that I was desperate for a further income stream. Although I had my business for 31 years I was still working 12 hours per day, still teaching 10 classes per week borrowing from Peter to pay Paul just to make ends meet. Every day seemed like hard slog and with spiralling overheads the bureaucracy of running a business and juggling work and family life with then a 9 year old son I was tired – actually exhausted with the worry and physicality of such a business and let’s be honest at 53, I wondered for how much longer I could keep this up.

So I jumped in not really fully understanding the whole product range or the marketing plan but I knew I wanted and need to earn and additional £1,000 per month – so I set to work I registered on the 30th November 2013.

In December through mainly sales of the clean 9 I reached a promotion within the Company and Won a trip to Lanzarote Plus my members were seeing results, and were delighted with the results. I was really happy – I could see this working

Christmas came and went and on the first weekend of January 2014 I attended a Training weekend hosted by Forever which to be honest I had never attended anything like before. Remember I was in my gym 24/7 but what struck me was the change that the Forever business had brought about to so many lives – I was amazed.

Remembering How to Dream

On returning home I was so excited and literally ran into the house and spoke to my husband Adam and said you know what I have realised “We have forgotten how to dream. “ We were so busy chasing our tails that we had forgotten to take time out to really think about what it is that we wanted from our lives together.

Now don’t get me wrong – we had a nice, life a good life – we had met when I was 35 got married at 39 and had our one and only child at the age of 43 – so we felt blessed – truly blessed. We were also fortunate enough to live in a nice house have good friends and family around us but we were time poor and as an older Mum I felt I hadn’t spent the time with my Son that I would have wished, coupled with the fact my husband had been made redundant and was now working in a job with a lot less pay – it was tough and we were weren’t getting any younger.

So I decided to set to work – I understood the products I knew how to recommend them, now to build a team.

Put simply our world came crashing down on 9th January when I received a call from my Mum at 5.30am to say my father had died suddenly in his sleep. To say it was a shock was an understatement – however coming from a family with a great work ethic and having the responsibility of my own business – it’s how it is. On the Monday I was back at work – yes it was hard of course it was – but that’s just what you did right? Or rather that’s what I had to do – because I didn’t own my business my business owned me and that was a wake-up call . Added to this the realisation that I didn’t spend time with my family and how much longer could my Mum be around really made me stop and think about what really was important.

I remember coming home from my Mum’s house later that same day and there were flowers on the doorstop – and to my surprise they didn’t come from family or old friends they came from new friends I had already made in Forever and that’s when I realised that people in this business are different.

I carried on working and after the Funeral I started to build a team in the February 2014. To be honest people have said to me “Oh it was easy for you because of the gym” but do you know what in many ways it was harder because people who didn’t understand wondered why with one business, I would want another one – especially one selling products. And to be honest for a while I found it hard doing launches and I felt I was going backwards – and then I realised I just had to get over myself and this is the lifeblood of the business.

By April 2014 I reached the manager position and was delighted and I thought if I can do this around a 70 hour week I can do anything.

What happened next is that my passion for my gym diminished because Forever was so different – yes I did work hard at that – and yet it was different. I felt appreciated I felt recognised which believe it or not I just didn’t in my gym. In Jan 2015 I put my gym on the market. I just didn’t want to do it anymore I didn’t want to be there anymore

 

I was still teaching classes and I taught them well – but every class I dreaded and yet no one would have guessed because of the actress in me – every Zumba class I taught I pretended I was on a Broadway stage – every spinning class I taught I pretended the participants were all famous people who had come along to my class so I had to put on a great show.

And so it went on for a few more months – and then the crunch came – and I always feel that it’s usually something quite insignificant that can be the final straw and that was in the August 2015

I took a week off !!!

I know a whole week off!!! I stayed at home with my Son – I cancelled classes –made myself unavailable and spent a whole week at home with my Son Spencer.

I realised that this was the first time I had ever done this. I mean of course we had been on holidays and Spencer was always trundled off to summer camps but I mean stay at home – get up each morning and actually say “what would you like to do today?

At the time it made me feel sad but at the same time liberated and my decision was made.

On Monday 25th August 2015 I made a decision to close my gym – it wasn’t going to sell – and I was either going to go mad or bankrupt – so I closed it 4 days later on the Friday.

And the surprising thing about it all was it was such an easy decision to make and one I have never regretted.

What did surprise me though was the grand total of 3 cards and one bunch of flowers as token gifts from a couple of the members.

So the Friday I walked out of the gym at 3pm and didn’t look back.

But it wasn’t really that easy – because I had responsibilities – to pay members back – to pay staff redundancies and although I was lucky enough to own the freehold this meant I also had mortgage payments and rates to pay,

We borrowed £40,000 to CLOSE a business – yes CLOSE a business and put the freehold up for sale and waited with baited breath

Luckily it sold fairly quickly with the last £50 in the bank from the loan and the papers were signed in January 2016.

My Life Changed with Forever

Yes, my life changed beyond recognition. For a start my husband tells me I look 10 years younger and my Son Spencer just after a few short weeks said Mummy you are such a better Mummy now because you are happier and less stressed and let’s be honest you just cannot put a price on that.

Just this year we had our first 2 week holiday to Costa Rica – our first 2 weeks together as a family for 7 years

I went on to become an Eagle Manager and get a Car Plan and 6 Managers on my team and although it’s taken me some time to shake off the confines of the last 31 years – I feel I am still learning and growing as a person which at 55 is a marvellous feeling.

To be honest I am not where I want to be with my Forever business but that’s just fine – because I know Forever will always be there and more importantly I have been there more for my family – taking my Son to school every day being at his shows and matches and taking time for me, to explore and learn and grow.

I feel better I look better and what I have learnt about business and myself is gratifying and I look forward to continue to work hard and achieve those dreams that we had forgotten to dream about.

I wrote a poem that coincides with my current branding: For A life less Ordinary because let’s face it this is what it’s all about. I hope you enjoy it.

A life less ordinary

Heavy heart stooping low
Wondering where – where did my life go
All the things I wished I’d done
All the things I could have become

If only I had taken the chance

To jump off the cliff into the blue
To feel the fear and have no clue
To dance like no one was there
Sing my heart out without a care

If only I had taken the chance

The top down the wind in my hair
Music blaring people staring
Running naked in fields of green
No worries about being seen

If only I had taken the chance

Instead my life is filled with regret
My twisted heart not yet met
My mantra in my life has been
It’s not for me my life is mean

If only I had taken the chance

To see the world through childlike eyes
Then pinched frowned face of despise
Embrace, enjoy, seize the day
Love, take Chances come what may

If only I had taken the chance
To life a life less ordinary

For more about Forever Living Products contact Julia Harris: Tel : 07976563793

See also Selvum Padiachey and Nanda Arulparam’s story onhttps://diversitybusinesspromotes.uk/forever-living-story/