I rang the bell
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Hi there.
Yes, I’ve returned. Maybe you were wondering where I was these past few days. Weeks. Or maybe you didn’t even notice I was gone. Maybe you never noticed I was here in the first place.
You know why?
In my mind I was here, I was in the game. But I actually wasn’t.
Release Your Inner Badass happened one week ago in Austin, Texas. There aren’t even words to describe what happened that weekend, it was too surreal to be true. I was bitch-slapped across the head so hard I woke up. It was just that intense.
And guess what.
I was still half-asleep!
Until today.
It required a mental breakdown to wake up, but I did. And although the migraine I’m experiencing right now doesn’t help, I wanna share something with you.
One of the greatest challenges I was proposed to do in Austin was to be able to tell my own story, knowing it better then anyone else. Quoting Chris Record:
Become a master of story-telling.
Today I’m gonna tell you my [unfinished] story.
I finished high-school in July 2012 (damn, just realized how time flies). I never really fit in with the rest of the crowd and I was very happy about that. Because everyone else was miserable. Studying something they didn’t like to go to university and take a course they didn’t like so they can get a j.o.b and remain broke and miserable for the rest of their lives.
I was NOT gonna go down that road. I want to study Chinese Medicine in Lisbon and I don’t give a crap of there are jobs in the field or not. But for that I needed another source of income.
I started doing Network Marketing. I still sort-of do, but let’s just say I got back to the true roots of the company but that’s another story. And luckily I was around the right people that told me that Internet Marketing + Network Marketing is a great marriage.
I still went old-school, prospecting people on the Facebook chat (some people I know think that that’s Internet Marketing -.- ), hotel meetings, the whole nine yards. And I started getting some money.
Then I got really excited. Finally my source of income that’s not a job!
But it was just taking way too long!
I came to realize that doing what I was doing wasn’t gonna make my dreams come true.
Like Justin Verrengia said:
I was preaching the dream and living the nightmare.
Luckily I didn’t live the “nightmare” that long. I started my Network Marketing in April and joined this awesome Empowering team in October 2012.
Was very pumped at first, but then I lost focus. I was defeated by The Forces Of Evil.
For a while.
I came to Toronto, a.k.a Job Central. If you want a job it’s the right place to go. Curiously enough, I was hired in a marketing company, in which I’m still an employee. For now.
After all the things I learned in Network Marketing and Internet Marketing, I never thought I would end up being hired by a traditional marketing company promoting campaigns door-to-door.
It was been quite the experience, I’ve learned a lot of skills that can actually be applied in my daily life and in my business. I have great stories to tell from that experience and I met quite the range of interesting and fun people. But, like 99.9% of the population, they’re quite miserable.
I started working on that j.o.b on Dec.27th.
I signed up two people on my first day (a.k.a rang the bell), jumped right onto the leaderboard, I was getting excited.
Until the beginner’s luck finished.
I began the number struggle. I realized that it’s not as easy to keep up as I first thought.
I needed 5 signups in the first 10 days of employment to keep the job. A trial so to speak.
I got 2 on my first day.
From then on, it was hell.
My 5th signup was on my 10th day. And I didn’t even do it alone, if it wasn’t for my buddy Anthony I wouldn’t have got that deal.
I started to think “WTF is going on?”
I was told that if I had the talent, if I did my best the numbers would naturally come.
I’m doing the job, going through every single training, practice my pitch with all the leaders, have the energy, the close, the neg-bouncing, the roller-coaster, and the numbers still aren’t coming. (Yeah just I realized I just used a lot of technical terms, but you get the point here.)
Yesterday I reached a breaking point.
I was canvassing in Vaughan Mills and it was my F.D.A (a.k.a First Day Alone). I was assigned a territory to cover and my goal was to hit the gong (a.k.a 3 deals) and set my new P.B (a.k.a Personal Best).
I hated my F.D.A. The job itself already sucks, working with someone always made it more cheerful and fun. But “oh well, you gonna do what you came here to do” I said to myself. So I started hitting doors.
I almost signed up the 2nd door I knocked on. I was thinking to myself “Wow, I hit the jackpot! I’m definitely gonna ring the bell twice today!” (a.k.a 4 deals). Kept on knocking doors, doing my thing.
Suddenly I found myself sounding like a robot, doing rookie mistakes that I had never even done before. I was qualifying poorly and slowly, letting quality people slip right between my fingers.
It had happened to me before, but not like that.
I was alone, and went crashing down with no one to boost me back up. I never needed people to boost me up before, I’m a self-booster by nature.
I stopped recognizing myself.
Laura Gabriel is a cheerful and positive gal, not that borderline depressed person what started to think “I can’t do this”.
And the breakdown hit.
I got picked up and the usual time (with zero deals), went back to the office, did my paperwork, clocked out and almost ran to the bus stop. My buddy Anthony even offered me a ride home but I refused. He insisted, so I let him drive me to the subway station. I just wanted to be alone.
I skipped work today. Called in sick (migraine, nausea, the whole nine yards) and slept. And slept. And slept some more.
And when I woke up, I woke up big time.
I said to myself “Why an I insisting in being miserable like 99% of the population?” “Why am I doing this to myself?”
I rang the bell. The Liberty Bell!
I made a decision in Austin last week.
You know why?
Because I can.
After looking at my freshly taken picture in this post you might have thought “How can she smile when she’s a 18 year-old with a mental breakdown?”
I’m not an 18 year-old with a breakdown. I’m an 18 year old that woke up. I dare anyone to try and stop me. Or better yet: I challenge everyone to wake up.
We are just getting started…