With love—and because of—Naomi and Catherine.
Let’s face it: no matter who the professional is, it’s eventually all going to come down to the kids and their place in a parent’s world. Pursuing professional dreams, starting that ideal business, and making a company work for the long often impacts children and can be done in a way that enhances them and the relationship we have with them.
So, why don’t most professionals venture out on their own or involve the kids in business and associated travel? It’s because most jobs are just places that adults are stuck in until something better comes along—or until they get promoted (which is more rare than not) or age out.
A career should inspire and involve the children when it can!
Birthdays, holidays, vacations, items for school, dinners around the table—it’s all about them. By the time a couple decides to bring a child into the world, they may not have figured out if their jobs are really careers or if they have enough capital to really go for it and make that big, dreamy idea work as an extra or even single source of income.
Network marketing provides financial freedom for holidays and constant adventure for parents and their children that cubicles and brick and mortar stores could never do. A small franchise with traveling opportunities makes for great road trips with the kids. Local networking can offer playdates with other professionals and their children. And we all know that a solid product and great brand brings families together. The kids see their parents rise up in a self-starter network while working from home and traveling, which allows them to watch success as it happens and experience what a parent does all day!
Kids should travel with their parents, visiting all those iconic parks and historical sites. Kids should be able to feel like their parents are successful at what they do, not just that adults are slaves to the 9 to 5 world who slump home each day and dream of retirement. Children can be afforded better lives than their parents because there are no limits to success as a network rises to its true potential.
Let’s face it: most parents have loaded schedules that don’t allow for the children to spend working hours together. It just doesn’t happen. Plenty of jobs aren’t even about community, family, or building local and lasting relationships while constantly moving up the ladder to more secure positions. Parents in their 30s and 40s are often settled in a job or a company they have helped start without mobility.
This isn’t because they aren’t able to succeed elsewhere, but instead it’s a part of our mindset as a culture. Most workspaces flow from top to bottom, not center-out. There isn’t a promotion for most of the front desk workers and small office space assistants, let alone a farther reach for them professionally. And, unlike network marketing, only one managing company directs the flow of work, rather than hundreds of thousands of local partners who build brands and employ their own markets.
Whatever that “next level” is for parenting professionals, there is freedom in personal franchises and network marketing that doesn’t exist in most professional fields. Children need to know that their parents did everything they could to provide—but also that they didn’t let their dreams of independence get traded for a life-long job that they were never passionate about in the first place.
Parents can and should be an inspiration to their children at home and work. The home part often comes naturally and feels effing simple—even when it’s not. But what if the kids saw mom and dad excelling on their own terms while building networks and a brand that the family can get behind?
That’s a spectacular way to set children up for success.
Photo from Million Dollar Hall of Fame Recognition.