The Whole Story…

If you read my brief bio in the about section, but want to know the “whole story”, then sit down, grab a cup of coffee and join me as I tell you about the journey that took my family from sick, tired and overworked to healthy, together and free.

I always knew that I wanted to help people. What’s funny is that when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher, an actress and an anchorwoman. Not in that order!  I loved talking with people and hearing their interesting stories.  During my early twenties, I spent my days (and nights) working in the television entertainment business.  Next time you catch a rerun of Aaron Spelling’s TV Show Melrose Place, look closely and you’ll get a glimpse of my name in the credit scroll at the end of the show. It’s there!  It was an insane time in my life. The opportunity was amazing, but I always wondered how the work I did hiring actors (I was in casting) would translate to “real life.”

So, it was no surprise when I returned to school and received my degree in Psychology, and added a minor in Human Resources because, well…people fascinate me.  So much so, that I spent the next 15 years of my career working in higher education for a well-known university. I had a steady paycheck, a pension, a prominent position, and job security as an employee in the public sector. 

When my first child was born, I did not sleep! Not just because I had a new baby around, but because my mind would not stop racing at all hours of the night (thanks hormones). I spent these sleepless nights just trying to figure out a way that I could stay home with this little precious gift from God.  I did not want to leave my little mini-miracle and have to go back to work.  During maternity leave, I had these bursts of energy where I would write down all the ideas in my head, ideas and ways I thought I could make money just hoping one of those “ideas” would turn into the next thing that could pay my rent.  Maternity leave ended, I went back to work, shoved all my aspirations and thoughts aside and continued to trade my time for a paycheck.

Then, my second child was born.  More roller coaster rides with my hormones, which led to more midnight sessions of writing out my hair-brained and ambitious plans.  Plans to write books, write mommy blogs, help my favorite charities, sell purses, and the list went on and on.

In hindsight I can see now that I was motivated by God’s call in my life to do something more than leave my family every day in order to go to work and compose written warnings for people who did not care to do their jobs.  Even though I was restless and unhappy, I am very grateful that He left me right there because He was doing a work in me that I didn’t even realize at the time.

In 2013, my husband and I made the decision to buy a home outside of the county we lived in because it was more affordable.  Our plan was for both of us to do the daily grind and commute to work, about 2 hours each way.  I’d tell you in miles, but California traffic is the worst!  Going one mile can sometimes take an hour!

Our prayerful plan was to buy a house in the suburb of a suburb, start whittling down everything we owned, so that I could quit my full-time job by 2016.  It was about this time ZimpleLiving.com was born so that I could document my journey of what we fondly referred to as Escaping the Land of Excess! And trust me, we had some serious excess going on! We began changing things to the point that everything in our lives began to reflect our new goals of getting back to basics.

About that time, both of my kids (a 16-month old and a 5-year old), my husband and I were all resorting to some pretty heavy duty things to try to get ahead of some of the stuff we were dealing with.  But since I was never exposed to anything other than traditional methods, “natural solutions” were never even on the radar as an option.

By mid-2013, doTERRA came into my life, quite unexpectedly when my son fell face-first onto the pavement in a parking lot. The moment his face hit the concrete I knew it was going to be ugly!  A friend of mine (who ironically was a nurse by trade) jumped into action and grabbed her essential oils.  I thought, “That’s all you’ve got? Whatever!”  My son was hysterical, so I just let her do whatever she needed to, with the obligatory eye-roll. 

That event, followed by several more “aha” moments we experienced in our family were enough for us to recognize the positive changes the oils had in our lives.  We started using the oils regularly. My family was healthier than I had ever seen them.  We reduced our doctor visits, increased our ability to reach for something ourselves, and felt so much better knowing that we had a little more control over the cost and the situation. I knew doTERRA offered a business opportunity, but my husband made me promise him I would not “sell anything”. Three months later, I was at a birthday party for my son, and moms started swarming around me asking about the oils and what we used in our home.  They demanded that I tell them where I got the oils and how they could get some too.  It was at that moment, standing in the middle of the mom-pit at the park, the light bulb went on in my head.  I slowly raised my hand and said, “You get them from me!”

Three months after that, I made a declaration to my husband that I would do my due diligence and find out more about the business. Reluctant doesn’t even adequately describe the response that I got from him. It honestly took a while for him to come around with my new fascination with essential oils. As a matter of fact, my husband used to call them “snake oils.” That was until, we struck a compromise. 

Here’s the “deal” we made, which I’m grateful he at least let me try.  He said I could try to “do this business” for a year.  However, at the end of the year if I was not making a profit (notice he didn’t just say, making money), then I had to do two things:

One, was that I had to admit defeat (never an easy thing for a woman to do), and secondly, I could never get involved in another network marketing company again. 

Ever!

That was a tall order, but I knew the oils worked.  It was also the reason why I had no problems agreeing to his little agreement.

The thing I think he was worried about was that I would try to “sell” to my friends and they would feel weird around me or we would lose our friends.  He was also worried that I would be gone every night and weekend schlepping my wares, doing “parties” for people, and spending more than I made.

We agreed that I would work both my full-time job and doTERRA for that year, so we could bring in an extra $500 a month and move us toward our family goal of me being home with the kids.  The $500 a month obviously did not come right away.  The Big Hairy Audacious Goal of replacing my six-figure a year income was in my sights, but at the time – felt so far away.

I have some pretty cool news to report, though…

At the time of this writing, it has been four years since I began my oil journey. Not only did we make money that first year, but we actually made a profit (something my husband never thought would happen).  Because I had a full-time job, I had to work really hard at compartmentalizing my life into parts. I sacrificed my time, knowing I was building a strong foundation.

But then, something amazing happened.  About two years ago, I was able to quit my full-time job and work part-time so I could be home with the kids more.

In 2017, my goal coming home to be with the kids and do doTERRA full-time came to fruition!  And in case you are wondering, we did indeed replace the six-figure income from the career I took so many years to accrue.

What Has Our Journey In doTERRA Been Like?

In the beginning, these were definitely unchartered waters for us because we were two people who collected paychecks by showing up for work at public institutions for years.  In my opinion, it’s harder for people like us to wrap our brains around network marketing at first, because our income was already at a pretty high level.  We had to ask ourselves, “Why are we doing this?”

The initial answer was for our health, for sure! Then our “Why” turned more toward the faces and lives of the people we were helping.  It’s now not just because we get to empower people with health solutions, but it’s also because we are able to empower people with financial solutions they may not have been exposed to otherwise.

If you really think about it, network marketing is one of the best and fastest ways to grow a business because a) it already has a product (in our case, an exceptional product), and b) there are usually training programs and mentors who you could call upon if you need help.

With all of those resources, we made a decision to GO FOR IT and jumped in with both feet, which turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

In July of 2014 (exactly a year after I got my first kit), I was making enough money to quit my full-time job at the university and go part-time. In July of 2017, just a few short years later, I bid farewell to my eight-to-five job forever.  The only reason I was able to do this is because of doTERRA.  The simple acts of using the products, sharing their powerful benefits, and showing others on my team how to do the same, were the keys to building a successful, thriving business.  As a matter of fact, my biggest joy now is showing others how they can walk their own path to time and financial freedom.

Can You Build A Real Business With doTERRA?

You bet you can. Find out how it works here.

All my best,

Chrystelle