Don’t be Fooled by Being Associated with Success.

If you’re not working and seeing results for yourself, you’re coasting.

I’ve mentioned being a part of an MLM (Multilevel marketing company) in a couple of other blogs, but I haven’t gone into more detail about it.

The truth is, I was a little embarrassed to admit that I was a part of one.

I joined this MLM back in late 2018.

I was desperate for an opportunity to make money and wasn’t happy at all with how my life looked.

I wanted, needed, to take a risk, and this opportunity felt like the perfect one.

Little did I know that embarking on this journey of trying to build my own business through an MLM would completely change my life.

The people who had built their businesses through this MLM also created many resources to help anyone who joined their organization improve other areas of their lives.

They have (and probably still do) access to budgeting, credit assistance, taxes, and even counseling and mentoring.

Through these resources, I found my counselor (who I still see).

And this woman has done wonders for my life.

But aside from the success I had in my emotional development, I didn’t see much results in other areas.

Here’s why.

I fooled myself into thinking I was succeeding because others around me were.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because someone you know or are associated with is successful or wealthy, you are somehow a part of their success.

You’re not.

You just know someone who is successful, that’s it.

I coasted for years while I was a part of this organization.

I had a business opportunity in my hands for about four years and did nothing with it.

Why? There are a couple of reasons.

One, I signed up only to make money.

Recently, I wrote a blog about how money is not enough of a motivator, and the truth was that I joined this organization solely for the income potential.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I made the same mistake when I graduated and got my first job.

I didn’t want to recognize it and put blinders on myself for years.

Two, I thought that showing up was enough.

I went to the meetings and shook hands, but once I got home, I didn’t do anything.

I signed up for a business where you need to speak to people, yet I made no effort to talk to anyone.

I thought just being a part of the organization would make things happen.

Three, I wasn’t inspired.

I didn’t do anything with this business opportunity because I didn’t feel connected.

As great as the values of the community are, I didn’t feel connected, motivated, inspired, or driven by it.

And I can now recognize it and be honest with myself about it.

I didn’t like feeling like a salesperson one bit, so I did nothing.

Here’s another reason why.

I thought I needed to wait for some sign or a special moment to start taking action.

I thought there had to be some sort of special moment, a revelation, or the feeling of a transformation happening for me to finally do something.

But the reality was I needed to figure out what the heck I wanted to pursue in the first place.

I didn’t start doing this until 2021, after being laid off.

Around this time, I learned a key lesson about myself.

I need to like the work that I’m doing. I need to feel that it’s connected to a part of me, and I need it to inspire my creativity.

Selling products just wasn’t one of those things.

As I said before, I didn’t want to admit that the last thing I wanted to do was act like a salesperson, trying to get people to buy the products I was selling and join the MLM.

Fortunately, I found Medium and started writing back in April of 2021.

This was the start of me discovering what I could stick to, what I felt inspired by, and what fueled my creativity and connected me more to who I am.

Compared to how I was back then, I feel like a completely different person now.

I wake up almost every morning with a plan to write (which I’ve followed through since November of last year), and I added another side hustle (YouTube) that will hopefully, in the future, allow me to be a full-time content creator.

I had to stop relying on any crutches and take the plunge.

The truth is, being associated with successful people held me back.

Why? Because I was using my association as an excuse not to do much.

I needed to take a plunge, a real risk, a leap of faith all on my own.

One where I felt I had no choice but to move forward.

Removing myself from this organization was a good decision because it forced me to be honest about my circumstances and accept that I would go nowhere if I didn’t start doing something.

I parted ways with the MLM organization in late 2022, and as nerve-wracking as it was, it was the best decision I could have made for myself.

Aside from feeling like I had jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, I also felt like I finally had the space to try anything and everything.

Being part of that organization took up a lot of my time.

Time that I needed to figure out what moved me and inspired me.

Luckily, I had found one of those things already — writing.

But I still had to go on the journey of figuring out what kind of writer I wanted to be.

I’m still on it, honestly. But I do have a much better idea of who Angelica, the writer, is and what she wants to do.

I’ve also become more disciplined, organized, and driven than before.

I took the training wheels off.

I fell off the bike, but I didn’t give up. I got on it again, and I’ve been falling and getting back up consistently over the past two years.

I’ve made significant progress and am excited to finally begin succeeding. I can claim that success — this is the best part.

It’s one thing to say you know someone who is successful. No one actually cares.

However, people pay attention when you’re the successful one, and I’m excited to finally claim my success and reap the results of my hard work.

I’m incredibly grateful for this journey and the different opportunities and people God has placed in my life.

Thanks to them, I’ve been able to transform myself and my life, and I finally feel I’m getting closer and closer to building a life I’m content and proud of, but more importantly, becoming the person God intended me to be.

Don’t hold yourself back just because you’re somehow associated with success.