The Meeting.

My Fourth Blog. I Swear A Lot. The Very First Meeting For The Network Marketing Business

At the end of my second blog I had just met Ingrid who wrote the book I was told to read by Holly. The very famous 'leader' of the business that I had travelled to Spain to meet, get a tan and drink wine with an old friend.

Now Holly was not aware that I had for a few years prior to our Fakebook reuninon I had actually been researching MLM and Network Marketing for a very long time. She also didn't know I had totally given up on the idea and was not interested in any way whatsoever of joining any business and I was only there for a mini break, some cheap wine and some sun without lotion so I could burn and go home lobster looking in 4 days time. I didn't even want any holiday sex with random strangers and believe me it had been a long while since I had some love action going on. However, all I actually needed at this point in my life was a break from my mind numbingly boring job as all I seemed to do was sit in motorway traffic wishing I could ram the bumper in front of me just so I could get home to my furr babies and the rest of my time was spent training arrogant, cocky university moaning twats who couldn't even remember to keep change in their car for the car park.

At this point in my life I was mostly leaving it up to 'The Secret' to make me "Healthy Wealthy Happy and Free" What I didn't understand was that it was actually already working for me! The changes had started and I just didn't realise it, but I don't think we ever do the first time it happens.

Yet here I was sat in an extremely posh tennis club, surrounded by uber rich German couples, with shiny hair, white designer matching outfits, who drank nothing but Rueda Verdejo wine by the bottle for lunch and ate nothing but a green olive in order to keep thin and swinging their tennis rackets in the air like they were Boris Becker.

I on the other hand was wearing a maxi dress, drinking coffee and sweating my tits off. It was so bad that I had sweat running into my false lashes and also a river down my back which was making my dress stick to my ass and god knows what to my thighs. I daren't stand up. It was surreal. Honestly, I was out of my depth here and I was only hoping Holly would finish her lesson quickly and race back and rescue me from the terrace of hell.

After the 'Hello' from Ingrid at the end of my second blog, she was really very pleasant and complementary. I remember her knowing I was Holly's friend and asking me some basic pleasantries. I was obviously one of the ones on Holly's list she had invited to the meeting the next day and that had actually turned up....Her English was great, she was a good looking lady and had lovely, super expensive tennis attire. I liked her, but you know that feeling you get in your gut when you 'know' that this particular introduction would change everything. I had it there and then.

Poof and she was gone. She walked away and blended in with the other blondes wearing white.

So, I carried on reading her book and did as I was told but secretly I was wishing I was inside in the air con having one of those nice wines.

More than an hour went by and I was still sat reading, and the book was actually making complete sense to me which was positive. Ingrid wrote a lot about inspiring people and motivating them to go for their dreams....right up my street, I was loving it. So much so that I read it again...it was only a thin paperback, I'm not Stephen Hawking.

Then I heard the glass folding doors to the terrace opening and the club was now one huge area looking to the courts, all 12 of them and all full, some doubles and some single games were happening.

That's was when I saw Holly and Ingrid playing against each other in a mixed doubles game with two guys I obviously didn't know and they appeared to be great players, but you could see also they were quite competitive. Nothing wrong with wanting to kick ass.

The out of the blue Ingrid said something I couldn't quite hear to Holly and she then shouted up to me. "Kate, what page are you on?" I shouted back "4"

There was suddenly a roar of laughter, from what felt like all of the courts, the full terrace and the bar area. I saw Ingrid double up laughing and she wasn't a quiet lady, Holly was crossing her legs afraid she was going to pee and the guys were howling. I swear it was all in slow motion.

Where's the bloody bridge I can jump off? All that went through my mind was in those few seconds was 'Oh my fucking god....all of these people will actually think I can't read and I have sat here for hours trying to get through this famous woman's book and only got to page fucking 4!

It was pretty obvious at this point that everyone knew this famous Ingrid and that everyone had also at some point read her book. It just made matters worse. I wanted to die.

How do I explain I had read it twice already and was actually on my third go to EVERYONE that was staring up at me?

I didn't and couldn't, so I put my head in my hands, my face bright red and suddenly feeling sick I stood up, laughed a nervous laugh, pulled my stuck very sweaty maxi dress from out of my arse cheeks and rushed to the loo.

I had to grab paper towels, some for my face after washing it in the sink to try and reduce the redness, some to wipe the river of sweat that was now running down my ass crack and some for my cleavage.

The Day Of The Meeting.

“They slammed the double doors shut, and everyone was silent"

As I walked into the Golf Club with Holly I had gotten over my embarrassment and felt a lot better as she told me it was just funny and not to worry. So I didn't, however I don't forget moments and as you will become aware through my blogs I carry them with me and hopefully learn from them all. Hopefully. Every day is a school day. Not that I learnt a lot of imperative 'stuff' at school, I was a quiet kid and wanted to hide at the back of class most of the time.

There were what seemed like hundreds of people all milling about, hugging each other, having coffee, looking busy taking photos and smiling lots of big white sets of teeth. It was nice, I felt slightly uncomfortable, however it was an easy place to be, a lovely venue, with a huge pool outside, sun beds and tables all full of smiley happy big teethed people in immaculate clothing.

We ordered a coffee and sat with some of them, who Holly knew and I was introduced as her friend from England. They were nice and I remember one lady, with short spiky hair, covered in tattoos, wearing Thai pants, telling me she was so happy she had come to the meeting. It was her dream to meet Ingrid. She had waited many years and saved up her money to be on the Island.

"Really????", I thought. What kind of meeting is this?

I scanned the table quickly looking for a bowl of keys. I had no idea at this moment what was about to happen in the room next door that was locked.

After half an hour or so someone unlocked the door and I saw everyone stand up at the same time, grab their drinks and head into the conference hall It was exactly ten minutes to 12. Holly and I followed in, found some seats and sat down. She then said "I'll be back" and promptly left me sat clutching my book I 'had' to have signed, between two ladies and neither of whom spoke any English. Great. Just super.

I had found myself in a room, full of foreigners mostly German, in Spain, on my own, clutching a book with a picture of a woman on the front who had laughed at me the day before and had not a fucking clue what was about to happen. Thanks Universe. You twat.

But.....for some reason I 'knew' it was right. My gut said stay.

The doors slammed closed, the room silent and I saw Ingrid walk from the doors to the front of the room, smiling and looking extremely glamorous. The whole room then stood up and started clapping, most looked like sea lions at feeding time, an a small few a little nervous like myself. The fear of the unknown I suppose.

Holly was sat at the front, I was two rows behind her, and she kept turning and waving and smiling. All excited for me.

I completely understand that feeling she had that day, because when you are totally engrossed in a company, it is the best company in the world with the best products, best production team, best distribution team, best leaders and the best compensation plan you could ever wish for. When you invite someone to a meeting you want them to feel the same way you do about the business, because if they do then you have a builder and possible leader, another 'leg' and more importantly in MLM a chance of opening a new country up and if this happens you've 'cracked' it. Every Networkers dream.

It's Not What Was Said, It's How You Felt.

This lady had the room eating out of her hands as soon as she said "Hello, my name is Ingrid Derbeste"

I remember the Introduction, no music, no mic, just her stood at the front of a huge room smiling. I looked around and saw everyone just sat bolt upright staring at this lady in awe, like she was a Goddess.

To them she was.

Now I had been to meetings before for MLM companies as you know, but this was different, this had the personal touch and everyone knew it as soon as this lady started to speak. The energy was through the roof without the fireworks, huge stage and loud music.

Ingrid began to tell her story about how she started 20 years earlier in Network Marketing for another company and why she left that business and how she found 'success' in this particular one. I am a strong advocate for personal journeys and stories and this one was being told incredibly well. The audience was lapping it up, there was roaring laughter, goosebumps, gasps, it was full of incredible energy and obviously a story she had told thousands of times all over the world. She definitely knew how to hold court, connect with her audience and how to keep every seat in the house totally focussing their attention on her and her story.

Sob Fest.

After Ingrid's story which lasted over an hour, but went extremely quickly, I was transfixed. I hadn't a clue about the business, what product category it was in, what the products did for a person, the price range, where the business was based. Fuck all apart from I heard 'protein shake' at some point in the story.

I did know that this lady was extremely intelligent and THE 'leader' in this business. I was impressed. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing holding smaller meetings rather than 15,000 plus people in a room. She knew it was all about connections, building relationships, and sharing her personal journey to inspire others, and help them understand that there are great things in life that can be achieved, that you can't even begin to think about as a reality. But you will.

This was me hooked. It was everything I had been reading about for years now.

The day went on, we had lunch outside in the sun, I was dragged off from my seat and lovely buffet salad to meet all sorts of people who were 'successful' and it was like nothing I had experienced before. I was lucky as Holly knew everyone and everyone knew her as Ingrids tennis partner and really liked her.

Once back in the huge room, the seating had changed plan and we were now in a 'U' shape all huddled closer to the front. This time I was sat on the front row next to Holly.

A few audience members were asked about how much weight they had lost on an amazing diet plan and they were all excited and clapping each others weight loss and cheering. It was hard on the ears as some went into far too much detail about recipes blah blah blah. I must admit as soon as Ingrid saw the audience's attention waver she was on it, the energy was back up with a joke or the one that was talking was told to finish up, in a really nice way, but finish they did.

The next session was all about numbers and the compensation plan. This I loved. It was easy. Three tell three only to level 4 and we are super rich. Seems easy enough I thought.

I can do that next week.

Then we had another break and came back into the room and I saw this time Ingrid was holding a mic.

She began to call members up from the audience and asked them to tell their stories, passing them the mic and only taking it from them when they were talking too much. Her eyes on both the talking sobbing member and everyone else, she didn't miss a thing.

After working for the bank for years and attending many a seminar I knew who was good on stage and she was just brilliant.

I swear to God within five minutes I was crying. I looked around and saw that so were most of the others in the room.

There were parents whose children couldn't walk, an older gentleman who had lost his pension and couldn't afford to eat, single mothers looking after 6 children who's husband had died, a young girl who was 18 and pregnant and had been kicked out of home and a lady who had a little boy only 5 months old and his cradle cap was so bad it covered his tiny body and she couldn't even hold him because he was in so much pain every time she touched him. These stories were so heartbreaking I was a mess, a basket case, my mascara was rolling down my cheeks in rivers and I'm not too sure what I was thinking, but I do know I had gone from not wanting to go to this meeting to wanting to know more.

The good news is, all these members had amazing results.

No Shit Sherlock I hear you say!

The non walking kid could now walk, the single mum signed up her whole town and was now extremely wealthy, holidaying on cruise ships with the kids, the pregnant young girl had earned enough money to rent an apartment and was off the streets and had thrown her tent away, the old guy could afford to eat, and the baby with cradle cap had been breast fed a miracle concoction of the products and was now a smiling bundle of joy that its mum could finally cuddle.

I Left The Meeting More Than Excited.

We have memories because of one thing only, and that is that memories have an emotion attached to them. Happy or sad.

It is the same with stories, You remember them because you have some sort of an emotion when you hear them.

It's never what was said, it is always how you felt.

Disclaimer 1. 'This blog contains discriminatory content which some may find offensive'

Disclaimer 2. “This is a work of creative non-fiction. All of the events in this memoir are true to the best of the author’s memory. Some names and identifying features have been changed to protect the identity of certain parties. The author in no way represents any company, corporation, or brand, mentioned herein. The views expressed in this memoir are solely those of the author.”