Episode 7
Mini Episode: Claire defines success and satisfaction in her work and personal life
Episode Notes
Claire Morris shares her journey of transitioning from a successful corporate career into becoming a Network Marketer. Claire shares the importance of creating a community. Surrounding herself with like-minded people is a big part of success and satisfaction in her life.
Claire will return for an in-depth conversation detailing how knowing her core values led to a natural transition from a successful corporate career into Network Marketing. Claire will share the mindset shifts necessary and how creating community propelled her to go from strength to strength.
You can find Claire at:
Website: www.clairemorris449228884.arbonne.com
Insta: @retailwithclarity
Transcript
[Roksana] My guest on today’s show is a female entrepreneur. She is in a corporate escapee who currently runs two businesses and she likes to say that she runs them on her own terms. She lives- she’s lived in four countries over the years and she is currently enjoying family life with her hubby and five year old in Saint Albans, which is also my town. She’s represented her country playing pool. Welcome Claire!
[Claire] Thank you.
[Roksana] Now Claire, I have one question that I ask all of my guests, and that is how have you defined success and satisfaction in your work and personal life?
[Claire] It’s probably changed quite a bit over the years but now for me success is owning my own time and having a happy family happy and fulfilled family, and having enough income and money that we don’t need to worry about our finances in anyway. So those elements that have actually probably been in my mind all of my life around success. For satisfaction it’s a much more personal thing and for me surrounding myself with like-minded people who will cheer me on everyday, and I can cheer them on everyday, is such a big part of where I am now. And I really wouldn’t have expected that say 10 years ago, I didn’t really enjoy making new connections or being in big social situations, so this has been quite a transformation for me… and the biggest thing with these people that I get to surround myself with is that they make me realise that I’m not alone, and that we all experience the same challenges and the same doubts and given that I wouldn’t even have entered a room for a networking event probably even five years ago, I actually now run a local group for women in business and it’s been this realisation over the years that having these people around will help me to grow personally and in my business that has led to this point. And I realised that everybody else is in the same boat, so we all are getting something from having each other. Mainly getting over the isolation that comes with running your own business, which is quite a big change from spending a lot of time in the corporate environment. Also satisfaction wise for me it’s the feelings of accomplishment, having achieved something for myself and for my family that’s not dictated by someone else, which is where things were for me in my corporate career… and being able to help others. That’s something that’s been at the core of my beliefs and values forever, and I get to do that now in every aspect of what I do, both my businesses, my networking group, and just in life. I get to help others so that’s a huge element of satisfaction for me, and now and it’s taken a while to get here but now truly believing that I am an expert in what I do, and I have skills and insights that are of value to others and that’s been my biggest journey to get to where I am right now.
[Roksana] OK Claire so what I’d like to know is what is the biggest benefit to you personally about building a community and being part of a network?
[Claire] So for sure it has been to realise that everybody else is just like me. I had this weird perception which I didn’t feel it was weird at the time, but I now know that it was completely unnecessary perception that everybody else really had it together, knew what they were doing and that I was a bit of a an impostor I suppose, and just winging it with trying to create my new business. So having these people around, a community of like-minded people who are doing exactly the same thing and have been on the same journey as well as help me to realise that everybody faces these challenges and doubts, and actually what we all do is support each other to get through them. So I’ve been able to see that other people who I might have Once Upon a time thought they absolutely own it and know what they’re doing, I can see that they have those days where they are facing challenges for things that they’ve never done before, but are able to learn how to do that and can do that with the support of other people who might be an expert in that area. So coming from this corporate background where you’re in an office all the time, you’re seeing and speaking to people all the time, to going into a world where you are running your own business and perhaps not leaving your house some days… knowing that you’ve got these people at the other end of the telephone or over the Internet. Sometimes I go to co-working sessions, so actually having some physical presence with other people is amazing to keep that mindset strong and get over these feelings of isolation, but to know that you’ve got people that you can bounce ideas off and that they may be experts in things that you don’t know anything about.
[Roksana] Sounds like an almost like a sisterhood where everybody is building each other up and everybody is there for each other in their downtime, and there to celebrate your successes and it sounds amazing and quite the- quite the opposite to the kind of image that we conjure up perhaps when we think about business and having groups of people almost like- I don’t know about you but I always thought of business, pre going into my own business, as sort of a self-serving kind of a venture and once I got into business I realised how there are so many people out there who want you to succeed and that genuinely surprised me.
[Claire] Yes I completely agree. It surprised me too in the most pleasant way. To suddenly have these people who don’t know me very well cheerleading for me and me just wanting to do the same for other people… and what I’ve experienced which is so lovely and so pleasant is that even people who are in the same kind of field as yourself want to work with you and collaborate with you rather than to be competitive with you and edge you out… so in my corporate world, if there was a promotion available, it would very much be elbows out, everybody going for the same thing and you know kind of leaving everyone behind them in a trail of dust. In this world it’s completely opposite, and you would perhaps expect it to be elbows out and everyone fighting for themselves and I haven’t experienced that at all.
[Roksana] It’s the reality of going into business and finding your tribe or in your case you’ve created your tribe being- I guess in some ways you’re selective, or you attract people who are like you. I think that’s probably what’s happening is that you’re attracting people who are similar to you, who have similar values to you, and when you all come together through your good and your bad times it’s amazing how the power of that really kind of helps you propel, not just personally but professionally, and to grow your business. That’s amazing. I’m so glad you have that Clair.
[Claire] Me too, it’s made a huge difference.
[Roksana] Thank you so much.