Carmen Lopez

I attribute my success to going above and beyond the call of duty. This industry is not a 9-to-5 job - you can't just check out at 5 o'clock. We do evening events, and I call it being like a therapist because the majority of people I work with are women. It's really demanding and not 9 to 5, but I do it because I love it and I like to see people succeed. It took me a while, like a lot of people who come in having never been in the industry - they either love it or they run. You really have to have a passion for it. I think going above and beyond and really helping people, not saying 'oh, it's 5 o'clock, I'll wait till tomorrow' is key. Sometimes issues have to be answered right away because it could really hurt somebody's business or make them feel like they're just a number. That personal human touch is very important in a world of digital and AI - we still have to be human.

I would say, and this is kind of like old Oprah saying, when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like a job. There's not really anything as a work-life balance - you just have to figure out what works for you. I always say, like I tell my younger daughter who's in her twenties, you have to be passionate about what you do, otherwise it feels like a J-O-B. We're in a place where you have to have multiple income streams, no matter what. You never know how the economy has changed and technology is increasing, so you need to protect yourself with dual income, whether it's something you do on the side part-time, because it takes time to build something. It doesn't happen overnight. Most of the people I know, it took them at least 3 to 5 years to build a solid business where they can be independent. So don't leave your full-time job until you have that, if that's what you're looking for. But really find something that you're passionate about.

The biggest challenge is that there are a lot of organizations that have closed or changed their model, which has reduced the amount of opportunities people can go into. A lot of companies have gone into what we call affiliate, which means they don't have teams. When you're in network marketing, you have teams, and that's where dealing with personal challenges for people and developing them comes in, because when you're affiliate, you're just selling - you're not building teams or analyzing reports. I think that's one of the biggest challenges now in the industry. As for opportunities, I'm currently in an organization that has a unique product that nobody else has, which is exciting. We are just expanding globally within the first 3 years, which is pretty much unheard of in this industry. The opportunities are opening just around the world where people can have a business that's global and really use their network in other countries to continue to build, not only in the U.S. but in other countries.

I would say strong communication, transparency, and honesty are the values most important to me.