Take Leap Of Faith

There probably isn’t another person who was more hesitant about taking on this journey than myself. I mean, I lightly pondered about it for a year, and then I thought deeply about it for another good four months. The thing is, I never actually felt confident and “sure” about my decision. It’s one of those things where you are just going to have to take a leap of faith and get ready to work your ass off.

It is hard to find words to sum up what this summer was for me. I am not a business minded person to begin with, which is what I kept thinking about while making this decision. I am a nursing student who had a hard time seeing the point (other than money). The reality is that there isn’t a single person who could do this and not take away a million great life lessons, regardless of your future plans.

So, on the work side of things, I have learned how to manage people; clients and employees, the HUGE importance of time management and being organized, ways to increase profit, how to delegate (sometimes very unsuccessfully), and how to sell. But what I really gained from this experience feels far beyond “work”. I’ve learned how to make connections through common ground with people of all different ages and backgrounds, I’ve gained confidence in basically every aspect of life, I’ve learned how to roll with the punches a little bit better, and as much as I know everyone is going to say it, it really is about the people. There is something special about sitting in Mexico with 60 successful people who understand what this takes and want to support you in this journey.

My advice:

1. Treat your DM like gold, they will be your biggest supporter and motivator, they will sometimes annoy the heck out of you, but they will always be there when you need them.
2. Your other friends/significant others won’t fully understand what you are going through, make the effort to build relationships with the franchisees around you, you can help each other so much more than you know.
3. Take time for yourself. When you feel yourself losing patience it is usually the time to go wind down somewhere and come back to the situation when you have a level head.
4. Speaking of being level headed, when there is confrontation it is always best to wait until your emotions have died down and come back and have a rational conversation with either the employee or client.
5. FOLLOW THE SYSTEMS, this job is fully laid out for you. Yes, you can get lost in the mix of things and not know what to do. But really, it’s all there if you just look for it.
6. Make the most out of this summer, you can either sit back and watch it go by or you can take advantage of each moment and come out of it proud of what you were able to do. The only person that can take that away from you, is you.