Episode 22 Transcript

Hey everyone, it is me Lisa and welcome back to another episode of the other 99%. I’m super excited to have my friend and fellow Epicure ambassador with me today, Linda. Hi, Linda. Hey, how are you? I’m good. I just wanted you to sort of share a little bit about who you are and what you do and all that stuff. Sure. So I’m Linda Brown, just like the color. My husband’s name is James. So people never forget his name, James Brown. And yes, he can dance. This September we’ll be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, which is really exciting. Mom of teens. They never stop eating or growing or moving unless they’re sleeping in on a weekend. So life is, I thought life would get less busy with teenagers. I find that life is more busy with teenagers and I’m a dog mom to a little Bijan named Olaf. And I’ve been with Epicure for 13 years. I can’t believe it. Um, love this company and, uh, I was introduced to the product. Gosh. In 2000, the year 2000, when my friend got married, she, uh, had, uh, one of the famous dip parties and the rest was history. Fell in love with the product and, uh, joined a few years later, but I’m sure we’ll get into that story in a little bit.

Yeah, you and I are both in our same amount of time with Epicure. So I’ll be in 14 years coming the fall. So probably joined almost at the same time, but that’s cool. Yeah. So what made you choose? Like, I know you said you went to the dip party, but what made you choose Epicure over all the other direct sales companies out there? It’s so funny. This is a really funny story and my friends howl because when I got married, it was the running joke because my husband’s family is in a long line of jewelers. So his family owns a jewelry store and gift shop and I hardly ever remember to put jewelry on. I’m just not a girly girl. And so Jewelry obviously was not a direct sales company. That would be a natural fit for me. If I forget to put it on, chances are I would forget the kit at home if I was going out to a party. So Jewelry was out. I was introduced to the concept of home parties by a friend of mine who was doing Mary Kay when I was still in university, just to make some…extra money for herself. And I would buy these like facial systems to clean my face, and then forget to use them like through put them by the wayside and like I’d have four bottles of something and I would use them maybe for a week and then I would forget about it. So skincare, maybe not my forte, I often don’t even put makeup on. So I knew that wasn’t a good fit for me. And then I was introduced to Epicure in 2000 at my friend’s party. And I just fell in love with the product because I started using it in my everyday cooking except for making dips. But here’s the funny part. I actually didn’t like home parties. I, I loved the herb and garlic dip mix. I ordered it by the case back when online shopping was not a thing. I bought mine online, paid stupid amounts of shipping at that time, bought mine online, had it direct shipped to my house so I could avoid home parties. So funny, but then my best friend had a party in 2011 and I was at a crossroads at that point of time because I wanted to leave my career as a professional fundraiser because my child didn’t sleep. So I decided, okay, I’m going to leave fundraising for a while, do home childcare for just a little bit to get us over this hump. And then maybe I’ll go back, we’ll see. And at that party, I was like, oh my word, this is such an easy business model. You just make some food, people eat it, they shop, and I get to go home and get out of the house for about two and a half hours. So it just, it checked. a lot of boxes because I didn’t want a commitment where I was out of the house for a huge amount of time in the evening. I didn’t want a business that I didn’t believe in or didn’t really click with who I am, but I love cooking. So Epicure just seemed like a natural fit to get out of the house, do something I love and talk to grownups. So that’s kind of how I got introduced and why. I chose Epicure and the rest is history. I’ve been here 13 years.

Yeah, it’s kind of funny because we were just talking before we started recording, but it’s amazing how you love Epicure and that’s what brought you in. And the reason that brought me in is because, or not that you love Epicure, but you love cooking. And the reason that brought me in is I hate cooking. So Epicure is so easy. And that’s why, you know, I’m like. I couldn’t see my life without Epicure in my kitchen now because it just makes cooking so easy. But everybody starts for their own reason and I love that about the business model for sure. So how are now, I know things have changed over COVID and you probably were doing more in-home parties at the time prior to that pivot, but how are you currently running your business? A little bit of everything. I’ll be honest with you. I am so fortunate that over the last 13 years, I have built an incredible relationship with a lot of my customers and they trust me. And I trust them. And, uh, they, when, when I say I love something, they order it. They know I’m not going to try to sell them something that I don’t enjoy myself. So we do have a very healthy reorder business. I’m really grateful for that. I still do in-home events. I love them. My natural go-to is to teach. And I love it when I can teach someone who’s just as busy as me how to make a meal rotter ready in 20 minutes or less. That is like huge dopamine for me. That is such a win. So I love doing those in-person classes, but I also love the flexibility of online for those times when I’m really busy. And I am busy. I work a full-time job. Plus, I have my Epicure business and my customers to support. And I have a team to support as well because I am a leader with the company. So that’s what I enjoy the most is the flexibility when not like month end and the beginning of the month. That’s a really busy time with my job and it kind of has ebbs and flows. Certain months are busier than others. And I know I can plan ahead. And April and May, not the best time for me to do in-person as many in-person events. And that’s okay. I can plan for it. So I’m running it in a very flexible way, depending on what’s going on in my life. And oh my gosh, Lisa, soccer just started. So now-Mondays and Wednesdays are out because I got to go watch my kid play. And I know I don’t have a single customer that would question that. And I think they’d get upset with me if I missed my kids’ soccer game. But I can come home and do an online Zoom class just showing a group of busy moms how to do a bit of meal planning for 20 minutes. And I can have the best of both worlds.

I seem to think that, you know, COVID, even though there were so many challenges and issues with that time for us in business, it sort of opened up a whole new world for us. Like it let us see that, you know, because especially when I think about myself, like my customer base has just like spanned from coast to coast, country to country. And I would have never had that prior to COVID because I would have just been solely focusing on in-person. I love the flexibility that this business model has to offer for sure. I’m just curious, what is your proudest moment in your business? In 2018, I was surprised more than I’ve ever been surprised in my life. I was at the Epicure National Conference. It was in Niagara Falls, so that was really close to home for me. And at the end of the night at our gala, there’s always this special award and it’s the caring and sharing award. And there are so many Epicure ambassadors that do so much good. And I was sitting there and they’re, they’re describing who the winner or the recipient of the caring and sharing award is going to be. And I’m like, I’m listening. And I’m thinking, that kind of sounds like some of the things I do. And I was the recipient of the caring and sharing award. And what’s really cool about that is you’re nominated by your peers for that award. And it’s the president and founder, Sylvie Rochette, who presents that award to you. So every time someone receives that award, they do a little video montage and there was a video of my husband and my kids congratulating me. It was so cute. Everybody in the audience was like, oh, that’s so sweet. And then my husband came out on stage with a microphone and I nearly passed out. That was the fact that they brought him in to be part of that moment was just, I still get goosebumps. It was the most special, special thing that’s ever happened to me next to getting married and having my children, just knowing that the work that I do for my local food bank, that I do for my hospice, and all of the community organizations that I’m able to support through my business was recognized by my peers, just absolutely meant the world to me. So that was pretty huge. I remember that night. I do remember you going up on stage for that. Yeah, that was awesome. Congratulations. Thank you.

Okay, So I need to know, we all need to know. Everybody has some sort of superpower in their business. And I sort of kind of think I know what you’re gonna say. So what would you consider to be your superpower in your direct sales business? It’s interesting because people assume that it’s the giving and the sharing and yes, that’s very much a part of who I am. I love fundraising, but my superpower is actually a superpower I discovered in grade four when I started writing speeches and doing public speaking. And I became addicted to doing research, creating presentations and teaching others. And I was in grade four when I discovered that superpower. And I went on to do a lot of speech competitions and going through those motions, I just honed in on those skills. So that’s the superpower that I bring and that helped me so much during COVID because I was able to take those skills and teach others how to cook online. It was just natural taking the in-person event and then doing those step-by-step instructions online. So I love public speaking. I am that weird person that loves it and gets a high, it’s again that dopamine like, Oh, bring me the people and I will teach them to cook. Yeah. I love that because you talk about the dopamine and it’s like, I’m like an introvert beyond introvert because if you get me in a social setting, it’s like, I’m like, Oh my God, people like, I just, I just feel outside of my comfort zone, but get me behind a camera doing these kind of things and I totally get the dopamine. It’s like, I love doing things virtually. I could sit here and talk to you. I could sit here and talk to like a hundred or a thousand people and not skip a beat. But you put me up in front of people live, then that’s a different story. So I love that you could do, you can manage both and you, you know, you love to be in front of people, whether it’s virtually or online and you’re so good at it. Like, I mean, I’ve heard you talk. You’re so good at it. Thank you. You’re welcome.

All right, so I always ask everybody this question because I think it’s very important because some of the quotes that I’m getting from the guests are truly like, they make my hair stand up because they’re just like, wow, that’s very impactful. So I’d love to know if there’s a quote or some words of advice that you’ve heard throughout your years in the direct sales field that you think that every direct seller needs to hear? I think this came from global ambassador, Kayla Troutman with Epicure. I’m not sure, but perfection is the enemy of done. And I used to really partner with a spirit of perfection and it actually robbed me of my joy. I would physically be ill, cause I felt as if my presentation wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t any good. And when I learned to just let it go and be fluid and enjoy the moment and, and get rid of the perfection, I found more, more joy in my work. I felt better. I heard people more because I wasn’t focusing on me and I actually saw the people in front of me rather than having the most perfect presentation. it was more, okay, how can I serve these people? How can I serve the person in front of me? How can I serve that person in the back of the room who’s taking lots of notes? And I just found my joy again when I got rid of that perfection. So I get way more done because I’m not holding my cards so close and being all tense and upset all the time. It’s so freeing to get rid of perfection and just enjoy the moment and serve people with joy. I love that because most of the time when you think about it, we’re the only ones that are seeing our mistakes. You know, when we think about that. So I love that.

Thank you for sharing that. So can you tell the listeners, like, where can they find you on social? Like, if they want to follow you? Sure. It’s at Mrs. Brown Cook. Cooks, not Mrs. Brown’s boys. Mrs. Brown, brown like the color, Cooks with an S. That’s where you’ll find me on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. You’ll see some behind the scenes, definitely not perfection. We have lots of fun. Awesome. I’ll make sure I link those in the show notes so people can follow you and see all the goodness that you do online. But Linda, I want to thank you so much for joining us for the podcast and I’m sure the listeners are going to have a ton of stuff to take away. And, and you’re such an inspiration. I really appreciate you coming here to share your story, but I’m just going to say bye to everybody. And thank you so much for joining us on another episode of the other 99%. And we’ll talk to you on the next episode. Take care.