Episode 4 Transcript

Hey everyone, it is me, Lisa, and we are back with the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. Today we have a special guest, a fellow Epicure ambassador and leader. We have Ms. Jacquie Rougeau with us today. Welcome, Jacquie. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me, Lisa.

I have to giggle because I’ve been editing the last couple of episodes and I have a couple words that I say quite a bit and I really need to tone those down and I just can’t do it. So we’ll try very hard with this episode. We’ll try. So I want you to start off and share with our, our listeners. How did you first get introduced to direct sales? Like, did you go to a party? Like how, how did it come into your life?

Yeah, I wasn’t a big, um, I didn’t even know about direct sales, to be honest. I didn’t even know what that was I just know I like to go to places where my friends invited me and hang out and chit chat. I was probably one of the people in a room where say you did a party and I’d be the one in the room talking the whole time, disrupting and not paying attention at all. But I remember going to the person that I knew from Epicure, a girlfriend had, I never had parties. I didn’t have people in my home. I’m not a planner. I’m not a big socializer. Um, that I plan, but I went to a friends who always had these parties and it was all about food. It was all about hanging out with friends. It was all about community and it just really worked. And yeah, so that’s, that was my first taste of direct sales and I didn’t even feel like somebody was selling to me. I just knew it was a good time to hang out and, and enjoy food that I loved.

Hey, let me try out this business. Uh, yeah. If I can take you back to when my baby who’s now going to be 30. Hi. Yeah. 35. Um, he was 18 years old and graduating from high school. And I was one of those mums that was like the super mom, intense mom. I was the dance mom, the hockey mom, the lacrosse mom. I organized their dry grads, everything and that was my community. That my community was based around my children and all of the things that they did. And that was ending for me. You know, he had his license, the baby had his license. He was going to practices all on his own and overall they didn’t need me anymore. And I remember getting this email all the time and it said at the very bottom, if you wanna do what I do I didn’t even know what that was really, but I knew it was hanging out with people. She said, just, you know, connect with me and let’s chat. So I thought, okay, I think this means hanging out with people. I need to find a new community. And so I just met with her and had the conversation and kind of went from there.

Awesome. So I know that you hold a upper director title with Epicure and you’ve been very successful in your business so far. Now, is there one challenge that you can see that has happened through your career that, you know, you’re very proud to have overcome? Like, was there anything that sort of set you back?

Ah, yes. I think with direct sales, what happens is being amongst a community of like-minded people, you find this growth. So I lost myself probably being a mother, a wife, a volunteer, whatever it was, I lost myself to all of that. And I started to gain more confidence in who I was, started to kind of really tap into the type of person that I wanted to be, which was great for me, really great. But I think at the same time, I became someone to my ex-husband that I think maybe he was intimidated by my success. Because we were young, we were 17 and being together and having children young. We had three children by the time we were 26 and we did kind of lots of growing up together. But I think I sort of we started to move apart because of that success. He was never on board with what I was doing and kind of talk down to direct sales, like that thing you do. And, um, yeah. So I, I one day, I kind of woke up two days before my birthday. And he said to me that he was leaving me. And he said to me, you do not have access to my paycheck anymore. And I was like stunned. My kids were stunned. We did not, we didn’t see it coming and that was 2015. And I, yeah, it just set me. Well, you know, I had my own little, you know, cry, felt sorry for myself for a little while and, um, I just remember thinking, what the heck? Like, seriously, I’m not going to let this stop me enough drinking the wine and eating the popcorn and watching TV and feeling sorry for myself I’m going to do something about this. And I knew that I had that in me to do it with my business. I had a great, it was growing and I loved it. And you know, it just kind of thought, I’m gonna do this. And I had that attitude, well, I don’t need your paycheck anymore. So let me show you. And that kind of defined everything for me, turned things around and that’s been my driving force ever since to be an independent woman, to be able to look after myself if need be and choose someone who chooses me moving forward. So that’s what happened.

I absolutely love that you said, you know, let me show you. And it’s amazing because in direct sales, like, I mean, this whole podcast is about reaching goals that you set out for yourself and achieving them to make you a success. And you have the ability to earn whatever income you set your goal to to achieve. So you going out and saying like, I don’t need your money. Like I could do this myself is amazing. And I really hope that this resonates with with some of our listeners because who knows who is listening that might be in a similar situation and is facing something like that. And, you know, they’re sitting there wondering like, what do I do? And you’re living proof here to say that you don’t have to let that situation get you down. You can go and you can just be your own person and take care of yourself. So I applaud you, Jackie. It was probably a definitely a hard situation to come out of.

Yeah, it was. And you know, looking back at it, I did find myself even how resilient one can be when faced with those challenges. You can choose to either let that define you or go and define yourself as to who you want to be. And I love that direct sales as a whole, there’s no glass ceiling. There’s nobody at the top telling me that this is your position, this is where you stay. And yeah, that’s that. You can put whatever effort you want into it to get what you want out of it. It’s not easy, but it’s doable.

Yes, and I do. I love that you mentioned that because there’s one thing that I want to make sure that people know is that this business is not easy. And don’t let those out there tell you that it is like an easy button. You just sit and post on your phone and have like success, instant success. That’s not how it works. You need to work this business to make the money. But if you’re willing to work, there is a good return for your time and your efforts. So definitely something to give a try, but don’t think it’s just an easy button, that’s for sure.

So I know that you have a large team and I know that you have a really large customer base. So what one or two things do you think that you do in your business that helps you be so successful? Like, is there something that you specifically do for your team and something that you do with your customers, like share a bit of your secrets of your success. Yeah, it all comes down to being curious. And I always used to think about when I was going to what we called parties back in the day and cooking classes, events, whatever you wanna call. It was a place where I was going to find more community, right? I would never think about what the outcome was. I would never think about what I could sell or whatever. I was going with excitement that I was going to go into a new place to meet new people and learn about them, whoever it was, whatever their situation was. And my favourite thing above all of that is what we called the checkout, where we could sit down with that person and get to know them more. And I’ve built some amazing relationships through that process that have lasted my whole 16 years with my Epicure business. I think back to a couple of people that I remember sitting across from them and thinking, oh my God, I seriously want to spend more time with you, right? And she’d go, oh my God, I want to do the same. I said, well, let’s do this more often. And I think I’ve grown a team that way as well and as well as my customers. So I think first and foremost, what’s so important is getting to know the people, getting to know what makes them tick, how you can help them, and the rest just kind of falls into place. Absolutely. And I know that you have a strong team community and a strong customer base. So coming from you, like, I mean, everybody just needs to listen, like it does take work to build that community, but it will pay for itself over and over again.

So, now I didn’t really prompt you with this question, but I know that you’re not going to have a problem answering this. So we’re both in Epicure. We’re both Epicure ambassadors and leaders. I would just love for you to share your perspective on what Epicure is for our listeners. Cause I don’t think I’ve ever touched on that yet in the episodes. Oh, okay. So, um, well, what Epicure was to me in the very beginning, cause I was a customer well before I became an ambassador with Epicure. And it was to do with what wasn’t in the, um, the products. So the bad stuff, I have lupus, so I don’t even know if you know that Lisa, but I’ve struggled with health from a very young age. Um, start when I started having children, cause I had, like, I think I mentioned earlier, I had all three of my kids by the time I was 26 and then my health just took a dive and found out I was kind of challenged by certain products, like preservatives and things like that. So I had to really watch what I was eating. And I remember my very first spice from Epicure, the Louisiana Hot and Spicy. Loved it. That was a good right? And loved that everything was just so flavourful. I love food I don’t like cooking though. I really don’t. Oh my God, you and I are so, so much alike there. I always, I think people always find it funny when like we say that it’s like, I love epicure because I hate cooking. Exactly. Like it’s, I want easy peasy, man. I want easy peasy, but I want things that taste delicious too. Right? Cause I do think I’m a foodie, even though I, you know, I’d rather you know, somebody else make it for me. So yeah, so it was all about I’m a huge label reader. I’ve learned that that’s what I have to be, you know, being 2627 years old and being diagnosed with lupus. That’s a lot of years I’m 61. Now I’ve read labels for a lot of years. It’s it’s the clean ingredients. It’s the focus on putting healthy meals on the table and eating. We are what we eat. I would say probably 80% of our health issues come to do with what we put into our bodies. So we can control that. So if you can control that, adding clean food into your diet, and Epicure is all about that, showing how to eat clean ingredients, feed your family healthy, and stay more healthy in the world. That’s my passion about Epicure. And the fact that I can look at what I need on say a meal solution. It might need, I might need some chicken and broccoli and whatever that I always have in my fridge. And I could put together a yummy meal in, you know, 30 minutes or less really in my RV, which we haven’t touched on what I’m doing here, but in my RV on the table for my partner and that’s healthy and delicious. It’s good. Yeah so knowing others that’s the same.

Awesome. Yeah so you brought up the RV and yes you’re right we haven’t touched on it so let’s dig into that for a few minutes because you do have a unique um a unique business because you are basically working from home which is on the road so let’s share a little bit about your adventures. How did you become a full-time RV-er and what are you doing now? Well, when I met my partner, John, I think it was 2017, 2018, we had talked about traveling across Canada in RV. And then we talked about traveling and all that sort of stuff. And we started traveling. I went to Europe, went to Mexico a few times and then you know that COVID thing shut the world down. We thought oh my goodness we still want to travel how are we going to do this and we got the RV and we bought a little piece of property in central BC right on a lake and I thought you know what why wouldn’t we just do this so we’ve sold everything. I have this I don’t know eight by ten storage unit that’s are like personal special belongings, but I gave away all sorts of stuff, sold everything. We are now in a, I want to say it’s like 400 square foot class A RV. I’m parked in my daughter’s driveway right now, but we’re heading down south and I’ve learned through COVID how to do things online. And so I work my business solely online in my RV. I meet people along the way. But yeah, retired John, he’s a retired truck driver, so I trust him driving us everywhere in this class A. And so if you ever see us on the road, we’ve got a class A RV towing a little mini on a trailer behind us, a Mini Cooper on the trailer behind us. And last year we spent the whole winter down south. And I’ve still been very successful at working my business, paying for the things. I’m the sole money earner in this little, this joint venture that we have. We travel with our boxer who’s just three years old, Floki and Brooklyn, our 15 year old, Palm Chow. And we’re a lovely little family on the road. And that’s soon we will be back on the road, actually next week traveling to Texas. Awesome. I love seeing your adventures, your pictures and it’s like, oh, and then especially when I’m up here in Canada and the freezing snow and it’s like, I see your pictures of the nice sunny weather and it’s like, oh, Jackie, don’t do that to me because I, I am a true Canadian, but honestly, I’m not a fan of the white stuff. So no, no, me either.

Well, let’s wrap this up. I mean, I like to ask all of our guests this one question. And it is, is there any quote or piece of advice that you’ve been given through your direct sales business that has stuck in your head that you think others need to hear? I don’t know if there’s a specific quote, but I have to say to anyone, especially women and something that I’m very, very passionate about is to continue to find yourself and who you are. And I think direct sales lets us do that. It lets us become something else beside, like I alluded to earlier, the woman instead of like the mother or the wife or whatever you are, the employee for somebody else, it gives you an outlet to find yourself and be able to like gain confidence through that and to not allow your age to stop you from following your dreams of even doing what I do. I, I’m 61. I might be on the older age of a average direct salesperson. I often hear who’s your ideal customer. And somebody will say somebody between the ages of 25 and 55. And I’m thinking, hello, what about me? Mm hmm. And yeah, so don’t, don’t let that stop you. Women don’t, don’t, um, don’t accept dream and go for it. Great advice.

Let us just dig in a minute. And because we have some listeners that might want to follow you on social. Where can they find you? Like, tell us where, where we can find you on social. I’m on, uh, working on my website at jacquierougeau.com. You can also find me on Instagram. That’s where I am quite often as well at Spice Diva CEO. That’s kind of my tagline. So you can search me there. And I’ll make sure that I link them in the show notes for sure. So our listeners can follow you. Yeah, that’s cool.

Thank you. Jackie, did you have anything else that you wanted to say before we wrap up? Yeah, I just want to wish you luck through all of this, Lisa. I’m one of your biggest cheerleaders. So Um yeah, let’s cheer each other on women. Cheer each other on. And and I do know that I mean I get messages from Jackie all the time and I appreciate them so much. This is definitely a step outside of my comfort zone to do this and I appreciate you being one of my first guests. Thank you so much Jackie for joining us and we will see you guys on the next podcast. We’ll take care everyone. Bye.