MLM Success story: Terri Hammack

Terri Hammack shares her successes and failures in her career as a network marketer.
My desire to be self-employed originally started before I got involved with network marketing.  I was always kind of a serial entrepreneur.  My first business was when I had a retail popcorn store—I was in business for myself, but I felt like the public was my boss.  In order to be successful in retail, you are required to be open in the hours that are typical retail hours.

After doing that for about three years, I came home after the Christmas rush one year and realized that it just wasn’t worth it to me—I got home that night and was so exhausted I couldn’t decide if I wanted to eat or sleep.  I realized my business was making me feel hatred for what had been my favorite season: Christmas, which is when I decided to sell my business.  I still had the desire to be self-employed, however.

Working from home for family

I later had a different opportunity where I was actually working from home.  I had two children at this time—two little girls.  I did not want to work outside the home, so I next started a little direct mail coupon book business.  I did outside sales for the ad, then I created the book on my computer at home—I did the layout and everything except print and distribute it; I sent it off to a printer which then created the book and did the mailing for me.

I did that for several years and achieved my goal of being at home, but it wasn’t lucrative enough for the time spent.  I sold that business as well.  From there I took a job in the field of long distance.  A friend of mine called me out of the blue one day and asked me to come work for her.  I really liked and respected her, so I did. But again, in a few years I found myself not really happy—I just didn’t like working for the other guy.  One day, one of my customers (who years down the road became my now-husband, John Hammack) called me and asked me to help him evaluate his business, which involved long distance.  At that point, I told him I didn’t think it was a very good idea.  I saw where long distance was going and I wouldn’t get involved with it, because I could see it going away, and it did.

I didn’t get involved with that business venture, but perhaps another year or so down the road, he called me with another idea.  This time I was intrigued.  It was a company called Market America and their concept was a mall without walls.  They had all kinds of interesting and good products that I could see myself using and sharing, so I got involved.  Fortunately I was able to do that exclusively, and with his help, I was able to learn the business and grow as a networker and become successful.

Challenges of being your own boss

The challenges with starting and running a business from home are obvious when you have small children at home, especially if you’re in building mode where you’re hammering the phones nonstop.  You have little kids that need your attention while you’re on the phone; I discovered early on that the easiest way for me was to stop everything the minute they came home from school, and I’d give them my undivided attention for as long as they needed it.  It was like touching home base—they’d come in, we’d touch base, they’d get their fill of me, and then they’d be on to the next thing—homework or friends or whatever it was.

That really helped me deal with that problem, to where I was able to do both things simultaneously—be a good mother to my children and also a good sponsor for my team.  I will say, right here and now, I’ve always taken the position that my business comes third in my life.  I put God first, my children and my family next, and then my business.  I believe that’s the way it should be and how it works best.  Other than that, challenges of working from home—you have the typical getting sidetracked by housework or someone coming to your front door.  There are all kinds of distractions that you might not have at an office.

Benefits of being your own boss

On the flip side, you have all the benefits and perks of being your own boss.  No one’s telling you when you can go on vacation, or how long; when to take a break, or any of that stuff.  You call the shots, and that’s appealing to me.  That outweighs any possible negatives that might stem from working at home.  Over the years as we’ve gotten more and more successful, those problems really are not problems at all—I just prioritize.  If anything at home requires attention, I give it attention, even if it means putting my business on hold, which I have had to do on more than one occasion.  I never second guess those decisions.

I don’t really work with my husband.  We both have offices in our home, but I do one business and he does another.  We’ve always wanted to work the same business, but it seems like we never have.  I’ve been involved with electricity for the last seven years and he’s been involved with other things.  He’s got a lot of different irons in the fire, and as a result of that, on top of my network marketing business, I also manage and take care of those other companies, so that keeps me kind of busy, but it’s okay.

The bottom line is this: no matter what challenges you may encounter working from home as your own boss, it beats the heck out of the alternative, in my opinion!