Introduction
Excerpt from my new book, My Journey to Venus: From Broken to Breakthrough in Network Marketing
My name is Carrie Dickie. I am a seeker, a mother, a businesswoman, a leader, a risk-taker, a yogi, and a friend.
From the time I was five years old, I knew I was different. It wasn’t a good different, but rather a weird different. I felt separate and lonely. I wanted people to notice me. I wanted to stand out. I wanted to succeed and make a difference, but I needed help finding my voice. I stayed relatively quiet. It was uncomfortable but safe.
Kids are cruel. I let them define me. I begged them to accept me with my eyes. I blended in. I felt awkward, pale, and skinny. I had a few friends. I could be myself when we were alone and away from the pack. Even though I was young, the pack mentality felt dangerous, and I avoided it.
We moved a lot. Each time I relished the opportunity to start fresh. I was a cheerleader, a gymnast, a track-and-field competitor, a dancer, and a swimmer, and yet I never felt as if I fit in. I never knew how to dress, wear my hair, walk in the halls, date, or meet and mingle. Being me was excruciating. Everyone else seemed to know just what to say, what to wear, what not to say and wear, and how to style their hair.
I felt this way through college. I never belonged to a sorority or attended a frat party. I knew my family wasn’t right, my outfit was wrong, and I wouldn’t know what to say to a sorority sister. It did not matter that I didn’t want to be a sorority sister. It was not an option.
I got my degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder, and all I ever knew was what I didn’t want to do. I had no idea what I did want to do. But I was passionate and enthusiastic. I had friends and boyfriends. I eventually met and married my husband, Gordon, and we had two children.
I pursued network marketing because I was desperate to succeed, to be seen, and to figure out who I was. I couldn’t articulate what I wanted when I joined my first company, but I knew this: I didn’t feel whole. Nor was I comfortable in my skin. Before network marketing, I earned at most $40,000 in any calendar year.
Although I have gone on to make life-changing money in the remarkable network marketing profession, my story is not one of rags to riches but rather one of personal inquiry.