The One Word Direct Sales Consultants Forget: Independent
Have you ever been told there's only one right way to build your direct sales business?
One right platform, one right event format, one right strategy and if you're not doing it that way, you're doing it wrong?
Friend, I've been watching this play out for twenty-three years. And I have something to say about it.
There are as many ways to build a successful direct sales business as there are consultants building them. Your season of life matters. Your strengths matter. Your gifts matter. And the pathway that works best for you might not look anything like the one your leader is using or the one your company puts on a pedestal at national conference.
That's not a problem. That's actually the point.
The Day I Watched Someone Win and Get Punished For It
I was brand new to direct sales, less than six months in, when I attended my first national conference. I didn't know much. I didn't know the politics, the pecking order, or the unwritten rules. I was just watching, taking it all in.
And what I watched stopped me cold.
There was a woman winning award after award. She should have had the whole room on their feet. Instead, the energy around her was… cold. People were grumbling. She wasn't being cheered. She wasn't being included. And I remember watching her walk up to accept those awards and feeling something I couldn't quite name at the time.
It was this...she had found something new. Something that was working. And everyone around her was playing a game of whack-a-mole, trying to knock her back down into the box they'd all agreed to stay in.
It was 2003. This was the early days of the internet. We're talking dial-up. Google wasn't even a thing yet. Every single consultant in that room was doing home parties — because that was the way. That was the model, the method, the only path anyone could imagine. And this woman had started dabbling in the digital world, finding customers in a way nobody else was doing yet.
She wasn't breaking rules. She was just thinking bigger.
And they couldn't stand it.
I was too new to fully understand what I was seeing, but I never forgot it. Because I would go on to watch that same scene play out over and over again in this industry for the next two decades. Someone finds a new pathway. Someone else tries to shut it down.
The Time I Was the One Doing the Whack-a-Mole
Fast forward to 2015. I had thirteen years in direct sales under my belt. I was a leader. I had a large organization. And I thought I knew what I was talking about.
That year, the CEO of my company stood on stage at national conference, stamped her foot, and declared that home parties were the backbone of our business. That real connection could only happen face-to-face. That this new thing called Facebook parties? Not worth our time.
And I went home and said exactly that to my team.
I told them Facebook parties didn't count. That if they were doing them, I didn't even want to hear about it. We were a home party team, from a home party company, and that's what we were going to do.
I repeated that message over and over.
Until.
I had earned a coaching call with a mentor I deeply admired. And in that call, she said something that cracked me open. She said in 2015 a strong leader knows how to work three things: home parties, corporate gifting partnerships, and Facebook parties.
I didn't have the courage in that moment to tell her I'd been actively telling my team to ignore one of those three things. I just sat with it.
I hung up that call, quietly figured out how to run a Facebook party, and ran my first one thirty days later. It was legitimate. It worked. And the knot in my stomach grew, because I knew what I had done.
The apology to my team wasn't immediate. But it came. I had to apologize and tell them I was wrong. I told them there isn't one right way to work this business — there are many ways. And from that point forward, we started looking for all of them. We built multiple pathways into our businesses, because that's what creates something sustainable. One way works great until it doesn't. Life shifts, seasons change, platforms evolve. When you have more than one way to reach people and make sales, you don't have to start over every time something stops working.
That's not a nice-to-have. That's how you build a business that lasts.
What I'm Hearing Right Now, In 2026
Here's why I'm telling you these stories today.
Because it's still happening.
I'm coaching consultants right now who are telling me things like:
"That's not really how my company wants us to work the business."
"My leader doesn't use that platform, so she doesn't think we should either."
"I think this approach might actually work for me, but I'm not sure my upline would approve."
And every time I hear it, my heart does a little ache. Because I see that woman at the conference, winning awards in a room full of cold shoulders. I see myself in 2015, stamping out innovation on my own team without even realizing what I was doing.
So let me say this clearly, friend.
You are an independent consultant.
Independent. That word matters. It means you get to build this business in a way that fits your strengths, your talents, and the season of life you're actually in — not the season someone else is in. Not the season your leader built her business in ten years ago. Not the format that felt safe to showcase on a conference stage.
Your business, your way.
Now, does that mean you throw out every piece of advice your leader or your company gives you? Of course not. There's real wisdom in experience, and a good leader will absolutely help you shortcut your learning curve. But there's a difference between receiving guidance and being boxed in. A strong leader opens doors. She doesn't stand in front of them.
And here's the thing nobody talks about: the pathway that grows your business in 2026 might not even exist yet in the way we currently imagine it. The woman at that conference in the dial-up days was building something nobody had a name for yet. I learned Facebook parties were a legitimate sales tool only after I'd already told my team they weren't. The direct sales business tips that matter most are often the ones that feel a little uncomfortable because they're new.
Give yourself grace for the times you stayed in the box — we've all done it. But at some point, you have to decide: are you going to keep letting someone else play whack-a-mole with your potential? Or are you going to be the woman winning the awards?
Nobody's coming with a permission slip to step outside of the box. Just remember, you're an independent consultant. You can write your own permission slip.
And I'm cheering for you! Even if it feels like no one else is.
If you're craving more strategies, mindset shifts, and direct sales business tips that actually fit real life, The Weekly Buzz was made for you. It's my weekly email with actionable ideas to help you build a business that works for you. Subscribe and let's keep the conversation going.
