I am more than excited to announce my co-host for today, Miss Marilyn. She is one of the most energetic and loving people that you will ever meet in Paparazzi and you are in for a treat today with her interview.
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Miss Marilyn is Amazing! She is Crown Club 10 member. She has a team of Blessed Bombshells that has 666 team members, as of this recording. She is WAY anxious to get past the number 666 but it will happen. Miss Marilyn has won Rock the Runway 2 times and Zi Boutique Blitz 2 times. (this is something that Paparazzi has phased out, but basically she got to go shopping the Zi boutique at convention before anyone else.)
She hit Directory her 1st month, and Producer her 3rd month, and then in her 4th month she won a free trip to the Caribbean. She was on fire, she is currently on fire. She just goes nuts with Paparazzi.
Now, one of the cool things with Paparazzi and something that is near and dear to my heart is the necklace, The Marilyn. It is one of the honors bestowed on the Paparazzi Rock the Runway models in 2015. Marilyn has a necklace named after her. I’m sure you’ll see a lot of people sporting “The Marilyn” at convention, but it was only available at convention last year. It’s locked up. It’s in the vault, but I’m sure you’ll see it because it was a popular necklace.
Miss Marilyn is one of the newest Elite leaders. She hit Elite in February 2016. The thing that is super neat to me and is so inspiring is, number one, it was February. There is only 28 days in February. February is THE hardest month to rank, any rank. Miss Marilyn and the Bombshells DOUBLE ranked in February. They went from Producer to Executive Producer – they double ranked, Miss Marilyn actually even knows the day and time – you want to know this? February 25th at 5pm. And then the team went on to exceed what they needed for Elite by a lot.
Miss Marilyn thought it was kind of a fluke, even though she got the rank, but they did it again in March and they have been on fire ever since.
Did I leave anything out?
Marilyn: That was fabulous!
Why did you get started with Paparazzi?
Marilyn: I did not mean to start with Paparazzi. It was all a big accident. So I had no intention of being in Direct Sales or any of it because I hated Network Marketing. I had a store, which is a much longer story, and I was looking for something to sell because we were thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in debt and my oldest son was missing and my car was broken down. My little boy was crying about 2 hours a day, screaming and hitting the floor and kicking his legs. Life was in shambles. I had $300 left and to be honest with you I was gonna kill myself that night.
And then I found this jewelry that had a tag. I realize that this sounds completely insane now that I know all you sane people. I know that people like think about things and stuff and they like do research and don’t just go, “Oh, I like the tag. It has a pink crown and it’s called Paparazzi. My favorite colors are pink and black, so I think I’ll order 100 pieces of jewelry with my last $300.”
Like that’s completely insane. I know that now. At the time it made perfect sense. It was a leap of faith. I know that it was the Holy Spirit guiding me. Then I literally would tell people to go away because I was not building a team. There are girls, my personally sponsored that are still on the team, that will tell you that I told them to go away and that I wasn’t building a team.
So my team just kinda built its self. I LOVED the jewelry. I loved jewelry. So then our founders and you, and all my other really close friends in Paparazzi just kinda loved me through it. Every time I showed up everyone was happy to see me and really nice and I love the jewelry.
Everybody is so supportive and encouraging. Then I finally got it. I’ve always known that this is God’s plan but it kinda like didn’t make any sense because I hate direct sales. I hate network marketing. The one thing I would never, ever, ever, ever, ever do in my entire life. I would never do direct sales.
Awnya: The thing that I love is you didn’t realize what you were getting into. The pink crown is cute. I love the crown on the tag. I believe God places things in our lives for a reason and at the right time. I think that he just knew that you needed this when you needed it and he put it right in your life, knowing that the pink crown would speak to you. And it would be the answer to everything that you needed in your life.
Marilyn: Isn’t it crazy?! Crazy meaning like – “What a GREAT thing. Go GOD!” Paparazzi saved my life. Direct sales. The one thing I didn’t want to do.
What is your Paparazzi Why?
Marilyn: For me, it has become, and my best friend said this, “This is a ministry. And you love serving others. You love doing acts of kindness. You love helping other people. That’s what this is! It’s perfect for you!” So I thought my why was to save my store, which is really my charity. Save my charity, which it was and is. But really, now it has evolved into, I LOVE serving others. I love nothing more than going to Starbucks and sitting with the Bombshells. I love just sitting and serving others and helping other people. I believe that is what my why has turned into. Its faith based leadership and faith based service. And that truly is my why.
Although, I love the fact that I get to hang out with Maveric and travel and work from my phone. Really my why is serving others and seeing the difference it makes in their lives. You and I both know, there are bombshells whose lives have dramatically changed within 2 months, sometimes 1 month.
Or they’ve changed from being full of depression and anxiety. Even things as heavy as that. So to me, I believe that’s my calling now, and that’s why God put this in my life. I always say, “It has nothing to do with the jewelry.” Of course, it stems from the jewelry but it has nothing to do with the jewelry. It’s about serving others and changing people’s lives and creating a community.
Awnya: Can you all hear why I love Miss Marilyn so much??! She is Elite. She is one of the top 18 people in Paparazzi that is just KILLING it in her business and yet she is so humble and so generous and loving. She is not sitting here being like, “Okay everybody. You need to help me with this,” or, “I’m so awesome.” She is about helping other people. It’s just inspiring. It’s contagious.
I love Marilyn’s attitude towards life and towards service. A couple weeks ago I did a call about not being pushy. We talked about in that call how you have to have that shift in your attitude about talking to people about the jewelry and how you are pushing it on them because that’s not what we are doing with Paparazzi.
We’re sharing. And it’s the same with the business opportunity. You’re not pushing something on someone. All you are doing is OFFERING it to them. Marilyn totally exemplifies that in all that she does. In everything that she does is that service attitude and that helping people. I just love that so much.
Marilyn: I love that word. Offering. Because that’s what I say. I’m offering this to you. Or I’m offering this jewelry to you. It’s $5.
Awnya: And that love. I think people can feel that love. They can feel that you don’t just want them in your team for numbers. I mean, maybe other than the 666 to get to the 667, right?!
Marilyn: Right! We need a 667. The 666 makes me very uncomfortable. I was telling Awnya before, when I had 66 personally sponsored I was like, “Auh! Somebody sign up right now. I don’t care. Somebody sign up. I don’t even care if you want to do this business or not, we just need somebody to sign up.” I just do not like those numbers at all.
Awnya: Let’s take a little bit of a shift. I know that you are a very positive person Miss Marilyn so this question might be a little bit difficult for you, but the reason I ask that is as consultants I think, especially not Elite consultants, people tend to get in their brains too much. They think, “Oh the Elite, they’ve never had these problems. They’ve never struggled. Everything has been smooth sailing, they just get there. They wave the magic wand and get to that Elite position. They don’t know what it is to go through what I’m going through or to grind.”
So the reason that I like to go to this story of your worst Paparazzi moment is to show everybody, the Elite struggle too. You guys have had your struggles. You’ve had the worst moments, sometimes even worse than what I’ve had to deal with. You’ve struggled and pushed through and that’s why you are where you are today, because you get through those hard moments. You don’t quit and you keep going.
So, Marilyn, draw us a picture, take us to that moment in time that was your worst moment in Paparazzi:
Marilyn: Well, first, I love that you said that because it’s true, and especially right now. I feel like that weighs really heavy on me. All the new team members see right now is all the excitement and the fun and that I went to Leadership Summit and was treated like a movie star, spoiled rotten! And then we will go to convention and I’ll get a crystal necklace and that’s what they are seeing, right?!
They weren’t here when my car didn’t work. I went to convention my first year with no credit card and couldn’t get into my hotel room. Even though we were doing great, I was still trying to save my shop, so I bought 3 pieces of the fall collection for $2.75 cuz that’s all I could afford and I was like crying at checkout cuz I couldn’t buy any jewelry.
Awnya: Three pieces? Like one, two, three. Three pieces, not thirty?
Marilyn: Three pieces at 2.75. Three pieces, that’s all that I got. It’s been coming up lately because I feel like the new bombshells, when they struggle, they are like, “Well, you are Elite and you have no idea.” I’m like, “Oh honey. I’ve slept on the ground at the flea market. It was 103 degrees”.
People forget that I had no one. They see all the pictures now with 200 people in them, right?! They don’t realize I had no friends, no family. Nobody when I started. And I went to the flea market and slept on the ground to be around people. Literally slept on the ground. Michelle Johnny remembers. I would send her pictures. She must have been horrified, right?! I’m sleeping on the ground to get a spot at the flea market with my 4 year old. It’s literally 103 degrees.
My car would break down, I don’t even know. One day, Maveric, he’s starting to talk about it now, he’s like, “Do you remember we were at that event and the van, like the bottom of the van fell out and like we couldn’t get home?”
I just found a picture of him with his Handy Many tools trying to repair the car. It was awful. We just kept going. My team always says, “Like Miss Marilyn says, ‘just keep going’.” And I say, “Just keep moving forward in Faith”. I just didn’t let anything stop me. Like anything. I literally was locked out of my shop and it was being repossessed as I left for my first convention.
And nobody knows that. I’ve never said that publicly, but some of my personally sponsored know. I bought 3 pieces of jewelry. I couldn’t afford to eat. Any sane person wouldn’t have gone to their first convention, but I knew I had to be there and I went and did whatever it took.
So that, now, I remember getting to the desk and I couldn’t check in because I didn’t have a credit card or a debit card or anything. And I literally could not check in to the hotel. I remember looking down and seeing some of the Elite and going, “Oh, I should go ask them. No, I would never.” I was mortified.
But my worst one, I had this little display thing that I had put together. My first 15 minutes, wind came and the whole… remember I took my last $300, so I’m at the flea market with my last $300 and it’s 103 degrees. The wind came and it blew it all over. And everything went flying. All over.
This flea market, there’s thousands of people at the flea market, so probably 100 people were walking by. For real. Like this thick, dense group of people. And this board falls over, the silver pegs go flying and jewelry goes flying all over. And all over the people step back, like the Red Sea parting. That’s like the vision I had in my mind after this. And they all just stare at me and look at the ground and stare at the jewelry and no body helps me. Every dime I have is laying all over the ground. In that moment I could have picked everything up, put it in the box and given up, but I didn’t.
And now, I would never be in a situation where I didn’t have help or where I’m not surrounded by kind people.
What is the lesson that you want Paparazzi to take from this?
Marilyn: There is no difference between an Elite consultant and a star consultant. The only thing is we don’t give up, No Matter What. We don’t give up. We don’t get stuck in our excuses. And I’ve got 7000 excuses, all day, every day. We just keep going. And that is the lesson from that.
I picked everything up. Hung it back up. Kept going. And that’s what you have to do is just keep going and not let anything stop you. Keep moving forward in faith no matter what.
Awnya: No matter what, that is huge. I love in your story how there’s so many low points. Like when you were sleeping on the floor and waiting to check in at the hotel at convention. Like at convention people. But she got there. Can you say that? Can you say that you would go somewhere where you maybe couldn’t even get into the hotel room? That would be kinda scary!
Marilyn: Like, make it happen. No excuses. I’m not going to miss this convention, even though I can’t afford to be here. And I tell my team that when they give me all their excuses. And I say, “You aren’t really reaching out to me with excuses. And you think I’m going to live in your comfort zone with you?! Or I’m gonna hang out in your comfort zone with you? After I slept on the ground?” This business works! You just have to keep going.
That’s it. No excuses. Don’t quit. Make it happen.
Awnya: I love that you touched on comfort zones there. We could do a whole like 8 calls on comfort zones, but the thing I think about comfort zones is there’s no growth that happens in there. There’s no fire. There’s a quote:
So if you want to grow, get uncomfortable. Miss Marilyn was totally uncomfortable at the flea market sleeping on the ground with her kid or when the bottom fell out of the bottom of her van. She kept going because she knew that something amazing was waiting on the other side. Well, maybe not event that, but ya just knew that you had to push through and you had to keep going.
Cuz, you know, it can only get worse, but it’s not going to get better if you stay where you are at, right?!
Marilyn: Right! Yeah. I didn’t even really understand. THIS is totally uncomfortable for me. Doing a podcast on network marketing. Like who am I to talk about network marketing? That’s the craziest thing ever. I’m the person that hated it, which I know seems crazy. “Ok, you’re an Elite consultant with Paparazzi Accessories. Why would that be uncomfortable?” Well, because it’s network marketing. That’s not my comfort zone.
Which again sounds crazy, but everybody has their own thing going on in their head. And you just have to keep pushing through it. It’s mindset. “I’m an Elite consultant with Paparazzi Accessories. Who better to do an interview with you?!” Like why do I not think THAT way. Get out of your comfort zone, change your mindset and watch your blessings blow you away.
Awnya: You know, another thing that totally surprises me by you saying that this is not in your comfort zone, many of you don’t know this about Miss Marilyn, but she was a performer before Paparazzi. She was a fire-eater, if I’m not mistaken. Right, Miss Marilyn?
Marilyn: Right. A magician and a fire eater and an author. Right. I’ve done some television and radio…
Awnya: So this should be right in your wheelhouse, but it’s totally not.
Marilyn: Walking the runway was torture for me. Modeling the Zi collection was torture. It’s totally different to be yourself than to be a performer on stage. It’s totally different. WAY out of my comfort zone, which is an important thing to talk about.
People think, “Miss Marilyn is so comfortable in front of the camera. Oh, Miss Marilyn can do anything.” Misty is like, “You have no comfort zone. You’re so fearless.” I’m looking at her like, “What is wrong with you?! Like, you are Cra-cra! I am freaking out here at leadership summit.”
It’s me getting over myself and getting out of my own way. Getting out of my comfort zone, and not blocking my blessings. Changing my mindset, which is a struggle everyday if you are painfully shy, full of anxiety and suffer from depression. It’s really a challenge.
So, every day I’m like, “God has put these people in my life. They are my blessings from the box.” Everybody in the company, not just the Blessed Bombshells. I have to get out of my own way and serve others and honor Him. I can’t do that in my comfort zone.
Which my comfort zone is where I am right now. In my bedroom, probably writing.
What is a habit that you have that contributes to your success?
Marilyn: Don’t give up. Truly my success does not come from me. It is the Bombshells and they inspire me. They don’t give up. If they’ve got kids and husbands, they are working in the middle of the night and making it happen. They truly are what is the consistency in my life. Their focus and drive and their inspiration. And they’re consistent. They are all of the things that I want to be.
Awnya: I love that. Consistency is key. If you are hit and miss, then your customers don’t know to rely on you. Your team doesn’t know to rely on you. You have to be consistent and whether your version of consistency is once a week or once a month or whatever, you have to let people know that
1- you are still in business
2- you have new jewelry
3- you have an opportunity for them to make money and have so much fun like you do as well.
You have to do that consistently otherwise people aren’t going to know that you’re in business and they are going to think that you are just trying something out or that it’s a whim.
Marilyn: My consistency is being available to my team. And I always wear the jewelry. I have things that I’m consistent with, but I definitely get my inspiration from my team and they are the ones that have made this happen. They are just amazing. I call them legends because what they did has never been done before. And they truly are. They do everything consistently and they’re coachable. And that is key. To be coachable. The 2 C’s. Look, we just created a theory. Coachable and Consistent, is what I would say.
Awnya: You have to be open to new ideas. If you are not coachable then that’s when pride comes in. We talked about this earlier in the call. You have to have that humility. It’s attractive. People like that.
If you are out there like, “I’m the best thing since sliced bread,” people aren’t attracted to that because it’s not cool. I don’t want to be around someone who thinks they are the coolest thing ever. I want to be around somebody who is going to lift me up. That comes from humility and from being coachable still.
I know a little a bit about you Miss Marilyn. I’m going to throw you a little bit under the bus here. Miss Marilyn had some really colorful displays. I want to say it was last year that Misty, one of the founders, said, “Miss Marilyn, the jewelry needs to be the star of your displays, you need to go with black and white.” And Marilyn was like, “No zebra print?!”
Marilyn: Right! I about died.
Awnya: Even though she was a little bit sad about losing that zebra print, she listened to Misty, cuz Misty knows what she’s talking about. She was coachable and she changed things up. And look at her now! I mean, I can’t say that this one thing has changed her business, but it couldn’t hurt.
Marilyn: And I was shocked. I’m looking at her, and I’m like, “What?!” You know, all black?? How boring is that! Like, what?!”
So they have hashtags, Chani is sweet and Misty is sassy. Chani is my security blanket and Misty pushes me out of my comfort zone. And I don’t know how she knew I was coachable to tell me that. Do you remember that I would post pictures and would be like, “Oh, I’m getting rid of the zebras. Kill me now.” Then I did my first event in April in 2015. All black. My mom went with me to that event and my mom is like Italian, over the top as well. She’s like, “All black?” And I remember it was all morning….All black. No hot pink. No zebra. Has everybody lost their minds?! WE live for pink and zebra!
The only pink there was my feather boa. Misty’s words are, “The jewelry should be the focal point.” I changed it to the “star of the stage” to wrap my head around it. There’s a stage and the jewelry’s gonna star on it. It makes total sense now, but at the time….
People just rebel and miss that because it goes back to that whole coachable thing.
What advice would you give to a brand new Paparazzi consultant?
Marilyn: Wear the jewelry. Take all of your costume jewelry and all your real jewelry, unless it’s sentimental. Now I’m not saying to take the ring your grandmother gave you and put it away or the necklace that your husband gave you and put it away.
Awnya: Or your wedding ring.
Marilyn: Right! Or your wedding ring. You are blessed to have a husband, rock that wedding ring. BUT, other than that, take ALL your costume jewelry and only wear Paparazzi. And watch your life completely change.
Awnya: Now how many pieces do you tell people to wear regularly? Robin says 5, try to wear 5. How many do you suggest every day.
Marilyn. I say 5 too, cuz 5 is my lucky number. But I also say that you should wear 4 pieces and a hair accessory. And if you don’t want to rock Hippie Headbands across your forehead, cuz we all went to convention last year and got everybody started wearing them. So I understand if that’s way outta people’s comfort zones. Then take a flower, put it on your hat put it on your purse, put it on your shirt.
Oh! I’ve put them on baseball hats, on Paparazzi hats. I’m completely obsessed with Paparazzi, so I wouldn’t not wear a hair accessory at this point. I’ve never worn anything but Paparazzi since the very first day I’ve opened that box, ever. You can go look at every single picture, ever. And I always put a hair accessory somewhere.
Awnya: It’s so true too. If you aren’t wearing the jewelry, how are people even supposed to know that you even have a jewelry business? And how often do we hear of consultants selling necklaces right off their body? Or a bracelet?
I sold my favorite bracelet the other day. I am still very sad about it because it’s not one I can buy again. I should know better than wearing my favorite things out in public, but I was buying my drink and the owner of the place said, “Oh my gosh, I love your bracelet.” And I was like, “I sell it. It’s $5.” And she was like, “I need that in my life.” I was like, “Please no. Don’t take my bracelet.” Then she says to me, “When can you come set up and sell you jewelry here in my shop?” So I thought to myself, “selling jewelry in her shop and meeting all these people vs. $5 bracelet? Just give her the dang bracelet.” But still, my heart broke.
Marilyn: I know! It’s funny. I try to wear blockbusters a lot. Especially when I’m going somewhere new. Like I have all these rules about how I’m going to wear all the jewelry. Well, not really rules, but they are just kinda funny. Same thing, you know. “Oh, I’ll have to sell it off me. Ok, what am I going to wear today? Cuz I don’t know these people” And I’m not going to say to somebody new, “No you can’t have it.” So how many of this bracelet do I have? Can I put them in my purse and sell them out of my purse if everyone likes it?
Oh the struggle is real. First world problems right?!
If you could suggest 1 thing to a consultant who is feeling stuck in their business, what would you tell them?
Marilyn: Put on some jewelry and go. Just like what we just said, go where there’s some people. And put on the BIGGEST piece of Paparazzi that you own. Don’t like put a coat or a sweater over it. Just go walk around and people will compliment you.
Awnya: You have to be where there’s people. I mean, if you are sitting in your house, wearing you jewelry, you aren’t going to have those conversations. You gotta get your butt out there and get working it.
Marilyn: Make it happen. There is no reason to be stuck in this business or to be struggling. If I can do this, for real, anybody can do this. I have a head injury. I don’t even know what day it is most of the time. If I can do this, anybody can do this. The secret is to wear the jewelry and keep going. Don’t get stuck in your excuses.
Awnya: I love what you said right there. I’m gonna say it again. Don’t get stuck in your excuses.
Marilyn: It’s truly the easiest business in the whole world. The price point is fabulous. And we get to party for a living. And then Paparazzi spoils us. Like, it’s crazy cool. If you are stuck, you are in your own way. Which is kinda cruel, but you know that I believe in this more than anything I’ve ever done in my entire life.
I eat breath, sleep, drink, walk, talk Paparazzi. Like I live this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There isn’t a moment I’m not thinking about Paparazzi, working on Paparazzi, thinking about my team, thinking about my friends in Paparazzi. I LOVE this business, so when you tell me that it’s not working for you, I get so convicted. It will work! Get out of your way.
What is a quote you have that inspires you?
Marilyn: That would be my mantra which is, “Claim Your Cleavage,” which also means, to claim your faith and it means:
It really is what gets me going every day and I say a Cleavage Creed to myself. It truly inspires me to keep going and to star in my life because if you don’t star in your own life, who’s going to star in it for you? You really just have to get out of your way. Claim your Cleavage. Own who you are. Believe in your dreams and make it happen.
What is a book you say is a must read and why?
Marilyn: The Bible. The instructions are in there and my favorite quote from there is, “I can do all things with God who strengthen me.” because some days I’m like, “I do not know how to have a team with 666 people on it. I do not know what to say to anybody. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I have no clue”. You know?! Then I just pray about it and I say that to myself, “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me,” and I read from the bible and I just keep going.
Awnya: So now, here on the Papa Rock Stars Podcast, I like to give everybody a call challenge. This week, I’m going to leave that up to you.
What is the 1 thing you would like for he listeners to do in the next 7 days to take action in their Paparazzi business?
Marilyn: I want you to go out, and no judgement or anything, find 2 people this week and give them a piece of jewelry. Take a picture of you with that person and tag Awnya and I on Facebook. My wall is public you can tag yourself and anyone else. Awnya’s is public too. You can tag us, you should have no issues!
I want to see over 100 pictures of this act of kindness! I believe that the more kindness you put out in the world, the more it comes back to you – that’s in the Cleavage Creed as well. Be kind to all you meet and see.
2 pieces. You can give out more if you want to, I try and do 5 a week. I know when I started, giving away 5 pieces of jewelry would have been a lot, so 2 pieces this week. It doesn’t have to be to somebody that you think deserves it, it’s just something nice. Just 2 people and just make their day by giving them a piece of Paparazzi. And you change the world!
Awnya: That is such a neat challenge. I know I will be doing it! I know Miss Marilyn, you do it every week. Let’s see those pictures!! And Rock it on!
Marilyn: Tag us on Facebook! Let’s get the kindness going!! For me, I call them dares. Bombshells do dares because we think we are sexy. So I’m daring you to go give away 2 pieces of Paparazzi as an act of kindness so you are changing the world through kindness. That is what our mission statement is all about, changing the world $5 at a time.
And tag Awnya and I on Facebook and let’s flood Facebook with kindness
Awnya: I can’t wait to see it! Thanks for listening in today!
Show Notes:
Miss Marilyn Chivata, Paparazzi Elite Leader interview – printable show transcripts