Today I’m joined by Alicia Williams. Now, if you have heard the name around, you know that she is a Rock Star in Paparazzi. One of the newest Elite Leaders in Paparazzi and I’m super excited to welcome her to the call today.
Listen Now or Download:
Call Image:
Training:
Today I’m joined by Alicia Williams. Now, if you have heard the name around, you know that she is a Rock Star in Paparazzi. One of the newest Elite Leaders in Paparazzi and I’m super excited to welcome her to the call today.
Let me tell you bit about Alicia here. Alicia started Paparazzi back in April of 2015. She has 3 beautiful children ages 12, 9 and 7. Two boys and a girl. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She works as a college administrator with a background in administration. She manages all the faculty and staff. Her favorite thing to do is reading, spending time with family and, of course, shopping. Who doesn’t love shopping, right?!
She became an Elite leader in less than a year. Amazing, right? Her business continues to grow month over month and she has hit all kinds of ranks and achievements in such a short time. I believe back in February, I thought I saw her having 50 personally sponsored active consultants in a month! Right, Alicia?
Alicia: In February, yes!
Awnya: Amazing. I was looking at the leader boards and I was like, “This girl is on FIRE!” There is no other way to describe it. Alicia is Executive Producer, which is of course, the Elite rank and she is Crown 25.
Welcome to the call Alicia! Did I leave anything out?
Alicia: Oh! That I’m married! I’ve been several years now.
Awnya: That is important! We don’t want to forget him!
Alicia: Other than that, no, everything is great. So excited to be on the call with everyone today and looking forward to sharing a few nuggets and hopefully you guys can take quite a few things away and learn a little bit about me at the same time.
Awnya: We are super excited to have you. Let’s jump right into the questions
How did you get started with Paparazzi?
Alicia: So initially, I had heard about Paparazzi. Paparazzi is not my first rodeo with direct sales and network marketing. I was participating with another business as a vendor at an event. I had seen Paparazzi maybe 1-3 times at different events here and there. Never really gave it any thought. Really never paid it any attention until one of my close friends, who joined Paparazzi a month before, kinda introduced it to me again and gave me some background information.
But I have to honestly say, when she first initially gave me the background information, I was heavily involved in the other business. I said to myself, “No, I’m not taking anything else on my plate. My schedule was already hectic. I have so much going on with the kids and my job is very demanding. Where would I find the time to add another business to my plate?
Then I thought about it when she explained what it is, “You know, it’s $5 jewelry,” and initially- I have to be honest everyone. Hear me today. Hear from the words of Alicia. “If its $5, is it really quality? Do you know what type of jewelry that I wear?”
Honestly, that is what I said to my friend. And I was like, “It can’t be quality jewelry.” So. okay. I thought about it after our initial conversation, maybe a couple days later I thought about it some more. Kinda talked it over with my husband. He just said, “Do you want to add this to your plate?” Well, the first thing that I thought about was, “I do love jewelry. I do love accessories. Anything fashion, all things girly. That is going to be me. That screams Alicia all day long.”
So after talking with her a couple times, I didn’t even say anything to her on that particular day. I just signed up. But the reason why I actually signed up was because I had to put my business hat on. As always, I’m very professional in all things I do and I always think of the business side of things. “How will this impact me? What can I actually get for this business? What is this business going to do for me?”
And I thought about, “Hum. Five dollars. Who couldn’t sell $5 jewelry?” Honestly, I told her- and when I say her, I’m speaking of my close friend, those of you who know, Tyronica Carter who is also a Premier Producer in the company as well. I told her, I said. I’m just gonna tell you right out of the bat. “If I come on board, I’m going to kill the game.” And these are my words right out the bag.
I was joking, but I knew that it was a no brainier. I thought about it and I put away the quality of the jewelry. “I will see what the quality of the jewelry is.” and no matter what the quality was, I was going to make this work for me. And I actually did just that.
Awnya: I love so many things about your why. The thing that I just want to highlight and bring out to everybody listening is that you kinda had your plan. You had what you were doing. You had a business, had your life, your job and everything. God put it in your path. And he said, “You know what, here you go.” and took you down a new direction. One you weren’t expecting, but it happened in the right time but what a blessing!
What is your Why?
Alicia: I had no idea what was going to happen. My initial why, if it’s okay, we can go into the next one.
Awnya: absolutely.
Alicia: My initial why was just simply to provide a life for my family that we didn’t need a vacation from, because with everything going on, you know, was completely hectic. All I ever talked about was, “I need a vacation, I need a vacation.” Well, I knew that with Paparazzi, after some quick research just kinda looking at the successes of some of the other leaders and the things that they were doing, I knew that this was an opportunity of a lifetime.
I kept saying, “This is a gold mine. This is a gold mine. This is going to come easy and natural to me simply because I love fashion. I love accessories. I love jewelry and I love working with women. I love to help them feel and look good about themselves. And to think that I could do it by starting with $5, that was like a no brainer to me.
So, to simply show other women that this opportunity was something that I could not simply pass by. Something that they should not simply pass by themselves and show them that you can take this opportunity and make it work for you.
That was a huge part of my why. My family. And then showing other women that they can do this too just with accessories. A lot of people don’t understand that a lot of women walk around and don’t have the self-confidence, but to put a piece of jewelry on them can take them from A to Z. That to me is just amazing, so I get excited about this every time I talk about it.
A: I love it!
Alicia: That’s a huge part of my why.
Awnya: I love how you said in there that your why has changed. This is something that keeps coming up in the Elite interviews. That your why at the time you joined is not your same why that you have today because naturally it has to grow. It has to change. It has to evolve. And yeah, you know, you still want to live a life you don’t have to take a vacation from, unless it’s a Paparazzi vacation and then you want to take that right?!
Alicia: Exactly.
Awnya: But, now your why also encompasses helping others and sharing the jewelry and making other people feel beautiful. I love that. Is there anything in that that you wanted to highlight?
Alicia: Simply empowering women to greatness. A lot of women know the potential that they have inside of them and sometimes it takes another woman or another individual to pull that out in them and help lead them along.
Awnya: We are going to take a little bit of a shift right here.
We’re going to talk about your worst Paparazzi moment. That moment you felt like giving up and then we’re going to talk about why you didn’t and what you learned from that.
Awnya: So take us to that, draw us a picture, put is in that story with you.
Alicia: You know, we are all human. Nothing is perfect in life. When you are juggling so many things…even as an Elite leader… On my journey so much was happening. When you are in my position as a college administrator, you have so much on you. I was trying to juggle, which I still am. Finding the balance was very, very, very, VERY hard for me because the vision had changed. Which means more responsibilities came on and I had to find a balance. As Trent would talk about, “What does your day to day look like. What does your hour to hour look like?”
And I literally, because I’m someone who is very organized and structured, I had to really take a different twist to that and say “Okay, I’ve got to map it out to where I can continue to do my job and be the mother in life I need to be and also be the successful business woman that I know I can be.”
Not that I was not going to be because I had no doubt that I would achieve the success I desire. Because if you speak it, if you speak things into existence and you put the work behind it.
One of the scriptures I like to speak about is “Faith without works is dead.” So, you know, my faith is very strong, but I also needed to match my faith towards my work ethic to say that I can achieve anything that I desire. Trying to balance that and I had a moment in time to where I was going through an extreme audit with my school and everything was based off of what I was doing but it was also around the time where I was trying to hit Elite.
And I was like, “Oh God, if you could just give me the strength to get through these next few days, with this audit coming.” But also too, I had to find the time. You know, I will tell a lot of my team members, “Sleep is for the broke. We don’t have time to sleep right now. We need to focus on how we are going to achieve the goals that we desire.”
So I would stay up many late nights and get up early mornings to help myself and my team achieve what we ultimately desired. That was to reach our goals for that current month. So it was just so hard to just juggle that and I really feel like I was just literally going to pass out. So that was a very tough time for me in those, literally, within the last… I call it the 36 hour grind.
And everything kinda transpired. I was like, “I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” but when you serve an awesome God and trust that he will get you through, that was enough for me. That was enough for me.
So that was one of my very hard Paparazzi moments that I made it through.
Awnya: You know, we all are going to have those moments. That’s the difference between a Star Consultant and an Elite Consultant is that you push through. You do what you gotta do. I love what you said “Faith without works in dead.” There is something that I’ve been living my life by lately that is very similar. It is “God will not do for us, that which we can do for ourselves.” Meaning, that if I sit in my bed every day and I’m saying “God, please make me an Elite Leader. God please build my team. God, please I want to recruit 35 people in a month.” Do you think he is going to do that for me?
No. Because I gotta get my butt out of bed. I gotta go out my door. I need to open my mouth and share $5 jewelry with the world and that’s when he’s going to bring those people into my life. That is when he is going to help me. But if I’m not doing anything to move my feet forward, he’s not gonna do it for me. I had to highlight that again because it’s just so perfect.
So many times, I’ll even sit by myself and be like, “Why am I not getting these goals that I want? And then I have to think, “What am I doing here? Am I doing everything that I physically, possibly can do to get there?” Just like what you said in your story there, 36 hours no sleep. Oh. My. Gosh! But you did it and now you are on the other side of it.
Now what is the lesson that YOU want us to take from this?
Alicia: You can achieve what you desire. The questions is: Are you willing to put in the work to make it happen? Are you willing to make the sacrifices? Because I hear all the time, and I tell people all the time, “Yes, you see my story. You read about my story. You hear me. You see my posts, so you see all of the glory, but you truly don’t know the story behind everything that I’ve done.”
So you know, a lot of times, they get caught up in it, and they say, “Alicia, I want to hit this rank. I want to hit this particular rank.” Well, the first question I’m going to ask you is, “Are you willing to put in the work that it’s going to take to achieve this?” That’s one of the first questions. So, you’ve got to be prepared to make some sacrifices if you truly want to have the success that you desire.
So for me, it was making the sacrifice to lose that sleep because you are going to lose some sleep. That’s life. Anything you want, you’re going to have to make those sacrifices along the way.
Awnya: So I have a little story to tell you right along these same lines. We just bought a house and the backyard is completely dirt and weeds. We decided when we were looking at this house, we thought the tramp out in the back yard. The trampoline would be awesome. But we don’t just want it above ground because it’s safer, blah, blah, blah. So the place that our house is situated we have 6 backyard neighbors and no access to the street, so getting a tractor in the backyard to dig this hole is practically impossible. We could probably crane lift it in there, but whatever.
So I’m determined to get this trampoline into my backyard. So the last couple mornings, I’ve been getting out of bed. I’ve been going in the backyard with a shovel and a wheelbarrow and digging this hole. Is it easy? No. My husband thinks I’m quite insane for wanting to do that. He just wanted to scrap the whole idea and I’m like, “No, I am determined. I want this to happen.”
Now, let’s be real here. If I’m digging it shovel by shovel full, it might take me 9 months. But in 9 months, when they see the tramp in the ground, are they going to know each and every shovel full that it took to get it in the ground? Are they going to look back and see all the rocks I had to dig out when my shovel was hitting them? And the sweat and the tears? You know, all of that background? No! They are just going to see the trampoline in the ground and be like, “That’s really pretty.” So, you have to be willing to put in that work. You have to be willing to grind. You have to be willing to fall down sometimes in order to get what you want to get.
Alicia: Yes!
What is a habit that contributes to your success?
Alicia: I am very huge on follow up. We live in a time where social media is the “it” thing. Whether you are on Twitter. Whether you’re on Periscope. Whether you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, any of those. I’m very big with marketing myself. You are…and I’m probably going to come back to this somewhere on the lines… being your own best marketing brand, your marketing tools. I love Paparazzi. I love the back office photos, but a lot of times, people want to see YOU in the jewelry. How you are going to rock it. I get asked quite a few times, “Alicia, how would you rock this particular piece?” So they can see what it actually looks like on an individual that they recognize and they know.
So I follow, and it’s a part of one of my to-do lists. I have this daily checkoff that I strategically use this every single day. I call it “Alicia’s Entrepreneur To Do List”. I actually spoke about it on the Franks call a couple weeks ago. And I literally live by those 10 things. Those 10 things have become a habit for me every day. Because they have become a habit for me, it has led me on the road to success in this business in less than a year.
So I have to give props where props are due because I put a plan in place and I do my best to teach my girls the same things. If you put whatever the plan is… because Paparazzi has laid out the Habits of Success, so I incorporated that as well… but I have also incorporated the to do list that I do. Many of you guys can go and see it on the Frank Divas group but I will share it with you too so you can provide it to anyone who may be interested in utilizing it. But that has been my habit to success. That has contributed to a major portion because it’s something that I pride myself on doing every single day. I literally do all 10 of them every single day.
Now, does it become very hard to do sometimes? Yes, but that is the sacrifice I’ve made so I can have the success that I desires.
Awnya: I just have to highlight. TEN habits of success. You Rock Stars are so lucky that you get all these 10 habits. Now, don’t think you have to start day 1 doing all 10 because that’s kind of overwhelming. So start doing 1 on day 1. And do that for a week. Week 2 do 2 of them. Week 3 do 3 of them. You know, as long as you are making forward progression, that’s awesome! And thank you for sharing that with us. I will link that up in the resources. So ya’all, you have to head over to PapaRockStars.com/Alicia because you’re gonna want to get your hands on that.
What advice would you give to a brand new Paparazzi consultant just starting out in the business?
Alicia: I actually spoke about it just a few minutes ago. I didn’t realize it was so close to this particular question. Be your own best marketing tool. Your own passion and excitement for what you do is going to become contagious to others. Something I always say is…I’m not sure if you hear it in my tone or my voice. I get very hyped. I get very excited when I talk about Paparazzi.
As a brand new consultant, love what you do. As you love what you do, it’s going to show. Others are going to see it and they are going to want to know, “She’s super, duper happy, she seems to be super, duper excited. She seems to be doing very well. I want to know more about what she’s doing. People are more inclined to buy into what you are doing when they see that happiness and joy that’s inside you.
So I would say, be your own best marketing brand. Your passion, your love for what you do will become contagious to others.
Awnya: That excitement is so key in my opinion. When you have that excitement, people get excited too and they want to be like, “What’s that all about? I like that excitement, let me know more about this.” So embrace that excitement.
Especially starting out as a brand new Paparazzi consultant, there’s a lot emotions like fear, doubt, excitement and happiness. So just embrace that excitement and that energy and get out there and share it!
Alicia: Can I add something to that? It’s to be you. To be you. Understand that yes, you are selling a product, but don’t be a sales person. No one wants to come in contact with a sales person. Be you. Share the experience. Share why you decided to become a part of this.
So in turn, it gives them an opportunity. And make that personal connection why it would be beneficial to them. That is very important to build that personal connection or relationship with others. And share why this opportunity was right for you and why it could potentially be for them as well.
Awnya: That is so perfect! Cuz you do you better than anyone else. If Alicia would have come into this business and said, “You know what?! I’m going to be like Betty Sue over here and that’s how I’m going to do my business,” she wouldn’t have had the same success that she is having. She did her and she did it well because nobody can do you like you. And that is how she is rocking out her business. Not because she’s doing things like everybody else. It’s because she found her own way and her own path and she is rockin it. Right girl!?
Alicia: That’s right!
If you could suggest 1 thing to a consultant who is feeling kinda stuck in their business to get them moving and heading in the right direction again, what would that be?
Alicia: You know, I’m such a realist and a lot of times, people don’t become very successful. I’m very bold and say things very black and white, and there’s no pun intended to offend anyone. But I love to say, “Hunny, get over yourself. It’s not about you. The moment that you realize that, you will see a change in your results.”
So, you’ve got to get over the whole thing about “Why is this not happening for me?” If you focus on helping others, you will begin to see a difference in your business. If you treat your business like a business, you are going to get results like a business. So a lot of times, I have to tell a lot of people, “Step back. Step back and I need you to do an assessment of yourself because you could be blocking or sabotaging your own business. You could be your own reason for why you are stuck. Is there something that you personally could be doing? So I want you to step back and take a true assessment of yourself and see what you can change about the way that you are doing things.”
Cuz it’s not about the customers. The customers are out there. But what can Alicia change about herself to draw more costumers to her? Is it because she isn’t excited enough? Could I share my story a little bit more? Could I plug a little bit more into social media a couple times a day? Think about the things you could do differently that will bring about different results.
Awnya: There was like 3 words that I’m going to reiterate because they just totally struck me to my core. You said, “Focus on others,” If you are sitting home, in your brain, being like “Oh, why isn’t this working for me? I’ve tried everything. Blah, blah, blah.” Then your focus is on who? It is on yourself! You need to get out of your head. Get out of your pity party and focus on others. Maybe give somebody a piece of $5 Jewelry because that is all about them. You’re giving it to them.
So, shift your focus to be on others and your business is gonna start to grow again. I just loved that!!
Alicia: I know a lot of times it takes people back when I say, “Get over yourself.” Sometimes they get a shocked look on their face but it’s not to be mean in any way. I want you to stop thinking about you and think about how you can help others. I can almost assure you, your results are going to be different if you shift your mindset.
Awnya: Absolutely! I think you said something about this a little bit earlier, when you are serving people, when you are helping them, when the focus is on them, you aren’t going to be sales-y. You’re not going to be pushy because you are there to help them and serve them and as a result, they are going to be attracted to you. And it’s going to grow your business. So it’s a win-win.
Alicia: It sure is a win-win, honey! You can’t loose with this!
Alicia, what is a quote that inspires you?
Alicia: I love my God and I have to say:
No business is easy. Nothing that we desire to truly have in life comes easy. But if I put my trust in HIM, put my faith in Him, I know I can do anything and all things. That is what keeps me going every single day, you know. It’s something that pops up on my cell phone. I actually have it around the house in places that I see as a constant reminder to say to myself. No matter what, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Awnya: And he doesn’t always show you that path does He?
Alicia: Oh no!
Awnya: You have to be going down the path. And yeah, He’s going to give you the strength and you can do ANYTHING but sometimes it might seem a little bit dark. You might not know exactly where you are going, but you just gotta have that faith and move forward. Put one foot in front of the other and he’ll give you the strength to go where you need to go. Love that! That’s one of my favorites too!
What is a book you would say is a MUST read and why?
Alicia: I’m such an avid reader. One that truly sticks out – so a part of my Alicia’s Entrepreneur To-Do list on a daily basis. I usually like to take about 30 minutes out. I think it’s very important to have that personally development for yourself. I love Go Pro by Eric Worre – 7 Steps to Becoming a Network Marketing Professional. You know, this isn’t network marketing. This is direct sales, but I think he really, truly gives a true essence of – and it’s a really thin book so it’s something that for even for those non-readers, people who don’t like to read- It’s a great read. It’s more in a bullet format with some details of how you can truly achieve the success that you desire just by incorporating these steps.
I suggest that many of you go out there and get it! You know, even if you aren’t a leader, trust me on this – You will thank yourself later. Your business with thank you later for it.
Awnya: Last questions, you ready? Here on the Papa Rock Stars podcast, we like to give a weekly call challenge, so…
What is 1 thing you would challenge the listeners to do in the next 7 days to take action in their Paparazzi business?
Alicia: The next 7 days? Let’s see. So this week- I would say, so Facebook has this new thing – in social media. Go live. Get out there. Don’t just do your normal post this week. Change up your game, change up your strategy. You consistently post about “Join my team,” you know, and you put your little URL link attached to it. Do something different by – let me get out there and let me talk to the people. They want to see something live. Share a live video. Even if it’s just a couple minutes. Share your success story. Share your why. Let the nonbelievers see what this business has done for you and what it can do for them too as well. But go out there!
I love to be authentic. I love to be real. I don’t like to hide behind posts. I love to talk to people. I know everybody is not as extrovert like me, ‘”m very outgoing. But even for those introverts, I’m going to challenge you this week and go out there this week and do a short Live video just simply sharing just what your why is for Paparazzi. Share a success story even if it’s just, “Hey, you know, I took my jewelry to work this week and let me just share with you how I just made $45. That $45 is going to fill up my gas tank for the week.”
People are looking for things that are real. If you truly want to have the success that you desire in this business, be real with people. Show them what actually happened. Show them your reality with this particular business. That is my challenge for you, Papa Rock Stars.
Awnya: There you go guys, go live this week on Facebook! And let’s see those videos. Hashtag them #PapaRockStars Challenge so that other people can see your videos. So then we can support each other as a Paparazzi family! I cannot wait to see them!
Alicia: Me too!! If I could say one last thing, Awnya if that’s okay. Whatever you do, whatever you do- Do not Give Up. I will say this a million times. My journey is not your journey. Your chapter 1 is not my chapter 20. So whatever you do, don’t give up. Stay the course. Keep the faith and keep grinding. Girl bosses! All of you entrepreneurs out there, I know that you can do it! You just have to simply believe.
If you believe in yourself, your 1/2 way there. Go ahead and rock it out the rest of this week you guys. Thank you, Awnya, for the call. I’m looking forward to what all of these Rock Stars are going to do with this business – as a matter of fact we have 3 days left in the month, so let’s see what you are going to do in these next 36 hours. I call it the 36 hour grind. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the next 36 hours!!
Resources:
Must read book: Go Pro by Eric Worre – 7 Steps to Becoming a Network Marketing Professional
Show Notes:
Alicia Williams, Paparazzi Jewelry Elite Leader interview – printable show notes