55 | Ask the Expert: Let Authenticity be your Network Marketing Super Power with Helen Thacker of the Millionaire Mindset Women Podcast
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Heather: Hi friends, You guys are in for such a treat today because I'm gonna be introducing you to a new friend that I recently connected with in the podcast world, realizing that we have the exact same mission to uplift this amazing network marketing industry. So today I'm gonna be introducing you to Helen Thacker.
She is a six figure CEO and network marketing coach, and she's also the host of the Millionaire Mindset Women Podcast. And she's gonna be sharing a little bit of her story and her superpower, which is leaning into authenticity and your business, whether or not you are building your business on social media.
So get excited for today's episode.
Heather: Helen, thank you so much for joining me this morning.
Helen: Oh, thank you so much for having me as well, Heather .
Heather: Well, I realize it's, it's afternoon for you, right? Cause you're in the uk. That's cool. , anytime,
Helen: whenever you are listening to this. Good morning, good evening. Whatever time. But yeah, thank you for having me.
It's exciting to be,
Heather: Awesome. Well, for those who aren't already following you or haven't heard about you and your journey both in network marketing and into the coaching side of things, tell us your background. How did you get into network marketing? What's your story? Where you from all the things?
Helen: Yeah. So it's funny, when you look back, you can kind of connect the dots, can't you? And see how you ended up. I have a corporate background. I was an accountant actually, so when I, I left university, I went straight to work for a really great accountancy company. I was absolutely the worst accountant on the world in the world, but I knew that it gave me a really great foundation in business skills.
And that's really where kind of my journey into. Being a businesswoman began, although I didn't know it at the time. And from there I moved into recruitment. So I moved into recruiting accountants and I ha actually ended up setting up my own business. So again, didn't realize it at the time that I was really learning skills about how to build something from scratch.
And all the things that come with owning and running a business and had a break to have my two gorgeous boys. And then, like a lot of people who are probably listening to this podcast, a lot of women. We get to that point where we're like, Well, I, I still wanna work. I wanna contribute. I wanna have that self worth, I want to be somebody that's more than just a mom.
What on earth am I going to do that works around the kids? And I ended up starting a wedding cake business again, something completely different. So, Again, a brand new business from scratch that I've built from, you know, from the ground up. Every time I've done this, I've always wanted to do it, like with great success.
I've always had huge ambition financially. You know, I wanted to do really, really well and I wanted to yeah, be the best, be like, make, make everyone around me proud of me. So started my, my wedding cake business. I was in that for six years. I loved it. So nice to be part of like that wedding industry. But there was a limit to what I was going to ever earn with just me, my one pair of hands.
And I knew at the time, I really didn't want to kind of take it to like a franchise operation or anything like that. Or we talked about converting my garage to a kitchen and all those sort of things. Network marketing just came into my life. I actually met One of the other moms at school and she introduced me to the products.
And as most of us do, we kind of fall into like the first company that we get introduced to through the products. And I absolutely was dead against network marketing. Like a lot of us are at the time, thought it was one of those things, didn't wanna do it, but I saw the potential in how this could fit around.
Adding to my income alongside my business, and I already had go with my cakes and I, I went for it. And I was one of those people that within like literally 24 hours of kind of making that decision while I'm all in, I. Absolutely caught the vision. I was so excited about this industry and I remained so excited about what's possible.
I remember going to this presentation that we had this like local presentation we used to do where they, they showed you kind of what you could earn at different levels, like the average times that it took to get to different ranks. And I thought, hang on a minute. I'm gonna hit those way before the six months or whatever it's supposed to be.
I was gonna smash through, but I was so excited. Oh my goodness. It's limitless. Look what the potential is. And I gave it my all and I still have. So yeah, that was back in March, 2019 and I, three and a half years later, or almost four years later I've now transitioned into coaching since the start of 2022, and this has become my passion.
I am, I, I still have my global business. I'm still very much an active network marketer, but it's about supporting my team. But really my, my, my love, my passion, what fires me is helping other women to find the confidence to have that success, to say, Look, I really want to. Have that wealth. I want to have that level of success and it's allowing them to, to be confident saying, yes, it's okay to do that.
It doesn't make me a bad person if I'm ambitious. And it's also about changing this industry. You know, it's, I'm really passionate about people loving being part of this industry so they don't quit. And I coaching is really where my heart is. I love seeing my clients have results and yeah, I, I have so much to say about network marketing and so much to say to help women to be so authentically them because I've had a journey myself in finding my own voice and finding my own confidence, and once I did my success just absolutely.
Oh, it implo exploded. You know? It was, it was everything. It was a pivotal moment for sure.
Heather: I love hearing your story and it reminds me so much of me cuz I'm a fellow achiever and I feel like you the type that our, when we see what's possible within this industry, when we see what other people are doing, not only do we feel like we can do it too, but we're like, Oh, I can get there faster, quicker, better.
Show me how to do it, show me how to do it. And then through obviously your journey in doing just that, then you become passionate about helping others do that because that's obviously, Fulfillment comes from is not just experiencing it yourself, but helping others experience that along the way. So it's crazy how, how aligned we are in, in that mission and lifting up the, the industry as well.
But I know one of the ways that we are different, and one of the things that I really wanna speak, you know, dive right into the heart of is well, Two things. Number one, I think how we are different. Obviously you did build your business primarily online. It's a global network like you said, so you leveraged social media very highly.
You, you teach Instagram tips and how to build your super fan audience and, and how that can tie into building, building a business. Whereas obviously I kind of lean into some of the more traditional principles like you mentioned doing that you first attended that in person event and how powerful that can be to be able to connect with, with other ladies.
So I think what tends to happen. So many different ways to do this business that people get distracted by like, Oh, well I see how Helen does it and I see how Heather does it. How should, how should I do it? So I would love for you to speak straight to that, to where, you know, if someone's feeling like, well, they're doing it two different ways and having success, how should I do it?
What would you say to them?
Helen: I know what it feels like, doesn't it? I mean, you're the same. I'm sure you know when you first start and you just want the answers. You want someone to give you that instruction manual. Give me the secret sauce. I wanna fast track to the success. Please just tell me how I do it and I will do it.
I will work so hard. I just wanna be shown and you're so right. There are so many different ways to do it. And I think my, I grew on social media because I started in 2019, less than a year later the pandemic started. So I very much started with in person product parties and events and you know, those kind of things to grow my business.
But we soon had to go. And you know, that's really where I've come from and I think there are so many different ways to, to grow your business, you have to find what's right for you. You know, my principles about changing this industry come down to. People being happy doing this job. For most of us, it's second income.
For most of it's, you know, it's a part of our lives, our busy lives. We're parents. Perhaps if we, if we don't work, we're parents. You know, we have a lot going on. And, and it's a lot. It does, it is a lot to take on and it's very consuming, especially when you start. It's very exciting and it's, you know, you want to do your best and you wanna dive in and make it work.
And if you're not happy doing it the way that's right for you, you are never gonna stick. And you know that I want people to stay in network marketing. I want that statistic of 99% of people quit before they get to six figures. I want that to go right down. And that is about helping people to find the way that works for them.
So they, they love it. They kind of get up in the morning and they don't feel like a robot. They don't have to send a million cold messages, you know, that's what I coach. It's about building a brand. It's about building real connections. However, that is online, offline, in person, however you do it. It's so important to me, but I suggest to people to listen to your upline, do your research, try things and know you're gonna fail.
Know that the first thing you do is possibly not gonna work, Probably not gonna work. And navigate your way and be in this for the long term. This is a long game. You know, it. You really, the only people that are successful, the people that. So, you know, you've gotta commit to this to 5, 5, 10, 15 years and see where you're going to be in that time.
Commit to the industry and then know that along the way you're gonna work out what you love doing, how you know which, which ways you don't like doing that you're not so good at. But be prepared to have a bit of an experiment and then be coachable. Be really, really coachable from Europe line and just learn, learn from them.
And then if you don't agree with the way they're doing it, well, you wanna try something different. Don't be afraid to be authentically and challenge that and say, Well actually I really want to do it this way. So yeah, that's what, that's what I have to say about that so much. I love
Heather: that. And I think you're exactly right.
I remember hearing this from someone, I think it was maybe Bob Hele, and he said that, you know, the beautiful thing about this business model is you do have freedom. And while systems are so important, and like you said, learning and being coachable from your upline, I think that you do have to lean into that.
The things that. The authentic creative gifts that you're given, those inspirations, I believe that we're given every single idea, every single name, every single contact. We just lean into fear so much, or comparison. Like I said, we're overwhelmed of all the different ways to do it, and so we just don't do it cuz a confused mind does nothing.
And one of the things, as you were kind of talking, and I was thinking about your journey and I know your, your first company that you started, you definitely did not start at the beginning. Cause I know it's a, it's a company that at that time had been there from, you know, the beginning. Whereas I started right at the very beginning of when our company launched.
And so I think what people, they look at your journey or my journey, and then they might be that achiever type like you and I that say like, Okay, well if, if she could do it in six months, I can do it. And then they get to that six month period. And don't have that long term mindset and are like, Well, I don't have the results that I thought I would have.
And then, like you said, they quit. So how, how would you speak directly to, to someone who is like you and and me, that they, they have that achiever. They, they really believe that they can do it better, faster, more than someone else. Like how would you help them understand that everyone's journey is different?
Mm-hmm. , give them some specific tasks or, you know, some specific.
Helen: So I would say perfectionism is the thing you need to work on. Sorry, impatience, Sorry. The thing you need to work on because in patience, that has been my biggest lesson, like learning to overcome. That has been the biggest lesson that I've had from this industry.
It's something you need to practice every single day and it's a reminding yourself that you, this is not going to happen overnight. It's keeping reminding yourself of that. The other thing is comparison. Like you said, you know, it's so easy to think and it, This is the great thing about this industry.
We see so much evidence of success and we can go off, They can do it, so can I. Absolutely. You can 100% if you stick with it. But everyone is different. Everyone comes with a different level of influence. They come with different friendships. They come, you know, some people might have you know, a connection in their back pocket who can lead them to huge wealth and success very quickly.
You just don't know what people have in their. You know, in their, in their phone book, in their diary, in their, you know, their Rolodex or whatever, you know, you don't know what they're coming with when they come to this industry and you know, they might already have huge influence in the tennis club they're at, or whatever that is.
You just don't know. So, Everyone has a different set of skills. Everyone has a different set of contacts and everyone has a different set of influence. So you cannot possibly compare your life circumstances to someone else because everyone is literally, every single person has a different set of life circumstances.
So you just have to accept that and you need to to work on that as well. And I would, I would say, In terms of like practical skills. To do that, you really need to be working on your mindset because you need to be like, find the joy in who you are. Find, find the confidence in who you are and know that if you just plug in, you're coachable, you work hard, you show up every day, you do all the things that you should be doing as an entrepreneur, but you show up as yourself.
You will get there and, you know, keep learning. Listen to podcasts like this incredible podcast that Heather has. Do the the readings audible, show up for the team training. Do everything you can to work on your, your mindset, your belief in, in everything that, that you know, that you will get there. You have to keep learning and keep that personal development going like a muscle.
And yeah, the comparison, it's, it is the thief of joy. 100%, you know, comparison, the imposter syndrome. We all want the impatience. You know, all those things are all things that we need to deal with. You need to find out why you're feeling like that. And then you need to keep learning how to overcome that every single day.
Personal development should be a huge part of your daily tasks. I listen every morning, I listen to a podcast and I listen to your amazing podcast, Heather. I go off my walk, listen to my podcast, and I come back feeling so inspired and so like fired up and like anything's possible. I need to just do those things that help you to, Yeah, to feel that level of confidence that you can achieve anything you set your mind.
Oh
Heather: my gosh, that's amazing. And actually one of the principles that we teach, my, my mentor, Sarah Davies and I, we just launched the Replicate Your Results Framework Coaching Course. And whenever this is airs, it may or may not be. Open or available, but one of the principles we talk about that is that the antidote to that comparison, the kind of comparison pressure, if you will, is leaning into your story.
The good things, the bad things, the hard things. And actually something that I'm sure my, my listeners that know my story have kind of picked up on and they're like, I'm surprised she didn't mention this. Is, I actually was also in the net the wedding industry before joining network marketing. And man, do we have to come some overcome some serious adversity in dealing with prides and, you know, with all of those things.
And, and I think that's one thing people don't realize is the network, the connections, the, the the, the good things that come from experiencing those hard things like dealing with a bridezilla or in my experience it's actually the moms. It's the mom. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. .
Helen: So
Heather: I, I just, I love that. So for you, you know, how would you say the people that.
Do, you know, come up on those roadblocks or they come up on those hard things, you know, they've got a leader leg that drops off or leaves and joins another company because obviously that, you know, that does happen. So how would you encourage someone who's maybe not experiencing you know, that like when they hit those roadblocks, how can you help them see that that's actually for their good and actually they're a part of their.
It is.
Helen: I remember my upline saying to me, it's almost like you need a tick list of things that can go wrong and you need to work that your way through. Those, those things need to happen to you to make you a great leader. And it's so true because how on earth can you coach your team through those experiences when you haven't gone through them yourself?
And so, yeah, all those roadblocks are there to help you become a better leader. That's the end of that. You know, that's just the, that's just the explanation because it really, you honestly cannot, How on earth can you help coach your team members through the hard times through actually empathize deeply with how they're feeling, and then help them through to the other side, unless you have experienced that yourself.
Yeah. That's so that, that, that's, that's everything basically.
Heather: That's awesome. So I love the fact that you are a, your niche, if you will, is a network marketing coach. So you, as we were chatting before, and as you've talked about on this podcast, that is your passion is being able to help other network marketers build their businesses.
So maybe for those listening that are looking for a network marketing coach, I, that is not something, again, I have ambitions to do. Sarah and I are doing like the little, you know, the coaching program to kind of take what's in our mind, create that. Through the replicate your results, but it's more of a work through it on your own, less a coaching side of things.
So how could you serve someone who's listening, who is looking for that business coach that is specific to the network marketing industry? What, what kind of sets you apart in that?
Helen: Oh, thanks for asking. So basically, I love to help people to build their brand. So I want people to be authentically themselves and feel like they know who their customer is, who their ideal customer is.
I help them to really navigate through like what kind of content. Or if it's not online, what sort of subject matters and conversations do they need to be having that really hits, like really emotionally hits their audience so that they're having very deep connections and we don't have to go through that whole horrible cold messaging thing where we are approaching people in such an inauthentic way.
I also, the other thing that I really like to do is help women with their confidence to, again, it goes hand in hand with that is to. Find who they are and find that confidence to be themselves. Like really speak up, speak their truth. Don't worry about other people's opinions because when you do that, you have huge success.
And the kind of, the other part of my coaching is helping people to create extra streams of income to like maybe produce digital products or courses or however that looks to them. I mean, there's infinite options, but to do that in a way that also feeds their network marketing business, it helps grow customers, it helps them to promote their products or services.
So, It's kind of creating that ecosystem that is about their income. So an income ecosystem. And that is what I absolutely love to do because I really believe that your network marketing company can be just one part of who you are, and it can be just one part of, of how you earn us. Well, you know, and that's, that is what I absolutely love to help women achieve because I want women to be successful.
I want 'em to feel confident. I want 'em to be successful emotionally and. Ugh. I
Heather: love that you're speaking straight to the heart of everything that I also believe. I mean, my gosh, I'm so glad that we connected through this. It's so, Oh, me too. Right? So yes, yes to everything you, you said, and I feel like whether someone is building their business online, like in, you know, and they are using.
Something like Instagram to build their brand. I think you touched on this at the beginning, and it's super important that it is about connections and building relationships and, and serving them in a way. And I love that you offer a, a daily checklist, right? For how to nurture nurture their audience again, how, however, big or small.
So I'd love to link that in the show notes along with with your contact information as well. But I do. I have a little question. I have a tough question. I know it wasn't on the list and I'm curious to know your thoughts on this, but I see a lot of people, and we've talked about this in different episodes.
I've talked about it with Bob Hele on the podcast and some, you know, some other top leaders. But I do see now that kind of the affiliate marketing side of network marketing and, and, you know, sharing multiple products online tends, you know, is kind of a new thing people are leaning into. And so people are sometimes joining more than one network marketing company.
So I'm curious. To know kind of what you are taking, cuz I totally agree that this, your identity should not be wrapped up in your, your network marketing business. And if you do have ambitions as I do to create those additional revenue streams in order to serve more people and to uplift, you know, your, your passion and your mission.
How, what's your what, what's your take on doing more? On integrating more than one product?
Helen: Okay. It's a really great question, and when I coach people to create different streams of income, it's all centered around one network marketing company. Usually that's my belief. When I'm talking about other streams of income, I'm talking about, I teach people how to create email lists and build their contacts that way, and provide really great value through lead magnets and show them how to build those out.
But I truly believe that if you are gonna build a team and you want to be successful in network marketing, you need to have that email list. You need to have, like looking at other ways of, of making income. But it's always gonna be serving your clients and then bringing them into that one network marketing company because I just don't think it's possible.
If you are going to get to the top ranks of a company and you want to be that ambitious woman who wants to get the six seven figure income. You can't, That's my personal opinion. You cannot spread yourself across more than one network marketing company. I do, I do completely get and understand when there are a lot of people who come into this industry and they only want some pocket money.
They want, you know, $500 extra a month. And perhaps in that situation, they are going to, let's be real and honest and I, I'm all about being real and honest in this industry. They might need to have a couple of different products that they're promoting across different network marketing companies to hit that level.
They're gonna be selling to customers, perhaps mainly, rather than building a team. But if you want the high level success, the high rank success, you're gonna have to focus your team building on just one in one place. How, I mean, I lead my team, you know, my co I coach and train my team every week. And I dunno how I would find the time to do that in two places.
You just wouldn't. You just can't. , how can you give your team the best of you as a leader? If you're spread thinly. So yeah, that's my personal opinion. Absolutely. If you wanna affiliate yourself with other products, make sure it's related to what you're talking about on your, you know, in your business in as a whole.
So, for example, I'm an affiliate for Kajabi. Which is the the software that I use to run all my coaching and my podcast and my email list and everything from, but it's, I'm just an affiliate. I'm not building a team or anything there. It's just a normal affiliate and that makes sense for me and it makes sense to my customers because they are wanting to do that as well.
So when I'm coaching people, I can recommend that. But that's not a network marketing company, you know, And I think one company focus all your energy on there and then you can give it your all. It's like anything, you know, Jack of all trades. I dunno whether you have this phrase in the all trades master of none, you know?
It's so true. Absolutely. So
Heather: true. Once again, I could not agree with you more. That is exactly what I believe as well and I was very curious to know, since we had not talked about it. Kind of if you, if you did agree, cuz it is something that I see that there are leaders that have ambitions truly of hitting those top ranks and creating a residual income through, you know, their teams.
And it's, it is, it's really, really difficult to do that. And I see when they do, their teams usually crumble and then again they start to get frustrated and overwhelmed and burned out and, and, you know, That, that's when the, the spiral down starts to happen. So I'm so glad that you touched on that for sure.
So Helen, I know we've talked about that you have the podcast, we, they can follow you on Instagram at Helen Thacker, but where is the best place, if somebody wanted to connect with you, where would you recommend that they start? I
Helen: would say final podcast. Yeah, absolutely. Come and say hi on Instagram. I also have a really, really great community called the Millionaire Mindset Women group on Facebook.
So if you just find Millionaire Mindset Women, that's a great place. There's tons of value. I do free master classes in there every month and you know, there's lots of ways to learn about network marketing skills in there as well. So yeah, come and find me there as to join and I will be glad to. Glad to invite you into that group.
It'd be great to see everybody.
Heather: Awesome. I'll have to hop in my, well, I say I'm not , I still in some Facebook coaching groups, but I don't you know, I actually deleted the app from my phone, which is crazy, but I'll have to hop in there and I will make sure that I share that link along with all contact information and the show notes for anybody that wants to, wants to connect further with you.
So, Thank you so much, Helen. I am just grateful for your time and just so excited to be connected with someone who has such a clear, like-minded vision for how to serve the listeners of this podcast, and I'm thankful for you. Me
Helen: too. Thank you so much. It is so, so great to meet you, Heather. Thank you. Thank you.
