My Story

A Look Back at My Story

Every time I look back at old plans, I’m reminded of two things:

Growth is rarely linear.
Your business will look dramatically different in 12–18 months.

Mine certainly does.

What started as handwritten goals and scrappy ideas has turned into multiple six-figure businesses, a podcast listened to around the world, and work that feels more aligned than ever.

Often times, people ask “How did you do that?” and I’ve struggled with how to respond because “I just did it.” 😂

I won’t leave you hanging, though.

If I was to give some really practical advice, a few things really catapulted my growth from season to season. Much of this is explained inside of one of my favorite growth-mindset books, 10x is Easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Harvey.

I also strongly believe that working with a business coach (shout out to Amber McCue!!) and being part of a community with other biz owners that “get you” has been critical for me to personally overcome challenges, share success stories and surround myself with others that believe what’s possible.

Now… here’s a look at the milestones that shaped that journey — season by season.

This Didn’t Start With a Business Idea (It Started With Leadership)

When people see what I do now — building businesses, communities, podcasts, and platforms — they often assume I always knew this was the plan.

I didn’t.

In fact, when I graduated from UC San Diego in 2005 with a degree in Political Science, I had no idea what I wanted to do next.

Law school? Maybe.
Not law school? Also maybe.

I bought an LSAT study book… and it terrified me.
Logic problems were the only class I ever actually failed in college — which felt like a pretty clear sign that law school might not be my path.

What I did know was this:
I loved leadership.

I had always been involved — student council, ASB, leadership roles — but at the time, I didn’t even realize there were companies that taught leadership outside of universities.

So I started applying for jobs. Not with some big vision — just looking for something that felt like a fit.

The Job That Changed Everything (Even If I Didn’t Know It Yet)

That’s how I landed an operations role supporting open enrollment programs at the Center for Creative Leadership.

And that’s where I met Susan Smith — my boss at the time.

She hired me not because of my grades, but because of my grit.

She loved that I had paid my way through college.
That I worked multiple jobs.
That I showed up, got involved, and didn’t wait to be told what to do.

At the time, I didn’t realize she would become my person — but I stayed working with her for nearly a decade across multiple roles.

Operations.
Marketing strategy.
Product management.

I wasn’t in the classroom teaching leadership — that was for PhD organizational psychologists — but I was behind the scenes, soaking it all in.

How programs were built.
How adults learned.
How transformation actually happened.

That foundation shaped everything that came later. I just didn’t know it yet.

Deepening the Leadership Lens

While working full-time, I went back to school and earned a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership & Management from the University of San Diego.

Looking back, this season was quietly formative. It also required a lot of grit. I was working full-time and in school full-time taking evening classes 2-3 nights per week, arriving back home for dinner about 10pm. Jeremy always had it waiting for me in the microwave to warm up. (That’s when I knew he was a keeper… we got married a year or so after I finished grad school in 2009.)

I wasn’t building a business yet — but I was learning:

How organizations scale
How mission and money intersect
How leadership shows up in systems, not just titles

I just didn’t know how I’d use it yet.

And, then I became a mom.

They aren’t kidding – motherhood changes everything.

In 2012, I had Makenzie.
In 2014, I had Cody.

And like so many women, my aspirations shifted.

The idea of climbing the corporate ladder didn’t disappear — but it no longer felt like the whole picture. Flexibility mattered. While my team was always on the East Coast and I could work from home quite a bit and flex my hours when needed, I wanted to be that mom that went on the field trips, picked up and dropped off kids from school and had 100% control over my own schedule.

That’s when entrepreneurship entered the chat — quietly at first.

For a hot minute in that season, I really wanted to be a stay at home mom. I quickly realized that was the HARDEST JOB EVER. And, what I thought it was what I wanted, also didn’t feel like the right fit.

That’s when entrepreneurship entered the chat — quietly at first.

The Accidental Entrepreneur Era

I didn’t wake up one day and decide to become an entrepreneur.

I stumbled into it.

First with Embellish Creative Designs. (I made really cute scrapbooks for people and got to buy craft supplies at wholesale pricing – score!)

Then with network marketing through Pre-Paid Legal (now LegalShield). That’s when I discovered the business model, but I wasn’t crazy passionate about selling legal insurance.

And then… I found Usborne Books & More (now PaperPie), something clicked. Not just the products — but the vision, the community, the opportunity to build something alongside family life.

This was where business stopped feeling theoretical and started feeling real. I was able to do the math and realized that I actually could step away from my full-time job and go part-time. Then, more math… the way things were growing, it was feasible to step away from that job completely.

Woah, we were making real moves. And, things didn’t feel so accidental. It felt possible.

The Book Biz that Changed Everything

From 2015 to 2017, I was building my business as a consultant with Usborne Books & More (now PaperPie) — and this is the season where things really clicked.

This wasn’t a hobby.
This was a full-fledged business.

During that time, so many milestones were hit:

Built my first real website, BeckysBookCorner.com, to support sales, events, and customer relationships
Sold $10,000+ in books in a single weekend at the LA Convention Center
Ran countless book fairs and in-person events
Earned every incentive, trip, and recognition available
Built a fast-growing, high-performing team

But the biggest shift wasn’t just what I was selling — it was how I was building.

I leaned heavily into:

Email marketing to retain customers
Social media to drive awareness and sales
Systems to support repeat buyers and hosts
Consistent follow-up instead of constant hustle

Before “systems” were trendy, I was building them out of necessity.

And, then I started a “little blog” to train my team…

As my team grew, I created an onboarding and training program to support new consultants. Whenever I was asked a question, I wrote a blog post and recorded a video about it.

Thousands of people were consuming my content.

And that’s when I had a realization that changed everything:
I wasn’t just training my team anymore.

I was training people outside my organization.
People in other teams.
People in other companies.

They were tired of googling, searching Facebook Groups and really wanted to be successful but didn’t have a one-stop shop for what they needed — the systems, strategy, and support.

That’s when MyConsultantTraining.com was born — the business that would eventually become Modern Direct Seller.

At the time, I didn’t know it would turn into a company. In fact, we didn’t even monetize it. It was 100% free for a really long time.

Hot Tip: We built a very big email list way before we sold anything. By the time we were ready to sell, people were happy to pay.

Layering Leadership: The Twirlblazers Era

Around that same time, I was approached by Matilda Jane Clothing to lead their West Coast sales team. I had no idea this is how things “worked” behind the scenes. Basically, I was recommended to a recruiter that interviewed me to bring me into the business, direct-to-company.

I said yes — and layered it into my business.

Alongside my biz bestie Jessica, we built the fastest-growing team in the company:
The Twirlblazers 💃✨

This role was different:

I worked directly with corporate
I carried significant sales and growth goals
I was responsible for leadership, momentum, and performance at scale

It was intense. It was energizing. And it taught me so much about leadership, accountability, and building systems that could actually support growth.

Again, we leaned into sales funnels and systems to build. Running Facebook Ads, we attracted hundreds to our weekly business opportunity events, brought the fun factor and grew like crazy.

Choosing the Work I Loved Most

By 2018, I reached a crossroads.

I loved selling — but what I loved most was:

building systems
creating strategy
training leaders
helping others grow sustainably

So I made the decision to step away from the direct sales field and focus fully on what lit me up.

That decision opened the door to everything that came next:
Modern Direct Seller.
The podcast.
Corporate consulting.
Speaking.
Oh My Hi.

And the work I still love today.

Shortly after that, I took on a contract with PixieLane, a children’s clothing brand out of Los Angeles. I would take the train from San Diego to their office in the fashion district monthly to strategize and work together. As a single-level company, they didn’t have leaders to mentor and support their sales field, so I took on that role, as well as many other areas of the business during our time together.

Monetizing Modern Direct Seller

At that point, we knew it was all about turning ideas into real, tangible products and offers to really turn the blog into a real business.

In 2018-2019, we experienced some modest start-up growth.

My email list grew to 3,000
Jeremy and I launched a “Launch Your Website in a Weekend” course on how to build on WordPress (ironic now that we offer Oh My Hi!)
I wrote a book, 52 Tips: Build a Thriving Direct Sales Business
I launched the Modern Direct Seller Academy

This was when things began to feel real. I wasn’t just experimenting anymore — I was building something with intention.

2020: The Year Everything Shifted

Like so many people, 2020 changed everything.

Professionally, it was a year of rapid growth:

Jeremy joined me full-time (Our whole family thought he was insane for stepping away from his electrical engineering job during a global pandemic!)
I wrote a State of the Industry report, The Direct Sales Insights Survey.
I hired my first part-time contractor (Hi Jenna!)
The membership hit 500 members
I launched a subscription box
My email list reached 10,000 subscribers
And I launched the Modern Direct Seller Podcast

Personally, it was chaos. Distance learning. Kids at home. A messy garage turned podcast studio.

There was also a lot more downtime in 2020 so we worked A LOT to keep up with the growth the industry and our business was experiencing.

Scaling with Intention

After things semi-went-back-to-normal in 2021-2022, this season was all about scale — but smarter scale.

The focus shifted to:

Growing our team
Refining processes
Expanding course content
Growing the email list from 12,000 to 23,000
Stepping into corporate consulting work

This was when systems started to matter more than hustle. It was also a huge shift for us to step into doing corporate work. We didn’t really know how to get “in” with corporate clients because to this point, we only focused on individual direct sellers.

We hired a part-time sales strategist to build relationships with corporate. We offered Executive Roundtables. We invited executives to the podcast. Everything took longer than we expected before we landed our first “real” corporate client.

Raising the Bar

The next phase of business from 2023-2024 brought bigger rooms and higher standards.

Highlights included:

Developing corporate back office software (Sidenote: This ended up being a flop. We came, we saw, we tried and realized we didn’t want to pursue this!)
Adding upper-level tiers to the Academy – PRO and VIP
Paid keynote speaking engagements (eeps, in real life!)
We were honored with the Partnership in Progress Award from DSA Canada.
Operational refinement. Corporate work took off and we had to get ourselves organized to deliver on it.
Reaching $500K in revenue right before the ball dropped December 2024.
We also expanded our home office so give us more space

This season required more leadership, clearer boundaries, and better decision-making. It was less about doing more — and more about doing the right things well.

2025: Focus, Clarity, and Momentum

By 2025, the business felt both strong and focused.

Key milestones:

Growing the podcast to 125,000 downloads
Serving a smaller number of corporate clients, and working deeper with them.
Academy revenue hit an all-time high, even when the direct sales industry felt a bit rocky.
We also made a big shift to focus on growth of Oh My Hi, which reached $100K in ARR

This was the year where clarity really kicked in — fewer distractions, stronger foundations, and intentional growth across the board.

Looking Ahead

When I look at the “then and now” photos — of my family, my business, and myself — I’m reminded that growth happens quietly, steadily, and often without us realizing it in the moment.

The next season is about simplicity, modern systems, and elevation — building businesses that work while life keeps happening.

If you’re in a messy middle season right now, this is your reminder:
You’re closer than you think.

And the next 12–18 months can change everything.

P.S. Want more behind-the-scenes, business tips, and a peek at what I’m working on?
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