About Vicki

Hi! Thank You for visiting my blog! I hope you find some of what I am sharing educational, engaging, and enjoyable.

Who is Vicki Berry?

I guess if you were to put me in a nutshell, I’d have to say that I’m a attraction marketing consultant, social media strategist, network marketer, software engineer, musician, culinary enthusiast, kid at heart, and student of life.

How Did I Get Here?

After many years deciding on different avenues during my college years, I eventually settled into software engineering, something which my friends thought was odd, being that I had always been somewhat artistically inclined, and a musician as well.

I grew up listening to my parents play mostly bluegrass and country music, my Mom sang from an early age and had the voice of an angel. My dad taught me to play guitar when I was 9, and would get frustrated as he watched me pick up and play something he’d been struggling to get right for days LOL!

My mom taught him to sing, and he sounded pretty much like Johnny Cash and Waylan Jennings all rolled into one, and Mom sang harmonies. Well, at first his singing wasn’t that good, he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket and Mom could hardly stand it!

And they had all of us kinds playing something, I even played one of those huge stand up bases that was 3x bigger than me! My brother is now a master guitar player – check out his online studio at Studio-Aid.com!

Later as an adult I played out in pubs, mostly folk and rock kind of stuff (never did continue down the country trail although I played with some bluegrass folks when I lived in the NC mountains for several years, even played with Doc Watson’s son Merle before he died.

But music and the arts were where my first interests and loves were grounded, and I thought I might want to pursue it as a profession, but wasn’t crazy about the lifestyle, and didn’t want to make ‘work’ of it but rather have it as an outlet.

So I still have my two Gibsons, one is an acoustic, 1975 Gospel and a 1974 ES 175-T, a thin, hollow body in maple, both are beautiful!

But there is a certain kind of artistry to finding a way to make something work, and everyone’s way can be as different as might surprise you with computer software.

So finding challenging and engaging work in this industry was at first gratifying, as it provided plenty of puzzles and great satisfaction from getting stuff to work.

And the people I grew to know were awesome, and the relationships I formed along with way were tremendous. These people eventually became like a second family to me.

But I began to realize that much of my life was passing by as deadlines continually approached year after year under the gun of a 60-70 hour work week. And now, with over 10 years of our jobs being sent overseas, the future isn’t so bright anymore.

Whoah! Where Am I?

By now, finally having spent over 20 years in the software industry (and slowing down a mite on that overtime, I did finally have to put my foot down for love of staying healthy and having a life), I have seen the failure of many great corporations due to ignoring the hard work of their employees for the sake of the bottom line..

And when my company of that 20 some years went bankrupt last year, the writing was not only on the wall, it was like a target on my back and a fire under my tail!

Not only that, our company stock tanked with all the other tech stock I had invested in, and my 401k savings was diminished by over 96%. Then to top that off, my ex-husband left and took every bit of equity out of the home we had owned for 13 years.

So here I was, starting completely over at age 44 with what I had about age 34.

Retirement no longer seemed an option (oh, did I mention they extinguished our retirement benefits at work too ? LOL! Who wants to retire anyway! And it certainly isn’t feasible in the forseable future, even with my still pretty darn good salary!

So as you may have guessed, the question then became how quickly could I build my MLM business to replace the income I currently have.

I had found that networking gave me so many a personal connections that I hadn’t the opportunity for working in the same company with the same people for so many years.

It restored my hopes and dreams of regaining control of my life, time and financial future!

Try, Try Again…

But as the story goes, in the MLM companies I had previously joined in recent years, I did not receive the skills training to succeed.

More pointedly, their only training was about the product and opportunity for that company, and oh by the way make a list of your family, friends and 100 people you know to join your business.

For many obvious reasons this has never worked. In the first place I had no particular training in any area of sales and marketing.

Although common practice in the industry is to pitch your product and opportunity in as simple a way as possible (quite valid when you do need duplication to succeed!), but it often had the undesired affect of having people avoid me. Not my intent.

By this time, my family and friends have already heard my pitches about previous companies and products and just weren’t interested anymore (the products themselves being overpriced to entice people to enroll as distributors to get the ‘wholesale’ price).

Why would I want to keep straining those relationships when that isn’t even the right way to go about it?

Time to Regroup, Reassess, and Re-plan!

So after a year of going in 20 different directions, I began wading through as many training programs as I could find (an easy thing to be overwhelmed by once you start looking on the internet as you may already know!).

I found fantastic mastermind groups, personal development became a primary focus as I recognized its critical importance in true success, and I was off and running with actual skills that would enable me to succeed.

Then I realized that it was paramount to find an opportunity and a product that would be unique in a niche not so highly competitive as the one I was currently working in.

And Timing is definitely crucial for both the product and the company. ,On top of that, the company founders would have to have come out of the network marketing industry themselves, and NOT Corporate America

Finally the team is of critical importance, in that they provide a framework in which to facilitate duplication.

The company should be expected to provide duplicatable systems for training on the company, product and opportunity. But the team would have to provide the same for the skills needed to be successful.

To that end I have been using a industry leading duplicatable training and lead generation system, which allows people in the team to offer training to prospects who are not in the company or in that system.

So having duplication from the company, team and from a marketing system is the total duplication package.

Since then I have expanded my knowledge and tools base, and I have absorbed so much information I can barely begin to execute all of it.

And don’t think this has been easy. Even investing in some tools and systems, there is a lot of work in getting educated and setting up your online marketing presence.

But do NOT be discouraged! I have done this entirely on a part time basis. In 16 months I have established this blog and another along with several other social profiles all while working full time.

So if you think you can’t do it for lack of time, then all you have to do is decide whether you want it badly enough (the end game that is, your hopes and dreams to be achieved), change your mindset, and make time!

The rest is up to you. It depends on your vision, your will and your persistence. Any number of directions are available, you just have to pick a path and go for it!

What I am compelled to do is share what I have learned, paying it forward, as I am committed to helping you to realize your potential and reach your goals and dreams!

Stop chasing your family and friends, become a student of the industry, and I will be happy to mentor you to success and help you to focus your attention and refrain from distraction! Just download my free eBook from the sidebar to the left, and I’ll be in touch!

Wishing you every happiness and success!

“Believe while others are doubting;
Plan while others are playing;
Study while others are sleeping;
Decide while others are delaying;
Prepare while others are daydreaming;
Begin while others are procrastinating;
Work while others are wishing;
Save while others are wasting;
Listen while others are talking;
Smile while others are frowning;
Commend while others are criticizing;
Persist while others are quitting.”
~ William Arthur Ward