How I'm Using My Skills as Teacher to Dream Big and Find Success with Rodan + Fields
This week, we have Becca Nguyen, wife, mom, friend, teacher, avid Crossfitter, #organizedmomma, sharing how she is using her skillset as a teacher to dream big and pursue an opportunity with Rodan + Fields in order to achieve time and financial freedom.
The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you.
Honestly when I was first introduced to Rodan + Fields by my colleague, I said, “No, thank you.” I had zero interest in products let alone a business. I was already using department store products, which were more than I normally spent on myself and I figured they were working well enough. Plus I am a 7th grade Language Arts teacher, I thought, I surely couldn’t sell anything. I wouldn’t know where to start. Then one fateful day one of my 7th grade students, who we all know have no filters, looked me square in the eyes, deep into my soul and said, “Mrs. Nguyen, you look tired.” Tired?! Tired?! Are you kidding me?! I had a full night’s sleep. You can’t tell me I look tired. But I did. I knew I did. So I ran down the hall to my friend and asked her for every product she had for tired eyes. “All of them. I want all of the eye products.”
I started using the eye products that very night and fell in love. Then I thought, what about the other products? I don’t really have any skincare concerns but they’re clinically tested and have proven results so why not try them? I started using Redefine to prevent fine lines and wrinkles and again I fell in love. Don’t tell my husband I’ve been in love multiple times. As summer quickly approached I knew my freckle patches would be returning. You see, when I was pregnant with my second child, I got terrible melasma, or pregnancy mask. I had gigantic freckle patches all over my face. My forehead was completely covered; my eyes were surrounded like a raccoon. My grandmother, though I love her so, thought my freckles were cute. All of them. I did not. So I decided to get Reverse in addition to my Redefine Regimen to manage my sun-damaged skin. At that point with two Regimens, I was so close to the price of our smallest business kit that I decided to start the business simply for the bigger discount. I still had no intention of selling anything and just loved a deeper discount when I found one. But that quickly changed. Because I loved the products, I had already been talking about them with everyone I knew. It came naturally. Just like when I find a great restaurant or product. I shout it from the rooftops.
“And this whole time I have been honing my classroom management skills, I have really been perfecting myself as a mentor, ready to guide my teammates toward their individual goals.”
Currently I am a 7th grade Language Arts teacher and have been for the past 11 years. What I love about my job is developing a rapport with my students and watching them learn and grow. Having them come into my classroom in September telling me they hate reading and writing and having that same student leave in tears at the end of the year. What I don't like about my job are all the politics and constantly changing government programs (seemingly developed by people who don’t know what it’s like to teach a classroom full of twelve year olds). The parents whose child has never done wrong, definitely didn’t do wrong and will never do wrong and has also never earned less than an A. Yet, somehow I never considered anything else. Teaching was in my blood. It is in my blood but what I now know is that it isn’t the only thing in my blood.
What’s really in my blood is a skillset that fluidly translates into my business. I was born to be a leader but I thought that meant in the classroom. It never dawned on me that really meant leading a team of fellow mommas, sisters, daughters, entrepreneurs, etc. Those relationships I love building with my students, I am now building with my customers, teammates, and leaders. While I would normally pick up a young adult novel, I have found myself in a world of personal and professional development that has helped me find my voice. And this whole time I have been honing my classroom management skills, I have really been perfecting myself as a mentor, ready to guide my teammates toward their individual goals. The discipline I have to navigate increasingly difficult student populations, changing government policies, and the hormones of 100 7th graders, is the same discipline that helps me stay focused on my big Rodan + Field dreams.
As I mentioned, I initially joined Rodan + Fields for the discount but over time it has evolved. Now I’m doing it for so much more. Now I'm doing it for my family. Now I am doing it so I don't miss a moment. Now I am doing it so one day I won't be giving them the scraps of me at the end of the day but instead will be giving them the best of me. Now I am doing it so we can have time freedom and financial freedom to make lasting memories together. Now I’m doing it to take back my life.
“Now I am doing it so one day I won’t be giving them the scraps of me at the end of the day but instead will be giving them the best of me.”
In the 2 years that I have been in the business, I have watched countless women leave their full-time jobs for the type of financial freedom one couldn’t even imagine. Some have replaced their teaching incomes, long nursing hours and 24/7 traditional businesses for residual income and a fraction of the hours that can be conducted from anywhere with WIFI. I have watched women drive off in their Lexus on the company’s dime, jetset to Napa Valley or Cannes, France and yet still be home for every ballet recital and t-ball game. I watch these women and I know. I know their success is my potential. I would never leave the security of my job before I was certain in another but I know I will one day. One day I will leave teaching, the only job I have ever known, for a life of freedom and financial success I have only dreamt of.
And dreaming is what I will continue to do but now I dream so much bigger. Somewhere along the way, I stopped dreaming. I was happy and loving life. But not dreaming. A year into R+F I realized I was dreaming again and loving it. The possibilities were endless. But one day out of the blue my husband, Lam, mentioned that he couldn't remember the last time he allowed himself to dream. And that's when I realized it wasn't just about me anymore. It was about being able to allow Lam to dream too. Showing my kids they never have to stop dreaming. And helping every person on my team dream again too.
“One day I will leave teaching, the only job I have ever known, for a life of freedom and financial success I have only dreamt of.”
So now I dream. We dream. And we dream big. Because of R+F, I will be able to replace my teaching income to stay at home with my kids and never miss an event, practice, back to school night, etc. I will be able to relieve Lam's stress. I will be able to create lasting memories with my family on our time. Memories that will allow Leila and Eli to feel loved and safe and always know they have a home to come back to. And we will all dream. Dream of the day we are driving down the highway with our arms out the windows of our shiny white Lexus catching the breeze.
(This is my unique story. For more info regarding income: research RF income disclosure)
Connect with Becca on Facebook and Instagram.
Learn more about R + F Products and how to partner with Becca.
Additional Disclosure from Catherine:
I am not an R + F Consultant, but work with others to jump start their online presence. For more info, check out R + F Influencer Guide: Create a Knockout Online Presence for R + F Success.
How I'm Using My Skills as Teacher to Dream Big and Find Success with Rodan + Fields
