For more than twenty years my day started the same way: an early alarm, coffee standing up, clocking in before it was light. I don't say this with regret. The factory gave me honest work, colleagues I still count as friends, and a way of living built on seriousness and commitment.
And yet, past forty, I started asking myself a question I could no longer push aside: is this all I can still learn? It wasn't dissatisfaction with the job itself. It was the feeling that there were still things to understand about myself, and that I didn't have much time left to keep putting them off.
The fear of starting again
Starting again at that age is frightening, there's no point pretending otherwise. You have responsibilities, habits, an idea of yourself that has settled over the years. And you are afraid of being judged: what will other people think? What will I think, if things don't go the way I hope?
When I first came across network marketing I was sceptical, and I say that honestly. I had heard all kinds of stories, some good, many less so. That's why I took my time. I asked questions, I read, I listened to people who had been doing it for years and also to people who had stopped. Only then did I decide to give it a try.
What really convinced me
It wasn't a promise that convinced me. It was the idea of learning new things: speaking in public, organising my time, really listening to people instead of just hearing them. Skills I had never had the chance to practise in the factory, and that I felt I was missing in everyday life too.
I was also convinced by the fact that the path depended largely on my own effort. Nobody told me it would be easy, and it wasn't. There were weeks when I wondered whether I had made the right choice.
What I have learned so far
I have learned that age is not an obstacle but a store of experience. Anyone who has worked for a long time knows what it means to be consistent, to keep a commitment, to get back up after a bad day. Those qualities count in any line of work.
I have also learned that starting over doesn't mean disowning who you were. I am still the person who walked onto the shop floor at six in the morning. I have just added a few chapters.
If you also have that question going round in your head, my advice is simple: don't rush, get properly informed, talk to people who have been through it. Then decide for yourself. If you'd like to talk it over, write to me: I'll tell you how it went for me, with no filters.