We were lucky to catch up with Alante Ghannam recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alante, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I “build” my resilience everyday. Resilience is not something that just happens, it is a byproduct of the mental work we do everyday. Over the last 5 years, I went through a lot of challenging situations in my personal life. I went through a divorce, financial troubles, becoming a single mom, changing jobs and becoming estranged from my “village.” Any one of these things could have “broken” me. But what they taught me was gratitude. How to be grateful for what was, what is and what is yet to come. I start each day with gratitude, because there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. Even if it is just the air in our lungs, that gives us another chance to change our situation. This is how I built resilience. Clinging to the positives and what I have and not agonizing over losses, disappointments and failures. Gratitude allows me to turn perceived set backs, into lessons and learning opportunities. It shapes my perspective on life and my business.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a Nurse practitioner and Mary Kay beauty consultant. I have been a Nurse 13 years and an NP 8 years and never really considered anything else. I used Mary Kay products because I really enjoyed them and so did my skin! Well after going through a divorce I discovered I owed the government, despite working full time, owning a house and being a single adult with a dependent. My Bonus mom, who was also my Mary Kay consultant brought the idea of starting my own home based business. Well that seemed like a smart idea so I jumped on it. However, I really didn’t do much with it at first, because I was still working full time as an NP. Well, later that year I found myself, having helped the program grow from infancy to a full fledged program. This was the 3rd time I had done this in my career. I trained everyone in the team, I wrote policies, I wrote contracts. I even helped my boss with her role because she was part-time and based across the country. After all of this, my annual raise was 3%. When I addressed this with my manager, she told me that I could argue for more. I did not feel that I should have to. That is when Mary Kay shifted from being an occasional hobby to a major priority. I knew if I worked as hard for myself, as I had worked for these other 3 companies, I could be successful. I loved Mary Kay because it is a well known brand, their products work and I didn’t have to try to invent or create something. It was a business and business model that was well built out. It still gives me an opportunity to help women both personally and professionally.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
One thing I think is important, is recognizing the skills you have already acquired and evaluating how these can translate into new experiences. For example, being a nurse practitioner prepared me for being able to quickly build rapport with new customers and be able to meet their needs. It also gave me great foundational knowledge of skin, aging and treatments.
Another really important part of this journey, for me, has been therapy. You have to have a way of managing all of the unhelpful thoughts that creep in. A lot of times when we have failures or setbacks or when people are negative towards us, we can internalize this. This will break you down over time and you can lose your drive, confidence and zeal for your business. Controlling your mind, as soon as possible, will be one of the greatest things you can do for yourself and your business.
My other huge piece of advice is to Network, especially if you are looking to scale quickly. Not everyone is your competition. When you understand the benefit of networking and collaborating, you understand this gives you a competitive edge and is able to get you in front of people you may never have met, any other way.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The most challenging obstacle I face, is Mary Kay mis-conceptions. Mary Kay is a family led business that was started by a woman 61 years ago. I think this is amazing. However, for some reason, people think that it is an archaic business. In my opinion, a company that has been around 61 years must make great products and have a very sound business structure. Also, how can a company be around for 61 year, if they remain the same that entire time?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.marykay.com/aghannam
- Instagram: @alantemk
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