I did laundry today.
“What’s the big deal about that?” you may ask. We all do laundry, especially if we’re moms! Well, even though I’m mom to two growing boys, and wife to a busy husband, that doesn’t mean that I’m always the one doing laundry in this house. A lot of times it is my husband or sons doing the laundry while I’m working other things. It’s a family chore, so the whole family shares in the responsibility of it.
I’ve been thinking for some time about how to express this one thing I really love about the Norwex life, so today I decided to give it a try.
We’re a Norwex family… a home-based business family … a “FAMILY BUSINESS” NORWEX FAMILY.
That means a lot. It means that this work-at-home Norwex ‘thing’ is truly a FAMILY BUSINESS. I may be the actual Norwex consultant and leader in our home, but there isn’t a member of my family who doesn’t help with the business. My boys do things like label catalogs, organize party supplies, pack and unpack product for events, load and unload my car, and my older teenager even sometimes helps me at craft shows and other events. Last week, my younger son attended my team meeting to live stream the training on Facebook for team members who couldn’t attend in person. He could hardly contain himself when the discussion turned to products; he kept wanting to interject his opinion. 🙂
On many weekends, my older teenage son gladly gives up his free time to help me at local craft shows. Guess what … he really enjoys spending the weekend working! He can’t wait for the next opportunity to share Norwex with people! He had a great time learning how to polish his verbal communication skills (after all, he’s a teenager…texting is more their speed on a normal day), how to determine which products would be the best fit for each individual, how to look for a need and then determine if he had something to fulfill it, and how to read body language. It was a fantastic experience! At the end of each day, he gave me a hug and a kiss and told me what an amazing mom I am and how he really enjoyed his day working with me. That was truly a “mom win” in my mind.
My personal “core values” are faith, family, integrity, security, meaningful work, and helping others. Those core values are things I work every day to instill in my sons. Our lives revolve around those values. Those core values are evident every day in our home and in our Norwex business.
A Norwex business also provides us a fun family opportunity; it’s a business that I can one day pass down to one of my sons. My older son, Jake, became a junior partner of mine when he turned 18, and he is now able to act as an Independent Consultant.
Norwex provides me and my family meaningful work that allows us to help others. The last two core values are so evident when I see my son talking to Norwex customers at one of our craft show booths. He’s not “selling;” he’s “helping others” by sharing a product that he truly believes will make a difference in their lives. It brings me so much joy to see that.
Having a home-based business also means that everyone in our family does share in the household chores and in business chores. Whether it’s dishes to be done, dinner to be cooked, bathrooms to be cleaned, or laundry to be washed, there are four people living in this home and we all work together to accomplish the household tasks. Both of my sons have known how to do laundry for some time now. It may not get folded exactly the way I would fold it, but that’s not important. What’s important to me is that I’m teaching them tasks that will help them be self-sufficient adults, and true partners to their future wives one day. I’m teaching them to have a strong work ethic, and to find meaning in doing a good job.
When my family can see the work I’m doing through Norwex, it helps them value a strong work ethic, and it gives them opportunities to develop that in their own lives. It’s just expected and understood that we are all a part of this family, so we all share in the work and we all share in the rewards.
I’m raising two young men in a world that seems to be raising middle-class kids who grow up a bit … spoiled, and possibly a bit … entitled. Wow; I said it. We don’t really use those words much, but do you agree?
There are kids graduating from college in 2021 that have rarely had to work for the things they’ve been given. It would be very easy for our boys to end up on that path. They live in a comfortable home in a safe neighborhood. They go to good schools where they are given every advantage to learn far more than was offered in the school I attended as a child. They are very blessed. It would be very easy for them to feel entitled and to be oblivious to the work that has gone into providing this comfortable life for them. One of my favorite things about the Norwex life is that it provides me an opportunity to teach my boys that they aren’t entitled to really any of this. Everything they have has come through hard work and God’s blessings; it has come through my husband and I educating ourselves and working hard at careers we love while attempting to follow the path God lays out for us. It has come through their parents having a strong work ethic. I am determined to instill that work ethic in my sons. They see me working, and they see me enjoying work. With a Norwex business, my boys see me doing parties, training new consultants, running team meetings. They also see that I’m able to run a successful business while still having a happy home, a good marriage, and raising well-balanced kids, and instilling a good work ethic in my sons. I’m there for the hockey and basketball games, and I’m here to help with homework. At the same time, when it’s time to work … we all work until the work gets done. It’s a group effort.
Thanks for letting me share something personal today.
Please leave me a comment if any of this resonated with you; I would appreciate it.
If the Norwex life and career is something you would like to learn more about, please contact me at suzanneholt@live.com or 651-402-0306. I would love to connect with you. To read more about my Norwex journey, click here. If you’re ready to get started as a Norwex Independent Consultant and don’t already have a consultant you’re working with, you can JOIN MY TEAM. Be sure it lists me as your sponsor when you go through the sign up process.
I look forward to hearing from you!
~ Suzanne
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