What My Son Saw While I Was Building a Norwex Business

In 2019, my son Jake walked onto the stage at the Norwex National Conference and spoke to a room of 3,000 people. He was 16 years old.

Of course I was proud that he was willing to speak in front of that many people. But what stayed with me wasn’t the size of the room or even how confident he looked.

It was hearing him describe what he’d seen at home.

By then, Norwex had been part of our family for most of Jake’s life. He’d watched me prepare for parties, set goals, talk with customers, mentor consultants, celebrate the good days and work through disappointments.

I knew he’d been there for all of it. I hadn’t realized how much he’d taken in.

That day changed the way I thought about building a family business with your children. It isn’t about handing them adult responsibility. It’s about letting them see meaningful work up close and giving them age-appropriate ways to be part of it.

Watch Jake share what it was like to grow up in our Norwex family business. Then keep reading, because hearing his perspective taught me something I hadn’t fully understood before.

“My Family Works Together and We Play Together”

When Jake was asked what it was like growing up with Norwex, his answer was simple:

“My family works together and we play together.”

That was a pretty accurate description of us.

Jake had been helping at craft shows since he was 12. He enjoyed explaining Norwex to someone who had never heard of it and watching that person’s expression when the products began to make sense.

Along the way, he was learning how to speak with adults, listen to questions, explain something clearly and help people find what they needed.

He was also learning that work and family didn’t have to live in completely separate worlds.

Our business gave us work we could do together. When we reached a goal, we celebrated together. We also made time for vacations, the cabin, boating, four-wheeling, snowmobiling and the other things our family enjoyed.

The boys saw the work behind the business, but they also shared in the life that work helped us build.

That rhythm—not an equal division of time every day—is what I mean when I talk about Work-Life Harmony for Family Entrepreneurs.

He Had Been Part of My Goals Since He Was Six

Jake was six years old when I started Norwex, and even then he wanted to know what I was working toward.

He decided my goal should be $1,000 in sales or one new consultant at every party. On the mornings after a party, he would ask whether I’d reached it.

Years later, during the Norwex kids panel, someone asked why he’d set that goal for me when he was only six. He said he knew it would create a ripple effect and help Norwex reach more people.

That answer still makes me smile.

At six, Jake had already picked up on something that became central to the way I built my business. The work wasn’t only about one party or one sale. Helping one person could lead to that person helping someone else.

That was the ripple effect he saw.

It’s also part of the reason I care so much about Family Business Leadership.

Shared Goals Gave Our Boys a Reason to Care

When I was working toward my Senior Vice President promotion, it became a family goal.

Jake was 10 and Andrew was seven. The boys knew the specific qualification numbers I was working toward, and they prayed for them regularly.

Their prayers weren’t simply, “Please help Mom reach her goal.” They knew how many personal team members needed to engage with Norwex that month and how many people in my larger organization needed to engage.

After I reached the goal, their prayers changed. They began thanking God that we’d accomplished it.

I loved that they remembered to be grateful after the asking was over.

We had also chosen something tangible our family would enjoy when I reached the goal. That helped the boys understand the connection between working toward something and eventually celebrating it.

I never wanted my children to carry the pressure of my business. The responsibility for the results was mine. I did want them to understand what I was working toward, why it mattered and how much their encouragement meant to me.

There’s a real difference between asking children to carry adult outcomes and inviting them to become part of a meaningful family goal.

Some of Our Best Conversations Happened While Working

When my boys were little, I sometimes wondered how I would stay close to them as they became teenagers.

I didn’t spend much time hunting, fishing, four-wheeling or snowmobiling. Those were interests they shared more naturally with Curt.

Norwex gave Jake and me something of our own.

We spent long days together at craft shows and other events. He was learning business skills, but something else was happening between customers.

We talked.

These weren’t formal heart-to-heart conversations that either of us had scheduled. They happened because we were working side by side and had enough time together for the conversation to unfold naturally.

Those hours brought us closer during a season when many parents are trying to figure out how to stay connected to their teenagers.

The business gave us work to do together. The work gave us time together. Some of my favorite conversations grew out of that time.

He Was Watching How I Worked

During the panel, Jake said he was proud of my “farm kid work ethic,” my “party mentality” and the way I got up each day and did my job even when I didn’t feel like doing it.

He also called me a role model.

That was the part that touched me most.

I’d talked with my boys about working hard, following through and doing what needed to be done. But Jake hadn’t learned those things only because I said them. He’d been watching.

He noticed whether I treated working from home like real work. He saw how I responded when a party didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped. He heard how I spoke to customers and team members. He could see whether my actions matched the values I said were important.

Children hear what we teach, but they also notice what we repeat.

Hearing Jake speak that day reminded me that my everyday choices had been teaching him all along.

From Watching to Becoming My Business Partner

When Jake turned 18, Norwex allowed him to become an official partner in our family business.

That felt different.

He was no longer only the little boy who helped at craft shows, listened to my business calls or asked whether I’d reached my goal after a party. He was now an adult choosing to become part of what we’d built together.

At the 2022 Norwex Leadership Conference, Jake attended with me and sat in the black-jacket leader meeting. He wasn’t there simply as my son accompanying me. He was there as my business partner.

That moment meant more to me than the jacket or the meeting itself. It represented years of working side by side, conversations between customers, goals our family understood and lessons neither of us realized he was learning at the time.

It also showed me how a healthy family business can change as children grow. Their role doesn’t have to remain fixed. Involvement can begin with small, age-appropriate tasks, grow into real responsibility and eventually become an adult partnership—if that’s the path they choose.

Jake also chose his own primary career as a fourth-generation Local 455 pipefitter and steamfitter. Becoming part of our Norwex business didn’t determine his future. It gave us another meaningful way to work together while respecting the life and career he wanted to build.

A Family Business Shouldn’t Decide a Child’s Future

I never needed Jake or Andrew to choose the same career I chose.

Jake became my official Norwex partner when he turned 18, and he remains part of our family business. He also chose his own primary career as a fourth-generation Local 455 pipefitter and steamfitter.

That family legacy matters to him too.

He has gone on to recognize opportunities and build things of his own. The lessons he learned didn’t lock him into one career. They helped prepare him to think, work, communicate, solve problems and create opportunities wherever his life took him.

You can read more about that in How Growing Up in a Norwex Home Helped My Son Become an Entrepreneur.

The goal of a family business shouldn’t be to produce children who copy their parents.

It should help develop capable adults who know how to contribute, treat people well, work toward a goal and build lives that reflect their own gifts and values.

What Are Your Children Seeing?

Not every child will want to participate in a parent’s business. Not every family member will understand the goal immediately, and family support doesn’t happen automatically.

Children also shouldn’t be treated as free labor or expected to carry adult business pressure. But there may be age-appropriate ways to help them understand what you’re building.

They might prepare supplies for an event, pack an order, help set up a display or celebrate a family goal. Older children may be ready to interact with customers, learn a new skill or take responsibility for a small part of the work.

The task matters. What happens beside the task may matter even more.

What are your children learning from the way you work?

Do they understand what you’re building and why it matters?

Are they seeing work consume your family, or are they seeing meaningful work become part of a life you’re building together?

Watching Jake speak that day reminded me that our children notice more than we realize.

I thought I was building a business while raising my boys.

It turns out they’d been building it with me.

For a broader look at how family, leadership and mentorship connect, read Building a Legacy Business Through Leadership.

If You’re Wondering Whether Norwex Could Fit Your Family

If you’re considering Norwex and wondering how it could fit your family’s life, start with Why Join My Norwex Team. It will give you a clearer picture of the way I mentor and what I expect from the people I work with.

If you still have questions, talk with me before you enroll. I won’t promise that your experience will look like mine. Every family, schedule and goal is different.

I can help you understand what the work requires, identify what you want from the opportunity and decide whether my approach to mentorship fits the way you want to build.

~ Suzanne

Results vary in any business. I share from my personal experience, but no specific income, outcome, promotion, or business result is guaranteed.