The Beyond Slim Difference: The Future of Social Selling 

How a 15-Year Career in Direct Sales Finally Made Sense 

Let me start by saying this: 

If you’re under 35 — or you’ve never been part of direct sales, social selling, or “the industry” — what I’m about to say might not sound revolutionary. 

It might sound obvious. 

But for someone who has spent 15+ years inside MLM and direct sales, built real income, earned cars, trips, titles, and lived through every evolution of the model… 

What’s happening right now feels: 

• a little bizarre 
• a little funny 
• and very, very overdue 

And for those who recognize it? 

It’s a massive opportunity. 

How I Got Here (This Was Never the Plan) 

I entered direct sales in my early twenties with a company you may have heard of: Mary Kay. 

Selling lipstick was not my dream. 

I was 22, broke, and needed fast cash. I assumed I’d do it temporarily until a “real job” showed up. 

If you’ve ever been in MLM or direct sales, you know that story. 

Plan B. 

Or C. 

Or D. 

Get in. Get out. Don’t tell anyone. 

Except… I didn’t leave. 

I stayed. I built. I committed. 

At first, I stayed for the money — and I won’t pretend otherwise. I was good at it. I earned commissions, bonuses, diamonds, trips… even six pink Cadillacs (which are very distracting, by the way). 

But here’s the part people don’t expect: 

I wasn’t great at selling makeup. 

I didn’t even wear much of it. 

What I was great at was: 

• recruiting 
• building teams 
• developing leaders 
• teaching people how to win 

And that’s where the real story begins.

The Uncomfortable Truth About MLM & Direct Sales 

You can make money selling products in direct sales. 

But the big income stories? 

They were never really about selling. 

They were about people. 

Back in the early days, companies needed humans to tell other humans. 

Kitchen tables. Soccer games. Coffee shops. 

So they paid very well for network expansion. 

Here’s the part no one wanted to say out loud: 

👉 85% of people in MLM will never recruit a single person. 

Not one. 

So what happens when only 15% of your sales force multiplies the business? 

You: 

• overpay them 
• protect them 
• lock them in
• build systems around hierarchy 

And for a while — it worked. 

But that alone wasn’t what broke the model. 

The real mistake? 

Missing what was happening outside the bubble. 

The World Changed — Quietly, Then All at Once 

While the industry was busy protecting structure, the way humans connect, trust, and buy was changing. 

Today, a single piece of content can reach more people in minutes than years of kitchen-table selling ever could. 

The need to “own” someone’s network disappeared. 

Once creators experienced: 

• reach 
• autonomy 
• freedom 

You couldn’t lock them in anymore. 

That’s when cracks formed. 

Paying 90% of commissions to 2% of people stopped making sense in a world where anyone could go viral. 

The power dynamic shifted. 

And while one door started closing… 

Another opened. 

Affiliate Marketing, TikTok, and the Creator Power Shift 

Affiliate marketing was the first signal. 

Same concept: 

• share what you love 
• get paid on performance 

But without: 

• recruiting 
• ownership 
• pressure 

Commissions were smaller. Residuals were rare. 

But after years of MLM noise? 

People didn’t care. 

They just wanted out. 

Then TikTok changed everything. 

TikTok didn’t just disrupt social media. 

It rewrote selling. 

No following required. 

No warm market. 

No team. 

Just consistency. 

The algorithm delivers buyers. 

They click. 

They purchase. 

At the same time: 

• Amazon became the most trusted buying platform on earth 
• Shopify made monetizing influence frictionless 

For the first time in my career, I saw it clearly: 

👉 The power had shifted to the seller. 

So why fight Amazon? 

Why ignore TikTok Shop? 

Why limit conversions? 

If you’re building a side-commerce business, wouldn’t you want every conversion door open? 

TikTok. 

Amazon. 

Direct-to-consumer. 

Conversion is conversion. 

And blocking options only loses sales. 

The Question That Changed Everything 

I had to ask myself something uncomfortable: 

Why are we still asking women to swim upstream? 

Why are we forcing recruiting when data says most people don’t want it? 

Why are we protecting models that don’t match how people live or create? 

That question led to Beyond Slim becoming what it is today. 

Not a panic pivot. 

A rebuild with clarity. 

Why Beyond Slim (And Why Now) 

I didn’t stay with Beyond Slim because it was easy. 

I stayed because it gave us the freedom to do this right. 

We stripped things down. 

We questioned everything. 

We rebuilt for the world we live in now. 

What I know at 41 — not 25: 

• Women want to recommend, not recruit 
• Influence should be rewarded without ownership 
• Residual income should be earned, not trapped 
• No one should feel guilty for leaving — or for coming back 

Beyond Slim today is not MLM. 

And it’s not basic affiliate marketing either. 

It’s Social Referral Marketing, built for: 

• creators 
• affiliates 
• influencers 
• side-gig earners 

A place where you can: 

• sell on social 
• create content your way 
• earn fairly (including residuals) 
• grow without giving up autonomy 

Final Thought: This Isn’t Chaos — It’s Correction 

This moment isn’t confusing. 

It’s a correction. 

For the first time: 

• the seller has leverage 
• the creator has choice 
• women can earn without betraying who they are 

We didn’t build this for five years ago. 

We built it for right now — and for what’s coming next. 

And if you’ve been watching this shift thinking: 

“Something feels different…” 

You’re right. 

The door is open. 

No strings attached. 

And if you’re ready to move with it — you’re welcome here.