EU Leadership Magazine EU_EssLeadershipMag_Issue42_King_Cover | Page 25

“The story goes that when there’s a storm coming, cows run away from it. But
buffaloes—they see the storm and run toward it. They move into it and end up
going through a lot faster. So if you face your problems and challenges, you’ll
get through them far more quickly than if you try to avoid them.” —Jon Erik
W
hen Jon Erik and Lynn fi rst meetings in Norway and then eventually As if transitioning from the IT industry
began growing a business with virtual meetings. Most people build in to building an essential oil business
dōTERRA , they were living in Norway their immediate areas, but we knew we on another continent wasn’t challenging
and were about to move to the US. “In had to build across the ocean.” enough, Lynn and Jon Erik’s hard-won
®
regard to timing,” Lynn says, “it wasn’t
the best.” However, she and Jon Erik
remembered the importance of a
meeting they had with Greg Cook. “He
made some dōTERRA presentations and
said if we wanted to start in Norway, we
could fi nd success there,” Jon Erik adds.
“As far as persistence goes, we built for
half a year before moving to the US,
where we knew no one.”
Not only was it a transition of location,
it was also a change of occupation for
Jon Erik: “The shift from the corporate
world, where people are paid when
they do what someone tells them to
do, was an interesting experience. I’ve
learned more about leadership in this
business than in the corporate world.
This business is all motivational—you
can’t make people do anything, as
momentum came to a near screeching
halt when they experienced issues
with product orders. However, in
true founder spirit, they continued
to grow their business as they worked
to fi nd solutions. “This made our
business grow slowly—but surely,”
Jon Erik recalls.
The changes that have happened
in their lives have added to Jon Erik
“Moving to the US was the fi rst big this is a voluntary workforce.” Lynn obstacle,” Lynn recalls. “Our whole adds her point of view, “He came network was in Europe. Jon Erik is from from a successful position in a global there, and I’d lived there for 17 years. IT company. To go from dealing with Besides my family and a few friends, the corporate world and massive we didn’t know anyone in America. We accounts to working with individuals— had to ask ourselves, ‘How are we going predominately female—and a whole need to keep going forward, no matter
to build this?’” Rather than run away new demographic has helped him how slow it feels. As long as we’re all
from the storm, this power couple ran develop a lot and . . . well, understand consistent and persistent, then things
toward it! “We came up with a strategy. the opposite sex more, which is a good will work out.” And for this couple,
Our eff orts focused on having physical thing,” she concludes with a laugh. it certainly has.
and Lynn’s story of persistence. Lynn
concludes, “There are always hurdles
along the way. Walking against the wind
challenges you in a benefi cial way.
It can be tiring, but you know that you
A DYNAMIC DUO
Both Lynn and Jon Erik work side by side to make
their business grow and thrive. “It’s kind of unusual
compared to a typical team in our fi eld, where the
woman leads and the man comes in after.” Lynn
elaborates, “Ours has been the opposite. Jon Erik
travels to Europe quite a bit, as that’s where he
grew up. We have two children, so I’ve elected
to stay home and raise the children. We put in
the same amount of eff ort—100 percent—but in
diff erent ways toward our mutual goal.”
No matter how a couple might approach their
business, depending on individual circumstances,
they need to make it happen together. “Spouses
need to be on the same page and be a team. It’s
completely essential for well-being—not just for the
business, but also for the family.”
Results not typical. Average earnings are less. See dōTERRA Opportunity and Earnings Disclosure Summary on doterra.com.
doterra.com
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