Leadership Magazines Issue 22 - Gary & Kari Sammons | Page 4

PRESIDENTIAL DIAMONDS

Congratulations on Reaching Presidential Diamond

Gary & Kari Sammons
NEW ALBANY, OHIO, USA

I prayed and he threw me this awesome curve ball and said,
“What if it was me?” We spent nine months planning out what
that would look like for us to job share and switch off who
was with the kids and who was working dōTERRA. We really
navigated and prepared what that would look like for our jobs,
roles, and responsibilities. Now, our kids have been able to
have both mom and dad with them regularly and it’s just been
special for us that we could make it work.

own personal missions and purposes in life. Because of the
financial rewards of Presidential Diamond, we get to take the
blessings we have received and pass those on to whatever
charitable causes or people we want to help. We’re also a
part of the dōTERRA mission even more than ever because of
the opportunity we have to interact with the top leaders and
owners. We actually get to have an impact on what that mission
is, and that’s been a tremendous blessing to be a part of.

Was it challenging to learn how to work together?

Doing Business with Family
and Friends

Gary: There are days when we butt heads, but in a good way.
If we didn’t butt heads, then one of us wouldn’t be needed. We
have to keep mutual respect for one another. When you make
that a priority, it helps overcome the obstacles you might face.

The benefits of working with your network. “I feel like this
business lends itself to working with your network, the people
who are closest to you. If you get to hand pick your leaders,
it would be people you know have integrity, that you can be
honest with, and that you have an easy time communicating
with. A lot of times that is your friends and family.” –Kari

Kari: We’re sharpening each other. He and I are opposite in
a lot of ways personality-wise, but we have aligned goals and
interests. We’ve both learned so much through the process of
navigating our strengths, weaknesses, different skillsets and
interests, and how to help each other shine.

The pros and cons of people you know or don’t. “With
someone you just met and don’t know, it could take a while to
find out that maybe they don’t fit for your business. But, with
people you already know, you trust them and can be more
open with them. There’s the potential for strain on an already
existing relationship in business, but you overcome that by
being sensitive to it.” –Gary

How do you balance your work and your family?
Kari: We’ve learned to keep really specific business hours.
It’s like clockwork. Gary is out of the house by 9:00am because
he still liked the idea of getting up, getting ready for work,
and leaving so that he doesn’t feel like he’s going stir crazy in
the house all day long. He takes his laptop with him and he
works remotely from one of the local coffee shops or libraries.
He comes home at 1:30pm every day and I work out of our
home office after that. I like still being close to the kids so
they have access to me, but I’m behind closed doors. I think
this system has helped us respect each other’s space and
the way that we each like to work. It’s also helped us to have
those set business hours. We know when we can schedule
our appointments and it’s helped us keep all our priorities
protected. We get to the end of the month and we don’t feel
stressed and like we haven’t seen each other. We don’t feel
in over our heads—we feel the opposite, like we have a really
good work-life balance.

How to maintain your close relationships in business.
“Be patient and keep the relationship first. A lot of times folks
can put their own personal goals in the business first and
that can strain the relationships, which is not only a bad thing
because it hurts the friendship, but because it also hurts the
business too.” –Gary
Allow the business to sometimes take the backseat.
“Our core six leaders are some of our family members and
closest friends. Keeping those relationships a priority can
sometimes mean we move at a different pace. Sometimes we
have to slow down and let the business take a backseat, just to
make sure those relationships stay super healthy.” –Kari
Make sure you’re still involved in things outside the
business. “We keep regular business hours, but we make
it clear that our family and friends always have access to us
regardless. We love them and we do life with them, and we
don’t want that to ever change. We make sure that not every
conversation with them is about dōTERRA and that we’re still
knit into the details of their lives.” –Kari

Some people don’t want to reach Presidential Diamond
because of how hard and stressful it seems. What are
the benefits of this rank? Why should someone want
to reach it?
How do you work together in the business?
Gary: I was working as a full-time attorney for an insurance
company when Kari started doing dōTERRA. I was very
supportive of what she was doing and I helped her on the side
while working. I helped take care of the kids and pitched in
around the house. I also helped with the business by talking
to other husbands and sharing. Two years ago, I left that job
to work with Kari and it’s been awesome. I love the work. It’s
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dōTERRA ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP I SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2016

completely outside of my comfort zone, but it’s been great to
learn from my spouse and from other leaders in dōTERRA.
Kari: I’m first and foremost a full-time mom and doing
dōTERRA on the side. As our team grew, things started falling
through the cracks. I realized I would either have to hire
someone to help with dōTERRA or hire someone to help with
the kids. I didn’t like either one of those options. So, Gary and

Gary: I thought the same thing at one point, that this rank
was intimidating and seemed to be so much work. It’s actually
the opposite. I feel like our lives were crazier and more hectic
when we were Diamond. Life is actually getting much more
manageable. When you’re Presidential Diamond, you have
solid Platinums and above that are under you—in our case we
have Diamonds and Blue Diamonds on our top line who are
completely self-sufficient. Most of the time they don’t need us.
It creates true time freedom so that we get to focus on our

What is motivating you to continue building your business?
Kari: We want so badly to see all of our leaders shine,
succeed, and have the freedom that we have. We don’t want
to sit back and rest on our laurels. We want to see our core
leaders hit Presidential Diamond. We always want to keep
helping people because it’s addictive. We can’t help it. We can’t
stop sharing the oils and we can’t help our desire to develop
leaders. We just feel called to it.

*Results not typical. Average earnings are less. See dōTERRA Opportunity and Earnings Disclosure Summary on doterra.com.

www.doterra.com

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