Last month, I interviewed Accidental Pren-her Pam Peyron for this month's broadcast of Stories of the Unexpected.
You can listen to it from your computer by clicking on the play button, download the MP3 file and listening on your iPod or other MP3 listening device, or read it in full below.
Enjoy!
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Welcome to another episode of Accidental Pren-her Stories of the Unexpected. My name is Susan Reid, and we have as our very special guest today Pam Peyron, educator and director with USANA Health Services. Welcome, Pam, it’s great to have you today.
P: Thank you!
S: Pam, let’s talk just a little bit about your journey into the entrepreneurial life. I know that at one time you were traditionally employed as a public health and home health nurse, and now you are an entrepreneur in the fast-growing wellness industry. That’s quite a journey. So tell us a little bit about this journey from traditionally employed to self-employed. First question: When did this all begin?
P: First of all, I want to thank you, Susan, for this opportunity to share. When did it begin? I’ll just set the stage with a little bit about my life at the time. It was my last nursing career. I didn’t know that at the time, but I was caring for my dad. He had gotten sick about five years prior, so I had ended up back at our family ranch. It was a 5,000-acre cow/calf operation, from managing the ranch and caring for my dad. My dad’s care was actually the easiest part. So I got to step into that whole world of self-employed. What was it like to really be responsible, to make things happen.
So, six years had passed from the time I began. I had gone home for a year, I thought, and now we’re six years later. My dad is still continuing on in his deterioration, and I’m just deepening into this whole world of self-employment. And I’m at this seminar where we had to go around the room and introduce ourselves at the time. So I said my name and that I’m a rancher. And at the break, several people approached me to say I was living their dream. And I remember looking at them, and I knew what they meant, but I also was aware that I was exhausted, it was seven days a week with long hours every day, besides my dad’s care – and, by now, it really wasn’t a dream. It was just a life crammed with unending decisions and worries – worries about water, weather, commodity prices, animals, land health, employees, all of these things. And I remember thinking, “You know what? There has to be something different.” But I didn’t know anything different…my people didn’t know anything different. There was a strong value around education. Fortunately, I had my degree in nursing from the University of Iowa. And I’d had these wonderful life experiences, but I’m, like, “This life did not make my people happy.” Even though they had the independence of self-employment, they weren’t jumping up for joy. They were burdened about where they were at.
So I just said, “Give me some answers.” I’m a strong believer that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, and I was led to Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book. I devoured it, and then I read “The Cash Flow Quadrant”. And I have never been the same since. Once I understood the four methods of income generation and the motivation behind each one, I knew it was time to choose a different path. Because my upbringing had taught me to value security, benefits, independence, versus freedom, choice, systems and networks. Those are kind of new concepts, you know? I mean, you kind of know them, but what does it really mean for me?
I continued on at the ranch for a couple more years. My dad eventually passed on and the ranch did sell, but in that process I began my own journey. And my mantra began. Those words of J. Paul Getty, where he said, “I’d rather have 1% of 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own.” This whole concept of residual leveraged income – I’m, like, “I want to be an Elvis.” Do something once and make money on it, even when you’re dead! Now that’s a concept!
This week has been a wonderful week of seeing my book come together. 
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