The Boys Club - Chapter 23
Things were going very well, and the business was growing like crazy! It was time for the doctor to bring in more executive staff – which is exactly what we needed at the time. I have never had any experience with manufacturing, cosmetic laws, let alone accounting and information technology on this kind of level. So he brought in what we shall call the boys club.
There was now a vice President of operations, a CFO, a Chief Technology Officer and me. All were brought over with large contracts and included lots of bells and whistle’s. While I was still a 1099. But I didn’t really care, or even notice. I have never been the type of person who cared what other people were being paid.
The way that I look at things, is that if I want to be paid more, I need to earn it. I was still in school full-time and earning my way to what I thought would be more respect with a bachelors degree.
Even though I was selling hundreds of thousands of dollars and leading a large team of sales people, I was still very aware of what I did not know. So bringing in this new team was perfectly fine with me. It freed me up to go and sell more and work on the branding and marketing – what I was good at.
The problem was, one of these men in particular, who seemed to have the doctors ear the most – did not have any respect for me or what I had accomplished thus far. His favorite thing to do was to tell me that he would fire me for not doing what I was told. Never mind that in most ways we were equals. It was his way or the highway since he was an Executive and I was a “Contractor.”
He wanted nothing to do with the team I had built internally, and thought that all of the outside sales reps were a joke. I am not sure what his background was before this but it definitely wasn’t in beauty. I would speak frequently with the doctor to let him know what was going on, but the doctor used him as an excuse to not get involved with everyday life in the office.
So every day, and every week we would play this game where he would remind me that I was not an employee, therefore I was expendable and he would speak with the doctor and make sure he got rid of me. This happened every week for over a year. Finally, the doctor’s lawyers asked him why I was not an employee, and the fact that I had worked for him for almost 3 years full-time was not a smart thing to do. Especially since a lot of the business documents were still in my name.
Finally, in 2009 I was made an employee. Paid much less than the boys club, but expected to work twice as much. For example, the boys club did not work on Fridays. I worked seven days a week. But again, there was a reason for what I was doing. I had a vision for this company and it never dawned on me that the company was not mine. I just had something I was working towards and it was happening! I was so excited!
For whatever reason, the doctor was having more and more fun getting involved in every day decisions now that the boys club was around. He always came in with a new idea. One day the idea was to bring in a huge marketing company to come in and help us brand and make more sales through marketing.
This was something the boys club discussed without me. Never mind that at this point I was vice president of marketing. So one day I was invited to a meeting where this Marketing company was giving their presentation. I am not sure what the doctor thought all of this was going to cost, but I remember it being upwards of $100,000 a month. For the same exact things I was already doing.
The problem is, that the Doctor never understood what I did all day. In fact, he would often times ask me to write a list of everything I did for a week and turn it into him. One day he told me that this list was ridiculously long and that he was going to spot check it to make sure that I was not making it up. At this point, even the Boys Club knew what I did every day – so this was purely him on him own. He would walk in my office with my list and demand proof of one of the items. I would give it to him, he would walk out, then he would come back and demand another. I would give it to him. Then he would never say anything again. Then, about a month later - he would do it all over again.
Back to the Marketing Presentation….When the head of this company laid out this number, the boys club immediately looked over to me in shock, and almost anger. I said to them out loud… Why are you all looking at me? I was just invited to this meeting 10 minutes before. It was as if they were all mad at me for the price!
The doctor was the one who had called this meeting with this company. When the price was given he excused himself for a call and never came back. So I politely and kindly began asking the marketing company questions. It was not their fault that we were all shocked by the sticker price!
When they started itemizing what we were paying for, I realized that they were charging us for many of the things I already did. And the cost of print ads and marketing materials and such was much higher than I was paying, for the exact same thing.
When I explained this to them and told them the difference in the numbers, they asked if I they could have my contacts because I was getting a much better deal. So I looked over at the boys club and ask them does anyone else have any other questions?
We all knew the answer to that. So the marketing company left and I continued on with my work.
Things went on and on like this for quite a while. A constant struggle between me and the boys club. But mostly the Doctor.
One day I was called in to an executive meeting because I used the word crazy too often. I was told that it was an immature word and that I was not to use it in meetings anymore. That I needed to grow up and quit alarming people so much.
A few weeks later we went to a trade show in Las Vegas and took over 800 orders. During the following week we had a sales meeting with the executives and the doctor tried to explain to those who are not in attendance at the trade show what it was like working at the booth. All he could come up with was crazy. I just looked at him when he said the word. And it angered him. So I was sent out of the meeting.
The stories go on and on… But they also lead to a very close call when at one point they were cutting salaries because of the recession. All executives were expected to take a pay cut, which is how it works – this is life! I let them know that I was working seven days a week instead of the four that everyone else worked – so I refused to take the pay cut. So we made a deal – I would NOT work in the office on Thursdays and Fridays. Then I would take the paycut.
Well, we all know that of COURSE I still worked. Just not in the office. But I was not going to let him have that satisfaction. So at that time I started working on other projects as well that I thought was interesting.
There was a Company that was much like SpaFinder. Except it had a kind of GROUPON element to it as well. It also encompassed Gyms, Yoga studios, salons – anything that had to do with Beauty and Wellness. They were wildly popular in Europe, but had no connections in the United States so they asked me to consult for them.
After a few months, since I had so many connections, I ended also becoming one of their sales people on a commission only basis. I would sign people up with memberships to be listed on this site. Then I would work out Groupon like deals with them. I would get a commission EVERY SINGLE MONTH on the listing, and then again on the sales. I was having fun again! It reminded me of when I used to host those big events at the radio station and sell sponsorships. My contract was only one year, but because of the contract I worked out – I was paid for four years on the residuals.
So there I was… Full time student, Mom, Living with Derek, 40 trade shows/ events a year, 52 employees, Consultant, and the Boys Club. Writing about this now makes me tired. But at that point I kind of reached the FUCK it zone and kept pressing on. I realized that I was letting the Boys Club bother me too much. I don’t know when it clicked in my head that it was up to me to make my own path, publicly. I had always done it silently in life. But I never really put myself out there in the Industry as a SOURCE. Not really.
So I started my own PR Campaign just to see what would happen….