A leap of faith. "Success is a decision backed by action. It is leaping forward, even when you can’t see all the way to the end of the road," Independent Elite Executive National Sales Director Emeritus Nan Stroud says.

At the beginning of her Mary Kay business, Nan took a giant leap without knowing where she’d land. She was negative about the Mary Kay opportunity at first, and her husband was even more so. "He agreed to let me try it as long as he didn’t have to do anything and I wouldn’t ask our friends to have skin care classes," Nan recalls amusingly.

Her leap of faith ultimately led her to incredible success. "It would be nice to say that I soared straight to success, but that isn’t true," she says. Nan, like so many other Independent National Sales Directors, struggled early on. Classes cancelled. People rejected the business opportunity. But Nan never lost sight of her burning desire to become an Independent Sales Director, and she started working with all the enthusiasm she could muster.

"For me, the answer has been always having a goal that is alive, real and intense," Nan says. As an emeritus looking back, Nan is thankful that she took the giant leap of faith that has given her more opportunity than she ever dreamed possible. And as she waits with keen anticipation to see what’s next in her life, Nan continues to enjoy her favorite crafts such as weaving on her loom and is even considering writing a novel and going back to college!