Shane Parrish

She said, When I first started supporting my family as a Stanley dealer, I only had room for three things, God, family, and career.

I had no social life.

Every waking hour was geared towards my three children, my work, and my church.

i didn't know what it was like to go to a movie or to have dinner out with a friend my entire day was planned around the children's schedule with military precision i got up at five o'clock so that i could do my housework before they arose then i gave them a good breakfast and got them off to school after they were gone i left too for my first party i'd have another party in the early afternoon and then i would make certain to be home to greet my children when they came home from school

I gave them their dinner and got them ready for bed.

Then at 7 o'clock, I would leave for my evening party.

She was only sleeping five or six hours a night, working from 5 a.m.

until 10 p.m., and seeing her children only in brief windows, and earning maybe $30 a day on a good day, and most days less.

It was barely survival.

But this is when something changed.

She became what she called a follow through person.

And this is one of the key ideas that I took away from her.

And it started with the basics, correspondence, returning phone calls, letters.

And she writes, correspondence is an area in which most people often fail to follow through.

Most of us don't like to write.

We naturally tend to put off those things we don't like to do.

But here's what happens when you don't answer calls or letters.

People get irritated.

They take it personally because it kind of is personal.

So Mary Kay answered everything, every phone call, every single letter, every note from a customer.