Mikolas, Frank & Lorraine

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Frank & Lorraine Mikolas
Mikolas1.gif
Pin: Diamond
Markets: Canada
LOA:

BWW

LOS Upline: Herosian, Brian & Deidre
Website:
Notes:

"We sold everything and moved to Edmonton, just because we liked it," Lorraine says gleefully. It was a drastic change from Esterhazy, a small mining and farming town in one of the most sparsely populated areas of North America. Frank grew up on a farm near Esterhazy.

"We were so poor that I never wanted to be a farmer. It was a rough, hard life growing up," Frank remembers. After high school, Frank took a course in electronics, worked for a short time in a repair shop, then started his own TV sales/repair shop in Esterhazy. Soon he became the top salesman in the area. Lorraine also grew up in a hard-working family. Her father held two jobs to send his 11 children to school, while her mother took in a half-dozen foster children.

"I took foster children along on my dates, but never resented it," says Lorraine. "When Frank and I married, housing was so scarce in Esterhazy, we lived in a trailer parked in a slough. We slept in the living room, and the kids slept in the bedroom. That trailer gave us our Gypsy blood. We couldn't stand to be there, so we were always travelling!"

Although Frank's business was one of the most successful in town, there was never enough money. "We looked successful," says Lorraine, "but we owed to the limit." Then along came a business opportunity, hidden in perhaps one of the most reluctant business overtures in history. "Frank was invited to learn about a business, and right away, he saw what an opportunity it was," Lorraine says. "But afterward, the people who held the meeting tried to talk us out of joining! They had cold feet. They held one meeting, registered us, and quit. It took us months to get a Sales and Product Kit."

Frank and Lorraine took to the road to build their business in their sparsely populated area. "The closest city was Regina, 2-1/2 hours away," says Lorraine. "We drove on solid ice all winter, in temperatures of -30 C. It was so cold, that once our car froze up while we were moving!"

When Frank and Lorraine reached the Platinum level, Frank quit his repair business. "I gave it to my partner. I would have made money by selling it, but I just wanted out. I even walked home instead of driving the store van. I knew I was going to make our marketing business work. It had to work. Just as we went Platinum, the upscale products came along and got us totally out of debt."

Their Diamond business is built equally on personal sales and registering IBOs. "Since we've moved to Edmonton, I've relaxed some," Frank says, "but it's nothing for me to go out and sell two Water Treatment Systems in a day."

"This business has changed us so much," Lorraine says with a smile. "When I first went to meetings with Frank, I was so shy, I used to pray that the people wouldn't come. Often my prayers were answered. But now, I even talk to people in line at the bank."

"We love our lifestyle," Frank says. "We look at the clock very little. The other night, we were eating dinner on the patio at midnight."

"Our family includes our daughter, Corrina, her husband, Randy, our grandsons, Jayden and Chad, and our two sons, Geoffrey and Kirk. We're a close-knit family," says Lorraine. "Sometimes I look at them and wonder what kind of family they would have grown up in if this opportunity hadn't come along."