Sala, Mitch & Deidre

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Mitch & Deidre Sala
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Pin: Founders Crown Ambassador (2006)
Markets: Australia, South Africa, United States
LOA:

Network TwentyOne

LOS Upline: Ainsworth, Bill & Rosemary
LOA Upline: Dornan, Jim & Nancy
Website: http://www.diamondfocus.com.au
Notes:

Inception

1982

Qualifications

Australia

Diamond 1990

Executive Diamond 1993

Double Diamond 1994

Triple Diamond 1996

Crown 1997

Crown Ambassador 1998

Founders Crown Ambassador 2006

South Africa

Diamond

Turkey

Founders Emerald

United States

Platinum

United Kingdom

Gold Producer (2006)

Downline Diamond

Story

The Sala's are Founders Crown Ambassadors with Network 21 (N21). They started their business in 1982, went Diamond in 1990, EDC in 1993, Double Diamond in 1994, Triple Diamond in 1996, Crown in 1997, Crown Ambassador in 1998 and Founders Crown Ambassador in 2006. They are based in Gold Coast, Australia. The Sala's report that they worked the business hard after they joined, but 18 months later were still only 3%, having qualified 6% just once due to a cookware purchase. They attended a weekend seminar and 75 days later qualified as Silver Producer.

Mitch and Deidre are Australia's first Crown Ambassadors and first Founders Crown Ambassadors and their organisation is one of the most dynamic networks in the world. Becoming Australia's first Crown Ambassadors was one of 100 dreams they compiled when they were just 3%. Some of the dreams seemed absurd at the time. However, today every one of those 100 dreams plus many more have come true. from Because Magazine, Australia, June 2007

The Sala's are Founders Crown Ambassadors with Network 21 (N21).

They are based in Gold Coast, Australia. The Sala's report that they worked the business hard after they joined, but 18 months later were still only 3%, having qualified 6% just once due to a cookware purchase. They attended a weekend seminar and 75 days later qualified as Silver Producer.

Mitch and Deidre are Australia's first Crown Ambassadors and first Founders Crown Ambassadors and their organisation is one of the most dynamic networks in the world. Becoming Australia's first Crown Ambassadors was one of 100 dreams they compiled when they were just 3%. Some of the dreams seemed absurd at the time. However, today every one of those 100 dreams plus many more have come true.

Mitch and Deidre Sala were frustrated. They had hit a wall – a wall that seemed even more endless than the Great Wall in China. They had been shackled to the three per cent pin for 16 months. Despite all of their hard work up to that point, they just couldn’t move. Even a friend admits that at the time the couple didn’t seem like Crown (or even Diamond) material, but they were always determined to improve things and search for answers. This was one of those times.

With pen and paper in hand, Mitch and Deidre started scribbling down what would become famously known within the Salas’ circles as their list of “100 Dreams”. It included things as small as getting a wall unit for their lounge room and the seemingly impossible task of becoming Australia’s first Crown Ambassadors. They also wanted to be able to travel internationally in First Class, take their children to a different country every year, and say “thank you” to their own parents by taking them overseas.

“The dreams we wrote down were bordering on insane,” says Mitch. “They were crazy dreams. We hadn’t succeeded in anything before. We were just normal people with an abnormal desire to get ahead.”

Years later most of those 100 dreams have come true. The most absurd dream (Dream Number 36) which Mitch smilingly confesses they naively wrote down, became a reality in 1998 when they achieved the Crown Ambassador Pin. Then, as the Founders Crown Ambassador Pin was introduced to Australia several years ago, the Salas decided that they should just go for that as well. “It’s amazing to think you can write something down and it’s actually going to come true as a result of this business,” Mitch says. “What we’ve achieved couldn’t have happened with any other business.”

Now that the Queensland couple are the first to achieve the highest pin level in Australia, there is a real sense that what they have gained most from the experience has little to do with the material symbols of their success. They live in a gorgeous mansion with the beach as their backyard. They have four cars in the garage and own a country property complete with horses, but that’s not what they gloat about. What they are really proud of is the freedom that the business has given them to nurture their family.

Mitch and Deidre have ensured that their children Rick (19), Tamsen (18) and (currently qualified Emerald 2011), and Blake (15) have had an ideal upbringing with both parents available whenever they were needed. It was one of the reasons the family moved from Sydney to the Gold Coast: their new school would only be a few minutes away from home and the pace of the city was much more relaxed. And, unlike many parents who work in full-time jobs and don’t get to see their kids until late at night, Mitch and Deidre coordinated their work schedule with their kids’ school hours so that they could be there with them as soon as they got home.

Every year the Salas go overseas on a six week family trip during the summer holidays. There is only one condition everyone needs to abide by: no phones, iPods, or email. Nothing electronic. This holiday period is purely for the Salas to spend time together. The first few years when the rule was introduced, the kids would protest and ask for some concessions. Now they really enjoy it and are often the ones who enforce the rules.

“Obviously to be totally out of touch with your business, and out of touch with everybody just to travel, is pretty rare. That’s the biggest benefit [of this business],” Mitch says. “We could see that this time we spend together is leading us to where we wanted to be in relation to the kids.

We were trying to achieve a close family and open communication which leads to our kids being able to do that with their own families.” “We definitely worked hard and worked consistently the whole time we have been in the business. But, it’s amazing how you can prioritise the family and work the business around them.”

Their sense of family commitment was something that was first emphasised to them by their overseas upline, American Founders Crown Ambassador Nancy Dornan. Nancy told them to “See life through your children’s eyes”. From that moment, Mitch says that they literally changed their whole direction. It wasn’t the only piece of advice that Nancy and her husband Jim would give the couple.

Over the years, Mitch and Deidre have stayed very loyal to the Dornans and believe that they are a huge factor in their success. “We’ve ended up with a lot of loyal leaders because we’ve been loyal and followed Jim and Nancy,” says Mitch. “That’s an important principle that we accidentally got right. Just by being loyal to someone, we ended up being an example to others.”

“Deidre and I have never set out to be number one, we’ve just focused on our dreams and goals, improving ourselves and never quitting.”

Success Tips

Make your own list of 100 dreams come true with some advice from Mitch and Deidre Sala.

Don’t prejudge

“I think the biggest advice is not to prejudge your results. Sometimes what is perceived as a bad experience will turn into great business. Sometimes when you think things are not going well, they actually are. It’s just like health. You can’t go to the gym one day and expect results. It’s a cumulative effect.”

Simplify your life

“Everybody’s life is busy, but this business is the solution to it. It takes time, so simplifying your life is a must and that’s hard for most people when they join this business. When you decide to build your business, you have to deliberately make space for it.”

Be an example

“We have spent a lot of time trying to do the right things and as a result, a lot of people have duplicated us. We often say that ‘example is not the main thing, it’s the only thing’.”

Focus on the Basics

Both Mitch and Deidre have equally developed the business and both have individually mastered every facet of it.

Help others

“When you take the focus off yourself and you focus on others, that’s when the business becomes addictive. We are asked several times a month why we are still doing this, why we show the plan, and why we continue to build the business. It’s because you get addicted to the change that you see in others’ lives.”