In this episode, I’m joined by the brilliant Dani Wallace, event producer, public speaking coach and founder of The Big Festoon.

Dani’s business journey has its roots firmly in direct selling. She started out selling mascara, building a team and creating a community around simply showing up, sharing the products she genuinely loved and being herself. But what she learnt through network marketing went far beyond selling products.

We talk about how she approached her business seriously from the start, built her team around people’s strengths and developed the leadership, communication and resilience skills she needed to grow. We also talk about the importance of being uniquely you, creating a personal brand and building a community that connects with you rather than relying purely on the company or products.

Dani shares some of the experiences that changed what she believed was possible for herself, from incentive trips and small financial wins to a vision boarding exercise that planted the seed for something much bigger. Years later, that vision of bringing people together has become The Big Festoon and now Festoon 500.

There’s also plenty in this conversation for anyone building a network marketing business today. We talk about staying consistent, continuing to expand your network, having better conversations, celebrating the smaller wins and treating your business like something you genuinely want to build.

Dani’s story is a brilliant reminder of what can happen when you keep learning, keep showing up and allow yourself to think bigger about what your business could become.

Find out more about Festoon 500 here: THE BIG FESTOON | The Festoon 500 Global Network

If you liked this episode, please share it with your teams. And give this podcast a follow, a rating and a review. It helps me help more people.

Grab yourself a copy of my free download, 100 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base, here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/web-100ways

And get 104 Post Ideas to Attract Your Ideal Teamie free here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/104-post-ideas

Find me on socials here:

Facebook www.facebook.com/annagreenmentor

My Facebook Community www.facebook.com/groups/directsellingsuccesscommunity

Instagram www.instagram.com/directsellingsuccess

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@directsellingsuccess

The network marketing industry can be quite insular. We tend to follow what our company says, duplicate what our upline is doing and stick to the methods we've always been taught.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. The training and support you get from your company and your leaders can be brilliant, and you absolutely should tap into it.

However, I don't believe it should be the only place you look.

When we stay inside our own little network marketing bubble, the methods we're using can become outdated and we can be slower to catch up with what's happening in the wider business world, how people are buying and the different ways businesses are selling.

I'm in quite a unique position because I've been in network marketing for 21 years, but I've also been running my own founder-led business since 2018. I see both worlds, and there are so many things happening in online businesses and traditional businesses that network marketers could take, tweak and use brilliantly.

We're going to cover this in today's episode.

What could you learn from a salon owner? What can you take from the way a plumber runs their business? How can you use the format from somebody running courses, memberships, masterminds, webinars or challenges?

At the end of the day, you're selling something. You might be selling products, pampers, services or the opportunity to join your team, but a lot of the methodology behind how other businesses attract people and make sales can still be used in your network marketing business.

In this episode, I talk about why I think network marketing can become stuck in the status quo, why it's important to look outside your company for ideas and how you can start thinking more creatively about the way you build your sales and your team.

I also share some practical examples of how you could take the traditional party-plan model of selling one-to-many and bring it into the online world.

If something isn't working as well as it used to, or a method you've been taught just doesn't work for you, don't assume that's the only way.

Think wider. Think bigger. Look at what people outside network marketing are doing and ask yourself how you could put it into context for your own business.

I also talk about the free challenge my friend Sophie Foote is running from 2 November, where she'll be teaching ways to create additional income streams using methods from the online business world. I'm going through it too and supporting the network marketers who join through me so I can help you put what Sophie teaches into context for your own direct selling or network marketing business.

Join Sophie's free challenge here: https://sophiefoote.com/landing-page?am_id=annagreen2633

If you liked this episode, please share it with your teams. And give this podcast a follow, a rating and a review. It helps me help more people.

Grab yourself a copy of my free download, 100 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base, here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/web-100ways

And get 104 Post Ideas to Attract Your Ideal Teamie free here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/104-post-ideas

Find me on socials here:

Facebook www.facebook.com/annagreenmentor

My Facebook Community www.facebook.com/groups/directsellingsuccesscommunity

Instagram www.instagram.com/directsellingsuccess

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@directsellingsuccess

This episode was recorded the day before my summit. Even if the summit has passed, please do still listen as I talk about the mindset behind reaching out to potential speakers, how it felt being scared and what I did to overcome it and build my summit.

The Sales Makers Summit is on 8th October 2026. Get your ticket here https://thesalesmakers.com/summit_2026

If you liked this episode, please share with your teams. And give this podcast a follow, a rating and a review. It helps me help more people.

Grab yourself a copy of my free download, 100 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/web-100ways

And get 104 Post Ideas to Attract Your Ideal Teamie free here:

https://annagreen.kartra.com/page/104-post-ideas

Find me on socials here:

Facebook www.facebook.com/annagreenmentor

My Facebook Community www.facebook.com/groups/directsellingsuccesscommunity

Instagram www.instagram.com/directsellingsuccess

TikTok www.tiktok.com/@directsellingsuccess