2014 was a great year for the Common Scents Team! Not only did James and I achieve the rank of Young Living Diamond, so did Kim and Ryan Prather, one of the first families to enroll with us! We also had many ranking up to Platinum, Gold, and Silver, with more people not far behind! It’s been exciting to see so many Christians catching the vision of a healthier lifestyle!
But, one of
the things I love about our Young Living business is the way that, in addition to helping families take control of their own health, we’re also seeing families break free from financial bondage. In today’s economy, there are many Christian families who are struggling, especially those who are convicted that Mom should be home raising the little ones, rather than pursuing a career outside the home.
Today, I want to introduce you to my friend, Katrina Stidd, a Young Living Gold who joined our team during a financial crisis in her family, hoping only to earn enough money to pay for her essential oils.
Now, just three years later, Katrina and her husband, Derin, are enjoying an income they never dreamed possible; and they’re doing it from home, together! What a wonderful New Year’s gift! Today, the Stidds are home working together in ministry, as well as multiplying their Young Living business efforts.
Enjoy their story…
When you started with Young Living did you believe this would ever be possible?
No! But we are SO excited!! You know, when we began our Young Living business, I was absolutely convinced it wouldn’t ever be “anything.” I just wanted to cover the cost of my oils. We needed the additional income, but I truly did not believe it would happen. Yet, here we are, two years later, living a dream!
Our story is a little painful. We joined Young Living three years ago. In the beginning, our financial situation was so bleak that we didn’t have one spare penny to build our oil stash or replace what we were using. We were careful to ration the few oils we had; so, the thought of a $50 monthly investment on Essential Rewards was an impossibility to me.
To say we were living paycheck to paycheck would be an understatement… it was far more serious. Between my husband’s two retail jobs and his part time position as pastor/church planter, we were thankful for the days when we had food on the table…because sometimes we had none. In addition to juggling disconnect notices, we often scraped for change to buy what we needed for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our family of six.
We would have been homeless several times, had it not been for family help. Two years ago, on October 2, 
I was sharing with my sister my exhaustion over our financial situation. She mentioned that she could help me use my Young Living membership to earn referral bonuses to pay for my oils, and then potentially earn a part time income, as well. When she told me what she was doing, I was astonished. That would change our whole world (by the way, this same sister later went on to achieve the rank of Diamond!).
My husband was extremely hesitant. We had already attempted several other home businesses and this appeared to be no different. Still, I was convinced we had no choice. So, with my husband’s blessing, on November 2, 2012, the same month baby number five was born, we jumped in with our first Essential Rewards order.
I started sharing on Facebook all the ways we were using our oils. I made a list of friends who I thought might be interested and started contacting them. And, much to my amazement, people were interested! In fact, many friends signed right up!
Soon, we were covering our monthly order! And, three months later, my business began to explode! The next month, during a budget crisis conversation with my husband, I informed him that I would be able to cover the car payment. He was stunned. From that point forward, with a lot of hard work that I actually enjoyed, my Young Living check continued to rapidly grow, and became a significant portion of our income.
With each benchmark, from covering the cost of our own oils to paying major bills, we grew more hopeful. But, we didn’t truly begin to realize the amazing potential of this business, until we hit the rank of Silver.
That’s when we began to really dream…dream of buying groceries as needed, paying our utility bills with ease, paying off our mountain of student loan debt, and taking vacations we’d never been able to afford. But the biggest dream is one that just become a reality. The dream of bringing my husband home from the world of retail, so that he could pursue full time ministry without also bearing the burden of family finances.
Just two years after we started this journey, my husband has ended his employment, and we are looking at a completely open plate. When people want to determine what someone’s true goals are in life, they may ask the question: “If money were not an issue, what would you do?” 
We find ourselves facing the reality of that question. It’s beyond exciting, intimidating, exhilarating, challenging, and truly beyond any scenario we ever dreamed.
I am meeting more and more people who have found financial relief, freedom, and the ability to dream as a result of their Young Living business, so I must truly answer that I do not believe our story is unusual in the context of Young Living. In the world otherwise, among our friends and family who still think we’re crazy, it is incredibly unusual. The average person does not build a residual income.
However, within Young Living, this level of achievement is absolutely possible for anyone who is determined enough to never stop until they arrive. And I’d like to make it clear that we achieved this without giving up our family’s priorities. We probably could have built faster if we had made other decisions with our time along the way. However, during the last two years, we moved twice (including a difficult transition lasting multiple months), I delivered baby #5, and I homeschooled our oldest three children. So, these results were achieved at a healthy pace, all while ensuring that our priorities were in check.
I’m still in utter astonishment each month when we receive our check, which is now more than my husband and I have ever made collectively during any single month in our almost 12 years of marriage. We give God all the glory, and we’re beyond thankful for every blessing – even the simple blessing of buying groceries as needed and paying utility bills before they are late. We thank God continuously for His abundant provision, and we’re excited to see what the next few years hold. After all, we are looking at literally a whole world of possibilities!
Katrina and her husband, Derin, live together with their children in Indiana and look forward with hope and excitement to what God has prepared for them! You can contact Katrina here.
UPDATE: Derin and Katrina are now Platinums in Young Living, well on their way to DIAMOND!
Please see our Income Disclosure Statement to discover the potential!
