From $39 in Her Checking Account to Blessed Beyond Measure

I am sharing this to encourage you to Believe in the Possibilities, to Believe that If you work at something that is the Perfect Storm of opportunity that you too can change the trajectory of your life, your families. There are many stories of WOW in Rodan + Fields but we all Wendi Foy Green's story. 

"I've shared this before, but wanted to repost it again today on my 5 year anniversary with Rodan + Fields.  BEFORE THE $39 Sometimes, people hear a portion of my story (the $39 in my personal checking account) and they have a hard time believing how this “rags to riches” journey could be true, and to be honest, I get asked about it a LOT. I thought I’d take a few minutes and tell a few of the facts that aren’t as well known. 

My family has never been poor. Not even in our hardest times would I have ever considered us poor. In fact, Brian and I always made a very good living. For most of our married life, we made smart financial decisions and we lived debt free…that was a huge blessing. I think people always thought we were more well-off than we were because we did make good choices and, therefore, we saved and bought nice things. Our cars were paid for with cash — they weren’t ever new, but they were new to us. We were both in the music industry and self-employed and we never knew how much money we would make in any given month. Never. Brian has never known corporate America paychecks and we’ve certainly never deposited a bonus check. We did our very best to save for our future and we did pretty well. 

When we tell our short R+F story now, we talk about adopting our kids and we say that 2011 and 2012 were the hardest financial years we had ever had in our married life. That is true. The part of that journey that we don’t tell, and that I will tell now, is that in 2009, we had our ENTIRE life savings taken from us through a terrible situation that involved one of our best friends in the world dying of cancer, and (while he was dying) his business partner embezzling from the company. Our investments were there. ALL of our savings was taken from us because of one man’s fraudulent acts. It was awful. He is in prison. And, here is the absolute truth…in that moment when we knew that we would never see our money again, I looked at Brian and I said, “If the Lord allowed this to happen, then He has a plan to take care of us in another way”. And, I believed that.

Shortly thereafter, in 2010, I saw a picture of our twins on a waiting children’s list and I KNEW that they belonged with us. I also knew we had no money to pay for an adoption. Brian and I prayed that if the Lord wanted us to adopt those kids, He would provide every penny we needed. We then found out there was an older sibling that we knew nothing about. Again, we prayed and asked the Lord to make it clear to us what to do. He did, and we went from being a family of four to a family of seven in early 2011, with every cent of our adoption being paid for by funds we raised through our friends and family. 

That year, we saw a decrease in our music industry income to the point that we were barely able to make ends meet. Our annual income was $19,000 above the poverty level income for a family of 7 in Tennessee. At times, I’ve felt like I should post a picture of our tax return that year. When I’m questioned about it, I send a picture of it to that person. Some people need to see it. That’s fine. 2011 was hard in many ways. We adopted the kids and were trying to figure all of that out (and there’s no part of it that’s easy) and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was an emotional roller coaster. All the while, for the first time in our lives, we were having to say things like, “We can’t go to the grocery store until we eat everything in the pantry” and “We can’t go shopping for any new clothes or shoes”.

In fact, the hand-me-downs that we were given by our good friends were one of the biggest blessings of my entire life and I’ll never forget the generosity that was showered down on us during those days. I, truly, don’t know what we would have done without those clothes being given to us. On paper, we should have had to ask for financial help. We never did. We know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God provided in a “fish and loaves” miraculous way. That is the ONLY explanation for that year. 2012 showed a $20,000 increase in our gross income. Brian was working as hard as he had ever worked and yet his checks from record companies were getting smaller. It was the way it was as the music industry was changing. Our royalty income was quickly fading away and I knew that I had to do something more to help bring income into our family. 

I was a part-time worship pastor at our church, but I had to do more. The problem was, I was already maxed out on time…there was no time left in my day to get a “regular” job. I would lie in bed at night just praying for an answer. I’d pray that someone would somehow hear one of the thousands of songs I’d written along the way and they would just KNOW that it was a hit and put it out there on the radio and our lives would be changed! ha!! But, the reality was, I knew that was a pretty far-fetched “miracle” and the pit in my stomach just continued to grow. 

At this same time, my sister, Debbi, began her Rodan + Fields journey and began telling me about it. I couldn’t even begin to imagine talking to people about skincare so, as a musician, I told her that I’d be happy to write them a song or sing them a jingle, but strongly said no to the idea of any other participation with R+F. But, I love my sister and wanted to help her, so I began to tell my friends to call her if they ever talked about wrinkles or sun damag and, some of them did call her. 

When they’d buy products from her, she’d send me an R+F product as a thank you . Then, in August of 2012, a friend of mine wanted to become a Consultant. Debbi called me and explained that if I’d buy a Consultant kit, I’d get the products at the best price and she could put that gal under me and I could make money because she was working the business. I thought that sounded great, especially since our son, Cooper, was struggling with back acne and I really wanted him to use the Unblemish regimen. 

So, I gave her my credit card number and I purchased the Consultant kit. I had no intention of working the business until two things happened in November. The first one was kinda funny…I was sitting in Los Angeles in our hotel room (Gatlin was working a job so we had flown out from Nashville) and I was about to Skype with the kids at home. When I opened my laptop, I saw my reflection and I couldn’t believe my neck. It was so saggy and old looking. I kind of freaked out. ha! I called Debbi and asked her to help fix it. She told me about the Redefine regimen that had come in my kit back in August. I told her I never saw it. 

But, that’s how much I wasn’t going to do this business. So, when I got home, I started using Redefine and I was shocked at how much of a difference it made in my skin in a very short amount of time. 

Shortly thereafter, Brian was set to go out on a Christmas tour with Steven Curtis Chapman (Brian is his band director and plays keyboard for him) and the night before the tour was to start, the promoter called and canceled the entire thing and our income for November and December was gone. All of it. As much as Steven Curtis wanted to keep the tour going, it was out of his hands and there was nothing he could do. 

Then, I remember looking at my personal checkbook and seeing $39 in that account. I’ll never forget that amount because I texted my friend, Deb Solberg, and I said, “I’m looking at $39 in my checkbook, will you please pray for us”. I knew they had known financial hardship and I knew she would pray. She, too, remembers that text. Brian had a business account where he would deposit the checks from the record companies when he produced a record, but then he had to pay all the singers, players, engineers, etc. from that account. We would keep whatever was left but, like I said, we never knew how much it was going to be and we knew there were no checks coming in because of the canceled tour. 

By the grace of God, we survived those two months on our part-time church staff money and our dwindling royalty checks. Christmas presents were almost non-existent, but our kids were amazing and handled it beautifully. 

Right after Christmas, I was lying in bed and the story of the old man in the flood came to my mind. I didn’t even remember ever hearing that story before. But, he was stuck in the flood, climbed up to the top of his house, two boats and a helicopter came by but he didn’t get in any of them. He drowned. He went to heaven. He asked God why He didn’t save him and God said, “I sent two boats and a helicopter”. I realized in that moment, that God was sending Rodan + Fields (through my sister) to try to save me.

I didn’t know if she was a boat or a helicopter, but I knew I had to jump in. I called her and told her that I was gonna go for it. I told her that I KNEW that if she could do it, I could do it and I set my mind on success IN THAT MOMENT! I never once thought that I wouldn’t be successful. I didn’t know if I’d be as successful as her, but I knew that I would work my butt off doing exactly what she told me to do. And, that’s what I did. 

I didn’t care what anyone thought of me and I have tried to never let the praise or the criticism of others effect what I do. I put my head down and I went to work. My dad taught us a Bible verse when we were little and I memorized it early on — 

“Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). I credit my success to that verse. I know God gave me the work ethic that I have (and gave me parents who exemplified that). 

I didn’t have a passion for skincare, but I had a passion to help my family, and God provided R+F as the vehicle so that I could do just that. The surprise in all of it is how passionate I have BECOME about skincare and about this business because it HELPS people! I didn’t see that part coming, but it’s huge! 

So, yes, R+F has changed our lives. Our income exceeds our wildest dreams. Now, we make more in one week than we made in all of 2011. That’s crazy town. And, we are grateful.

I get excited about Rodan + Fields. How could I not? I look at my team (over 57,000 people) and I see how their lives are being changed just like our life has been changed. I have seen them put their heads down and work and not let the opinions of the naysayers influence them. I’m so proud of them. None of us have gotten lucky. We have worked hard! This isn’t hard labor, but it is hard work. This isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme. No way. This is a 3-5 year plan that has the potential to change your life. 

I know this to be true. I am blessed beyond measure to have business partners that are so much more than that…they are true friends. They would still be my friend even if I only had that $39 in my checking account again. Brian and I can’t put into words how grateful we are for this gift, but just like our adoption story, it hasn’t been easy. It’s been work. But, it’s been worth it. So worth it. The other day, I got a note from an old friend saying that she could no longer be on Facebook because she didn’t want to see my posts anymore. She was struggling with feelings of jealousy towards my success. She didn’t say it in a mean way, just in an honest, vulnerable way. It broke my heart. I never share my success for any reason other than to give GOD the glory for the great things HE has done. In everything I do, I just want to point to HIM. I know I don’t do that perfectly, but that’s my heart’s desire. 

I want my story to inspire people, I want it to bring hope! And, yes, I want it to be a reminder that $39 in your personal checkbook doesn’t have to be the way your story ends….it could be just the beginning. This is my unique story...feel free to check out the R+F IDS.