In this week’s Modern Direct Seller Podcast, we’re joined by Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer, co-hosts of The Other 99% podcast, for a special takeover episode all about the Modern Direct Seller Academy. Lisa and Susan share how they each found their way into the Academy, walk through everything included across all three membership tiers, and reflect on how being part of this community has transformed their businesses, their mindset, and even their identities as direct sellers. Whether you’re Academy-curious or already a member, this one is packed with real talk and genuine enthusiasm from two sellers who’ve lived it.

You can connect with Lisa and Susan on their websites, and catch them on The Other 99% podcast for more stories, tips, and strategies for the other 99% of direct sellers.

Time based notes:

What Two Long-Time Academy Members Want You to Know

Sometimes the most convincing case for something comes not from the people who built it, but from the people who’ve lived it. Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer, co-hosts of The Other 99% podcast, are both long-time Modern Direct Seller Academy members. Their stories say more than any sales page could.

They Came In Skeptical. They Stayed for Years.

Susan joined the Academy in September 2020, mid-pandemic, when home parties and vendor events had come to a full stop. She stumbled across the Academy through an ad about crafting non-salesy messages, signed up for a single month, and fully planned to grab what she needed and cancel. She attended her first Zoom call, intending to just be a fly on the wall, with the camera off and mic muted. She found a community that was generous, encouraging, and full of ideas she’d never heard from her upline or company. That was five and a half years ago. She hasn’t left.

Lisa’s path was a little different. After 15 years in direct sales, she found herself training her own upline because of her tech skills (and getting very little back in return). After a brief, underwhelming stint with another business coach, she discovered the Modern Direct Seller through YouTube and eventually took the leap into the Academy in early 2021. The price was reasonable, the content was fresh, and Becky kept updating it as the industry evolved. She was in.

What’s Actually Inside the Academy

The base Academy level is more substantial than most people expect. Members get access to seven to eight courses and an equal number of toolkits covering everything from perfectly crafted DMs and texts to short-form video content, social selling, party-in-a-post strategies, and leadership training. The Best Year Ever workbook, built specifically for direct sellers, helps members track goals, plan content, and map out their business quarter by quarter.

One of the most-loved features is the Daily Consistency Tracker, which keeps members accountable to the Daily ABCs: Active selling, Building relationships, and Creating content. Hit all three every day for 30 days, and you earn a confetti celebration and a community shout-out. It sounds simple, and it is. But that simplicity is the point. These are the fundamentals that actually move the needle.

Monthly office hours give members open access to Becky’s expertise with no set agenda. Someone brings a question, ideas start flowing, and the whole group benefits. The monthly content lab takes a similar approach: a short training, then everyone gets to work creating content together. Focused, practical, and way more productive than staring at a blank screen alone.

The Social Selling Action Plans Are a Game-Changer

Each month, Academy members receive a themed social selling action plan: Canva templates, step-by-step instructions, and ready-to-use verbiage. The content is designed to be customized quickly and posted with confidence.

Susan put one of these plans to work with a “Fan Feature Friday” campaign, reaching out to customers for testimonials and featuring them each week in a branded graphic. Twenty customers. Twenty weeks of content. Every featured customer shared it with their own network, expanding her reach far beyond her existing audience. That’s the kind of ROI that comes from having a system, and not just an idea.

More Tools at Every Level

Academy PRO adds a monthly progress report where members audit their own business, submit their numbers and reflections to Becky, and receive personalized recommendations in return. Quarterly virtual retreats bring the community together for three hours of collaboration, training, and 90-day planning — with a workbook members can reference all quarter long. PRO members also receive discounts on additional products, including Oh My Hi subscriptions.

VIP Academy is built for members who want deeper access and faster growth. In addition to everything in the lower tiers, VIP members receive a one-on-one strategy call with Becky, three monthly group coaching calls exclusive to VIPs, and unlimited 20-minute one-on-one coaching sessions with Becky whenever they need them. They also get access to the full Modern Direct Seller support team: tech help from Kimberly, marketing and strategic planning with Sammy, and a free top-tier Oh My Hi website with done-for-you support included.

Community Is the Thing You Can’t Put a Price On

When Susan reflects on the Academy’s biggest value, she keeps coming back to one word: community. Hearing how direct sellers from completely different companies approach the same challenges opens up a whole new way of thinking. It pulls members out of the echo chamber of company-specific training and exposes them to strategies that actually transfer across products, niches, and business models.

Lisa, a self-described introvert, credits the Academy’s welcoming environment with helping her come out of her shell entirely. Through a collaboration group she formed with fellow Academy members, she was able to bring her Canadian Epicure business into US markets through joint events and shared customer communities. That collaboration grew and changed the trajectory of her business. Today, she hosts a podcast, creates courses, and runs affiliate marketing, none of which she could have predicted when she first logged in with her camera off.

Ready to See What It’s Like on the Inside?

The Academy meets members where they are, whether they’re just getting started or ready to scale into something bigger. If you’ve been on the fence, now is a great time to take the leap. Check out everything that’s waiting for you inside the Modern Direct Seller Academy.

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