We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria Perryman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Maria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

In 2019 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was given the protocol which I thought was too harsh. Especially since it was detected early.
The doctor wanted to schedule my surgery right away but I was due to do missions work in Zambia Africa. I was scheduled to board my flight in four days. I was not going to cancel that trip. The trip was for 14 days.
God prompted me to wait. Well, I thought the wait was until I got back from my missions trip. But the wait was longer than that!
The risk was for me listen to God or listen to man in this particular situation for my life. Well, I chose to listen to God. This journey ended up being a 2 1/2 year holistic breast cancer journey. I didn’t know how this was going to turn out. It was a walk of faith all the way!

Maria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

First and foremost I am a believer in Jesus Christ. I love to showcase my life of service to Him in many different capacities. I’m a wife, mom and grandmother. My profession is in education and I’m a retired educator. I worked in a Christian school for 7 years and 24 years in the Public School system of Chicago. I retired early to pursue the things I wanted to do but didn’t have the time to do because I was a highly dedicated teacher! I decided to retire early because I started to feel as though I was in prison. The joy and creativity of teaching was becoming dim. So I left and
I immediately embraced entrepreneurship! I started my LLC called MLP Professional Education and Development. I joined a direct sales company sharing wellness products. I began to educate individuals about gut health. During and after my bout with breast cancer I really pushed health and wellness utilizing my health & safety education degree. I began calling myself a Wellness Advocate. I wrote a devotional book and guide for individuals going through a healing journey. The Devotional is based on my experience while helping them make it through their experience. I started educating individuals about Medicare and how to choose the best plan for them.

I am proud of the fact that I am still educating people. Now I’m educating grown ups in health & wellness. Health & Wellness is a field I started out in but left it so I could educate children. Which I did for many years and enjoyed every moment. Now I’m enjoying this new phase in my life.
While also traveling to different countries to do missions work. I am also in the process of establishing a women’s work in Zambia Africa! Education & Health will be the focus there as well!
My main focus teaching about is gut health and helping individuals to lose weight while eating the foods they enjoy eating!!! Yes! That’s very possible! I’ve helped individuals lose weight and some have even come off of medications!!!
I also help women make money and save money! In the last 6 years I’ve helped 11 women make a cumulative total of over $75k!

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back I would not choose the same profession. I would choose entrepreneurship. This is the most freeing and rewarding opportunity a person can experience! I believe I would have had more time with my family and more experiences on a more frequent basis. I know I would have definitely been a millionaire earner before I reached my forties. I put in 31 years working for someone else diligently and made great strides! And learned a lot. But being an Entrepreneur is so much more fulfilling!!!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been using social media to document what I was going through. What I did to make it through being cancer free. The best strategy is being authentic and showing others how much you care about them. It’s the know like and trust factor. Putting yourself out there so people can know you, like you and trust you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mariaperryman.com
• Instagram: mperryman_55
• Facebook: Maria Perryman

Image Credits

Horizon Photography Chicago
Jennifer Schumann