Hey everyone!
Today on the blog we have a profile of JL and Nicole Pellerin.
JL and Nicole are such amazing people to have as friends. They’re so much fun, and some of Lana and I’s greatest and most fun adventures have included the Pellerins.
The first time I met JL, he was the sharpest dressed guy in the room. I was there to show him an opportunity, and he came dressed better than me!
I look forward to a long (and fun) life of hanging out with this awesome couple!
Claude
Getting to Know Kaizen Leaders: JL and Nicole Pellerin, as written by Bethany Sampson
JL AND NICOLE PELLERIN
Rock and Roll.
It’s not just a team name for JL and Nicole Pellerin; it’s a way of life, and everything they do revolves around this expression.
The phrase originates from the seventeenth century when ships would rock and roll due to the motions of the sea. As a metaphor for the Pellerin’s action-packed lives, the expression is more relevant than ever.
“You can go through life on auto-pilot, if you want,” says JL, “but I’d rather be out there in the seas where the action is happening.”
“You can’t stay secure, docked, and calm on the shore,” Nicole agrees. At least, not if you want to experience the good stuff.
JL and Nicole Pellerin are high school sweethearts. They’ve been married for seventeen years, and dated for nearly another ten years before that. Over the last quarter century, the Pellerin ship has rocked and rolled over many different seas.
Ten years ago, Nicole Pellerin had just closed down her retail shop. She’d gone to school at the University of Moncton, and had an interest in entrepreneurship, but after the closing of her store, she wasn’t necessarily looking for a business venture.
JL also worked in business. He, too, had obtained a degree from the University of Moncton, and with his marketing background, he pursued a job in sales. He ended up working as the national sales manager for a provincial newspaper, a job he still maintains to this day.
The couple, content in their life, wasn’t looking for any new opportunities. A close friend, however, introduced the couple to the business, and the opportunity came knocking anyway.
Initially, the couple declined the business venture. At the time, Nicole was pregnant with the couple’s youngest child, and felt they had no time to spare.
The Pellerin’s friend was able to convince them to attend an Open. It was there that the couple met the Dionnes and the Hamiltons. It was also at this Open that they were first able to see “the big picture.”
That said, the couple still maintained that they were too busy to explore this new avenue. When their friend asked, “Are you doing anything now that’s going to change [the business]?” the couple realized that they, indeed, were not.
Their schedules were packed with work, family, commitments, and life. For the Pellerins, they thought the solution to their over-packed lives was to try harder, and to plan smarter.
That solution, however, was not working.
That night at the Open, on a whim—and with the intentions of gaining more time—the couple said, “Let’s give this a shot!
THE PELLERIN FAMILY
Flash forward one year, and the couple was able to fully replace Nicole’s income, allowing her to fulfill her goal of being a stay-at-home mom to the couple’s two children, Nicolas, 12, and Jacob, 10. The couple hopes JL will soon be able to join Nicole as a stay-at-home parent.
The Pellerins relish in the amount of time they’re able to spend together. The flexibility in Nicole’s schedule means the kids can go home everyday after school, as opposed to attending an after-school program. In addition, the couple schedules in weekly family nights, date nights, and nights dedicated to “helping [their] friends win” in business.
LIFE Leadership’s content has allowed JL and Nicole to better understand each other, and their children.
Understanding each other’s love language, has allowed them to improve their connection, to understand and appreciate each other’s strengths, and to recognize their weaknesses.
Having been together since their teenage years, the couple has learned to grow and adapt together.
“People don’t always change at the same rhythm,” says Nicole. She emphasizes the importance of both understanding and respecting the other person, even if you don’t necessarily agree on everything. Ultimately, she and JL are two different people with two different personalities, and it was important for the two of them to learn that that is okay. Gaining this knowledge has helped the couple to be—and remain—strong, both individually and together.
A FAMILY ADVENTURE
This knowledge of personality types has also helped the couple with their parenting. Their first child, Nicholas, was a sanguine, easygoing child, which made the parenting easy as well. Their second child, Jacob, had a choleric, go-getting personality. JL and Nicole read many books, which aided them in parenting different personalities, as well as informing them of the different love languages and the different needs of each child.
“We love them the same way,” says Nicole, “but you can’t necessarily parent the same way.”
The parenting techniques the Pellerins have brought to the family have made their way into the community. JL coaches the boys’ hockey and baseball teams, and tries hard to constantly encourage the players. He has learned—through his own experience with Joce, Claude, and Orrin—the importance of positive encouragement, and he tries to pass that onto his sons and his sons’ teammates.
“When you give them the smallest bit of encouragement, they just flourish,” says JL.
The business environment has been a backdrop for nearly all of the kids’ lives, and they have been—and continue to be—shaped by the positivity of the business, the material they hear on the CDs, and by witnessing their parents run for goals. JL and Nicole admit to both missing and hitting some goals, but the lesson is still clear: it’s important to set goals, no matter the outcome.
LIFE Leadership has provided the couple with so much more than just a business. They have time, community, friendship, and notably, the chance to help others take the same chance they once did.
“Go on faith,” says Nicole. “This business can offer you whatever you’re look for. Not everybody’s looking for money, but everybody’s looking for something.”
She encourages people to find the dream inside of them, whether it’s for time, money, vacation, or the chance to volunteer, and pursue it.
Despite the successes they’ve achieved, JL and Nicole are still dreaming. LIFE Coach is a long-term goal, building an in-law suite for Nicole’s parents is what they’re hoping to do in the short-term. The couple is confident these are goals they can hit.
“I can’t see us not having this in our lives,” says JL. “The whole business has brought excitement, effectiveness, and betterment to everything that we do.”
“It’s a way of life,” says Nicole. “It’s who we are.”
“We were just a regular small-town Acadian family,” says JL, “and we had the guts to say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
The risk, it appears, has paid off.
Do you know JL and Nicole? Leave your comments on the couple below!
