Lifelong Myrtle Beach resident Martine Williams would have told people a decade ago “no way” if they had suggested that today she’d be a National Executive Director of Thirty-One, a national direct sales party plan business. If they told her she would be a conference leader and teaching groups of up to 800, she’d have called them “crazy.”  “I didn’t like talking to groups of 10 people, let alone 800,” said Williams, with a chuckle.  Her hard work and the “perfect fit” she feels with this company have paid off in big ways, all while allowing her to focus on what she says is most important: family.

“When I started in September 2006, there was only one other girl in Thirty-One in South Carolina,” said Williams. “I had been in cardiac rehab as an exercise physiologist at Grand Strand Hospital for seven years. It was a very rewarding job, but I felt called to stay at home with my kids. So when my sister-in-law first told me about the products and directed me to the website, I thought I’d look into it.”

Six years later, Williams has thrown countless parties, led hundreds of women to start Thirty-One party plan businesses of their own, and has been reaping the rewards not only personally, but financially.

“Both my boys [aged 4 and 7] are playing basketball and are very active. I still get some me-time, go to conferences, but for the most part I’m home and involved with them and with my husband, Shaw.”

From her small office in Myrtle Beach, Williams is now among an elite group of women in the U.S. (and a handful of men) who sell personalized totes, bags, organizers and thermal carriers, items Williams says “practically sell themselves.”

“I love the mission of the [faith-based] company, which is to ‘celebrate, encourage and reward women for who they are and to help them find financial freedom.’ And we get to kick up our heels and have fun shopping with friends. Busy women don’t often take the time to do that.”

Williams says she’s motivated by great thinkers and idea people, such as Zig Ziglar, who she quotes. “You can get everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.”