Meet Melissa Cannon Johnson
Melissa can’t sit still and the world is all the better for it. She’s a master networker and has gathered people from all walks of life. Her passion for business stems from having genuine relationships with people and building together. Although she faced failure after one of her first businesses flooded, she kept willing to take risks because she knew the value of time freedom. From there, she started to see how financial freedom gave her the power to create an awesome life for herself.
Currently, in addition to being a top leader at dōTERRA, executive producing several films, and being a mother to her 4 kiddos with another one on the way, she is working on some amazing nonprofit work and is making magic happen wherever she goes. Hope you enjoy this podcast!
Melissa is a master networker with a passion for business. But, her passion for people far outweighs that, which tends to make her so good at what she does. The relationships she is able to build with people have fueled her career as a leader at dōTERRA as well as an executive producer for feature films.
Fighting Through Failure
So many people don’t succeed in life because they give up after any kind of failure occurs. But some of the most successful people in history had major failures in their lives when they were starting out, including Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey. You can add Melissa Cannon Johnson to that list, too.
When one of her first businesses ended up flooding, Melissa didn’t consider it some kind of sign to “give up.” Was it a roadblock? Of course. But people like Melissa see roadblocks and break through them. She continued to take risks in her professional life, knowing exactly what she wanted to achieve and knowing the value of time and freedom. When Melissa was finally able to achieve that financial freedom, she used it to create a successful life for herself in every definition of the word.
Professional Successes
As a serial entrepreneur, Melissa has never strayed away from a business challenge, and that shows in her overall success. Currently, she is a top leader at dōTERRA, a multi-level marketing company based in Utah that specializes in essential oils. doTERRA also does incredible nonprofit work with their own Healing Hands Foundation. The foundation partners with humanitarian efforts across the globe to promote health and wellness in underserved countries and communities that need it most.
In addition to being a leader with dōTERRA, Melissa has also found success for herself when it comes to filmmaking. Melissa is a filmmaker with Infinity Rising, specializing in production, screenwriting, short films, and even music videos. She has produced several films and is quick to share her experiences on social media with genuine excitement and gratitude for every opportunity that comes her way to share her creativity.
Finding Success at Home
In addition to being an incredible businesswoman and creative individual, Melissa might argue that her biggest success is being a wife and mother to four children (with another on the way!).
Melissa’s husband, Brad Johnson, is also a film producer. He also runs his own podcast, where Melissa has been featured as a guest. The two are able to work together professionally while still maintaining a healthy marriage and close relationship. It’s very clear from their work and the way they collaborate that their two creative minds will never stop coming up with incredible ideas and ways to execute them!
Melissa Cannon Johnson is the perfect example of a woman who has worked to “have it all.” She makes magic happen wherever she goes, but it’s not because anything has been handed to her. So often in both the business and entertainment industries, women feel as though they can’t find the success they truly want. So they hold themselves back. The old saying about being your own worst enemy often rings true for women, especially if you’ve experienced failure before. Melissa did experience that failure. She had to deal with hardships in her business and essentially start again from the ground up as an entrepreneur. But in doing so she was able to really hone in on her passions.
As a result, she has continued to climb the ladder of success, both professionally and personally. And if you follow her on social media, you will see that she is a true advocate for living fully. She shares her travel experiences, her friendships and opportunities to meet new people, as well as simple, everyday gratitude that can go a long way when it it comes to how you feel and how motivated you choose to be.
While Melissa is a leader in so many aspects of life, one thing people can take away from her story is that anyone can achieve their dreams if they are willing to overcome the failures and work their way to the top. Melissa is living proof of that, which is why her personality is refreshing and tends to draw people in.
Melissa Cannon Johnson Podcast Transcript
Charan: Hey, guys. Charan Prabhakar here at the Lemonade Stand podcast, and I’m here with Melissa:, who is truly a light in this ever dark world. If you just look in her eyes, her eyes are so piercing blue, it’s amazing.
Melissa: [inaudible 00:01:41]. They’re hazel.
Charan: They’re hazel if you will.
Melissa: Good guess.
Charan: Melissa and I have been friends for a hot minute now, since 2017 I would say, and ever since I’ve known her, I’ve just known her to be an incredibly amazing woman who is a serial entrepreneur, is always starting different businesses, doing all kinds of cool things, and has always had this incredible passion for life.
Melissa: Oh, thank you.
Charan: And has just been able to motivate people. I’ve never seen anyone network as well as Melissa does. She just gathers people, and she can gather people and collect people together and just do incredibly awesome things. Even before this podcast started, we were talking about some of your different businesses that you’ve been doing. You owned a dress company, I think, for a little bit, you also were an agent, I remember you were an agent representing actors and models-
Melissa: Right.
Charan: Which is hilarious because Melissa already looks like a model, but you know.
Melissa: Oh, I’ll pay you later, Charan.
Charan: Well, only in rupees, that’s all I care about.
Melissa: Sounds good.
Charan: Then, you also are currently a—still—a direct sales, like a distributor at dōTERRA.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Network marketing, it’s a challenge. A lot of times, people, myself included, have started only to be like, okay great, this wasn’t for me, moving on. But, you’ve stuck with it, which is awesome, and you have made a really awesome business for yourself, which is great, making residual income. Then, you’ve also dived into movies, which is how we actually met, was you are in exec producer, have raised money for movies, and have produced some movies yourself. Currently, you’ve done a couple Christmas movies I believe and some horror movies.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Which really, Christmas movies can be horror as well, so it’s like the same thing pretty much.
Melissa: For sure. That’s my next genre combination.
Charan: That’s your next genre, that’s right.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah.
Charan: Well, thank you so much, Melissa, I really appreciate you being here.
Melissa: Thank you for having me. Thank you.
Charan: Yeah, absolutely. Now, the Lemonade Stand podcast is all about lemonade stand stories, right?
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Like, how you got into business to begin with, what motivated you to get into business to begin with. We talked about this, and you actually had a lemonade stand, right?
Melissa: Yeah. I really did.
Charan: So, let’s talk about that.
Melissa: Well, I guess if we have to, we’ll go there.
Charan: We do need to.
Melissa: We’ll go there. So, as a seven-year-old, I had a lemonade stand. I thought, I’ve got to increase profits on this thing.
Charan: Already as a seven-year-old, you thought this?
Melissa: This is ridiculous, there’s not enough traffic coming through. So, the neighbor kid and I, we cleaned off a worm that we found in the yard, hosed it off, he taught me a little bit about tequila, we threw it in the bottom of the Kool-aid, and we upped our prices and started selling tequila instead of lemonade.
Charan: Did it help?
Melissa: Yeah, everybody thought it was so comical that I think they tipped us either for feeling sorry for us or whatever, but it worked out well in the end.
Charan: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. You grew up where?
Melissa: Kearns.
Charan: Kearns, that’s right.
Melissa: Kearns, Utah.
Charan: Kearns, Utah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: So, you did that, and what was your initial price and then what was the new price?
Melissa: You know, I don’t recall exactly what we were selling it per cup, but I remember coming home with a ton of money. Then it also allowed me to buy more baseball cards. That was another area of interest that I was like, oh, I’m living on this cul de sac with all these neighbor kids, they taught me a lot about the value of baseball cards. So, I would go through the Beckett, which was a magazine which gives you the value of baseball cards, and I’d figure out who was ripping me off, and who took my brother’s hockey cards that shouldn’t have been. I was the hammer.
Charan: The hammer.
Melissa: The hammer in the neighborhood.
Charan: Did you sell the cards that you got as well? Did you make profit as well?
Melissa: Yeah, sometimes. Yeah. Yeah.
Charan: Oh my gosh.
Melissa: I think I was just ripping kids off.
Charan: No, it’s amazing. Did you feel like your mind was always wired like, hey, I want to figure out how to make the best deal or the best… I don’t know, not in a mean way, but just in a way of how do you progress, you know what I mean?
Melissa: I always was painting rocks and selling them.
Charan: Okay.
Melissa: I was just always… I don’t know, I guess I was just always trying to do something to hustle a little bit. But I would say more than anything, as I got a little bit older, I started realizing how much I loved having time freedom. Entrepreneurship was more, for me, about time freedom than it was about the money side of it. I mean, I saw that there was financial freedom as well, but I didn’t really want to work for someone else. I wanted to be able to dictate my own life.
Charan: Yeah, that’s interesting that you learned that… How old were you would you say when you learned that?
Melissa: My first real job was when I was 14. I started coaching kids at a rec center. So, I would coach Junior Jazz, indoor soccer, I’d referee, I would just do all sorts of things, I’d site supervise at different facilities and stuff, and I loved working. I knew early on that I really loved working, but I also didn’t love them saying you have to be here from 4:00 to 9:00, or you have to do this, or hustle after soccer practice to get to my job or something. I always thought there’s got to be something else.
Charan: Yeah, you didn’t like the rules that they put upon you.
Melissa: Yeah, for sure. For sure. I think I’ve never been about restrictions.
Charan: Yeah. That’s amazing, and it’s cool you learned that lesson so early on, when you’re 14 because a lot of times people feel like they need those restrictions and that’s totally fine, that’s totally great. But, you knew even from then, I want something a little bit different, I want the time freedom.
Melissa: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Charan: So, you moved from that to doing Junior Jazz and all that stuff, what was your next venture would you say?
Melissa: So, I’d say my next major venture was… I did some nanny jobs and things like that in between too, and I always loved that. I’ve always loved doing anything with kids, but I’d say my next venture was I believe I was probably about 20 and I bought a dress store. I moved it from Davis County down to Salt Lake County. It was an existing shop and it was a ton of fun. I really didn’t know a ton of what I was doing, so it was a major learning experience. Quickly after I moved it into its new location, the store flooded.
Charan: What? Why? How?
Melissa: Yeah. A fire sprinkler blew, so everything was just covered in water and mud. It was just a disaster, the whole thing was just a mess. So, it was a very humbling experience I’d say, because I had just painted the store, I had just hired employees, I had just brought in new inventory, I figured that everything was going to be great, and then disaster strikes.
Charan: Oh my gosh, and it’s rough because it’s like, yeah, you definitely didn’t see that coming.
Melissa: No.
Charan: Did you have insurance to cover any of that stuff?
Melissa: I did have insurance on my product, not on the building. So, luckily the people… That was a major learning experience of, hey you should have more than just liability on your business. So, I learned a lot of things I think at a young age. I just remember sitting there and watching my tears fall into the puddle that was left and just being like-
Charan: That’s so heartbreaking.
Melissa: I just risked it all, but I mean, I was 20 so it’s like, for the love, I still had a ton of things to learn. But, I look back now and I realize that taking that risk is what mattered the most. Actually being in that position and learning from it and getting all those crazy… School off hard knocks is the best place to learn I feel like.
Charan: Well, it’s interesting because clearly you’re very successful right now, and so you obviously kept going, but what I guess motivated you to keep going when something like that happened at that young of an age I would say?
Melissa: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I would definitely say that just the little taste of the freedom that I had being an entrepreneur, so still having that time freedom and still being able to determine what I was going to put in my windows, determine how I was going to design my store, making those decisions of who to hire and what to do and when to do it and that sort of thing. So, I think I had already had enough of a taste of that freedom so I wanted to continue doing something entrepreneurial. I still in the meantime, I went and managed retail stores.
Melissa: After that, I moved down to Orange County, California, and so I worked for some different companies, I worked for some talent agencies down there too. Probably the hardest thing for me was when they would say… By this point, I started having this little family, and they would say, “You can’t go to that field trip because somebody else asked for that day off,” and I was like, okay, now again we’re back to when I’m working for someone else, they’re dictating my life.
Charan: They’re dictating the rules, yeah.
Melissa: Yeah. So, I think that even that, even that flooded store has always reminded me of you got to pivot, you’ve got to try something different, but you got to just keep going.
Charan: I would’ve thought when that store flooded, you would’ve been like, “I’m going to start a raft company, just because when the next flood comes through.”
Melissa: Yeah, I mean, I should’ve learned.
Charan: Yeah.
Melissa: That would’ve been a smart move for sure.
Charan: I’ll flood something for you.
Melissa: Please don’t.
Charan: No, it’s great. You were an agent you said?
Melissa: Mm-hm (affirmative).
Charan: How did you get involved in being an agent and getting into the talent side of things?
Melissa: Yeah, so even when I had the dress store, as a young teenager and I’d say early 20s, I always had multiple jobs. So, even at the time, I worked for a talent agency, and during the Olympics, there was just a ton of fun work. You know the Olympics came to Utah, and so there were big national campaigns, there were all sorts of just fun things. So, I just saw a ton of really awesome opportunity. So, I had actually, at the age of 17, started working for a talent agency and stayed there for a few years, and saved my money from that, that’s how I bought the dress shop.
Charan: Wow, okay.
Melissa: So, I always dabbled in multiple things at the same time.
Charan: So, you already knew the power of hey, multiple sources of income?
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Right? It wasn’t just one thing, right?
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: And I think that’s amazing because then it’s like one thing shuts down, I still have all these other things to go and do, right?
Melissa: Yeah, yeah, yeah, which I have especially realized in a time like this, with COVID, that that’s really important because a lot of times, we’re relying on only one thing, and those times in my life when I’ve only relied on that one thing, then the pressure of that to succeed is just, it’s just all the weight of the world on you as a person, so yeah.
Charan: It’s interesting because what we forget is that the landscape changes all the time, and things happen that you didn’t expect to have happen, and if you’re only focusing on one thing like this is it, this is all I want to do to make everything meet, then when the landscape changes you’re like Oh shoot. Yeah, you mentioned COVID, I found the people that have only that set routine, that this is all I’m doing and this is how everything was going to work out. Those are the people that really have struggled, especially if their industry completely changed.
Melissa: For sure, for sure, which was totally out of their hands. But then, I’ve seen a lot of people and had conversations with a lot of people that they’ve taken that very personal. They’ve taken it like this is who I was, my career is who I was, and so now I’ve lost who I am, and that’s been-
Charan: Did you ever feel like that was for you? Did you ever feel like this career is who I am, or did you feel like you could separate yourself from it?
Melissa: I will admit that there was a time, after I had worked so long, since I started at 17 doing things in the entertainment industry, when I got into network marketing, I found that to be hard because it was new, and I one time told people… I mean, I’ve got to be honest because if these people see it, I went to these people and I said, “I’m not good at this,” I said, “I’m not good at networking marketing because all I know is this.” I have this background, and I had forgotten about all the other things I had done. I had labeled myself as… I work in the entertainment business, this is all I know and this is all I’m good at.
Melissa: So, because of that, I started making excuses of why I wasn’t going to excel at something new or why I was afraid to try, or whatever. So yeah, I would say that I have been there, where I’ve identified with a career and just said, this is the only thing that’s me. I can’t do well at this. So, as I made mistakes in network marketing, just because I didn’t know, I used that as… I had this crutch of well, I’m new to this, and I’ve never done this, and I’m not good at it. It’s just like, if we live our lives like that, we’re going to stay stuck forever.
Charan: Yeah, it’s like your mind almost dictates what ends up happening, right?
Melissa: Definitely.
Melissa Cannon Johnson Talks About dōTERRA
Charan: Yeah, let’s talk about network marketing for instance, because when I first learned about network marketing, it was probably back in 2002. I had a spot of buddies that were doing a company called ACN. I just remember… I didn’t really know much about network marketing and signing people up and having them sign other people up, but it’s interesting because Utah has made a little bit of a bad name for network marketing.
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: I’ve seen people that have been very I guess abrasive and alienate people, so sometimes you associate network marketing with, “Oh, here we go again,” but yet then I met someone like you who’s very successful at network marketing, you’re very open, and you’re very warm, and you’re very inviting, and I think, how did you not fall into that trap of what people perceive it to be?
Melissa: That’s-
Charan: And you’ve also made it successful.
Melissa: Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you. So, I would say, I had such a fear of network marketing. I mean, probably by the time you’re seven years old, you’ve probably been pitched five businesses, here in Utah especially. But no, I was so afraid of being labeled as a network marketer, that I just really took a step back and was like, I’m going to be subtle about this. I want to lead with the product, I’m not going to force this, I’m not going to trick friends and family into coming over for lunch, and then whip out my whiteboard.
Charan: It’s always a pizza party, right?
Melissa: Yeah, totally. That’s just totally messed up. So, I went into it of, yeah, I’m going to share this with people who I want to work with. I’m going to try to not get emotionally attached to the outcome. Now, I cannot say that I’ve always done that, because there were times where I’m like, “What do you mean you don’t want to work with me?” and it definitely hurt, but I think over time and experience, I learned that whole game. Then, I would say too that I took it very seriously of when I did commit to a company, I chose dōTERRA because of the integrity of the company, because of the integrity of the owners, because I knew it would still be around in 100 years.
Charan: People need oil.
Melissa: Yeah, right? People need oil, it’s true. So, I feel like I didn’t just rush into something and some “flash in the pan” kind of business. Also, I trusted the people that brought me into it. I had already seen their success in the industry. They had been part of other network marketing businesses, and so I trusted them. Then, I also quickly fell in love with the people that I met through it. I love people. Like you said, I do collect people.
Charan: You collect people.
Melissa: So, I’m probably that weirdo on the plane next to you that you’re like, “Oh jeez,” you know?
Charan: Right, I’m about to get collected.
Melissa: Yeah, no, and I don’t try to collect them for network marketing, but I love people’s stories, so yeah.
Charan: No, well, that’s great because at the heart of it, for you, it really is about the people. Even when you’re mentioning to me, you said, I love the people I was working with, I love the product, I love people’s stories and talking to them. That’s a very genuine approach I would say. It’s not, “Hey, I want you here for this, but really I’m here for this.” It’s a little bait-and-switch type of situation, which I think is why people were jaded with network marketing to begin with, because it’s like, this doesn’t feel authentic, right?
Melissa: Right, right, yeah.
Charan: Whereas when you talk about it, you’ve made it very authentic for yourself, and your rise to success in dōTERRA as far as making all this money, it’s been a while you’ve been at it?
Melissa: Yeah, 10 years.
Charan: 10 years?
Melissa: 10 years in dōTERRA, yep.
Charan: Oh my gosh, that’s crazy.
Melissa: Yeah, 10 years on tax day in April.
Charan: Wow.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: That’s unbelievable because a lot of people, myself included, were like great, all right, we’re doing this, and then two, three months in, I’m like, “Oh wait, I think I’ve got something else going on.”
Melissa: Yeah, for sure. Well, that’s easy to do. But, I do think that a lot of that, I’m going to contribute to some of the early people that I spoke to in dōTERRA, that they kept me motivated. My own team kept me motivated because of their excitement, because there were the moments that I was like, “I’m not good at this.” The first six months even, I was like, maybe I should do something else. My initial goal, when somebody asked me how much I wanted to earn, I had such little faith in earning money in it, that instead I was like, well if these products can help me and other people, then that would be great.
Melissa: But when I told somebody what my initial goal was, and I’d been grateful enough and lucky enough to surpass that multiple times, but I look back at that and my goals were so small. I just didn’t see the full staircase. I was willing to take that first step, but I couldn’t see into the darkness. I think sometimes it is trusting somebody who might know more than you or reading those books about an industry you know nothing about or making those mistakes. I continue to make those mistakes in that business and in filmmaking and everything else. It’s just a constant learning experience, you know? But, to risk in order to take those mistakes is where the blessings come from.
Charan: Is where the blessings come from?
Melissa: Mm-hm (affirmative).
Charan: I love something you just barely said about, you didn’t see the whole staircase, you could only see one step at a time, and you were like, okay, I’m going to go into the darkness.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: With network marketing, with filmmaking, it really is about creating your own path. I mean, yes, you can see the success of other people before and say, “Okay, if they’ve done it, I feel like I can do it,” but where your path is actually going to lie is yet to be written, right? You’re taking it as you go.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: So, what motivated you to keep going in the darkness?
Melissa: Definitely my kids.
Charan: Okay.
Melissa: As crazy as that will sound, it was my kids because I knew that there was something that would give us more freedom. First it was the time freedom, then I started believing in the financial freedom, then I started believing in the personal development side of that whole industry and things like that. So, it’s like little by little your vision and your manifestations and your goals get bigger. So, going into the staircase and you’re just like okay I’m going to trust this one, but I know I have something that I need to work for and that’s my kids, that I choose to work for and that’s for my kids. I want them to have something better.
Melissa: I remember those moments where I would sit there and debate, well, can I sign them up for ballet? That’s a stretch, that’s expensive, or I can’t make it to this dance performance or this because of this job. So, I always just hoped for something better for them, and so I just was like, “I’m willing to keep looking.” There’s a lot that comes with that, even being a working parent, I had people say to me, “How can you do that? How can you be an entrepreneur and a mom?” and I’m like, “Very easily.” It’s about juggling it. It doesn’t look perfect every day, sometimes your office is a mess, sometimes there’s peanut butter and jelly all over the counter and you just have to be okay with it at the end of the day. You learn to love yourself because you love what you’re doing.
Charan: That’s so interesting. That’s such great advice because a lot of times people do things not because they love themselves, but it’s almost like an overcompensation. Does that make sense?
Melissa: Yes, oh, for sure.
Charan: And it’s like, well that’s not the right motivation… It could be motivation but maybe if they could lead back into “Hey, I do love myself, and I do love…” Your kids and they were a huge motivating factor for you. You’ve got four girls and you’ve got one little boy on the way-
Melissa: Yes, that’s right.
Charan: Which is amazing.
Melissa: Yes, we’re excited.
Charan: Yeah. How far along are you?
Melissa: I’m 17 weeks.
Charan: 17 weeks?
Melissa: Yes.
Charan: That’s very, very exciting.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: It’s so great and now he is going to have four older sisters to watch over him a little bit.
Melissa: And paint his toenails I’m sure.
Charan: And paint his toenails. Your daughters are amazing-
Melissa: Thank you.
Charan: And your youngest especially loves to cut my hair.
Melissa: Yeah, she does.
Charan: She’s attempted cutting my hair many times and it’s been amazing.
Melissa: Sorry about that.
Charan: No, it’s-
Melissa: You can send me the bill.
Charan: I have, you haven’t paid yet. But I love how independent they are, and even from a young age, they’ve got great personalities and are creating things. I [crosstalk 00:23:47] that type of behavior, because none of them are shy, at all. No, they’ve got-
Melissa: No, they’re not shy.
Charan: They aren’t shy. They’ve got incredible personalities.
Melissa: Thank you.
Charan: I can just tell, that comes from I would say watching you do your thing.
Melissa: Well, thank you.
Charan: And networking and creating and doing all those things because they have to have someone to look up to, right?
Melissa: Thanks, I appreciate that.
Charan: So, I think it’s great that you’re doing that.
Melissa: Thank you.
Melissa Cannon Johnson Talks About Making Movies
Charan: So now, let’s move from dōTERRA to talk about making movies. How did that happen?
Melissa: So, jeez, several years ago, a local filmmaker approached me and he needed a few thousand more dollars for a project that he was working on. So, he had raised most of it, he had already shot it, post just ended up being a little bit more. So, he asked me if I’d be interested in finding an investor. So instead, I just invested in it, and I saw the outreach that the movie had and I saw the direction that it went, and I thought this is really fun. For years as an agent, I would watch scripts come over via fax, that dates me right there.
Charan: Hey, no worries.
Melissa: I would look at them, and I would always just think, I wonder if this project will work. I remember even thinking things… Here’s the sports fan side of me, that I was like, no, that’s going to be at the same time as Monday Night Football, that’s not going to stand a chance, that show. This is going to happen… Or I wonder what their budget is going to be on this. So, I got fascinated with the business side of it and the budgets and what’s the return and how does the return work and what happens after you make the movie.
Charan: And it was just hilarious because most people that are into filmmaking are not thinking about that, right?
Melissa: Right, right, I am a nerd.
Charan: So, the fact that you’re excited about that is amazing.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Yeah.
Melissa: I even love to read a good contract.
Charan: Yeah.
Melissa: Is that just-
Charan: More than the script, which is amazing.
Melissa: Yeah. It’s kind of true. There’s times where I’m like, I’m not feeling the script, but if somebody else vouches for it that I trust maybe I’ll give it a go, but let’s look at the contract.
Charan: Yeah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: That’s so great. So, you got into that, and I guess you could say you got bit by the filmmaking bug in a weird way because it’s more from the financial point of view.
Melissa: It’s a little bit backwards, yeah.
Charan: Right.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: So, can you walk us down a little bit more of the journey of what other projects you’ve worked on and all that stuff?
Melissa: Yeah, yeah. So, the first few that I did were… a lot of them were with the same groups of people, and so I would just network that way and find new people. Like you’ve said, I’ve done things that the Christmas… I’ve done a couple of Christmas projects, and the horror film, I did a docudrama which I found very interesting to participate in, and then I’ve helped gather money or investment for a couple other films that have been a lot of fun. It’s just been Hallmark-style sort of things, and yeah, I’ve just loved everything about it. I’ve loved, again, the people. It always goes back to the people for me. I love the people that I meet.
Melissa: When you make a film, as you know, it’s like you become this little club, you become this family and it’s like… I don’t know if you have the sadness at the last night before you wrap, and you’re just like, “Will I see these people again?” And it’s just emotional because you’ve come together to build something so huge in such a short amount of time, and you just have this struggle. When you see the back side of it, it’s so different. It’s not just showing up and doing the acting portion, as you know because you’ve produced and things like that as well. You actually see the struggle of the fundraising, and just the concept, and the changes in the script, and where are we going to sell it, and the casting, and the choices that you make each day. So, I think it’s just such a huge project that’s done in such a small amount of time, so it’s very emotional.
Charan: It is, yeah.
Melissa: And I think it’s fun. I think especially when you’re doing a film that has a message, it takes somebody on a journey. That’s the good stuff.
Charan: It’s the good stuff, right?
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: I remember back in 2008, I got a taste of this for the first time. I didn’t produce this movie, but I was a big part of in a way helping create it. But I did this suspense movie and it was five of us, and we were in a mine. We weren’t shooting anywhere where there was service, so it was just us, the crew, we were all in this place in Utah first and then in California, and I remember… nevermind, there’s a fly getting all over the place, but-
Melissa: I’m sorry.
Charan: It’s okay. I remember when I was there doing it, that we all connected as a family. Even though we only shot for 11 days, it wasn’t that long of a shoot, I was so sad saying bye to everyone. I was like, wow, I can’t believe how closely I got attached to these people, and some of whom I still speak with. But, it’s very interesting because it becomes a very beautiful experience, and hopefully you can share powerful message and get people who are watching to go on a journey as well. But yeah, for the people making the actual movie itself, it’s amazing, and I really loved it. So, I love that you’re involved in it. Are you still going to keep going? Are you still going to keep making more movies?
Melissa: For sure, for sure. Yeah. Recently, we had this little meeting where we’re like, “We need to whittle down some of our projects, we have too many concepts that we want to be part of,” and so I think we took it from 56 to 53.
Charan: Good, good. All right.
Melissa: Yeah, I mean-
Charan: I feel bad for the last three.
Melissa: I know, right. It was ridiculous. But so, there’s definitely always ongoing things. Right now, we’re working with a good friend of yours, [Hugh 00:29:47], to do his reality show about-
Charan: Awesome.
Melissa: It’s called “Mustang Medicine,” and the healing of I guess we could say equine therapy, but it’s even bigger than that.
Charan: It really is.
Melissa: So, that’s been really, really interesting, and just all sorts of just awesome stories that you meet along the way, so it’s exciting.
Charan: Yeah, it really is amazing when you guys, you find movies like that, stories like that, and can share it because I think what people need more than ever, this is one of the reasons why I got into it is that positive message, that love that comes from… The magic you get when you’re watching a movie for the first time or you go to the theater for the first time and you feel like this beautiful message and this connection that pierces your heart, especially during this time of craziness and sadness and negativity, I think more than ever people need good stories.
Melissa: Yeah. You can escape.
Charan: You can escape a little bit.
Melissa: You can escape and you can relate. I also think a lot of times these movies there’s something in there that’s ours, and it’s a matter of finding it.
Charan: That’s awesome. That’s great. I’m excited, and I’m so grateful that we’ve been able to work on a couple projects together-
Melissa: Me too.
Melissa Cannon Johnson Talks About Finding Joy during Uncertainty
Charan: And excited for the future, and see what we can do together again. So, I want to shift topics just a little bit more. You know, we talked a little bit about some of your struggles in the flooding of that business and whatnot, let’s talk about joy if you don’t mind, because right now this world is going through all kinds of negativity, right? Yes, we’ve been quarantined, and that’s been really tough on a lot of people. But then, there’s been all kinds of other craziness and all kinds of other things that have been happening as a result of being quarantined or different movements.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: What would you say has brought you the greatest amount of joy during times especially of uncertainty?
Melissa: Well, definitely anything with my kids, always my kids. Because I think with the younger generation, it’s like you see the hope of the world. You see the, “Hey, we’ve got to build something better for these guys.” If we have any sort of sense of love and charity, it needs to be of what we’re going to leave behind and what we can do better. So, I think it’s a matter of self-improvement. What can we do to help ourselves? What personal development can we each do during a time like this that’s going to help improve the outcome with them? So, I mean, I look at the whole movement right now that’s really talked about a ton with exposing human trafficking-
Charan: Yes, which you’ve done quite a bit of work with that, right?
Melissa: Yeah, yeah, and I love that it’s getting a lot of attention right now. I think it’s just awesome, and so I think focusing on that. There’s a ton of other things that are obviously in the spotlight and that are just draining. I mean, I don’t know about you but sometimes I just have to take a media break because it’s so… the whole fake news thing, and what’s real and what’s not, and where do I stand, and do I have to stand, or do I have to say “I’m for this and not for this,” and does that put you against different groups?
Charan: Yes.
Melissa: There’s just so many questions right now that I think when I go back to my kids, you can simplify it. You can go jump on a trampoline, you can go dig in dirt, you can forget about your worries at least momentarily and focus on something else, and also focusing on something bigger. Also, it’s the people that you’re around. I’ve always loved that you’re the average of the five people that you surround yourself with the most.
Melissa: So, outside of my family, I always think these business relationships, are these relationships that I want to carry through, are these people that I want to have over for a barbecue or am I better their life, are we all lifting each other up, are we encouraging each other, and are we cheerleaders for each other? I think that’s really important. I think times like this we can evaluate a lot of things, of how we’re spending our time and who we’re spending our time with. Then, finding those people who bring us joy, and that naturally boosts my joy. People fuel me.
Charan: People fuel you?
Melissa: Mm-hm (affirmative).
Charan: Well, it’s so interesting. You mentioned something about who do you trust when you hear all these narratives in the news and whatnot. I go through struggles like that all the time, where I’m like, “Man, what do I focus on? What do I listen to or where do I put my attention to? But you also made something very stick out in my mind which is, “Hey, I wanted to simplify my life and I wanted to spend time with my kids, that simplifies my life and that brings me great joy.” No one has to convince you of that, it just brings you great joy.
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: Then, deciding who you want to spend time with because people fuel you, and if the people that are around you lift you up, that brings you great joy and hopefully you can do the same for them as well.
Melissa: Definitely.
Charan: I think it’s so important because in all the things that we just talked about, the most important things for you were relationships, right? It wasn’t about the next business deal or it wasn’t about the next this or the next that, it was about relationships.
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: I think it’s so important that we find those relationships in our life instead of always worrying about why is this happening or why is that happening, because relationships I’ve also found help me get out of my head. If I’m having negative thoughts or weird things, it’s so great to have friends around and whatnot that I can go make memories with. So, what are some of the memories you’ve been making with your kids.
Melissa: So, well I’ve always loved to travel and I’ve done a ton of traveling, so during this time you can’t travel obviously, I mean I guess now they’re opening up some doors but it just looks a lot different. So, I’ve actually found a lot of joy and made a lot of memories just staying home.
Charan: I love that.
Melissa: The kids have created new recipes, they’ve found things, I mean, we’ve made total messes. We’ve even done some staycations just here, staying 20 minutes from home in a hotel that has a pool that’s open. That’s a huge deal to the kids. So, just being able to go do that and just changing up your scenery a tiny bit, but not necessarily getting on a plane across the world, and improving our own space. So, dragging the kids out and doing some weeding and doing some stuff outdoors, that’s been really awesome. Just connecting with the family pets, just doing stuff like that. So, that’s been a lot of our memories the last several months.
Charan: Oh, that’s so great.
Melissa: So, that’s been fun. Also too, I love what you said about relationships, because in thinking back to all the businesses that I’ve had or jobs I’ve had, they’ve all been linked by relationships too. I’ve never felt like I’m so alone, I can’t find work, I can’t find… Instead, it’s always been a referral from somebody else, or so and so’s friend said you might be interested in this movie project.
Melissa: You just did that even this weekend. You contacted me and you said, “Hey, so and so has this movie, you should totally talk to her. You’re going to love it. Here’s the pitch deck,” and all this stuff, and I was like, “That’s how this works.” It’s so much more valuable person to person, and network marketing, I was so scared of that type of business, but when I realized all it is is that instead of paying for commercials, the company’s paying the distributors to go person to person, I was like, “Oh, it makes sense now. Now I actually see why this could work for someone like me.”
Charan: Right.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah.
Charan: That’s so great.
Melissa: So, I love that you said that. Yeah, that says a lot, for sure.
Charan: Well, I think that’s been the key for me anyway to find joy. One of the things that you’re mentioning about traveling, I love to travel as well, and I was like, “Yep, I’m going to go travel the world,” because I went to New Zealand last year and it was amazing, and now it’s like, “Oh, I can’t go anywhere,” but the truth is I can. One of the goals I had this year was to explore just Utah.
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: Utah’s beautiful.
Melissa: Oh, for sure.
Charan: So, I have been doing a little bit of that. It’s just been amazing, right?
Melissa: Yeah.
Charan: So yeah, you guys should explore Utah.
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: It’s unbelievable.
Melissa: Yeah, it’s like we don’t even know what in our own backyard.
Charan: Seriously. I’ve been to places here that I’ve never even heard about, and I’m like, “What? How long has this been a thing?”
Melissa: Yeah, just since the dinosaurs.
Charan: Yeah, just since the dinosaurs, which is great.
Melissa: Yeah, right.
Charan: So, I’ve been really, really blessed to go in nature, and to go hiking, and whatnot. So yeah, I would say, even in your own backyard, there’s some really, really cool stuff.
Melissa: For sure, for sure. That’s awesome.
Charan: So, wrapping up, I wanted to ask you, last question-
Melissa: Okay.
Melissa Cannon Johnson’s Advice to Her Younger Self
Charan: What would you tell your younger self? What advice would you give or even the future generation? What would you say to someone that’s like, “I want to get into business, I want to better the world”? What would you say to that person?
Melissa: I would encourage my younger self to take the risks and not question them so much. I definitely believe I’m a person who has taken maybe more risks that the average person, but at times I questioned myself. I questioned if I should or I delayed them or sometimes I passed up on really great opportunities. So, I definitely say, I’ve always loved this quote, “You can’t steal second with your foot on first.” So, being willing to actually take that chance and take that risk is what I would tell myself.
Melissa: Also, that I’m enough. There’s been these moments and I’m sure that a lot of us have had those where we’re just like, “I don’t know know what I’m doing. I don’t have the answers,” and coming to a place of being okay with saying I don’t have the answers. I don’t know why I feel like this, but I’m going to go figure out why or I’m going to ask someone else who has the answer. So, that fear keeps us stuck and it’s definitely kept me stuck at times, so I’d shake my younger self and say, “It’s okay. You’re going to make it and you’re enough, just keep going.”
Charan: I love that advice so much, because like you said, fear does keep us stuck, but when you realize that you are enough, even if you don’t know everything, you’re like, “No, I’m enough,” you’ll take the risk.
Melissa: Yeah, for sure.
Charan: You’ll take the risks because you’re like, all right, well let’s go figure this out, let’s figure out how to make things succeed and make things work.
Melissa: And I think failing forward, I’m a huge… every single failure is a failure forward in my opinion because even just the biggest mistakes I’ve made or companies that I’ve lost, or things that I’ve sold and I was like, “I didn’t get what I wanted out of that,” or it didn’t work out the way I pictured it, or this partnership maybe I’m not a good fit for this partner, or whatever it may be, but all of it I’ve learned from. So, I think those risks come with recognizing the failure.
Charan: Yeah. Recognizing the failure, recognizing that hey, you know what, I’m going to get some great lessons out of this.
Melissa: For sure.
Charan: Right?
Melissa: Yeah, and you can’t put a price on that.
Charan: You really can’t.
Melissa: No, no.
Charan: Yeah.
Melissa: Never.
Charan: And sometimes, those failures even though they’re expensive failures, it’s better than learning in school.
Melissa: Absolutely. Yeah, that’s definitely something I learned early on. As I attempted college, I was like, “How do my siblings all do this so effortlessly?” I just thought… Again, that was a moment where I was like, something must be wrong with me. I can’t focus here. I’m not loving this. But then, every day being an entrepreneur I would say is better than any day spent in school.
Charan: Oh man. It’s so funny. I remember when I was getting ready to graduate university that some of my friends and professors and stuff were like, “Hey, really cherish these moments because you’re going to miss it once they’re gone.” Like, okay-
Melissa: How has that worked for you?
Charan: It’s been over 14 or 15 years, and I’m like, man I’m waiting for the day I’m going to start missing that.
Melissa: Yeah, still not happened?
Charan: Then, I go to the university sometimes to visit, and I’m like, Oh my gosh, I miss this even less than I did when I left. I’m just kidding. No, I’m not saying don’t go get an education, that’s not the point of this.
Melissa: Yeah, exactly, for sure. But, don’t give a plug to their website because I don’t think they’d really want that endorsement. That’s pretty funny.
Charan: No, I think we all learn differently, and we’re all about… I’m actually a very, very big proponent of education, but I’m not saying that education has to be through the university system, right.
Melissa: Right, right. Yeah.
Charan: There’s all kinds of different ways to learn, and I think as long as we’re continuing to learn and better ourselves, yeah, we can be greater, we can be filled with happiness.
Melissa: Yeah, yeah.
Charan: Any last words? I’ve been loving chatting with you, that’s so-
Melissa: Oh, you’re so kind.
Charan: It’s been great.
Melissa: I would definitely say something that I’ve really heard a lot over and over again is that you either get bitter or better.
Charan: Okay.
Melissa: So, I’ve been trying to live like that, not the bitter part.
Charan: Okay, yeah.
Melissa: But, I’ve definitely been trying to focus on the every day we have this choice of what we’re going to do. So, are we going to stay there or do we want to move forward? So, I think that’s a lot of it. Even if you’re running your own business, if you’re a stay at home parent and you’re just trying to balance life and all the craziness that comes with it, or whatever it looks like or whatever we’re facing, it’s even for the younger generation, we can either be bitter or we can get better, so that’s all.
Charan: That’s awesome.
Melissa: All I got.
Charan: Honestly, that’s a beautiful message to end on, and I’m really grateful that you shared this time to chat with me about it. Yeah, absolutely guys, if you’re listening to this, please take the time to build that relationship up with yourself first and with other people. Don’t be afraid to fail forward.
Melissa: Absolutely.
Charan: All right?
Melissa: Thanks so much.
Charan: Well, thanks again, Melissa. I really appreciate it.
Melissa: Thanks, Charan. Thanks for having me.
Charan: Yep, of course, have a good one.
Charan: Thanks so much for listening to Lemonade Stand podcast, and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to be alerted when we release new episodes. We’d also love to hear your feedback in the reviews, and if you or someone you know has an awesome Lemonade Stand story, please reach out to us on social media, and let us know. Thanks so much, and have a great day.