The origin story of Penny AI

An interview with Terri Lynn Abbey, the inspiration, motivation, and catalyst for co-founders David Abbey (CEO) and Chris Noble (CTO) to create Penny— the AI-powered virtual assistant transforming the direct sales industry.

Sleep-deprived in the hospital after the birth of her third child, surrounded by notebooks, Terri Lynn juggled multiple timezones as she launched the Australian branch of her business. In exasperation Terri Lynn exclaimed…“There must be a better way.”

Terri Lynn built an extremely successful network marketing business with Rodan + Fields. Now, with three kids under three, she knew she needed a better way to run her business so she could reclaim her free time and focus on what made her happy.?

“I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Plugging away at each new opportunity, taking it step-by-step to build my business, but, in that moment I couldn’t see how I could go on this way. I couldn’t stop working, we needed the money and I didn’t want to return to nursing full-time because I wanted to be with my children. 

After researching and trying several apps, none of which catered to the way I had built my business I asked my husband — ‘Can’t you just build one for me?’ Fortunately, David, my husband, saw the bigger picture. 

Together, we created Penny and in doing so, not only improved my quality of life but that of thousands of entrepreneurs, consultants and small business owners across so many industries. That’s what makes me happiest, knowing that my struggles weren’t for nothing and that now we can help so many other people.”

It’s exciting to hear first hand the origin story behind Penny. But, let’s start at the very beginning. How did you find R+F and start the journey that led you to transform your life and then transform thousands of other consultants’ lives with the creation of Penny…

It started actually when I was on a plane coming back from Mexico and my skin was really dry. My husband, David, was working for a FinTech company in Vancouver at the time, but I was on mat leave with our son, Emerson, so we really didn’t have extra money to spare, especially not on expensive skincare.

A friend of mine posted online about some new skincare products including a before and after picture of her mom, and I thought, I want whatever she’s using!

After talking to my friend about what products she used, she told me about Rodan + Fields. I walked away and all I really heard from my friend was, ‘cheapest price possible.’

I told David, I just bought some new skincare products but not to worry because if I could refer mom and a couple of friends, it’ll cover the cost of the products I’m already using.

At the time, I think he was skeptical of me trying to pile something on to my already full plate, on top of getting ready to go back to work full time as a registered nurse.

I hope he wasn’t doubting your entrepreneurial abilities…

I know! But three months later David came home from work and I announced that I had just paid that month’s mortgage payment. And he said, “With that skincare business you started?”

Suddenly, David was interested. We sat down and he really looked at my business and he asked me what did I need from him to keep on growing my business. My answer was time.

Our roles shifted, during the day David went to work and I looked after our kids and then in the evening, David took over making dinner, putting the kids to bed so I could host online events, connect with my team on Zoom, or do onboarding calls with my new team members.

Wow! That’s amazing. At this point did you consider going full-time?

I remember discovering I was pregnant with our third child while still on mat leave with Emerson (it was a surprise!), and thinking I need to step away from nursing and replace my full salary with R+F.

Childcare is so expensive and I wanted to be with my kids, I couldn’t face the idea of going back to nursing, having to take shifts at all hours of the day, on weekends and holidays. I love nursing but I wanted to be able to choose the shifts I wanted, when it worked for our family.

Once again, the one thing I needed to keep on growing and running my business was time, but I had run out of hours in the day.

Fast forward and suddenly I was in the hospital after the birth of my third child, Rosalee. I was surrounded by notebooks on my bed, R+F had just launched in Australia and so I was juggling time zones as I supported my Australian team. And to top it all, Rosalee was premature so I now had three kids under the age of three.

And I said to David, there must be a better way, an app or something that can do all this.

We tried so many apps, looking for a way to give me back my time, get rid of the ten notebooks which followed me around, so I could be a mom to our three kids and feel confident that I was running my business well, looking after my customers and my team.

Eventually, at my wit’s end with the latest app, I said to David, “I need an assistant, can you just build me one?!”

And so he did.

Penny was born…

To read the full story visit Penny's website to read 'Penny Legend - Terri Lynn Abbey'.