Investment vs. Rebate

It always amazes me that people will go drop $300 on an item at your favorite store, to get a $100 rebate! You'll go dig in the couch cushions to get every last dime to get that item that is oh so important, then fill out the receipt or paper they give you and mail it in (with your own stamp) and wait 6-8 weeks for your money back. In the mean time, you probably only use that item, twice? Maybe it already broke! But, by golly- you got a great deal! Right?

But, you sit at home fretting about how to live paycheck to paycheck. You are given an opportunity for $300 that will guarantee a PROFIT on investment, not just a rebate. And you sit there with a million excuses why you don't have the money for it. You don't dig in your couch. You don't sell off the junk cluttering up your home. You don't quit buying your five dollar coffee every morning, you don't quit buying your mountain dew and snickers every afternoon, and you don't quit going out to the bars every weekend. You just keep on spinning in your cycle of paycheck to paycheck and you are miserable. Why? Why do people do this?

This is my thinking.  You can jump on rebate after rebate to "save money" on great deals, and continue living the way you are. Maybe you are happy. Maybe this works for you. I can probably safely say, you aren't happy. It doesn't work for you.

OR- you can invest in an opportunity that guarantee's profit! Invest $300 into a business that you can work for yourself, sell the products inside that opportunity for not just $300, but instead for $500 and walk away with MORE money than you put in! Doesn't that sound smart?  If you had the money, which would you choose? I'd rather have $200 more, not $200 less!

Profit will come with work, you can't just jump on the opportunity and then let the box of hope sit in your living room or closet and expect it to work. If you want change, REAL change in your life, you are going to have to work for it. Invest some time, invest some energy, invest some money- and see the rewards come in ten-fold!

I got tired of chasing rebates. Sometimes, they never even came! Then, I just smacked myself for falling for a no guaranty deal.  It's an exhausting life. Filled with let downs, self pity and despair.

I am so glad I jumped on an opportunity to invest, and have seen the profits come in ten-fold! Our family, while maybe not rich in terms of banking, is blessed beyond measure. My kids have happier parents. They are not starving, they have clothes and shoes and toys. We have all we need, and we get to do so much more with our lives! We can travel, we can spend more time together. So even beyond the monetary profit- we are rich beyond our wildest dreams!

If you are tired of chasing rebates, let's talk about a real opportunity!  I'm not going to lie. It will take time, this isn't a get rich quick thing. It's not a pyramid scheme. It's not a scam. It's a REAL business that can give you REAL profit and a long term, residual income  IF you are willing to work for it!  I want successful people on my success team- not rebate chasers! So, it's time to sit down and figure out what you REALLY want. :)

Being Consistent

In a direct sales/ network marketing / party plan business- there are so many options for parties, prospecting, doing business your own way- that sometimes we forget that we need consistency. What exactly am I talking about here?

In the company I am in, there are several ways to party. We can do home parties, online parties, basket parties, office parties, lunch parties, bridal showers, birthday parties- basically, if you can think it up, I can make a party out of it. How does this tie into consistency? If I don't consistently offer all of these options, people might notice I'm only trying to get them to host a specific type of party. They may take offense to that! They might see me as being picky or prejudice about them or their situations. I also need to be offering these options not only to everyone, but nearly DAILY! In person, online....everywhere I go!

Let's talk about consistency in prospecting. Again, create a daily routine with this. If you have business hours, use them for business. Be consistent in your efforts. And also, be consistent in the information you give out. Answer questions, but in initial contact, be consistent with your information. You should have what business people like to call the "30 second commercial". Also, don't be afraid to share your WHY. Why are you in business? What drives you to keep going?

Now, let's dig a little deeper. This is your business. This is a party for your customers, but this is business for you. So you need to lay down some ground rules. You need to set up a return policy, a refund policy, and a reward policy. And be consistent with it. If you constantly bend the rules, your customers (and teammates, too!) will walk all over you! Be the business owner you wish you could work for every day, but also be the business that you want to shop in every day! Your customers are freebie hungry. They know you give free stuff out, and they will sucker you into something every time, IF they know you will bend the rules to avoid a confrontation. The old phrase, "the customer is always right"- is hogwash. You can't drive your business into the ground to please every customer. Sometimes, you just gotta say NO! Stick to your guns!

So to recap, create a routine, or a schedule and stick to it. Create policies and rules and stick to them. You don't have to be rude or harsh with people, but you do need to create a professional and clean system. If you have policies and rules about your business, make sure they are clearly posted somewhere. It's always better to share a link along with an excerpt from it with a feisty customer than it is to just ramble something off they think you are making up. So get them typed up, and posted somewhere. Then, stick to it!

Don't forget your why! Surely when you forget your why, what drives you....your passion begins to fall apart. You will burn out, and become emotionally, and physically drained. Review your why every month, because humans change. You may have had a life change, or changed your goals. This can affect your business in so many ways!

Have a beautiful day!

Spam doesn't work!

Big news on the networking front...SPAM DOESN'T WORK!

When I joined my company, advertising on Facebook was kind of a new thing. People were looking for new ways to advertise what they have without paying the cost of ads. So, up sprang all of these buy sell trade Facebook groups. Within these groups, people realized, hey- I can post here, for free- and reach potentially tens of thousands of people a day. And, thus was born- Facebook spam.

Well, there are lots of ways to do this, you can buy an auto-poster that will post to hundreds of groups a day on your behalf. I call these- spambots. Robots programmed to spam the millions without emotion. Very impersonal. And, highly ignored.

Then there are those who copy and paste into hundreds of groups a day. While a tad more personal, since they are real people actually propelling carpal tunnel into their fingers and wrists, it's still spammy and really just a motion of selfishness. Join my team! It'll change your life! (And give you tons of medical issues down the road!)  

And then there are those who are just kind of mediocre at it, they'll post locally and just throw a few pictures up, or comment on posts from those seeking out employment. A lot more relational, and personal. But, still- spammy, since ALL you are doing is prospecting- not REALLY offering something of value. 

I'm not arguing that NO ONE ever sees results like this, a top leader in MY company got there by doing one of these things. She was essentially the first in our company to try it and she put in countless hours doing it. Was it worth it for her? Absolutely. But now, everyone is doing it- so it's getting pretty annoying and overwhelming.

I'm also not saying you wont find my name out there "spamming". I am one of those mediocre types, I'll throw it out there a few times, but in my local area, I focus more on building my client base and offering my services as a local business. It's not to say, I don't prospect, because, I do that too. I've seen a few small rewards from my efforts, but not enough to invest in a spambot.

What I have seen more success in, is relationship building. Offering value, and the opportunity to change lives, for real. See, when you shift your focus from JOIN MY TEAM and MAKE ME MONEY, to....I can really help you with my product, or I can really help you get out of this tough situation- you will see more success. You need to be real with people, be yourself. It might take you a little longer to get where your going, but you will have a more focused, more dedicated team. And, in the long term, residual view- that is way more important.

Team Pink Boutique- Paparazzi Accessories Commercial

I thought I killed it!

So this past week, I've been fairly observant of things. Like, I noticed that my house is a complete disaster. So now my pregnancy hormones are in overdrive telling me I have to clean, clean, clean! But, something else happened and it got me thinking.......

So, I was straightening up my office and in my windowsill, I had this dead plant. I kept this plant alive for about a year in my office at my "normal" job. When I lost my job, I brought this plant home and immediately, it became a tragedy. I thought for certain, I killed it.

This plant, has been sitting in my window for a good 2 months now, no water, too much sun... and even uprooted by my 2 year old. I thought it was dead.

But, as I was cleaning I noticed something. Something in my window. It was........green. How could this be? I have neglected this plant for 2 months. It's been abused and tortured....left in the sun to shrivel up and die.

I began to take away the dead leaves, and low and behold the plant had re-rooted itself in the dirt. Very delicately, it had found a way to survive. There were all kinds of little tiny leaves in my pot, and they were green. So immediately- I began to nurture the plant. I tucked it back into the soil, gave it a drink and set it back in my window sill.

Well, it's been a few days, and I checked on my plant. I kind of tugged on the biggest part, and guess what. It was firmly planted in the soil. The leaves are a little greener, and a little plumper. It's ......growing!

What is my conclusion from all of this amazingly unusual turn of events?

Basically, sometimes we burn out. Sometimes, we appear to be dead. We get exhausted. Tired. We just fizzle. But, sometimes, sometimes if people just leave us alone, we begin to heal ourselves. We take root of what we have left deep down in our hearts- and begin to shed away the dead parts, and just barely hang on to the life we love.

And then, when it's the right time... someone comes along and sees we are still there- hanging on....still alive. And they begin to feed us, nurture us and care for us. It's at this moment, that we realize we never really died, we just needed a break. We just needed a little time out. Some...alone time. But now....now we are ready to spring back into life- to grab root of our hopes and dreams and begin to grow and reach our destiny! Sometimes, we just need someone to help us trim away the dead spots. So we can focus on the new things.

Where are you at in your business? Does it feel like your burning out? Maybe it's time to take a little rest. Soon, soon someone will be along to help bring you back to life! Don't give up. NEVER give up... there is still hope!

From this old rotten, dead stump, springs a new tree- new life.

When it hurts, it's time to bloom!

I saw this picture this morning and it really got me thinking about being in direct sales. From the time we are someone's "prospect" to the time we are calling it a lifetime of success. We are in a constant bud to bloom status.

You see, we were once seeds (someone's prospect). They cared for us, nurtured us, watered and fed us. They gave us all the things we needed to grow and begin to bud. And then, an amazing thing happened- we begin to become too big for our surroundings. We either break out and bloom, because it's too painful to stay where we are, or we shrivel up and die.

Some people are annual plants. They take on a lifecycle, are fed and nurtured and grow through the year, bloom and then pass away. Much like when the business cycle begins to slow down and hit a cold spot, you just shrivel up and move on, thinking- this is it, this is what I came for. I did good, and had a beautiful run- but, it's over now. This is ok. Some people were made to be this way. It's not an ugly thing, it's a natural way. We need these short bursts of life, to help us learn things and enjoy some beautiful moments. They serve a purpose. This is good.

Some people are biennials. They live sort of a dull first year, moving slowly along growing and being nurtured and fed and sort of taking it easy. Then, they have a burst of beauty in their second year- where they bloom and have great success. Then, it just gets sort of burnt out, and dies. This isn't a bad thing. It's ok. We need these sort of people, too. They help us remember to be patient, our time is coming. Be consistent, persistent and stay determined, there will be a bolt of greatness coming, if you can just hang on through the tough times, and bloom in the spring. They too, serve a purpose. This is good.

And some people are perennials. This is a lifecycle that comes back year after year. They grow and are fed and nurtured, and survive the toughest of winters. They keep growing and living, and get these beautiful bursts of blooms each and every year. They survive many winters, many falls, many summers and springs. They bring joy and value to other lifecycles around them. They learn and grow and become survivors. You see, even though the green above the ground may become dead and ugly, the prospector keeps the ground moist, and gives nutrients to the roots. It cares for it's position in the earth, taking care not to mow over it, or build mansions on top of it. The prospector values the beauty it knows is coming, and continues to maintain a strong root system for that perennial. And, sure enough each year, it comes back just as strong and beautiful as before. Because the prospector knows, that he too, is a perennial. And the line of care, is strong and deep. There is a purpose, and this is good.

See, it takes a whole system of people to maintain a line of growth. There must be a well developed and well nurtured line of care. The earth must be fertile, the rains must come, some lives will come and go in short beautiful cycles, and some will come and stay a long while. All are necessary, and all are good. So don't get discouraged by a cold winter. Don't feel bad if you learn you are only an annual. And don't those in your line discourage you. They came for a reason, and they leave more beautiful than when they came. They leave a changed lifeform, ultimately feeding you and creating a stronger, more beautiful you. Take pride in who you are, and what you came to do. There is a reason, and it is good.

Take care of yourself, and take care of those around you. Serve selflessly, and your blessings will come ten-fold.

It's ok to grow slow, but- don't stop moving!

I'm sitting here today, reading about how frustrated others are in their business. They see the fast success of other people and wonder- why can I not get rich quick, too? I work just as hard, do the same things they do and sell the same products! I just don't get it. 

It's ok to not know the answers. In fact, it's ok if you don't grow fast and become an overnight success! It actually might be just the right thing for YOU. If you did grow fast, and experience quick success- there is nothing wrong with that either! Some people do, and can- and have done this- and experienced a lifetime of joy from it. But, it's not the "norm", and this blog is to let those of us who don't experience this, that it's okay! 

Each person runs business differently. We each have different personalities, different characteristics, methods and lifestyles. We all do it different. We are unique. And that is a good thing! It kind of goes with the whole concept of, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle". Had you exploded right out of the gate, would you have been prepared to lead a team? To take on all that inventory, or be able to lead meetings and conferences? Would you have the knowledge and experience to pass on to your new found success team? Chances are, you wouldn't have a clue what to do. 

It's ok to learn your business first, and grow later. In fact, change your way of thinking- be a fast learner, and a slow grower. Farmer's don't just plant seeds and get fully grown crops by morning. They study their profession, learn about the land and what it takes to grow successfully. They take the time to know what they are doing, and then put it to use. And when the time is right, they have a beautiful ripe field of success! 

Be thinking about the long term- grow slowly, but steadily. The results will be long-lasting and very rewarding. Work hard, be diligent, and keep your passion. Fast success often leads to fast burn-out! Take care of yourself, and just keep moving forward. Apply the new things you learn, and see the success come to you in small portions. Enjoy each one along the way, big or small. Take pride in what you accomplish- you EARNED the right to be proud of who you are!  

Don't give up. All the blood, sweat and tears are worth it.