April Showers Bring May Flowers

If you are in Jersey, it seems like the dreary days of April may continue into May but it won’t be long and we will be able to enjoy the wonderful Spring weather (hopefully)….

May is an AMAZING month for so many reasons.  In our house, it is celebration time. First my birthday, then Mother’s Day, then our wedding anniversary followed by my one year anniversary in recovery!  So many things to be grateful for…

Things are happening at Thirty One, too!  The May Customer Special is TWO of the upcoming totes in Thirty One.  They are the Crossbody Organizing Tote and the newest addition to the Thirty One family the Small Utility Tote.  It is actually half the size of Deluxe Utility Tote!   This versatile product has so many uses, you will need more than just one.  It has become one of my new favorite bags!

There are THREE great ways to take advantage of this month’s customer special…

#1 – Could you use some extra money? Maybe you could pay off some bills? Or pay for the kids summer activities?  Maybe you just need some girl time?  Maybe you are looking for a career change?  Whatever your reason, I would love to help you reach your dream…We have TWO different Enrollment Kits to pick from…. the Signature for $99 (over $350 in product) or the Deluxe for $179 (over $450 in product).

PLUS with sales of $1000 up over the next 4 months, you earn Wishes Rewards!  You will be able to use them for more free products or business supplies, VISA gift cards or Disney gift cards.  Think of all of the possibilities.

#2 – Not sure about starting your own business…. how about hosting a girls get together? When was the last time you hung out with the girls without the kids?  Need a break from the craziness of life?  You supply the friends and I will do all of the work….  We can have a home party, a trunk party, a “happy hour” party, text party, or a Facebook Party.  I also do fundraisers so we can help out your favorite cause while having a great time. Which one will fit into YOUR busy schedule

For just $200 in orders, YOU can have a qualified party. Did you know only 6 orders of $35 will get you a $200 party? I offer home, catalog/online, drinks at a local restaurant and 31-minute Facebook LIVE parties.

With a $600 party, you get this AMAZING hostess special for just $35.  The Miles of Style Bundle includes: the Miles of Style purse and a Rubie Mini. A great gift for the graduate.

#3 –  So maybe you just LOVE to shop? Don’t need any extra money.  Don’t like to hang out with the girls.  BUT you do love a good deal…

So here is the AMAZING Thirty One Customer Special for May – DRUM ROLL, please!!!!

 

The small utility tote is just $12 with a $35 purchase.  OR the Crossbody Organizing Tote for $15.

 

 

So, to sum things up…there are THREE opportunities with Thirty One this month (actually every month!):

Which one is for you? Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

How To ROCK Your Business During the Cold Winter Months

 

 

Predictions of snowy weather often have many cancelling their events and parties.  How are you prepared to keep your business going?

.Since I rely on my business to pay my bills, I am always working on a plan to keep things consistent while I (and my customers) are snuggled warm at home.  Last winter, I was able to hit my goal as was my team with some planning – I always have a plan B….

Here are some tips to help you keep your sales up during those cold winter months…

1.Flash Sale Fridays (or any day)

Pick a product or a bundle of products and offer them at a discount for a 24-hour period only.  Let your customers know by sharing the products LIVE on Facebook or via an email or even in a text message.  Encourage them to share the flash sale with friends – the more the merrier.  Thankfully, Thirty One offers us a chance to give our customers a discount without it effecting our pocketbook  – an AWESOME consultant perk.  If a 40% discount off, isn’t in your budget, utilize the specials offered by your company to create bundles for your customers.  By creating a sense of urgency (today only) you can encourage people to shop.

2. Facebook LIVE parties

Facebook LIVE is a great way to demonstrate products, do drawings, and have fun. By letting your customers see you LIVE, they establish a connection with you, and see your personality shine.  Encourage attendees to share the video with friends.  Ask simple questions like where do you live so everyone checks in.  Acknowledge those who check in with a greeting or comment.  The more interaction, the more people will see it on their Facebook newsfeed.  The end result is to take orders by sharing solutions to their every day problems with your products.  This is definitely on my TO DO list for the winter months.  Even if it isn’t a party, just going LIVE to share products and tips will help your sales.

3. Show on the Go parties

Pack up some samples of your products, catalogs and share them with 6 of your friends. Encourage each of them to collect $100 in orders.  Give it a fun name and split the hostess benefits between them.  Chances are they will collect more than $100 in sales.

4. If it’s just a flurry

Have a flurry sale offering, get rid of retiring prints and products or excess inventory – we in direct sales always have excess inventory.  Have a home party, offer a discount or special gift if the party holds and guests attend or order.

5. Hold a Mystery Host party

Text, email, phone or facebook message past/ current customers for orders.  Anyone who places an order will be entered in a drawing to win ALL of the hostess benefits.  The more orders, the more benefits.

Be sure to OVERBOOK your calendar in the winter months.  One date is the party date and the second date is a snow date, just in case the original date is postponed due to weather. If a home party is cancelled, switch it to a ZOOM or Facebook LIVE party. You were scheduled to work, so work your business.  ZOOM is a fun way to get everyone on at the same time.  You can see them and they can see you.  Then you can download and share it those who couldn’t attend.

Another fun idea to get people out to a wintery party is with a theme party – have them thinking warm with a summer or tropical theme. Encourage guests to dress based on the theme and have your hostess focus her snacks (simply and easy) on it as well.  It’s a fun way to bring hope the winter will soon be over and allows everyone to dream a little.

What is your best tip for keeping your business consistent during the winter?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

The Spoon Theory

As the holidays approach and the busiest season of the year for my business, I need to be reminded of this theory.  I’m one of those who run at 200% on good days and then collapse into exhaustion.  There are a lot of us who do this BUT for those with chronic diseases it takes on a whole new meaning.

I push on the weekends for events and home parties with a goal of taking is slow during the week.  Okay, so it doesn’t happen often.  The aches generally turn into not sleeping, exhaustion, tingling in my arms and legs along with the ever changing mood swings.   Then when scrolling through some things, I came across this post I did about a year ago and thought…”this is definitely a good one to reblog”..

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino was used to describe her battle with Lupus to a friend.  It is a great way to explain those silent diseases. You know, the ones where we don’t look sick.

My days go 50/50.  Some are great while there are days when I struggle.  I walk a little slower.   But don’t most people creeping towards 60.  Breathing issues come with weight gain but really I didn’t have this much trouble when I was almost 300 pounds.  Yes I was!  Memory issues – we all have them, right? Senior moments have progressed to not remembering key events in my life.  The unexplained mood swings and actually having to talk yourself into getting up in the morning because you just don’t have the energy to move.

There is frustration when people make comparisons to our struggles seeming like it is no big deal.  Our struggles are real.  Isolated symptoms are manageable but when they are all put together it is a nightmare.  The difference in being sick and being healthy is having to consciously think about things when the rest of the world doesn’t have to. The healthy have the luxury of a life without choices, a gift most people take for granted.

So what is the spoon theory?  Start with a handful of spoons (say 12)…

If you are healthy, you have a never-ending supply of “spoons”.  But when a silent disease forces you to plan your day, you need to budget those “spoons” throughout the day. So you start with 12 spoons.  You always have to be conscious of how many you have, and don’t drop them because you can’t forget you have _________ (fill in the blank with your hidden diagnosis).

Now, list all your tasks for the day, including the simplest one – the ones you don’t even realize take any effort to do.  Each task will cost you a spoon. Yes, each and every one of them.

Crack open your eyes and take a mental assessment of your body.  Getting out of bed is an effort because you didn’t sleep well (1 spoon).  Get a shower (1 spoon). Wash your hair (1 spoon). Get dressed (another spoon). You are already down 4 spoons and you haven’t even made it to the kitchen. Two more spoons to make breakfast and clean up.  You are down to 6 spoons and you haven’t gone to work.

Commuting to work (1 spoon).  Sitting too long, one of the toughest things for me (another spoon),  Lunchtime – skipping could cost you a spoon.  Three more gone and half a day of work left. More long hours sitting or a hectic day at the office will cost you another spoon.

Commute home (1 spoon).  We are now down to 1 spoon.  Dinner to prepare, laundry, prep for the next day at work or maybe you were supposed to meet friends for a movie.  You may not be able to do it all.  OR, if you do it all, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

So, what happens when the spoons are gone?  We are done – unable to push any further and it is time to rest or crash.  Regardless of what your silent disease is, we live with the looming thought tomorrow may be a better day BUT it could be worse.

The hardest thing for me is slowing down.  I want to do it all. I want my old life.  I hate missing out on things. I get frustrated,  I need to think about the whole day’s plans before I can attack any one thing.  I miss the freedom of just doing. . I miss never having to count “spoons”.

I share this not for sympathy but so others can understand the challenges of those with a silent disease.  I see this as a blessing just as I saw my addiction as a blessing. I am forced to think about everything I do. I am forced to be in the moment and not waste time or energy.

Do you know someone who is struggling with a silent disease?  Take a moment and give them a hug to let them know you NOW get it.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Saturday Spotlight: Usborne Books

It is time for Saturday Spotlight and today we are featuring Usborne Books & More business by Marcy Drexler.   Here is what she has to say about her business:

As a team leader and being part of the company for 3 years, I have been able to books into the hands of children. Not sure there is anything better than helping the future leaders of tomorrow find their love of reading.

Literacy is so important and Usborne Books & More offers so many ways to make quality books available to children and their families. As our Mission Statement reflects, “The future of our world depends on the education of our children. We deliver educational excellence one book at a time. We provide economic opportunity while fostering strong family values. We touch the lives of children for a lifetime.”

Marcy gets to work with school, libraries, daycares, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and of course moms and dads to get great, educational and FUN books into the hands of young readers. One of her favorite things is what I call Book Benefits. Helping out families during financial struggles, when they are touched by death or health issues or need fundraising for adoption – we run a Book Benefit and they get 100% of the commission earned and much of the time all the free books!

To SHOP Usborne Books & More
View the current catalog which features the complete line of Usborne and Kane Miller titles.
To Join Marcy on Facebook

I wish I had of known about this amazing company when Belinda was little or when I was working as a Social Worker with kids who were struggling.  What a great way to get books into the hands of kids!

Looking for something to carry those books in?  Why not check out Thirty One’s Cinch Sac. So cute and sporty! Toss all your items for ballet, soccer, school and sleepovers into this bag, pull the drawstring and you’re good to go! There are so many patterns and colors to choose from to make it uniquely yours. Measures approx: 18.5”H x 14.5”W

What book are YOU reading now?  Share it with us..

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Is Vacation Veronica Your Summer Persona?

Summer and the living is easy, at least here at the Jersey shore unless you are fighting traffic from all of the “shoobies”.  Pools, picnics, gardening, homemade ice cream, life at the beach, on the lake, and the lazy days of summer are what we want our lives to be full of, right?

Most adults have to work a JOB, so all of the fun summer things are squeezed into weekends or when you are on vacation.  For those who have their own business, there are BIG choices to make. Sometimes, it is hard to remember our “business is flexible, not optional”, especially if you want to get paid!

I know it is the end of July but for some, there are still 4 more weeks of summer vacation.  What are you going to do with your business?

Have you put your business on hold this month?  Are you going to do it again in August?Sure you can BUT how is it going to effect your customers, your team, and maybe even your company.

Are you in Vacation Veronica  mode, taking the entire sumer off?  We often talk about “vacations” during the holiday months, right?  I can’t be the only one who finds it hard to work between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We tend to take a “holimonth instead of a holiday”. Not good for your business then and certainly not good during the summer.

In a conversation last week with a friend, we were talking about the excuses everyone has about not working their business during the year:

• July/August – Summer time is vacation time, fun time. Who wants to work when everyone else is enjoying summer fun
• September/October – Back to School and sports
• November/December – holiday times.
• January – No one has any money because they spent it all on gifts
• April  – Easter or Spring Break
• June – Graduations, weddings, end of school year parties, etc.

Do you see the pattern?  So, if you don’t have a plan, you can end up working your business maybe two months out of the year.  I don’t know about you but I definitely would have to work 24/7 to make sure I made enough money to pay the bills all year long.  No one says you can’t enjoy lots of down/vacation time when you have your own business, you just need to have a plan.

Here are the 5W’s of Direct Sales which helped me keep “Vacation Veronica” away:

1. WHO will I share this with? Who will have my next show?
2. WHAT do I want my business to provide for me? What is my vision? What difference do I want to make in this world?
3. WHEN will I make time for my work and for my family?
4. WHERE will I be in one year? Where is my time best spent right now?
5. WHY am I really doing this? WHY does this bring me joy?

There are a lot more questions in each of the sections but these are MY personal favorites. When I keep these things in front of me, Vacation Veronica doesn’t have a chance to get me sidetracked. I am not saying we don’t all need a break but let’s put it in perspective. If you owned your own store-front and took a month off, don’t you think it would be hard to get back into the swing of things. What if you work a full-time job and took a month off? Would you want to go back to work and when you did, wouldn’t you still have vacation brain?

When you imagine the rest of your summer, think about what you want, and create an intentional plan.

Here’s to hoping Vacation Veronica doesn’t linger long at my house or yours.  Take a break and enjoy your family and friends but don’t neglect your business.  If you had a store front, you wouldn’t close for 2 weeks would you?  So why should you close your direct sales business for 2 weeks unless you are fully booked for the next 2 months – even then, I am not sure I would stop working my business.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!