Fall Bag Trends

Fall may not officially be here BUT the kids are back to school and we know the cooler weather is coming, right?  Are you looking for a fashion refresh this fall? I’m definitely not a fashionista when it comes to clothes but I am grateful Thirty One keeps me on trend when it comes to my bags.  From trending colors and patterns to spotlight-stealing purse silhouettes, here are some top tips to update your look for the season.

Mandatory monograms: Long a staple of classic Southern style, embroidered monogramming has quickly taken hold in every region of the country as a sophisticated way to make stationery, totes, shirts and even front-door wreaths truly one-of-a-kind. Big or small, our embroidered initial and monogram designs are the perfect way to add a special touch to your look – or to create a treasured gift.

Get the look: Go big or go home with a Large Monogram on our Around Town® Tote, then embroider a sweet Rubie Mini to match! Choose a tone-on-tone shade for the ultimate in subtle sophistication, or coordinate perfectly with a single color that ties the two pieces together. Want a fool-proof tip? Play up a shade from one of our exclusive prints!

Mad for plaid I was never a fan of plaid, more the solid black kind of girl BUT I’m loving the new plaid patterns this year.  Playful patterns and creative color mixing are just some of the reasons we’re loving plaid this season. From designer couture and 2019 Fashion Week to top style influencers, you’ll be seeing chic checkered designs cropping up all season long. Admittedly, Thirty-One’s take on this hot trend is more “realway” than runway – which is great news for everyone looking to add a dash of gorgeous plaid to elevate their everyday look.

When it comes to plaid, black and white are anything but basic: Try a trend-right travel solution in Perfectly Plaid (shown above on our top-selling Away for the Weekender) or a handbag or crossbody style in Buffalo Check Pebble. And for a burst of seasonal color, accessorize with our new Charming Check Pebble in shades of navy, berry (shown below) and gold.

Berry in-demand:  Another trend right off the runway and poised to add polish to your look is Crushed Berry – a crave-worthy color super-saturated and super-versatile. Amp up your style quotient with the Diamond District handbag in this sophisticated shade, and make it mean even more with a petite and polished Embellished initial embroidered on the front pocket flap.

 

Want to go casual and conveniently hands-free for fall? This juicy hue looks fabulous on our best-selling Boutique Backpack and new Festival Mini Backpack. (Seriously, check out that Mini – it’s fun-sized!) You can also add a pop of Crushed Berry to jazz up your neutral handbag with a Rubie Mini, All About the Benjamins® wallet and new Fab Fob – all three of which you can personalize!

Exclusively yours: Let me help you get the girls together for an amazing time shopping Thirty-One, and you could earn our Hostess Exclusive All Weekend Tote for more than 60% off! It’s the perfect structured travel bag or carry-on with easy-care nylon and pebbled faux-leather details in this beautiful berry shade that’s just “ripe” for fall.

Clutch performance:  Trust us – this kind of glamour isn’t just for holiday parties anymore! (Although you will want to pick up this Forever Foldover Clutch in time for all those seasonal soirees.) Sparkle and shine with sequins or patent faux leather to dress up one of 2019’s hottest bag silhouettes: the party clutch.

Roomy but refined, Thirty One’s take on this style folds over and snaps down to make it easy to carry. And it wouldn’t be Thirty-One if we didn’t crank up the function factor: Side D-rings make this clutch easy to convert to a hands-free crossbody bag when you pick up a matching strap, while a zipper pocket and four credit card slots mean you can leave your wallet at home.

See all your Thirty-One must-haves for the season, plus amazing holiday gifts, in our fall Catalog.

Bonus tip: Love what you see, but would rather get it for half-price – or even earn it all for FREE? (And really, who wouldn’t?!) I can make it simple to Earn Rewards just for shopping and sharing the Thirty-One products you love with your friends and family!  We can do it online or in your home….

Have a blessed day!

Consistency is the Key to Success

The most often question I hear from members of my team revolves around maintaining and growing their business.  What do you do when you have exhausted your family and friends?  Where do you turn, how do keep your business?

Your business is fun and flexible but the work is NOT optional.  A reminder I keep on my wall from Carrie Wilkerson.  The key for me has been consistency.  Did it happen over night? NO!  But after consistently working my business intentionally a little bit every day, I see the results.  Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t still be doing direct sales for the last 7 years with the same company if I wasn’t making money, right?  Gotta pay the bills!

Here are 5 things you can do to be more consistent in your business and help you to  reach your goals.

1. Break your goals down into activities.

I can’t always see the BIG picture but I can focus on the baby steps.  I know, crazy, right?  Your daily activities are like gasoline for your car which gets you to your destination.  If you have a goal to reach $1000 in income every month, you need to figure out how many new contacts it will take each month, how many parties you need to hold, how many team members you need to recruit and what your team sales need to be. Then you can break it down to the activities you need to do on a regular basis to find those new customers, book those parties, recruit those team members and then help them build their business.  I know it sounds overwhelming BUT it is possible!  WRITE down your goal.  Now make a list of all of the things you could do (if FEAR was not a factor) to make it happen.  Those activities could include marketing, lead generation, events, follow ups, opportunity Facebook Live, or 1 on 1 team coaching.  You will be surprised what happens if you step out of your comfort zone just a little bit to complete some of these activities.

2. Focus on creating new habits.

I am all about lists.  I like to see things highlighted in my planner which means they are done or crossed off my list.  I even have a daily habits schedule because on those “rough days”, I could forget even the things I have done every day for months.  So let’s get busy.  It’s actually much easier to create new habits than to break old ones.  When we re-train our brain, it will become easier to complete the new tasks, routines and goals we have. What would an ideal day look like in your life and in your business?  What are you waiting for?   Begin working NOW to follow the new routine each day. Choose 1 area to focus on changing to allow your brain to adjust to the new way of thinking and being.  Remember the tortoise and the hare?  Slow and steady wins the race.

3. Evaluate your activities each day, week and month.

Do you review your activities?  Do you actually write down your successes, challenges and big ideas for the month?  The only real way to make sure you are making progress and staying on course is by evaluating what you do on a regular basis.  Create a daily or weekly task list.  Create theme days you use to keep yourself on track – Motivation Monday, Team Tuesday, etc. Then look at it at least once a week to see what is going well, what isn’t going so well and where you need to improve or adjust.  I review my week on either Saturday morning or Sunday evenings as I prep for the upcoming week.  A weekly check allows me to tweak my focus so I can reach my goals faster.

4. Seek Accountability.

I don’t know about you but I need to be accountable to someone.  Change can be tough but when I add in an accountability measure, it gives me an incentive, and encouragement to do the work.   Some share their goals with their family to get them on board. Some find a buddy in or out of their direct sales company to connect with on a regular basis. What works best for you?  Create a vision board to help you keep focused.  This can be done with magazine cut-outs or hand drawn.  I am part of an incredible Facebook Group called League of Audacious Women run by the AMAZING Desiree Wolfe which helps me stay accountable on a daily basis. Join a monthly group coaching or training program which provides support and accountability. Be willing to hold yourself responsible and learn from others who are further along the path than you are.

5. Celebrate your progress.

Do you wait to celebrate until you reach the final goal OR do you celebrate your accomplishments along the way?  The success is in the journey and not always the destination.  Your goal is a target for you to focus on to keep you moving forward BUT life happens. We get derailed or make mistakes.  Sometimes it takes us longer to reach our goal than we hoped for or maybe we never reach it BUT we need to continue to celebrate our progress.  Practice self-love and be our own biggest cheerleaders. Focus on progress not perfection.

Who is ready to get consistent?  What small step will you make to change the direction of your business and your life?

Have a ThirtyOne-deful day!

Product Review: Midway Hobo

Letting customers Product Test your products is AMAZING!  I usually pick about 6 products I want to share.  I have my customers fill out the form and then select those who will be testers.  If you CLICK HERE, you can enter the next round of product testing which will take place in October.

Let me tell you about Kacie... she is a regular customer who is a Younique consultant and a stay at home mom.  I love when she reviews her own product so I couldn’t wait to see what she had to say about the Midway Hobo.  She LOVES cross body bags since she has two little ones who keep her busy.  Here is the what she had to say….

Hope let me test out the Midway Hobo this week! She sent me the Caramel Charm colorway, which matched pretty well with all the photos I’ve seen of it online and in the catalog. If anything, the caramel shade leans slightly more toward orange instead of brown, but it is still a beautiful color for Fall! I really like that I could get one to match my All About the Benjamins wallet if I wanted.

This thing is HUGE! But it’s also not! 🙂 It was large enough to carry around all the things I normally carry with me in a purse (and it fits the Swap-it Pocket!) but the overall size was still smaller than your average tote bag, meaning it wasn’t too bulky to carry around shopping. It’s the perfect size for a mom purse! I could easily throw in a change of clothes for my preschooler, eliminating the need to carry a separate diaper bag. I really liked the exterior cell phone pocket. It held my Google Pixel (which could also fit inside the interior slip pockets) and it felt secure enough that I didn’t need to worry about it falling out. It’s a fairly large phone, so I’m surprised that it fit. There’s a great interior zipped pocket that I really liked too. I put my Kindle Fire inside and it only took up half the pocket. That’s how roomy it is!

And now my personal deal breaker; the strap. If this bag had an adjustable cross-body length strap I would probably own it in every color. I love the pockets and the space it provides. The material the bag is made of lends itself to easy cleaning and great stain resistance (I LOVE the fact that pet hair doesn’t stick to it!) but it’s also a tad slippery. If you’re able to hold the bag against your body or “catch” it with one hand while you’re walking, this is no big deal. Unfortunately, I’m a mom with 2 young kids, so I’m constantly reaching for little hands to cross a parking lot, or bending over to pick up something they dropped on the floor, or just needing the use of BOTH my hands in general. I couldn’t keep this on my shoulder without holding on to it. The constant slipping was driving me crazy. I found myself flipping the strap upside down so the side with the decorative stitching was facing my shoulder. This gave me some extra “grip”, but it wasn’t enough to hold the strap in place. On the very rare occasion I was out running errands by myself this bag was awesome, but it’s not something I can carry around all the time.

Overall, I recommend this bag. It’s a great design, with plenty of space, and it comes in some gorgeous colors. You just need to decide if your life can keep up with the shorter strap length.

Thank you Kacie for this AWESOME review.  Kacie said “I wish there wish the Cafe Crossbody and the Midway Hobo had a baby – the combination of the two bags would be AMAZING!”.  Definitely a suggestion for Thirty One Voice of the Customer.  Who knows, this could be a new bag.

Be sure to check out Kacie’s Facebook page so we can share the love.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

My Mission and My Vision

I am ready to kick off the week, are you?  I am participating in a month long “lab” with the AMAZING Britt Bolnick of In Arms Coaching.  The name of the program is called “Creating Aligned Marketing That Doesn’t Feel Douchey“.  This virtual month long program brings together 32 awesome women from all over the country who are ready to grow their business.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want my business to look like and how I want to feel when I head into my office.  I LOVE my Thirty One business but I felt like something was missing.  I had an AHA vision about a month ago and I realized that my why is not about trips, or how much money I can make or even about the next promotion.

Most say that our “why” is what motivates us towards our vision. It is the emotional connection that you have every day with why you are doing what you are doing. For some this takes time to find – I can attest to that. For others, it is very easy.

Here is my emotional why:

I want to make a difference in people’s lives. I want to help women plan their first party in their home after a messy divorce. I want to make people smile when they are down with my silly happy mail. I want to help raise funds for that family that just can’t afford to pay for their child’s extra activities or medical expenses. 

Yes, I still need to pay bills.  Yes, I would love to earn a free trip.  The truth is that I am not a carrot chaser.  I am not the one to race to a goal to get a prize.  My prize is actually the smiles on the faces of the women that I talk to or the thank you note that lets me know that I made a difference.

After answering a series of questions during our first week, praying and a lot of writing, I was able to tweak my vision.  Visions are a broad picture about what you are passionate about, the thing that you talk about and would shout from the rafters. Your mission may change but your vision remains the same.  Here is my vision statement for my business:

“My vision is for a world where women are not judged on their circumstances but empowered to learn from them so that they can have harmony in their life and make a difference in the lives of those around them.”

I want to be able to use my Thirty One business to CELEBRATE -ENCOURAGE – REWARD women who are struggling.  I don’t want to be that person that just wants to book a party or sell a product or grow her team.  I want to touch the lives of women and let them know that God has a plan for each of them; even during their struggles.  I want to be the light that shines in their life.

My mission is to combine my passion for empowering women with my love for Thirty One Gifts products.  I will use my skills to support women who have or had life struggles and believe that those struggles define their life.  I will carry this out by offering opportunities via fundraising, gatherings with friends and 1-1 coaching where they can learn how to let their light shine.

The vision is cast and my mission is clear.  Now, to work on a plan to build my business or as others would like to call it a “business plan“.

What is your DREAM or VISION that seems impossible? Share it with us.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

#Hashtags

Hashtag

Do you use hashtags on your social media posts?  I have to be honest, I don’t! Okay so maybe occasionally I would remember but not all of the time.  I especially never thought to use them in ALL of my social media posts.

My best friend, Steph Loder, kicked off her business by helping me this week.  She has years of experience in the newspaper industry and she is now putting that digital training to use by starting her own business coordinating social media for small businesses.  I’m her first customer.  Okay, so what does all of this have to do with hashtags, right?

Steph has been blowing my Twitter account up. I have lots of new followers, likes and retweets.  Sounds like I know what I am doing, right?  WRONG!  I was clueless when it came to Twitter but I am learning.  She asked me what I wanted my “unique” hashtag to be; you know the way that people would search for me on all social media sites.  Can you say clueless?  I said, my name.  WRONG!

See finding the right keywords to use – and those that are active enough to attract new people to you can be a challenge.  The key is to use 2-5 hashtags when appropriate, so that  people who are interested in various topics might find your post and interact with you and your business!  The key is to drive people to your website to increase business.

Using a hashtag gives your post exposure when people are searching words or hashtags. An example is if someone reads a post about makeup on a popular Instagram account that has the hashtag #makeup or #cosmetics, they can click on those hashtag words and find other posts (like yours!) where the user also included those hashtags.

Hashtags are a great way to get more exposure.  Some social media users use the search boxes when looking for information about certain topics and hashtags come up in the search results as they are considered popular, or trending, topics. So here are some ideas for those in direct sales:

Direct Sales in General

#dstips

#directsales

#partyplan

Business Opportunity

#bizopp

#incomeopportunity

#businessopportunity

Women/Moms in Business

#wahm (work at home mom)

#mompreneur

#sahm (stay at home mom)

#womenbiz

#mombiz

General Business/Home Business

#homebiz

#smallbiztips

#biztips

#bizitalk

#entrepreneur

Of course, you want to include your company hashtag (#thirtyone) or your team name (#raysofhope).  For my Thirty One business, I can also use #purses #totes #organization #gifts #jewelry #home or #accessories.  I found a fun tool called Hashtagify to discover hashtags about a specific topics.  When you type in a general keyword, you’ll get other related hashtags.  Remember, the objective is to attract interested leads, not others who are marketing their own businesses – or worse, spammers.

So, now as for a “unique” hashtag for my business, I was thinking #Hopes31Bags.  What do you think?  What other hashtags have you found to be helpful for you business?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!