Tuesday, June 26, 2012

All Expenses Paid - Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
All expenses paid......

I woke up early, last week Monday to go to the airport to catch a chartered flight out of the contry...someone pinch me! I really went to the Dominican Republic for six days?!  And it was ALL paid for?!

Ok, so I have to admit, when I signed up with Scentsy, I was more skeptical than anyone, thinking to myself, nobody ever actually earns the free trips you hear about, or gets promoted in these companies.  "Don't get your hopes up Autumn" - BUT - I promised myself I'd give it the old college try and if it didn't work out, what would I lose?  $99?  I spend that at Target all the time....I'd write it off on our taxes and be one our merry way.  Much to my surprise, people DO earn those trips, and I, yes me, Autumn, was one of them - four months after joining the Scentsy Family!  I had an amazing time too!  I got to meet a TON of other consultants and we talked shop, enjoyed lounging on the beach, partied Scentsy Style at our 70's/80's party, then a beautiful White party.....it wasn't a dream!  I have pictures to prove it! Now that I've been once, I have to be on all of the future incentive trips, I refuse to miss out!  Join me!!  As of today, we have 32 inspiring women on my team, and we're looking for great, hard-charging additions all the time!!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Up...up....and away!

Independent Scentsy Director....I like the sound of that!  But, what's in a title?  In many brick and mortar 9-5 companies these days, we have titles nobody has ever heard of, or are simply not applicable to what people are actually accomplishing on a daily basis such as "Director of Excellence"....hmm.

On the other hand, when you are running a direct sales business, your title actually equates to specific, quantifiable, achievements that you have attained.  So, out in the general population, the term Indpendent Scentsy Director isn't going to mean much, but if you're a Scentsy Consultant, you know exactly what that person has had to work for to accomplish that milestone.

In the 9-5 world, it's frowned upon to give people too many promotions too close together - don't want them to get ahead of themselves after all!  How awesome is it that in a Scentsy business, with determination, some creativity, positivity and perseverance, you can achieve multiple promotions (and commensurate raises!) every month if you choose to?  In six months since I joined, I have had five promotions and this month made it Director and have 21 amazing women on my team.  I'm not stopping here though, my goals reach much higher, but I am elated to have reached this milestone in my Scentsy Career!  The sky is the limit and the world is your oyster, so get out there and make it happen for yourself!

If you're interested in what has worked for me, here are my quick tips to success - they worked to get me to Director in six months, hopefully they'll help you too!

1. Set your goals and a plan - One of the mantras I live by is 'plan your work and work your plan' - you can't make your plan if you have nothing to plan toward.  So set your goal, and work backward from there to see what it will take to reach it, set up your plan, and move forward!  Regularly check to see what is working, and what isn't; tweak your plan accordingly and march on.

2. Get over yourself! Yep, biggest problem in my mind, of not being successful in a venture we set out in is our own insecurities.  Ask yourself if everyone you know, knows that you are a Scentsy Consultant - if you're not sure, or question that at all, it's time to fix that.  I never push the product on people, I just talk about it in general, or find a way to casually work it into a conversation.  Believe me, everyone knows I do this :)

People will tell you 'no' (you tell your kids or pets 'no' don't you?).  It doesn't mean people will never speak to you again, or will now avoid eye contact in the hallway (unless they already did..), it's just 'no'.  The answer is always no unless you ask, so get over your fear of that tiny little word and get out there in front of people.  Make phone calls, send emails, chat with people at the cash register at the store or in line at the bank.  You have nothing to be ashamed of; you are a small business owner, putting food on your family's table and a roof over their heads.  Be proud of your business and the fact that you had the intestinal fortitude to try this!  You'll often be surprised to find that what you were thinking they might be thinking, is not what they were thinking at all ;)

3. Get determined - is your goal, really something that you want?  If so, set purpose to your regular tasks throughout your day/week/month to reach your goals.  Make it a priority.  Make sure the important people in your life understand that it is a priority and establish a business rhythm that incorporates them when possible (labeling product, labeling envelopes, making samples, etc.) and time that is yours just to focus on your business.  10 minutes a day to eight hours a day - whatever is going to help you reach your goal, but set it up and adjust when necessary.

4. Get creative.  You might be the lucky person in life whose 9-5 job includes making arts and crafts - I didn't get so lucky, and I work with Engineers all day (enough said, <3).  So get out to the craft store, get your kids (or borrow some) involved, and make your displays and signage a fun arts and craft project.  Make small gift baskets for the folks who support you in life (teachers, doctors, Realtors, etc.); get out into your local community to see who needs a fundraiser, and offer to contribute your commission off of sales to it; provide 'loaner' products to local business to try out for a trial period; get a booth at a local craft/vendor show; do basket parties; online parties.  Are you tracking analytics on your website to see when people are visiting and where they're going?  If so, what can you do in your marketing that changes those metrics?  This business does not have to be all about home parties if you get creative.

4. Stay Positive & Persevere.  Naysayers abound. Some people actually want to see you fail - can you believe that?  You will have bad days.  Chances are, at some point you might have a party without a single guest.  It happens.  Nothing you can control in that situation - except yourself and your attitude.  Stay positive, and go into every day knowing that there are likely going to be some hurdles you'll overcome, or you might get the feeling that what you're doing is futile, so why keep going?  Keep planting seeds, and staying positive externally (particularly when you're in public forums, and social networking sites), and in your own mind.  If you feel those negative thoughts creeping in, take a break from whatever you're doing to focus on what the negative thought is related to and come up with a high-level plan to fix that issue - and set it aside to continue doing what you were doing.  Come back to it and work it into your bigger plan when you have your planned business time.  When it rains it pours, so be prepared for it!

Feel free to contact me anytime to discuss more, I'm more than happy to help!  If you're a consultant, what has worked for you?

~Autumn
www.autumneveritt.scentsy.us

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Scentsy, Inc. Brand Confusion?

As many of you have heard, Scentsy, Inc. is launching all kinds of great new products this year.  What does it all mean?  So first, let's establish that Scentsy, Inc. is the Umbrella Corporation that owns three brands:

  1. Scentsy Wickless
  2. Velata (to be launched on 1 May 2012)
  3. Brand X (to be announced in July 2012)
A current Scentsy Wickless Independent Consultant does not have automatic access to these other two brands as they are stand-alone, yet can be combined into one powerful toolbox for a Consultant.  At it's most basic level an Independent Velata Consultant does not have to be an Independent Scentsy Wickless Consultant, or vice versa.  Same with Brand X.  These are each individual business, that can be run on their own.

Where the biggest bang for your buck as a Consultant is: we can have three businesses under one umbrella, with one compensation structure, AND even if I don't sell one brand or another, I can still recruit and maintain a downline in any of the other brands!  What a genius idea!  How many Direct Sales folks do you know who sell products for multiple companies?  They have to maintain multiple downlines, they have separate sales minimums for each, and different standards, processes, etc. for each as well.  One stop shopping for Scentsy, Inc. and we can have as many as three businesses under one roof and sales, regardless of brand are cumulative for each month toward your Personal Retail Volume, Team and Group Wholesale Volumes.  So, for example, if you have a month, where you sell:

  • $1000 of Scentsy Wickless
  • $650 of Velata
  • $450 of Brand X
You will be paid on $2,100 of commission and receive the monthly sales bonus of an additional 5%.  Conversely, if you were to sell the same amount with three separate companies, you might not even meet sales minimums, or if you do, you're getting paid on disparate numbers.

In my mind, this is business plan is genius, and I am very much looking forward to proving that it will work starting in May!  Let me know if I can help answer any questions on this!  Current Scentsy Wickless Consultants are getting the opportunity to sign up for the new Velata line ahead of the general public by two weeks, so if you've been sitting on the fence, get with your potential sponsor and make it happen!

www.autumneveritt.scentsy.us

~Autumn

Scentsy Wax - How Long does it last & Wax Wednesday

This is a Scentsy Bar, and within this clamshell, there are eight smaller cubes.  I recommend with every scent, starting with one cube, and if you need it to be stronger, add a second cube.  Each of those cubes is going to last for about 8-10 hours, so if you're running your Scentsy for a few hours each day, then it should last you for about a week.  This has the equivalent run time of a medium sized traditional Jar candle, but this only costs $5 and you can change up your scent as often as you like without taking up valuable cabinet space with big bulky glass jars. 

In our house, we have "Wax Wednesday" where we change out the wax in all of warmers (*ahem, we have eight...yes, I'm a certified addict).

To change the wax out, you have several different options:

  • If you're not done with the scent yet, but you're ready for something different, while the wax is melted, simply pour it back into the clamshell and let it cool back to room temperature to use again later.  Wipe out your Scentsy lid with a papertowel and you're ready to go for your next scent.
  • If you're done with the scent, you can use our Grab-Tabs - to use: once the wax is melted, turn your Scentsy off, and let it sit for about five minute to cool, and submerge a grab-tab into the wax   making sure it sits on the bottom of the wax - allow to cool for about 20 minutes and pull it out - that simple!
  • The last option for you, is to gently use a disposable plastic knife, and insert it at an angle in the middle of completely cooled (solid) wax; lift up slightly to create a pocket, and it will pop right out as well.
** The Grab-tab is the safest option for Plug-ins (night-light size warmers).  

Check out all of our fragrances here: Scentsy Fragrances


Starting a Timeline

Hi All, I started this blog as a tool that I hope to be able to point potential customers, recruits and fellow Scentsy Consultants toward to help answer questions, get the word out and in general share all of the great things that Scentsy is doing in my life and other people's lives!


So, a quick summary of my Scentsy Journey so far:


February of 2011, I went to visit my family in the Pacific Northwest, and my sister had a Scentsy warmer in her house, and she showed me all the great stuff about it and shared about how it was such a great product.  I thought 'neat!' and went along my merry way, thinking every so often about checking out their website and ordering, but getting caught up in the busy-ness of business and forgot time and again.


A few months later, I found a friend from a few duty stations ago on facebook and we reconnected.  Then, I started to notice that she was talking about going on free trips with this Scentsy company, and THEN I saw her post in August of 2011 how much her team sales totaled.  I took my socks off and started doing to fingers and toes math, and was blown away!  I decided that, heck, what's the harm if I drop $99 and this doesn't work out - I can remember a ton of times (in the recent past), when I've gone to Target and dropped that much or more, and didn't have much to show for it - certainly not anything that could be an investment!


So....September 13th, 2011 I signed up and joined Heather's team as an Escential Consultant.  By the end of the month, I had promoted to Certified Consultant and then Lead Consultant and I thought 'wow, I have NEVER gotten two promotions in one month in my 9-5 job!' and the hook was set.


Slowly but surely, I worked my way through the Holiday season.  I did two vendor shows, and started to pick up recruits here and there, growing my team one Superwoman at a time, and today, I have 21 amazing women on my team, and growing every week.  It's amazing to see the personal successes and growth of these women on my team, and I am so enjoying this journey with them.  More to come soon!!! Thanks for following my blog! www.autumneveritt.scentsy.us