Episode 8 Transcript

Hey everyone, it is me, Lisa, and we are back with another episode of The Other 99%. I’m super excited to have these guests joining me today. We have three lovely ladies who are not only direct sale sellers, but they work outside the home. They are busy moms or grandmas, and I just wanted them to come on and tell us a little bit about who they are, how they came into the business. What plans do they have for 2024? And I’m just super excited to have them. So let’s start with you, Lea. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Hello, I am Lea Spanninga. I am a distributor for Senegence. Senegence is makeup and skincare that is cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free, nature-based ingredients. It’s basically good for your skin. It also lasts all day without coming off. So that’s…kind of the main reason why I started selling it is because it doesn’t come off. I’m also a stay at, not sorry, part-time, stay at home mom of seven, well now six. One got married last November and I work part-time at a cafe, a local cafe in town. So very busy, but I’ve been with Senegence for six, just celebrated my sixth anniversary. I stay with it because of how much I love it, how great the products are, the company is amazing, and I’ll just try to find a way to make it work with everything else going on. And I love it because you have such a great connection with your customer base. I’m in your your customer group and your customers just love you. So I love seeing your videos and all that stuff and it’s amazing to know what you are doing on top of the busy home life that you have. So thanks for joining us, Lea. Thanks for having me.

All right, Consuela, let’s hear a little bit about you, hon. Hi, my name is Consuela Sirois. I’m a mom of three, a grandma, me, ma, two, five. I work in a long-term healthcare home. And I do Scentsy and another business aside, but my name on is Scentsy and the reason I started Scentsy was because I really, I like my house to smell good. And what better way to do it with a very nice favourites. And I mean, Scentsy covers you in every area, right? I have my loyal customers that love me because I spoil them with their orders. I always keep touch with them, keep face with them. They could be out of town or in town. I always say hi and see how they’re doing. And my granddaughter helps me out. She loves to spell her Scentsy has her own little collection with warmer in her room. And when she goes to bed, it’s I need my Scentsy. I need my warmer on. So it’s a juggle, but I make it work. Yeah. And it sounds like you love what you do. So that’s, that’s the biggest thing, right? And your family sounds like they’re supportive.

Now let’s take a take a chat with Nat. Nat, tell us a little bit about you and your business and why you came to direct sales. I’ve been in direct sales for many years. I’m going to say like 18 to 20 years. I started off with Mary Kay and it was just, I like the makeup and all that. And then about 12 years ago, I decided I wanted to buy the kit for Epicure which is a line of food solutions, cookware, spices, seasonings. So, and then I really jumped on the bed for that, primarily joined for the discount. And then just it’s such a good product that people started buying from me. And I moved up in rank pretty quickly as my family grew. And I worked full time in medical records for a hospital. I have three kids each in sports, busy mom running around. And Epicure is a way that I can feed my family healthy meals quickly. I really just promote my lifestyle and what I do. And that’s really my business there. So people, I do it. So they see it. And I just, that’s how I promote myself. So it’s been pretty good. And I love that. But you can use your business and make money by just showing people what you’re doing. And Epicure is absolutely one of those products that people love to see you sharing your meals, especially when you’re making good, healthy meals for your family. And I seen some videos because we were making a collaboration of videos and Nat sent me some videos with her kids. And I love like one of, I still remember her daughter said, I love Epicure because my mom and I can make delicious cakes, I think she said, and it was just amazing that, you know, you could use this business to bring your family together. So that’s awesome, Nat. Thanks for joining us.

All right, Lea, back to you. So just curious, do you have any specific goals for 2024? Because I know the biggest thing about doing a consistent business is setting a goal, whether it is consistency or higher sales or something. So tell us about your 2024 goals I don’t know if it’s a goal or a dream or whatever for almost my entire time with Senegence. I just, I’m holding my own self back and I’m well aware of that. I just need to find the guts, I guess. But with Senegence, you can call it MUA. It’s a makeup certification. And you have to do makeup on 20 people and then submit it to Senegence and then you become what is called an MUA. And a lot of people as they towards it anyway also kind of rank up and your sales increase because people use you know that kind of thing and it’s been on my mind i’m just i don’t know i just for some reason i just haven’t gotten the uh the nerve to start like putting makeup on people and uh i that’s i really want to try and kick myself in the pants to get it done this year yeah. Well, we’ll definitely help you out with that, Lea, because if we have any listeners in the inner around the Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, uh, region, then I want you to reach out to myself or Lea. And if you’re willing to help her out by becoming one of her makeup, um, people, I guess I, I, models, I guess they would be called, right? Yeah. So if you’re interested in, um, helping Leah rank up. Then yeah, connect with us and we’ll make sure that you get on her list because I would love to see you achieve that in 2024. Yeah, that would be cool.

Consuela, tell us a little bit about your goal for 2024. So my goals in 2024 are to expand myself more. I’m very shy, so I have a hard time reaching out to people. That’s my goal this year and to grow my teams. Like with both my businesses, I have a little team underneath, so I’d like to grow them more and to help my teammates grow themselves. But my biggest one would be to get out there more, more. So I’m trying to like book more events, book more parties and just be out there, be more than just a here’s a picture of me and that’s it. And I know that you can do this because I know like. I see you on team meetings and stuff like that. So I know that you’re very committed to your businesses. So I wanna give you a kudos for that. And I definitely can see you doing that because I do see you coming out of your shell since I first met you, my friend.

All right, Nat, let’s move on to you. Do you, can you share with the listeners what your 2024 goal is? Well, I’d love to be able to say that my goal is to become like number one in sales and to take over the Epicure universe and all that. Because like you that would really be awesome. But I am going to be completely realistic in my goals. And of course, growth in my business would be really great. Moving up in rank and all the wonderful things that come with that. The bonuses and the money and the camaraderie and all of those things. But I really would like to be able to catch up. My business grew exponentially in the last three years that I wasn’t really able to keep up with it. And the technology grew as well. And all of these different aspects of business changed with COVID, you know, virtual versus in-person and all that. And we’re dealing with food. And I used to really like the vendor shows. So everything really changed and I haven’t caught up with it. I haven’t adapted very much. I’ve been raising kids and trying to do the best that I can. So my goal for 2024 is to maintain and really catch up and be ready for the next step. Balance really this year. That’s where I’m at right now. Of course, like if I became number one in sales, that’d be amazing. But it looks like a little bit of growth consistency and catch up really. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, we would all love to be top in sales, but I really appreciate the fact that you’re saying, you know, I’m not perfect and I’m willing to make it perfect by learning all these things. And now, you know, that if you ever need any help with the technology side of things, all you have to do is reach out because I got you there, hon. I know, I know you do. Great resource forever. Thank you. No problem.

All right. So Lea, let’s go to you. I always like to get this information from people in the direct sales world because when I was first offered the direct sales opportunity, it was the last thing that I ever thought I would do. What piece of advice do you have or a tip do you have for somebody who is coming into the direct sales field and looking and maybe considering the business opportunity? I would say don’t join direct sales because you you’re you want to like make you know abundance abundance of money like you have to love what you sell so you should definitely join a company that has a product that you know you will consistently use it you can sell that because you need to be a product of the product, right? I’m not going to buy senteneges and then never like and then wear, you know, some other like cover girl, right? You need to join a company that you know you can stick with that you know that you can showcase because you want people to buy not just here, buy, buy, buy my product, you need to like, get people to want to buy it like, oh, look how easy it is to apply or look how easy it is to make that dish. Or the sense and so it’s gotta be something that you know that you are passionate about, that you can be passionate about and that you love. Or else it’s not gonna, it may start out well because there was a company I did join and I kinda liked, it was to do with nails. I kinda like nails, but I didn’t stick with it because nails I just realized is not my thing. So I gave it up after a year. But makeup, skincare, I love it. And that’s why I’ve been doing it for six years. So you gotta love what you wanna sell. I totally agree. And I always say to my team that if you’re not your best customer, like if you don’t use the product every single day, how can you expect someone else to? Exactly. That falls exactly in line with what you’re sharing. So that’s absolutely a great tip. Thank you.

Consuelo, what’s your tipper piece of advice you’d like to offer? Mine would be a lot like Lea said, be passionate about what you’re selling. Don’t just…sell because it’s there and do your research and do it. Before I started with Scentsy, I was with another direct sale company and I thought it was like, hey, great. This is like, you know, everybody’s going to want them. So it was like the first three months was great because everybody was buying one of everything and then they’re like, no, I’ve got one. I don’t need another one. Like it doesn’t matter that it’s a different pattern or whatever. I still only need one. I had originally joined Scentsy as a kidnapper. And I was like, a lot of my friends were like, Hey, are you still selling Scentsy? Can you sell Scentsy? We still like, what do you need? What do you, what can I get? Like, and I’d be like, okay, this is where I need to be. Be passionate about what you’re selling. Don’t just join because it’s there or the opportunity is there. Join because this is what you love to do. I totally agree. You have to have that passion there.

Nat, let’s hear from you. What piece of advice or a tip do you have? I know it’s going to be powerful. I’ve got some specific ones, but I want to say as well, like be a product of the product. Like Lea said, Consuelo said that, like love what you’re doing. But also if you’re considering an MLM, I think specifically find out what your commission is and what your potential for earning is. Two, I would find out do you need to carry inventory? Because I know that for some companies you do and some you don’t. And if you fall off the wagon and you choose not to sell anymore. What are you stuck with? Like loads and loads of protein powder? Like is that’s gonna expire? So you need to really consider that. And also you need to find out, is this a company that I will need to recruit? Like, will you need to create more consultants? Do you need to sell the product and sell the business? Are you comfortable selling the business? Some people are not comfortable selling the business. So when you hear the income that you have, you can earn up to 50% of what it sells, find out who is earning the 50%. So because just find out, ask the questions. And I think that’s important because some people are not comfortable in selling an opportunity and that’s not what you sign up for. In some companies you don’t at all, in some companies that’s the main thing is to sell the opportunity. So that’s why you have to be a product of your product. So that’s like specifically, those are important questions to ask. I love that because I remember when ironically not I started out in Mary Kay as well. So I remember being in Mary Kay and then I was introduced to Epicure and it was like, I knew the questions to ask. So when my upline called me, it’s like, okay, well, tell me what kind of support will you give me? Tell me what kind of money can I make? Tell me do I have to carry inventory? So those are perfect questions and most likely questions that a new to the whole direct sales field, somebody wouldn’t know to ask. So I appreciate you bringing those up.

All right, ladies, well, we’re going to wrap this up, but before we go, where are you on social? Go ahead, Lea. I am on Facebook and Instagram under Liptastic with Lea and on Facebook I have two, I have a group, private groups. So that way women can share their photos and stuff and then it’s like private you don’t have any houses like elbows creepy strange people who keep requesting you that you have no idea who they’re so that’s what my group is it’s private so people can share their makeup their questions or whatever and have a public page and then I’m also on Instagram under the same so look test lip test it with you. Awesome. I’ll make sure that I put the links to your pages and your groups in the show notes so if you didn’t catch that. Check the show notes and I’ll put them all there.

Awesome. So Consuela, where can people find you on social? So I’m only on Facebook under my real name Consuela Sirois My Facebook group is Consuela’s Emporium of Sense and you can message me anytime I’m usually available or within a couple of hours. I will answer Awesome. Perfect. And I’ll put those links in the show notes as well

Nat, where can people find you? Because I’m slow onto the bandwagon, I’m only on Facebook and my handle is Chaos in the Kitchen with Nat. Super easy. That’s the title. It’s really, hopefully I grow with that, that name in the future. So that’s where you will find me. Awesome. I love that you guys are all branding yourself and, and that chaos in the kitchen with Nat, that, that’s one to keep for sure.

All right, ladies. Well, I want to thank you all for joining us. We’re going to wrap up now. And if you have any questions, there is a link to reach out to me and I can get in touch with any of these ladies if you can’t get in touch with them for some reason. And I can get your question to them. So thank you so much for joining us ladies. And we’re going to wrap up for now. We’ll talk to you soon. Bye