Your Vote Would Mean A Lot!

So, I'm in a contest & would love your help to win . . . I need your votes on my cute monkey video -- well, it features just part of the footage from our interaction with a monkey in Kenya a couple of years ago.

Here's how it goes . . . I need "like" votes on youtube. If you don't have a youtube account, you can easily sign up for one in order to vote. The prizes are a BIG deal as I could win an apple ipad or $400 in free products. So I would SOOOOOO LOVE YOUR HELP!

Once you vote, pass the link along to your friends and ask for them to vote too! I can't tell you how much I'd appreciate it! YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

Here's the link . . . enjoy the video!

My Host Packets

This is what I do for host packets. Got a great host packet idea to share? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your ideas!

My Business Retreat

My company's home office is doing a "tour" - making several stops around the country to do big training meetings. There isn't one close to me this time; the closest is an 8 hour drive. I hate to miss corporate sponsored events, in fact, I never have missed one! Even when I was on bedrest during a pregnancy I managed to find a way to be there. But I had to debate long & hard about this one.

With the support of my sweet husband who said I should go and is taking time off work to stay home with the kids, I decided to make the drive. I'll drive over the day of the meeting & go to the meeting that evening. But the part I'm most excited about is that I'll stay overnight which will give me some time after the meeting to have my own little "mini retreat" before returning to the chaos of my life at home with 2 little kids! It just seems like I don't ever have an extended period of time to just think with a clear head, so I am really looking forward to it & will make the most of it by using that time to really focus on my business & get a plan ready to put into action!

I actually should do this on a regular basis, even if its just escaping to Panera Bread for the evening to do some goal setting. Do you ever get the chance to do a mini or BIG business retreat?

Booking Parties

Are you short on booked parties or maybe you've moved & are starting all over like me? The first step is to know how many parties you WANT to have booked each month. Then, if you aren't booked on those days . . .

I've heard training that says to spend the time you would've spent at a party being on the phone trying to get parties. That's all well & good IF you have people on your list to call. But what if you don't know enough people (you've already called all of them) or you're new to an area & don't know anyone there. I could spend the time booking catalog parties with my family, friends & customers in other areas, but that certainly wouldn't help me grow my business here.

So, this is what I've decided to do & I have been loving it! My goal is to do 1 party/in-person event each week. Until I get to that point, in each week that I don't have something scheduled, I will go to a networking event of some kind. Something where I can meet other people. Not only am I getting the chance to grow my business, but I am enriching my life by meeting new people & building friendships & business building relationships where we can help each other. I highly recommend this to anyone that is struggling with getting parties.

Monthly List

There are so many "to do" items that I have to remember to complete each month and some of them need to be done at certain times of the month. I've finally come up with a system for those things that need to be done every month to make sure they get done on time. Here's a chart I made (very simple; nothing spectacular!) with 31 lines (one for each day of the month). Next to each date, fill in what you need to do on that day & then keep it on your desk so you don't forget about things that are coming up that need to be done. You can even do them ahead of time & then just mark them off on the chart so you know that item is done for the month. Print out a new form each month, make changes as needed, and note that in months with less than 31 days you'll need to double up your activities or change the dates a little bit. I left my "to do" items on the list, even though they may not make sense to you, just to see an example of what kinds of things I'm putting on my list & maybe to help you remember things you'll want to put on your own list.

Having Fun Again

Do you or your team members ever reach a place where you grow tired of & are lacking the fun aspect of your business. I think its a personality thing. I have some team members who are always so energetic and always loving their business. But I know that I have personally struggled at times to find the "joy" -- but that is really something that has been part of my personality since I was young. I remember my mom talking to me and telling me that I needed to exercise & set some goals & she was right that those things always made a difference when I was feeling "down".

So, if you're feeling "down" in your business or need to help a team member get positive again, here's some ideas that I've come up with:

• If its the success (or lack of) that is discouraging you, you might want to consider taking it to the next level and really putting a "working plan" into action. I really find that when I'm not having success I lose the motivation & when I do have success it motivates me even more & definitely makes my business more fun.
  
• listening to or reading business/motivational materials every day
• doing customer calls & hearing from the customers how much they're loving their loving their products
• what have you had fun with in the past? Whatever it is, get back to doing more of it!
  
• regular contact (in-person is best) with other demonstrators (like meetings!)
• the way I feel about life in general - if life is exciting & fun, then business will be the same; if life is difficult & drudgery, then business tends to be that way as well -- goal setting & making time to exercise & read the scriptures every day keeps me on track on the "life" end of things so I can be excited about business as well
• re-evaluate your goals & set an action plan for accomplishing them - a lot of times for me I get discouraged when I feel like I'm running around in circles & not accomplishing everything, by writing down my goals & reconfirming what I need to do to get there it gives me clarity & helps me to make sure that the things I'm doing will help me to progress . . . it gives my actions purpose!

What can music do for your business?

I had this thought this morning as I was working out to an aerobics video. In the middle of the workout, a new song starts playing and the "instructor" starts laughing (while working out) and shouts out, "Ooooh, this is my song!". It creates such energy & even for me doing the workout in my living room, I get an extra boost of energy & that's my favorite part of the workout.

So, I was thinking about how music can make a difference in life & in business. Here's a couple of thoughts:

• I've heard that its smart to play some upbeat energizing music as you drive to your parties to help you arrive full of energy even if you've had a trying day at the office or at home before leaving for your party.
• I was listening to a teleconference recording the other day & the speaker suggested that you pick a song that represents your vision for what you want your life to look like, thanks to what your business can do for you. Close your eyes, play that song & visualize the life you want & then play that song once every day and you'll subconsciously visualize your vision again -- even if the song is just playing in the background. Here's my vision song:

How do you use music in your business?

Could one "aha" moment change your business?

It did for me! I recently had the great opportunity of meeting with Carole Warga, a trainer with RI Training. We played the Residual Income game that they have available & I had a HUGE aha moment! I realized that I needed to spend time every day in personal development . . . listening to or reading training & inspirational materials. So, I started implementing this right away - after all, I have a ton of recordings saved to my computer from over the years that I've never listened to. I put some on my mp3 player & started listening to them as I take the kids out for a walk each day.

Adding this to my day as been transformational in my business! All of the discouragement I was feeling about it taking a while to get things up & running again after my move across the country has vanished. On top of that, business seems to be just magically appearing for me . . . I have my first home party in Colorado booked, I found a new customer (someone who actually came to me), and even got a fundraiser going back in Maryland; and that's all on top of the 3 catalog parties that were turned in to me this month (2 from Maryland and 1 from Arizona) that included several new customers!

If you haven't had an "aha" moment in your business lately, you could probably really use one to energize you & give your business a boost. You can look for those little moments in everything you do throughout the day, as you listen to motivational materials, or even while you search the internet for new ideas.

Please leave a comment & share an "aha" moment that you've had in your business!

Become a Facebook Fan of Home Party Concepts!

If you haven't done so yet, you can become a "fan" of my new facebook page for Home Party Concepts! I've found that during the day I have lots of "little" thoughts, things that might not make a whole blog post, but would be good for posting on facebook . . . so that's where the page comes in! Not to mention that I love interacting with others & with the facebook page I hope to get more ideas & interaction shared between fans of the page. Hope you'll join us; just use the facebook page logo on the right side of this page.

Use of Multi-Media in Your Business

Do you use any multi-media tools in your business? Inspired by ideas from my team members, I am doing all sorts of stuff lately; here's some ideas for you:

• I did a "welcome" message video on youtube that I am sending out to all new team members in the welcome e-mail that I send them through constantcontact.com
• This week, I'm putting together an "opportunity" video that my team members can use to share the business opportunity -- this will be especially helpful for demonstrators that are nervous about sharing or new team members who feel like they wouldn't know what to say.
• I'm using whistletree.com to do my team conference calls now. The calls are saved to their website forever so that I have a link for each call. I've recorded 6 training sessions for new demonstrators that I've posted to a blog -- this way I can be assured that every new demonstrator on my team has access to training even if their sponsor doesn't step up & provide training. Even for those that are good about doing training, this will hopefully help save them time since I encourage the new team members to listen to one call a week & then check in with their sponsor to go over any questions. Instead of the sponsor having to do all of the training, they can just check in & answer questions.
• I have plans to do a "mock" party in the next couple of weeks that we will video & make available to my team so they can see how I do a party & duplicate it as much as they feel like it will benefit them.

Did any of these ideas inspire you to think of something new you can do?
Do you use multi-media in any other ways?

Networking Events

Do you use networking events to further your business?

I never have before, but I recently moved across the country & needed a way to meet new people. There are lots of networking groups here in Colorado that I've found so far & I've learned a few things by attending. I've only attended women's groups so far as they seem less intimidating to me. I'm certainly not an expert, but thought I'd pass along the few things I've picked up along the way:

1. Be Memorable! Instead of taking just business cards, I carry little boxes that have a tealight sample in it along with my business card. It helps people stop & take notice of me. I even had one lady tell me she saw all these people with little boxes & so she was looking for the person who was handing them out.

2. Connect! Rather than just handing out your business card to 50 people, stop and connect with them. Have a real conversation & find a connection, something you have in common or that you can do to help each other.

3. Give! Always look for ways that you can help the other person in their business. Maybe your products or services can help or maybe you know someone you can refer them to or refer to them.

4. Realize that every person isn't going to be a golden contact for you. I figure if I can get one or two new contacts that I can really connect & plan on future business with then it was worth it to me.

5. Follow Up! Send an e-mail or make a phone call the next day. Find them on facebook, visit their website or subscribe to their newsletter. Connecting after the event is what is going to build your business, so spend some time cultivating your new relationships & find out how you can help each other.

Facebook Pages

My favorite new tool for my business is using a Facebook Page (not a "group", but a "page"). You can create a facebook page for free & use it as an advertising tool. People sign up as "fans" of your page and then all your updates are posted for them to see. What I'm trying to do with my page is to keep it fun, interactive, and useful . . . not just little blurbs trying to get people to buy my products. I post useful product information, fun pictures of products, trivia questions about our products/company, motivational thoughts, and more. I also post several times a day so that someone who is only on facebook once during the day will have a better chance of seeing what I've posted. If your content is good, people will "share" it with their friends & your "fan" base will grow. If people comment on your posts, their friends will see it & may become a "fan" as well. This will help to increase your base of "fans" to more than your current friends & customers and when those new people want to buy your products, they'll come to you if you've established a good relationship with them.

Party with Your Kids Week

I love this concept from the DSWA . . . "Party with Your Kids Week"!

I thought it would be fun to suggest some activities to my team for that week that they can do with their families/kids. Any ideas of some fun activities for that week?

Halloween Treats

I always like to do a treat for my party guests to take home. For October, I decided to put together some little baggies of candy corns. As I was putting the bags together, I had the idea to add a tag printed on orange cardstock. I printed it in a format that would fit inside the little 2x3 ziplock style craft bags. Here's what it says:

Its no “trick”, just a “treat”!

Choose your treat . . .

--FREE products (home or catalog party)

--Additional Income (when you become a demonstrator)

--Fundraising for your organization!

Candle Party Concepts -- CLOSING!

For those of you that have used my Candle Party Concepts website in the past, I wanted to let you know that I will be shutting the site down in the next month or so. Over time, I will be adding those ideas to this site, so please make sure you start using this site instead and if there's something specific you want off the other site, copy it down now!

So, thanks to those who have supported that site in the past. I'm just moving things over to this FREE blog to save some money on the website costs. Also, the blog is so much easier to update than the website was so with my limited time (now that I have a toddler running around and another baby on the way), I'll be able to update the blog more often than I could update the website.

Phone Calls AFTER the Order

What a great service it would be if you purchased something (especially if you spent a lot of money) and someone actually called to make sure you were happy with the product and to see if you had any questions.

I've started doing this and because I get mostly voice mail messages, it really only takes 5 to 10 minutes to get through a whole list of people who purchased at a party. I just leave a quick message to tell them I wanted to make sure they were happy with what they ordered & that if they have any questions or if there's anything else I can do for them, to just let me know.

When I do get to talk with someone, I almost always get a VERY positive response & they usually thank me for calling. I also usually get very positive reviews on the products they ordered, which makes me finish the calls feeling even better about the great products I sell. And on the occasional call where someone has a problem with a product, it allows me to fix it quickly for them so they don't get a bad taste in their mouth for our company because a lot of times they might never have contacted me & instead just felt like the product didn't live up to their expectations.

Try some phone calls this week. Call those who have received their product in the last week & see what results you get. Remember to have their receipt handy so you know exactly what they ordered when you are talking with them!

Keep in touch with customers using Postcards

I have an e-newsletter that goes out to my customers each month & send out additional e-mails from time to time. I also keep in touch with customers by phone for those who have ordered recently, but I noticed a while back that I had so many customers in my database that didn't have an e-mail address listed (or the e-mail address was no longer a good one). I could've called each one, but I can tell you that I wouldn't have known who most of them were, if they had ever purchased from me (or just expressed interest), & would, therefore, not have a clue as to what to say to them!

I decided to reach out by mail, using postcards! I designed a postcard on www.vistaprint.com. For me, I shared a recipe that was the same as one of our candle fragrances -- so it went WITH my business, but was also something that I was giving for free & not just using to advertise. With a recipe card, I was hoping they'd also add it to their recipe files (instead of just throwing it away) & ALWAYS have my contact information handy.

I purchase 1 pack of FREE postcards from vista print each month (paying just for shipping) & send those out. It does take time to hand-address them and it costs to pay for postage, but I have heard from at least one customer with each mailing. I have received leads for vendor events & even gotten straight out orders from people who I hadn't had contact with in quite a while.

With my huge list of customers, it will take me several months to send a postcard to each person (doing 100 a month). And when I get through the whole list, I'll design a new recipe postcard & start at the beginning again. Customers will hear from me by mail at least once a year this way & I'll be able to reach out to those who don't hear from me through e-mail.

Summer Ideas for your Team

A traveling theme can be a fun thing to do for your team in the summer months.

A couple of years ago, we did a contest of sorts. I put together a list of the states, alphabetically from A to Z and then challenged my team to make a sale to someone in every state in the country. When they sold to someone in a new state, I'd add their name next to the state name. Each person could get one drawing ticket for each state they sold in & then we did a drawing at the end.

This year, we're doing a Summer Road Trip theme for our team meetings. Since my team members travel up to an hour & a half to get to our regular meeting location, I thought we'd spread out a little & have each meeting in a different location, hopefully getting to places that are closer to where some of the team members live. They will be held at some of my leaders' homes, which will also hopefully encourage their team members who don't regularly attend to be there. To further entice people to come out, at each meeting, we will start it out as a home party with a demonstrator on the team doing their full party demonstration. The demonstrators on my team are always looking for ideas for their parties & wanting to see how other demonstrators do their parties, so I'm hoping this will encourage them to come out to the meetings.

Extra Catalogs

We're coming up on a catalog transition time . . . out with one & in with a new one. I have a bunch of extra catalogs laying around & have wrapped up all my parties for the month since I am getting ready to head out of town. Thursday's weather looks like it will be great here, no rain & mild temperatures, so I'm going to take my extra catalogs & put them in Gold Canyon plastic bags, add a coupon for 15% off an order placed by the end of the month and a tealight sample, then I'm going to take a walk around the neighborhood & leave them at my neighbors' doors. Normally, I wouldn't spend money on this kind of advertising since it doesn't tend to give big results, but since the catalogs would just be going in the trash, I figured, "why not?". It will only cost me a little extra since I'm adding the tealight sample and won't take extra time from my day since I'll do it while I'm out for a walk that I would be going on anyway.

Mother's Day - Men's Event!

Here's a fun idea for Mother's Day sales:

My husband decided he wanted to do an open house for his friends this year for them to be able to purchase Mother's Day gifts from me for their wives. We figured there had to be something that would entice them to come, so my brilliant husband came up with a great idea!

He's going to do a Home Run Derby using the Wii. When they come to the open house, they'll each get a chance at the Home Run contest on the Wii. The person who gets the most home runs will get a $10 gift certificate to Quiznos.

I'll also have out some refreshments & will have some "packages" put together for them to choose from for their gift purchases to make it simple, quick & easy for them to do their shopping. Of course, free gift wrap is a must as well to make it as easy as possible for the guys.

I won't even have to be there. My husband will take care of everything since I'll be watching the kids upstairs!