WAHM Forums

OK! It's hard for me to ever admit anything in my life is "wrong". I like to be happy, I hate to dwell, and I can always find the positive in every situation. (Most the time).


Last year, my DH quit his job and we started a biz. Well, the biz isn't doing so well. He hasn't paid himself in a while, and we/the biz is borrowing money to pay bills. I know, it takes a while for a biz to become profitable, but meanwhile, I am the only one making money! I'm supposed to be the supplemental income! The fun money! The I can buy myself a new outfit from the Ann Taylor that is going to open very soon money! And after reviewing how many times we dipped into savings last month, I had a heart attack.


I need about $1000 more a month to feel "good". My biz is doing great. My team is fabulous, though I'd love to be promoting out some managers. And my kids need me home.


I need to add something that will help with the money. I was thinking of offering mentoring services for teams and individuals since my strong areas are recruiting, sales and goal setting. But I don't know if there is a need for it. Or even how much to charge.


I've also thought about doing consulting to help people find or start their own work from home goal. But I can't imagine those who need money wanting to pay someone to do their research.


Anyways, anyone have any ideas? I did sign up to do the Greeting Cakes since I want them for hostess gifts and plan to try to sell them to realtors and businesses. But I"d have to sell an aweful lot of cakes, 444 a month to bring in the extra income!


Thanks girls for the brainstorm!


Debbie

Debbie,


On my way upstairs to put the little ones to bed and saw your post. I just wanted to make a quick postto say that I believe you'd be GREAT at consulting and mentoring!! You have the heart and the mind for it... I think anyone here will agree. Is there a market for it? There must be! I guess it's just a matter of finding a creative way to tap into it. Sorry, I'm not much help at the moment (little ones are yelling for their lovies right now), but I'll post back if I can help in the creativity dept. I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas!


But, I just had to stop and let you know that your services would be very valuable to other team leaders or those who are seeking their "passion!" You are an awesome resource!!


Lauren

Somehow things will work out in the end. At least thats what I keep telling myself (strikingly similar situations!). My DH opened a restaurant 2.5 years ago.


From reading your posts on here, I think you would be great at consulting.


I'm not sure how many parties you are doing, but could you add one more per week to make up the extra money?


Good luck.


Rebecca

Hey, Debbie!!


Being new in the business isa very scary thing. I know one area that I'm still having trouble getting my brain around are tax issues -- how to record keep, what to keep, howmuch should I be saving for taxes, etc.


I would love to see an e-zine geared towards PP training. Most of the sites on the net are good, and this one has great forums, but since most of them are geared towards WAHMs of all kinds, it can take quite a while to find useful information for party planning. Plus, finding current articles about PP business is rare (how will the gas prices change the PP business? Is retail spending going up or down? What are the current market trends in our industry? Who knows?!)


I'd even be willing to pay a small subscription fee. Think if you only charged $5 a month, you'd only need 200 people to sign up. That's not bad at all. Plus, you could probably get by with charging even less if you could find some advertisers.


Good luck! And hey, worse comes to worse, you can always try one of those "send the 6 people on the list $10 and forward this to 200 strangers make $800,000" deals I keep getting in the mail! :D


Melissa

I say go for it - you seem to love helping people. YOU will succeed. Good Luck

I think you'd be great at it too Debbie! I also "hear" alot of people here talking about ebooks. That might be another idea.


Stephanie

I think doing a Party Plan ezine or website would be great for you. You have good ideas to share, and you could charge for ads.

Debbie,


I've read several of your post throughout the boards and you always seem SO positive. I think that you would be very good at a mentoring service!


Also, maybe as a way tobring in more sales would be to approach groups with fundraisers. I'm with Celebrations by Lillian Vernon and have recently been ill and the fundraisers are working great for me until I get back on my feet. I'm doing one for a dance team of 20 gals and it's like having 20 catalog parties out at once and they will each earn $ toward thier competition fees and costumes. Celebrations offers a wide range of products, so it is easy to offer our catalog as a fundraiser for just about any type of group. If you'd like more info on Celebrations, I'd be happy to send it to you!


Good luck with your decision and I know that things will work out with you because you have such a positive attitude!!


Christy

Debbie,


I too am/was in the same type boat as you and branched out with Direct Sales Talk Radio. The thing I can say is whatever you do is Be Careful on what you do so that it does not eat into your main income... ie: DT. I see that so much in women that think that adding a new biz is going to help when it only distracts their main focus, their main business. If you are focusing on a new venture, you will not have as much time for your main business and then your focus gets muddled.


Christy's point on fundraising is a great one and that was the first thing I thought of whenI was reading your post. Focusing on the biz you are established in will bring you more in the long run. Do some heavy duty recruiting, Find Fundraisers, add addt'l parties or book parties to your monthly calendar.


Hope this helps. Good luck! smileys/smiley2.gif


Chris

First let me say I understand the position you're in. My husband changed jobs last year knowing he wanted to spend more time with the family and less time traveling. He now has a good job with no travel (except for training or seminars) BUT he also makes a considerable amount less due to no bonuses and having to pay a lot more for our medical insurance. We have struggled and are on anextremely tight budget andmy business has helped with that but it's still tight.


You mentioned consulting. Reading your posts I've always thought you've given such positive, thorough and realistic advice.I actually would love togo to a seminar of yours! I often see sales seminars in the largercities in my area butmany times they are way too expensive for me to attend.Why not focus on finding thosePP consultants that could use your support, ideas, and great business and recruiting abilities in your area? Find afacility(parks& rec would bea great place to start), that isinexpensiveand that is easy for people to get to. Place an ad in the paper and post flyers and invite consultants from ALL party plans. Iwould mention your level in your company and how many years you have to back it up but I wouldn't mention DT in your ads.You don't wantpeople thinking you're trying to recruitfor yourself duringyour seminar. Think of a fee that is appropriatefor your area.Consider the cost if you will have handouts, etc. Personally I think if more seminars were in the $20 range I would love to go to more. Ireally do think you'd doEXTREMELY well at something like this and I wish you and your family the best in whatever you come up with!!

Candy--


If you couldn't make it to a city where I was at, would you do a phone seminar?


Debbie

Ditto, ditto, ditto! You would be great at offering coaching services. I thought about this once, but not sure if I really want to venture out there into it.


I won't go into details, but I'm in the same position as you (extremely similar - it's uncanny). I did take up doing legal transcription again, so that has been a blessing. I'm able to do that at times during the day when the kids are at school, the little one is taking a nap, or at night when all the kids have gone to bed (i.e., very flexible around everyone's schedule).


I think you would be fabulous at being a coach, but if you need some 'quick-income' maybe you could look into something that is more a traditional "telecommute" type of job?

Debbie,


Possibly a phone seminar. The only issue with that is my company and upline offer plenty of those that I take advantage of and they aregenerally free.I can see how helpful these would be to many people though that don't have that type of support.


What I would be interested in is actual contact, not only with the speaker, but other people doing the same line of work as me. Iknow how usefulreal contact can be(at least for me).Just think of how motivated and re-energized you feel about your decision of being part of the party plan industry after being surrounded by a great group of people and an awesome speaker providing new information on how to succeed in your business.


Maybe you could offer both (phone and actual event) and see what kind of response you get.

Maybe.....


You could offer a password access only website with info and links, maybe aonce a week/month phone seminar and also do a few weekly emailings of tips and ideas for a small monthly fee and ask participants what they would like to see the focus be at different times. I thinkthat the website would be a great route so you could work on it when it was convenient for you andthe info would be available when it wasconvenient for others....


Good luck!

Deb~


You would be great at that! Maybe have a message board designed for consultations, and offer scheduled chat sessions as well~


Go for it! smileys/smiley17.gif

you would be a great coach! i look for your posts!! maybe you could hook up with DWSA and market your skills to them.. they do webinars and could pay you for it! i do agree with Chris though... can you do it by adding in a few more parties/fundraisers? keep your biz focused on one biz and not another?





just a thought





deb

I've thought about doing more parties, but I'm maxed out with the time I can be away from my kids. It's hard with the hours my DH works, and I also do volunteer work and am in League. So I think 12 parties a month is about max for me right now.


This is also something I"ve always wanted to do. I know I'm the first person to say focus on what you got, but Iwould include my team in the training for free, so that would help. And I really enjoy helping others. Now I need to sort through what I need to do first. http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley2.gif


I appreciate the ideas! Keep em coming!


debbie

Deb,


I can sympathize with what you are going through. I wish you luck.


I love the idea of you providing a newsletter to party plan people...As someone else wrote, you could charge $5 an issue. I would pay that for a monthly PAPER newsletter that had lots of info in it. I would look for things like: record keeping, creating and keeping a profit and loss statement, good forums to join, a Q&A column, websites that have team incentives on it, ads from other direct sell businesses ( I would also pay for that if you had 200plus subscribers), how to keep motivated, time management, how to handle hecklers,etc. Maybe even a byline that I would have permission to publish in my team newsletter (it could even have your consulting website on it...this could help drive the newsletter subscriptions).


You always have such positive comments, no matter what the company...it is obvious that you want to help everyone achieve their goals.


BUT, I would probably not pay for a phone conference, and wouldprobaly not even go to a free one (my company offers free conference calls). I wish you the best of luck!





PS...I joined Richmont Directbecause I needed to make extra money. That company doesALLyour marketing for you (for free), free website, plus great trips. I like it becausemyfocus remains onmy HJ business, whileRichmont sits back and earns me money. Just a thought!

Hey Debbie,


You're at a scary point right now, but don't jump too soon.


Even starting a coaching busines takes time to organize, promote, etc. I know because I have one.


And, all of this takes time away from your primary focus. My suggestion is to pour that time and energy into getting your primary business to a level that pays you enough to be comfortable and then focus on the other.


And, once you get a coaching base, that takes time away too. It's kind of a catch 22.


Figure out what it's going to take from business #1 to generate that extra $1000 and then pour yourself into it. Especially during this busy retail season.


Set your vision and your intention on your end goal and don't let up until you get there.


Identify your top leaders and hold a strategy session with each about their goals and see where you fit in.


Set some team goals and work together. Before you know it, you'll shoot right past that first goal and wonder what the worry was anyway!


Good luck!

You want to make extra money and you schedule 12 nights out a month do do parties. You say you can't do any more nights out than that. What about ONLY booking "Buddy Parties"? Have one host do the party with a friend. That's two parties for one night out.