Lisa is a Rock Star online and an amazing team leader. She has a lot of insight and tips to share with us in today’s episode…
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Today I’m pleased to welcome to the call Lisa Abercrombie. She is amazing and you guys are gonna learn so much from her!
Let me tell you a little about Lisa before we jump into her training for us. Lisa is the other of 4 boys and they are age ranges from 6-15. She has been in Paparazzi for 5 years. She started the very last day of September in 2011.
Lisa is married and they live over in Virginia. Now her hubby is able to work from home so that frees up their schedule. He was able to do that in March of last year.
Lisa has a background of working in a hospital lab. She did that for a couple of years.
When her oldest started kindergarten, she started to stay home with her kids and started her own video editing business. She did that for 7 years. That’s where she gets her awesome graphic design skills and graphic design skills that you’ll see on her website.
Lisa is an Executive Producer with Paparazzi. She has reached Crown Club 25 and she is Life of the Party with Bronze access.
Lisa is also the brains behind the website HotsyTotsy.com. And she says to be sure to keep an eye out on that because she has big plans and there’s some amazing things coming to that website very soon.
Lisa, did I miss anything?
Lisa: I think that’s most of it.
Awnya: Awesome. Awesome. Well, let’s jump into the very first question.
What got you started with Paparazzi?
Lisa. This is kind of interesting I think. My video business was going and then we moved over here to Virginia. I had a baby and I took a year off my video business because I didn’t know anybody.
Then I was ready to start like posting adds on Craigslist to start making video montages again. My sister called me literally the night before, because I had plans, she called me the night before and she said, “I have to tell you about this thing. I just went to this jewelry party and it’s called Paparazzi and everything was $5.”
She lives in Utah where it kinda mostly started. So she told me all about it and for some reason I do everything she tells me, because she’s my older sister, so she’s like, “You should sign up.” so I went online to do a little research.
There wasn’t much to see but I found out kinda what it was and I was really excited and so the next day I called my future sponsor girl, you know, she went and got her name for me. She was actually doing an event. She couldn’t talk to me and I told her I wanted to talk to her right now because I wanted to sing up so badly and so she took off from her event and had somebody help her out.
That’s how I signed up and I am really an entrepreneur at heart and so any kind of business challenge is super-duper interesting. And so that’s why I wanted to do it. I didn’t even know it was all $5 really. I didn’t know all the earrings came for free with a necklaces until I opened my packages. I was a pretty big surprise and I loved it.
Awnya: Your sister told you to join and you joined. I love that. I don’t know anybody else who has that same story. That’s great.
What is your Paparazzi why?
Lisa: First I did it to be challenged. Cuz, I don’t know. It’s kinda like, my sponsor did it and she was this girl who was like 10 years younger than me. And I was like, “Well, I can do that. You know, I have all this life experience and I’ve been through college already and I know more people probably.” So it was kind of a challenge to see if I could be as successful as her. That’s why I first started.
And then I learned more about the creativity part because Paparazzi doesn’t have very many rules, which I love. And because of that, I’ve been able to come up with ideas and solve problems because they are not telling me every single little thing to do.
For me, that’s really liberating and for me, it gives me a purpose beyond just cleaning my house and watching my kids. You know what I mean?
Awnya: Oh, totally. And as a mom, and a stay at home mom, you need that creative outlet and adult conversations.
Now, have you noticed that your why has changed from when you first started to now, where you’re an Elite leader.
Lisa: A little bit, yeah. At first, it was about me, you know. “I wanna hit these goals. I wanna see if I can do it.” It was like that. But now…my personal goal, when I heard about Leadership Summit, was to get to Leadership Summit.
And so last year I was able to go. I hit Executive producer a year and a half ago and I got to go to Leadership. It was amazing and I loved it. So it’s not like I dreamed to be a Maven A-lister although that would be great.
But my goal now is to like help other people get there because, for me, that was like the crowning achievement was to get spoiled at Leadership. So I really, really want other people to go.
And so, I have my first team member, Dawn Ortiz and she gets to go to Leadership this year. So she’s the first one in my downline who gets to go and I’m so excited to see her hit that huge, huge goal cuz I know that was a big one for her.
That’s kinda what it is at this point. I’m trying to figure out how to teach other people how to progress and not just sell jewelry every day. So yeah, it’s changed a little, but I still do it in the same way. I like to be creative and stuff.
Awnya: Oh! We love Dawn! She was on the Podcast a couple of episodes ago. So if you want to go back and listen, PapaRockStars.com/Dawn is where her interview will be at.
I love that you want to help more people get to the Elite Leadership Summit because they really do spoil you guys and that is such a really cool goal. Not just to make a ton of money but to help other people.
So we are going to take a little bit of a shift here to your worst Paparazzi moment.
So draw us a picture take us to that moment in time that was your Worst Moment with Paparazzi.
Lisa: This is a fun story to tell. This was right when I started because I didn’t know what I was doing. You know what, it doesn’t even matter if I knew what I was doing. It’s just that I saw a lot of potential in this business.
So what it was is when I sighed up, I live in Virginia and I’m about 1 hour and a half from Washington DC. And so between me and Washington DC there are like the richest houses in the whole country because you have all these executive homes.
So when I signed up, I thought, “Okay!” and I was the ninth person in the state to sign up. So I was like, “I’m gonna kill it! I’m gonna get all of northern Virginia under me.” That was my plan.
So then I went to my friend who was a marketer. And she said a job fair would be the very best place to find people. And so I’m like, “Rock on, this is what I’m gonna do”. I went and found a job fair right in the middle of Washington DC and signed up to sell jewelry at it and to present my business.
It was very expensive. I think it was $800. So I went for it. I signed up for that thing and I was ready to go to DC. So the day before I was supposed to go I realized that it was DC and I’m not going there alone and I’m not driving in the traffic alone cuz its scary.
So I paid a teenager friend $100 so that she could help me. That wasn’t a huge mistake. That was fun getting to know her and having her support. So she came with me. So then it was $900 is what my point is. So then we drive to DC.
And the place was like right downtown and we drove around the block probably 7 or 8 times because I couldn’t get into the other lane to get into the hotel and drop off all my stuff. Anyway we finally did. It was very scary. I got in there.
Oh! Oh I didn’t tell you the other part. Also the day before they called me and they said, “We just realized you were going to sell your jewelry there and you’re not allowed to sell products at our job fair. Do you still want to go?”
So after thinking for just a couple of minutes I’m like, “Yeah. Yes I do.” because I had in mind that this job fair was going to kill it. So I went to an event where you can’t even sell stuff and I paid $900 which was insane.
So I didn’t regret it yet. I went in there and presented and had those drawing slips. People filled them out and by the end of the day I have 35 people who wanted to sign up for Paparazzi. Cool right?!
So these 35 people, I get home and I start calling them all. Every single one of them I leave messages. Pretty much nobody’s home. I leave messages, I call the next day. I’m super excited. And then I started to actually talk to them. And I didn’t know this, but I’m telling you guys not to make the same mistake.
Every single one of those people needed a job like today. They needed a McDonald’s job. They needed cash. They didn’t need a business opportunity. It was absolutely the wrong audience.
I felt defeated and I don’t know. “$900 really?!” That was more than my kit. I got the $750 kit at that time. It kind of kicked my butt and I was very bugged. But I had signed up for 9 other events. I signed up for 10 events the day after I signed up for Paparazzi so I was obligated and committed to go to those other 9 events.
So I just kinda brushed it off my shoulders and did everything else anyway and pretended that never happened and moved forward.
What is the lesson you want us to learn from that?
So I kinda learned a little bit of a lesson from that.
And that is, it can get kinda crappy. You can lose a lot of money but I feel like I planted a seed there because nobody in Virginia had heard of Paparazzi. Nobody. And so at least people started knowing what it was.
And because I was active and because I was doing all my stuff, I got quite a few signups from the Zip code finder where people could call Paparazzi and find out who was active in our area and I was the only one and so I had maybe 10 different people in the next couple of months who signed up from adjacent areas to where I live.
So it did pay off. I didn’t know that it would. I just kinda thought that one event can’t control the future of my business. That would be silly. That’s my lesson that I learned.
Awnya: I’m gonna highlight a couple other things that you said in there that I loved. So you said to keep pushing through, even when you have those bad events, spend $900 to get nothing. You just keep pushing through.
And then the second thing that you said was to be active so that people can find you in the consultant search and that’s a great way to find new people in your area and to build your team, right?!
Lisa: Yeah, I’ve never been inactive. I can’t even imagine that. I don’t think I would be serious about my business if I let that slide.
Awnya: And it’s really not that hard to get 25 pieces a month. Just join the Fashion Fix and you’ve got that taken care of, right?!
Lisa: Yeah. That wasn’t always available so I have had some days before where, you know, the time was getting close but I… actually, just a couple of times, so thank goodness for the fashion fix now.
Awnya: Let’s keep moving right along.
What is a habit you feel contributes to your success?
Lisa: A habit I have would be, I kinda mentioned it when I talked a second ago. I obligate myself to something so that I cannot let anybody down.
So I’ll sign up for events 6 months away and then I know I’ll be active in Paparazzi clear through that. It just keeps the ball rolling. So I try to sign up for events far away.
Another thing that I do that’s an obligation is that I’ll promise my team something. Like right now, we are doing a contest where we are getting no’s. Go for No like they taught at Empower Me Pink.
And so there’s a contest where our team has to get 30 no’s a week for 2 weeks. And I put myself in a group with my birthday because we grouped by birthdays. And so I have to do it too. And so I’m trying to figure out ways that I can do the same thing that they are doing. I’m trying to get my 30 no’s.
And by obligating myself to that, and I’ve promised prizes and I’ve promised an end date, it just kinda keeps me from being lazy about it and from slacking a little bit. And I don’t always have a contest going but I try to keep them kind of consistent every month or two so that everybody stays kind of on their toes.
Awnya: Planning for the future. Planning for events in the future, planning for your team in the future. You’re not going day to day or week to week or month to month. You’re looking forwards into the future for your business and for your team, right?
Lisa: Yeah, it’s smart to do the day to day stuff so you don’t get overwhelmed, but obligating is something. It works. It totally works. I don’t know why I do that or how I figured it out, but it’s kind of my system now and so I’m just gonna do that forever cuz it works for me.
What advice would you give to a brand new Paparazzi consultant just barely getting started in their business?
Lisa: I would say consistency. I am not consistent. I’m a really big procrastinator and sometimes when I finish a project, I’m like, “why wasn’t I doing this every day?” you know?!
In fact, there’s this trick I’ve learned and I haven’t even watched anything about it, I just found out it exists. It’s called the 90 second rule. And what it is, it’s called the 90 second rule. And what it is, is if you have something to do, let’s say you need to clean up the kitchen table after breakfast from your kids. If you take 90 seconds and put all their dishes in the dishwasher and wash them off, its gonna take you 90 seconds to do it.
If you wait until later, then you have to like soak the dishes, scrub all the stuff off and its gonna take you way, way longer than the 90 seconds it would have taken before. With consistency, you can totally apply that.
Let’s say for example, you have new jewelry that just came in. It will just take you a few minutes to go to your website, pull up the pictures and post them on Facebook. If you wait till later, you may have sold 1/2 of your stuff and then you have to figure out what’s missing and you have to make sure you have everything labeled correctly.
And so consistency and doing small tasks daily. Seriously, I bet you I would be way higher now if I had been more consistent. I’ve been working on it and so it’s something that I’ve improved, but I would suggest to everybody that they be consistent.
And the other thing about consistency is that your customers are going to see you as something reliable. Like I know I can go to Walmart today, they’re going to have the stuff I want because they consistently carry their products and stuff.
And so I’ve been working on consistency with my LIVE sales. And so my customers, like I do it every single Thursday nights. And so now my customers know where to find me and where to look for me and it’s cool.
So sometimes if I’m like 2 or 3 minutes late, I have people messaging me, “Where are you? Why haven’t you started?” which is great. It makes you feel pretty good and then you’re able to sell more, of course. That’s it. I would say consistency could carry your whole entire business if you do it.
Awnya: The 90 second rule. I haven’t heard of that before but I love that! and I’m gonna have to start doing it. Cuz as we’re speaking, my kids oatmeal bowls from this morning are sitting, drying in my sink and you’re right! It’s gonna take me so much longer to do those dishes because I didn’t do it the first time.
What is 1 thing you would suggest to a consultant who is feeling stuck in their Paparazzi business. What would you tell them to do to get things energized again.
Lisa: You know what?! This is what I do for my backup. I call it my backup plan. Almost anybody on the planet will do fundraiser stuff in one fashion or another. What I’ve noticed about people, they do not do for themselves, but they’ll do for other people.
In fact, when I have girls trying to hit rank, I tell them to ask their friends if they want to help them hit an rank by buying their jewelry or by ordering or whatever. Because people will do for other people before themselves. So with a fundraiser, there’s 2 different ideas.
One is, like let’s say you can’t find any events or let’s say an event got canceled and you need something last minute. You can often find a local fundraiser that’s already happening and be a part of it. You can go in and have a table because if you are willing to donate part of your profit, everybody wins. It’s not going to hurt them or you. So you can usually get into an event last minute.
Whether it’s a booth or a quarter auction, they have those a lot around here, or something where you donate and raffle off prizes. Because then you can go there and meet people and network. So fundraisers and a super, super good backup plan.
The other thing you can do with a fundraiser is, do a live party as a fundraiser. And this is really interesting. So I only started doing live parties in…maybe the end of October.
And I decided for New Year’s Eve, I wanted my boys to do something. For Christmas, we didn’t do an angels tree or a Sub for Santa or anything like that. And I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity and so we decided to do a fundraiser with the boys and have them sell the jewelry in front of the camera.
We did that. We set that up for New Years Eve cuz I know a lot of moms would be sitting home anyways. We did okay. They lasted about 15 minutes and then my husband took over and did it for about 30 minutes and then the phone died.
And so I picked up where they left of the next day and did a live party for like a long time. Three or 4 hours. And what I ended up doing is, we picked the Make a Wish foundation and I labeled my live video with that. “Make a wish fundraiser.” I donated all the profits because that’s kinda what I wanted my kids to do anyways. So I wrote this. “Make a Wish foundation fundraiser. All profits donated.” That was my biggest sale I’ve ever had.
It was so cool because I had a lot of people curious because it was not just for me to make money. And I know that why we’re here, to make money, but you’re gonna learn really fast, it’s not just about that. And so I was able to sell a whole bunch of jewelry, get rid of a bunch of my stock that I’m tired of and it was just a really good booth.
And from that point it made me pretty motivated to start doing them every Thursday night. And I have made some customers from that sale that I wouldn’t have made before because they bought to help the Make a Wish fundraiser, not really because they loved jewelry. That would be my advice. Just look in the fundraiser arena until you get things going again.
Awnya: Well, and even thought you didn’t MAKE a ton of money with that, like you said, you cleared out some of your old inventory so then you’re able to buy new things. So then it’s a win, win for everybody involved.
What is a quote that inspires you?
Lisa: So I’ve thought about this and I like quotes but I couldn’t think of one from somebody else. And so I made up one when I first started and I think this is 100% true. Now it’s not inspiring as far as like motivational, but it is as far as having this business.
It is really, truly like we’ve won the lottery. And so if you work super hard, your payout is going to be bigger. And it’s kinda ringing true for me now because I have a consistent paycheck from my team. Looking back, I couldn’t have imagined having a big paycheck but it’s the coolest thing ever!
Like, we just redid our kitchen. We’ve been putting that off forever because nobody ever has extra money. And so we were able to do that and it’s because I kinda look at this business that way, you know. If I don’t get a big paycheck it’s kinda my fault because I’m not working hard enough.
Awnya: Oh, that totally makes sense. It might not be a quote from Vincent Van Gough or something, but it is totally perfect.
Last question.
Here on the PapaRockStars podcast, we like to do a weekly call challenge. So
What is 1 thing you would challenge the listeners to do in the next 7 days to take action in their Paparazzi business?
Lisa: Going back to what we were talking about, there’s 2 parts to this…
I would say why don’t you jump on the challenge to my 30 no’s in a week. And that way that works in you need to ask people about their business. Like you need to straight up got to their face and say, “You know what? You know I sell jewelry. I’ve never asked you. Is this something you want to be a part of?” or you could say, “Are you interested in buying some of my stuff?” You know, whatever you want to ask them.
And what you’re doing is, you are going for 30 no’s in 1 week so you can split it up however you want. In the no’s you’re going to get yesses, obviously. So you’re going to find party bookings, you’re going to find interested recruits and you’re gonna make more jewelry sales. So I would challenge you to do the 30 no’s in 1 week.
The other half of that is the consistency thing. So make a goal to make this 30 no’s challenge consistent. Like maybe you need to make sure you’re running 1 errand everyday so you can talk to 2 or 3 people. And that will get some of your no’s done. Or make sure that you block out a time each day like from 10-11 and make a ton of phone calls.
Do something consistent. Don’t put it off till the end of the week and maybe you’ll also, in doing that, you’ll find something that works well so that you can just start doing that for the rest of your life and start doing that for your business.
Awnya: So 30 no’s. And a “maybe” or a “not right now” does not count as a “no”, right Lisa?
Lisa: Right! Yeah. It has to be a straight up “no”. “No no no”.
Awnya: So I’ve done these challenges before and it gets to the point where when someone says “yes”, you kinda get disappointed. It flips is on its head a little bit. So don’t get discouraged. You’ll get your 30 no’s, you just have to push thought a little bit.
Lisa: Yeah, yeah exactly. My plan, I’ll tell you really quick. I’m going to call the retirement centers and the hospitals where I live. I’ve been wanting to do that since I started. And then the other one is, I’m finally going to try to do a bingo party in person. And so I’m just going to message my customers directly and just say “I’m doing a bingo party will you come?” And then there we go. So hopefully I’ll get my 30 no’s pretty fast, but it’s a good plan because these are things that I’ve been putting off for forever.
Awnya: And now your forced to do it cuz you’re like, “Man I need my 30 no’s” and your team is counting on you and so now you just gotta do it, right?!
List: Unfortunately yes, but I will be so glad.
Awnya: Lisa, I sure appreciate you coming on the call today. You have shared some gems and our listeners are going to LOVE it!
Show Notes
Lisa Abercrombie: Paparazzi Jewelry Elite Leader – printable show notes