I am joined today by Andrea Hutcheson and you guys are just going to love everything that she has to say. She warms my heart from the inside out because she is just a warm and caring person.
Listen Now or Download:
Training:
Andrea is Executive Producer with Paparazzi, a brand new Elite Leader! She is Crown Club 25 and she has reached Life of the Party Silver. She has been with Paparazzi since July 2012.
Andrea is from Lima, Peru. So you will see that beautiful, sun-kissed skin. She always looks like she has a tan. It’s great! She has only been in the United States since 2008 and when she came, she didn’t really know English! Talk about a barrier and a challenge that she had to overcome in her Paparazzi business! She didn’t know English! She had to learn that.
Her only family here is her mom, her brother and her husband. Andrea is the leader of The United Fashionistas. You can find her online at DreasJewelry.com – I’ve found a lot of my party graphics on her website!
What is your Paparazzi Why?
Andrea: So in 2012 I was going to college for Education and money was tight and we didn’t have any extra money because we were going through a financial situation. I was still going to college. My friend invited me to a party and it was a jewelry party. In my head I go, “I can’t afford jewelry. Why would I need jewelry?”
Before, I didn’t wear much jewelry, I didn’t care for jewelry. I like looking girly but I didn’t really care for it. So I told her I couldn’t afford it and she was like, “Well, it’s only $5.” And I was like, “$5?!! It must be like junky jewelry.” She said “Let’s just go look at it.”
I didn’t have any money with me. I think I had maybe $3 in my pocket. I told myself I wasn’t going to spend any money, I would just watch the other people buying the jewelry.
I went in there and Rachel Smith was doing the party. She was like showing all this jewelry and then she comes out and says “Oh! I have more jewelry,” and then she brought out boxes of more jewelry.
I just stopped and looked at all the ladies going crazy over this $5 jewelry. It was really cute. The necklaces came with earrings and I just looked and looked at them. I was like “Man! This is a mine of gold because people are loving this jewelry.” Then I started asking her questions.
She didn’t even ask me about anything, I just started asking, “How much do you make? How much is commissions? How much is it to get started.” And I was like “I’m interested, but I don’t have the money. What can I do to get some money and get started. Do you have anything to get some money?” Any way I could get to this jewelry! Oh, and I think I bought a few Starlet Shimmer cuz they were a dollar.
I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I started selling a bunch of stuff that I had that I gathered for garage sales and I could get some cash. I asked her if I could do a basket party and earn maybe 10% towards my kit and I did! I did everything that I could to get my kit. Back then it was like $300 for the lowest kit.
Once I started, I did my launch party and oh my word! I didn’t know anybody. Just people from church and work. I worked at the work study at the college. I did my first party. My apartment was so small. We couldn’t even fit a cat. Just kidding . But we couldn’t fit a lot of people.
So I didn’t know how I was going to do a party if I couldn’t fit anybody here. So I looked at places and I asked my friend. I did my first party at a museum! How cool is that?! It was so awesome. I didn’t even have to pay anything! She said I could give a donation, so I gave her some necklaces!
It was so fun! I had 20 people come and I sold around $400. It was my first party and that was the end of July. Then I got into the school year and I was like “Ok, I’m going to back off because I need to get into my studies,” but then I started into Facebook adding people. I didn’t have any friends, people. I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t have anybody on my Facebook account. I had to start all over and I knew the only way I could do this was through social media for now because I was working 2 jobs and I was going to school.
So, of course I would still show it to people. In August, I got my refund from the school. It was $1000. I was like, I truly believe in this product, I know it will sell, I know I will make this money back. I am going to invest $1000 without my husband knowing.
My husband wanted to kill me. I told him, “I promise I will get that money back,” which I did. I invested $1000, I invested every single penny I had made back into the business for 6 months. Now, in January, we had a tire that blew up so we needed tires and I had to put some of my money in there. That was a blessing, but I was serious on getting into the business in September and I think I became a Director in the month of November. It was officially November that I was a Director. I recruited 4 people in that month, in November. Then I was like, I don’t know how to be a leader, but I’ll do it.
I just wanted to sell the jewelry. You know, I have such a passion for the jewelry because its $5, everybody can afford it. You don’t feel guilty about telling people about it. You can say “Hey, just skip the burger and buy a necklace and you’ll look pretty many times.” I just love it. So the passion that I have for this is amazing.
The reason why I do Paparazzi is because I want to help my family. I want to help other women know about this opportunity because it’s a huge opportunity. I never thought in a million years that I would be sitting here doing this full time, quitting my 3 jobs and well, of course, I’m not going to school anymore.
I do want to take some classes, but I’m so into Paparazzi right now that even my husband changed his mind about it. He was like, “We can do this together. I can quit my job,” and I was like, “This is too much a little bit.” But I love it and I do it mainly for financial reasons. I want to be debt free.
In the 4 years I’ve been doing Paparazzi, we’ve paid so much in debt. We have been able to go on trips that I never thought. This year has been crazy. We’ve been traveling so much and it wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the business.
You know, sometimes I can even go and get my nails done because I want to or I feel like it. There is no more pressure on, “Do I have the money?”
You know, we have a bus ministry for my church and if I want to, we can go have pizza and spend $100 on the kids and not feel guilty about, “Do I have enough in my bank account or do I have to go hungry if I have to pay a bill or something.” So this is my full time job and I love it. And this is why I do it, I love seeing other women find their financial freedom as well.
Awnya: a few things I want to point out from your story, Andrea –
She had ALL of the objections that you commonly hear from your hostesses or from people wanting to join your team.
- Andrea had a small apartment
- she didn’t have any money, she was selling things at a yard sale to get money for her kit
- She didn’t know a lot of people and I mean, we aren’t talking someone who just says that. She just moved to the country and didn’t speak any English! That was a pretty legit thing
- And then you didn’t have a lot of time. You had 2 jobs and you were going to school.
So she had all of those things. Usually you only get 1 or 2 from someone who is thinking of joining or hosting a party and they are like, “Well I don’t think I have enough time cuz I’m working two jobs.”
Andrea had all of those things and she still wanted to do Paparazzi and believed in it enough that she figured it out and look at her now. She is one of the Elite leaders with Paparazzi!
So people, you can do it! Get over the small apartment, find a museum, find a restaurant, talk to a friend, use the park! It’s summertime, you can just go outside, but if you want to make it happen, you can make it happen. Do you have anything to add to that Andrea?
Andrea: If I can do it, anyone can do it. Especially with 2 jobs. People think that I was just at home with my husband working. No. Before I quit, I needed to make a certain amount with Paparazzi and it needed to come every month. I told my husband I would do it. And that’s when I quit. I was like, “Okay, I’m done! I can do this.”
What is your worst Paparazzi moment?
Awnya: I’ve gotten a little bit of flack a little bit of kickback from this question because we like to think positive,. We don’t like to think back to those bad moments, but I love to asking the leaders especially because the consultants who are struggling and the consultants who are having a moment of doubt love hearing that you guys have struggled too and how you have overcome that.
Andrea: Absolutely. I tell this every single time I see somebody struggling. That was the moment I learned. When we fail at something, it’s not about quitting, it’s not about thinking about that moment. It’s about learning and overcoming that situation. I still remember my worst Paparazzi moment – I was so excited about Paparazzi, I was doing social media, I was going out and telling everybody about Paparazzi. I would pass our fliers to people at Walmart so that they can either come to my party or buy Paparazzi.
I remember I went 2 hours away for a show and it was $40. It was a fashion show. I gave jewelry to all the girls who were Rocking the Runway and I was supposed to set up. I was excited, it was my first event. I told my husband, “Honey, it’s going to be great, people here have money and we’re going to sell this $5 Jewelry.”
And I set up and I was excited. There were a lot of vendors there. In that moment, I think one of the necklaces broke. You know people say that it broke, but it was just loose. I don’t call it broke. Cuz it’s fixable. Something that’s not fixable is then broken. It was fixable and I was ashamed a little bit, but how I reacted to it was different. I was like, “Oh, I can fix it so just get another necklace.” I didn’t make a big deal of it.
At the end when they finished the Rock the Runway thing and people were leaving, they were not even stopping by the vendors. I think there was a few that were just looking. It was at the mall and nobody would buy anything. I think I only sold a necklace and a bracelet.
My brother was with me and I was like, “Are you kidding me?! Its $10 that I just made but I just lost $40 I lost 2 hours going, 2 hours I need to go back and gas.” It was expensive. I was like, “Oh my word! It was horrible. What am I going to tell my husband? I was a failure, I didn’t sell anything but 2 things. I lost all the necklaces I gave away to the girls. It was horrible.”
Then, as I was driving home, after having to pack up all the jewelry and all the stands, my brother was helping, I was mad. I was like, “How in the world did I come all the way here?” When I got home, it was like midnight or one in the morning and I don’t like driving at night.
I even had – ok this is how bad I am at driving – I didn’t know how to drive when I first came to this country because we don’t use the cars cuz they are so expensive in Peru. You have to be like a millionaire to have a car. We ride the bus or we walk. So anyways I was driving and a police car pulls somebody over but that guy was in front of me, so I pull over and I was behind the police car. I pulled in behind the police car! So another police car comes behind me. He goes, “What are you doing?” and I said, “I thought he pulled me over.” And he said, “Just go home.” And I was like – we just started laughing. I was like, “This is the worst! Oh my goodness!”
I told my husband that I didn’t make any money and I pulled behind a police car and he was like, “Oh my word.” The only thing he said – this is what I remember was, “It’s fine, just don’t do it again. It’s ok, just keep going.” and I was like “Okay”. It was the worst Paparazzi moment cuz I didn’t make any money and I drove 4 hours, you know. It was just horrible.
An there’s going to be events that are not going to go the way you want them to, but what I learned about events is that you gotta go with a set of mind that you’re going to book parties and you’re going to find a lot of people that you can have contact with and that you are going to follow up. That’s what I learned about events. I was like, “I’m not going to worry about if I’m going to sell above making booth rent, you know. I’m not going to worry about it. I’m just going to book parties.” Since I’ve had that mindset, it’s been amazing. It’s been like “you were feeling discouraged, you were like, You may not book a party, and I knew that’s where the money was going to be.”
And then in July of that year, 2013, I found the county fair and I made – it cost me $150 for 7 days. I was like “I’d better not do it. You know, it’s $150.” I just thought, “I’m just going to do it.” And I sold $1000 and booked 20 parties at that fair. So you just gotta keep looking for the right event and you gotta get out there. You gotta have the mindset that you are going to book parties instead of selling a bunch. Cuz that’s what events are, you have to get your name out. You have to get to know people and you know make contacts. And if you sell a lot, that’s great.
So that was my worst Paparazzi moment.
Awnya: That is a great point though. People can tell when you are desperate for a sale, people can tell when you need to make a sale. It comes through somehow in your body language or something. They can sense that, but when you are focusing on booking parties, like, the sales are gonna come more naturally. You’re going to get more business on what you are already getting at that event. You are extending your business, so it’s just kind of a win, win. Such a great point.
Andrea: You have to have a really good attitude. If you are going to sit on your bottom and just look mad because somebody else did something or you didn’t get a good spot or they booked another Paparazzi consultant even though you told them they can’t have another one. People are going to sense that and your attitude is going to show though. You gotta be smiling. You gotta be standing up and talking to people. It’s just people skills, I guess!
Awnya: It’s so true! I can’t tell you how many events I do as a vendor and I go walk around really quick and there’s that lady with her arms folded in the back of the booth with the grumpy face on, just kind of glaring art everybody who goes by and you are like “OOOOOO. I don’t even want to shop from you!” So be sure to have your smile on! Even if it’s a fake smile and you’ve had a crappy day, keep your smile on your face cuz you gotta fake it till you make it. Then you will still be happy and it will be a good thing. Don’t be the grumpy lady.
What is a habit that contributes to your success?
Andrea: I believe its consistency. Consistency is a huge key. And we hear it over and over and over again. You gotta be consistent, you gotta keep doing it but it’s so true! I can’t emphasize that anymore. I always say to my team members, when you get new team members, you create your team group. Every single day you post quotes, you post things that are going to help them, but nobody else likes anything or comments under your pictures and stuff. It can get discouraging. You can think, “I’m a horrible leader, they aren’t looking at everything I’m saying.” The one thing you need to look at is, if you stop posting, they aren’t going to look at it. They are going to think you quit or that you aren’t doing anything cuz you are the backbone of this business for them.
If you stop doing something, they’re going to stop. And it’s the same thing with our businesses. When I first started Paparazzi in 2012, I created my VIP group. Back then, they didn’t have Facebook parties, so I would post every single day. Every single day, no matter what. I wouldn’t attack them with tons of jewelry, but I would post quotes, things that happen every day, what am wearing today, look at these cute jewelry that I just got and the fashion fix.
And you have to be consistent. Every single day you have to work your business. No matter how many hours you have. I didn’t have 2 hours to work my business when I was going to school and working. Still I would make those 2 hours and post post post every single day. Now, for example, it’s been 4 years now that I’ve had my VIP group.
In May, we had a lot of issues, this year, I’ve been traveling a lot and it’s been hard for me to keep up the posting every single day. In May we went through a lot and found out that Danny had cancer. That kinda put me off and I didn’t post for a whole 2 weeks, and people were like, “Where’s Andrea?” They were wondering where’s Andrea. I didn’t tell them anything because I didn’t want to impose on them. It was very very hard situation but you gotta keep posting.
Well, we found out that Danny doesn’t have cancer anymore. Yay!! So I came back. And I was like, “Do you miss me?” to my customers and they were really nice. They were like, “We were praying for you. We were following everything you posted,” and they’re back and I’m doing a huge sale this month and I’m having some parties booked, you know, getting back into it.
But you have to be consistent in everything. You cannot just stop. And people stop usually in the summer and that’s when you need to not stop. They can’t stop in the summer because if you stop in the summer because everybody says the summer is to slow, low in sales. It’s up to you!
I was looking at look my numbers and in July, I order over 1000 PV and I was like “Who is saying that?!” June and July don’t need to be slow, it’s up to you! How you treat those months will tell you how your fall is going to come. When August and September comes, you are going to be stronger if you stay stronger in your summer months.
So I think consistency is key for any business. You just gotta keep going no matter how you feel. And same with team members, you gotta really keep up with them and you gotta follow up with people. Yeah, there’s a lot of thing.
Awnya: It’s what I call the Shiny object syndrome. I do it in my life, I do it in my Paparazzi business. Somebody will be like, “Oh my gosh, have you tried this?” And I’m like “Oh my gosh! It’s so exciting, it’s a shiny thing.” So I go do that or I look at that or I hear somebody say, “Have you tried the new way to do Facebook parties?” And even though I should really just stick with the way I’m doing it, I’m like “Oh, if they are having success that way, then I should do it that way too.”
And I think it’s really easy to jump like that and think that if they have success that way then it needs to be that way. So what I’m going to say to everybody listening, to Paparazzi, if you have something that works, stick with it, and be consistent. And if someone is finding success some other way, good for them, but don’t be changing how you are doing things. Don’t be looking at the newest and the greatest shiny objects. I mean, stay up to date on the newest technology and stuff but don’t just jump from one thing to the next to the next. When you are consistent, your customers are going to love that and they are going to count on that. Your consultants and people that are even thinking about being a hostess or a customer or a consultant, they need that consistency.
Andrea: Exactly
Awnya: They need that consistency from you. It’s an example thing, right?!
Andrea: Right. And it’s the same thing when they see you in person. How are they going to believe that this is really a business? Are they going to take you seriously if you aren’t just not doing what you are supposed to?
People see a different Andrea. I guess not. I’m just crazy. They see me and I hear that I’m nice and I’m not stuck up and I don’t look down on people. I do make money with Paparazzi and they are like, “Oh my goodness I never thought you could make so much money with Paparazzi. And I’m like, “Yeah I do and I work at home.” But when you say you work at home, they thing you are playing with jewelry and stuff and it’s not true! You do work! It’s a lot of work. They are going to see that. They are gonna see if you are selling the jewelry and everything you do.
How do you think Andrea has the biggest parties on Facebook? Because Andrea keeps working her network! And people think that I just do Facebook parties, but I don’t. I love home parties. The only thing I hate about home parties or events is setting up. But I love doing them and I do them. I have a big calendar full of events right now. But I do them. But everybody knows me because I’m very consistent on Facebook cuz that’s where I work. I work on Facebook with Paparazzi!
Awnya: Everyone can see that because it’s online so they know that you are there. It’s harder for them to see that you are going to a home party.
A quick correlation I want to draw with what we are just talking about – I’m not a big gambler, so you might get that in this analogy, but I think it is so On Point with what we are talking about .
So if you are in Las Vegas and you are at one of the tables, and you are just killing it every single time. Winning $1000. Winning $1500. Winning $800. Are you just going to walk away and just go to the table where everyone is losing? Of course not! You’re going to stay there and you’re going to keep winning because Every. Single. Time. You are winning. It’s not even actually gambling cuz you are just winning. It would be ridiculous to go to another table and another table and another table where other people are losing or its a 50-50 shoot because you are WINNING.
Same thing with your Paparazzi business. If you’ve found what works, stick to it. Double down with where you are at, with what you are doing and keep your success going. Don’t pick up and go somewhere or try something that you don’t know that you’re going to have success in, like how you do your Facebook parties. Don’t all of a sudden change your format because you heard that this is the new way to do it or jump over to Periscope. If you are established on Facebook and doing your Facebook parties that way, don’t just drop all of that and go to Periscope because you don’t know if it’s going to work the same. Now I’m not saying not to try new things, but don’t just abandon what you are doing for new things.
Andrea: Right.
If you could suggest 1 thing to a consultant who is just starting out in their Paparazzi business, what advice would you give them?
Andrea: Invest. Invest because a habit you need to have is consistency. If you have a huge inventory, people are more likely to go with you because you have a big selection. It is hard, it is hard. I didn’t have money and I invested for 6 months. My husband was about to kill me because he wasn’t seeing any money. And I told him, “Honey, after I’m done, then you will see money, cuz then I don’t have to invest anymore. All I have to do is buy the jewelry that I sold back.”
So I invested until I had 900 pieces, I wanted 900. I don’t know why I didn’t want 1000, but I wanted 900 pieces. Once I got that, it was so easy. I didn’t have to worry about if I had 2 home parties, if I was going to run out of inventory. Back then, I used to do Facebook with my inventory. When I do my flash sales, I still use my inventory.
You have to have inventory to sell. You can’t do a party with 35 pieces. You can do a party with 100, but it would be easier to do a basket party. But what if out of the blue, some says, “I want to do a fundraiser for you.” Oh my goodness! 500 pieces. They are going to go with somebody else because you don’t have them. You have to invest in any kind of business to grow. This is your business.
What is it you are going to choose to do. Are you going to just whine? Some people just make money and they don’t invest it anymore. They just use it for something else and then they are out of money and they only have 30 pieces. Oh my!! It’s horrible. So yeah, my advice would be to invest. Invest. Invest. And I’m not saying JUST invest. You have to SELL it. You can just invest as you are going. Sell it and put it back, sell it, put it back until you have the amount that you want.
And don’t quit. I mean, you can’t just give up.
Awnya: That’s great advice!
What would you suggest to a consultant who is feeling stuck in their business. What is 1 thing you would tell them to do to get their Paparazzi business rock’n again?
Andrea: Start over. It sounds harsh, but if you aren’t hitting Director anymore, if you hit Director once and you aren’t anymore, then start over. My goal every single month is to recruit 5 people and to sell at least 1000 pv. You just have to have goals every single month. You have to.
If your team members aren’t working anymore, because it’s going to happen – do you know that out of 20 people that you have recruited, only 1 will be, maybe, only 1 will be the one that is going to be taking the business to the next level. So I have personally sponsored 160. Do you think those 160 are active? Do you think those people who are on my team took me to Producer are the same that took me to Premier Producer or to Executive Producer?
No! They didn’t take me there. I mean, they aren’t the same people because people quit. People give up. People don’t want to struggle anymore. People don’t want to take this business to the next mile. Go to the next step because they are facing trials but in any kind of work, you are going to face trials, but then the lights will come out!
Can you imagine, Andrea, hit Director in November of 2012. Andrea tried to hit Premier Director – back then it was Director, Premier Director and Producer. But Andrea wanted to hit Premier Director. Andrea wanted it so bad and she worked so hard for over a year. Andrea could not hit Premier Director.
In 2013 in November, Andrea hit Producer! From Director to Producer! Can you image if Andrea would have stopped???!! Because she couldn’t hit Premier Director, because she couldn’t get there because one of her legs was bigger and she couldn’t hit it. It was so hard because she wanted it SO bad. And BOOM! It just happened. Producer! AHHH! And I was like, “What?!” It was crazy!!
I don’t know, I still think if I would have just stopped in the middle of it, Andrea would have never quit her job, Andrea would have never been making the money that she’s making now.
I still remember in February of 2013 when I sold 1000 pieces in 1 month, it was my 1st month that I sold 1000 pieces and Andrea had a check of over $3000. It was awesome. And it was all because of sales.
It was exciting because as a person you feel rewarded because you’re doing it, you know?! When you are working with your team, and you start to hit Director and Producer, your team got you there. And it shows that you have been working with you team because they got you there.
When you sell so much that you hit Life of the Party, it’s such a rewarding feeling because you did it. You made it happen. You sold all those pieces, so I like those. So I try my best even though I’m an Executive Producer now. That doesn’t stop me from selling, except for last month. Last month was a bummer. That was because I was unfocused. But you get back to it. I was going through so much, I was feeling stuck. But I know that what I need to do is go back to basics and do it again. And stop looking for new ways to earn money.
Just like Awnya said, stop looking for new ways. Find something that works for you and keep doing it and keep doing it and keep doing it.
Awnya: Love it! Don’t give up cuz you never know when success is around the next corner. There is this image that I love, I look at it all the time:
It is so true! You never know when you are going to go from Director to Producer in One month!! That is so awesome. I love that!
What is a quote that inspires you?
It’s not about the money now. It’s about seeing other people succeed and being able to quit their jobs and do what you are doing. It’s not about the money. Of course I want my husband to quit his job and do business with him and it will happen, but when someone said put God first and I keep my family together and I do my paparazzi business. Just like anything, I put everything into it and everything will fall where it’s supposed to fall.
Awnya: You gotta have that balance. Yeah, you don’t want to get off kilter, because Paparazzi is meant to accentuate our lives and make it better. You don’t want to throw everything else out of whack. Then the people who are important in your life will start screaming for attention, so find that balance. That’s perfect!
What is a book you would say is a Must read and why?
Andrea: Right now, I am reading John Maxwell’s book about Growth – The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.
The next one would be Erick Worre, Go Pro. When I read his story, I was like, “Oh my word, it’s so true!” It’s about leadership and how you need to deal with people. Seriously, at first I thought I was a bad leader. I thought I wasn’t given the tools. I wasn’t helping people get to where they wanted and I was blaming my job as a leader because they weren’t getting to where I wanted them to be.
But as a leader you have to learn, and I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t give people success. You can’t do it for them. You can’t do everything that you tell them to do for them. You can only give them the tools and if they choose to do it, then yay them! But if they don’t, you can’t blame yourself.
You have to work with people that want it. You can’t invest your time in people that are so negative and that keep putting excuses on everything. You are not going to find go-getters if you don’t go find them every single month. So I learned that we have our products that sell. We have a $5 product that sells and we have a product. Everybody in Paparazzi has the same product that we have, but how you present it is different.
What if there was a battle between myself and another consultant who is not as active as I am and the person – the customer- has to choose who she wants to go with. Let’s say the consultant doesn’t have the inventory that I have. Right now I have 1300 – 2000. Um, I’ve got an addiction. So she doesn’t have the inventory that I have and she doesn’t have the courage and excitement that I have. Even with my bad days, I’m excited.
And yes, sometimes I do fake it when I don’t feel good because I want my customers to be excited about what I’m selling. So I’m going to present it differently than her. I’m going to be like, “Oh my goodness, its’ $5 . Look at this. OH!” And I’ll put it on here, and I’ll show her on the mirror, but I’ll be different on how I present it.
We have the same compensation plan and we judge people and we say, “Why are you making more money than I am?” or “Why is their business growing so much?” We have the same compensation plan! We might be different colors, we might be men or women, but we still have the same compensation plan. Why are you not making it work??
The third thing is it’s up to you. If you are going to choose to keep going no matter if your leader is helping you, if your leader is there- you have to do it yourself. I didn’t depend on my leader, I didn’t depend on nobody buy my family and God and myself. I depended on me. I was like “I have to get this. I’m going to get it! I’m going to sell 1000 pieces. I’m going to do this.” It was because I wanted it. I didn’t depend on no body.
You can’t depend on your leaders. I am sad if you have a horrible sponsor or somebody who doesn’t know or work much, but their roll is to give you the tools that you need. They can only tell you what you can do and give you ideas, but it’s not up to them if you are successful or not. Cuz I was seriously was like “Aaaaaaa!” When I realized that I can only give them the tools, I can care for them, but I can’t invest my time on people that aren’t going to do anything with the business.
So it was harsh, but yeah. That would be my must reads.
You can go on YouTube too. Every single day I watch a YouTube video that’s going to help me with marketing or help me to be a better leader.
Last question. What is a parting piece of guidance for us?
Oh my goodness. Go to convention. Yay! So, ok you’re not going to believe this, but I didn’t go to convention till last year was my 1st year at convention and I have been with Paparazzi almost 4 years. But the energy, the excitement, it was just amazing! The people helping you, nobody judging you. It was awesome. If you can spend money on going to convention, it’s so worth it.
You get excited, you see the new product, you see the new line. And then you can come back and tell your customer about it, tell your team members about it. I remember I went to convention last year and I bought like 500 pieces. It was like 5 of each necklace and there was only 100 pieces so I had to buy like 5 of each. I was like “What am I doing, I’m coming back with so many! I think I told my husband to lend me $2500 and that was to pay for everything, convention, the trip and everything. And I told him I was going to pay him back within a week after convention.
And oh my goodness, the pressure, it was awesome. There was so much adrenaline! I was like Ok, I’m buying 500 pieces, I’m going to sell them and I’m going to make $2500 back and I’m not going to have to pay anything. I had a party the week after I came back. Before that I did a periscope and a video showing the all the jewelry I just bought.
I even took a picture of the guy. They had to give me like 2 big boxes cuz I was taking it home, we were driving home. And I think I sold 500 and some pieces at my party on Facebook and it was so awesome! They were like, “I wanted to see more, I thought you were going to have more variety.” But even they like, “sold, sold, sold, sold, sold.” And there was extra Solds even when I didn’t have anymore. It was crazy! It was so cool.
I guess I’m the kind of person that puts goals ahead of me every single month. I have goals and my goal is like to beat the month before, but I always have to recruit 5 people. The thing is that I don’t get discouraged if I don’t hit it because I’m 1 step closer than I was the month before, so when I don’t recruit 5 people but I recruit 3, I’m still having a party. When I don’t’ sell 1000 pieces, but I sell like 700, I’m still having a party. So, that’s the kind of person that I am I guess. Not everybody is that way. Some people get discouraged and I’m like “I know!” But I don’t. I’m like “I’m doing this!”
Awnya: I love that! That is the BEST advice ever! Go to convention! The first year I was with Paparazzi, I’d signed up months before. During the opening ceremony, I was literally having my daughter in the hospital. I was giving birth, so there was not really any possible way I could go to that convention and I sat in my hospital room and I cried because I wanted to be at convention so bad! I was watching everything on Facebook and everybody on my phone and I was just so sad.
I was determined to go my 2nd year and I did and I made it there. When I got there and was sitting in my seat for opening ceremony and everything started and just the energy and excitement! And I mean, it’s not just hype people, this is soul-infusing excitement. I was sitting there and just started crying. And I’m not a crier. I think I just said I cried like 3 times in that sentence, but I’m not a crier. When my husband sees me crying he knows something’s truly wrong.
So I’m sitting in the opening ceremony, trying to dance but I am just crying because I knew that it was life changing. And you will feel the exact same way if you go to convention. It will totally transform your life. My husband even, a week or two after the first convention, said that I was a different person after convention. He could tell that the fire was under me. People aren’t just saying that this is life changing. People aren’t just talking about this because its hype. You gotta get there. It will change your business.
That was the best advice, the vest parting wisdom you could give us!
Resources:
John Maxwell, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.
Show Notes
Andrea Hutcheson, Paparazzi Elite Leader – printable show transcripts