In today’s Elite Leader interview, I chat with Natalie Hadley. Natalie is a beautiful inside and out and her passion for Paparazzi, the consultants and the jewelry is contagious! She has some great advice and wisdom to share with us today in our training interview!
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Natalie Hadley is an Executive Producer with Paparazzi Accessories. She is a Crown Club 10 member. She reached Life of the Party Bronze in 2015, the first year they did the Life of the Party awards. She has a team of over 8000 people. Natalie is going to share her story about Paparazzi and how she got into it in just a minute, but a few things that I wanted to share with you is that she put her husband through school and bought him a new car. They go on fun family vacations and they got a new house because of Paparazzi.
How did you get started with Paparazzi and what’s your Why?
Natalie: Thanks Awnya! Too sweet, you’re too sweet. So I was in a tough position financially for years. Finances were just really tight and really scrimping by. My husband decided he wanted to go back to school. He applied for the program a couple of times and he finally got in to be a respiratory therapist. The programs like that in the medical field required him to do so many clinical hours and book work so he could only work 1 day a week. So we had lived in a little home and we had to sell that and we moved in with my amazing in-laws. It was up to me to provide for our family of 4.
A week later I was at a boutique at my neighbor’s house. It was a multi-vendor boutique that had all those awesome vendors in it and one stuck out to me. It was Paparazzi jewelry. It had the most people there. It was the most fun booth! It was so fun! Women were buying this jewelry. Parties were being booked. Sales were being made. It was just awesome. And to top it off, everything was only $5. I could buy a couple pieces of jewelry and not feel bad about it.
I was so excited because I saw how well it did. I signed up a week later. I’m so glad that I did! I booked my calendar out with home parties. I built my displays. I did home parties. I could take my kids with me if I needed to and they could help me set up. I just made sure I booked out parties.
It was so fun and so natural to talk to everybody. It was easy and exciting and it was so much fun to recruit doing home parties. I loved seeing women trying on necklaces and how they felt beautiful. Nothing beats helping someone feel good about themselves.
So to me, it’s so much more than the finance aspect. Even though that’s been such a blessing through Paparazzi. That’s my why and how I got started.
Awnya: We hear a lot of times in Paparazzi, “It’s so much more than $5 Jewelry”. And I think it’s so true. For my life, I could not even vocalize all the things that Paparazzi is to me other than the $5 Jewelry. It’s friendships and so much more!
Natalie: Yes! Yes Agreed. 100% yes!
What is your Worst Paparazzi Moment?
Natalie: This is so funny. So, like I said, I love to do home parties. I was asked to set up outside a store here in Utah. We sat our jewelry out at the store I went with another consultant and we set our jewelry up. And we have awesome boards. My boards have sand in them. They can really withstand a windstorm.
Well, we had our boards set up in front of the store. Wind came and just knocked – our boards were just full of jewelry and it knocked every single board down like flat on the boards face – if the board were to have a face. And I thought, “I can freak out or I can just handle it and I can be positive and have a good attitude.” So I did.
I saw a lot of jewelry under there being broken. Probably 30-40 pieces broken, but you know what? It is a tax write off. And I thought “Ok. You know what? It’s paid for, it’s fine. It’s written off.” The cute customers and people around us helped us put it back together and I was able to fix some of those pieces. We made some really good friends trying to fix the jewelry and customers were trying to help us put the jewelry back together.
And I thought, “Look! Instead of freaking out, look how many positive things I can find from that and handle it with class rather than just get freaked out.” You know, because that’s what I wanted to do. We had lots of help and we got those boards up and you know what, it was fine. We had plenty of jewelry. We were able to save about half those pieces.
Awnya: Talk about making lemons into lemonade. I mean, if you were sitting there and maybe one of the customers that helped you pick up the jewelry, maybe she’d been to a boutique a week ago and there was a different jewelry consultant there who was kinda grumpy but she was thinking “Hey, jewelry might be kinda my thing.” Then she comes to this event and sees you letting that roll off your back and making the best of a bad situation. Do you think she is more likely to sign up with you or that other consultant? Well, it’s going to be you because of your attitude. That’s contagious! People like that! They don’t want the grumps.
Natalie: That’s right. I had to keep it together. Ya know?! And I thought, “Ok, no big deal.” You know?!
Awnya: Absolutely! And you never know when those people are watching you so it’s always a good idea to keep that good attitude and turn those lemons into lemonade.
What is a habit you have that contributes to your success:
Natalie: Consistency. There are so many things about Paparazzi. It’s more than $5. We can recruit, we can have teams, we can make money off sales. So consistency to everything. If you want to do home parties, Facebook parties, events. Always be consistent and fill up your schedule. I’ve always had a full schedule.
The only time I have not done a party is if I’m at convention or on a trip, of course paid for by Paparazzi, or a vacation with my family. But just consistency. It’s calling your team members. Just being consistent when you post, if you do Facebook parties. I would say I never have an empty calendar, ever. I always have parties on the calendar. So consistency with parties.
Awnya: Perfect! Consistency with parties both live and with Facebook parties.
Natalie: Yep! When I first started there were no Facebook parties yet. So now I do more Facebook parties than home parties but I still do home parties. I like to have one here at my home once a season. I would say whether it be home, Facebook, events, whatever, always be consistent and always have some sort of selling opportunity on your calendar for sure.
Awnya: That’s great because if you don’t have those opportunities to show your customers what’s out there, they’re going to go somewhere else to shop. So often with direct sales businesses, people change and fizzle out. Life happens, we get that, but they don’t know for sure that you’re in business unless you’re having an open house or unless you’re having a party or unless you’re doing business and letting them know.
Don’t just assume that they know that you’re still doing business, you gotta actually talk about it and let them know. I love that you do a party once a season and that you are still doing Facebook parties.
You guys, Natalie has 8000 people on her team so she could really easily just sit back and let the Fashion Fix come every month and collect those paychecks but she is still out there actively working her business because number one, she loves her customers and number 2, it’s such a good example for her team. She gets a good feel for what her customers want and get to talk to those people and always make new friends.
Never think that you are going to get to a level where you are just done because its constantly just having fun with $5 jewelry.
Natalie: That’s totally right, yes!
What advice would you give to a brand new consultant?
Natalie: I would say, get your displays ready. Whatever avenue you want to take with Paparazzi and get that figured out and get a party on the calendar. I always say, “Get 3 parties booked before your kit comes and plan your kit opening party. Even if it’s just with your family or your friends.” Do what you need to do to get your business up and running. If you’re doing Facebook things, if you’re doing VIP group things. Get the envelopes, get your scale. Get everything you need to do so you can hit the group running with your business.
Don’t put off starting. Start.
You want to get off to a good start. If you don’t start right away, you may not ever start and that box might just sit there and stare at you, and you don’t want that! It’s $5! It’s exciting. The energy with Paparazzi is unexplainable sometimes. You have to experience that box opening and at convention. The energy with this $5 jewelry is just amazing. So do what you can to get your business up and running for sure.
Awnya: One of the quotes that has really stood out to me lately is:
If you aren’t embarrassed by the thing you put out first, then you’ve waited too long.
The way that I think about that is – it’s not going to be perfect when you start your VIP group. Your first parties and events are probably going to be train wrecks, when you look back at them.
I remember my first event and I didn’t have tape. My son was helping me set up. I had to run to Walmart to get zip ties for my boards cuz they were going to fall over on my customers. I didn’t have enough display hooks. I don’t even think I had enough bags. It was a complete train wreck. But I got out there and I did it. So just get out there, if you are starting out. Like what Natalie said, book 3 parties before your kit even gets to your door and don’t worry about being perfect, just worry about just getting it out there and letting the product speak for itself.
Natalie. Exactly, exactly. 100%.
If you could suggest 1 thing to a consultant who is feeling stuck in their business, what advice would you give to them?
Natalie: Start your business over. If you have people signed up on your team, maybe it’s not the right season for them to do their business. You know what?! Start over, recruit more people. You can still reach out to them and be their friend. Still be nice but start your business over. Start like if you were a Director. Maybe you want to hit Premier Director. Well, do the same things you did to hit that first rank. Just never give up and like I said, if you are selling your jewelry, you’re meeting new people. The key is to always be selling your jewelry so you can have more parties so you can get new recruits. If you don’t have parties, it’s hard to get parties booked.
Also if you are stuck in a rut and you don’t have any parties. Go through your parties on Facebook. Go through and pull up past hosts see if they will re-book. And don’t be scared to be told no. Go for the no. Don’t be scared because from my experience, every 10 people I ask, I at least get 2 yesses. Just keep going and keep going until you get a party and don’t give up. Keep trying. Keep trying. That’s my advice. So don’t give up.
Awnya: Back to the basics, right? Go back to what got you to where you are. The fundamentals to your business. Booking parties. Talking about Paparazzi and the $5 and the opportunity that’s there. When you get back to that stuff, everything just falls into place.
Natalie: for sure.
What is a quote that inspires you, Natalie?
Natalie: I love that one. It’s simple and it really goes with every aspect of your life and your business life. Every day you can try to call more team members. Try to develop a personal connection with your hosts. In everything you do just try a little harder to do things a little better. I love that. So that’s one of my favorite quotes.
Awnya: There is a quote that I heard that is “Compare and Despair.” I love that one because when you are comparing yourself to others you are always going to be despairing. You need to be comparing yourself to the version of yourself yesterday and trying to be better than that, which goes right along with your quote.
Make a better version of yourself every single day. That’s the only person you should be comparing to and the only thing you should be trying to do is to improve yourself every day in your business and your personal life and just trying to be better. And if you’re doing that, then you are going to grow your business, you’re gonna grow your life.
Natalie: That’s right!
What is a challenge – an action step – that you would give to us to do in the next 7 days?
Natalie: I know I’ve said this 2 times already on the call but get your parties booked for July. Get a full calendar for July. How you are going to do that is just like I said. Go back, past hostesses, message them individually. Your friends, your family. Send them a text message. Don’t ask them for a favor. You’re doing them the favor by helping them earn free jewelry.
So I look at it from that aspect in your VIP groups. Message some of those awesome customers, “Hey you can get jewelry for free!” As you go about your home parties or events bring your calendar with you. Don’t be afraid to get those parties.
And have fun. The more fun you make it, the more they are going to want to book with you. Get to know your hosts. Get to know your customers. Because the more they know you, the less awkward it is to ask them when it’s time to book a party.
Booking actually begins the minute you step foot in the party or the minute you start your Facebook party. You need to be engaged in your parties. That’s where you are going to book your parties.
If you were to ask somebody that you didn’t really interact with to do a party, you know, they might say yes, but more times no, compared to the person that you really tried to connect with and build that genuine relationship. This is fun! Comment on their posts. Have fun with them. That is the key. Get parties booked for July. Have a full calendar in July.
Awnya: I know everyone has a different version of a full calendar, but what, to you, is a full calendar?
Natalie: I would say 3-4 selling opportunities a week. So whether it be post every day in your VIP group or have a basket party going out and 3 Facebook parties or posting in your VIP group every single day. Maybe 20 pictures a day. Do something 3-4 times a week that would be a selling opportunities.
If that’s too much, it’s ok. Cut it to 2. Pull it back. I love Paparazzi because you can make it work for you. If you have 2 parties on the calendar, great! If you have 1 party on the calendar, great! Make it full. Have something every single week to make it consistent.
Awnya: One thing I love about what you said is that you are offering to do parties for these people. You’re not going on there and saying “You’re gonna do a party for me, you’re gonna do it Thursday night and it’s going to be at 7-o’clock”. You are OFFERING these people the opportunity to share with their friends the amazing new jewelry.
Natalie: That’s right
Awnya I think a lot of times, especially because we are sales people, we kinda forget that we aren’t pushing this stuff on people. We are just giving them the opportunity to say yes or no. And if you don’t offer then they are never going to have that opportunity. So by messaging these people, you could even say something like:
“Oh. My. Gosh, girl! I have been thinking about you because the new spring jewelry is coming out. I know your favorite color is Spearmint green and that is what we have. Would you want to have a party and get some free spearmint green jewelry and show all your friends the new stuff?”
You aren’t saying “Put this in your shopping cart. Buy it. And then make all your friends buy 10 pieces too.” You are just offering an opportunity. And then like what you said earlier, they can say yes, they can say no. But if you don’t ask, then it’s always going to be a no.
Natalie: Right, exactly. Yep!
Awnya: I have thoroughly enjoyed our time on the call today. I have tons of notes and I’m sure all of the listeners have tons of notes. Thank you for joining and sharing with us!!
Natalie: You’re welcome!!
Show Notes
Natalie Hadley, Paparazzi Elite Leader interview – printable show transcript