In today’s episode, I interview Paparazzi Jewelry Elite Leader, Stephanie Ferguson. Stephanie is someone who leads with passion and her heart. You can tell how much she loves her team! She shares some amazing tips and business ideas in today’s episode! Check it out!
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Let me tell you a little bit about Stephanie. Stephanie is an Executive Producer with Paparazzi and she’s hit Crown Club Ten. She is from southern Mississippi, ut she’s been in Georgia for quite a few years. She is a wife and has three little heart beats. They are ages 8, 7 and 4. Stephanie worked as an I.T. consultant for several years and she has been with Paparazzi now for two years. Stephanie, did I leave anything out?
Stephanie: um, nope. That was it.
Awnya: Wonderful. Well, welcome to the show.
Stephanie: Thank you for having me.
How did you get started with Paparazzi?
Stephanie: Okay so Tyronica, we call her Beyonce’ because she’s awesome. Tyronica is actually is married to Ben, and Ben and I are from the same hometown. He and my brother were friends so I was Benjamin, her husband’s, Facebook friend and I saw she was selling candles.
So I bought like some gift packs and stuff from her but I didn’t really know Tyronica. We weren’t Facebook friends and so we didn’t communicate often. But she started with Paparazzi, I noticed like in her pictures that she was tagging Ben in them. She had on the cutest jewelry. At that point had been a stay at home mom for maybe like a few months . Not quite a year yet. And I was getting into the mode of nothing but yoga pants and t-shirts. I was like, “OK. You know, I really need to fix myself because my husband obviously really loves me because I look a mess every single day.”.
So I was thinking, “You know, accessories. That’s the perfect way to dress up anything.” And so I inboxed Ben, and I was like, “Hey I need your wife’s information so I can ask her where she’s getting all her jewelry from.” And so I ended up chatting with her and she was like, “Would you believe this is $5?” I’m like, “Shut up!”.
She sent me to her website. Probably like, in less than 10 minutes, I’d filled up my little shopping bag with over 50 dollars worth of stuff and I was like, “You know what?! If I’m shopping like this, I think, you know, other people will too.”.
So that was how I got into Paparazzi. And Tyronica was like, “Yeah, it’s a great business you know. Check it out.” And I gave it a shot thinking, you know, I could make some extra cash and this is where he has led to.
Awnya: That’s awesome! Now a couple things I want to highlight that you said in there is that Tyronica- I mean the great example. She is a product of the product. She’s wearing her jewelry and taking pictures- which, you saw that on Facebook. Her has on Paparazzi jewelry, of course, in all of her pictures and then she was tagging her husband to include his network of friends in with that. Because otherwise you probably wouldn’t have noticed that it was just her tag on herself or her friend.
Stephanie: Exactly.
Awnya: That’s great. Now,
What is your Why? Why do you do Paparazzi?
Stephanie: Now do it because I’ve always felt like I have some sort of mission or ministry to help women in the field of business. I was a business major in college and I always knew I would be some type of entrepreneur. I didn’t know it would manifest itself in $5 Jewelry.
But I always wanted to help women live the type of life that they wanted to live in not necessarily the type of life that they feel like they had to live. You know like, sometimes we feel like we get stuck in this pattern and this is just what we have to do because it’s always been done this way and it’s not very fulfilling. Paparazzi has given me a way to just really reach out to women beyond the jewelry and just helps so many other women build their confidence. You know, make major changes in their own dreams for themselves and enable them to be able to do things for their families that they never thought that they could do.
Have you found that your why has changed from when you first started till now, being an Elite Consultant?
Stephanie: Oh yes it has definitely changed. When I first started my only goal was to make $200-$500 month arm. I’d tried another direct sales company and hadn’t been able to really make a lot of money with that. Like I said, at the time I had recently become a stay at home mom. So we were really missing that second income.
And I just want to make some extra cash to help out around the house, you know, be able to do the things that we’d been able to do when both of us were working because I was going back to work when the baby got old enough. That was the plan. So it wasn’t meant to be a long term thing, just needed to make some extra cash. And it is definitely more in these last two years.
Awnya: Now we’re going to take a little bit of a shift and talk about your worst Paparazzi moment. Now this question isn’t designed to bash or to talk bad about Paparazzi but to show the listeners, especially first time listeners, I want ‘um to understand, this and to show you that – Elite Consultants are just regular consultants who struggle and keep on going. So, Stephanie take us to that moment in time where you knew that you could push forward. Or you could just give up.
What was your worst Paparazzi moment?
Stephanie: Well, I planned this fabulous house party and I invited people who were close to me, you know, good friends and stuff. It was going to be my first Paparazzi home party. And I planned it for here at my house and made all this food, you know, different types of drinks and stuff. Is was just going to be this thing. Like, I cleared out my whole island and set up this whole display. I was so excited. One person came. And it was so awkward because she was like waiting on everyone else to come, like I was waiting on everybody else to come.
Cuz once she shopped, she was pretty much done. Like, there was nobody else play games with, you know, I had like, clean it out, my husband and kids so I’d have the whole house. And we’re just sitting there. You know, and she’s like trying to make conversation. I’m trying not to show my disappointment. It was just awful.
And then, like the necklace she bought, well she bought a few of them. But one of the ones she bought, it broke and I was like, “Oh my god. This is horrible!” And she was very sweet. You know, she got her stuff and went on her way. So I did all that preparation and the party lasted all of like 30 minutes. And I just kept kinda hope and hope and hope that somebody would show up later, but they didn’t.
It was so disheartening. And then like when her necklace broke. I was like, “Oh my god. What am I going to do?!” She’s very sweet about it. You know, it was an easy repair. And she was like, “It’s okay!” You know, she was like, “It’s five dollars. You don’t even have to try to fix this.” I’m like, “No, you know, I want to make sure, you know, that you get to use it and everything.”.
But yeah. It was so disappointing. And the thing is, you know, I had to have more house parties. You know, it did not- I made, what $20. I probably spent a hundred on food. So it was not ideal in any way. But as you stated, it is just one of those things where I either had to decide, “Okay I’m never gonna do this again or I’m gonna give it another shot.”.
Awnya: Girl I could feel your pain. Like sitting there, beautiful spread of food. One person.
Stephanie: One person.
Awnya: And then to top it off, her necklace breaks. Now,.
What lesson do you want us to learn from your experience?
You have to shake it off. And just, you know, I was just honest with her, you know, like, “I am so sorry!” I just had to be myself and just tried to make the best out of a bad situation. I was like, “yeah, you know, I was expecting other people, you know and they didn’t come.” You know, just still try to remain gracious and appreciative in that moment and not to get down on myself or beat myself up about “what could I have done differently” or “what could have gone differently” because everything happens for a reason.
She’s still customer even after the necklace broke she still shops with me to this day. And she has referred people. I think the biggest lesson is that you just keep, keep moving. You know don’t let it get you down. Don’t get caught up in the emotions in that moment. Just push through. Eventually It’ll all be worth it.
Awnya: A gem I wanted to pull out that you said, “don’t get up in the emotions of that moment” It would have been easy to be like “That’s it. I suck at this. Apparently I can do parties. I’m done”.
Stephanie: Right. Exactly. You just can not get caught up in the moment you just have to have to keep going.
What is a habit you have that you contribute to your success?
Stephanie: Since I’ve been employable, even at my first job, you know, I made sure- it is because of my parents. They were not strict in like a disciplinary type way. They set hight standards and they expected you to put forth by your best effort. My mom would tell me all the time, like, “Everytime you leave the house you are carrying our name so you need to represetn us well.
So I’ve kinda had that attitude with every job I’ve ever had and I made sure that I was on time I did my tasks. I would stay late if I need to, I tried not to complain. You know, keep a positive attitude. So those same principles that I used when I was out in the workforce are the same Principles that I apply to my Paparazzi business even though it’s a pretty laid back and fun environment, I still always make it a point to be on time, remain professional, reat every customer with respect, treat every team member with respect. Just like I would on a full time job.
Awnya: Like treating a business like a business. Even if it is a home business, right?
Stephanie: Even if it’s a home business, exactly.
Awnya: Now, Stephanie,
What advice would you give to a brand new Paparazzi consultant just getting started in their business?
Stephanie: Do not wait until you feel like you’ve mastered the business to start working your business. Go ahead and work your business now. Don’t try to have everything perfect before you set up your jewelry somewhere. My first events were- used that one bust that came in the packet and got a nice black table cloth quite and laid my jewelry out neatly and just build up to a much bigger display, but don’t try to wait and get everything done at one time. Just go ahead and start.
You know success loves speed. Speed requires you to be consistent and if you’re consistent then you’ll continually hit you goals. So I just say, you know, don’t try to wait for that perfect scenario just jump in a get going.
Awnya: One of my favorite quotes is “Better done than Perfect.” If you wait for it to get perfect then you’re missing all kinds of opportunities right now.
Stepanie: Exactly!
Awnya: So, Better done than perfect.
Stephanie: Exactly I love that.
If you could just do one thing to a consultant who is kinda feeling stuck in their business what would you tell them to do?
Stephanie: Get off your But. Your B-U-T but. Because usually when a person gets stuck it’s, “Oh, I would do this but…”, “I could be doing this, but…” You know, it’s like, we get to the point – we have to get to the point where we either accept that #no excuses or we just kinda sit back and let life stop us from doing what we want to do.
So I would say do something. If you’re stuck right down what you need. Because a lot of times what we need will motivate us more than what we want. Write down what you need and then write down how are you going to use Paparazzi to get there. And then, get to it.
Awnya: Get off your but (with one t). I love that.
What is a quote that inspires you?
Stephanie: I have two resound with me often. One is a scripture:
I have been blessed in so, so many ways. I’ve been blessed so that I could bless and give to other people. And it’s not always monetary things but you know just spreading a little joy, a little happiness, you know, try to have a positive attitude in horrible situations.
That’s something I try to do often. A lot of people can’t get to that point. So I always just try to be, you know, the person with the smile. The person with the joke try to make things easier. And even with material blessings I feel just giving is just so much more rewarding than hoarding stuff to me. So I love that, “too much is given much is required.”.
Another one is – anybody on my team knows that I absolutely love love love Mohammed Ali. I used to watch his boxing reruns with my Grand-dad growing up. Loved him. Thought that he was just an amazing person all around. He was known for having a tough training regimen to prepare for his fights. But he hated it. He hated training. He liked sweets. So he would say that:
I absolutely love that quote. To me, it just means, you know, put in a sacrifice now. Go ahead. Sacrifice a little time, a little effort, a little cash and you will end up in the long run benefiting so much more.
Awnya: A phrase kinda keeps coming back to me when you’re talking that and it’s something a friend told me in college. She said, “Live today like other people won’t so live in the future like other people can’t.” And it’s the same thing like what you said with the quote from Mohamed Ali. You gotta suffer, you gotta grind so that you can get to the point where you livin like other people can’t.
Stephanie: Yep, exactly. Cuz it doesn’t just happen. You have, to have to put in the effort and it’s not always pretty and it’s definitely not easy.
Awnya: Now you you have been giving us some awesome, awesome information.
What is a book you would say is a must read and why?
Stephanie: “Reposition Yourself” by T.D. Jakes I read this years ago. I think that- I think the subtitle is… I think the whole title of the book is like “Reposition Youself – Learning to Live Life Without Limits.” I love that book because he just- it just really makes you really self evaluate yourself. He talks a lot about pushing through. He talks a lot about recognizing when you’re making excuses. He talks about being daring and being bold.
I love the book. Like I said, it’s a great tool to help you to – it helped me personally, to do a real, a really real, self-evaluation. And understand the most of the limitations I have were limitations that I was putting on myself. So definitely one of my favorites.
Awnya: So that was “Reposition Yourself- learning to live life without limits”. Who was the author again?
Stephanie: T.D. Jakes.
Awnya: I’m putting that on my list. Okay. This is the last question but maybe the most difficult. So, here on the Papa Rock Stars Podcast, we like to do a weekly called challenge. So.
What is the one thing you would challenge the listener’s to do in the next seven days to take action in their Paparazzi business?
Stephanie: I would say in the next seven days to have an actual pick up the phone conversation with 10 people about their businesses. It could be about hosting a party. It could be about trying the product. It could be about the business opportunity.
I’ve found that a lot of people on my team rely so much on text messages and inboxes that few people actually dial phone number and have a conversation. I think that’s critical for any aspect of a business whether you want to just concentrate on your sales, or whether you just want a team build, whether you want, you know, you feel like your focus is both.
We have to get in the habit of talking to people.
Awnya: And not just like you said with the messenger or the text messages. The actual conversations.
Stephanie: Actual conversations, yes.
Awnya: Okay so 10 phone conversation with people in the next seven days. #challengeaccepted.
Stephanie: Yes.
Awnya: Well, Stephanie, I’ve sure enjoyed getting to know you today. I have pages and pages of notes and things I’m going to definitely be implementing in my business. So I appreciate you.
Stephanie: And I appreciate you. I consider this such an honor. The fact that, you know, anybody would even want to ask me questions about the business still blows my mind so I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m so grateful for this chance.
Awnya: Of course! I think the pleasure is definitely ours.
Show Notes
Stephanie Ferguson: Paparazzi Jewelry Elite Leader – printable show notes