This past month has been very much a whirlwind for me with my Stella and Dot endeavor. I've had the highs of a promotion and some substantial (for me paychecks), the lows of next to no paychecks and frustration with how to be sustainable in this, and the ambivalence brought on from attending Hoopla.
I want to be careful how I phrase this because attending Hoopla was a great experience and I met some amazing people. But I kept coming back to my original post that I made when I started this in January about not ever wanting to be pushy or to pressure someone into buying or hosting when they didn't want to. I realized that a few times in the past month I have been pushy, or over the top, in my approach and its because I got caught up in the moment and lost sight of who I want to be in this long term.
One amazing thing that was reinforced over and over again at Hoopla was having a well defined WHY for this business. I was so inspired in that moment as I wrote my WHY:
I know it might sound fake but its not - I honestly want to be able to give more of my resources (primarily financially) when I see a need. Its an awesome thing to see an opportunity and be able to jump in right away and not worry about how it will affect my other financial obligations.
On another level I love getting the opportunity to style people. Its so much fun at a trunk show to get to play dress up with people and show them pieces I love. I need to get re-focused on that. When I'm in a good place I can go into a show and be a true stylist. When I'm not, when I'm feeling insecure, I sit back and wait for people at a show to be interested. And that isn't fun. And its not the kind of business I want to have.
In this business you can be successful and have a nice monthly addition of income by just having shows and selling online. You really don't have to "sign people up" or build a pyramid as so many of my skeptical aquaintances seem to believe. If you want to build to a substantial income that would replace another job, then you do have to sponsor and grow. You can choose the kind of business you want to have. This is probably where the greatest amount of ambivalence has been for me in the past month. I've had very limited success in sponosring and for the size of business I want to have - that is ok - but for what my heart loves, its not. I truly love training and coaching people. I've learned so much in the months since I've started doing this and I WANT to share it. But every time I talk to someone about the opportunity a wall goes up (or worst case - a nasty passive aggressive post on facebook) and I feel like I'm trying to sell magic water at the county fair.
The reason I feel confidence in talking to people about Stella and Dot is because I know first hand (and from seeing it MANY times over) that there really is almost no risk. Truly anyone can replace their initial investment easily. Building a sustainable business from there takes more work and is in the hands of the new stylist to decide. But jumping off and getting started is fun, and exciting, and you have TONS of new, gorgeous jewelry and accessories to help you do it. To me its so obvious I have trouble explaining it properly.
So this brings me back to my initial reason for starting this post. 1 - to apologize to any who have felt pressured or overwhelmed with Stella and Dot marketing. 2 - to explain to you WHY I want to do this and grow in my business. 3 - to hopefully reach out to someone who has been thinking "I bet I could do that" but is too scared to try. Because I know you can. And I will help you.
If you are still reading thanks for indulging me this far. I truly have the greatest friends and customers I could ever have hoped for. With much love, Lacey
