3x3 note card and tassel swap Hosted by ScapdaWorld

I participated in Scrapdaworld's 3 x 3 note card and tassel swap. All of my cut were made with the Cricut Explore w/ Design Space. I apologize for doing a one-take video. Everything was bought at Hobby Lobby except where noted. Materials: Paper: Note Cards: (Bought at Hobby Lobby) http://bit.ly/2eVbx0g * Blanc Boutique by The Paper Studio 12 x 12 * Stripe -Glitter paper By The Paper Studio 12 x 12 * Generic yellow cardstock from stash * Generic small bling from stash Tassel : * Paper Blanc Boutique 12 x 12 * Memory wire * Wood bead (1) ^ Charms feather (2) * Glass Beads -Color Galley By Bead Treasures (white bead mixed, black, brown) (3) * Bronze lobster clasp (Joanne) * Bronze jump ring Envelope package -Cricut cut Crayon box

3x3 note card and tassel swap Hosted by ScapdaWorld

Happy Fall to Ya (or is it?)

Note:  I had a different title.

Park or Roses (c) 2016 P. Lynne
Designs

Hello, I am here to greet in the autumn (Fall) weather, with a little heat left over.  So does this qualify as an Indian Summer moment?  I cannot tell. I just know that today is my niece’s birthday (yes, she is a fall baby).  I am afraid for several reasons, more on that in a moment.

First of all, I had to step back a little, and I am not fully to my writing capabilities as of yet.  I am taking Physical Therapy for the next few weeks because of my left side (wrist and ankle), and the typing had to be cut back to a bare minimum.  I tried a text to speech program called Dragon Natural Speak, which is a pretty good program, but it is not cooperating with my computer.  Nothing is cooperating with my computer, I will explain that in a moment as well. Probably in the next article.  I will finish the series I started on making extra money.  For now, I am just getting back in the groove of things.

You know my writings by now.  Some are quirky, some are sweet, while others are of concern.  This is of deep concern.  If you do not want to read this, I fully understand.  No one but another person of color will understand this.  Heck, we barely understand it ourselves, having to deal with it for several decades.   In the last few years, however, this has escalated to a new level, because it involves guns and the police, something that none of us have seen before, or have we?

I am scared to adopt an African American male.  My reasons are simple.  I want my son to have all the privileges I had as an African American female and more.  I know that every African American parent wants that for their child.  I want him to be able to get into the best schools, have the best jobs, and to basically be able to survive in this world without harm.  I know that for right now that is not possible because I fear for my nephews and all African American males.  I want them all to just live their lives.  My most fear is my 20-year old nephew.  He is trying his best to be a good citizen, going to school and finding a job. In fact, he may have landed one today, according to my mom.  Not that he is bad, but just stepping out of the home of his grandparents each day puts a target on his back.

Last week, Columbus saw its first killing of a 13-year-old by a police officer, so yes, it just got real here. Even though he had a BB gun, he was not pointing it at anyone.  The police thought it would be OK to just shoot him, instead of asking him why he had it.

Without learning the reasoning behind these last few shootings, can anyone justify why a person is shot by police because they are asking for help for a car that is broken down, reading a book, or for a simple traffic stop for a ticket?   Oh sure, come up with the excuse that they all resisted arrest, had drugs in the car, or some other excuse.  The fact that Terence was unarmed, Keith was disabled, and so on.  It does not give that cop the right to shoot first and ask questions later.  Guess what?  There is no later.  They are now a body. 

What does a cop in question get? An all-expense paid vacation, courtesy of the tax payers.  No jail time, maybe an atta boy or an atta girl from the KKK for a job well done for putting us in our place again (not trying to be funny, just real).

For all of this, I am sad that white people get all bent out of shape when we scream Black Lives Matter.  We know that ALL lives matter, every single person’s life matters. You do not seem to understand that when a black mother has all hope for the future of their child, suddenly has to bury that child, because some cop randomly decides to shoot him. What do you tell a child who questions if they are going to live or die in the streets just for going to school, or even riding a bike to their friend’s house?  Do we have to start homeschooling our young?  A young man at my church is learning how to drive.  I am afraid for his life as a young African American male.

We need to be vigilant about this.  Please do not get me started on Donald Trump.  He is the worst of everyone. 

I, myself have started to have my driver’s license, car registration, and insurance card next to me, just in case.  It is better safe than shot.  I have nothing in my hatchback to give suspicion, except a first aid kit, and now I am wondering if I should have that in the car (it is a Hello Kitty first aid Kit-how cute, not dangerous).  I have other thoughts I will share at a later time.   

Well, that is me in a nutshell for the moment.  I want this place to be safe for all, include black and brown men.  I am not sure if my own father, brother, uncles, cousins, and male friends are safe either, so this includes them too.

I will explain my computer problems later….

I’ll Tumble for Ya

No, I have no channeled my inner Boy George.  Anyone who was around during the ‘80s knows that this was one of Culture Club’s hits.  (Not sure what happened after that album.)  The title means something more than that.  I am talking about the Final Five.

(c) 2016 Olympic 

In case you have been living under a rock, have no access to the media (television, radio, newspaper, and the internet), in a coma, or anything else that has prevented you from finding out about this talented group of young women, they are the U.S. Gymnastics Team, the last team under Marta Karolyi. This coach along with her husband, Béla, have transformed the U.S Women’s Gymnastics Team into the powerhouse that it currently is, starting with Nadia Comãneci (even though she was for the Romanian team), and ending with this team.  Their legacy will be hard to match.  Marta retired with the Final Five, a name that the girls; Simone Biles, Madison Kocian, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez, gave themselves, in honor of Mrs. Karolyi.  I will miss watching her at the Olympics.

To be a gymnast (male or female) takes years of hard work and dedication, pretty much like I had to do with dance.  Because of my disability, I cannot do so much as a cartwheel, but I wanted to do gymnastics.  Dance was the next big thing I could do.   I thought that since dance was an important element in the floor exercise routine, I could work my way up from there. 

Did I mention that you could not have a fear of heights?  During gym class one year, I got on the balance beam and almost cried.  Hey, you try doing a forward roll in a beam that is 4” wide and 4’ off the ground.  Uneven bars?  The gym teacher had me stand on the bottom bar.  Not only I could not reach over to the top (due to my short arms), but I started crying for real, so the teacher (who was a man) had to catch me to get me off. Vaults?  I do not want to talk about it.  Thus ended my gymnastics career, before it even got started, but hey, I could do a nice headstand. Thanks for the experience, 7^th grade.

This is why I admire the women who could do it.  Each one of them had a special place on the team, and they supported each other.  There was no, “how dare she place better than me”, “I can do that tumbling pass in my sleep”, or “if she gets one more gold medal, I am going to throw up.” They were very supportive.  It was others outside of the team that had a backlash to these girls, especially towards Simone and Gabby, and I do not get it.

First with Simone.  Why do people like to bring up the past?  The media constantly brought up her mother (who by the way lives here in Columbus), her grandmother’s birthplace, and her adoption.  This is mostly aimed towards Bob Costas (who will never read this, but…), adoption is a beautiful thing, especially when a person (the birth mom) is not able to take care of the child or children.  It helps in two ways; it helps a child feel like they are wanted.  Everyone needs love and support, no matter what their background or circumstances are.  It also helps the person who is adopting.  Maybe they are unable to have kids, or maybe they wanted to give back.  You do not know the situation, and God has blessed Simone to be with her grandparents because the situation could have been worst. 

With Gabby Douglas, people were criticizing her hair, she did not put her hand over her heart during the National Anthem, she looks mean, she’s mad, blah, blah, blah.  My question to all of you haters is this: Did you ask her why she did not put her hand over her heart during the anthem?  She was caught up in the moment.  She was taking this in. First being selected to be one of five women to represent the United States in gymnastics for the second time in a row is a feat in itself, and then win a gold medal to show who is the best team, give her a break.  Next, the hair.  It is hard enough to keep a black head in check, which is one the reasons why my hair is in twists, so I should know, and many in the black community should know.  Next, you cannot wear too much product in your hair when doing something like flying from one bar to another, twisting and turn on a balance beam, doing a floor exercise, or vaulting.  You will slide all over the place.  I did not see people criticizing Simone’s hair.  Oh, wait, I forgot, people were still having questions about her parentage and that she came from a broken home.

The point to all of this is people do a lot a criticizing when someone is doing something great.  It does not matter if you are opening a new store (startup or expansion), feeding the homeless, starting a program for inner city kids (which is where Simone got her start in gymnastics), or doing a double pike layout with a double twist in the middle of a floor exercise routine, and winning a gold medal for it.   When a person criticizes you, it means that you are doing something right.  What I also do not get is how a person can so mean and cruel, and the other person lets that remark slide off, like water sliding off a duck’s back.

It has to do something with the person’s character and how they take things in the first place.  They have already been criticized by their teachers, coaches, and anyone who told them that they could not do it.  It is their upbringing that allows them to ignore the haters and celebrate the successes in life that God gave them.  For instance, when Gabby Douglas wanted to try gymnastics for the first time, coaches in her gym could have told her that they do not teach black children and this sport was not for her.  Today, because if her winnings in 2012, black children across the country want to try gymnastics.  Their thought process is, “If Gabby (and now Simone) can do it and make it, I can try to do the same.  Before that time, it was only Dominique Dawes who did professional gymnastics, and at the time, she was the only one.  Today, Dominique is a motivational speaker.

Sometimes I wonder if the team had been all one race if the views of the public would have been different.  After all, there were not criticism towards Aly, Laurie, and Madison.  After all, they did the same thing as Simone and Gabby.  Laurie, I believe, is the first Latina to be on the gymnastics team, and I have yet to hear about her hair being messy or that she came from a broken home.

We, as the African American race need to learn how to not put each other down, and to celebrate the accomplishments of others.  It is a moment to walk in someone else’s shoes and to understand what they went through to get there.  We have had so many people from other races put us down, until we, as a whole, do not know how to give a compliment.

Yes, we want our people to look good (getting back to the Gabby hair complaints), but as a meme said that I saw on Facebook, “you try to do a double back layout off of a 4” beam.”  In other words, “do you want me to look fly or fail?”  Sometimes we cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.  We, as humans expect someone to fail.  “It’s impossible”, but has anyone ever thought that with God, it is possible?  How else do you think anyone, even a runner in these games got through to get the Gold Medal, luck? If that is the case, then good luck with that logic.

Be grateful for the small things in life.  So you cannot tumble like Final Five, run like Usain Bolt, swim like Michael Phelps, or sing like Alicia Keys, but I bet somewhere inside you is a balling ass negotiator, a great graphic designer, a wonderful wife, a marvelous mommy, a dad that is killing it in the boardroom, all while being a person of God, or whoever you believe in.

2016 is your Olympic moment.  May it yours.  Celebrate others.  Be a team player in school, work, and at home.    

Saturday Night Snippets

Princess has a question, Do you have the answer?
(c) 2016 P. Lynne Designs

I usually do not write Saturdays and Sundays.  I reserve that time to play catch up.  Well, since I have been a little under the weather this past week, I thought I would write something.

To get your name out there 101-answer questions

It sounds a little silly, but if you want to get some recognition, answer questions for people.  There are sites like Yahoo Answers, which people ask a general question like “why is the sky blue?” (OK, that is too general, but you get the picture).   I signed up on a site called Quora. Quora allows people to ask questions, and it is better organized than Answers.com or Yahoo Answers.  No matter how silly your question is, you can ask it.

You can become an expert for that topic after one answer, and that will allow you to receive questions in the mail on that topic.  If you do not know the answer, you can either “pass” it or do like I just did on a question, quickly look it up, and give your answer.  Do not copy and paste it, for I am sure they will know it. By the way, the question that was gifted to me was the on “why did Disney replace Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie in Halloweentown with Sara Paxton (Return to Halloweentown)?”  I had to look that up and found out that she (Kimberly) was not available at the time of production.  She was on another movie set. 

So here are some of the other answers I gave in Quora tonight:

Who are your favorite You Tubers?

Like most people who answered this question, I have several favorites.  Please note:  These are different from the ones mentioned because I like mostly family-oriented videos.

1.      GabeBabeTV

2.      The Nive Nulls

3.      Cullen and Katie

4.      Samika Vlogs

5.      Glass Posse-Sister of Sam Anderson of Samika Vlogs

6.      T'mika Miller of ScrapDaWorld.  She makes Scrapbook Projects

7.      The Dis Unplug-They give you the news of all things Disney Parks, Universal Studios, and Florida (and sometimes California)

8.      Melody Lane- Avid Cricut Cutting Machine user

9.      Of Mice and Trains- He shows his Disney Cruise Trips

10. Tribe Tyler -Friends with Sam Anderson of Samika Vlogs.  His style is different from all the other You Tubers.  When you see it, it looks kind of retro.

11. Honorable Mention:  Laura in the Kitchen and The Pink Stamper

You know, it is funny, but the first 6 are family oriented, and they are faith-based, even though they are not preachy.  They do have their opinions, when are closely related to mine.  These families do show only 15 to 20 mins of their daily life, and yet, I know what their family personality is like.  The others are because I am a Disney fan and I like to do crafts.  T'mika and Melody have mostly tutorials on their videos, but I am always eager to try their projects or technics.

What is the significance of keeping a journal? And How Should I write it?

Journaling helps you learn about yourself and you view the world.  I keep in my MS Word journal things such as how I am feeling, things that happened that day, current events (that is how I started my writing blog), inspirational words and phrases, and projects I want to work on.

Journaling is how I came up with the idea of my present business (P. Lynne Designs), how I envisioned it, and what I want customers to get out of it.  I talk about my struggles and my successes. (Both personal and business).  I put my wishes, prayers, and dreams in my journal as well as my wishes, prayers, and dreams for my family and friends.

What I love about journaling is no one is there to judge you, because you are in your own little world.  If there is a disagreement, it is between me, myself, and I, unless I ask someone to read what I wrote, and I very rarely do that.

So in answering your second question, “How should you write it?”  Write your journal anyway you want to, with or without grammar mistakes (hey, I am not judging you).  These are things you are getting off your chest and remembering.  I wish you the best of luck with your journal.  I hope you have it for many years to come.

That last question, I will dive in more detail on the last topic about journaling on this blog at another time.

So what do answering questions have to do with your writing?

It does several things:

1.        It helps you think.  Most of us in the society called “being human”, think about only the things, ideas, and topics that surround us.  This is our nature, but there is something wrong with this picture.  It does not allow us to do this second thing:

2.      Open our minds.  Everyone has an opinion, and with Quora, there are no right or wrong answers (to a point).  Most of the question on this site allows you to give an opinion to something (what are your favorite You Tubers?  How should I write my journal?) There are some questions that are silly to questions like “why are 99% of opinions towards Donald Trump are negative?”  I answered that question. 

3.      You get to show your expertness on a topic.  You can create a short sentence bio at the end when you submit your answer.  On the subject of Epcot, I put “I am a fan, and I am planning my vacation.”  Not much of a bio, but it works.

You do not receive money for it, but you could mention it on your writing resume (you do have one of those, right?).  If you don’t, no worries.  You can always find examples online.  I would show you mine, but I need to revise it since I have been doing a lot of writing lately.

Pokémon Go Away

( warning:  Maybe some affiliate links ahead)

(c) 2016 Dennis Hwang

I like games. Games are fun and exciting. I have my few select games that I play on Facebook, my IPad, and my phone. Pokémon is not one of them.

I play puzzle games such as Candy Crush (jelly, original, and soda), Farm Animal Saga, Jigsaw Puzzle World, and SimCity Buildit. I used to be a big fan of Cityville, Farmville, and all the ‘Ville games, but I found that I was spending way too much time trying to build my city, farm my animals, and doing all the things that should be productive in the real world.

Now, you are probably wondering what is the difference between me building my city in SimCity Buildit versus building my city in Cityville? Maturity, I guess. When I first played Cityville, I had just gotten my account with Facebook. I had heard a tip from another consultant, who was a consultant in a different direct selling company, which she started Cityville, because, she can gain customers from Cityville. How? She said it was simple. She used to look on her Cityville account to see who has gifted her things (such as houses, businesses, and anything else that was related to Cityville). Then she would try to connect with them outside of Cityville to see if they would like to continue the friendship and Facebook. Once that was established, then she would talk about herself outside of Cityville, explain that she is also a consultant for the company she was a consultant with, and ask that person if they would like to hold a party, or simply place an order. She was surprised at how many people said yes to the idea. And that is how she gained customers. I thought it was a little bazaar, at first, but I decided to try it. It did not work for me, but I got addicted to the game.

Now with SimCity Buildit, is just me and my IPad. I do not have to bother anyone by inviting them into my inner circle, trying to see who has gifted me something (extra life, coins, and anything else related to puzzle game), and I have restricted myself to play before I go to sleep. Yeah I know, it’s a little stimulating, and it takes me a little longer to go to sleep, but it relaxes me, just like a book does. (Which reminds me, I need to start reading more again.)

Pokémon Go, A Go-Go.

I have heard of Pokémon before.  We all have at one time or another. I used to watch the show with my nephew when he was between the ages of 3–8, then the appeal sort of went away. He used to collect Pokémon cards, and dream of battles that he would have with Ash helping him. I thought, still do think that the characters, especially Pikachu are cute. There are a couple of them, however, I question the drawings of them, but hey, they are supposed to be battle monsters. I saw every movie, video, and television episode with my nephew, until at the time of the airing of each show or movie, and I knew just about all of them. In fact, I started following in love with Japanese animation. I used to watch Sailor Moon, but that is another topic for another day.

What is Pokémon Go?

In case you are over the age of say 60, correction 55, you may not have a clue to what Pokémon Go is about, the concept, nor this addiction that the younger generation has on this game. I am 52, and I barely know what this game is all about. So, I will try to explain what my 52-year-old brain can comprehend.

Pokémon Go is a “location-based” augmented reality video game you play on your Android or iOS phone.  The player uses their phone’s GPS system to help locate, capture, battle and train virtual creatures (according to Wikipedia). These creatures are called Pokémon (or pocket monsters as it is translated to). In order to play, a person needs to establish an account and choose an avatar (a virtual representation of the player). The end game is to catch all the Pokémon you see around you and do battle with your opponents. Sounds simple enough, right? Here’s the catch (get it?). Instead of sitting glued to your phone all day, you are walking around your city to catch these Pokémon, put him in the ball, and prepare to do battle with the Pokémon. The game sets up virtual spots around the city, for instance, downtown Columbus, and there, what I believe are Poké spots. You need to get there before someone else to claim your Pokémon, then put him into a Poké ball. You get experience points for activities done before the battle, and these experience points determine how strong your Pokémon are at the time of a battle. Naturally, the more Pokémon you get, the more points you get for when it’s time to do a battle. Anyone with the game, at any time, can challenge you to a battle.

Pros and cons of this game.

Pros

What I like about this game, is simple. It gets you up, it gets you moving, and you are exercising. You are not glued to your chair and to your phone. Sometimes, it takes time to define your Pokémon, but when you do, there is a reward at the end of your quest. It makes you happy when you get that reward, and I heard it is fun. These are the only 2 I see going into this game.

Cons

I have a bunch of cons for this game. Let’s start with the first one, usage of memory on your phone. Let’s just say it takes a lot of memory to play this game.

Privacy is another issue, and in my opinion, is a major issue. This is the privacy of others, of businesses, and other things involving privacy. In news reports since this game was introduced in July, I have heard of people being shot at, arrested, and told by cast members at Disney World, for example, to not go in restricted areas only to find on authorize persons in areas that they do not belong. There have been house invasions because someone was told that a Pokémon has been spotted in a person’s house. There have been false spottings of Pokémon to the point where people have been robbed of their phones because someone placed a false Pokémon in an area where there wasn’t one there.

People have stopped in the middle of freeways, roadways, and gotten killed over Pokémon. Children have been ignored by parents who played the game instead of taking care of their child. The same can be said about parents being ignored by their children. It is bad enough that people do not talk to each other anymore. They rather text each other than opening their mouth speak. Now we can add Pokémon Go to the list of items that allow a person be antisocial, non-talkative, and isolated from members of their own family.

Safety First.

In order to not have a ban on all things Pokémon Go, these are some rules that I feel must be abided in order to prevent any further problems:

·        Respect all private property. Unless the Pokémon is on your friends, family, or your own private property, please do not go onto that property, PERIOD. People do not take kindly to all random stranger showing up on their front or back yard, destroying property, and waking them up at 3 AM trying to find Pokémon. This just does not happen in our world.

·        Not all public property or common areas are proper Pokémon finding areas. I used Disney World as a perfect example of this earlier. Finding Pikachu on It’s a Small World ride is fine, but going where Mickey changes his outfit is not. Stay clear of any area where only cast members (Disney’s phrase for employee), employees, construction workers (there is a lot of construction going on at Disney these days), and even public safety personnel (police, security, fire person, sewage personnel, or the hired help) need to go in order to prepare for your arrival at the destination.

·        Please obey the rules of texting on your phone and driving. The same rules in your city and state apply here with Pokémon Go. I may be driving next to you, and the last thing I need to be is in an accident because you cannot find Squirtle. It is bad enough people have to put up with others talking on the phone, at times, to the point of arguing, and now putting up with Pokémon. Just be mindful and attentive when driving. That’s all I have to say about that subject.

·        This goes out to, dare I say it, those people who like to put out false advertising for their gain. No, not talking about that, although that is a future subject. I am talking about those who profit from robbing and stealing from others. You know who you are and you probably not reading this, but in case you are, STOP IT NOW. You know you’re wrong, God does not like ugly, and you need to turn yourself in. Stop profiting off of others, and get a real job. If this is your real job, you need to find a new career. I’m just saying.

So What Have We Learned from This Boys and Girls?

1.      It is good to play this game if you want a bit of exercise. It gets your heart pumping and you are not glued to your chair and staring aimlessly into your phone for no reason. You can now walk and stare aimlessly into your phone for no reason. Look up every once in a while, and look around. The place you may find your Pokémon at may be a place of historical value. It may also be a place where you might find peace. But, if you don’t look up from your phone every once in a while, you may find yourself in a place you don’t want to be. So be mindful of that while you are searching for Pokémon. This also teaches you to be more observant of the world around you. You may find yourself helping someone, consoling someone, and finding out that the world does not revolve around you.

2.      Take heed of the safety measures I talked about. Respect private property and respect the common areas you can and cannot go into. If you find yourself on private property, properly excuse yourself, apologize, and give a warning to others not to go in the same place you just visited. If the person you encounter is not reasonable, immediately call 911. Do not take matters into your own hands. This also applies if you find yourself being robbed.

3.      Lastly, have fun. Although this is a competition and preparing for virtual battle (I have to chuckle on that), no one has to be killed over a bunch of little Pokémon.

If you would like more articles like this, or would like to see me write about a topic, please let me know in the comments below, or leave a comment on my Facebook page, My Ambience Life. You may also leave an email at plogan721@att.net (subject: My Ambience Life Topics)

Directly Selling to you…

(c) 2016 P. Lynne Designs

In continuing with the whole making money theme, today, I am focusing on direct selling.  My disclaimer for today is, there may be some affiliate links in this article, in particularly with a company I am a consultant for, however, they did not pay me to write this article.  I am doing this on my own as part of this blog. I will also give you the pros and cons of this business, so, if you want to be a part of this type of business, either through the company I represent, or another company (5,000+ strong) you can make this decision yourself.

In case you did not catch my previous article (which I highly recommend you read), I am an Independent Home Consultant for The Longaberger Company or Longaberger for short. I will not go too much into the company itself, but it started in 1973, in a little town, about an 11/2-hour drive from where I currently live in Columbus, Ohio called Dresden, Ohio, by a man named Dave Longaberger.  Longaberger makes and sells baskets and pottery, along with other accessories for the baskets and pottery.  I got started selling them in 2001 and have seen many changes in the company in terms of the products being sold, and ownership.  Dave’s daughter, Tami Longaberger took over the company when he died in 1996, and sold the company in 2013 to JRJR Enterprises (formerly called CVSL), the only thing that stayed constant was the making and selling of baskets. (Pottery actually was added to the line in 1993).

What is Direct Selling?

My take on what direct selling is “the art of marketing and selling of products to the customer in a comfortable environment through parties.”  It is a little different from what I said in the previous article, which was, “the art of selling exclusive products to a customer in hopes of developing a life-long relationship (buying of product).”  Both are correct, except there are other ways that a person can buy direct.  To me, infomercials is another, but, the problem is the marketing form is through television, not an actual person selling to you face to face.  If you do not feel comfortable with the product being sold on the television, you change the channel, right? 

Direct selling, before the home party movement, was mostly made up of the door to door salesman (think Fuller Brush man or the insurance person making house calls).  Today, a person asks you if you want to have a party, you say yes, set a date, invite a few of your closest friends to view the product, have them bring a friend who is interested, and they eat and mingle, while the consultant presents a few of the latest products. The guests make an order, and cha-ching, it is money in the bank.

OK, it easy to do, right?

I did not say that it will be easy to ask for the sale (getting someone to host a party or make a purchase).  Sometimes the hardest part about earning commission is hosting a party, but it is.  I cannot speak on behalf of all the consultants out there, even from my own company.  Everyone has different experiences as a consultant, but if you stick with it, you can even make leadership. 

Let me get this off my chest for a moment:  I have never made leadership with Longaberger or with the other 2 companies I was briefly a consultant with (4 years with Tastefully Simple; 1 year with Your Inspiration at Home).  I had a team that I inherited in the almost 15 years I have been with Longaberger. Personally, I think the person I inherited the team from, cheated, because when I called up my team members, many did not know that they were consultants, they just wanted to buy from her.  That is a big no-no, because, you can lose a lot of friends that way, not to mention, problems down the road when you leave the company, and your team gets inherited by your upper manager.  Because of this, I am slowly rebuilding a team, and I have had a lot of people who have said they want to sell Longaberger, but end up not making the commitment it takes to be a consultant.  So, in this business, it takes time, and commitment, because you are building a business.  You are building a team of people who have that same drive to work the business as you do.  You start off small, and in time, you will have a viable business.

What this business is not:

While you can make money off this business, it is not a 6-figure business, directly.  There are ways to doing it, but I have not been able to do it, so in this article, I will not steer you towards that goal.  The way that some people have made 6-figures, has turned me off to not even try to cheat my way into it. 

What can I get from this?

If you are seeking for a way to get in front of people, this is the business to do just that, but be aware that not too many people will buy from you at first. You have to learn how to promote your business and promoted it well. This is the only way you can gain customers without depending on your friends and family.

You can, however, ask your friends and family to help support and start your business, but the best way to earn more commission, is to have an open house or tag along with your upper manager to one of her parties. If you have an open house, be sure to ask your upper manager to come to your first open house, that way, she can give you pointers on how to make your parties better. If he or she comes, be sure to take notes, and apply them to your next party.

Most party planning direct selling businesses allow you to at least a 25% or higher commission. You also will get incentives for earning certain levels. You can also earn a percentage of the earnings from the people who are under you. Be sure to check with the company decide to sign up with.

There is much more where that came from.

That is all I have for you today. If you have general questions about joining a direct selling company or have specific questions about joining Longaberger, please comment or ask below. If it’s something that you have to ask personally, you may send an email to me at plogan721@att.net. You may also send me a message at my Facebook page, Tricia’s baskets – Longaberger, my Twitter account @Tricia721.

Next week, I will have an article about handmade businesses. Until then, I hope you would at least give this a try if this is something you are looking to do. Remember, there are startup costs when going into a direct selling company, but you will make up your money in no time after a few parties. Also, let me know if you want to see more of this type of article. Be well.