I'm broke. All the time. It stinks. I hate it. When my bank account says that the balance is 11 cents and I'm stuck at home figuring out what is in the pantry that we can eat for the next week because we had an emergency and now don't have grocery money, I decided that I just can't do this anymore.
I've considered for a long time what I can do about this issue. I considered taking on a job. I hate that idea. I love being at home with my kids. I just can't think of doing something less than flexible with my time.
I considered extreme couponing. I've come to the conclusion that I don't have the space to store the bulk items that I would have to do to make it work. Plus with my son on a special diet, I just don't think that I'd be able to fully take care of his needs that way. I know that there are probably ways to do it, but I just don't think I could convince my son to wait on his almond milk until it goes on sale. I don't have the patience for it either.
My next idea came from several friends who are all in some sort of direct sales business. Creative Memories, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, Cookie Lee....the list goes on for a while. I searched for a direct sales company with a good reputation that I love the products and I don't already know at least 2 consultants. That narrowed down the list quite a bit. You see, I know a lot of consultants. A LOT. If I'm not hosting a party, I'm going to one at least once a month lately. This week it was actually 3. Crazy, huh?
So I searched for a while and found that there is actually a list from the Direct Selling Association of reputable companies. I went through that list...it's really long. I don't wear make up. I am allergic to a lot of smells. That narrowed the list down a lot. I'm not a girly girl and jewelry doesn't appeal to me in the least. Decorating my house was fun, but I just didn't think I could get into promoting home decorating stuff when I know that even if I love the catalog now, next year they could have really ugly stuff.
Finally I found a company that I liked! It's a company called Clever Container. They sell organization products. Cool! I know, if you read my blog at all, you know that I'm not the most organized person that you'd ever meet. Why would I get excited about organizational products? It's been my goal for how many years now to become more organized? Well, now I have to be and I get to test out really cool new products and get organizational techniques from professional organizers (there are a lot of those in this company) while working my own flexible business.
I know myself. If I spend money on a cool new gadget that works to help me clean, organize, or make my life easier, I will actually use it. If I have to work for it, I use it even more so. Why? Because wasting money on products bugs me too much!
I think the thing that sold me was the entire line of car organizing products. My car is notoriously messy. If I am going to run an organizing business, though, my car can't be that way. If my car goes from the junk heap that it was to the organized masterpiece that I'm sure it will be as soon as I get my hands on my cool stuff for it (for I will go immediately out to clean out my car and become a rigid mom about what goes in there and what stays out), I will know that I can apply those same things in my house and the rest of my life.
How do I know I can do this? I look at my son's room. Everything has a place in that room. I set it up that way on purpose so that my son can be comfortable. He thrives in order and consistency. If he knows where something goes, he puts it there...and no where else. I look at the rest of my house. Anywhere that Micah consistently uses something is organized. Anywhere else is not necessarily organized because I haven't made it a priority. It's not that I don't know how to organize, I just don't do it unless I have to. Yeah, I sound lazy. I can say that about myself sometimes...until I look at my schedule. Still, part of my business is going to be being organized...so here I am. I have to do it, so I will.
The next thing that I think will make me successful is that my kids will all be in school as of August 1st. That will give me my mornings to do some organizing of my home, organizing the business, and still be there for my kids when they need me.
I am so excited about this company. Drawbacks are that I've never done direct sales before, this is a fairly new company that doesn't have the reputation that many others have, and that I'm a pretty busy person already. I am pretty sure I can tackle all those problems. I like talking to people, sales has never been a problem for me before. I know how to advertise myself and my products, so hopefully it won't be too long before people know about Clever Container. The busy thing? I don't think that will ever go away, but being more organized will save me time, so hopefully it will all balance out in the end.
Am I crazy? Probably. We'll see how it all works out. By the way, I haven't got a website up yet, but I'm going to have one soon. In the meantime, here's a catalog if you want to take a look. I first saw that catalog and figured that no one could go through it and not find anything that they would use.
Let's see how this story unfolds in the next few months....
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