Anyone Else Having a Horrible Summer?

[rachelbakes]

I have had two dead months both July and August and barely scraped by for July and didn't sell my $150 in August. I feel stupid and incapable. Anyone else having this much trouble

 

[Tracy99]

My july and august have been pretty bad. I have had cooking shows turn into catalog shows which then couldnt even make 150. I combined shows to make it work. My fall calender is looking really sad. I am trying to set up an open house to try to get bookings but I am questioning if the expense (postage invites, etc) is even going to be worth it.

 

[millthayer]

Dont feel bad Rae...my month was the worst but I'm not gonna tell you what it was cuz I dont want to make you feel any worse!! I just got into a bad group of people who are having very small parties, $200-400.!!! I havent had a $1000. show since June which is very strange for me!! I just feel like I'm in a slump and cant get out....nobody was interested in the cookware..they said they were and then when they had their show, they really didnt NEED it! But its looking up as my Sept is full and I've already got 7 shows for October on the calendar!! So hang in there and I know it will turn around for you as you are great!!!

 

[purpleluvs3]

My June and July was totally dead, until a few days till the end of July, when my upline, called me and told me I was two days away from loosing my carer sales that I had worked 2 and 1/2 years to get where it is, and I was about 1,000 away from my payraise. So I got off my rear, and through together a few orders to get a show, then booked 1 show and a bridalshower for August, and now through December I have shows booked. not a full calendar yet, but more than I started with........

So long story/short.... it only takes a little work.. go back to the basics. and things will come together for you too.

 

[angel7581]

I have had many times where I had bad spells. Generally I found that if I really focused I could turn it around. Fall selling season is here .. start making phone calls, do a fall product preview, call people to invite them if postage is really an issue.

 

[lt1jane]

my business hasn't been that great, but I haven't done a lot to help it either. I'm just tired. To make matters worse, we had storms roll through here yesterday. I'm dealing with the cleanup and trying to figure out what to do while we wait for the official answer from the insurance.

Here's a picture of what is taking up my time and energy right now. The good news is that no one was hurt and it's only our garage, but we have no storage in the house, the garage was it.

 

[Sheila]

(((hugs))) Jane! I hope insurance pays for all the repairs!

 

[pampered1224]

Jane good thoughts for you and yours. I had a friend go through this after we down here got hit in early August. He lost a full half of his garage. The insurance company, State Farm, did good by him. They covered the removal of the tree, the fixing of the garage, replacement of the TV antenna and even replaced a lot of the electrical tools that were water damaged. They were not going to do that at first but when the insurance adjuster asked if he had plugged them in to see if they worked, he looked at the guy and said, "They had or have water in them. You plug them in!" It took only a week and a half to get everything done too!
Back on subject though. I cut down my business last December by choice to get through school. However, I am having a horrible time getting bookings even with the new stuff coming out. The other problem, I can not even afford to buy any of the new stuff to show off because I was not getting bookings or a decent paycheck to put back into my business. My August pay check will be all of $36! I don't know what to do. I have been on the phone, e-mailing and whatever I can with the time I have. Again though, I know it is something I am not doing, new contacts. So... My stint at the Fair got me 8 people who really wanted to book parties. But when I called to set their dates, NOT one booked after all.

 

[booksx2]

Jane,
I feel your pain. We have been recuping from Hurricane Irene! 7 days without electricity. I had 2 open parties that I could not close because the Hostesses didn't have electricity. Our cell phones were also on the fritz. Some customers cancelled orders too because of damage to their yards, property, etc. My BIL has 22 trees down in his yard, one on his garage, and no power and no phone. It has been crazy! However, we got our power back finally on Friday! My next September hostess still doesn't have power, so I haven't been able to get up with her. Don't know what this may mean for her party on September 17th! I was getting ready to throw in the towel, but I am going to limp through September and hopefully once our area is hooked back into electricity things will pick up some!

 

[lt1jane]

thanks for the good thoughts. We will be fine. I have "replacement value" insurance rather than "cash value." I will get a new garage out of this, just waiting for the official word from the insurance, then we have to contact the city to see what they will let us build. We live in the old part of town (no storage) we'd like to build a second story just for workshop and storage space. We're pretty sure we can get away with 1½ stories, but will try for the 2. Sent our son to stay with Grandma & Grandpa because the weight of that tree is on the garage, if it shifts we don't want him in the back yard.

 

[islandgurlchef]

Honestly, I think it really is the economic situation we all face. Here in Fl. we've had massive layoffs in our area from the end of the space shuttle and my July and August have been awful! However it really is important not to quit - it has before and will again, get better. Stay active, continue to talk about your biz. and don't go inactive, lose your career sales etc. You're going to be very unhappy if you let that happen. I've found that a mystery host/host appreciation usually drives up bookings - do your invites online AFTER you've invited personally so you're not spending much $$. Someone suggested that you ask past hosts to bring their favorite PC recipe to the event and give those who do an extra 10 tickets towards being chosen as the Mystery Host. I thought that was a great idea if you're concerned about keeping costs down. Kind thoughts to all.....it's been a really difficult summer for so many.

 

[aried]

I am all with you all! My daughter is getting married in November so that has been occupying my thoughts/time. I have a booth next weekend hoping to make contacts, bookings. Have a catalog show going on for this month also. People are not wanting to set dates yet. Also lacking motivation.

 

[jla8279]

I am all with you all! My daughter is getting married in November so that has been occupying my thoughts/time. I have a booth next weekend hoping to make contacts, bookings. Have a catalog show going on for this month also. People are not wanting to set dates yet. Also lacking motivation.

Just curious, do you have a wedding registry set up for your daughter?

 

[aried]

unfortunately she didn't want one. I have 3 others currently going on. For some reason none of my family members (niece's who have gotten married in the last 5 years) didn't set one up either.

 

[theonlychuck]

august was absolutely horrible i tried everything! i really worked my tail off and couldnt get one single order, or show, my july i came back from conference on fire!! submitted almost 3000, this month i have 5 bookings and 2 catalog shows so i am coming back but august was awful!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I had 2 parties in August, both the last week of the month. The first one went with September specials, the second went with August.The Sept. show was over $1,100 commissionable with 2 bookings and $1,300 in guest sales, for $290 free for the host.The August show was $135 commissionable before the host's order. If the past host wasn't ordering a family skillet she wouldn't even get $25 free and $200 in sales.Both parties had 10 people in attendance and I was the same consultant at both, obviously, but the difference is the motivated host, who got 16 orders, all of them over $60.Of my other host's 10 guests, only 5 ordered and only 2 orders were over $60.You are not stupid or incapable. You just got stuck with some unmotivated hosts. It happens.

 

[cookiebug]

I started the first of July, Had 4 shows booked and 2 cancelled. Did 470 in sales for July, NOTHING in August but had 2 shows booked for September then found a small booth to do this saturday and picked up another fundraiser for RFL. I was very discouraged at first but things are looking up. Good luck to you all.

 

[esavvymom]

Wait!? Summer is over?! Crap....I missed it again. :grumpy:
HAHA...it went too fast to notice! I didn't do much other than stay active, but that was all I could handle.

 

[Sk8Mom209]

unfortunately she didn't want one. I have 3 others currently going on. For some reason none of my family members (niece's who have gotten married in the last 5 years) didn't set one up either.

It must be a daughter thing! My daughter got married and May and I setup the registry for her and got the look, you know the one. Only one of my aunts and I purchased off the registry because my DD and her husband want to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond and use the registry gun! Oh well, what can you do! Funny thing is now she is a Scentsy rep and wants me to buy stuff all the time