lt1jane
Gold Member
- 1,343
I'm at a crossroads. My business has always been up and down. I know most of that is due to my (lack) of effort at times. I am OK with that. I hate to bug family and friends about having parties and such.
This fall has been hard. I usually do vendor events to keep my business afloat. The ones this fall have been a bust. It's hard for me to remain active every other month and maintain career sales.
Another issue is I have not been attending my monthly meetings. I have the time available. The issue is my son. He is 6 and while he is semi-independent he still needs supervision. I had been bringing him to the meetings, setting him up with a laptop, DVD player, and headphones and he is generally content in the corner and will usually not interrupt. I have been told by my director I can no longer do this. I feel he is too young to be left to his own devices to sit in the library not in the meeting room. My husband works 3rd shift and is sleeping in the evening before he goes to work. He cannot be trusted to come home from work in the morning and go to bed so he can stay awake while I am at a meeting in the evening.
This has me furious. (It's been over three months since I was told to leave him at home and I have attended a meeting) It's hard to recruit for a "family friendly" business when we are told to leave our kids at home. This is not a "family friendly" attitude in my opinion. I have no problems hiring a babysitter for a party. I am earning money during that time. I don't earn a lot from this and refuse to hire a sitter for an event when I have no income potential. It's frustrating because my directors have high-school and college age kids and were once in my shoes. They have forgotten what this can be like. Not everyone has reliable childcare in their spouses. They don't want me to bring my child because other moms in the group will want to bring thier kids too.
I was at yet another rotten vendor event yesterday and was talking to the Wildtree rep. I love their products. Personally, I HATE our pantry line. The sauces are ridiciously expensive and the rubs have a lot of salt and preservatives. I love being able to read their labels and understand what every ingredient is. Also, I feel that TS and WT do a better job in the pantry line because that is all they do. Their prices reflect that philosophy. In a perfect world, PC would buy out Wildtree and get rid of their pantry line.
Because our pantry line is ever-growing, I feel it would be a conflict of interest to sell both. Also, I feel it's silly to do more than one business at a time. You split your time and both businesses suffer. You need to concentrate on one to be the most successful.
I was talking to the Wildtree rep about my issues with meetings. Kids are WELCOME at her monthly meetings. They just set up a second room and have someone watch them. (What a concept!) Even the PTA at my son's school encourages kids playing in the corner. It gets more parents involved and to the meetings.
I understand that some meetings are not good ones to bring kids to. (Ususally every January when they announce the trip, we combine with several other clusters and the meeting is huge, I leave my son at home for these.) Do all clusters ban kids? Am I being unreasonable? Wildtree is very tempting right now. I love their products as much as I love our kitchen products.
This fall has been hard. I usually do vendor events to keep my business afloat. The ones this fall have been a bust. It's hard for me to remain active every other month and maintain career sales.
Another issue is I have not been attending my monthly meetings. I have the time available. The issue is my son. He is 6 and while he is semi-independent he still needs supervision. I had been bringing him to the meetings, setting him up with a laptop, DVD player, and headphones and he is generally content in the corner and will usually not interrupt. I have been told by my director I can no longer do this. I feel he is too young to be left to his own devices to sit in the library not in the meeting room. My husband works 3rd shift and is sleeping in the evening before he goes to work. He cannot be trusted to come home from work in the morning and go to bed so he can stay awake while I am at a meeting in the evening.
This has me furious. (It's been over three months since I was told to leave him at home and I have attended a meeting) It's hard to recruit for a "family friendly" business when we are told to leave our kids at home. This is not a "family friendly" attitude in my opinion. I have no problems hiring a babysitter for a party. I am earning money during that time. I don't earn a lot from this and refuse to hire a sitter for an event when I have no income potential. It's frustrating because my directors have high-school and college age kids and were once in my shoes. They have forgotten what this can be like. Not everyone has reliable childcare in their spouses. They don't want me to bring my child because other moms in the group will want to bring thier kids too.
I was at yet another rotten vendor event yesterday and was talking to the Wildtree rep. I love their products. Personally, I HATE our pantry line. The sauces are ridiciously expensive and the rubs have a lot of salt and preservatives. I love being able to read their labels and understand what every ingredient is. Also, I feel that TS and WT do a better job in the pantry line because that is all they do. Their prices reflect that philosophy. In a perfect world, PC would buy out Wildtree and get rid of their pantry line.
Because our pantry line is ever-growing, I feel it would be a conflict of interest to sell both. Also, I feel it's silly to do more than one business at a time. You split your time and both businesses suffer. You need to concentrate on one to be the most successful.
I was talking to the Wildtree rep about my issues with meetings. Kids are WELCOME at her monthly meetings. They just set up a second room and have someone watch them. (What a concept!) Even the PTA at my son's school encourages kids playing in the corner. It gets more parents involved and to the meetings.
I understand that some meetings are not good ones to bring kids to. (Ususally every January when they announce the trip, we combine with several other clusters and the meeting is huge, I leave my son at home for these.) Do all clusters ban kids? Am I being unreasonable? Wildtree is very tempting right now. I love their products as much as I love our kitchen products.