Tag Archives: travel

Earning an Incentive during Covid/Rioting

On March 1st Scentsy announced an incentive for the Spring/Summer season. This incentive was not different from any other Spring/Summer incentive we’d done previously. 4 tiers, Levels 1-3 and a top 50. No surprise. Same prv (personal retail volume), same recruit specification and that they had to do 1000 prv to count. We had until June 30th to complete the qualifications. In Ohio – our Governor put plans in motion beginning March 19th(ish). The state changed- and I could have let that be my excuse- but I didn’t. I knew that if I wanted to earn this incentive I would have to get creative, open up to new ideas, and accept that this was uncharted territory that I’d be working in. My events- cancelled. In home party gatherings- forbidden. This is when I would realize all of my work on social media and bag parties would pay off as long as the consistency was there.

Scentsy 2020 Consultant Incentive - Grow With The Flow - The ...
Grow with the Flow incentive 2020

My entire career I’ve pushed back on the people telling me that you cannot do direct sales through social media alone. I’m proof you can absolutely have customers from all over the country purchase from you because of your online connections. It’s taking the time to stay connected online and the effort it takes to maintain. I care about my customers. Most become my friends I check in on. Relationship building – as long as it’s genuine – requires time no matter how you’re doing it – in person or online.

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Let me throw another wrench into this- I have an autoimmune disease. So my leaving my home was incredibly restricted. We were locked down for the most part from March – end of May. Almost the entire incentive. If I went somewhere it was gas, porch drops, or grocery store when I had to.

Let’s also add that since the end of May there have also been riots and protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement in our bigger city. I’m bringing these up as they caused hardship on some through participating in riots or not having access to their homes. Some lost their jobs for speaking out on the topic- etc. Columbus had mandated curfews, areas shut down for traffic, rioting and looting hurt some downtown businesses causing closures. I bring this up merely because it affected employees, business owners, people hurt during the protests/riots that could all have caused ripples during this time for someone trying tor process, participate, educate oneself while also trying to earn an incentive. I am not insensitive. It’s not easy to balance these things. I’m merely looking at an abbreviated big picture of my tiny piece of the world.

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I had all of the above occurring. Here’s how I earned this:

  1. Ask everyone, believe in everyone, and work with those that want it.
  2. Communication. My door is open for my new teammies. I’ve jumped on messages, calls, zoom videos with everyone listed below. I checked in, I provided training. I was present- and I still AM as Bill is the only one out of his 70 days.
  3. Make a list, create reports, keep yourself on task. List of 100 for parties/sponsoring. Top Ten Dream Team lists. If something isn’t working- reach out to someone and ask what they are trying. Bingo was a godsend.
  4. Find Accountability partners. Vanessa & Shelly got me through Levels 2 and 3. Whether it was Facebook calls, Zoom videos, chats- without them I would have quit. I would have let Covid stop me. They didn’t give up on me. ❤ you guys.
  5. Be Genuine. I wanted to help all three of these people for different reasons. I’m excited to get to know Karen and Kendra more. I’m excited to watch them all grow. I’m excited to be able to talk about these things with Bill- he married one of my favorite people! Karen is a new friend, who showed up to my house on a motorcycle! She’s cool, mysterious, intriguing! Kendra is a mom of a student of my best friend. She lives further away but it’s going to be fun getting to see her now when I go see Jenn!

So the fine details:

Bill and Jacob are two of my best friends. I married them if you count the crying mess I was as marrying them. I’m SO proud I get to watch their lives evolve together. They recently built and moved into a new home and they decided to join Scentsy since Bill works for an airline and he was getting his hours cut due to Covid. Bill is a reader. Bill was coachable. Bill asked the questions and took the advice and aimed for the goals and hit them. Bill was my first recruited and certified for this incentive. He did the launch. He booked the next party, he invested in himself time wise and he saw what the business could do. It helps that Jacob also loves the products and getting paid off their stash makes a happy marriage. They never used COVID as an excuse. They mailed catalogs, dropped testers off for sniffing, they used products and explained them/shared them. I cannot wait for them to start building their team. They are going to be amazing leaders as a team.

Karen R was a person that I was introduced to through a friend named lol Karen T. Karen R was looking for an older warmer on Facebook and Karen T tagged me in a post. I was able to find, and get the warmer Karen R was looking for quickly. She was impressed with my work ethic. She jumped on the website , saw the 20$ join special, asked if it was real, which let to a conversation about the contents of all the kits and she signed up. We again walked through launching, creating a party group, which flipped into her VIP page and got her started. Karen quickly certified, sponsored a teammie, and is now working on a balance to get her to a lead promotion for the new incentive that started July 1. She is a go-getter. She’s wise and she asks amazing questions. She’s doing amazing. Again- coachable and she used that VIP page to share.

My best friend Jenn had a Bingo party for me- first Scentsy party she’s ever had in over 8 years of my selling lol. Kendra was an attendee. I often ask the hosts of my parties if they want to join and take the party on for themselves and if they pass I ask guests. Kendra took me up on that offer. When the party ended we had booked Kendra a second party from that party. We set goals and Kendra- from just those two parties certified and got her pay raise. Kendra also booked another party off the 2nd party. Within 15 days Kendra had done a 500$ and started her 2nd party.

My own sales attributed. I did 1550-3568 personal prv month to month March-June. During Covid, during lockdown, during protests, while working full time. I set the goal. I motivated myself towards to goal. I made sure the above worked towards the goal. They were not the only 3 I sponsored. They were the 3 that worked their businesses and invested time and energy into finding a way to achieve their goals.

Here’s what will be taken away from this blog, and it’s saddens me: Well Kelly you’ve sold Scentsy for 8 years so you have a customer base- these new people didn’t. My new people didn’t either. You’re focusing on the wrong thing. If you didn’t earn this incentive because your consultants didn’t certify – it’s not likely that Covid, Protests, Lockdowns, Rioting were the nitty gritty reason. Dig deeper. It was more than likely fear of asking DUE to those reasons. It’s almost always a fear of rejection, fear of annoying, or fear of something instead of Covid, Lockdown, or Protests in this case.

Scentsy- due to the nature of the brand- had hyper growth in this season because people were at home more than ever before, meaning they go through product more. They could get contactless delivery in some nature. People joined due to a join special and worked it because the income needs were there due to shut downs and cut hours. They need(ed) the money so they worked the business. We had a great Spring/Summer and I’m super excited to see how July ends before a new catalog season begins.

When people are upset that they didn’t earn something, because someone else didn’t do their part- and they ask for consideration or accommodations to be made- it makes those that did the work feel like our work is not of any validity. I’ve been in the shoes of someone who has missed an incentive level or incentive because someone didn’t hit their goal. I know it hurts. This is how direct sales works. The DSA requires that your sponsored consultant actually do work to earn instead of just sponsoring them because we are not a pyramid scheme and sponsoring and doing nothing and getting paid for or gifted something for it- that IS how a pyramid scheme works.

I use a handful of quotes often as a leader. They never seem to not fit a situation. #wecandohardthings is my team mantra. They know that no matter what I believe that we can do the hard things and succeed. This is another quote I use- especially when leaders are aiming for promotions and incentives. As long as you are shooting for that moon- you’ll land in the stars. The work you did from this incentive WILL set you up for the next. Just so happened that the next started the very next day lol. ❤ You may not have earned the Grow with the Flow incentive. Take that driving force into the Family Incentive ❤ You can do it! I believe in you ❤

image] Shoot for the moon - les brown : GetMotivated

**Scentsy is part of the DSA, Direct Selling Association. This means Scentsy complies to not encouraging stock buying or maintaining large amounts of stock in home, reimbursement to new consultants that join and decided Scentsy isn’t right for them up to 90% on unused goods, within their first 12 months. They also have extensive product warranties for all consumers. You can locate this informations on the DSA website under code of ethics.**

 

Well 2020 is here – and I’m late (duh)

Well didn’t know it did that…..

Welcome to 2020. I’m a month late (and some days). I feel like I blinked and 2019 vanished. Trying to even remember everything accomplished in 2019 hurts my brain. It made me realize I need to document 2020 or I’m going to have an even harder time remember it. So we’re back.

2020, started off with me pushing incredibly hard to earn a trip that I’d end up NOT earning. BUT the lessons learned trying to do so are invaluable. I made choices that I wouldn’t change as they will help my business growth- over what would have helped me earn a cruise out of New York to Bermuda. I still gave it my all and I can 100% say that with no regrets. It helps that I also traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii with Kylie (my sister) in January as part of our Scentsy Leadership Retreat.

We stayed at Hilton Waikiki Village – and honestly you could have never left the resort and enjoyed everything it had to offer and relaxed- but we had way too much to do.

Early Morning Acai bowls and a walk on the beach before my business meeting. I’d never had an Acai bowl before. It was creamy and cold, full of fresh fruit and the pineapples on the island are exactly as you dream.  The Dole Plantation (READ AS DOLE WHIP) and a Japanese Steakhouse marked our 1st non-travel day adventure after my business meeting.  My foodie friend Holly joined us as we walked through a zen like garden and rode a train through the whole plantation learning of its history. Cherry on top – a Dole Whip that trumped Disney’s for sure. We had the most interesting Uber driver on our way back to the village. He told us so many amazing facts about the scenery (since the drive was over an hour long he had a lot of time to kill lol).

We were starving- but food with Kylie can prove….. interesting. I was incredibly proud of her (until I found out she wasn’t 100% sure what she had gotten into) for agreeing to the Japanese steakhouse. This is very worthy of it’s own paragraph. We ended up at a table with two other groups. In each group there was a food allergy. Group 1: Onions. Group 2 & 3: Shellfish. This lead to a backwards format for the chef. Still fun, just meant I ended up eating before the rest of my party as my items had to be cooked prior to shellfish. We strolled the village shops, and then went to bed.

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Day 2- We went to breakfast at Cinnamons – which everyone raved about. I was kind of disappointed but my food was not horrible. It just wasn’t worth raving about. We also got lost. What should have taken 9 minutes took 30 because Kylie and I can’t be trusted with maps. We went to the Mall, and some other shops, and eventually bought a Coastal Tour Trolley ride. It may have been the highlight of my trip (well one of them). We used Waikiki Trolley. If you purchased a tour line (ours was blue, will link below) you got pink line free for 24 hours. Waikiki Trolley Blue Line . Hanauma Bay and the Halona Blow Hole were by far the best stops. I even got video of the blow holes! Hanauma Bay is SO clear and Blue. You could see the coral from the look out points. I was so grateful for nature on this trip. We also had to be picked up from a ritzy duty free designer mall so that was fun to walk around. We had lunch at a rooftop TexMex place and feed rice to the birds. They get so close! Kylie loves birds so she had a lot of fun. We had dinner with Holly at a diner that my Mimi would have loved. Good old Burger and Tots stop.

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Day 3 – Pearl Harbor Day. 5am wakeup. LOL But it was worth it. We had a great tour guide- Cousin K. She’s a senior driver so she knows her stuff and she spits knowledge at you so the stopping and picking up/dropping off others isn’t such a dreadful process. I can’t recall which company we booked through as we used the location at Hilton Waikiki Village to book. We did the USS Arizona and I wished my dad could have been there. This would have been right up his alley. The Harbor is so shallow that the boat still there, and very visible. It’s also still leaking oil. That’s mind-blowing. 1941 and still leaking in 2020. It was sobering- the stories of survivors of the boat once passing away asking to be dropped into the ship with their lost friends. There’s only a few survivors left and there is a myth that the people of Hawaii believe- that the oil will stop leaking at the death of the last survivor. Wouldn’t that just be ominous? We met Tim & Jim from Chicago area on that day and we wish we would have hung out with them more. Maybe one day our paths will cross again. I went to the pool with Holly and ended up near our CEO’s. Had fun conversation and I got in the ICE cold pool for 3 minutes and yea nope. Couldn’t hang. It started raining. Kylie and I later went out to some other shops and a flea market. We ate at Yard House which we LOVE. We do not have one in Columbus though.  One word to end your night – Leonard’s Portuguese donuts. YUM.

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Last Day – Our plane takes off at 4:30pm on our last day and flies through the night. We decided to walk the beach and get breakfast in the Village. Checkout is at 11am and they hold our luggage- nice perk. Our shuttle is scheduled for 1:30pm. We just kind of took everything in for a last time and then headed on our journey home. We found turtles we’d missed the whole time! I’m so grateful that I’m able to take trips like this as a leader. It certainly – as previously stated- made the sting of not earning Bermuda hurt less. I did earn Salt Lake City, Utah so look for that adventure in July.

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The month after vacation

As always if you want to connect with me you can do it here:

Twitter, IG, YouTube, Snapchat, WW Connect: @KellyNDodds

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kelly.dodds.33

Shop Scentsy: www.kellydodds.com

STRUGGLE BUS. Those are the only words that can fully describe getting back on the Weight Watchers wagon after a vacation.

I first must apologize for the month long hiatus from the blog. You are all about to find out why it has been a struggle for me to write a Weight Watchers post.

On July 15th I flew from Columbus, Ohio to Anaheim, California. Since I would not be home nor in a location where I could cook for myself I knew this week would be a difficult week to maintain Weight Watchers. I opted to not track from the second we stepped off the airplane until the second I hit the airport July 22nd. Yes a full 7 days not logging, counting points, thinking about what I was putting into my body. I also knew I’d be walking at least 10k steps per day. In my head I figured I’d come back gaining a few pounds. Between Leadership events, Convention events, presenting, and my team members being there meal prep would be too much of a time hog.

One of the things I did well in California was small amounts of food. For instance I took bites of cakes or higher pointed foods and consumed the lower foods first and in entirety. I did eat some bread- which is something I typically shy away from. I drank a flight of margaritas as well! When I vacation food is something I look forward to as much as seeing the sights. I wasn’t disappointed at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles or Marri’s Pizza. The last night I had a Short Rib Grilled Cheese that was AMAZING and right in our hotel. These are all things I don’t get to eat on Weight Watchers due to point values.

Somehow- Someway, I ended up coming home weighing 10 POUNDS less than I left at. It makes 0 sense (even if I did walk a 5k and walk over 15k steps a day for 7 days). It was an amazing feeling that didn’t last long. By the next week I had gained some back. Why? That next week was a struggle bus. Since I didn’t track and I lost- my brain went rogue. It decided I didn’t need to put what went in my mouth in that app. It also wanted richer foods that it was fueled with in California- and that meant more carbohydrates than I normally would eat. Uggggggh and the time zone differences! It took me over a week to get readjusted to Ohio time. My body was hungry at 10pm since that is 7pm Cali time. Meaning I would eat something right before bed.

So for almost exactly a month- I’ve been working on getting back to “normal”. Pointing, meal prep, recipe manipulation, going back to the gym, and getting back into the community pages on Facebook and Connect.

Northwest kinda feeling – Part 1

Welcome to the blog I’ve been ever promising. Seattle was an experience of 1st time things. It was my first long distance trip alone. It was my first flight with Frontier Airlines. It was suppose to be my first business class flight – more on that later. My first trip to the North West region of the United States.My first time using Air B&B. You  get it right? Lots of firsts. Let’s start with this randomness and how I came back an even mellower human being.

Painting the scene.

It’s mid July, humid, hazy, hot. We’re in  Nashville, TN and it’s  around 11:30 pm. We’re at Steak ‘N Shake with some of my FAVORITE Scentsy people. One being Heather M. Heather lives about an hour away from Seattle, where I have a high school friend named Stacey. Heather and I talked about her baby shower (oh- she’s pregnant and due 9/11 in this part of the story). I make a quick snap of a decision (after seeing how much money I had left over from this trip) that I would be going to this baby shower.

Preface*** I live outside of Columbus, Ohio.*** 

I booked a flight on an airline I’d never heard before through Priceline.com. I had no idea the ride I was in for. I scoured Air B&B until I found a room with hosts that I knew would have stories to tell. The wife an author/painter from Amsterdam and the husband a singer/stage production guy from Texas. The room was way cheaper than a hotel (we’re talking the whole stay was the cost of 1 night in a hotel!) so I wrote a message and they accepted my reservation. A jump into my generations culture- without shock. This was it. My flight booked. My room paid for. Research on car2go, Lyft, Uber, and Zipcar done. Heather was going to pick me up from the airport, I’d have a day with Stacey, then the Baby Shower, and then a flight home. Crafted and planned carefully with trips to Pike’s Place, The Space Needle, and fun food joints. A few days before my trip my phone pinged. An email from Frontier Airlines shown brightly. I had to pick a seat, and I had to let them know (and pay for) my baggage and said seat. Well if I have to pay for a seat I suppose I’ll pick business class… first 3 rows. Oh I didn’t know at the time… and what I would have killed for to have the knowledge I have now. These expenses caused this flight to be MORE expensive than other airlines. I justified the cost because of the business class seats- or so I thought.

Airport Time, Excellent!

I live about 30 minutes from John Glen International Airport, previously known as Port Columbus. I opt for early morning flights so I can clear TSA with plenty of time for coffee, breakfast, and a restroom trip. I love my routine so I stuck to it. 2 hours early- through the line quickly, and off I went in search of a Starbucks. I ordered my double shot on Ice which they had no clue how to ring up. After holding up the line, I finally got the correct drink. Everyone was super nice about it- I was just a little self conscious about it taking so long. It’s an airport and I know people are in a hurry. No one was mean to me though! Win! I grabbed a quick sandwich and found a seat with charger as one does- except none of the seat chargers worked. I remembered to pack and charge my extended battery pack though so another win! Ping- my Facebook Messenger goes off. It’s 5:45 am and not a soul I know is up at that time. It’s Heather. Why is she awake? Because she’s in labor so she cannot pick me up from the airport. Okay 1) Squeals of Delight because this baby knew I was coming and decided today is the day! 2) Worry because this baby is 3 weeks early and there could be issues. I quickly convinced her that I would be fine getting myself to my Air B&B, and not worry about me.

I had express boarding so I was on the plane quickly- however business class was no more than stretch seating. 3 extra inches of leg space. Let me paint another picture- I’m not towering tall. In fact I’m 5’5″. I didn’t need extra leg space. My personal items ended up having to be stowed 3 rows back which made me nervous the whole time. The icing on this Frontier Cake was when they offered the extra seats I was in to passengers for 15$ LESS than what I paid for it- when their site said it would be MORE expensive on the flight to upgrade. We landed in Denver and I had never been happier. We were released from the plane so it could gas up and be cleaned but we’d come back to it for our Seattle leg. Before I knew it I was collecting my personal items and requesting a Lyft.

Lyft vs. Uber

Columbus doesn’t have much of a Lyft following, but we have Uber. Fun Fact- I’ve never used Uber in my state. Only others. Which makes me familiar with it’s process. There were signs all over SeaTac Airport with Lyft codes so I decided to try it. A lesson I learned in the SeaTac airport- Lyft drivers are urged to purchase economical cars in Seattle. They get a bonus buying discount. Their car of choice: Prius. Their colors of choice: Grey, Black, and Midnight Blue. I’ll let you figure out how hard it was to find the actual Lyft I was suppose to be in. I learned this lesson chatting with an Uber driver with a Charger in red. I regretted my decision to Lyft because she was so fun! I got in my Lyft- asked about the area, thanked my driver and starred at the house I would be staying in. The notification came up with the 22$ car ride bill (after my 5$ discount). I pulled up Uber and the ride would have been 16$ with no discount. You got me Lyft! Props on that one- your marketing tactics at the airport worked well. I later Uber’d back to the airport to rent a car- turns out it was cheaper!

Air B & B not Air Conditioning….

The panoramic view of my Air B&B house was a lot to take in. There were compact discs on strings hanging in a tree. There were flowers and herbs everywhere. I approached the small stoop lined with shoes, rang the door bell and gazed fearfully at an orb spider in the middle of it’s web off to the left. I heard the clicking of the lock and found the Texan looking at me. I was welcomed, asked  to take my shoes off and it hit me. The day I arrived in Seattle the pilot announced it was unusually warm for the location and month. Unusually meant 25 degrees warmer than usual. It was 95. I must have removed my filter requiring AC when searching Air B&B, because my room only had a small personal fan. The room was butter yellow with paintings done by the owner. The bed was decorated with floral coverings. The pillows were memory foam. One of my favorite memories is of the sleep I got in that bed. I grew up in a house with window AC units in certain rooms only. There are a few combinations of tricks that help me sleep in the heat. 1st a cold shower- do not fully dry off. Putting on your pajamas while damp then putting a fan close to you will keep you cooler. I also got a glass of ice and put it in front of the fan. The ice melts and the fan throws teeny tiny water droplets at you until the ice gets too low in the glass. I also opened the window because it cooled down a little at night. It worked swimmingly. It’s a mistake I will never make again though!

img_4991 The Air B&B tree

 

Friday Night Skylights

I studied materials my hosts had in my room. It was a surplus of arts, travel, culture, and food magazines, cards, and paper menus. I found a punch card to a local burger joint and asked if it was any good. As I was walking out the door I ran into my other host who asked if they could join me. We all wanted out of the heated house. To our surprise the burger joint did not have AC either. Seattle has some pretty strict recycling rules that took me a day to get use to. Compost piles and Food Scraps, Paper, Plastic, Glass, it was all required. We have to pay for this in Ohio, it’s treated like something special you get to have- in Seattle it’s something you have to do and if you do it incorrectly you can be fined! It’s fascinating.

We decided to eat outside, I waited for my  milkshake, cheeseburger combo knowing the milkshake would make the heat so much better. Heather had warned me of the food prices but this ended up being my most expensive meal of the trip. As we finished up my hosts decided to take me on a driving tour of the city. We stopped so I could get some amazing pictures of the skyline and gardens. This city is gorgeous and surrounded by Glacier Lakes, the sound, and has amazing sunsets. My hosts were very impressed with my ability to bounce back from having a large chunk of my plans destroyed. I can honestly say I too was impressed with myself. We went back to the house and I was given Trader Joe chocolate bites and a glass bottle of water for my room. The little details were not missed and were appreciated.

Here are some pictures from my 1st night in Seattle. Look for Part 2 very soon!

 

Nashville or Bust!

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The last time my family visited Nashville was under some pretty terrible circumstances. Thanks to Scentsy, This Independent Director gets to go back for VERY little money! I cannot WAIT to see all the new Fall/Winter and seasonal items in person, visit with my friends that are currently all over the world, and stay at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.We’re being treated to a night at Wild Horse Saloon, an actual Grand Ole Opry show, and a Parachute private concert while there! The atmosphere at a Scentsy Convention is unlike any other- 100% moving and motivating. I’ve already started packing my bags!

The highlight of my last trip was the fancy drinks at The Aquarium Restaurant. This guy owes me a better photo for sure- don’t you think 😉 It is Shark week!!! Here’s to fun, family, and new goals! ❤

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  • All pictures taken by me ❤ Please do not use sans my permission.