Avon Sales Leadership

I started my Avon business on a whim shortly before this summer semester started.  I did not expect a whole lot from it, but figured for ten dollars I wasn't going to lose anything.

I remember my the thoughts that ran through my head as my district manager went through the Fast Start flier,
explaining how much can be made through Leadership. I thought yeah right I can't talk people into signing up for Avon...and figured I would just focus on my sales, getting to know products and providing a good customer experience.

And so I went on my way, happily telling everyone I am Joplin's newest Avon Representative, watching training videos and getting a feel for products.  Around  two weeks or so in to my Avon adventure I received a message through my Avon web site from a lady who wanted to sign up....I did not even know this lady....much less have a clue as to what to do. So I picked up my the phone and called the only person I could think to in a situation like this, Sherry, my district manager. Sherry was enthusiastic and couldn't wait to set up a time to meet with us.

I could have just gave the ladies name and number to Sherry and been done with it, but you see there is money to be made here...with this Leadership thing.

And so I began watching the leadership training videos too, and reading this and that and what not.
Up came our Sales meeting and I invited my cousin to come with me so that I didn't feel too out of place or alone. We had a blast, and even got to play with all the new stuff that was coming out. During the presentation Sherry told us about how much money people are making and we learned lots of information about Avon and the products that make up the Avon brand. I really like Sherry she has been with Avon for years and you can tell she really enjoys her job and she is great at what she does!

My cousin signed up for Avon that night.

Before I knew it I had another request to join my team.....Totally unexpected, but this Leadership opportunity was paying off really fast!

Before I knew it one of my new reps had a new rep of her own and I had a second generation in my team.
Next week I have appointments set up for two more ladies.

We have just began a new campaign, and I have to say I am proud to have the team I do, and look forward to everyone's successes...oh and the money, I look forward to it too!

Here is a link for more information on the Avon Opportunity
 and one about Avon and the causes it supports

The amazing Octopus

I ran across a video of an octopus stealing a video camera from a person today. It was too funny and got me to thinking how awesome the sea creature really is.

Octopus facts"
Their legs are attached to their heads
The largest type grows up to 600 pounds and has tentacles reaching nearly 33 feet long
They have a short lifespan of one to four years
It can camouflage itself
/www.factsmonk.com

Some will make a living area using rocks
They eat other sea creatures
They have three hearts
www.buzzle.com

Here is the video that encouraged me to use this topic
and here is some more footage of a octopus  hunting

Octopus mugs diver, steals his video camera

and here is some more footage of a octopus  hunting

hunting video

Awesome...I know

Yummy in my tummy

Broccoli Slaw is my new favorite food group. It is the perfect combination of veggies, crunch and sweetness. I've been paying 3.99 a pound for it so I decided to look up the recipe and make my own.  It was not a complicated task, and only took a few minutes to prepare.
Here are my easy to follow directions:

First take some bacon, two or three pieces and start them in the pan.
Then start cutting up lots of broccoli, cauliflower, onions.
Toss in a handful of sunflower seeds and raisins.
Then mix in some mayo to your preference and I like to add a bit of vinegar.
Crumble up your bacon and  toss it in.
Mix thoroughly and enjoy!

Vrooom Vroom

I'm pretty rough on my vehicles and I've went through a few of them in the nine years I've been driving.  I drive em like I stole em and tend to forget changing the oil and only replace tires when they are beyond bad.  Here is a tribute to all of my cars and what went wrong with them.

My first car was a white Dodge Omni with a hatch back and red interior it was pretty sweet, so sweet it got stolen.

Next was the only standard I've owned, a small blue Chevette which was a ton of fun to drive.  When it broke down on me on the highway I traded it for  my next car.

A blue Plymouth Reliant, and reliable it was for quite some time, I don't really remember what went wrong with it but I sold it for forty bucks just to get it out of my hair.

I paid a thousand dollars for my red Ford Tempo and it lasted me for a good three years.  I had to replace the transmission on it and it had a nice size dent from an old lady hitting me in Dillion's parking lot. I really cannot tell you how many tires I replaced before I had a much needed alignment done on it. I sold it for a hundred dollars after I bought my next car.

I paid just under two thousand for my white Pontiac Bonneville which has by far been my most luxurious car to date.  I knocked the passenger side mirror off the day after I bought it, but that car lasted me a little more than three years.  It died a few months back while my husband had it out fishing.

My Pontiac van was bought for me by my Mom, and it didn't last long because the transmission went out on it. That was a waste of twelve hundred bucks, espcially since it costs more than that to replace the tranny.

I now have a Toyota Corolla, I got a bargain on it and I'm the second owner. It's lasted about three months so far...we shall see what happens with it.

It seems like I'm missing something....I think there was a silver Cadillac somewhere in the mix.

With the thousands I've spent on all these I could be driving something a little nicer....not that I would keep it that way for long.

Nine Inch Nails

There is nothing better to me than the moments that I feel and hear nothing but the music that fills the air with vibrations and sound.

Live music wins me over every time. Since I cannot give up my life to become a groupie and follow all of my favorite bands through out the world,(and it's a damn shame I can't) I must settle for recorded music. My first choice is usually one of the following bands-NIN, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, hed(pe) or Lamb of God. If something else has caught my attention I'll go with that.

I'll pick NIN to elaborate on for this blog post. (starting to run out of ideas with all the writing for this class) I saw them live in St. Louis in 2004, I think it was. Queens of a Stone Age opened for them and they both put on great performances. I loved the light show NIN did and you can see it in one of the following videos.

NIN was formed in 1988 by Trent Reznor. The man is a musical genius, a modern day Bach. Trent is the head guy who is in control of every aspect of the music made by NIN, he is the singer, songwriter and producer. This not his only project as he also started the Nothing Records label which signed Marilyn Manson, in addition to producing the soundtrack for Natural Born Killers.

Learn more about the band at the NIN official web site.

You tube has some good videos take a look at these:

head like a hole from the first album
only has a great light show
closer may be the best known for the band, but I wouldn't recommend following the link if you have children in the room......

For a contrast check out the Ghost album released in 2008. It has thirty six tracks which contain no lyrics, it is purely instrumental. It was created in a ten week period by a variety of artist working together and is a very interesting compilation. Listen here

Trent Reznor has done an outstanding job at not only making music but documenting his musical growth throughout the years. The variety contained in the albums and the sheer amount of tracks ensures you are never bored.

Saturn

I love Saturn, and I wish I had time to write more.

The rings around Saturn are the only ones visible from Earth.

It is the second largest planet in our solar system.

We don't know exactly how many moons circle Saturn, but it's largest is bigger than Pluto.

Really the pictures say it all

here are a couple of my favorites:

moons and rings
Saturn

Check out this awesome video to see some great images

Sources
nasa.gov
fun facts

VENT TIME

Okay, so I like my retail job pretty well, but I'm going to take a moment to vent a bit about customers, co-workers and coupons.

Coupons are a nice thing that my company provides to customers. They save a lot of people a lot of money. That is all fine and good until you get the greedy people, customers who expect everything to be discounted and co-workers who will bend the rules to get more sales despite the trouble it causes.

Example: today I helped some women who were averagely nice until I didn't go along with this lady's request.

Customer "I bought this shirt before and used my $10.00 off coupon but I had to return the shirt because it was too small"

Me "okay"

Customer "Can I still use my coupon on this shirt?"

Me "Do you have a coupon to use?"

Customer "No I already gave it to you"

Umm, wait she did not give anything to me.

I go on to explain our return policy on coupons, if you exchange meaning return and rebuy the same item at the same time, you get the coupon benefit. We cannot use your coupon when you have already used it and we do not refund used coupons. Sounds simple enough, but then again I've had a few months of experiance with said coupons.

Customer "Well they do it for me all the time in another section, they just look it up on my card"

Poof like magic, yeah I understand.......

Me, getting a bit annoyed by this time,"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have no way to look up what coupons you have used, at this time there is nothing I can do about it"

Customer "Fine, Ill just go back there then"(mind you "the other section" is the one i previously worked in)

Me "Okay"

I'm not going to risk losing my job to save this woman ten bucks nor will I abide by her self appointed rules of the coupon.

So I call my manager to verify that I have not missed something here, (and to share the crazy woman story) she agrees that the woman is just trying to get an extra ten dollars off her total...big surprise.

So I go back to the department where the woman is headed, and see a co-worker who is known for bending the rules when it comes to coupons, I tell her about my conversation with the woman and manager and to expect something similar.

Later I go back to see what happened, my co-worker said she told the woman that it just wasn't possible to look up what coupons had been used...k...so a bit later anther employee tells me that what really happened was that the customer was told to drive home to another city and retrieve her receipt with the coupon on it and she would be issued the same discount.

Why does this bother me? Because the customer was encouraged to continue this behavior, because all of the time I put into the sell benefited someone else, and well, just because.

Another example:
Yesterday a woman's total was forty cents short of qualifying for her coupon, she gets huffy about it, but what can I do? It's not me saying no it's the register.

So as I'm walking out I notice her at another registar trying to use the same coupon, which still won't work (imagine that) well what does my co-worker do? Pulls out her own personal coupon from her purse and uses it for the customer. About two months ago we all got threatened with termination for doing this. I would just like to say to my co-worker-Way to go you have just encouraged this woman to keep abusing the coupon system and hassle the rest of us to provide the same courtesy to her.

Why does this bother me? It just does and I stayed five minutes late to ring this woman up.

I have had coupons thrown at me, been told I didn't know what I was talking about, and asked why we send out coupons if they don't work on anything anyway and been told "well it's cheaper at Wal-Mart anyway" (right, cause you know how much Calvin Klein they sell)

Why does this bother me? Despite the confrontational aspect of it, we don't have to give out coupons, we do it because we are awesome like that, but our customers have come to expect a discount on everything they touch and they don't care if we put our jobs at risk to give them a discount they don't qualify for. Co-workers who bend the rules take sells away from people who have spent time with the customer and therefore the rule abiding workers get questioned as to why they are not keeping up with so and so.

VENT OVER

Save the Chimps

I was first introduced to this organization via a PBS documentary . I have seen it once before but this time it really hit home. Chimpanzees are unbelievably close to us in DNA and habits such as using a spoon or putting on a hat, even grieving a loved one.

Because of the similarities in DNA we have used chimps to research medical products and various new ideas such as traveling to the moon. We as a not only a nation, but as a civilization, have learned a priceless amount of information from these creatures. We literally owe them our lives in one way or another.

But what happens to these near human replicas after we have flown them to the moon, used them in carnivals, had them as pets, and infected them with HIV and various forms of Hepatitis not to mention being used as crash test dummies? (more information here)

Before Save the Chimps took action, the answer was to lock these...dare I say, individuals into what is basically a jail cell and cast aside their "human" desires such as we are afforded.
Like humans, chimps not only walk on two feet, but thrive in family environments, have personality traits which distinguish one from another, they also experience grief, the desire to communicate and express excitement just as we do.

Save the Chimps is dedicated to providing refuge to these displaced chimps and provides them with opportunities to express themselves and enjoy their lives as an individual,

You can help by adopting a chimp and sponsoring their fresh fruit and vegetable habit. Take a look at April the 1st, born in 1979, she was kept as a pet, and when she became too much for her owners to manage, she was locked into a cage. Through community support, Save the Chimps has gave her a chance to escape a life of caged confinement, and something to look forward to each day.
Take a moment to thank a chimp...they have opened so many doors for "mankind"

Thursday already

Where oh where did my week go? I worked all weekend, we had a huge one day sale that lasted three days and it was crazy like you wouldn't believe. So my "weekend" started Tuesday and I have spent all week working on my two summer classes and setting up two fundraisers. I'm still waiting to hear back from Save the Chimps (you'll hear more about them in my next post). The one that I finally have up and going today is for my cousin. Her name is Courtney she is from Las Vagas but is here in Missouri right now because of complications from Lupus. She has been in the hospital for weeks undergoing dialysis treatment and is now waiting to find out if she is a candidate for a double kidney transplant. If you would like to donate to help cover the cost of her medical treatment click here.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!

How to fake a visit to the Fountian of Youth

It's not wrinkles. I just have too much skin for the size of my face.- Barbara Colson

Well I was looking for a quote along a different line but this one made me smile, good sarcasm always does.

My topic for today is skincare. Yes we will all end up with some wrinkles and age spots, but it is with in reach to protect skin and reverse signs of aging therefore maintaining a youthful look and keeping your age to yourself.

To begin with, and I will stress this, ALWAYS wear sunscreen, it's not just for the pool. A great idea is to purchase (and use) a foundation that contains sunscreen. I recommend Avon's Magix Cashmere Finish liquid foundation, it has a SPF of 15 which is really good for a make up product.
It's what I use daily.

Another tip to younger looking skin is to invest in a skin care regimen. Regimen? That sounds time consuming but it is rather simple really.

Here I'll walk you through a sample regimen:

1. Start with a cleanser to clean out your pores, remove impurities and prepare skin for moisturizers and treatments.

2.Apply a day cream with SPF sunscreen and follow up before bed with a night cream to hydrate your skin and reduce/prevent signs of aging skin.

3.Finish your routine off with an eye treatment.

And there ya have it ladies your skin care regimen is complete!

Before you run out to JcPenny and fork over your life savings on Estee Lauder, I want to introduce you to Avon's high quality products at a price everyone can afford.

Stop here to take Avon's skincare quiz, it evaluates your skin condition and recommends a corresponding product line designed to fit your individual needs.

I will give a complimentary sample pack of Avon products to anyone who takes this quiz (I promise it takes 60 seconds) and post what regimen was recommended for them! (*don't post your mailing address we will take care of that through e-mail)

Places to go- my list of fun in the sun ( and a cave)

Ahhhh summer is upon us once again! Despite the blistering sun and triple digit temperatures summer is my favorite season of all. When I think of summer it's memories of the creek, camping, fires and a ton of fun.

Seeing as how I'm a life long resident of this small corner of Missouri I have developed a habit of visiting our natural attractions. Springfield is home of Fantastic Caverns, I've been three times actually and was fascinated by it every time.

The Wildcat Glades is another favorite of mine, here in Joplin just out South Main you will find the Audubon Center, stop in at the Audubon Center and pick up a map for the walking trails. While your in there stop and take a look at some of the creatures found in the glades. Once I even got to see the caretaker feed the snakes live mice! Then you can take a scenic walk along Shoal Creek I always see lots of animals especially turtles sunning themselves. Follow this link to learn more: http://www.wildcatglades.audubon.org/


Not too far from Wildcat Glades, just off of NN highway, is Walter Woods Conservation area. It's never crowded and makes for a nice walk in the shade. I like to bring some stale bread or crackers to feed the swans, ducks and fish. If you look it's not hard to spot some fish swimming, I see a lot of catfish, bass and perch. Fishing is prohibited to the public although some children's groups are allowed to fish a couple times a year. Here is a link that tells more about the history of Walter Woods.


My favorite place to spend the day swimming is in Pineville, pretty much any spot you pick will have a great place to jump in. My favorite spots there are Mac's Big Rock and Owl's nest. Canoe rentals are easy to find and a few places rent out paddle boats for the day. I usually bring a tent and camp out for a night or two, I always have a hard time getting in the car to head back to the luxuries of home.......

This summer I want to revisit the Ozark Trout Farm, my mom took us as kids but I haven't been back in years. George Washington Carver Monument is another on the revisit list and I'm hoping that I will get another chance to walk through the house again!

Last but not least, my biggy for this summer is to travel to the Oklahoma Aquarium. I can't wait to see the sharks and various other marine life they have on display. I'm really excited for this one and I'm thinking I should start planning this trip asap! You can visit their blog here.

If you don't already know these spots I hope you take an afternoon to do some exploring and enjoy Missouri outdoors!

Will the reall Jessica please stand up?

Well, looky here I have a blog! When I saw the assignment I thought I was going to die. Me...make a blog? Right. Then I realized I do have another blog that I recently started for work purposes. Like most of you I'm completely new to the blogging thing. I'm hoping this school project will help me with my work project. So here's to it.

My name is Jessica, I'll be a Jr. after this summer semester. I've taken the last the last year off of classes, my husband and I have kinda taken turns going for the last two years. This Fall will be the first time we will both be students at the same time. I am working on my B.S. in Sociology and plan on getting a Masters degree in Psychology.

I currently am employed at Macy's, they pay me in clothing. Kidding, I just give them back my paycheck after it runs through the bank. We really do have great sales so if your not a current shopper stop in and browse.

I also am an Avon Rep. I haven't been doing this long but I'm enjoying it and making a small fortune. Avon caught my interest because of their product quality, history (women had Avon before the right to vote) and involvement with causes such as Domestic Violence. My time at Macy's has shown me that I enjoy providing good customer service, and I seem to be good at it to boot. If you don't already have an Avon lady, I would be more than happy to give you a catalog or you can browse online at http://jessicawinters.avonrepresentative.com/ . If your into the blogging thing you can check out my attempt at a blog there, it's under the blog tab.

I'm going to close for now as I have more school work to tend too, and I haven't quite figured out how to make my fragrance samples attach themselves to my business cards.