I hesitated to post this on my blog, but it is MY BLOG, so I'm going to do it. Hopefully any of my clients that see this will appreciate the fact that above all, I am authentic and I always keep it real. I don't try to sell anyone Ooops! unless they really want oil in a tube with a lip gloss applicator for convenience and I'll be the FIRST to tell you that our Foops Makeup Remover is overpriced. Sorry, just keeping it real.
Since I posted this on my Facebook feed, I've had several of my true friends message me to ask if I was talking about THEM when I posted this. Truth be told, I'm not thinking of any one person, but just an overall feeling that I'm getting in general when it comes to our society and how multi-level marketing is infiltrating us all. Please read on....I admit that a lot of this has come to mind after spending the last two days reading a lot of posts on LuLaRoe Defective/Ripped /Torn Leggings And Clothes as a serious lurker. If any of you reading this are ex-Lula consultants or present Lula consultants, you need to go over there, because it is educational and entertaining and horrifying all at the same time!
So here goes:
BEGINNING
So...I don't usually post stuff like this on my personal page (or really at ALL for that matter), but I really feel the need to make sure that all of my Facebook "friends" read this so you are fairly warned. This is also going to go on my blog eventually so I can post the link back to people who I feel are being unnecessarily aggressive and pushy. And know that if you post something that I perceive as negative or nasty on MY OWN PERSONAL feed, it will be deleted. If you have something to say to me, private message me. Nothing has happened but this is just a gradual building up of my feelings over the last month after seeing how many "friends" are adding me to their friends' Facebook groups for direct sales, inviting me to networking events, or asking me to come to parties that they are hosting for their other direct sales friends.
If you are one of those people and wondering if I am talking about you, then ask yourself this. Have you ever once bought from me to support my part-time job, but never hesitate to invite me to an online party that you are hosting, having or whatever? Have you ever once come up and did a demo with me at an event? Did you ask for my card at an event under the guise of "Oh, I wear LipSense and I'd love a new distributor" but really just used it as a ploy to get another person to cold call? Have you ever once referred someone to me that maybe asked about SeneGence or LipSense? Have you approached me about signing up with your MLM out of the blue, messaged me because I haven't bought from you in a while, or asked me if I'm interested in buying something from you because "it just made you think of me"? Or the worst, did you ONLY buy something from me because you thought it was a quid pro quo and would be a way to guilt me into buying something from you? Guess what, ladies, I've been watching Lularoe and direct sales for a long time, and I've been a LipSense distributor for almost a year and a half. You're not fooling me, yourself or anyone else.
Look at my profile. Yes, I am a distributor for SeneGence International. I am also a career insurance adjuster, a wife, a mother and a friend, not in that order of importance. Just because I sell cosmetics and skin care on the side does not mean that it is my whole life.
I never want to get to the point in my life EVER where people are avoiding my texts, not wanting to go to dinner with me, feel like if they go out with me for a glass of wine that I am going to pitch how great LipSense is or try to get them to sign up to be a distributor, or anything else related to getting their business. Anyone that knows me knows that is NOT the way I operate. I don't recruit anyone for my team because I don't have one. I don't try to pressure anyone into buying. I don't ask my family about it! I don't preach that SeneGence is the end-all, be-all to skin care and cosmetics when anyone that knows me knows that I am a serious Urban Decay and Kat Von D addict and used Lush skin care like it was going out of style before I became a distributor. Do you know WHY I don't do that? Because I don't ever want anyone to feel like I would sell my own child for a sale. I went to dinner Sunday night with a client that bought two colors and a gloss from me last summer and LipSense didn't come up in the entire meal. And would you like to know why? Because that "client" has been my very dear friend for over twenty years and I know that if she wants more LipSense or gloss, she'll ask me for it! And if you are one of my friends and feel like I have ever said anything that even remotely made you feel like you were being pressured to try LipSense (I can't imagine doing this, but perception is everything), please accept my apology. And anyone that I invited to a party who didn't want to be invited or added to a group that didn't want to be added, again, please accept my apology.
For everyone else...if the following resonates with you, think just for a second about our communications since we met and think if maybe anything you said to me or directed at me could be taken as aggressive and pushy sales tactics. And if you are annoyed with this post because it means that you just lost a potential client but don't really care about our friendship, feel free to unfriend me.
I am not directing this at any person on my feed in particular, but if you are in direct sales or crafts or are a vendor of any nature, you should know that my days of having parties for direct sales consultants are DONE.
-I don't have online parties anymore.
-I don't have in-person parties anymore.
-I don't add people to groups anymore without their express request or permission.
-I have more Lularoe in my wardrobe than I can possibly wear.
-I do not use any stick-on nail products because I am on roofs all the time and shred my nails from checking hail damage, so STOP trying to convince me that your product is awesome. I'm sure it's the cat's meow, but I have over 1,000 bottles of nail polish that I wasted money on; I think I am set in the nail department.
-STOP trying to get me to try your skin care, and respect, JUST for a second, that I sell skin care.
-STOP trying to get me to try your makeup, and respect, JUST for a second, that I sell makeup.
-For the love of all that is holy, if I want a drink mix that I can easily mix in with my water or a caffeine additive for my coffee, I know where to find you.
-For the last time, Pink Zebra gives me migraines. I am a ten-year Scentsy user and I'm not changing!
-I don't need anti-aging haircare; my hair stylist Tiffany (and an AdvoCare rep) IS my anti-aging haircare and hopefully as we head into our second decade of knowing each other, I will never know if I have gray hair or not.
-Jewelry, yes, jewelry is my weakness, but really, I know how great your stuff is or you wouldn't be messaging me to buy more. So stop already and I'll let you know when I need something.
-I don't have in-person parties anymore.
-I don't add people to groups anymore without their express request or permission.
-I have more Lularoe in my wardrobe than I can possibly wear.
-I do not use any stick-on nail products because I am on roofs all the time and shred my nails from checking hail damage, so STOP trying to convince me that your product is awesome. I'm sure it's the cat's meow, but I have over 1,000 bottles of nail polish that I wasted money on; I think I am set in the nail department.
-STOP trying to get me to try your skin care, and respect, JUST for a second, that I sell skin care.
-STOP trying to get me to try your makeup, and respect, JUST for a second, that I sell makeup.
-For the love of all that is holy, if I want a drink mix that I can easily mix in with my water or a caffeine additive for my coffee, I know where to find you.
-For the last time, Pink Zebra gives me migraines. I am a ten-year Scentsy user and I'm not changing!
-I don't need anti-aging haircare; my hair stylist Tiffany (and an AdvoCare rep) IS my anti-aging haircare and hopefully as we head into our second decade of knowing each other, I will never know if I have gray hair or not.
-Jewelry, yes, jewelry is my weakness, but really, I know how great your stuff is or you wouldn't be messaging me to buy more. So stop already and I'll let you know when I need something.
And finally, I am NOT going to ask my friends anymore about coming to a party; they got enough of that when I was in the midst of the Lularoe hype. So please, stop with the "well, even though you don't use Jamberry/Color Street/etcetera, that doesn't mean your friends won't" and "oh, but your friends might be interested once they see how great your nails look all the time". Just stop. Enough already. Keep it up, and you'll be unfriended.
I'm sorry, but this just really needed to be said, and if you are one of my friends that feels like I have pushed you to try LipSense and you had no interest (again, I can't think of anyone I did that with), I am truly sorry. I became a distributor because I love my products and wanted to make a little money on the side, not to lose my friends.
END
That's all. I would post a picture of Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada but I don't want to get sued for copyright infringement. So just picture Miranda with her imperious withering look and I'm happy.
