6 Stepping Stones for a Successful Side Hustle

A side hustle is a small business you run on the side, or a part time entrepreneur gig. Everyone should have a side hustle that follows a passion. < if you love beauty, then a beYOUtiful business is perfect for you! > To make that side hustle really work for you, you have to get into the hustle mindset and set up a smart operation.

Play

Your side hustle should include your personal passions. Be sure you enjoy what you are doing. Make the side hustle a game. Create challenges for yourself, and compete with yourself to reach those challenges. Make this a gaming mindset - Today, I will network with 5 new people. Or, This week, I will make $500 in sales. Participate in incentive challenges. Have fun! This idea of gamification of the side hustle makes this work feel more like play and passion and less like, well, work. Goals become much more fun and achievable when goal setting, goal working and goal tracking is set up like a game. Customer loyalty cards (spend $100, receive $10 in product) carry this idea to your customer base. Runners always try to beat their last run time or distance. Imagine your side hustle as a series of marathons where you earn a “medal” for completing a specific marathon “goal”. If you enjoy playing games on your smartphone, consider the Proof! app which turns your side hustle into an app game. Find fun ways to self motivate and hold yourself accountable in order to reach your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly goals!

Flexibility

Sharp business people need to be able to adapt quickly. Be prepared for obstacles and have a plan ahead of time on how to navigate those obstacles. Work on building a toolkit that you can pull from when the moment arises that you need it. For example, if you are selling a product, make a list of objections ahead of time and then write your counter argument to each objection. In this way, you are prepared to respond immediately to the objection. Know your policies (or the policies of your mother company, if you have chosen a direct sales side hustle). Know your products and be ready to explain the benefits of your key product lines. Provide choices to customers. When you tell a customer that there is only one option, they will choose the “No” option. If you offer three different “Yes” options, they will likely choose one of those. Actively listen when customers speak, and seek solutions for their concerns. Present them with options they can use to solve a problem they are having; don’t lead with your needs, follow what they say with solutions for them. Be willing to try multiple paths. It is a good possibility that you will find success on one solid path at some point, and you can devote most of your efforts to that one path. Be flexible and open to the possibility that are multiple paths to a goal.

Resourcefulness

Be resourceful with spending. The less money you spend in your side hustle, the more profit you will see. True, you have to spend money to make money, but before spending look for alternatives, shop for discounts, ask around for help. Being resourceful and seeking low cost or no cost resources keeps your expenses low, and your profit high. Be resourceful when dealing with challenges. Finding creative ways to problem solve will prevent you from wasting time and money. If you encounter a problem, make a list of possible solutions. Which one is the least painful to implement? Be resourceful with situations. Instead of striking up a conversation with one person at the store, find a way to have contact with everyone you walk past, even if it means just making eye contact and smiling. Resourcefulness is optimizing every decision you make. As a part time venture, your side hustle means you probably have limited time, so use that time very thoughtfully.

Perseverance

A hustle means daily work. Every single day. For years. As many hours every day as you are able to commit. A few social media posts a week or a handful of knocks on doors a week will not make your business successful. In order to find success with your side hustle, you need to put your offer in front of as many people as possible. Put in the hard work, and do it daily. Take advantage of and leverage “down time”. Many will argue that it is perseverance that makes success happen. It is that “go getter”, “don’t quit” attitude. Go into your side hustle with a positive attitude. Think you will succeed and you will. There are always two outcomes to difficult situations: 1. you persevere and make it happen, or 2. you give up. Every time you persevere and work through a problem, you become stronger, more confident, more empowered. You learn from mistakes, you apply that learning to future situations and you improve. Perseverance requires daily discipline and developing habits. Use powerful side hustle habits like not sleeping in or staying up late, avoid distractions, take care of your body, mind and spirit, dedicating a specific chunk of time every day to your tasks. Always be working your side hustle.

Focus

We all know that small distractions lead to lost productivity. Don’t waste time on time wasters. Checking Facebook, sleeping late, watching tv shows, gossiping - are all serious time sucks. Don’t get pulled into the black hole of non-productive distractions. Managing time well is a critical piece to success. Effective time management incorporates scheduling, organization, list making, prioritizing, and leveraging “found time”. Maintain a calendar for all of your activities. Block out chunks of time for non-side hustle related activities and commit specific times to your side hustle. Then plan that time carefully. Organize sales materials, customer contacts, products, financials - all of it! Great organization saves time and contributes to more sales and better customer service. List making gives you huge advantages. Make lists of sales ideas, people to contact, content to create, skills to learn, training videos to watch, etc. Prioritize your actions to make the most efficient use of your time. What actions will give you the highest return for the least amount of work? That’s a good starting point. Using your lists, separate the wheat from the chafe. Pursue the actions that will give you the most benefit, and avoid doing meaningless, “busy work” tasks. Huge hint here: The more face time with people, the better! Connecting with your network should always be a top priority. Finally, take advantage of random found moments. Use those small bursts of found time to complete some of the smaller, lower priority tasks.

Relationships

Building relationships is the number one secret formula for success in business. Find people to network with, not sell to. Find women who need beauty solutions. Find customers wanting innovative products. People want to feel like people, not potential customers. Long term success depends on being friendly, likeable, trustworthy and helpful - consistently and reliably. Developing a social network that brings a financial return to your side hustle takes time and tact. You can’t push people to buy, they spend money on products they want when they are ready. Creating and nourishing those relationships takes patience and deliberate effort. It is critical that you genuinely care about your network, that you offer real value with your product/service, and that you persuade rather than push people into transactions. Only an authentic network will lead you to a sustainable side hustle.

Striving For Financial Independence

Creating wealth, earned income, passive income, financial independence. If you are a new entrepreneur, these are phrases that might be newly added to your lexicon.

Wealth and income lead to financial independence. But it can take a REALLY long time! Building wealth and increasing income takes time and, you guessed it, hard hard work.

Many people live paycheck to paycheck, or are unable to even pay their bills. It’s a common place to be. Others have no problems paying bills, have no debt, have disposable income and don’t even have to work. What’s their secret? Inherited wealth? Zero debt? Saving every little penny? Playing the stock market?

Earn more, spend less.

This is a super simple concept, really. Yet, it is so much harder to put into practice. To develop wealth, increase income and work toward true financial freedom, you have to earn more and spend less.

That is what makes direct selling such an ideal opportunity.

I am trying to reach financial freedom using the supplemental income model. Here’s my scenario: I work full time. I teach. With that full time income, I am trying to cover my household expenses, like the mortgage, bills, student loan debt, etc. It’s really hard, let me tell you!

The beauty of direct selling is that you can utilize the opportunity for full time income, or as additional income to what you already earn.

When you join Avon, it’s only a $15 investment. I like to suggest you invest a full $100. You don’t have to, and Avon only requires $15 to become an official representatives. (Other direct selling companies have varying investment and start up costs. Avon has one of the lowest, has longevity, and has a huge product catalog.) When you set aside $100 to invest, the remainder can be used for business cards, tools, supplies, or other items that will help you launch your business. Spend any more than that $100, and you start to experience investment loss.

Earn more, spend less.

Earn more with direct selling opportunities. For every sale you make, you will earn. That is how direct selling companies are designed to work. This doesn’t work if you spend for yourself. You absolutely have to rely on finding customers and making sales.

With direct selling companies like Avon, you can earn. Earnings are real, they are reachable. There is a wonderful group of very real, very hard working women who are at the top of earning with Avon. They know how to be a direct sales representative, and how! Lisa Wilber, Molly Stone-Bibb, Lisa Monoson, Emily Seagren, Theresa Paul, Milagros Garcia, Lisa Scola, Linda Montavon, Jennett Pulley… they are all leaders, all making Avon work for THEM, and all working to make Avon awesome.

There are about 300,000 Avon representatives in the United States. The ones who are ridiculously successful don't have a secret, they make their own magic, they all have extraordinarily positive attitudes, they all have very unique approaches, and they all work VERY hard to reach their goals.

Earn more, spend less.

There is gold at the end of your rainbow. 

You just need to create your rainbow!

How? How do you earn more profit and spend less? This is totally possible, and here are 3 very specific, very effective ways to do it:

Have a plan. When you launch any business, you need to create a well thought out plan. That plan includes how the business will operate, how you will market your products or services, and specific actions you will take during the first year of your business. * See my beYOUtiful business plan template * (need this file in a different format? contact me!)

Leverage social media. Your family, friends and acquaintances are on social media. Future customers you haven’t met yet are on social media, too! The more you use social media, the more networking opportunities you will have, and the more your network connections base will grow.

Run your business like a business and not as a hobby. Direct sales can effectively be used as a hobby, or as a short term funds goal (i.e. selling for 3 months to earn enough to buy holiday gifts). However, to create and maintain a successful direct sales business, you need to run it like a business and NOT like a hobby! You really need to actively being doing something productive for your business every single day.

Real Earnings with Direct Selling

Direct selling is a real business opportunity with real earnings.

Get Your Negative Out

But here's the truth. If you start poking around about reviews for direct selling and reviews for Avon, you are going to find negativity. There are millions of naysayers out there. Some of their arguments are valid, some are just lies. The honest truth is that you will find negative things said about direct selling, for ALL direct sales companies. There is even an entire website dedicated to hating on Mary Kay. (I refuse to link to it). The bottom line is that there is a lot of information on the internet, there is a lot of inaccurate information on the internet and there is a lot of hate on the internet. I have taken most of that with a grain of salt. I am also a skilled researcher, and I devote my energy to tracking down valid and valuable research about beauty and business before I share that on my website. Business, ALL business, is what you make it. It doesn't matter if you are in a corporate office, selling makeup or making fries. There are business opportunities, but you have to want to do the work. Sales IS hustle.

Make an Investment

Direct selling companies all require an investment. Usually that investment is very small ($100 or less). When you join Avon, the cost to become a representative is $15, and you receive an official Avon starter kit. However, I still say that you should invest a full $100. Why? On what? Here's why: Yes, the starter kit is $15 (you get your own estore website at no cost --- MOST direct selling companies charge their reps for the personalized website), and that includes brochures, what's new, a workbook, samples, and full sized product. That will give you what you need to launch your beauty business. I recommend spending a little more to get business cards for yourself. Town and Country is an Avon Advantage Partner and they frequently have a discount on business cards: 250 free and you pay only $5.95 in shipping and handling. I would also go to a local office supply store and pick out a physical planner and calendar. The better organized you are with time and contacts, the more sales you will have! These typically cost around $20. The remainder of that $100 (around $60 left), you will hold onto. This can be invested in different things, depending on how you want to direct your beauty business. You could: buy samples, full size products to demo, bags to deliver product to your customers, branded signage to have tables at events, a domain name and hosting to run your own branded website*, a dedicated phone for your business, towards a laptop to help you sell online, office supplies to stay organized - whatever will help you run your business best! Yes, Avon's startup fee is $15, but a full $100 is an investment in your business that will contribute to your success!


* Avon does not allow personal websites for the purpose of selling product; your branded website has to be your personal brand and cannot have "Avon" in it.

Focus on Sales

Avon and long time reps will have all sorts of tips and suggestions for you when you start. Buy tons of brochures! Make a huge list of your warm market! Talk to 3 people every day! Use products yourself! Great. If you can start with that much.

I have my own tips for new representatives, and those tips probably conflict with everything you see from Avon and other reps.

Sell you. Look, sales are not about selling product, sales is about selling you. YOU are the product. Seriously. And human nature is to trust the human product before spending money on it. I know that sounds weird, but that's human nature. There have been studies and studies in marketing and advertising about the human element in buying. In order to run a sales business with long term success, ethics and JOY, you need to sell yourself, and NOT your products. My first year selling Avon I focused on - my warm market and products. I didn't earn much. My second year, I am focusing on - you guessed it! - selling ME. Direct selling is network marketing, and network marketing is primarily about building relationships. I don't tell everyone I talk to in person that I sell Avon. I don't even talk about Avon. Crazy, right?! The complete OPPOSITE of what everyone says to do. What I do is develop relationships and work on building trust. The crazy thing is that people are now coming to me. "Hey, I heard you sell Avon. Can I buy from you?"

Grow slow. My tips focus on growing sales at a realistic pace. Creating the network takes time. Like, more than a few weeks. It takes years. During this building time, you may not see a lot of sales every campaign. This is where many reps give up, because they do not see the immediate results. Instant gratification does not a business make. Most "brick and mortar" business take 5 years to see a profit. This may also be true for direct sales businesses. Growth is exponential. I see many successful Avon earners who did not get to their high profit margins for years. If they had given up their first year or so in, they would never have seen the profit they do now! Relish in slow growth, but be realistic about it. Actively work on sales and developing your network. Celebrate pockets of success (right before the holidays and in the spring are typically peak buying times).

Don't buy. Unless you can afford to invest more, do not go over that initial amount you have reserved for supplies and demo products. Spend as little as possible on brochures. Buy only as many brochures as you know you can schedule to distribute. If your warm market is 5 women, only buy 10 brochures and then force yourself to get rid of those other 5 brochures. Do not buy too many brochures if you can't develop that large of a market yet. Don't buy a bunch of supplies, like samples, sales tools or bags. Buy ONE pack of the literature bags. I know they are only .80 but buy them one pack at a time. Only buy sample deals from the What's New if you really love the product and can actively market it to your network. Avoid loading up on samples and bags until you have a use for them. If you do want to start building up samples, start with skincare.  Until you begin having campaign orders of $50 or more, do not invest in any of those extras. The bare minimum I suggest your very first order should be, if you do not yet have any customer sales: 10 brochures ($6.49), literature bags ($0.80), and one recurring future brochure, item 030347, ($0.30). IF the only thing you buy during a campaign is brochures, call the order in and Avon will not charge you the OSF (One Simple Fee). You want to be earning based on sales YOU make, not on product you buy.

Learn product. You can't sell what you don't know. You should spend a good chunk of time learning about the products that Avon sells. They are incredible products and many have a long history. These products contribute to having loyal customers, so do your reading and learn about them. Start with the brochure. READ every single page in the brochure, then expand into the online inventory and delve deep. Learn about the product in depth on the estore, and take advantage of product trainings through Avon University.

Challenge yourself. Sales can be achieved, but it does take hustle. Hustle is making sales related connections, with a sense of urgency, but with tact. In order to be successful at making sales, you need to set challenges for yourself. Small goals, at first, will develop into larger goals. "I will give my brochure to 5 people this campaign." "I will ask 2 people to reorder." "I will make $200 in sales this campaign." This is not a competition with other people; this is about finding the right pace for you, and meeting your personal financial goals.

Finding Those Real Earnings

It's time to show you the money! What are the earnings possibilities with direct selling? While there are different earnings charts for every company, the earnings you make depend totally on you. Your earnings are tied directly to the sales volume you make happen. Your compensation is based on your performance.

If you have a $50 order, your earnings are $10. If you have a $300 order, your earnings are $105. If you have a $1000 order, your earnings are $450. Personal sales are completed by you, so you manage your earnings.

Any sales you complete through your estore earns you 20% of that sale, and Avon delivers the order directly to your customer! Once you earn over $25, Avon will send you your earnings. You can receive this profit through direct deposit, or on a prepaid Visa card.

See How It's Done

There is an elite group of women who have worked hard to turn lipstick into life. These women are some of the top earners for Avon, and they are successful because they HUSTLE.

Top earning representatives with Avon truly know how to hustle. Yet, every single woman does it differently. That is the beauty of this beYOUtiful business: this flexibility allows you to earn in the way that is best for you!

A few of these top earners - the "famous Avon ladies":

• Lisa Wilber has been selling Avon since 1981. Her leadership checks for 2015 were over $250,000.  
  
• Emily Seagren started in 2008 and has focused on selling online. Her 2015 team sales were over $550,000.   
  
• Molly Stone Bibb started in 2004. 
• Lisa Monoson since 2000. Her team of 400+ sells over 1 million each year.
• Theresa Paul started in 1994. She has 600+ on her team. 
• Milagros Garcia joined in 2001. Her checks total over $100,000 a year.

I joined in 2014.

Every single one of these women has been successful with selling Avon because of their hustle. Every single one loves selling Avon. And every single one earns real income by selling Avon products and training others how to sell Avon products.

What I love the most about these women? They are all friends on Facebook, they are accessible to all Avon representatives, and they are willing to help new reps grow their business because they care about successful beauty businesses. This handful of inspirational Avon ladies really make it worth choosing this company for your direct selling business. They are amaze!

I want you to have real earnings, too! Join in!

How To Build A BeYOUtiful Business

Avon has an incredible history, a wonderful product line, and an amazing sisterhood of representatives. Benefits of joining in to the Avon opportunity include flexibility, relationship building, helping women find beauty, and learning valuable business skills such as interpersonal communication, time management, planning and making goals, innovation, customer service, and tracking financials.


Joining Avon is more than selling products. Avon is a way to connect with people, create lasting relationships, empowering others and yourself, and working toward financial independence. You don't need a high school diploma, a college degree, or any special training to be an Avon representative. (Though you do have to be 18).

Campaigns

There are 26 campaigns every year, or a new campaign every two weeks. Each campaign has a dedicated brochure with the current products and pricing.  Brochures and products are divided into the following categories:

• Makeup
• Fragrance
• Skin Care
• Jewelry
• Fashion
• Home
• Kids
• Body

Brochures cost 65¢ *or less* depending on how many you order. You will receive one automatically with your order, and they can be purchased in bundles of 10. They become cheaper the more you buy; for example 10 brochures costs $6.49 (64.9¢ per brochure), and 100 brochures costs $21.49 (21.5¢ per brochure). Brochures in Spanish, mark. magalogs, and Avon Living magalogs can also be purchased.

Campaigns run on a two week Representative Processing Schedule, or RPS. Depending on a few factors, including your location, you will be assigned an RPS. Key campaign dates will run for you based on your RPS.

Sales 

You work hard to make sales, but you have options on how you make those sales: personal sales and online sales. 

Personal sales are those sales that you make in person. These sales can be to anyone in your social network, including family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances,

Online sales are sales that are made when a customer orders from your estore. The customer receives that order directly from Avon, so these orders are called Direct Delivery, or DD.

Orders

Orders are placed online through the youravon.com portal. The ordering process allows reps to setup customer information, create invoices to give to customers along with their order delivery, and track orders after they are placed. In order to stay "active" as a rep, you do have to place at least one order every four campaigns; however, you should at least be ordering brochures every campaign.  Any order has One Simple Fee (OSF), which is the shipping and handling fee Avon charges. The order size will determine your OSF and you do not have to pay shipping and handling if you order *only* brochures. It is important to place orders on time, as there are late charges applied to late orders, and it will affect when your order ships and arrives.

Demos

Official Avon representatives can order advanced products at a discount. One of the perks of being with Avon is receiving the What's New brochure, and being allowed to order discounted demo products from the What's New. The discount is typically 20% and the limit is usually one, but there are opportunities where reps can stock up on products so you can have product on hand!

Earnings

The percentage you earn from personal sales depends on your order size. The more you sell, the more you earn! There is a minimum $50 order before earnings percentages start, but $50 is a very achievable sales goal for every campaign. Earnings for orders over $50 start at 20% and step up to reach 50% once your sales levels are over $1,575 in a campaign. Online sales earn 20%. Demos, samples, sales tools and brochures all contribute to your sales earnings total, and online sales count toward your campaign total order also!

Promotion

How you promote your Avon beauty business is completely up to you. Promote a little, or a lot! There are so many things you can do to promote your beYOUtiful business; here are 10 promotion ideas:

• Give brochures to anyone and everyone you meet.
• Use and wear Avon products, and promote when you receive compliments.
• Make labels for your brochures.
• Invest in business cards.
• Leave brochures on neighbor's doors.
• Participate in an event with a table, brochures and a small amount of product inventory.
• Invest in samples.
• Offer a birthday discount to prospects.
• Wear an Avon branded shirt. (See Town & Country for more Avon branded merchandise.)
• Learn about the products then share your knowledge with people you talk to.

Are you ready to build your beYOUtiful business? Do you have optimism? Passion? Are you ready to work hard to achieve success? Are you a problem solver? Do you love beauty, makeup, body spa products or fashion? Are you social? Are you flexible? Can you adapt when situations change? Are you dedicated and ready to commit a specific amount of time every day to working your beauty business? Are you organized? Can you keep track of the calendar, clients, orders and finances? Are you tech savvy?

Read more about Avon, and the Avon opportunity. Learn about what it takes to build a successful business. When you are ready, sign up is easy! Go to http://cheriefrid.avonrepresentative.com/opportunity/start  Enter your information, invest $15, and start the Avon representative adventure right away. What you will receive immediately: online access at youravon.com, a Starter Kit in the mail, personal guidance from me to launch your business, and a community that works together to make beauty happen!

Direct Selling Is A Real Income Stream

This is from Wall Street Journal, and explains why direct selling is becoming more popular as well as things to look out for when choosing a direct sales company.

• Avon has reliable products that have been loved by consumers for many decades.
• Avon is an established company; in fact the first direct sales beauty company in the US!
• Avon has a low upfront investment of $15 and you no not have to buy inventory.
• Avon allows success through product sales in person or online, not just through recruiting.