Networking is the name of the game in direct sales. 

That means networking with prospects and potential customers to increase sales but it also means networking with other direct sales consultants.

Networking with other direct sales consultants adds tremendous opportunity to build your business.

You’re able to expand your market.

This is perhaps the largest potential opportunity.  When you reach out to other direct sales consultants, consultants whose products complement or supplement your own, then you’re widening your prospect reach.

* For example if you sell candles and you team up with someone who sells bath and body products, combined you have a very large reach of people to market to – picture women taking luxurious baths by candlelight.

Teaming up with other direct sales consultants broadens your knowledge about the direct sales business, everyone has their own unique approach and teaming up with someone who is very successful may help you attain your own personal sales goals.

You may also pool resources like printing, outsourcing and so on to create a very effective and efficient business.

Where do you find direct sales consultants to team up with?

You likely know many people in your community and a few of them may even be in the direct sales business however until you really reach out to others you never know – your child’s teacher or your next door neighbor may be the perfect person to team up with.

To reach out to fellow direct sales consultants in your community consider:

• Placing a notice in your church and/or school bulletin
• Checking out local real estate brokers – many have newsletters they distribute and offer free advertising
• Publishing a notice in your home owners association publication
• Networking at craft and trade shows

You’ll likely connect with a few wonderful people and then you can begin to establish the parameters you’d like to work within.

Once you’ve created a relationship with other direct sales consultants then follow up. Make sure they know you’re serious about your business and about teaming up with them to boost each other’s sales.

Establish a quid pro quo. This has to be a mutually beneficial relationship or it just won’t work long term.

Host a party for them and vice versa.  The best way to begin expanding your prospect and customer reach is to take action and host parties.  Each new party you host for them or vice versa, brings in new customers for the both of you.

Host a joint party.  This puts a new spin on the direct sales party concept and attendees may be both more willing to attend but also more excited about spending.  A larger party with double the products is an exciting thing.

Continuing the relationship and making profits.

After the party it’s essential to follow up with a thank you to the attendees, the hostess and the consultant you’ve teamed up with.

Follow up with postcards and notes to party attendees – each new person you meet is a potential hostess and/or loyal customer.  Teaming up with other direct sales consultants can more than double your business. It adds extra excitement and enthusiasm to the direct sales business and offers your customers an experience that just can’t be beaten.

Just a quick update!

All parties and chats are now featured on Facebook.

Some of the benefits of Facebook events are:

*  Extra exposure outside of your own profile – on Mom Chats

*  Ability to send invites

*  Communicate with guests

*  Send reminder updates

How do you get listed? Simply schedule a party or chat using a Mom Chats Room.  The scheduling form now captures all the necessary information to get your part listed on the calendar and inside our Facebook Events!

If you haven’t tried a party chat yet, there’s no better time then now!  Start off with a small group of friends to get comfortable with the process.

Need to make a FavIcon for your website? I found this one and thought I’d share!

Simply upload the image you’d like to convert into a favicon.  After a few seconds you’ll get the file back converted into the .ico format ready to download!

Tip! for best results you should try starting with a 16×16 image otherwise you’ll lose the crispness of the image you’re trying to convert.

Turn this…

Into this {in favicon format of course}…

Take a peek at the menu bar above to see it in action!

Try it out below

Until next time,

Everyone loves a bargain, and shopping online makes bargain hunting even easier. It’s January and money is typically extra tight from the holiday spending. Use price comparison sites, cash-back programs, and vouchers efficiently to cut costs.

Compare Prices Before You Buy

Comparison sites allow you to compare and contrast similar items to make an informed decision. Many shoppers think of comparison sites as only pertaining to cars and insurance, but a similar concept is also applicable to nearly everything you can buy online. Top comparison sites such as comparethemarket.com enable readers to view and compare costs of utilities, lenders, and insurance.

There are a myriad of comparison sites which offer details about everything from air conditioners to washing machines, so retail rivalry is rampant. It may be necessary to glance through several comparison sites prior to making a purchase to ensure you’ve found the best deal.

Discount Vouchers and Promotional Codes

The next feature empowers online shoppers to save even more cash when a great bargain is discovered. After a purchase is made at the check-out screen, voucher codes can be used to give shoppers additional savings on what they’ve bought. As coupons are to the bricks-and-mortar stores, discount and promotional codes are willingly offered by online retailers who are ready to persuade online shoppers, in hopes that their discounts and offers will cause online sales to rise.

Some online stores go even further by offering an attractive incentive to purchase items. Special promotional codes which allows the consumer to “buy now and pay later” (BNPL) provide shoppers the opportunity to pay for their purchases over time. The BNPL feature allows the online shopper to pay the cost of the purchased item(s) in monthly increments over several months without having to pay interest.

If you frequently shop at certain stores, make sure you sign up to their mailing lists. You’ll often receive special offers and promo codes available only to mailing list subscribers. Additionally, websites such as retailmenot.com or vouchercodes.us give exclusive discount vouchers and promotional codes. Since there are a number of similar sites, it is useful to browse through several for the best codes.

Earn Cash-back Bonuses on Items and Services

Another way of saving money is by earning cash-back on online purchases. Websites such as ebates.com, for instance, offer buyers the chance to earn cash back for online purchases through their site. Higher cash-back rewards are usually offered for loans, new bank accounts, credit card accounts, and insurance policies; however, shoppers can also receive noteworthy cash bonuses on shopping from of multitude of other merchants.

Not All Codes are Equal

Although cash-back sites offer special discount and promotional codes, not all sites give current information. Be leery with the usage of codes unless offered by related cash-back sites. The enthusiasm of saving money online may disappear if discover those codes are out of date, or simply don’t work.

Shopping online is not only convenient, it can be a great way to save lots of cash. With easy comparison shopping – no running from store to store – along with a variety of coupons and even cash-back offers, an afternoon of shopping might just turn out to be the best money you ever spent!

Enjoy everything mom,

For some scrapbookers, journaling is their favorite part of any page.  For others, they’d rather walk over hot coals than do it.  This is often due to a lack of confidence in their writing abilities, dislike of their handwriting, or perhaps just not knowing what to say.  Journaling can add a lot to a scrapbook, and if you’re not journaling, those who look at your work will be missing out on a great deal of information.

In most cases, all it takes to get comfortable with journaling is a little practice.  Here are some tips to help you make your journaling everything it should be, as well as some ways to make it more attractive.

Start small

Even a short sentence about what’s going on in each picture and the date it was taken can make it more meaningful.  Don’t avoid journaling altogether just because you can’t come up with five paragraphs to go with each page.

Once you’re comfortable with that, incorporate the five W’s and the H:  Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.  This will ensure that you include all of the pertinent information.

If you really can’t stand your handwriting, type your journaling using a word processing program and print it out.  This has the added benefit of spell checking.  Still, it’s nice to include a short handwritten note every now and then.  It just adds more of a personal touch.

Use die cuts for journaling.  If you can find them in shapes that are closely related to the page’s subject matter, it will make it more memorable.  For example, if you’re doing a page about your son’s first football season, do some journaling on a football die cut.

Use journaling to frame your pictures or pages.  Writing around a picture or group of related pictures is a great way to add interest to your scrapbook.  You could even lay a large die cut over the picture and write around it to make the shape, then remove it for a unique look.

Incorporate quotes into your journaling.  Whether they’re from you and your family or someone famous, quotes go nicely with any scrapbook pages.

Experiment with different writing styles.  Writing your own news story is great for sporting events.  For school plays, a review would be nice.  Finding creative ways to journal gives scrapbooks a very special touch.

Photos and keepsakes are vital to scrapbooks, but journaling is very important too.  It helps tell the story in ways that pictures can’t.  Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) may be easier said than done at first, but once you’ve gotten started, it will become second nature.

My life is an incredible ride

As I look forward to each day, I ask myself what is going to happen. I reflect on the possibility of meeting new people and living another exciting day, full of positive experiences.

I love my life. I work hard to create a home that fits me. I surround myself with people I love who bring joy and interest to my life. My spare time is filled with fulfilling activities. From time to time, I even take a healthy risk to try new things and test my mettle.

Whenever I experience stressful situations, I close my eyes briefly and remind myself that this is a part of life. I tell myself to stand strong and ride out the situation. Later on, after I make it through the troubling times, I recognize that those experiences contribute to the excitement and adventure of my life.

I realize that I must experience the lows of life to also feel the highs. Like riding the roller coaster at the county fair, there are times that I hold on as hard as I can, just to make it through the loops and dives. My life truly is an incredible ride.

Today, I feel blessed to be living such an exciting life and look forward to continuing to fill it with new adventures for many years to come.

How about you?  Can you say with absolute conviction that your life is an incredible ride?

4 New Year’s Resolution Goals Worth Setting

New Year’s Day is a great time to implement change and personal growth by setting goals that you want to achieve throughout the upcoming year. Some resolutions are well worth setting, because they can contribute greatly toward helping you live the life you desire and they’re attainable without any unrealistic expectations.

Try these types of New Year’s resolutions to ring in a happy new year:

1. Health improvements. When your body thrives, you have more energy, enthusiasm, and vitality to do everything you want to do. Focus on setting goals for the specific actions that will provide the results you’d like to see.

For example, rather than stating that you want to lose 25 pounds next year, try to find achievable goals that will help you lose weight. Set resolutions such as enrolling in a yoga class, trying three new types of aerobics, or going for a walk each day after dinner.

Resolve to bring new experiences into your life. Set goals about new foods that you want to try, eating 3 more vegetable servings each day, or growing your own organic vegetables.

These goals are more fun to reach, but they’ll contribute to the same end result.

2. Financial improvements. Following the same advice as above, try to avoid setting unrealistic resolutions like “pay off all my debt next year” or “Put $10,000 away in savings.” Instead, choose goals for specific actions that will get you where you want to be financially.

For example, you may resolve to save all of your spare change and deposit it into your savings account every month.

Maybe you’d like to pick up 3 extra hours at work each week and dedicate those earned funds to your savings account or debt repayment.

Or make a list of specific money-saving actions like the above that you’d like to incorporate into your daily life and add a new action to your routine each week. By the end of the year, you’ll be an automatic money-saving machine!

3. Creative endeavors. Creative goals can absolutely lead to personal enrichment and development. What interests you? Set resolutions to try new things, experience new places, challenge your comfort zone, and learn about yourself all at the same time.

To get you started, consider resolutions to try new crafts or creative projects, start writing in a journal, take up pottery, or a variety of other creative endeavors. Create a resolution to try a new recipe at least once a month. Or fashion a resolution to hand-make every Christmas gift you give, starting at the beginning of the year!

4. Intellectual endeavors. Intellectual New Year’s resolutions can also benefit you in many different ways. Elect to take a course or seminar on a topic interests you, such as photography, scrapbooking, auto repair, or entrepreneurship.

Challenge yourself to read ten non-fiction books about subjects that interest you, or resolve to participate in an intellectual challenge like NaNoWriMo, November’s “National Novel Writing Month.”

New Year’s resolutions are a great way to find new ways to challenge yourself.

Above all else, choose New Year’s resolution goals that actually interest you and that are achievable for you. Resolve to do things that will be enjoyable, while also improving your life as a whole.

If you want to know how to make and keep your resolutions once and for all, check out my new ebook “It’s My Resolution and I’m Sticking to it!”  Learn what makes a great resolution, how to set your goals to achieve them and how to bounce back if you happen to fall off track.

It's My Resolution and I'm Sticking to It!

Resolution Kit Includes:

• "It's My Resolution and I'm Sticking to It" ebook (43 pages)
• 4 Goal Planning Worksheets
• Resolution Jump-start Visual

Price: $19.97

If you’ve visited Mom Chats in the last week or so, you might have seen that it’s undergone some changes to the design and layout.

There are a couple reasons for the change, first because I’ve recently taken over Mom Chats for Val.  I know it has been her baby since 2005.  I’ll continue to provide free chat rooms and carry out the “everything mom” theme but I also want to add some additional features which I’m sure you’re going to love.  Some of the features wouldn’t work with the old layout, so I needed to use one that would.  I’ll tell you some more about the new features in a bit.

You see, I thought long and hard about taking on Mom Chats.  I told myself when I first saw that Val was looking for someone to take it over, “Wow, this is something I’d love to do!”  After a month and half of thinking (more like brainstorming) I finally took the plunge!  I knew that if it were meant to be, it’d still be available when I was ready.  I’m glad I waited though, some of my plans are pretty big and I needed to know in my heart that this was something I was ready to take on.

So at this point, you’re probably wondering who I am?

My name is Anna Marie Martin, I’m also a mom (three boys) and I’ve been working online as a virtual assistant (VA) since 2008.  Before becoming a VA, I was in the corporate world for 16 years.  I guess you could say I’ve been hiding below the radar.  I’ve been comfortable with that until now – really!  There does come a time when you hit your virtual glass ceiling when you work from home as a service provider.  I know because I started hitting mine earlier this year!

I bet you’re wondering how Mom Chats is going to help?  Good question!  I’ve decided to scale back on client work in 2012 so I can do more of what brings me joy. Mom Chats is going to help me achieve that!  Enough about me though, we’ll get to know each other as I emerge from my virtual shell!

What’s in the works?

• Question of the week will return
• “Online Party Class” got a makeover and will become a FREE download
• The weekly newsletter will include content not released to the public
• More advertising options for even more exposure for your business
• More training and resources
• “200 Party Games” got a makeover
• Just in time for the New Year, I’ll be releasing an ebook called “It’s My Resolution and I’m sticking to it!”
• Mom Chats Community and the opportunity to form your own groups

If you’re not on Val’s list, please sign up now so you’ll know when I’m rolling out something new.  If you’re already on Val’s list, watch for a special invitation to join the new list and get a free copy of my new ebook for signing up for the new list.

It’s important to note that with any future changes to the site, Mom Chats is still a work in progress.  It’s my goal to have everything complete and running smooth by April.  I’d have it done sooner but while change is a good thing, too much too soon for you can be overwhelming.

With that in mind, I apologize in advance if you happen to stop by the site later in the evening and something isn’t working properly.  I live in Alaska so that works out perfect for making website changes when most everyone else is already in bed!

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.  I look forward to connecting with you!

Have you made any resolutions yet?

I myself have made a few so far.  The biggest one on my list though is to start eating better. I’m bad at not eating anything in the morning and drinking coffee instead.  I’m going to start eating breakfast every other day to start off.  Once I have that down I’ll start eating EVERY morning!

No more waiting until the afternoon to eat!  How about you?  What’s one of your resolutions?

Use this as a blog prompt and post your answer to your blog. Come back and link to it below in the meme or as a comment so we can get even more ideas. Or just leave your answer below in the comments. It’s always fun to hear others thoughts.

What is a party without party games? Boring, right? Why not plan on adding some fun to the party by including a few entertaining games this year. The older kids would love to help set them up and keep the younger one’s entertained. It helps keep them out of the kitchen while you are putting the finishing touches on dinner

Dream Gifts – give everyone a slip of paper to write down their dream gift, if money were no object. Put them all in a Santa hat. Have each person draw a gift and then try to match the gift with the person who wants it. It can be fun seeing how well they know each other. The kids may surprise you as to what they come up with for their dream gift.

Pin the Tail Variations – there are many variations of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” that could be played. Use a picture of reindeer and play “Pin the Nose on Rudolph”. Another way to play is to put Santa’s hat on his head. You could have a package that needs a bow on top. If you want to make it more complicated, for older kids, have a picture tree with several decorations that need to be hung on the tree. Whoever gets the most on the tree wins.

Shake, Rattle and Know – take some small dollar store type gifts, enough for one for each guest, wrap them in small boxes and number them. Give each guest a piece of paper and pencil. Pass the gifts around and allow them to shake them and see if they can guess what is inside. Once everyone has had a chance to guess all the gifts then start with the youngest to the oldest (or draw numbers) and let each child select a gift. Once everyone has a gift, unwrap them to see how many gifts everyone got right. Each child gets to keep the gift they unwrap.

Snowman Scramble – divide the children into two teams, with one person from each team as the “snowman”. Put the snowmen at one end of the room, with a box of clothes and other things to dress the snowman in. You could use hats, scarves, jackets, even a nose on a string, like a clown nose. Have a relay race to see which team can completely dress their snowman first.

Freehand Frosty – give each child a piece of paper and pencil and a blindfold. Tell them to draw a snowman, telling them which part to draw next. Younger children could be given a paper with the outline of the snowman already in place and some eyes, nose and other parts cut out of sticker paper to add to the snowman. The winner is the child who has the most parts in the correct place.

Blizzard Blitz – this is a game for those who have a large area and don’t mind a bit of a mess. Get a bag of packing popcorn and spread it out on the floor. Give each child a bucket and a toy shovel. There are a number of ways to play the game, as a relay race (from the pile to the bucket, handing off the shovel), see who can get the most in a certain amount of time or come with another creative variation on your own.

Christmas party games are great for get-to-know-you times and just keeping things moving along and guests entertained. It’s especially fun if you have a group of cousins that only see each other once or twice a year. These games can be a real icebreaker. Why not add a few to your list this year?

Image Courtesy Vlado

Enjoy everything mom,