Small Business Saturday | Scentsy Boxes

I tried something new with some of my customers this week, and I am pleasantly surprised how well it went! A fellow Scentsy sister of mine came up with the idea of a monthly box full of Scentsy products, kind of like a subscription but not really because we do not keep your payment method on file or draft a monthly fee. You can choose to opt in on the box that month or pass! 

So many of my customers stay in the realm of wax and warmers- which is totally fine. They find something they love and stick with it, I do it too! But I wanted to show them all the different things we offer and showing them how affordable they are as well! Nothing is discounted to make a sale, and the boxes range anywhere from $30 to $50 depending on the products that month. Always full size products, never sample size. 

This month we did a counter clean, washer whiffs, scent circle and two bars of wax. It was a hit! I do the boxes for 9 people, but I am sure I could add more if the demand is there for them. I am really excited about this method and I know my customers are going to love it. Its a great way to try other products and maybe find a new favorite! 

The next box will start the end of August and full of NEW fall products from our 2017 Fall/Winter catalog. I am SO ready for cooler weather and warmer, cozier scents! Who's signing up next month for this awesome box! I hope to see your name on my list! 

#PURPOSE

I have taken some time to focus on me and the goals I have for myself in my near future. We all have a calling, we all have SOMETHING that we dream to be. For a while, I am almost positive that I lost that little light guiding me. I got SO wrapped up in being a mother that I forgot about the woman inside. What SHE wanted. Where SHE wanted to take her life. Don't get me wrong, I lovelovelove being a Mother. Staying home with them is honestly a dream come true, but that doesn't mean all my other aspirations have to stop. I am blessed with the opportunity to be home. I gave myself the gift of a home business in 2013 and not to brag- I was good at it. I enjoy marketing, I enjoy meeting new people, helping others grow.

The last couple months I have felt something PUSH me in the direction of finding my purpose. What am I here for? Surely its more than being a wife and a mother. Where am I supposed to direct this DRIVE inside of me to do better, to be better, to LIVE better. I have already taken my stance on changing my health and holding myself accountable for a better lifestyle. Check. I already dedicate myself to being a great mother to my children, and I try my best to be the wife my husband needs. Check-Check. So what was missing? Why do I feel like I am not doing enough.

Well thats easy to answer. Because in my eyes, I am not.

I am taking my Scentsy business by the horns and RUNNING with it. Full force, boss babe, wax slinging, home business marketing, WORK. No longer am I going to sit at home stagnate in my life. You know that quote- "Be the change you want to see". Hello new life motto. I have so many exciting ideas for my business, and I hope you will stick around to cheer me on as I strive to grow. I have every single tool I need to be successful, at this point its blocking out the negativity that comes with social media and network marketing.

We don't have to live mediocre lives. We don't have to live to pay bills. We don't have to wonder what our purpose is. We all have one. Are they all different, sure. Find your purpose, find your WHY and run with it. I promise, you only regret the chances you never take.

Small Biz Saturday Guest Post | Britt's Story

I was always super active growing up, played sports until I was a junior in high school, and never really had much of an issue with my weight growing up either. I never really watched what I ate or drank and have ZERO IDEA on how to really cook anything if it didn’t come from a box when I got married.  When my husband deployed, I went back to our hometown to work at a lifeguard in a brand new gym and found my passion for the gym environment even though I had no idea what the heck to do in a gym. I guess you could say this is where my passion for fitness was discovered, because when I was playing sports I didn’t workout and we didn’t have a local gym unless we drove 20 minutes away.

When my husband came home from his deployment I quickly found everything changing. My working out 2 times a day ended and our eating habits were still garbage.  But that ended up being the least of my worries when I realized my husband was having trouble reintegrating back to being home from a war zone. My main focus quickly changed to making sure he was getting the right care he needed and trying to move past the incidents of what had happened.  Self pitty, questioning what I could have done to possibly make integration easier for him.

A little over a year after everything happened we found out that we couldn’t have kids.  This didn’t help the self pitty, in fact I was even mad at the world and even God for a while. I couldn’t understand it, why everything crappy seemed to be happening to us.  I mean even then I knew things could have been A LOT worse, I was still questioning WHY US, I think we all do that when things we can’t control happen and they are devastating things.  Honestly, finding out we couldn’t have kids didn’t help my already low self-esteem either.  There is no how to guide when it comes to life and getting over the hurdles that get thrown our way.  So I was lost, angry, and not happy with myself in every way possible. Emotional eating became a thing for me, something I had never battled before and it wasn’t good considering I was going through a huge metabolism change too.

We got orders to move to Fort Bliss in 2012 and in the process of the move that was when I meet Kodie. Looking back, I kind of feel sorry for anyone who was just meeting me for the first time then, because no one really knew the demons I was battling on the inside.   But with that move to Texas not only myself but my husband got the motivation to lose the 100 lbs. we gained combined.  We literally woke up one morning and said we were sick and tired of feeling like crap, looking like crap, and our clothes continuously getting tighter. Slowly changing our eating habits and we both started to run and

yes we run for fun. Weight started coming off and at one point I was almost to my weight when we got married which now made me just look sick.  So I stopped caring so much about what I ate again to gain some weight back, it wasn’t the smartest decision I had made.  

Then I was introduced to Beachbody and the 21 Day Fix through a high school friend.  While I honestly only purchased the program to learn more on the nutritional side of things, I decided to do the entire program too in her online accountability group, because I really don’t feel comfortable in the gym.  I had just ran a marathon and gained some weight from it and wasn’t happy.  I didn’t know just then how much the purchase of 21 Day Fix would change my life. I quickly realized how easy nutritional truly is and how complicated we as a society have truly made it.  I was seeing changes in my body that I hadn’t seen in years because of the workouts and I was eating new things in my diet.  But on top of that mentally I was becoming stronger, moving on from the past, becoming happy in every aspect of my life again, learning to love myself truly again, and finding my passion for fitness again.  Then I became a coach with Beachbody because I realized how many women there are out there just like me.  Lost, unhappy with themselves, and no clue where the heck to start and because of that they never even try to start even with a small step.  I realized just how many don’t feel comfortable in a gym, how many truly don’t know that they can work out from home, or even know how easy the nutritional side of things can truly be.

If you are reading this, if you are that woman who is lost, unhappy, and no clue where to start, know you aren’t alone. Know that the small decision to get started is better than the decision to never start at all. You will have good days and bad days that is all part of the process. There will always be someone there that you can relate too cheering you on and rooting for you to succeed. Whether you choose to head to the gym and get a personal trainer, decide to workout at home like me, or get out and start walking you don’t have to do any of it alone that is greatest thing about social media these days!

*Disclaimer- You may recognize Britt from her blog years ago- Aviation of Love. Leave a comment telling her to come back to blog land! She may or may not be on the fence about it! *

Influencers | Finding Motivation on Social Media

If you are reading this the chances are pretty high that you have a social media account of some sort. I  know I have been 'online' since I was in high school. While my reasonings for having social media have changed through out the years, I don't use it the same way I once did, I still have many accounts that I use for different purposes. You know, snapchat for lip-singing with fun filters in the car. Facebook to make sure my Grandma can see pictures of the kids and I can stay nosey in my friends lives. Then Instagram, I use this as of lately to find fitness motivation.

Along the way on this 'mom bod journey' I found that Instagram is a pretty awesome tool to use. You can look up so many hashtags for things like "meal prepping", "leg day workout", "mom fitness" and bookmark them too look back on. I mean the results and possibilities really are endless.  But thats not what I want to focus on in this post. What I want to give credit to are the awesome ladies who PROMOTE people loving themselves, and working towards THEIR GOALS.

I have a few profiles that I really enjoy following, and my favorite thing about them is they are normal girls who live in the same town as me, showing that YOU can live a fit lifestyle. They don't sell fitness supplements so there is no pressure to try or buy anything, their post are not paid ads. They don't judge you, they actually try to be as helpful as they can be. These are the profiles women who are starting out in the gym need. These type of women are the kind that LIFT people up and show them- hey you can do this too!

The first profile is Kristen. (Ka_ris10) I actually went to high school with her, but I am pretty sure she was WAY smarter than I was and took much harder classes then I did, so our path's never really crossed. We became friends on IG kinda through the whole "people you may know" aka everyone you went to high school with gets added method. But I am really glad we did! Not only is she a therapist at the VA (which honestly, is amazing in itself), but a figure competitor, and she has issues with her belly like I do. Anytime I have a question about working out she is more than helpful, which is a becoming a rarity among women these days. Among her bangin' body the girl loves to throw down on Oreos and doughnuts, basically a girl after my own heart.  If you are working towards a competition or ever want to compete she needs to be on your friends list.

Next is Aubrie. (dolledupdumbbells) I've never met Aubrie in person, although our paths have crossed at the gym, and we grew up in the same town with mutual friends. I found her Instagram when I was looking at Kristen's, surprise-surprise! Aubrie is super motivational and has TONS of info on healthy eating. I like her profile because she is raw, she will tell you what she is doing and why she is doing it, the benefits in doing it and why the other ways may not work. I have learned a lot about eating while working out from her post. Also, how to warm up a meal on the dash of my car if I ever needed to! The girl is hilarious on her snapchat and IG stories.  I think the best thing about her profile is how relatable she is, she is there to show you that if she can do it, you can too! She goes to school, runs her own Rodan and Fields business, and was a people's choice winner in a body space competition. If you are looking for someone who is authentic this is definitely a girl you should be following.

I enjoy following people who are just like me. It can be super discouraging when looking for motivation from people who are judgmental and put themselves on a pedal stool. Even though these ladies don't know me personally, they have made an impact on my fitness journey. I too wanted to motivate others to become a healthy, better version of themselves. I fell in love with working out and now understand why people have dedicated their lives to a fitness lifestyle. Get on your social media and find the influencers that work for you! People that you enjoy watching and learning from. Remember not to compare yourself to them, to take what they say and apply it to work for yourself. It really is amazing the things you can learn from people who are passionate about empowering and teaching others.

Thats my goal, to one day be a woman/mother others look to for empowerment and motivation. Like I have said so many times, I am no fitness guru, just a mom who fell in love with weightlifting. But with help from women like Aubrie and Kristen, I have found a voice in the social media community.

sunday | Pits and Peaks

I think I am going to dedicate my post on Sunday's as a review of the week. The pit and the peak of things that happened around here. As you saw in my post from yesterday, Saturdays will be "Small Biz Saturday" and will feature different BOSS ladies that I know running their own home based businesses. The cool thing about these post will be the stories each lady has behind her business, their WHY. So I hope you stick around to read their stories and maybe you'll find something new to try when it comes to a small biz! 

The PITS

-My husband had to spend his Saturday doing funeral detail for a veteran who passed away.

-I have two kids teething which leads to grumpy little ones.

-Doctors appointments for my Crohns Disease. They are always a pain in the butt. Literally.

-The heat. Even though I grew up in the desert, I dont enjoy 99% humidity and 90 degree weather.

-I didnt get to go to the gym near as much as I would have liked to. 

The PEAKS

-We had a BLAST at the Fort Bragg Fourth of July celebration! They had an awesome Golden Knights jump and flag/cannon presentation. Fair food and the best part- a Chase Rice concert. Yes lawd. We walked back to our car directly under the fireworks, it was a neat experience to see them that close, but loud- very, very loud. 

-My Crohns Disease is being managed very well with my new medication. My inflammation levels were normal. 

-We started looking for a new home, goodbye apartment living!

The great thing about 'weeks' are you get to restart them, what was your week like and what are you doing to have more peaks than pits? I am going to be sure I work out more this week and try to stay cool by the pool!

Small Biz Saturday | Scentsy Lady

My husband is in the military, which means we move, A LOT! As a spouse it can be hard to have a career of my own and I found this out a few years ago upon our move to a new base. We were living in El Paso, Texas and the language barrier was REAL. It was impossible to find a job if you did not speak Spanish, we were struggling to pay bills and living check to check. We didn'
t have babies at this time and I desperately wanted to work. I sent resume after resume, even tried to go back to school in a different field. Nope, none of it worked and I was STILL unemployed. This was a hard pill to swallow for someone who just left a great job in another state.

A friend of mine started an in home business called Scentsy. I had no idea what it was and even though she had talked to me about it and joining her team I really had no desire to. A few months went by and I finally gave in, I NEEDED an income. I NEEDED to help my husband. To my surprise my business really took off, selling one thousand dollars worth of product in my first month! I built a team of nineteen wax slingers, promoted one step under Director and then quit.

Yep. You read that right. I gave up.

I had two babies, a husband in the military, a disease and no motivation to make the sales I needed to stay a consultant. So I stopped trying. I went inactive. Last year I decided to sign back up. I cant help but kick myself when I think about where I could be right now had I never thrown in the towel. If i never got inside my own head and told myself I couldn't do it anymore. YOU become your thoughts. They are so powerful. My sponsor just went on a PAID vacation to South Africa because of Scentsy. She quit her job as a nurse because she was able to from her monthly commissions. I strive to be there one day!

IF you have animals or garbage stank in the house, I have something to help. Gross gym bag? Check. Toddlers in the car? Got that too! Laundry piling up, you guessed it- I can help! IF you dream to be your own boss, and run your own business I can help you get there! I know how to sling wax, build teams, things you NEED to thrive. Home based businesses are great for military spouses because no matter where you live or move- your business goes with you. Stop looking for new jobs and start being the employer!