Consultant Confessions V.2
Submitted to MommyGyver today to be published anonymously: When I found LLR it seemed like the dream! I went to school for fashion design and merchandising - fashion is my passion, so this seemed like a great way to work my passion without having to work regular retail earning money for some big corp that then gave me a tiny piece of the big pie. I convinced my husband this was a great thing - I could just sell clothes and didn't have to build a team unless I wanted to! So we pulled money from our savings and took the leap. WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE!!! I worked the 72-hour game plan, called, emailed, texted, private messaged everyone I had contact info for to host. I got one party booked. But was still hopeful - I had my Facebook group, and had managed to get about 500 people added to it - had my first online party and sold a little. I handed out business cards everywhere I went to anyone who would take them. I "reached out & up" on the team pages asking for help and was told: -work the 72-hr plan
-pass out leggings and business cards -the more you have the more you sell
-it's not a race it's a marathon
-stay positive, stay connected... and additional bs. I managed to have some sales in my FB group, and every dime I earned went into growing my inventory because "the inventory tells you how much to work". I woke up early everyday and got ready for work - like did my hair, makeup, got dressed in my chosen LLR outfit wearing as many pieces as I could - I made some damn cute outfits too! I'd personally go talk to small businesses - salons, little vintage stores, anywhere I thought I might be able to pop-up shop. They all rejected me. When I'd post on the team page asking for help I'd get the same bs lines that everyone always said. I did everything I could or was advised - I stayed connected - I was on every call, I reached out and up, I did the 72hr plan every day, I passed out cards and talked to people about LLR and hosting a party every day. My days were consumed with LLR, my general schedule was: llr calls/meetings (Monday's team call, Tuesday main call), answer any emails/messages with questions, then out passing out leggings, passing out business cards, talking with shop owners - I carried supplies for each around with me, you never know who you'll bump into! I worked my social media in the evenings, maybe ate dinner with my husband, then was on having a FB live sale, or posting albums, or pulling orders and working on shipping. I was keeping the faith and as items sold an order was placed. I was discouraged but was putting my all into it. On one of the morning calls DeAnne and Mark scolded - at least that was the tone of it - consultants who drink while doing live sales, or post pics on social media of drinking while promoting LLR, saying that it went against the principals of LLR. I'm not a big drinker, socially when I'm out with girlfriends if I feel like it. I attended convention, didn't drink while I was there - while I understand that the family is of the LDS faith and they choose to abstain from alcohol, I thought about consultants who maybe like me were struggling and not getting any real help or advice and are grasping at straws and so they are doing "Wine Wednesday Sales". I'd seen several social media postings for them. I considered doing it! I was turned off that the company would impose their religious beliefs on people. It was bad enough that while at convention the "Styling Sisters" lectured everyone on not wearing the clothes like they are not meant to be worn - i.e. a maxi skirt is a skirt not a strapless dress - because that's not in line with the modesty rules of the LDS church. Fine, whatever. The more I struggled, the more I asked for help, and got the same bs over and over again... I was disappointed when certain capsule collections were launched and the servers went down, and I couldn't order, or I'd have the items in my cart and then went to check out and they were suddenly not available. That sucked. For a time the "amazing" Patrick and his team were designing the UGLIEST prints and it seemed like I got plenty of them. If I posted anything negative about struggling on our FB team page it was deleted. I stopped ordering except maybe once a month after I'd sold 66 or more items - because I'd grown my inventory to about 1000 items and it just sat there. No matter how many people I spoke to, no matter how many cards I passed out, no matter how many giveaways I did - I didn't have any parties booked.
I had a few sales from my FB group but as Mark said "I was stale." Which was great to hear by the way. Every Tuesday to hear Mark find a different way to reinforce my feelings of what a failure I was - was so uplifting! I'd swap with local consultants, but it didn't make a difference. I was dead in the water.
Then the quality of the merchandise was going down, and people were having holes.... and I stopped ordering... my sales were non-existent.
I managed to get a pop-up with another consultant booked, who was also struggling, and so we offered a one time at that pop-up discount sale... and managed to sell off some of the 1000 items I had. For a moment I thought maybe I'd continue - maybe if I placed an order I'd get some good stuff - but I didn't order. Instead I made a bunch of outfits - showed all the different combos I could come up with (not all were great but they were ok) and had a sale. I sold about 5 outfits... yes that was maybe $1000 some odd dollars but considering I'd spent about $10,000 on launching the business and another maybe $5,000-$10,000 on trying to keep it afloat.... I was done.
I was officially "in business" for about 6 months. That was it... now that I'm in the process of leaving I'm happier - I'm not just running in circles chasing my tail. Then with the launch of the new systems and becoming a merchant, and having to have a card that would store my money on it instead of going into my bank account. That wasn't what I signed up for. My upline - the top of team I was in - said to me at one point "I wish you could find a way to make it work but it is just that, work!" That really sealed the deal - that heartless statement - I was over LLR, I was tired of all the bullshit, and tired of people claiming to be supportive and all the while just being awful! Before I found LLR I had recently moved - which had resulted in me leaving a job that I truly loved, one where I had WORKED my way to the top, and was managing 2,000 people, one where I WORKED at improving their systems, where I WORKED at building their client base (part of which was cold calling, and going on client meetings, and networking to WORK at getting meetings in the first place!).
WORK is easy for me - it's the one thing I am really really good at! LLR wasn't work - it was sitting in the middle of a still ocean without a paddle, surrounded by other struggling people all trying to make it WORK! All the while these bigger boats are surrounding you and just telling you encouraging things hoping to string you along long enough to add another 0 to the end of their bonus check!
Needless to say I'm so over LLR - as a consultant. For a time I thought I would still shop from some of the "friends" I'd made, but realized that I was getting fatter because the clothes were so loose - which is while all the skinny girls that wear LLR tie knots in everything - so I tried on some of my non LLR items and while at first they were too snug I realized that while I was trying to work so hard at making LLR work I'd developed some bad habits, like stress eating, and not eating good meals because I was too busy trying to make it work.
I quit LLR and lost 15lbs! Now I don't really wear LLR clothes and my friends and family are always saying how great I look! So I won't be buying your fat clothes either! Bottom line I think LuLaRoe is toxic - it's bad for your health, its bad for your family, and it's bad taste in addition to all that!
Quit comparing yourself to high end brands - they make clothes at actually fit, and they can charge high prices because they actually line up their stripes - it's not cute! Just stop!