Life on the Road

There are SO many factors…  but we use flyers as our primary marketing tool, and love ‘em.

Depends on:

• the product
• the neighborhood
• the location (on doors? store counters? bulletin boards? etc)
• the flyer (design, color, etc)
• etc.

Not very concrete, sorry.

The best advice I can give you is to keep trying it for a while.  Try different variations on all of the above factors.  But you have to remember to allow enough time to really know if you’re getting results.

One of the most difficult and important flyering lessons we have learned over time is this:

Your flyer is just not as high a priority to the person who picks it up as it is to you… The first time they see it, they may not pick it up.  But if they see it again and again, maybe they will one of those times.  To help it get noticed, be sure to have an eye catching design, and a bright colored paper.

And even then, they may set it down by the phone to give you a call “when they get around to it.”  We get calls even MONTHS later from places we’ve passed through and left flyers! 

So you have to wait to know how well any given flyer campaign really works.  And in the meantime, you have to keep putting them out so that you continue to “fill your pipeline” with interested prospects.

“Passive Marketing” - like flyers - will never give you the kind of percentage return you can get with an active method (talking to people)…  But it does produce results if you’re faithful to it, making it ideal as a supplement to your active marketing, a great way for someone who is shy or lacks confidence in their marketing to get started, and a perfect thing to do at odd times of the day when nothing else might be possible.

I’m really enjoying all the new “toys” that are out there…  The blog itself being the first and most basic one.

My newest discovery is Flickr, an online “photo album” with some really nice photo sharing tools.  Check out the animated “badge” over on the right sidebar - a collection of cute (if I do say so myself) photos of our kids.  It’s currently WAAAY down there at the bottom, though…  I think I need to rethink how to order things on the sidebar.  Maybe it’s even time to move to a template that has sidebar space on both sides?

I’m still getting to know all the things that are built right into the WordPress software that I use for the blog itself.  It has so many things that I haven’t had the chance to experiment with — I don’t even know what I don’t know! 

The biggest thing I need to find out right at the moment is how to get the darn photos to stay put!  The editor has an html view, so I can look at the post that way and add in a couple of paragraph tags or line breaks… But somehow the software, which obviously thinks it is a far better judge of such things than I, removes them during its “validation”!  And sometimes it will look fine in the “preview,” but not when posted.  But typically the text and photos all flow together and create a very sloppy looking and disorganized mess.  I have found a few ways to cheat it into leaving a blank line to space things out - but that kind of “hard coding” only works for viewers using the same screen resolution I’m using when I set it up.  The technical writer in me is horrified every time I look at the blog — but so far I haven’t found the answer.  If you know, PLEASE share!!

Another thing I will definately be doing in the fairly immediate future is putting up a separate “blog” for our Team training site.  My vision is that I can use the blog itself to send out announcements and such, while posting information that remains useful over time (training, important links, sample flyers, etc.) on the static “Pages”.

Right now?  Time to leave this all for another day (will that day EVER come?) and try to get my fussy girl to sleep.  I can hardly blame her, since it’s hot and humid and generally unpleasant here, even at almost 11 pm.  I think “the State of Misery” is a fairly apt slander… 

Well, we’re settled at our campsite in Prescott, AZ, where we’ll be until Tuesday.

The moving that’s going to happen now is all in cyberspace.  We started out with the free blog offered at wordpress.com, but we’ve decided to take control of our own destiny. 

I downloaded the free software from wordpress.org and installed it on our server.  Since we already have our Work at Home - Daily Pay website up, we are going to post the blog as a sub-domain there.  It looks like we may even be able to use the software to finally get our team training website in gear - also as a sub-domain.

I appreciated their simple online instructions, and it really was a 5-minute installation.  Our web host uses cPanel, so it was easy to create a database, then just ftp upload the software and it installs from an online command screen.  From then on, it can be manipulated from the same “Dashboard” interface that I’m used to from the free blog site!

Well, enough for now… our big push for the time we’re here is to consolodate our two storage units into one.  I’m tired just thinking about it!

We spent yesterday afternoon cruising around Victorville putting out our Save 80% on Dental flyers.  Refreshments were $0.99 Root Beer Floats at A&W.  Wolf’s a root beer fan, and we were both pleasantly surprised by how good A&W on tap tastes.

A quick stop at Staples to buy more colored paper for printing flyers (dental on fluorescent yellow, Tupperware on pink), then back to the RV. 

We had a simple dinner of soup and sandwiches, then we all cuddled up in our bed to watch an episode of “Little House on the Prairie.”  Ah, yes…  THIS is what makes it all so worthwhile!

Nick has a new interactive / video DVD set that he’s enjoying working through for school, so that is perfect for driving. 

Grandma bought Jewel a magnetic “Doodle Pad” before we left, which a great diversion, too.  Jewel pronounces her name as “Doodle,” so it’s a fun double-reference.  She loves telling us to write words, then seeing them in print. 

Well, I was up early, got in my morning devotional and prayer time, had some breakfast, and fired up the generator to get a/c power long enough to post this and check my email, but now it’s time to get ready to get moving…

We had the idea that we would set up a reasonable schedule for travelling, to keep everyone sane.  Not only have circumstances conspired to keep us from following it all the time, but we’re also always running up againts new “needs,” and it’s tought to fit them all together.

In our preparations to go on the road, we read some words of wisdom from Bill & Jan Moeller in “Full-Time Rving: A Complete Guide to Life on the Open Road.”  Some people miss the whole point of full-timing, they warned.  You don’t HAVE to rush.  It’s not about getting somewhere to do something - the “getting there” is just as important.

So we decided to set our absolute maximum travel day as four hours on the road.  Two hours in the morning, then a break of 2-3 hours over lunch (and Jewel’s nap), then another two hours’ driving.

It’s not a bad plan, all in all.  We also planned to avoid driving more than a day or two in a row.  We’d find a nice place to stop for at least a day or two in between - typically this would be a place where there are good opportunities for us to put out flyers and build our business.

So this trip plan went something like this:

We’re driving from the Beach in Playa del Rey to our storage unit in Prescott, AZ.  We used to drive it in one day in the car, but YUCK!  On our drive schedule, we could do it in two reasonable days.  Instead we set up a 3-day trek.

Today we drove from the beach to Victorville, CA.  We took our time getting on the road, and it was after 11 am when we were finally underway.  After a stop for gas and lunch (but not a long rest) in the middle, and arrived here around 3 pm.   As we often do, we’re parked in a WalMart parking lot.  Their corporate policy is that they allow RVs to park overnight - VERY handy.

Tomorrow we will probably make it to the WalMart in Kingman, AZ, and we have our reservation at the RV park in Prescott starting Wednesday night.

The big scheduling issue turns out to be making business phone calls.  People who pick up our flyers or business cards, or even visit our web site, typically want to talk to someone in person.  We have toll-free numbers with voicemail, so we accumulate a list of people that need to be called back.

The lunch break is of course the best time for us, but it doesn’t do any good to call when the people aren’t home.  And by the time we get settled for the evening and have dinner it’s often too late - especially when we are on the West Coast, and at least some of the people we need to call are on the East Coast.

Darkness and kids’ bedtimes prohibit just shifting the evening activities later.  Mostly, for now, this has meant that calls only get returned on non-driving days, which hardly seems ideal.

We’re still working on this one…

It’s always something new when you go to Church with little ones.

Last Sunday, Jewel stayed in the nursery.  But she turned two last week, so today she attended the 2 Year Old children’s “class.”

She was excited to see a lot of new books and puzzles to play with, but was also clearly intimidated by the strange place and strange people, and kept “checking in” with us.  Wolf and Nick went on in to the service, and I stayed with her.  My plan was to try leaving again in a little while when she got acclimated.

Although she had fun doing puzzles, having a snack of goldfish crackers, and coloring, she never did stop running back to check on Mama still being there.  The teacher smiled, and commented that it typically took kids a few weeks to get used to being in a new class.

In this day and age, a lot of people seem to find our parenting style odd.  In some circles, I get a lot of raised eyebrows when people hear that she’s not in daycare, and that we haven’t started applying to preschools.  So I was really touched when the teacher said, after we had chatted off and on during the class, “It’s such a blessing to keep her home with you, if you’re able to.”

It wasn’t so long ago that it was the norm for Mom to be home to raise the children.  Both Scripture and secular sources cite the fact that raising the next generation is our most important charge.  When did our society as a whole shift away from that?  And why?

We feel, absolutely, that there is nothing I could be doing “out there” that would be worth having someone else shaping our daughter’s character, or dealing with our gifted and challenging preteen son.

Of course the beauty of working our business together is that Wolf is around most of the time, too, to lend the paternal influence that seems so lacking in some kids’ lives.  I spend a lot of time thanking the Lord for providing my children with such a loving Papa, and for providing us with the opportunity that allows us both to be there for them.

I just LOVE this story, which seems able to bring home a point it’s surprisingly hard to get across to people in conversation, about why we do what we do.

The 2 Year Story

Imagine you’re at work one day and your boss comes to you and says, “Bad news, we’re going to have to fire you. Business is bad, and the economy stinks.”

You feel depressed. No more career. No more regular paychecks.

And then the boss says, “You know what? If you were to work just one extra hour overtime every day for free, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, we’ll let you keep your job and you can continue collecting your same paycheck.”

Now, what would you do?

Well, most people would say, “Okay, I will work the hour of overtime to keep my job. I know I will be working the extra hour for free, but it is important to keep my present job and income.”

And then the boss says, “Well, I know it’s kind of bad news for you but there is some good news. If you work that hour of overtime, Monday through Friday, for no pay – just one extra hour a day . . . at the end of two years, we’ll let you retire at full pay.”

All of a sudden, how do you feel?

You feel like saying, “Wow! Excellent! What an opportunity! Just work one hour overtime for free, Monday through Friday, and two years from now . . . I retire at full pay!”

So what would happen?

You’re working overtime and six months later one of your friends says, “Hey, why don’t you quit doing that? You’re working an hour overtime every day and not getting paid for it.”

You say to your friend, “No way! I only have 18 more months to go and then I’m going to retire!”

A year from now, maybe your spouse says, “You know what, dear? You’ve been working that free hour of overtime for the past 12 months. Why don’t you spend more time here at home instead of working that hour overtime?”

You say, “No, no, no! Just one more year and I can retire at full pay.”

And you would be at work faithfully, Monday through Friday, working that overtime so you could retire.

And you would be excited about the opportunity.

Well, we have the same opportunity to retire with our network marketing business.

We ask people to spend one hour a day, Monday through Friday building a network marketing business. And all you have to do is

. . . talk to some people.

And you don’t have to worry too much about what you say or how good you are, because you know what? You’ll get better. The longer you do network marketing, the more you’ll learn.

So maybe the first month you say, “Gee, I really don’t know what to say.”

The second month you get a little better and say, “Well, I know the name of the company is AmeriPlanUSA.”

The third month you get better at this and say, “I think this is a neat business. You might want to look at it.”

And the fourth month, and every month after that, you get better, and better, and better.

Just invest an hour a day. And at the end of two years you might be pleasantly surprised and say, “You know what, I can replace my full-time income and retire for the rest of my life.”

So . . . would you take advantage of that opportunity?

If you are like most people, you will want to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity . . .  but, you won’t.

Here is why you won’t do it.

A little voice inside of your head is saying, “But what if it doesn’t work? What if I waste an hour a day over those two years? What if I’m not good at this? I don’t know anyone who has retired in network marketing. I only know people who retired with a pension from a job. This might not be a sure thing.”

Yes, you’re going to have some doubt. You will have a belief problem.

And that’s pretty natural.

So here is what we are going to do to help you with your belief:

To encourage you along the way, every so often we’re going to send you a check in the mail – just to keep your spirits up as you build your two-year business. When you get these occasional checks, you will say, “I know it works! I’ve got these checks to prove it.”

And that is why you want to start your business today.

I’m still trying to catch up with the sales and promotions that everyone’s offering in May - Wow!

May is AmeriPlan’s 15th Birthday, and the twin founders’ 65th Birthday, so naturally they’re offering presents:

- Pay ZERO for your first month!  Sign up for a Household Dental plan during May, and your first month is FREE (and depending on your billing cycle, this can actually be as much as 7 weeks!).  This gives you savings up to 80% on Dental, Vision, Prescription and Chiropractic services, with no limits, no deductibles, and no exclusions.  Their “household” is cool, too, because it includes anyone living with you - no limits on age or relationship like those insurance companies have - so it can be your married child, your cousin, your roommate, or anyone…  Visit www.LowCostDental4U.com.

- Of course they have great incentives for us reps this month, too…  And with the free month of benefits, it’s even easier to build up your business this month.  Check out TiffanyBlitz.com. 

May is also Tupperware’s birthday (did I miss the memo about starting a business in May?).  They have a ton of great specials going on for individual orders, for party hosts, and for consultants to earn, too.  Check out the sales at Tupperware Blitz if you’re so inclined.

Now if only the price of gas was discounted this month…  Being in California again makes me try to hoard every drop!

We were supposed to leave today.  Actually, we were supposed to leave yesterday.  We had even made reservations that the park in Prescott where we stayed last time we were there… 

But none of us felt up to packing it in and driving.  So we stayed.  We had to move over a few spots here, since someone had already reserved our spot this weekend, but now we’re scheduled to depart on Monday.

Hopefully this will give us a chance to relax a little, since our original departure was based on allowing enough time to do all the things we HAD to do while we were here.  Whew! 

I just found out, amazingly, that I’m “this close” to qualifying for incentives from Tupperware!  I joined on a lark, to get a discount on all the compact storage stuff we need for the RV.  Things sure have changed from the way I remember my mom buying Tupperware… 

Sure, some people still do “Tupperware Parties,” and for a certain personality type I’m sure that’s a lot of fun. ;) But they also have cool e-commerce websites (mine’s http://www.tupperwareblitz.com) where people can order securely online, and the company ships the product directly to them — I don’t ever have to get in the middle of it!

Someone back in Mississippi started a “catalog party” while we were there (she collects orders by having her friends look at a catalog, rather that getting everyone together), but had some things come up and it took a while to wrap it up.  It finally got entered this week, and looks pretty good on my sales record!  May is Tupperware’s birthday month, so they’re having a bunch of great sales and promotions for customers and consultants alike.  Who knows what I might stumble into with this…

Yesterday I had the entertaining thought that it was after 10 am, I was having an incredibly productive day, and I was sipping a cup of Chai in my jammies - at the beach, no less.  How many jobs can offer you that?

This morning brought a similar revelation.  I’ve been getting up around 5 am, since my body seems to be stuck on Central Time after so long in Mississippi.  So as I sat here, once again with Chai and pajamas, I watched the folks driving out of the park in their fancy clothes…  So even though they were parked here on the beach in their RV, they were getting up well before the crack of dawn every day and commuting back into the Rat Race.  Wow.

When I was in my teens and 20’s, my parents probably thought I was just lazy, since I went to some great lengths to find ways to support myself other than getting a 9 to 5 JOB (have you heard the acronym “Journey Of the Broke”?).  I realize in hindsight that I was just intrinsically motivated to be self-employed and in charge of my own destiny.

So it’s the first of the month…  Sending out the monthly newsletter to our “Team Blitz,” sending out follow-up postcards to new members, and generally taking care of the details. 

I’ve also signed up to be a Tupperware consultant, since I love their space-saving storage ideas for the RV.  Of course I got a forwarding domain set up for my personal Tupperware Blitz site, too.

Wolf is now set up for posting access, so hopefully we can get the male perspective interspersed with my ramblings soon…