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All I can say after reading everyones posts is that I am glad I have my paperwork filled out. I hopefully will be a new Demo very shortly. I was on the fence about when to sign, but after reading this, I am ready to take the plunge.
I e-mailed my Demo I guess soon to be upline that I just need her to fill out her portion so I can overnight it.
Thanks everyone..
debbie
Debbie:
Congratulations and good luck in your new venture.
Thank you Colleen, I'll be stopping by her house on Saturday so she can do her end of the paperwork, then I'll overnight it to SU... Cann't wait to get my Demo #.
Debbie
Quote:
Originally Posted by STAMPINGODDESS
Debbie:
Congratulations and good luck in your new venture.
Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents...I never demo'd for SU! but used to many years ago for CM. My upline was terrible and she is the main reason I left the company. You need to find an upline who suits you, near, far, wherever you are...sorry, I guess I just channeled Celine Dion for a minute! Good luck and most of all...HAVE FUN!!!
I know this was a holiday weekend and all, but I have not heard back from ANY of the inquiries I made last week. I wanted to notify the 2 demos I have ordered from in the past and give the one I do really like, a chance to respond.
I contacted 2 more from the SU Demo locator.
Nothing nada zip. Very discouraging. I just sent a note to another demo who is local through the SU demo locator, but it is like picking a dentist from the phone book, KWIM?
I am not really sure how much support I will need, I have a sister and close friend who have both down in home demo businesses, I am an accountant for a large insurance co, I have the SCS resources for ideas/techniques. I *think* I have the right personality and temperment to make this work really well for me.
So many of you responded with such great advice, and from hanging around the SCS site for a while, I can tell many of you are great great demos. Just how important is it to have a local demo vs. cross country?
I like being able to go to my upline's events for new ideas and techniques. I really learn best by her *showing* me, so that's something I enjoy. Our group also will do shares together--supply orders, coasters, etc. Other than that, I think there isn't an advantage.
I know this was a holiday weekend and all, but I have not heard back from ANY of the inquiries I made last week. I wanted to notify the 2 demos I have ordered from in the past and give the one I do really like, a chance to respond.
I contacted 2 more from the SU Demo locator.
Nothing nada zip. Very discouraging. I just sent a note to another demo who is local through the SU demo locator, but it is like picking a dentist from the phone book, KWIM?
I am not really sure how much support I will need, I have a sister and close friend who have both down in home demo businesses, I am an accountant for a large insurance co, I have the SCS resources for ideas/techniques. I *think* I have the right personality and temperment to make this work really well for me.
So many of you responded with such great advice, and from hanging around the SCS site for a while, I can tell many of you are great great demos. Just how important is it to have a local demo vs. cross country?
What other support will an upline offer?
thanks,
J
The problem with the demo locator is that requests made through it go into an e-mail box on the SU demo site, not the demo's personal e-mail, and the site was down for part of the time yesterday. This being a holiday weekend, and the demo site being down for part of the day yesterday, your local demos may not have had a chance to check their in-box on the demo site. So if you ahve their phone numbers you may wan tto call them tomorrow jsut to make sure they got your e-mails.
As to your other question, I definitely know people who are successful without a local upline or any upline. Su provides each demo with a lot of resources and there is the demo forum here on SCS which has served as many a demo's upline. And if you do find the right upline in another town or state that you feel you can get along with, then having a long-distance upline would obviously be better than having a local upline who is completely non-responsive.
Ultimately, you have to decide. For me there is a definite advantage to getting together with other demos for shoebox swaps, business meetings or just for coffe to talk about what's going on in our business. And for me that applies not just to my upline, but my sidelines and everyone else in my up-up-upline's family tree.
But I know another demo nearby who is part of a different large group and she feels, for the most part, abandoned by her upline and sideline. So having a local group is not necessarily a panacea.
And on the flipside, one of my sidelines moved to another state and we still chat via e-mail and phone and exchange ideas, and she mails in her swaps for our shoebox swaps so she's not missing out on those either. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that either situation can work well with the right upline.
I really hope that you find the right upline for you -- one who will provide both business and creative support, work with you to set goals and encourage you to meet them and stretch beyond without putting pressure on you to do things you're not ready for or interested in. I think those are the most important qualities. Good luck!
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I've been reading through this thread and was just getting ready to post, however, Diane has said everything I would've & more eloquently too. So I will just say even if you feel you don't neet the training of an upline it is wonderful to be part of a group!
My upline currently lives locally, but will be moving very far away soon. I have gottne alot of support from her in the past, and I'm sure I'll continue to receive support once she once. This support, however will be by email and phone, rather than the monthly group meetings. While the group meetins have been informative, the biggest thing I get from them is ideas and socialization, both of which I always find elsewhere.
I have downline who are out of town. I believe that I am able to support them by email, phone calls, and oridinarly mail.
I'm not a big one of hand holding. Instead when I need assistance fom my upline, I ask and I encourage my downline to ask when they need help-I don't push.
Finally, as Diane said, if you sent an inquiruy by the demonstrator locator, the ones you contacted are likey to receive their emails when they log on today.
I talked to an awesome SU demo earlier today, she was very highly recommended by a SCSer! She sounds like a great match for me, she offers monthly demo meetings, etc. I checked out her website, our styles are very similar.
We are meeting for lunch tomorrow to talk and (hopefully) sign some papers to overnight to SU headquarters.
thanks again for all the advice and encouragement. I'm sooo excited!
That is wonderful news, Julie! Be sure to update us once you paperwork is sent and then join us on the demo side after you get your demo number. Welcome to the Stampin' Up! family!
I do have a question about the demo threads here on SCS....is it just for SU demos' or any demo's such as TAC as well? Can the Angels go to the demo thread too? TIA....Karen
Karla, I just signed up to be a TAC Angel demo. It was an easy choice for me, as I only have to make 100$ order every 4 months. SU's is higher than that, and I didn't feel I could meet the minimums. But go for it!! You won't know til you try, and either company is terrific!! I just felt TAC would better fit my lifestyle and budget. Hope this helps. Karen.
I do have a question about the demo threads here on SCS....is it just for SU demos' or any demo's such as TAC as well? Can the Angels go to the demo thread too? TIA....Karen
Karen99 the Demo Thread is just for SU demo's!
there is a Demo board for TAC Angels on a Yahoo group.
If you want more information about this group Please send me a PM and I will give you the web address.
Is it typical for a special to be offered in July for signing up at a new demo? I'm trying to decide about taking the plunge.
Karla, I've only been a demo since last June, so I'm probably not the best to answer, but I think last year there was no recruiting special in July but there was one in August. However, in my limited experience the only "typical" special for SU was Sell-A-Bration (and even that is changing now that SU is moving to a 2 catalogs per year system and all we know is that Sell-A-Bration will still happen, but we don't know when). Otherwise the specials (both sales and recruiting) and their timing vary from month to month and year to year.
I was on the fence for a few weeks about becoming a demo. Well after listening (or should say reading) everyone's post, I took the plunge and sent in my paperwork today. Even overnighted it so they would have it tomorrow so I make the 31st deadline.. I look at it this way, It is only $100 per month (which sounds better than $300 per quarter) and if worse comes to worse and for some reason I don't make the quota, I go back to buying my stuff from my upline...You really have nothing to lose. Even the kit is well worth the $200 you are getting alot of stuff for that initial $200.
I was on the fence for a few weeks about becoming a demo. Well after listening (or should say reading) everyone's post, I took the plunge and sent in my paperwork today. Even overnighted it so they would have it tomorrow so I make the 31st deadline.. I look at it this way, It is only $100 per month (which sounds better than $300 per quarter) and if worse comes to worse and for some reason I don't make the quota, I go back to buying my stuff from my upline...You really have nothing to lose. Even the kit is well worth the $200 you are getting alot of stuff for that initial $200.
HTH
Debbie
Even better - it's not even $100! With your discount it's $80 and shipping and tax! As for specials - right now there is a GREAT one! You'll get 2 of the hostess sets from the catalog that's about to come out! No one can even BUY them yet!
Congrats Julie! Can't wait to see you on "the other side"!
Congrats Debbie! Welcome to the SU family! Now you get to experience the sweet anticipation of the arrival of your starter kit. My official demo anniversary is June 4, so last year around this time I was feeling exactly the way you're feeling. Woo Hoo!
I know this was a holiday weekend and all, but I have not heard back from ANY of the inquiries I made last week. I wanted to notify the 2 demos I have ordered from in the past and give the one I do really like, a chance to respond.
I contacted 2 more from the SU Demo locator.
Nothing nada zip. Very discouraging. I just sent a note to another demo who is local through the SU demo locator, but it is like picking a dentist from the phone book, KWIM?
I am not really sure how much support I will need, I have a sister and close friend who have both down in home demo businesses, I am an accountant for a large insurance co, I have the SCS resources for ideas/techniques. I *think* I have the right personality and temperment to make this work really well for me.
So many of you responded with such great advice, and from hanging around the SCS site for a while, I can tell many of you are great great demos. Just how important is it to have a local demo vs. cross country?
What other support will an upline offer?
thanks,
J
I certainly do understand (to some degree) that the website being down for a day was an issue but you contacted far too many demo with the same dismal result for me to keep giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. One of the reasons that I have some of the customers that I do is because their original demonstrator did nothing for them, with them, etc... No information, slow response, poor communication. That is not exclusive to SU, however, it is the way many businesses are: you get some good representatives and you get some not-so-good ones. It's not just SU. With a direct marketing company, it's impossible for the "home office" to police us all to be as professional as they hope we are.
My advice to you is to keep looking until you find a demonstrator who wants and appreciates you as much as you want to be appreciated!
And having a far-away demo is a personal choice. I have 29 first-level downline. Two live in the city I live in and the other 27 live out of state primarily. I'm in California and I have downline in South Dakota, Georgia, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, etc..... It does NOT matter one bit to them. It only should to you if you need a face-to-face person. No one should judge you either way. It's what YOU need or want out of this.
Whatever you do... go for it with gusto!!!
__________________ Stella MacKay, Independent Demonstrator for Stampin' Up! since 2002
Thanks! I love stamping, and between how much I order myself, and knowing my demo is looking from a little break while she's pregnant, so would love me to take on the small monthly club I organized, the promotion just put me over the top!
If I could do the fancy smileys I would give all the new demos a big ovation right now! This sign up special, with the free hostess sets, was IMO the best deal of the year! Not only will you get 2 free hostess sets that you only could have earned with a $600+ party, as new demos in June you will also be able to purchase stuff from the preview brochure with the demo discount! Woo Hoo! See you all in the demo chat rooms soon!
Amy, I love the Happy Dance!!!!! Once again Thanks for the warm welcome... Now the anticipation of waiting for the package. Do any of you know if they will send the preview catalog and a new catalog to me. I know I have to buy a box of the new ones, but wasn't sure if maybe they sent one to tease you with...
You all should get a copy of the preview brochure and every demonstrator gets a complimentary copy of every catalog, including the fall-winter 2007 collection. However, beause these are shipped bulk mail, the often do not get to the recipients until the middle of July. If you want to make sure that you get a copy of the catalog in the beginning of July or, hopefully, at the end of June, it's a good idea to pre-order a box of catalogs. Even with the pre-order, the date of arrival is not guaranteed. Catalog pre-order ends June 15 so if this interests you you need to place that order soon after you get your demo number.
Wow! there's a lot of info on this thread. I've been thinking about becoming a demo for a few years now. My full-time job contract says that we can't have any outside income producing ventures. Plus, DH really doesn't want me to do it. I know it takes up a lot of time also to prepare workshops & such and I can barely keep up w/ what's on my plate now. How does everyone's DH's feel about you being a demo?
Wow! there's a lot of info on this thread. I've been thinking about becoming a demo for a few years now. My full-time job contract says that we can't have any outside income producing ventures. Plus, DH really doesn't want me to do it. I know it takes up a lot of time also to prepare workshops & such and I can barely keep up w/ what's on my plate now. How does everyone's DH's feel about you being a demo?
Oh, and I forgot to mention I was a CM demo once and failed miserably. I tried it for about 6 months.
Congratulations on all you newbie demos (or soon to be). It sounds like lots of you were in the wings just waiting to take off!! SU is a great company! I have had nothing but great experiences with them, even though like any company, you get shipped the wrong item, or are missing an item occaisionly, but they have ALWAYS promptly taken care of the situtation.
You can make it on your own, learn from all the great demos on SCS and rely on SU demonstrator support and run your business as fast and hard as you want or as slow and relaxing as you want.
So good luck to each of you that have decided to take the plunge! I hope you will hold onto your dreams and push past your fears.
Have a great stampin' day!
__________________ "You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have." ~Maya Angelou
Wow! there's a lot of info on this thread. I've been thinking about becoming a demo for a few years now. My full-time job contract says that we can't have any outside income producing ventures. Plus, DH really doesn't want me to do it. I know it takes up a lot of time also to prepare workshops & such and I can barely keep up w/ what's on my plate now. How does everyone's DH's feel about you being a demo?
I have to say that my DH is sooooo supportative of this, as well as just about any venture I take. He helped me build my dream stamp room, helps me carry my stash from the room to the car when I leave for workshops and takes DS to the batting cages if I have an event at my house. He also truly appreciates the items I stamp. I made his a gift envelope (containing baseball tickets) for our anniversary and he LOVED it and has it proudly displayed.
I really do know how lucky I am and make it a point to let him know that I feel lucky to have him! We've been married for 23 years and he still treats me like we are dating!
Wow! there's a lot of info on this thread. I've been thinking about becoming a demo for a few years now. My full-time job contract says that we can't have any outside income producing ventures. Plus, DH really doesn't want me to do it. I know it takes up a lot of time also to prepare workshops & such and I can barely keep up w/ what's on my plate now. How does everyone's DH's feel about you being a demo?
My DH wasn't too sure when I said I wanted to sign up, since I had failed miserably at MK. He made me ask a MILLION questions! LOL But NOW, almost a year later, he's very impressed with how I'm doing One of the MAIN differences is that with SU you DO NOT have to carry INVENTORY - in fact, it's prohibited! I think that helps A LOT! No wasted money on items that NO ONE every orders.
Wow! there's a lot of info on this thread. I've been thinking about becoming a demo for a few years now. My full-time job contract says that we can't have any outside income producing ventures. Plus, DH really doesn't want me to do it. I know it takes up a lot of time also to prepare workshops & such and I can barely keep up w/ what's on my plate now. How does everyone's DH's feel about you being a demo?
My DH is supportive, though he has said that he sometimes feels like a stamp widower! But he can see how happy stamping makes me and he's glad that I found something I'm so passionate about. And while I can't get him to stamp with me, he does on occasion help me out with other stuff like preparing workshop folders, circling retired sets in catalogs, etc.
The beauty of being a demo is that it doesn't have to take up any more time than you're willing to give it, as long as you understand and accept that being truly successful does require time and effort. There are plenty of demonstrators who join just to get the discount on their own purchases and never do any workshops or classes. Unlike CM, we do not have to carry inventory, so there is no pressure to sell beyond what you need. And if you don't meet the minimums you just drop and keep everything you purchased -- there is no penalty.
Having a supportive upline is also very helpful. In our demo group we are constantly sharing business tips and forms, so there's no need for me to reinvent the wheeel every time I need to send out something to my customers. And you will find a plethora of resources in the demo forums here on SCS and also on the SU demo site. If you use these resources properly it can really save a ton of time.
Having said all this, if your current job prohibits you joining SU as a demo, I would not jeopardise that, though it doesn't sound like you would be in violation of your contract if you just signed up to get the discount yourself and did not sell to anyone else.
