Origami Owl Day Off

What does an Origami Owl Independent Designer do with her day off? Well that depends on just how dorky she is! :) Click to see the dorkiness...Click for Dorkiness

Don't Psych Yourself Out

I found myself on YouTube last night.  I'm a little obsessed over Origami Owl right now, so I'm trying to devour everything Origami Owl I can get my hands on.  Unfortunately there are always going to be nay sayers, and it is way too easy to let someone bring you down or put doubts in your mind.  People don't always agree with "direct marketing" also known as "MLM".  While I have tried other lines (only one) and was not successful, with Origami Owl I have come to a certain truth.  You have to love the product.  You have to believe in it.  If you don't, you're wasting your time.

I've said it before. I'm NOT a sales person. I do not sit here dreaming that I'm going to be Origami Owl's top seller.  But I'm selling necklaces all the same.  How? It's simple.  When people ask me about my own necklace I can't shut up about it. "What's that? You like my necklace? Oh thank you! [not even pausing for a breath] you know, it's totally customize-able. You can swap out the charms, pick whatever charms you'd like, choose a chain, add a plate, and you can add on jewelry dangles.  I'm addicted to them, that's why I started selling them!  I also do home parties where you can earn free jewelry."  That person winds up with a card or a catalog, whatever I happen to have on me at the time.  It's the enthusiasm and excitement for the product that sells.

I might not be the highest seller at Origami Owl, or even on my own team.  But I know I've made money.  And I have seen commissions deposited into my bank account.  I've had cash in my hand after someone bought a product right out of my stock.  And don't forget, I've only been doing this a little over a month and haven't even had my first hosted party yet.

Keep up the motivation.  Avoid listening to negativity. Just keep going forward.

I have fallen in love with the idea of Origami Owl Bridal!  I decided to start a special for Brides.  All lockets sold for bridal party members will receive a free charm, and brides will receive discounts on their own locket (which will be based on the number of lockets purchased for the bridal party).  It's such a gorgeous idea!

         Kim Price, #17556

Vendor Event

I had my first vendor event.  Unfortunately it was outdoors, cold and rainy.  BUT, that didn't stop selling a few things and making some awesome contacts.  You can't predict the weather, but my thoughts are this - I didn't pay for the booth so all it cost me was my time.  If I had paid for the booth I would have maybe broke even, so it still would have been worth it with the contacts that I made.  I probably will forego cold weather month booths outside because it can go either way. I do believe had it been a sunny warm day it would have been even better, so I'll save any vendor events for the warmer months!  I'm ready for my launch party now.  Just need to set the date and get the invites out.  I'm happy with how my display came out and I made this super cute banner (you can kind of see it in the picture hanging on the back of the tent. I originally made it for the front of the table, but I forgot the pins... Hey there was a lot to tote the long way from the parking lot!)  And yes, those are ponies behind me...  AND red velvet funnel cakes. How can you lose?  I am having so much fun selling Origami Owl!

Is It Worth Doing?

I am now officially a month into selling Origami Owl.  I imagine the burning question is, "Is it worth doing?"  My original thought process was, I love the product so much, all I care is that I make enough to cover what I spent getting involved, and that I might make a few bucks, get some cool jewelry and meet some new people.  All of these expectations were met and more.

What I did not expect was for complete strangers to stop me and ask me about my necklace.  I did not expect to hand a catalog out and not have to follow up in order to get a sale.  I did not expect that I would become (gag) a sales person.  I've never been good at sales, but I can tell you one thing, with Origami Owl, I have not had to be.  All of my earnings thus far have come from a single online party and from word of mouth to friends, family and co-workers.  Obviously I plan on having parties.  I even have friends who have offered to do that for me. But the simple fact that I was able to make up what I put into getting started, and I was able to do that within the first 30 days, I think is pretty remarkable.

I think the most important thing to remember is to be passionate and excited about the product.  I've certainly got that covered!  I love the lockets and all the accessories.  I love talking about them.  I guess that's the key--I've never actually found something that I believe in enough to sell.  I believe EVERYONE needs and O2 locket with a cute dangle! ;)

Actual Origami Owl

I wonder how long it takes the Origami Owl Designer before she has created her own Origami Owl.  I made mine last Friday. I haven't even been an Origami Owl Independent Designer for a month :)

Sick in Bed but Still Orgami-ing

I'm sick, sick, sick... laying in bed with the DVR, tablet and cell phone... soon came the paper cutters, scissors and craftiness.  Before I know it, I had created these lovely football themed origami owl lockets.  Let me make it clear, O2 does NOT sell the NFL backgrounds, I printed those out on photo paper, cut them out (badly I might add, so if I make mine like this for real, I'm going to have to do a better job lol).   Of course I made Cleveland for obvious reasons.  The Dallas one I did because that star is just way too cool.  I think I'd put the crystal star in with the Dallas one and add a blue and white cystal to finish it off.  The browns I will add a brown and orange crystal and the crystal dog bone and/or dog paw (just actually thought of that now... ).

I'm exploring all the possibilities of NFL-style lockets, college football, baseball, basketball... It's endless really.

Loving the Designs

In the aftermath of my very first online party, I'm now getting pictures of all the lockets that were ordered and I'm loving what everyone came up with.  Still waiting on two more, but here is one that I received just a little bit ago.  Origami Owl Living Lockets ROCK!!!!

I have ordered a bunch more stock to include a medium gold locket, gold ball station chain, large rose gold locket with crystals and a rose gold chain and a bunch of dangles, charms and plates. I'm hoping with my latest round of stock that I will have a good sampling of everything we carry.  There are a few things I obviously still need to get but I think that my boutique will rock :)

Oh and Sunday Gerry and I made a special trip to Marshall's just because I wanted the owl mugs I saw the other day and didn't buy.  Did I mention I'm addicted to Origami Owl!?!?

My First Party (as an Assistant Designer)

My mentor, Crystal invited me along to one of her parties.  Considering flat tires and all kind of other nonsense got in the way the past two shows she had it was about time I got this under my belt and was able to get a real feel for the flow of a party.  It's a very relaxed atmosphere.  I enjoyed myself very much, everyone was very nice, and truly loved the product, which is a good thing.  Crystal will be moving in May so she was nice enough to encourage me to hand out my business cards and told everyone there, once she leaves, I would be the best person to get in contact with should they wish to have another party or to purchase more Origami Owl products.

I sold another locket today.  Yay me.  And I have one or two on the back burner, so hopefully this week I will have another two sold.  I've pretty much put all of my "winnings" back into product.  I noticed a few people asking to see the gold and rose gold lockets and chains and some of the dangles, so I figured I'd save myself from having to say "No, I don't have those".  I swear if I could have three of everything on hand I would!!!  One day I'll be reach and famous from my O2 adventures and will have huge stock to pull from, but for now I'm slowly building up my jewelry bar display items.

I should note, some may decide to hold off on putting all their earnings back into stock.  Crystal has managed to sell just fine without having various items and I don't think it hinders her sales in any way.  I'm just an anal spaz and am trying to circumvent any potential issues.  It's just my way :)

And while I'm at it, my sister got her locket and I'm attaching a picture here.  It's amazing!  Good job Meg!

PV Personal Value

This is an important one because it stole a little bit of my thunder.  Once you become an Independent Designer you have access to the "Back Office" which shows all of your orders, the total on each order, a break down of the PV.  I mistakenly thought the PV was keeping a tally of my earnings.  Wrong.  Your PV is actually the value of what you sold minus your commission.  It's essentially what O2 has made from your sales.  Here I was running around thinking I made quite a bit more than I did.  I only found this out after my first commission payout.  It made me feel a little ripped off.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't ripped off and I wasn't tricked in any way. This was totally my fault for 1) not doing the math myself on each of my sales to see what it is I made and 2) not finding out what PV meant in the first place. I went into this saying I'd be happy if I made 50 bucks, so I'm still happy because I made that and more in my first online party alone.

Onward and upward!

The Online Jewelry Bar

What I learned by doing an online Jewelry Bar.

1) Have the Origami Owl Jewelry Bar end on a week day.  Preferably not Friday.  People are out (hopefully) doing fun things on Friday and the weekend and probably not tied to their Facebook or other online avenue.

2) I'm still on the fence about whether to do the party on a personal Facebook page or on the Facebook Business page. I feel the business page gives it more legitimacy, but the business page doesn't allow you to give a beginning and ending date.  Though people can still post up until the ending date.  So I'd probably do it again on the business page when I do it.

3) Even though you're having an online party, if someone wants to place an order with you, take the order. Do NOT refer them back to your website to place their order in person just because it's fun to see the shopping cart add people and you'll have them in your "customers" section.  Take the sale then and there.  People get busy and forget and procrastinate.  That's a good way to lose orders (so far I'm still waiting on 3 people who were genuinely interested, one went so far as to write down all she wanted, and they still haven't ordered).

4) Give incentive to order now.  My deal was that you can win a free charm.  I've considered doing it where everyone who orders gets a free charm but then I was concerned about the cost involved in shipping those charms out.  First you have shipping going from O2 to you (close to $8.00, ouch), then shipping out to those who are not local.  That can start to eat into your profits pretty heavily.  But at the same time, it depends on how much you're willing to give up to increase sales and interest.  The jury is still out as to whether the potential of winning a free charm versus a guarantee of a free winds up being the catalyst to a sale.  Consider having your online party a week before you intend on ordering more stock, this way you were going to have shipping costs anyway, and you're not hurting your bottom line so badly.

5) DO NOT over saturate with invites and posts.  Post only one time a day. Otherwise you are going to annoy people away from buying.  One invite is sufficient. Trust me, they received it. If they didn't respond they are simply not interested and bugging them is not going to increase their interest.  Instead post to your personal Facebook Page about the party with a link, and post pictures on your personal page.  One a day per personal and business page. Otherwise, overkill.

6) Flyer - Put flyers everywhere you go. I've been bad about this. I didn't leave a single one.

All in all I feel the Jewelry Bar was a success for me. I almost made up my initial investment (the party closes at midnight tonight so I may just make it yet, if those promises to buy pan out).  Wish me luck!