A New Venture

Well, tonight's the night--my big kickoff open house. That's right, open house. For what, you might ask. Well, the short story is: I'm a new independent consultant for Close To My Heart (scrapbooking and stamping supplies). The long story: I was introduced to Close To My Heart products about 2 years ago when an acquaintance invited me to her open house when she kicked off her business. I immediately fell in love with the products. The coordinating papers and stickers, the easy-to-use stamps, the compact organization! I spent so much on them at first that Fred put me on a “scrapbooking allotment!”  When that happened, I went through my catalogs and made so many wish lists that I knew the pages certain products were on at every gathering I went to. Kimberly (my friend and consultant) suggested a few times that I'd make a good consultant. I pooh-poohed the idea, after the experience I had with another direct sales company a number of years ago.  Another friend (also a consultant) mentioned that I'd make a great consultant, and again I shrugged off the idea. Well, when Fred got his most recent orders, I really started thinking about what I wanted for myself--beyond being "(military) wife" and "mommy". What was my dream in the long-run? I started talking to Fred about “someday” opening my own scrapbook store. He frowned and said, well, if you want to do that, I’d rather you do like Kimberly and sell Close to my Heart. You already know and love the product. You talk about the stamps and paper with anyone who even mentions scrapbooking. 

That was in March. I looked into it a bit, and then decided to wait on it, but started praying. I decided that if someone I didn't know offered to host a gathering, then I'd go ahead with the business. In April the PWOC and chapel sponsored a papercrafting day. It was an incredible blessing to be able to socially scrapbook like that. The vast majority of my "toys" are from Close To My Heart and several gals were oohing and ahing over things. I also had my idea book with me and was sharing it around. I mentioned once that I was thinking about signing up as a consultant. At the end of the day, Suzy, a woman I met only that day said, "If you do decide you want to do it, I'll host a party for you." That was that...and I think I'm ready for my first gathering tonight.