GIVING out of Business with LuLaRoe

Alyssa Osegard on July 9, 2018

LuLaRoe is a clothing company that really helped us out. We were actively a part of the business for over a year. During that time, it met all of our goals. We wanted an outlet outside of our professions, an outlet to be creative, a discount on cute clothes, a new community, and another job to help us get out of debt. It did all of those things and more!

But then we reached a new stage in life

After time, LuLaRoe stopped fitting our needs and was no longer serving our mission as a family. Our only hope at that point was that we could move on to things that would further our mission AND that would help us break even enough to get our LuLaRoe business out of our house! So, a few months ago, we realized we needed to work the business enough to say goodbye.

Some of you saw that happen -Remember a few months ago when we made a “comeback” and then disappeared? It wasn’t that we changed our minds about leaving LuLaRoe, but you guys, it just didn’t feel right to us. Even though we just wanted to get all these awesome clothes out to you (AND say goodbye to our clothing business), it felt like since OUR heart wasn’t in it, it would feel like we just wanted your money, and that isn’t the case at all.

So we re-evaluated and found a plan that works to get you AMAZING clothing, part ways with LuLaRoe, and serves our mission. And you guys – we are SO PUMPED.

LULAROE “GOOB”

You’ve heard of “Going out of business” right? Of course you have, it seems like LuLaRoe retailers left and right are “Going out of Business” (It’s the natural rise and fall after a big boom in a new company). Well we are going to be “Giving out of business”.

ALL of our profits (that’s right- 100% of our profits, and even some of our overhead cost) will be going to various charities and causes and we want your help! Do you have a friend in need or a case near to your heart? Let’s host a fundraiser together! We have so many great places in the works to help other people, and we can’t wait to partner with you to bless others!

To sum it all up:

You get cute, comfortable clothes.

We part ways with our business as our family goals have shifted.

Together, we get to help other people.

Fun fact – this was what we posted when we were announcing we were starting with LuLaRoe. Service has ALWAYS been our truest mission.

We LOVE LuLaRoe and are sad that it doesn’t fit into our lives any more. But, we are THRILLED to be able to say goodbye in a way that will brighten other’s lives! PLEASE shoot us a message or comment below if you have someone in mind that you would like to help! If you weren’t a part of our LuLaRoe group, join us for cute clothes and serving others!

Sassy Con 2018 – Cody’s Takeaways

Cody Osegard on June 22, 2018

Sassy Con 2018 – a social media marketing conference attended by approximately 300 women – and Cody. Yes, I was the only male in attendance. Does that mean the conference only had beneficial information for women? Definitely not! So, here are some of my key takeaways from our trip to Gilbert, AZ and our time at Sassy Con!

Cody For Socialite Prom King!

Background

Going into the conference, I knew that I would be in a very small minority of “husbands” in attendance. Turns out, I was the ONLY husband who attended. Sidenote here – husbands: I encourage you to show up for your wife! Whatever that means in your relationship is great; for me, this often means showing that I not only support my wife but that I am willing to INVEST in her as well. It was worth my time and energy to show up for Sassy Con because Alyssa has a passion and I want to do whatever I can to support and aid in that. And what better way to do that than to learn the same practices as she is working to implement in her business and life, and be a part of it!

We got to know Windy from Sassy Suite some and she is so fun!

The Socialite Suite is definitely geared towards equipping women for success in online business, and I knew that it had already helped my wife and our LuLaRoe business. I knew who Brenda and Windy were, and had gone through a number of the courses offered by the Suite. So I knew that the content would be good, and I was hopeful that the people would be fun as well! So let’s get to it!

For me, there were a few different areas of the conference that really resonated with me, that I think are valuable things for anybody, regardless of having an online business!

Nugget #1: Branding

This is an area that The Osegards are very purposeful in! Branding is around us all the time, whether we notice it or not. Especially for people with a business, this goes far beyond just picking a color scheme or a logo. Being intentional with the fonts you use in graphics, the textures, and your personal voice and style is super important. If people are scrolling through

Branding should always be YOU!

their social feed, does everything you post “look like you”? Can someone glance past it and know that YOU posted that because it looks like, feels like, sounds like, and SMELLS like you? If so, that is some stellar branding! I’ve got a few people in particular that I enjoy keeping up with on Instagram because their posts are ALWAYS great. They look good, they show lots of personality, and they make me feel like I actually KNOW that person more than just on social media!

Nugget #2: Consistency

At events, I *get* to be an Instagram husband and take a million pictures like this!

Unlike my lovely wife, I’m not much of a social media user. I check in occasionally, mainly for a notification or two, but haven’t posted on a regular basis. One of my takeaways here is that there is a lot of value in consistency, beyond the “algorithm” reason. Yes, I know that the more frequently you post meaningful content, the more your content will appear in people’s newsfeeds and in a higher position. But on a more simple base – if I don’t share stories, pictures, ideas, from my mind, I am not giving others a chance to learn who I am and what I am about! This is an area that I will be working on, especially on Instagram, my social media of choice right now!

Nugget #3: Purpose

This is a big thing in online marketing right now, but this really hit home at Sassy Con. People always talk about your WHY – what drives you and what are you working for? The beef that I have with this idea is when people choose a Why because it “looks good” or feels like what they should be working for. As and ENFP, people who are not genuine and authentic stick out to me like a sore thumb, and it just rubs me the wrong way! The people that I met and interacted with at Sassy Con were some of the most authentic and real people I’ve met, and were doing what they were doing for the right reasons. When your WHY is right and real for you, it can truly guide the decisions you make. If it’s not working towards your goals, it’s probably not worth your time!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I was VERY impressed by everything that Sassy Con had to offer. The speakers that presented were knowledgeable, relatable, and so genuine. The Socialite Suite staff put the conference together incredibly well. The thoughtful attention to details and little “bonuses” (afternoon hummus bar and fruit trays, I’m looking at you!) was spectacular. I truly enjoyed my time in the sessions and time in between and at the different events. I’m so excited to keep working with the information I gained, and to stay connected to the people I met. Alyssa and I have some big goals that can feel so distant at times, but I KNOW that these are not simply dreams or wishes. Using the tangible and applicable knowledge I gained, we WILL accomplish these goals, and move on to even bigger goals!

Sassy Con 2018 – Alyssa’s takeaways

Alyssa Osegard on June 20, 2018

June started off in the best way possible. Cody and I flew to Phoenix (and drove to the Grand Canyon and then back to Gilbert, AZ) for a social media marketing conference – Sassy Con 2018.

Sassy Con was a truly amazing conference. The company hosting the conference, Sassy Suite, has a mission to #EmpowerSocial – which basically means they aim to help small business owners (including those in direct sales, bloggers, and a myriad of other businesses) build relationship-based businesses with a focus on how to manage social media! The various speakers and sessions helped us evaluate where our businesses are at, formulate an action plan, and network with people who quickly became friends.

MY TOP SASSY CON TAKEAWAYS

1 – The WHY and the WHO will always outweigh the WHAT

My whys? Jesus. This guy. And helping other people learn and grow to be their best selves and help others!

What you do will never matter the most. Your circumstances will change. Companies may come and go. Even WHY you do things may change (for example, our first WHY was to get out of debt, now that we’ve done that, we have a new reason for why we do what we do). This means when you are working to gain customers, you want to draw them to YOURSELF through what is called attraction marketing instead of drawing them to WHAT YOU SELL. Being yourself is always the best way to go when building a business (and it’s not spammy either, which is one of the basic principles of Sassy Con and the Sassy Suite.)

(Side note, there is an amazing training on attraction marketing that is offered through the Sassy Suite! I do get a small commission if you purchase through this link, but I would recommend it even if I didn’t! )

2 – Consistency is one of the biggest factors to success

The Queen B (B is for Brenda) of Social Media Marketing!

Consistency is key. I understand how to do a lot of things in direct sales and MLM, but nothing works as well as it could when you’re not consistent. This includes posting to social media, blogging, building relationships, follow up, and more. It’s not only true in business, but in life! I can workout and eat well, I can take good care of my skin, I can learn a new skill – but unless I am doing these things consistently, they aren’t going to produce long term results.

3 – Find your people.

We kicked off the event with yoga with strangers – that quickly became yoga with friends!

I am an introvert and meeting new people freaks me out. Not only that, but women can be SO STINKING catty and mean (no offense). So I was really nervous going into this weekend. These people were SO amazing. They were sassy (I mean, this was an event put on by Sassy Suite), which is my love language. Not only that but women of all shapes, sizes, beliefs, business, and more were gathered together in one place and there was nothing but friendship, acceptance, and encouragement. There was an understanding that everyone is in a different place in their journey, so there was no judging or snide comments. It was amazing.

Join the Sassy Con tribe before Sassy Con 2019!

If you want to take a step into Sassy Suitelandia, join the Socialite Suite here and like their business page! There are many more groups too that you can join later on for people teaching their kids about the social media world, people who want more frequent mentoring, people who blog, people who love planners and more! I don’t get any kickback for recommending these free groups, by the way. I just truly believe in them and their mission to #EmpowerSocial and I want you to be a part of it too!

How to run an online business (without driving your friends crazy)

Alyssa Osegard on October 5, 2017

How many messages have you received like this . .

“Hey friend I haven’t talked too since high school. How are you? You would totally love this new product and I want you to try it and host a party for me.”

Ugh. Ew. Block. No thanks.

I know people feel that way when they find out that I run an online business, which is why I don’t talk all that much about it, unless I really have a reason. I’ll post about it here or there if I have big news to share, but I definitely don’t “cold call” people (anymore). No one likes those messages, especially me.

Here are some key ways to run an online business and still keep your friendships alive and well.

DON’T

. . .add people to your Facebook group without their permission. I know what you’re going to say, “But what about my friend who I already know LIKES the product I sell?” Nope. Not even her.

I’ll admit I made a mistake with this one when I first started. I added EVERYONE. This was bad for a few reasons. It brought my engagement down because I had people who didn’t want to be there AND it hurt those relationships and my brand by making my brand look spammy.

DO

. . . shoot them a quick message to introduce them to what you’re doing and ASK if you can add them. Or better yet, send them the link so they can join themselves. This way you know the people who are in your group are there out of their own free will, not because you forced them in (that’s called kidnapping, folks ? ).

DON’T

. . . cold call (or cold message) people. This is a tough one for a lot of people. If you are in direct sales, you likely get told all the time by your upline or corporate office to make a list of 100 people and message them all about your opportunity, but spontaneously contacting people will not put you or your company will likely put a bad taste in people’s mouths.

DO

. . . focus on building relationships. Sure, 100 people could lead to great things to your business. Instead of randomly messaging someone who you haven’t spoken to in a decade, work to build the relationship. Treat people like people, not numbers for profit. If you do have a friend from high school that you truly believe would love your product, get to know her again. Spend time finding out more about her and rebuilding that relationship. After you have a relationship, you are in a better place to determine if your brand really is something she might be interested in. This allows for you to bring it up in a more natural way.

DON’T

. . . post constantly about your business on your personal page. First off, this is a legal thing with Facebook. You can’t sell things on your personal profile. Secondly, it’s great that you sell women’s clothing, but do you think Uncle Tom cares enough tosee your posts every single day? Probably not.

DO

. . . use Facebook pages or groups for your business posting. This allows people who WANT to be a part of what you’re doing to opt in, and people who don’t can avoid being constantly bombarded with your business posts. It’s fine to post every once in a while about your business on your profile page, just not any more than you would post about a typical 9-5 office job. Otherwise, you’re likely overwhelming your friends and family with spammy feeling content.

These do’s and don’ts will help you to run an online business professionally without making your friends and family crazy! For more tips on running a business, or just to follow our crazy antics, you can find us here!