You Don’t Know How Holiday Sales Work
Y’all are seriously clueless about how this buisness actually works. I made over $700 just THIS month from holiday gift baskets and stocking stuffers. That’s real money and it paid for most of my Christmas shopping, but I guess you wouldn’t know anything about that.
Instead you’re here whining and talking trash like always. Maybe if you actually TRIED instead of being negative all the time, you’d see results too. This is the EASIEST time of year to make sales. People are literally out here begging for cute affordable gifts. Mary Kay sells itself if you just put in a little effort.
But I guess sitting around on the internet complaining is easier, huh? 🙄
I did vendor shows, I posted my holiday specials on FB, I followed up with customers. And guess what? It WORKED. You can’t say the buisness doesn’t work when you clearly never did. Maybe you just wanted a paycheck for doing nothing, I don’t know.
Anyway, I’m proud of what I did this month. And no amount of your “truth telling” is gonna change that.
Visit the
$700? Ok- now figure ALL of your expenses (mileage, wrapping paper etc., discounts, booth decor, freebies) and most importantly, how many hours you worked this month. Your vendor fairs alone must have taken a good chunk of time. Now figure how much per hour of time invested you actually made- something tells me it is less than minimum wage.
Sorry, my world’s tiniest violin is in the shop.
I worked at a department store from October 1998 through October 2008, starting off as seasonal help. I know exactly what holiday sales are about: horrible shifts that sometimes mean you don’t even get to see daylight for days on end, no time for your own errands, increasingly desperate, clueless, and crappy people as the 25th comes closer, wondering if you can sneak out on your break and unalive Mariah Carey after you’ve heard “All I Want for Chrismas Is YOOoOOOOOOoOOOUUuuuuUUuUUuuUUU” for the 10th time that day.
The thing is, there’s camaraderie. All the employees are stuck in the same stinking garbage scow and we supported each other, whether it was covering the register so you could sneak in a bit of shopping or a potty break, or recipes for cookies you could bake way ahead ot time. On Chrismas Eve the department managers would throw parties in the stockrooms and we’d exchange little gifts. We weren’t competing with each other for customers – the better the department’s sales were, the more Corporate would get off our backs with their quotas and nagging.
Another thing is, the store had buying staff that selected merchandise that people want around the holidays. People want sweaters for matchy-matchy envy bait photos, wrapping paper, Christmas trees and other decorations, cute Christmas baby clothes the child will probably never even wear, that season’s artificial demand toy (The Furbies… my god the Furbies…) big screen TVs, party dresses, candles, tableware, handbags, funny socks, pajamas, chocolates, perfume… We had those. People wanted them. They came in without us having to yoink people off the street. Also, the buyers got bulk pricing deals from the manufacturers so even selling things at deep discounts, they still made a profit.
$700 in a month? Amateur hour. Sometimes you would get more than that in one sale, and not even in expensive departments like electronics or jewelry. Plus, as Pinkboo points out above, all your incidental costs plus your time and labor come out of those 7 bills, leaving you with….?
The thing that mattered most, the only reason any of us put ourselves through that, was the paycheck. They stunk, too, but we got paid an hourly rate that was disclosed when we were hired. Commission departments got what they were told they’d get. We were able to pay bills and buy food and presents because we knew that paycheck was coming. The long hours at least had a tradeoff in better pay. And, since today is December 26, Return Day, when a customer returned stuff WE DIDN’T HAVE TO EAT THE COST AND WE GOT TO KEEP WHATEVER COMMISSIONS WE’D EARNED.
You’re damn right that sitting around on the internet is easier than all that. I’ll never do it again.
You’re damn stupid if you think only Kbots are the only ones who know what hard work and hustle around Chrismas is all about.
Sorry, OP. No one is making any real money selling commodity retail products out of their homes. The only MK folks making anything decent do so through relentless recruiting and downline front-loading.
$700 for your biggest month of the year does not even cover the cost of your qualifying minimums for the year. Its not profit until all of your costs are covered. Only a small fraction of MLM participants manage to cover their costs. An even tinier fraction make any real money.
Set up and maintain a proper business ledger and you will see all of this for yourself!