thinking about becoming a Tastefully Simple consultant... many questions!

[chris4disney]

Hello. Let me give you a quick recap of my situation. I'm 32, married, have two children (DS5, DD2), have a bachelors degree in Business Management and I work a full time job monday through Friday 8-5, and most Saturdays in the summer 9-2. Over the past year I have hosted 2 Tastefully Simple parties at my home and been two a couple other parties. I will be hosting my 3rd party tomorrow night. I'm quite familiar with the products and enjoy eating just about all of the ones I've tasted so far, which is quite a bit!

So now I've been reading over the TS website about becoming a consultant myself. Wondering if it would be a smart thing for me to do for some extra money. I'm sure there are some TS consultants out there that could give me their two cents. I know that I can also talk to the consultant at my party tomorrow night, and I will... but she has only been doing this for a few months so I'd like to get multiple opinions.

How much time do you invest if you are a Part-time or Full-time consultant? I'm not opposed to putting some work into it, I don't expect to get something or nothing. But I have no idea if you just show up for the party and have an hour of extra time after the party wrapping things up or what?

I've read on the TS site that you can earn UP TO 36% commission. Can anyone clarify the "UP TO" part? Do you have to sell certain amount of product to make your way up to that? What percentage of commission do you start out at?

I see that the start up kit is like $170. Not bad to start a business. What kind of costs do you have after that? Do you purchase all your sample products for your parties? If so, how much does that cost? Or your host kits? Invitations? I guess my concern is that if I only start out doing this part time, is all my income going to be put back into having just a few parties?

Does TS headquarters require you to sell so much product in a given time?

I read something about working in a team. How does that work? Are you sharing your commissions?

Like I said, I do work a fulltime job and it is in sales. It is for a small company that sells and installs vinyl fences, decks, railings, etc. I do love my job, but with the economy going the way it is... construction is not a great field to rely on steady work right now. I'm starting to think that maybe if I start doing something like TS parttime, it could have the potential to turn into full time if by chance I get laid off in the future.

So anyways... any comments, answers, personally experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Chrissy

 

[golfgal]

One thing I see is that you already work 9-5 and many Saturdays. How much more time do you want to spend away from your kids because your parties will be from 6-9 in the evenings and on Saturday afternoons. Keep in mind that just because a party goes from 6-8 you are working from 5-9 or longer to process everything, get things ready, etc.

I have a good friend that is/was a TS rep. She did well with it but has just dropped it for another home based business. One thing I see with TS is that the prices are just not all that high, good for people buying the products, but that also means low commissions.

If you are doing it because it is something you love, great. If you are doing it to make money, you can make more waitressing in a nicer restaurant one weekend night then you would having several parties each week.

 

[chris4disney]

bump

 

[SeaShelley]

I have to go with golfgal on this one....how much more time away from home are you willing to commit to ?

I have done several home-based businesses in the past and actually just re-signed with Longaberger......to support my own habit !

To be honest, I take outside orders, have clubs at work and buy stuff for my self and gifts for friends and family. I do not do outside shows anymore. That said, I have a pretty decent client list already and carry catalogs with me where ever I go.

 

[TaraPA]

I've been with TS for over 5 years....and I agre with the OPs - are you ready to give up your Saturday nights & Sunday family time for home shows? I did this while I was a SAHM (I now work PT away from home but no longer do live parties with TS, just re-orders & catalog shows) and it was nice to get away from the kids now & then. Now I see them so little I chose not to do any live parties. I definitely don't make as much money as I used to, but I make enough to keep my Disney fund going!

The "up to 36% commission" works this way - you earn 36% commission on every product you sell - however when doing a show you have to "pay" your Hostess with free product - which in turn reduces your 36% commission to 25% commission (because you are giving your Host roughly 10% of her party sales in free product). On re-orders you keep the full 36% commission because there are no Hostess Benefits to pay out.

You have to sell $400 retail product every calendar quarter to stay active. That is 1 show in our area, I've never had a problem making my quota. As a Team Leader I have to sell $1200 per calendar quarter, I have had difficulty doing that once or twice.

You will have to pay for the following supplies: samples to give your Host or to prepare yourself for shows, catalogs, order forms, plastic sampling plates, cups & utensils, invitations, postage, etc. I've never gone broke buying these items but I only get what I need.

The consultant you sign up under is your upline, and you are now part of his/her "team." they also have an upline, and so on & so forth. The uplines make commission off of your sales (not out of your 36%) if they meet certain requirements themselves. You can build your own team under you if you choose but there's never any pressure to do this. Once you have 3 consultants signed up under you, and you sell $1200 per calendar quarter yourself, you promote to Team Leader & earn 5% commission on your team's sales.

As far as time invested - I spend 30 min. preparing samples for upcoming shows, however you can have your Host prepare the food if you want. I found it much easier to get bookings where the Host wasn't responsible for cooking all day long! Then there's travel time, 30 min. set-up prior to the show, about 90-120 min. for the show & order taking, then 20 min. for clean-up.

Hope this info helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you might have. I love TS & even though I only do it part part time right now, I still make decent money & I use the products myself.

 

[dwagnfly]

Does TS pay to process credit cards for customers at parties?

 

[TaraPA]

No they dont, you have to pay to subscribe to ProPay, the Tastefully Simple credit card processing company. It's $49.95 a year plus transaction fees. OR if you can process credit cards through another business you have, you can do it that way as well.

 

[nevermore507]

No they dont, you have to pay to subscribe to ProPay, the Tastefully Simple credit card processing company. It's $49.95 a year plus transaction fees. OR if you can process credit cards through another business you have, you can do it that way as well.

DO you happen to know if I can process CC transactions through paypal? I sell things on and off through ebay and am already set up to accept credit cards. THanks!

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't know the business side details of these types of programs, but I will say that in "tight" economies such as we are in, some of the first expenditures to go are these little "fluff" extras.

Truthfully, I have been invited to a few of these home parties in the last 6 months (tastefully Simple, Silpada Jewelry, Longaberger)...haven't gone because I always feel like I have to buy something when I go and I don't really want to spend incidental income on stuff like that that I really don't need.

 

[mamamary]

My friend became a consultant but then eventually had a hard time booking parties so she stopped.

I do enjoy TS products though!

 

[TastefullySarah]

Have you decided? A lot of people have shared their opinion but not many have stated facts about TS. I have only been an active consultant for 18months but I have LOVED TS for 5yrs !! If you want to talk......

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

I was a consultant for a couple years. I was my best customer!

Here's what finally did me in...you have to sell a LOT of fiesta party dip mix (my fave) to make any money. What happens is someone will say, oh can I get a beer bread? and you say yay, an order! Then you feel bad telling them they have to pay $6.95 (??not sure anymore how much it is!) on that one item, so you put in an order for yourself to make it $50 to make it worth the shipping (if I recall amount correctly). So you've spent $50 to make $3. Again, I used it all, and did sell some, it's consumable so that's good, but I didn't really make $.

I made more selling Tupperware, but got tired of lugging around huge bags of plastics, and after several years the parties got farther and farther from my home. Spent too much time on the road.

If someone could come up w/ a party item that folks wouldn't mind spending $ on with great return for the consultant, I'd sign up

 

[katrina1122]

I am a thirty-one indpendent consultant. I don't know too much about TS, but I can tell you about 31 so you have a comparison for TS direct sales.

I don't have to keep any stock other than my display items. It's $99 to join with ~10 display items, order forms, flyers, etc. 25% commission to start. Minimum of $200 in sales every 3 months to stay active which I've never had a problem with. We don't pay hostess rewards, those come from 31, we just don't make Personal Volume/Commission on them. We don't pay a fee for credit card processing. You just enter them directly into the 31 website and it's covered. I do spend alot of time making flyers, phone, calls, etc to book parties, craft/vendor shows and fundraisers to get my name out there. I've been doing this since 11/2011, but have made money at this point while getting a ton of free and 1/2 priced product to add to my display by being my own hostess at open house type events. (and to use of course )

Direct Sales is all what you make it to be. I also work full time, so it's just a night/weekend thing for me. If you love the product, you can do well. It's given me confidence and I've made some great new friends along the way too. You also learn to not get frustrated by "no's", otherwise you'll end up giving in the towel really quick.

Ask questions if you want. I can say I love the TS cinnamon stresual shaker for oatmeal and things!

 

[scrapquitler]

Hello. Let me give you a quick recap of my situation. I'm 32, married, have two children (DS5, DD2), have a bachelors degree in Business Management and I work a full time job monday through Friday 8-5, and most Saturdays in the summer 9-2. Over the past year I have hosted 2 Tastefully Simple parties at my home and been two a couple other parties. I will be hosting my 3rd party tomorrow night. I'm quite familiar with the products and enjoy eating just about all of the ones I've tasted so far, which is quite a bit!

So now I've been reading over the TS website about becoming a consultant myself. Wondering if it would be a smart thing for me to do for some extra money. I'm sure there are some TS consultants out there that could give me their two cents. I know that I can also talk to the consultant at my party tomorrow night, and I will... but she has only been doing this for a few months so I'd like to get multiple opinions.

How much time do you invest if you are a Part-time or Full-time consultant? I'm not opposed to putting some work into it, I don't expect to get something or nothing. But I have no idea if you just show up for the party and have an hour of extra time after the party wrapping things up or what?

I've read on the TS site that you can earn UP TO 36% commission. Can anyone clarify the "UP TO" part? Do you have to sell certain amount of product to make your way up to that? What percentage of commission do you start out at?

I see that the start up kit is like $170. Not bad to start a business. What kind of costs do you have after that? Do you purchase all your sample products for your parties? If so, how much does that cost? Or your host kits? Invitations? I guess my concern is that if I only start out doing this part time, is all my income going to be put back into having just a few parties?

Does TS headquarters require you to sell so much product in a given time?

I read something about working in a team. How does that work? Are you sharing your commissions?

Like I said, I do work a fulltime job and it is in sales. It is for a small company that sells and installs vinyl fences, decks, railings, etc. I do love my job, but with the economy going the way it is... construction is not a great field to rely on steady work right now. I'm starting to think that maybe if I start doing something like TS parttime, it could have the potential to turn into full time if by chance I get laid off in the future.

So anyways... any comments, answers, personally experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Chrissy

One of my high school friends is a consultant, and based on what she posts on Facebook, she does it full time plus. She has a lot of consultants that work under her, so she gets something off of what they sell I think. It seems that she is doing very well with it, she is always going on some trip somewhere because of her sales volume (she recently posted something about $1MILLION in sales achieved, I suppose this has to do with the consultants that work under her as well as her own work) but she has been doing it for years.

I think that any of these sales things like Tastefully simple, Avon, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef etc all have to do with how many people you know, how much time you are willing to invest and much effort you want to exert.