It has been a week since I started my LuLaRoe business. It has been a truly whirlwind week I tell you! I onboarded on Friday, September 30, 2016 and my inventory arrived on Friday, October 7th. If you caught my other two posts, you know that I didn’t have anything prepped or ready to go. This is my little story of what happened this past week and how I did my first week out of the gate. Mind you, I was at a travel conference the week before it all arrived, I came down with a nasty cold in the middle of it, and I said goodbye to someone very important to me at the end of the week. It has been one helluva week, I will tell you that! For those people that have a more normal life, you might have better first week results. I don’t live an ordinary life and I have to roll with the shenanigans that are thrown at me in the best way I know how.
{Read: To Roe or Not To Roe That is the Question. Should I Join LuLaRoe? and Video: I Have a Big Announcement to Make and the Aftermath to catch up}
Live Launch Just Hours After My Inventory Arrived
Sometimes I can be a silly, silly girl. And not very smart. Do you know what 400 pieces of clothing looks like? Well, I must have forgotten since I have lived out of one suitcase for the last three years. Six full boxes of clothes! The UPS Man gave me a heart attack by not delivering the goods by 3pm. I had to track him down on the side of the two-lane country road next to an abandoned boat in Alaska. I kid you not. I even had to borrow my friend’s car to load all the boxes in! I have a bad right arm and can’t lift these bad boys up the full flight of stairs to my house… the first of many shenanigans.
It was now 5:00pm and my Live Facebook Launch was scheduled for 7:00pm. I still needed to shower, get the tech ready, and unpack everything. Mind you, I came back from that travel conference later than expected and was running fast and furious all day long. Thankfully, my good friends Beth and Sara went to work unpacking the boxes and trying to make sense out of all the clothes! There was NO way we were going to get through all of them in a one hour launch.
What should we show? What will people like? Oh crap, all the supplies we ordered on Amazon for the Live Sale didn’t get delivered? Impromptu, people – let’s do this by the seat of our pants. Pour some bubbly and let’s just have some fun. It isn’t about making money, but about starting a new business in an area that I’m a newbie in. Walking out of my comfort zone into something that scares me just a little.
One thing I have going for me is that I’m not afraid to be on camera. I spent 10 years as ABC15’s Garden Girl and had a regular gardening segment with Sonoran Living Live. I have done Live Facebook streams and Periscopes showcasing my travels and beer reviews. The biggest problem for me though is I’m learning all the styles of LuLaRoe just like most of you are. I don’t like not knowing things, especially on camera, but that is also why people like watching me… I’m not afraid to make mistakes and be vulnerable.
I wish Facebook let you choose the cover image of the finished video, alas I’m stuck with this.
Mistake I Made During My Live Launch
- I swear I was inside my LuLaRoe by Kristi Trimmer group when I started the stream, but it popped up on my personal page. Whoops. The good thing that came out of that mistake though was that a lot of people in my life jumped on and gave me some love.
- Timing – 7pm on a a Friday night wasn’t the best possible time. 7pm in Alaska is 11pm on the East Coast – people are either out and about on the town or fast asleep.
- Lighting – my lighting kit didn’t come in and all the lights in this house are low lights. We tried to move me to be in front of the window which then meant everyone had a beautiful view of the closet and not of the set that we created. Sigh.
- Facebook mirrors its Live Streams so everything, including the claim numbers, come up backgrounds. This isn’t the case on video or Periscope. I will have to get special numbers made for future Facebook Live events. It was comically funny trying to write the numbers backwards.
Even with those mistakes, I had a lot of fun! I had my fellow blogger friend Laura over and we had a good time with Lydia (the cute little redhead), Sara, and Beth.
The Rest Of The Week
The next day I went to a birthday dinner for a dear friend. We started talking about leggings and LuLaRoe. I mentioned I had brought leggings with me. Next thing you know, I had a mini impromptu pop-up. In hindsight, I feel terrible about bringing it out at a friend’s party. I won’t do that again, that wasn’t in my comfort wheel.
I then did two multi-consultant sales on Sunday, which was fun and interesting to learn how to do. I also had an open Album sale in my group all week. I loved this as I photographed the new inventory, I added it to the group. I will continue to do this as I found people enjoyed shopping when it was convenient for them.
What’s the Plan Going Forward?
I will host one Live Facebook and Periscope each week – still working to set a scheduled date and time. I will do 2-3 multi sales per week, typically on Sundays and Wednesdays. I will have a weekly Pop-Up Album Sale and once a week an Outfit Sale. In addition, I’m wanting to work with my fellow bloggers who also have LuLaRoe businesses. Plus giveaways… lots and lots of giveaways. Also expect to see a new video series on YouTube about all of this LuLaRoe Shenanigans.
Give Us the Numbers Already
These numbers do not include my expenses yet. I will do a monthly profit and loss post to show you how the numbers really stack up. Since I am in Alaska, I am waiting on SO many things to still be delivered to me so I can really go forward with my plans. This first month I am just trying to get my feet wet and find what jives with me. I know I want to concentrate on online sales as that is my strength. Want to host an online party? Let me know in the comments as I’m booking out November and December now.
Facebook Live Launch: Sold 16 pieces $402
Accidental Pop-up: Sold 13 pieces $303
Multi Consultant Sales: Sold 5 pieces $147
Album Sales: Sold 13 pieces $442
What Sold:
Kids Leggings: 15
OS Leggings: 14
Perfect Tee: 5
Cassie Skirt: 3
Patrick Shirt: 3
Tween Leggings: 2
Irma Shirt: 2
Lindsay: 1
Classic Tee: 1
Julia Dress: 1
In my 1st week: Sold 47 pieces for $1294
$1294.00 Gross Sales
$776.58 Gross Profit
**Remember Gross Sales and Profit are awesome, but NET Profit is where it’s at. I will share those numbers in my monthly Profit & Loss Post. You can make a ton in gross, but if your expenses are out of control, that doesn’t mean you have retained anything to your bottom line. That’s what sinks businesses.**
Not a terrible first week, but it has given me room for improvement. You see a lot of YouTube videos and posts of people making $4500+ on an opening weekend. That is truly hard to do. Don’t let anyone fool you – this is a lot of work. Then when shenanigans hit, you have to be able to roll with them and carry on. I’m loving it and am looking forward to growing this business and helping other women along the way as well. 🙂
Fabulous, as always.