Time flies when you’re having fun! Did you guys think I totally disappeared? Well I did for a little while, but now we’re together again, so let me bring you up to speed!

The last time we talked, I had just left the LuLaRoe queue and signed with Agnes & Dora. I gave you all my reasons and left you hanging with how things shook out! Sorry about that, but I had a good reason I promise.  I will be sharing some financial things in the blog post, not to brag, but because many ladies want to know what’s possible with this business.  I believe in being transparent in business so others can see what’s possible 🙂 

On November 7, 2016, I went into preterm labor with my son.  He was 31 weeks and 5 days old. There was NO stopping the birth and he came into the world a solid 8 weeks early. Don’t panic! He was so healthy. The doctors were unbelievably impressed but we still had to leave him in the NICU.  The following week, as my husband and I were playing the NICU parenting game, me trying to recover, him working and both of us bouncing back and forth between the hospital and home, my inventory arrived. Both excitement and overwhelm took over at that point.  I had a business to run but was also now the mom of a preemie and trying to rest and recover.

 

If there’s one thing you’ll learn about me, it’s that I have a hard time slowing down and resting. If I have goals, well watch out!  Despite it being the CRAZIEST time in my life, I launched my business the same week I received my inventory. Some people thought I was nuts, but I truly needed the distraction. I needed something to keep my mind from the fact that my son was 35 minutes away from me and that there was nothing I could do about it but wait for time to pass, weight to be gained and for him to hit certain milestones so he could come home.

The first weekend, I did an inhome open house and had friends and family come shop and try on all the A&D goodies. It was a success in my eyes! I sold around $1k retail in just a few hours that weekend.  I then went to my Facebook group and starting doing both album and live sales there.

What everyone wants to know is, “how long did it take you to make back what you invested?” Originally my plan was 30 days but seeings how I had extenuating circumstances, I cut myself some slack.  It took me until the end of December, so around 45 days.  I ended 2016 breaking even.

During that time, our son was discharged from the hospital and my business strategy changed drastically.  Originally, I had planned to do a mix of online, in home shopping hours and pop ups in other friends homes.  However, we knew bringing a preemie baby home in December meant we needed to now go into hermit mode for the sake of health.  All of my sales ended up being done online from early December until now (May 2017). The last week of December, I sat and really reflected on what I wanted to create with this business.  I could see the potential for this business to me the thing that changed the life of my family.  You see during December, my husband was home the entire month. All I wanted now was to create enough income to 1) pay off the enormous debt the NICU had piled on us and 2) give my husband more time at home with us.

I was determined and committed to creating MASSIVE change for us and that’s what I have done.

Since January my retail sales have grown between  $1.5-$2k every month and April I closed out my first 5 figure month in sales! In fact, in April I far surpassed my original sales goal. It was a pretty awesome 30th birthday present to get.  Now, one thing I want to say about this growth is that it doesn’t come easy. You’ll hear some people say that “the clothes sell themselves,” and that’s not true. You have to market, create a presence online, create relationships, provide good customer service, be a real and authentic person and show your personality. It’s work! It’s a lot of work! And with success comes more work…leggings, dresses and tops don’t just package and ship themselves ha!

 

Some other amazing things have happened besides my sales as well.  A&D did NOT allow us to recruit (until recently and we are NOT an MLM) but wanted us to have organic growth. My team organically grew to over 60 fabulous women! Many of whom were brought to me from this blog or my YouTube channel. One thing that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE is helping other women build their business and A&D has provided the opportunity for me to do that as well. We’ve formed a tight team based on empowering each other and uplifting each other up. We are a tribe of positive, go-getters, determined to change our lives and to make an impact in the world.

 

With all this hard work came other rewards like paying off our son’s NICU stay, allowing my husband the freedom to not work as much in order to be more present with us and we booked an oceanfront beach house for our family as well as a dream getaway to stay at the Biltmore. Of course, A&D doesn’t guarantee any level of income and like I said you have to work, but with hard work, amazing things are possible.

I’m sure many of you reading this will have particular questions if you’re looking at A&D as a business opportunity. I plan on doing more blogs on specific topics as well as adding more to my YouTube channel  but in the meantime, feel free to email me at agnesanddorabydorothy@gmail.com. If you’re interested in joining my tribe of go-getters please list “business opportunity” in the subject line. If you’d like to shop A&D you can do that here: shopwithdorothy.com  

Thank you all for taking the time to be a part of my journey!

Xoxo,

Dorothy