Open Letter to Lia Ladies

Dear Lia Sophia Advisors,

I went to my first Lia Sophia party 5 years ago and was instantly hooked.  I didn't consider myself much of a jewelry person, but have acquired over 60 pieces over the years.  I love them all, have had only minor issues with the jewelry and have a couple of times taken advantage of the LRG no problems.  

I've considered becoming an advisor since last summer and really the only reason I haven't done it is that I've been underwhelmed with the starter kits.  Or more to the point - the stuff I like I already have.  I figure if I give this a try and don't succeed a starter kit with jewelry I love would be a nice consolation.  

Last year I wrote a post called 10 tips to having a successful Lia Sophia party and posted it on Pinterest.  It's been repinned a lot by advisors. I don't know if they share my info with their hostesses, but I'd like to think so.  When someone pins it, I check out their profiles and usually find other posts about Lia Sophia and tips on direct sales.

I've been able to learn a lot about the business from what active advisors have pinned, and I follow a bunch of different advisors on Facebook, but there are a few questions I haven't been able to find answers to.  If I've managed to keep your attention this far, I'd love your input.  

I'm a stay at home Mom and my youngest will be going to Kindergarten in the fall.  At this point I don't have a lot of time to myself but by then I will.  I'm looking to do this as a side thing not a major money earner, more a way to subsidize my jewelry addiction :)  

My question is, is it possible to be an advisor without doing in-home parties?  I realize that the most successful advisors do a lot of home parties, but I would have a hard time doing them.  Home parties would be tough as my husband's work schedule is unpredictable, my kids aren't old enough to stay home alone, and while I could get a sitter I'd rather not in case my husband DOES get home in time to watch the kids. If those sound like excuses, I guess in some ways they are, but the fact is I'm an introvert and don't want to give presentations to groups but I am fine one on one.  

One of my initial concerns was the Excellent Beginnings program requiring new advisors to have 3 parties with 5 weeks with a total of $1500 in sales.  That seems to have been replaced with the Smart Start program. Does Smart Stsrt have similar kickoff requirements?  What happens if you don't reach the goals? - my concern is not the amount of sales - the last inhome party I hosted had $1200 worth of sales from just 10 women.  But what happens if I don't get that 3rd party within the 5 weeks. After that my understanding is that you need a minimum of $250 of sales every 3 months to be considered active.  Can that be done with just catalog sales or independent orders?  

My plan would be to have an open house kick off in my home as my starter inviting pretty much everyone I know locally, then have a Facebook party for out of towners or anyone who couldn't be there a week or so later with a mystery hostess, but not sure what I would do for the third.  Maybe a fundraiser for a women's group I am part of (outside of my home).  I'm assuming if you do a fundraiser, the advisors commission is what becomes the donation to the cause, right?  I'm ok with that as I figure it would be a good way to grow the business.  Any other suggestions?  I know the usual way to grow these kinds of businesses is to have friends host a party, but I don't want to do that if I can avoid it.

How do you find the best upline for you?  The advisor who I've had home parties with most recently goes the traditional route of doing most of her sales through home parties.  She doesn't have much of a Facebook presence.  How would I find someone more in tune with my plan?  In case you were wondering, this is why I haven't contacted her with all these questions.  She's a successful advisor and she's a lot of fun but I'm not sure she would be the right fit.  

Looking at my calendar and local community events, vendor fairs, holidays etc, I have come up with a theme or sales pitch for each month to encourage/increase sales.  

I have "attended" a couple of Facebook parties and love the idea, just not sure how profitable those are?  I know for home parties generally 1/3 of those invited actually attend.  What is the attendance of a Facebook party like?  Are sales usually less or the same as a regular party?

I know all advisors can purchase a website on the lia sophia site with their info on it.  How often/easily can this be updated?  

Lastly, a couple of more general questions

- What do you NOT like about being a Lia Sophia advisor?  I know all the perks, but there must be some negatives every job has some (even if it's just a little pet peeve).  

- How much pressure is there to recruit?

- If you know any advisors who did not succeed, why do you think they didn't?

Thanks in advance for your help. Like I said I'm not ready to really pull the trigger on this until the fall, so don't try to recruit me now ;) but I'd love your advice.  If you would prefer to send me an email rather than write a long comment, fill out the contact form on the top right and I'll email you directly