Questions From a Potential Shelf Reliance Consultant and the Answers part 2

Sometimes when a person is looking at becoming a Shelf Reliance consultant they are ready to jump in  and than learn as they go.  Other times people have a lot of questions, they want to understand everything before they comitt.  Recently I have been working with a gal who has a bunch of questions.  I thought that her questions were excellent and even thought provoking.  These are things I thought others might be interested in so I thought I would share them.

1.    As a Shelf Reliance Consultant how do taxes work?  Is it a 1099?

Yes it is a 1099 form we receive at the end of the year as long as commissions for the year are over $600. We are responsible for filing and paying our own taxes. Employees get w2 forms.

2.   Who does the showings at Costco and Time Out For Women?

Over all events such as expos, fairs, are a first come first serve basis.  You can sign up for anything that you want. 

The only exception is Time Out For Women.  Corporate Shelf Reliance is a sponsor for TOFW and invites the top selling consultants from the area to run the booth.

Costco is a retail outlet and consultants have nothing to do with the sales there.  Although we can offer our customers a cheaper price than Costco’s.  (that includes shipping)

3.    What are the typical net earnings?  I read on your blog what you averaged, but I am guessing that is a gross earning.  In essence I am wondering how much $ you put out per month for the pamphlets, and things for the parties that are handed out?

This is a hard question to answer.  My business strategy is long term so some of my expenses now will not pay off for a while.  With that said the numbers I use to figure out my profit are:

The Numbers I use:

Average party sales: $930

Party Prep: 1 hour

Party day: 4 hours

Post Party : 1 hour

Cost of party:  $15.00 (this includes invitations, catalogues, price lists, Q brochure, samples, sample cups, and gas)

So let’s consider one party:

6 hours of work

$93 in commission -$15 cost = $78

Or that translates to $13.00 per hour

Let’s look at one month: I usually do 1 party a week which is 4 parties a month

$78 x 4 = $312

That is enough to pay for you starter kit, and your first months Q, and a $62.00 profit. Not a huge profit for the first month but enough for dinner and a movie.

Lets look at Month 2:  You don’t have to pay for the starter kit!  So all that would be profit. 

If you are looking to make good money you should look at making two goals:

Goal #1 Build a Team

Shelf Reliance is a multi-level company, this means that as a consultant you get paid off of the work of those on your team.  Let’s look at a simple scenario

You sign up 5 consultant (this is very doable)

They each sign up 3 (this is again very doable)

They sign up 1

Each consultant does 4 average parties

Results:

Your personal Sales: $3,720

Team Sales: $133,920

Commission: $1,302

With team building you are not increasing the amount of work you personally do, but you are expanding your earning potential exponentially.

Goal #2 Building Q Sales

Q sales are reoccurring sales that really boost a consultants commission.  One of my  Consultant’s Elise had a baby this spring, consequently she did not have any parties, but she did have a bunch of Q’s set up.  She still received a sizable commission check during due to the Q’s she had previously set up.

Shelf Reliance has a  commission calculator that helps consultants or potential consulates understand how commission works. 

 It is an excel spread sheet that helps you see the earning potential as a consultant. As you play around with it try entering what you think is reasonable for you.  It does take some time to build a team, but less time that you might think.  I have been a consultant since March or 2010 and I have a huge team, bigger than I ever thought it would be.

4.    How soon did you find your online sales exceeding home sales (if that is the case)?  Did you find you had to get established through home sales before the online sales could even take off, or are the two related at all?

When I first started online sales were not an option, so but once it was I found that online sale quickly eclipsed my party sales.  Maybe within two months my online sales were much larger than my party sales.  I say that but I already had a large customer base, and I am very active online.  I blog, I participate in forums, I sponsor give always and I do online adds.

You do not need to do both home parties and online.  You can do both (which is what I do) but there are consultants that do only home parties or just online sales.  I like to do both because they hit a different part of the market and supplement each other nicely.

5.      When orders are made do they ship directly to the person who made the order?

Yes, all orders are shipped directly to the customer.  Many other party business ship to the consultant or to the host of the party. Shelf Reliance ships directly to the customer

6.    Can you tell me more about what the Q club is?
Do you understand the Q itself?  The Q is a way for customers to build their food storage over time.  They make a list of the things they want to add to their food storage and then they set a budget of how much money they want to spend each month.  The Q then functions much like a online movie rental program.  Each month they purchase something from their list and it is shipped directly to them.  I LOVE the Q.  It takes so much of the hassle out of food storage.

The Q Club is a rewards club for those on the Q.  Member can join for free by signing up with at $100.00 q.  Or buy signing up at a party were 3 or more other people join.  Members receive points that can be redeemed for free product. They also receive a coupon each month discounting a specific product each month (25-30% off) , shipping discounts, special offers, and gifts.

7.     Do you have any idea how many consultants are in the (fill in the blank) area?

No I don’t.  Shelf Reliance does not release that information.  I do know that there are consultants in (fill in the blank) area.  But I don’t worry about that.  There is plenty of customers for everyone.  For example I live in a small agricultural area.  The small town I live in is surrounded by other small towns.  When I first signed up I found that there were 12 very active consultants operating out of the one of those small towns. Wellsville Utah, the population of Wellsville is only 3,272.  That is a lot of consultants for such a small town (many of them are in the same ward).  These 12 consultants have been amazingly successful, most are now gold or platinum and all have had great success in a small town.
The company is still young enough that I would not worry about how many consultant are in your area. Shelf Reliance has only been a home party business for 18 months that is still very young.