Great 'Party for Profit' Hunt. How to make cash from party planning

PennyT_2

I joined Pampered Chef just over a year ago, mainly cos I am a junkie for their products. But it has turned into something much more important now, and I am working hard in the hope that this could become a full time business for me.

Its a bit different than some other party plans because you actually cook a couple of recipes using the products. Im not a natural saleswoman but I love the products so much its a bit like Show and Tell for me!

It is hard work, particularly as I have a full time, very stressful day job. But I have so much fun and meet such great people that I am keen to build a team now and start making a move to a career change.

Its a relatively low cost start up, and you get enough kit to be able to go straight out and start booking shows. You dont have to like cooking as the recipes are easy, and the company provides great training and back up as well as impressive guarantees for all the products.

So I am having fun, making friends, getting my finances in order, still earning free products, and its flexible enough not to affect my day job!

Products arent the cheapest, but as I say, they all come with a guarantee, and they are of a very good quality. Bookings are still coming in - something that worried me with the credit crunch. My theory is that:

a) People enjoy the night in with their friends
b) When times are hard, people are less "disposable" with their money so want to buy quality products
c) People are cooking more!

I do think that whatever party plan you choose you must go with the one that you believe in to succeed. Also good to have the support and encouragement of any significant other - I made a joint decision with my hubbie and my daughter, and they both help out where they can. She helps with paperwork and he does the washing up when I get home from my show!!

Dawn7890

Dear All,

I wondered if any of you could please help me. I would love to start up my own party plan version of Ann Summers (but not Ann Summers) and I wondered if anyone has any hints or tips. I have found a couple of wholesalers who do sell to other party planners so I know there are some people out there who do it. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

I apologise to Mods in advance if there is a problem with this post by mentioning companies by name. As although I read lots of posts, I rarely posty myself so Im a bit new at this!

:A

Tart_Car

I went to a Wills4Women party recently and it was great fun. I got to learn the facts about Wills in a home party environment. It was really easy to get my Will written through them too - very affordable and really great service. Would definataly recommend going to one of their parties if you haven't got a Will (or it hasn't been reviewed for a few years - circumstances change).
I don't know how the commission structure works, but I know the party host got a small amount of money from the sales. Looks like a win-win recipe to me!:j

redl_2

Dawn7890 wrote: »

Dear All,

I wondered if any of you could please help me. I would love to start up my own party plan version of Ann Summers (but not Ann Summers) and I wondered if anyone has any hints or tips. I have found a couple of wholesalers who do sell to other party planners so I know there are some people out there who do it. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

I apologise to Mods in advance if there is a problem with this post by mentioning companies by name. As although I read lots of posts, I rarely posty myself so Im a bit new at this!

:A

I'd think really carefully about the benefits of trying to party plan alone. WHilst you profit per item may be more than commission earned with PP most wholesalers will probably have a min. order for purchase. Check out return policies if goods are faulty, you could be left with loads of unsold stock. ( How would you know what sizes to hold for example? )With PP, you order what you've sold, not what you think you'll sell, parties are advertised and known nationally.
In Scotland, you can get in touch with the Business Gateway to help with starting your own company - the offer free advice. Not sure what the English version is.

ethereal

KayMK is right Likisma has now added some of its aromatherapy lines to Virgin Vie, who, however, have now bought out from Virgin and are now known as Vie at Home. Its still exactly the same company and all the products are of the same quality and ingredients. The only difference anyone will notice is the name change. I signed up as a consultant for Vie at Home because I wanted to go into beauty therapy but I couldn't afford the college fees. 'Vie' offer free and local training, so although it doesn't cover every aspect of beauty therapy, I have learned a lot about skin care and cosmetics. I've had basic and advanced training and am looking forward to my Bridal make-over course. The party planning is great fun too. Vie offer so many rewards its unbelievable and far too many to mention in one post! A consultant can earn up to 28% commission a month plus bonuses and extra rewards, i.e free products, 5 star holidays etc. There's even a new car in it for those with extra "drive" if you'll excuse the pun. A party hostess can spend 15% of party sales on free products for herself and if two or more of her guests book their own party, she gets another free gift plus an extra £5 to spend! And so it goes on.... The skin care and cosmetic products are fantastic, I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't fall in love with them seeing that they are premium quality but at affordable prices. It's also half price to join this month too which is a great money saver, giving you a starter kit for £60 which contains £400 worth of luxury products which you get to keep even if you decide it's not for you in the end! Unlike some of the others, I get no pressure at all to sell from my upline. I get out of it what I put into it. It's as simple as that. If I'm allowed to say so, anyone that wants more info, you can PM me. :T

Kate78

redl wrote: »

In Scotland, you can get in touch with the Business Gateway to help with starting your own company - the offer free advice. Not sure what the English version is.

That sounds like the Business Link we have south of the border.

I have registered with Neal's Yard Remedies Home - just waiting for my starter pack to arrive. As another poster suggested, selling to your family and friends is a good way to start, but you need to get friends of friends to hold parties too, and start recruiting other consultants to make more cash.

It depends on what you're looking for. If it's just a bit of shoe money then you can just do a couple of parties a month.

trickypockets

I used to do Dorling Kindersley books which was good, but the books were quite expensive, so harder to sell in spite of the quality. Usually, the real money is made by recruiting others and taking a slice of their commission, but that's much harder than selling the product. I recruited about 6 people over the years but none of them ever did anything despite any encouragement or advice I could give them. Parties weren't a great success for me; I didn't like feeling as though I was trying to make money out of people I knew, also, quite often there were only 2 or 3 people. I concentrated more on fairs, schools and so on.
There were people in the organisation who were making a good living, but I'm not sure what happened to them when the company was taken over and the party plan side was quietly dropped !
When I gave up doing it, I was lucky in that my agreement said the company would take back all invoiced stock and pay me 95% of the value; later recruits could only return items bought in the previous year. I had about £800 worth of samples and had bought many in my first year, so as a later recruit I would have been out of pocket.
Make sure you check the small print and only do it if you get on well with the person who recruits you, as you'll need their help.

smith2103

Hi ya i party for a living doing bodyshop at home. I love the job as it totally fits in with my life i.e kids and another part time job. I do 2 parties
a week and just about always walk away with at least £40 for each and it only takes 3 hrs tops. :j. I would honestly advise anyone whom needs to earn extra cash in their spare time to try it. You have nothing to lose and we always can help you out with the starter kit although it is very cheap. Also i dont just do evenings i do coffee mornings etc whilst kids at school and i take the school hols of. The kit is just £95 but includes full training in applying makeup, doing facials and hand massage. We give full support and the kit is worth a wopping £500 of which you get to keep . The training is always ongoing and you can win lots of free products every month. I get an average of £67 worth free products every month. Also if you want to go up the career ladder to manager you can fast track it in 6 weeks. If you recruit other consultants you earn from them as well so what r u waiting for ladies or gents Contact me if you wanna know more x

redl_2

You'd also like Temple Spa I'd imagine as it's fairly new so people tend not to have been to a class before.

ecoflower

Good to see so many positive proactive people replying to this thread.
I too worked parties with Dorling Kindersley, did good retailing, but less recruiting of others. I also joined Ecoflow around the same time, 1992, and have had great success. Party plan is one of the options, and the company recently developed the aids to make it more effective.
Products are the popular Bioflow magnotherapy for people and animals, health drinks, natural & chemical free skincare (no parabens etc.), crystal deodorants, etc.
It does take effort and focus but you get nothing for free.
Well worth taking a look. Contact me for details.
The success of my business allows me to live in Spain and continue to do business in the UK.