~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 8) ~ Please read first post :)

LilMissEmmylou

missminx wrote: »

Qualified as Sales Leader today Very pleased as it's only my 2nd campaign recruiting, and haven't been able to commit as much time and effort as I would have liked due to cirumstances beyond my control. My upline has been fab though, and that makes all the difference.
For some reason I can't view my sl statement though, it is still showing last month's, so I can't see what I have earned in bdb etc. Does it take longer for me than my ASM?

Woohoo well done!!:beer:

bezybee

hi my sl has been trying to get me to become a trainee sl.
said because my sales are high i would be a good sl.

i really dont think this will be the case, and i would have to put loads more time into it (i would imagin, and surley i whould be givin the area local to me to try recruit, which she herself told me that she hase just got the whole area covered. aslo i am hopefully starting a new full time job soon.

has any of the sl's found evidence that just coz they had great sales they are great at recuting other people? or am i just being silly/lazy to be happy just doing what i am doing, with this amount of effort??

I,_Geek

Being asked to be a SL - it makes sense to be asked to consider SL-ship once your sales are over £148. They need to be at that level in order to earn from your team once you have one. You could sign up as a SL with sales below £148, build a team, but have trouble raising your personal sales and be stuck not earning anything from the work you've put in as a SL (bonuses aside).

Also, having higher sales means you've done what you're supposed to do: cover your territory, show the book to everyone you know etc... So you'd make a good example to your team.

Thinking about it cynically, your upline will benefit if you sign up and qualify as a SL. If your upline is a SL it may be less of a cynical move because it really is in their best interest to find someone who would do their best to qualify. They have to/should put time and effort into helping you become a SL: showing you how to do sign-ups, how to use SMA, and possibly prospecting with you as well. It doesn't make sense to do that if they don't think you'll put the effort in. As for ASMs, I don't know how much they have to lose by signing up a SL, training them and then having them quit. They still get paid every month but they probably get a bonus for signing a TSL.

There's a thread on Connects about people who are SLs alongside having full time jobs. And children.

I,_Geek

Expenses - these are anything you spend money on in order to run your business. Some will appear on your Avon invoice and some will be things like mobile phone top-ups, stationary, clipboard etc...

Some will be things that are only used for your business. I use an A5 clipboard just for Avon. It's the only reason I bought it.

Some things will be partly business and partly personal. My husband has a mobile phone contract with free calls, texts and internet usage all built into the monthly cost. He uses it 80% for business so when it comes to doing his accounts for the year I'll add up his total bill (all monthly statements) and work out what 80% of that is.

Clothing - claim for this if it's branded. An Avon t-shirt from HT is okay but a pair of shoes or anything else that could be used for any other activity isn't.

When I rang Tax Aid they said things like line rental of a home phone line shouldn't be claimed for at all because you'd have these anyway. When it comes to utilities I was told to only claim a few pounds a week. This was more because of my husband's business, which is full time working from home and he sometimes needs 2 computers running at once not to mention warmth!

pinky2681

thank you! Thats really helpful. I do pretty much all my Avon by car totalling 71 miles every 3 week (dropping books, picking them up, going back for the ones that wernt in, delivering orders etc) - i saw on hmrc website it said i could claim 40p a mile which comes to £28 every 3 weeks. I do use my mobile say 10% for avon, calling customers etc on contract £35 a month so i could claim £3.50?

MrsGSR

Just found out today (duh baby brain) that I may be able to have a small earning exemption cert cos I earn less than £5,075 a tax year! which would mean not having to pay class 2 NIC. I got a request for £65 the other day :O due to be paid in Jan and when I investigated further I found this out. Does this also mean I may be able to be reimburshed for the £30 I paid at the beginning of the year?
Has anyone else done this?

MrsGSR

bezybee wrote: »

hi my sl has been trying to get me to become a trainee sl.
said because my sales are high i would be a good sl.

i really dont think this will be the case, and i would have to put loads more time into it (i would imagin, and surley i whould be givin the area local to me to try recruit, which she herself told me that she hase just got the whole area covered. aslo i am hopefully starting a new full time job soon.

has any of the sl's found evidence that just coz they had great sales they are great at recuting other people? or am i just being silly/lazy to be happy just doing what i am doing, with this amount of effort??

Looks like you have done very well so far welldone!
personally I would err on the side of caution before becoming an SL mainly cos I think it pays to have a few camps under your belt before you do it.
I was asked by my SL if I was interested a few camps in, (like you I reached HOV on every camp) I am glad I turned it down because I think I needed more experience with doing Avon before taking it any further.
I've been doing Avon for about 10 months now and may consider it in the future but only if I knew that I could commit to it fully. I don't think you get your local area I think you can recruit from quite far afield...

Brown.Owl_2

as a SL you can recruit from anywhere in the country. ASMs are limited to a specific area.

bezybee

thinks i was thinking it was too soon (for me personaly) i am happy doing as i am now. just wanted to check really that i wasnt being silly for not jumpin at the chance.
i dont think i am ready to become sl, (lazy side of me, is enjoyin the ammount of effort i put in, dont really want to do next step the now)

I,_Geek

pinky2681 wrote: »

i saw on hmrc website it said i could claim 40p a mile which comes to £28 every 3 weeks. I do use my mobile say 10% for avon, calling customers etc on contract £35 a month so i could claim £3.50?

If you're doing your tax return for the 2010-2011 year, claim 40p per mile for business trips (even if that's driving around your village or wherever for Avon).

For this tax year (any trips from 6th April 2011 onwards) the mileage claim goes up to 45p per mile. They twigged that running a car is expensive so should allow people to claim a bit more. :j That 45p is for much more than petrol. It also takes into account tax, MOT, servicing, repairs etc...

When claiming for expenses relating to your car you can either claim pence per mile, or keep receipts of every single spend on your car (petrol + MOT etc...) then claim a % of it like I suggested with the mobile phone costs. My husband and I worked out that pence per mile was a bigger expense, which is a good thing because it keeps your net figure as low as possible (which in turn keeps your tax bill as low as possible). Whichever way of claiming you choose you have to stick with that from one tax year to the next otherwise it'll just look like you're always trying to go for the biggest claim.

When it comes to doing the tax return all they actually need is one figure for all your expenses added together. Keep separate records for yourself at home, and all the receipts - partly to help you work out what that figure is, but on the off-chance HMRC ever wants proof.