How did you initially become involved with Avon/What was your reasoning behind joining?

I joined Avon because I moved home and area (150 miles away from home)..Although I found a job working 20 hours a week 10-2pm Monday to Thursday I wasn’t meeting anyone my own age.  So, I looked in the local free ads and found an ad that said Join Avon Meet New People!...I called and was recruited within 48 hours!

My reason to join Avon was as simple as wanting to meet other women and mums my age although I could of done with the extra income it wasn’t and still isn’t the reason I joined.

How did that progress into recruiting your own representatives?

Recruiting Avon representatives of my own became an option after my 3^rd campaign as an Avon lady myself.  Basically the Area Manager called me and said how great I was doing and if I would consider recruiting others to do the same as me and earn from their orders?...Of course the option to meet more women and make new friends was at the forefront of my mind so I agreed to her coming to my home and talking me through the process.

What makes you different to others who have the same role as you? How are your team different to others?

Mmmm, what makes me different?...I think Avon sales leadership is a very personal thing.  It is an easy concept and the company have given us all the opportunities to grow an incredible business, however, that doesn’t mean we all do.  I have the ability to create new ideas and ways of working new systems that are different to others in the company.  I can then develop my ideas and put them into duplicatable systems that my entire team can use and pass onto their team members too. I am incredibly proud of my Team and how they have developed into independent leaders that all help one another.  We work closely as a team and I have several training days a year when we all meet up and go through my new Systems and Training

What is your official working title now?

Senior Executive Sales Leader

What does a typical day involve for you?

This is so varied.  Some days I recruit new Avon representatives into my team and others I spend One on One training a Down Line Sales leader.  Other days will be me at home Blogging, training online, placing adverts, calling team members and providing training and development over the phone email or even Skype.  I love the social media side to my business too, as I enjoy sharing my top tips and ideas with anyone that wants to listen and develop within the Network Marketing Industry.

Also, my new website www.mymumsays.co keeps me busy as we have a Free Forum where we have new people joining every day.  It has Blogs, Events, Videos, and of course the forum where people discuss their business and offer and ask for advice on how to develop themselves further.

What is your favorite part in being involved in this area of the industry?

Definitely the people I meet.  It is still the core reason I do what I do.

I aspire to Inspire

And this industry allows me to do that

How and why did your husband become involved?

The money for Brian! He watched how my income doubled in my 1^st year and at the time Brian’s job was leading him nowhere so we talked about the benefits of him joining the Avon Sales Leadership business and how long we had to re coup any money we may lose due to him becoming self employed (which was very minimum as we were entitled to working family and child tax credits).  He loves to be labeled The Avon Man!

How does the business fit around your family/family life?

Easily.  Our family life is amazing due to the industry we are in.  We can drop everything within a split second if we have too, and on occasions we have had to.  Avon fits into our lifestyle and family life not the other way around.  We even do training days in the kids holidays or weekends so our kids and our teams kids can come too.  We have a play room/corner set up with laptops, game boys toys and pens and paper so they don’t get bored!

Any particular career highlights/moments you have been proud of?

There have been a few but I think the most important one was in 2008 when we won The Team of the Year award.  We had worked incredibly hard that year and grew our team sales by over 125%, and it was my 1^st time on the Avon stage at the annual conference too.

What inspired/motivated you to write your books?

Winning the Team of the Year Award inspired me to write my book.  I thought it was amazing how someone like me could achieve such an award.  I mean I m just a housewife and mum with no qualifications and no sales back ground.  If I could do this anyone could, so I wrote my journey down in a book called Mum's The Word as an inspirational tool for other women that may find themselves in my position.

I was single with 2 kids from 2 different dads and on income support.  I lived in a council flat and had left school with no qualifications.

Now I live in a £1 Million Pound home and have 2 brand new cars on the drive (Merc and Audi) and have travelled all over the world!

Our income grows every year, from £7,000 in my 1^st year to over £130’000.00 this year, I really want to shout out to the world that if I can achieve this anyone can!

What is your advice for anyone wanting to do what you do and be successful at it?

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUSurh89FVs]

Write down WHY you want to become self employed WHY Network Marketing and MLM and then keep your Why’s close to your chest.

I have found the people that fail in this industry are the ones that forget WHY they wanted it so badly in the 1^st place.

Read books, go to meetings and training days, get yourself and mentor, follow the successful people and JOIN the successful peoples team.

Take responsibility for your own business growth and simply “Just keep Going”

Are there any other areas of the industry you would like to work in/explore?

Yes, I love motivating and inspiring others so much so I have started doing Guest Speaking.  I love this as it gives me the opportunity to show people that it really doesn’t matter where you are in life today, YOU can do amazing things if you just set your mind to it.  I have a guest speaking even coming up in January and I am exhibiting my books and my Avon business there too.  Please feel free to take a look at the event details and if you would like to attend let me know as I can get you discounted tickets

http://www.gailreynolds.co.uk/224/