Candle Comparison

I just received an email from one of my favorite stores, whose name I will not mention (just because I'm not one to openly bash any other businesses), where I have previously spent HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of dollars on fragrance candles. Anyway, the email is advertising the scents of the "season". (This is typically when my wallet mysteriously appears in my hand and the credit card falls out and begins typing its own numbers into the payment field of the hundred dollar order that has materialized on my computer screen.)

Not today.

It's crazy to think of how much money I've spent on candles in the past. You name the brand, I've bought it. I swear a clerk once offered me stock in Illuminations because I practically signed over my paychecks to them...thankfully they went out of business and saved my financial livelihood.

This year, I am proud to say that my pocketbook will be a little bit heavier because I won't be spending as much money on home fragrance products.

Here is what I would typically be buying right now:

• 5 medium jar candles (one for each new Fall fragrance available) @ $22.99 each. Each candle will last me between 69 and 90 hours.
• Two cheesy 'lampshades' that fit on top of the jars. Why two? One for a candle at each edge of my coffee table, because having just one candle-with-cheesy-lampshade sitting there just doesn't look right to me, so I have to have matching ones. (That I just end up throwing away at the end of the year because they've turned black with soot and I'm too lazy to clean them) for $18.99 each.

That's $152.93 in candles, before taxes. Pitiful, I know.

With Scentsy, this is what I'll be spending:

• Two full-size warmers (which don't necessarily have to match, because they are designed to be stand alone fixtures in any room. So, one for the living room and one for the bedroom.
• 6 Scentsy bars - each in a new Fall/Winter scent. Each bar will last me between 60 and 90 hours.

All for $85 before taxes.

A SAVINGS OF $67.93! AND, I get an extra 60-90 hours of scents because I'm purchasing six bars instead of 5 candles.

It's a no brainer, right? And no one will yell at me if I forget to turn my Scentsy off. (Not that I would ever forget to blow out a candle, who does that right? Okay. I'm guilty. Thankfully I didn't burn anything down.)  

My Scentsy Discovery

I know, I know, you're all hanging onto the edge of your seats to hear about how and why I got started with Scentsy. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

Seriously though, while I'm someone who doesn't mind 'working for the man' (mainly because it pays the bills and I like stability), I've always had this entrepreneurial spirit that I just can't seem to stuff down far enough into the expansive recesses of my noggin. You know the saying that goes something like, 'find something that you love do to, then do it for a living, and you'll be happy, yadda-yadda-yadda.' Well, I always thought that to be a fairy tale, and that your happiness is what you make of your own situation. So that's how I approach living my life, with this feeling of contentment and thankfulness of the things I have and the wonderful people that surround me.

I'm perpetually busy, and I can't just do NOTHING. I have to be involved, doing things, participating in events, working toward my goals, SOMETHING. So when a lull in my schedule presents itself, I have to fill it. Those of you who have known me for awhile know that I've always been this way.

So, this summer, I had just finished a challenging full-time school load (including my first Harvard class, which was a challenge in itself) in addition to a full-time job. The first few weeks off were great! But then I started to get that itch...

Fast forward a few weeks, and it's time for the Del Mar Fair (yes, I know, it's the San Diego County Fair but I just can't bring myself to say it), and because I'm the dork that I am, I downloaded a copy of the vendor list so I could study it and formulate my plan for attacking the halls. (I do this every year.) I notice a name on the list that interests me: Scentsy. So I check out the Scentsy website, learn about the company and products, and the business opportunity. So I know when I head to the fair, I'm going to stop by the Scentsy booth.

My first stop at the booth, I had the opportunity to quickly browse the products and chat with one of the consultants, I had planned on making it back later that day to purchase product, but the day just got away from me. (I must have been too busy eating...)

A week later, I return to the fair, and the Scentsy booth, hoping to find the same consultant that I spoke with on my prior trip. Instead, this very friendly woman greeted me, and we talked about any and everything under the sun. I had mentioned that I may be interested in signing up as a consultant to help assist with paying for school. She said Scentsy would be perfect for me and recommended that I think about it, and perhaps sign up in August, because I would get all of the Spring/Summer and new Fall/Winter testers and tools in my starter kit. I said I would think about it, I purchased some product, and went on my merry way.

What stuck with me in talking with the consultant was 1) She really took the time to talk AND listen to me 2) she genuinely cared out my needs and 3) she put my best interests before her own, in recommending that I wait until August to sign up. I really liked that.

I wasn't entirely convinced that joining the Scentsy family was for me. I brought a warmer and wax bar into work the following Monday, as soon as the wax melted, I had people in my office wondering where the scent was coming from. I spent almost the entire day explaining the Scentsy system to co-workers, one of them said, "You know, you really should sell these, you're doing a good job of it already."

So I emailed the consultant that I spoke with at the fair, and told her that August was too far away. She directed me to her website to sign up. I joined the Scentsy family, and thus began my adventures in the direct-sales world. :)