a girls best friend

[Flitterbug]

Oh gosh I shouldn't have looked at the baby stuff! You might be hearing from me soon - for Christmas! Do you know when last orders are for Christmas?

 

[lilly pea]

Oh gosh I shouldn't have looked at the baby stuff! You might be hearing from me soon - for Christmas! Do you know when last orders are for Christmas?

I have a massive shopping list myself.
Loads more christmas stock is coming in soon too. Orders just up to 5 working days to be revived (longer for personalised items). Standard (about £3.50) on p&p, but orders over £75 you get free p&p. Message me for the 10% discount code

 

[Jon]

Your new page is better but


1) Why is the company logo SO small

2) Why is there a GIANT amount of white space at the bottom of the page

I know I know, you don't do the site, it's Vanessa, but you need to feed those back to her so she can use Front Page 98 again and sort out those issues

 

[lilly pea]

Your new page is better but


1) Why is the company logo SO small

2) Why is there a GIANT amount of white space at the bottom of the page

I know I know, you don't do the site, it's Vanessa, but you need to feed those back to her so she can use Front Page 98 again and sort out those issues

I will ask Vanessa to sort it out. I doubt it will be done today. She is busy adding stock.

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

Hello All,
I thought I would introduce myself I am the founder of A Girl's Best Friend.
Yes it is my idea & my creation, it will not be everyone's cup of tea, their is not one company, one book or one famous person that everyone likes, the world would be pretty boring if it was. I knew that when I started this I would come across criticism & that their would be people who would not like the concept, that is just fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
The company is brand new, it only launched on October the 01st, if you were to ask me how it was going then my answer would be it is going really well.
We have had just under 2 k in orders in the first 20 days of opening.
I started the company with a very small budget & a whole host of ideas, do you think that when any of the big networking companies started that they had top of the range websites, no they didn't, some of them started selling door to door with no advertising materials, and they built up their client base, their team & also their products, in a years time do you think we will be using the same website, the other will be no, as we would have the investment to be able to improve on what we have.
Everyone has to start somewhere.

AGBF is more then just about making money, it is also about empowering women to have goals & dreams and to fulfil them, it is also against our ethics to undercut, steal customers from others. The team vibe that we have at the moment they can each call each other friends, yes you may not like the term Besties but that is what they are, this is a site & a company that is ideally for women, they shop with their Best Friends, that is where the name of them has come about.

I don't sit their slagging of anyone else's company & neither do I let any of my team do that!!!!!!
It is wrong and extremely demotivating.

Now ask me why I set this company up, I had not a great childhood, my mum was a manic depressive & she ended up committing suicide, I left school with no qualifications & ended up having to go straight into work, that's where my career started I stayed in sales for 20 years across all of the industries and in all the different roles, worked for other network marketing companies & then just under five years ago I got made redundant, I was heavily pregnant & decided to give network marketing a serious go, I ended up losing that child when she was 5 weeks old. It took me a long time to come back from that, I share this with you as I have no reason to hide it or my reasons to start AGBF.
A year ago I decided to make something of my life and make something that I could be proud of with the parts I liked about direct marketing & those that I didn't that's how AGBF was created.

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

Also I have read through all of these comments, I see that some of them have good points.
Then there are others that are just not needed.
I see it as very sad that these are where the comments came from initially a few weeks ago.
The same comments that actually made me think about giving it all up.
They did make me cry I am not going to lie, but I woke up the following morning and did something about it.
I listen to the views of my team, it is not all about me & what I want, they have input.
Their is no I in team ,we all work together and although it is my company without the team we would have no future.
I am just one of them at the end of the day. A real person.

We are growing and hopefully we will continue to do so!!!!

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

Your registered for paying Tax and NI yeah?

I inform all of my ladies that this is mandatory!!!!!

 

[Jon]

Hi Vanessa

Thanks for signing up, it's great to see the founding member of this direct selling company on here to answer questions anyone may have about signing up.

It's important to understand this is a VERY open platform for people who work from home. It's not Facebook/Netmums where people gush over every opportunity listed. EVERYTHING is picked apart from the nth degree as it is their time and sometimes money they will be investing in your company if they are happy and decide to sign up. Don't take the comments and question on here to heart (easier said than done - trust me I see a LOT of negative stuff about The Money Shed as well and just have to take it on the chin and believe that my mission or aim is right)

Can you rewind a little maybe and tell us how you went from idea to concept, How you got those first few people signed up and how you came to decide on how commission etc would work

One other area I'm not sure on is what and how are you paying people when they sign up under someone? Is it cash or what?

Thanks

Jon

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

It is starting to sound all a bit dodgy Lilly, be careful otherwise you might get stung! It's daft that you're correcting them and they're getting hacked off - where's the sense in that?

I have spoken to a solicitor before I started A Girl's Best Friend, nothing that I am doing is illegal.
I report to HMRC every 3 months with who is now working for AGBF even if they are self employed it is the law to do so.

Lilly is not getting it in the neck, I admit I did get very upset in the first instance, the reason was I had spent a lot of time doing this, I currently work 14 hours a day on AGBF with no income at the moment, that's why I got upset, as you will see from my story I have a thick skin as I have had to grow one rather quickly.

 

[Jon]

It is starting to sound all a bit dodgy Lilly, be careful otherwise you might get stung! It's daft that you're correcting them and they're getting hacked off - where's the sense in that?

I have spoken to a solicitor before I started A Girl's Best Friend, nothing that I am doing is illegal.
I report to HMRC every 3 months with who is now working for AGBF even if they are self employed it is the law to do so.

Lilly is not getting it in the neck, I admit I did get very upset in the first instance, the reason was I had spent a lot of time doing this, I currently work 14 hours a day on AGBF with no income at the moment, that's why I got upset, as you will see from my story I have a thick skin as I have had to grow one rather quickly.

Sorry to hear this, is this a result of YOU having the buy the stock upfront for your team(s) to sell or is it all drop shipped?

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

It is starting to sound all a bit dodgy Lilly, be careful otherwise you might get stung! It's daft that you're correcting them and they're getting hacked off - where's the sense in that?

I have spoken to a solicitor before I started A Girl's Best Friend, nothing that I am doing is illegal.
I report to HMRC every 3 months with who is now working for AGBF even if they are self employed it is the law to do so.

Lilly is not getting it in the neck, I admit I did get very upset in the first instance, the reason was I had spent a lot of time doing this, I currently work 14 hours a day on AGBF with no income at the moment, that's why I got upset, as you will see from my story I have a thick skin as I have had to grow one rather quickly.

Sorry to hear this, is this a result of YOU having the buy the stock upfront for your team(s) to sell or is it all drop shipped?

John is down to both, I currently use both methods.
Also hosting, domain, landing page creator, tracking software, there are a lot of outgoings.

 

[Jon]

aye, i bet.

They say it can take a few years for businesses to turn into profit. How long were your projections for doing that when you setup the company (you don't have to answer that question if you don't want to btw)

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

Hi Vanessa

Thanks for signing up, it's great to see the founding member of this direct selling company on here to answer questions anyone may have about signing up.

It's important to understand this is a VERY open platform for people who work from home. It's not Facebook/Netmums where people gush over every opportunity listed. EVERYTHING is picked apart from the nth degree as it is their time and sometimes money they will be investing in your company if they are happy and decide to sign up. Don't take the comments and question on here to heart (easier said than done - trust me I see a LOT of negative stuff about The Money Shed as well and just have to take it on the chin and believe that my mission or aim is right)

Can you rewind a little maybe and tell us how you went from idea to concept, How you got those first few people signed up and how you came to decide on how commission etc would work

One other area I'm not sure on is what and how are you paying people when they sign up under someone? Is it cash or what?

Thanks

Jon

John,

Thank You I am aware that it is very open, and that in my eyes is a good thing, if only everything that we ever looked at was so open & honest.

I have been stung before we promises of false hope & get rich quick schemes.
AGBF is not this, you have to work to get paid, a lot of work in the initial stages as you would with any sales role. It does not happen overnight, it's all about sowing the seeds for them to reap. I ask my reps not to promote this as a get rich quick as that's not what it is, and if I see this I stop it immediately and they will have their right to sale taken away from them if they keep doing it.

My partner had an on-line store, it was doing reasonably well, he decided to close it down as he got a promotion at work & couldn't put the time or effort that was required.
I decided that I would take it over, but direct it in a whole new direction.
I was working for another direct marketing company at the time and decided to do some research, I found that their was no company like this out their, they were all to do with health or cosmetics, so decided that their was a niche in the market for this.

I started putting together ideas, and sourcing products, suppliers, spoke to a solicitor, accountant & HMRC to find out the in's & out's.
I then started work on the website which took a good few months and also the landing pages, looked into tracking codes, ect.
I looked at the other network marketing companies commission structures & bonus plans, before deciding to go with the one we currently have.
That's why I decided to offer the infinity as most stop at 3rd generation.

To be completely honest, I didn't think anyone would like the idea, I thought I would get laughed at, however I held an on-line presentation of the business opportunity, showing the webpages & the landing pages and to my surprise everyone who was on the business presentation loved it, they were asking to join there & then.
I created something that was fair, no undercutting is allowed, so everyone has the same chance to do really well at it.
I see too many others where they undercut each other just to further themselves up the marketing plan.

I looked into the differences between network marketing & Pyramid Schemes before I started this journey, as I wanted to make sure that I was on the right side of the law.
Recruiting is optional, they don't have to build a team, it is not mandatory they can still further themselves up the marketing plan without recruiting anyone based purely just on their sales. We are a fashion business on-line & via party plan so therefore it is down to them to get the sales in, they can not further themselves in the marketing plan if they don't get sales, they have to be personal sales.

They get a % of the new recruits package this is paid as a bonus, they also receive a % of their team sales.
As well as 30% on their own sales.

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

aye, i bet.

They say it can take a few years for businesses to turn into profit. How long were your projections for doing that when you setup the company (you don't have to answer that question if you don't want to btw)

It will be 24 months before I make a profit, and 3 - 4 years of where I can have a take home salary of what I was on at my sales job.

 

[Jon]

aye, i bet.

They say it can take a few years for businesses to turn into profit. How long were your projections for doing that when you setup the company (you don't have to answer that question if you don't want to btw)

It will be 24 months before I make a profit, and 3 - 4 years of where I can have a take home salary of what I was on at my sales job.

It will soon come around, stay the course, even when its a bit rough and you should get the rewards..

Just looking at this at

http://www.gumtree.com/p/general-jobs/a-girls-best-friend-/1084823707

It mentions

You will earn between £10 - £30.00 for every Bestie you recruit.


Is this in Cash?

 

[vanessa.m.mills.5]

aye, i bet.

They say it can take a few years for businesses to turn into profit. How long were your projections for doing that when you setup the company (you don't have to answer that question if you don't want to btw)

It will be 24 months before I make a profit, and 3 - 4 years of where I can have a take home salary of what I was on at my sales job.

It will soon come around, stay the course, even when its a bit rough and you should get the rewards..

Just looking at this at

http://www.gumtree.com/p/general-jobs/a-girls-best-friend-/1084823707

It mentions

You will earn between £10 - £30.00 for every Bestie you recruit.


Is this in Cash?

Thank you I will do, it is not just my investment now & my future it is all those who are part of AGBF.

I looked into this & was advised that you can pay them commission in Cash but you have to detail it on their income slips.

You are going to tell me this is wrong aren't you?

 

[Jon]

Personally, I'm not educated enough in the subject to give you a 100% correct answers (others on here may be in a better place) however from

http://www.dsa.org.uk/consumer-advice/illegal-schemes/

What is a Pyramid Scheme? Direct selling or network marketing should not be confused with Pyramid Selling. Pyramid selling is illegal in the UK and many other countries and is a type of fraud which is disguised to look like direct selling. Pyramid selling is where recruits pay an admission fee to join the scheme to earn commissions on persuading other to join rather than supply any real investment or sale of products or services to the public. Pyramid schemes do not offer contracts to participants, cancellation rights nor the opportunity to buy back unsold goods - all of which are required under UK law.



I can't remember but do people pay you money to sign up to AGBF?

 

[lilly pea]

Personally, I'm not educated enough in the subject to give you a 100% correct answers (others on here may be in a better place) however from

http://www.dsa.org.uk/consumer-advice/illegal-schemes/

What is a Pyramid Scheme? Direct selling or network marketing should not be confused with Pyramid Selling. Pyramid selling is illegal in the UK and many other countries and is a type of fraud which is disguised to look like direct selling. Pyramid selling is where recruits pay an admission fee to join the scheme to earn commissions on persuading other to join rather than supply any real investment or sale of products or services to the public. Pyramid schemes do not offer contracts to participants, cancellation rights nor the opportunity to buy back unsold goods - all of which are required under UK law.



I can't remember but do people pay you money to sign up to AGBF?

To sign up you pay for a kit. The kit is yours to keep and worth more than you pay.

 

[Jon]

It really is a minefield trying to get proper information

Herbalife says

What is a pyramid scheme and how does it differ from a MLM? What makes Herbalife a legitimate MLM?
Simply put, an illegal pyramid scheme awards payments to participants for the simple act of signing up other participants. A legitimate multi-level marketing company, like Herbalife, pays compensation to participants based on the sale of product to satisfy demand by end-users.


However, like lily has said above your money is going towards a "kit" so is that regarded as a sign up payment?

I will be honestly I can't think of other direct sellng companies that pay cash for recruiting more people (which If I signed up to AGBF is what I would focus on doing)

Who gave you the advice before Vanessa, they are probably in a far more educated position than I am

 

[Blackpepper1]

I see this is progressing nicely. There is some good things in the shop now.
Nice to hear from Vanessa and how it all started.
Good to see a business that is genuine where someone is trying to make sure that it follows all the rules.