I LOVE what I do,  watching kids and Avon.  But the daycare  side is drawing to a close.  Summer is here and I need to focus on my Avon business to go full time.  It’s what I’ve wanted since I saw the business and earning opportunity that comes from being my own boss.

$10 investment and  I was off to the races making money, selling one of the most familiar names in products.

Now, I’m a national recruiter, stretching my team across the country.

I’m looking for a few things and you, my amazing audience of readers,  can assist.

First,  it is warm weather  and I need a sales boost.  If you haven’t seen an Avon brochure lately, I would  love  for you to take a look via my Avon Online Store.  Just click “Shop my eBrochure” on the right hand side and you can page through the current brochure/catalog.  Avon sells Deet free bug repellent, you won’t be sorry you tried it!

That is the first thing you can do to assist me…buy!  Get on my Avon site and place an order!  Avon has 100% satisfaction guarantee so you can return things if they do not meet your expectations.  But please, if you have ever considered buying from Avon, I would LOVE to be your Avon lady – shop with me from home, pay online and it will be shipped directly to you!  Want to save money on shipping?  If you use the code, 99JUNE1 your order ships for just .99 cents!  If your order is $30 or more, it ships FREE!!!!!!  So please, consider helping a sister out and place an Avon order, spread the word to friends and family too!

Now, second.  Have YOU considered becoming an Avon rep?  It is only $10 to start, nothing more.  No need to stock inventory.  Just $10.  Your first 4 campaigns you will receive 40% commission, and after that you earn 20-50% based on your sales.  Example: Place a $300 order and your commission is 35% earning you $105.  I know just about everyone could use a little extra income.  Or a lot if you chose to work it that way.  Sign up with me,  online, and you will be in my downline, on my team, and I will help you, train you and teach you to build your business. How you say? Just go to Start Avon and use the code MARTIGARDNER and pay the $10 and you will receive your kit  in a few days and then the fun of working for yourself, as a part of my team begins!!!  You have nothing to lose but $10 if it turns out not to be your thing.  But I know you will succeed and LOVE this business.  If for no other reason than the discount you will be able to buy your own Avon for, and really why pay retail?

So,  that dear readers is how you can assist  me,  and at the same time shop sales, and start your own business!  And yes, a few really good men sell Avon too, and they are very successful!

Thanks SO much!

Your Online Avon Lady 

Product Review: Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus IR3535

As an Independent Sales Representative for Avon, I am given an opportunity to preview products  before they hit the brochures.  Recently the preview was for our Skin So Soft line of insect repellents.  As someone that likes being outside, especially on the back of a motorcycle, I decided to put our Bug Guard Plus to the test.

The first time I tried the Bug Guard Plus IR3535,  "Cool 'N Fabulous" SPF 30 Lotion Disappearing Color. The disappearing color is great if you need to ensure that sun sensitive skin is completely covered as the blue color stays on the skin for a few moments before vanishing. It is, as it says, very water resistant.  This is an ideal product if you have little ones that swim or are outside playing sports.  For my taste, I cannot stand the scent. I am pretty sensitive to smells and didn't care for it at all.  If I were swimming or had little ones I'd use it but for me personally, no thanks.

This past weekend I used the Bug Guard Plus IR3535 "Gentle Breeze" SPF 30 Lotion.  I'm sold, hooked, LOVE  this stuff.  The scent was pleasant, doesn't smell like a sun screen to me.  And it works.  I applied it once around 11:30am yesterday, then got on  my honey's Harley with him and rode all day, in the sun.  When I returned home last night I had tan lines but no sunburn whatsoever.  It should be noted that being a natural blond with very fair skin I tend to burn easily.  I haven't gone to a tanning bed in over 2 years,  so I had zero base for protection.  Not a single red spot!  Add to that the fact that mosquitoes see a 7 course meal with a super decadent dessert when they spot me, and not a single bite anywhere even though I came home and spent time sitting outside for a while. I am totally sold on this product.

Right now you can purchase  this product on  myAvon Website Store and if you do so before midnight on 5/24 it will ship to you free!  In fact, any size order ships free until that deadline, just use the code: FSMAY2 and you should receive it in a few days time.

I LOVE free stuff!!! And especially FREE shipping when I order anything online.  Free is good, free means instead of paying through the nose to ship something, I can spend MORE money on things I want to purchase because those items  will ship to me FREE.

This is a one use code per customer, but I have a code you can use on my Avon website to get FREE shipping on ANY size order if you use it before 5/24.  Use it now, before you forget and are disappointed later that you didn’t take advantage of the awesome sales and especially things for Memorial Day and Father’s Day that are in the current brochure on my site.

Just go to MY AVON STORE, and click “Shop My eBrochure” to see the latest book!  Click it and you can page through the catalog and then click items to order!  When you go to check out, use the code  FSMAY1 and your order will ship to you FREE!  Best part? It will be there  within a few days, right to your  door step!

Don’t wait and miss out on the  FREE shipping!  OH and don’t forget, purchase your Bug Guard now, it was a mild winter and the mosquitoes etc will be in abundance this year!

HELP ME RAISE THE $$$

Today is day 4 of training for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk on October 27-28th in Charlotte, NC. Yes I am from Cincinnati but there is not a walk here this year with Avon. Chicago is closer but that one is in June, not an adequate time frame to train to walk 39 miles. 79 days won't cut it, I need the 226 to get this couch potato body in shape and ready for that kind of workout. We walk 26 miles on day one, sleep in little tents in the wellness village, then walk 13 more miles the following day. I think we're supposed to drop dead after that, not sure but I know my body may just give up the ghost if I don't prepare properly.

2 miles so far each day, and my legs would like to disown me and head for another couch.

Part of participating is raising at least $1,800 to be donated to the walk. My personal goal is $2,500. The Avon Foundation for Women, that is hosting/sponsoring this walk, has donated over $740 million to this cause since the walks started in 2003. This cause is very near and dear to my heart so I am determined to raise the funds for it.

One way is through my donation site for the walk, and you can donated directly there and I get credit for the donation:





If you are willing to put this button above on your page, email me so I can send it to you!!

Or you participate in my eParty For AWBC (Avon Walk for Breast Cancer), I am donating all profits from those sales to the event. This is helpful for those out of town that would like help and purchase Avon at the same time.

The 3rd way you can help is through the Avon Fund Raiser I'm conducting. If you are local I can provide you with the sheets. They are sheets for ordering awesome Avon products at a great price. Like fund raisers conducted for schools or sports teams, only instead of wrapping paper, cookie dough or popcorn/chocolate, these are products most people need anyway in their home. Money is collected and the sheet filled out on the reverse side and then the profits from this fund raiser will be donated as well. If you are local and willing to take a sheet to work or school, or to friends and family, to help me raise this money, contact me! (and yes if your troop, team or youth group needs a fund raiser, contact me, this is a great way for them to raise money!)

PRODUCT REVIEW: Avon Advanced Techniques Professional Hair Color

Back in the 70′s, Avon sold hair color.  I’m not certain why but they stopped at some point.
Beginning in campaign 9, Avon is once again in the home hair color business.  As representatives we were given a free product, color of our choice, to try.  Being natural blondes around here, we are touching up roots often, as we dye our hair a cherry-cola color.  Red dye fades a bit fast, and when your roots are naturally very light, as they come in it can make your hair look like it is thinning rapidly.
My sister, Jeannette, and I use the same store-bought hair color.  We both chose the same color from Avon, that is closest to what we were using.  This is our review:

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Avon Advanced Techniques Professional Hair Color used:  Medium Mahogany Brown 5.65
Marti:  I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical about this product.  Until last November I had never ‘dyed’ my hair.  I am a natural blond and I’ve had highlights done for years, but back around Thanksgiving I decided to go ‘cherry cola’ in color.  As I have no experience, my sister dyes my hair for me.  She has been coloring hers and her daughters for years.  With 4 days to go til my son’s wedding, I figured I was nuts to do this, unsure what to expect,, but my roots needed done so figured what the heck, we have the free color from Avon, let’s give it a shot.  Since it was going to be a bit different, we opted to dye it as a color change.  Both of us used the same color tonight.

Jeannette:  Having used and applied well over 10 different brands of home hair colorant over the years (likely everything on the market), this is the most unique I have ever come across.   Never have I heard of or seen a pre-treatment with hair color.  The rule was start out with clean, dry hair.  I was skeptical as this pretreatment made the hair kind of wet.  That worried me, as I know how hard it is to get the colorant from root to tip of the hair, but when I actually applied the color mix, it was very easy to coat the hair, root to end.  It felt a bit like applying a thick oil to the hair and it went on VERY evenly.

Marti:  The first thing I noticed was the pleasant smell.  Usually dye has a harsh smell, but this was very nice.  I could also feel the difference as Jeannette was applying the color to my hair, a slick, thick, almost oily feeling.  Not at all what I was used to with the foam colors.

Jeannette:  As the person applying I am having to step back several times from the intense chemical smell of dyes, but this time I had no problem at all.  It didn’t irritate my nose or eyes, and does in fact have a fairly nice smell to it.  Also, when dying hair, you end up getting it on skin to some degree at the hair line.  A trade secret my daughter taught me was to use a little dye from my hair to rub on the skin to wipe it off any residual color, with cotton or a tissue (dye removes dye).  However, this wiped right off, without any hard rubbing, very easily on a tissue!

Marti:  After the processing time, my next surprise was the post-treatment.  WOW!  It is thick, almost like a soft margarine, and felt amazing in my hair!  I couldn’t believe how great my hair felt after as well, very soft as opposed to a dry, straw like feeling I’m used too after coloring.

Jeannette:  I was really happy how it didn’t drip during processing and it rinses out very easily!  And that post-treatment, feels like whipped butter, rinses out super easily, and even my hands are soft from it!  Both of us have soft, shiny hair too, which is something I have never seen with other brands.  It is multi-tonal as well, like natural hair color.  As the light hits it you see reds, browns etc, varying shades like you would if this was your own hair and not an applied color.

We are both highly impressed, and cannot say enough about it!  Once again, Avon has surpassed our expectations!

TO ORDER: Marti's Avon Online Store
Your results may not be the same as our own, we can only speak for ourselves from our experience.  We will be using this again!!!

Brochure Tossing My Way

My sister and fellow Avon representative and I are always brain storming ways to get our brochures into the hands of potential customers.  One of our favorite ways is the stick our brochure in the plastic literature bag, fold over the top and then roll and rubber band it like a newspaper.  Then we load up 300-400 brochures each in boxes, pack the car and go 'toss' them like newspapers into driveways.  We each have specific streets or neighborhoods that we toss in, but going together means we can do both sides of the street at the same time, one tossing out each side of the car.  In less than an hour we've distributed 600-800 brochures then we head home.

I know that a lot of representatives think this is not a good way to do this, that each brochure should be hung on the door or the doorbell rang and it handed to the potential customer.  But so far it has proven to be profitable to us.  We each gather several new customers with every campaign this way.  After 3 campaigns we move to a new area for a while. 

Once someone orders the first time, we consider them an established customer and the approach for distribution is different.  If you've ordered from us, we no longer roll and toss, but we get out of the car and hang the brochure on the front door handle.  Inside the bag is our customer newsletter for that campaign, the brochure(s) and samples.  We've also decided that we will do this to the 2 houses on either side of the established customer and include a note that says "I was dropping off a brochure to my customer, your neighbor, and wanted to be sure to leave you one too!".  We also offer a discount then on their first order.

The tossing can be a real adventure for us.  While most of the time the paper boy or girl has nothing on us as far as aim, once in a while we fail.  If there is a puddle anywhere near the driveway it is safe to assume one of us can hit it without trying.  Every so often on lands in a bush too, requiring a stop to retrieve and place it nicely on the driveway. 

While on our tossing outing we will also go through the drive-thru at McDonald's or Burger King and hand a brochure to the worker there.  Many places have 2 windows, one to pay and one to pickup the food or drinks.  That is 2 brochure hand-offs.

We enjoy the radio, laugh a lot and have a fantastic time with our tossing days. 

I never imagined that at 48 (very nearly 49) years old I'd be an Avon Lady, driving around bonding with my sister as we tossed our brochures.  But it is one of my favorite parts of the job, spending time with my younger sister as we work toward building our dreams.

Nurture It And It Will Grow!

I stay in touch at least every other day, if not every day, with my team. Not just my first generation down line, but all the way to the 3rd generation. I try to email inspiring things, share ideas and do all that I can to help them build their business.

Today I have an appointment set to potentially sign 5 recruits. I say potentially because often in this business, people are enthusiastic when you call, you set a time, confirm that time, and they don't show up. I succeed in spite of the set backs, I don't get discouraged and I plow on ahead. It's how I roll and when I have a goal, I keep rolling.

I cannot make anyone show up. Once they are signed on, I cannot force them to get out there and find customers and work their Avon business. I can encourage, assist, train, etc, but they have to get up, pick up the ball and make the basket to score the points.

One thing I can promise you, if you join my team, you will not be left to figure this out on your own. I will guide you, train you, encourage you, share all the tips I know of with you, mentor you every step of the way to your success.

Do you know that the average foreclosure on homes was because the owner couldn't scrape up $300 a month to keep their home right now?? Avon can put that $300 plus a lot more in your pocket to ensure that even with the bad economy YOU can make it.

I am looking for individuals, men and women, to join my team. People that want to be successful, that want $100, $300, $1000 a month or more in their budget. Those men and women that aren't afraid to try something new to succeed in life and to get over that financial bump in the road.

It doesn't matter what state you are living in, you can still be on my team, and receive all the one on one you need from me. Thanks to technology we can Skype, use the phone, and work together to make you one of the Avon rich and famous.

Just go to Start Avon and enter the code:  MARTIGARDNER

For $20 you will launch a career that will change your life!  Your kit will arrive in a few days and we'll start working together.

Join my team today!  I will nurture your growth to success!