There have been a LOT of changes in my life over the last month. Some horrible, some great. But I couldn’t really say anything about it until now.
I am sure some of you have skipped ahead of my text, as the photos below caught your eye. So I’ll start with the horrible and end with the great. As many of you know, I have a day job… well… had a day job. The photos below were take 2 days after a rampant fire destroyed our building (no one was hurt, THANK GOD) and left us, quite literally, in the dust.
Photo 1: The warehouse from the back end/loading zone. No roof, no internal structure, floor littered with 2-stories worth of charred product.
Photo 2: A look to the right, where you can see our neighbor’s destroyed warehouse. The fire started on this wall, on their side. An electrical conduit overheated, sparked, and set the whole place ablaze.
Photo 3: What is left of my office. Luckily the personal belongings I had there were nothing of value, or that could not be replaced.
Photo 4: The building from the front end. Upstairs are the owner’s offices, below the door to my office and the door to our common room/lunch area.
It’s gone. All of it. Turned to ashes in under 2 hours time. The fire happened on the 16th of January at 9:30 at night. Being at night was why no one was present, and so no one was hurt. But it is also why it got so out of hand – no one was there to try and stop it, or even knew it was happening until the roof was on fire and could be seen from the freeway.
While it was deemed an accident, as it was an electrical short that sparked, that doesn’t seem to make things any easier for the owners. While the fire didn’t start or end in our unit, we suffered the most damage by far. We were the only unit that burned from front door to back door, and one of only two left with no roof. This was a truly devastating fire for our business, and business around us, and will take time to recuperate.
The good news is that they WILL recuperate. They will be back on their feet, and they will continue on. It is just a matter of time. However, they will have to go on without me.
I had decided back in September that 2012 would be the year I went full time with The Pampered Chef. I had a plan, and was putting my ducks in a row to make a smooth transition from Office Manager to Soon-To-Be PC Director in March. The plan was complete with time to help the company replace me, and for me to even train said replacement. I was going to gradually ramp up to full-time Chef status over 3 months.
When will I learn? For all the careful planning I do, for all the research, for all the work and effort that goes into having and executing a game plan… when will I understand that I’m NOT in charge?
I’ve had no choice – My resignation from this company was not what I wanted to give them, especially after they stood by me when Abigail came so early. Having a feeling of “forced” enthusiasm masking desperate attempts towards growing my business is not how I saw me taking on this next stage. But as my mother so wisely put it, “It’s now or never, hon.”
So Be It.
Fast forward to today, and you are looking at a Full-Time Pampered Chef Consultant. I am working on getting 4 more shows for the Month of February and 6 (SIX) more shows for March. I am less that $1000 in sales away from my very first raise with the company ($15,000 in sales milestone! Woot!) and a mere 3 recruits away from promoting to Director. The goal is to meet the first milestone no later than the end of March (but, really, I should be able to do it in Feb.) and to reach the second so that I can attend my first Director’s meeting (as a fully fledged Director) on May 2nd.
The path my Director has put me on is fast paced, but so rewarding. Before a quarter is over, I expect to be pulling in more than double what I was making at my day job. And working about the same amount of hours, or less, each month. How cool is that?
The best part though, is that I am now a WAHM (Work at Home Mom) and can stay home with my baby girl. With her ever growing schedule of appointments, therapy sessions, classes, and play dates, it is more important than ever that I am both a Stay-at-home-Mom AND a financial contributor to our family.
So forgive me for this one, but woman on a mission here:
If you would like to host a Pampered Chef Party in February or March, please leave a comment with your email address (or just email me at jenfrancis.pc@gmail.com). I would LOVE to come to your home and cook for you and your friends, and help you get a ton of FREE and discounted product for your kitchen.
And if you, or anyone you know, is looking for extra income (aren’t we all???) then consider this: Only 6% of ALL working women in the US make a 6 figure income. But 80% of those women are in Direct Sales like me. AND, only 5% of Pampered Chef consultants are male, but they make up the majority of the top 3% of sales for our company each year. Can’t argue with those results!! Not everyone needs a new job. But everyone needs more $$$. So if you need a full-time gig to pay bills, or if you need something on the side to pay off credit cards or pay for extras (like shoes and purses, or a family trip to Disneyland) then PLEASE come talk to me. Or check out my website at http://www.pamperedchef.biz/jenfrancis
Ok, shameless plug over. 🙂 And really, please, say a prayer for my former bosses, Nick and Christine. They are doing a phenomenal job of picking up the pieces and moving forward with their lives and their business. And from one small business owner to another – it isn’t easy, but well worth the effort.
Thank you for your prayers and your support, as always. God Bless you.
-Jen
Adventures of a Life-Aholic 