Make $ with Southern Living

If you love decorating and entertaining in style then Southern Living at Home is a business opportunity to look into.  I interviewed Tasha Bantau, a 2 star consultant, to learn more about the business.

30daysof: What is the name of your business? 

TB: Southern Living at Home (AKA...SLAH) It is Southern Living at Home's mission to create a feeling of welcome, comfort, and beauty in homes all across America, while fostering the spirit of Genorosity in the lives of their consultants and their families.

30daysof: Why did you get started in this business? 

TB: That's simple, I just wanted the kit. SLAH has no minimums. You can simply by the kit and walk away with all that product. It wasn't until someone told me that they wanted to do a party that I even considered this as a business. Then I learned how awesome this company truly was. Most direct sales business make you purchase catalogs and other business supplies...not SLAH with every party you submit you get credits to purchase supplies and we just pay the shipping cost.

30daysof: Is there a start up cost? Describe the start up cost and what you need to do to qualify for promotion or revenues, trips, cars? 

TB: The cost for signing up is $199 plus tax (no shipping). You get over $600 worth of product plus all your business supplies (catalogs, order forms, training materials,etc...) oh and ME, as your fabulous trainer! SLAH is very generous with promotions...once you hit your first $1000 in sales you become a qualified consultant which means you get to start earning commission off anyone you recruit. After that its very simple to start promoting higher with more recruits you get as long as they are active ($500 in sales a month). With SLAH you don't earn a car, you earn cash! I recently earned my first incentive trip to Cancun, everything was paid for. I only spent money on the excursions that I wanted to do off property. We stayed at the all-inclusive Cancun Palace Resort. To earn that trip all I had to do was earn 13,000 points between January 1 - April 30. Each $1 = 1 point and each recruit = 1000 points. SLAH gave us the opportunity to earn double points in February where each $1 = 2 points and in March each recruit was 2000 points. That made it really easy for me to get this trip. 

30daysof: How do you stay motivated? Books, quotes, people who inspire, etc... 

TB: We have a great bunch of women in SLAH that keeps up motivated really well, they include us on conference calls where we meet SLAH consultants all over the US and they buddy us up with others so we have our own personal cheerleader. Our group recently read The Energy Bus what a great motivator this book was. It really is all about our positive energy that determines if we will exceed in everything we do.

30daysof: What is your favorite product or the best selling product (service) you offer? 

TB: Almost every customer wants the Entertaining Bucket and Stand, so the best way to earn it is through hosting a party to get a % of your sales towards FREE products!

30daysof: What is your biggest challenge in marketing your business? 

TB: I work a full time job in Orange County so it's hard for me to really market well in the area that I live in.

30daysof: How do you get paid? 

TB: Anyone paying by check writes the check to me so I collect my commission right away. If they are paying via credit card then SLAH will direct deposit the commission into my bank account.

30daysof: Is there room for advancement (growth)? 

TB: Totally! It's all up to you...what you put into your business is what you get out of your business.

30daysof:  Who is your competition? Other companies that sell the same products or services? Why did you choose yours? 

TB: I had made purchases with SLAH back in 2002 and loved the quality of the product, in fact my husband told me that if I was buying anything else from direct sales companies he only wanted me to purchase through SLAH because of the quality that was good enough for me! Princess House has started selling some similar items so I guess that would be our competition.

30daysof:  What is the best way to contact you to learn more? 

TB: Your clients are welcome to call me via cell at 714-742-8274 or email me at Livingsouthernca@aol.com. Of course, they are welcome to look at my web site www.southernlivingathome.com/SoCal to see the specials for the month for hostess and customers. I live in Corona but I'm willing to travel...I've done parties in Long Beach and all the way down to Chula Vista.