Enjoy a good friend’s bachelorette celebration. — Accomplished!
Mail a long-overdue package to my university sorority sisters. — Did not accomplish yet.
Complete another consignment box for Darby’s Dresses. — Accomplished!
Prepare for NaNoWriMo 2021. — Accomplished!
Complete the first pass review of the current version of book 3. — Semi-Achieved.
Sell or donate all American Girl items that were previously set aside. — Semi-Achieved.
I wasn’t able to give blood because I had MOHS surgery a week before to get clear margins for a mole that was biopsied in July. I had 10 stitches in my back, and the Red Cross says that the stitches had to be gone before I could give. Bummer, but I’m bulking up my iron for giving in December.
My mom’s birthday celebration was delayed a bit because my grandpa fell in the bathroom a couple of days before her birthday, resulting in a day in the ER and a couple days admitted to the hospital. Nothing was broken, thank goodness, but more PT/OT at home. But, we had Mexican the following weekend, and Mom received a ton of great cards.
I had a blast at Lane’s “boo-chlerette” celebration! You can read about it from my post earlier in October.
I’m super stoked for NaNoWriMo to start TOMORROW! Yay! I’m in a much better head space to write this November than I was in 2020. Book #3, I’m coming for you!
What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of October?
I did something completely out of the ordinary recently, all to help out someone who is amazing!
In order to graduate, students have to perform a certain number of services. It’s a lot like dental hygiene school, but these services include chemical peels, facials, LED light therapy, and manual lymphatic drainage (MLD), among other treatment options.
I made a new friend in Kelsey, who is a student at The Chrysm Institute of Esthetics in Virginia Beach. This is a trade school that helps people become Estheticians and Master Estheticians.
I’ll post a link to the list of student services at the end of the post. If you’re close to Virginia Beach, please support these students. Kelsey is an awesome person. She eventually wants to work with lasers, which is super awesome! She wants to help people. These lasers are super sophisticated, and getting more precise all the time.
There are a variety of services offered. And all of them are affordable. As an example, I paid $30.00 for my microdermabrasion session with Kelsey. If I were to go for a microdermabrasion session at a local skin care clinic, I would be paying quite a bit more money. The investment for a membership that includes microdermabrasion at one local skin care clinic is $119.00 per month. To me, going to see Kelsey or another student at Chrysm is worth it! You’re getting the same services at an affordable price, and you’re giving these students hands-on experience and practice with what they’ve learned.
Microdermabrasion
Kelsey explained every step to me. She reviewed several things with me before we started, which was my consultation. She took my notes on my eye color, hair color, skin type and tendencies, and a few other things. This helped her “score” me on what’s called the Fitzpatrick scale or skin type. This helped her figure out the appropriate products to use on my skin. I’m a 2 on the scale, so I’m a Type I. This means that my skin is pale white, burns easily, and extremely sensitive. The scale goes form Type I (0-6) to Type VI (35+).
It was a very relaxing and soothing procedure. I wore a stretchy headband that kept my hair back. She used several products on my face to help exfoliate and prepare my skin for the suction wand, which removed the top layer of skin. My favorite part was the soothing chamomile mask, which felt amazing and refreshing. My skin felt refreshed afterward, and Kelsey noted that the redness she observed when I had arrived that day was already reduced.
I was originally a little nervous, but Kelsey was very confident and amazing. Every procedure is supervised. Kelsey asked a few questions of them during the session. The supervisors were impressed and kept complimenting her work.
I was so impressed and appreciative that I immediately wanted to book another session with her. I’m going back to see her in mid-November before the holidays.
The key for microdermabrasion is to not use any exfoliating products on your face for 24-48 hours after the procedure to reduce irritation. Don’t touch or pick at your skin for 2-3 days to let it heal. Also, use sunscreen every day if possible. I bought moisturizer with SPF 30 for my skin care routine less than a day after my session with Kelsey. After several pre-cancerous mole scares, I don’t play anymore. Especially with my face!
The entire session lasted an hour, and I went back to work when it was done. Easy, relaxing, and painless.
I had a blast at Busch Gardens Williamsburg this weekend for my little sister Lane’s “boo-chlerette” party! It was Britney Spears’ themed and we had so much fun!
Lane wanted to ride two specific rides: Finnegan’s Flyers and Verbolten. I passed on the Flyers, but Verbolten was fantastic!
The rest of the day, we hung out and enjoyed the decorations around the park.
In separate groups, we did the “Nevermore” haunted house in the old Curse of DarKastle ride in Germany. Holy moly that was scary!
We had a great day, and Lane really enjoyed herself. We got lots of compliments on our shirts. Yay, Etsy!
When we got back to Lane and Ashley’s house, I was able to play one round of “Dream Phone” with the girls before I left to go home.
It’s a lot like Clue, but without the murder. Thanks, Sterling, for bringing it!
Go through all of my American Girl items, and set aside those marked for future sale. —- Accomplished!
Schedule donation pick-up for the large bags of clothing and household items that need to leave my office pronto. —- Accomplished!
Schedule more time off from work. —- Accomplished!
Successfully coordinate my work department move. —- Accomplished!
Set additional screen time limits, both at work and at home. —- Semi-Achieved.
Make at least one significant editing pass through the printed version of book 2. —- Did not accomplish yet.
Continue meal planning. —- Accomplished!
Look into getting re-certified in adult and/or pediatric CPR. —- Accomplished!
Begin planning for NaNoWriMo 2021. —- Semi-Achieved.
Start reviewing the current version of book 3. —- Did not accomplish yet.
Look into a business course or something similar to prepare for my launch as an author. —- Accomplished!
Keep up my library patronage. —- Accomplished!
Prepare to donate blood again in October. —- Accomplished!
Restart my regular TBR Recap posts. —- Accomplished!
September was really good and really successful for me in a lot of areas. I’m proud of myself. Mostly with my home office. It’s finally sorted out and clean!!
I’m excited to get re-certified in adult and pediatric CPR. I signed up for a hybrid course through the American Red Cross. I have some virtual learning to do, and then I’ll go to the Red Cross Building in Norfolk at the end of the month for the in-person part. The last time I was certified was almost 20 years ago now, and I know a lot of things have been updated since then.
I need to do some more work regarding my future business and becoming an author, but I’ve had several great conversations recently with people who have had experience with publishing and navigating the business side of writing.
I’m getting really excited for NaNoWriMo 2021. I took last November off for mental health reasons, but I’m re-energized now and ready to write again for 30 days!
Jasmine Crowe is one amazing woman. She started feeding people out of her apartment in 2013, every weekend for three years. That alone is amazing.
But then she went further, and truly above and beyond.
Check out the information below. Her company, Goodr, is incredible. Now that she’s partnered with rapper Gunna, the students at Ronald McNair Middle School have access to amazing resources. What struck me the most was that now, the kids at school can bring home dinner or other supplies, no questions asked. If the adults are working when school lets out, these kids can bring home food for their families. To me, that’s a huge weight lifted!
Buckle up, friends. This is going to be a long post. Strong language is used.
Some of you know that I used to buy LuLaRoe (LLR) clothing for two years, from 2017-2019. At the time, I had no clue it was a multi-level marketing company, or MLM.
Now, Amazon Prime Video has released a decent documentary that features the founders, former front office employees, current and former “retailers,” and a few more.
NOTE: I originally set this post to publish on September 20th after having re-watched Episodes 1 and 2, thinking I was going to be able to re-watch all four episodes before the post published automatically. That didn’t happen. It published automatically, and I forgot about it for a few days. I decided to update the scheduling to publish it on September 24th after needing to re-watch Episodes 3 and 4 and make my notes about it. So the updated publishing date is actually September 24th.
Episode 1 – Start Up
Image Credit: LuLaRich
I can’t believe the producers of this documentary were actually able to get DeAnne and Mark Stidham on camera! I’d love to know how that conversation went. Wow!
You are the boss of your business! — Hahahahaha. No, you’re not. MLMs are not legitimate small businesses. Period.
One of the commentators is Robert FitzPatrick – Author, MLM Expert – He was interviewed on Roberta Blevins’s excellent podcast, “Life After MLM.” He’s written two books on MLMs.
Independent fashion retailers — No, actually, you’re an independent contractor. And you have to pay taxes!
$5,000 buy-in (Say WHAT?!?!) Holy moly. This one blew my mind. What the fuck? I could do so much with $5,000 – So much!
Selling breast milk to afford start-up costs — Ummmmm. Yeah. That’s absolutely insane. Nope!
A million dollar company to a billion dollar company. — It grew way too fast, and no one was able to keep up. Plain and simple.
Weight loss surgery — What the actual fuck. No, no, no.
Roberta Blevins — Amazing woman! I have a link to her podcast above! She is awesome!
“Why are the leggings wet? Why does the whole house smell like dead fart leggings?“ — Right on, Roberta! Inferior product doesn’t sell!
“LuLaRoe tricked people into joining a pyramid scheme.“
Mark spouting passages from the Book of Mormon — Yeah. Roberta was right. You are/were in a cult!
LLR logo is a pyramid!
DeAnne’s maiden name is “Startup.” Seriously!
DeAnne is the 10th of 11 children. She has a twin sister, Diane.
Mark is one of four kids. Never wanted to work a job or work for a boss. “When you’re an entrepreneur, there’s no upper limit.”
1988 – DeAnne went to a swap meet in California. Bought four dresses from a man. Started booking dress parties. The first party sold 300 dresses. DeAnne did that for 27 years.
She started making maxi skirts after her daughter asked for one. Sold 20,000 maxi skirts quickly. Mark started in production.
2012 – Brittany Hunter from Utah, came and got skirts out of DeAnne’s van. DeAnne and Mark officially formed LuLaRoe, LLC in 2013. The name comes from three of their granddaughters – Lucy, Lola, and Monroe.
What I really liked about LuLaRich was the group of people they interviewed. When I first saw the trailer, I was pretty sure the producers had only interviewed DeAnne, Mark, and both former and current fashion retailers. It was really nice to see journalists and other experts, too! And home office employees that really spilled the tea.
For those who may not know, MLMs have been around for a good long while. The first one in the United States was Nutrilite in the 1940s, and then they were purchased by Amway. Other MLMs include Tupperware, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Scentsy, Herbalife, and Rodan + Fields. But there are a lot more – I remember hearing for either this documentary or Roberta’s podcast that there are about 300 active MLM companies in the United States. And many of them have gone global to other countries. Ewwwwww.
What is really being sold is the opportunity.
You can only go about 13 levels, and you surpass the population of the Earth.
Even though MLMs have been around and growing since the 1940s, it’s really exploded in the last 10 years or so. It’s advertised primarily through social media.
Buy it for wholesale, sell it for retail. It’s not get-rich-quick. —- Yeahhhhhh. Right.
Mark: Underutilized resource of stay-at-home-moms (SAHMs). A lot of people of faith attracted to this business. It’s a pure meritocracy.
Meritocracy: Government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability.
Sam Schultz, DeAnne’s nephew, joined LLR in 2015 as the events director. Part of the same demographic as the fashion retailers. He hired Mario Lopez to present DeAnne with an award. The photos went viral, and 11,000 people wanted to join the company after that weekend.
2016 – LLR made over $70 million, and expanded to a new home office in Corona, California.
Catastrophic growth, corporate tornado.
“Helping families, blessing lives.” — Wow.
Episode 2 – Show Up
Image Credit: LuLaRich
LLR created a video called “5 Ways to Finance Your Start Up Costs.” The smallest initial package was $5,000. The largest was $11,000!! Examples: Open an interest-free credit card, sell your breast milk.
LLR home office employees! I honestly wasn’t expecting these people to be interviewed, but it was AWESOME. LaShae is my FAVORITE. Worked at Macy’s originally. She met DeAnne in the hallway, she had Chanel on. She marched her to the warehouse and picked out a few pieces because she wasn’t wearing LLR! She was wearing Chanel!!
Derryl Trujillo came to LLR after working for Steve Madden, and reffing and officiating high school volleyball too. He found the ad for data entry and customer service on Craigslist. He was placed in the email department, which was the first line of defense for the company. They tried to be the filter of the building. Mark and DeAnne were seldom around the office, the window seat had to look out for their cars. The family had six Mercedes vehicles. Eight-five to ninety percent (85-90%) of the sixth floor was the family. No one had a clue to run the company of that size. “Data entry” was a Google Doc spreadsheet. Everyone kept editing it, and things would change second to second!
Creating the compensation plan on the fly.
Onboarding team – Fill out your application for LLR, and you were put into the onboarding queue. The team would call these retailers and let them know they were now a part of the family. Mark had a quota. What do you need to onboard 500 people on a Saturday?
These prospective retailers had the LuLaRoe phone number saved as “LuLaRoe – Life Changing Call.”
The number of retailers just grew and grew and grew. By 2016, there were 15,000 retailers! By the end of 2016, there were over 60,000!!
Unicorn hunting – Because you could only pick sizes and the type of clothing, you never knew what prints you were going to get! There were limited prints, too. It was nuts watching the documentary! I participated in multiple Facebook Lives when I bought LLR from three different consultants, so I understand the frenzy!
They talked about the Leadership Bonus Plan. It went from Retailer to Sponsor to Trainer to Coach to Mentor. There was a huge push to recruit and to buy. Recruiting was emphasized. Roberta purchased $78,000 worth of clothing wholesale, and made $83,000 total. And that didn’t include her business expenses. She made $65,000 in bonuses! It’s really easy to see how lucrative this was!
Social media posts were always supposed to be positive, and then attributed to LuLaRoe! DeAnne would become upset if a post didn’t have the #becauseofLuLaRoe hashtag!
And then there were the LuLaRoe cruises! You had to qualify for the cruises, which meant you had to sell $12,000 worth of clothes per month. That’s crazy! But there are/were people who qualified for 5-6 cruises!
Mark and DeAnne would go live online. Every single Tuesday, people would tune in! There was so much idol worship and celebrity.
People started realizing that there was a lot of control. A couple of people started putting the pieces together and thinking, “Oh my God I’m in a cult.”
Enter Becca Peter. She sells washi tape online. For fun, she researches LuLaRoe online. The sales tax was strange, that was her first clue.
LuLaRoe takes advantage of these feelings that women have – They want to be great moms to their kids, but also contribute to the household. It’s the opposite of empowering.
Some of these women started involving their husbands in their LuLaRoe world. And then there’s the “retire your husband” thing. I hate that with a burning passion. It’s another control thing!! Paul said it perfectly – It’s devious and sinister! You’re trapped!
Over 80 percent of people have no one underneath them in MLMs. In 2016, 70 percent of LLR consultants made NO MONEY – ZERO.
If everything is possible, nothing is true. It’s all a farce, a fallacy. The documentary didn’t really discuss the cost-sunk fallacy, but it’s true of all MLMs.
Then there’s the gastric sleeve. DeAnne and her sister, Lynnae, were recruiting women to go to Tijuana, Mexico to get the surgery! The group chat was called “Tijuana Skinny’s.” DeAnne got the surgery and is on video where she lost 72 pounds. Courtney Harwood from North Carolina was looking into it, and ultimately decided on the weight loss balloon surgery in the U.S. – She nearly died! And then she was told that the gastric sleeve was the way to go.
Then the number of retailers went up to 90,000. And if you weren’t making money, it wasn’t the obvious over-saturation of sellers, but it was because “you weren’t working hard enough.” How demoralizing is that!?
Roberta opened a box of inventory in 2016, and realized one item was soaking wet – One pair of leggings. A couple of shipments later, there was a horrible smell from the box. When filing a return request, one of the choices was “Stinky leggings.” Seriously! They were selling moldy leggings, and there was product outside, exposed to the elements. The Mentors went to the home office, and it was met with agitation and being dismissive.
The material was changing! The leggings were arriving with holes, or ripping apart after one hour. The material itself was thinner. The company claimed that they weren’t distributing old product, but they were. The design theft was rampant. They told designers to find a print, change two things, and then voila! It’s a new print!
If you complain or criticize, then you’re the loser. It highlights so many insecurities! Negativity is a big no-no. Use the delete button! People were being scolded like children. For most of the consultants, they were used and betrayed. In my opinion, there was also abuse! There was gaslighting and love bombing.
Episode 4 – Toe Up
In June 2017, LuLaRoe changed their bonus structure. It would be based on sales rather than ordering. The checks were cut in half almost overnight.
Complaints were rolling in, and the question of whether or not LLR was a pyramid scheme kept coming up. And then there was the return policy. The company implemented a 100 percent buyback policy. Consultants would get a full refund, and there was no expiration date.
A bunch of people joined, and then a lot of people left. It was a mass exodus. LLR paid over $100 million during that time. Then they reverted back to the original policy with an additional stipulation, and leaders were not eligible for refunds.
News coverage swelled. Social media groups exploded, such as “LuLaRoe Defective.” And then a few people started talking about hiring a class-action attorney. The reason? Withholding approved refunds is illegal.
The case started as a breach of contract case because they changed the buyback policy almost overnight. They started a website called LLR Class Action. The number of people who contacted the attorney was staggering.
There have been dozen of lawsuits filed against LLR, in multiple states. They were sued for defective leggings, and then copyright infringement. The MyDyer lawsuit basically called Mark and DeAnne outright scammers – One claim is that LLR owes them $49 MILLION DOLLARS. LLR is also tied to many LLCs, in multiple states. Many of them were set up simultaneously in 2017.
Then, in January 2019, a civil lawsuit was filed by the Washington State Attorney General. It alleged that LuLaRoe was operating as a pyramid scheme.
Depositions were taken from DeAnne, Mark, Kenny Brady, and Jordan Brady. They have absolved themselves of all blame and/or responsibility. In my humble opinion, they are all fucking scammers and greedy bastards. There, I said it. All of them are awful people. Mark, especially, reminded me of both of my abusive relationships. It’s all about the money!
Israel follows the U.K. and the U.S. in easing restrictions due to a decrease in needed blood supplies. The U.K. made their changes earlier this year to allow more gay and bisexual men to become donors, and the U.S. updated their screening questions in 2020.
The health history screening in Israel has been updated to use gender-neutral wording, and changing the timeframe from 12 months to three (3) months.
While I personally think that the overall restriction should be dropped entirely, I also understand the continued need to protect blood recipients. I have several gay, lesbian, and bisexual friends who have not donated because of these restrictions. Their argument is that blood products are now tested, and have been for years, for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other life-threatening infectious diseases. While this is true – Testing for HIV with the American Red Cross started in 1985 and has been reviewed and updated since then – I’m honestly not sure this restriction will ever be dropped entirely. It’s very rare that HIV Type 1 or 2 will come up after a single blood donation, but it has happened.
Resources
If you’re interested in giving blood or other blood products (platelets, plasma), visit these websites for more information.
Bath and Body Works – I love the Beautiful Day scent! I found this scent through a beautiful gift basket that was given to me for my wedding nearly six years ago (Where did the time go?!). I’ve bought it ever since.
Summer’s Concoctions! – This is the newest small business I learned about through social media. I love Summer and her determination to grow her business. She’s a former multi-level marketing consultant / independent contractor, but decided to get out and start her own business. I’m so proud of her! I joined her own new Facebook group after seeing her posts in a great group called your MLM is not a small business, Karen. I immediately placed an order with her. I cannot rave about her products enough. I’ve bought her Body Butter and Body Scrub so far, and I can’t wait to buy more. Her products are handmade, affordable, and really fast shipping! They smell amazing, too!! I’m borderline obsessed with the Orange Ginger! And she has a long, long list of scents to choose from – New colors, too. I paid $31 total for the six two-ounce (2 oz.) jars and shipping. It got to me in less than a week from Indiana to Virginia. She is super responsive to messages. She’s currently operating through Facebook only, but I’ll keep you posted if she has other business updates. She just posted a customer’s order of Christmas-scented hand sanitizers, so you better believe I’m jumping on that quick!
Clean & Clear – I’m using up my existing products now. I plan to switch to CeraVe soon.
This deodorant has changed my world. I think I found it at CVS or Walgreens a while ago.
Hair
Herbal Essences – I’m currently using Hello Hydration, the large bottles from BJs. Once that’s used up, I have new bottles of Moroccan My Shine ready. I found it through Harris Teeter.
Makeup
Eyeliner – Illamasqua felt tip liquid liner. I found this unopened sample from the eBay store Needle in a Haystack Treasures. Please check out Cynthia’s store! I’ve found a lot of great things from her in the last few years.
Great Lash Clear Mascara – This has been a great alternative to black/brown mascara.
What about you?
Do you have a certain skin routine? What about makeup?
Have you tried any homemade recipes related to skin or makeup?
Let me know about any awesome small businesses that you support, too!
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