Self-Employment

Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks 


   - Bon Jovi



I've been thinking about what direction I want to take with my blog and my life in the new year.  I'm planning trips with my outdoor group, so I'm hoping to do more of those types of posts.  Those are the ones that get Google traffic.  Maybe one day I'll set up a blog entirely devoted to outdoor adventures.  I've read that to earn money blogging you have to choose a niche and stick with it.  One blog is all that I can manage right now, so that's on the backburner. 

I really like the idea of being my own boss.  I can't get laid off...I earn according to how much effort I make...I won't be stuck with a boss who's setting me up to fail...

I'm not sending any more resumes out until February.  I want to spend January seeing how many Avon customers I can find.  I know there are people out there that are able to earn a living doing this.  A woman in the UK recently became the first Avon millionaire.  It took her 6 years.  She became an Avon rep after being laid off from her job.  She's my new hero.    http://www.21stcenturynetworker.com/2010/09/01/bbc-news-sunderland-woman-becomes-first-avon-millionaire/

I'll be back to your blogs on January 1.  I miss you guys.

He Only Has Himself to Blame

Holy crap!  The new guy's wife sent me a message on Facebook.  He told me that she had met someone else and decided she didn't want to be married any more.  That's not her version of the story.  Her version has him cheating with many different women.  She wants my help to decide what to do?  If her version is true and she still doesn't know the answer, I can't help her.

I've blocked them both.

Avon Update and Giveaway: Door to Door is Working

I've been reading the Avon forums and the biggest complaint seems to be running all over town to get a few dollars here and a few dollars there.  I've decided to concentrate my efforts on going door to door in my neighborhood so my customers won't be scattered all over.  I usually spend 2 or 3 hours and gain one customer each time.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but once I find them most have been reordering.  On Saturday, I didn't even knock.  I just put old brochures on doors.  I've gotten two phone calls so far!  If I can gain an average of one customer a week maybe I can eventually build up a healthy customer base.  If I take advantage of the free expired brochures my upline sometimes provides, I can gain even more.

I'm trying to grow my online business, as well.  My previous giveaway of assorted products was so successful, I'm doing it again.  Maybe this will become a monthly event.  It's a fun way to introduce people to Avon and a good use for some of the items I bought to increase my earnings level.  (If my order is 120 dollars, I'll buy another 25 dollars worth so I can earn 30% instead of 20%.)  

This time I'm giving away the following items, pictured above, with a total value of $50.

1)  Naturals Hydrating Shampoo:  Banana and Coconut Milk

2)  Naturals Hydrating Conditioner:  Banana and Coconut Milk

3)  Skin So Soft Mini:  Soft and Sensual replenishing body lotion

4)Naturals Shower Gel:  glazed apple and walnut

5)  Astonishing Lengths Mascara:  black

6)  Ultra Color Rich Lipstick:  wineberry

7)  Glazewear Shine Lip Gloss:  darling pink

8)  Glimmersticks Diamonds eye liner:  black ice

9)  Precision Glimmer powder eyeshadow:  classic mocha

REQUIRED ENTRY:  Leave one comment telling me your favorite Avon product.  If you've never tried Avon, tell me which product would most likely be your first purchase.

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:  After the required entry, earn additional entries by doing the following:

One additional entry (leave one additional comment):  Follow me on GFC.

One additional entry:  Follow me on Twitter.     http://twitter.com/Jnnfr271  

Two additional entries (leave two additional comments):  Tweet about this contest.  

Copy and paste:

Enter to win Avon swag: $50 value...http://jnnfr271.blogspot.com/2010/12/avon-update-and-giveaway-door-to-door.html

Three additional entries:  Register at my online store, no purchase required:    http://jenniferdavidson.avonrepresentative.com/

The winner will be chosen using Random.org, will be notified by email, and will have 48 hours to respond.  Please remember to leave your email address if it is not listed in your public profile.

Sorry, contest is open to US residents only.   

Last day to enter:  January 30, 2011.         

         

You're Not the One for Me

Well my heart knows me better than I know myself
So I'm gonna let it do all the talking.

  -  KT Tunstall





I've deleted the new guy from my Facebook friend list and am done with him as well.  I told him to call when he was ready to go on an actual date and take me out to dinner or something.  He never did.  I'm done playing on the phone.  If I'm not worth seeing in person, he's not worth my minutes.  My mantra for the new year:  Make some time or make yourself disappear.   

I'm happy to be home.  I'm scheduling backpacking and camping trips with my outdoor group.  I sent out two resumes and got two interviews.  I'm slowly building my Avon business.  I'll get back to blogging daily in the new year.  Maybe I'll try to post 365...

Pissing the Night Away

I get knocked down but I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down

  - Chumbawamba



They actually censored that line? 

I haven't felt much like blogging the last week or so.  I have one more Hawaii post to make and a few more giveaways...all will happen soon.  I'm just taking a break.  I will be back.

Germaine's Luau

Bus 2 Plus 1

I was pretty miserable for a little while.  I didn't know that was possible in Hawaii.  I was ticked off that Wyoming was obviously not interested in hanging out with me but didn't have the guts to tell me - he just kept making excuses and let me figure it out.  I had one especially awful night in which I was missing my daughter.  I wanted to get on a plane and come home early.  But I came all this way and spent all that money - I was going to get out of my room and try to have a good time, dammit.  I went downstairs to the lobby to book some tours.

The woman at the activities desk told me I could save $100 if I talked to the gentleman at the next desk and agreed to take a tour of the Wyndham Properties.  "Are you employed full time?" he asked.

Avon.  "I'm self-employed."

"OK.  Do you have an annual income of at least $75,000?"
     
Uncle Sam said I earned $80,000 last year and taxed me accordingly.  "Yes, I do."

I signed a piece of paper and got a free luau plus $30 off a car rental.  "Make it a convertible."

I boarded Bus 1 to Germaine's Luau at 4:20.  You might think that would be a sign that I was boarding the party bus.  You'd be wrong.  Once I got to the luau, I looked around for a table that might have some fun people.  I chose well.  Bus 2 was the party bus.  They immediately introduced themselves and started talking to me.  The guy front and center in the picture at top volunteered for the men's dance-off.  They brought him on stage wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra.  I wish I'd recorded his dance.  He was hilarious.  He easily won.

The guys were so disappointed...

   

I wish I had my Flip before I left for Hawaii. The video would be in HD and I'd have the software to edit and rotate.

Bus 2 tried to adopt me.  They said they had some empty seats on their bus, but I wasn't sure how far I'd have to stumble back to my own hotel.  I should have taken them up on their offer.  Normally, the ride back to Waikiki is a continuation of the party.  On my previous trips, the guides taught us cute little songs and had people dancing and laughing...not bus 2 on November 20.  She turned off the lights and let all the wet blankets sleep.

Oh, well...at least I didn't spend the night miserable and alone in my room.

Disappointment

And I wonder if I ever cross your mind...

   - Lady Antebellum

Lady Antebellum

More CMT Music

More CMT Music Videos

Things did not go well with Wyoming at all.  It seemed to be all right until we tried to get intimate and it was not good.  In fact, it was pretty awful.  I was going to chalk it up to both of us being nervous and it would be better next time, but he walked out on me.  He made a lame excuse about being worried about where he parked his bike and he left!  Not after we were done...in the middle...before either of us finished.  And he never came back.  No one has ever done that to me before.

He sent me a text that it was nothing like what he would want, along with an insult concerning my hygeine, and to top it off wrote, "And when we went to eat you didn't even offer to help pay or leave a tip."  Are you kidding me?  I bought my own ticket, paid for the room, and he's bitching because he had to buy me dinner?  

I was so upset I started calling men I've been with in the past.  I called the rock star I used to date.  Not a wannabe Wyoming musician - someone with actual albums that were released on a real record label, groupies and fans all over the world, and Slayer covered five of their songs.  If I'm good enough for him, I should be good enough for anybody.  He says he remembers me as being a lot of fun and doesn't recall any issues with odors.  Then he started sexting all night.  Now I've got a rock star on my booty call list.  Yay me.

I IM'd a past partner on Facebook.  "He walked out on me.  He says I smell down there and I'm lousy in bed.  Was that your experience?" 

"That's just wrong," he replied.  "That was not my experience at all."  Then he promised to wear his bunker gear (he's a fireman) if I come visit him the next time I'm in Dallas. 

Woohoo.  All I have to do is make a phone call and I can have sex anytime I want.  These guys are a lot of fun (and buy my dinner without complaining) but I want more than that.  Where are the men that actually want a relationship?  The fact that the men from my past accept my phone calls and want to see me again says something, though.  I am feeling a little better.     

I called the new guy, too.  He didn't answer right away, but texted that he was in a meeting and would call me back as soon as he could.  Then he asked if he was in trouble.  I replied no, I was just miserable and wanted to hear a friendly voice...that he didn't have to call.  He did anyway and we talked for a while.  He said it sounded like Wyoming's issue. 

I couldn't resist texting Wyoming that I had started calling the guys in my phonebook and none of them remember me as smelly or lousy in bed.  If he caught me on a bad day (we were riding around in the heat on his bike) we could easily have remedied that if he'd used a little tact and said, "Let's freshen up first, babe..."  I added that since he is being disappointed by every woman he is meeting it may be time to consider the common denominator - him.

I really had started to think things might work out.  I'm so disappointed.