Well don't get too caught up Busy (oops I called you "new" over in the exercise thread). It's easy to get caught up in the hype and spend WAY too much! Only order what your friends want and will pay for!!!!!!

NO!!!!!  No matter what crazy things your director tells you, you can do your own orders.  Just log on to intouch and click the "Online Ordering" button at the top of the page.  HTH

ALSO remember that you have to buy at least $400.00 Retail ( $200.00 wholesale) to get the 50% discount! Your director will say "why not order $400.00 more wholesale and you will be qualified".  What that means is she gets more prizes, more commission etc.!!!!!! It won't benefit you in any way!!!!!!! Don't do it unless you have that much in orders from your friends and family!!!!!!!!!!!

Best of luck in your schooling too!!!!!! 

If you're nervous about placing your first order on your own, sit down with a paper-order form and check off the products you want.  Make sure they add up to $400 retail.

Then phone your order in yourself (call the Distro Branch nearest your home).  The folks who answer the phone are very helpful and generally friendly and can talk you through the ins and outs of placing your first order.  I recommend this for new consultants who want to do it themselves but can't navigate around the online-system.

For the last 8 years, I've done 99% of my orders myself, on the phone in the first couple of years, till I got the hang of it, and then online.  Sometimes InTouch is just janky and you can lose orders and it can frustrate you.  The only time my director has done an order for me is when I've waited until the very last day of the month (keep that in mind this month since there's a Holiday next week also).

If you place your first order this month (May 2007), you will have Earned Discount Privilege from the day you order until July 31, 2007.  EDP is the ability to order ANY amount, even if it's under $400 retail, and still get your 50% discount.

If you do not place another $400+ retail order between now and 7/31/07, on 8/1/07, you will have to place another $400+ retail order to keep your 50% discount.

The most successful Personal Use Consultants I know treat it very much like Avon.  They distribute catalogs to their customers and inform them of what day they are ordering.  They collect all monies before the order date and then deliver after the products arrive.  You can choose to do this once a month, once every other month, or once every 3 months.  If someone needs something right away within the range of your EDP, you can always order it and pass the shipping costs onto the customer if they are in that big a hurry for it.  Or you could utilize the trading boards here or another consultant in your unit who has a semi or full inventory.

But whatever you do, keep other people's hands off the finances and ordering aspects of your business!  Only use YOUR credit card/debit card, never allow a Director to pre-pay your orders on her card (or someone elses), never do "split-piggyback" orders with another consultant or allow another consultant to split-piggyback onto yours.

As for taxes, find a local tax preparer who has LOTS of experience with Direct Sales taxes.  Keep meticulous records and receipts and take with a grain a salt anything said to you from non-professional-tax-people (ie: those in MK) about what is deductible and what is not.  Being Personal Use should not hurt you at tax time because you most likely will not be getting many taxable "freebies" from the Company, nor earning high commissions if you are not recruiting.  But again, listen to your tax advisor.

Good Luck!  Hope this helps.

Thanks, Realist!!!!!

Lots of GREAT advice here!   

Also bear in mind, Bee, that the demos in your starter kit are full-sized, and packaged for resale, so you can sell those at full retail if you haven't opened them yet.

I don't know if it's changed, but a couple of years ago, my starter kit came with full-sized foundations.

Of course, for weekly meetings, we were told we had to have them out of the box to use them, and there went my retail potential!

By the way...  I don't reccommend personal use either.  It's a huge hassle that can become catastrophic should you somehow acquire a customer outside of your close family/friends circle.