Weekend in Eugene, OR for Urban Botanic

Well I'm back from Eugene, OR and WOW was it a fun experience. I've met my first Hive Member outside of WA and it was MORE thrilling than I could've imagined. I feel like I know of you all so intimately (don't go there ;) already and so meeting Emie was like meeting a friend I hadn't seen in 10 years. It was so cool. Both she and her hubby joined me and my hubby for dinner at the Olive Garden. I hope she had as great a time as we did because I don't think she stopped laughing at me the whole time (I was pretty funny on no sleep having left for Eugene at 4:30 am and meeting them at 6pm). She and Bruce are an incredible couple and their faith and devotion for their church, family, and UB really shined. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to meet her (sigh).

In regards to the flea market, Emie had warned me that the people were a bit "colorful" but the man with the pair of pants made out of a patchwork quilt has won my heart over forever (LOL). The best part was that the Eugene Home Show was next door so we had quite a bit of traffic come over from there as well. My big sale of the day was a bottle of oil! This man was obsessed in finding honey dew melon and low and behold his search ended with me. Another man had taken the online test after meeting Emie the week before and was sure not giving "me" his sale. He said he'd hook up with her the following day (which I checked and HE DID). One of my funnest moments was hooking up with a cartoonist that drew my face on a bee body smelling a UB parfum spray! My caption is "Have you been stung by the UB Queen Bee?" and he gave me the copyright on this so I'm totally psyched to use it in a lot of places. I've included a photo of it here and also one of the table.

I gave out about 50 cards (Emie is much more of a pro) and lots of people stopped by to play the guess this scent so 5 boxes of chocolates from the $1 store later I had to take the sign down (those lasted a good 5 hours though). Emie will do that at the Affair of the Heart event next week but a little differently and for a raffle for $50 in UB product with a venue of 4000 women so she'll be hooked up. Angie had a great idea for the guessing game on the WAHM board which sounded a bit easier. I used sandalwood and pomegranate in separate glasses to let people guess. Most of them thought it was cherry so I had to start giving clues. I probably wouldn't make it as hard next time but it did get their attention and time for me to give the shpeel. Emie also takes her laptop and plays the consultant dvd which had never crossed my mind so kudos for that! People would stop and ask and watch so she'll use that for the event next week as well. She's doing it on her own but I know she'll survive and be great. It's only 4-9 but I think she might take some back up for pody breaks!

I left Ted to fend for himself for awhile while I looked around. From across the way I saw him trying to handle 3 ladies so I did a marathon run over there but he was doing just fine on his own (he's heard me on the phone WAY too many times). It was definitely a together time weekend and I think he appreciates what we're working to accomplish even more. I heard him giving Bruce and Emie advice when we went out to the car and I was shocked at the tidbits he had to offer them. It's great to see things from that perspective and to realize he actually does look at this as our future and is serious in supporting me. He actually did ALL the driving while I slept so that was pretty big as well. Needless to say we're taking an earned break from each other tonite LOL.

This afternoon I had a reunion with my Ladies Who Launch Incubator girls and that was really fun. We're all growing in our businesses and I feel so blessed to have these connections. I'm excited to meet with my coach next week and really get to business on some of the processes I want to put into place. On my way home I called Emie to see how today went. This girl has more potential in her pinkie finger than I do in my whole body. She has learned to live life efficiently and her story will bring tears to your eyes when she speaks at the convention (yes Emie I just put that in print). She sold another lotion today on the spot at her booth (how she does this I truly am amazed). She also had a man stop by that coordinates vendors for over 200 shows nationwide. He told her he had NEVER seen any company like ours and how great we would do at some of the different shows and gave Emie a brochure and we'll be contacting him and let the team know about shows that make sense in their areas. VERY EXCITING!

So all in all it's been a very productive weekend. As far as this type of venue going forward I think Emie has taken the experience and connections she needed to out of it but moving forward she'll probably focus on more women's venues or spa product type venues with customers willing to shell out some dough to smell great. Wedding/Baby venues are also great and with our new Mr. Connections we'll know what's out there for the whole U.S.!