Small Business Saturday: Mom Jenn

We are so excited to kick off our Small Business Saturday Local Mom Feature! Each and every Saturday we will feature an awesome and amazing mom that owns her own business, whether that be online, in a store, or direct sales. We love these moms and hope you do too! If you know someone who should be featured OR want to be featured yourself, please email us at applemomshv@gmail.com!

Our first Small Business Mom is Jenn Picone from Cortlandt Manor, NY (Westchester). I nominated Jenn, because her work ethic (she works full time and commutes to NYC daily and just was named 1 of the Top 100 Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother Magazine!!), when I was a new mom she was my mom guru and now she started a new venture as a representative for Nerium International. Jenn is a boy mom to an almost 7 year old, I have no idea how she found time in the day add to her plate but she did! Jenn will be at our MNO in Rockland, make sure to stop by and say hi.

Listen to Jenn talking with Working Motherhood about being a Working Mom in today’s world:

http://www.workingmotherhood.com/podcasts/jenn-picone/

This is what she had to say about her small business…

When did you join your sales company? I joined Nerium International on March 21^st of last year. Within only a few months I had a solid customer base and had earned back my initial investment (plus some!).

How did the idea come about? I was talking to a co-worker of mine one day about looking for a new eye cream to get rid of my dark circles. She had just joined Nerium the month prior and suggested I try it out. After only 3 weeks of using the product I loved it so much and was such a big believer in the product that I wanted to start my own business and share Nerium with my friends and family.

What is special about your business? Nerium Brand Partners have a REAL opportunity to achieve financial freedom and live their dream life. Since its inception in August 2011, Nerium has proven to be one of the FASTEST growing direct sales opportunities. They have earned numerous industry accolades such as:

Being named #54 on the Direct Sales News Global Top 100 list (up from #86 just a year ago)
Nerium remains the youngest company to ever be featured in Direct Selling News and SUCCESS from Home magazines.
In 2012, Nerium became the youngest company ever to receive the Global Bravo Award for Growth from Direct Selling News.
In July 2014 Nerium was named by Happi Magazine among the Top 50 Household and Personal Products Companies in the U.S.
Nerium’s Chief Marketing Officer, Amber Olson-Rourke, achieved a spot on Direct Marketing News’ 40 Under 40 list of inspirational marketers
Nerium International won Two Gold Stevie® Awards, and a Grand Award for Women in Business in November 2014
Nerium International was named a bronze winner in the Fastest-Growing Company of the Year (Medium) category and Nerium’s Chief Marketing Officer, Amber Olson Rourke, received a silver award in the Marketing Executive of the Year category in the 2014 Best in Biz Awards competition

With Nerium you can earn a FULL-TIME INCOME on a part-time basis and collect free products, cash bonuses, car bonuses, exotic vacations and iPads along the way! Additionally, the Nerium Gives Back program replenishes your inventory so you don’t have to!

Nerium’s revolutionary products were developed without parabens, sulfates, phthalates or synthetic fragrances. They are also gluten-free and cruelty-free. These products are noncomedogenic and ideal for all skin types.

How do you manage having your own business and motherhood? So far I haven’t found it that hard, to be honest. Nerium provides their Brand Partners with a fantastic set of tools that make it super easy to build and track your business. The great thing about Nerium is that you can spend as much or as little time as you want on it. It all depends on how big you want your business to be. For me, Nerium is a source of extra income to my already full time job that I have. I spend maybe 30-60 minutes a week posting to FB, sending out emails and samples to prospective clients. Then on top of this I try to get a vendor table at an event once a quarter.

Walk us through a typical day: On weekdays I wake up at 6, am out the door by 7 and at my full time job in NYC by 9 am. On my train ride into the city I usually check emails and post updates to my Nerium FB page about specials or new product info. Periodically throughout the day I will check in and answer emails that come in from my customers or people who are interested in Nerium. I leave my full time job at 5pm and on the train ride home will listen to that week’s Nerium Training session, which are all posted online for easy access to Brand Partners wherever (and whenever) you can listen. These training calls provide great feedback from Nerium Senior Executives with great tips on how to grow your business. I get home around 7pm every night and immediately make dinner for my family. After bedtime and my own bit of relaxing time I will work on blog posts (a day or two each week) to be scheduled for posting on my personal blog, Commuting & Cartoons. Finally, at night time I make sure to put on my NeriumAD night cream before heading off to dream land.

If you had to give one piece of advice to a mom wanting to start her own business (do sales) what would it be? Choose something that you not only use but you love. It’s much easier to sell something that you believe in and can give real life examples about. I use my own personal results from Nerium in my business because it’s those personal stories that really help to sell. Not everyone is going to buy every time you reach out, but it’s keeping the perseverance that will ultimately get you to your end goal.