Everyone is the Avon Lady These Days
Let me start by saying I don't begrudge anyone wanting to supplement their income. I get the appeal of working on sales from home because it's flexible and a convenient way to make more money. But for the love of God please, friends, stop trying to sell me things. It's out of control.
Growing up my mom was pretty anti sales parties. She didn't go to Avon or Tupperware parties (those were the big things back then). I remember her being annoyed by them, and I inherited that aversion to sales parties. I decided years ago that I wouldn't go to these parties. Over the years I've felt guilted by good friends to buy something because they were having a party, but I have very rarely actually attended any kind of sales party. (I've bought from a catalog or online). I cringe at the idea of sitting in a room full of women feeling like I have to buy some makeup/jewelry/cookware that I don't actually need and won't ever use. I'll pass.
Now with social media it's EVERYWHERE. I can't pull up Facebook without being bombarded to buy LulaRoe, Rodan & Fields, Yunique, Pampered Chef or Beach Body (which out of all of these Beach Body is the only one I'm seriously morally opposed to and would ask now to please stop trying to sell that ridiculous protein shake garbage to me). Now there's also some kid's book one I've been invited to 47 times. It's not so much the actual act of each individual friend selling but the proliferation of it. On our drive home from West Virginia yesterday I stopped counting at 40 (YES 40!) Facebook friends who are selling something from one of these companies. It's out of control.
Here's some advice from those of us being bombarded with sales requests (or just advice from me...I don't speak for anyone else): do NOT add me to a Facebook group without asking. I will either 1) promptly remove myself or 2) feel guilty because it's a good friend, not remove myself and feel resentful every single time I receive a notification. Also if you add me without asking there is a 100 percent chance I will never buy what you're selling.
I had a friend who did a Facebook LipSense party a few months ago. I tried LipSense in Austin this spring because a friend had it, and I loved it. I had no idea where to get it. My awesome friend simply posted that she was having a party, and to message her if you wanted in the group. I did, and I have since purchased 5 or 6 tubes of LipSense. The approach - not constantly pushing it at me or making it feel like an obligation - totally worked. I have never seen this friend post about LipSense again except in the group to which I voluntarily added myself. That is the only time I've seen it done this way.
I know a lot of people I really love and admire who are selling things, but with dozens of friends selling the same things, it's constant. It's all day, every day. Also it's only something women do to one another. A few months ago I was at dinner with friends (both male and female) and I was complaining to a female friend about how the selling is constant. The guys were baffled because men aren't constantly selling each other shit. My husband has never, ever received a request to attend a party for some random thing he doesn't need. My favorite quote was my husband's when he said, "It's like everybody is the Avon lady now." It really is. If I'm being honest I feel like Facebook has become a place for me to witness all the pyramid schemes I could imagine. I've hidden a lot of it, but it keeps popping up.These companies are sucking in more people to bombard my social media feeds.
If I want what you're selling, I'll find a way to get it. But for real it's everywhere, and it's making me even more averse to buying anything. If you're selling something I hope you're doing well. I really do. But I'd really like to stop having friends constantly post what they're selling. Can we go back to cute pictures of kids and dogs? Hell at this point I prefer political posts to sales ones. And that's saying something.
Growing up my mom was pretty anti sales parties. She didn't go to Avon or Tupperware parties (those were the big things back then). I remember her being annoyed by them, and I inherited that aversion to sales parties. I decided years ago that I wouldn't go to these parties. Over the years I've felt guilted by good friends to buy something because they were having a party, but I have very rarely actually attended any kind of sales party. (I've bought from a catalog or online). I cringe at the idea of sitting in a room full of women feeling like I have to buy some makeup/jewelry/cookware that I don't actually need and won't ever use. I'll pass.
Now with social media it's EVERYWHERE. I can't pull up Facebook without being bombarded to buy LulaRoe, Rodan & Fields, Yunique, Pampered Chef or Beach Body (which out of all of these Beach Body is the only one I'm seriously morally opposed to and would ask now to please stop trying to sell that ridiculous protein shake garbage to me). Now there's also some kid's book one I've been invited to 47 times. It's not so much the actual act of each individual friend selling but the proliferation of it. On our drive home from West Virginia yesterday I stopped counting at 40 (YES 40!) Facebook friends who are selling something from one of these companies. It's out of control.
Here's some advice from those of us being bombarded with sales requests (or just advice from me...I don't speak for anyone else): do NOT add me to a Facebook group without asking. I will either 1) promptly remove myself or 2) feel guilty because it's a good friend, not remove myself and feel resentful every single time I receive a notification. Also if you add me without asking there is a 100 percent chance I will never buy what you're selling.
I had a friend who did a Facebook LipSense party a few months ago. I tried LipSense in Austin this spring because a friend had it, and I loved it. I had no idea where to get it. My awesome friend simply posted that she was having a party, and to message her if you wanted in the group. I did, and I have since purchased 5 or 6 tubes of LipSense. The approach - not constantly pushing it at me or making it feel like an obligation - totally worked. I have never seen this friend post about LipSense again except in the group to which I voluntarily added myself. That is the only time I've seen it done this way.
I know a lot of people I really love and admire who are selling things, but with dozens of friends selling the same things, it's constant. It's all day, every day. Also it's only something women do to one another. A few months ago I was at dinner with friends (both male and female) and I was complaining to a female friend about how the selling is constant. The guys were baffled because men aren't constantly selling each other shit. My husband has never, ever received a request to attend a party for some random thing he doesn't need. My favorite quote was my husband's when he said, "It's like everybody is the Avon lady now." It really is. If I'm being honest I feel like Facebook has become a place for me to witness all the pyramid schemes I could imagine. I've hidden a lot of it, but it keeps popping up.These companies are sucking in more people to bombard my social media feeds.
If I want what you're selling, I'll find a way to get it. But for real it's everywhere, and it's making me even more averse to buying anything. If you're selling something I hope you're doing well. I really do. But I'd really like to stop having friends constantly post what they're selling. Can we go back to cute pictures of kids and dogs? Hell at this point I prefer political posts to sales ones. And that's saying something.
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