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Home Business Owner

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carolehurstExplore Being a Home Business Owner with Carole L. Hurst

CareerZing.com talked with Carole Hurst of Slate Hill, New York about running her own business from home selling environmentally friendly products.

cz: How did you get your start in your current job?

I am a past teacher who decided that it was important to be at home while my children were young. During that time I babysat other children. I was concerned about the toxic chemicals used for cleaning and decided to find something that was safe to have around children. I could not find much so I mixed my own concoctions for awhile. Then I met a wonderful mom, like myself, a past teacher, working at home marketing biodegradable cleaners. I tried them and fell in love with them and wanted to make them available for my family and friends too. It wasn't long before I found myself building my own business.

cz: Briefly describe your job.

I educate families about the environment, about nutrition and how to earn an income by helping other families. I teach them how to change brands to healthier products. I have found a company named Shaklee whose philosophy matches my values and ideals of putting people and nature first and really working the “Golden Rule”. They have more than 50 years of successful product development and business experience. They created the first biodegradable cleaning products and they have research that has been published in major medical journals to back up each product they make. But most importantly, their products have worked for me and my family. My home is toxic free. My Shaklee income has enabled me to provide college educations for two of my children and my third is now at Georgia Tech. Finally, my whole family loves the lifestyle and values we share with Shaklee. I do not know if this is for everyone but it has worked for me. I really feel that I am on a mission because as each family changes to Shaklee’s environmentally friendly cleaners and healthier nutrition, the earth is a better place and they have a much higher quality of life as well. I feel I am making a difference in the world. And, if this helps more moms to develop their own business, earn significant income, and work at home around their family’s schedule, it is better for everyone, especially the children.

cz: Describe your work environment (schedule and work place):

I have an office in my home, I make my own schedule, I have autonomy, and I have fun. Every month I host a luncheon for moms and toddlers with a different educational topic. I publish a newsletter with health and environmental information every month. Plus I have training meetings in my home and on a conference call each week to teach and train others to do what I do. Over the years I was able to weave my business in and around my children's different activities. I find it fun and very exciting.

Through Shaklee, I have earned free trips that have taken my husband and I to exciting and beautiful places in the US, Geneva, Switzerland, Rome, Florence and many quaint villages in Italy, and to resort cities in Mexico; I am currently working on a bonus trip to Hawaii.

cz: What kind of response do you get from your customers about your products and services? I can imagine that the recent movement toward environmentally friendly living has been beneficial to your efforts – has that helped you?

I do get great responses. I share my family and my own stories about how Shaklee products have changed our lives and people want to give them a try. Once they try them, they feel as I do. Every month at my nutritional luncheons people share their own stories. I thought I would share a few of them here.

Basic H2 is an all purpose cleaner that is very concentrated and has won Earth Day awards for its biodegradability. It saves you money because of how concentrated it is and it saves the earth because it biodegrades within 6 hours to 6 days and it is non-toxic, safe around the family; no noxious odors or irritating smells. Amy Poley, a mom of three children, under the age of 5, cleaned up a chocolate syrup spill on her couch with the Shaklee Basic H2 and there was no trace of the spill.

Tracy Stroh, a mom of two under the age of 4, found that Basic H2 took all of the crusted food stains off of the children's bibs.

Lynn Kiefer, mom of three boys, one of which has allergies found that the alfalfa tablets (one of Dr. Shaklee's first nutritional supplements) and the Air Source (air purifier) helped her son with his allergies and improved his sleeping.

My husband, Randy dropped 50 pounds on the Cinch diet program from Shaklee and reduced his medications for heart disease, which runs in his family.

Mary Andreozzi cleared up her endometriosis by taking the Shaklee basic supplements and Shaklee soy protein.

Judy Olsen, an asthma sufferer since age three, is off most of her meds finally at age 67. She has the Shaklee Air Source, uses Shaklee Get Clean cleaners, and takes the vitamin “Basics”, Shaklee’s Soy Protein Shakes and antioxidants. Last winter, she did not have a hospital stay for the first time in a long time because she could not breathe.

Nan Gill got wine stains out a very expensive shirt using Shaklee's Nature Bright.

And the list of great testimonies goes on from Get Clean to nutrition to skin care and to the Business Opportunity. It works! The company is 51 years old now. It must be doing a lot of things right to be going worldwide, which is its present goal.

When it comes to service, people really appreciate how much I care and they love to come to my luncheons because I love to cook....and they love the newsletter and I get calls from people that have read it telling me that: “It’s all very exciting!” I really enjoy what I do and I think that attracts like minded people.

cz: Your products and service cover a wide variety of life situations and solve a lot of problems. That must be rewarding for you. What is the biggest challenge for you in this job?

My biggest challenge is emotional attachment to results. When you know that you have something that may be help to someone and you share it with them and they are not ready to make changes, you can get too attached to their not being ready. Learning to love people where they are is the biggest challenge for me and my builders. Another challenge is that we get so excited about all we are learning about health and the environment that we sometimes "hose them down" with too much information. Basically, our challenge is that we care too much about helping others. It is an asset as well as a challenge.

cz: Did you have any specific sales training? What skills do you think help your effectiveness in selling?

There is no special background necessary to do what I do, training is provided all along the way. I, however, do have a Masters degree in education and taught for many years and as there is a lot of teaching involved, this have been helpful to me. This skill can be readily passed on to others. Experience is not necessary either. Sales training sometimes does not help because this is more teaching, life style changes, being a resource and an advocate but, most importantly, this job is about building relationships. What I like is when someone cares about people and cares about our earth; that type of person does well in Shaklee. What kinds of challenges do you have since you have such flexibility in your schedule and working conditions? Do you find it difficult to discipline yourself? The biggest challenge is setting some structure. I do not have a challenge with this but some of my distributors do and it can be a challenge to help them become organized. In this business there is no boss; but being “coachable” is essential. You are ultimately in charge of your own success. I actually like that part.

cz: What advice would you give someone who wants to run a business out of their home?

Some things that would help someone getting started with their own business would be to set hours and let the family know what they are. Also, let them know how and when they can interrupt you. I would also involve the family in helping plan your business goals, making a goal board with lots of pictures and give them jobs to do. My daughter did my monthly books and the boys helped unpack boxes and set up the inventory for which they earned some income of their own.

cz: What general advice would you give someone who is just beginning to explore career choices?

For someone just beginning to explore career choices, I would go with what your passion is.....my passion has always been taking care of the earth and that is why Shaklee is such a perfect fit for me. I became a teacher because I wanted to make a difference. With Shaklee I am making a difference as well. As a society, we need to know what choices there are for our health and the health of the planet. So, yes, go with your passion and you will be successful!

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