#humbly asking you to not look at this in the app the quality SUCKS

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if virgil was in a horror movie he'd probably be first to die

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Hi I’m Nicole. I live in Florida with my beautiful dancing daughter and I’ve been a loyal Avon customer and Representative since 2016. Avon helped me become a better businesswoman all around. 

Do you see this smile? Not many people can do this outside of my daughter. That’s me above and happy but that wasn’t always the case. Below we’re designing her first professional birthday cake. Shouts out to Publix. She has food allergies. This was a huge, overdue moment for us.

Like most mom’s, I have my forever Mom cape on and do everything I can to make her life happy. Somehow selling Avon fell into this role for me. Here’s why…

I was heartbroken (out of a bad relationship) and disappointed with myself for not finishing my Bachelor’s degree. Swimming around in self pity. Had to snap out of that quick!

Great mom’s and parents will understand this. I knew that I couldn’t make her proud of me if I lacked pride in myself.

My Bells at organ practice with the talented Mrs. Paula recording.

 All the piano lessons, ballet & dance lessons, and fancy science summer camps were great for her. But I looked crazy dropping her off to most of them. Why? Because I wasn’t taking pride in my own sense of style. 

When you wear a uniform to work every day, it’s easy to get lazy on style. 

I decided to change that. I hated selling and definitely didn’t expect to get any sales from signing up to become an Avon Rep.

But to save some money on my order that night in March of 2016, I went ahead and signed up to start selling Avon even with disappointment in myself loomimg over my head.

My skin looked great that day. I had been using my Avon “AHA” renewal cream.

The woman above was that depressed Mom who just wanted to make my daughter proud. The photo probably has a filter on it because I’m pretty sure I was crying here. I can say that now and laugh. Why do we take pictures of ourselves when we’re sad? Humans are so strange. It reminds me of a Dane Cook comedy skit. 

Still shy and unhappy with myself, I never liked to be photographed if I couldn’t control the camera. Worried about if my makeup would look crazy or uneven in a photo. I always tried to carry myself with a touch of sass, class, and confidence. Fake it until you make it right? I needed to finally make it. 

Getting my groove back. 

I received my Avon Glam kit and loved my products. What happened next? Well I started to figure that if I loved Avon, why not share the love. Mind you, I had never ever ordered anything Avon in my life before that day in March.

Playing with my first Avon eyeliner.

At the time it was only 15 bucks to sign up you guys. I mean, that wasn’t a hard decision to make since the Avon start up kit had me covered. I wanna say there was over $100 with of products in there.

I wasn’t going to sell Avon to anyone thinking like this. Not a damn soul. But hey, I was experimenting and ordering things for myself that were super cheap! And damn good quality! Sorry for the language y’all. This is where I need you to believe me though.

Something is missing…but I found it

So now I have this business and access to all off these great tools, discounts, samples galore, and no one to share it with. “This sucks,” I thought. ” What’s wrong with me?” “Why is it so hard to just put myself out there?” Worried about who may take me as a joke, or what people would say behind my back started to get old really quick. I’m programmed to be a fighter. You can’t go through what I’ve been through and be weak. (Verbal and physically abusive relationships, oh my!)

I switched gears real fast and knew what was missing from the equation. I needed to do something for someone else. The spotlight just wasn’t for me. My ideas started to flow like an 8 year old’s pee in the bed in middle of the night.

I got with the program…. Finally. Soon enough, I began looking for women, mom’s, people just like me. My goal was to talk to them, learn their “WHY” and use my web design skills to write articles about them and let them know how much I admired THEM.

Some ladies didn’t really understand why I was asking all this personal information. But the first person who really took me serious was a new Mom. Her name was Dawn.

Here’s Dawn. We’ve never met officially but it doesn’t feel like it.

I published Dawn’s “interview” and was so excited that she believed in my vision. I called her something she was….a Gorgeous Avon Rep. And that started my wheels turning even more.

Before I knew it, everyone was responding to my requests for an interview. And all of the girls were gorgeous!!!

There was Bethany, and Claudia, Jeanie, Taisha, Britny, Rose, Amanda, Marina, Cherie, Jamilee, Sade and so many more beautiful inspiring ladies. Jeanie talked about overcoming battles with homelessness and Dawn reminded me of the patience needed for being a new Mom. It was an emotional project but I loved every moment of it. 

Here’s my first video I made with a few of the girls and myself. The video quality wasn’t anything special but the girls made it beautiful. (This was when I finally started to recognize I was gorgeous too.) 

My second video…..I admit it was a little better in quality than the first. But everytime I made a video, more girls would jump on board. I felt so bad that I hadn’t added them to the video. I stopped making videos after this one. 

I couldn’t keep up with all the success my project had gained and I had to eventually stop interviewing.

Instead… I created an Instagram page for Gorgeous Avon Reps. 

These ladies were a breath of fresh air, all for different reasons and I appreciated their willingness to trust me in my portrayal of them. I made some mistakes along the way, as expected. 

Life happened and I’m still not caught up with highlighting them all. Sad face. Would you like to take over the Instagram page and manage it for me? Wink. Much like everything we go through in this life, there must always be balance. I’ll make time for my project but will you make time to start your business? 

Happy Nicole again…two years later

I’m thankful to my daughter for inspiring me to complete my Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business with an A.S. in Management. I’m thankful that my Avon business pushed me to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit within myself that was hidden behind “I don’t like selling”. 

I’m never “too cool” to tell my story. Even though these Coach shades are cooler than I am. I’ve overcome depression, anxiety, and just plain feeling sorry for myself by selling Avon online. Sounds strange right? Yeah, I know. But check this out….

The beauty and simplicity in finding your right shade of foundation, or lash wear that accentuates your big beautiful eyes, or moisturizer that stops the aging process, or lipstick that gives you instant sexy….all priceless.

And it changed me. Inspired me. Helped me start a local marketing business, finish school, and become the cool Mom with lip gloss for every occasion. The pride I was once missing came from helping and connecting with others like myself from all over the world….Mom’s, students, risk takers, believers in beauty, survivors, visionaries, and finally….gorgeous Avon reps. Military brats can be anti-social later in life but I had to get over it. 

And while I’m still super duper shy… And my journey may be different from yours…or we may not look the same….

By becoming an Avon rep, there was a shift in how I view myself. Am I selling hundreds of dollars in Avon monthly? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Do I pay a fraction of the cost for the things I buy for myself? Heck yeah. I get free products too! (jus sayin’) Do I have a team of Avon reps doing the same? I do! And they can leverage their business the way they choose to. Either by selling Avon as an Influencer or just using it for personal perks. 

Many ask me if blogging really helps sell Avon online

It does. But you have to be creative and real. Here are some stats from my main blog, gorgeousonline.blog

In the month of March, I’ve had over 1K views to my blog. Small beans in the big blogging world, but very meaningful to me. March seems to be trending to hit over 1400K visitors. These stats help me get an idea of what I should write about. Without a doubt, being honest about your personal Avon and life experiences is what is trending for new blogs in 2019 and beyond.

We’re all smart enough nowadays to see through the difference between selling and sharing.

Here’s another screen shot of my humble blog stats. Talk about pure confirmation that everyone is operating from their phones! I’m even writing this blog from my phone in the WordPress app. Oh, I almost forgot. I wrote about how to sell Avon online from your phone once. It was one of the most visited posts I’ve written to this day. 

You don’t have to blog to sell Avon online successfully though….

Be outgoing and really connect with people. Think about an aspect of your life that you don’t mind sharing, and share it.  For example, something as simple as your life with your fur buddy. Half of your posts will be about you and your cute pet, and the other half will be about when you get pretty and leave that fur buddy at home to go out and have fun. All Avon makeup of course! 

  How about if you’re a Mom and wanting to make some extra cash right? If you already post about the kids and the activities you’re doing with them, sympathize with other mom’s this way. Post about finally getting to play with your new lipstick after the littles have gone to bed. Even if you have to put on makeup to wipe it right off, it’s still practice. Tell your audience “This is me…. practicing for date night!” 

My Pinterest page.

  Share videos and pictures of yourself & you’ll be MORE successful than me! 

My life as an Avon Rep and business owner….

In my spare time, I send emails to my Avon team, create Avon blogs, and write some blog posts for my other business, and I’ve been able to drop down to working only part-time for a telecommunications company. The Avon blogging part is fun but getting that extra time with my daughter is what my heart smiles for these days. Needless to say, it’s why I love putting in my Avon orders and sharing the opportunity with others. With Avon’s 150+ years in the beauty business, I don’t think that will ever change.

Thank you so much for getting to the end of my weird success story, still in progress. There’s a staggering niche that’s wide open for Avon Youtubers and Influencers. If carving out your Avon path is something you think you’re creative enough to plan, contact me by sending a DM to my Instagram page and I can get you started as an Avon Influencer. 

  How Avon Inspired Me Hi I'm Nicole. I live in Florida with my beautiful dancing daughter and I've been a loyal Avon customer and Representative since 2016.

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Hi everyone! We have just published an article on Failory written by Amir Rajan, in which he tells the story behind his mobile game, called “A Dark Room”, which hit #1 on the App Store and grossed over $800,000. Sit down and read his success story. I hope you enjoy it and if you have any questions, I will happily answer them below. Sit back. This is gonna be a long one. TL;DR:Did the whole "get a degree, get a job" thing. Ended up being incredibly well paid, but horribly empty because of corporate America. Decided to rage quit, downsize (sell pretty much everything I own), and take a sabbatical. After binge coding on random crap, I partnered with a guy in Canada and ported a web based, incremental, text based game to iOS (A Dark Room iOS). Welp. It went viral and hit the #1 spot. That let me extend my sabbatical for another three years. I built four more games, none of which succeeded. Now I'm back in Corporate America (luckily only part time now... I make enough off my games and other assets to not have to work all year). The Long Version: Frustration:There is such a heavy dose of luck in success. There are those that will give one thousand percent, and because the roll of the dice wasn't perfect, nothing materializes. They have as much love for the game development as I have... they've worked as hard as I have... but just didn't get a kiss from Lady Luck. And it sucks. It just isn't fair that they want to create more than their next breathe, but can't catch a good break to devote time to it. They have to look over at those that have the privaledge to take multiple rolls of the dice, eat their cake and have it too, and if everything still fails, they get bailed out by mommy and daddy.I was one of the lucky ones. I saved up for ten years, and was able to role once. I hit lucky number eleven. And even then, I still find myself having to grind in a 9 to 5 yet again. Sometimes it's fine. Other times I feel like I should have never taken that sabbatical and remained ignorant of the pure joy that comes from putting yourself in a creation. Before Sabbatical:I did what you were supposed to do. Did well (really well) in school. Went to college. Got a degree in Software Engineering and Computer Science. Did internships and landed a job as a developer for an insurance company right out of college. I did that for three years (two years of internships, one year as a full time employee). I then went to work for a company that build veterinary software. Did that for a couple of years. I really really loved coding. Lived and breathed it. I interviewed at a prestigious consulting company and got in on the ground floor. Spent three years there only to be scooped up by another consulting powerhouse. So here I am with a disgusting $140,000 in total compensation. A sea of cubicals, souless sheep that want nothing more than to do their time and go home. I didn't belong cause I actually cared about my craft. I tried to compensate for my unfulfilling corporate work with open source development after hours. This put a toll on my familial relationships (spending 45 hours a week working, then trying to get another 30 hours on nights and weekends, doesn't leave much time for anything else). I was at the brink of collapse. Lose my sanity, my wife, or my job. I decided to get rid of the job. I liquidated my 401k savings (took all the tax penalties up front), and said "alright, gonna live off of this for as long as I can until I figure something out". During Sabbatical:It was great to breathe. I was 178 pounds at 5'8 (a little portly). That changed during the sabbatical. It took me three months just to figure out what my routine looked like. I'd code on whatever my heart desired. It was wonderful. I didn't even know what day it was. I didn't miss my stuff. I didn't miss the anxiety attacks I got Sunday nights before having to go to work. All of that gone. By month four I came across the web based version of A Dark Room. I immediately connected with its sparse presentation. I reached out the Michael and asked his permission to port it to mobile. That night I lost track of time. I blinked and it was 3am. I had never felt that kind of loss of time before. Nothing around me existed, it was just me and my creation. After another four months, A Dark Room was done and released to the App Store. It got a whopping thirty downloads the first day. I didn't care. Cause it was my creation and it was awesome. I redesigned so much of the original game. So much of me went into it. Oh and I dropped 30 pounds too. Best shape of my life.I still remember one of my happiest days. It was early January. I was working on a stupid little multiplayer fighting game written in JavaScript and Pixi.js. I didn't care that ADR was barely getting 10 downloads a day, I didn't care that my savings was dwindling away. I found what I was supposed to do (build digital, evocative experiences). Savings Dwindling:The party was over at this point. My savings was dwindling down. A Dark Room was making its meager two thousand downloads a month (after Apple's cut, taxes, and splits, that's not a lot of take home). I started interviewing again for a job. I was better mentally, physically. And I never want my wife's quality of live to suffer (she was still in college at the time). Being the main bread winner of the home, I knew I had to suck it up and go back to work. I wasn't okay with it, but I knew it was my responsibility. I was interviewing again for those big salaries. I would save as much as possible given my now humble lifestyle. After I had enough cash tucked away, I'd quit and try again. Then. A Dark Room went viral. Out of nowhere it made $800 in one day. Then it made $1,200 in one day. Then it made $5,000. Then it made $8,000. Then it hit the #1 spot and I woke up to a $20,000 sales report. A Dark Room at #1:A Dark Room stayed at the number one spot. I was elated the first day. I was on cloud nine the second day. Then reality reared its ugly face with a sobering message: "this will come to an end."So I waited for it to come to an end. I didn't sleep for 18 days. My life: was hitting the refresh button on the App Store, seeing if I had fallen. I'd do it every 3 hours on the hour, day or night. I did it for eighteen days. I read every review that came through. I'd refresh the page again and see if I had dropped. This was my life. I was waiting for all this success to end. 250,000 downloads later, A Dark Room finally fell from the #1 spot. It was over. From there sales dwindled. After another four months, I was down to 100 downloads a day. I had recouped what I had "spent" taking the sabbatical (and then some). My wife was tired of living in a cramped one bedroom apartment. So, we put a huge down payment on a house. After A Dark Room Fell:I built a prequel to A Dark Room called The Ensign. It did okay (nowhere near as successful.. but not bad... this was around the time I did my interview with Indie Hackers). I wrote a book about Surviving the App Store too. I put my heart and soul into a game inspired by Edwin Abbot's "Flatland: Romance of Many Dimensions" called A Noble Circle. I created a digital Go board after binge watching Hikaru no Go. I built a touched based mobile RTS called Mildly Interesting RTS (MIRTS for short). Every game had "me" in it. I didn't do ads, I didn't do micro-transactions, scummy energy bars, and all those other bullshit monetization tactics. I ported A Dark Room to Android (which was almost not worth it). I did everything to keep building games. I wrote about all of my journey, presented, did podcasts, hoping to inspire others. And yet revenue kept dwindling. The writing was on the wall. Everything I did after ADR wasn't enough. And I got a job. Now:So here I am. Updating all my games to work well on iPhone X. Because I love them. I try to build what I can in my free time. But I'm back in Corporate America (it's been ten months so far). Two months in, everything became too real. My journey as a game dev was really over. I got so frustrated. I purged everything online. Took the book down, deleted all of my Reddit entries, my developer logs, my open source games. I removed all of it. All the content I created felt like a lie. Cause even with all this "success", I couldn't keep my dream going. I felt so much worse off because I got a taste of a fulfilling life that I wish I had been ignorant to. It has been eight months since "The Purge". I'm much better now. Mostly invisible outside of already established relationships. I stream occasionally on Twitch, keep my games maintained, and work on new ones as time allows.I no longer deal with anxiety attacks Sunday nights at the thought of "clocking in" Monday morning. I'm at peace with it. The people I once called sheep, aren't that. They just didn't have the means to roll the dice. All code I see is beautiful in its own way. It tells a story of the resonable programmers put in unresonable situations. Again, I'm one of the lucky ones. Because maybe in another year, I'll have enough play money saved up to role the dice again. ‍Silver Lining:My games provide a stable passive income (and I have a decade worth of an emergency funds in the bank). A Dark Room recently hit the #2 spot overall on Google Play (pro tip: stick to iOS, the revenue is almost an order of magnitude better). More importantly, I've very recently acquired the platform that helped me create my labors of love: RubyMotion. So between my games, subscription revenue, and my well paying contract gigs, I do alright for myself. Thank you Lady Luck. And my sincerest, deepest apologies for the 99.9999% that will never see the "failure" I've seen. I really do empathize with you. And I wish I had a better story. ‍Numbers?I'm sure some of you are asking about numbers. Do you remember the title of this post? Do you remember what I said about the 99.9999% failure rate? Do your remember what I said about privaledge, and eating your cake and having it too? What's the point of talking about the numbers I'm making now? So you can dream about one day making these numbers too? You wont. Start with that and work from there.But if you really want numbers, here are some of the numeric sacrifices I made to role the dice once:Have a 4.0 GPA through High School.Graduate #36 out of a class of 800+.Go to a community college cause it's cheap.Work two jobs in the summer to pay for college and save up.Go to university in 2001 when it was still possible to pay out of pocket and graduate without crippling debt.Get a degree in something that is valued. Even better if you actually like what you got a degree in.Land a job right out of school that makes you $55k a year.Live off of $15k a year. Don't buy a house. Don't buy a fancy car. Just save.Do this for a year.Land a job that makes you $100k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution.Celebrate by living off of $30k a year.Do this for three years.Land a job that makes you $140k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution. Get a Roth, put $5k a year into that.Celebrate by living off of $60k a year.Do this for three years.Don't have kids. Don't get sick. Don't have any catastrophic events that leave you bankrupt. Probably best to just not leave the house.Quit your job. Sell everything. Liquidate your 401k. Pay all the tax penaties.Live without insurance cause COBRA costs $2000 a month. Still Don't have kids. Don't get sick. Don't have any catastrophic events that leave you bankrupt.Now you can take a year and a half off and roll the dice once. Now you can read all the success stories online and dream that you'll get that too.But you probably wont. And that's okay. ‍Original article posted at https://failory.com/battle-scars