How I Became a Longaberger Home Consultant

It is not very often in life that you find something and know that it is the thing you have been looking for. Being a perfectionist, I hem and haw around, looking for all the flaws and potential drawbacks until I convince myself that there must be something better out there if only I could find it. In recent years, my mother has started to tell me, "If you find something you like, buy it!" (I am not exactly sure whether she is sharing words of wisdom from her years of experience or expressing her frustration with my inability to make a decision!)

Even so, I still find it hard to do, and was having the same problem when I went to buy the red travel mugs and see the other Longaberger pottery at my Home Consultant's next show. I wanted to know how durable the pottery was; did it chip; how easy was it to break; did it scratch? She graciously answered all my questions and assured me that it was of the highest quality and very durable. She had the travels mugs in various colors, all of them beautiful, and showed me other products including this adorable kitchen shelf I had seen in the catalog.

My next concern was the price. Being someone who feels compelled to buy things when they are on clearance, I was finding it very difficult to convince myself that it was OK to buy the Longaberger products. Despite my concerns, my infatuation with the Travel Mugs won me over and I decided to order Grandma Bonnie's Pie Plate as well.

By the time I got home I was ready to buy more Longaberger pottery and started to look through the catalog again. I came across a page describing the oppotunity to become a Longaberger Home Consultant and how you could save 25% on your own purchases plus make another 25% on any sales of Longaberger baskets and pottery. In addition, you could get a business kit with selected items at half the retail price. Ahhhh.....a Clearance! If I bought the medium business kit, I could get several baskets and pieces of pottery plus a wrought iron trivet and pay only $30 a month for 6 months. I could do that! I wouldn't have to sell anything if I didn't want to and I could buy more product samples at half price for the first month after I signed up. That could work! (Can you hear my little brain just cranking away?)

I went to my Home Consultant's website and found the 'Join My Team' button on her home page. Without too much work, I was signed up and my kit was ordered. Shortly thereafter, my Home Consultant gave me a call to congratulate me on my decision. She had apparently received an automated email from the company informing her that I had decided to become a consultant. She told me that she was going to let me order the mugs and pie plate myself so that I could get the sales credit and receive the 25% discount. How nice was that?! She then talked me through placing an order on my Longaberger consultant's website which had been instantly created when I signed up. Everything went smoothly and easily--now I just had to wait to receive my business kit and my Longaberger pottery in the mail.

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The Shiny Red Mug: My Introduction to Longaberger

Back in January I was feeling the usual organizational twinges that follow the holiday season and its over-abundance. In particular, I had started resenting the odd collection of mugs that we had accumulated over the years, with their faded designs and chipped edges. One particular morning, as I was preparing to make my traditional cup of tea, I opened the cupboard to find this tall, shiny, and wonderfully-red mug staring back at me.

You are going to think this is silly, but I remember feeling like a child who had just found the one thing they really wanted under the Christmas tree. Without hesitation I took the mug out of the cupboard, made my cup of tea, and sat down on the couch to contemplate the upcoming day. The mug was tall enough that I could cradle it in both hands to keep them warm. I can still remember feeling so pampered just because of that mug.

This went on for several days until I was spotted with the mug by my daughter's boyfriend. He had accidentally left the mug at our house. It was actually a travel mug that came with a lid. That made me love it even more. Unfortunately, so did his mother. I was saddened by this turn of events and decided I would have to get another one just like it. I called his mother to ask her where she had bought the mug and she told me that it was from Longaberger. "Longa-Who?" I had never heard of them before. She told me that Longaberger was a basket-making company and she had gotten the mug from a friend who sold their products from home.

I contacted the Longaberger Home Consultant to find out when she would be having another home show. In the meantime, she sent me a product catalog. Everything was beautiful and made to coordinate with each other. When I finally went to her house to buy the travel mugs, I was smitten.