In honor of my mother, who died of ovarian cancer in 1992, I set-up a GoFundMe page to benefit ovarian cancer research. You can find
the link here.
But, that's not what this post is about.
While setting-up the page, I remembered hearing about
a woman who is fundraising on GoFundMe in order to pay for the shipping of her leftover Lularoe stock to Africa. Apparently, she had decided to quit selling Lularoe clothes and was unable to get Lularoe to respond to her requests for them to buyback her remaining stock. I'm sure that her heart is in the right place, though I wonder why she just doesn't take it all to Goodwill, like a lot of other former Lularoe sellers have done.
After browsing her page, I was curious if there were any other Lularoe-related pages on GoFundMe and I did a search, upon which I noticed some women trying to raise money to pay Lularoe's onboarding fee so that they can sell the products themselves. I guess it makes sense, since the onboarding fee to join Lularoe can run into the thousands of dollars and it's easier to risk other people's money instead of your own.
But, I've thought of a better way, even though it will involve spending some of your own cash, though not as much as it would to sign-up directly with Lularoe. I'll occasionally quote from the
Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, which I hope appeals to fans of Star Trek.
Have You Got The Gift?
After you're spent between $3000 to $5000 to join Lularoe is an extremely bad time to find-out that you're bad at selling. Selling a product that most people don't normally look for is very hard to do and most people can't do it. It's not because they're bad people or that they're stupid, it's just that they don't have the talent for it.
It's not like trying to sell cars for a living. You don't have to pay money to get a job selling cars and if you can't sell the cars, you lose your job but you're not stuck thousands of dollars in debt.
I learned a somewhat similar lesson years ago. I signed-up to fundraise for various charities to benefit people living with HIV or to raise money for cancer or diabetes research. I learned that I am extremely bad at fundraising. I couldn't get most of my friends and family to make contributions to the charities I was trying to help. It didn't matter for which charity for which I was fundraising, I simply couldn't raise very much.
After several attempts with various charities, I realized my shortcomings and stopped. The current GoFundMe page I created will likely be my final effort in that vein.
The difference between myself and someone who signs-up to work for a multilevel marketing company is that I wasn't left under a pile of debt for my failures. I tried, I failed and I admitted my inability with only my pride a bit damaged. I'd say that I got-off easy.
So, You Want to Be a LulaGirl?
Let's say that you've heard all the negative stories being circulated about people who've tried to sell Lularoe, but you're not dissuaded. You may even have seen the numerous videos posted on YouTube posted by former Lularoe sellers whose lives are in ruins because they couldn't make it work for them.
But, somehow, you think that you can succeed where they failed. Your head is filled with images of success and riches. Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!
But, there's just that tiny problem of the onboarding fee. You don't have the five grand to sign-up and you have no idea from where you'll get it.
Let me help.
Become a Vulture
Sure, vultures are ugly, but they don't starve to death. You
need to become a vulture if you want to find-out if you have what it takes to sell Lularoe without risking $5000 of your money.
There are lots of former Lularoe sellers out there with leftover stock. They might have a few dozen pieces, they might even have hundreds or even thousands of leftover items that they can't sell or even get Lularoe to buyback. Many of these people (usually women) are in a financial hole that will take them a long time, if ever, to climb out. You'll see them trying to sell their leftover stock on eBay, Craigslist, garage sales or at flea markets.
"Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to."
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #3
Buying Lularoe at flea markets, garage sales or swap meets is your best bet in order to physically examine the pieces before you buy them. Go to flea markets in your area and look for any Lularoe booths. Try to go there early and watch them set-up, watch them as they wait all day for someone -
anyone - to come over and look at their stuff and later watch as they take down their booth at the end of the day, probably after having sold nothing. Go back the following week and see how much stock they have. If they have a few dozen pieces, offer to buy them at $4 each. This is less that they initially paid for them, but it's more than anyone else is offering, unless they want to pack it all up at the end of the day, like they did a week ago.
If you find someone with hundreds of items, look through everything and make an offer to take it all for $1000 cash, if they're in sell-able condition. If they don't agree to sell it all, offer $4 per item. If they agree, pick out 250 items.
Sure, it won't cover the initial cost they incurred and it won't make their likely financial troubles go away, but $1000 might be the difference between eating or not eating that day, paying rent or getting evicted, etc. Desperate people will do desperate things in order to survive.
"Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack."
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #109
Sure, this sounds cold-blooded, but you are
not the cause of their financial troubles. In all honesty, they went into it with their eyes wide open and fell flat on their faces.
Before you pay for
anything, look over each item to check for tears, mold, bad stitching, etc. If there's anything bad or off about a garment, don't buy it. Bring friends with you, preferably part of your team (see below) to help you look through everything. In this case, you'll have an advantage that they didn't in that you actually have a chance to physically examine the items before you pay for them and you can refuse to buy things that you don't think will sell.
Once the purchase has been made, if they have leftover stock, get their contact information. That way, you'll have a ready source of more stock in the future. But, also keep on the lookout for other former Lulagirls selling their stock.
The Golden Rule
Don't be an asshole.
Remember, you're buying your stock from people whose lives are likely in ruins because of their involvement with a multilevel marketing scheme where they were soon in over their heads and eventually drowning in debt. They're probably wrecked financially, psychologically, spiritually and even physically. Marriages have been damaged and people have lost their sense of self-worth because they feel stupid for having gotten involved with Lularoe in the first place.
They don't need to take any shit from you. Speak to them with respect and compassion. If they respond with anger and disrespect, just walk away.
It Takes a Team
Most people who've tried to sell Lularoe have gone into it working alone or with the help of another person. Some people can manage like that, but most cannot.
You should have a team of between three to five people with everyone sharing the initial expense of buying the starting stock. Assuming you have five people in your team, the initial $1000 purchase came from five people risking $200 each, instead of one person risking $5000 to on-board with Lularoe.
Let's assume you have a team of five people. Once you have your stock and have sorted everything, you'll need to get a plan together to sell it and make a profit.
Let's assume that out of the five people, two turnout to be really good at selling, one is middling and two are just plain bad at it. Just because someone is bad at selling doesn't mean that they are useless to the team. Instead of selling product, they can build your presence on social media and keep their eyes open for new stock to replace whatever you sell. You'll also need someone to keep track of the money, because losing control of your finances will doom your effort quickly. You need to keep profits up and costs low.
If one of your team is a bad seller, but is good with numbers, have them keep track of the cash-flow, money coming in versus money going out. A friend with a car or truck could be the individual whose job it will be to look for other former Lularoe sellers who are trying to sell-off their product at flea markets or on Craigslist. If a member of the team travels out-of-town, they can check flea markets in that area for possible new stock.
Don't sell your product at the same prices as regular Lulagirls, sell it for less. Since you didn't pay as much for your stock as they did for theirs, you have lower costs and you can pass the savings on to your customers.
You should also set-up a website with photos of your available stock and every member of the team should post the link on their social media accounts.
Every member of the team should be involved and there should be no slackers. Anyone not pulling their weight should be refunded their initial investment and removed from the team if they won't straighten-up. Sure, everyone has a life of their own to live and Lularoe shouldn't be 100% of it. But, if you want to be successful, you'll have to have a team with everyone working together toward a common goal.
If you know someone who owns a business, ask for their advice on how to run yours.
Things Take Time
Lots of people have tried and failed to sell Lularoe. It's entirely possible that you'll also fail, despite all your hard work. But, success or failure can be determined by how much patience you have in seeing this through. You won't get rich overnight but, your minimal financial investment won't result in overnight failure or financial ruin either.
There will be a learning curve and you will make mistakes. Failure can be an even better teacher than success. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving.
Caveat
I'm not aware of how Lularoe would react to someone who hasn't on-boarded with the company going-around selling their product. Lularoe has already made their money from the initial sale to their former distributor and they're not making any money from you. So, any profits you make selling Lularoe are entirely yours and the only money you're spending is going to former Lularoe distributors, not to the company. So, don't announce yourselves as Lularoe distributors or call yourselves "Lulagirls", just tell people that you're selling clothes, which is true, it's just that a lot of the stuff you're selling is Lularoe.
To make the demarcation even more clear, checkout local thrift stores for vintage clothes that you think you can also sell that aren't from Lularoe. If a member of your team is an aspiring clothes designer, you could also list their product on the site. It's possible that this could possibly go from you selling Lularoe to marketing clothes that your friend has designed, launching her own fashion line. You never know. If Lularoe can be your stepping-stone to the launch of an independent fashion designer's career, feel free to step on them!
The prices you'll need to charge for your items should be lower than your competitors. Since your stock was purchased at a lower price than the Lulagirls, you can pass the saving on to your customers. What you bought for $4, you should charge $8, not including shipping. The least you should charge for an item is $6, not including shipping, for people who buy multiple items from you.
A general rule for markup is:
- Cost of Purchase multiplied by two for regular purchases;
- Cost of Purchase multiplied by 1.5 for larger purchases.
"Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them."
Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #57
If It Doesn't Sell
Eventually, you'll have stock that no one wants to buy, even if you try to sell it at cost or even lower. Don't toss it into the Goodwill donation bin right away. If members of your team are good at sewing, you can try to
upcycle the item into something else that is useful or you can sell them on
Etsy for someone else to purchase them in bulk in order to upcycle the items themselves.
The Competition
You may attract the attention of Lularoe distributors with whom you are in competition. This is to be expected, since you are not on-board with Lularoe, but are selling the product at prices much less than they are charging. They may send angry and outraged emails to you, complaining about your undercutting their prices.
Try to be diplomatic with them. After all, you haven't invested as much money as they did and they may be struggling. Offer to buy any stock they haven't been able to offload themselves. But, you went into this venture in order to make money for yourself and your team, not to lookout for your competitors' well-being. To paraphrase the 211th Ferengi Rule of Acquisition:
"Lularoe and its distributors are the rungs on the ladder to your success, don't hesitate to step on them."
The Future
Once you've made back your initial $1000 stock investment, you can look around for new stock to add to your inventory. Buy more from the person/people you bought your original stock from and anyone else you can find who's trying to offload theirs.
You may even want to diversify your inventory by buying clothes from other former MLM distributors like Stella & Dot, Ectcetera, W By Worth, La Senorita Jolie or you could even buy some Paparazzi jewelry. Look for former distributors doing going out of business sales on Craigslist or at flea markets, like you did for Lularoe. Buy your new stock at rock-bottom prices, like you did with your first purchase.
Just stay away from Herbalife and other alternative medicine MLMs because those products have an expiration date and take up too much space.
It All Goes South
"What is it fails?", you may be asking, "What if I and my team work really hard and we still can't make it work for us?"
In that case, you could either keep trying or you can fold-up your tent and stop before you're buried under a pile of clothes you can't sell. Failure after making a small investment isn't nearly as bad as failing after making a large investment. You've only risked a few hundred dollars and your time, while many others have failed after investing thousands of dollars.
You've gotten off rather light, compared to many others. Don't let it make you feel that you're lazy or a bad person. It's just that selling clothes just might not be what you're good at, but you may be good at something else.
Just don't let your pride and fear of failure keep you involved in a failed endeavor. Sometimes, you just got to admit that you've come to the end of the road and it's time to move on.
"The greatest teacher, failure is."
Master Yoda
Duane Browning
