My Scentsy Story! - by Katie Jones

I started my Scentsy career November 2007 and little did I know of the amazing opportunity I was entering upon.  My original intent was to simply make a little extra money, while working from home.


My husband was employed by the airlines and after 9-11 and many paycuts later, it was time for me to start bringing a little more money to the table. 

Before meeting the love of my life and having our third child, I was single parent for over 10 years and my older kids spent a lot of time in day care, while I worked and put myself through college.  Having missed out on so much during their childhood I didn't want to miss out those once in a lifetime events with my 3rd child.  


So, when it was time for me to go back to work, after being very lucky to be a stay at home for a few years, I was very concerned about giving up my flexibility and putting our 3rd child in day care.  I wanted to be the one experiencing her "firsts" in life, not the day care provider.   


My husband understood these concerns so when a co worker was telling him about his wife's home based business called Scentsy my husband thought this would be a good opportunity for me.  After finding out it was direct sales I told him to forget about it and not to bother bringing home a Scentsy Catalog.  I had a very bad taste in my mouth about MLM and didn't want to have anything to do with it. 


This is one of those few times I am so glad he didn't listen to me.  He did bring home a Scentsy catalog and when I decided to look it, for his sake, it was as though a light bulb went off.  I was extremely impressed with what an incredible product Scentsy offered, what a great idea it was to have a flameless, wick free, safe scented candle and how the company was so new I would have the opportunity to get in on a ground floor opportunity.  Plus, there was just something different about Scentsy that I had never seen before, especially in direct selling companies.


I guess you could say I immediately had the Scentsy vision and knew this was a product and opportunity I didn't want ot miss out on.  I couldn't sleep all night and patiently waited until 10 the next morning to visit the website on the back of the catalog to sign up.     


As of today, September 5th, there are almost 45,000 Scentsy consultants. I feel very fortunate to have found this company during it's infancy. I now have a team of over 200+ wonderful consultants through most of the United States, Puerto Rico, Iraq and now that Scentsy is opening it's doors in Canada I look forward to entering this untapped region of the world as well.  


I discovered Scentsy while living in Utah, which is where Scentsy was born. Since that time I have moved to Seattle where Scentsy isn't very well known, yet. I predict that Scentsy will become a household name in approximately 3 years throughout most of the nation. My goal is to become the pioneer of Scentsy throughout most of the nation, especially in my new home.  If you would have told me this one year ago, I would have laughed at you. However, seeing the progress my business has made in such a short time, I feel confident this goal is obtainable with the help of my incredible customers and team.   


Having joined Scentsy during the Christmas holidays, I guess you could call it a "baptism by fire" experience. No better way to start your business than in the midst of holiday rush. Scentsy was so popular, they were having a difficult time keeping up with the demand, but they did it. However, there were a few instances that the supply didn't meet the demand. In those instances Scentsy included a free Scentsy Warmer with every order. This was a profit breaking time for Scentsy, but to help keep our businesses strong and our Scentsy customers happy, Scentsy cut into their profits to help us consultants.  I was very impressed that this company was more concerned about their consultants and their customers than they were their profits. It was at this time that I was certain I made the right choice with my new career. 


That was just one of the growing pains of being with a new, up and coming company. I must admit that I have been very impressed with the progress Scentsy has made in not only keeping up with supply and demand (and there is a lot of demand) but shipping as well. I have watched products that used to take approximately 2-3 weeks for delivery, be delivered within 1 week. Of course, shipping times depends on the season and demand, but I feel safe saying Scentsy products are delivered within 10 business days. 


Not only has it been impressive to watch the Scentsy shipping dept. improve by leaps and bounds, but in almost every other aspect as well. When I joined, the only training available was what your sponsor learned through trial and error.  There was no training nor training materials available at this time, except what we consultants created  and shares.  With my first recruits, I felt like it was more like the blind leading the blind. However, the Scentsy Products were so wonderful and the company was so authentic and genuine, it didn't matter. We all just kept "plugging along" knowing we were part of something that was going to be BIG.     


With a lot of work and determination, my Scentsy business started to take on a life of its own.  The company and Scentsy Products are so simple that the Scentsy products, really do sell themselves.  All you need to do is simply show Scentsy to someone and they want it.  But, who wouldn't?  Scentsy is affordable, safe, elegant, long lasting and the 80 different scents you have to choose from are MagnifiSCENT!    

With a supportive company, incredible products, talented hard working team combined with the work and support from my family and friends, I was able to promote to Scentsy Director in 6 months. With most Direct Selling companies it takes on average of 5- 6 years, so I was quite pleased.  

After becoming Director another honor was becoming one of Scentsy's first 17 founding members.  There are 50 Scentsy Founding Members in all.  The picture above was taken when 9 of us were recognized during the Scentsy Convention in Boise Idaho, 2008. 

I was also honored to be able to be one of the top 10 Scentsy Consultants asked to join the owners of Scentsy, Orville and Heidi Thompson, for a quaint dinner at the fabulous Fairmont Hotel in Banff Canada.   The picture above was taken during the Scentsy 2009 Incentive trip to Canada.  (I just can't seem to avoid the heat wherever I go)  LOL    

This FREE trip to Canada for both my husband and I was an all expense paid trip.  In fact, during the time we were in Canada, it was our 10 year anniversary.  We opted out of one of the group events on the day of our anniversary, so we could spend the day together.  When Scentsy learned of this, they gave us the cash for what they would have spent on this event.  I was so amazed.  We spent the day walking into town and enjoyed a nice lunch together.  What a great memory for our 10 year anniversary, especially since we couldn't have afforded a trip like this on our own.  


I have also had the pleasure of being treated to a week of spa treatments and the Broadmoor Hotel, in Colorado Springs, with 9 of the 50 Founding Members...  (see picture below) 

a FREE Cruise to Alaska, Spa treaments at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, just to name a few of my elegant incentives. Each time I go on these elegant trips, I feel like royalty.  Having never been in a financial position to afford opportunities like this on my own, made it even more AMAZING!!  The only downfall to an incredible trip like this is missing all the wonderful friends I made, the wonderful 5 star accomodations and meals having your bedding turned down at night with a chocolate on your pillow and more.  In fact, each evening Scentsy had a small, elegant gift waiting for us in our rooms, like bathrobes, photo albums, and more.  It's difficult to adjust back to reality after being treated like a queen for a week. LOL

Now on to how I picked my website and team name.  When I was promoted to being a Scentsy Director, I was having a difficult time choosing a name for my new team. At 3:00 in the morning, I couldn't sleep. I was awake putting all my Scentsy ideas into motion, which is a usual occurance with me during the wee early morning hours.  I am quite a night owl.  During this time, one of my new recruits e-mailed me. She said she loved Scentsy so much and was so excited with her new business she couldn't sleep either because she was addicted to Scentsy.  That is when the team name "Scentaholics" came to light and also inspired my website address, www.Addicted2scents.com.  This is just 2 of the many inspirations I receive from my wonderful team.  They inspire me in so many ways and I feel so very fortunate to be involved with such a talented group of people.       

I also had the pleasure of attending the Scentsy Convention in Salt Lake City,  Utah in July 2009.  It was so much fun spending time with a few of my incredible teammates.  Most of us are located throughout the nation, so it was nice to be able to spend time together in the same city and what better way than at a Scentsy Convention.  What a great experience and memory we shared.  The knowledge, friendships and experience we shared is difficult to describe, except the word AMAZING comes to mind.  Before the convention we were on one of our team calls trying to come up with a theme for our team on Team Spirit Day during the convention.  After a lot of giggling, and silly ideas we came up with the idea "Scentaholics... Don't Dred Our Addicition" and along came the Jamaican theme.  Our talented teammate Terina Ballard designed and created our team logo.  She also created our team description amongst many other great ideas she has shared with all of us.  Below you can see the fun we had with this theme.     

At the convention, I had the honor of winning the Annual Mentor and Sales Award. I won the Annual Sales Award for having achieved over $37,000 in sales, and the Annual Mentor Award for having personally sponsored over 60 Scentsy Consultants that year. I received a trophy, plaque and best of all a check over $2,000. That was just one of the many perks and great memories from this convention.   

Now back to my first year with Scentsy.  Being one of the first 17 Founding Members, Orville and Heidi Thompson invited my husband and I to their beautiful home for dinner.   I was in Idaho for the Scentsy Convention with my husband and daughter, but not knowing anyone in Idaho, I was having a difficult time finding child care.  Much to my surprise Orville and Heidi graciously invited my child to spend the evening with their babysitter and children.  I was so impressed that the owners of this wonderful company, with everything on their plate, would be generous enough to be concerned with my child care needs. I knew then, they really did live up to their motto of being a family oriented company of generosity, value and authenticity.

Almost 2 years later, needless to say, I am able to make the car payment, which was my original goal. If that wasn't wonderful enough, I have the flexibility to be home for my family, school events, etc., love what I do, and love the amazing people I have met along my Scentsy journey. 


There have been challenges, just like anything in life, but I knew with time, effort and the ability to overcome these obstacles my Scentsy business had the potential of blossoming into something incredible.  It is only the beginning and thanks to my AMAZING team and customers I know it is only the beginning of many great things to come. 


Yes, my original plan was to improve my families life. In addition to accomplishing this, I am having the best time being part of watching Scentsy enrich and change my teams lives for the better as well.  Although the pay is nice, watching people achieve their Scentsy dreams and change their personal and families lives for the better, is priceless.  

I look forward to sharing many more wonderful Scentsy stories and experiences with you on this blog.    

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to contact me or visit my Scentsy website www.Addicted2scents.com. 

Make it a SCENTsational Day!


~  Katie Jones