I've got a bone to pick with you. Remember I bought 'What's Happening To Me?' for DD? Well she informed me the other week that you can "trim your hair down there, with nail scissors. It says so in my book".

"oh" says I,"Good"

"maybe you could try it" says she very pointedly looking at me undressed.

So thanks.

Very good book by the way!

<snurk> sorry!

fanjo topiary tips from your child - oh the shame!

bump!

If you get the kit are you committed to usborne books?

hey lapin - i would love to do this.

are there any nasty little clauses ion the small print ?

do you have to sell 5 million books in your first two weeks or they repossess your house ?

or anything like that ?

Only £4million, and they just take your first-born

No, the only commitment if you sign up is that you have to do £100-worth of sales in the first 12 weeks. That's to stop people signing up just to get the £100 worth of books etc for a fiver! TBH, £100 in sales is pretty easy to achieve, I did it at my first party. I took £260 at a toddler group a couple of weeks ago - so you can see it's possible. Especialy in 12 weeks!

After you pass that £100 threshold - that's it. You can do as much or as little as you like. There are some people who only ever do it at Christmas, for example, and others who are full-time organisers.

Lapin you mental case. Are you aware of all the details showing on the agreement link?

ah thats not too bad - right now i would give them my first born

so, where do you sell them ? schools ? playgroups ? surestart centres ? nurseries ?

Yes! All of the above. Schools can be VERY lucrative, as evidenced by the story of the lady with the £5K order (and last year someone got a £17,000 order from a library!

Toddler groups are good, and parties at people's houses are the bread and butter. I had my first one at my house and so the host/ess's gift (free books!) came to me. Then someone who was at that party asked me to do one at her house... one of her guests wanted to do one, etc etc.

are the books cheaper than in the shops lapin - as an incentive to buy them from you rather than waterstones ?

No, Waterstones etc sell at the retail price. Obviously sometimes stores do sales - I use that as an opportunity to buy books for my kit (and sell them on at book fairs for full price!)

Because you are your own boss, you can choose to do special offers - for example, sometimes I do 3 for 2 etc - it depends if you want to lure people in, or encourage repeat business etc.

How do you get into the school and toddler groups?

You ring 'em up and ask!

Most of them are happy to see you because of the incentives that Usborne offer - for example, if you put through a £500 order for a school, they get another £300 worth of books FREE from Usborne. Toddler groups also get free books. It's no harm to them if you come in and set up your stall, and it's nice friendly environment - you can talk mums into buying loads of books whilst sipping a nice relaxing cuppa

sorry lapin, i wasn't very clear. when you sell to, say for instance a school, do they get a cheaper price than they would if they bought them from a shop ?|
so if they are 5 pounds in waterstones, are they 3 pounds to me and 4 pounds to the school IYSWIM ?

sorry if i am unclear

Oh I seeee <lightbulb> no, it's me being dense.

No, you get the books from Usborne at the retail price; but then you get the commission back. And the school gets the free books that Usborne offer. So - they place an order for £500 worth of books (retail price). You get £100 commission; they get £800 worth of books because Usborne give them £300 extra free (60% free is the highest level, you get less for lower value orders, but there are still freebies).

hi lapin - i am really sorry to keep asking questions

but when you go to see a school for example, do you just take a small selection of books and a catalogue ?

how do you show them what is available ?

oooh, I just signed up for this, but there appears to be a glut of sellers locally so competition is fierce for things like toddler groups. I asked at our newly opened (like today) children's centre and was told they already had someone selling usbourne books!

<already worried I won't make my 12 week target>

Ask away!

When I go, I take the full catalogue, plus whatever mini-catalogue is relevant - there are ones for babies and toddlers, primary schools, secondary schools and Special Needs. Then I can keep the big catalogue and leave them the smaller one to think about. A selection of books is also good, and for series where I don't have a sample (I am trying to make sure I have one of each series but it takes time to build up), I put together a factsheet with images and sample text - you can get all this from the website. For example - this is an excerpt from Goldilocks and the 3 bears from the First Reading - Level 4 series. So they can see what sort of level the book is pitched at.

You will Daisy - be confident! Exploit all your contacts, talk to your friends - think outside the box and look at going into local businesses and seeing if people want to buy books for their children; I know several people that have had success with that. The trick is to be around, keep in contact - I know a school that has just given its business to a new organiser because her kids are at the school and she is always on the ball - their previous organiser only rang them once or twice a year.

Also don't be afraid to ask your upline for hints and tips!

is there any way of finding out how many reps there are in your area ?

upline? would that be the seller who I put on the form as my local organiser? tis her who got in first with the childrens' centre [grr]. Mind you she is back at work now and looking for someone to cover a few sales she has arranged over the summer that she now can't make so i can possibly make the targets then.

you've got me thinking now. i never go to the local coeliac UK branch stuff, but their open days and coffee mornings would be a possible option???

<wanders off singing the "Rocky" theme tune>

I have emailed you.

Daisy - yes, that's your upline. See, that sounds like an opportunity! And I met a lady at the Summer Conference on Wednesday who does big shows, like country fairs, agricultural shows etc. Lots of different ideas!

NJM - no, they don't tend to tell you. I guess because if you knew, for example, that there were 40 other organisers in your area you might be a bit - but them 38 of them may be inactive, or just do the occasional toddler group etc.

Pucca - gotcha, am reading it now!

bump for the Friday crowd!

Hi Lapin This sounds good! Am interested, but am I quite restricted with a young baby? He is 8 months. I imagine getting into schools etc would be hard with him? Also I don't have a car (yet) - aiming to have one within the next couple of months.

So - do you leaflet your neighbours and if so does that get you anywhere?

I am returning to work in September but only part time and could do with something on the side.

I have done a little leafleting, yes, and that resulted in a couple of parties but it's not that appropriate for our area (Navy married quarters, mostly no kids or older ones in our bit) - when we move next month I shall be in small children Central so will be leafletting all and sundry

You can certainly do it with a small child - I would perhaps focus on toddler groups and nurseries to start with, and parties as well - that way you can take him along.

Not having a car means you will need to carry your books in some way - I'd suggest a shopping trolley, or perhaps a backpack if you are pushing a buggy? Take along leaflets illustrating the larger books rather than the books themselves. If you are doing a party for a friend, they could pick you up and drop you off?

WRT to schools - obviously trickier with a small child - will he be going to nursery when you go back to work? I do schools visit while DS is in nursery.

ll.

I got the extra books you suggested now just need to get my arse in gear.
Was just geting all motivated, then had 3 births this week, so all went a bit mad.

Wouldn't mind a rl chat sometime cos haven't got time to sit at comp all day and try and work out whats best etc.

is that possible sometime?

ta. x

Thanks ll, small child ow on lap so excuse typijng, he keeps kicking the keyboard tray closed as well

Not sure if he will be in nursery or childminders but that's a possibility once I sort it out I suppose.

I would imagine people where I live would be into it, lots and lots of school ages children on my street and the parents all look wealthy (not like us!) - what if you don't make £100 worth - can you buy books yourself to top that upm, say I made £80 from the street and spent £20 myself? Then got moving with it when I a
m vehicled etc. It just sounds a bit too good to pass up.

Can you build up your library at a discounted priec so you have more to show people etc

liahgen - yes of course! When would be good for you?

Stella - yes of course you can . I have bought books myself to add to my kit as part of orders, and thus pushed the order into a range whereby I get more free books! I am trying to have a book or two from every range, so I try and get them in the half-price offers, the free books if I host my own party, and the special offers that come out every month.

I have a couple of recruits that have said they want to sign up now because it is so cheap, then if they don't reach the £100, they are going to buy stock when the Christmas books come out and really push for the Christmas season.

Thanks LL, that is a great idea, I have sent you an email to the address from your link.

have mailed you back

Lapin I am looking for a particular book from Usborne and wondered if you could get it for me?

It's part of the farmyard tales series about the Boot family. It's quite a large book with a train that goes round on a little track type thing and you make up pics etc to go round the track.

Oh yes, I know it! Well, actually, there are two - Wind-up Tractor Book and Wind-up Train Book - they are both available now. Which one did you want?

AND, newly announced but not available yet, there is a fire engine one in the same series, that goes "Nee naw nee naw" I am getting it for DS.

Do you have to be a really good paople person to do this littlelapin?

It's the train, is it £14.99 because (eek sorry) its on offer for about £9.99 in Borders iirc.

Yep, £14.99 - (get it in Borders in that case but don't say I said so)

Pebbles - you have to be prepared to talk to people, but you don't have to be a born salesperson - I am certainly not, although I am learning as I go along.

At the conference we went to this week, they did this really interesting exercise, where they divided us into personality groups by colours - I am Orange (noisy and extroverted ), then there is Blue (people people, if you will, very warm and caring etc), Gold (mega organised, love to do lists) and Green (very technical, analytical, not touchy feely AT ALL). Some of the people there I would have sworn could not sell a liferaft to a drowning man because they were quite shy etc - but they had great sales figures!

So I think you essentially find your own way of doing it

Have emailed you oh wabbity one.

I read that as "oh wobbly one"

You were about to get a big face!

I am the wobbly one right now. Wonky right knee is making me wobble to the left when I walk.

<<self-pitying emoticon>>

ow ow ow <sympathy>

Right, have emailed you back!

Was going to wait til Christmas for this but this offer too good to miss! Can I join now please?

I have e-mailed you x

let me think.... Yes of course you can! I have your email, I will reply ASAP but DS has just woken up from his nap, so it might be an hour - I haven't forgotten you! (and yes, I do still have the 12 books!)

Cheers ll.

I shall report back from my printer forthwith

Assuming bending under the desk doesn't lock said knee and preventing me from rising back up to keyboard that is

Take your time - I am about to put my ds off to bed for the night (pity you just waking up from nap!), then just another hour til i put dd up and the night and tv are finally mine

PDF worked great, thank you.

tootired, I hope you are settled down with TV and wine and you have mail

Oh my smugness came back to bite me in the bum when i tried to put ds up to bed without his snack! But all is quiet, wine is indeed open and Judging Amy is on tv - bliss!

Form filled in and e-mail with a few extra queries sent back.

LL - have you seen my CAT to you. tis very important...

Gotcha. Books in the post tomorrow, thank you very much!

Heifer - no but they take ages in the evening - can you email me? jane.usbornebooks@gmail.com

just emailed you - you need to look asap... Let me know when you get it...

Received and replied, but all is cool - thank you though

no worries, can relax now then..

Saturday morning bump!

(ps I am out now till the afternoon, so any questions and emails will be answered then! )

liahgen - have got your number from the organiser website, will give you a shout later if that's OK?

OK I'm back now!

I am really intrested as I don't want to return to work following the end of my materninty leave, which is next month! This seems to be a good way of being able to be a SAHM, which I would love to be.

But how do you go about selling the books? I know you have the books with you but how do you actually sell them?
If I buy the books and turn up to the local toddler group, how would I know what to say?

Well, my team have a private forum where we all swap hints and tips, so you could come on and go HELP! and lots of experienced sellers would give you help

But basically - you pitch up, set up your books on a table, and then you say "hello! I'm here today ae your local Usborne organiser - I have some books you can have a look at and also the full catalogue. We've got fantastic books for children from babies to teenagers, so come and have a look!"

I still get faced with questions I don't know the answers to - I just say "ooh, I'm not sure, hang on - and I look up the book/series in the catalogue and it gives you all sorts of details about the age suitability etc

I think I could do this, so I pay £5 now and then what happens?

Sorry to ask a really boring question, but after joining up, does that mean I will be classed as 'self employed'? will i have to do tax return forms and the like?

Sorry if that's a silly question, but I do not have a clue!

PS LL, I have emailed you.

Good question Nora, I hadn't thought of that.

Also what happens if you can't sell £100 of books in 12 weeks, do you have to pay £100 to Usborne?

(silly question alert!) When you sell in schools, you set and sell to parents? And the actual school buy books as well?

Not silly questions at all!

Yes, you are self-employed. That means that the £5 is actually a business expense! and also other outgoings like printing, postage etc - anything like that. You only pay tax on your profit. If it is your only source of income, you should register with the Inland Revenue as a Sole Trader. (See here for the Inland Revenue site)

One major advantage of this is that if you pay National Insurance and you fall pregnant again - you are eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay!

If you have another job and this is supplementary income, then you add your profits to your existing income.

I know this is a big issue for many people, and I think I will put a factsheet together for my team, explaining exactly what you need to do - my mum is an accountant! so she will help me with it. I am in the process of doing my Return for the tax year ending April 2008, so it's not something you would need to worry about yet - just make sure you keep all your records and receipts.

There are also lots of government resources about starting your own business, such as this Business Link site.

With regard to your obligation to Usborne - the sole obligation is to sell £100 worth of books in the first 12 weeks. If you don't achieve that, then you pay the difference between the retail price of the kit and the price you paid to join. In this case, if you paid £5, yes the cost would be around £95.

In practise it's unusual for that to happen, and people often will put through an order just to make up their total - say they have only sold £50 worth of books, they will order £50 to get to £100. Of course, if you order £100 worth of books, you get £24 back in commission! so you are really only paying £76. AND you actually have £100 worth of books which you can sell at full retail price. I know quite a few people are planning just to order £100 worth of books in advance of Christmas, so that their obligation is fulfilled, and then do most of their selling in the busy Christmas period.

There are several different things you can do with schools.

1) you can sell directly to the school, for their libraries. For example, Usborne produce Guided Reading pack which comprise several copies of a book and notes for teachers - these retail at £30 a pack and are VERY popular.

2) you can hold an event with the school, like a Ready Steady READ! sponsored reading event, whereby children are sponsored to read as much as poss in a specified time period (like a week) and all the proceeds are used to buy Usborne books for the school. Schools REALLY like this because they get loads of books for free!

3) you can attend a book fair, or summer fete, etc at the school and sell directly to parents.

In all cases, if you do a "Schools" event, the school can either get discounts on books, or free books contributed by Usborne. Have a look through the Schools website which will explain the options in more detail.

Hope that all makes sense. Any more questions, do fire away!

(Nora, have your email, am replying now)

Can I sell them whilst on maternity leave, or will they take away my SMP????

I think if you registered during your SMP period then yes, your SMP would stop. I do know people that have been self-employed for almost a year before actually telling the Revenue, but obviously that is not something I could recommend. You do have 3 months to tell them, though, that is the legal position.

SMP doesn't start till 17 August. I posted my cheque off today. I'm pretty sure my upline was selling whilst on maternity leave. I'll have a chat with her and see how she worked it.

oops...forgot to say thanks

Would you be my upline LL?

I'm going to print off the forms tomorrow when I can be bothered to hook the printer up to the laptop!

I will indeed, squishy we will have a fantastic MN based team! I would recommend joining our team forum too, it's very supportive and there are some really experienced Organisers on there, I have learnt loads from them

I will definatly be joining, I'll need all the help I can get!

Shauna (our Group Exec) is doing a prize draw for new forum joiners, so you could win £10 worth of free books right off the bat!

If I hadn't already sent the form off LL I'd have been part of your team too

<if you'd have me that is>

If only! Oh well, feel free to email me for advice etc, I can always pass on questions to our forum although I'm sure your upline will be fab.

That would be very handy!
How long have you been doing Usborne LL? Is it something you really enjoy doing?

<<takes off her nosey parker hat>>

thanks.

Only since Easter Squishy (I joined on the same deal back then) but yes, I really like it. They are fab books, you meet loads of people and it's just fun. I went to the Summer Conference on Wednesday which was a blast! and really got me fired up with the new deals and the gorgeous new books for Christmas that are being launched later this year (a "Noisy" range that is sooooo cute, I will have to buy them all for DS )

I can see me buying all the books for dd, she'll be all grown up thinking the only books in the world are Usborne!

I like the idea of meeting other people to get tips on selling and where they go to sell etc

I have two massive plastic crates full of books and DS is convinced they are all his

Hello! It's SUNDAY! Only 5 more days to go for the £5 incentive!

Hi LL, your posts on here are v helpful, especially about registering as self employed. I have DPs tax return to do as well, I'll consider his 'practice'

Have you been involved with your LEA at all? I work within the LEA here and the primary department are always buying books - they have their own library for use in training sessions or for teachers to come and look at (for a break from their own school maybe?!)
They also run literacy days and I wonder if they might leave out catalogues at that sort of event.

A couple of years ago one of the English Advisors organised an event with the schools and libraries, where we (me, acting as general dogsbody) got local footballers to read stories at the library to various groups of different age ranges, might be something to gatecrash.

What about the NCT? I've just had an email from them about a Tea Party that sounds like a mass sales pitch to me - taster sessions of baby massage etc to get you to sign up for classes and cake stalls and so on. Or might the NCT say 'piss orf'...

Sorry for incoherency, my DS is chasing the cat, loudly

<goes off to do parenting>

LEA is a BRILLIANT idea, I will do that when we move next month <makes notes>. NCT is also good, I have done a couple of parties through local groups. Obviously it depends on the area, but I think most people find them receptive (you could offer to donate a tenner or something if they are sniffy).

Ooh you lot are going to be great!

afternoon bump for those that aren't obsessed with Noel Edmonds...

Small bump, mainly to say that I will be at my other job tomorrow and most of next week (no email boo hiss!) but will try and check in at night when I get back, so do email or post any questions you might have!

bumpity bump, still time to sign up for a fiver!

Hi,
I have just downloaded the form from the link you provided as I have been considering this for a while. I will be sending it off today. I am still not sure whether I will go ahead but I thought I could read through all the literature and then decide (me, being cautious - never!!!).

Elk, do email me if you have any questions - I am at work at the mo and not allowed to access my email! but I will check when I get home

Wabbit - my fax, for various reasons, didn't go on Saturday. DH promises faithfully it will be going today.

If I start an 'AIBU to divorce DH' thread tonight, you will know he still hasn't done it

Seeing school secretary in half an hour to discuss possible future sales.

Keen, me? Don't know where you get that idea!

I am LOVING you StG, self starters rock

My friend signed up on Monday, ie yesterday - she got me to post her a load of my catalogues last week because they have a school meeting tonight - she's not even officially an Organiser yet and she's selling already - oh yes!

You are all fab and legends

Got my books today LL - Thanks so much they are fab . Had planned on putting them away for Christmas pressies but they will prob go in my presentation pack now!!

What postage do i owe you?

I posted off my form on Saturday so hopefully they will deal with it ASAP and I should hear soon?

I can see on the system that you are down as an organiser! so your kit should be dispatched to you ASAP. Whoo hoo! And I will get Shauna (our Group Exec) so send you an invitation to the private forum so you can meet the rest of the team (if you want )

If you don't want the books for your own child, definitely put them in your kit - you can sell them full price and make a £48 profit!

Hello - I've been thinking about doing this, and it seems like now is a good time! I'm not sure if there's anyone in my area doing this - is there any way of checking? I don't want to tread on toes if there's a really local organiser to me, iyswim?

Thanks!

Hi there! The head office tends not to tel you - well, they just don't tell you actually - I think because they are concerned that you may be put off if they say "yes, there are 3 in your area". The thing is, though, you don't know how active those organisers are - whether they are doing it full time, or just Christmas for example; some organisers only like to do parties, some only schools.

If you are concerned about treading on toes, a) don't - if there is a local organiser and you take business away, then she/he isn't doing their job properly! and b) give your local schools a call and see if they have an Usborne rep already. If they say yes, ask them how regular their contact is - they may say "actually we haven't spoken to her for a couple of years!" And if they say no - well, that's a contact made for you!

Drop me a line if you have any questions, or post them here of course!

bump

have emailed you ll

umberella, your name always makes we want to burst into song (plus I could use you today, it's chucking it down here!)

Going to check mail now!

chucking it down here too sadly!!

look forward to hearing from you

tra la

am just posting to get this on my Thread list, am at work and do not have to time to study properly

have scanned and my head is spinning, not sure if it too complicated for me to add to my already complicated life

BUT we buy books like they are going out of fashion so may save me money....hmm

[ponders]

There you go OO, you could just sign up and be your own (and best!) customer

Think about it this way - the minimum outlay is £105 - £5 to join, and £100 of sales. BUT you get £24 back on the sales as commission, so that takes it down to £81. You get all the books in the starter kit, plus the £100 worth of books that you have ordered - that's around £170 worth of books for £81 - HALF PRICE!!!

And everything you order after that is at an effective 24% discount - plus don't forget if you put through a £100 order, you get an extra 10% in free books!

LL...i need some help

I got my starter pack today (they don't hang abou