My Lilla Rose Journey

     My Lilla Rose journey started long before I ever heard of Lilla Rose.  It started when I was 8 and chose Kirsten when I bought my very own American girl doll 'because I could do the most things with her hair."   It started when I was 12 and started selling baked goods to my dad's coworkers.  But mostly it started that summer, when Pinterest began to inspire me to try to do more with my hair.

     I love my hair, honestly, but like sisters, we don't always get along.  My hair isn't straight or curly, it's more messy wavy.  It's thick and heavy, but fine and slippery.  Finding hair accessories that would hold my hair was pretty close to impossible, and I think that's why, even though I loved styling my dolls' hair, I never did much with my own.  My styles were basically ponytail or half up, with an occasional braid thrown in.  Oh, and hairspray makes me sneeze.  But that summer I was trying a little harder, and discovered the gibson tuck - finally an up-do that would hold my hair that I could do myself!  I remember going to a jewelry party and looking for hair clips or even a brooch that I could use in this new style.  I ended up with a pair of earrings, more to be polite to the hostess than because I loved them.  But I'm glad I went to that party, because it was one of the things that really made me look seriously at Lilla Rose.

My very first attempt with my very first flexi!

     It was a blog post that introduced me to the company - a review and giveaway on one of my favorite blogs.  To enter I had to comment with the flexi I would choose if I won.  How to choose!  They were all gorgeous!  I was still skeptical that they would work in my hair, but it was a giveaway, after all.  I think if you ask my sisters they will tell you I was kind of obsessing over them.  I REALLY wanted one, and all the reviews I found said they would work, even with difficult hair!  But I couldn't buy one at the moment.  I was living off of savings, so hair clips weren't exactly in the budget.  I didn't win the giveaway, but I didn't give up.  The stylist would post on her Facebook page when she was doing a giveaway with a blogger, and I would go enter it.  And finally, on I think my fourth try, I WON!!!  I was very excited.  I think by that time I had already made up my mind - if the clip worked the way they said it did, I was going to sign up as a consultant.

     At first I didn't plan on being very active.  I figured I'd sign up for the amazing stylist discount, and sell to a few friends.  It was October, so I could take advantage of Christmas shoppers.  But there are so many reasons it turned into much more than that.  I think the first was the stylist manual.  Not only did it have a lot of wonderful business advice, much of which I had learned in my Small Business classes, but the tone was unlike anything I had seen in a direct sales manual.  The focus was on my success - whatever I wanted that to be.  And the Facebook groups and trainings were the same way.  Everyone wanted to help me reach my goals, whether my goal was to make back my original investment, or to create a full time income.  Of course the fact that my grand opening party and my first few months with the company far exceeded my expectations definitely helped, too.

Of course I wore Lilla Rose at my wedding!

     I love this company.  I love the products and the people.  I love training people to help them reach their goals.  I really love making money in my pjs.  Over the last 3+ years, I have done parties and shows and Facebook parties.  Some have flopped, but most have done pretty well.  I love having a business that I can work as little or as much as I want.  But mostly, I love having hair clips that not only hold my hair, but are comfortable AND beautiful.  

Please visit my website at www.lillarose.biz/hairroses

What is an Amateur?

    What is an amateur? Is it someone new at an activity?  Someone inept and inexperienced? Can an amateur be an expert at their activity?

    I have always been a huge fan of the Nancy Drew books.  When I was younger, it was for the adventure and the mystery.  Now that I'm older, I still enjoy them as a good way to just relax, plus I find it fascinating how they were created, and how they have changed over the years.  Nancy Drew is the classic amateur detective.  But after solving 56 mysteries in the original series alone, one can hardly call her inept or inexperienced.  No, her "amateur" standing comes from the fact that she doesn't solve mysteries because she is paid to do it, or because she has been professionally trained  - she does it because she loves to do it.

  G. K. Chesterton once wrote: "The word amateur has come by the thousand oddities of language to convey an idea of tepidity; whereas the word itself has the meaning of passion. Now is this peculiarity confined to the mere form of the word; the actual characteristic of these nameless dilettanti is a genuine fire and reality. A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame or money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.  Such a man must love the toils of the work more than any other man can love the rewards of it."  The word amateur is from the french, meaning "one who loves." An amateur may indeed be quite good her craft, but she needn't be.  She need only love it.

   I am an amateur.  I do many many things,  simply because I love to do them, or occasionally because I love the one I do them for.  I say I am the rambling amateur both because I have a tendency to be long winded when I write, and also because I have so many different hobbies that I rarely stay with just one for long.  And I'm always eager to learn something new, whether it is in one of my current interests or in the pursuit of a new one.  If I am an expert in anything, it is in being an amateur.

   It has been a long time since I have posted on this blog, and many things have changed in the last four years.  But now I return, as I so often return to my hobbies.  I come back with new knowledge and new ideas, and I am eager to learn more.  I have more focus now, on what this blog is.  It is the blog of a Rambling Amateur, to share what I learn and discover, and how I discovered it.