My NEW Why #tbt to the Old Why

Isn’t it amazing how your “WHY” can change?

When I started this company it was about survival. We needed the extra income. I was mainly looking for extra money for groceries every week and covering diapers would be great too.    And during the Holidays if we could cover Christmas gifts, Awesome!

So Hilltop Began…

A little over a year ago I was cleaning out my Willow House office cabinet, and found this old folder.  It was a folder I used to hold all my clippings.  You know OLD SCHOOL from real paper magazines. 😉  For years I have kept things that inspire me, for crafts, canning, cooking, baking you name it. I hadn’t used it in a while because I had started to use Pintrest

As I purged I started to notice a trend in my inspiration file.  Pages and Pages of business owners.  Small business owners.  Some men, some women.  Young. Old.  Married.  Single.  Husband and Wife businesses, Best Friend Businesses,  but all small, Local business run by people with passion for their craft. Inspirational.

I had always wanted to run my own business.  I had the floor plan in my head and I knew what I items I would sell.  I knew the classes I wanted to hold and even the hours I wanted my store to be open.  I even had the employees pictured with hot pink hats on their heads.

And that was my plan…

Can you imagine HOW much Hilltop would have missed out on if MY Plan went in to action?

I know one thing, I’m pretty sure my Part-time employee MUCH prefer Lime Green to Hot pink.  I’m I right boys?!?! 😉

Living Positive and with Prayer

I firmly believe in garbage in garbage out. That a person’s perspective on life, positive or negative, greatly influences their livelihood and living.   I choose to live in the present. I choose to find the good, big or small, in all things. Even though I have had a few reasons to be negative, I choose to pray right through the yuck!

I “lost” two jobs in 4 months.  First time in my life.  And really, it wasn’t THAT big of a deal. The first one crushed me.  The second one I feel, now looking back, I only cried because of pregnancy hormones.  When I left that last day from my job,  I called my mom and in the back ground my dad said “don’t worry, God’s got something better out there for ya!”  To which I’m pretty sure I hung up and rolled my eyes.  But he was right.  God did have something better.

I’m a big prayer.  BIG.  A constant prayer of mine is that what ever I do in life,  I live my life in accordance with the Lord’s will.  I don’t pray this alone either.  My husband and I pray this together.  It’s something that over the last 5yrs or so we have leaned on tremendously.  It’s what we know has led us to today.

I continued to pray and I found comfort in this verse. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I prayed.  I talked to my husband about some ideas for me to do for work and about starting  a business and being the best husband that he is said, ” I don’t care what you do, as long as we don’t loose money!”

I know that it is because of prayer, leaning on God and Listening to Him is why Hilltop has gone in a direct that is NOTHING like I planned.

My NEW WHY: Survival, Blessings and Successes

I often feel like I’m still in survival mode.  I suppose that often happens with people in their third year of business.  In year two everything was a whirl wind, butnow its a constant…”where to we go from here? How do you stay relevant? What’s going to be the “next big thing”?  Always planning and trying to predict the future needs of your customers 6- 9 months ahead of what will actually be selling. It’s exhausting some days.

Those days are Blessings too.  Because of My Original Why, I am able to stay home with my kids.  We got to pay for those Christmas Gifts. We were able to buy a new refrigerator. Because Hilltop needed more space, we got to renovate our basement. Hilltop has been able to cover groceries and diapers for our family.

But the best part is, Hilltop has been able to cover groceries for MORE than just our family.

One of the Successes of Hilltop is that it is and has been providing extra income for many people.  We are still really tiny in the realm of Direct Selling, but the ladies who sell for Hilltop they have had the opportunity to make extra spending money for themselves too! Our consultants at Hilltop average $300 in commissions every month. What would YOU do with an extra $300?

But one of our BIGGEST successes is that we are STILL HERE!  Did you know that 18% of small business FAIL within year one. Another 17% close up shop in year two….and that by year 4 only 44% are still around.  Right there is survival mode. (Check out this great article from LinkedIN on these stats.)  Hilltop’s doing great and our snowball is still gaining momentum…here is to year 4 and beyond!

Because Hilltop is still gaining steam and growing we are out of SPACE again!  And I am excited to say that this fall we will be opening a retail, shipping and receiving location!  We will be located right in the middle of our cozy little town Martin. 🙂  Hilltop Designs will be part of the 5th annual Arts and Eats Tour and our GRAND OPENING Will co-inside with the tour dates.  Get out that calendar, and reserve OCTOBER 17th-18th to come and visit us at our NEW LOCATION!!!!

Stay tuned for more details!

Happy Creating,

Christine

Come Grow with us

Hilltop Designs double in business last June. How you ask?

We add one consultant. And in July we grew again. And then August we doubled THAT and it’s been one big snowball ever since.

Direct Sales. So many feelings come when you say those to words.   After my first Direct Selling experience came to an end, one of my feelings was BURNT OUT.

It happens. Not just in Direct Sales. It happens in all job fields. I still really happened to like retail sales so I stayed in it, but just in a retail box store environment.  Retail has been in my life since I was a teenager.

I think working with wholesale companies is a really fun aspect of retail. It is so exciting buying products, staging those new products and then selling them to my customers.

I opened up my business to include the Direct Selling model. I started to look at my consultant team as more than just consultants. But as small business owners without walls or boundaries. Those savvy small business owners who decide to open their own branch of Hilltop for a small $200 investment, have found amazing success.

How have they found success? Each consultant is able to purchase products at a discount and resell them to their customers.

All of my HD consultants make 50% commission on their sales. It’s a beautiful thing.

Because of my work experience and history in direct sales, I also thought “we can’t have minimums”. If I look at my job primarily as a wholesaler and these consultants as small businesses. I need to think in real life scenarios. If they had four walls and had a slow month am I just going to pull my product from their shelves? No. Why would I do that to a person?

I wouldn’t!

Here’s my thought on minimums. Stuff happens. I believe people preform their best for their employers when they are happy and well compensated. Nobody is “ON” 100% of the time. What if in a super stressful time in your life. Your company said. “Sorry to hear that, you still need $300 in sales” You know what people do? Leave, Move on. You know what they do when they are “back to normal?” They pick a brand new Direct Sales Company to work for.

I’m all about retention. Which is why we have grown slowly as well! I want HD to be in it for the Long Haul. Slow and steady wins the race.

But I do want to brag on a few things HD and why you should REALLY consider joining.

1. 50% commission
2. All products are handmade in the USA by Hilltop Designs HD
3. No minimums
4. Great opportunity to build a team and earn on down line
5. Our average sales consultants earn $350 a month.

With Direct Sales, what you put in you will get out! For those women who have joined HD and have made it their part-time job, they have been VERY successful.

Come Grow with us!

Christine

Behind the Scenes at Hilltop Designs HD

Ever wonder what it looks like behind the scenes?  All of the Hilltop Designs HD products you buy are handmade!  Did you know that?  I still make them right in my own house.  I’ve left my family’s kitchen. Entered a new space. EVERYTHING is still made, right here.  In my house, around my kids schedules, and in our small little world of chaos.

Its great fun and so I wanted to show you all what I do!

This is a small sampling of products that are about to be packaged.  One of my favorite products to make are the bath bombs.  You can see several in this picture that are drying.  It takes a few days to completely dry out and then we wrap them in the cute little Chinese food containers.

The bulk of my time is making the famous #hilltopsquarebar.  These bars here are the Lavender Square Bars.  Each bar is poured in to big slabs and then I hand cut those slabs in to bars.  No two bars are ever the same.

I use ball canning jars for more than just packaging.  I like to make my products in small batches. Because I use natural ingredients I like to make sure they maintain the highest degree of quality. I feel that can get lost in big batches. It’s also helpful to work in small batches because they blend up faster!  When I was testing the Mango Shea, I blew through 3 blenders in like 3 weeks.  I also lost a lot of other small appliances.  I was like the small appliance grave yard for a while.

This is one of my favorite images.  I work with hot oils and I just love how you can see the wax and oil moving in this image.  I wish you could smell this image too.  The smell of freshly melted beeswax is golden. 😉

The wrapping, and oh how we wrap.

Because each bar is handmade you can bet each bar is hand-wrapped. I do have people who help me wrap because this is very time-consuming.  And I’m very particular.  BUT! On a good night I can cut and wrap about 90 bars.  I found out last holiday season even THAT was not enough.

If the bands not tight, it’s not right!  And the Mess!  You would not believe how messy my work is!

Making the deodorant is the worst!  LOL! But I love it. This image of arrowroot powder is just perfect in visually capturing the process.  And my shirt, in the picture above, reminds me I should probably invest in an apron. 😉

And seriously, if you’re not getting dirty, you’re not having fun.  Am I right?

Loving your job is what it is all about.

 I hope you have enjoyed your behind the scenes tour of HD.

It is one of my most favorite place in the world.

BUT,

My other favorite place would be outside with my family 😉 Playing with our Chicks.

Happy Creating,

Christine

Top 5 reasons I love what I do

I’m more of a “Jimmy Fallon” fan then a “Dave Letterman” fan, But I do love Dave’s top ten lists. So, I thought I would make my own TOP TEN, on WHY I just LOVE Hilltop!  Only because I can be winded…  I kept it to 5!

5.)  I love my job because I don’t have to get out of my jammies, if I don’t feel like it.  And to be quite honest, this works well for me because I like to be comfy, and I don’t like laundry.  So the less clothing changes the better in my opinion.

4.)  I don’t just work “full time”  I get to work ALL the time.  I like it.  I do a little work before breakfast, then stop.  I do a bit more during nap times, then another break.  Then when the kids go to bed I just putz around completing what needs to be done. Some days are stressful don’t get me wrong, but for the most part I really enjoy working ALL the time, and at really Random hours. It’s who I am.

3.) I love who I work with.  When I started to have consultants I prayed.  I prayed like crazy that this was the right step, and if it were to be the right step that God would bless this company with people who share in the vision of what we are doing.   God gave me those people!  We have such an amazing team I could brag on them ALL DAY LONG!  They are an amazing group of people that I am so blessed to have them be a part of Hilltop.

2.)  I get to CREATE all day long.  I know this goes back to #4 but I get the blessing of being able to create and make things! FOR A LIVING!  I get to play with fabrics, waxes, colors, dyes, and beautiful papers. Some nights I just sit with my recipe book and jot down food combos, Flavor combos, Color combos, you name it.  Whatever and where ever I find inspiration goes in to the idea book, and some of those ideas have become some of our best sellers!

1.)  I know that this is a God blessed dream.  I’ve seen Him at work in my life, in our families, and I know that our success is not because of passion, talent and hard work alone.  It is because this is His plan for our life.  Because it is His will.  When your dreams and your prayers are that His will be done, watch out!  It will be a wild ride.  Give your Dreams and plans to Him, For God truly has a bigger plan for you then you know.

Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So until next time,

Happy Creating,

Christine

Goals and Growth

What would you think if I told you that today at approximately 10:30am EST we surpassed our Sales Goal for January?

What if I told you that our Sales goal for January was to beat December?

What if I told you that I had to call back ALL of the seasonal help 4 months earlier then I originally expected?

Would you believe it?!

Let’s time travel back to 2013 holiday season…

It was just me. I was pretty stoked because had a great selling season. I had so much fun building my brand.   And had a small cluster of people ordering regularly.   After my last vendor show, which fell in early December, I took the next three and a half weeks off. I worked hard. I deserved it.

And anyway, January retail is DEAD. Nobody even has energy left to shop…let alone money. Everyone who has ever worked in retail knows that Jan and Feb are slow. That’s why stores love the clearance sales, the super bowl and Valentine’s Day. It brings people into shop, when most consumers have a holiday spending hangover.

January 1^st rolls around. I jump back on Facebook start to promote Hilltop a bit and ugh oh. Who ARE all these NEW people. Suddenly I’m getting emails of people who got Hilltop as a gifts and are now just finding out who we are. They got a bar in their stocking, started to scope out FB and suddenly realize they want to try more than just the bars they have. And just like that. In about 15 days. My entire stock was depleted. GONE.

It took me nearly 8 weeks to get back on track. I had NO idea. This was a great learning mistake for me.

I look back and NOW and think… “Well…YEAH, of course that would happen. Because I shared a 3 pack with one person. THAT one person shared their 3 pack with 3 people. And they ALL love it and now I have 4 people out of soap!” And so on.

Let’s fast forward to this past holiday season 2014…

Now, it’s not just me. There were 11 of us total selling in this past holiday season. I reminded the team, as December 2014 had us selling out of quite a few things around the shipping deadline. That their businesses still had more to give.

“Don’t worry, the greatest part about Hilltop IS that our January will be just like December. Our selling season, NEVER ENDS.”

If they believed me or not, I’m not entirely sure….but, it is true.

About mid-December 2014 our blog post started to be read and searched. Our Etsy store this month has had as many views as November and December. And I knew. January was going to be big.

So what did I do after the final shipping deadline passed? I made soap. Soap, scrubs, balms and more soap. I am SO happy to say that we hit our Goal. We never ran out. We have had a TON of new customers, and repeat business, a new consultant and it’s January 26^th.

I want to thank everyone who has help to spread the word about Hilltop. I know that going forward this is going to be a busy year. I know we may experience a few growing pains. But it will be good.

We’ve got a LOT of Goals to meet. I hope you will all be along for the ride! It’s sure to be a great one.

Christine