Tonya Ferguson sells house to travel for doTerra

[formergothardite]

So they have ten days to pack up everything, move into an RV and travel the country trying to sell EOs? Yeah, there has to be more to this story than she is saying.

The Rodriguez kids and the Ferguson kids are going to need to get together for group therapy when they grow up.

[Firiel]

Because most RV parks restrict older RVs to no more than a week at a time, up to 3 weeks total a year. Anything over 10 years is considered old. When we were in an RV, this was a big problem. We kept having to move around, which added to the stress. Imaging having to pack up all you have every week so it won't break when you drive to a new pad somewhere else. If we wanted to stay anywhere longer than 3 total weeks, we would have had to pay an application fee, go through background checks and credit checks, everything you'd expect to go through to rent a house just to rent a chunk of concrete, and have an RV 10 years old or newer. Didn't matter how nice it is. RV maintenance is expensive, and a lot of people half-ass it, and parks don't want people driving in rigs that may not be able to drive back out. When you find older rigs staying in parks for a longer time, it's because they moved in when their rigs were newer than 10 years, and have been there for years. Sometimes you'll find older rigs where people have built attached porches.

That's interesting-- thanks! Makes a lot of sense.

[lilwriter85]

I'm super confused as to this as well. I can't think of any scenario where traveling around shilling essential oils is going to improve sales. Everyone and their dog is selling those things on facebook. If I were going to buy them, I'd purchase them from the sweet lady at church or the stay-at-home mom I know from the gym, not some random person selling them out of an RV.

I don't personally know anyone who sells EOs. But these days, there are several people on my FB feed selling stuff various MLMs and some are companies that I've know about for years and occasionally, I see promoting stuff for newer companies. My sister keeps buying EOs from a co-worker who is selling for Doterra. Sometimes when people regularly buy items from MLMs, they will become loyal to one or two reps, they know well. My mom is that way. She buys Avon and Pampered Chef products from relatives and friends who have been doing it for years. She would probably say no right away if someone from RV approached her.

[formergothardite]

Having to travel around so much that she doesn't need a house really doesn't make sense with this business. The whole selling point of getting involved seems to be that you can work from home.

I pity all the people who have the misfortune of camping near Tonya because I'm sure she will be insufferable with her attempts to sell oils to them.

[Terrie]

Well, she can't admit the truth. That might show the cracks in her perfect facade of "Jesus instantly healed our marriage and our family!"

[nokidsmom]

That might her plan: moving around to various RV parks to hawk her wares. She might be figuring that she will build a clientele and always swing back into the same park to sell to those folks at say, every couple of months or so.

Agree that there might be a short sale / foreclosure in the mix.

I can see the complaints about her from her RV neighbors starting already.

[salex]

I spent a few moments looking at her facebook. It is all DoTerra all the time.

Does anyone know what "level" she is?

It appears she has been traveling with 2 or 3 other women on a lot of trips across the region (colorado and nebraska) so she may be high enough in the organization that she is off pitching to bigger groups, building downline, etc.

The problem with that scenario is that, if this is working like it should, she would be earning enough that she could pay for the trips and still be able to afford her house.

So, either she's trying to look more successful than she is. (Fake it til you make it is a big MLM chant)

OR, she has bought her level with her own cash and can't sustain it on real sales, or the organiation is letting her bankrupt herself doing unpaid promos for the organiation

OR, she doesn't trust hubby when she is out of town.

She talked about buying some land with an RV shed in KS (still live in the RV, under a barn roof, I think) as a longer term goal.

I will say, the idea that if I joined her MLM and was as successful as she is, I could end up homeless living in an RV is not that appealing a sales pitch.

Now, she was the one who once showed a 4 dollar bank balance on her blog, so I suspect money is an issue with her and hubby, but this is just so bizarre.

Does she come across as a bit manic?

[formergothardite]

March 1 she had reached gold leadership ranking and was saying that her husband couldn't quit his job until she reached platinum. That post makes it especially odd that just a couple days later they are selling everything and moving into an RV to do this full-time. It does not sound like her husband is keeping his job.

[nelliebelle1197]

March 1 she had reached gold leadership ranking and was saying that her husband couldn't quit his job until she reached platinum. That post makes it especially odd that just a couple days later they are selling everything and moving into an RV to do this full-time. It does not sound like her husband is keeping his job.

I wonder if he LOST the job between the two posts

[formergothardite]

I didn't think of him losing his job, but that would make sense. No way she would admit that they are having to sell all their possessions to live in an RV because her husband lost his job and she is obsessed with trying to sell EOs.

[salex]

pecifically, entry level Wellness Advocates classified by the ranks of Consultant, Manager, Director and Executive earn up to $1,600 annually in commissions. At the mid-level ranks of Elite and Premier, Wellness Advocates learn about participating in doTERRA as a business and are almost always doing the business on a part-time basis. Average annual earnings for these ranks range from $3,900 to $9,600 per year.

The highest levels in the commission plan are the leadership ranks and the 2013 average annual earnings for these ranks are shown in the following chart. This chart shows the rank, the average annual earnings of Wellness Advocates paid at that rank during 2013, and the percent of people within the leadership rank who were paid at that specific rank in the United States:

dōTERRA experienced tremendous growth during 2013 in large part due to an increase in the number of people achieving leadership ranks globally. During the year, the company recognized several thousand new Wellness Advocates that achieved leadership ranks with details as follows:

The dōTERRA business opportunity is robust and growing. While the vast majority of Wellness Advocates are focused on the use of essential oils for the benefit of their family and friends, for those Wellness Advocates that desire to focus on developing a “for profit” business by working full time and achieving the leadership ranks,there is a significant earnings opportunity as noted above.

Of course, each Wellness Advocate’s results will depend on the time and effort they put into building their own dōTERRA business.

2013 Opportunity and Earnings Disclosure Summary_FINAL

Rank-- Average Annual Earnings--- Percent of Leaders

Silver --$26,000 --62%

Gold-- $57,000 --22%

Platinum-- $106,000-- 5%

Diamond --$203,000 --8%

Blue Diamond-- $499,000-- 2%

Presidential --Diamond --$1,372,000

https://www.doterratools.com/documents/ ... ummary.pdf

So, if she was a silver and moved up to gold, her average "could" have been between 25-55K. IF her husband was earning enough to afford their home before she started pimping Essential Oils, but when she got really successful in DoTerra, they no longer could afford their home....something is wrong here.

Even if she reinvests everything into her business, shouldn't his pay still afford the house?

She was doing a presentation, with these other women, in Eaton COlorado. the population of Eaton is 4600 people. What the everloving fuck is the point of having 3 people travel hundreds of miles to support a local rep or even local silver/gold for a "class" / sales pitch in a town of 4600 people? How much money do they think they are going to split among themselves from people they sign up in a town with that small a population?

Plus, if she were reinvesting everything into the business, and is netting say, 30K, you can travel quite a bit for 30 K. I travel all the time... and my husband travels more than I do (yes, he travels more than all the time) IT is deductible from her earnings, if the travel is legitimate business travel.

Keeping hubby's income and just investing what she earns from DoTerra into building that business should have allowed them to keep the house.

I always wondered if her public humiliation of her husband damaged his commissions selling insurance in Hutch. I also wonder if she has run up cards "for the business" to the point they can't live on his salary and keep the house, and she still has to spend "for the business"

I am going to say-- I'm a mere mortal with the same frailties as other humans and watching this stuff makes me shake my head. I can't imagine being a God who could speak the universe into existence really wanting to have to watch, much less hear prayers about, the idiocy we see displayed daily.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Im guessing that their finances aren't good, she is lying about how good at essential oil selling she is, so instead of admitting her husband lost his job and they cant afford the house, they are making it sound like something they are doing by choice.

[Coco]

With a huge side of her narcissistic need to look good, perform and gain applause. I got sucked into Mary Kay once trying to help a single-mom friend progress, and even for an introvert the fast pace and club mentality was addictive there for a while. With Tonya's outgoing personality i bet she's lost touch with reality in her need to keep getting ahead. Just like a drug. Those reps are relentless, the hype is so glittery, and i can't imagine how much more rabid it must be in a currently trendy and popular "health" kind of MLM. I was just in an old-school creaky ancient MLM and it got to me. :lol:

[lawfulevil]

It's definitely the one from the Craigslist ad, she posted an interior shot and there's no way she just mysteriously coincidentally got one decorated exactly the same on the inside.

The ad is down so I'll post some of the other pictures I got from it-

Same white leather, dark floors, sheepskin captain's chairs...

Same blonde wood kitchen...

This is gonna be SUPER fun the first time everyone catches the same stomach bug!

The new, unprofaned marital bed! Plus lots and lots of doTERRA storage, so there, haters.

Why, there's doTERRA storage everywhere in this baby! BRB gotta finish throwing away all my kids' toys.

[Jessica]

But if she's rubbing her kids' feet and spines with OnGuard, there won't be any stomach bug, silly!

[ADoyle90815]

But if she's rubbing her kids' feet and spines with OnGuard, there won't be any stomach bug, silly!

If they still get a stomach bug, she probably has some snake oil doTerra product for that.

[SoybeanQueen]

I hadn't looked at her FB before. It's not terribly surprising since I know a lot of people who live in Hutchinson, but we have friends in common. Sadly, they're not the friends who would give me any good details.... :(

[Terrie]

As an introvert, that kind of living strikes me as an absolute nightmare. The idea of not having a door you can shut on your own space makes my skin crawl. But, hey, it's not like fundies believe children have any right to privacy anyway, right?

[Grimalkin]

I just spent a bit of time on amazon looking at essential oils because I just rediscoverd the eucalyptus and spearmint stress relieving scent at Bath and Bodyworks and I wanted to recreate the smell for everything in my house because I love it so much. (and FTW I turn 40 next week so why not go on a mini spending spree) There are several therapy grade essential oils for salt at a fraction of the price that most people feel are no different than DoTerra or Young Living. The reviews spell out very clearly that the reason they are so much cheaper is because you bypass the commission of the MLMs. There are still schmucks there that insist more expensive=better quality. I cannot see this trend lasting much longer. I have to admit I don't know many people who shill this stuff. But, there are plenty of other mlm trends going on. I hate that I always feel guilted into buying Mary Kay by single moms.

[lawfulevil]

As I've mentioned in other Tonya threads, it's not that I don't like essential oils- my love of all things smelly is well-known. But she's not making sales by touting the legitimate benefits of essential oils, she's making sales by:

-claiming doTERRA can cure serious disease (her Facebook contains claims about depression, anxiety, "toxins", weight loss)

-encouraging adding them to your food in place of spices

-claiming you should replace your entire medicine cabinet

Just LOOK how pretty and coordinated the second one is! And you should always make medical decisions based on what looks pretty on Pinterest.

This is shitty of her on two fronts- her claims are horseshit (if not out and out dangerous), but even if EOs COULD cure depression and even if they DID make better spices than... spices... doTERRA is MASSIVELY overcharging. Gonna recycle something I made last fall...

I checked the doTERRA website and everything is "on sale" for 15% off these prices (these are still accurate for regular price) right now, which still makes it all twice (or more) as expensive as Mountain Rose, Whole Foods, etc. Mountain Rose prices stayed mostly the same, I checked theirs too- basil dropped 50c.

[Chowder Head]

I think ti s poor planning decision to but that Rv for that price. There is a lot of regular travel trailers with more room (slide outs). and you can even get them with tubs and such. Plus, wouldn't it be easier to pull the trailer with a truck then pull your vehicles around be hide the RV. Plus, you get better gas mileage . All at a far cheaper cost, depending on what you get.

[lawfulevil]

I looked up the floor plan on that RV- I don't know where 2 of those kids are going to sleep. The floor, I guess. Plus dogs? Tonya is fucking crazy to think that her kids are going to be able to adjust (with NO notice) from 2300 square feet (with a dedicated playroom) on almost 17 acres to <400 square feet with no yard at all.

Years of blogging about parenting and it's never been about anyone but Tonya. She's learned nothing.

[DGayle]

-claiming you should replace your entire medicine cabinet

Just LOOK how pretty and coordinated the second one is! And you should always make medical decisions based on what looks pretty on Pinterest.

My medicine cabinet is fairly bare, yet has plenty. My allergy pills, some Tylenol, Neosporin, Bactine, sterile saline, Silvedine, and then gauze, tape, bandaids, and wraps. What do they recommend in place of all that stuff that will cost less? And be magical? And make sure I never get ebola?

[ViolaSebastian]

I'm guessing it'll be one on each couch and then one on the floor. They still have it better than the Rodriguesi. :?

[lawfulevil]

Factory farm chickens have it better than the Rodriguez kids.