The History

"Tales from the Kitchen" was born when my good friend JSP was sitting in my kitchen and we were sharing the funny stories about our Direct Selling Businesses. We both have been in Direct Sales for near 16 years, and you better believe there are some great stories. I just hit a milestone of 1600 "parties" in my company and just can't keep this funny stuff to myself any longer.

And so the story begins...
Alright, I better give you a little bit of history behind present day Direct Seller. Very few people have written on their Kindergarten paper Graduation hat that they want to be involved in "Direct Sales" as their future career. I went away to college to become a Journalist. I fancied myself reading the news in front of millions ... but soon found out that Journalism majors are news JUNKIES. They live, sleep, breathe and eat the news all day, every day. And I shared no passion for this in any way or form. I was perfectly content reading the sale ads and an occasional good book. So in a mad dash my Junior Year of college I searched frantically for a major that I could accomplish within the 4 year parameter that had been expected of me. (Even if that was only in my mind). Quite coincidentally ALL elective classes that I had taken were English classes. They were always my favorite. So as I approached my Senior Year, my guidance counselor mentioned to me that should I be up to taking 5 x 400 level English classes I could graduate on time with a BA in English... So there it was. 40 novels later... by the skin of my teeth... I left the University of Missouri with a BA.

Home bound to the Chicagoland Area with a BA in English did not exactly prepare me for entering the work force. My Dad insisted I move home to save some money and he was certain he could get me a job at the bank that he worked for until I knew what I wanted to do.  So my banking career started. I took a job at River Valley Savings Bank in Lombard, IL and earned a big fat $15,000 a year salary! Almost enough for a new wardrobe! Good thing I lived at home and didn't have to buy food! I worked my way around that bank and was involved in the Mortgage servicing area. I held many various positions and graduated to Loan Officer by the end of year two. The Loan Officer job was my dream job. I was certain (similar to the Journalism fantasy) that THIS was going to be something I was good at! I loved talking to people, and I was certain that meeting people and taking applications was going to be a CAKE job. However, similar to the Journalism gig, I soon realized that Loan Officers often had one thing in common - a financial background of some sort and a passion for it. They often talked with Realtors about rates, financial docs, credit etc. And I had one major flaw. I never even had a mortgage myself! Maybe some training would have helped? Maybe once I matured, got a mortgage of my own, took a class? I don't know, I never got a chance to find out. My bank was soon bought out and I was given notice (I was the weakest link).

At this time, many other things were also going on. I had met the love of my life, Matt. We married SHORTLY later and baby #1 was on the way. So my career as a loan officer ended near the same time as my son Jake's birth. Since I had a newborn at home and only about 2 loans under my belt from my Loan Officer career... I did not pursue another career in that.

I started looking desperately for a part-time job. I did not want to put my baby in day care.  The jobs I found paid LESS than my River Valley days. I took the minutes for the Aurora Art Commission twice a month. I taught a class at the park district. I worked at the local card store. The problem was that I had to work for a month of Sundays just to make a hundred dollars.  I soon added "Director of Admissions" for my high school to my pile of name tags, another part time job. But none of these seemed to fit, financially or my personality.  Little did I know that around the corner I would be spreading cream cheese on a crescent roll, making some great cash... and putting out a few fires, figuratively and literally!