This past weekend was my ultimate test, teach a Motives Certification set of classes. I couldn't sleep Friday night and ended up with less than 4 hours of actual sleep and of course I had to get a breakout. My hubby and son helped me load up my Suburban and I triple checked my Motives Level 1 Checklist that I created and then a few friends/partners helped me set up the room at the hotel and I gave them an orientation of how the day should go. I did the PowerPoint presentation from corporate & thank goodness I downloaded it onto a jumpstick. My CD from Tina wouldn't show any of the print only the pictures, not sure what happened to it. It was fine last month.

Anyhow, my students started coming in on time and I had everyone introduce themselves and state why they're attending. I sat in my Motives director chair told them my story and just did it!!! I thought I was going to be so nervous and stutter or sick to my stomach like I used to get while speaking in public but this time was different. I did get drymouth toward the end of each day. Maybe because I knew so many of the people there and we always have our meetings at that hotel that it made me relax. Even my partners thought I'd be in panic mode and were pleasantly surprised by the vast amount of details I knew about each product. They're so good and joked that I was faking my worries. haha

I remembered to bring up stories about using products, to show beauty books or resources and my students were comfortable enough to be very interactive during the class. Many times when we attend local trainings people are quiet and have nothing to say like at the Jan. 5th seminar, so I have to admit that I was really happy that they relaxed enough to open up with me. Sometimes they asked questions for clarity while at other times they commented on their experiences.

For the Level 1 training that covered the Market America skincare collections all morning I showed them how the Motives catalog shows a 3 Step approach to skincare and called it "3 Steps to Timeless Skin" on the whiteboard. Then I detailed the steps and how to recommmend basic regimens or adapt to more complicated issues like Anti-aging or skincare concerns, like Acne or Rosacea. I challenged them to make their own regimen and perform it every night before bed to see the best results, especially while using the Alpha Hydroxy Peel or Cellular Labs.

I was surprised at how many people were favoring the Skintelligence mask & GlobalCare FACE pads. I think MA needs to cover those pads, they were suprised to hear that you have to wash the enzymes off or else they continue to work on your skin causing irritation, which others confirmed. I'd like to include more Personal Care products too in the presentation like Royal Spa, ClearShield & the Aloe gel. The students did bring all those up and luckily I had some of them on hand to show & talk about.

Sunday was more of a challenge for me because of the face shape analysis, eye shadow techniques and order of application in the presentation which I thought were just slightly out of order for the sake of continuity. I've been taught over the years to do the concealer and foundation first, then tame the eyebrows, apply my eye shadow & liner then do blush and finally line, color & gloss or plump the lips. For some reason lip liner was before the eyes the came the lipstick & gloss. And having the before & after photos next to each other would've been better.

Everyone said that they enjoyed my class and got alot out of it. I told them to go make some Motives and Skincare sales to pay for this weekend's trainings now that they have all of this info. And when I asked how many wanted to attend the Level 3 for Custom Blend certification that's for distributors only, about half of them wanted to do it & one of them was a guest!! I explained that she's gotta be a part of MA for that and she still begged me to hold it on a Sunday so that she could make it----I guess she's in!!!

My trainer, Tina, had stopped by during the Level 1 and gave words of encouragement and congratulations to me for stepping up to be a trainer. She told the students to recommend my trainings to others to keep me going so that I don't give up and that they should go for the next Motives Challenge and be a part of this as new Long Island team. I'm so glad she came by, it was so nice to have her say stuff like that.

I'm looking forward to submitting the Level 3 for the end of February or first weekend of March, gotta practice for that one, timing is going to be an issue with Leadership and the kid's winter recess next month. We're planning to drive down to Charlotte that week to visit my mother-in-law who's not doing well in the nursing facility and missing us terribly. She lived with us for ten years here so I was her caretaker & tea-buddy. I fear for her health and knowing that she's survived a stroke and is close to bed ridden while being a blind diabetic and a breast cancer survivor on top of that......its going to be a rough couple of months ahead. So we must make time to visit while there's a chance.

Hey---its just past the 2 yr mark for my blog!!!! My hits have picked up recently thanks to cybershopping tips and I hope to keep on posting my adventures, let me know if you stop by & say hello.

Looks like 2008 is gonna be better than Great!!! LOL


That's me looking right at ya!