My Story
We started Scentsy with the heat off and deep in debt.
December 2008. The recession had just wiped out my legal recruiting firm, my baby. Seven years of blood, sweat, and tears gone. My husband Shawn, was employed, but my income was what kept everything afloat. We lost our savings and went deep into debt. Collectors called every single day.
We didn't tell anyone how bad it was. Too proud. Too scared. Too busy trying to figure out what came next.
That December, I was running a holiday store at our kids' elementary school as PTA President. I had booked a Scentsy vendor named Katie to be part of it. I had never heard of Scentsy before.
Every time I looked up from running the event, Shawn was at her booth.
He fell in love with the products, the online model, and the idea of building a team. The problem was that we couldn't pay the light bill. We told Katie, the Consultant, we'd join after the new year, but she didn't wait; she paid for the starter kit herself.
December 18th, 2008. We partnered with Scentsy and became consultants.
We had one more problem. The heat wasn't the only thing off. The internet was too.
So Shawn and I drove to the library every day to use their wifi. He built a website, a blog, and an online presence from a library table while working a full-time job. I was building another MLM as a Legal Benefits consultant. I didn’t like what I was doing but I couldn’t find a job that gave me flexibility to be there for our young children.
We told the kids the heater part was coming from Europe. We heated their bath water on the stove. We did what we had to do.
We did that for months.
By October 2009, Shawn had 56 people on the team and was drowning trying to manage them alongside his job. He came to me and asked me to take over.
I wasn't sure. I'd spent my whole career in corporate. Wax and warmers didn't exactly feel like my next chapter.
I said yes anyway since I didn’t like what I was doing.
I found my recruiting passion again within months, We grew rapidly and that first year we earned our first all-expense paid incentive trip for 2, started making several thousand monthly and started rebuilding our finances.
On June 1st, 2012, Shawn retired from his job at 42. He became a stay-at-home dad who volunteered at school, was art docent and was able to attend ALL their events.
We weren't done.
The trips kept coming: Hawaii, Greece, the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean cruise, Disney World. Earned, not bought. The debt got paid. The collectors stopped calling. Christmas stopped being something we dreaded.
We were also helping thousands of other consultants change their lives. Whether by bringing in a little extra fun money, earning trips, making life-changing income, or just having an outlet that was just for them - we were making a difference in other people's lives, and it fulfilled us in ways that our own achievements never could.
And somewhere along the way, we realized the world was bigger than we'd let ourselves imagine.
September 1st, 2016. We sold everything we owned. Four backpacks. Our then-teenagers. And a decision to explore the world and show our kids all it’s possibilities.
40 countries. 4 continents. A pregnancy along the way and experiences with our children that forever changed us all.
We’ve built and operated this business from hotel rooms, Airbnbs, cafes, and condos in countries we couldn't have pointed to on a map ten years earlier. We grew our team to nearly 8,000 consultants worldwide. We watched people on our team take their first international trip, board their first airplane, pay off debt, retire spouses, and build something that moved with their lives instead of against them.
We’ve recently decided to settle down back in the States as our youngest wants to go to school and have some permanency for a while. We are starting a new chapter.
Scentsy isn’t just a fragrance company; it’s freedom.
It’s given us the ability to choose how we live our lives, how we dream, how we raise our family, how we live in the world, and how we can give back.
If you love fragrance and have ever wondered what it would be like to create something around it, we are the partners you want and need.
We train you how you best learn, your abilities, interests and by your goals set - online, at your pace, around your real life. No pressure.
Just a business you can actually build, and two people who have already figured out most of the hard parts.
If you want to know what building your own business would look like, reach out.
Shawn & Wendy
Email: info@thefragrancenomads.com
Phone: 424-600-9906
