My parents and Arbonne....

As I'm still staying at my parents place in Dulwich, they've watched my little fledgling enterprise get started. On their part, this has consisted of taking the deliveries of my stuff and watching it take over the reception room that I've turned into my makeshift office.

I was trying to get them to use the products and tried talking my dad into using the eye cream. Even though he's 81, he still likes to feel like a young whippersnapper, still puts Grecian 2000 into his hair (although there isn't actually much hair left) and still dresses like a dapper gent. I thought he'd be into using a cream that helped get rid of the lines around his eyes but he told me that he doesn't use anything and that was the end of that.

Then the other day, I was sat on the bus next to my mum and she saw me get out the Arbonne handcream and put that on. She smelt it and commented on how lovely it smelt. I told her I'd give her one of the mini samples of hand cream I had at home.

After this, my dad asked me how this whole business worked. When I explained that all the products I had were samples, not for sale, and that I introduced the range to people by getting them to try the products for a few days, he looked interested. Later he came into my "office" and loitered without saying much. This is his way of telling you that he wants to talk. And he said, "well if everyone is trying these products, I'll try them too!" I laughed, my dad has never been into products. So I'm going to give him an eye cream and the body serum to use on his feet to keep the skin soft. He looked very pleased with himself when he wandered out of the room.

A minute later, my mum came bustling in asking for her hand cream. I got one out and gave it to her. She opened it, smelt it and then said "can I use this on my face too?" She, also, has never been into skin care products. I explained that it was only for hands and there was another cream for the face that I'd get for her. I think they're rather excited about these lovely new products coming their way. If they like them, I'll just carry on buying them for them, they would never pay that much themselves. I was thinking about it the other day and it made me chuckle, I could just see my dad saying with immense pride "I'm a bargain hunter!". In his world you'd never pay £25 for a cream when you can buy a cream for £1 in Lidl or Netto, even if they are a world apart in quality. Or even better, I could see him saying "I'm a pharmacist, I recognise these ingredients, I can make this myself!" and then he'd be off on some tangent about starting his new skin care business, making products using the recipes from my products....