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THE BIKER I saw you, hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line. But, you didn't see me, put an extra $10.00 in the collection plate last Sunday. I saw you, pull your child closer when we passed each other on the sidewalk. But, you didn't see me, playing Santa at the local mall. I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant. But, you didn't see me, attending a meeting to raise more money for the hurricane relief. I saw you, roll up your window and shake your head when I rode by. But, you didn't see me, riding behind you when you flicked your cigarette butt out the car window. I saw you, frown at me when I smiled at your children. But, you didn't see me, when I took time off from work to run toys to the homeless. I saw you, stare at my long hair. But, you didn't see me, and my friends cut ten inches off for Locks of Love. I saw you, roll your eyes at our leather jackets and gloves. But, you didn't see me, and my brothers donate our old ones to those that had none. I saw you, look in fright at my tattoos. But, you didn't see me, cry as my children were born and have their name written over and in my heart. I saw you, change lanes while rushing off to go somewhere. But, you didn't see me, going home to be with my family. I saw you, complain about how loud and noisy our bikes can be. But, you didn't see me, when you were changing the CD and drifted into my lane. I saw you, yelling at your kids in the car. But, you didn't see me, pat my child's hands, knowing he was safe behind me. I saw you, reading the newspaper or map as you drove down the road. But, you didn't see me, squeeze my wife's leg when she told me to take the next turn. I saw you, race down the road in the rain. But, you didn't see me, get soaked to the skin so my son could have the car to go on his date. I saw you, run the yellow light just to save a few minutes of time. But, you didn't see me, trying to turn right. I saw you, cut me off because you needed to be in the lane I was in. But, you didn't see me, leave the road. I saw you, waiting impatiently for my friends to pass. But, you didn't see me. I wasn't there. I saw you, go home to your family. But, you didn't see me. Because, I died that day you cut me off. I was just a biker. A person with friends and a family. But, you didn't see me. Re-post this around in hopes that people will understand the biker community. If you don't re-post this, It sucks to be you. I hope you never loose someone that rides. EVEN IF YOU DON'T LIKE US, RESPECT OUR RIGHTS TO RIDE WHAT WE CHOOSE AND TAKE A FEW EXTRA SECONDS TO BE SURE WE'RE NOT IN 'YOUR' WAY - LIVE TO RIDE . . . . RIDE TO LIVE
Does making Dollars with Scents sound interesting ? I joined this company in August of 2005,and haven`t looked back since. It`s a real brick & mortor business , established in 2002 ,and has been continously growing each month since then. I was looking for a business that had four things: A product to retail that is excellent quality and very competitively priced. A store where I could send customers looking for the product -- where the company took the order and shipped it out, so I didn't have to. The ability to earn a residual income -- making money for my future,but my children's future also . Free training to run my business -- online, personal and weekly company calls. I don't want much, do I? Oh, and I wanted a business where there was a growing market and not overrun by other companies. Like I'm going to find all this in one spot? Well, that`s what I wanted , and I wasn't about to compromise. Why should I? Oh and I almost forgot the most important one of all: It has to be low-cost to start up, and the auto-ship has to be less than $50. And that I never have to order a larger autoship to get more of a commission. While I don't mind spending some money on a business, especially when it's up and running, it's tough at first. And a large monthly autoship sure doesn't help matters. I have been trying to earn money online since 1995 , I joined 100`s of different poniz`s, matrix`s,pyramid `s, gifting programs ,,so on you name it I tried it ! Needless to say I lost ALOT more that I ever earned ! Finally in July of 2006, A friend from Canada told me about this company . And since I'm the skeptical sort, I spent a month checking it out. And not just the company literature! I wanted to be sure of where the facts and figures were being quoted from. And that the statistics (which looked impressive) were true. I have my own web site ,the site is shopping cart enabled . a product that's excellent and extremely competitively priced. My monthly autoship is only $39.95 and I have the ability to earn a very substantial residual income, What's not to like? Anyway, here's the site ,click on presentation tab and watch the about 7 min video ,it explain`s about the company what we do as distributors ,,and the GREAT compensation plan we offer Check out http://dooleyscents.scent-team.com - you never know, you might be intrigued as well!
Key Words: Gourmet Scented Candles
Smells like the team spirit Candle makers' philosophy: Have fun, make money By RON BARTIZEK rbartizek@timesleader.com WILKES-BARRE - The mixture of ingredients used to make Mia Bella candles is secret. The formula for the success of Scent-Sations, Inc., the company behind the aromatic jars made on George Avenue in the city's Parsons section, is easier to discern. It's just not the usual one touted in how-to books and business school lecture halls. "Have fun, make money," sums up Bob Scocozzo, a partner in the business that was formed in 2002 and is expected to reach $15 million in sales this year.That attitude carries over to the company's relationship with its 6,000 distributors, who market the candles at home parties, craft shows and simply by taking samples along as they go about their daily business. "We don't want people to be in stress," Scocozzo said. Neither he nor partners Charles Umphred and Carmen Milazzo looked like harried entrepreneurs during a recent interview in Scocozzo's office.Dressed in jeans and with a Blackberry no where in sight, they resembled aging rock musicians more than operators of a business that is growing at nearly 50 percent a year. But their appearance only thinly camouflaged an underlying ambition to grow. Partnerships can be a volatile mix, but this one is thriving in part because each brings unique talents and the maturity of having run a business before. "We don't try to interfere with each other's areas," Umphred said. Like their duties, the trio's styles contrast but don't clash. While Scocozzo races through the plant, eager to describe every detail, Milazzo seems almost disinterested, until the topic turns to production, his area of expertise. Umphred splits the difference, with flowing hair and an amiable nature. While Carmen Milazzo and his wife Lynn oversee manufacturing, Scocozzo acts as CEO and Umphred manages relationships with distributors. There was less time for fun and more long hours in the early days of the business. "You don't get something like this running overnight," Carmen Milazzo said."In the beginning we just worked to increase our inventory," and it took two years to find and develop a reliable work force. Profits were plowed back into the business. Now Umphred said a typical week is 35 to 40 hours and Scent-Sations is comfortably profitable. He credits technology, such as e-mail that eases communication with vendors and distributors, with helping cut the time demands. Already doing $10 million in annual sales, Scent-Sations could be a $100 million company within a decade by commanding just 10 percent of sales by domestic manufacturers in the candle industry, Umphred, 54, believes. The beginning This local powerhouse got its start not as someone's MBA thesis or even on the back of an envelope. Instead it began when Scocozzo, 57, helped put together a fundraiser selling scented candles for his son's youth basketball team. When the Milazzos delivered the candles, Carmen mentioned that he had developed a new version made with alternative materials that produce less soot and toxins than paraffin, the main ingredient in most candles. Milazzo, 57, knew that Scocozzo had been a direct marketer and asked for advice on how best to sell the new candles. Scocozzo was so excited at the potential that he and Umphred, already business partners, signed Milazzo to an exclusive agreement that led to an equal three-way partnership. "I realized nobody was doing anything" with non-paraffin candles, Scocozzo said. The Mia Bella name was borrowed from Scocozzo's daughter. At the time Scocozzo and Umphred were selling skin care and nutritional products through a multi-level marketing network of distributors. They got into marketing in 1988 after Umphred left a 20-year career as a printer at the Sunday Independent. Scocozzo at the time was running the Sarno & Son formal wear franchise store on North Main Street. By 1990 he sold the franchise back and both devoted full time to their marketing efforts. The contacts they had made over the years helped them get the new venture off the ground. "We just called people we knew in marketing," Scocozzo said. Now Scent-Sations takes up all their time, Umphred said, although they still receive some residual income from sales networks they established in the past. Growing fast Carmen and Lynn Milazzo started making candles at their home in 1995,selling them at CarLyn's Craft Gallery, their store in Kingston. But worried about concerns being raised about toxic soot generated by paraffin candles,which are made from petroleum, Carmen began to work on a line made withother waxes. At first he tried 100 percent soy, but it would not absorb enough fragrance to maintain the couple's reputation for producing exceptionally pungent candles, Lynn Milazzo, 47, said. Eventually Carmen came up with a formula that uses soy and vegetable based waxes. The Milazzos continued to make candles by hand at their home, using nearly every room. "My parlor was a warehouse," Carmen said. Wax was melted on the couple's kitchen stove and poured into canning jars. Production first graduated from hand work to a $25,000 machine, purchased on credit cards, that an operator could use to fill one jar at a time. The machine still is used to top off jars filled on a machine that can pump out eight jars or 16 votive-sized candles at a time. Growing demand led to leasing production space first in Nanticoke, then in Forty Fort, as well as a warehouse in Wilkes-Barre. In September 2004, just two years after the company was formed, Scent-Sations moved into its present 28,000-square-foot facility on George Avenue, next to Schiel's Market. "And we're outgrowing this building now," Scocozzo said, describing the need for more space within a year to handle demand for candles and allow the introduction of new products. "We took baby steps because we didn't have big bucks behind us," he said.Eventually he anticipates needing three distinct facilities - an office, a manufacturing plant and a shipping/warehouse building. The product line already includes candles in several sizes and more than 90 fragrances, natural soaps, body wash, hand wash and even car fresheners. "We have a whole line of skin care ready to go in 2008," once there is room to produce it, Scocozzo said. Candles first For now candles are the mainstay of Scent-Sations' business, with more than five million sold. And while Scocozzo claims Mia Bella candles smell better than others, that quality comes at a price. "It's one of the most difficult candles to make," Carmen Milazzo said. "Even with machinery it's not very production friendly. It's just the best." Scocozzo says they're also the most expensive to manufacture, partly because they contain more fragrance than any other candle. "That's our claim to fame." The biggest selling fragrance by far is sweet orange and chili pepper, which Umphred said was created in Europe as a soap scent. Scent-Sations asked to use it in a candle and it sold so well that it is now exclusively theirs. "They have locked away the formula for us," Umphred said. Scocozzo said other suppliers now court Scent-Sations because of its rapid growth, particularly as more candle companies move production out of the United States. For example, introducing a new candle - which Scent-Sations does each month - requires about a ton of fragrance, with the promise of continuing orders if it's a success. Umphred said another key to Scent-Sations' rapid growth is its direct sales method. He anticipates 50,000 distributors will be selling Mia Bella products within a decade, and that the best of them will earn $1 million annually. Already the top distributors are making $200,000 and, he says,probably not working more than a normal week. Distributor Sandy Saimond, Allentown, finds both the product and the financial opportunity attractive. She first bought a Mia Bella candle from another distributor about four years ago. "I was hooked from the moment I started burning it," she said, because of the long-lasting fragrance. So she contacted Scocozzo and became one of the first distributors. Saimond, 46, plans to retire from her job as a project coordinator for clinical medical trials by age 50 and live on the proceeds from Mia Bella product sales. "It is an incredibly easy and affordable business to start," she said.
By RON BARTIZEK rbartizek@timesleader.com "We make scents, you make dollars." That slogan painted on the side of a van owned by Scent-Sations, Inc., the maker of Mia Bella candles, sums up an important aspect of the company'ssuccess. Scent-Sations rises above the competition Two of three partners in the venture, Bob Scocozzo and Charles Umphred, were successful direct marketers for several years before they joined with Carmen Milazzo to form Scent-Sations. Also known as multi-level marketing, or MLM,direct selling uses a large network of mostly part-time distributors to promote and sell products person-to-person rather than in stores. "When a direct selling business works it is far superior to a 'shelf'industry," Umphred said. "To me it is a superior model." Unlike its two largest competitors, PartyLight and Gold Canyon,Scent-Sations does not use the party model. According to Gold Canyon's Website, a party host earns $60 if sales are between $400 and $549.99. The hostalso is allowed to buy two items for half price. But to get started, distributors must purchase a "demonstration kit" thatcosts $175. That kind of fee is how most direct marketing companies make money, Umphred said, as well as by keeping the vast majority of the profits. PartyLight doesn't even pay hosts in cash, instead offering free or discounted merchandise, according to its Web site. Scent-Sations makes it much easier for the distributor to make money. The minimum purchase is only six candles, bought at half the average $18.95 each retail price. If sales exceed $45 per month, which represents just a handful of candles, Scent-Sations sets up and maintains a Web site for the distributor and handles all the order processing of Internet sales. There is no upfront payment and no contract. Distributors are free to sell products any way they wish - at parties andcraft shows, for fundraising or by "walking and talking" as they go through the day. Even with incentives like that the typical distributor is looking only for supplemental income and sells $100 to $300 per month, Umphred said. That makes it imperative that direct marketers build large networks ofdistributors. Scent-Sations already has 6,000 of them covering all 50 states and several United States territories and is adding 15-20 a day. Scocozzo says that is only the beginning; his goal is to reach the level of a Mary Kay, which has 50,000 or more distributors, many of them earning $1million or more a year. Distributors reach that lofty income by signing up others on whose salesthey receive commissions - that's the "multi-level" part. Scent-Sationshelps by devoting 37 percent of its revenue to commissions and support for master distributors. Already that has allowed its largest distributors toearn $200,000 a year. "One is a housewife who is now outearning her pilot husband," Umphred said. Sandy Saimond, a distributor from Allentown who was visiting the plant lastweek, said Scent-Sations offers more earning opportunity as well as the best support and a superior product. "There really is no other company to compare," she said. Saimond, 46, is aiming to retire from her regular job and rely on income from Mia Bella product sales within four years. Scocozzo and Umphred are optimistic about Scent-Sations' growth potential.With sales estimated to hit $15 million this year, they now are a small player in the $3 billion candle industry. But their niche - fragrant candles made with natural waxes that give off less soot than paraffin - is growing fast and so are Scent-Sations' sales, at between 40 and 50 percent a year, while the industry as a whole is stagnant.
JOIN OUR TEAM OF DISTRIBUTORS ! CANDLE OF THE MONTH CLUB FEATURING THE MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS OF THE 21st CENTURY! We are not on the cutting edge� We ARE the cutting edge! We are a fast growing company within a the multi-billion dollar a year scented candle industry! Our candles are a unique blend of soybean,veggie .beeswax A quality you can�t help but notice! Just $39.95 gets you started. (Includes a free website.) You receive a new fragrance every month as follows: One 16 oz Jar Twelve Votives One Bella Bar After that, get ALL Gourmet candles and other products at WHOLESALE PRICING! NO monthly quotas to be met or sales required Whether you simply LOVE candles or want to earn money selling candles, contact me! I can help you save money and earn money with the CANDLE OF THE MONTH CLUB! EMBRACE Success! Independent Distributor`s` Deborah or Dan Dooley 1-317-718-7899 http://dooleyscents.scent-team.com
Love Scented Candles?
Do you know anyone who burns candles ? Why not have them buy from YOU ?
Our company is expanding across the U.S. and Canada!
Our candles are a huge hit with candle lovers everywhere!
I can show You HOW to buy all your candles at wholesale
and have your own business at home, part time or full time,
at the same time. Find your niche and run it with - it's YOUR choice. We are a fast growing company within the multi-billion dollar
a year scented candle industry! Our company manufactures premier, highly scented, clean
burning candles that are made from a unique blend of vegetables
and other natural, renewable resources. Why join our company and my team? - LOW cost to get started
- No "have to do parties" or monthly sales quotas
- All the Free training you can handle!
- Membership is month to month - no long term commitment
Our Candles practically sell themselves...over and over and over!
Only $39.95 gets you started. (Includes a free website.)
You receive a Brand new fragrance every month delivered right
to your door:
-One 16 oz Jar Candle
-Twelve Votives
-One Bath Bar (soy alternative)
You are also qualified to buy all of your candles and other products
at deeply discounted WHOLESALE PRICING!
Whether you're looking for a highly scented candle to burn in your
own home, OR looking for a great new product for your next fundraiser
OR you're looking for a fun business you can do from home, OR
perhaps a combination of all three....contact me for a complimentary
scent sample, wholesale price list and product brochure. EMBRACE Success!
Deborah or Dan Dooley
1-317-718-7899
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