Jennifer Strohl

Jennifer Strohl

Ambassador Leader Step Level 3
AMBASSADOR LEADER
Joined 28-Sep-2004
Saint Charles, IL
206-619-9623
284 Team Member(s)
114 Posts
my team
Currently, I have 284 team members.

my barefoot profile

About Me

I am Mom to two very busy boys who are avid readers and fans of Barefoot Books.  Before becoming a Mom, I was racing up the corporate ladder working in accounting and corporate strategy.  After having kids, I realized there is so much more to enjoy in life!  My family is my first priority. 

These days, after relocating to Chicagoland in 2010 from the Pacific Northwest we are feeling more at home in the midwest.  The house projects are finally winding down so we are starting to enjoy the wonderful opportunities for learning and family fun in our community.   

When I am not fixing something around the house, I can usually be caught doing something related to books - hosting a Book Fair at an area school or reading books to children at a story time.  One summer, a stealthy Librarian at Seattle's Downtown Central Library caught me on camera reading to my children and a group of other children we had just met in line while waiting for the Recess Monkey concert! 

I love having my own Barefoot Books business because I am able to fit my business endeavors around my family's schedule, earn a compelling income, and contribute in many ways to my community.  I always knew that my Barefoot Books business was flexible - but now I am living proof as I re-establish myself here in Saint Charles!  Let read Barefoot in Illinois!

Addendum:  In response to a recent posting about what kinds of support Ambassador Leaders offer to their team members, here is my short story about how I support my team members.

I view myself as a facilitator, “sounding board” and mentor rather than an “Overseer” for my team members.  What that looks like is that I initiate more support and communication up front after a new Ambassador registers to help get the person acclimated to our program, offer advice for figuring out goals and setting direction.  Over time, I encourage that communication to shift to be initiated more often by the team member on as needed basis instead of Leader initiated.  What I mean by that is that I don’t contact my team members every week to check in about what selling activities are being pursued – instead I ask for my team members to contact me when I can help them.  That said, I do try to contact team members periodically especially if I haven’t heard from them in a while to just see if I can help them to get back on track if they are interested.  We all have different time quantities available and interest/commitment levels, so I would rather be respectful of our differences.  Here is a sampling of what I strive to offer to my team members:

- I share my many lessons learned from selling via a wide variety of activities over the past 7 years as well as what I learned from my career in accounting and corporate strategy prior to being a stay at home mom.  I also draw on lessons I learned from the experiences of my team members - past and present.  I've had results across the spectrum from great successes to huge disasters and I look at each event as an opportunity to learn something.  I share my info several ways - via a team yahoo group, personal calls/emails, occasional team newsletters, when I host team training times (conference calls and workshops) and when I talk with my sponsor who then shares info via her newsletters.

- I offer to help my team members evaluate whether the opportunities (advertising, events, partnering etc.) they see appear to have potential for success.  In doing this, I share my logic such that the team member is also increasing his or her evaluation skills.

- I share a collection of marketing collateral and other resources with my team members that includes things such as book fair flyers, sale opportunities, fundraising promotion materials, display images etc.

- I help my team members to solve problems and troubleshoot when they let me know that they have encountered a bump in the road.

- For team members who are local to me, I offer to loan out my sample collection, display fixtures or excess inventory for their events, particularly when someone is just starting out. 

- I encourage my team members to be in touch with each other.  We all have different skills, strengths and perspectives to share.  As we share with each other, we leverage those synergies within my team and my sponsor's broader team so we all can build stronger personal businesses.

Finally, in everything I do with my team members, I strive to help them develop the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to be as successful as they want to be as a Barefoot Books Ambassador in line with their own personal goals keeping in mind their specific constraints and availability.  

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