A girlfriend of mine is in the market for a new home, so a few months ago I spent a Saturday house shopping with her. At one of the homes on her interest list, we walked in the front door and all I could focus on is how wonderful it smelled—like the most delicious streusel cake in the world.
Turns out, that smell was coming from a Scentsy candle. I say candle, but it’s really just a square of scented wax that releases its fragrance as it melts.
Scentsy is another multi-level marketing company founded in Utah (there seem to be a lot of those; perhaps that’s a topic for another post) in 2003, but it is now headquartered in Meridian, Idaho. The company is a little different than most MLMs as it employs a direct-selling model, and a party-plan marketing model.
There are over 200,000 Scentsy consultants, whose job it is to set up parties at someone’s house and sniff hundreds of scented wax melt samples. Yes, the whole business is known for one particular product type, but let me tell you why, in this case, it isn’t such a bad thing.
First, Scentsy also sells a variety of stylish and sometimes zany warmers (which you need to melt your wax). They also sell oils and diffusers, laundry products, cosmetics, bath and body items, and more. All of the
And second, factoid time: Did you know that our olfactory sense (our sense of smell) is more closely tied to memory than any other sense? It’s true. When you smells familiar scent, your brains easily recalls times in your past when you experienced that same smell. The memories are even more vivid and the emotions are often more powerful than when you see or hear something familiar from your past.
So where am I going with this? People love good fragrances, especially in their living space, because there’s real science behind it. There’s a nostalgic factor when you enter someone’s home during the winter and you smell peppermint or pine needles.
And yes, Scentsy sells both peppermint-scented and pine needle-scented wax melts. In fact, they have fragrances for every season of the year, including cinnamon-heavy, cider-scented melts for autumn (anything that smells like a fall harvest is going to be my favorite).
The other thing Scentsy has going for it is how steadily it has grown in a relatively short 15 years. A few years ago, Inc. named Scentsy as America’s fastest-growing consumer products company. To me, that speaks to the power of Scentsy’s business model, which focuses on selling a product that people like and need to replace often.
I have bought a cupboard full of wax melts from a consultant in my area, and I have a scent going around the clock from sun-up to sundown (I turn the warmer bulb off during the night, just as a safety precaution). While I don’t plan on testing my hand as a consultant, I am a happy Scentsy customer who can’t get enough of those wonderful fragrances.
I haven’t branched out yet and tried the company’s bath and body products or cosmetics, but I have bought a ton of the wax melts, which are very affordable. I also bought half-a-dozen Scentsy warmers to plug in throughout my house. You can buy other brands of warmers just about anywhere now, including Target and Walmart.
However, I look at the warmers as a piece of furniture or décor, since they are rather noticeable. You want them to look good and match your decorative style, and I’m telling you: Nobody has a variety of warmers like Scentsy does. Seriously, they have hundreds to choose from—football helmets, teacups, lampshades, magic 8 balls, you name it. And because I bought a bunch all at once, my consultant gave me a great deal. I am interested in trying out one of their diffusers and a few oil blends to see how the scent compares to the wax melts.
So, based on the fact that I’m a happy customer, coupled with how strong the company seems to be doing, Scentsy looks like it could make a good side business from home. I question making a consultant gig your full-time job, but who knows. According to a recent income disclosure, there are consultants who make a ton. How many there are that make a killing, and how hard they had to work to earn it, is a question I couldn’t find an answer to.
I’d love to hear what the rest of you think of Scentsy. Share your experiences in the comments section below.
About Scentsy
Founded: 2003
CEO: Orville Thompson
Corporate Office: 2701 E. Pine Ave., Meridian, ID 83642
Phone: (208) 472-0800
https://scentsy.com/
Follow Scentsy on social media:
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Up next, we’ll take a look at LuLaRoe.