Thirty-One Gifts founder Cindy Monroe on the secrets to her success.
Cindy Monroe had a pretty good year in 2009. Her direct sales company, Thirty-One Gifts, brought in $38 million in revenue.
But 2013 was much, much better. That year, Thirty-One Gifts pulled in $760 million.
No, there’s no typo in that last sentence. Monroe grew her business 1,900 percent in four years, with the help of 110,000 consultants in the U.S. and Canada.
The question you’re probably asking now is, How did she do it? It’s a good one, and of course one that doesn’t have a straight-line answer.
So let’s break down the major business decisions that got her to where she is today:
She launched: Monroe, 39, started her business 10 years ago. She was working in insurance and had noticed a bunch of boutiques popping up in her town in Tennessee. The shops had unique products and out-of-the-box gifts, but they all closed at 6 p.m. Monroe had two small children to get home to at night and could never find the time for a shopping trip.
During college, Monroe had worked as a rep selling Pampered Chef products, so she knew how the direct-sales business worked. She also knew no one had really tried it with fashion.