We’re from Liberty, Missouri. We have 6 sons, a daughter and 16 grandkids. Anytime we have a family gathering is an exciting time for us. People think that everything is big in Texas well they’ve never been to our place on any given holiday! We either have a house full or we go to a house full. Our family never does anything in small proportion. What’s more, where there is one child soon to follow is a friend or two. Thus at our house there’s always room for one or two more.

We have decided that empty nesting is not what it’s made out to be. We have a Siberian husky named Bear, who lives up to his name, a mixed Pekinese, named Cindy, who about fifteen years ago was dropped off and forgotten. Cindy has since opted to stay and officially become our guard dog. And last but not least there’s, Hailey. She’s our Pomeranian. Hailey was named after Hailey’s Comet and firmly believes her main objective is to announce the presence of all of our visitors.

I’m Janie.
I was born the only girl and the second in a family of nine. And as such I was known as my brother’s second mom, the best ballplayer in the neighborhood and carried a “Don’t mess with me attitude”. While my mom and dad worked long hours where ever and when ever they could, my older brother and I held down the home front. We usually ran a tight ship and taught the younger guys how to take responsibility for the many chores that had to be shared in a house full such as ours. As we grew up we learned how to attract the older generation with mature indulgence of never fearing hard work. Every one of us worked for the neighbors and only a few bosses. Our employers never found fault with our work ethics and determination that we do our jobs better than the other guys, as a result among of our character plusses was that we never got fired.

I was the first paper girl in our town. My paper route had 180 customers and I walked the route on a daily basis. I enjoyed what I did and my customers liked me. They always appreciated that I made sure their paper was safe from the neighborhood dogs, the front bushes and the all the weather elements. I enjoyed it so much that I took on a morning route as well. Luckily that route was only a weekend delivery because that route had 250 customers. My third route only had 115 customers so I let my younger brothers handle that one. After all they were too young to handle the big route and besides that I allowed them to keep the tips. When it was time for me to move on, I handed the route over to them anyway. As I turned thirteen with a little encouragement from my dad, we felt that it was time to give up my jeans, tea shirts and baseball caps in favor of dresses and skirts and a more feminine look. I was glad to give up the boy’s world so I moved on to the big mans world.
I went to work as a kitchen aide at the local hospital. I learned to prepare the different dietary meals for the patients and also helped the nursing staff feed some of the patients that needed help. In the middle of my freshman year in high school, the nursing administrator offered a nurse’s aide class and I applied. The class was an 18 month course and when I graduated I was only 15 not quite old enough to practice. I could not legally practice until I turned 16. I had to wait until the end of my sophomore year before I could work with the patients on the main floor. But even though I was not allowed to work as a nurse’s aide I always made sure I tagged along with one of the RN’s because I knew that she would invariably need some kind of help and I was right there. Well to make a long story short the day finally came when I was legally of age to work without being a tag-along. I stayed with it for seven and a half years. I got married at the ripe old age of 19, started a family, bought my first home and after my second child I decided that I could no longer work around the sick.

After that I went on to work at a toy company, a bindery and a factory. Those types of jobs weren’t very glamorous but they paid the bills and put food on the table. Those were also some turbulent years in my life and many unhappy things happened including a horrible car accident and a lost marriage. I pulled myself together and gave up those unglamorous jobs and went to work in the Insurance Industry. My experiences with the insurance industry included coverage for cars, trucks, boats and mobile homes and my last insurance company covered Championship Livestock. Those jobs totaled 17 years and $9,000 in retirement benefits. Whoopee! Oh and I got married again. After all my children were born, I did manage to take some college courses and earned my certificates as an adult language teacher, an accountant and records management, but I never went back to nursing.

My husband and I raised our family in Geneva, Illinois until 1989 when we sold our home and moved to Liberty, MO., Where we still reside.

When we arrived here, I decided to once again try something else. So I went to work for a rather large law firm. Wow I was moving up in the world. As my experiences grew and my skills sharpened and improved I became a valued member of the elite Records Dept. My firm then merged with another firm and the lawyers grew in number and my responsibilities also increased. Eventually my reputation as a Records Manager and Coordinator preceded me. I was recruited and joined still a third firm. As an employee with the Law Firms I lasted an additional 17 years total and a much better retirement package. However, this is where I finally called a halt to working for my many bosses. As much as I loved and enjoyed my job and the relationship with people that I worked for and with I felt that it was time for me to be my own boss. This had been a dream of mine for many years but I had not yet discovered what that might be.

As the years went on I had begun looking for various ways to give up my many hats and tried to find something to replace my income. I wanted to work from the comfort of my own home. Yea Right! Like that was going happen. I had tried selling Avon, Tupperware, and Pre-paid Legal to name a few and I even answered the ads to stuff envelopes and make thousands! With the exception of the stuffing the envelopes thing, these were and still are all good products but they just didn’t hold my interest. So I kept on looking. As our last venture finally collapsed a friend of mine introduced me to the Mia Bella Candles and things finally began to change.

Today I can honestly say that I have finally found “My Dream Business”. I have developed a strategy that will help as many people as I can to become financially independent. I can walk the walk, talk the talk and teach it as well. As a student at the school of hard knocks there is very little that I am afraid of trying out and doing whatever it takes to lead my team to success. I will teach them what ever it is they want to know about this business and them allow them to grow at whatever speed they want to learn.

If you want to become financially independent and abundantly wealthy I will teach you what you need to know and what it takes to get there. Do you want to make the journey to the top? I will invite you to take the first step to success. Come, take the plunge. Financial Freedom is yours, if you really want it!

I’m Larry.
I’m the other half of this team:
I’m the second of seven, born and raised on a farm in Iowa. Graduated from a class of 15 and voted most likely to cause a ruckus somewhere on this planet.

I left the farm a year after graduation and went to work in the city of Chicago, Illinois. My first job there was a tool & dye maker which lasted long enough for me to get called to my life long dream job with TWA, the best Airline that ever flew across the states and the world over. So by trade I am an aircraft mechanic in structures and composite materials. I have also sold Real Estate; I’ve built houses and Cooked in restaurants.

After 40 years of working for Trans World Airlines the company went bankrupt and we were bought out by American Airlines. Many changes have come about and many of my friends have either left or passed away. I still work for the Airlines because they have a great Health Insurance Program which we both need. But things are definitely different. These days I think that the time for working for someone else or any company other than my own has also passed.

I wanted a business where Janie and I don’t have to work eight, ten, twelve hours a day and weekends. Where we didn’t have to worry about loosing our job and watching our friends and family get laid off or dying of heart break with worry. Working for a Boss is okay, if you like that sort of thing but as for me, the time had come for me to be My Own Boss.

We decided that we wanted a business of our own; one where we can’t get fired; can’t get laid off, pays us what we’re worth and one that offers training and support whenever we need it. We found that with Mia Bella’s Gourmet Candles. This business does just that. We have a business that is able to help out an organization when it needs to raise funds for its special cause. We have the ability to help other people that have to work long hours, have small children at home depending on them and the parents cannot be there for them because of that J.O.B. (just over broke). We want them to be able to go on vacations, go to their son or daughter’s baseball game, soccer game, school recital and send their kids to college. We missed much of these activities with our own kids and we don’t want to see this happening to other young families. We’re here to help you!

We are able to enjoy life now that the kids are gone and not worry about the retirement factor. You can do all that too with this business. We love these Products and what’s more, we love sharing this opportunity with other people who want a chance at a better life. We believe that we have found that in this business. Our Gourmet Candles are so good. They make you feel good. They help put you in a feel good mood. They help you relax, unwind after a long day. Some of them smell so delicious you might just be tempted to eat them instead of burning them!

I carry a large shoulder bag with me in which I carry not only my lunch but also my catalogs, business cards and sometimes a candle or two. So I find that I have to talk more about my candles rather than show them. I’ve been asked on several occasions “Is it hard for a man to sell candles?” My response to this is NO! I enjoy selling and men really do enjoy burning scented candles. Believe it or not some of our best customers are men.

At the Overhaul Base where I work the majority of the employees are men. Women work here also but I find that it’s just as easy to sell candles to the guys as it is to sell to the ladies.
Some of the other ways where we meet people, earn money and recruit are at various craft shows. We also share our products and opportunity with the Military Bases. These are done through the AAFES, better known as the PX for Army and the BX for the Air Force. Our set up is slightly different than that of the other shows. Here we are given our choice of either using a kiosk or a set of tables. We prefer the tables and then set them as close to the entry way to the store as possible. This way we have an opportunity to greet the soldiers as they come in and bid them a great day as they leave. Also if we miss them coming in we can catch them as they come out. Most importantly we get the chance to personally thank them for their service to our country. What an Honor we have!

Since both Janie and I come from military families we find it a privilege and an honor to be in the midst of these bright men and women serving our country. We meet some of the nicest people in such settings as these.

We met a young man that worked in one of the concession stands named Marcus. From the first time that we met him he smelled our candles. He found the Slate and Stone. But he didn’t have the money for it that day. So I told him that’s alright. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks. Sure enough the next time we came back he was there to meet us. He bought the candle and then we gave him the Bella Bar of the same scent as well. The look on his face was priceless. He was absolutely delighted with his new products. But now he is a customer forever.

So when people ask you how do you sell to a man? It’s easy, take the lid off the jar and let him smell it!

We were at Whiteman Air Force Base and a man and his wife walked up to our table. The lady started smelling our candles and in the process picked up Banana Nut Bread. She loved it so she handed it over to her husband and he exclaimed “Naw I only buy Yankee Candles, nothing else” so she says to him but honey this is your favorite! Smell it you’ll like! At this point my wife steps in and says to her, “It’s alright, we understand loyalty, and we don’t have the right to break up that loyalty. He doesn’t have to smell it. So she took the candle from them and placed it back on the table. The husband then picks it up and starts to smell it to which Janie says, “Are you sure you want to do that? You being a Loyal Yankee Candle man, that’s special, you don’t want to break that loyalty” So he says, well it won’t hurt just to smell it. Of course he liked it so much that he went ahead and bought it and his wife bought two others. Since then they come back every time we’re there and buy our candles. They no longer mention Yankee Candles and neither do we.

I’d like to tell you why I am so passionate about what I do. Not too long ago I had a serious health issue. I had a tumor in my head located on the pituitary which had been there for quite a while and it hadn’t done anything. Then for some unknown reason one day it began to grow and was pushing up against my optic nerves and affected my eyesight. I couldn’t see. I could distinguish between light and darkness but not the features. This really got my attention! Here I had a God given gift and now I was loosing it. Talk about putting things in perspective. I thought about what it would be like to not continue life as I had known it. I thought about my wife & family, my friends, my job. How will I get around? Will I be able to provide for them decently? Anyway we finally found a Neurosurgeon that we trusted. We had lots of tests done and we found out what all our options were. So we set the date and had the surgery done. As you can see the surgery was a success and I’m here to tell you that you don’t ever want to take for granted the gifts that you have. Use them and be grateful for them. And this right here is a gift. This Company and these products are a gift. We have been given this opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest. So use it. Love it and embrace it! It has pay off for us in the long run. We truly feel blessed in more ways then we can imagine! We have time for each other, financial freedom and we have choices to do what we want, when we want. We can help you have the same or better. The choice is yours!