Travel

How I Got a Free Trip to the Bahamas

I still can’t believe I got a free trip to the Bahamas last November. In this post, I’ll share how I did it. I definitely worked for it… but that made it even better. Read on to learn why… and how you can get a trip like this, too… Anyone can do it!

Photo by Fernando Jorge / Unsplash

How I Got a Free Trip to the Bahamas

Guys, I’m 50 years old and I’ve never won a trip anywhere in my life. I got to go to the Bahamas for free last November.

Honestly, this trip to the Bahamas was the best trip I’ve ever gone on. Because I didn’t just win the trip… I earned it. And that was the best feeling in the world.

I’ve been a blogger for over a decade and I’ve worked with a lot of different sponsors. In all these years. no one ever sent me on a tropical vacation just for promoting their products.

Until I started promoting MONAT. I started promoting MONAT’s naturally-based hair care products in January of 2018. Ten months later, I was on a plane flying to the Bahamas. The flight and hotel were completely paid for.This is the first of a series of 3 posts with my pictures of the trip, and how awesome it was. I’ve taken lots of trips over the decades… but nothing compared to this — getting paid to help people and earning an amazing trip like this for my efforts.

So… this is the first in a series of posts about my trip to the Bahamas. I’ve organized my blog posts in this series by the days of the trip.

This first post is Day One, which included an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Miami, and then my first day in the Bahamas. (So really it’s Day One and a Half.)

Red Eye to the Bahamas

I literally packed just hours before I left. My flight was around 8 pm out of LAX — a red eye.

This was the one thing I would change. The next MONAT trip I go on, I am going to go at least a day early and stay at least a few days longer. (You can stay longer and just pay for your extra days at the hotel.)

I threw everything in my suitcase and a friend drove me to the airport. My mother-in-law, being the best mother-in-law in the world, flew cross-country to help my husband take care of the kids.

When I arrived at my gate, I had a glass of wine to celebrate. Three days of no kids, no laundry or meals to cook — just fun!

And a cheese pretzel. I am Cheeseslave, after all!

For a mom, this is the very best kind of vacation.

All my other vacations are family trips, which are great, but it’s still work. You gotta pack for all the kids, and you still have to feed everyone, change diapers, wipe noses, etc. None of that was happening this weekend!

I slept the whole way, after another glass of wine and some melatonin. I also always bring my sleep mask and noise cancelling headphones when I fly overnight. Works like a charm.

When I landed in Miami, I ran into a bunch of MONAT reps at the gate. Including Managing Market Mentor, Beatriz Rivera Lopez from Puerto Rico.

I was so excited to meet Beatriz; I had been watching her success for months. She was the first MONAT rep in Puerto Rico to earn a Cadillac. It is so exciting to see women all over the world supporting themselves and their families financially — literally being able to work from their phone.

Arriving at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar

After a short flight from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas, we landed around breakfast time and shared a cab to the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Resort.

You guys, this hotel is absolutely stunning. It is all newly remodeled and just unbelievably gorgeous.

I had actually been to the Baha Mar once before earlier that same year with my husband for a business trip. And that was great.

But you know what? This was better. Why? Because I earned it!

The feeling of arriving at a fancy tropical resort, knowing you earned it. I can’t describe it. I’ve never felt this before. Just thrilling.

And more than anything, I just felt so proud. Proud and independent. Like, you know what… if anything ever happened to my husband, I would be able to support us. It’s the most liberating and empowering feeling.

MONAT made us feel so welcome… they greeted us with lots of signs…

I felt so pampered and so important. Ask yourself guys, as moms, how often do we get to feel this way? How often does anyone even thank us, much less put us on a pedestal? Sure our families love us, but it’s rare that anyone takes the time to say “YOU ROCK!”

Booze!

And they greeted us adult beverages.

Hello! MONAT knows how to do things right.

The Bahama Mama is made from coconut rum, grenadine, orange juice, and pineapple juice. After a long flight, it was just what the doctor ordered! (They had a non-alcohol version, too, for people who don’t drink.)

We picked up our itineraries and name badges…

Our badges had our name and our rank. I am very proud to be an Associate Market Mentor. This is a little over halfway up the compensation plan, and I’m very motivated to go all the way to the top!

I ran into lots of other Market Partners (that’s what they call us MONAT reps).

This is Stacey Heidman, Associate Executive Director from Canada. The sweetest lady — we bonded immediately.

Of course, there’s a whole lot of bonding that goes on on these trips. People in network marketing are typically super friendly and very positive. In fact, what I’ve noticed is, the higher up you go, the more positive and friendly they tend to be.

Naptime

After a drink or two, I headed up to my oceanfront room — paid for by MONAT — to take a nap. I had slept only about 6 hours on the flight, and I knew I would need energy for the activities later that evening.

Guys… check out my room… and look at this ocean view..

Isn’t it gorgeous?

After a lovely nap, I put on my bathing suit and cover up and headed down to one of the many pools.

My Dear Friend, Leah

Ahhhh…. I parked myself next to one of the many swim up bars and waited for my friend Leah to arrive.

They say everything is better with friends, and ladies, ain’t that the truth?

Leah is a wife and mom and part-time copywriter from Sunnyvale, California. I met her because she followed my Cheeseslave blog on Facebook. I sent her some shampoo samples and she fell in love.

She signed up as a Market Partner on my team, and we’ve worked together ever since over Zoom conference calls and Facebook messenger.

Getting to know Leah and build a friendship with her has been one of the very best things about growing my MONAT business. She is an inspiration to me every single day.

Going to the Bahamas with Leah made it a billion times more fun. It’s one thing to succeed on your own… but to be able to help other people succeed… that is the truly rewarding part. This is one of the many, many reasons I love network marketing. It truly is the best business model out there (more on that in a future blog post).

I have made so many friends in MONAT, and you know what? These are the best kinds of friends. You’re not just friends because you knew each other in high school or live in the same neighborhood or your kids go to the same school…

I’m friends with Leah because we are on a mission together. We’re on a mission to help women feel more confident and feel better about how they look. We’re on a mission to become financially independent. We’re on a mission to donate more money to charities we believe in. We’re on a mission to have more joy, more freedom, and more excitement in our lives.

Sisters doin’ it for themselves and all that, yo.

Seriously, what could be better?

Ladies Who Lunch

We headed over to one of the resort restaurants to get some lunch and celebrate the beginning of an awesome weekend.

Haha! It was super windy that day! We tried to eat outdoors but eventually moved inside because it was just too windy.

Everything we ate at the Baha Mar was amazing, and that first lunch was no exception. We ate at the Costa Mexican restaurant. (This restaurant is actually at the adjoining resort — The Rosewood — but it’s just steps away.)

The hardest part was trying to decide what to order. Everything looked so delicious.

I settled on the Tacos al Pastor (carnitas tacos), which turned out to be right on the money.

Not only was the food amazing but the decor was perfect and the service was exceptional.

After lunch, Leah and I went to get a drink at one of the swim up bars and take some photos.

We took another nap after that, and rested up before dinner.

Party on the Beach

MONAT doesn’t do anything halfway… and they threw a huge party for us that first night on the beach.

They had an elaborate buffet with delicious food and an open bar.

We drank some (free) Champagne, ate a lot of scrumptious food, met tons of new friends, and enjoyed the show.

Needless to say, we had an absolute blast. We went to bed in our oceanfront rooms (we each had our own room), lulled to sleep by the sound of ocean waves.

(Come back to my blog tomorrow for the next installment and read about Day 2 in the Bahamas.)

What It Took to Earn This Bahamas Trip

So, what did I have to do to get this trip, you ask?

You may be thinking to yourself, “She probably had to work her butt off to get that trip… I could never do that. I don’t want to have to sell to my friends and family.”

It’s true, I did have to work hard. It takes time and effort to learn how to succeed at direct sales. But it wasn’t as hard as you might think. The business is actually very simple. It’s a simple business, but not an easy business.

The hardest part? Learning how to believe in yourself and get out of your own way.

And no, I don’t sell to my friends and family. In fact, I’ve only introduced MONAT to a small number of friends. I mostly promote on social media… Instagram, Facebook, and the like.

My team of Market Partners and VIP customers started with about 15 or 20 people who joined me last January (2018), along with a few of their friends and family members… It grew to over 450 people twelve months later. I personally shared the products and/or business with only about 100 people last year. That’s about 8 people per month, or 2 people per week.

The reason this works is because I am not doing this alone. I have a whole team of friends who work together to share this awesome shampoo with our friends. And we all benefit together. I didn’t personally recruit 450 people. I personally recruited 100. And they told their friends who told their friends, and so on and so on and so on (as that old commercial goes).

How do I share the business and products? Usually I just share before and after pics on Facebook and offer to let people try a free sample. When they click the link and fill out my survey, I send the sample in the mail.

Would you believe that over 20% of the people who fill out the survey end up ordering as customers or signing up as Market Partners?

Isn’t that amazing? I’ve promoted all kinds of products online for over a decade and let me tell you, a 20% conversion rate is RIDICULOUS. (Normally we like to see 4-6%. The best I’ve ever seen is around 8-10%.)

I think it’s so good because there really is nothing like MONAT. People fall in love with it. Read my MONAT review to learn more about it.

You can also just get a free sample to try. Click here to fill out the survey and I’ll pop them in the mail to you..

Think It Sounds to Good to Be True?

If you are thinking to yourself, “Oh, that would never work for me. She could do this because she’s a blogger.”

Actually that’s not true. There are other people who are much more successful than I am who grew faster than me, and they don’t have blogs or big Facebook or Instagram followings.

Leah joined within a couple weeks after I did, and she earned the trip to the Bahamas. She didn’t have a blog when she started (she has since started one), and she didn’t have a huge friends list on Facebook. I don’t think she was even on Instagram either.

Anyone Can Do This

It’s just about reaching out to people and offering a sample. Anyone can do this business!

Here’s an example of an every day person who is not an online influencer or anything fancy… just a mom who needed a way to support her special needs child… Anne Fisher is one of my upline mentors. MONAT completely transformed her family’s life.

And this is another one of my mentor’s Greta Murray. A single mom who didn’t know how she was going to find the money to buy groceries. Just look at her now. Watching her video makes me cry.

If you are just looking to make a few hundred dollars extra a month for fun money or to help you pay off credit card debt or student loans, this is a part-time side hustle that you can do from home while your kids are napping, or on weekends if you have a full-time job.

And if you’re looking to make more than that, the opportunity is limitless.

Want a Free Trip to Cancun, Mexico?

You guys! They just announced there is another trip happening this November! Here’s the info…

It’s a party in paradise—and you’re invited!

Join your MONAT family alongside the stunningly blue Mexican Caribbean for three lavish days of fun, festivities, fabulous food and more.

From breathtaking beaches to pulsating nightlife to spectacular nearby ancient ruins, Cancún offers everything one could ask for in a vacation getaway.

Our destination is the newly renovated Marriott Cancún Collection: two side-by-side resorts combining to create one incredible MONAT experience.

Amenities include:
•Sea-facing guest rooms and suites with private balconies
•Two full-service spas
•Nine restaurants
•Five pools
•Half a mile of pristine, uninterrupted beachfront.

Qualification Period: February 1, 2019- July 31, 2019

What does this mean? It means we have from now until the end of July to qualify for this Cancun trip. And it’s TOTALLY do-able! But you want to get in NOW to have time to qualify.

How to Get In On The Cancun Trip This Fall

Oh my gosh, can you imagine how much fun you will have joining me in Cancun this November? And ya’ll, this trip is 100% ALL-INCLUSIVE. Free flight, free hotel room, free food, and open bar all weekend.

All you have to do is join my team as a MONAT Market Partner and I’ll work with you to show you how to qualify for the trip.

Click here and select Enroll as an MP and choose a product pack.

If someone else introduced you to MONAT and shared this post with you, girl, text or call them and SIGN UP!

There’s a 30 day money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose. If you decide for any reason you don’t like the products or decide not to do the business, just return your product pack within 30 days and you’ll get a full refund.

Watch this short presentation to learn more about the basics of the products and the business.

Want to Try the Products First?

Just click here to fill out a survey to get a free sample. If you like it — and I really think you will — I’ll show you how to sign up as a Market Partner and help you get started building your business.

Got Questions?

Just reach out and email me at annmarie @ annmarie michaels dot net so we can chat about how to get started.

Read the Rest of My Adventures in the Bahamas

I’ll be sharing Day 2 in the Bahamas tomorrow… make sure you follow me on Facebook to get updates, or sign up for my email newsletter.

How I Got a Free Trip to the Bahamas