Sleepless nights, hard work lead to sales success
It’s not hard to see what makes Ayanna D.N. Freeman a great salesperson. She is personable, friendly, lowpressure, passionate and intelligent. She has taken these qualities and turned them into a successful business: Leela’s Body Cocktails.
Freeman uses several approaches to sell her products, believing that staying adaptable and fluid is the best way to do business in 2017.
She gets many of her sales through Amazon, where she sells her AntiBug Tonic. But she also sets up a kiosk nearly every day at Kirtland Air Force Base, where she says she is known as The Lotion Lady. She also travels to trade shows where she says she can sometimes nearly sell out.
But her newest approach is direct sales. She sells to “advisers” at wholesale prices, and they turn around and sell the product. The advisers can be individuals or stores, and a kickback to her is not part of the deal.
For this new approach, she is developing a training program and vetting potential advisers. She has two ready to go in Georgia at the end of the summer and is looking for the right people here in New Mexico.
Her line of lotions and oils, named for her 5-year-old daughter, is her full-time job, and after a lifetime of ups and downs, she is finally exactly where she wants to be.
Freeman is from Georgia and comes from a design background, working for several years as a designer for Dillard’s, a job that sent her all over the world. Eventually, she ended up living in India, where her daughter, Queen Leela, was born. She and her then-husband returned to the United States and settled in Georgia.
“I ended up working part time at a hotel. I was separated from my husband, I had this little one and I just couldn’t sleep,” Freeman said.
It was in those sleepless nights that Leela’s Body Cocktails was born.
“I’d be up late, and I’d just mix these cocktails of lotions and then use them myself and give them to friends,” she said. It wasn’t long before her friends pressured her into starting her business.
Eager to leave Georgia, Freeman and her daughter pointed their wheels west. “The universe just told me to go west, and here I am.”
Freeman is enjoying the hard work and doing what she loves. She has over 50 products for sale and said “about 16” are surefire best-sellers. Her No. 1? The Anti-Bug Tonic, which amuses Freeman because the concern about mosquitoes in New Mexico is nothing compared with what Georgia residents must put up with.
Leela’s Body Cocktails are made from natural products and don’t use any harmful chemicals. For more information, visit www.leelasbodycocktails. com.
When brokers Daniel Kearney and Austin Tidwell of AllenSigmon Real Estate Group decided to take on the project of selling the former Y-Mart gas station on Zuni SE, they had no idea it was going to be such a battle.
“Well, we made a database of gas stations around town and started speaking with gas station owners,” Kearney said. “We got a lot of mumbojumbo about that location (where Lead and Coal intersect to become Zuni) being cursed, but really they knew the sales numbers for that location and they weren’t very good.”
Kearney and Tidwell quickly realized that they were going to have to change track or abandon the project all together.
“So we started reaching out to other businesses. We did some research and found out how much it would cost to remove the (gas) tanks and adjusted the price,” Kearney said.
Eventually, they were approached by Tim Borror, a local developer from TB Consultants who realized it would be a great location for a gym.
“There really aren’t any other gyms in the area,” Borror said. The Downtown market has a Sports and Wellness and a Simms Gym, and the University area has Johnson Gym, which caters only to students, faculty, staff and alumni of the University of New Mexico.
Borror and the team of Kearney and Tidwell eventually worked out a deal, and Borror decided to bring in Anytime Fitness, a Minnesotabased franchise. “(Anytime Fitness) was a good fit. They are one of the top franchises in the country, and they have a great culture. It was a no-brainer,” Borror said.
He is shooting for an early September opening for what will be a 4,000-square-foot facility and the fifth Anytime Fitness in Albuquerque.
Borror, franchise owner and contractor for the project, is planning on renovating the interior, adding 1,200 square feet and temporarily filling the gas tanks with sand until they can be removed “at a later date.”
The gym will employ four full-time staffers by the end of the year — a manager and three personal trainers.
In other news:
M’Tucci’s Italian restaurant is expanding and is now the “first New Mexico production facility approved to retail cured meats,” according to a news release. With the approval, M’Tucci’s will look to move an expanded production facility to the east side of Albuquerque.
It is still exploring options for a location. The eatery has a restaurant at Coors and Montaño with a market and deli nearby. It also has a restaurant at Unser Pavilion in Rio Rancho.
Weck’s restaurant opened a new location near Cottonwood Mall, at 10131 Coors NW, on June 19. This is the 10th Weck’s location in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.
Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q opened its third New Mexico location on June 28 in Las Cruces. The Texas-based eatery will be operated by area manager Randy Kenna, who will manage all three locations in the state. Rudy’s operates 34 restaurants in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado.
Jersey Mike’s Subs will open a new location on Holly NE, according to Josie Capozzi, vice president of franchise relations. This will be the sixth Jersey Mike’s to open in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. The new location is in the design phase, and permits are still pending. An opening date has not been set.
Stone Forge Fitness, a locally owned gym at 6100 Jefferson NE, closed its doors Friday after two years. Owner Kirk Kapple, in an emailed statement this month, did not give a reason for the closure but did express gratitude to customers.