There’s a house in Boardman, Ohio with a dual personality. Most of the time, it’s a family home. The family includes Colleen Thomas, her husband William, and their six children: Katie, age 16; William Jr., 7; Brooklyn, 6; Savannah, 4; Alexandria, 2; and one-year old Madison. Oh… they also have a cat, Pancake, age unknown.

Other times, however, the house in Boardman is the “Love My Leggings Boutique,” the home-based business Colleen started seven months ago. And on Saturday nights after the Thomas’s youngest kids have been tucked into bed for the night, another 3,000 people are invited in — via Facebook Live.

Love My Leggings Boutique sells leggings, of course. It specializes in plus sizes, and in every possible pattern you can imagine — floral, naturally, but also skulls for Halloween, turkey patterns for Thanksgiving, and much more.

Love My Leggings also offers matching “Mommy and Me” sets. And there are “Mystery” leggings giveaways each month. And in addition to the leggings, Colleen sells Paparazzi jewelry.

Now you might be tempted to admire Colleen Thomas just because of her work ethic. Let’s face it, she’s raising six kids and running a business — she is indeed amazing. But wait, there’s more.

You should also admire Colleen Thomas for her business success and marketing acumen. She started Love My Leggings in March 2017. Sales have increased almost 500% since her first month, and now she has eleven reps selling her products as well.

Colleen buys leggings wholesale and then sells them exclusively through her reps and Facebook Live. Once you’re accepted as a member of the Love My Leggings Boutique group, you can watch the live version of Colleen’s show on Saturday nights, or watch the recordings of them anytime.

What you’ll see is Colleen holding up an index card with the stock number of the next pair of leggings she’s about to show on screen. She pulls them off the clothing rack and holds them up, describes them, then shares the available sizes and expected delivery dates.

As she shows a pair of leggings, you see hearts float across the screen as customers share their love for one particular style or another. There are also comments and questions, and Colleen replies to each question out loud.

When viewers see what they like and want and their questions have been answered, they can order their leggings online — through a text or an email, or with a post on Facebook. The leggings are shipped right to you.

Colleen likes being in business for herself — and she likes this business specifically because it provides for her family and it’s something she can do at home while being near her children.

She also likes running Love My Leggings Boutique because, as she says, “My business lets me be something else besides a mom for a while. And I’ve made friends doing this, too.”

She must have made a lot of friends. Her group has grown from 50 to over 3,000 members, and it’s not unusual for her to sell 40-50 pairs of leggings during each Facebook Live session.

Why did Colleen make Facebook Live her main form of marketing? One reason is because, ironically, when not appearing on Facebook Live, she is actually very shy, and being in front of a group of people makes her anxious.

Facebook Live allows her to be comfortable and be herself because she can’t really see the audience. Of course, the audience can see Colleen and the sample leggings she’s presenting. “This way,” she says, “We both have a good time.”

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Note: You can find Love My Leggings Boutique at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovemyleggingsboutique/