Adam, Jim, and Jeff Packard all enjoy a relaxed, comfortable lifestyle thanks to SendOutCards, an easy greeting card business where you choose a card online and they print and mail it for you.
When was the last time you received a greeting card in the mail? Do you remember the surprised feeling when you sorted through your catalogs and bills and discovered a card addressed to you? There’s something special about getting a card that just makes you feel really good.
That’s the feeling that SendOutCards, a greeting-card business opportunity, is built upon: spreading smiles and good feelings through the mail.
“This business is about making people feel good and appreciated,” says Jeff Packard, an independent distributor with SendOutCards and among the top income earners in the company.
“And it’s so simple: you show others how easy it is to pick a card online, personalize it with a message, and have it mailed to someone’s home or business. SendOutCards prints your card (you can even have the personalized message print in your own handwriting), puts it in an envelope, and mails it out for you. All for less than a dollar.”
Jeff started his own SendOutCards business in 2005, attracted to the idea of running a profitable business from his laptop anywhere in the world. At the time, he had graduated from Arizona State and was earning an average salary working for legendary sales trainer and motivational speaker Tom Hopkins.
“I’d work at special events listening to incredible stories of personal and financial success, and I got tired of hearing what other people were doing—I wanted to have my own success story; I wanted more in my life,” says Jeff.
His financial goal was pretty simple when he first started with SendOutCards: he wanted to be able to afford going out to dinner once a week (for something other than pizza).
He now realizes that he completely underestimated how fast he’d surpass that goal.
“We have zero competition and a business built around a concept people are already sold on: sending cards to show appreciation. So I was able to build my business pretty quickly just by showing people how to send a card with our system,” he says, adding that he takes this portable business wherever he goes, including poolside in Hawaii. “It’s what I always wanted to do—make money from anywhere in the world. I love what I do and don’t even consider it work.”
Jeff has his dad to thank for this opportunity. After all, it was Jim Packard who introduced his sons to the SendOutCards business.
Jim, who retired after selling the successful copier business he had built from the ground up, ended up bringing both of his sons, Jeff and Adam, into SendOutCards; the three Packards are now part of an elite group of SendOutCards distributors who have reached “Senior Executive” level, a rank based on revenue and size of their team.
“I’ve always dreamed of being in business with my sons,” says Jim, who is a life-long entrepreneur who started with lemonade stands and paper routs and moved on to putting himself through college.
When he retired to Arizona and realized he could only play so much golf, Jim started to think about what else he could do with his time. His wife, Sherry, gave him a nudge as well when she saw just how much money he was spending every month on golf expenses, like a country club membership, greens fees, lessons, and equipment.
“I don’t even play golf all that well,” laughs Jim. “But I had a lot of time on my hands, so that’s what I did, and it got expensive. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that you can actually spend a lot more money when you’re retired.”
He decided to look around for something he could do on a part-time basis from home that would create cash flow to cover his golf expenses. Now that he was retired, however, Jim wasn’t about to give up his three days of golf each week, Tuesday night card games, Wednesday night fellowship time at church, and date nights on Friday and Saturday.
In other words, the business had to be flexible.
When he was introduced to SendOutCards, he sent out a card as a trial. Of course, he sent it to Sherry, who loves cards. “When she got the card a couple of days later, she told me how touched she was and that she loved it; I enrolled that day,” remembers Jim.
Sherry adds, “It was a great surprise to get that card from him. I’m a big card sender; I used to spend a lot of time in card stores buying cards and keeping them in a drawer until I needed them.”
In fact, when Sherry and Jim were dating, he went off to college and she sent him a card every day. “Last week, with SendOutCards, I sent out 25 cards. Some were for special occasions and others were just to let people know I was thinking of them,” she says, noting that she uses the service and limits her work in the business to supporting her family who refer to her as “the glue.”
“This business has been a wonderful opportunity for Jim to work with Jeff and Adam. When they are onstage together, talking about their success at company events, people ask me how it happened, and I think it’s because they were raised in an entrepreneurial home, had a good life growing up, and wanted to keep it once they were on their own.”
Adam, a graduate of Penn State and former golf pro, agrees that growing up with an entrepreneurial dad helped pave the way for their business success. “Our dad had us set goals when we were growing up,” says Adam. “We had to think of what we wanted and create action steps. That taught us to have an active role in achieving what we wanted and to not to let life just happen to you.”
Adam says he still sets goals and action steps, for both his SendOutCards business as well as his personal life. “When you write it down, your mind goes to work to make it happen,” he shares. “A business like SendOutCards really helped me reach my financial goals, but my personal goals too. With time, money, and flexibility, I could focus on things like getting my pilot’s license, writing a book, and buying my dream condo.”
After graduating from college, Adam worked in Denver, Colorado as a golf pro, giving lessons, managing the pro shop, and having fun. While it may have seemed like an ideal job, it didn’t pay well, so to supplement his income, he tended bar. Working 80 hours a week left no room for golf or much of a social life. Adam eventually moved to Arizona to work for Tom Hopkins with his brother; he thought a traditional job was the way to go.
When Jeff and Jim got started in SendOutCards, Adam enrolled with them but didn’t do much to work on his business; he chose to stay focused on his job. But once he saw their consistent financial success, Adam got serious about SendOutCards. “When you decide to do something, it all comes together. If you dabble, you’ll only get paid that way,” he says.
Jim, Jeff, and Adam have one of the most successful teams in the company, are among the top 10 income earners in SendOutCards, and have been members of the “Eagles Nest,” a company advisory board, since its inception. They enjoy working together, each bringing a different set of strengths and skills to the table, and what makes them the happiest is seeing their team members succeed.
“We collaborate with each other, host conference calls, and meet with our team members in person; our team relates to at least one of us, and that has always been our goal,” says Jeff.
The Packards all enjoy the rewards of the financial security they’ve built with SendOutCards, but for them this business extends far beyond material possessions. They all agree that the biggest benefit of this home-based business—and the most unexpected—has been the network of friends they’ve built since joining in 2005.
“Most of our closest friends are people we’ve met through this business,” says Jim, which is echoed by Adam and Jeff. “We travel all over the country getting to know the people on our team and training them on strategies for building their business. They are like family to us; we care about their success as much as their friendship, which is why we provide the tools and support to help them reach their goals.” ♦
