My friend Teri White is having her annual Swirlicious and Friends Annual Shopping Event on October 31st at the Carambeck School in Carleton Place. The issue about direct sellers came up once again, and I felt I had to expand my initial essay on it. You either love them or hate them, but people have to realize that NOTHING has really changed since your Grandma was selling Watkins Products.
Remember the Tupperware parties, Amway, Avon and Watkins products? Things haven’t really changed from days gone by. If you’re a mom who’s always wanted a work-at-home opportunity, you may have found it frustrating when searching for work from home jobs. Tupperware conjures up an era when throwing a party to sell airtight storage containers was the pinnacle of a lady’s social calendar. Think Tupperware, and the associations are of a retro, pre-feminist world in which housewives briefly put aside their aprons to discuss the best way to store their husband’s dinner ingredients.
These new direct sales companies provide a way for lots of women to earn a little bit of income, which I can appreciate. But some say they are tired of getting hit up to buy items by their friends! I have a hard time seeing the difference between people posting about their direct sales and someone constantly posting trying to sell their used stuff? Just unfollow the person or defriend them if it gets that bad. All the women I know that do direct sales, are doing it to make money to support their families as any other job full time or part time. Is it a fake job? I have several friends who own legitimate businesses – brick and mortar stores etc. So I would say that is their “real job”. They email me about their business all the time, invite me to fashion shows, sales etc. What makes that different then direct sales? So what equals a real job vs fake job? Is it a salary amount? Hours put in amount? If so what is the amount? I am curious.
The Home Based Business phenomenon has never been as strong as it is right now. Not just in the US and Canada, but throughout the world.The reason direct sales is so popular has to do not only with the benefits to the people selling it, but also the benefits to the companies that make the products or services. The sales model allows these companies a low risk, low cost method of expanding their sales force throughout the country.
I had a friend who lost their job. Out of boredom she went to a direct sales party a friend was giving and enjoyed herself. After thinking a long time about what people would think of her, she decided that she needed to have fun in her life and do something to keep her busy until she found work. A funny thing happened along the way. She began to really like what she was doing and as time passed she was actually making some money.
In order to really be successful, as with anything, you need to put in time. You have to do shows, parties, and network. A lot of time is needed almost everyday to call people about parties and orders. So yes, it is more flexible than a 9-5 job, but it can take just as much time. I also think there is a lot of confusion out there about direct sales (party plan, door to door, vendors at events) vs. network marketing or multi-level-marketing whose focus is on selling the business opportunity more than actual products. Some reps from those companies can be pretty hard core, where as in most direct sales/party plan companies, their focus is on the products. Although they do recruit other reps, it is so that they can sell the products in their areas and build their own career.
In reality, are things really that different than when Mom sold Tupperware? Like the internet, things change, and I commend all of those Mothers trying to stay home, and attempting to make their mark in the world. We women are no longer in an era in which female lives revolved around domestic drudgery. Carry on girls!
Buy Linda Secaspina’s Books— Flashbacks of Little Miss Flash Cadilac– Tilting the Kilt-Vintage Whispers of Carleton Place and 4 others on Amazon or Amazon Canada or Wisteria at 62 Bridge Street in Carleton Place
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