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Is a direct sales business your answer to working from home?

Direct Sales, Member Contributions

Let’s say that you just heard about a great product offered by independent sales representatives from a direct sales organization. You think the opportunity sounds appealing but you have not been able to decide “yes” or “no” on whether to get started. It is very normal for people to wonder whether they can be successful at owning their own business, particularly if they did not grow up in an entrepreneurial environment. However, if you feel hesitant or pressured to get going, rather than jump right in, it may be a good idea to check out the business a little more.

Here are a few suggested areas for you to examine:

How marketable is the product? Is it something that people will need or want? Is the price fair and less than similar products available through stores and online? Is there something special or unique about the product that makes it different from the competition?

What are the start up costs? Does the business require a large investment? Is there something of value that you receive for the price?

Do you understand how you make money? Is there a fair commission on products sold? Are there requirements that you must meet in order earn commissions? How do the commissions work on team members? Is the marketing plan confusing or simple to understand?

If you have questions before you even begin, chances are they will linger if you decide to move forward with the business. Allow yourself the time to investigate the organization, make sure you have eliminated any doubts about the opportunity on the front end and, most importantly, remember that there is no such thing as a “get rich quick” business. If it sounds too good to be true, it just might not be true!

Mona Colwell is a work at home mom with 15 years of direct sales experience. In addition to raising her three children, Mona has created a company for her almost famous husband, Emerson, and his children’s books and recently transitioned to a brand new direct sales organization, Ava Anderson Non-Toxic.

www.tinkinkpublishing.com
www.avaandersonnontoxic.com/mona

Is A Direct Sales Business Your Answer to Working from Home?

Is A Direct Sales Business Your Answer to Working from Home?

Direct Sales, Member Contributions


Chances are high that we have all known someone who has tried their hand at a work-at-home business through a direct sales company. Perhaps they were even successful at their venture and turned a part-time position into a full-time career, going beyond just earning extra money to creating a substantial fortune in commissions, cars, jewelry and trips. So how do you know if this journey is right for you? Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring the pros and cons of the direct sales industry, uncovering some red flags to look out for and helping you to decide if this is the best route for you and your family.

Let’s start with a few of the pros and in my opinion, there are many. First, a business is a business whether it comes out of a box (direct sales) or you create it from scratch. The only differences include lots of time and money! A direct sales business typically has a low entry fee, no experience is required and training is provided. Reputable companies offer a great product at a great price which can be significantly lower than competitors because through this form of sales, many of the overhead costs have been reduced. An entrepreneurial person can work a direct sales business from home in their spare time with low or no quotas and could be making money their very first month in business!

Mona Colwell is a work at home mom with 15 years of direct sales experience. In addition to raising her three children and maintaining a leadership position with her organization, Mona has created a company for her almost famous husband, Emerson, and his children’s books.

Some REAL advice on starting your own business.

Member Contributions, Resource Articles

Thinking of starting your own business?
Want to work from home but have no idea how to start?  It seems everywhere you turn these days there is someone else spamming you and telling you that you can be rich just like them, working a few hours a month. Blah blah blah. I don’t believe it for a second.
I am going to tell it to you like it is.

First, DO it. Don’t let anyone stop you. It will be the greatest journey of your life, give you more freedom than you ever imagined, and unlock potential you never even knew you had. No question. DO IT.

Second, it’s going to suck. I know I just gave you a list of reasons its going to be great. I wasn’t lying. But those things are the prize at the end of a very long and scary road. Trust me, these things will never be available to you unless you go down that path, so you must walk down it. But you have to remember as you fall down and struggle that it will all be worth it.

Third, do not expect to make any money in the first 2 years,. It doesn’t matter what you are selling, how little your overhead is, or who promised you that you’d start earning right away. Anything legitimate that will last you a lifetime of revenue coming in is going to cost you something in the beginning. Be prepared to struggle, get a little hungry, shop at the dollar store, and have people in your life treat you like you are a crazy person with a silly dream that will never amount to anything. Turn the other cheek and keep going.

This is NOT silly, and you are not doing anything wrong. DON’T GIVE UP. What you don’t realize is that you are planting seeds…lots of them…and they are all growing, very very slowly. But they are not just seeds, they are acorns. They will grow you an oak tree, solid and long lasting.  You may not see growth for a long time. In fact, you may feel like you are getting deeper and deeper in the hole. DO NOT DOUBT YOURSELF.

Finally, be prepared to make mistakes. This is a learning process. You are going to fall down, alot. you are going to over pay for things, spend money on things that were a complete waste, and find yourself in large messes of situations that you will have to clean up over and over again. Don’t beat yourself up. Stand up, brush yourslef off and KEEP GOING.

You will be so glad you did. The pay off…when it’s finally in birds eye view, is simply amazing.

Kid Kwotes

Kid Kwotes

Family, Member Contributions


I peeled an orange for my son, Braden and put it on a plate for him on the kitchen table while he was on the couch watching TV. Then I told him, “Braden, there is an orange here with your name on it.” He got up off the couch very enthusiastically, and ran over to the table where the orange was. After a moment of looking very confused, he looked up and asked, “where is my name?”

Is your kid hilarious? Share your funny stories and kid quotes here. We will be choosing the ones that make us laugh the hardest and posting them on our newsletter. The next one may be yours!!

Best Worst Mother

Best Worst Mother

Family, Member Contributions

Written by Molly Beck Ferguson

I’ll admit it. Parenthood has flat-out humbled me. I’m sure it has for many other parents out there as well – it has to have. No one REALLY gets it until you are in the throws of it. I only too-late realized how many ignorant and inadvertent judgmental thoughts I had when I didn’t have a child of my own. “I’ll never do this when I have a baby!” “Why is she always doing that with her kid?” I apologize to you all. I had no idea what I was talking about.

But that being said, there are still a few beliefs and ideas of child-rearing that I had in my former life that I am really trying to stick to now. Even though I now know I don’t know very much, I’m honestly trying to be the Best Mother I can be by trying to make the best choices I can.

To let you in on one of our little “secrets” – my husband and I have never really been a big fan of Disney – particularly the ubiquitous Disney Princesses that we feel infect our consumer culture. My husband is afraid that after one princess-themed birthday party, before you know it we’ll be shelling out money for the costumes, the dolls, Cinderella backpacks, Ariel Band-Aids, and Snow White multi-vitamins. I gotta say, I’m not really crazy about it either. It seems, I don’t know – lazy. Easy. Like I should be more creative with my parenting than that. I owe it to her to open up her mind to broader views outside these unrealistic ideas of a handsome prince swooping in and making her dreams come true.

My 2 year old daughter and I were recently invited as a free guest of a friend who has a Silver Pass to Disneyland. Seriously – this is the way to do it. All the fun of Disneyland without the added pressure of feeling like you need to have an AMAZING time, because you’ve just paid the equivalent of a luxury car payment to get in. If we had the choice, it’s a place we probably wouldn’t pick to spend the day on our own, but we very excitedly and graciously accepted the invitation.

I know my daughter had a wonderful day at Disneyland, but I gotta tell you, I had the time of my life! Secretly. I don’t know if I could have admitted to some friends or maybe even my husband what a happy crazy person I became being there. I became the Best Worst Mother ever. I coerced my toddler into eating a lollipop for lunch – which she all too eagerly agreed was a great idea. And didn’t she need a Kermit doll too? Of course she did, the poor deprived child! Even though we have so many stuffed animals at home I consider launching some of them out into space just to get them off my living room floor? But we don’t have a Kermit the Frog doll! Oh, wait! She needed a Mickey Mouse balloon! The same balloons that we found out our cats like to nibble on the string and vomit for days, you ask? Yup. Did that give me pause for a moment? Nope. “One $7 balloon, please.”

What happened to me? I’m a rational, logical, frugal person who barely recognized myself that day. I was quickly becoming that enabling, lazy mother I was just thinking judgmental thoughts about a few paragraphs ago!

As we stood in line for the merry-go-round, I told my gracious friend with the Disney Silver pass how much fun I was having at the aptly-named Happiest Place on Earth. He said – “Yeah, I’ve invited other people to Disneyland before, but they never want to come. I think they don’t even want to expose their kids to it for fear that it will just create princess-loving Disney consumers out of them.” Uhh…who would think THAT, I sheepishly thought, not making direct eye contact. But it hit me in the wake of hearing about another person’s similar judgmental thought – we weren’t taking our kids to a firing range, or an opium den, or any other grossly inappropriate place for them. We are taking them to Disneyland! Where a kid can be a kid, as I believe the old commercial sang. And all of us were having fun. A LOT of fun. What was so bad about that, that people purposely avoided it?

I don’t think that keeping your kid away from a consumerism-heavy theme park is necessarily being the Best Mother – because they are missing out on a truly magical, fun experience. I also don’t think that exposing them to it makes you the Worst Mother either – because that certainly doesn’t mean I have to buy every toy, t-shirt, or fruit snack with princesses on them. Can’t I find a middle-ground and just be the Best Worst Mother I can possibly be? Isn’t THAT what it’s all about?

Letting her watch ONE MORE episode of Dora The Explorer – not only because I have to get one of a million things done in those 23 minutes, but because she loves it. Picking up a Happy Meal for dinner one night – because I can’t deal with cooking, and frankly, she loves French Fries! Buying her a “Belle” gold lame’ princess ball gown to play dress-up – because she loves looking at herself in the mirror with it on, it makes her feel special, and it puts a smile on that luminous little face. These are things that society makes us believe we are bad, lazy parents if we give in to them. I cannot believe that’s true.

I told my friend while in line waiting for the merry-go-round at Disneyland, “You know, if you only feed a kid carob, they are going to find chocolate somewhere eventually.” And it’s true – we are responsible for our children, but ultimately, as they grow up, we can’t control what they love, what they do, or even what they eat. I was a changed woman and a changed parent that day, humbled once again. I had a great time at Disneyland, and officially took one step closer to becoming the Best Worst Mother I really hope to be. And I’m positive my daughter will be better off for it.

On a final note, the next morning, still basking in the glow of our trip to Disneyland, my daughter refused to eat her breakfast. I did sink to a new manipulative parental low by actually hiding behind the giant Mickey Mouse balloon and asking her in a falsetto voice to “Please eat your yogurt!” It worked like a charm. Best Worst $7 I ever spent…

Is A Direct Sales Business Your Answer to Working from Home?

Give

Family, Member Contributions


By Guest Blogger, Lisa Lange

It’s not as hard as it sounds. Just reach out your hand.

I know that may sound absurd, but I know that many people understand
this concept. I know, as many of you do, that there is always
something to give. Time, energy, a helping hand, a shoulder to lean
on, an ear to listen, a pat on the back, a kind word, a kiss or a hug.
Giving of yourself is truly the best gift of all. It doesn’t cost any
money, and it keeps the energy flowing. Since the universe works in
full circle, you must give in order to receive.

Over the past year, while in the infancy stages of my business, I have
been faced with many obstacles, opportunities, whatever you would like
to call them. And, I know that they will keep coming. The difference
between now and then? The way I look at life. It’s not a chore, it’s
not “hurry up weekend”. It’s a journey.

I have always been told that people come into your life for a reason,
a season or a lifetime. It is amazing when you change your focus,
decide to maintain positive energy, and focus on what “really matters”
the people that come into your life. And, unfortunately, the people
that make their way out of your life. What happens when you welcome
these “new” people into your life? They bring the gifts to you, like
you have brought to others. You become surrounded by the people that
make a difference. Here comes your pat on the back, your listening ear
when you feel down, your shoulder to lean on when you think you’ve had
enough, and the kind word you’ve waited so long to hear.

What are you going to do the next time you feel like you have nothing?

Lisa Lange, Owner of Reading About Me is a friend of the Our Milk Money organization, and a very generous support to parents and families around Arizona and all over the online community.