BellaOnline Forums Career Business Owners Have you ever been in direct sales

totally....

after visiting the hubby on the weekend we drove home in a blizzard. When we got back to Calgary a neighbour had shovelled the driveway. I was so grateful. Being on my own, starting a business, having Christmas and very little cash has taken it's tole so to know I have an amazingly thoughtful neighbour is very motivating.

I am a stay-at-home mom who spent two years running my successful Direct Sales Business, while becoming a certified tax preparer and bookkeeper. Since I have experience in direct sales and taxes, I am going to put them together to help people in direct sale businesses by doing their taxes.

So this is my idea and you can let me know what you think.

-I will be able to keep prices low because I am planning to meet people over coffee at a convenient location near them and using the wireless Internet connection to file the return

-I will be able to provide the same professional tax services and keep your information as safe as the larger tax companies by using the same quality software, without high overhead costs

-How do you prepare your income tax return each year?

-How much money would you normally spend to prepare your income taxes?

I care about your opinions and any insight and feedback into this would be greatly appreciated.

This is a great idea. I think that it is a huge service for direct sales people to have.

If you want to write articles with links as a marketing tool please let me know as I am always looking for articles that will help those in direct sales.

Another marketing idea for you would be to approach HR departments at corporations with a package that would encompass, workshops, tax saving tips, and tax returns for a flat fee per person.

Hope that helped.

I have read through most of these postings and wanted to share my experience!

I have been involved with a health and wellness company for two and a half years now. I did try other Network Marketing companies before this one, but they didn't work out for me. I have found this company to be very different from the others I have tried and looked at. The support and training is unbelieveable and FREE! I can go directly to the website for training, or call my sponsor. I always have someone or someway to get the info and training that I need. Not to mention when I was considering joining this company, I had the ability to see everything on thier website, from the pay scale to what's in the products, etc. They don't have anything to hide! It cost me $29 to start my business, so I really didn't have anything to loose, but everything to gain! I don't even have to "stock" the products! I used the money I made in the first month to buy everything I need to run my business.

The most rewarding part of it is that I can help other women take control of thier lives again! For me, I wanted to be home with my kids, but I also wanted contribute a substantial amount of money to help my husband provide for us, and help others! Like most women...I WANT IT ALL!!! I love surrounding myself with other women, and I love that I have a gift to offer them! I have the ability to help others while contributing to my family. It's a beautiful concept and something I always wanted in my career!

We also started expanding Internatioanlly this year, so we now have the ability to touch women in other countries...perhaps it really is a small world after all!!!

If you can find a good company to join, network marketing can be a viable alternative to the regular 9-5 JOB, or just for that extra mall/spending money! It can be hard work, and its not always easy...but the rewards make it worth it if your why is strong enough!

I just changed the subject in hopes of getting some help.

I am trying to build a resource on my website for woman looking at staying home and starting a business. I have had some great reviews on various companies and opportunities written up and would love to expand this section of my website for 2008.

What I need are reviews on what you do or the company you represent. I would add links to your websites and emails which you would need to provide.

The reviews would need to cover 5 topics:

1) Why you choose to do what you are doing as a WAH opportunity.
2) What you find frustrating about the opportunity or company
3) What you like about it
4) All Costs associated with starting up
5) Successes failures etc.

The more comprehensive the better. It's not meant to be a sales pitch but a useful resource for women researching different opportunities to get an honest overall opinion of the opportunity or company.

To check reviews already submitted and the one I wrote on Latasia Jewelry go to:

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

I could write an article for you on the benefits/frustrations of creating your own website and putting adsense on it. It's been a long slow process but is finally paying off for me.

That would be so perfect and I would add a link to both the article on my website:

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

HI Everyone,

I have been in Direct Sales for almost 18 years. Almost 17 with the same company as an independent rep and was one of the people who really "made it" to a very substantial 6 figure income.

I understand the frustration of meetings that do lots of recognition and not lots of training/networking. When a company finally has everyone together the time is so short, there really has to be a good balance between recognition, training, fun and motivation. It is a very delicate balance.

Why does the company want you to do it "the company way"? That is such a good question and it really needs answering, hopefully some others besides me who have been there and done that can share their feelings on it too.


My opinion:
People who have "made it" have tried many many different ways of getting there (for the most part). Through this trial and error they have come to understand what works, and what doesn't. Why not help you to avoid what doesn't work and point you in the direction of what does? In EVERY Direct Sales company there are people who come in and think they know better - I was one of those. For SEVEN years I was convinced that all the things they were trying to train me were just fluff - not how the real world worked. And for seven years I had moderate success.

I finally got so fed up with listening to the same things over and over at sales meetings about "interview every host" "hold 4 parties a week" "send postcards to every host" "make 5 calls a day" blah blah blah...I told my upline that I was sick and tired of it, tired of them not telling me what REALLY makes it happen and I would show them - I would do all those things for 60 days and show them they didn't work. That was August of 1997, by September of 1998 I was earning 6 figures and have done so ever since. Go figure.

So now, I am one of those that so many Direct Sales people get frustrated with because I teach the basics over and over - some fun stuff too - but the basics because they really work. And those who have listened to me (God BLESS them!!!) have been very successful too.

How I wished I could have proven everyone wrong and found a DIFFERENT, maybe even easier, way to make direct sales work - but I didn't.

Finally - why isn't there more networking time? I'm pretty certain because there are always people out there who are willing to give advice on what to do, but they are often not the successful ones. ASK any successful person in Direct Sales what works and most likely she'll pour her heart out to you. Always be wary of advice from people who are selling and sponsoring less than you.

Carennedy, I'll be visiting your site and giving some feedback on the two companies I have been with for you. The site you are creating is a GREAT idea!

Kris

I would love and welcome your expertise and value anything you would want to put together.

You made some really good points here and I do agree that it is hard work and there are systems that work in place. You proved it.... Like anything in life you get out of it what you put in, there is no easy road.

Carennedy, your site is a wonderful idea! I hope you get lots of feed back.

I just started promoting Peddlers Kitchen, which is in my signature. I like the idea of it being geared for families and busy people who would like quality meals at their fingertips.

I'll let you know how it goes and maybe I could do an article for you on it. Want to see how successful it is first tho.

Stacy