Direct selling at home offers job flexibility

Saturday, November 1st 2008, 4:00 AM

With job security and consumer confidence sinking and unemployment rising, many Americans are looking for ways to bring home more cash.

If you aren't working but need to have a part-time job or have a full-time job that leaves you some free time, one option is direct selling — operating a franchised, home-based business.

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Many of these businesses offer a great deal of flexibility.

In addition, "We offer a way for people to earn money even when jobs are scarce," said Deborah Coffey, a spokeswoman for Avon.

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More than 15.2 million Americans worked part-time or full-time at this in 2006, according to the Direct Selling Association.

"Avon has been in business for more than 120 years, and our earnings opportunity has helped people navigate through many periods of economic stress." Like now.

If you are interested in starting a home-based business, be forewarned: Many direct-selling companies are not reputable. To avoid them, check dsa.org. The group tries to ensure that member companies live up to the promises they make.

Here are some essential tips if you're considering such a career move:

1. Companies with long track records are usually safer. If a company has been in business for more than a decade, so much the better. Try to speak with several people who work for the company.

2. Don't make a decision based on the products you think yield the biggest commissions; instead, choose a company or products that are in line with your personal interests. Ask yourself, "Is this a product that I would buy?" If you can't sell it to yourself, you can't sell it.

3. Use the Web to conduct research. What is a company's history, does it have a mission statement, who were the founders? Choose a company you can be passionate about because you won't be successful selling something you don't believe in. A good portion of your potential is driven by your determination.

4. Set realistic goals. All companies will showcase their greatest earning potential. Be conservative: Cut the number at least in half and ask yourself if you can live with that. With lower income expectations, you have the opportunity to exceed them.

With the help of technology, it's easier than ever to sell directly.

Take Avon, for instance, a company I can tell you about firsthand because I worked for them starting when I was 12 (with the help of my mother).

Back then, success was all about selling door to door, person to person or call to call.

While personal contact is a great way to sell, companies now understand that workers don't have the time to sell this way anymore. They help their reps sell over the Internet by building personal Web sites, allowing personal contact 24/7.

It's also much more efficient, because every order can be processed and shipped directly to a client's doorstep from a company facility.

There are pros and cons to every income opportunity.

In the case of Avon, "There is minimal startup cost to becoming an Avon representative, and our representatives don't pay the company until they get paid by their customers," Coffey said.

If you enjoy being the boss, managing your time, selling something you believe in and customers believe in, it might just be a match.

It worked for me.

Your Money columnist Carolyn Kepcher, author of the best-selling business book, "Carolyn 101," is the former "Apprentice" star who thrived working for one of America's toughest bosses. She's now CEO of Carolyn & Company Media (www.carolynandco.com), an enterprise created by and for career women.