Getting Started: Internet Presence

If you are working with a good direct selling company then they will have outfitted you with a very robust website that is easily recognized by the popular search engines. If you want to check your company's "optimization" (a tech word that describes the sophistication of a web page's coding that, when written properly, causes it to rank highly when "searched-for" by internet users) just go to your favorite search engine (mine's Google) and type in your company's trademark name: A highly optimized site will show up first or second on the resulting list after the paid-for listings, a poorly optimized site may not show up at all. Its a good thing to check on this before joining up with a company, if nothing else it indicates your company's general standing in their market.

Direct selling companies do commonly charge a small fee for your participation in their web program. DO THIS! In Mary Kay they offer a first year half-off rate to help one get started so my first year of participation cost me $25 and at the beginning of my second year the rate was $50 for the year from then on. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!? Just take a quick look at how robust my Mary Kay site is: http//:www.marykay.com/tonyhurst. Do you realize that a site of this sophistication would have cost me several thousand dollars to set up and probably another grand per year to update and maintain properly? And I know this, I've maintained ecommerce sites for several companies -did some coding myself for simple sites and managed the out-sourced projects for more complicated ones. The fact that I got this thing at $25 to start is just... well its just criminal on my part, take me to jail right now because I've just ripped off Mary Kay (two years in a row so far.)

Direct selling companies like to maintain very strict control over the use of their trademarks and they are very careful at insuring that the majority of product sales happen on a face-to-face basis. This means that you cannot go onto eBay or Amazon and blow out large volumes of your products to the world, it would be a violation of your agreement with your company and for good reason: IT WOULD LITERALLY PUT YOU OUT OF BUSINESS OVERNIGHT! Thats because, while you might think that you're a sharp business person to go that route, you haven't a clue as to how sharp the sharks out there really are and how much capitol is available to invest in any desired commodity on a moment's notice. I guarantee you that if your company couldn't reach into its deep pockets to sue the pants off of anybody that would like to market your products online you would have no market to sell to in no time at all, take my word for it. DO NOT sell your products online except through your company's official website. (And don't ever buy direst-selling products online, you would be literally dealing with criminals.)

Because of the strict licensing and trademark limitation agreements that you enter into when you go into business with a direct selling company you will have to use some caution in managing any online presence outside of your company's official domain. You will not be able to use your company's logo on any personally designed website and you may not be able to list individual products for sale outside of your company's official website. Check your written agreement or contact your company's Legal Dept. for details and allowances as well as access to any available company-approved advertising standards.

So what can you do?

Well, there's no restriction on you being you. I'm me. I'm happy to write this blog and tell you about me. Its no secret that I'm a Mary Kay consultant. I can type "Mary Kay" without it being a licensing issue because the words themselves are not trademarked, only the logo is. I might mention that I sold my client a moisturizer on a particular day and I might even mention how much the client paid for it. The truth is that I am marketing my image through this blog and that is GOLD for any direct marketer -in fact it is worth volumes more than individual product sales. I have feelings and opinions and experiences that I write about here and I have a right to express these things as a matter of public opinion so long as I am true to my agreement with Mary Kay.

In fact, people buy products like ours only from people that they know but I can actually go a long way towards making sales by being personally known through electronic media (like the article that you are reading right now.) And this can actually open up a literal Pandora's box of personal marketing options for you and your business without ever violating your agreement or doing anything even slightly out-of-line.

I could really go on about this however the subject would be longer than most of my readers' attention spans -actually even longer than my own. What I will do for you is make an offer to connect you with some consultants who are far more knowledgeable than I am in this area and I can absolutely guarantee a value. In case you haven't noticed it this blog just got launched last month -and if you're at all sophisticated you can tell that I barely even know what I'm doing so my willingness to go in with you on a training project like this is as much for me as it is for you.

Today I attended a short workshop with Shari Weiss and Les Ross. Shari is a professor at the San Francisco State University School of Business as well as a Business Consultant and Marketing Lecturer and Author -and a really nice and extraordinarily intelligent and sharp lady. Les is what I would call a Business Consultant Extraordinaire with an executive-level background in manufacturing and consulting -and also a really nice person and with a sharp eye for the crucial nuts and bolts of business operations. Together these two insightful people walked myself and about a dozen other individuals through the maze of online social networking -thats a big phrase, I'll explain in a moment- and showed us exactly where and exactly how we could use our presence in these online domains to get our business message out into the world to generate leads, sales and referrals both locally as well as internationally.

Internet Social Networking is the catch-all phrase that one would use to describe online domains such as Facebook and Twitter and Linked-in as well as some lesser-known (but still very influential) online communities. I was blown away by the amount of critical information that was disseminated in the short two and a half hours that we spent going over their presentation. It will take me weeks just to get through all of my notes!

Les and Shari offer very reasonable webcast consulting sessions that will walk participants through getting the most out of these crucial marketing vehicles and I am actively seeking participants who would be willing to pool their resources with me so that we could collectively take advantage of their marketing expertise and get ourselves properly represented online in a way that efficiently returns results in the least time-consuming fashion possible.

Now HEAR THIS! This is VERY IMPORTANT! A direct marketer absolutely SHOULD NOT be spending hours a day focused on computer internet activities. The time that I spend writing this blog is not work time for me, its a hobby. I enjoy expressing myself and the time that I spend here is allocated for my personal interests like writing, riding motorcycles or tinkering with old computers, all of which I do with abandon during my off hours. My National Sales Director absolutely REFUSES to maintain any online presence because, in her words, "My best online advice to my consultants is to turn OFF the flippin' computer, put ON a flippin' blazer, slap a Mary Kay pin to your lapel and get yourself to the mall and generate some ACTUAL FACE TO FACE LEADS!" And I agree 110%. Notice the word "DIRECT" in "Direct Marketing." That means, ideally, face-time, and secondarily, phone-time, period. My purpose in getting connected with Les and Shari is to get training on the most efficient avenues for maximizing the short amount of time that can be justified in our businesses for generating local business leads and marketing our image. I would suggest that the maximum work time that should be devoted to these activities is about a half an hour a day with maybe one day a month having a full hour of prep time for the coming month's activities (i.e. preparing tweets and posts in advance etc.)

I believe that Les and Shari understand our needs there and can coach us accordingly. I'll say it again -I absolutely guarantee value here.

So please email me with your desire to take part in a webcast session with Shari and Les -I have so many notes scribbled all over their flyer that I can't read their fee schedule but I will be in touch with them and get some details about it and I will be ready to take part in a webcast sometime in the coming month or so.

If you would like any information at all about Les or Shari I can assure you that they are so very present on the web that they're hard to miss! (...and you should be too.)

But here's some specifics:

Les:

• http://www.highlanderllcconsulting.com/
  
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesrosshighlanderllc
  
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Rafael-CA/Highlander-LLC-Consulting/50851769156?ref=search
  
• http://twitter.com/BusinesMechanic
  

Shari:

• sharisaxisoutthere.wordpress.com
• http://twitter.com/Sharisax
  
• http://www.facebook.com/shari.weiss
  
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/shariweisssf
  

I encourage everybody in business to GET CONNECTED! Online and with these people. IT PAYS!

-Love, Tony

Linx:

Getting Started: What's in a name? Possibly The Missed Opportunity of a Lifetime!!

Getting Started: Get Rich Quick! ...yeah right

Getting Started: THIS Company is Perfect for YOU!

Getting Started: Where's The BEEF!

Getting Started: Internet Presence -YOU ARE HERE!

Making Connections: Being a Joiner: True Story

Today I attended a Health & Wellness Committee meeting sponsored by The San Rafael Chamber of Commerce. This committee supports the health and wellness business community by sponsoring events and networking opportunities and it is a critical forum for meeting the needs and expanding the horizons of this vitally important industry within our community.

Present at this meeting were:

Leaza Haydock, C.M.T., Awaken Your Body, massage therapy & conscious bodywork,

www.awakenyourbody.net, (415) 233-2244

Darcy Starr, Isagenix Consultant, nutritional cleansing and dietary health,

www.cleansedaily.com, (415) 717-6078

Hazel Wood, Certified Instructor, Stride by Stride, ChiWalking and ChiRunning,

www.stridebystride.com, (415) 459-1840

Dr. Jonathan B. Smith, Doctor of Chiropractic, BALANCE Chiropractic,

www.balancedc.com, (415) 499-3399

Jennifer Kenyon, CSA, PHR, First Choice Home Care,

www.firstchoicecal.com, (415) 295-1565

When I first got started in my Mary Kay business I immediately wanted to jump in to any health and wellness environment to spread the word about the health benefits of our great skin care products however I was wisely coached by my director to keep my focus on developing clientele who would be more interested in the "pampering" and "fun" aspects of the Mary Kay milieu. She was right; in Mary Kay we use the "pink & fluff" as the vehicle for providing our clients with a healthy skin care regime and we access our ideal market in this way because it is what makes Mary Kay novel and interesting to consumers.

So why in the world would I be attending a Health & Wellness Committee meeting?

First off, on a plain personal level I have health needs (and many people around me have them as well.) I don't have a lot of needs but I do have some and getting involved with people who are operating at this level of vitality in their businesses (the movers and shakers in my community) I get access to the best, most current and well rounded health opinions and strategies available to anybody (and so far I haven't paid a dime for this valuable access.) These people provide personalized service to their clients and if I have a need they'll have the answer (or help me with where I can get the answer.)

Secondly, from a business standpoint I employ a networking strategy of being a "Joiner." Being a part of anything that is happening in my community, anything, makes me available to whatever might roll in my direction. I'm known by people, my image becomes familiar, I'm approachable, I'm willing to help, I'm nice, I'm entertaining, I have thoughtful things to say and I care about people. The more that I "join in" the more that these things will be known about me. People do business with people that they know. Women are especially more likely to do business with "that odd male Mary Kay consultant" if they know me and their friends know me (cha-ching!)

The third reason (or set of reasons) that I attended this meeting is/are directly because of my having been active as a Joiner in so many other activities:

1. I'm an ambassador for The Chamber: My job is to spread the word to members (and prospective members) about the benefits of joining The Chamber. This committee and their activities are some of those benefits and I need to be in the know and be able to promote these benefits intelligently.
   
2. My friend is opening a new massage therapy business in Downtown San Rafael and I'm taking part in her Grand Opening and I want to connect her with this health and wellness community so I need to know what they're all about.
   
3. I'm a connected networker in general: I need to be able to know what (and who) is going on in every sector of my community so that I know where (and who) to send people when they have needs. My referral resources need to be fresh and up to date.

What can you do for these people as a direct marketer?:

• Help them spread their word; connect them with your community, your friends, your clients, your associates.

• Be their friend; its fun to have friends.

What not to do:

• Don't attempt to change the dynamics of a group that you do not have a vested interest in: I'm the worst at keeping my mouth shut when I have thoughts and ideas but it was critical that my place in this meeting was as an observer and a supporter, not a "changer."

• Don't promote your business unless invited and don't solicit anybody and DON'T try to recruit anybody. (In this case, especially, I was quite literally a drop-in guest in an environment that is out of context with my primary market.)

What they will do for you:

• If you behave yourself they will appreciate and respect you and that leads to referrals.

• ..and thats enough.
  

So be a "Joiner!" Its fun and it PAYS!

If your business would find valuable context in The San Rafael Chamber's Health & Wellness community then please contact Jean Kramers to become a member of the Chamber and then get in touch with Hazel Wood or Leaza Haydock for commitee details. The commitee meets on the first Wednesday of the month at The San Rafael Chamber's meeting room, 817 Mission Avenue, San Rafael, Ca. 94901.

-Love, Tony.

Making Connections: Networking Channels: Leads Groups: True Story

Leads groups are the channels that connect you with the professional people who should be your primary resource for operating a profitable business. These people operate in very stable business environments -generally large, well stratified corporations- and therefor have very predictable discretionary spending budgets. More importantly, they are are generally connected to a wide net of clients and associates with similar economic profiles. If you get even a single solid referral from one of these people it will be absolute gold!

Today I visited a leads group sponsored by the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce. Present at the meeting were representatives of the following businesses:

Barbie Rose, Regional Director, BC Services, Account Management/Recovery,

www.bcservice.com, (415) 847-3773

John Steddin, President, NorthBay Computer Systems, Inc, Information Technology Services,

www.nbcsys.com, (415) 456-6537

Jerry Tallman, Minuteman Press of Marin, Print Production Services,

www.minuteman-marin.com, (415) 453-4548

Robert J. Fernandez, CFP, Merrill Lynch, Wealth Management Services,

www.ml.com, robert_j_fernandez@ml.com, (415) 955-3776

Jennifer Loucks, Caldwell Banker, Residential Brokerage Services,

www.coldwellbanker.com, jennifer.loucks@camoves.com, (415) 256-2334

Joanne Bowman, Bayside Accountancy & Business Consulting, Operational Business Consulting Services, 

www.baysideaccountancy.com, (415) 860-5004

Don S. Maxon, Mortgage Loan Officer, Assistant Vice President,

http://mortgage.bankofamerica.com/donsmaxon, (415) 925-2424

Raymond Schlitzer, District Sales Manager, Accuchex, Payroll Management Services,

www.accuchex.com, (877) 422-2824

What to notice in the above list:

• First, simply notice the attendance of these people at the meeting. They make money for a living the same as you and me. They do so by making money for their employers. Their employers expect a great deal of performance out of them so any activity that consumes time is carefully considered and weighed against the potential for performance in other activities. If these people are here then its because there is money to be made here.

• Second, notice the categories represented at the meeting: Brokers, Financial Planners, Accountants, Loan Officers, etc. Also notice the level of operations that these people are working at; they are principals, vice presidents, directors and owners of volume businesses. I didn't notice any supermarket cashiers or gas station attendants at this meeting. These people are clearly not going to haggle over spending several hundred dollars of discretionary income if they believe that they are receiving quality products in return.

What can you do for these people? Help them:

1. Spread their word: Participation as a member obligates you to make referrals to members with whom you have good relations as well as confidence in their ability to perform. Talk to your people about who these members are and what they do: Market their message.
   
2. Connect them: Take every opportunity to get these members in front of your clients. The average real estate broker is not plying her/his trade over a dining room table while trying out a new skin care regime. That would be my responsibility as a member. If the subject of real estate comes up during one of the sessions that I have with a client then I'm going to tell that person about my friend, Jennifer Loucks, who is a top-level connected broker and she gets her clients the best inside deals available. "Here is Jennifer's card. Can I tell her to expect your call?"
   
3. Train them: Lead by example. As a direct marketer you should be receiving more education in networking in your first few months than these members can expect to receive over their entire careers. Being successful in your business and communicating your skills by employing your best networking self anytime that you are present in this networking milieux will set a high standard that the other members will follow and that will create success for them (and their success is yours.)
   
4. Be their friend: We're in a great industry and we enjoy many perks as a result of our personal success. Their jobs, on the other hand, can be very stressful. It can be a fun distraction to just hang out with a Creative Memories consultant once in awhile (or even a male Mary Kay rep now and then -how silly is that!)

What not to do for them:

1. Don't solicit them beyond a simple survey (i.e. "Have you ever tried my product? No? Lets get together sometime." and leave it at that.)
   
2. Don't recruit them: You'll be instantly labeled as a Pyramid Marketer (and therefor an "Undesirable.") Just don't.

What you can expect for yourself:

1. All of the above in exchange for what you do for them. Remember that these people handle large volumes of cash, if even a small percentage of that cash rolls your way you could be sitting very pretty as a result.
   
2. Isn't that enough?

The Leads Group for the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce meets on the first Tuesday of every month (12:00 to 1:00 pm) in the meeting room graciously donated by Bank of America Home Loans, 900 Larkspur Landing Circle, Ste 125.

To get involved with this Leads Group first contact Jean Kramers to become a member of The San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, then contact Joanne Bowman or Robert Fernandez, joint chairs for the group.

Get with these people, it PAYS!

-Love, Tony

Liinx:

Making Connections: Networking Channels: BNI (Business Networking International)

Making Connections: Networking Channels: Chambers of Commerce

Making Connections: Networking Channels: Leads Groups: True Story -YOU ARE HERE!

Industry Notes: Taking Care of Your People

Recently a close friend (who is a fairly new consultant for another direct selling company) had a serious problem with an operational aspect of working with her supplier (the wholesaler of her product) and it cost her some money.

Resolution to the problem was frustrating for her and she found herself caught up in some undue corporate bureaucracy -apparently some i's weren't dotted and some t's weren't crossed somewhere along the way but they were i's and t's that she hadn't been trained to be aware of prior to the issue.

It is my hope and belief that her particular issue will be resolved to her benefit as I know this company and some of the people in it and I have nothing but praise to say about them; they're a standup organization.

It caused me to reflect, though, about the ways that we, as leaders of our team members, should be using the freedom and flexibility that we experience in our business models to the direct benefit of our offspring consultants. Its literally the draw for our people to walk away from the corporate treadmill and join up with us: That the consultant will no longer be tied to a wasteful and senseless bureaucratic structure, that they will be their own masters and that they have every right to demand success from successful activities.

It doesn't matter how reasonable or unreasonable an operational request is when it comes to being of service to a dedicated and working consultant. I have thought that all of my professional career when working with some of the fantastic people that I have employed over the years -you just do it for them, whatever it is that they want you just make it happen: Pay them, provide, grease the wheels, pull the strings, just do it. Take care of business.

But here, in the direct selling industry, where we're actively promoting this great opportunity for people to be as successful as they are smart enough to be, its doubly critical that we respond with absolute vigor on the side of keeping the entanglement of operational minutiae out of the way of our determined marketers. The solution needs to be a phone call away to solve any issue when it comes to ordering, handling returns, processing payments or handling agreement details -any behind the scenes issues.

These people are out there in the field putting on a hell of a show. It is our responsibility as directors to make sure that the right props are in place when the curtains go up. And its not simply a matter of our integrity -as if that weren't enough- its literally a matter of our own ability to succeed. Our people need to do more than win here, they need to be so blown away by the service that we provide that they can't stand it not to tell every single person standing within earshot about how they should quit their job TODAY and get on board with this incredible company and this fabulous team.

When I'm in a group of professional affiliates or attending a networking mixer you have no idea how much I'm keeping my mouth shut -especially because you see me gabbing incessantly- because I just want to yell at everybody, "ARE YOU ALL FLIPPIN' IDIOTS? Do you realize how great my company is? Don't you even know that you don't have to be sad anymore?!!!..." But I somehow manage to refrain. THATS where you want your consultants to be and it happens because you make it so for them with the stipulation that if they do the work, you'll handle the rest.

So, take care of your people, people. IT PAYS!

-Love, Tony

Getting Started: What's in a Name? Possibly the Missed Opportunity of a Lifetime!!

The direct selling industry gets a bad name from two main sources. Oh yeah, and its all over the web too but even there the more substantive criticism still stems from these two issues (the less substantive is just freaks who have nothing better to do with their time but gripe -get a life people.)

The first place the bad name comes from is the burnout people got from getting hoodwinked into pyramid schemes back in the 70's and 80's. Thankfully, pyramid schemes have been outlawed in most countries including the U.S. It would be difficult for the average person to get involved in a pyramid scheme today however there are still some companies that skirt the edge of the same idea. The second source is just former (and even current) business owners who just couldn't make their businesses work and they like to share that with the world.

Pyramid schemes are unsustainable business models that suggest a great deal of return from very little investment. Pyramid schemes are primarily focused on selling franchises instead of products. Here's a common and simple con: If I sell you a franchise for $100 (the franchise could be anything, like an opportunity to sell some cheap widget in a particular market) and then you sell two more franchises to your friends for $100 each then you have doubled your investment, right? Sure; you spent $100 and you made that back on your first friend and then you doubled your investment when your second friend signed on. How wonderful for you. Unfortunately, however, the people toward the bottom of that pyramid quickly discover that everybody on the planet is already a franchise owner and the $100 franchise that they purchase is worthless because, not only were there never any customers for the widget in the first place, but EVERYBODY ON EARTH is a distributor. Thats why these schemes are illegal, its just fraud.

There are many versions of the game and they all look good until you actually do the numbers (all of the numbers.) An easy way to identify pyramid schemes (and even the ones that just skirt the legal edge) is to listen carefully to the business model: Are the proponents truly interested in selling products or are they more focused on selling franchises (or distributorships or "opportunities.") The farther away that you go from being product oriented the closer you are to simply building a pyramid of franchises which will ultimately result in the loss of a great deal of money and usually by the very poorest and least sophisticated people in your community.

An odd evolution of this basic idea uses the seemingly enticing draw of a pyramid-style dispersion system of wholesale franchises to distribute products (at an inflated wholesale price) to a team of personally recruited marketers. The products in question have an artificially inflated retail price (that wouldn't ordinarily be supported by the market) to justify the inflated wholesale price (which is actually the true market-bearing retail price.)

So, for example, I'm willing to sell you some consumable product -say, some specially imported rare coffee- that "retails" for $50 per pound (WOW, thats some special coffee! Here, taste it, isn't it great!?) But wait! If you would like to become a distributor and purchase a bulk amount of the product then I'll give it to you for $39, the "wholesale discount" -and a 22% margin is great right!? So now we're talking $39 per pound of coffee -a real deal for this special and incomparably rare coffee. And then you could recruit more people to distribute this coffee and offer them the same deal (thereby increasing your personal volume) AND!! We'll pay you a commission (or bonus) based on the orders that your team members place and now we've got you making money without even having to sell anything! Even better right? But wait!!! If you actually succeed in recruiting "X" number of people then we'll FURTHER drop your wholesale price right down to OUR OWN wholesale cost which is $25 per pound, WOWWWWW!!!! And you can then offer the same opportunity to your team members increasing your volume and thereby increasing your commissions and ending up with a life-long residual income that is the stuff dreams are made of! This is such an incredible deal, I just can't believe it!

Well, what's actually happening here? Are there truly any real consumers that would actually pay $50 for a pound of coffee? I mean coffee of any kind. Is there even anybody who would pay $39 for a pound of coffee? The answer is no. There might be a barely accessible market that could possibly pay $25 a pound if it was a truly novel varietal and we'll assume that it is a novel varietal -or maybe they're just getting it at Safeway for $7.99 a pound, who knows?- and there you go. So as a distributor, after you've done all the hard work of getting all these team members on board so that you could all purchase large amounts of very highly priced coffee at what is actually the market-bearing retail price for an extraordinarily rare varietal you walk away with a few commissions in your pocket but zero product profit (gee, I wonder who is making the profit here?) What you have actually done here is you've just helped this company sell a ton of high-priced coffee and you've done it for next to nothing. Thank you so much, you're the BEST!

It is truly appalling to me what some companies will do to use nice people.

So, again, the red flag here is the greater focus on distributorships over products. In Mary Kay (well, in my unit anyway, but also in every other unit that I've ever been in contact with) we're trained not to even mention our opportunity unless we're talking to somebody who already uses and loves and desires the products. That doesn't mean that there aren't some fired-up MK ladies out there pushing the pitch of joining Mary Kay to anybody that fogs a mirror, some people do that. And I have certainly worked some deals to get consultants on-board just so that they can get their products from the company at the company wholesale price and I have encouraged them to recruit team-members as well. But the key is that in every case my consultants have desired the products -even if only for their personal use- and the opportunity to become a distributor was a bonus for them, not the cause. The other mainstream direct selling companies are the same. They actually do have great products and the consultants actually do make money selling just those products without ever recruiting anybody. And we all also do make commissions from our companies for team members that we recruit to become distributors and there is a sliding scale of commissions that is dependent on our team size and volume however it is always proportionately secondary to the margin that we make on our products. 

Mary Kay (the wholesale company) makes a TON O' CASH in this business. Thats just for real. I don't really care what they make as long as I (and my team members) have a real opportunity to make some great dough as well and we absolutely do have that opportunity based on product sales alone.

Here's my Mary Kay deal in a nutshell: 

• I make a 50% margin on my Mary Kay product sales to my clients and I will give away some free products to promote my business and I will also do some discounting to great clients -its nowhere near my wholesale cost though and I ensure that my volume finances those promotions. As a consultant I will receive a 9 to 13% commission on team member wholesale orders and as a director I can receive up to a 24% commission on those team member orders -nowhere near the 50% margin that I make on product sales though.

• As a low-level consultant I can "receive use of a career car" (thats MK's jargon -its just a free car, they pay the lease and I pay a $40 a month co-pay for the full-on all-inclusive comprehensive insurance for the car. And they're nice cars) as long as I maintain 12 women on my team who are placing product orders of a sufficient volume to indicate that they are making significant product sales in their market. As a director I can qualify for the famous Pink Cadillac under similar (however larger volume) conditions.
  

Thats it. The great direct selling companies have similar deals and the one that you consider should have as good or better (if not, call me.) Now you have to sell your fanny off to make it but you should be in a very willing market and its no different than working for any retailer in that respect.

That brings me to the second reason that direct selling companies get a bad name (and its a short subject.) Some people don't make it in this business. Its not for everybody. You have to work and its hard sometimes. Some people fail. Thats all.

But some people make it. Some people make it big and many people can earn a great living in the direct selling industry.

So what's in the bad name of the direct selling industry is an actual opportunity if you're smart about it. Miss out on it and you'll never know how far you could have gone doing something that you enjoy. I encourage everybody to seek out a direct selling company that has products that interest them. Its truly a great industry to work in and support.

-Love, Tony