The number of women, and even men, deciding to work-at-home is ever increasing. Home-based businesses and employment are now being considered the growth industry of the future. Over the years, the number of US individuals and groups engaging in home-based businesses are rapidly increasing.

In 1996, Money Magazine conducted a survey and learned that 20 percent (20%) of home-based businesses had a yearly gross income of $100,000 to half a million  dollars while Newsweek Magazine anticipates more than five years ago that about half of the households in the US will be engaged in a home-based business which Entrepreneur magazine estimates to be generate $427 billion every year.

More and more people are opting to work and conduct business at home because of the many benefits it offers especially for parents who just can’t leave their children at home with nannies. Here are the top reasons of people for choosing work-at-home versus working in a formal office:

• Saving on Transportation Cost and Time. About 10% of a working person’s time is spent on transportation to and fro home. That is if she/he lives a little close to the workplace. At the same time, a good amount of allowance is set aside for transportation, either on gas and parking, or on bus/train and taxi fare. If you work-at-home, you’ll save all. You’ll have more time to sleep more in the morning and even stay later in the evening for leisure activities using the money you saved from the transportation cost.
• Saving on office food expenses. A good chunk of the salary goes to food allowance especially if you work in area where eateries and cheap restaurants are not found. Many try to save by packing lunch but these are usually haphazardly packed instant food that are unhealthy and not appetizing anymore when cold.
• Working flexibly at your convenience. One of the best benefits of working at home is that you get to choose your own work time. You may choose to work for full 8 hours a day or a couple of hours a day, it’s your call. In fact, there are online employers who even allow their workers to work on their own time and pace.  You are not bound by the usual eight hours, five to six days a week work. It’s very favorable for parents who babysit their children daily, for people who can’t wake up early to go to the office, and for those who love traveling and going out but need some cash to keep their finances afloat.
• Spending more time with family. What’s better than making money while staying at home with your family? You can organize events, sell stuff all over the world, and type the day away, in the confines of your own home, while playing and joking around with your children, and spending lovely, bonding time with them.
• Saving money from health cost. When you are working far from home, you may catch some bug or virus from people in the transit or in the workplace. Getting sick means medicines, doctor’s checkup and worse, hospitalization. Staying at home is staying in a safe environment where there’s a lesser chance to get sick.
• Productivity and talent equals money. Unlike in many offices, chances of getting an increase and promotion depend on the management which at times, is hindered by office politics. When working at home, the more hours and the better output you produce would be equal to money.
• More control with your working environment. Undesirable working environment causes stress. These may include politics, unhealthy competition, rumors and crab mentality. You can eliminate all of these in a work-at-home setup.
• More time for personal activities and for self- improvement. Mothering and working at the same time gives a lot of toil to a woman that she would in the process stop enjoying her own life and forgets about herself, her own career and her need for continuous self-improvement. Working from home allows her a good time to enjoy all of these.

As in all other jobs, not all is good about working from home. Let’s look at the other side of the coin and find out what could be the hassles and disadvantages of this make-money strategy:

• The pay may not be consistent. Many work-at-home schemes are freelance work, others work per contract or per project. This way, the pay become inconsistent which may pose a problem to people who need to regularly pay bills, loans, and settle financial obligations.
• No work certificate. This could be a problem if you wanted to avail for a bank loan or a home mortgage as you would need to present proof of income or proof of employment.
• No work, no pay. Unlike regular working employees, absences are paid through leave credits. For work-at-home, you don’t get paid if you get sick or can’t work for some time.
• No benefits, no regularization. Unlike regular employees, you don’t get bonuses, health cards, backpay or social security pension.
• Isolated work setup. You are on your own. You won’t belong in a team of people working for the common purpose. You won’t get invites to seminars or trainings, office parties and events. This somehow limits your potential for expanding your network for business purposes.

Watch out for the Part II of this article discussing the different opportunities for online employment and business.

Are you working from home too? Please share with us your experiences and tips for working at home! Hit the comment button or use the contact form.

Part 2 of the article “Direct Selling Opportunities for Moms.” Read Part 1 here.

Being a work-at-home Mom myself, I noticed that dollar is stabilizing, slowly but quite consistently against other currencies in Asia, such as the Philippines, where it made a serious drawback in the last months. This is probably because the United States economy is gaining and the country is recuperating from the effects of the recession which started during the last part of 2007.

However, one industry that survived the recession without getting too bruised is direct-selling which maybe in the form of single-level marketing (SLM) or multi-level marketing (MLM). In fact, according to directsellingnews.com and dsa.org, the US has remained the world leader in direct selling in terms of sales volume ($28.33 billion in 2009) and sales force size (16.1 million consultants in 2009). The industry is actually faring better than the retail sector with forty-four (44) of the top direct-selling companies in the world being US-based.

However, the industry needs better competitiveness as although it is consistently increasing in sales force, it has also reflected drop in sales. This may be attributed to the rising popularity of online shopping. Both new business models — face-to-face and online shopping — provide convenience to the shopping public.  Actually, the two business schemes can be joined together. A year ago, I was a direct-selling associate for two popular brands selling cosmetics and handbags. While I already established clients from the workplace in the community, I decided to widen my reach and sell our products to strangers through the use of free auction and selling sites. My profit immediately increased by two hundred percent because of the strategy.

The industry has attracted a lot of young people since according to the CEO of Amway Australia, these young blood prospect  works that are fun and provides short-term rewards which is an opportunity in direct selling. A young lass can immediately become a team leader, a manager or a director, in less than a year provided she works hard and seriously commits to the program provided by the company.

If you somehow think that direct-selling is for you, you may want to take a look at the list of the top 20 companies in the industry for 2009 based on revenue generated. The data is collected by MLM Company and published in directsellingnews.com:

Just like with other business ventures, there’s always the risk factor in engaging in direct selling. It would be unfair to just glorify the industry without looking at the other side of the coin. Here are the known few so you can weigh whether getting into it is worth the risk:

• Except for the big names in direct selling such as Avon, Mary Kay and Amway, the sprouting businesses and brands are short-lived. It’s important that you choose a brand to sell that you think have the potential to make it big in the market and will be around for the years to come to support your livelihood.
• Dishonest pyramiding and networking schemes posing as legit businesses gave direct-selling business a bad mark which makes promotion, either the distributorship or the products, harder and time consuming.
• Direct selling for most is simply a part-time job and therefore, provides only that – a part-time compensation. It may not support pay one will get from a full-time profession. The amount of money you will receive on a monthly or bi-monthly basis is inconsistent, unpredictable. It will depend on how hard you work, how extensive your network is, and how effective your strategies are.
• The business is highly competitive especially if you’re selling popular products such as health, wellness and beauty products. Either you compete with other brands or with other direct-sellers within the area selling the same brand that you do.
• A quota is set for every direct seller and not reaching that quota per month or per a specific period will make your account inactive.
• The product for direct selling are usually priced higher than their counterparts in stores which makes them harder to sell.
• If you have graduated from selling products and has upgraded your membership to distributorship, you will have to think of effective ways to motivate your downlines to sell more and sign up new distributors.

The part 3 of this article will discuss the tips and strategies on how to be successful in the business and the ethics one should live with as a direct selling professional.

What do you think of this article? Feedbacks and suggestions are welcome! Please hit the comment button or use the contact form.

An industry that has always survived the economic crisis in America and probably, in other countries as well, is thedirect-selling business. This over 70-year old industry offers a livelihood opportunity that is suitable for mothers, whether they are stay-at-home or working. This is a proven technique to increase household income of a family but just like other employment and businesses, there are certain skills and strategies required to make it work.

To start understanding this scheme and weigh if it’s the right work-at-home for you, read the basics.

I What is Direct-Selling? I

According to the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA), “direct selling is a dynamic, vibrant, rapidly expanding channel of distribution for the marketing of products and services directly to consumers.” The book Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective by Belch and Belch defineddirect selling as the “the direct personal presentation, demonstration, and sale of products and services to consumers, usually in their homes or at their jobs.”

Both definition provided a clear understanding that this industry provides an alternative approach to selling usually provided by businesses with fixed locations, that is delivering of goods, products, and/or services to consumers in a person-person basis, usually in the comfort of their homes or in a defined venue, such as the homes of the directselling associates, direct selling professionals, or independent sales representatives affiliated with a direct selling brand.

I Direct Selling Benefits and Advantages I

Truly, this industry is already an acceptable and even recommended business and livelihood option. In fact, business and financial experts Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki in their book Why We Want You To Be Rich named direct- selling, which they called Network Marketing,  as among the only three (3) options they offer towards becoming rich and not fall into poverty.

Since I am a strong advocate of gender and development, I like the fact that direct selling is pro-gender equality. It does not discriminate anyone from making money out of this business method, whatever gender they have, age is also not a question, nor academic background or previous work experience(s). It provides a leveled playing field to everyone. What matters is their persistence, enthusiasm and ability to sell.

Another benefit direct sellers get is decreased tax liability compared to those who are regularly employed or running their regular businesses. The government is kind to direct sellers, only the products and services are usually charged with taxes while direct sellers are encouraged to file income taxes for earnings they derived from direct selling.

Big direct selling companies offer training packages focusing not only on sales and product training, but also on personal development which is greatly beneficial for moms who have stopped working after marriage or child-birth.

Here are other good things a direct seller usually benefits according to a research:

• Opportunity to meet and socialize with people.
• Work with flexible schedules.
• Earn extra income even if you have a day or regular job.
• Own your own business.
• Be your own boss.
• Earn profits proportion to exerted efforts.

Direct selling opportunities require very low to moderate initial investments and often require small monthly investment only to maintain an active account . Some would simply require membership fees for as low as $10 and less than $100 for a starter kit.

I Selecting the Right Direct-Selling Opportunity I

You don’t jump right in to direct selling as others did and get scammed, lose money, and credibility, in the process. As in getting the right employment and planning for a good business, one should study carefully the type of directselling business that should work for you.

Fortunately, the WFDSA provides the procedures how to go about this.

Step 1. Select the right company and product.

Direct selling businesses mostly targets the women shopping population. Many of the products and services provided by direct selling companies are for women since they are the ones who usually buy. These products and services ranges from cosmetics to wellness products, from home decor to gardening supplies, fromclothing to jewelries and fancy accessories, from food to kitchen appliance. Almost all products are now sold through direct selling. The key is finding products and services you like and believe in, and your confidence in selling them.

Another factor is choosing the right direct-selling company. If you are more concerned about how you can easily sell products, choose a company that carries well-known brands with an established reputation and following. If you wanted big profits, select a company that gives out big commissions and other financial perks. If you wanted to develop your personal and professional traits and skills, look for a company that provides good training programs for their DSAs (direct selling associates).

In the WFSDA, you will find their list of members whom you may contact for more information about the industry and may offer good advice what companies and products should you try to get involved with.

Step 2. Do not rush, take time to decide and select.

Think long-term, don’t just jump in because everybody is into it. Many are swindled by easy-making-money scams offered by networking and pyramiding companies. Others easily register with direct selling companies because their friends, families and neighbors, are into it, the thing is they are losing their market because too many are selling the same products in the same communities, areas or workplaces.

Think throughly. Weigh your options, evaluate your chances.

Step 3. Ask questions, research, investigate.

Learn about the products and the company by asking questions from friends and acquaintances who are familiar with them. Research about distribution and return policies, commission rates and other information you are concerned about. Use the internet, read feedbacks and reviews about products and companies you are interested in from forums and blogs.

Double check the information you have gathered. Do not assume they are true or untrue unless you verified them.

The next article shall discuss the top names in the direct selling industry you may want to engage in, the opportunities for the industry in the next years, and tips on how to become an effective and successful direct seller.