5. Direct sales businesses
Starter kit: $100
Shoppin-party expenses: $200-$400
Total investment: $300-$500
Have you heard about Avon or Tupperware? Maybe you have some distant memory of your mom selling some stuff to her friends over morning coffee? Well, direct selling nowadays is one of the easiest businesses to start under $1000. It has come the long way from a door-to-door local sales rep to the $114 billion industry with more than 60 million people involved. The industry relies on well organized, multilevel marketing companies where the reps can earn money not just from their sales, but from sales of their recruits and their recruits’ recruits. It just sounds complicated – direct selling is marketing and selling products away from a retail store location, and it can be done through in-home shopping parties, in the form of a presentation and as catalog sales. All you need for this business to kick off is a starter kit from the company whom product you will sell and a client base – a good audience. The above mentioned Avon is a well-known and an excellent example of such company, where you can buy the $25, $50 or $100 starter kit, depending on how serious a sales rep are you. As for the in-home shopping parties, it will cost you a couple of hundred dollars to provide pastries and drinks for guests – potential buyers. To get the whole picture, check out the website of the Direct Selling Association as well as Direct Selling News so you can stay tuned, once you decide to try yourself in this field.
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