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I have always known that I wanted to make my own schedule and work from home (or better yet be a stay-at-home mom). But, with the way money is these days, especially since Husband and I are in the market for a new house, doing that isn’t something that’s possible. Because of this, I have tried my fair share of direct sales. Mainly because the idea of getting product that I love at a discounted price seemed amazing but also the thought of making money for a “product that sells itself” seemed like something that was obtainable.

I have been with the companies Avon, Scentsy, and Jamberry. All of those I whole-heartedly believe in. I still love the products themselves and I’m very glad to have friends who are finding success along their journey of direct sales so I can buy and support them. I am a younger mom who has a lot of connections with other people given my business. But, I don’t like being a used car salesman and I don’t like to pimp out items to people who I know aren’t interested. I feel like that was my downfall when it came to direct sales.

When you are involved in direct sales, there is definitely an emphasis to sell to your friends – think of it as a glorified school fundraiser for adults. I was never good at guilting getting my friends to join Facebook parties or get them to join my team, and I definitely didn’t want to insist that this expensive product, no matter how good it was, would be worth not paying that bill to get. I’m not here to bash direct sales, because if it works for you, that’s great! I have anxiety and that probably played a huge role in me not doing as well as I probably could have. I invested a lot of money in my direct sales and had little to no return no matter what product I was selling.

When you sign up for direct sales you are typically given a time frame and an amount that you have to sell. For me, it was too much of a stress to try to keep up with these deadlines, even though if I were consistently making sales (which I wasn’t) it would be easy to maintain. You are given the tools and the resources to make success possible, but what you aren’t given is the network to make it possible. Because of this, if you don’t have a well-bodied support system who are willing to help you reach your goals each month, direct sales might not be for you. If you have a support and an interest that will help you attain your goals, direct sales are definitely the job for you.

I will say, that I am forever thankful for the friends that these businesses have brought into my life. My team became my friends and it was great to have people who understood the hardships and the stress of direct sales. Further, the skills and business savvy that I’ve learned by being my “own boss” has helped me in other businesses and jobs that I’ve worked at. In fact, because I’ve worked in direct sales, even though I basically flunked out after a year, I’ve been looked at for jobs that others may not have. The mindset that I’ve gained from direct sales is something that I’ve used for blogging and just my life. Plus, the stuff you get in the starter kits isn’t bad either and definitely worth the cost.

I’m not doing any direct sales today, although I’ve certainly been tempted. I’m not here to convince you that you should join or shouldn’t join. I’m just here to tell you about my experiences. If you can, help out your friends who are doing direct sales. Join their parties, participate in their groups, even if you don’t plan on buying anything. Even just that small part helps them tremendously. Direct selling is hard. There is no way around that. I probably wouldn’t do it again, unless I can support myself with my own habits. If you are in direct sales, good luck! Email me your groups, I’d be more than happy to join. Have you had experiences with direct sales? What did you love or hate about it?