Step One: Home Party Business

Many years ago when my son was little I was a Mary Kay consultant.  The first year I did OK and made a little money, the following 2 years I believe I sold enough to cover the cost of my own products.  By the 4th year even maintaining a small inventory and placing an order every 6 months got to be too much work for my busy life and I finally gave up.  While I may not have had much success in Mary Kay, the closet I got to a pink Cadillac was riding in one, I have always been SO glad I did it.  The training was fantastic.  I learned a lot about business, sales, organization.  I met interesting people and had a ton of fun.

So as I am thinking about how to make $5000 a month a home based business seemed like a good place to start.  There are many advantages:  I don't have to come up with an entire business plan, the start up cost is low, the marketing is done for you, the product is developed for you.  It is a ready made business just waiting for you to step in and start making money. 

Having done Mary Kay in the past and now knowing my personality a little better I knew I didn't want to go back to that.  I didn't want to carry inventory and I know that I am better with people one on one than doing a big group presentation.  I also knew I wanted to sell something fun.  And I wanted to join a company that was a little newer. Something that not everyone was familiar with. 

While internet marketing has been very popular the last few years, direct sales companies seem to be making a comeback.  People miss the personal touch.  Which means there are a lot of new home party businesses popping up these days.  Avon, Mary Kay and Tupperware are not alone out there anymore.  A brief search found dozens if not hundreds of options out there selling anything and everything.  Whatever you love, there is a home party business out there for you.

I spoke with a couple people about their businesses and decided on Stella & Dot, a jewelry business, because it met my criteria of low start up cost, one on one sales model and, frankly, it just sounded like the most fun. It only requires $199 start up fee but I did invest a couple hundred more in my sample jewelry beyond what you get with the start up package.  The party or "trunk show" is more of a girls night out with women trying on my samples while sipping a glass of wine with friends.  There is no formal presentation.  This company also has an online aspect so I have my own web site which I am free to promote through my facebook page, blog or any other social media sites I am part of.

I actually became familiar with Stella & Dot through my sister who has been buying the jewelry for a couple years through a friend of hers.  They were featured on a news segment CNN did about Stella & Dot.  (My sister is the one showing off her charm necklace.)

One thing I am noticing is that the recruiting pitch of making lots of money while staying home with your family is gone.  I didn't get a big assurance that it was "easy".  They don't seem to be trying to convince everyone to sell their product recruit a bunch of people and find BIG success.  The thing about a home party business is that the potential is there for me to make far more than $5000/month but very few women actually achieve that level of success.  60% of the women who sell Stella & Dot have another job.  Most are just trying to bring in an extra few hundred dollars a month to do something fun like save for a vacation or be able to treat yourself to those new shoes.  And that is exactly how they are presenting it.  My sponsor told me if I wanted to make $2000/month she was happy to help me but I would  have to work hard, build a team and do several trunk shows a week.  I appreciated her honesty.

Since I know I want to pursue other business opportunities besides Stella & Dot, my goal is not to make the full $5000/month.  But I think it is going to be the fastest way to start making money.  I would like to make $2000 in the first month and at least $1000/month going forward.

I begin next weekend with a Business Launch Trunk Show at my home and 2 other trunk shows hosted by friends.  In the mean time I am watching lots of training videos online, talking with my sponsor, looking forward to getting my samples in the mail and telling everyone I know about my launch party. 

Come back next week to find out how it goes.