Usborne books / other direct selling experiences please!

[cleanairplease]

I really need to make some money (don't we all atm) but really haven't any options re childcare so thinking of becoming a direct seller, a few questions.

1. Is it worth it?! Eg if you go to a toddler group with 10-15 mums how much might you expect to take, on average (ie not december!)
2. with usborne books do you have to buy a load and then sell, or do you take orders first and then buy or what? It is quite confusing / vague on the website.
3. Am I likely to annoy people I know who already do it in the same area? Just a bit or friendship ruining level?
4. Can you direct sell from more than one company at a time. Ie can you sell Usborne books + home made baby things? Thanks in advance.

Hi cleanair,

I have worked for Usborne for about 15 months now and will try to answer your questions as best I can. (1) each event varies enormously - I have personally found parties to be the most lucrative! Generally sales run at about £300-400 per party - you earn at least 24% comission and get the chance to top up with free books. You also get other leads eg teachers, ta's etc and possible recruits. (2) Your ONLY requirement if you join Usborne is to place 1 order for £100+ in the 1st 3 months of joining and after that it is entirely up to you. I do hold stock as I travel to big events; other organisers work it by orders from leaflets and catalogues only. (3) not sure about this as I am the only Usborne person I know for miles around! I now have a team member fairly locally and am delighted as we can hopefully cover events between us. There is plenty of work out there for all of us (4) there are restrictions and it is to do with selling vaguely competing products or being a member of another DSA organisation. So it is unlikely that home-made baby things would not be OK. Do please contact me if you would like to know more. regards, Nicola

Hi Cleanair. I do Phoenix Trading. It's very flexible in that you can do it exactly how you want. You can do parties, sell from catalogues, do events, send in baskets of stock to businesses, anything you want really. I don't keep much stock, so there isn't a huge initial outlay. With Phoenix, the prices go down slightly when people buy 10 or more cards, so I don't often get orders for less than that, and usually more. I don't have any close friends who do Phoenix, so not sure about clashing with people in the same area, but haven't found it a problem so far. I think friendship groups are so diverse, it wouldn't really matter. My website is www.phoenix-trading.eu/web/sharonbrightman

You can get in touch via the website if you'd like more info.

Hiya

I do Captain Tortue selling stunning French Ladies and Children's clothes. I absolutely love it and have been doing it for some time now.

In answer to your questions:

1: it is definately worth it, you can make a full time salary from it depending on the time you can put in. A group of 10-15 people you could make any amount from a few hundred pounds to £1000 depending on the group.

1. You pay a deposit and then get a sample of each item, which you just order in for the client as they buy them, it is very easy and straight forward.
2. we aren't oversubscribed so it is unlikely you will have someone that local to you.
3. You can't sell a competitive product (but you really don't need to) and you can't be a manager or recruit for both companies.

I love what I do and having done usborne and Avon in the past I wouldn't go anywhere else now.
If you want anymore info drop me a message but good luck finding what suits you best.

How about selling them online, such as ebay?? Just a thought? :)

We are starting a Party Plan side to our business. Have a quick look on our site at 2littleboys.co.uk under 'join us'.

Hi cleanairplease,
I have been doing Jamie at Home - Jamie Oliver's new direct selling party plan business of homeware & scents - since October 2010. The run-up to Christmas was great for me, but am definitely finding it harder to secure parties at the minute - have 2 this month and 1 next month so far. Despite this down side (we are all strapped for cash in new year!) doing the parties during coffee mornings or evenings means I dont have to organise childcare for my own 3 - a definite positive with any job!!

Worth considering as low start up cost (£50 for £400 kit) and minimum 20% commission on all sales. If you'd like any more info just message me.

Good luck with whatever you decide!:)