There is not a better time than now to start your work at home career. High gas prices and the long commute are incentive enough to find a legitimate work at home business. Then there are the other obvious reasons like spending more time with family, working when and where you want, not having to answer to unreasonable bosses, and of course making more money. I think a majority of the population would favor working at home over a traditional job. Then why don’t more people work from home? It’s probably due the fear of failing on your own. Plus, it takes a lot of self motivation and hard work to succeed with your own business.

There are two types of work at home situations. One is when you are lucky enough to have a job that allows you to perform daily tasks from your own home. These are rare and you still have to answer to the boss. The second and more favorable work at home situation is owning a home based business. A home based business can range from walking dogs to starting a web design business to my favorite- running an online network marketing business. If you find a legitimate network marketing home business that provides real products that people want, you WILL make a ton of money…..Full Article: All About Working from Home

Here is an article excerpt from a brand new resource from Entrepreneur.com that focuses on work at home women and women entrepreneurs:

Fear is a motivating factor in our lives. In some ways it’s healthy–it prevents us from driving too fast or stepping too close to the edge of a cliff. In other ways, though, it can inhibit us from doing things that’ll benefit us.

Many women who consider starting a business encounter unexpected mental roadblocks that prevent them from moving forward. Here are some of the most common fears experienced by women who want to launch their own businesses–and how you can overcome them.

Fear of Financial Consequences
This fear is natural and completely rational. After all, if you’re investing time and money in a business, you assume some level of risk. There’s the fear of losing money invested, the fear of losing collateral, such as a home, and the fear of being unemployed if the business fails.

How can you deal with these fears? Arm yourself with knowledge. If you don’t understand the financial aspects of your business–how to read a balance sheet, how to forecast and how to price–fears can mount. While it may not be practical to go back to business school, mentors can help. Try contacting your local SCORE chapter, which provides counselors to small businesses. The National Association of Women Business Owners also offers resources. And don’t forget to ask for help from your accountant and read as many business books and magazines as you can….Full Article Here.

From StartupNation.com:

One of the basic financial principals of being in business today: your revenues can be offset against your expenses.

Sure, some expenses, like meals and entertainment, may be only partially deductible. Other expenses may have to be written off, or “depreciated,” over a period of years. But the basic fundamental concept - revenues justifying expenses - is still pretty easy to understand and explain.

But what about those expenses you rack up before your business even opens its doors, your business startup costs? There is good news here, and it has nothing to do with saving money on car insurance. Once you open your business and start generating revenues, you can write off many of those initial business startup costs at tax time.

But there is bad news…the rules for taking advantage of these deductions are not as straightforward as they are for your business’s ongoing expenses.

Six steps to deducting your home business startup costs…click here.

There are many reasons why people choose to start a home-based business. Some of these are:
1. Dissatisfied with your present employment situation.
2. Out of work due for whatever reason.
3. You need to be home to care for young children.
4. You need to be at home to care for an infirm family member or aging parents.
5. You really want to be your own boss.
6. You really could use an additional income source.
7. You wish to have more time to spend with family or friends.

Over the years I have learned to recognize two of the most important factors in recognizing people who should not be starting a home based business. If a prospective entrepreneur says something like…

“I’m broke — I need to make some fast money!”
or,
“I really want to start a home-based business but I don’t want to spend any money on the business until I start making some money.”

…it is certain that they have not addressed reality and, with that mindset, they will most certainly fail.

Full Article: Tips For Starting Your Homebased Business

From Entrepreneur.com:

They may not have invented the popular gaming console, but that doesn’t mean these entrepreneurs can’t make a profit on it.

It’s a giant among video game consoles, a brand name like almost no other, an entertainment product that needs no introduction. Ladies and gentleman, give it up for Nintendo Wii.

Some products and services are so well known, they hardly need an introduction. Nintendo Wii may not have the name cache of McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. But it does have brand recognition that startups can only dream of.

That’s why there’s something to be said for the “aftermarket,” the concept of tailoring your business to the customers of a much bigger, famous or already-existing product or service. For instance, think of eBay and the drop-off centers that have cropped up, companies that make products out of recycled materials or even the books published that analyze the phenomenon of the Harry Potter series and TheDa Vinci Code.

Nintendo Wii is just one of the latest products to inspire entrepreneurs to start new businesses or adjust their current offerings. For instance, one component of the Wii is the Mii, which lets game players create their own characters by choosing from an assortment of facial characteristics. Many online retail outlets are selling T-shirts, mugs and statuettes with Miis on them…..Full Article Here

Combining marriage and business is not an endeavor to be taken lightly. It requires serious consideration and answers to some tough questions. Here are 10 tips for running a successful home-based business with your spouse:

– Determine if you can work side by side. Ask yourself honestly if you can work patiently alongside your spouse day in and day out, and then go from business partner to life partner after work. If you can’t picture yourself making this transition, then you probably should not run a business together.

– Discuss your goals. Are your visions for the business the same as those of your spouse? Even the strongest marriage will be tested if you are working at cross-purposes.

– Write a business plan and solicit feedback. Once you detail your vision, show it to a consultant for an objective opinion. There is tremendous value in feedback from an unbiased source.

– Define each person’s role. The roles can be flexible (and will likely have to change over time) but must at least address the basics: who will keep the books, who will do the shipping, etc.

– Keep the lines of communication open. Don’t be critical of one another — and don’t be dismissive or contemptuous of your partner. Confront the challenges of the business, not one another……Full Article

Coastal Vacations trainer Dean Marino has identified the top ten items new home based business owners demand from a new business venture. The Los Angeles based Level 3 Coastal Vacations Director coordinates training and hosts live conference calls for the largest, fastest growing and most successful group in the 12-year-old top rated Coastal Vacations program.

(1) New home based business owners need to see the ability to earn a substantial immediate income. Marino explained that MLM business plans that pay out profits of $20, $50, or $100 per sale are not going to cut it for the serious business builder. The top Coastal Vacations group pays out average commissions of $3000 per sale and with their ultra- successful business model, members of Coastal’s top group can earn full commissions on their very first sale.

(2) New home based business owners don’t want to put up large cash capital to start a new business. The California based Coastal Vacations Director was happy to report that getting started with the most successful Coastal Vacations business model is thousands of dollars less that most franchises. Cash is actually not required as many join Coastal vacations’ top group with a credit card……

Full Article

Obtaining financing for a new venture is never easy, and finding funding for a home-based sole proprietorship business is even harder. But the Small Business Administration (SBA) has made it much easier for home-based businesses to find the financing they need. If your bank has turned down your business loan application, don’t despair. You may be able to find funding for your business through the SBA’s numerous funding options.

The SBA offers three distinct types of financing for small businesses. Study them carefully to make sure that you are applying for the loan that is best suited to your business.

The Microloan 7(m) Loan Program is the most popular loan for home-based businesses. You can apply for up to $35,000 for your business needs. You can use this money in a variety of different ways, such as purchasing needed inventory to run your business, buying necessary supplies or furniture, getting the computer equipment that you need, or for working capital. However, you will not be able to use this loan to pay off any existing debts or to purchase land or real estate for your home-based business.

Read Full Article Here

The important role women play at home cannot be overemphasized. They organize the home front in such a way as to ensure that things run smoothly.
They perform the under listed functions at home:

(1) Take care of the babies
(2) Ensure that meals are provided as and when due
(3) Ensure that the house is well swept and kept clean
(4) Hubby’s, children’s and their own clothes are washed and ironed
(5) Go drop and pick the kids at school

and a host of other important tasks.

Now where a mother is working at an office, getting these tasks done could be a Herculean one and would require proper planning. Employing others to take care of these tasks would again require an expense that one may not be happy to undertake. Even where this is possible, a mother would still have to come back from a hectic day at the office to resolve domestic issues that are outstanding.

Up till now we have not mentioned the difficulties she has to pass through at the office: a superior who wants to take advantage of her, office politics where she will certainly not rise above a certain corporate level, criticisms and threats of sack when she decides to have kids in quick succession, etc, etc.

I sincerely salute the courage of women who are able to rise above the simultaneous challenges of a career and motherhood. Unfortunately many of them are forced to lead lives they would otherwise not want to, for the sake of paid employment, like taking a decision not to have kids. There are those however, who cannot stand the pressures and are forced to quit to full time stay at home to take care of that front.

Full Article: Why Moms Should Start a Home Business

Most folk who turn to the internet to better their financial status are unaware of what it takes to make an income online, so this article covers the steps to actually building a home internet business to the point of generating internet income.

The internet offers anybody with a computer and internet connection the opportunity to start a home internet business with a click of the mouse, but building a home internet business is where the challenge, work and excitement begin.

Too many people get totally disillusioned when they have not made an income online after a few days or weeks of starting their home internet business, but that is purely because they do not appreciate the fact that it takes time and effort to build a business online.

The building process of a home internet business never stops and if you can appreciate that you will need to be continually building, extending, maintaining or making alterations then you will be well on your way to making an income online……

Full Article Here

From StartupNation.com:

You’ve decided to launch a franchise home business instead of starting up something from scratch. Congratulations on making this important choice!

Next comes a decision that could prove just as important to your success with a business opportunity: whether to buy a franchise that retails a product, like McDonalds, or provides a service, such as ServiceMaster cleaning franchises.

The two franchise business opportunity paths – product or service – differ dramatically:
Every franchise system has some common denominators, such as a concept owner, a fee structure, a royalty system, and a marketing and administrative program. But the nature and operations of a franchise business differ radically in pushing a product or a service.

“Retail franchises traditionally are opportunities that are driven by having a building, opening the door and waiting for people to walk in, whereas with a service business you’re typically heading out to do the business,” says Lori Kiser-Block, vice president of FranChoice, a Minneapolis-based company that helps entrepreneurs choose a franchise business.

Pros and cons of selling a product as your franchise business:
Most product-oriented franchise businesses sell some sort of food, so operating them is like running a small factory. Your up-front investment in the franchise business, and especially in local real estate for the store, will almost always run into the low six figures. The many day-to-day issues include maintaining proper inventories, ensuring quality, keeping up the grounds, and hiring and managing lower-skilled employees.

Read Full Article

Press Release:

Edmonton, Canada, February 22, 2007 –(PR.COM)– As more women increasingly start their own businesses, the number of stay at home moms in this industry increases. Including those choosing to trade their business suits for more casual clothing in order to be with their families. And the home business industry is a great indicator that there are stay at home moms looking for business and moms work at home too.

“The most common reasons I hear from women wanting to start a home business are: they want to spend more time with their kids, and they want to keep their mind active. And as much as they love being at home with their families, they also don’t want to get bored,” said Mick Lolekonda, President of the Elite Marketing Group.

So how can these moms still closely attend to their children and also bring home the bacon? An alternative is to start a part-time internet business.

When it comes to work for moms at home, an internet home business offers the possibility for moms to schedule their daily activities around their home business or vice-versa. Which gives them a chance to efficiently attend to their children’s needs or hers. Usually a home business doesn’t require more than 2 hours of their daily attention.

Read Full Press Release

From WomenHomeBusiness.com:

By tradition, the “self employment culture” has been characterized as a male phenomenon. Entrepreneurship, a game of risk and chance, used to be the exclusive domain of the male population

Not anymore. A growing number of women are venturing into self-employment and getting inclined to start an enterprise. Many women are finding that entrepreneurship could pave the way for their “need for new challenges”, the wish to “be one’s own boss” and a “better organized working life”.

What motivates women to pursue self-employment and start their own businesses?

We interviewed Kimberly Yorio and Caitlin Friedman, founders of YC Media, a successful PR firm), to give us insights on women and entrepreneurship. Kimberly and Caitlin recently wrote a book entitled The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business (HarperResource Category: January 2004),.which is a great primer designed to give real advice to women on business planning, hiring and managing a business.

Click Here for the Interview

From Entrepreneur.com:

11 tips to act on now that’ll help you keep your work at home business going well beyond the startup phase.

If starting a business were easy, everyone would do it. But they don’t. Only those of you who know deep down inside you’re entrepreneurs at heart will ever take these steps–even if you’ve denied that entrepreneurial spirit burning inside you for a long time.

Using that burning desire to grow your business, however, is a far different task from simply lighting it. Most people start with the odds stacked so much against them that it’s difficult for them to fan the fire beyond the first few months or years. Here are a few pieces of advice I can offer to help you keep your new business growing in size and profit:

1. Hire people who are better at the job than you are. It’s a fact that companies are built by people, and the best people build the best and most profitable companies. Put simply, great employees may cost you 20 to 30 percent more in wages, but they can be twice as productive as mediocre employees. Invest in good people.

2. Place high urgency in everything you do. Always do everything you can today. When I started each of my businesses, I’d work constantly until I just had to go eat and sleep. Too many people treat their businesses as nine-to-five jobs. Never put something off until tomorrow if you can do it right now.

3. Get customers coming back. The road to profitability is through repeat business. Too few business owners set themselves up for long-term success. Your business grows when you add regular new customers on top of existing regular customers. Think of it this way: What if every customer you ever got stayed for life? How many regular buyers would you have?

4. Make decisions quickly. New companies don’t have the time or resources to stand still. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf once said to me, “When placed in command, take charge.” He also believes it’s better to make a decision and move than it is to stand still.

5. Deliver more than you promise. If you tell a customer it’ll be three days, deliver in two. If you think it’ll be two hours, say three hours and surprise them. This is the best form of marketing ever.

Read Full Article

Excerpt from Entrepreneur.com:

“More than anything else, what most prospective franchisees want to be sure of is that the franchise you are considering is a good all-around business opportunity. We can use other words like “great” or “solid” or “reputable” to illustrate what you’re looking for in a franchise, but the bottom line is you want to know that everything needed for success exists and that there are no major flaws with the franchise.

The following checklist for determining whether a franchise is solid is subjective, but it’s based on many years of experience. If you want to know that you’re looking at a solid franchise opportunity, make sure to check the following factors carefully:

1. Responsiveness during the investigation process….
2. Direct operational training….
3. Other training….
4. Marketing programs….
5. Real estate and construction assistance….
6. Financing assistance….
7. Litigation history….
8. Financial strength of the franchise company….
9. Financial strength of the unit operations….
10. The attitude of the existing franchisees….

Read Full Article Here

Book Review: How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency

How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency has just been entirely updated. The effects of September 11th, 2001 and the resulting aftermath has had a dramatic effect on the travel industry and further enabled home-based travel entrepreneurs. The January 1st, 2003 printing of How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency is the most up-to-date information available about operating a travel business in this exciting industry.

Issues such as the elimination of airline commissions, the implementation of service fees, the fabulous growth of the cruise industry and all of the changes that have evolved are discussed and analyzed. This edition of How to Start a Home Based Travel Agency is a must have if you are considering entering the travel industry or are an agent going home-based from a storefront.

Below is another great article excerpt from Entrepreneur.com:

“Starting a low-cost home business on the weekend is one of the easiest and most risk-free ways to dip your toe into the waters of entrepreneurship. It only takes your free time, a small investment in marketing materials and business supplies, and some hard work.

Michelle Anton and Jennifer Basye Sander interviewed more than 100 people living their dreams through weekend home businesses when they wrote Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash (Entrepreneur Press). Here, we excerpt four great ideas for people who love to work around the house. If you’re already spending your evenings and weekends cleaning, organizing and improving your home, why not put those skills to work in a part-time business?

Holistic Housecleaning With Allergy-Free Products
Did you know that approximately 50 percent of Americans suffer from some kind of chemical sensitivity? Or that nationwide, every single day, 32 million pounds of household cleaning products are poured down the drain? Kind of makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

Christmas Light Installer
This is a great seasonal business that specializes in providing the labor for holiday decorations. Once a year an opportunity to make excellent extra money arrives–installing and then later removing decorative outdoor Christmas lights for people who just don’t have the time or the energy to do it for themselves. Jennifer recently went to a spring dinner party at the home of a distinguished couple in their late 70s. Although it was May, the house was still hung with colored Christmas lights outside. These folks and others like them, busy or not quite in physical shape to remove their own lights, are your target audience.

House Staging
Have you ever been inside a house for sale, and although you liked the house itself, the furnishing and decorating gave you the willies? Some real estate agents insist that empty houses sell better; it allows a prospective buyer to “see” themselves living in the space when it isn’t all cluttered with the current owner’s things. “Less is more” when it comes to staging a house for sale, and an objective eye can help cut through the clutter that the longtime owner can’t see anymore.”

Read More from Entreprenuer.com

Most women hate the idea of having to leave their children with a babysitter or day care center at a very young age. Unfortunately, the financial obligations for many families these days leaves them little choice. Unless you could earn a significant income working at home. The solution for those moms who want to stay at home with their children and still earn money is to participate in the perfect opportunity - freelance jobs.

Freelance jobs are ideal for the stay at home mom because it offers flexibility, the ability to work from home and still earn a decent living to help tackle those family financial obligations. Plus, stay at home mom’s can get money-saving tax benefits for their families through their freelance jobs. This further reduces the financial strain by increasing their incomes.

Finding and participating in freelance jobs is very easy for stay at home mom’s compared to other home based business opportunities. There are many freelance job websites on the internet where you can go and apply for freelance employment. These sites should provide plenty of work to keep you busy while still caring for your children….Click Here to Read Full Article.

Entrepreneur.com

5 Home Design Businesses to Start

There’s a good reason why cable TV networks like HGTV, The Learning Channel and DIY Network have such a huge following from coast to coast: The home design and improvement industry is hot, hot, hot and is showing no signs of cooling off. There may be no better time than the present to tool up your skills and fire up your enthusiasm for a career in this creative and fulfilling field.

But while Americans are keenly interested in home improvement and home design and have made household names out of “Extreme Makeover: Home Editions” Ty Pennington, professional organizer Peter Walsh from “Clean Sweep” and other home design show hosts, the fact is many don’t have the time, talent or inclination to undertake such projects themselves. Or they enthusiastically take up a paintbrush, rearrange the furniture or make a stab at organizing their lives, then toss up their hands in defeat when they realize it’s not as easy as it looks.

All this means there are plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs like you to start what we are broadly calling a home design business. In our startup guide Home Design Services, we’ve outlined the information you need to start five different home design services: interior design, interior redesign, professional organizing, building preservation/restoration, and faux painting. Here’s a closer look at each of those businesses so you can get feel for the opportunities available in this industry, and what will fit your personality and creativity the best.

Click Here to Read Full Article from Entrepreneur.com

Inc.com
Half of U.S. businesses are home-based and almost two-thirds are self-financed, according to a pair of new Census Bureau reports.

Nearly 2.5 million firms were interviewed for the two reports, which were released Wednesday as part of the bureau’s ongoing 2002 Survey of Business Owners.

Home-based businesses collectively generated a remarkable amount of economic activity, especially for women and minorities, Louis Kincannon, the Census Bureau’s director, said in a statement.

The survey found that 49 percent of the nation’s businesses were home-based. Fifty-six percent of both women- and American Indian-owned firms were home-based, compared to 33 percent of Asian-owned businesses.

Companies in certain industries were more frequently run from home, with professional, scientific, and technical services, construction, and retail companies topping the list.

In addition, “most businesses are started by people and families who dig into their own pockets,” Kincannon said.

Seventy-seven percent of companies with paid employees were started by entrepreneurs who used their own assets, or those of their families. The figures were slightly lower for companies with no paid employees, at 59 percent…. Read Full Article from Inc.

Paid Surveys defined on Wikipedia

“A paid survey is a type of online statistical survey where the participant is rewarded through an incentive program. A paid survey is used to collect quantitative information about the participant’s personal and economic habits. Often used by marketing firms to test new advertisements, they offer the participant a cash reward or entry into a sweepstakes program.

Legitimate paid surveys exist because, in order to remain competitive in their given markets, companies need a better understanding of their customers and the customers’ perception of products. Surveys that are legitimate are separated by personal demographics so that the data will better apply to the target audience the marketing firm is trying to reach.

Because the corporate marketing companies need to understand consumer perceptions in-depth, they will offer incentives to survey participants. A participant will never have to pay for a legitimate paid survey. ”

There are many services that charge a small fee which provides you with a database of hundreds of companies that will pay you to take surveys. Many people call this a scam, but you will quickly realize that this is a legitimate expense of doing business. The amount of time and effort you would have to invest to find these paying companies makes it well worth about $30. It would literally take you hundreds of hours to find the companies that are paying. For a list of the most reputable paid survey database programs, click here.

Start your home business on the weekend!
Some say weekends are for relaxing, sleeping in or traveling. But if you’re a full-time employee and you dream of entrepreneurship, weekends can be for that, too. Take those 48 weekend hours (and, let’s be honest, those precious weekday evening hours, too), maximize your efficiency, and build your startup.

Brian Eddy and Chad Ronnebaum did that very thing when they built Q3 Innovations, a product design, development and distribution company that specializes in the personal safety market. These Eagan, Minnesota, entrepreneurs started in 1999 when both had full-time jobs–in fact, Eddy, 30, a lawyer, just recently left his law firm to work on the business full time, while Ronnebaum, 30, still works full time in the pharmaceutical industry. Friends since the sixth grade, the pair decided that even though they both had successful careers, they wanted to own a business and bring products like the Alcohawk, a digital breath alcohol screener, to consumers.

During their six-year startup phase, says Eddy, “We worked about 50 hours a week at our careers and about 40 to 50 hours a week at our business.” A typical weekday for Eddy was getting up at 7 a.m., doing business activities until 8:30 or 9 a.m., then heading to the office. After getting off work at 6 p.m., he spent about an hour with family and went into entrepreneur mode for the evening and most of the weekend.

Read Full Article from Entrpreneur

With more than 2 billion items listed on eBay in the past year, and close to $50 billion sold, the sheer size of this online marketplace can be overwhelming. Fortunately, as eBay has grown, the company has worked hard to make it easier for new sellers to get started and be successful. Here are 10 quick and easy steps for building a business on eBay.

1. Just Do It
Some people aren’t sure where to begin, says Terry Gibbs, founder of IWantCollectibles.com and author of The Auction Revolution. Gibbs has been buying and selling antiques and collectibles online since 1997. At his business’s peak in 2002, Gibbs was auctioning more than 500 items per week. Although the pace of his eBay selling has slowed since, he says, “eBay is the best way to sell [an item] quickly for the most money.”

2. Create a Routine
Next, pick a block of time you’ll devote to your business on eBay. Set aside a certain part of the day, or particular evenings each week, to pack up auctions that have ended, list new items for sale and respond to e-mails from potential buyers, says Gibbs. Not only does such discipline stake out time for your new business, but keeping sold items moving out the door also helps make space for new merchandise.

3. Take a Good Picture
Though item descriptions are important, the photo may be even more essential. Buyers assume the photo is the best-case scenario–that the product probably looks worse in real life, says Justin Hartenstein, 25, founder of Advanced Automotive Concepts in Metairie, Louisiana, which sells custom car headlights. A good photo can make or break a sale.

Read Tips 4-10 from Entrepreneur.com

When it comes right down to it, business owners fall into two camps: People who follow their passions, and clear-eyed folks who look for great moneymaking opportunities. Each side says its approach works best.

On one hand, following a market opportunity has glittering allure: A great opportunity can make a lot of cash. On the other hand, following your passion has romantic appeal: All day long, you’re around a product or service you love.

But what are the downsides? Are people who follow their passions more likely to fail? There’s no hard research to support that claim. While the steady stream of bankrupt restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and golf companies does seem to suggest that the passionate approach is weak on results, reality is far more complex.

Beating the Odds
Miles Cook looked like a failure statistic waiting to happen: a 25-year-old guy who loved motorcycles and wanted his own motorcycle dealership. At first glance, he seemed to be headed for disaster. Even the banks thought so. “I was young, and a lot of banks didn’t even want to talk to me,” says Cook, now 32. After five banks declined his application, Cook read an Entrepreneur article listing the top banks for small businesses in each state. Sure enough, one of those banks agreed to loan him the money for his startup. Now Cook’s Rochester Motorsports Inc. in Rochester, New Hampshire, does a brisk business selling the most popular brands of Japanese motorcycles, with nearly $10 million in annual sales.

“It all comes down to passion. Blind ambition is better than 20/20 indifference,” says Cook. “If you’re passionate about what you do, the sky is the limit.”

Read Full Article from Entrepreneur.com

It’s a party at your home–or better yet, at someone else’s. Customers socialize, and you make money. Need more convincing?

Home parties now account for roughly 29 percent of the nearly $30 billion in U.S. direct sales, and 13.6 million Americans bought or sold goods from home in 2004. Direct sellers are hawking everything from organic gardening supplies to wine. Some are even hosting virtual parties online. And the numbers are growing, according to Amy Robinson of the Direct Selling Association in Washington, DC. “The majority of companies coming into [the] DSA are party plan companies,” she says. “In a lot of cases, they are smaller, newer companies started by entrepreneurs from their basements.”

Andrew Shure (below) is one of them. Nationwide, he has 1,300 consultants selling Shure Pets pet products, and he predicts he’ll have 2,800 by the end of 2007. “The only requirement at Shure Pets is a passion for pets,” says Shure, 43, who launched the Chicago-based business in 2003 and projects sales of $1 million for 2006. Another example is Newburyport, Massachusetts-based Anna William, which lets customers design their own handbags. Kristen Lee, 29, launched the million-dollar company in 2003 with Keek Bielby, 57; Rani Chase, 36; and Erin Hornyak, 33–and already has 125 consultants nationwide.

Be sure to thoroughly research any company you’re considering, and make sure you love the products. As Robinson says, “It’s no fun to sell something you’re not interested in.”

Read Full Article from Entrepreneur