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Direct Sales vs. Home Business: Which One is Right for You?

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Author: Kristy Pruitt

There are many options available to people who want to work from home. It's great to have a wide variety to choose from, but how do you decide what's right for you?

There are many options available to people who want to work from home. It’s great to have a wide variety to choose from, but how do you decide what’s right for you?

There are some home-based jobs out there. A home-based job is basically doing work for a company like you would in a “regular” job, except you do it from your home. The problem with these is that there are a limited number of them, and the competition is intense.

For many people direct sales is a more accessible alternative. In direct sales, you sign up with a company to sell their products and receive a percentage of your sales. There are numerous direct sales companies out there, so you can choose virtually anything you want to sell and find a company that sells it.

Direct sales has many advantages. Almost all direct sales companies offer their representatives ready-made catalogs and other sales aids, and a growing number offer ready-made websites for a fee. This means that you can concentrate on getting the word out and getting sales rather than having to produce your own sales materials.

Most companies also let you build a downline. This means that you recruit other people to sell and get a small percentage of their sales too. You also receive commissions on the recruits under them, up to a certain limit of levels. A talented recruiter can make lots of money this way! And a lot of companies offer incentives such as free products, bonuses, and trips for meeting certain sales and recruiting goals.

One of the disadvantages of direct sales is lack of control. Many companies have advertising restrictions, and most will not allow you to design your own sales aids. If you want to offer products that the company you represent does not offer, you have to join another company that does offer them. Some companies even have restrictions on that, not allowing you to join companies that offer competing products. Finally, most companies have a minimum amount you have to sell per month or quarter to remain with them. Some are easily attainable. Others are quite a challenge.

There is also the option of starting your own business from scratch. You come up with the start-up money, decide what products or services you want to offer, design your own sales materials and advertising (or pay someone else to do it), and so on. Every decision is yours.

This is great for those who want complete control over what they are doing. All profits come to you, rather than being split between you, the company, and your upline. There is no one else telling you how much you have to sell to remain active.

There are some disadvantages to starting your own business. Many times the start-up cost is higher than the cost to get started with a direct sales company. Also, there is not the instant name recognition of some of the larger direct sales companies, so you have to work at getting your name out there. One of the biggest advantages, having complete control, can also be a disadvantage! It can be discouraging when you have a hard time making decisions or make what turns out to be the wrong one. Owning your own business takes lots of hard work and perseverance.

Working from home can be very rewarding. Some people do better with direct sales, while others succeed with starting their own business. Still others do a combination of both. Which is the best for you? Only you can make that decision.