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Direct sales (like Avon, Mary Kay) offer recession-proof jobs
Updated 5/15/2009 1:30 PM |
By Charisse Jones, USA TODAY

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Not long ago, Craig Lapp made his living driving a truck that helped carve Southern California’s soil into new developments. But then housing sales slumped, and in November 2007 Lapp’s construction company let him go.

While he searched for another job, Lapp began working alongside his wife, Lynne, in a business based in their Temecula home, selling nutritional supplements made by the direct-sales company Isagenix. Nearly two years later and with no construction job in sight, Lapp says a one-time sideline has become the couple’s bread and butter.

“It’s paying our mortgage, our car payments … putting food on the table,” says Lapp, 55, who adds that he and his wife are earning a six-figure income. “It was our ‘Plan B’ that turned into our ‘Plan A.’ ”

Direct-sales businesses that rely on home-based representatives to peddle their wares are seeing their sales forces rapidly expand as the nation’s unemployment rate soars to nearly 9% and those who lost jobs and nest eggs look for new ways to make money.

“We’re recession-resistant in the sense that more people come to us during economic hard times for supplemental income or replacement of a lost job.”
— Neil Offen, president of the Direct Selling Association.

While 2008 industry figures aren’t yet available, “Anecdotally we’re hearing that recruitment is up and … unfortunately as the unemployment rate rises to 10% or higher, we’ll be picking up more people who need an income-earning opportunity.”

The recession has become a recruiting tool. An Avon (AVP) cosmetics representative declares in TV ads that…

“I can’t get laid off. It’s my business.”

Companies such as Isagenix, a marketer of weight-management and nutritional supplements and snacks, and jewelry maker Silpada Designs are coaching their representatives to spread the word that direct selling can keep you afloat in the faltering economy.

“Right now, our direct-selling opportunity is really the No. 1 product that we have to sell,”
— Geralyn Breig, president of Avon North America.

With that in mind, Avon this year launched its most ambitious recruitment campaign and saw its U.S. sales force grow to more than 680,000 through March, its largest ever, Breig says.

The same month, cosmetics company Mary Kay began airing its first TV ad for new representatives. In its first three days, visitors seeking information about becoming “beauty consultants” at MaryKay.com spiked 108%.

Silpada Designs, a Lenexa, Kan.-based company specializing in sterling silver jewelry, says its sales force in the U.S. and Canada was up 11.8% on May 1 from a year earlier. And Chandler, Ariz.-based Isagenix says its sales force was up 30% in March from a year before.

Direct selling is a fluid industry, with only 10% of representatives working “full time,” or at least 30 hours a week. Many work only long enough to meet short-term goals, such as holiday presents.

The entire article is here: Direct sales (like Avon, Mary Kay) offer recession-proof jobs
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Increased life expectancy, decreased pensions and Social Security benefits add to the challenge.

In the January-February AARP buy cheap Motilium online Bulletin, CEO A. Barry Rand, wrote his Where We Stand column about “Facing the Challenge of Turning 65.” In the piece Rand pointed out that the first of the 78 million Baby Boomers began turning 65 on January 1, 2011 and they will adding another 65 year old to their numbers every eight seconds— more than 10,000 every day— for the next 18 years. By the time the last of the Boomers turns 65 in 2029, the 65+ population of the United States will have doubled what it is today.

“Add to that,” Rand wrote, “the fact that people turning 65 today can expect to live another 18 to 20 years, and the implications are staggering.”

Although as he points out, Boomers are generally optimistic about their future and “see their best years ahead of them,” millions of Americans are struggling. The first boomers are reaching 65 at a time when:

• their retirement savings have been decimated by the Great Recession;

• their pensions are vanishing;

• the value of their homes has decreased substantially;

• workers are still losing their jobs, and finding new work is a struggle;

• health care costs are rising and more doctors are refusing to see Medicare patients because of an unstable and flawed payment system; and

• the president’s fiscal commission is proposing to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — and shift more of the costs to people 65-plus — when they need it most.

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The NEW American Dream Team is committed to leading a revolution in the way people view and live by promoting a greater awareness, understanding and participation in Network Marketing. With 10,000 people turning 65 every day now for the next 18 years, Network Marketing provides one answer to the growing problem of how older people will be able to afford to live their lives.

Network Marketing isn’t the only way.
We just don’t know a better one.

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More & more, the issue of “Retirement” is increasing in importance for a growing number of Americans. Clearly, with the Baby Boomers in their 50′s and 60′s that’s to be expected. But in today’s unsettling economic times, retirement has a new urgency. Unlike even a major purchase of a car or a house, which can take years of planning, retirement requires a lifetime .

Here’s a piece written by business expert and Network Marketing million-dollar-income-earner, Rod Nichols. Trust it serves. (And btw, that $2 trillion figure is two years old. Imagine how much bigger that number is today…)

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Yesterday’s Headline: Retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion — So far!
by Rod Nichols
Are you relying on the 401k, retirement account, or Social Security to take care of you in your old age? Forget about it! Take control of your financial future with a Network Marketing business.

First, Network Marketing businesses are a lot more fun than just sticking money into an account.
Second, Network Marketing businesses have a much greater potential for return.
Third, Network Marketing businesses give you the opportunity to help others too.
Fourth, Network Marketing businesses provide you with much better tax benefits.
Fifth, Network Marketing businesses create opportunities for your to travel and meet new people.

There are five great reasons to utilize a Network Marketing business to secure your retirement.

Let me tell you a sad story.

A number of years ago I met a man who had worked for the same company for 30 years and socked away a large sum of money into the company retirement account. He was 2 years away from retirement when the company went bankrupt. He lost everything and was devastated. “What could I do in 2 years that would enable me to recreate my retirement fund,” he asked me and I told him there was only one thing – Network Marketing. I then helped him research the industry to find the right company for him and 2 years later he had built a business that generated far more than his retirement account would have.

Think about it this way.

If you have a Network Marketing business that generates a $100,000 a year income, you have the equivalent of $1,000,000 in an investment that yields 10%.

How long would it take you to accumulate $1,000,000 doing what you are doing now?

Whereas there are many people who work part-time and within 2 to 5 years have a Network Marketing business that generates a residual income of $100,000 or more (much more). Beyond the financial side, a successful Network Marketing business will give you free time to enjoy life, opportunities to travel and make new friends, lot’s of cool contests and awards, and amazing tax benefits.

So, if you have a Network Marketing business, get busy and secure your financial future. If you don’t, start looking today.

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Excerpted from November columns by Robert Powell of MarketWatch.com.

When it comes to retirement, we here in the U.S. can celebrate the fact that we’re not France. We presumably don’t have as much reason to riot in the streets. Then again, given the results of some research just released, we have no reason to be dancing in the streets, either.

The U.S. has the 10th best retirement-income system in the world. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, one, there were only 14 countries studied in the second annual Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index and, two, the U.S. had the sixth best retirement system in the world in last year’s study.

Fewer Americans are retiring with traditional pensions. Half of working Americans don’t have an employer-sponsored retirement plan. And the percentage of folks who are “very confident” about having the same standard of living in retirement as during their working years is roughly one in four.

Nearly half of older boomers— those now aged 56 to 62— and some 44% of younger boomers— aged 46 to 55 now— are at risk of not having sufficient income to pay for basic retirement expenses and uninsured medical expenses, according to the Retirement Readiness Rating report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

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You could take your “retirement” into your own hands by owning your own, part-time Network Marketing business. The tax savings alone make it well-worth your time to investigate. What would an additional $500… $1000… or more mean to your retirement plans?

Network Marketing isn’t the only way. We just don’t know a better one.

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ABC News coverage of how direct sales (i.e. network marketing, multi-level marketing, home-based business) is on the rise. Unlimited earning potential through commission based sales. A legitimate work from home opportunity perfect for stay-at-home moms, retirees, and internet entrepreneurs.

If you’re open to learning about an alternative to your current employment, please know MLM Network Marketing is not the ONLY answer. It’s just that we don’t know of a better one. Check it out. It may be what you’ve been looking for your entire life— and there will never be a better time than now.
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A comfortable retirement could becoming a luxury only wealthy Americans will be able to afford, as a growing number of middle income earners believe it is impossible to meet today’s bills and save for retirement at the same time.

Nearly half of America’s middle-income earners – the backbone of the working nation – simply do not believe it is possible to bring up a family, pay the bills, live a little and save for retirement all at the same time.

A study of 3,000 people by Country Insurance & Financial Services has found just over a third of middle-income families – 37 per cent – felt they were able to save enough to live comfortably in retirement.

Nearly half felt they were unable to square the circle and 17 per cent were unsure, with women more pessimistic than men.

The two main reasons respondents cited for not providing for their retirement were a lack of enough money to save and invest (34 per cent) and the need to pay off debts (17 per cent).

Source: Management-Issues.com

For millions of people in the U$, MLM Network Marketing offers the very real possibility of generating the money they’ll need— and have not saved or invested— to afford their retirement. Please, be open to that and take a look today.
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