YuleLog Ornament Collector's Bulletin Board Forums Discussion Ornament Collecting Discussion just curious, anyone have a home-based business like Tupperware?

Hello, a friend and I were talking about the stay at home vs, the working Mom. She has 2 little ones and is wondering if she can manage to stay at home with them and make ends meet with her husband's check . She was interested in home-based businesses like Avon, Tupperware etc. I have been out of the loop and could only think of a few- Longaberger (sp?) Avon, Mary Kay, Tupperware -know of any others ?

Pampered Chef, Home Interior . . . but I have to admit I cringe whenever I receive an invitation from any of them. I did the Longaberger thing for a couple of years but my only customers were myself and my sister. LOL We did acquire a nice collection of baskets but never made a dime.

I wouldn't give up staying home with my kids for anything. I enjoyed it when they were babies, toddlers, elementary age and now middle school & high school. My Mother was a Stay-At-Home-MOM and so was my husbands Mother, as were all 4 of our grandmothers. My Mother starting teaching 1st grade after we all became of school age, Steve's Mother did a little substitute teaching to supplement the family income, one of my Grandmothers also did substitute teaching. Steve's Grandmother was amazing and started a home based tax preparation and accounting/bookkeeping business in her early 60's and did this until she died around age 82'ish and was earning 70K per year working hard about 4 months a year and keeping books for a few small businesses year round!!!!! They all managed to stay married around 50 years or so until their spouse passed away.

Quite a few Mom's around here do the substitute teaching and they keep some of them busy 5 days a week and then they are off with their kids in the summer, spring, fall and Christmas breaks. Some earn non-certified pay rates and some earn the certified pay rates depending on their education qualifications.

I think it is great when you can choose and luckily I can do that. I've worked several jobs prior to having children and none of them were worth giving up my children's childhood. You only get one chance, there are no do over's and they grow up so quickly.

I think those that choose to work, that is fine for them and I am in awe of their ability to do both. I'm afraid I would be a grumpy Momma IF I had to get up at 4 a.m. and work at a job, then cooking & cleaning & grocery shopping & laundry everyday until midnight and we'd wind up divorced.

I've told my kids a few times over the years when they weren't quite appreciative of how good they had it that I'd go get a job and they could stay in after school daycare and they'd BEG me NOT to do it.

My backup plan IF I needed to go to work would be to get a 3rd shift job and work at the hospital and then they'd always have Mom or Dad at home . . . don't know when I'd sleep but that has been the emergency plan.

Also the extra taxes are a factor, say for example 28% federal income tax, state income tax, social security taxes . . . so right off the get-go kiss 50% off your salary goodbye, then depending on where you live and how many kids and their ages, kiss another couple of hundred or more per week goodbye for daycare, add in gasoline, perhaps parking, some clothing and the obligatory lunches, showers, wedding gifts and you can probably almost kiss 75% of your salary GOOD-BYE!!!! What is left over is not enough for me to give up my children's childhood years . . . ask anyone here with kids that are grown and I'll bet they say the years FLEW by . . . even with mine at 15 and 12, I can already say that.

Also it gives you the extra time to become involved with school and extracurricular activities and volunteer. I like that I can show them and lead by example that it isn't always "about the money".

But that is my priority . . . . everyone is different.

Good Luck to your friend and her kids!!!! I'm sure it will be a difficult decision to choose.

Deana

One of my friends told me a while back about a company called Chicks in Charge. That company allows moms to work at home using their computers to process medical billing at any time of day that's convenient for them. I don't know how to find the, but I did a Google search and found this company:

http://www.absystems.com/index.php?ref=G&gclid=CPihisXN4JoCFQOcFQodsErqAw

I'd suggest looking at that website and maybe some ads in a magazine like Working Mom. If she can't find that on the newstand at your nearest Barnes and Noble or Borders, the library might have one that she can look at also.

And I'm always surprised by the topics produced by the Dummies people so that may be another avenue to check out.

This is in my humble opinion and I really don't mean to offend anyone however, I've always considered these types of jobs to be a step above a Ponzi scheme. The ones who make the money are at the top; those who've recruited lots of other "sales people" to bring in the money.

If your friend has any experience in "out of home" jobs she might try to turn that into a home-based job such as transcribing records, typing etc.

I always bought tons of Tupperware from my friend, but she has given up the business. My SIL sells Avon through her website, so I am able to buy online without having an "Avon Lady" deliver to my door (I used to have a local Avon Lady, but she quit, too).

Any of these home based businesses - another one not mentioned is Party Lite candles - are going to require some, possibly a good deal of time, going out of the home to do classes, presentations, deliveries, etc. That is, if you really want to make a business out of it and make decent money.

I'm technically a Mary Kay consultant, but it's not a business with me, and I've definitely never strived for a free car! I'm retired and don't want to work that hard! (G) I only place my minimum required # of orders and service myself and several friends .... just enough not to be dropped by the company. If I wanted to make money at it, it would take a lot of time making phone calls, scheduling appointments, getting out there and making contacts, etc. Just not interested in doing all that.

Tastefully Simple is another one not mentioned.

I sold tupperware back in 1984 and really enjoyed it. I did have to be out giving parties two or three nights per week but there wasn't much financial outlay in advance. I don't know how they do it now though since you can find it at the malls. You probably still have to work at it to be successful.

I always thought that tupperware was a good company.

The medical transcriber does require training and you have to be pretty fast. My neice did it for awhile.

Sharon

Does anyone remember house of Loyd? It was in Grandview Mo and I found out a few years later that it was just up the road from my husband's grandparents ! I just had one party with friends but I earned enough to get merchandise and was thus able to give Christmas presents that year, we were young and broke! It really helped me enjoy Christmas .

Stephanie, don't remember them but I think one year I tried doing some kit with Christmas Around the World . . . total bust . . . was new to this area and didn't know a soul . . . I'm the type that wants to give everybody a great deal and would starve to death on a salesperson's commission. LOL

Deana

I remember them because we were living in Kansas City when they were a well-known company because of how big they were. I think it's been at least 10-15 years since they went out of business.

I remember that my cousin had a Christmas Around the World party more than 21 years ago (I remember that when she came to deliver my purchase to me we were living in the townhouse which we moved out of 21 years ago). I don't remember if they're still around or not. She was the only person I ever knew who had one of those parties.

A friend of mine had a Longaberger party about 6 years ago to help out a friend of her sister's who was getting started in Longaberger. She didn't really care about the baskets; she was trying to make some money to pay for her wedding. That woman chose Longaberger over Pampered Chef because with Longaberger you were paid by the customers and sent Longaberger only their money, whereas you sent Pampered Chef all the money paid by the customer and they paid you. I only went to the party to help out my friend who was helping her out, and I wasn't impressed by her attitude and I've wondered how she did after that party. That made me realize that if somebody is going to do something like a home-party product they needed to be interested in the product and or at least be able to act interested in and excited about what they were doing.

Nancy, I recall my encounter with the Christmas Around The World was in like '93.

Deana

I sold Tupperware for 32 years!! Loved it!! I was the number one consultant for many years. I got all kinds of extra gifts for free!! [I had to quit when my husband had this brain aneurysm and surgery].

For 2 years I sold Christmas Around the World/House of Lloyd sometime in the mid 90's. Yes, CATW and HOL are the same company [at least back then]. We had 2 different catalogs to pass out to our guest at the parties. A couple of years after I quit I heard they got rid of the CATW name and called it something else. I think I quit because I just couldn't do Tupperware full time and CATW at the same time. I was also number one and got a LOT of great freebies from CATW!!!

hey all! back from Europe Physically- not mentally LOL.
I sell Aloette Cosmetics and love doing it with the girls i have made friends with. we are recognized monthly, have no minimum sales and have a lifetime discount on the products.
we do shows in people's homes or sell to people.
it's fun and i don't do many shows and make some extra money.
i sold Avon and did not like it. made no money, had to pay for catalogues and supplis and had to deliver orders which is now expensive with gas prices etc. with Aloette i order online and it is sent ot their address directly.

Earlier I mentioned that you need to be excited or interested in what you sell. I just remembered a comment my Longaberger lady made to me, and I think it translates into some other products also.

With today's economy, there are a lot of people who are trying to be careful about how they spend money. That also means that people are buying things that they need as opposed to things that they want. And that's the basis for what my Longaberger lady said - she's on commission, and with Longaberger focusing on their pottery and not so much their baskets these days, she's not doing as well as she'd like. I think that she's seeing people only buying what they feel like they can afford (maybe a small amount of what they used to spend on things like baskets) but they're also not buying new dishes. Or if they are buying new dishes they're not buying the ones she's selling but maybe buying new dishes at Wal-Mart since they wouldn't be as expensive.

I think that make-up falls in the category of things people need. Women need their make-up for going to work or church and also for job-hunting. That puts it in the need category more than the want category.

Just my thoughts.