Featured in the Daily Mail, Journalist Liz Phillips recently explored the blossoming of DSA companies during the current gloomy economic climate. Phillips explains that despite major job cuts and financial crisis, ‘There has been a sharp increase in recruitment, with direct-selling firms reporting a rise in staff by 15% to 25%.'

DIRECT SELLING

MY MONEY- A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO FINANCE

Throughout the country, over 370,000 women now have their own small direct selling business, providing their friends and neighbours with a wide and growing range of consumer goods and services.  There are two reasons for the growth of this £2 billion a year business channel of retail distribution. The first is the low business start-up cost, rarely more than £80 for a business kit.The second is the fact that it is totally flexible in terms of commitment. For over 90 pc of these women, direct selling is a part time activity that fits in well with their family commitments. It may be just a few hours a week spent personally introducing a catalogue of products to their neighbours, or it may be demonstrating products to a group of others in the home of a ‘sales party’ hostess – who gets an attractive reward for being a hostess.
Over the past ten years, the biggest change in direct selling is that the opportunity for women to supplement their family income does not just come from personal sales. Today, most direct selling businesses offer all newcomers, from the day they begin, two separate sources of income. One is based on their personal sales and the other comes from building and leading a group of other direct sellers – recruiting and helping them. They then get rewarded each month with a percentage of the sales that their group has achieved.  
The best advice for anyone considering a direct selling business is to select a business where the products have a personal appeal. If they seem attractive and reasonably priced and ones that the direct seller would want to buy, then ‘selling’ skills are not required. The business becomes more of an opportunity to be rewarded for recommending products to others on the basis of personal experience– which is much more satisfying.
The second piece of advice is to check that the business is a member of the Direct Selling Association – which represents the majority of direct selling businesses in the UK. In particular, look for the DSA / OFT Approved Code logo on business forms and catalogues. This indicates that the business is not just a DSA member but also complies with a consumer code that has been endorsed by the Office of Fair Trading. This gives all customers the added comfort of knowing that not only do they have a 14 day order cancellation right, but also a level of protection that, in all respects, exceeds their legal rights.
To find out more about direct selling and see a list of DSA members, visit the DSA website www.dsa.org.uk
Today, direct selling is the UK’s largest provider of independent earnings opportunities for women of all ages and of all levels of previous business experience.
SELL YOURSELF DIRECTLY says Richard Berry of the Direct Selling Association

TOP REASONS WOMEN WANT TO HAVE THEIR OWN BUSINESS

In a recent survey carried out with 2,000 women, many indicated that they were fearful of starting up a business because of financial outlay or fear of failure.

However, the survey went on to report that most of the women interviewed would love to have their own business if they had support and training and could find something that offered the following:

• Support and training,
• A simple system,
• Flexibility,
• Emotional support,
• Advice on marketing,
• Having a positive role model to follow,
• A sense of security,
• One to one mentoring,
• and On line support.

WORKING 5 TO 9 TAKES OFF IN THE UK

More than five million people are working from home after finishing their day job, according to new research published this week. The survey, commissioned by the world’s biggest office products company Staples, and carried out by Enterprise Nation, the UK’s largest website for home based business, confirms that the ‘5 to 9’ trend is spreading across the country. … Read more...

Did you know? Government advice to turn your child forward facing at 9 months is putting their life at risk.
Did you know? British child seat manufacturers are refusing to sell their safest products in the UK because they've decided that British parents don't want them.
Did you know? Rear facing group 1 seats are 5 times safer in a frontal collision.