What are the advantages and disadvantages of working for Avon?

Question

What if I choose to work for Avon and only Avon til my baby's old enough to go to school, then I can work outside home??? I don't want anyone to watch my baby til he's old enough to talk and tell me what goes on when I'm not around. Know what I mean?

Answer 1

My best friend tried Avon for 12 months - at the end of it she had made just $150!!!!! Sarah really did her best but she spent a lot of time in the car with her kids delivering catalogs, picking up orders and dropping off products.

If you really love their products and want them for yourself for free then have a go, but if you want to make money take a look at some other companies.

I wanted to stay home with my son when he was born so I joined a direct sale jewelry company - I do 2 shows a week - evenings so I'm home with my son all day and my husband plays with him those 2 nights. I make about $1800 a month which is good for me right now.

If you really want to stay home look for a company that will deal with all the deliveries and returns and one where you don't need to carry inventory - gas milage and inventory will really eat up your profits.

Hope that helps!

Liz.

Answer 2

Avon is better than Mary Kay, I'll tell you that much. It's not the greatest profit, I'd only join for wholesale reasons and to sell to my sisters. You don't have to carry inventory, but on the other hand, a lot of women sell it, you drive around to deliver (tho I heard that now people can have it delivered right from the company) and so on. Tho you have to order once every six weeks, not too bad, but not too great.

With Mary Kay, you have to dump a HUGE amount of money into it (hundreds to thousands!) for inventory that sits there, you only have wholesale rights if you order over $200, and it only lasts three months (or really two, depending on when during the month you order) You're constantly being pressured into ordering more from the company and being told "You'll sell it and make the money back" but you never do. It's to expensive for 90% of women, and the other 9% would rather go to a department store, not order from a catalog.

(watch all the MK consultants lurking here with give me a thumbs down, go ahead, make my day :)  *Wrinkles to you MK!*

Answer 3

If you like the product then it is worth a try however I know many people who did it and only really go a little money I would say gas money but these days that's a lot :) and the product at a discount.  They have a percentage scale so you need to sell a certain amount then you get a percentage from 20% up the more you sell the higher percentage you earn.  In addition the books change frequently so you are buying new books often.  Personally I look through the book but rearly buy I used the skin so soft for years but that is about it I find they have a lot of prodcuts too many in my opionion that are cheep.  My Mary KAy Sales Director sold Avon before Mary AKy she found it hard ot make money but like I said it doesn't cost much to try and see if it is for you.  I love Mary aky the earning potintial is much higher I started for the prodcut discoutn and ended up repacing my full time job.

Answer 4

It is your business, so you pay for everything...all the books, all of the orders, EVERYTHING.  If you can afford to pay up front and wait for people to pay you back, afford to buy the books and walk the neighborhood and advertise, then go for it!  I don't know how much money you could make with it though...

Answer 5

You better have LOTS of customers willing to buy on a regular basis or you will never make any money. I tried it and I ended up spending more that I ever made. You have to buy everything and unless you have a giant customer list it will be difficult for you to make any money. Good Luck. You may want to look at selling on ebay or something along those lines. Beware of those work from home ads you see advertised. They are almost all scams!

Answer 6

I sold AVON for 2 years. I loved it. It did take some time to get it going...

Here is site that I built for AVON reps. It has tons of info

www.squidoo.com/AVONrepresentative

Answer 7

Lisa,

I used to sell Avon before my son was born, but didn't find it profitable for a number of reasons.

However, I was introduced to Mary Kay Cosmetics shortly after my son was born and after learning about Mary Kay's business opportunity, I decided that I would try it.

That was over 3 years ago (my son just turned 4), and I'm so glad that I decided to sell Mary Kay. I've made lots of money at it (you profit 50% of everything you sell - unlike Avon which is only 50% for the first month or two, then it goes down to 20-30% profit).

Some people believe that it costs some huge amount of money to start a Mary Kay business, but the truth is that you don't need to keep an inventory unless you want to. The cost to get started is only $100 plus tax/shipping...that's it! Most people spend that at the mall in a day and have nothing to show for it.  I spent that and am now a senior consultant with a profitable business!

If you are serious about making money so that you can stay home with your son (which is great by the way), I would love to send you some more information to review on the Mary Kay business opportunity. I love to share the info, because it's made such a huge difference in my life.

If your interested, my e-mail is:  [e-mail]  or you can check out my website it: www.marykay.com/kymberleezimmer

Answer 8

Any type of work you do unless you do daycare in your own home will require you to leave the house at least occasionally.  If you go out to do a party you will have to leave the baby with someone even if it is your husband.  If your husband isn't willing to help then you have a problem.  

Avon does require you to deliver brochures and orders but that can be done in an efficient manner and combined with errands that need to be done. You probably take your baby on your errands so you could take him to do this too.   Get enough customers close to home and you wont spend alot of money on gas.  Ask the customers to pick up their orders and give them a free gift (something small) or a 10% discount on their order.  I tell my customers when I'm delivering and if they arent' going to be there they leave a check.  If they don't want to then they will have to make other arrangements.  I am not delivering 3 times to the same area.  If a customer places a big order you can ask for a deposit in the event you think they may not pay you.  You can do that with everyone but I don't and haven't had a problem yet.

You can ask your friends and family for referrels from their friends and family.  You can even ask them to be helpers and get you orders from them which you reward them with a discount on their personal order.  

The only thing you NEED to buy to run your Avon business is brochures.   Avon gives you 25 bags in your first order after that you need to purchase the bags.  They cost between $1 an $2 for 50.  That's not going to eat up your profits. Yes you do need to purchase samples but they aren't necessary and I rarely have gotten a sale by giving them out freely.  If someone wants to try something you can order it with your next order and they range in price from $1/10 to $2.50/5 depending on the type of sample it is but you don't HAVE to buy them.

There are so many ways to work around problems if you approach it business like and efficiently.  If you expect money to come in without doing anything then it isn't going to work out.

Avon only costs $10 face to face or $20 to join online (see my profile for info on that)  They give you everything you need to get started.  I joined for $10 and I am a Unit Leader with 70 in my downline and Honor society ($20,000 in sales).  I've done this around my family life with 3 children (one of whom is handicapped) and my part time job in the hospital.  

Anything is possible if you put your mind and body to it.

Terri Avon ISR

Unit Leader

Honor Society