You saw it in an ad, heard about it through a friend, or looked for it via the Internet, a cosmetic business that you could begin from home. If it wasn't because of curiosity and or desperation, you would have left it alone, but here you are ready to begin.
What are the pros and cons of starting a business like Avon or Mary Kay? Well, here are the positives:
- Very little start up investment
- You can purchase products from yourself at a discount
- Be rewarded with trips or merchandise when you reach sales goals
- Learn how to market a business
- Make new friends
Those benefits are the ones you most likely heard about, but here's what you may or may not know about and can negatively damage your relationships with friends and family and your credit score.
- If you plan to use family and friends, you may find yourself marketing to them way too frequently because you don't know many people or established enough customers to meet monthly sales goals. Of course, no one likes to feel obligated to buy from anyone, so think long and hard whether you want to get the people closest to you involved.
- You have to pay for your samples, catalogs and business tools
- Items aren't always easy to return and if you don't return them right away for credit, you may not get reimbursed
- Don't carry balances on the items that you have sold or plan to sell. If you used your credit card to build your business and can't pay the balance at the end of the month, you may find yourself in trouble with your credit card company and your supplier. If your supplier stops shipping you items, you can forget about continuing with your business until your balances are paid in full. This unfortunately causes delays and you may lose customers. (In case, you ever wondered why in the past you had to wait so long for your products, they weren't always on back order, some representatives were late getting payments to the companies and made you wait.).
- Don't be tempted to buy your own products frequently. This has landed many representatives in troubled waters; therefore, eventually ruining their credit rating.
- Although the start up investment is minimal in the short term, in order to market your business effectively, you will have to invest modestly in the long term
