Lia Sophia Jewelry Reps Are Cashing In
By Brian and Jeff On October 19, 2011
Under MLM Articles
Women in the network marketing industry are struggling to earn an income just as much as the men are. Because women spend so much time taking care of their children they would rather not have to report to a boss and rather have an opportunity that they can just sit at home and work on. This is exactly how companies like Mary Kay and Avon were built. It makes more sense these days for jewelry companies to offer products that celebrities will wear because the public is more likely to want to purchase this type of merchandise. A lot of the old school makeup and jewelry while still liked by some is proving to be outdated more each year.
“For decades, direct sales have attracted women looking to earn money with a flexible work schedule. That desire helped build the empires of Avon and Mary Kay. But the idea of selling the same eye shadow and night cream their mothers wear is proving unattractive for women today. Instead, jewellery companies offering hip merchandise that’s worn by celebrities, heavily marketed using social media and sold through casual home parties is snagging women interested in direct sales, and converting those who didn’t picture themselves the type.
In Calgary, Dee Dee Rebitt sells Lia Sophia jewellery, which costs from $20 to more than $100 a piece. Ms. Rebitt joined in 2009, the year the company entered the Canadian market, to augment her income from her home daycare business. She had dabbled in direct sales before, but the self-avowed jewellery addict found her stride with Lia Sophia, booking clients she met at her parties and eventually recruiting 47 women to her team. That’s how the real money gets made.
Like Ms. Li-Gordon, Ms. Rebitt, who works two to three hours a day for Lia Sophia, earns top commission at her own parties while receiving cuts from new recruits and additional cuts from their new recruits. “There’s a lot of women pulling in a full-time salary working part-time hours,” Ms. Rebitt says. “I’d like to retire from daycare and concentrate on expanding my Lia Sophia business across Canada.”
That the jewellery party business is growing in this economy has caught the attention of the industry – last year, Avon, in a bid to reinvigorate its languishing sales, bought Silpada Designs, another popular jewellery direct seller that specializes in high-quality sterling silver. While it can be lucrative, a direct sale business is not a licence to print money.
Launching a home business entails the cost of the start-up kit (often less than $200), investments in merchandise for the shows along with catalogues and accessories, such as table mirrors and jewellery cases. While the shows can more than pay for the operating costs – on average direct sellers net between $350 and $700 a month – successful networking is key to finding a steady stream of people willing to host shows in their home and to recruit saleswomen to your team, which provides access to additional revenue pools.
“This is like a business in a box, the women are supported very well by the companies,” says Ross Creber, president of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada. “But you can’t just sit by the phone and wait for it to ring. It can be as much or as little as you want it to be.” Many look for that so-called sweet spot in-between.
Scarlett Ballantyne of Vancouver, 40, used to work 55 hours a week and spend 60 per cent of her time travelling when she worked in the corporate world. As a mother of two, for her, it was less than ideal.
“Life is too short, I wanted to be more present in my daughters’ lives,” she says, though she didn’t want to give up work altogether. In 2008, she was lured into direct sales after meeting Stella & Dot’s founder, entrepreneurial wunderkind Jessica Herrin.
Applying her business skills, Ms. Ballantyne, who also works as a freelance makeup artist, has built a team of 67 women, and works 15 to 20 hours a week. She markets her enterprise on Facebook, her personal website and blog, as well as Twitter; altogether she’s earning between $2,500 and $5,000 on any given month – and she’s able to take her girls to their dance classes after school.”
I was amazed when I heard that Lia Sophia Jewelry Reps were making a grand or more each time they threw a party. One of the reps even mentioned that they wanted to expand their business in Canada while earning a full-time income only working part-time. Not only will they make this kind of money throwing parties, they also make a percentage off everyone in their downline which of course is typical of all network marketing companies. Heck if I was a woman I’d probably get involved in one of these companies and start working part-time, a few extra grand each month wouldn’t hurt at all 
