Unemployment To Home-Based Business: A Tough Transition

NPR:

When Cindy Tisdale was laid off from her job as a transaction tax analyst, she started looking for new work right away.

Then a former co-worker, who also lost her job, started selling jewelry for Silpada Designs. It’s a direct-sales company, where reps hold jewelry parties. Tisdale thought it sounded like a pretty good deal.

“I did like, and I love, tax law, which sounds really nerdy, you know — because my degree is in accounting and statistics. But I’m just like, you know what? Maybe this is a midlife crisis, I don’t know, but, time to change. I want to do something that’s fun.”

So on a recent Saturday night, she brought a bunch of catalogs and jewelry samples to a friend’s house for a small party. There were wine and cheese and shopping — Tisdale displayed rings, necklaces, bracelets.

She is still searching for a full-time job, but Tisdale is hoping she’ll be so successful selling jewelry she won’t really need one.

“A lot of my faith and hope is on this right now, at this point. I feel like I can do this. I know I can do this — this is my dream, to work for myself. This is what it is. I want to work for myself.”

Screenshot from Silpada Designs