The Advocate:
It seems that not a day goes by without newscasters talking about pessimistic indicators for the economy, like the stock market plunging hundreds of points, companies large and small cutting back, or increases in the unemployment rate.
Yet there is one type of business that has not yet seen the effects of this global recession: multilevel marketing companies. Two of these home-based businesses, in fact, Premier Designs jewelry sales and Tastefully Simple gourmet foods, are bucking the current economic trends by scoring record numbers.
“August was Premier’s biggest month in the company’s history,” said Krista Bishop of Florida, a sales representative, known as a builder, for the company (one achieves builder status by recruiting four or more people to sell).
And just a few weeks ago, Bishop had one of her biggest periods yet: She did five shows in a one-week period, with three of them selling about $900 each, twice the national average.
Bishop, who started as a jeweler for Premier in August 2007, came into direct sales somewhat accidentally. Bishop’s dad could not get time off from work to come to the Berkshires to visit after the birth of Bishop’s daughter, Brooke, so she took the baby down to the state of Florida to visit him. During the visit, her stepmother had a Premier jewelry party, so Bishop looked over the book. She liked what she saw, so the girl who had done the party gave her the presentation.
Photo by IrishFireside.