Dave Barton needed to find supplemental income and a reason to get out of the house — and all it took was one lousy vegetable chopper.
Wooed by a device that could quarter an onion without breaking the peel, Barton bought a “piece of junk†off a television infomercial a few months back.
It was truth in advertising all right: The blades were so dull, they couldn’t cut through much of anything.
After hearing about the bad chopper, a friend suggested Barton try a similar tool sold through The Pampered Chef, a direct seller of kitchen gadgets since 1980.
“The difference between that and what I bought was night and day,†Barton said.
The 62-year-old Rancho Mirage man became a Pampered Chef consultant a little more than a month ago, with 10 parties under his belt already.
With conventional means of finding a job drying up, many American workers like Barton are turning toward direct selling to make some money in this recession.
“It’s turned into a good opportunity for me,†he said. “It’s paying my mortgage.â€
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