Let me guess: you’re ready and raring to start your own direct sales business, but you don’t have the funds to cover your starter kit. You can’t enroll without picking up a few sample products and promotional materials (in most cases), so what are you to do? Where can you get the $50 or $99 or $199 (or more) you need? I’ve got 5 great answers for you today, from monetizing your spare time to making hostess rewards work for you. Read on for some great ways to earn money to pay for your direct sales starter kit!
Use Hostess Credit
One of the best ways to pay for your starter kit with a company is by being a Host for that company! (So long as it’s a company that allows you to redeem host credits for starter kits, of course.) This strategy allows you to forge a strong connection with your upline, and gives you the opportunity to learn how to throw a successful sales party. It’s pretty much on-the-job training: for every sale, you’re earning something toward your host rewards which can later be converted into paying for part of or all of your starter kit.
Jamberry lets you do this – your consultant can choose to issue your host rewards as a percentage off coupon on your starter kit. Origami Owl will give you a $25 discount toward your starter kit if the Jewelry Bar you host closes with a retail value of at least $250 – and this reward system goes up from there. (At $1000 or more, you can get a primary starter kit for free.) The Cocoa Exchange also lets you use host dollars you earn hosting one of their Curated Events to pay for your own starter kit.
When you decide which direct sales opportunity is right for you, be sure to review their hosting rewards system and ask your consultant if you can finance your starter kit with those rewards!
Monetize Your Opinion: Online Surveys
You need money and have opinions; companies have money and need opinions. Use your opinions to make a little cash, and squirrel it away until you have enough to pay for that starter kit! Online surveys don’t always pay much – often, they simply pay in points through various “get paid to” (GPT) platforms, but those points can later be converted to cash. There are also more targeted platforms out there – such as YouGov, MySurvey, and Ipsos i-Say – that will pay you anywhere from a few cents to several dollars (or more!) per survey you complete.
You can also participate in any number of GPT programs, from Swagbucks to MyPoints, which also have surveys for you to take – you’ll earn points from giving your opinion (or even shopping or doing Internet searches or watching videos) that you can convert into cash or gift cards when you reach a certain payout level. Many people who religiously use Swagbucks even say you can make up to $10 a day. Just be sure that you convert your points into PayPal cash (or card) or some other gift card that can be used anywhere – so you can pay for a starter kit from your direct sales company of choice!
Get a Side Hustle: Microtasks
In today’s busy society with as much technology as we have at our fingertips, it’s become easier than ever to outsource small tasks – and easier than ever to make money from doing other’s small tasks! Join a microtask platform like Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) or Clickworker and do small tasks such as identifying objects in a photograph, verifying information, or doing some research, among other tasks. With consistent use, it’s very easy for a microtasker to pull $10 a day on these sites – depending on whether your starter kit is $99 or $199, you could have it paid for in a couple of weeks or a month!
You could also do small tasks locally – perhaps you don’t have much downtime on your computer, but you do have time to spare while running errands or waiting for your kids to finish after-school activities. Make this time work for you by using TaskRabbit or Gigwalk and you might pick up someone’s dry cleaning or make another delivery or do real-time retail location research for a big company.
Monetize Your Spare Time: Website Testing
Have you done all the surveys and microtasks you can stand to do and want to try something different? Earn your starter kit cost through website testing! There are several sites you can work with to provide user testing for their clients: essentially, you’re helping companies make sure their websites or apps work the way they’re supposed to. You are assigned an app or website and given a number of actions to complete. While you do this, they may record your computer screen and you may be required to say what you’re doing out loud. They may also ask you to write a little review after you’ve done the testing part. Then you get paid! (Usually via PayPal.)
On average, you can expect to make $10 per test for 15 – 20 minutes of your time – which is a great ratio. Some of the more popular website testing platforms are User Testing, Userfeel, are Try My UI. Validately is another great one: they only pay $5 for their 5-minute user tests, but you can score a minimum of $25 if you complete one of their 30-minute live tests (which also require you to be on the phone with a moderator).
Turn Clutter Into Cash
The last method I’m sharing today is also the most traditional: sell stuff you no longer need or want and use the proceeds to finance your sales kit! So many of us have a lot of… stuff… cluttering up our own homes when they could be cherished in someone else’s. So round them up and ship them off – with spring just started, you can even use this as an excuse to enjoy hanging around outside and having a yard sale!
Do you have a ton of old DVDs or even Blu-ray discs you no longer want? How about CDs? Decluttr and SecondSpin will take them off your hands for cash. What about current college textbooks? See if Cash4Books wants them. There’s also eBay for your miscellaneous items – and if you don’t feel like having that yard sale. (Don’t forget to see if your friends or family are interested in buying the movies, TV shows, and books you no longer want as well – they’re likely to pay better than many other options. Especially if they know you’re saving towards a goal!)
BONUS: Stella & Dot Score!
This offer is no longer available.
If you’re interested in becoming a Stella & Dot consultant and need help with your starter kit, you’re in luck! Sign up through Swagbucks and you’ll get a reward of 18,000 SB – which works out to $180! You must choose the $199 starter kit, so you’re still paying $19.99 but you can make that back through your other daily Swagbucks rewards quickly enough.
All throughout April you can earn large bonuses when sign up as my referral on Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, or PayPal cash.
When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a 300 SB bonus! Here's how:
2. Earn 300 SB total before May 1st, 2018. You'll get a 300 SB bonus for it!
3. That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned 44,000 SB, or $440, through Swagbucks so far.
What are you waiting for? Time is money and money’s all that stands between you and your direct sales dream! Get out there and make a little scratch to cover your sales kit. It won’t take long at all.
Sseko Designs: Helping Women Around the World Through Opportunity