CLOSE-UP
WHERE THERE'S
THERE'S
Area Jews sell plastic
INII eed extra cash?
Want to make
$2,000 a month
in nine to 12
months? Do you
have two or three nights a
week to spare? Have you seen
the plan? Need a checkup
from the neck up? Suffering
from hardening of the at-
titudes? How- about a new
car? How about that dream
vacation home, you know that
one you've always wanted,
but could never afford. Do
you want your wife home
from work? How about total
financial freedom? How
would you like to take that
JOB and tell that boss of
yours what to do with it?
bowls, makeup,
shampoo, vitamins,
detergents and almost
anything else part time
and from home.
Interested? Sound good?
Well, come to our meeting
Tuesday night. We can't
promise you anything, but
we're working with profes-
sionals in the area who are
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
Photos by Glen n Triest
Rena Meyers, a
long-time
Tupperware
distributor, says
that believing in a
product makes
selling easier.
24
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1991
looking to expand their
businesses.
What's the business all
about?
Network marketing. You
know what that is, of course?
Who stands behind it?
Aha. The catch.
How many of us have been
called by a high school friend
we haven't seen in 20 years,
told he was thinking of us
and then we're asked if we
want to see his business?
This business isn't the
candy store on the corner.
It's not even a store at all. Of
course, there is a certain
amount of product or inven-
tory that a person in their
own business has on hand.
But what we're really talk-
ing about here is becoming a
distributor or sales person of
products and also sponsoring
other people to sell the pro-
duct just like you.
In the past when the
names Amway or Shaklee
were mentioned to a Jewish
person, typically the re-
sponse went something like
this: "Amway, you're not go-
ing to get into that Am-
waaaayyy thing are
youuuuu." The response was
like chalk screeching across
a blackboard. That was be-
cause businesses such as
Aniway and Shaklee had a
strong southern United
States Bible Belt member-
ship. Meetings were often
started with a prayer that
included the name Jesus
Christ.
But that was then and this
is now, and now the
meetings still have a pledge
to the flag and a prayer
without Christ involved.
Some organizations that
have out-of-town conven-
tions include a service for
Jewish members. But all in
all, Jewish distributors are
looking to supplement their
incomes just like anyone
else, no matter what the
name of the business is.
The term used most often
these days is network
marketing or multi-level
distribution. This means
that a product line flows
through a network of sales
people or distributors. The
larger the number of people
a distributor sponsors
creates a duplication effect
for growth. The people spon-
sored go out and sponsor
other people and so on and so
on. All the sales volume ge-
nerated by that one group
generates bonuses from the
parent companies. Some of
the companies that use
multi-level distribution or
network marketing include
Amway, Shaklee, NuSkin
International, Images and
others.
There are two basic ways
to make money before extra
bonuses kick in. There are
direct sales, which is simply
buying products wholesale
and marketing them retail.
And then there are bonuses
offered for sponsoring an
organization.
Judy Stillman knows all
about the bonuses. She is a
senior coordinator in the
Shaklee business. She and
her husband, Burt, a dentist,
had an affluent lifestyle go-
ing into the business some
10 years ago. But as many
multi-level distributors ex-
plain, there is so much more
than money to be made from
their businesses.
Though she would not
disclose how much, Ms.
Stillman, a Bloomfield Hills
resident, said she earns
more part time from her
Shaklee distributorship
than many people with
academic degrees and years
of experience earn full time.
Her downstairs office is fill-
ed with Shaklee vitamins
and home care products.
Shaklee, started in 1956, is
a San Francisco-based busi-
ness known for its natural
vitamins, home care and
personal care products. Like
most of the products made by
the other multi-level busi-
nesses, Shaklee products can
only be purchased from
distributors, not at store.
This protects the distributor
network from the competi-
tion a high-volume store
could give them.
Along with the products,
distributors often have a
huge volume of motivational
video and audio tapes and
books used to overcome fears
of rejection, selling or even
calling someone for a
meeting invitation. There
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