Some love the flexibility. Others cite an opportunity to stretch their creativity and socialize with friends. Or it may be a convenient way to set aside money for a specific goal. Regardless of the company they choose or the reason they start, hundreds of women in the Coulee Region have found success in direct sales.

Home parties are the most recognized part of direct sales, which range from the longstanding industry leaders like Avon and Tupperware to those selling home décor, jewelry, personal care items, cleaning products and even “relationship aids.” Yes, there’s a home party for that.

According to the national Direct Sales Association, an estimated 16 million people are involved in direct sales across the country. Of those, nearly 82 percent are women, and most are between the ages of 30 and 65.

Full-time with flexibility

Trudy Swenson (pictured above) is among the 9 percent of direct sales entrepreneurs who have turned their direct sales business into a full-time income, working more than 30 hours per week. Formerly a paralegal, the rural Mindoro woman began her career with Mary Kay Cosmetics when she realized that a nine-to-five job and long commute weren’t compatible with raising three sons, some with special needs.

Though she had anticipated always being a paralegal, for the last 13 years, she has instead been building a business of her own—one she can operate on her own time and own terms, but which still provides the income her family needs.

“It has allowed me to build a life, not just earn a living,” she says from the living room of her home. Just off one corner is a sun-filled converted porch that serves as her office, filled with awards from Mary Kay and a cabinet of products ready to be delivered to customers.

Swenson also maintains her Image and Success Center in Onalaska, a space where she trains newer consultants and hosts skin care classes or wedding parties, both of which have helped her build a customer base of more than 400 customers around the country.

Swenson says she has built her business to the point of making an “executive salary,” but it requires commitment. She works 40 to 45 hours a week, but “I work it when I choose,” she says, balancing those hours around caring for her family, serving as a volunteer emergency medical technician and volunteering at her church.

“Having my business has allowed me to still be involved,” she says, and she often takes her business with her, delivering orders to customers at her sons’ football games or 4-H club meetings. “I intertwine my business with my family.”

With a goal in mind

Jennie and Jaden Thomas of Onalaska are hoping to adopt a child from Ethiopia, but the process comes with a steep price tag, especially difficult since Jennie is the stay-athome mom of two children already—Drew, 4, and Carissa, 2. Formerly a teacher, Thomas tried earning extra money for the adoption

by working part-time as a tutor, but the hours meant she was always leaving the house at dinner and bedtimes, and it was hard to work enough to make it worthwhile.

When she hosted a Pampered Chef party as a fund-raiser for their adoption fund, she recognized an opportunity to help build those coffers without the schedule concerns. 

She has been selling the kitchen products for several months now.

“I’m able to plan it around my husband’s schedule,” she says. She only does two inhome shows a month; the computer work necessary for her business can be done during her children’s naptime. All of her income from Pampered Chef goes straight into the adoption account, Thomas says, and the parties also give her an opportunity to raise awareness about international adoption.  Once the adoption is paid for, Thomas sees herself continuing to work with Pampered Chef and putting the money into a dedicated account for something big: down payment on a house, new car or something similar. 

“I like the idea of not having to rely on it (for basic needs), but it is nice to put (the profits) in there and see that account go up,” she says.

Just for fun

Holmen’s Shari Ireland was a career oriented woman: a lead forecaster with the

National Weather Service. And then she became pregnant with her first child, Bradley, who is now nearly 13. She and her husband, also a NWS  eteorologist, worked rotating shifts, and only had two weekends together out of every 10 weeks. “It took us the whole nine months to decide I was going to stay home,” Ireland says, since her husband, Stu, handled the rotating shifts better than she did. Ireland had discovered rubber stamping before she was pregnant, and about halfway through the pregnancy, she was invited to a Stampin’ Up! party. 

“It was crazy fun, and I decided this was going to be my outlet,” she says. When

Bradley was a baby, and later, when his sisters Sianna, 9, and Erika, 5, were infants, the stamping and scrapbooking supplies business was mostly a hobby, but other times, Ireland has filled her schedule with parties and clubs. 

“It was more therapy for me,” Ireland says.“It reconnects me with family and friends.”

And having the business helps support the costs of her hobby; it is her job to have a room full of the paper, inks, stamps and other materials she loves.