Our last Avon representative interview in our Avon home business series was held earlier this month. I spoke with Maria Sutej, a Regional Vice President in Sales at Avon Products, Inc. Maria has been with Avon since 1983, when she began as a District Sales Manager. Twenty-nine years is a long time, but Maria said she “…started this for fun, but had no idea it could be SO much fun!”

Maria shared that there are two ways Avon representatives can make money: 1) by building a home business based only on Avon sales and 2) by taking advantage of the leadership opportunity. She says the latter is where the true business opportunity lies, in not only selling to customers, but also recruiting new representatives. For maximum earning potential, Maria suggests representatives do both.

Maria also shared a couple of stories of Avon representatives she’s come in contact with over the years. She told us about Linda Jones, who was laid off from a corporate job about six years ago and started selling Avon due to the loss of income. Linda now sells $78,000 of product per year and earns about half of that. Another story Maria shared was that of  Donna Reed Mitchell, who is originally from Jamaica and started her Avon career in New York. Donna’s daughter was diagnosed with an illness requiring her to home-school. Donna is a Sr. Executive Unit Leader earning a six-figure income and says she wouldn’t be able to home-school if it weren’t for her Avon business.

Maria’s advice for new representatives is to start approaching not only people you know, but also people you don’t know at various places you go. She said if you want to build a big business, you need to establish yourself. Her suggestion is that representatives list places they frequent and think of who they can approach. A key reminder is to not be afraid of approaching strangers; as Maria said, most people’s response is “I haven’t seen an Avon brochure in years!”

I asked Maria how Avon representatives can take advantage of social media to market their Avon businesses. She responded that Facebook is a great way to spread word and that she sees a lot of representatives using it to launch their business. Maria also mentioned that the internal Avon site has Internet marketing tools to help representatives, including videos, e-cards, and other content.

It’s clear that success through an Avon home business can be different for everyone. In interviewing the various Avon representatives over the past few months, we’ve seen a variety of levels of earning potential and business models. I think the great thing in all that is that Avon provides flexibility and allows each representative to create the home business that’s right for them.

Have you ever explored Avon as a home business opportunity?

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.

Our partnership with Avon continues with a second profile of an Avon representative. I had the chance to speak last month with Yesenia Ward who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and has been with Avon since October 2007.  She moved to Vegas from California and as a stay at home mom (SAHM), she was seeking something that would allow her to have more adult interaction. Soon after, she found an Avon brochure in her driveway; she considered the find to be a sign, so she called to inquire about selling.

Yesenia was already familiar with Avon, since growing up, her mom often had Avon books around the house and was an Avon customer. Her whole family is involved in her business; her two sons especially, ages six and seven, help bag and deliver products. Yesenia mentioned that some customers even request to have their products delivered by her sons!

With Avon, you can make the business your own and work as much or as little as you want. Yesenia takes advantage of this and runs her business mostly part-time, but full-time during her boys’ school breaks. She estimates she puts in about five hours a day while her boys are in school.

The  majority of Yesenia’s business comes from one-on-one face-to-face meetings. She carries business cards and also has a website through the Avon site. Lots of people contact her through the website for both purchasing as well as for more information on becoming an Avon representative. Yesenia also uses Facebook to advertise her Avon link and keep family informed.

Since the majority of her business comes from personal interactions, it’s no wonder that word of mouth is the top way Yesenia finds new representatives. She explained to me that her mom works at a casino and shares information on Yesenia’s business to customers. Yesenia’s husband is in the army, so another way word spreads is through the wives of his coworkers.

I asked Yesenia what keeps her motivated to continue her Avon business, to which she responded that she loves she can work on her own time without a boss. She shares her story with new representatives and lets them know how easy it is for their schedule. She says, “Avon sells itself with not a lot of effort.” Yesenia  has about fifteen representatives under her and periodically meets with them one-on-one. She would like to host in-home parties, but hasn’t been able to yet.

It took Yesenia a while to make money selling Avon. At first, she started selling only to friends and family. After three months of selling Avon, she became a unit leader, which is when she started seeing more income come in. Any income Yesenia earns always goes towards her kids’ schools, their supplies, etc.

Yesenia’s story is different from our last featured Avon representative, Sylvia Tamayo, but that is the beauty of being an Avon representative and selling Avon products. You can make your Avon business be whatever you want it to be. In fact, I’d say that’s the top benefit of any home-based business and being your own boss! Don’t you think?

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.

As part of our partnership with Avon, I’ll have the opportunity to highlight a couple of representatives and even attend a local Avon meeting in order to learn more about the daily lives of Avon representatives. This past month, I spoke with an Avon representative from Texas who’s owned an Avon business for 15 years! Her story is actually quite inspiring and she was a pleasure to speak with. Her energy is admirable and it was clear to me why she’s so successful when she ended our conversation by asking me, “Would you like to be an Avon representative? It’s very easy!”

Sylvia Tamayo is a native of Mexico and moved to Texas 18 years ago. One day, as she and her daughters went for their daily walk, Sylvia met a District Sales Manager who was recruiting new Avon representatives. Since Sylvia was actually looking for an opportunity, she seized the opportunity and signed up on the spot. Sylvia was a bit familiar with Avon already, as her mom used to sell Avon in Mexico when Sylvia was about 6 years old.

Sylvia runs her Avon business full-time, saying she works from 9 am – 6 pm Monday through Friday. She also sometimes conducts business on weekends or in the evening, primarily for business calls or meetings. Despite the busy work schedule, Sylvia says her Avon business allows for flexibility in work hours when compared to a traditional job. For example, she explained to me that if her children have appointments, she can work around them.

When I asked Sylvia about work-life balance and how she balances her business with her family, she said she multitasks and combines many responsibilities. Her day normally starts at 6 am and she makes sure to keep business going by “sharing the opportunity wherever, whenever,” even at the doctor’s office. That’s why she carries her business cards with her at all times. In order to keep her home-based business and family separate, though, Sylvia does try to maintain her schedule of 9-6. If she needs to, she stops working and attends to her family and after 6 pm, her time is reserved for family.

According to Sylvia, her community is 99% Hispanic and almost 90% of the 900 representatives in her down-line are Latina. She says she likes to help people and teach them, which has been her number one motivation for continuing as an Avon representative all these years. She enjoys helping other representatives and it gives her great satisfaction when other representatives succeed and no longer have financial problems.

Sylvia earns a full-time income as an Avon Senior Executive Unit Leader and pays for most of her household’s expenses. She says the key is to start every day as if you are a new representative and share the opportunity with everyone, at least five new people each day. Sylvia mainly recruits new representatives face-to-face. The majority of her sales come from face-to-face interactions and personal customers. She hosts an exclusive party for her customers twice a year, which provides them with an incentive to purchase from her.

Her success was recently recognized by Avon and Sylvia was invited to appear in a national TV ad. You can check out Sylvia in the commercial, found below, which ran on networks such as Oxygen and Bravo.

I think much can be learned from Sylvia’s story. It’s clear she’s worked hard to build a successful business, yet retains some of the energy, motivation, and drive one initially has when starting a business. Her passion definitely shows, which I’m sure is a driving force in ensuring her success. Many thanks to Sylvia for sharing her story with me and helping me learn about her business!

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.

Chances are you’ve all had an encounter with Avon at one time or another. Whether you have sold Avon products yourself, know someone who does, or bought Avon products, surely Avon has crossed your path in some manner. For me, I believe my first Avon memory was created in Puerto Rico when I was a little girl.

A good friend of my mom is an Avon representative and has been for many years. I remember when we lived in Puerto Rico, she’d come by with her Avon catalog for my mom to look through. As a stay at home mom (or housewife if we use the term from those days), my mom’s friend was able to make money from home. That’s something Avon strongly supports, which is why I’m happy to be partnering with Avon over the next four months to bring you more information of their mission and representatives.

I was surprised to learn that Avon was founded in 1886, which means that many women had an opportunity to earn an income for themselves and families years before women could even vote. A little over a week ago, Avon celebrated their 125th birthday by honoring their Founder David McConnell’s mission to empower women to be economically independent, as well as celebrating the current 6.5 million representatives.

As you might expect, Avon representatives today are able to run their businesses differently than in the past, with many more tools at their disposal and the ability to incorporate technology. It’s no longer just about selling door-to-door and singing out, “Avon calling!”

Over the next few months, I’ll be able to highlight some representatives and will also get to meet with a local Avon rep in order to learn more about a typical day in the life of an Avon businesswoman. I hope to learn, and in turn, share, how Avon representatives incorporate technology into their businesses, if they market or sell online, and how they balance their business and daily lives.

Do you have personal experience with the Avon company or a memory to share? What would you like to know more about Avon and their representatives?

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work with Avon.