Direct Sales Boosts Moms’ Confidence

Colorado Springs Gazette:

Tamara Davis-Peck just wanted some jewelry at a low price.

And unlike most businesspeople, she has gotten a boost from the recession, she said. She’s enjoying year-over-year sales increases of about 80 percent, as her July sales total topped $600,000.

Davis-Peck was born and raised in the area, a graduate of Ellicott High School. And she went through some tough years as a young adult. She had two children by two men, and when her second beau became abusive, she was left as a single mom living out of shelters and her car.

“I wanted to give them a good life, just like everybody wants to give their children a good life,” Davis-Peck said.

It was September of 2005 when Davis-Peck went online and requested a lia sophia jewelry catalog as a pick-me-up. The startup costs were low, so she decided to become a saleswoman for the direct-sales company.

“I decided to do it, and I was just going to do the bare minimum — which was a show every three months — to get a discount,” she said. “The only reason I started it was because I couldn’t afford to buy any jewelry. I didn’t think I had the personality or the confidence (to sell).”

Her first jewelry party was a disaster.

“It was terrible. I was nervous and unprepared,” she said. “I stood up and read from the training manual. All the guests’ eyes were glazed over.

“My first few months I kept trying to quit, but people kept asking, ‘Would you please do one more?’”

By the time six months had passed, the nerves were gone and she stopped trying to quit the business. She started making money, and came to see the business as a way to help women like herself.

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