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It takes more than the start up cost of a direct sales kit to begin your own direct sales business.

I know it can be very tempting to see all of these company sign up fees, many being under $100. However, in order to get started, you’ll need to invest more than this start up cost.

So what fees can you expect, if you decide to become a direct sales distributor? First are supplies from the company itself. Do you need catalogs? Do you need samples? Do you need any type of training materials? Some companies sell books and tapes. Some sell instructional videos. What about promotional materials? Some companies offer glossy fliers. Some offer sales and recruiting materials you can give to prospective customers and prospective new team members.

Will you conduct any of your business online? Do you need to purchase a replicating website from the company? Do you need to have your own personal website? Most companies charge anywhere from $10 to $20 per month to have a company website. If you choose to have a website of your own, you’ll need to pay for the domain and the hosting. I have never been a believer of free websites for a business. This belief comes from the thousands of people I have spoken to and not one of them has ever made a purchase from a “free website”. If you do have your own website, either you need to design it or you need to pay someone else to design it. If you design it yourself, you’ll need an html program. This might be FrontPage, or it might be XSitePro. Either way, you’re looking at a one time investment to purchase the necessary software.

How will you market? Will you need to pay for any type of advertising, whether online or offline? Perhaps you’ll place ads in ezines. Or perhaps you’ll place ads in you local newspaper. Either way, there are advertising fees associated with placing ads.

I still believe a direct sales business is a wonderful investment. However, there are fees other than a sign up-kit fee that you should be aware of.

Audrey Okaneko has been scrapbooking for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.recipe-barn.com