product-practical. At the very least, you should choose a well-known, established company that sells products you know about, have a passion for or would personally use. Your passion for, or knowledge of , a specific product will make you a more effective salesperson. To find a potential fit, visit www.directselling411.com, where you can check off your interests and learn about appropriate companies. The best direct-sales products tend to be those that benefit from personal in-home demonstrations.

Examples: Knives (shoppers can't experiment with them in retail stores)... cosmetics (it's impractical and can be intimidating to try them out in public)...and water purifiers (in regions where water quality is an issue).

Talk to veterans. Research a company's reputation with an online search. Examples: www.mydswa.org  http://internetbasedmoms.com/direct-sales or www.directsalesmoms.com

You also can check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) to look for filed complaints.

If you are interested in working for a specific company, ask to be put in touch with several of its longtime direct sellers. New recruits tend to be enthusiastic but lack the experience to be realistic about their success. Speak to people who have had direct-selling experience with that company for years. Ask these veterans about the difficulty finding customers...

Their opinion of the products...and the company's payment process. (Direct selling is a cash business, and money should flow back to sellers quickly - or they should be to keep their share of the receipts.)

Look for DSA membership. Companies that belong to the DSA (www.dsa.org) must subscribe to minimal industry standards. These include a "buyback" policy of you decide to quit the business, which allows you to return unopened and unsold products purchased within the prior 12 months for 90% of the price you paid for them (so you are not stuck paying for inventory you can't sell). Another industry standard is having payment structures based chiefly on sales to consumer, not from recruiting other sellers (so you main job is not to recruit more members but to sell goods).

Most companies require new recruits to purchase an initial startup kit - typically for $100 or less - that includes a sample inventory of their most sellable products, "how-to" information, and brochures of the DSA, that charge more sellable than $150 for a startup kit. Good direct-selling companies make money by getting you into a position to sell, not by loading you down with products that sit in your garage.