Wearing Jewelry Could Be Your Home Based Business

What woman doesn't love to wear jewelry? I know both my daughter and I do! Many women across America are hosting parties and selling a line of jewelry product called Lia Sophia. "lia sophia is a company born of hopes and dreams..." (Lia Sophia, 2004) Lia Sophia specializes in mid-priced fashion jewelry. What makes their product unique is they offer a lifetime replacement guarantee.

I was surprised to learn that a man named Victor Kiam started this company. Mr. Victor Kiam worked for companies such as Playtex and Remington (and he owned Remington, made this company the #1 seller of razors) in the past. When a company called ACT II, came up for sale, Mr. Victor Kiam told his son Tory, who was attending Stanford University at the time to analyze the company. "The final report determined that direct selling was an industry that provided great earnings opportunities, flexible working hours and enhanced self-esteem for those involved-in essence an industry for and about entrepreneurs." (Lia Sophia, 2004) Finally he had found himself a business he could transform to promote entrepreneurship. Thus, Lia Sophia started.

Lia Sophia promotes Dress for Success Charity by donating a portion of the profits from the "Mystical" line of jewelry. Dress for Success is a charity that promotes women to be self-sufficient. They have helped more than 300,000 women work towards self-sufficiency.

It is a great to see a company that backs their own product with a lifetime replacement guarantee. If exchanged within 120 days, they even reimburse you for shipping. After the 120 days, you need to add $5.00 for shipping and handling.

Not ready to become your own boss, well you can become a hostess.

In the 80's it was Tupperware parties, coming into the 21^st century it's jewelry parties. Lia Sophia offers you many advantages to hosting a party. As a hostess you receive 20% of all the sales in free jewelry credit. In addition, you can purchase any 4 items for $15.00, or you can choose any two items at one-half the price. Achieve over 10 orders and two bookings for more parties and you get 40% of all the sales of your party. Wow!

Lia Sophia makes it easy for you to start-up your own business. Their starter kit, which costs $149 which includes which includes 25 pieces of jewelry, jeweler's carrying case, 1" display tray, set of 2 foam sheets, showing your style video, merchandise stock list, excellent beginnings & beyond training program, display cloth, ring sizer, colored invitations, guest lists, customer selection tickets, hostess envelopes, wish lists, hostess selection and order summary sheets. The Lia Sophia start-up business kit is worth about a $1000. They make it easy for you to get more supplies. You have two options, you can either print off the information yourself from their website or you can order replacements at what seemed to me, a very reasonable cost. For example for $4.00 you can purchase 100 invitations. Additional costs that you may incur include jewelry displays and travel.

To help you market their products, they offer a company approved website for $9.95 a month and produce company approved fliers you can hand out. They do set some limitations on where you can sell these products. For example, all Ebay and auction sites are off limit. You are also not allowed to sell at any retail location or online.

Like many home based sales businesses, they offer your additional commission for recruiting others to sell the product. You start as an advisor for this company earning 30% commission. To be considered an active member, you must sell $250 worth of jewelry in a 3-month period. The advantage to staying active is you receive a 70% discount on your samples you purchase. After you have signed up 3 people to sell and you average $5000 in a three-month period, including those that you recruit, you receive an additional 10% of your own sales and 10% of all the sales from your recruits. They offer additional promotions as you and your down line continues to recruit and sell. As you progress in the company you get sales quota's you will need to meet. For example, after being promoted from an advisor to a manager, then your sales goals are $1500 average monthly, looked at every three months and $5000 average monthly sales for your whole down line.

Lia Sophia encourages you to implement network marketing to spread the word about their product and your business. You can hold fundraisers, set up shop at fairs, and local churches. They have ongoing training via the web and forums. They offer exclusive access to the Lia Sophia University, which is a training manual, and you can expect your regional managers to hold monthly meetings to cover new product changes and upcoming promotions.

As with all the home based business's I've looked into over the past couple of weeks, all the people were very friendly and eager to help you make money. They are willing to go above and beyond their job to ensure you succeed at this business venture.

Resources:

Lia Sophia (2004), [Electronic Version] retrieved on June 4, 2007 from www.liasophia.com

Spoke with several Lia Sophia advisors and managers to get their input about the company both via phone and email on June 5, 2007