Part-time job, full-time moolah

• Neelam Mehrotra, who’s been with Tupperware since 1996, has a network of over a 1,000 people while she herself has recruited about 3,000 people into the company.

Gone are the days when a regular nine-to-five job was the only way to be professional. These days, the secret of raking in some extra moolah lies in sparing a few hours from your busy routine at home or at office and trying your hand at part-time jobs like becoming a direct-selling agent, insurance adviser, or mutual funds’ broker.

The biggest benefit, you are your own boss and in the days when firing is more common than hiring, you could still have the fires burning at home without getting very nervous about it. And no big ticket investment needed here too.

For an Oriflame start-up kit, all you need to invest is Rs 400 and the rest depends upon your marketing and communication skills. Chairman of Oriflame, Inderjit Sial says, “The whole platform is such that it is your business and to succeed you need to make an effort.”

The Amway start-up business kit costs is priced at Rs 4,400 which includes products for Rs 2,600 and rest Rs 1,800 is one-time joining fee and with this you can avail free unlimited training throughout the year. Kalyan Ranjan, manager (corporate communication) of Amway says, “We also offer various value-added services like the Petro Card from BPCL. Also we have our own accounts department which does all the paper work for our distributors like filing I-T returns etc.” The company currently has 3,10,000 active distributors (that is, those who have done dealings in the last 90 days) and the percentage of men and women is almost equal here—50%.

Industry people say that after six months with Amway a mediocre earning begins around Rs 5,000 per month, a bit more initiative can bring home around Rs 10,000 per month. As if you go on with a similar kind of initiative and also introduce other people into the network, your earnings can range between Rs 20,000-50,000 per month. There are various Amway distributors also who after putting in 4-6 years are taking home over Rs 3 lakh every month!

Sial adds, “It is not very difficult to earn money in this business. A distributor has to pick up the products at the wholesale price and sell at retail price. Also he/she gets commission for every new member he/she introduces into the business. Today, we have over 1,00,000 Oriflame distributors with women comprising up to 70%. Also about 30% of our distributors hold another job too.”

Tupperware managing director Kanwar S. Bhutani narrates a similar story. “We have around 45,000 consultants in 35 cities in India. Almost 90 per cent of these were either housewives or professionals who quit their jobs to be full-time with Tupperware. Rest 10% hold two jobs. Our organisation focus is basically on women entrepreneurship.” As for the rewards programme, it is the same in almost all the direct selling companies ranging from international tours and gala dinners to outstation conferences and cash rewards.

Last year, Bina Thanewala decided to go in for some extra job apart from managing her company dealing with industrial teflon products. In March 2001, she attended a seminar organised by ICICI and registered herself as a ICICI Prudential life insurance adviser. After going through a test and training session, she now has 78 customers and is also offering tips on financial planning. She also offers mutual funds and bonds now. “It is all about an effort to be presentable and nice. Try to just strike a conversation and business will surely follow,” says Thanewala.

Shubhro Mitra, chief (human resources) of ICICI Prudential says, “ICICI Prudential probably has the largest number of advisors amongst the private life insurers. Currently, our advisor base stands at about 14,000, and includes people from diverse backgrounds” Other companies like LIC also hire part-time agents, even college-going students. But Max New York Life employs only full-time agents so the only snag in this matter can be that you cannot hold on to a job while being an insurance agent.