Why women choose direct sales

Many companies don’t talk about the emotional reasons people join a company. Companies talk a lot about the material reasons—you need a house, you desire more money or you want a new car. Anything you can touch or see is a material reason. But people move to action based on emotion, and when you can tap into a women’s emotional bond to her company and the reason that she’s there, she will massively connect. She’ll feel more successful and be more successful. There are a lot of emotional reasons for women.

Being proud

She wants someone to be proud of her, maybe her husband, her children, parents, or maybe she just wants to be proud of herself. That’s a big one for women. Another big one, especially for single women, is the desire to know that she can take care of herself, that she can care for herself in her senior years, that she doesn’t need a man or anyone else to care for her, that she is going to feel safe, feel like she can live a good life and care for herself and her children.

Having more

For mothers. “I want more for my family” is a big, big reason. The doctor’s wife and the lawyer’s wife, they want to have something of their own, something that they created from the ground up. Stay at home moms—they’re the cook, the maid, the taxi driver—they want something of their own. This profession gives those women the opportunity to create that special social bond and opportunity to feel proud and create more. The world tells stay at home moms “that’s not a real job,” which is so wrong. It is a real job—a bigger job than any other.

Helping my husband

Lately I hear (more than I ever have before) women saying “I want to bring my husband home.” Many husbands are working more than one job. Some have just one job and work 60 hours a week. Others have three jobs and work 90 hours a week. I had a woman say to me, “My husband, I’m watching his soul being crushed.” I asked her what was happening and she said, “My husband is a sculptor and a painter, and he’s painting houses for a living, and it’s killing him and I’m watching it. I want him to have choices. I want him to be able to paint and sculpt and be in his joy zone.”

For a lot of women, their husbands don’t even know their kids. They’re working so hard and under so much stress that when they do come home, they want to turn on the TV, have a beer, and tune out of the world. Moms are wanting their husbands to be more involved and have more joy and more peace.

Being around for my kids

More women are leaving their full time jobs to join the direct selling profession. Lots of these women were latchkey children; mom and dad weren’t there when they came home from school. These women—those who have children—want to be there for their children. Corporate America doesn’t always understand when their child’s sick or has a program at school that the mom wants to be part of those experiences. People are tired of not being able to raise their children. As a result, more women are saying, ‘I can do this.’ So they’re going part-time with their corporate jobs and starting part-part time in direct selling. And eventually they go full-time with the business.

Earning more

We’re seeing even high-level professional women—I’m talking doctors, lawyers—getting tired of the rat race and tired of somebody else deciding what they’re worth. This industry allows them to create their own income. Their work is directly proportioned to their salary. In corporate America, you go to work. You work hard and you work fast. You don’t get any increase in pay; you just get more work. And in many cases if you’re a woman, you get 75 percent of what a man would make.

Changing the world

Women are very philanthropic; they’re very cause-driven. Companies that have a philanthropic cause—whether it’s feeding the hungry or providing clothing for children—are like magnets to women. I have a sister at the top in her company and her big reason to get to the top was so that she could feed hungry children. She actually, 100%, supports two orphanages in Uganda—their food, their well, their school books, their clothing, their toothpaste, I mean everything, and her business gave her the opportunity to do that. She’s also supporting another woman who’s moving to China to do missionary work. She’s paying for that woman to get there, and for food and necessities while she’s there. She couldn’t have done that without this business. Women really love to support causes that matter to them and if we give them options to do so, they are attracted and remain dedicated to the company and the cause.

Nicki Keohohou, CEO and co-founder of the Direct Selling World Alliance and Coach Excellence School. She works with men in women in the field and supports corporate executives in developing a strong field focused culture. Visit DSWA.org or email Nicki at nicki@dswa.org.