Business snapshot: Home Interiors & Gifts Inc.

Published 9:53 am Sunday, July 22, 2007

Who: Jan Spainhour, a Snohomish independent contractor for 18 years, makes a good living selling home decor accessories and recruiting and training new consultants.

How it works: The business model is similar to Mary Kay Cosmetics or Avon. Consultants sell directly to friends, family and others they know, earning a commission on their sales and on the sales of people they have recruited into the company. It costs new consultants about $150 to get started, which pays for merchandise and training material. That amount fluctuates, she said. Friends who volunteer to a host a party at their home receive special gifts and credit toward merchandise. Consultants who recruit enough other people into the company can become directors, a position Spainhour holds.

Why she does it: Spainhour, 59, may not own the company, but she’s running her own business. She sets her own hours and works as much as she chooses. As a director, Spainhour recruits and trains new consultants, and in return she receives a percentage of their sales profits. She also runs several parties every week. At the moment, about 65 consultants work under her. Many consultants choose to work for less or view it as a supplement to another job. “Some just do it long enough to pay off a bill and then get out,” she said.

Who it works for: The low start cost, flexible hours and minimal risk make Home Interiors &Gifts a good way for those with limited education or job experience to learn business skills and work from home, Spainhour said. About half of her consultants are Hispanic women, she said. (The company offers Spanish and English language catalogs.) The most successful tend to be self-motivated women with a good work ethic. A positive attitude is essential, she said. Consultants keep 45 percent of profits. Spainhour said there are expenses, such as purchasing hostess gifts and buying new catalogs.

History: Company founder Mary Crowley started the company in 1957 after years of struggling to support two children alone. The Texas-based company grew and today it’s one of the nation’s leading direct sales companies with millions in sales. The company’s sales force and customers are mainly women with children, some with little education, just like Crowley herself had been at one time. Crowley, now deceased, was the sister-in-law of Mary Kay Ash, the founder of another successful direct sales company, Mary Kay Cosmetics Co.

The wares: Moderate-priced home accessories, including framed artwork, candles, shelves, mirrors, sconces, and floral and greenery. Prices range from $4.99 to about $200. One of the most expensive items carried is a large framed Thomas Kinkade print. The products change regularly and about 1,000 items are for sale at one time, Spainhour said.

No pink Cadillac: But the company is offering new directors a Mustang in the color of their choosing.

Notable: Spainhour estimates she earns about $45,000 a year, about $20,000 from her own sales. The highest-earning consultants can make $100,000 or more.

Quotable: “If you help someone else get what they want, you can get what you want.”

More information: www.homeinteriors.com/ janspainhour, 425-334-6062.