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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2020)
BUSINESS A12 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Home-based businesses bring in extra cash By JADE MCDOWELL NEWS EDITOR While anonymous com- ments online offering the chance to “make money from home” are often scams, many Eastern Oregon resi- dents have found their own ways to make extra cash from their home. Some do so through multi-level marketing com- panies that sell their product through independent consul- tants instead of retail stores. Casandra Whetsler, of Umatilla, has been selling Scentsy products for nine years now. The company’s signature product is a line of wax “wickless candles” that produce scents when placed on a warmer. Whetsler said she keeps about $1,000 of inventory on hand in her home and spends about an hour a day doing tasks, such as updat- ing her Facebook page with posts about new products or ordering more inventory. She said on good months she earns between $400 to $800 in commissions. “There are slow times,” she said. “January is mine, (with) everyone recuperat- ing from Christmas. But it’s not really challenging, you just learn the hard parts over years of selling.” The free and discounted products that sellers earn also contribute to her other line of income, as she uses Scentsy’s cleaning prod- uct line to supply her house-cleaning business. Scentsy’s 2018 income report, the most recent posted on its website, lists the average commission for someone who was active with the company for all 12 months at $1,981 per year. The top consultant in the company earned $967,423 in commissions in 2018, according to the report, but the median was $697, mean- ing half of Scentsy’s sellers earned less than that over the Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Scensty products on display on the island in Casandra Whetsler’s kitchen in Umatilla. Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Casandra Whetsler fi lls out information for a Scentsy order on her dining table in Umatilla on Feb. 4. course of a year. In multi-level marketing companies, sellers get com- missions from sales by peo- ple they recruited to sell. But Whetsler said Scentsy is set up in a way that you can make money without recruit- ing people — she only has one person “downstream” from her. “It is kind of like a pyr- amid, but I don’t push peo- ple to take the plunge with me,” she said. “I want them to pursue things they love. Scentsy is what I love and it helps bring income in for splurges.” Each multi-level mar- keting company has its own rules for joining. Scentsy, for example, requires consul- tants to purchase a $99 starter kit to start. LuLaRoe, known for its colorful leggings, cur- rently requires consultants to make an initial investment of $499 worth of products, according to its website. LuLaRoe has been the tar- get of multiple class action lawsuits claiming it is a pyr- amid scheme that misled and pressured people into pur- chasing thousands of dollars of clothing that they were unable to sell or return, then convinced them to recruit more people into an already oversaturated market. In response to one such lawsuit in 2017, LuLaRoe released a statement saying the accusations were “base- less, factually inaccurate and misinformed” and that the company’s success had made it a “target of orches- trated competitive attacks and predatory litigation.” Despite some people los- ing money from participa- tion in multi-level marketing companies, others feel it’s a good way to supplement their income. Tamara Bow, a regis- tered nurse from Uma- tilla, said in an email to the Hermiston Herald that she can’t disclose how much she makes a month from selling Younique makeup, but said she feels the time she puts into it is “defi nitely” prefera- ble to picking up extra shifts at work. play, reveal & win! Drawings every 30 minutes • Friday – Sunday, 5-8pm 9pm • Super Lucky s Card Game bonus grand prize drawing! CASH movies $12,000 CASH BONUS DINING ENTRIES February 29, 9pm WITH MANGO SALSA Valentine’s Day only! mULTIPLIER WIN UP TO SLOW ROASTED PRIME RIB FIRE ROASTED SALMON Valentine’s Day EARN & GET Free box of chocolates after you’ve earned 100 points on Valentine’s Day! 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Others in town offer ser- vices, such as piano lessons or tutoring, in their homes instead of products. Hermiston City Planner Clint Spencer said he fre- quently gets questions about whether a home-based busi- ness in a residential zone would run afoul of city zon- ing laws. The city’s code of ordinances permits home- based businesses in a resi- dential zone if the building is primarily used as a resi- dence, less than one-fourth of the ground fl oor is taken up by the commercial activ- ity and the building main- tains the “outward appear- ance” of a residence. “There are lots of home occupations in town where people might do accounting out of their homes, or run a small, appointment only hair cutting business out of their homes,” Spencer wrote in an email. “As far as online sales, that’s one that is per- fectly acceptable. It’s a retail use, but it’s done on an order by order basis. That’s a big difference from having dis- play shelves and customers entering a store.” PICK A added FRIEND valentine’s TO WIN! over $7,700 in weekly cash prizes VALENTINE’S DAY DINNER SPECIALS “It can sometimes be a challenge when someone signs up and expects to retire from their full-time job and earn all the free trips, with- out putting any work into it,” she wrote. “This is like any other entrepreneurship, you have to put time into it, in order to be paid like a full- time job.” She cautioned people looking into participation in a multi-level marketing company to do their research fi rst and ask about specifi c companies’ policies about start-up costs, recurring fees, cancellation fees, automatic shipping of new inventory, returns and website costs. One reason she was drawn to Younique specifi cally, she said, was their lack of fees. She has also enjoyed using the product and bonuses, such as the cruise to the Bahamas she took last week courtesy of the company. Not everyone who starts a home-based business does so through a multi-level mar- keting company. Some pre- fer to work for themselves, which may make them miss out on bonuses but also gives them more control over their expenditures and revenue. Olivia Olsen, of Hermis- ton, started a small side busi- ness making greeting cards from home about two years ago. She said she always enjoyed making the intricate cards, but she started selling them after a friend gave one of her homemade cards to a coworker, and people started requesting she make cards for them. “It’s just spread by word of mouth,” she said. Olsen said it takes 30 to 40 minutes to make one card, and she charges $5 to $8 per card, depending on the cost of the materi- als used. She mostly sells to friends and family, but she also puts out a bas- ket of cards at friends’ yard sales and donates batches of cards to auctions that Herm- iston school groups put on to raise money. She can’t make a living off the business, she said, but it turns a stress-re- lieving hobby into a little extra cash she puts away for “emergencies.” “It’s nice people appreci- ate them when I make them,” she said. Ana Cecilia Rodriguez, of Hermiston, also started a home-based business cre- ating home decor, such as succulent arrangements and signs. As a stay-at-home mother of six children, she Good Shepherd Health Care Systems offers the opportunity to enact a vision of oncology that will truly be beneficial to our community. ” 541.667.3615 Good Shepherd Medical Center Treatment Center, Unit C 610 NW 11th St. Hermiston, OR. 97838
