Books are Fun is a company I worked for as an Independent Distributor in the late 1990's. It was a business opportunity of direct sales to businesses. At the time I was with them, they were owned by Reader's Digest. While doing research tonight for this blog I discovered that the original founder bought the company back. They still offer a business opportunity, don't really know if it works like it did when I was there.
It was a pretty simple concept. The company bought "lots" of books from publishers. The division I worked for then called on businesses & left a "sampling" of 10-14 books for employees to look over and order from. Then at a later pre-determined time, I went back to the business, collected money for the orders and delivered in the same step. The BIG draw was that most of the books sold for 80% less than retail. They also were always a selection of high quality general interest books that made great gifts for any book lover in the family. The company has a solid reputation and delivers on it's promises.
In the end, it turned out not to be exactly what I was looking for. Even with all the benefits it offered, it still was a "job". I had to keep a LARGE physical inventory, do the prospecting, delivering, bookkeeping, stocking etc. While "technically" I was self-employed, the reality was I had "bought" a job. No matter how hard I worked the business, if I wanted to take a week off, I didn't get paid. At the time I wasn't really sure what I was looking for, I just knew this wasn't it. That being said, if you are interested in a hands on type of business, this one is certainly worth a look. As for me I'll stay with my current plan of building a residual income.
David
