Is Ann Summers worth it?

delain

My friend wants me to be an Ann Summers party organiser, She says I'm a natural

What i want to know, is with the self employment tax returns etc. is it just more hassle than it's worth?

At the moment we get some help with our rent so i'd have to be doing parties on a very regular basis to keep the income level consistent or cause untold issues there.

Has anyone found this works well or is a disaster etc?

sorry if this is a repeat thread, i did look!

Caroline73_2

The SA forms are really easy so I wouldn't worry about that aspect. When you register as SE the local tax office give you free workshops on that kind of thing.

You do really need to speak to someone professional about your benefits though.

With regard to the party planning, be prepared for hard work and make sure you are 100% happy with the products and truly believe in the company or it won't work (unless you are the best sales person in the world!)

paulwf

delain wrote: »

My friend wants me to be an Ann Summers party organiser, She says I'm a natural

Generally a lot of party plan type companies pay to recruit new people to sell their products. This may or may not be the case with Ann Summers but worth checking. In many cases there is more money to be made recruiting new agents than there is hosting parties.

Therefore think if your friend is offering an unbiased opinion...sorry for being cynical and if it is right for you go for it, but I doubt your friend is trying to sign you up just because she thinks you are good at it. I've seen people disillusioned with party plan because they have been "sold" it by friends.

Kit603

A friend of mine started a few months ago and she loves it! She does say though that it was very slow to get started, so if its going to affect your benefits that might be something you need to consider.

One bonus with Anne Summers is that most of the shops are happy for you to stand there with a clipboard to generate leads for people who are interested in having a party.

delain

paulwf wrote: »

Generally a lot of party plan type companies pay to recruit new people to sell their products. This may or may not be the case with Ann Summers but worth checking. In many cases there is more money to be made recruiting new agents than there is hosting parties.

Therefore think if your friend is offering an unbiased opinion...sorry for being cynical and if it is right for you go for it, but I doubt your friend is trying to sign you up just because she thinks you are good at it. I've seen people disillusioned with party plan because they have been "sold" it by friends.

Several people i've known have said i would be good at it, and they've said it independently as they don't know each other IYSWIM. I think its my sense of humour

I'm not on income support or anything as my OH works and i am SAHM but rents are high where we live so we get some help with that, and tax credits (which we have to have, they're automatically counted in your LHA application and if we didn't have them we'd have £5 a month for food )

I think i will take a long look at it, before i commit as maybe moving to quite rural area which might be a problem as don't drive!

tryingtobegood

I did Ann Summers a long time ago to make extra cash and I did!
IMO if you are going to join, now is the time to do it as people are interested in having parties and buying for Christmas pressies , followed by the Valentine's day market.
It can be a bit slow to build up your client base but your team leader will normally help you out getting parties. ( At least mine did!)

Caroline73_2

paulwf wrote: »

Generally a lot of party plan type companies pay to recruit new people to sell their products. In many cases there is more money to be made recruiting new agents than there is hosting parties.

Most party plan DO NOT pay people to recruit. In fact I don't think the DSA allow that (I'm not 100% though) Money is not made from the recruiting of people but based on commission from their sales.

I'm a Team Leader with Usborne Books and don't make money from recruiting people. I earn a commission on their sales. This means that there is no point telling people they would be good at it if they won't be.

You end up spending more time working with the people who aren't very good and who will earn little for themselves or you. It would be false economy to do this.