You’re so excited. You just had an awesome party for your favorite skin care or home décor products and your consultant knows you’d be perfect at being a consultant too. After all you just had the best show she’s had in 6 months. That must mean you’re cut out to do direct sales, right? Well…maybe.

Before you go diving into joining a direct sales company, there are a few things you need to ask yourself. You’ll then find out if you are ready to make direct sales a way of life and really make a successful career out of it. After all, you wouldn’t want to invest in something that isn’t right for you, right?

Sit down with a pen and paper. Jot each of the following questions down. Then, think about the honest answer for each one. The answers should be true for where you are right now in life and your current situation. I’m not trying to discourage you from starting a career as a direct sales consultant. I’m trying to help you see the areas you may need to work on while building your career and help you avoid a possible costly mistake. Believe me. I’ve made them and I hate to see others do the same when it could be avoided altogether. What should you ask yourself before making the jump into direct sales?

1. Do I have the time, right now in my schedule needed to work and build my business? I know too many times a recruiter will tell you they only work a couple of hours a week and make hundreds of dollars. While their actual shows or parties may only take a couple of hours a week, you must consider the set up time, the bookkeeping time, driving time, organization time, meeting time, etc.

When you account for all of those things that are necessary to make a direct sales business successful, do you, right now, have the time for that? Do you work another job full time or part time? Do you have a family that obviously requires nurturing and caring for? Do you attend church regularly or belong to other organizations that take up some of your time? Okay, that’s more than one question, but you need to consider all of these things when accounting for what free time you have available.

2. Do I absolutely LOVE the products I will be selling? Are you 100% sold out? Do you already tell your friends and family about it and essentially “sell” them on it? One of my biggest pet peeves is to have a consultant who really isn’t sure about the product themselves. Maybe they got in because of the lure of working only a couple of hours a week and making a ton of money doing so. Perhaps they were looking for a way to make more money and their recruiter made it so appealing to them by saying, “This product will sell itself, you don’t even have to try. Once a person tries it or sees it, they will buy it”.

I know I’ve fallen for those words myself. You must truly know your product and love it. I can’t sell something I don’t love. I just don’t feel right about it. It’s like I’m lying. I don’t LOVE every single product I’ve sold for a particular company, but I loved the main product or the products that were right for me (i.e. my skin type), but you must love the products you are using, and you have to use them yourself.

3. Am I driven and motivated? Do you have the desire deep in your heart to really work your business? Are you a goal setter and strive to always reach your goals when you set them? I believe that in order to be successful at anything, you must have a long term goal and short term goals that will help get to your long term goal.

Is the nice car your long term goal? What do you have to do to earn it? Earn x amount of sales or recruit x amount of people? What are you going to do to get your first recruit, your second and so on? How are you going to motivate your down line to success? How many shows do you have to hold a week to reach the ultimate dollar amount in sales to earn the car? Are you ready and motivated to do this? Is it your desire to be able to quit your job and work from home full time in direct sales? Then you’re going to have to work twice as hard. You’ll need to work your full time job and work your direct sales business in the evenings or on weekends until you can afford to leave your current job.

4. Can I speak to a group of people? Do you have the ability to talk in front of a group of people? If you are shy and timid, certainly you can overcome shyness, but if you have trouble standing in front of a group and speaking, how are you going to hold shows, parties and presentations?

You will want to work on overcoming your shyness before diving into a direct sales business. You can practice by holding shows for your close friends and family, which is where you usually start anyway. Each show will get you more and more comfortable speaking in front of others. Another way to help you overcome shyness is by reading books about building your confidence or public speaking.

Once you sit down with and ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly, you will know whether you have what it takes to be a success in direct sales. As you answer them, you may find you are qualified in some areas, but not all. If this is the case, then maybe you do have what it takes to be successful at starting a direct sales business, while working on one or two of the other areas to give your business the kick it really needs to be a success.

Be honest with yourself, determine which characteristics you already possess and determine which ones you need to work on and go from there. And don’t let a recruiter convince you otherwise. Sit down with your hubby or best friend and ask them how they would answer these questions about you. You don’t have to make a decision on the spot and a good recruiter will give you the time you need to really consider these things. A good recruiter will want you to succeed because it will help them be more successful as well.