If you want to sell products but don’t have your own in mind, direct sales is a great alternative. Direct sales are a form of business where you sell a product directly to your customer. These are usually higher-ticket items, such as air and water filters, cookware and home accessories and décor. Because these items are durable goods, the chances of residual income are less than selling something that needs to be replaced or renewed regularly. Of course, there is always the potential for selling new products or innovations to your existing client base.

If you are interested in building residual income, network marketing may be a better option. Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay and other distributors set up multi-level networks of sales personnel. As a sales representative, you receive a commission as does the person who managers your region or district. You can get residual income by moving up through the ranks of management and having others work under you. You, in turn, receive a portion of each of their sales plus the income from any sales you make. Many seasoned professionals make large residual incomes from these network-marketing arrangements.

Whether you are doing direct sales or network marketing, there are some obvious benefits to you in starting your business:

* Start up costs are small. Outside of samples, there’s usually no investment. Customer orders are shipped directly by the distributor (this process is known as drop ship) so you don’t even have to warehouse product or worry about shipping. You receive a regular commission check from the company. Many network marketing companies also offer incentive and performance bonuses, based on sales.

* More people can become involved since the concept lets people work part-time while building a business that can sustain them full time.

* With network marketing, there’s the opportunity for exponential growth. You can bring people into the business and manage them, receiving a portion of their sales and receiving additional revenue through bonuses.