According to Dictionary.com, to resell means: “To sell (a product or service) to the public or to an end user, especially as an authorized dealer.”

I know what’s hot right now is to go it alone, set up your own company and start offering your own product or service and I agree this is a great way to go.  I though, am, from what I can see, one of the few business types who will admit to being okay with not having to reinvent the wheel, doesn’t think the Internet is the only way to communicate, and wouldn’t mind being a W-4 employee for the right company. Or becoming an independent distributor.

Reselling is not a new concept. There have been successful resellers for a very long time in this country. Without even having to cruise the Internet or look in a book I can name one: Avon.  It is unfortunately the one that I, and many others,, can name, within an instant, has given reselling in general if not a bad name a reason for people to smirk or smile when saying “independent distributor”. I don’t know why this is really. Avon has been a very smart, deft player in the world of commerce and any company that can succeed in that saturated market is a big deal.

As far as that company’s image and the smirks, consider the use, or misuse, of the term “Minivan crowd”.  I know some parents that are masters of their minivan and even the youngest child in them, which are smart, creative people that I just love to be around.  And as I see it resellers are just the same.  The individual doing the reselling is just that, an individual, and the company they are reselling for needs to be looked at on an individual basis.

Reselling may seem to be a quick way to make a buck with little effort and can also be compared to franchising – on a much smaller scale usually though.  It takes a lot of guts, wit, and loads of organizational skill.

So the next time you feel like getting of the roller-coaster of having your own business and just “settling” for a distributorship or even working for someone else, take a breath and forget what everyone else thinks and concentrate on the possibility that it might just be the right choice for you.