Looking to relieve her miniature dachshund Parky's arthritis, Plainfield, Ill., mother of two Teressa Sworsky discovered hemp oil.
After researching the exploding industry of products infused with cannabidiol, or CBD, Sworsky, 36, a registered nurse who works full time in the corporate office of a hospital system, soon learned about other uses for the substance, which is most often derived from hemp, a plant in the cannabis family, but without the mind-altering properties of THC. After giving the oil to her dog, she decided to try it for herself as an alternative to her side effect-ridden anxiety medication.
It worked, said Sworsky, who realized she could also sell it for side cash.
Hemp oil, whether in lotions, balms or inside of a dropper bottle like the kind Sworsky uses for herself and her pet, is the latest in a string of products that women, many of them mothers, are selling and recruiting others to sell -- a modernized version of a decades-old trend. Whether Tupperware, makeup, jewelry or patterned leggings, selling products directly to customers, often friends and neighbors through at-home parties and social media, has become increasingly popular in recent years.
According to the Washington-based Direct Sellers Association's most recent data, 18.6 million people were involved in the direct selling of $34.9 billion in products in 2017, whether they did so part time, full time, or signed up with companies to receive a discount on their favorite products. Illinois was among the top five states for direct sales, according to the group, with more than 800,000 people involved and $1.5 billion in sales. In Arkansas there are, 116,001 folks involved in direct selling with revenue of $204 million. Across the U.S., 73.5 percent of direct sellers were women, said Joseph Mariano, the association's president and chief executive officer.
"We've always had a large percentage of women in our sales force," he said. "In the last 10 to 15 years, it's been a large majority."
And hemp is a new frontier. In the U.S., the availability of hemp-oil products grew by more than 80 percent in 2018, to about $591 million, according to market research from Chicago-based Brightfield Group. The oil is touted as a way to ease migraines, sleeplessness and seizures, among other afflictions. But research is still emerging, and cannabidiol is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Experts say the increasing popularity of the direct-selling industry could be part of the overall rise of the gig economy in the social media age. And it's appealing to women because the flexibility of the job offers moms a way to earn money while also taking care of responsibilities at home.
"It's the idea that I can start working when I want to work and stop working when I want to," said Julie Hennessy, marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
And social media only makes it easier, Hennessy added.
"If you go back to the Avon lady of 50 years ago, she had to call all her friends ... and set up appointments," she said. "But now you can set up a (Facebook) site ... and you can instantly get to 1,000 people or 2,000 people or 10,000 people without feeling awkward about asking a friend to buy something."
Hennessy also said the stigma against this type of work has tapered off over the years. It's "more socially normal" to sell products on the side or have other, unconventional employment. "Ten or 15 years ago ... people would be like, 'You don't have a real job.' "
To achieve success, many sellers of cannabidiol products, like Sworsky, rely on multilevel marketing, where they recruit others to sell beneath them and collect a percentage of their sales. While there are stories of people who grow this kind of side job into a successful business that supports their families, or even become wealthy, experts say there are many more who only make a few extra dollars or lose money if they're required to purchase inventory upfront.
Sellers often are driven to the industry after discovering a product they love. It makes the work enjoyable, and it's part of the reason direct selling has grown into a multibillion-dollar business, Mariano said.
That growth prompted the association to partner this month with the Better Business Bureau to establish a council that will regulate direct-selling businesses to ensure best practices, including making sure claims of compensation are realistic, Mariano said.
It's unclear how much of the direct-selling market comes from cannabidiol products, but Steven Thompson, founder of Texas-based Zilis, which produces products with cannabidiol, said the hemp industry is exploding. His company has grown more than 500 percent in the past two years, he said, and that includes about 30,000 "brand ambassadors," or sellers -- 70 percent of whom are women.
Patty Kiedro, a 30-year-old mother of four, said she was wary at first but decided to try drops of hemp oil for her 6-year-old son, who struggled with behavior and attention problems at school. Kiedro of Plainfield learned of the product through Sworsky, whom she met at their daughters' dance class.
"I gave it a shot," Kiedro said, adding that it has worked wonders for her son, whose teacher has noticed improvement. She then decided to sell hemp oil as a way to introduce it to others who might need it.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed a large farm bill that designated hemp as a legal agricultural crop. But the FDA maintains that cannabidiol is a drug ingredient and therefore illegal to add to food or health products without approval from the agency. Industry members are waiting for direction from the FDA as to how to comply.
While the FDA last year approved the first cannabidiol-derived prescription drug for epilepsy, the agency hasn't approved drugs for any other uses. It remains illegal to claim cannabidiol can ease any other symptoms, according to the FDA, and those who sell cannabidiol products are careful to say their experience may not be replicated in everyone.
"There is very little we know for sure" about the effectiveness of hemp oil, said Dr. Melinda Ring, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern University, who studies cannabidiol.
SundayMonday Business on 01/20/2019