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iQuestions Faculty, Randy Draper 
 
 
Question: 
 
What are some of the market trends in the home-based business 
industry? 
 
Answer: 
 
I’m glad you asked about the market trends in the home-based/ 
direct-sales industry, because I get really excited about what’s 
happening in our industry. It’s one of the fastest growing industries in 
America today. It’s something you can do at home. You can do it in 
your spare time, initially. You can do it part-time or full-time.  
 
There are all kinds of opportunities out there for people all across 
America. There are 14 million people involved in the direct-sales 
industry. A couple of years ago it did over $30 billion in sales as an 
industry, and what’s exciting is, that’s only less than one percent of 
the annual retail sales of the U.S., so the potential for our industry is 
amazing. 
 
82 percent of the people involved in the direct-sales/home-based 
businesses are women. 18 percent are men—and the men are finally 
starting to realize, “Wow. I can quit my job in corporate America, and I 
can get involved in this business that we’re working out of our home,” 
and they’re finding it to be quite successful. 
 
The age brackets: 54 percent of the people in direct-sales are between 
the ages of 35 and 54; 23 percent are between 18 and 34; 14 percent 
are between 55 and 64; and the fastest growing segment in direct- 
sales is 65 years of age and older. You know why that is? They’re 
retiring from corporate America, and they’re finding out that, “I’m 
 
 
going to live. I’m healthier than I expected I would be at 65. I’ve got 
24 or 30 more years to live and I don’t want to just sit around and be 
retired.” 
 
76 percent of the people involved in direct-sales/home-based 
businesses are married. A lot of them are couples working together. 
They really see the potential.  
 
35 percent of the people in our industry have college degrees—which 
tells me, if I didn’t have the opportunity to have a college degree, for 
whatever reason, I can still start my own business. 
 
And 87 percent of the people in our industry do it part time. So if 
you’re saying, “I’ve got full-time job. How can I do that?” most people, 
87 percent of them, are doing it part-time. Most of them probably 
have full-time jobs. They have other things they’re involved in. They’re 
out there, trying to make a living, trying to do what they need to do 
for their family, but they aren’t afraid to take the risk to start that 
business in their home and to work at building something that is going 
to be theirs to keep. 
 
 
Draper -2- 
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