Hi Sara's mommy,
My advice is to be careful with your choices. My sister-in-law did Discovery Toys for years, and while they are terrific products and well-made, she had to invest in a lot of inventory. All her time was spent scheduling parties and she had trouble making money. She was a former teacher and she enjoyed being in front of groups, but it was hard to find people to attend when they knew they were expected to buy. The other problem is that the income is not steady - there are big sales times in October and November, for example, as people buy for Christmas, and there are a few sales through the year as people buy for birthdays or their own kids. But it's not predictable income, as people don't need the products every month.
I don't know anything about Usborne books but my guess is that people don't need them every month.
My suggestion is that you look for a company that makes a consumable product. It has to be something essential that people want and need on a regular basis. Toys, jewelry, books, etc don't usually meet those criteria. Make sure that the company is a member of the Direct Selling Association, which is a watchdog group for the network marketing industry, and which a company can only join after AN INVITATION and an investigation - based on their ethical business practices. (Only about 200 companies out of the 5000+ are members.) If the products are nutritional, make sure they are patented, meaning they are safe, effective and unique. Find out the distributor retention rate - how many distributors are still in the business after 2, 5, 10 years? If it's 20% or 30%, you may have a problem. If it's over 50%, you may have a good company that takes care of its distributors.
Is it a product and a company you can believe in? Will you have a passion for representing them? Will you be proud to say you are associated with this company and its products?
Check out the compensation plan. Is it well-regarded by the DSA? Can you go as "wide" as you want, or can you only bring in a set number of people under you? For example, if you can only bring in 2 people under you and then they have to build "down" in an even fashion, you may be stuck if one of them doesn't really work hard or can't achieve success for some other reason. That's called a binary system and you'll never make any money.
Look into start up costs, both from a fee standpoint and an inventory requirement. Do you need to keep a lot of stuff on hand? And is there a buy-back option - example, 90% buy-back for one year if you change your mind?
My company meets all of these requirements so it is possible! I just hate to see you get stuck so these are the questions you should ask and the type of investigating you should do.
If you have any questions about the things I've said, let me know!