There may be a few of you who know his
name, but I was not among them until I looked it up today. I likely knew about him at one time, since I
worked with his company many years ago.
I gleaned most of the information for this post from: http://www.avoncompany.com/aboutavon/history/mcconnell.html.
In the 1886, it was
extremely unusual for a woman to have an opportunity to become financially
independent. It was at that time,
however, that David H. McConnell made it possible for women to earn money and
operate their own business.
The few jobs women had in the 19th century were
usually in the area of agriculture, domestic service and manufacturing. Women were paid only a fraction of what men
could earn. McConnell was able to
improve that situation greatly for many women.
David H. McConnell was the founder of Avon, originally named the
California Perfume Company. I was an
“Avon Lady” many years ago, and I have a collector’s item that says California
Perfume Company on it.
Mr. McConnell was a bookseller who sold books door-to-door. While working in this capacity, he observed
that his female customers were not especially interested in his books, but they
were interested in the free perfume samples he offered to get him in the
door. He created his own perfume
fragrances, which in itself was unusual.
Most of the women he encountered while selling his books were struggling
financially. From these observations,
this man became a man with a dream that enabled women a chance to own their own
business through an unusual method of selling that later became known as
“direct selling.”
His
very first representative he recruited for his new company was Mrs. P.F.E.
Albee. From the beginning, he set the
tone for his company to be family-oriented.
His positive spirit, guidance, motivational and incentive programs
helped to grow the number of
Avon representatives to 5,000 in only 13 years?
Today there are many companies that produce
great products and help their representatives to gain financial freedom, but
David H. McConnell was among the first.
Today’s Avon reps should be proud of their founder’s vision and what his
company has become.
“If we stop and look over the past and then into the future,
we can see that the possibilities are growing greater and greater every day;
that we have scarcely begun to reach the proper results from the field we have
before us.” David H. McConnell, Avon's
Founder
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