Teams from consumer-products and sales firm Amway Corp. and health-care provider Pennant Health Alliance also work out of the Grand Rapids building, called GRid70.

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His mother was the opposite, a diligent saleswoman for Stanley Home Products, a sort of Amway for brushes, mops and household cleaners.

FORBES: This article appears in the August 6th issue of Forbes.

Yet such schemes allowed laid-off workers to sell the products of reputable firms such as Amway, an American maker of consumer goods, with a passion.

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Amway and Avon (NYSE:AVP) products have been exploiting this idea for many years though in different format, turning consumers into entrepreneurs and independent business owners, rather than product evangelists.

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Turns out these are flush days for Michigan-based Amway, which sells its own brands of cosmetics and personal products.

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