I Own a Business Based on SMC Corp.

I recently found this site and have spent many hours reading the complaints that others have reported on SMC Corp. I felt the need to come here and place a few of my own comments.

First of all, I have been dealing with SMC for almost 2 years now. I joined their program, paid my membership fees and recieved everything they promised me I would. I followed the guides they sent me, and have a wonderful business dealing with SMC products. I have had many satisfied customers and now have a strong clientel of wholesalers and repeat customers. I spend an average of 10 hours a week on my website and bring home more money than I do at my full time job. I currently manage a Hallmark store in the Dallas area.

I have to say I personally think that this program is 100% effort, if you dont make the effort, you wont make money. I built my website with over 2000 pages available and then went into advertising. Yes I spent almost $4000 on everything from postal fees for mailing purposes, business cards, letter heads, advertising, etc. I kept track of every single penny that I spent on the business that came from my own pocket and when the business started profitting, I made the business pay me back. Now my business has paid for itself and is now paying me. I kept my job because I enjoy management in retail, I met new contacts through the retail business which led me to even more wholesalers and even larger orders. I even supply my own Hallmark store with many items that come from SMC. I have never had an order placed on 'backorder', I have never been told 'that item is not in stock' or 'no longer being carried'. Thats due to me keeping in touch with SMC and seeing what is going out of stock, what is no longer being carried or what is not available. I find that customer service has always been there for me everytime I have called for any reason. I really dont understand how you can fail with the SMC program, I mean they give you the product to sell, they ship to your customers for you, they are always available when I need them, they do everything they promise they will do for you. As far as poor quality merchandise, they offer over 4000 items, no one said you were obligated to carry the items you wouldnt purchase yourself or to even carry all 4000 items. I think 'poor quality' is in the eye of the beholder, I mean I have sold some items that I thought were hidious because it wasnt my taste, but others liked it and it sold great. So if you try the program and fail, its not SMC's fault, I have a very successful business and plan to give up Hallmark within the next year as my business is doing extremely well. I am planning on expanding to a store front of my own, in addition to my website. So dont blame your failure on SMC, they give you the tools you need, its up to you to use them.