What do I need to know?

Are you good at selling things?

Do you understand generally how self-employment works and want to know how it works specifically for sales? Or is it the self-employed bit you are unsure about?

Can you sell me this pen?

If it’s a model the company use a lot it will be set up in their favour not yours.  Essentially it’s a very low risk way for them to have lots of people promoting their product on success only.  If I was going to go down that road I’d want to understand what help the company gives me (marketing, resources, sample product, referrals etc), what scope I have to negotiate the T&Cs (even if just price), how long a sale usually takes (with evidence) from enquiry to cash in your pocket (important to understand when you get paid is it when client signs, when they pay, when goods shipped etc), any claw backs for refunds/returns/non-payment, and then what happens on termination.  What commitment there is on territory or other ways of splitting up sales.  If relevant are you only paid for initial sale or any ongoing monthly/annual subscription.  A common tacktick is to use agents to explore a new territory then once it looks good appoint salaried staff for less.  As you aren’t getting a salary you *should* (but probably won’t) get commission for sales even after you terminate if you started the process.  Its quite cut throat, often your “colleagues” are actually your competitors.

I’d only consider it with proper legal advice.

@politecameraaction it’s the s/e thing I don’t know about

Can you sell me this pen?

Never got to see Jordan Belfort have a go….

it’s the s/e thing I don’t know about

You work for yourself rather than the company. You don’t get holidays, sick pay etc.

You might get a monthly retainer or commission based on sales or a mix of the two.

You file you own tax returns and pay tax on whatever they pay you.

We use this model for overseas sales staff as it’s simpler than setting up a local company to employ them. They get a monthly retainer and sales based commission on top.

Legally, in the UK, with this model you can also work for other companies at the same time and can sub contract the work to someone else, as you’re not an employee – however, it’s quite common for employers to try to use this model as a scam to reduce costs associated with having staff on the books eg Deliveroo, Uber etc and they may actually want you to be working exclusively for them etc.