Specialty Merchandise Corporation

Type: Private
On the web: http://www.smcorp.com
Employees: 400

If you ever do decide to fire your boss and go into business for yourself, Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) wants to be the first company you call. SMC warehouses thousands of gift and home decor merchandise and drop-ships them to members who sell them at a markup. The company offers its members merchandise catalogs, a business coach, a personalized e-commerce site, and selling manuals and videos for either $300 upfront (gold plan) or about $480 paid in monthly installments (silver plan). Marketing information covers running a business via home parties, flea markets, mail order, and fund-raising, among others. Its products include everything from hammocks to birdhouses to porcelain angel figurines.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending 2007:
Sales: $45.5M

Officers:
CEO: Mark Schwartz
CFO: Jill Ause
VP Marketing: Kerry Cox

Competitors:
Amway
Pampered Chef
Tupperware