Does anybody work as an agent for a franchise?

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I keep seeing all of these franchise options on mums sites and elsewhere on the web, where you can work for yourself / from home / flexibly as an agent for a franchise company. You've probably come across some of the companies that sell this way; people like Avon, Betterware, Usborne Books, Tupperware, Mary Kay.. You have to lay out some money, sometimes a minimal amount, and then you get to sell the product as your own business, and get a commission on whatever you sell. A lot of the time you sell at special parties for whichever company you represent, but depending on the scheme, you can also sell at booksales, to schools, door to door or online. Some of them look quite interesting, but: 1) I don't really see myself as a salesperson, (although the people who do it says that doesn't matter - but then they would, wouldn't they, as they want more recruits!?) and 2) I can't see how you can make a great deal of money as you have to buy the stock, and only a smallish percentage goes to you. You'd have to sell a truck-load! So why am I even interested? Well, the flexibility greatly appeals to me; I need something that I can do just during school hours, and some of the products sounds very interesting to me. (If I'm going to sell something, it needs to be something I love, and which inspires me! ) But I want to hear peoples' experiences of this kind of work. Have you ever been an agent (or distributor/organiser/consultant/representative/presenter etc..) for any of these schemes? Would you recommend it? Can you make money from it, and if so, how many hours did you/do you work? *Oh, and please don't try to recruit me or send me any referral links.. Thanks.