Laura Quezada News Review Staff Writer– Imagine being an introvert and going halfway around the world to a foreign country, going door-to-door, selling educational materials. That sounds pretty gutsy, even for an extrovert, but that’s what Ilja Skopincevs of Latvia has been doing every summer since 2017.
A quick internet search via Wikipedia tells us, “Southwestern Advantage is an education material sales company based in Nashville, TN. The privately owned company recruits college and university students as independent contractors to sell educational books, apps, and website subscriptions door-to-door using direct selling methods.”
This was the path Ilja chose to raise money to complete his education. Ijja shares how he began, “I heard it from my friend who went to Pennsylvania and worked for the summer. And then she came home, and she put pictures on Facebook that she’d been in America. And I was like, ‘Wow.’ Because I’m from a small town of 10,000 people, Ludza in Latvia. For me, America was really far. I tried to ask her more questions. What did she do there? How was it? She explained to me what she did. She did sell books door-to-door in the summer for six days a week all summer. It was challenging, it was hard, but she learned a lot. I thought I would like to try it out and see if I can do it at all.”
He applied and was accepted. His first summer was spent in the Palm Springs area. “It was really hard, challenging,” he tells us, “but I realized I grew and became better in English, I grew in my communication skills and my independence skills. It’s given me confidence that I can do it again.” He wanted to continue while he was still in college. “My friends back home are just having fun, drinking beer and stuff like that. I’m trying to put investment right now in my young age so I can become more successful.”
/ Artur Ivanutenko Ilja’s coworker.
Ilja works on commission and is responsible for all of his travel expenses. He synthesizes his sales pitch, “It’s kind of like a leadership program for kids, teaching different life skills like communication, confidence, financial, future, stuff like that. And it just helps on the schoolwork and get kids excited about reading.” He says his delivery is faster than Amazon Prime because he carries his inventory with him. “There are mostly books and study guides to help with schoolwork, from grade one to grade 12, to help on new math, Common Core math, and school subjects. There are some core reading books, like basic questions projects. The idea was to make it fun for the kids.”
When he started college, his intention was to be a gym teacher and Handball Coach. He explains it isn’t like American handball. European handball is a team sport. He played for 15 years and was on the national team for under 18 year old players. However, his experience in the United States gave him a broader vision and confidence. He would like to open “a private school to bring education to the next level in my country, maybe in other countries, I don’t know. You never know what life brings you. It’s super exciting to try something bigger.”
Ridgecrest has been a good experience. “People are really friendly in Ridgecrest because they are a small community; people know each other.” He did his due diligence and, got a permit from the City, checked in with the police department to let folks know he was legitimate.
Ridgecrest resident Brian Watters says he doesn’t usually answer the door to unknown people, but his son answered when Ilja rang. Watters said it was a great experience, and his family purchased a mid-range package. “It was good timing; school is starting,” Watters says. He elaborates, “He made sure to let us see all of his credentials and let us know that he was legitimate in what he was doing. That was the first thing he did. He spent some time just to make sure that we were comfortable with him. Once we got past that, and I realized that he was legitimate, he explained his program to us.
“He’s passionate about what he’s doing. And it’s a legitimate deal. He’s not your typical door-to-door salesman. He is very personable, wasn’t trying to do everything to get your money and get out the door.” Ilja was so pleasant they asked him to stay for dinner. Ilja declined.
Ludza is a small town near the borders of Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, and Estonia. A lot of residents work in defense. While Latvia is not directly involved in military conflict, it is close by. He tells us, “It is quite close where it is located. This is the Russian border. This is Ukraine. (he gestures) So, we have a lot of Ukrainians living in Latvia right now. Whenever it happens, we always get impacted by the economy. Because you know, we’ve had big support from Russia economically before and also a lot of things that we use have been cut it down. So now our prices are going up, inflation, like all over the world. It definitely gets impacted.” To Ilja’s knowledge, Ludza’s main industry is food processing. They produce what sounds like a Mexican empanada, a pastry with meat inside.
Ilja works long days. He starts at 8 am and finishes at about 9 pm. When his tour is over, his girlfriend, who is working for the same company in South Dakota, will fly to Los Angeles, and they will travel throughout California. These young folks also play hard. On their day off, Sunday, fellow salespersons working in Rosamond, Visalia, and Bakersfield will get together and have fun. They have been to Las Vegas to lakes, and host families will throw barbecue/pool parties for them.
Southwestern Advance recruits college students from all over at SouthwesternAdvantage.com
