Southwestern Advantage Blog

Information below is also published at southwesternadvantage.com/covid19 Regarding COVID-19, Southwestern Advantage has taken extra steps to protect the safety and well-being of our staff, sales leaders, college and university students who sell Southwestern Global Academy and the families they serve. Every business in the country is affected in some way, and we are no different. We have been following CDC, Federal, and local government guidelines to protect those with connections or business interests of any and all types. This is our top priority. Despite all the nation (and world) has been through for the last several months, we’ve always believed there is an important line between thoughtful, constructive actions and fear-based paralysis. We have moved from Phase 1 of our summer sales and leadership program – done virtually using Zoom – to Phase 2 in which students have resumed serving families by going door-to-door in counties, cities, and municipalities that have re-opened for r...

Southwestern Advantage - A Member of Southwestern Family of Companies Our Family of Companies features  over 20 brands  that serve businesses and consumers through financial services, consulting, real estate, fundraising, insurance, direct sales, executive placement and more. Southwestern Advantage is the founding company (1855), providing America's oldest entrepreneurial program for university students (1868). Participants of the program regularly find career opportunities within Southwestern Advantage and our  Southwestern Family of Companies . AWARDS & RECOGNITION 1,500+ participants from 200+ campuses and 20+ countries  each year Winner of the  CEIA  Charles F. Kettering Award for  Top Internship in the U.S.  - presented to Southwestern Advantage and Dr. Ralph Brigham, our Global Director of Campus Relations Recognized by the industry experts at  WayUp  as one of the nation's  Top 100 Internship Programs Recogni...

We believe in the power of serving others. Each summer, Southwestern Advantage Reps can opt-in to participate in Service Week. The amount they choose to donate from their personal profits goes toward the service project held on their incentive trip. In 2019, over $26,000 was donated to help the Mayan village of Leona Vicario, Mexico. For a long-term impact, a wing was added to the town library specific to children and special-needs children. On the two days Southwestern Advantage Reps went to the village, over 30 mini -service projects took place. Homes received new roofs, dirt floors were replaced with concrete floors, food, diapers and medicine were delivered to those in need, plumbing was installed in homes without, and two churches received supplies for local aid. Reps also spent time getting to know local families, library staff, and the school children who benefited from their assistance. The Mayor, City Delegate, and townspeople said, “Southwestern Advantage is now...

Southwestern Advantage is honored to have an official partnership with END SLAVERY TENNESSEE . ESTN promotes the healing of human trafficking survivors and strategically confronts slavery through training, aftercare, advocacy and prevention services. ESTN is the single point of contact for all human trafficking referrals in Middle Tennessee and provides comprehensive, holistic, trauma-informed care to every survivor in their program. We are honored to be partners with ESTN and to stand with our student reps against human trafficking. Learn more about our Share The Advantage initiative:  http://www.southwesternadvantage.com/Share-The-Advantage

Dr. Ralph Brigham & Southwestern Advantage   Awarded Top Internship in U.S. for 2019 Dr. Ralph Brigham and Southwestern Advantage have been selected as recipients of the 2019 Charles F. Kettering Award .   Each year, Cooperative Education & Internship Association (CEIA) recognizes one recipient of the Charles F. Kettering Award for excellence in industry, business, or government internship/cooperative education programs. CEIA is the national leader in cooperative education and internship program management.   This award comes with the distinction of being rated as the top rated internship/cooperative education employer in the nation providing outstanding resources and service to college students and the profession. Southwestern Advantage joins a prestigious group of past winners including IBM, NASA, Walt Disney, AT&T, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Bloomingdale’s, Ford, and General Motors. For the past 17 years Dr. Brigham has served as the com...

Is Southwestern Advantage a pyramid scheme? Is Southwestern Advantage an MLM? Many people mistakenly assume that direct selling is the same thing as multi-level marketing (MLM). Even worse – some confuse direct selling with illegal pyramid schemes. The fact is, they're extraordinarily different. Pyramid schemes are extremely rare, as they are quickly dismantled by law enforcement. In the past, pyramid schemes have tried masquerading as MLM or direct sales, which has caused confusion with many people. There are clear differences that we felt are important to share, because the spreading of misinformation helps no one.  Southwestern Advantage is the oldest direct selling company in America.  The focus of participants is on selling educational products directly to consumers without the expense of traditional advertising or a retail storefront.  There are no recruiting requirements or start-up purchases. The profit participants make is the difference between wholesale and...

As a college student, you know internships are important. You know there are many to choose from. So, how will you find the right one for you? How will you become the right person for them ? How will your internship springboard you into a fulfilling post-grad career? Let’s start here... 3 Qualities of a Great Internship Challenge You may have expected “experience” to be first on the list, so why would challenge rank higher? Ask yourself this – wouldn’t the more challenging internships offer you better experience by default? Wouldn’t a future employer be more interested in your history of taking on challenges? The fact is, dealing with challenge is synonymous with meaningful experience. The bigger the challenges the better the experience. Don’t be fooled by that “internship in the fashion industry” where the day-to-day responsibility is to fold t-shirts at the mall, or the glamorous experience interning in Manhattan on Wall Street where the day-to-day responsibility is to pou...