Could Meridian’s New Rules Put Scentsy and LuLaRoe Sellers Out of Business?

As the owner of a small in home business, I understand why these consultants are worried about new new proposed rules from the city of Meridian.

My mom bought me the second best Christmas present ever last year (sorry mom, the year you guys bought my sister and I the Nintendo 64 was still the best Christmas of all time.)  It's a die-cut machine called a Cricut. It cuts everything from cardstock for scrap booking or card making, to iron on transfers for t-shirts to adhesive vinyl.  I mostly use mine for the latter and opened up a small custom creations business to make some extra money while planning my wedding.  I run the business out of my home through a Facebook page and that's why this story out of Meridian caught my eye.

According to KTVB, the city is working on two new rules to make at home businesses more uniform. The rules are aimed at protecting the neighbors living near the at home businesses from increased noise at all hours and crowding of cars on the streets.

The new rules would limit the number of sellers and buyers in a house to just two people at a time.  It would also limit sales in multi-family buildings like apartment complexes.

The obvious issue for Scentsy consultants? When hosting a Scentsy party, it's common to have anywhere from 10-15 people in a home at one time.  An attorney for the company pointed out that people who are selling Scentsy to supplement a low income are more likely to live in apartment complexes and would be directly affected by this new rule.

The rules aren't singling Scentsy consultants out by any means.  It includes garage based clothing businesses (LuLaRoe,) people doing mechanic work, doing vinyl wraps, teaching music lessons, etc.

Because of the public's response to the proposed rules at a City Hall meeting, they've decided to take more public testimony on the rules in November.