By Siobhan McAndrew
Reno Gazette-Journal Assistant Business Editor

A feeling of dread came over me as I faced my first house.

I carried a heavy black bag filled with catalogs, perfume samples and order forms.

I nervously toyed with my hair.

Shifting from side to side, I climbed the steps to the front porch of a big white house and faced a big wooden door. Cautiously, I made my way up the steps.

One, two, three, stop. Four. Stop. Five. Stop.

I reached out and touched the brass doorbell. The chimes sounded far off as I waited on the porch, anxiously hoping to make my first Avon sale.

I thought I was about to become part of a successful international company.

Avon has more than 3 million sales representatives worldwide. More than 40 million women have sold Avon products since the company's founding 116 years ago.

When the company first approached me about doing a profile of Claudia Davis, district manager responsible for overseeing a staff that generated almost $2 million in sales last year, I wasn't as impressed as I should have been.

"How hard can selling Avon really be?" I thought.

But I liked the idea of talking with people who worked for a company that has more women in management positions than any other Fortune 500 company.

Naively, I didn't even realize people still sold Avon — let alone that they went door to door with catalogs and beauty products.

But for Davis, who started selling Avon 20 years ago, the company has provided more than just income. Avon has given her options.

"It gave me a chance to become independent," Davis said, as she filled me on the basics of selling door to door. "I was afraid when I first did it, too. As I stood at my first door, I thought, 'I can't do this.' "

Today, she no longer sells door to door, but handles new recruits and oversees an Avon team of 400 salespeople in the Sparks-Reno-Lake Tahoe, Nev., area.

"She really represents someone who has worked hard and succeeded," said Stephanie Dupree, Avon spokeswoman.

Two of Davis' three daughters sell Avon, too.

"I first started doing it to make a little extra money," said Melissa Davis, 22.

She agreed that she didn't view it as a young person's job until she got into it. Melissa, who well could be the new young face of Avon, hopes eventually to make it a full-time career. She said Avon plans to target products and careers to more young people in the coming years.

Eventually, Melissa hopes to have enough customers to move out on her own.

"And I really like not having to deal with a boss," she said.

Avon has become such a successful company — selling more than $6 billion in products — because of women just like Claudia and Melissa.

But the company probably has had a few frightened people stuck on the porch like me.

I listened intently for any noise in that first house after ringing the doorbell. Ten seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds ... no answer.

I knew it was wrong to be relieved when no one answered. I turned away and walked down the steps quickly, fearing the sound of an opening door at my back.

Facing House No. 2, I felt my anxiety grow. I was like that the entire week as I tried to sell Avon products in residential areas.

When Davis called to see how things were going, I told her I had sold about $100 worth of products.

"That's just great for your first try," she told me as I tried not to think about my blank order forms and the fact I actually had sold only $6 worth of products.

Said Davis: "It takes a certain type of go-getter attitude."