Southwestern Advantage

Southwestern Advantage, formerly known as Southwestern Company, is an education material sales company based in Nashville, TN. Established in 1855, 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. Southwestern Advantage is part of the Southwestern Family of Companies. In 1855, Southwestern Publishing House was established in Nashville, Tennessee. The company's name was chosen because, at that time, Nashville was in the southwestern part of the United States. The company was founded by a Baptist minister, James Robinson Graves, and originally published a Southern Baptist newspaper and religious pamphlets that were distributed by mail. In 1868, J. R. Graves discontinued the mail-order business model, and began training men to sell Bibles and educational books door-to-door as a way to earn money for college. In the 1920s, the company grew to be one of the largest door-to-door sales companies in America. In 1947, Southwestern had lost nearly all of its representatives as a result of World War II. It was rebuilt through the Great Depression and the number of independent representatives grew to over 1500. In 1968, the Times-Mirror Company purchased Southwestern. In 1982, the company was purchased by Southwestern employees and renamed Southwestern/Great American Incorporated (SWGA Inc.). The company sells educational material for use from preschool to college prep. Every year, the company recruits American and European university students to work as independent contractors who sell educational books, software, and subscription websites during the summer months. Students who accept a position complete a free, week-long training program in Nashville, Tennessee. Sales areas are predominantly suburban or rural. The company operates on a direct sales platform, where wages are solely determined by sales revenue minus expenses and costs of goods sold; they do not offer employee benefits or guaranteed pay.