At 68, grandmother and former first grade teacher Holly Chen has become one of the world’s most successful salespeople. Since starting her career with direct-sales company Amway Corp. 30 years ago, Chen has become the single largest distributor of Amway products, overseeing approximately 300,000 salespeople across the globe.

Ms. Chen is part of a growing population of older entrepreneurs. National Chamber Foundation's Ted Fishman addressed this trend in a recent piece, “Gray Expectations: From Entrepreneurs to New Workers.” In contrast to the young, tech-savvy individuals we tend to associate with the word ‘entrepreneur,’ Fishman contends that a more accurate representation of a today’s typical entrepreneur “might be a man or woman, fifty or older, who is capable of innovation but somewhat less likely to rewire the world.”

Amway Corp., founded in Michigan, sells its own brands of consumer products via sales representatives, who are also heavily encouraged to recruit new representatives. Having built her customer base in Taiwan three decades ago, Holly Chen’s network has spread across mainland China and into Chinese immigrant communities in the United States, France, Russia, and Spain. Receiving a cut from the sales earned by the representatives she’s recruited, Chen’s earnings are estimated at $8 million annually.

While the economic downturn has attracted a “new wave of moonlighting Amway reps” hoping to make some extra money, Wall Street Journal's Dennis K. Berman reports that other companies, too, are looking for ways to harness Amway’s direct customer approach:

Across industries, companies are rushing to link directly to customers via Facebook. They're now experimenting with how to turn those connected groups into a shadow sales force, paying commissions for referrals.

Click here to read more about Holly Chen and Amway in the Wall Street Journal.