When Jo Jorgensen spotted an ad for Tomboy Tools about a decade ago, she became the first consultant to get involved with the company that sells tools made for women and educates them on how to use them. Now, the Redmond resident is one of Tomboy Tools’ top consultants, with the highest sales and largest team in the nation, according to company officials.

Tomboy Tools, headquartered in Denver, uses direct sales to sell 85 products, ranging from drills to jumper cables. They are generally lighter weight and contoured for women’s hands. Most also come in the company’s signature color: pink.

When Tomboy Tools began in 2000, Jorgensen said, manufacturers didn’t take seriously the idea of making tools for women.

“Some of the manufacturers said something like, ‘Let’s make them pretty and smell good when you hit things with them,’” she said. “It was a real put-down to the idea of girl tools.”

Originally, Jorgensen said, Tomboy Tools came in blue. The company was against the idea of pink tools. In fact, she said, she still has a hat with a pink wrench on it that has a slash through it.

Tomboy feared people would think of pink tools as cheap, cute and not really usable, she said.

But when the company created a pink hammer for its Hammer Out Breast Cancer campaign, Jorgensen said, women started clamoring for more pink tools.

“It was interesting that we went to the pink tools. Women said they would take the blue tools home and their husbands would run off with them,” she said. “They loved the pink tools because their husbands wouldn’t steal them.”

The company’s most popular product is the Tomboy Traveler toolkit, said Janet Rickstrew, the CEO and co-founder of the company. For every 200 pink Traveler toolkits sold, Rickstrew said, the company would only sell one blue one. The sales of blue tools basically ended when the pink tools were introduced, she said.

Over the past six years, Rickstrew said, Tomboy tools has raised more than $280,000 for breast cancer research. If a customer doesn’t like pink, consultants respond by saying Tomboy Tools are pink for a purpose.

Currently, Tomboy Tools has 3,300 consultants nationwide, with additional consultants in England and Canada.

The company started as an online store for tools, with educational information, Rickstrew said, but moved to a direct sales model in 2002.

“The great part about our business is we put education first and foremost,” she said. “We believe tools hanging on the shelf aren’t going to educate. We want to inspire (women), showing them that they are capable of doing projects.”

According to the Direct Selling Association, 78 percent of all direct sales in the U.S. were made by women in 2011. It’s a popular option for women because it gives them the opportunity to start their own businesses at a realistic price, as well as the flexibility to dictate their own schedules, Rickstrew said.

A lot of women also join because it’s social and fun. They get to meet a lot of people through their work with the company.

Jorgensen makes a living from her work with Tomboy Tools. It’s her only job, but she said income can vary depending on whether a consultant works full-time, part-time or as a hobby.

The consultants sell tools at events and tool parties, similar to Tupperware parties. The average tool party, nationwide, brings in $500, Jorgensen said, and consultants make 30 percent of the total retail sales.

“I’d always wanted to get into direct sales. I just hadn’t found a product I wanted to promote,” Jorgensen said. “I’m not into makeup, and I don’t wear a lot of jewelry, so when I saw tools, it was something in my interest.”

Before getting involved with Tomboy Tools, she worked in a woodworking plant making custom furniture. However, Jorgensen said, not all women feel as comfortable around tools or have the experience she does.

“Women don’t have the same upper-body or hand strength as men,” Jorgensen said. “We need tools that we don’t have to put a lot of effort into using so we can put more strength into our projects and not the tools.”

At a tool party, Jorgensen said she shows the different tools Tomboy offers and their special features. Women can either try out the tools and work on a group project, or, Jorgensen said, she’ll demonstrate the correct techniques and products to use when hanging pictures, repairing drywall, installing mosaic tile or working on other projects.

Women can purchase individual tools or kits.

“Its about using the tools and getting them into the women’s hands,” she said. “Once they hold them and feel them, they will be amazed at the difference between those and the guys’ tools.”

Part of Tomboy Tools’ mission is educating and enabling women to do simple home repairs.

“I carry a little sign that says ‘Ladies, if a man says he’ll fix it, he will. There’s no need to remind him every six months,’ ” she said.

“The whole idea behind learning to do it yourself is because its on your time line and there’s no waiting on him to do it.”