I Joined a Multi-Level Marketing Company: My Experience with Arbonne
This is not a sponsored post, but it does contain links to my Arbonne shop. If you make a purchase from my shop, I will make a small commission.
I never thought the day would come when I would decide to join a multi-level marketing program. I have received countless messages from pushy people telling me what a great opportunity I could have with Arbonne. Every time I would I roll my eyes, delete the messages, and move on with my life.
Flash forward to today when I received my Arbonne Welcome Kit in the mail. No, I’m not quitting my day job. Read on for what drew me to Arbonne and why I decided to take the plunge.
What is Arbonne?
Arbonne was founded in 1980 and is an international multi-level marketing company with headquarters in California. They sell a range of products, including makeup, skincare, and nutrition. All products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, contain no artificial flavours/sweeteners, and are free of a whole list of ingredients like phthalates and parabens. Arbonne is a certified B Corporation, which means they meet certain social sustainability and environmental performance standards. The company has a goal of becoming zero-waste by 2030.
Arbonne’s business model uses multi-level marketing. Every sales representative (called “Independent Consultants” in Arbonne-speak) makes a commission from any products that they sell. They can also have their own team of sales reps and earn a commission from the sales that those team members make.
What drew me to Arbonne
I am going to focus on the Nutrition line, since that is what I have the most experience with and what got me hooked on the brand.
Recently I have become much pickier about the products I buy and who I buy them from. Especially if I am buying frequently, and especially if I am going to talk about it on the internet. On a basic level, I need things to taste good. Beyond that, I look for clean ingredients and also want the company I am buying from to make an effort to reduce waste.
I have been vegetarian since 2013, and in the last few years have leaned into a plant-based diet. Knowing that all of Arbonne’s products are certified vegan makes it so much easier for me to shop. They also have an extensive list of ingredients that are not found in any of their products – The NOT ALLOWED List™. Some of these items seem a bit extraneous (good to know I will never find Clonazepam in any product, which is used for treating seizure disorders), but many of them are common allergens or may be linked to health. Better safe than sorry, right?
As much as zero-waste is my goal as a consumer, I am also realistic. I was excited when I learned that the ArbonneCycle program had made its way to Canada. Most of Arbonne’s packaging can be put into your household recycling bin, but there are some components that can’t – that is where ArbonneCycle comes in. Arbonne will take back any hard-to-recycle pieces and turn them into new things, like park benches. You just have to order a free ArbonneCycle Recycling Envelope, stuff it with all of the eligible items you have, then ship it back to Arbonne using the pre-paid label included with the envelope.
If you have ever tried vegan protein powder, you know just how real the struggle is to find one that is actually good. Most have an awful chalky texture and never seem to fully dissolve, and on top of that they tend to taste a bit like dirt. I have also come to realize that I just cannot stand the taste of sweeteners, from sucralose to stevia. I would find myself chugging protein shakes after workouts, just trying to get them down ASAP (not recommended, often would make me feel a bit sick).
Arbonne protein powders taste amazing. No joke. I use the vanilla flavour in my morning smoothies, and drink the chocolate flavour mixed in just water (can you believe it!). These protein powders contain cane sugar rather than stevia or other sweeteners. Initially I was hesitant about this (sugar in my protein? why?), but I had a light-bulb moment as a I realized that if it tasted good in its own, I could stop adding so many other things to my shake palatable.
BeWell Superfood Greens
Greens powders have become a safety-net product that I turn to every day. I am a firm believer that we can get all of our nutrients from eating whole foods, but I will be the first to admit that I am not always perfect when it comes to my diet. Adding a scoop of powder to my daily routine ensures that I am covering my bases when it comes to those important micronutrients.
Unfortunately, greens powders taste like dirt. I’ve tried a few brands, and usually have to go for a half-scoop in order to not taint the flavour of my smoothie. The BeWell Superfood Greens (previously called Arbonne Greens Balance) is the best I’ve tried. I won’t lie to you, it definitely has a grassy taste (unavoidable with all those green ingredients), but is overall not at all unpleasant. I add a whole scoop to my smoothie or my chocolate shake (in just water! I swear!) and it goes own easily.
Why I decided to become an Independent Consultant
Everyone involved with Arbonne will tell what an amazing business opportunity this can be. You can work from anywhere, set your own hours, and do as little or as much as you want to make your business grow (success, of course, +/- proportional to the amount of effort you put in). That’s not why I did it.
I did it for the discount.
Like I said, I use the protein powder and greens powder every day. My husband uses the protein powder every day. For two people, we are high-volume users of these products. I was already receiving a 20% discount as a “preferred client”, but as an Independent Consultant the discount jumps to 35%. All I had to do was pay a small fee to upgrade my account, which netted to zero when I factored in the additional discount on my first order. The decision was pretty easy for me.
Is it worth it to become an Independent Consultant?
To me, it is worth it. That is why I did it. The math is not completely straightforward, but for anyone who is considering becoming an Independent Consultant for the same reason I did (i.e., the discount) I think it is worth going through the breakdown.
There are three types of customer with Arbonne:
Client – Regular clients who pay full retail price.
Preferred Client – Registered clients who receive a discount.
Independent Consultant – Sales reps
*QV = Qualifying Volume. Explained in more detail below.
Note: All numbers applicable in Canada, but should be around the same in other countries.
The factors to consider are the discount, shipping, taxes, and the annual fee. To figure out how “worth it” this is, I did my calculations based on how much I would have to order as an Independent Consultant in order to get free shipping.
One of the things that gets confusing is these “QV” points, which stands for Qualifying Volume. These are points attached to every product and is not quite dollar-for-dollar the same as retail price or the discounted price – it is somewhere in between the two. The good news is that when you add an item to your shopping bag, you can see the retail price, discounted price, and QVs for each item (I love that transparency!). Since my main products are the protein powder (QV: 77) and the greens powder (QV: 52), I would have to order 4 of each to have 516 QV and therefore hit the minimum 500 QV for free shipping.
Here is the breakdown for the same order of 4 x Greens Balance and 4 x Protein Powder:
Price difference breakdown for the same order (4 x Greens Balance and 4 x Protein Powder), depending on type of client.
tl;dr if you are a repeat customer, you will save money as an Independent Consultant. I expect this order to last me 4-5 months, which means that in a year I will save at least $150. If I decided not do a big order like this, the shipping cost for an Independent Consultant is $9.95 which means it would still be worthwhile to have the larger discount after a couple orders.
Is Arbonne a scam?
It is not a scam.
If you did want to do this for the business opportunity (and not just for the discount), it is very easy to get started. You pay a small fee to get set up ($59, or $24 if you are already a preferred client), which covers your Welcome Kit, a personal website, and other online resources. The Welcome Kit includes the full product catalog and the Arbonne “SuccessPlan” which outlines all of the nuances of their multi-level marketing model. The investment is minimal and you do not have to carry your own stock. You do not even have to buy anything yourself (apart from the registration fee) if you are not interested in the product.
It is not a scam, but it takes effort to actually make any money. This is essentially a sales job, and your compensation is directly linked to how much you are able to sell, how many Independent Consultants you are able to recruit to your team, and how motivated your team of Independent Consultants are to make sales.
Conclusion
I will admit that I dismissed Arbonne for a long time. But once I actually tried (and liked) their products and dug deeper into the company values, I realized that it was a pretty good fit for me.
I became an Independent Consultant to benefit from the discount. I promise that, as always, I will only recommend products I actually like. Oh, and I will never send you unsolicited requests to join my team :).
