Avon, is this really possible/sustainable?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I discovered today that a friend is earning 5k a month from Avon. She's some sort of team leader, and started by selling about 18 months ago. She does work quite hard at it by all accounts.

I'll admit to being rather gobsmacked! I thought avon was just "Avon ladies" with catalogues, and now online, taking your orders.

Has anyone else got experience of this? I'm really not considering it for myself (I've seen her social media, it's not something I'd be good at I don't think! )

Avon is an MLM

You would be the avon lady with the catalogue.

Don't do it. Do you really want to be doing door to door sales right now?

Commission from all the people she's roped into the pyramid scheme.

The only way you make money like that is by being a very skilled con artist. She'll be promising people below her amazing incomes that they can never achieve.
I also highly highly doubt she's making that much. She'd have to be near the top level for that.

How can you be sure she’s earning £5k a month? A lot of MLM bots pull that figure out of their arses to lure gullible folk into signing up to their MLM.

Sorry just read your post again properly and seen that you werent planning on it, which is good. but again, for anyone else who might come across this post.

MLMs are rife right now because they claim to make you rich, and be a boss babe, all from the comfort of your own home for the most part but that isnt the case for the vast majority of people who get hooked.

Think about it this way. How many fish get pulled from the see to be eaten and how many get put into fancy aquariums.

Your friend who is making £5k a month is doing so by manipulating her friends, who then in turn manipulate their friends and eventually the friend pool dries up.

It absolutely ISNT worth it.

I speak from experience of dealing with the repurcussions of mlms. It wasnt pretty.

What makes you think she is earning 5k a month?

I doubt it. 5k a month is a LOT of money, almost double the average full time wage in this country before tax. I really doubt an avon lady, even a "team leader" is earning more than a surgeon or an engineer.

Avon make their money from selling kits to new recruits and their new recruits buying the products monthly. They tell them they will make the cost of the kit back in their first month from selling to friends and neighbours so recruit buys a kit (there are 3 levels to choose from all increasing in price) what they don’t tell the new recruits is that they have signed a contract to sell a minimum £ value of products each month or they will be fined (I think it’s £5) once the new recruit realises they have a minimum order to meet they get told to just make up the difference by using their discount and buying some stuff themselves. What the new recruit also doesn’t realise is that every other woman on their street, the next street and every other street in their town (so all their friends and neighbours) has been recruited and bought a kit too and they are all going to be trying to sell to each other. Which obviously won’t happen. Avon doesn’t give a shit because they’ve just sold 40 kits at a cost of £130 each and contracted 40 women into buying £80 of products from themselves each month and they’re in the next town over already doing the same again.

When I did Avon I earnt a lot (well, I covered rent) during December and what averaged out to less a fifth of rent the rest of the year.

It wasn't worth it!

Jobsharenightmare Realistically, could you have earned 5k a month?

Yeah. Don't believe her. All MLMs sweat by the "Fake it til you make it" mantra. It's mostly likely lies. I read somewhere that only something like 0.5% of boys make a living from it

I used to do Avon and had a well established round but it was still only about £500 (earnings) every few weeks. There were many many others that earned massive amounts from recruiting tho (I'm talking proper high earners) but you really do have to put the hours in to get anything like that. The whole dynamic of the business changed when they started having people recruiting and the business became colder and harder to find customers etc

She's making that money out of the people on the rungs below her. You're not missing anything!

I'd also wonder how true her claim of earning 5k is...lot of smoke and mirrors in mlm.

No definitely not!

A relative of mine earned a lot but don't think it will have been 5k per month. Maybe 3k though.

And she built had loads and loads of layers underneath her built up over a very long period of time. I think there are easier ways to make money, ideally without pissing off all your friends and family.

''I've seen her social media''

There's lies, damned lies, and social media.

Well Im glad you all said that. Anyone that I've ever known do avon has given it up very quickly. Some haven't even done a second catalogue.

It does seem a bit off. I would never have had her down as someone who would do well at this sort of thing, that's no criticism either!

This would be so believable if that didn't read just like an advert!
Well done on giving up bullying vulnerable mums on social and finding a new schtick
So, do you think you'll make team leader then?

I'd fail miserably and be swimming in my unsold avon stuff for years. I would be hopeless at anything sales related.

@BillMasen do you work for Avon?

She's an Executive team leader.

She's lying

Full disclosure yes I do. I’ve been a rep too for a bit, and a lot of head office people are also reps. It’s a business that takes its responsibilities seriously and does a lot of charity and community support for women. Currently breast cancer and domestic violence charities.

I get frustrated when it’s lumped in with disreputable mlm businesses that do exploit people. Direct selling has its issues but Avon as a company are not out to rip women off. Quite the opposite.

5k is possible but not that many earn that. They have big teams and it’s a full time job. No reason it’s impossible.