I'm an Arbonne Consultant AMA

[Gottobefree]

Hi I'm an Arbonne consultant.

I work full time and do Arbonne in my spare time. There's a lot of opinions on 'MLM' and Social networking companies. Thought it would be fun to answer any questions people have about it ! Complete honesty !

@wildgirls

Thank you for your opinion. I kind of feel the same way, we have the right to say no. If you want it it's your choice and your actions. x

Well, an 88.8% failure rate is still insanely high. Especially for something that is supposedly as simple as a "business in a box" investment.

Total and utter scam.

@skippetyskoo

Yes I think I will look into it again. I did call HMRC and they said some rubbish as always. I will ask my father who runs his own company and does all that kind of paper work ! x

I see that it does aim to get a specific type of person involved. Because that is the truth! It works for lots of people. But isn’t that because a lot of these people do actually do well out of it and enjoy it. Yes, lots don’t. And I’m sorry if people lose money or friendships but I’m not sure anyone can be blamed. It’s most certainly not brainwashing. It’s clever marketing that people always have a choice to get involved in. Or not. No cults and nothing dangerous. Just a risk people do have the choice to take.

@OtraCosaMariposa

You do seem to express it in a very aggressive way... I'll try not to take it personally. So far I haven't lost any money and will always be cautious and sensible so I never will. Thanks for your concern ... kind of.

I also agree that they do need to change their tactics. But I personally as have said before hand do not recruit people.

Apologies for the multiple questions

1. What is your net and gross profit
2. Do you do self assessments
3. Do you pay National Insurance
4. DO you have an IPO licence given that you hold client data
5. What do you have in place for GDPR adherance

But isn’t that because a lot of these people do actually do well out of it and enjoy it. Yes, lots don’t.

No. Lots SAY that they are doing well and they're sacking the boss and being a mumpreneur and all the rest of it. But the only people making enough money to have an affluent lifestyle are the people at the top of the pyramid in Utah. The rest is all smoke and mirrors.

People are sucked into joining without full disclosure of information. Then struggle to make back their initial investment, never mind start to turn a profit.

@acatcalledjohn

K coolio.

It is absolutely a cult and there is a serious case of brainwashing. The love-bombing, the whooping, the loud music, the mindset training bollocks.

All of that is designed to brainwash people.

The percentage that so well out of it sits below 5%, and it is designed to be that way.

As such it is a scam.

@fromdownwest

It's hard to tell my net for the year as it hasn't closed yet. But on average my profit differs between £60-200 a month.
I will eventually have to do self assessments and expenses and tax credits ect...
It's probably best if you read this privacy policy it would explain it better.

www.arbonne.com/discoveruk/legal/privacy.shtml

x

@acatcalledjohn

This is a AMA. If you want to just purely give your opinion then I kindly suggest starting your own thread. You've already commented a lot and I feel you might carry on for the next 10years.

As long as a cult has good music and snacks and doesn't include sacrificing animals IM ALL IN HAHA

Tbh I feel more like a fraud doing my current 8-5 job rather than being an Arbonne consultant. Again I didn't get to pic the title. I would be happy with a rep title

Meh, that's not an answer to the question I asked.

Do you feel like a fraud calling yourself a consultant?

Thanks @Gottobefree I think you really need to look at what the tax implications are and fully understand it so that you can know whether the business is profitable.

www.litrg.org.uk/sites/default/files/Trading%20Allowance%20factsheet%20FINAL.pdf

So essentially to calculate your profit, if you earned £1000 revenue, you get that £1000 tax free but need to deduct what you spend to earn that money (so your business in a box pack etc). And the time you dedicated to social media or mlm activities. Have you worked out whether it's worth it?

As long as a cult has good music and snacks and doesn't include sacrificing animals IM ALL IN HAHA

Yeah. That makes you sound awfully ignorant and shallow.

11% of people losing money is fine as long as the music is good

@acatcalledjohn

God you are such a wet towel ! I think the current economic climate is far worse and the Tories cutting help for families and public services more of a crime. But no obviously me selling some cream is a worse crime.

Grow up. Bye

Just to clarify, whilst Arbonne's own figures show that 88% earnt nothing, the figures of who made a loss will be far higher than this, this is the commission figure, not the figure net of costs incurred. Therefore 99.7% making a loss absolutely sounds accurate.

Less than 2% earnt over an average of £167 per month before expenses (and its only 3.7% of people who earn this small amount)- this is from Arbonne's own figures!!

But this is before costs -
£30 registration fee
Starter pack
Website fee
Annual renewal fee
Training costs
Delivery costs
Stock for samples

This is excluding the huge cost of being encouraged to 'be your own best customer' .... ie the Rep is the Customer.

If you actually do the maths, it's pretty clear it's not a sensible business to be in.

Did you know these numbers before you joined, OP? Would you have still joined knowing them?

@leasedaudi
Thanks for the link I'll deffo have a look into it as at the beginning it really wasn't adding up.

I do think about the time I spend doing it. But I do like to stay busy, I used to work full time and do my full time degree so I'm used to the time management. Thankfully everyone im in a team with is super nice and we go out regularly so even if I make no money I love it for the social side. I recently got back from reading festival with one of the girls ! So far it's been a positive experience, if it changes then im sure my outlook will change as well x

I think that you may need to re-assess you view on taxation. Based on your 'profit' and your day job, you will need to provide this information to HMRC so they can establish 'if' you need to pay tax. I would do this sooner rather than later. I appreciate that very few of your associates will be aware of this, but best to look after your own goals.

RE DPA - taken from your link

'Arbonne Independent Consultants are not employed at Arbonne. As a result, Arbonne has no influence whatsoever and does not accept any responsibility or liability for the collection, use or disclosure of personal data by Arbonne Independent Consultants'

This is in essence saying that if you have a data breach, lose phone, leave notebook in Starbucks, with any client data in, and that client then sues you, you are personally responsible for this breach.

It also seems that you, as a holder of data, should have an IPO and GDPR policy in place for yourself. It very much drops the ball deep into your court, and I assume very few of you are aware of the potential implications.

I can't fault your posting style, OP. I really like the cut of your jib!

Hi acatcalledjohn,

I don't know why you're being so arsey. Gottobefree is very politely and helpfully answering questions. I really wouldn't be interested in doing the job or buying the stuff, but it's interesting to read what she writes, and she does not seem to be fitting your straw-woman stereotype of a brainwashed dim-witted ethically-challenged cult member. You're the one who is coming across as being a little bit strange

How many hours did you work in the month you made £70? Would be interesting to see what the hourly rate worked out to!

Do you feel that Arbonne as a business is designed to target women who are somewhat vulnerable - lonely, short of money after just having had a baby? That was how I felt when two separate friends approached me. Both had babies around the same age as mine.

One tried to sell me cream for my baby’s eczema, which was so bad that he would wake up with the cuffs of his babygrow covered in blood from scratching. We were under the care of a dermatologist and she knew how bad things were because I was in tears at the baby group we attended. Why would she think I would risk putting something not prescribed to us onto my baby’s broken, bleeding skin?

The other quite aggressively kept messaging me about how I could conduct all my Arbonne business on my phone once DS was napping or had gone to bed, no matter how many times I told her I was going back to work and had neither the time nor the inclination. She hasn’t spoken to me since.

Bingo!

Why do you keep writing “HAHA”?
Are you Alan Partridge?

You're the one who is coming across as being a little bit strange

That's cool. I'd rather be strange than peddle overpriced shite to vulnerable people. >90% fail in this business. Making it sound like a viable option is part of the problem of these pyramid scams. The OP is trying to make it sound viable. She's part of the problem.

I've also seen a friend suffer at the hands of one of these shitty companies. And she talked just like the OP at the time. Was utterly brainwashed too.