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 !

AgentCooper how dreadful about your baby's eczema, I hope things have improved now. It is horrible when someone befriends you and you later realise that they only wanted to use you and exploit you.

OP, MLM reps (business owners?) generally seem to target any suitably vulnerable women (usually) and push their products, citing the health and medical benefits of using them. This is against DSA policy as well as the MLMs own policy. However, they tend to turn a blind eye to what the reps post on social media and their small print distances them from what their reps do.

I've seen some outrageous medical claims on social media which any desperate person might read and decide to try the product. It is unethical and illegal. AgentCooper's awful experience is very common, unfortunately. It seems that MLM reps leave their conscience and honesty behind when they sign up with their company, following their upline's advice even if feeling doubt.

OP who is your upline? How did you get signed up? Did your upline suggest you might make an income from doing this? Many MLMs tout "six figure incomes" and "car plans" and "residual income". It is only by exploring the figures, small print and peoples' real life experiences do you learn the truth about these things; they don't exist for the majority and never will.

I wish MLM companies would be honest and state "you won't make enough to make a living but maybe a bit of pocket money if you work hard".

OP, there are people here who are posting angry comments because they have seen the dark side of MLM, and it is very, very destructive indeed.

It's interesting that you posted AMA yet when I asked a question not only did you not answer it but you ignored my next post which pointed that out that out and asked the question again.

So, third time lucky...

Do you feel like a fraud calling yourself a consultant?

@foodloves a consultant can be defined as someone who advises people on a particular subject. What’s fraudulent about that exactly?!

@wildgirls

Are you the OP?

Nope. I have never, and never will be involved with MLM because I understand the risks and wouldn’t want to be involved. I have been approached. Bit don’t feel brainwashed or confused. I simply said no thanks.
I very rarely comment. Just reading this with interest and am genuinely a bit confused about the level of hatred people have towards these things. And also feel like your decision to really push on the ‘consultant’ question is possibly a bit lame.

Just reading this with interest and am genuinely a bit confused about the level of hatred people have towards these things. And also feel like your decision to really push on the ‘consultant’ question is possibly a bit lame

Lame? Yes. Imagine.

It's AMA. I asked. OP deflected. I asked again. OP ignored. Yet I am being lame?

Right. Makes sense

Oh, and I have displayed absolutely ZERO hatred, I asked a question that is all.

@foodloves It’s a goady question, you’ve asked three times, OP chose to give a partial answer. Give it up.

I wasn't being goady FGS.

I asked a question.

It's AMA.

Oh and I DID give up after asking 3 times.
My further post was in response to someone else.

Just for the record, there are some pretty nasty posts on this thread. None of them came from me.

What's the difference between a salesperson and a consultant?

A consultant infers a degree of expertise. Most of the MLMs use inflated titles for their sales reps. Business owners, Associates, Wellness Advocates, Franchise Partners - all designed to sound glamorous and as if the sales rep has more power and more influence than they actually do.

How much have you spent on all outgoings associated with this?

How much have you made?

For mumsnetters in the UK, this recent BBC documentary exploring the MLM industry may be of interest. It helps anyone here who is puzzled about the anger direectd at MLM to understand the revulsion that some posters feel towards this insidious, exploitative and financially damaging business model.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p076n2hg

The OP paints a rosy picture of her involvement with MLM but sadly that is not most peoples' actual experience.

A colleague I work with, a lovely professional lady, started pushing Arbonne a couple of years ago. I was shocked to be honest because she earns a good wage in her own right. However I watched with interest her fb page get suddenly filled with weird memes, and selfies which I hardly recognised as her because they were so heavily 'enhanced'. Why oh why was she doing this? Anyway, I took a look at one of the stack of brochures she left in the staffroom and OMG the prices!!! No thanks. Many staff did make a 'pity purchase' though .

Thank heavens she did stop pushing it in the workplace and her fb feed soon became normal again. I did wonder who had recruited her, because my research shows that professional people in vocations like hers are often targetted in order to take advantage of potential new downlines with plenty of income to fund this 'business'. LEt's face it, people who do MLM on the side while in a J.O.B. will be funding it from their real income. That will be the case for you too, OP?

Glad to know the number is not 88.8% instead of the 99.7% someone else said. Congrats on being the Queen of the world. Maybe sort out war, poverty and Brexit before you do the MLM thing

OP the >88% making no money in Arbonne comes from the income disclosure. The IC does not include expenses and it does not include those in Arbonne less than a year (churn at the bottom of the pyramid) who pay out for product and training etc and then drop out. Factoring in these two elements the Federal Trade Commission research demonstrated that losses in MLM were some way north of 99.7% - that’s not an opportunity, that’s a scam. Arbonne is one of the worst MLM for big losses and ‘garage qualification’ and like all MLM the ONlY way to make money is to recruit a big down line. I’ve had an Arbonne Hun approach me asking if I can pass on names of depressed clients (I’m a psychotherapist) so that she can “coach” them into the cult - no scruples. So how do you square your work for Arbonne as a commission only sales rep/recruiter with their behaviour and the misery MLM causes - do you think in the end you’ll just need to walk away?