A transcript interview from one of America’s most prominent pyramid networks.
You probably have a friend who consults for Arbonne. Their victims are easy to spot: look for the washed-out Instagram filters, overexposed sundresses, iced coffee in mason jars, or the personal branding of a farmhouse sink.
I was at a Wegman’s when Natasha saw me. Natasha, whose name I’ve changed for this piece, took a bite from the Vegan Energy Bar brand I was handing out before she gave me her number.
She was a young mother, and thought that my work ethic as a Brand Ambassador might be better suited for a job at Arbonne. I promised to give her a call.
In the unsteady chair of my college dorm, I talked with her for 45 minutes. Afterward, I furiously transcribed everything I remembered. Even as a college freshmen, something just struck me as wrong. Reading back through the interview after years, my chest tightens at how apparent instances of manipulation and gas-lighting are.
Below is a transcript of the call that took place between Natasha, Kirsty, and myself on March 10th 2019 at 2pm:
Natasha: I am a VP of Arbonne and I’ve been working there for two years whereas Kirsty has been working for nearly seven so she has much more experience and many more people under her. Her team is larger than mine, about twenty five people compared to my five people on my team.
Kirsty: I had a job in corporate where I had no time to do what I wanted and then I found Arbonne and I was able to set my own hours, and have a 10–15 hour work week. And recently my team brought in 118 thousand dollars just this month alone. I make commission not only off of the products I sell to preferred clients, but also what is sold from people on my team. And really, it’s about helping people to live better lives, and we do that through network marketing.
Roman: So can you go over how compensation for lower-level workers like me would go, and how that is reflected in the 10–15 hour work week you talk about?
Kirsty: Sure, and let me first say that I understand where you’re coming from. I’m going to speak high level and then I promise I’ll answer your question. We have had people, like this girl Peyton who started as an Arbonne consultant in her college dorm room and now has it as her full time job. But what you’re doing, essentially, is taking all the odd-jobs and hourly work that we have been raised to think is how we value our time, and you’re working for something you believe in. Because I was in the corporate world, and I was used to having wonderful health benefits and a biweekly paycheck and knowing everything I was going to do. Arbonne is a risk, but with more risk comes more reward.
Kirsty: We’re asking you to streamline this income into Arbonne and give yourself more time for writing and doing what you love. We’ve had people who love these products so much that one woman was stopped on the street and asked about what she was drinking, it was one of our products called a Fizzy Stick, and she started telling them all about how much she loved Arbonne and gave the name of her consultant. The consultant circled back to her and said, why are you sending her to me? You’re doing my job, why don’t you just become a consultant yourself? That’s how easy it becomes because people sell these products naturally.
Kirsty: So in context of what you said, which is a great question that we haven’t answered, is that how are you being compensated. And the hard numbers are that you might do a lot of work and receive very little at first. I remember my first paycheck from Arbonne was 35$, and I look back at that now and laugh. Because each time you sell an Arbonne product to a preferred customer, you get 12 percent of the income and the VP, who would be Natasha in your case, would also get a percentage. And it’s like that story where if you wanted a million dollars today or a penny a day for 31 days, you would choose the penny and get, like, 3 million by the end of it, right? So the returns come slowly.
Kirsty: And that’s the other thing, is that you are also paid to use the product. Workers can make commission off things that they sell to themselves, so that’s another percentage. And I know for a fact that college students are buying makeup that Arbonne sometimes costs less than. So they do have that disposable income that you were talking about. It’s not like that’s an issue.
Kirsty: And sometimes it doesn’t always pay off. I mean I don’t know if you’ll join this company, but I’m here talking with you regardless, and I’m not being paid for it. But to answer your question, what you would first need to do is two launches. It’s what we call “Launch Parties” and the idea is that you would advertise to your yoga classes and friends that you are going to open your apartment up. All you say is something like, “Hi guys I’m really excited because I’m a new consultant for Arbonne products and I want you guys to come try them out. Come to my apartment from 8pm-10pm this Saturday”. Or, in your own words. And then Natasha would come with her products, because she has the inventory at her house, and she would come and tell the people there about the benefits of Arbonne. She would tell them how they can join through being a preferred client, just buying products, or being a consultant.
Natasha: And I would give my speech and do the presentation. We would give out samples of products similar to what you already do at Wegman’s.
Kirsty: And after two or three events you’ll start realizing that Natasha is just saying a script that you can memorize too, and you don’t need her at the events anymore. We will train you to help other people and recruit other friends through events and selling and video calls. If people in your network can’t make it to the event you would video call them like we are doing now and explain the product alongside Natasha. It comes up naturally in conversation. And the idea is that if you start in college- I wish I knew about this in college- you can get to the level where Natalie is and start making commission not only from what you sell, but from what your team sells as well. We basically give you a running business for that small fee. And the first thing you would want to do is buy some Arbonne products and become familiar with the brand so you’re able to sell it and make suggestions.
Roman: Thank you for telling me all this. I did not know how this is how it operated.
Kirsty: Of course, and what I want you to take away from this is to not give it too much thought. You should just try it and start. Because you won’t want to regret it and it would be a risk with a huge reward for you. We can’t guarantee you income, but we are success stories. Don’t just believe us, there are so many people doing this.
Last month, I wrote a piece about rejecting the conveyor belt of middling success to take a risk. Multi-Level Marketing companies like Arbonne operate by skewing the idea of freedom and self-expression into a new amalgamation that replicates the same corporate mindset we are all prey to.
Kristy’s wording was disparaging; it was filled with empty promises and half-hearted sentiments. In a follow up Instagram message, her words bordered on being insulting.
Arbonne is not true personal risk, which requires unlearning, developing and rejecting things you thought to be true, no matter how painful or unfortunate. This is American risk: to part with time and money on the hunch that your ambition must also render success.
To start at Arbonne, a consultant must pay a $49 dollar initiation fee, and then buy Arbonne products to test, which range at about $20–90 apiece.
As of today, both women I spoke to are still representatives at Arbonne.
