After a little over 3 years partnering with Beautycounter, a clean beauty brand that also advocates for safer beauty laws in D.C., I’ve decided it’s time to part ways. Some relationships come into our lives at the right time and for the right reason, and sometimes those relationships aren’t meant to last forever. There wasn’t a single deciding factor that influenced my decision, but rather a feeling that many of the practices I was seeing around selling the brand just didn’t align with me. My own experience with Beautycounter was only positive–it showed me that my interests deserve the chance to flourish and to have a real place in my life.
But to keep it honest in this space that means a lot to me, I probably wouldn’t be writing this today if I hadn’t stumbled across the Financial Feminist podcast. Specifically, episode #116: Inside the Cult of Multi-Level Marketing with Emily Lynn Paulson is the one that got me thinking bigger picture about Beautycounter and network marketing/direct sales in general.
The episode didn’t necessarily tell me anything I hadn’t already heard about network marketing, but coincidentally I’d recently been put off by some of the sales approaches I’d been seeing float around Instagram, so the podcast amplified my budding concerns. Months ago Mike and I watched the Netflix documentary about Lularoe, LulaRich, and the whole time I was silently compiling a list in my head of all the ways Beautycounter wasn’t “like that”. And believe me, the list is long. Nonetheless, at their core, and by that I mean the place they strive to hold in their advocates’ lives, they’re pretty similar.
The first practice I’ve seen popping up more often is the sharing of monthly income statements. The consultants I see doing this are very successful, some pulling in anywhere from $2,500-$4,500+. That’s legit money to many people, and the practice of sharing it is to perpetuate the message that “anyone can do it!” What’s more, many consultants share comparison statements from their first month and their most recent. Language like “If you work this business like a hobby it’ll pay like a hobby” is misleading. I’m certain that many people sign up with a direct sales company, work it like a “real job” (whatever that means), and never see numbers like those.
The second practice I’ve noticed is tied to the first. Consultants aren’t being transparent how many people are in their downline (the term for the people who sign up “under” you, and off whom you make a small percentage). Even if the percentage is small, to tout a monthly income statement without acknowledging the dozens or even hundreds of people under you feels ick. And if consultants choose to just share their personal sales, I haven’t seen any walking their audience through step-by-step how they achieved this. They’re leading with financial shock value rather than the work to spark conversation. Perhaps they save this information for their team members exclusively, but isn’t that backwards?
I go back and forth on my feelings writing all of this. Women aren’t idiots. When this topic of MLMs being predatory pops up, I recoil. In many articles and podcasts alike, women are described as mindless sheep who can’t think critically and are pitifully easy to manipulate, and that obviously bothers me. Many women who join an MLM are rightfully looking for something that’s theirs, and many of those women are mothers. Many are looking for a way to ease off the hamster wheel of working to live. The opportunity to make income for your family is so empowering and for many, necessary, but my concern lies in how these women are being recruited.
So while my own experience was everything I needed it to be: fulfilling, rewarding, and fun, it’s the right time to close that chapter. I respect the important work the company is doing in D.C. to get safer beauty laws and regulations passed. This isn’t intended to be a cautionary tale for people curious about joining network marketing and direct sales. I believe in a person’s ability to use sound judgement to make the right decision for themselves. No one can tell another person what that is. I would say, however, this post is intended to shed light on this: many of the practices and approaches being used to draw in new recruits and business are likely the same ones causing the ones who were there first to leave.
Cobble & Brick 