In this review, we will learn about another MLM company.
At the end of the article, your questions are expected to be answered.
Also, if you’re one of the successful aspiring entrepreneurs, you might check this one out.
Before we go too deep…
Chances are you heard about Arbonne because someone – a friend or family member – introduced you to the company. Maybe you attended an online workshop or webinar, or maybe an in-person information session.
Your head’s probably spinning. This might be the first time you’ve heard about a real way to make money outside of a typical job.
So first off, congratulations!
You’ve just entered a whole new world…the world of making money on your own terms.
However, you came in through the wrong door.
Because Arbonne is – plain and simple – an MLM. Throw whatever fancy name you want on it…multi-level marketing (MLM), network marketing (NWM), direct sales, or anything else, it’s the same concept:
You pay some money upfront for the “opportunity” to sell products.
The products are typically low-quality but with high price tags (because fancy labels and stuff).
You’re told that the key to building your own successful business is selling these products to friends and family, and getting them on a subscription (so you get “monthly recurring revenue”).
Unfortunately, like most people who get taken in by these types of schemes, you’ll quickly discover that the well runs dry faster than you imagined.
After all, they make it sound really simple. “Just get 5 people you know onto this magic widget, and things will just grow from there.”
And in your head, you think “How hard can it be? I know plenty of people, 5 will be easy.”
But then you do it, and you realize people look at you like you’ve joined a cult. You’ve become “that person”, who joined an MLM, and is now trying to sell questionable products or services to everyone they meet.
It puts a strain on your relationships, and you end up stuck between two worlds.
But it’s not your fault. These companies spend millions of dollars each year figuring out exactly how to brainwash and recruit people. And that’s why we’re here.
To help you find a better way before it’s too late.
So, what if there was a way you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?
An income stream that doesn’t require:
- Inventory
- Selling to friends and family
- Selling to strangers
- Recruiting people
- Dealing with questionable products that weigh on your conscience
An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?
An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day chasing, selling, or managing anything?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Leasing.
This is nothing like MLM, and that’s probably a good thing.
However, if you’d still like to know more about Arbonne, keep reading.
MLM Review: What Is Arbonne?
Arbonne International, LLC is a multilevel marketing corporation created in Switzerland in 1975 by Norwegian entrepreneur Petter Mrck and transferred to the United States in 1980.
It uses cutting-edge technology and research to develop personal care, health, and beauty products. The company’s care and nutrition products are vegan-certified and adhere to a stringent Purity and Safety Ingredient Policy.
Arbonne products purchase through an extensive network of Consultants in the United States, Canada, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, as well as online at arbonne.com. Arbonne is a privately held corporation headquartered in Irvine, California.
Arbonne Company History: How It All Started
Since 1965, Petter Mørck has worked in the Norwegian cosmetics sector.
After realizing that the substances employed in the companies he worked for were damaging to the skin, he relocated to Arbon, Switzerland, in 1975 to work on his skincare line with Pierre Bottiglieri, a Laboratoires Cosmetiques Arval employee.
According to an Arbonne narrative, Bottiglieri and Mørck worked to design a line of products that did not contain any petroleum or animal components.
Mørck obtained the formulations from Laboratoires Cosmetiques Arval, which offered rebranding formulations, according to another version of their tale.
Mørck continued to be active in the company until he died in 2008. Stian Mørck, his son, is the current VP Brand Ambassador of Arbon.
From 1991 to 2011, Rita Davenport served as the company’s first president.
Around 2004, Arbonne became a subsidiary of Levlad, Inc., the primary manufacturer of the products of Arbonne.
Harvest Partners bought both companies in 2005 and renamed the new acquisition Natural Products Group, LLC.
Natural Products Group agreed to sell Arbonne and Nature’s Gate to Groupe Rocher in February 2018.
In January 2020, Arbonne earned the B Corporation certification. The only certification of its kind, B Corp assesses a company’s social and environmental performance, as well as its transparency and accountability.
Businesses are certified by the nonprofit B Lab for their measurable impact on people and the environment. Unlike traditional corporations, they are required to consider their decisions’ impact on all stakeholders: customers, workers, communities, and the environment.
As of 2017, they claim to have nearly 320,000 Consultants selling their products worldwide.
Arbonne Social Media Selling
Arbonne needed to leverage the power of social media to boost the effectiveness of each of its 300,000+ consultants as one of the world’s leading nutrition and cosmetics companies.
The company gathered the most elite members to work on personal branding, original content, and coordinated marketing techniques that improved individual leads and combined intelligence with a new customer relationship management system, all while cutting through the noise on social media.
The company extracted social media data at the individual consultant level to determine the actual effectiveness of each consultant’s social performance.
With minimal input from sales teams and minimal interference in day-to-day activities, they could tailor social strategies for each individual and across teams their custom tool.
The company calculated overall reach, engagement, and supporting audience data using simple code and repackaged it into simple directives that a consultant could use immediately.
“Custom Tool: The S4DC Social Media Performance Predictor (SMPP)”
The S4DC SMPP starts with a standard social data collection module that uses Facebook Graph API and Pages.
This information is then uploaded to a cloud-based module, allowing real-time access. It calculates insights in a graphical format using this internally shared module.
The data is then exported to an easy-to-use dashboard to help with marketing, technology, sales, operations, and finance decisions.
Over 1 million social media interactions were analyzed across Arbonne‘s top 25 competitors. Based on these findings, they created weekly reporting for their top sales team.
As a result, Arbonne could gain actionable best practices for their unique market position, which they could pass on to each consultant.
They were able to work with each consultant to create personalized branding statements that complemented the corporate direction.
Arbonne Business Practices
Arbonne is proud to be a certified B Corporation.
The B Corporation certification of “social and environmental performance,” which is independent of the legal classification of a Benefit Corporation, is a private accreditation for for-profit firms.
B Lab is a global nonprofit organization with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A partnership in Latin America with Sistema B confers B Corp certification.
Conversely, Arbonne has a “Green Will Call” shipping option. Orders are placed in Arbonne recyclable cloth bags rather than boxes, and they can be picked up either at their Irvine Will Call Center or their Indiana Will-Call Center.
What Are Arbonne Products?
Arbonne’s products are divided into six categories:
Nutrition (Protein Shakes…)
Skincare (Cleanser, Toner…)
Makeup (Mascara, Lip Serum…)
Body Care (Body Wash, Body Lotion…)
Hair (Shampoo, Conditioner…)
Accessories (Makeup Brushes…)
Are Arbonne Ingredients Safe?
You’ll note in Arbonne’s reviews that some customers complain about adverse effects. The components in the formulae, not the products themselves, are to blame for these harmful effects.
Because glucomannan is a fibre, it might induce gas and bloat in some people. If you think you’re having a severe adverse reaction, seek medical care right away.
“Glucomannan supplements (3.99 g daily) were well tolerated,” according to a study published in the Journal of Obesity. Additional studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of this widely used alternative weight loss approach, given the growing obesity epidemic.”
How Many Arbonne Consultants Are There Worldwide?
In 2005, there were 434,000 consultants, while in 2006, there were 612,000. Between 2007 and 2009, the company’s consultancy workforce shrank from 1.3 million to under 800,000.
According to a blog post produced by a nutritionist freelance writer in 2019, there are over 250,000 Consultants worldwide.
Is Arbonne Involved In Any Controversies Or Scandals?
Rumors
The lack of AIRD’s facilities and the potential that chemist Pierre Bottiglieri had worked for other companies besides Arbonne were questioned in a 2006 story in The Virginian-Pilot.
Recalls
Arbonne voluntarily recalled many branded peanut butter cups in January 2009. It was because of the risk of Salmonella serotype Typhimurium infection in peanut-based goods delivered from a Georgia processing plant.
The company voluntarily recalled a production lot of branded foaming sea salt scrub products in September 2009 due to contamination with Pseudomonas aeruginosa germs.
In January 2013, Arbonne voluntarily recalled one batch of branded facial moisturizer products for men, according to Health Canada. Aerococcus viridans was found in the products, based on Arbonne‘s testing.
In June 2016, Arbonne voluntarily recalled multiple lots of branded liquid eyeliner products. The bacteria Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus xylosus, and Staphylococcus lentus were found at unacceptable levels in the products.
In October 2017, The ACCC recalled many branded body wash products due to unsafe levels of Staphylococcus cohnii.
Lawsuits
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana found Arbonne International LLC violating federal law in November 2009.
Because of her impairment, Lisa Wilson was turned down for a job (deafness). Wilson was awarded a $30,000 settlement, and Arbonne promised to develop an anti-discrimination policy and training.
Cynthia and Michael Dagnall filed a case in Orange County Superior Court against Arbonne in May 2017. The company, they alleged, was a pyramid scheme. On March 20, 2018, the Arbonne Pyramid Scheme Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed.
Is Arbonne A Pyramid Scheme?
This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a direct-selling company.
On the other hand, Arbonne is much more than a direct selling corporation. Furthermore, it is a multi-level marketing company (MLM).
Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a business model that generates revenue from products and new distributors’ recruitment.
An Arbonne consultant can make money by selling Arbonne products and persuading other women to join.
Thanks to social media, MLM distributors can now sell to – and recruit from – people worldwide. Sales tactics promise “rocking” income, “instant” pay, and the chance to “be your boss” in social media posts.
MLM companies are similar to a pyramid scheme in that once someone joins under you, you receive a percentage of their earnings.
If they sign up people below them, you also get a cut of the profits. Like a pyramid scheme, an MLM has a few people at the top getting rich off the backs of thousands at the bottom.
MLMs and pyramid schemes are distinguished by the fact that MLMs have products, according to Daryl Koehn, a professor of business ethics at DePaul University in Chicago. “All you’re selling in a pyramid scheme is the chance to make money.”
But even if MLMs have products, according to Koehn, they can become a pyramid scheme if there is a high entry cost or if distributors lose money by building up inventory they can’t sell.
A US Consumer Awareness Institute employee, Jon Taylor, compiled a short ebook on MLMs for the Federal Trade Commission in 2011.
“After reading these chapters, the reader may question whether it is appropriate to refer to MLM as a ‘business at all, given its inherent flaws,” he wrote. “Some people who are familiar with MLM’s dismal statistics believe it is more appropriate to call all MLM pyramid schemes.”
Anyone, in theory, can join an MLM. In practice, the model, according to the point of view of Koehn, appeals to “people with fewer opportunities.”
According to Rachel (not her real name), a former Forever Living rep in her late 40s, many who join are encouraged to target women: stay-at-home wives, someone who has lost a job, a new mother, or a single mother.
She was recruited to Forever Living in 2016 as a “newly single mother willing to try anything to provide for my children”.
How Does An Arbonne Consultant Make Money?
Arbonne Consultants are not compensated for bringing on new Consultants or sponsoring them. Only when products are sold do they get paid:
Commissions
These are your personal sales revenues to Preferred Clients and Clients.
– Commission on sale of full retail value (RV) = 35%!
– Preferred Client Discount = 15% commission on sale!
– Consultant Discount = 0% commission on sale!
Overrides
These are your earnings from your team’s sales.
Awards
In addition to the business prospects, Arbonne Consultants may be eligible for rewards, incentives, and recognition programs:
The monthly remuneration for a District Manager is $200.
• $5000 Group Volume + 5 NEW Independent Consultants with $150 PRV order in their start month in your CENTRAL District.
Area Manager = $400/Month
• $20,000 Group Volume + 10 New Independent Consultants with $150 PRV order in their start month, in your CENTRAL Area.
Regional Vice President = $600/month
• $60,000 + 30 New Independent Consultants with $150 PRV order in their start month, in your CENTRAL Region.
Below are some highlights of their income disclosure statement released in 2020:
- Based on team sales volume, Arbonne Consultants at the Vice President level were eligible for the VP Success Award (a monthly allowance starting at $200 to be applied toward purchasing or leasing a white Mercedes-Benz). The VP Success Award was given to less than 2% of Arbonne Consultants.
- The NVP Leadership Meeting incentive trip to Wailea, HI, was open to 577 Arbonne Consultants at the National Vice President level, with 565 earning the trip.
- The NVP Challenge trip 40th Anniversary Adriatic Cruise was open to 549 Arbonne Consultants at the National Vice President level, with 28 earning the trip.
- 13,331 Consultants applied for the Arbonne Incentive Trip to Atlantis, Bahamas, and chose 1,161.
- In 2019, 357 Arbonne Consultants at the National Vice President level were eligible to earn paid round-trip travel and a hotel suite at Arbonne’s annual meeting (GTC) in Las Vegas, NV. They cancelled the event in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions.
Can You Really Make Money With Arbonne?
Yes, you certainly can…
However, there are several aspects of Network Marketing that many people find difficult.
Now, don’t get me wrong…
You can certainly make money with Network Marketing, but if you’re going to put in the amount of grueling work to do this business (which, trust me, isn’t easy), you might as well bring in some REAL money while you’re learning the ropes.
The program that helped skyrocket my online business to $40,000+ per month is so simple that making money does become second nature.
What Do I Need To Do To Join Arbonne?
Become An Arbonne Preferred Client
When you join Arbonne as a Preferred Client, your $29 initiation fee gives you access to special pricing and special offers on Arbonne goods.
Become An Arbonne Independent Consultant
The registration price is $49. The cost of an annual renewal is $29.
Arbonne Success Stories
I was under 200 pounds for the first time in 19 years! It’s still going on!!
Json Marruffo (Json Marruffo)
I feel better than I have in years in just a few weeks!! I’ve dropped 13 pounds, and my mood and anxiety have both improved! My mind is clearer, and I have a lot more energy! It’s been incredible and not as difficult as I anticipated. This week marks the beginning of a new month for me!
–Pamela McFadden
The meals are a hit with the kids! I’ve lost ten pounds! No more acid reflux or joint pain!
–Anette Bond
Is Arbonne A Scam?
So, is Arbonne a scam?
Not technically. You can make money with this program, but it’s definitely not as easy as the company makes it sound.
There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – the actual commissions are pretty small.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.
But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months and then your reward is a $50 commission, it’s not really worth it.
What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?
And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?
And what if you could double it next week?
Well, that’s the power of Digital Leasing.
And, unlike an MLM, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business.
Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need.
Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.
Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in.
So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.
And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.
If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Leasing.
Are There Alternatives To Arbonne?
Yes, there are plenty of other business models to choose from if you want to pursue making money online. Here are just a few:
What Is My Top Recommendation In Making Money Online In 2024?
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.
While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:
Digital Leasing is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.
Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Leasing is for you.
Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Leasing business.
And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.
Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.
This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With MLMs and Network Marketing, you don’t really own anything. You have no control over the quality of products. You don’t even own your “team”.
Look at the fine print for most of the agreements folks sign when they join one of these companies. At any point, the company can change your commission structure, reduce your profit margins, or kick you out entirely.
With Digital Leasing, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Leasing with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.
Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: Alright, so most MLMs don’t make you buy the products and fill your garage with them anymore (unlike the good ol’ days), but you’re still in a physical products business.
And physical products always have physical limitations. Even if you don’t have to manage the inventory, you still have to deal with supply chain shortages that cause major delays.
Imagine finally landing your first customer, and then losing them after one sale because they had to wait 6 weeks to get their order.
With Digital Leasing, a 100% online business, you never even have to think about that risk.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).
Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.
Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.
If you wanted to double your income with an MLM, you’d have to double your customers OR double the average order size of your existing customers. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. In an MLM, your “upline” might convince you that what you’re selling improves people’s lives, but deep down, you likely know that’s not true.
Most of the time, you’re either selling a dream or a poor-quality, overpriced product with a fancy label.
And that makes it pretty hard to sleep at night.
But with Digital Leasing, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:
Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Leasing, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.
You make money by helping them make money.
Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent.
Once you see how Digital Leasing makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours.
You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Arbonne which could one day make you money.
You could continue researching, never making a decision.
OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality.
At the same time, joinin
g a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Leasing.
A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.
All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.
If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Leasing.
