An Honest Look at Being a Beautycounter Consultant

Beautycounter has been discontinued! Read about what happened to Beautycounter (and when it might come back) here. If you’re looking for an income opportunity since Beautycounter is gone, I highly recommend selling Oliveda Skincare. I sold more in my first month than I did during my highest earning month with Beautycounter (which was during their Black Friday promo). Feel free to leave a comment if you want more details and I’ll follow up.

Beautycounter Consultant

I get asked a lot about what it’s like being a Beautycounter consultant, and one of my friends encouraged me to put a post together with my answers because she liked how brutally honest I am about it. 😉 In short, I love it. It definitely takes work and consistency, but if you enjoy strategy, working for yourself and clean beauty, it’s a great option!

If you want additional help thinking through if it’s a good fit for you (it’s not for everyone!), fill out this quick form for me and I’ll email you back with some information and details specific to your goals and concerns. I also have a newsletter about being a Beautycounter consultant and you can sign up here for that. If you want to be added to my regular Beautycounter newsletter about the products + promotions, sign up here.

An Honest Beautycounter Consultant Review

What does it cost to sign up?

The enrollment fee is $50. That includes your own website, marketing materials, customer support, extensive training, and marketing they do on your behalf, e.g. emails they send out, digital advertising, etc. It’s a bargain given the quality of their website and marketing materials. (I did digital marketing for a living so I’m extra picky about marketing, and they nail it.)

You also have the option to buy a starter set when you enroll, which is a group of best-selling products for 40% off retail price. Those sets are invaluable as you launch your business since people are 6x more likely to buy something once they can try it. You’ll want a variety of products to show at get togethers, to let people borrow and to make samples since everyone has different skin.

You can buy a set when you enroll or for 30 days afterwards, but not after that point. But again, they’re optional and you aren’t forced to buy one. However, I see faster business (and paycheck) growth from those who do buy one.

What about selling minimums? 

You have to sell $750 in qualifying volume sales (orders from others + your own purchases) every 6 months. Six months is PLENTY of time to hit those numbers if you consistently work to grow your business. Most people on my team hit them in the first 3-4 months, oftentimes faster because I’m an awesome mentor ;). In all seriousness, they hit it because they’re consistent and experiment to find their sweet spot. And I do my very best to help them find that sweet spot.

The people who don’t hit that honestly don’t really work the business consistently. It’s tough love, but it’s true. Oh, and the $750 minimum includes your OWN purchases. I see a lot of people get close to that with their own orders, but you are not personally required to buy anything. Does it help? YES. Is it required? NO.

What if I don’t hit the minimums?

Nothing bad happens!! There’s no public shaming. 😉 And you don’t have to pay back or give back anything. The worst case, if you didn’t hit your minimums, is that you’d be converted to a Band of Beauty member, which still has great perks (listed here and here).

How Blogging Drives Sales

Blogging helps create awareness of the products but you still have to get people to your blog. That requires consistently sharing with friends on Instagram, newsletters, Facebook and potentially SEO work. I also find blogging extremely helpful for potential customers since I can send them a review of a product that I wrote vs. a page that Beautycounter wrote. They want to know why I like a product — or why I don’t!

And remember – blogging isn’t an easy button to get sales. It takes work – I’ve been blogging for 19 years. NINETEEN. And what that takes is — wait for it — consistency. That’s also what it takes to be successful with Beautycounter — consistency. You can’t try just one thing and give up if it doesn’t work. You try something else, and you have to figure out what works for you.

The vast majority of women on my team do NOT have a blog or large online presence. We have stay-at-home moms, corporate lawyers, working moms, college students, small business owners, dietitians, medical students, private practice MDs, women in the military, and everything in between. There are both women and men on my team and everyone does the business a little different, but everyone finds a way that works for them. That’s one of the beauties of this business.

I think you’ll be surprised at how much people proactively reach out to you once they know you’re a consultant. Most people WANT to use safer products but don’t know where to start, and Beautycounter makes it easier.

But I don’t know enough about the products. How will I be able to answer questions about people’s skin? 

You will learn the products over time, I promise. I had no experience in the beauty industry before becoming a consultant. I had the same concerns, and now I feel confident answering almost any question about Beautycounter products. It’s just like any new job – it takes time to figure out what the heck you’re doing! But you will. And you’re never alone along the way with the right mentor.

Beautycounter has a ton of amazing training, and when you sign up, you can choose a mentor, which I HIGHLY recommend. If I get stuck, I text my mentor Ally or ask in one of our private team groups and get lots of help right away. If you sign up under me, I’ll be your mentor and I’ve got your back. I think my team would tell you that I’m always there when they have any questions. We also have a private Facebook group and private Voxer thread, both of which are amazing resources for ideas and answering questions. In short, on our team, you will never feel alone in this business. I feel like I have the best coworkers in the world, and the people I get to work with are a huge reason I love this side job so much.

But ew, selling products is annoying. I don’t want to be one of those people.

Then don’t be annoying. Seriously. That’s my best advice. Think about what you hate and don’t do that. If you sign up because you truly love the products and/or love Beautycounter’s mission, you’re much more likely to be successful because it’ll be genuine when you talk about it. People love recommendations if they are genuine. I mean, don’t you tell all your friends when you find the most comfortable heels or discover a new restaurant? Yes, yes, you do. And it’s okay because it’s genuine. So the fact that you get paid for sharing what you love is an extra perk.

But ugh, it’s an MLM.

Yeah, it is. I earn a percentage of the sales from people who sign up underneath me. But, I only get 5-9% of their sales vs. 25-35% of my own. So, I’m much more motivated to grow my own business than just ride off of theirs. And, the way it’s structured, I HAVE to still do my own work or else I’d get downgraded (more on that below). You can’t just build a giant team, do nothing and make money off them.

And I actually think the structure makes the compensation more fair. I give my consultants a lot of support, and I share a lot with them about why I’ve been successful (including my exact methods and marketing content). I think it’s fair that I get rewarded for them doing well. It’s no different from bonuses or profit sharing at a large corporation. If you contribute to success in Corporate America, your boss likely gets a bigger bonus as a result. And if the whole company does well, you may get a profit sharing bonus.

And to be honest, I really, really love watching my consultants grow and improve their business. It’s so fun helping them find what works and seeing them get excited when sales come in. I feel like the payment structure is more fair than what I experienced in Corporate America!! (I worked in financial services for 13 years.)

Oh, and if you don’t want to build a team, you don’t have to.

And then it is absolutely no different from any other commission job out there.

There are also a number of companies who are introducing a similar business model in 2023, including Land’s End and Nike since they realize the power of marketing that comes from a friend.

This post explains the Beautycounter compensation plan in more detail.

How is Beautycounter different from other MLMs?

Well, I haven’t done any other MLMs so I can’t speak to it firsthand. In terms of being a consultant, Beautycounter does not have any of these requirements which are apparently common with others:

• No required autoship of products (for consultants or customers). You can choose to have specific products auto-shipped every 2 or 3 months (which I like since I’m busy and forget to re-order things!), but it’s absolutely not a requirement.
• Customers have a choice who they shop through — or if they don’t want to shop with anyone at all, they don’t have to. But I vote you shop with the consultant who helps you!
• No monthly minimum purchases for consultants

I also don’t know of ANY other company getting the press (see here, here, and here just for starters) and recognition that Beautycounter does. Beautycounter is a highly-rated B-Corp, which is an extremely hard certification to get.

I will say that I don’t know of any other companies who have the commitment to safety that Beautycounter does – they care about high performance AND safety, and typically companies prioritize just one of those. And I LOVE the way my skin has responded and the way their makeup looks. I used their products throughout my pregnancy as well.

Do I make less since you get a cut?

No. My getting paid doesn’t reduce my “downline” consultants’ compensation.

But why do people have to buy through a consultant?

Fun fact – they DON’T. Beautycounter lets people order directly from the website without a consultant because they don’t want to limit people being able to get safe skincare and beauty products. But, I think if someone introduced you to the products and spent time answering questions specific to your needs that you should do them a solid and give them a commission.

How Much Do Beautycounter Consultants Make?

You earn commissions — 25-35% — on every order (the percentage increases as the total amount you sell increases).  So, for example, to make $200 a month, you’d need to sell about $800 a month. The average order is $120 so that is 6-7 orders, which is doable if you sold to friends and family.

Prospective and current Beautycounter consultants, please view this page and this page from Beautycounter about the average consultant’s earnings

Do I get a discount or free products?

Sure do. You get 25% off retail price on your own orders and the opportunity to earn free products depending on how hard you work each month. It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve done because you truly get out of it what you put into it. And I can’t say for every job I’ve had in my life. AT ALL.

So…you actually like doing it?

Being a consultant has honestly been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done – so much more than I ever could have imagined. I love helping people find safer options for personal care products, and I love hearing back from people that they love the products.

Another fun fact: blogging isn’t free. I have to regularly pay for hosting fees, web designer fees, web development fees, wordpress updates, and so much more. It gets expensive, so it’s important that I can make money off the blog to justify it all. And I’m beyond grateful for the additional income. It’s FUN, and now I’m passionate about the mission so it’s a win all around. I’ve never once regretted signing up, and I tell my mentor Ally all the time that being a consultant literally changed my life.

This is just my experience so it’s important to remember how much you earn will vary on a LOT of things (how much time you put in, unique circumstances, etc.). Earnings depend on many factors, including each consultant’s dedicated time to selling/mentoring. To see more about the earnings and costs of Beautycounter Consultants, check out the 2021 Income Disclosure Statement at www.beautycounter.com/ids. In 2021, the average Beautycounter Consultant earned $1,861 before expenses.

I’m a blogger and I use “x” affiliate. Is this better?

Every audience is different, but I’ve found that Beautycounter is significantly better than any other affiliate programs I use. If you’re a blogger, and you like the products and the mission, I think you’re missing a huge opportunity. Again, I’ve been blogging for 18 years and no other source of income compares to this. It’s given me freedom to finally invest in some things for my blog that I couldn’t pay for in the past, like new design, hiring an employee, dedicated hosting and a dedicated web developer which is so nice to have when the blog breaks or you get hacked by Russians. (Yes, that actually happened to me.)

What don’t you like? 

Um… I’m not sure. Ha! Seriously, I love it. I guess I wish consultants didn’t have to pay for shipping. 🙂

Okay, I wanna learn more.

If you want to learn more about being a consultant and the business opportunity, you can read more on the Beautycounter website. Or fill this out so you can ask your questions and get answers in a 1:1 setting – I’ll email you right back! If you decide to join, I’d love to be your mentor so find me when you enroll (under TeriLyn Adams) or use this link.

This is another helpful post from a woman who is on my team about what it’s like being a Beautycounter Brand Advocate if you want a different perspective!

Nah, not interested.

That’s cool too!

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