I’ve always been fascinated by the people who have home-based businesses. Whether it’s just something on the side or a full-time career. My mom founded and ran her Kindermusik business out of our house. I observed and became increasingly involved in helping with her business while I grew up, so I guess the challenges and the benefits of a home-based business have always made sense to me. So when I encounter someone with a home-based business idea I always listen carefully and enthusiastically. I realized a few years ago that this has become my dream to have a small home-based business on the side. Something that can generate some extra income and has potential to turn into something more if I wanted it to. Something that presents an opportunity to meet more people and give wiggle room for financial freedom. Something that provides more options in life.
I’ve been to several events that fall under that home-based business umbrella and have carefully looked at PartyLite, Mary Kay, Bath & Body Works (which did home parties at least a few years ago but doesn’t seem to anymore), Creative Memories, Stampin’ Up, Premier Jewelry and Lia Sophia. I looked especially hard at PartyLite and Lia Sophia because I love their candles and jewelry so much and knew it would be easy for me to talk about their great products. They’re great! See? 🙂 I decided to not choose those companies however because they are not a necessary expense especially when people are squeezing their budget. I have plenty of candles that are half burned and will go several weeks forgetting to light them. And how much jewelry do you really need? Plus, all those companies require an inventory of samples and actual products for sale. If you make enough sales you can earn a slick rolling suitcase to cart around your PartyLite candle samples. Ugh. That’s a lot of little things to keep track of, transport, set up and store in your home, with or without the fancy suitcase.
About two years ago a couple of my friends spoke individually to me about Arbonne. I was impressed by their skin care products but totally confused and overwhelmed by œthe pitch. I didn’t understand how you œsold without having parties and was completely freaked out by the numbers and networking diagram I was shown. But I was still excited and didn’t know what to do. One of the gals was incredibly generous and gave me an entire set of Arbonne’s main RE9 anti-aging products as a gift. I knew how much that had cost her and was overwhelmed by both her generosity and felt (perhaps unnecessarily) obligated by the weight of the gift. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of follow-up, I was nervous about how it might affect the friendship, and I ended up left on my own with questions and unsure about what to do. I knew it was a cool business, especially if my friends had chosen it, but I needed more time to think about it and see the Arbonne process in action.
When we moved to Sioux Falls I wasn’t surprised when my first Sioux Falls friend Jolene asked me if I’d ever considered Arbonne. I told her about my weird experiences, how I thought it was too expensive for me, and how I didn’t know anyone in Sioux Falls anyway. She said her team of Arbonne gals get together for drinks and hang out pretty regularly so even if I didn’t want to do the business it would still be a good way for me to meet other women. Well. Being new, I certainly wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to make some friends. So I went. I’ve been to three Arbonne team social events, started the beginnings of a few new friendships, asked a ton of questions, and by golly I signed up. Ha!
Here’s why. The products are awesome. Their main focus is on skin care products for people with all types of skin at all points and ages in life. With their slogan, œPure Safe Beneficial, Arbonne is well-known for their non-toxic, botanically based products. Check out Arbonne.com for more info and to see the awesomeness. I’ve been using some of the products for a couple years and love the non-toxic aspect and how they act so naturally with my skin. For example — the lotion absorbs right away and keeps my skin really soft while the surface is still natural and dry to the touch rather than sticky or waxy. So, my first reason was easy: solid products.
Here’s a cool before-and-after photo of a gal with chronically dry feet who used Arbonne’s Anti-Aging Body Care system on one foot for two weeks. 
One more before-and-after with Arbonne’s NutriMenC RE9 anti-aging line. I appreciate the consistent lighting to show honest results in this photo. 
Second reason: I like that it’s not really about selling products to people or having parties (and therefore I don’t have to keep an inventory of products) — it’s just telling people about how they can get awesome products at a really deep discount by becoming an Arbonne member. Kind of like Sam’s Club without the massive bottles of ketchup. The membership is only $29 and you get 35-80% off all the products, so I figured it was a good deal for myself, a great low start-up cost and something I would be happy to tell people about. Some people do choose to do the whole party thing and sell individual products, which is why there is a retail price and why you get a discount if you sign up.
Third reason: The way you make money is you get a "thank you check" every month in the mail for the people you refer and from the products everyone buys from Arbonne. Basically Arbonne pays their consultants a finder’s fee instead of spending all that money on traditional advertising. Having worked in advertising for five years I am still amazed how much advertising costs. Word-of-mouth really is the most powerful form of advertising and essentially free. Works for me.
Forth reason: It’s a stable consumable product that is always going to be replaced. Even when people are tightening their budgets, they may not buy candles or jewelry but they’re still going to wash their face. The Arbonne products look initially expensive but you get a great discount. They are also super concentrated and last a very long time, so the cost-per-use is actually pretty close to what most people already spend. I compare it to the new trend in concentrated laundry soap one bottle may be more expensive up front but it goes a really long way and is much cheaper and less wasteful in the end.
There are more reasons of course (such as the stableness and longevity of the company, the solid business plan, etc.), but those are the most important four for me. So that’s my new big thing. I signed up to be a part of Arbonne. Woo! This blog isn’t meant to be a œpitch, just a way for me to let y’all know what’s going on in our life. I’m a little nervous because this is very new for me and I really really really don’t want to scare any of my friends off by being a freaky sales person. I know however that since I’m genuine and conscious about not wanting to scare people, and know how I was scared off the first two times, I will be very careful to not let that happen. So a notice to all you friends and family members who read this blog, if I bring it up please know you can tell me no and I won’t mention it again. Promise.
I’m still of course on the hunt for a regular full-time job. I actually have a pre-screen phone interview for a marketing position this afternoon with Daktronics. I’m still waiting on a response from the slow-moving museum people about lining up an interview (it’s been 3 and a half weeks already!!), and I’m really excited to hear back from the South Dakota Symphony to find out if they’ll offer me the Operations and Touring Manager job. Sounds like it’s coming down to whether they want to hire someone to replace the person who left or if they decide to save money by having everyone else work harder and not hire someone new for now. The Symphony would be a lot of hours and probably a low salary as to be expected with a non-profit job, but it’s really caught my heart. I hope it works out!
That’s it for now!