Beautycounter is currently on a hiatus while the company restructures. Check out this blog post with product swap suggestions from the clean brands I’m using instead!
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Curious how to make money with Beautycounter? This post explains the Beautycounter Compensation Plan in detail.
Beautycounter Compensation Plan: The Nitty Gritty
Today is Beautycounter’s 9th anniversary as a brand changing the beauty industry.
Since I’ve been a Consultant with Beautycounter for almost three years, I thought today would be a great time to explain Beautycounter’s compensation plan. In other words, how 50,000+ consultants and I can earn money by linking arms with this innovative clean beauty brand.
While I initially said “no thank you” (more than once!) to the business opportunity, I was looking for cleaner sunscreens in April 2019 and decided to try something new. In addition to sunscreen, I decided to swap all of my skincare and makeup for Beautycounter at the same time. I knew the brand was trustworthy and had a focus on sustainability. So I went all in and signed up as a consultant for the discount. Note that I never would have signed up if there were a bunch of requirements or minimums, and I had absolutely zero interest in having people under me (although my sister and I joined together!).
I can say with sincerity that working with Beautycounter has added so many positives to my life. I’m not at the top of the company (nor do I know if I ever will be). But I am happily in the middle! I have created an additional stream of income for our family simply by helping others choose safer personal care products.
Disclaimer: Beautycounter and/or any of our independent consultants do not guarantee any level of income. Each consultant’s success in earning Commissions will depend on his or her efforts, abilities, and circumstances. To learn more, please view the 2020 Income Disclosure Statement at www.beautycounter.com/ids
Beautycounter’s Business Model
There is a misconception that Beautycounter is a “pyramid scheme” or “another one of those brands.” Our founder, Gregg Renfrew, felt that transparency in beauty was a message best told person to person, so she founded the company with a community of marketers in mind.
Very similar to the hundreds of brands I’ve collaborated with through KERF over the years, being a consultant with Beautycounter is not very different than being an affiliate with Athleta or Amazon. I earn a *very tiny* commission when I share things I love and use across hundreds of brands through affiliate networks. The difference is that Beautycounter’s commission structure is much more generous at 25%. And Beautycounter has a lot more two-way communication with its consultants than many brands offer with their affiliate networks.
You can buy Beautycounter without a consultant if you choose
You’ll just lose a layer of customer service : ) Beautycounter sells their products through multiple channels, with direct-to-consumer sales being the main avenue. That said, you do not need to purchase Beautycounter products through a consultant. You can simply purchase online like any other e-commerce brand. You can also walk into one of Beautycounter’s brick and mortar stores in Denver, Los Angeles, and New York City, and you may have even seen the products pop up in well-known stores like Target and Sephora.
Video: Beautycounter Presents: Myths About Direct Selling
Beautycounter Compensation Plan
Here’s more about how Beautycounter consultants can earn income.
1. Selling Products
The first (and rather obvious) way to earn income is by selling Beautycounter’s products. Beautycounter is known for its safer beauty products that are all formulated without the use of more than 1,800 questionable and potentially harmful ingredients.
The products range from anti-aging skincare serums to makeup made with ethically-sourced mica and shower essentials for the entire family. And yes, while technically I’m selling Beautycounter, it is honestly more about sharing and educating. These high-performing products sell themselves!
As a consultant, you earn 25-35% commission on everything you sell. Everyone earns at least 25% commission; the more you sell each month, the more you earn.
- Up to $750 in sales/month: 25% commission
- Up to $1,500 in sales/month: 30% commission
- Up to $3,000 in sales/month: 32% commission
- Over $3,000 in sales/month: 35% commission
For example: If I have a friend who places a $200 order, I would earn $50 in commissions from that order at the 25% base commission rate.
But I don’t want to be that salesy person! I totally understand. No hands go up when you ask if someone wants to sell something to their friends and family. And you don’t have to have experience with retail sales, or sales whatsoever. This model is truly about sharing – person to person – just as you would your favorite pair of boots or leggings.
In fact, most consultants were a Band of Beauty member first (Beautycounter’s customer rewards program) before they enrolled as a consultant … meaning they were already consistent consumers of the brand. However, instead of just saving money as a member, you have the ability to earn money as a consultant.
2. Building A Team
The second way to make income, and scale your Beautycounter business, is by developing a team of fellow consultants. This is 100% optional, but is the definitive way that you can earn a larger pay check. Contrary to being a pyramid scheme, this model is not unlike any other corporate job where the CEO or executive level employees who oversee a team of employees earn a larger salary than those “under them.”
As your team grows in size (your team sells and builds teams of their own), you’ll get a small commission of those sales. It does not reduce the amount that your downline consultant earns. You can earn anywhere from 5-12% of your team’s sales. Similarly, as you put in the work to help mentor emerging leaders on your team, that is reflected in your monthly earning statement as well.
How much you earn can vary quite a bit; there is great information about how much an average Beautycounter consultant makes at each level in the income disclosure statement. It’s really interesting to study the data they provide. For example, lots of people join just to get a discount and not to actually sell so they have $0 in earnings. And they separate out averages for new consultants vs. seasoned. Of the new consultants who had sales in a 6-month period, 50% earned more than $100, 23% earned more than $500. And 12% earned more than $1,000.
These are the titles you can achieve based on how much sales volume you have and how large your team grows.
- Consultant
- Senior Consultant
- Manager
- Senior Manager
- Director (I am here!)
- Senior Director
- Executive Director
- Managing Director
3. Beautycounter Consultant Perks
I love being a part of a larger community. I’ve mentioned before that after working for myself for so many years it was actually refreshing to feel connected, especially to a company that is a B Corporation and widely recognized like on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list and Forbes.
It has always felt natural to promote Beautycounter’s products because I honestly love the results I’ve seen in my own skin and wholeheartedly stand behind the company’s mission of getting safer products into the hands of everyone – Beautycounter or not!
There are also perks beyond earning money, such as free products and other incentives. Of course those are all optional – just for fun.
Consultant Perks:
- Get a 25% discount on all your own purchases (this is why most people join and the best perk!)
- No inventory required: items ship directly from HQ to clients
- Earn 25-35% commission (+ bonuses) on sales made through your personal link
- Get early access to new products and limited edition sets at a discount (usually 30-40% off)
- Free educational trainings and endless support
- No rules, no minimums; total schedule flexibility and creativity!
Want to join?
If you’re interested in reading more about the business side of Beautycounter, learn more here. Be sure to read through my Beautycounter Consultant FAQs, too. If you’d like to chat with me, fill this out and I’ll be in touch!
ellie says
Thanks for this post, Kath – it’s so clear that you’re passionate about BeautyCounter, and I have to admit, I understand a little bit more about the business model now. I’m sure you get tons of questions about it, especially after LulaRich came out earlier this year — not saying that Gregg is like Mark and DeAnne, lol. I really appreciated your transparency in how much you earn, potentially, and where you are in the corporate structure. It is often opaque, and I say that as someone who actually works in Corporate America. I love the idea of a community of marketers, but I have to question the analogy that the BC structure is similar to another large organization, simply because I don’t have the potential to get a cut of salary from anyone that works beneath me in my org if they do their jobs. Or is it a simile? It’s been too long since I took the SAT for me to get that right. Hope you and the boys are enjoying spring!
Kath Younger says
It’s common in companies for those in management to get bonuses a company profit share based on their team’s performance. Even more so in sales companies. It’s not a perfect example, but the point is that while the compensation plan of each company is slightly different, maybe of them are shaped like a pyramid and performance based 🙂
Katharine says
As a longtime follower (oatmeal bowl days! pre Mazen!), I feel like I “know” you and have grown up with you. I don’t care that you sell BC, but how can you say BC isn’t a pyramid scheme/mlm? It’s literally the definition. You make money by building your team and therefore sales. You also have to make an investment to get started (legit non mlm jobs do not require that). I’ve read your post, but I can’t seem to figure out how you came to the conclusion that it isn’t an mlm/pyramid scheme. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Kath Younger says
Here’s the definition of a pyramid scheme: “A pyramid scheme is an unsustainable, illegal business model where investment returns are typically from principals of investments or membership fees instead from the underlying investment gains. It is often marketed as a foolproof way to turn a small amount of money into big returns.”
Beautycounter is not that.
If you’d like to call it a multi level marketing structure, you can! I didn’t say it wasn’t. But I don’t think that’s the best description either since
1) you don’t have to purchase product through a consultant if you don’t want
2) you make the most money off of your own commissions not anyone under you, and
3) because you don’t have to recruit a single person to build a business – it’s totally optional.