Becoming a Beautycounter Consultant: My Honest Review

Here’s my honest review of becoming a Beautycounter consultant, including all of the discounts and requirements, Beautycounter’s compensation plan, and insider info about what I do for my business each week!

If you’re looking for an honest review of becoming a Beautycounter consultant, you’re in the right place! I’ve been a consultant for about five years, and I’ve watched the company grow and adapt as a retailer in 2020 and beyond.

I had so many questions before I joined—and you should too. If you’re unfamiliar with Beautycounter, the company is education first and mission focused. They are a Certified B Corporation, Leaping Bunny Certified, and vigilantly test products for contaminants like heavy metals. Beautycounter also prioritizes sustainability and environmentally preferred materials (see the Social Mission Report), and works with the Chemical Footprint Project to assess the use of safer ingredients.

Because I know you are short on time, let’s jump right into exactly how the business works!

If you want help or have other questions that aren’t answered below, fill out this form and I’ll email you back with answers. I also have a Clean Beauty Community where I keep my community up to date on all things clean beauty!

How do I make money as a consultant?

When you become a Beautycounter consultant, you make a commission on the orders made through your link, similar to how a real estate agent gets a commission when they sell a home. The commission varies—you make 25%-35% depending on the amount you sell. The more you sell, the more you earn. This is a very generous commission considering most affiliate products provide a 5%-10% commission. The average order this past year was around $150. You do not invest in any inventory as people do not buy products from you. They simply shop on Beautycounter’s website through your link. For more info, check out the commission’s overview.

What does it cost to sign up?

The enrollment fee is $50. If you’re a Band of Beauty member, it’s $21. This is the only requirement to join on as a consultant. The enrollment fee includes your personal website, customer relations management software, comprehensive training, marketing materials, and all forms and documents you’ll need to promote your business. As someone who has run many different businesses and worked in retail management, this is an insanely good deal.

You don’t have to purchase any products at enrollment if you don’t want to, and there are no “monthly minimums” or purchase requirements of consultants. To help consultants get rolling, Beautycounter offers starter sets at enrollment that are up to 44% off. While these sets are entirely optional, they are a great deal, especially my favorite—the sampler starter set! You can also use the starter sets as an opportunity to grab any products you want for yourself, which is what I did.

Is there a Beautycounter consultant discount?

You get a 25% discount on all products. When new products launch, consultants get the opportunity to purchase them at an even deeper discount before launch. You also get the opportunity to earn free products and 50% off products when you host pop-ups. A pop-up is where you gather friends in-person or virtually and educate and sample products. I LOVE this option and I love being rewarded with free stuff for doing what I love.

What do I need to do to remain a consultant?

To maintain your status as a consultant, you have to hit $750 in qualifying volume (QV) every 6 months (new in 2022). QV is a number that includes your purchases and the purchases made through you. Yep, as a nice aside, when you reorder your own products, it goes towards your QV! This averages out to be about 1 order made through you (or your own order) per month. If you are putting in the work and doing the basics, you will have no problem meeting that requirement. In fact, most people on my team hit it within the first month or two with just a little bit of strategy from me.

What if I don’t hit the minimums?

You simply revert to a Band of Beauty member, no harm, no foul. As a member, you get some great perks, including free shipping on minimum orders. You don’t own Beautycounter anything, and you can carry on your merry way.

I hate selling. Can I actually make this work?

Yeah, I felt the exact same way. The good news is, this isn’t a traditional “sales” job, and you can grow your business by doing whatever gets you excited. Most of the time, I’m simply educating and sharing what I love with others. You are already doing that daily by sharing ideas, products, recipes, and podcasts with friends and family. Now, you get to turn that into a business you love. Be genuine, helpful, and do the things you enjoy! I’m a firm believer that this work should be FUN.

That being said, to make this work, you have to put in the work. It takes consistency and being willing to try new things occasionally. It also takes being willing to fail and learn from your mistakes. My career as a blogger has been one mistake after another, but my successes have always been right on the other side of those failures.

Beautycounter has a TON of resources to help you grow, including samples that are easy to send in the mail! See more on how I personally grow my business below!

Do you actually like being a Beautycounter consultant?

I truly love the work I do with Beautycounter. I love that the products work and I’m incredibly passionate about getting endocrine disruptors and carcinogens out of cosmetic products, especially when it comes to our children. It’s a blast getting to work with so many other incredible women, and yes, I love getting to provide for my family while I do it.

Before starting my work with Beautycounter, I was struggling financially to keep everything going. Blogging and podcasting is not only incredibly time consuming, there’s also a lot of costs associated with it. Equipment, hosting fees, domain fees, website designers, plugins so your website works, podcast editing and assistance… and that’s just the start of it! Beautycounter has allowed me to invest more in my blog and business and continue to do what I’m passionate about, which is a huge blessing!

Now, while I love what I do with Beautycounter, it’s actually not my full-time job, and I don’t want it to be. To me, it’s incredibly important to diversify my income, but I also have many other things I want to do! If you’re looking for a side hustle, there’s no better option in my opinion. Of course, this is just based on my experience and strategies (which, as your mentor, I can absolutely help you with). What you will earn will depend on many factors—check out the Income Disclosure for more info!

I’m hesitant because I don’t know anything about the products!

I got you! I knew very little about the products before I started. All I knew was that I loved them and they worked for me, and I wanted to help more people start using safer products.

Beautycounter has a ton of product training and informational guides for consultants, and there’s never a question that can’t be answered! I recommend learning as you go, as experience is the best teacher! This is also where your mentor is SUCH a big help. I regularly help my team help their clients with product recommendations, and we have an awesome team Facebook group where consultants can get help with product recommendations. When you sign up, you can choose me as your mentor (search Noelle Tarr), and I will be by your side along the way and can help answer any questions you have!

Can you explain the Beautycounter compensation plan?

The primary way you make an income as a Beautycounter consultant is through selling products to clients. You make a commision of the sales placed through your link. The baseline commision for all consultants is 25%, and you can earn personal sales bonuses the more you sell.

The second way you can earn income is by building a team of consultants. When someone joins your team, you help them grow, support them with resources, and answer questions. You make a small 5%-9% commision of the sales generated by your team. You do NOT earn a commission on the personal sales of the people on your team. Beautycounter does not push you to grow a team, and it’s 100% optional. As you sell more and grow your team, you achieve different titles, which affords you additional support from the company that helps you manage your team better. Of course, not everyone wants to grow a large business and not everyone wants to build a team. For a complete overview of what you can expect, check out the commission’s overview.

Is this an MLM though?

Sure is. What’s it’s absolutely not? A pyramid scheme. Beautycounter is simply a direct sales company, meaning consultants can make a commission on sales purchased through their link. If you want to, you also have the option to talk about the Beautycounter business with friends and family (like I am with you right now). If they want to sign up, they can sign up on your team, which gives them extra support. This is completely optional. You don’t have to recruit if you don’t want to! You do you.

I personally love this structure because when you join on someone’s team, you get to learn and use your mentor’s resources. For example, I create weekly educational emails for my clean beauty community, and let anyone on my team copy those emails and use my graphics. I put a lot of work into mentoring people and helping them grow their business (the way THEY WANT TO), and it’s one of my favorite things about the business!

Leaders do NOT earn a commission on the personal sales of the people on their team, which prevents leaders from pressuring people to buy more personally—a common practice in toxic MLMs. Additionally, there aren’t any monthly minimums, purchase requirements, and you only have to pay a $50 enrollment fee to join. Joining automatically gives you a 25% discount on your products for a 6 month period while you build your business. While investing in your business can help, you can actually host pop-ups and educate virtually (what I do and what ALL of us had to do in 2020), with little to no investment in product.

Do people have to purchase through a consultant?

Nope! Beautycounter has store locations you can shop at, and you can purchase products online through their website just like any other retailer.

What do you do each week to grow your business?

To grow your business, you want to do things that will generate new clients, but also take care of current clients. Here are the things I do on a typical week to grow my business and support my clients and team:

• Create educational emails and graphics
• Support clients with their purchases via email and text
• Schedule and host safe skin care webinars via Zoom
• Create content for social media, including videos and graphics
• Read over new product information and watch training videos
• Provide business coaching for new team members
• Support my entire team with calls and events
• Drop off products for local friends and family to try
• Send thank you emails or gifts to clients

How many hours do I need to work per week?

Really… that’s entirely up to you! In the beginning, it may take a bit more work to get your business off the ground. I think a great place to start is 3-5 hours each week. Of course, you may want to do more than that and really get into training or send out samples to friends and family.

Some weeks (or months), you may do zero. Others, you may spend more time working on emails, helping clients during sales, or hosting pop-ups or webinars. The major of consultants fully intend to treat this as a side hustle because they have other passions, jobs, and responsibilities. So many people need that flexibility, including myself! Currently, I spend about 5-8 hours a week supporting my team and clients, and doing things periodically to grow my business.

How do I sign up and get your help?

If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a Beautycounter consultant—I am more than happy to help! Just fill out this form and I’ll get back to you right away. If you’re ready to sign up and want an involved mentor who can help you with all of your questions and support you with emails, graphics, and resources, I’m your girl! I would be honored to help you on this journey. Just sign up as a consultant here! It takes about 10 minutes. Now, let’s have some fun!