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| "It does feel different when you get the car, it's true validation that the business works" |
I wish life was like this every day. I am zooming down the M3 in my civvies on a "school day" listening to Radio 2 and I have a 10am breakfast meeting (or is that classed as elevenses), for which I am early. This is a small miracle in itself, I am always running 10 minutes behind, convinced that I'll make up the minutes somehow. However, on this occasion I am keen to arrive relaxed and in good time at my destination; I am meeting someone special for my May blog interview. I am feeling jubilant, yet envious, that my interviewee benefits from a business life like this everyday - breakfast meetings, lunches, coffees, wines, presentations, talking and mentoring; And very shortly, she will be doing all of that, in a spanking brand new white Mercedes, courtesy of Arbonne.
Now, most of my readers will be aware - I am an Arbonne consultant. Arbonne is a health, wellness and skincare business that is promoted via the network marketing model. It's an industry which can also be known as multi-level marketing or direct selling and still remains a largely unknown and, quite often, mis-understood business model. In recent years, the Internet and social media have revolutionised the old fashioned version of the industry and the business is currently being crammed to the rooftops with smart, savvy, professional women and men who are looking for a way off the corporate treadmill, or a flexible opportunity that does not shackle them to their desk for certain hours of the day.
Typically network marketing companies will offer different promotional levels within the business. In Arbonne, there are four titles; District Manager, Area Manager, Regional Vice President (RVP) and National Vice President (NVP). The playing field is flat, anyone can reach any title in the business and there are not a limited number of places at any one level. The promotion that everyone is fascinated by, whether they are in the business or not, is the promotion where "you get the white Mercedes". This is the RVP promotion to be precise. One receives a free monthly car allowance for a vehicle and there are two stipulations; It has to be a Mercedes; It has to be white. Since I started my business no one in our direct team has promoted and ordered the car. Until now. So I have requested a meet up with the new Regional Vice President Maya Queen, so that I could carry out my first Blog interview with an Arbonne RVP! So May is for Maya, and I want the inside knowledge on her Arbonne story. Jane Simpson (Area Manager), is hosting, so kitchen table at the ready, the tea and toast is on her.
When I arrive, Maya is coughing away and cuddled up in her poncho (on this chilly May morning?!). This is not quite what I expected. Is it stress? "No, I have run out of my immunity boosters" she laughs and then offers a little "region dance" to demonstrate that a throat croak isn't getting in the way of her pleasure at the recent promotion. "I didn't believe it until I saw my webstats this month! Even though I knew I had made it in April, until my title changed on line on the 10th May, it wasn't real." And the car? Maya scrunches up her forehead to reel off the make "the car's on order, its arriving this month, a C-Class Coupe with red leather interior and sun roof, I think it will be exciting all over again when it arrives."* What a long way she has come, since January 2009 when she started out.
Typically, a friend or associate will tell you about the Arbonne opportunity, but in Maya's case, she had a "sliding door moment" in a coffee shop in Weybridge, Surrey."I was with my two children Emma and James who were two and four at the time and my husband had popped next door to the Estate Agents. I was focused on keeping their hot chocolates upright rather than what was going on around me." Unbeknown to Maya, at the next table were two men and a woman having a business meeting and this chance seating arrangement, along with a curious son, was about to change the direction of her working life. "James started to chat with them, being the nosey thing that he is and the lady from the group (Aka RVP Sarah Mills) came round to see me, and said "I notice you have two young children, would you be interested in trying some pure safe and beneficial skin care for them?". What Sarah couldn't have known, is that Maya, was actually a skin care buyer for a large well known chain of stores. "I had reached for my business card, but then Sarah told me that you couldn't buy the product through a retail outlet, only through the Internet or an appointment based outlet, like a spa". Pausing for a bite of toast and a swig of tea Maya then laughs "....then she told me they also have an anti-ageing range, I was obviously looking a bit rough that day!"
Curiosity and Maya's open nature, meant she accepted the offer of a free trial of the renowned "gold bag" and the full baby range. "I still didn't get it, I assumed those two men, must be her bosses and that she was some form of posh Avon lady. I was also a bit sceptical because I had never heard of the product before". Loving the results of the gold bag (RE9 Advanced range), Maya read up on the information behind the products themselves, and there was something else that caught her eye. Toxin Awareness. " I didn't have a therapist background, so was unaware about actual ingredients within your standard beauty products. I was horrified to discover that many products contain so many toxins and that 60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream". Arbonne doesn't contain such controversial and potentially harmful products, so when Sarah returned to collect her goods, Maya was busy throwing out her old skincare and was armed with her credit card and ready to order.
However. Sarah urged Maya to consider the business.
"I said to her - you're joking me aren't you? I work full time, I've got two small children, I want to work less not more!" However, Sarah's poignant words "This is a home based, Internet driven, flexible working opportunity" got the cogs in her brain turning; "I thought to myself...could this be a way off the hamster wheel?" Maya did her due diligence by researching the industry, the company and attending Arbonne's opportunity meetings to get a feel for others in the business. "I discovered that the crux of the business, is re-directing your spend on beauty products into your own business, and then showing others how to do the same. There is no flogging door to door, no holding stock, it is simply about spreading the word via your network and via your network's network and so on. It is also incredibly tax efficient." With a sponsor and no boss, the opportunity made more and more sense to Maya and she remembers "I thought, what if it works? The benefits could be immense. Or, if it didn't work, well....I would be left with a bunch of products I liked using anyway." Maya also couldn't deny a nagging thought at the back of her head; "I would probably always wonder if I didn't try and what if someone came up to me in the future and tried to offer ME the gold bag. I would have been gutted." As the old saying goes, the things in life you regret are often the things you don't do, rather than the ones you do. Maya decided to jump in.
Typically when someone begins their Arbonne business, they hold invitation-only business launches with and to their network. In Maya's case she was actually abroad in the run up to her launch and only managed to send a blanket text out to everyone in her address book, telling them when to come round, and then hoped for the best. "Seriously, not only was I working full time, but I was also abroad a lot of the time! I literally had half an hour here and there to fit the business in." Laughing again, she then recalls "Then on the actual day of my launch - honestly, talk about unprofessional - people were due round at 8pm, and I got home fifteen minutes before it started because I was stuck on the M25! Not only that, but I had a big hole in my tights and I didn't have time to change!". Laughing at the memory of her cobbled together launch, I struggle to imagine Maya rushed and stressed. She is always cool, poised and unruffled - and definitely with no holes in her tights!
When Maya promoted to Area Manager within 6 months, she decided to take a break from her full time job, and then resigned altogether. With an inflexible employer declining her part time requests and seeing the long term growth potential of her Arbonne business, she chose lifestyle and Arbonne over the M25 and employment. It was a brave move, she must have had absolute belief in her future. "Absolutely, I wouldn't have resigned for hobby money, RVP was always the main goal." When Maya talks about her business, she does so with utter conviction and lots of passion. Always smiling, always available to offer advice, she seems to thrive on being an Arbonne Consultant "I love everything about this business. I love the fact it's not routine, I love being my own boss - no one dictates your timetable - you're round people's houses, the camaraderie, the people, team spirit, and the empowerment" She is on a roll now, the list isn't ending, there is nothing she doesn't love, particularly in comparison with employment. "I have always been salary safe before, with lots of pipe dreams of owning my own business." Well, the pipe dream has become a reality, because the car is on the way, and now Maya is looking to Nation as her next goal.
"Team" is a word that Maya has used over and over whilst we discuss her experiences with Arbonne, which could be considered odd, given that it is your own business and you do not have employees. However, the point of network marketing, is that your growth is bred from helping others in your downline - to do what you are doing. Maya describes her promotion to region as if she has scaled a wall, and now has a rope, which she is throwing down to every member of her team and one by one she is going to help pull everyone up beside her. "You are of course creating a business for yourself, but you are also helping other people achieve their goals and dreams too. I know it sounds too good to be true...but that really is the beauty of it; You are creating a residual income, by helping other people build their businesses too." Comparing it to the corporate world, and gesturing like a chicken, she exclaims how "it's very different, often in that environment the sharp elbows come out if someone is getting good, but Arbonne is the other way round, you want everyone to be great".
This is why Maya makes such a fabulous ambassador for this business; Down to earth, trustworthy, passionate and full of integrity. But what other traits does she possess that has helped her get where she is. "I have needed to demonstrate persistence, tenacity, consistency, always having my end goal in mind and always knowing I would never quit ... and in the meantime, the beauty about is, I am doing it with my people - your own team and culture. In fact, someone asked me yesterday whether I can retire now. What would I retire from - and why would I want to ? No more coffees and social chats? I love what I do, so why would I stop? And why would I not want to help my team get there too?"
How many of us can truly say that about our current employment status I wonder?
By this point, we have hoovered up the toast and tea, and the interview is reaching a natural close, and we can't help but lapse into a discussion about the people in our lives who we think would be fabulous in this business. Meanwhile, Maya puts the kettle on (this is literally business around a kitchen table) and jigging around in her poncho, she dramatically declares some further words of wisdom for my Dictaphone as a parting shot:
"Anyone who has a good feeling when they hear about this business, should just jump in and do it! And I'm telling you, if they knew what I know now, they definitely would! Also, you get tax relief from buying all your fantastic products. HA ! I actually get paid to wash!"**
I couldn't have concluded things better myself.
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To be part of the car celebrations:
Sunday June 10th 2012 2.30pm - Maya Queens car presentation Woodlands Park Hotel, Woodlands Lane, Stoke D'Abernon, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 3QB - Guests invited, so please RSVP via Facebook or email to attend (as my guest) or contact the consultant who shared this blog with you.
Saturday July 7th 2012 - Region party. Consultants only. Please RSVP to your RVP Maya Queen.
** To learn more about how you could be paid to wash, contact the consultant who shared this blog with you
