CLIMBING THE RIGHT - Arbonne

e oaE Y E O N A R B O N N ECLIMBING THE RIGHTLADDER TO SUCCESSMy husband Tom and I have owned our tanning salons since1994 — starting with one and building to three by 1999. We foundthat the business had financial highs and lows and we neededsomething to supplement our income other than the tanningbusiness. Some salons try to complement their core business byadding products and services like hair, nails, cell phones, vacationpackages and so on. Skin was our business, so we decided to focuson skin care to enhance our traditional services. We contacted acompany that offered skin care products and they agreed to set usup. After a week went by, we were re-contacted and told that theywould not allow us to sell their products. Why? Because there wasa hair salon not very far from us that already offered their productsand they had the local territory. Doors open and doors close, sometimesfor the better.That is when we discovered Arbonne. About a week later, anArbonne Consultant came into my salon and after learning aboutthe quality of the products and the integrity of the company, I signedup with a large order. I then did what most salon owners do: I putthe products on the shelf to see what would happen. Initially, I washappy with its success in the salon. I was a tanning salon owner andtanning was my stock and trade while skin care was only a side line.Meanwhile, Tom started to look at Arbonne as a separate business.Occasionally, he would suggest that I get more involved with theArbonne business because he thought it had greater potential. Hewas greeted with a resounding, “No! I am not going to do thisbusiness! I am a tanning salon owner.” He would reply, “Okay,okay, just asking”This went on for more than four years. Every once in awhile,Tom would ask again and would receive the same, “No! I am notgoing to do this business, so stop asking.” To appease his persistentrequests, I started attending Carol Bowdell’s monthly meetings, notk a t h e r a yIndependent Consultant; Regional Vice PresidentKathe Ray Region; Novi, MIall of them, just some of them, and sat silently in the back row. InSeptember of 2001, Carol Bowdell sent out a training flyer. Theguest speaker would be Kathy Lutz. Without asking me, Tom signedme up and then told me afterward. I was furious that he had donethis. Of course, if he had asked, I would have flatly declined. I hadplenty of excuses to fall back on. For one, I was still breastfeedingand emphasized the point that I couldn’t go for the sake of the baby.Tom replied that he would bring the baby to me at breaks andlunch. Then I resorted to: I could not go because I had nothing towear. As a tanning salon owner, I wore shorts andtennis shoes every day. He simply told me to go out and buywhatever I needed. After that remark, how could I possibly refuse?He had already sent in the money and had a fix for every reason Icould think of not to go. Bottom line, I did not want to waste themoney he had spent, so I went.continued ...Kathe with team and NVP Carol Bowdell at NTC 2003 NashvilleFront, L-R: DM Judy Szmansky, AM Sherry Potts and Consultant Wendy HoekstraBack, L-R: AM Alicia Dunbar, DM Jeanette Hall, Kathe, Consultant Shelly Komaromi, DM Yvonne Jutis andNVP Carol Bowdell.Kathe and Arbonne President, Rita Davenport, atRita’s home for the Area Manager Celebration.Kathe with Arbonne Sr. VP Product Development& Marketing, Candace Keefe at a Lansing sessiontraining.

Kathe’s team in Georgia. L-R: DM Linda Schuler, Lisa Baskins, Kathe, Cynthia London, Alexis Ledford andSarah Stephens.“Succeeding in this business is 10% what you know and90% loving what you do and working with people. So spend”10% of your time learning and spend 90% with people.Kathy Lutz’s Presentation was about fear the fear, of success andof doing something different. It really hit home with me. I startedthinking that maybe that was the reason I was soreluctant to do more with Arbonne. Maybe I was afraid of doingsomething different because it would diminish everything I had putinto our tanning salon business. Was I on the wrong ladder ofsuccess? At the training session break, I was so excited. As he saidhe would, Tom brought four of our six kids to see me at the lunchbreak. (Did I mention that we have 6 kids? Jason 21, Derek 19,Emma 15, Joe 14, Garrett 4 and Katherine 2.) When Tom saw mehe knew that the Arbonne light bulb had finally turned on.Over the next few months I truly started thinking about being asmall business owner. I had always believed that the AmericanDream was to own your own business. After almost eight years ofowning our own tanning business, I began to reevaluate our dream.Some dream it turned out to be. We worked long hours, put up allthe money to start and stay in business and went through the rollercoaster of highs and lows involved in taking such a risk. Most of themoney earned went to taxes, rent or payroll. If an employee didn’tshow up for work, we had to drop everything and work as theirbackup. If anything else went wrong, the buck stopped with us. Inthe long run, the investment was high but the return was low. Thisenlightening conclusion gave me the open mind I needed to pursueArbonne at full speed.Garrett and Katherine Ray.success strategy:With husband, Tom,on the cruise.The family’s Mercedes-Benz.I was already a District Manager. I had been a District beforegot it, lost it, then got it again without really planning anything. Rightthen and there, I made the commitment to focus more on Arbonne.In January 2002, Tom and I began a plan to get off the tanning ladder.I realized right away that the key to this business wasbuilding an awesome team, for they would be the support weneeded on every step of our climb toward Arbonne success.After finally reaching RVP, it became evident that we could nothave climbed it without each and every rung of the ladder. Bear inmind, a ladder is useless without all the steps in place workingtogether in mutual benefit. With that thought, I would like to thankmy entire team for being part of my life. I am so blessed to knoweach and every one of you. I would like to personally thank theManagers on my team: AM Alicia Dunbar, DM Judy Szmansky, AMSherry Potts, DM Yvonne Jutis, DM (AM-in-Qualification) LindaSchuler, DM Jeanette Hall, DM Dana Meador and DM KellyMurphy-Smith. My next goal is that every one of you gets your veryown Mercedes-Benz! I cannot wait to celebrate with you! I wouldalso like to thank Rita Davenport, Petter Mørck, Candace Keefe andeveryone at the Home Office — you are all incredible. And specialthanks to all Arbonne Consultants who have stretched out a helpinghand here and there to help us all win — you are all the best!Our mission is to work with other people who are tired of therat race and want more freedom in their life. Whether it is someonewho works a J.O.B. or owns a small business (just another J.O.B.where you cannot give two-weeks’ notice), we want to help themunderstand that there are other options. We are told that to ownyour own business is the be-all and end-all. But that just isn’t true.We all deserve more than that — we all deserve Arbonne!”Parade of Championswinner, NTC 2003Nashville.Jason, Derek, Emma and Joe.REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTThe testimonials in this story reflect the actual experience of an individual, are anecdotal only, and may be atypical.EYE ON ARBONNE