Name: Luke Huntington

Current City: Middleburg, VA

Age: 23

Luke Huntington is an alumnus of UNC Wilmington’s class of 2014. Last year, his interview with Her Campus UNCW was one of our most-viewed articles. We caught up with Luke to learn more about his recent successes. Find out about his career ventures and see what he had to say about life after college.

HC: What are some recent achievements of yours since your last interview for Her Campus in March 2014?

LH: Well, to start, I graduated UNCW with my business marketing degree. It was a very bitter sweet moment, as I was about to start my first full-time career in Dallas, TX at Multiview along with continuing to grow my Arbonne business. This was back in July.

However, like a lot of students, my job with Multiview, as a sales rep, was not related to my major, and my knowledge that I obtained from my university studies was not being put to good use. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that only 27% of college graduates get jobs that are related to their major. I’ve also learned that only 17% of students actually get “real jobs” after they graduate.

To make a long story short, I wanted to get out of my full-time job. While working my 7:30am-5:00pm job, I continued to build my Arbonne business. Like most college students, I wanted to lead a life by my own design, and I knew that Arbonne was my only choice. And after a few more months of consistent discipline, on September 30th, I became the youngest male Vice President in Arbonne. I had almost doubled my income of my full-time job with my business that only required part-time like hours.

Two weeks later, on October 8th, I quit my full-time job because Arbonne gave me the freedom of choice to do so.

Ever since then, I started to take full control of my life. As Regional Vice President, Arbonne pays for you to drive a white Mercedes-Benz. I moved my life back to northern Virginia, paid a visit to UNCW and spoke at my fraternity, PSE, as an alumni guest speaker, and started traveling.

Since November, I’ve traveled to Los Angeles twice, New York twice, Hawaii, and Montana. And I’m not saying this to brag or to show off; I’m sharing this with you to show you that living a life of abundance IS possible right after you graduate from college. It just all depends on your vehicle to success and what little amount of time you are willing to sacrifice while in school in order to live your life by your own design.

HC: How do you reach out to young people with Arbonne?

LH: I’ve been really focusing on how to approach students with Arbonne, as I’ve been seeing more and more students grow and become successful in different lines of the company. I do train on the duplicable system for success, and one aspect of it is picking up the phone and calling your warm market in order to educate them about either the products or the business model.

However, I have learned that Generation Y is very hesitant to picking up the phone and actually making a phone call. So, I started to experiment with building an Arbonne business by texting.

To back you up a bit, when you start a business with Arbonne, you don’t have to know the ins and outs of the products and how the business model works. We learn while we earn in this business.

So when you start, the best thing to do is to have your warm market (prospects) communicate with someone like myself for either a three-way phone call, Skype, or meeting. The only thing a new consultant has to do is book the appointment. This typically was done by over the phone; but with texting, it relieves pressure, it is faster, and it is easier to introduce the business and the products to more people. I teach my team how to get this business in-front of their peers, and how they can start creating an income quickly.

HC: What do you miss most about college?

LH: I would have to say that I miss the people. I was able to make great new relationships with fellow UNCW students and Wilmington locals. Being from northern Virginia, I never really experienced “Southern hospitality.” Everyone was generally very nice and outgoing, and loved introducing me to their groups of friends. I was grateful for this when I transferred in as a sophomore and didn’t know a single person in Wilmington.

HC: What are some things you'd like to share about life after college?

LH: Well, it is a reality check. As a college student, you are still accustomed to your family financially supporting you. Once you graduate, most of those luxuries no longer exist.What I’ve learned is that most of the jobs or careers that students obtain after college are due to having a connection to the company.We are living in a networking era, where it is not about what you know, but it is about who you know. My biggest piece of advice is start growing your network when you are young. Do different things, such as joining a club, fraternity/sorority, getting involved in the community, join a Multi-Level Marketing company, to show that you are unique.

Sacrifice a little bit of time while in school to live a more successful life after you graduate. Ask yourself, “What is my ultimate freedom worth to me?” Is it worth setting aside an hour a day to something that will improve your future?

HC: Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers?