Disclaimer: This article is opinion of the author and should not be taken in lieu of professional financial or professional legal advice. At no time has the author of this article worked for or been compensated by Color Street or its affiliates.

So you heard that Jamberry is no longer around and you’re looking at the next big direct sales opportunity. Or perhaps you’ve never heard of Jamberry, but you just learned about Color Street. Maybe you just like articles that analyze direct sales companies.

Regardless of what brought you here, welcome!

In this article, we’re going to take a look at Color Street, a direct sales company. Color Street recruits Independent Stylists to sell their product. The main product Color Street sells is nail strips.

This is very similar to Jamberry’s nail wrap product.

So let’s dive in.

What does it cost to become a Color Street Independent Stylist?

Like most direct sales companies, Color Street requires that you pay to sign up for the opportunity.

To sign up as a Color Street Independent Stylist, you need to purchase a Basic Starter Kit for $129.

It seems like you get a lot for this price, and Color Street claims it’s a $250+ value.

But you need to consider that it’s a $129 value – because anyone can purchase the Basic Starter Kit and get all of these things. So keep that in mind.

How much do Color Street products go for?

The cost of a Color Street Nail Polish Strip set ranges from $11 to $14.

Since these photos are clearly the work of a graphic designer and not the actual product applied, we looked for examples of the actual product.

For your information, here are some screenshots of the actual product applied.

How much money can I make from selling Color Street nail polish strips?

According to Color Street’s Compensation Plan, you make 25% base commission off of the Personal Volume (PV) sold.

Important note about personal volume (PV) in direct sales

Many people are confused by direct sales commission and payouts. It’s important to note that the retail sales volume you sell is not typically the amount you earn commission on. Personal Volume, or PV for short, is what the direct sales company defines as your commission-eligible value.

I’m interested in becoming a Color Street Independent Stylist. How much money can I make?

Let’s break down the initial investment and the earnings potential using the following assumptions:

You become a Color Street Independent Stylist at the lowest level, with the cheapest starter kit ($129)

You earn at the lowest level, which is 25% base commission on PV

You want to sell Color Street to earn an income – an income you’d otherwise be unable to attain due to daycare costs or other time constraints

You think that selling Color Street would be a better alternative than getting a minimum wage job. For the purposes of this analysis, we’ll show how much you’d need to sell in order to earn the equivalent of a minimum wage job.

Color street independent stylist costs

The Basic Starter Kit costs $129. Are there additional costs to consider when selling Color Street?

Yes. Other costs include:

Website – $9.95 per month. Your first month is free.

Quota – You must sell $300 in product every six months to stay active and be commission eligible.

So the Year 1 annual costs to be an Independent Stylist:

$129 Basic Starter Kit

$9.95 x 11 months = $109.45 website costs in Year 1

We’ll leave out the sales quota (for now). And we’ll revisit that later.

How many nail polish wraps do I need to sell to earn the equivalent of minimum wage?

The Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25 per hour.

Let’s assume you’d like to earn the equivalent of a full-time, minimum wage job before taxes.

So 37.5 hours per week at $7.25 an hour is $271.87 a week. Or roughly $1,087.50 per month, before taxes.

Remember the point about PV

For simplicity’s sake, we’re going to stick with retail value and not make assumptions on Color Street’s PV policies. Why? Well, for starters, we can’t find the information.

So how many nail polish strips do I need to sell per month?

Let’s assume you sell the nail polish strips for $12 each. That’s more than the lowest cost of $11, but we’ll assume your friends and family want to splurge a little.

For each $12 nail polish strip you sell, you may earn $3. Why “may” and not “will”? Because of our point about PV. We don’t know what the PV is on a $12 Color Street nail polish strip.

So if you earn $3 per $12 strip you sell, you’ll need to sell 90.62 nail polish strips per week to earn the equivalent of a full-time minimum wage job. Round that up to 91, because you can’t sell 0.62 of a nail polish strip.

If there are 4 weeks in a month, you need to sell 363 nail polish strips per month in order to earn the equivalent of a full-time, minimum wage job before taxes.

Keep in mind you’ll have to pay taxes on your Independent Stylist earnings, too.

What about the costs to start?

Before you even make a dime, you’ll need to recoup your initial investment.

If you want to recoup your initial investment in one month, you’ll need to sell 43 nail polish strips at $12 each, assuming your PV is 12 and you earn $3 per sale.

So before you make any money in month one, you’ll need to sell 43 products. If it takes you longer than 1 month, you’ll have to add the website costs to that investment, too.

Is it even possible to sell that much product?

Anything is possible. But is it probable that you’ll sell 363 nail polish strips per month? Most likely not.

what if i just want to make a little extra money?

You can use our Direct Sales Calculator to do the math for you. Keep in mind you’ll need to recoup your initial investment + yearly expenses to actually make a profit.

Who should consider this opportunity?

Look, we’re not in the business of telling women what to do with their time or money. We firmly believe that women should be empowered to make their own informed decisions, which is why we stick to the data.

Here are a few things you should consider before buying into any business opportunity:

Are you comfortable with never recouping the initial investment? If you can afford to lose $129, that’s one thing. If you would have been better off buying groceries or paying down a debt, then you should consider your financial investments carefully.

Have you ever been in a sales position before? While these companies boast that no experience is necessary, sales is a really tough job. Selling just one of a product can be tough. But selling hundreds of products monthly takes a huge amount of skill – and time.

Do you truly understand what you need to do to make money? If the compensation plan is confusing to you, it’s not because you’re stupid; it’s because it’s designed that way. You should have a clear understanding of how much you need to spend, what you need to do, and how much you’ll make as a result. If you don’t understand, it’s usually a good cue to walk away.

But Bottlesoup, what can I do to make money from home that’s not a scam?

Great question! Luckily, we live in 2018 and there are plenty of legitimate work from home opportunities.

If you’re a good writer, you can find freelancing jobs from sites like Textbroker and others that pay you based on the work you do. No strings attached.

If you have a crafty skill, you can open an Etsy shop.

If you’re good on the phone, you can find jobs at Apple, Disney, Hilton, and other big name companies that allow their Customer Service Associates to work from home.

If you’re a degreed professional, many office jobs allow you to work remotely.

Invest in yourself first

So let’s say you can’t find a legitimate work-from-home job to help financially support your family. That’s rough.

But make the investment in yourself to learn the skills and certification necessary to get those jobs.

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