Beauty Side Business: How Realistic Is It?
9 min read Becoming a consultant Updated 5 October 2026 By Anna Sophie Schulenburg
A beauty side business is realistic if you set aside around five fixed hours a week, can pay the start-up costs from savings and expect to earn little or nothing in the first months. Before you sign up, read MONAT's compensation plan and its official income disclosure statement, and use the products as a customer for a few weeks. Four weeks of fixed time blocks in your calendar will tell you whether a side hustle fits into your everyday life.
This page is about everyday life as a consultant (a Market Partner, in MONAT’s terms) in Germany: time, costs, registration and what happens after you get in touch. Whether a company works legitimately at all is something to check first with the seven criteria for legitimate network marketing. Both are general orientation and do not replace legal or tax advice; if you live outside Germany, the authorities and thresholds differ. For questions about your own case, ask your tax office or a tax adviser.
What a beauty side business as a consultant involves
As a consultant you are self-employed and work on your own account. Your customers order directly from MONAT, and MONAT delivers directly to them as well. You buy no stock, ship no orders and earn commission on the orders placed through you.
The work in between is advice. You answer hair analyses that come in through your personal link, suggest a routine, send samples and check back after two weeks whether the amount and the product suit her. You need no previous experience. You practise product knowledge and your first conversations with your sponsor. That includes how a three-step hair care routine is built, which care systems the MONAT hair care range offers and how to explain in two sentences what MONAT means by Biotech Beauty when someone interested asks.
This set-up does not create passive income. Every order depends on a conversation. Regular customers tend to stay when someone checks in around the time the bottle should be empty.
Customer, VIP customer or consultant: three paths
Three paths lead to the products, and only one of them makes you self-employed. The main difference between them is which obligations you take on.
| Path | What you do | Your obligations | Suits you if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer | You order when you need something | None | You only want the products |
| VIP customer | You order regularly through the VIP customer programme, without a partner contract | No business ones | You use the products long term |
| Consultant | You recommend, advise, earn commission and, if you like, build a team | Trade registration, taxes, advertising rules | You have the time and enjoy talking to customers |
You can start as a customer and switch later. If you do not know the products yourself yet, you have little to say in your first consultation, so the detour is worth it.
What a five-hour week looks like
Five hours fit alongside a full-time job if they have fixed slots in your week. In this sample week, Wednesday and Friday stay free:
| Day | Time | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 30 minutes | Answer messages from the weekend, look through new hair analyses |
| Tuesday | 60 minutes | One consultation by phone or video, then pack and post two samples |
| Thursday | 60 minutes | Product knowledge: work through one care system, collect questions for your sponsor |
| Saturday | 120 minutes | Follow up with three to five customers, support reorders, prepare two posts labelled as advertising |
| Sunday | 30 minutes | File receipts, enter income and expenses, plan the coming week |
In the first weeks the split shifts. You learn more and follow up less, because you hardly have any customers yet. With three hours a week there is time for your own products, a few posts and replies to messages. With ten hours, new conversations come in regularly and, if you want, so does training a team of your own. More hours raise the chance of orders. They do not guarantee an income.
A typical planning mistake is answering messages “whenever there's a gap”: in your lunch break, at the supermarket checkout, at eleven at night. Your phone is then always open, and there is still no quiet moment left for following up. Fixed calendar blocks like the ones in the sample week correct this, together with one evening a week with no business messages at all.
Does a side job fit your life right now? The self-check
Answer the five questions for your current situation, not for the one you hope to have in six months:
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Can you keep five hours a week free for four weeks in a row? | Put fixed blocks in your calendar | Start as a customer and work it out again in three months |
| Can you pay the start-up costs without missing the money day to day? | Carry on with the cost list below | Wait until you have a cushion |
| Do you use the products yourself, and would you recommend them even without commission? | A good basis for conversations | Test them yourself for a few weeks first |
| Does your employment contract allow a side activity? | Notify your employer | Check with HR first |
| Do you stay relaxed when friends ask sceptically about direct selling? | You can talk openly about your role | Start with customers outside your close circle |
If you answer no two or more times, now is the wrong moment. It is only a question of timing, and you can still get to know the products in the meantime. The free hair analysis asks about your hair and suggests a routine that you try out as a customer first.
Start-up costs and registering a side business
A beauty business costs money before it brings any in. There are no amounts here, because they depend on the country, the municipality and the current starter kit. Budget for these items:
- the starter kit or sign-up with MONAT; get the current amount for your country in writing
- products you use yourself, and samples to give away
- the trade registration fee, which your municipality sets
- postage and the occasional printed card or small promotional item
- a tax adviser, if you do not do your tax return yourself
Do the registrations in this order:
- Tell your employer first. Many employment contracts require you to declare a side activity or have it approved. Working during your working hours and competing with your employer are off-limits.
- Register the trade at your municipality's trade office (Gewerbeamt), at the latest when you start selling.
- Within a month of starting, send the tax registration questionnaire to the tax office via ELSTER, the German online tax portal. That is also where you state whether you want to use the small business scheme (Kleinunternehmerregelung).
- If you receive parental allowance, unemployment benefit or citizen's income (Bürgergeld), or are covered by family health insurance, report the extra income to the relevant office beforehand. It can be offset or change your insurance status.
- An Instagram or Facebook profile you sell through needs a legal notice (Impressum). Label posts about products you earn from as advertising.
- For bookkeeping, a folder for receipts and a spreadsheet for income and expenses are usually enough. At the end of the year they turn into the simplified profit statement (Einnahmenüberschussrechnung) for your tax return.
How commission works in principle
You earn on the orders placed through you and, depending on the plan, on the sales of a team you build. The rates, when each level applies and whether certain ranks require a minimum volume are all set out in MONAT's current compensation plan for your country. How incomes are spread in practice is shown in the Income Disclosure Statement, the official income overview. If it states a median, read that before the average. Half of the partners are above it, the other half below, and a few very high incomes barely shift it.
This page names no figures, on purpose. Income in direct selling fluctuates, is often low, and many partners earn little or nothing. Anyone who promises you fast or guaranteed money is breaking MONAT's policies, which every consultant has to follow.
Risks and how to cushion them
Most risks of a direct-selling side job come with the territory, yet you can plan for them in advance:
| Risk | What you do about it |
|---|---|
| Income fluctuates or never arrives | Plan your household budget as if this money did not exist |
| Costs come before earnings | Treat the start-up costs as spending that may not come back |
| Buying for yourself to keep a rank | Only order what you use yourself or need as samples |
| Pressure among friends | Ask once and accept a no |
| The work eats into evenings and sleep | Fixed blocks, one evening a week without business messages |
| Leaving gets complicated | Read the return and cancellation rules before you sign up |
What you can say in public about products and money
Three rules apply to every post and every message. About products, you only use MONAT's current approved claims and make no healing promises. About income, you name no amounts and make no promises; anyone who asks gets the official income disclosure statement. And every channel states that you are an independent consultant and that MONAT does not run the page itself.
Questions to ask us before you start
- What does onboarding look like in the first four weeks, and how often will we talk?
- What does the starter kit cost in my country right now, and which parts of it do I need at the beginning?
- Where do new customers come from once my own circle already knows the products?
- Can I pause during a busy phase in my main job, and what happens to my status then?
- What changes if I only want to advise and not build a team?
- Will you show me the compensation plan and the income disclosure statement before I decide?
What happens when you contact Glow Tribe
- You fill in the form on the “Become a consultant” page: name, email, mobile number, your country and where you currently stand with MONAT. Adding a message is optional.
- A consultant from the team reads your enquiry and gets back to you personally. Keep an eye on your email inbox for it.
- In the conversation you go through your questions together. She shows you what the starter kit currently costs and puts the income disclosure statement in front of you. You do not have to decide anything.
- You take time to think. A week is a fair amount of time to read the compensation plan, income disclosure statement and policies at your own pace.
- If it suits you both, your sponsor enrols you with MONAT and trains you. If it does not, you stay a customer or VIP customer, or you simply say goodbye.
Quick questions
Can I sell beauty products on the side if I work in the German public sector?
Yes, usually, though only with your employing authority's agreement. Civil servants (Beamtinnen) generally need approval for a paid side activity. Public-sector employees on a collective agreement report it in writing beforehand, and the employer can prohibit it if official interests are affected. Sort this out before you register the trade.
Do I have to charge VAT?
No, as long as you use the small business scheme under § 19 of the German VAT Act (UStG) and stay below its turnover limits. Whether it applies to you and makes sense is something to check with the tax office or a tax adviser, because the limits can change.
As an employee, do I have to file a tax return because of my side job?
Yes, once your profit from the side activity exceeds 410 euros in a year. The tax return is then compulsory, and the profit statement is attached to it.
Can I win customers without social media?
Yes. Recommendations among people you know, face-to-face conversations and the hair analysis via your personal link all work without a channel of your own. Social media only widens the circle you reach.
What happens if I want to stop?
You give notice according to the periods in MONAT's Policies & Procedures and then deregister your trade at the trade office. Because you do not buy stock, there is usually hardly any product left over.
If five hours a week fit into your calendar, send Glow Tribe a no-obligation enquiry and ask to see the starter kit and income disclosure statement for your country.