Lisa Shares Her Story
Written by L J on August 24, 2008 – 9:11 am -Your Name: lisa
Date Joined MK : 1980
When Left MK or Still Active?: still active
Initial Inventory Purchased: $200
How were you recruited?:
2 gals were in the restaurant i worked in - i asked about mary kay after seeing their name tags. one came over to do a facial at my apt. and i asked more questions.
Memorable experience you had in MK:
2005 3-week missions trip to uganda was totally funded by both my mary kay sales of 7 months and my unit surprising me with about $1000 or so of final monies needed.
What did you learn from MK?:
i learned i can truly make a difference in a gal’s life by showing interest and trying to meet a specific need in some area.
What are you doing now? :
very active in my church - work at bob evans restaurant part-time and sell mary kay part-time.
Additional Comments:
i wanted to share that because of reading posts on this site, i e-mailed mary kay and suggested that newbies only be allowed to order no more than $600 the first 2 times of ordering. i personally don’t think anyone even needs to start with that, but if someone wanted to, at least there might not be more stories of credit card debt. right now, for anyone signing into mary kay during the month of aug. and ordering the $100 (plus shipping/handling/tax) starter kit, and then either ordering $600 in aug. or sept., the company is issuing a rebate check of $100. you would still get the free $100 product that comes with a $600 order and if you order within 15 days of signing and ordering your starter kit, you still get the free color 101 look with the new compact. of course you pay sales tax on the $100 product and the color 101, but i think it’s a good deal.
Tags: initial inventory, Mary Kay, mk
Posted in Mary Kay Consultant Stories |
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Sassy_C on
August 25th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
thank you lj for posting my story. i am not trying to change anyone’s mind about mk - just trying to say we’re all not in a fog, or practicing deceptive ways, or trying to promote company scams. i absolutely love that mary kay is in my life and i know i’m a better gal for it. my two best friends are gals i met in my mary kay unit and we have shared many laughs/tears totally outside of mary kay. in fact, one gal went with me on a second, 3-week mission trip to uganda! thanks again for allowing me to share my experience.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Lisa - kudos to you for working smart! IMO MK is offered as an “opportunity” until after you sign and then, all of a sudden, it’s a “business”. I don’t think most of the women who join even think about running a business, until after they purchased their starter kits and the discussion of inventory arises. I know I didn’t. I am glad that you were able to make some money and put it to good use! Best wishes!
August 26th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
what does IMO stand for? “in most…?” something or other? i figured out ibc and sd, but still having trouble with a few of the abbreviations. thank you ladies.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
IMO is short for in my opinion.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
IMO means In My Opinion…
August 26th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Sorry, didn’t mean to confuse anyone!
September 1st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Lisa,
I completely agree with you regarding the size of inventory for new consultants! I was interested in the opportunity at first and I explained to the director that I didn’t want to start w/an inventory and she agreed. Once she got the contract filled out she pressured me & pressured me about an inventory. She wouldn’t let it go whatsoever. Nevertheless, out of my own weakness, I ordered a Ruby level inventory. I wasn’t pleased w/ the situation especially since I had absolutely no input in my first order. My director placed the order for me and now I’m stuck w/a ton of foundations that are not common colors for the people I know. I had to lay off the business a month after I started due to my husband’s health problems but now I’m stuck. I’ve been paying interest on this product for a year now. I’m not pleased with the way they almost seemed like they conned me into the size of the inventory. I am going to sell the product back and lose money in the process but I just want to be done with it. I think if I had started with a $600 inventory, my outlook on the business would have been different.
Thank you.
September 11th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Sorry to read that Jill! I hope you are able to unload some of it for some sort of profit! The foundation thing irked me too, I had so much foundation that I didn’t have clients for, it was absurd!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 11th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Jill…sending theproduct back and getting at least 90% back is a far better deal than staying in MK, trying to sell it and getting further in debt.
Your story of your SD placing an order for you is so sad. It’s one of the way that MK insures you will have to place an order very soon after your first skin care class or your debut.
Nobody can predict what kind of customers you will have and what they will buy. Nobody should start with inventory excpet on the basic skin care and then in a limited quantity until you find out IF you will haveregular customers and what kind of products they will need.
I am so sorry you got stuck..tell your SD that you feel cheated and the reason you’re sending product back. She needs to know and if she has any ethics she will change her methods!
September 11th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
WoW Jill! They do shift gears dont they! I feel you! I started at saphire so if a potential customer was looking for a consultant in my zip code she could possibly get me! I STILL AINT GOT NO CUSTOMERS via Internet referral! I havent seen my name appear either! I called Dallas and asked why I see other consulants names appear somethimes back to back and why my name NEVER appeared in the pool. They assured me that I was mistaken. Whatever lady!
$1800 in product equaled a debit from my account of $2100 and some change. HARD PILL TO SWALLOW! MK charged taxes on the product and taxes on the products that were suppose to be bonuses, then, of course s&h. I am sure that you were hit like that too. After a huge purchase like that, MK wants you to keep ordering to stay “active”. Follow the beat of your own drum. Do what is good for you and your family and be at peace with it. If MK is not for you right now OR in the future, may I suggest packing that stuff up (ur gonna have 2 pay 4 shipping, sucks!) collect your pennies back from MK, and if your finances will allow, call a financial advisor (NY Life or Met Life as example) invest and let it sit for a few months. It would be better to have a portfolio verses having pink product chasing an expiration date… Its just a suggestion. That is my plan B. So far so good.
September 11th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
OH! I know that you will be the MK outcast if you return product, right? SO WHAT!
That was your cash not MK’s that was fronted!
September 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I am absolutely floored by the amount of websites slamming what many major publications consider to be an awesome opportunity for women. I was a consultant for 14 years. I was never forced into anything. I started with only 600.00 of inventory and sold that in the first class or two. I opted for full inventory and sold through that over and over and over again.
I was a stay home mom for the first year of my sons life and still earned over 10,000.00 that year while at the water park daily. Never was I in a fog. We are not ignorant women, but ones choosing to not forsake our children in the name of money.
I am saddedned that so many people feel let down by this company. I never had a bad experience with corporate. Now some of the women, maybe… They are women and can have issues if I worked with them anywhere.
Negative is not word for these sites… If I ripped apart something, like your faith or family, because I disagreed you, you would most likely have an issue with me. These women are protecting their dreams, their future hopes and aspirations.
I found Christ through Mary Kay. No, He did not need Mary Kay, but He still used it.
The old saying goes, “If you have nothing nice to say, shut up.” Better yet, do unto to others as you would have done unto to you.
I shudder to think how many women will see these sites, quit Mary Kay, never affording the opportunity to see what a blessing this company has been to so many.
I am grateful that God used these in a very different way. I apologize for any harm you were caused, but thank you, you reminded of how much I love Mary Kay and what it has, can and will afford my family.
Thank you.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
“Negative is not word for these sites…”
Nope. You’re right Lori. It isn’t the word for this site.
Just because you don’t agree with others does not make them negative. Just because you never had a “bad experience” with corporate does not mean there are others who haven’t.
The point you miss is that we’re here for information. We’re here to expose ALL parts of the business, the real-world realities of Mary Kay rather than the pink rah-rah presented by the company and directors.
Oh well. Some people get it. Others, like you, probably never will.
And speaking of ripping something apart, you did a decent job of trying to rip us. Is that “doing unto others”? Pretty un-Christlike sentences coming out of you.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
lj - the only thing i see that lori ripped you apart on is saying if you don’t have anything nice to say, shut up. did i miss something?
September 17th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Lisa–Apparently. Since you consider that one sentence of hers “ripping” then is that not enough?
I’m not surprised by nasty, condescending comments by consultants anymore, but it does get stale.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
i didn’t necessarily find that one sentence to be ripping - i was only responding to your “you did a decent job of trying to rip us” and i just didn’t see that. sorry!
September 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I happen to agree with LJ! Saying ” If you have nothing nice to say, shut up” I find that offensive. First off the “Old saying” is “If you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all” Never does the “old saying” tell someone to “shut up”. I see that as an attempt to “rip” into those of us that do love this site for the honest information that is provided! Lori I’m super thrilled that you love you MK business…truly I am. I just get so tired of MK consultants coming here with their eyes closed and their self righteous chastising behaviour! I guess what I’m saying Lori is you have not followed the words you wrote….which was “If you have nothing nice to say, shut up“
September 17th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Well spoken as usual Sassy!
October 30th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Why is everyone dogging on Lisa? If she’s happy she’s happy, everyone is diferent. I believe that for this business to work you need to work hard and then you’ll have youre compensation. It’s like any other business. In fact it has been proven that the first five years of a business is really tuff. My opinion is if you are really determine and focused on your goals anything is possible. Remember Mary kay or lets say Sales is not for everyone. I love Mary Kay I admire her and as a consultant with just two month in the business Im making very good money and with the luxury of staying home with my little princess. I love the friends I’ve made, the faith it has given me in God and the self esteem it’s given me. And no, Im not brainwashed and neither is Lisa. So, please lets stop being so sour.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:00 am
I think Lisa has always shared her opinions respectfully. I don’t have any problem with her.
What makes you think everyone’s “Dogging” on her.
I had a problem with Lori’s attitude and I made that quite clear in my above post.
You may not think you are brainwashed MK is very smooth and by the amount of propaganda you are writing you still believe all the MK scripts you are fed. JMO I’m happy for people that do MK with their eyes open…but I wonder how open yours really are? Glad you came here…be sure to read and learn all the pitfalls of MK so that you can run your business better!
October 31st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
after reading and responding several times at this site, i think the issue boils down to 2 things. pinklighthouse has consultants come here, (and by my own incident and a couple of others i read, by accident) that immediately see posts of a few former consultants/directors who write things like, “mary kay is a scam; everyone in it is in a pink fog and disillusioned; someone, like us, needs to show them the light; one day they’ll pull away from that cult and thank us, etc. etc. etc. so right away, the consultant that gets here by mistake (or at least weren’t aware what exactly pinklighthouse was - even lj {the gal in charge of this site} says she gets e-mails from ladies thinking this was a mary kay site) is put on the defensive. if one goes back and reads my initial posts, i was merely asking questions and was attacked, whether some of these gals that post here will admit it or not. it is a shock to some of us to see what some posts here are about. unfortunately, i have to scoot off - my time is up at the library. i will finish later. (they only give you 30 min. at this new library).
October 31st, 2008 at 7:01 pm
lisa, I always appreciate the way you respectfully post and I CAN appreciate that your experience has been different than most of us here have had with MK!
What you point out that is MOST true is that other than those who are on this site because they want to help others stay away from the bad experiences they have had in MK, the rest end up here quite by accident.
I do have to say that 16 months ago, I would have been a lot like you lisa, Ingrid, Lori…and I was. I happend upon another site, (that makes this one look angelic), quite by accident.
I was stunned, appallled, dumfounded and almost cried I had never seen such a bunch of negative, lazy losers in all my life. I was so stunned, I couldn’t even post anything…I was sure I would be attacked, drawn and quartered and my body found washed ashore somewhere!
But after reading for about 2 weeks and after asking my SD questions and getting run around answers and then finding out that MK was going to change every product line they had…I saw the “LIGHT” …but if I had been attending meetings, and gone to Scaminar and kept attending all the MK events, I believe, I might still be in MK, wondering why I was such a “failure” and why I wasn’t making the kind of money that was promised and why my team would not grow past 8-10 members.
If you stick around, come into the FORUM, read and you stop going back and having the “pink dye IV” hooked up weekly, you too will see the light. It is not negativity, it is the TRUTH and it will set you free!
You owe it to yourself and your family to come into the FORUM, read around, post if you like and “stay away from MK” altogether for about 4 weeks. You cannot imagine how it feels when the pink “scales” fall from your eyes and the TRUTH pops up and “smacks you in the forehead”.
Come on in…I double dog dare you…take my challenge. Your life will be forever changed and your self esteem will be higher than you thought possible…now that’s enriching your life!
The best part of coming into the FORUM is meeting a great bunch of ladies, who will support you, answer your questions, laugh with you, make you laugh and most of all love you where you are and not where they want you to be!
If you decide MK is still for you, there is even a section for active consultants who share ideas.
We aren’t one sided…in fact to us you appear to be 1 sided…but we can peacefully coexist and have a lot of fun doing it.
We have some quite lively discussions unrealted to MK and we manage to stay friends anyway, because of the bond, the trust and mutual respect we have for each other.
I have no doubt if lisa came into the FORUM, she would become friends with most of us…in fact through our posts on this page, I believe we have formed a “bond” with her. Read all the posts, we are not always negative with lisa and she is not always polarized by our opinions and experiences.
November 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Well written as usual Lipstick! I hope that people listen well to what Lipstick has to say! She’s an incredibly diverse, smart, well rounded and beautiful person!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
sorry about having to jump off the computer so quick the other day! you’re typing along and the little post in the middle tells you have 15 min., then 10, then “sorry, your time’s up” and you have 10 seconds to get out. i wasn’t even sure i would have time to finish up and submit. i have tried to get into the forum several times, but to no avail. is the forum that box that shows some people have typed some things, like right then, waiting for someone to respond? i did that and noone responded. anyhoo…..i have stayed away from mary kay, at times, for several months. in fact, i haven’t been to a meeting now in over 2 months. i am busy with the kiddos back to school, have a few other things in the hopper, more going on at church, etc., but i am still not in a fog or have my head in a pink cloud. that was going to be my second point (i think!). once the new-to-this-page consultant is here, she is, most times, absconded with a verbal attack (again, re-read some posts that were thrown my way. i literally had tears come to my eyes after my posting about seminar and reading the responses! one or two had words that had to be asterisked and were not nice at all.) that goes back and forth between the newbie post and the regular posters here. most times, it appears, you don’t see the new post after a few thoughts, and that’s probably best for both sides. i have come back here and read and posted, trying to understand the frustration, hurt, and unfortunately, debt from mary kay experiences. i am not one-sided and can say mary kay does not work or suit everyone. i can say that mary kay consultants/directors have, obviously from the posts here, lied to consultants/directors in order to further their own agendas. it appears to me that pinklighthouse posters are one-sided and according to them, no one in mary kay is truly making any money, no one has a clear head or thought about them, etc., etc. that being said, that’s what is saddening. it would appear that there would be a better approach to “enlighten” someone about apparent foilables and pitfalls in mary kay that have been experienced than cutting off someone at their initial post, even if that newbie post “does it first.” remembering that most seem to find this site by accident and naturally would post in defense, and trying to consider that not everyone has bad experiences in mary kay, maybe, just maybe, the regular posters here, old and trying as it may be, would post with less hostility and present more of a “beware, this might could happen, it happened to me.” as it stands, regulars’ posts, to me, anyway, are not that and have a “anybody in mary kay sucks, mary kay sucks, the products suck, you-should-get-out-now or you’ll continue to suck,” etc. just my thoughts and i do appreciate that you ladies let me include them. i believe i could “bond” with some of you - i just haven’t figured out how to do that with the whole forum thing. i believe i clicked on chat or maybe it was forum and a little box showed up that looked like typed conversations, but each time i typed something, no one responded; that box said i was a guest. then there was another format that showed some entries with some pictures of the people posting, but i couldn’t figure that out either. i tell ya, i’m not computer savvy, at all! i usually just order from a few places, check e-mails, and check my on-line acct. at the bank. i will go now and try to see again at the top where i might get into this forum. thanks, sincerely, ladies, (lj) for allowing me to post.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
lisa, I think you do make some valid points!
You can find the forum in the black bar at the top of the page. Click on the word “forum”.
Then Click on the word “Register ” in the blue bar at the top of the page. It will ask you to create a login name and a password and I believe it will asks you for an email address. You will recieve a confirmatin email and once you respond to that you simply click on Forum, then click on login, enter your user name and password and press enter and you are in the forum.
There are many topics to read or post in, just like the table of contents in a book. You can start by reading “Help with the Forum” first as it will help you learn how the site works, how to post , how to navigate around the site, etc.
I look forward to seeing you in the FORUM!