Worried About the Economy? “Forget About It!!” Say MK Directors
L J
Filed under Articles & News
Here’s some typical motivational hyperbole from Mary Kay directors.
Below is an email that one of our members received from her MK director:
This morning on our Director’s Conf Call our National, Cheryl Warfield said something profound.
She was talking about the news and how it is all about banks failing, billions of dollars lost, recession….you know what I’m talking about….all of that scary, financial stuff.
Cheryl said that when you allow your brain to hear that stuff, all that negativity, it processes only 2 things – fear and poverty. Now really, is that what you want to hear?? Is that what you want to focus on – fear and poverty??? Not me!! I want faith and prosperity – the total opposite!!
I’m proud to tell you that I didn’t even know there was a bailout turn down until my son-in-law, who is an investment banker, came home and told us.
May I suggest that you turn the tv and news off and instead, read something positive – like Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World.” Or listen to a CD from the company…or watch a DVD….anything that will fill your mind with good stuff and the possibilities.
Are we in a recession???? Don’t tell my facial on Friday morning (yes, lots of people will do facials and classes in the daytime). She spent $380!!!
Is it too hard to book?? Don’t tell new Consultant Dana Rollins from Kissimmee!! When I recruited her, she told me she would TRY to do one class a week…she was just too busy as a pastor’s wife and helping to run the church, as well as having 3 small children to squeeze in any more than that. She told me a couple of days ago that her goal is now 5 because she did 3 in 3 days and had so much fun and how easy it was to sell this!!! By the way, her first class was $400!!
But people are broke and don’t have the money to sign up! Don’t tell Barbara Sunden! She broke a company record with almost $150,000.00 paycheck in one month!! Don’t you think she had a huge bunch of new consultants whose first orders helped with that???
It is a proven fact that in tough times, Mary Kay thrives!! Women will cut back on a lot of items, but they’ll still buy cosmetics and skin care!! Getting their girlfriends together for a skin care class is fun and doesn’t cost them anything to put it on! Women need extra money and can see the great reasons to start an MK business of their own. The investment is so small when compared to trying to start any other business!!
It’s up to you….do you choose to listen to the news and program your brain for FEAR AND POVERTY or will go in the opposite direction and feed your brain with FAITH AND ABUNDANCE!!
However, you do have to get up, get dressed and get out the door!! Grab a positive, fun MK buddy and go out together!! Find a great idea and put it to work to fill your datebook and get new leads. For example – do the Office (or Teacher) of the Week!! Do 100 Skin Care Surveys in a week! These are both simple ideas that can be done TODAY!! They do not take a lot of preparation. (Both ideas are on our home page of our site *address removed *)
You can change your attitude and change your life! Or you can fill your brain with the “On mys” and ”Oh no-s” and prepare for doom and gloom.
As for me…I choose the “YEEHAWS!! LIFE IS GREAT!!”
These kind of over-the-top, super-excited emails from directors are all too common in Mary Kay.
And in my opinion, some of the most dangerous propaganda.
I strongly believe that how you think and what you think affects your life profoundly.
However…twisting this so that Mary Kay is THE answer to everything is just plain wrong. Making MK consultants think that the reason for their failure is because they didn’t think right or didn’t try hard enough is a disgusting, manipulative tactic.
Want to know the truth about why Barbara Sunden received a $150,000 check? It’s because she’s been in the company since 1972! She’s at the top of the pyramid and has thousands of others under her and has had for years.
Do I think, as the email asks, that Barbara Sunden had a bunch of new consultants’ orders to help with that? You betcha! I know she did. But I’m sure most of those new inventory orders came after a lengthy and thorough “inventory interview” with their director, convincing them that forking over $1800 or $2400 on Mary Kay products is a no-lose situation.
Do these emails make me sick to my stomach? You bet your Pink Cadillac!
Popularity: 4%
jess on 
KC on 
sherri on 
Water_Lili on 
Just for fun, I counted punctuation marks. There was a total of 37 sentences (I counted that last line as one sentence, even though she made 2 quotes, both with multiple exclamation marks):
12 had a period
4 had multiple question marks (why do you need more than one?) – I equate this to hyper-question-asking (picture her hands flying in the area while talking like Billy Mays)
21 had exclamation points (most had multiple marks – does that mean you’d yell louder if speaking this out loud? Again, Billy Mays is conjured in my mind.)
I think you could make a drinking game out of these e-mails, but you’d have to drink only when you encounter a period instead of an exclamation mark, otherwise you’d have alcohol poisoning by the end of the first e-mail.
This all reminded me of the acronym used at our “success’” meetings to dispell negative or “stinking thinking” :
F = Fear
E = Evidence
A = Appearing
R = Real
This is just another way MK SD’s and NSD’s use the books and teachings of those “abundance” preachers to sell the MK dream to those who can’t afford to go into debt, but will because the times are bad and this is a quick way to make some extra cash!
Run as fast as you can! Don’t drink the “pink koolaid”….the only ones getting rich off this MLM are your recruiter’s SD and her NSD!
Yes Mary Kay is an MLM…don’t let them tell you otherwise!
That acronym should have read:
F- E-A-R
F = False
E = Evidence
A = Appearing
R = Real
Hey Baroness, you forgot to include the many grammatical errors… does that mean extra drinks?
While I too agree that your outlook affects your life, living with your head in the sand as this director suggests will land you flat on your rear in the bread line. I don’t know about the rest of you, but while my dollar still has some value and buying power, I’m not spending it on talc powder (i.e., MK’s “mineral” line), facewash, and zit creme. Good luck peddling that stuff when what people really need is food, water, heat, and toilet paper!
A couple of months ago I tried to talk to my friend who is still in MK. About a program I was doing to get rid of debt in record time. And she told me that all this economy huppla was made up and to think of debt was thinking negatively.
WOW, Zaid! Your friend is certainly lost in the fog! I hope she comes around before MK puts her in real financial crisis.
Karma to you for trying to help her!
Is it that fun being that ugly about a business that does work for those who are willing to work it? Good gravy, you guys really are total DOWNERS. We need something upbeat and
‘pink’ in this world, not this drivel you guys are trying to pass by us. Mary Kay not for everyone; it won’t work for whiners and downers like you guys–but now that I think about it, not much does.
Best of LUCK to you, you are going to need it since your attitude will have very little to advance you. Being this negative is going to hold you back no matter whether you think pink or think dark like you do.
Oh–6 sentences, no exclamation points.
JJ, we are not negative, just sharing information that might keep another woman from making the same mistakes we did.
We all worked our business hard and did everything possible to make it work. The fact is the costs of trying to make in a business like MK are far higher than they tell you.
The company is constantly changing products without much notice to the IBC’s and you are stuck with product on your shelves that nobody wants because they want the next new thing and what you have no longer appears in the Look book.
You have very litle control over the part of your business that could make money for you because Mk has so many rules and regulations that you have to follow concerning web sites, places you can or can’t sell, the literature you can or can’t use.
Everything that you can use you must buy from MK. MK tries to promote being an IBC as being your own boss, but that too is a LIE. When you own your own business you can make your own decisions about every aspect of it.
JJ you would do well to read more about the business you are in, it may save you a boatload of debt and a lot of heartache. If you think becoming a SD is the ticket, better read more information because the expenses just go up.
The commissions you make from your recruits are not yours until after you have had them for a year, because if your recruit or one of your unit members returns product, MK will bill you for all the commision made on the product returned.
Do you think earning a car sounds good? Think again, you don’t earn anything but the use of the car and if you fail to meet the qualifiying production you will make a co-pay on the lease. If you fail to make production several months in a row, you not only will have been making copays that are higher than an actual car payment, but they also will come and get YOUR car.
What you don’t know CAN hurt you. Step inside the forum and read the facts that your recruiter, your SD and MK won’t tell you.
Best of luck to you, you’ll need it if you think a positive pink attitude and a desire to work hard is all you need.
I agree with JJ. This business does work if you work it with the RIGHT attitude. Mary Kay always said that you can do anything you want as long as you have the right attitude. Just because the business did not work for you ladies does not mean that you need to try to ruin it for others. Mary Kay is not a MLM as you are trying to say that it is. Thousands of woman are making over $50,000 a year by simply selling products and not even recruiting. Recruiting bonuses are just extra thankyou’s from the company.
So what if the company makes you pay a portion of the car’s lease payment if you don’t meet production. If you were working your business every week, you would never have to worry about that. The production takes care of itself.
Every business that you could ever imagine getting into has a start-up fee. Do you really think that a retail store would have you come in to shop when their shelves were completely empty? The inventory fees are minimal and also NOT required. Inventory is an OPTION.
You may have done everything right, but it doesn’t sound as if you had the right attitude and that will just make the kindest of people run away from you. We would love to help you try again. With the right support team, you can do anything you want to do.
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah…it was that stupid positive attitude and scripted BS that kept me in 8 years longer than I should have been. Show me the Schedule C of just ONE woman who made a profit of $50,000 a year after all her expenses.
You won’t be back because you can’t produce the proof, all you are doing is blindly repeating the drivel spewed in your unit meetings…and you ladies call us dumb…eventually we did see past all the rah rah, lies and deception and broke free. You darlin’ are still in the fog or one of those devious SD’s spewing your untruths and reeling in unsuspecting women.
Loving Pink,
You haven’t just been drinking the kool-aid, you’ve been swimming in a sea of it. You may want to check your ‘facts’. Some of what you have posted is outright lies, and I’m hoping that wasn’t your intention.
We’ll be happy to help you with your feelings of frustration and depression when you realise the truth about the business model you’re so eagerly adhering to.
In the meantime, please take the time this tax season to consult an account or financial planner about your income & plan for the future.
You may think that my attitude sucks, and that’s fine with me. I know it’s not true.
Loving Pink,
You’ve quoted the scripts word for word! Your SD should be so proud! Remember, we were ALL sharp women when we were recruited – so sharp in fact that we saw thru the pink fog!
It has been a PRIVLEDGE to have had a 23 year association with this Mary Kay!! While I am no longer with the Company~ my life, my attitude, my spirit has been touched by the incredible women in Mary Kay and Mary Kay Ash, herself! I have also had the PRIVLEDGE of knowing Barbara Sunden for most of those years. She is an incredible women and it saddens me to see her in such a negative light. You have no idea just how very special this women is!! I have gone on to help women in other ways but I would not be the Woman I am today without her influence in my life!
Lipstick you talk of scripts and you spew the same lines over and over…did you write scripts for your anti-Mary Kay rally? You seem to need a job because you do an awful lot of LONG replies on here. Maybe Mary Kay would take you back if you promised to behave because you must have done something wrong to get kicked out or something to be so bitter. But as my name says WhoCares!
WhoCares….MK didn’t “kick” me out, I QUIT!!! The difference between what I am repeating over and over and what MK trains their Kaybots to say over and over is that I speak the TRUTH and I’m not trying to sell a “dream” and spewing lies about 50% profit to be earned. It is impossible and MK should be sued for misrepresentation. NOTHING they tell you is honest or truthful and they have the audacity to quote scripture and tout God as their business partner while they speak these lies! BLASPHEMY!
I speak from 8.5 years of experience in “working ” my MK business.
I have a JOB that requires no investment of money, pays me $15 an hour, I have Spring Break off, Fall break off, Thanksgiving weekend off, 2 weeks at Christmas off and the whole summer off and I didn’t have to invest a dime to get it or pay for any training and I don’t have to spend every waking moment working it and not seeing any appreciable income!
But WhoCares, right?
Misrepresentation, that is the story of the entire world. Not many companies in this day and time are completely honest in all aspects of business. Are you going to suggest suing them all? I am sure the business you work for isn’t completley honest about everything, are you on here touting all the negatives about them? Everyone wants to sue somebody for something, maybe that is what you are trying to do, have a big group of women join you and sue Mary Kay so you can pad your pockets with the money “they” stole from you?? Good idea, go for it, maybe that would soothe your negativity (I know, you are not negative just enlightened).
Misrepresentation, that is the story of the entire world. Not many companies in this day and time are completely honest in all aspects of business.
Are you suggesting that because many companies are dishonest in some area that is right? Very sad. Many wrongs never make bad business practices right, it just shows how many Americans just blindly accept the many wrongs and shrug their shoulders saying “That’s business!”
If you must know I am a school bus driver and I work for my best friends. I would hardly call driving a school bus a dishonest business. Transporting children to and from school safely is a big responsibility and I and anyone else who does this job cares a great deal about the children we transport.
As far as MK and their dishonesty, most companies don’t hide behind the motto “God first, family 2nd and career 3rd,” while they are doing the complete opposite! That is what I find to be particularly despicable. I take my faith and family seriously.
Everyone wants to sue somebody for something, maybe that is what you are trying to do, have a big group of women join you and sue Mary Kay so you can pad your pockets with the money “they” stole from you?
I don’t want to sue MK I only want to warn other women of the pitfalls and help the mot avoid the mistakes I made in believing all the statements made about the potential for a 6 figure income in MK or any other MLM for that matter. The only ones who make that income make it from recruiting and front loading inventory on those who listen to their promises and believe the dreams planted in their hearts.
You are absolutely correct I am not negative, just truthful!
The TRUTH shall set you FREE! Most of us here have found that Truth! Mary Kay does not practice, “God First, Family Second and Career Third” as “preached” – if you don’t work Mary Kay all day, every day, you won’t make it.
Go ahead with your scripts, yes, we’ve read them all! We’re lazy loosers, we didn’t work our business, we are too negative, etc. When you hear them repeatedly, it’s easy to respond.
Everyone is welcome to voice their opinions here, that’s the great thing about this site. However, we DO NOT WELCOME negative comments about our sisters who post here. Please keep comments on the topic and NOT personal! That’s not very ‘go-give’ now is it?
Um happy 4th of july??
I think if you do your research and read stories from both sides of the plate then you can clearly make a choice weather its for you or not. Learn from other ppls mistakes. and from what i see all of the negativity is from the same problem of being “brainwashed” to purchase a huge inventory and going into debt. Im sorry but no one is going to talk me into buying something i clearly dont have money for. i think its common sense to build a client base FIRST before spending HUGE amounts of money on product your not sure you can sell. But thats just my thinking.
Money is to be made. I was reading a story of a director on another site and she stepped down. she said she made money. she sold the product she was able to pull in $1000 weeks. BUT the thing they cause her debt was “topping off orders” to reach a prize limit or goal of some kind also the cost of running her business was sky high! Giving away products, business software, the “business” trip costs, diretor suits,gas etc, that took away from her profit. So in all reality as long as you can sell the product you can make money the diffrence is you wont get that Pink car…
Cynthia, there is no doubt you can make some money! The question? Is the amount of money worth the time and effort and the expense you have to put into it? Not for me! Can you make more money on a regular job per hour? YES
The more customers you have the more expenses, the higher you climb the career ladder the higher the expenses. Expenses eat a BIG HOLE in your profit!
Cynthia,
Yes, I agree it is common sense to have customers before inventory but that’s not how it was practiced in my unit, where new IBC’s were told $ 600 inventory was mandatory.
Ohhh ok Tam there just threw the whole you need inventory on new IBC’s.
Lipstick i understand your point. But isn’t that any business? I think its better then having to pay rent for a store. To start a business here in nyc is wayyyyyy more then what it is to maintain a MK business. In MK im sure there are some costs that can be taken out to avoid going into your profit. Like extra business softwares MK intouch has a good web based program that i use and if you searcg the web theres plenty of free printable sheets to help track business. As for free gifts I keep a tight loop on how many im giving out i make sure they spend the required amount and i make sure to explain that no other GC or coupons can be combined with them. Hostess gifts and prizes only to the hosts if anyone at the class brought something.
Say if you do move up the path to maybe GA or ISD do you HAVE to go to seminar and CC?