Allison’s Story
L J
Filed under Mary Kay Consultant Stories
Your Name: Allison
Date Joined MK : August 6 2006
When Left MK or Still Active?: May 2007
Initial Inventory Purchased: August 2006
How were you recruited?:
By an old friend who had just got herself started in Mk.
Memorable experience you had in MK:
My first big party. It was fun but I learned quickly that MK was not a job for me.
What did you learn from MK?:
Organizational skills
What are you doing now? :
Trying to figure out a way to get rid of all this MK product stilling in my house.
Additional Comments:
Don’t bother trying to get your products repurchases if it’s been over a year since your last order….just tried and I got a “sorry but can’t” from MK.
Popularity: 4%
jess on 
KC on 
sherri on 
Water_Lili on 
Allison, I too had a few classes / events in MK that were fun but with the money spent on inventory, it was quite an expensive “hobby”!
Again, I would urge everyone to ASK QUESTIONS and read & research BEFORE joining.
Yep! That’s one reason we’re here.
ladies,
no offense, but with any business you start, you will need to put some effort into it. If you had made a thoughtful inventory choice and worked your business they way you were advised, you would not refer to it as an expensive hobby, nor would you try to get rid of products after a year sitting on your shelves. You had signed your agreement that clearly stated that you can return your products within a year to the company, so don’t make the company look bad due to your own oops. Truth be told, there are plenty of women, including myself, who are enjoying our Mary Kay businesses and quite frankly, reaping the benefits of expanding into the market where you all did not want to take part in, so thank you very much. Cheers!
I signed up to be a MK consultant a little under a year ago. One month before my one year anniversary I decided to exercise my option for the compnay to repurchase my remaining inventory. If you work the business, in your own style, you can do well. However, if you don’t order your minimum inventory then you go into inactive status and lose commissions from anyone you recruited. This was totally discouraging to me because some months are good selling months and other times it’s slow. You are basically forced to placed the monthly $200 order in order to maintain your active status. I learned alot from this business and met alot of wonderful people. I would not call the company a scam, but they make it impossible for you to recover from poor selling months by forcing you to purchase more inventory just to hang on to the progress you already made.
Lisa, I’m glad you figured things out within the first year. I was a slow learner, didn’t start recruiting right away, but I too learned what you did among other things.
I would like to invite you to join the forum. Just click on the FORUM button in the black toolbar at the top of the page. You’ll find a lot of wonderful women, who will support you and they’ll actually lift your spirits.
We talk about a lot more than MK. We talk about family, our jobs, health, cooking, fitness, current events and if you have any questions about working your way out of MK, there is always somebody who has the answer and is willing to lend a sympathetic ear.
Come on in ! We are a friendly group and would welcome you!
I “DECIDED” to become a part of Mary Kay in August of 1994. I became a Director in September of 1995. Won my 1st of 4 Cadillacs in March of 1996. Was Head of My Class and #1 in the Nation out of my debuting class of Directors. Was in the Circle of Achievement for 4 consequtive years. Had 3 Offspring Directors, 2, 2nd Line Directors (one of which was a Cadillac Director and in the Half Million Dollar Circle of Excellence her 1st year as a Director, as well as her 1st year in the business.
With all due respect, the website and chat room, is a haven to support mediocrity and to have a place where others will support the old “whoa is me” sob story.
Instead of bashing Mary Kay, your director, inventory or whatever else you want to bash or blame, why not just say: it wasn’t for me because I wasn’t willing to work that hard.
I worked my Mary Kay Business with passion, determination and with a desire to win, all while working full-time (50-60 hours per week) at Merrill Lynch. By the time I quit my job at Merrill Lynch, I was already making $6,000+ as a director with MK.
I was diagnosed with presumptive MS in 1997 and worked and maintained Cadillac status until 2006. Once it became too difficult for me to be “Effective” as a Leader, I made the decision to resign my position. I mean I could barely walk, my speech & ability to write were impaired, I had fallen about 500 times, moved to a new city, 1,100 miles away from my family (as a single woman) and no friends and rebuilt my area from not even meeting minimum production. I wanted success & I wanted it bad enough to work through pain, frustration and adversity.
Bottom line: My initial investment: $1,800…EVERY decision I made was MY decesion. No one forced me to work hard. No one forced me to re-invest. No one forced me to recruit. No one made me do anything I wasn’t willing to do or wanted to do based on what I wanted to achieve. Anybody that becomes a part of MK or any Network Marketing Company for that matter, has the SAME EXACT possibilities as anyone else.
Please stop enabling each other to be losers and play the blame game. Take responsibility for your own actions. Be grown up about it and just say: “I wasn’t willing to work that hard.”
Sarah Daniel
Very good Sarah. I am so glad that you are proud of your acheivements. I just hope that when all of that comes crashing down, and it will, that you will come back here and learn what you haven’t learned yet. I also hope that you don’t have that “it’s my business mentality”. It isn’t. Mary Kay can snatch it away fast and what will you have left. What you are doing is repeating the lies that you were encouraged to recruit with in your training. So, you may think that you are doing right, but you aren’t. We are all very successful women and we saw through that “facade” soon enough. So, before you come here and bash us, know that we have heard it all before. You don’t know us and we don’t know you. So before you judge us take the time to get to know us. It irritates me that we hear the same old story over and over again especially when you go on the rampage that you just went on. You do you and we will do us.
Sarah, I can only hope that you have somebody to take care of you with your illness. If you had not left your job with Merrill Lynch you might have health care benefits and be able to retire on disability. I hope you had the foresight to pay into Social Secuirty during your MK years so you will have something else to assist you with your disability when you are unable to work. Sadly, MK does not offer that security. God Bless You!
Sarah,
I am sorry to hear of your disabililty. I wish you the best in your future.
With all due respect, the website and chat room, is a haven to support mediocrity and to have a place where others will support the old “whoa is me” sob story.
I am sorry but I do not agree. We are more of a “this is the reality” of the pink fog bunch than “whoa is me”. Mary Kay Corp says you own your own business. This is FALSE. You actually run the business for them, which they control. In retrospect, if you had owned your own business, which sounds like a very successful one, you could have sold it and kept the proceeds.
Mary Kay does not offer free benefits the way your other job probably did, ie, health care, retirement, sick pay, vacation time, etc. Yes, you qualified for a vehicle for which the company provided, paid the taxes and a portion of the insurance, for so long as you or your team purchased enought inventory to keep up with the quotas but did you ever fall below the quota? Ever made a co-pay on that car? If not, you are extremely lucky!
Please stop enabling each other to be losers and play the blame game.
We are not losers, nor are we playing the “blame game”. Mary Kay did not work for us, apparently it did not work for you either, as you resigned your position. We promote the honesty approach. This is what ACTUALLY happened to us! The lighthouse is a warning that the shore is near and for those running full throttle, they need to take caution.
Sarah,
I think you’re the bitter one, and you hide behind your illness in an attempt to mask it.
You come on here and attack and insult us, while making sure to let us know you’re ill, hoping we’ll pull our punches under the guise of political correctness.
Give me a break.
You can’t even take ownership of you’re statements, prefacing insults with “with all due respect.”
Grow up, take responsibility for yourself and stop hiding behind your illness.
Wow! You ladies are incredible. I appreciate your well wishes for me in my situation, but I assure you that no matter the challenges I face, I in NO WAY have a disability. Instead this condition has given me the “Ability” to empower others and give them permission (by example) to live beyond difficulty and adversity.
I didn’t nor do I need Merril Lynch, their benefits, retirement, healthcare, sick pay, vacation time or Social Security, Based upon the effort I put into the Mary Kay business that I built, I was able to put away a very sizable nest egg as well as afford my own benefits, take all the paid sick time when I needed to and took vacation on my own time and did for literally 2 years without missing a beat. By the way, if I had stayed at Merrill Lynch there is no way that I would have been able to maintain a 60-80 hour work week under extremely stressful work conditions in my situation. I watched them fire people for having migraines, so I would have really been in the cold.
I took full advantage of every opportunity Mary Kay offered to me. The training & journey to my personal best was worth every dollar spent, every frustration faced, and every minute I spent building my organization. It gave me the necessary mindset needed to deal with what I deal with everyday. It gave me the platform in which to build my now $250,000+ a year consulting firm. Luck had nothing to do with my success. I took care of business and worked it! When I couldn’t work it, my business took care of me. Tam, MK did work for me, I resigned because I could not effectively, to my standard, support the women in my organization. MY CHOICE!
BC, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. ATTEMPT TO MASK WHAT?
No where in my statement did you read a victim, blame it on someone else story. I walk and live fabulously in my situation, high heels and all. Hide behind? Baby Please! I still walk with pride, without assistance or a wheel chair, even though literally each step could be my last! Yes, it’s that critical! I don’t need or want to hide behind a situation that has brought so much power & possibility, through the pain. Anyway, I wish you all the best!
I am new to the pinklighthouse website and amazed by all the realistic stories about MK. As I just joined MK, there are so many questions I have and so many doubt of if I can make it or what I can really get out of being a MK beauty consultant (I am doing MK as part time only right now)
I agree with Sarah about you have to work hard to make it happen. That’s a good advice. I also find everyone else’s story beneficial, such as worry about losing commission during the slow month. I’ll keep that in mind when I have a slow month, I should be careful of making the decision to purchase additional inventory just to stay active. I certainly do not want to end up with inventory that I can’t sell. But like Sarah said, it is our choices. So thank you all for sharing your experience, it would certainly help me when it’s my turn to make that decision.
I remember a friend gave me an advice when I was deciding my initial inventory. She told me that only one of the hundred women joined would make it. Visiting this website kind of proved it. Many many of us are not going to make it. Maybe because we don’t work hard enough. But I also believe that a successful business depends on hard working and LUCK. I am sure we all try to work hard. But sometimes the system just might not work .
Again, I am new to MK and I am new to this website. I look forward to find more advices in this website. And thank you all for sharing.
Sarah – so many consultants share their stories about how they fail. I am sure you must have your downs. Would you share with us how you over come those not-so-well times?
Newbie…Welcome! You’ll find more stories, answers to more questions and a lot more that isn’t MK in the Forum. Click on Forum in the black toolbar at the top of the page.
You’ll find we talk about our families, work, health & fitness, cooking, humor, our pets and lots more!
It sounds like you are being cautious about your business decisions, so keep on being cautious; don’t order anything that you don’t have a paid order for or that you aren’t using yourself, don’t order a lot of business supplies and you’ll be OK. Good luck! Hope to see you in the forum.
About the question you asked Sarah, I wouldn’t hold my breath, most MKers don’t answer questions like how they have succeeded, how they have overcome obstacles, etc. They just want to repeat what they have been told in their unit meetings and other MK events…tales/scripts from the “Pink Cult”
Hi everyone,
I’m new to this site and fairly new to Mary Kay (I started just 4 months ago) and have already got myself and my family into debt we can not afford. Thankfully I came to my senses early on. I do have some thoughts to contribute here. Here’s my story.
I decided on my own that I wanted to do Mary Kay. Yep, I recruited myself. I had made the decision to quit my job so that I could stay home with my young children. I just wanted to make a little bit of extra income and get out of the house to be around adults after being home with my little ones all day. When going through the whole “interview process”, I explained to my Sales Director that I wasn’t interested in purchasing inventory because of these reasons and because we just didn’t have the money to spare. She told me that this was a great idea, that the starter kit is all I would need, and that she didn’t want me doing anything I wasn’t comfortable with… Remember, this was all before I signed my New Consultant Agreement. Once my signiture was on that paper things were very different.
The following Monday I attended my first unit meeting as an Independant Beauty Consultant. Following the meeting after everyone had left, my Director sat me down, brought out a Ready-Set-Sell brochure and asked me, “Have you thought about your inventory options?” Before I could respond she went on, “$1800 wholesale is a great place to start. Everyone who is serious about Mary Kay purchases inventory. You can’t sell from an empty wagon. When you have inventory for your customers to take home with them at the time they place an order, you have happier customers.” Since she was my Sales Director, I trusted in what she was saying. I thought shes been doing this for a long time, she knows what shes talking about. I believed her statements about always putting the needs and best interests of her customers and her “girls” before her own. I didn’t even have a credit card at the time, so I went ahead and got one. Before I knew it I had purchased over $3000 wholesale in inventory. That doesn’t include the obscene amout of money I “invested” in business tools and organizational supplies. Who was it again that told me the starter kit was really all I needed to start my “business”? I feel like such a ridiculous fool now for believing this woman.
During my second week as a consultant, my Director asked me to make up a goal sheet displaying what I wanted to do with my Mary Kay career (heres the kicker) if there were no limitations. Of course anyone who is asked this is going to choose the route that involves more money, the pretty pink car, etc., etc. So I set out my goal sheet and because of this “if there were no limitations” line, my goals that originally consisted of working the occasional weekend to bring in a bit of extra money and get out of the house for a while became a goal that wasn’t even my own, but that of my Director’s. I wanted to bring in at least $3600 wholesale and recruit 3 people per quarter, be onstage at Seminar, and be an Independant Sales Director by my first anniversary with Mary Kay. I knew how hard I was going to have to work for this, but I was willing to do it since these were mygoals that I had set out for myself. I’m not a quitter and I’m not a failure and in my mind if I didn’t achieve this, than I would be letting myself down. This was NOT my dream. This is what my Director wanted my dream to be. IF THERE WERE NO LIMITATIONS. Think carefully about the manipulations behind this phrase. What a tricky way to warp a woman’s real intensions for herself with Mary Kay into a fantasy.
The next few months I attended every unit meeting (you have to show up to go up, right?). I learned all the ins and outs of Mary Kay mind manipulation: All the booking, selling, and recruiting scripts, the multiple ways to convince women about the product or the “opportunity” if they’re unsure or are having doubts. In Mary Kay NO really means YES, we just need to assess the customers DISC personality in order to find out what makes them tick, then adress the concerns very delicately without telling them too much (we don’t want to overwhelm them). So many different ways to get into a woman’s head to intice them into doing or buying something they aren’t sure about. But, of course I didn’t think of it like that at the time because we are “enriching women’s lives.” I learned all about the “feel, felt, found” method of selling and recruiting. This is another technique used to adress concerns or uncertainties. Let me go back to my first unit meeting while I was sitting down with my Director discussing inventory. When I finally got to open my mouth, I expessed to her that I still wasn’t interested in taking the inventory route. Her response to this: “I know exactly how you feel. I felt the same way when I first started. What I found was blah, blah, blah.” I really thought she was relating to me. When she stood at the head of the table at the unit meeting explaining this mothod of dealing with concerns, I felt sooo taken advantage of. But, I had already set my goals and so badly wanted to achieve them.
A few weeks ago I attended Career Conference. I left feeling unstoppable. There was so much energy there and so much information. I felt I had learned so much and really had an advantage in stepping up my business. Following the Conference my Sales Director asked if I would talk about some of the highlights at the unit meeting on Monday so I went home and started going through all of my notes that I had taken. As I actually read everything that I had written down (and I took a lot of notes), I realized all I really learned were some new ways to go about booking appointments and sell over priced skincare and cosmetics (appointments are the most important part of Mary Kay because that’s where you find your potential Team Members) and a whole lot of different ways to recruit. This is when I really got thinking. Mary Kay can make all the claims they want about being a dual marketing company (has anyone actually looked into the REAL definition of this concept; much different from the definition given on the MK website) and that they are not a multi-level-marketing company. But when push comes to shove, any company that places so much pressure on the sales force to recruit should be looked at a little more closely. I had heard all of the stand points from inside the pink bubble. Now I was ready to hear some other opinions.
I realize now that yes, the debt that I am in was my choice in theory, but really, I was led to believe that I wanted something that in fact I do not. It’s not that I didn’t work my business (because I worked my butt off) or that I’m lazy or negative. Now that my own thoughts are beginning to seep back in, I see that Mary Kay is not for me. I’m a friendly person and I naturally “warm chatter” people. I don’t like the fact that we have to work our business into every conversation we have whether it be with a stranger, a friend, a family member in order to succeed with this company. I don’t like how we play on women’s emotions to get ahead. Every meeting I went to brought me further and further away from my own morals and values because I was being sucked into Mary Kay’s.
If you are a new consultant please understand that I’m not trying to bring you down, I don’t want to “steal your dream”. There are women that succeed in Mary Kay, but it is very, very few. Look at the statistics. Take the time to research what you’ve gotten yourself into. For me, it was reading so many testimonials, not just on this site but on so many others, of so many amazing women that have gone through so much turmoil thanks to this company. So many consultants and directors who have experienced such loss. These testimonials are what made me realize that I was chasing a dream that wasn’t my own.
WOW, Trudie! Thanks for taking the time to sort out your thoughts and to post them so effectively. It is so important for people to see the view from the current “inside” of MK.
Members of this forum, like myself who spent years in MK and have stepped aside and moved on for awhile could not have said it any better than you!
I would invite and encourage you to join our forum, by clicking on the word FORUM in the black tool bar at the top of the page. You will not only get support and ideas on how to move forward, but you will make real friendships that don’t depend on placing orders. We talk about a lot more than MK, our families, hobbies, jobs, health, cooking, fitness, current events, humor and a lot more. The women you meet are warm, witty, kind and very supportive.
I hope to see you inside the forum…good luck in getting ut of debt and getting your life back on track. Thank you again for posting your experience for others!
Trudie, thank you so much for sharing your story, it could not have been easy for you.
I hope you are able to recover from your debtload and echo Lipstick’s invite to join us in the forums.
Newbie, Welcome aboard! Please continue to be cautious and use your judgment when ordering inventory! Best wishes for success! Please join us in the forum. You can ask questions, etc., if you have any, and we discuss a lot of different topics!
Trudie,
I am so glad you found this site! You story is very familiar and yes, it is sickening the way SD “work” you, then teach you how to do it! PLEASE join us in the forum, just click the forum button on the top left of the screen and register ! We have a wide range of topics we discuss and will be happy to answer any questions you may have! Best of luck to you and your family!
A few months ago, a very close friend of mine invited me to her MK premier party, and I attended only to support her new dreams and goals. However, after getting the facial and having a great time with the other ladies there, I changed my mind about MK. The director that did the demonstration and recruited my friend, was my age(23), beautiful, witty, and a very successful young lady, and at one time, like me, thought MK was a joke. For some reason, she is what made me want to give this product a chance. I agreed to have a party of my own for my friend, which happened to have a great turn out also. I was very excited about the product and told all of my other friends attending the party, how much I loved it after purchasing a few things myself. After the party my friend’s MK director approached me and told me how I had a natural ability to sell, and that people really seemed to love to hear me talk about the product. I ofcourse was flattered. She told me about what an exciting and empowering business MK is and how it does so much for women and their self esteem. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew exactly what she was trying to do. I took her up on the offer of getting together and talking about “where I saw myself” in the future of MK. This was all pretty exciting for me, because I just really liked using the products, I never thought of it as a career. Afterall, I’m a 23 year old single mother, working full time at a job that that I don’t love, to me, this was quite an opportunity.
Yesterday, my friend ( the recruiter), and I went to meet her director for coffee. She explained to me how much money I could make, how it’s an opportunity for long lasting friendships, women empowerment, and overall a great business choice. To me it sounds like exactly what I’ve been looking for. I want to be my own boss, make my own hours, and feel good about what I’m doing. I’ve felt completely confident about singing my agreement next Wednesday, until I read some of the horror stories. I’m barely getting by on the money I make from my current job, and I really wanted to do this to have a little extra income also, will I be digging myself into a hole I can’t get out of or am I really taking a great step to controlling my career??? I need some advice on what to do before I sign this agreement.
Hi Jess,
I would like to invite you to into the forum to read more about our experiences with MK. Did she tell you about inventory? If not, she probably was was going to wait until after you signed your agreement and then begin telling you about the inventory that you would need, even though you don’t need inventory. If you are barely getting by on the money that you make from your current job, then how are you going to support MK? MK is more so a hobby than a actual business. MK isn’t your business and never will be. THey have the right to terminate you at any time for no reason. You cannot advertise the way that you want or anything. MK doesn’t make their money off of actual sales, just by inventory bought by consultants. My honest opinion is that I wouldn’t sign that agreement. The director would begin harrasing you about purchasing inventory packages that range from $600-$3600 I believe. If you are absolutely adamant about starting MK, there is a $200 package that you can get and I would place my order myself and not let the director do it because she would probably order you things that you don’t need. Also, I wouldn’t order inventory unless you had the orders to back it up. THe director would then try to tell you that you cannot sell from an empty wagon. THat is a lie. Most women don’t mind waiting for their products. IT would take a week if that for them to get them. Also keep in mind you would have to worry about expenses such as gas when you deliver these products, so that cuts into your 50% profit. As a single mother, I would really reconsider this decision. I have been a single mother before and I didn’t do anything that would take money out of our household. I learned to save and manage my money at an early age. MK does sound good, but the Directors learn at training how to tap into your mind and personality type. They know that you want to earn more money but in MK you cannot do that without losing money. If you want to earn more money, go to school, advance your education, take on a second job, they have a lot of work at home positions that don’t charge you an upfront fee that you can do part time, there are other ways than investing in a position that can cause you more stress than you really had in the first place. Sorry that I got long winded, but I just hope that you have looked at all aspects of this than the money signs. Good luck with what you decide to do either way and I hope to see you in the forum!
Jess, SassyL, gave you some great advice. Most people have a dream of being their own boss and owning their own company, controlling their own destiny.
With MK, you need to read the fine print of that contract first. There are many restrictions on how you can advertise and promote your business and how and where you can sell product. When you own your own business, you get to make all those decisions for yourself. You will NOT own your MK business, it cannot be sold, it cannot be left as part of your inheritance when you die. If you don’t follow MK’s rules, they can and will terminate your contract!
MK likes to promote the 50% profit on every sale. but there are many expenses that come out of that “profit”. Just a few examples include :
class supplies: disposable trays, profiles, sales tickets, merchandise bags, cotton balls, Q-tips, samples, Look Cards, disposable wash cloths.
Gas for transportation to and from meetings, MK events, skin care classes, facials, delivery of product.
Unit dues beginning on the low side of $3-4.00 per week whether you attend or not, fees for attending MK guest events and “training events” such as Career Conference and MK Seminar
Clothing: if you don’t have to wear suits or skirts and dresses for your current job, you will need to invest in 1-2 “outfits” and closed toed heels (which most of us don’t wear).
They will try to get you to purchase a minimum of $600 wholesale (so your recruiter has a qualified recruit). If you order at all, wait until you have your Debut or your first class or you actually have a minimum of $400 in retail orders. Don’t let anyone order for you. They dont know and you don’t know what your customers will be purchasing. You will end up with a lot of items you don’t need and can’t sell.
Also you will be asked to sign up for your personal MK web site ($25 for the first year and $50 per year after that) ; they’ll tell you to sign up customers or people you want to have as customers and put them on your Preferred Customer list to receive the new Look Book every quarter, plus 1-2 other mailings. This will end up costing you approx. $1.75+ per customer and then you will need to purchase the gift with purchase for the quarter to give to those customers who purchase $40 or more. These gifts usually run around $4-5.00 each and are purchased in minimum quantities of 5.
They will try to get you to purchase business cards, product labels with your name address and phone number for all product so your customers can call you for reorders.
Another thing they will ask you to invest in is MK checks so you can “advertise your business” as you shop and pay your bills. I personally never made a sale or booked an appt. from using my MK checks and I was in MK for 8.5 years!
If you love the products and want the 50% discount be aware that the mimimum order size to get a 50% discount is $400 retail, which will cost you $200 + $8.95 shipping + sales tax on the retail value of your products. If you have friends who are interested in MK, show them the Look Book before you place an order and see how much they want to order. I would charge them a percentage of the shipping and for any samples they want. Also the 50% discount is only good on subsequent orders placed during the month of your $200 wholesale order plus the next 2 months. If you need something after that time you have to pony up enough for another minimum $200 wholesale order.
If you join, be aware that to be able to order your product at wholesale you need only order 1 $200 wholesale order in a 12 month period. If you haven’t sold enough to warrant placing more orders, don’t order. You will only be making money for your recruiter and her SD and you will end up with product you don’t need or can’t sell.
Seriously if taking $100+ shipping and sales tax for the Starter Kit and placing a minimum $200 wholesale order will put you in credit card debt or cause you to have a hard time paying your existing living expenses, don’t join MK. Have a class periodically and earn free product, without risking credit card debt or your bill/grocery money.
If you are still on the fence, come into the forum and read more! Be informed and be cautious. It is YOUR life, YOUR money and YOUR decision to make. Don’t be blinded by the emotions. MK SD’s are trained to find your hot buttons and how to use them to get you to join and to place at least a qualifiying order. They have already discovered 2 of your “hot buttons”: You love the product and you hate your job!
I wish you luck no matter what you decide, just check out all the options and read the fine print. If you ask a question and you don’t feel like you were given enough information or the answer was too vague, do not sign anything or order anything until you are satisfied with the answer!
To enter the Forum, just click on the word “FORUM” in the tan toolbar at the top of the page. You’ll find we discuss much more than MK. We have topics on current events, hobbies, cooking, fitness, health, children, our families and many other topics. You will find true friends who will like you even if you don’t join MK and order product. You will meet many warm, witty and smart women who will support you in lots of ways. I hope to meet you in the Forum.
Welcome Jess!
SassyL and Lipstick have given you excellent advice, I really only have one thing to add: you may want to check out the MK vs. Touch of Pink lawsuit. IMO it provides valuable insight how MK conducts their business and what is expected of the IBC. Of note is the fact that MK has asked the judge to compel the TOP to product their records of IBC’s that have sold liquidated product through them. The only reason for MK to do this is if they intend to pursue action against the IBC’s.
Scary stuff.
Sorry, that should say have liquidated product through them, NOT ‘”have sold liquidated product through them.”
That just makes no sense at all!
Oh Jess, my heart goes out to you. I just recently decided to get out of Mary Kay. I am also a young mother (25) with two young children. I can really relate to the excitement you must be feeling right now. It seems like its the opportunity of a life time with everything you need to make your dreams come true. Its so important that you know that this Sales Director has been trained to get you to feel this excitement. Please don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that most of the women that are in Mary Kay are genuinely caring, positive women with good intentions. Mary Kay uses a veil of empowerment, encouragement, glamour, appreciation, positivity to motivate their Independant Beauty Consultants and Directors into feeling that the opportunity can bring them everything they’ve always wanted when in reality, the product isn’t really as high demand as they make it out to be and the opportunity is FAR from what they say it is. Please understand if you want to make any type of profit at all doing Mary Kay, you will need to work A LOT more than 40 hours a week. Even if you work your business as hard as you can, do everything right, book three classes a week, pre profile all guests and talk to every woman who comes withing 3 feet of you and offer them a facial, you will not see much of a profit if any AND your precious time with your little one will be non-existant. I did Mary Kay for about 4 months and did everything I was told to do. After seeing how hard I had worked and that I had NO PROFIT to show for it whatsoever I decided that Mary Kay really couldn’t enrich my life the way they said it could. I am now paying off debt from my inventory and business supplies and I know for a fact that I am going to have it payed off much sooner now that I’m no longer with Mary Kay than if I had of continued to buy into their ‘dream’. I hope that you continue to read here and get all of the information you need to stand your graound in Mary Kay and not get pulled in by all of the manipulation. I know that you will do what you feel is right for you, but my advice is to not sign that agreement and keep your distance from that Sales Director. Mary Kay was the first experience in my life that I can honestly say I would take back if I could.
P.S. We would all love for you to join us in the forum. Theres a lot of really great women here.
Trudie, I know it took a lot for you to write what you did and it is probably more meaningful than everything else that was said, because you are close in age to Jess and in the same situation with young children.
Sometimes it takes somebody who is walking the same path to get the point across! We love having you in the forum and I hope Jess will join us too! You said it so well in exactly the same words that Jess has probably been hearing!
Karma love to you, Trudie and thanks for sharing what’s in your heart with Jess.
I congratulate all the good directors who really worked hard in building their carrer, and who has been faithful to the well set principles Mary Kay Ash taught us. However it is too sad to find some people who are destroying this business reputation committing fraud, and showing people shortcuts.
Even worse when these people are NSDs like in Utah.In the last 3 to 4 years the Hispanic Areas have experimented big scandals from identity theft to encourage consultants and directors to go into debt to complete productions, and asking thir full paycheck back.
I understand well you have dedicate an inirial investment to start any business, but when you don’t allow people to recover from that investment, because your selfish and your hunger for money, you are not helping anyone, instead you are destroying lives and creating family problems.
This is going on in Utah, the market is killed because the bad reputation MK has here. Their have been some complains filed for identity theft and fraud, but the hispanic office did not do anything yet. could someone help to discilpine these National Sales Directors? Belive me there are good hard worker women here who are victims of these NSDs. It is easy to check it out Headquaerters, just check how many directors this NSD had in the last year; around 20, now in less than 1 year she has hardly 11. Call the people who are gone and ask why they left. You have their numbers in your records. I am talking about directors, women who worked hard to get to that possition. not losers…
Don’t be afraid to disclosure and prevent the good apples to get ruined.
Please someone do something. This nation was foundated in the truth and good values. in God we trust
Wow! I really love the all the great advice. Like some of you I have just recently signed up with MK. I have to tell you that my decision was wholly based on the product and wanting to service my family, friends and co-workers. I thought about maybe doing a little more, but after the following…. I have decided to stick to what I wanted to do in the first place. Get my product at wholesale. I really love what the product does for my skin. But….. it is amazing that after you sign up it really isn’t about how wonderful the product is , but about how to get others to sign up under you. I am a person who is detailed so I read everything and watched all of the training videos. I am amazed with how everything is about manipuliation. After researching I decided to go to a training and was even more amazed with how each person was not really given the chance to say no. The way the questions were asked made me feel like the person’s intelligence was being challenaged. “How could you say no to a car? “or “How could you say no to making more money.” (Not exactlly in those words ,but close) It makes me a little ashamed to be part of it. No where on the paper they were filling out did it say “No thank I’m not interested.” There are so many things I love about the company. The product, no animal testing, and the 100% garantee. I think it is wonderful to be able to offer the opportunity to others, but I hate the munipulation. I have decided to only order what I need and what my family, friends, and co-workers need. They really do not mind waiting. I was told that most would, but I have stuck to my guns. But I am concerned for others who do want to make this a carrer, and feel that they have to order so much product. It DOES cost more then just 100 dollars to start up. Thank you for letting me vent.
Thanks for posting Kelli. There is a lot more information that can prepare and forewarn you of other bits of MK manipulation in the forum.
I invite you to click on the word FORUM in the tan toolbar at the top of the page. Not only will you be able to read about other peoples personal experiences in MK, but also how to avoid making some of the common mistakes.
We talk about a lot more than MK. There are topics on current events, family, cooking, health, humor and even a section for active consultants. You will find honesty, smart women, friendship and a lot more…and you won’t have to spend a dime to get it!
Come on in, friend!
Kelli,
BRAVO to you for doing your homework and reading and understanding everything! If you want to join for personal use, please don’t let them talk you into carrying inventory! You can direct your friends / family to the generic website where they can view the catalog, get their money, THEN place your order! That will cut down cost of books and the necessity of ordering them and paying $ 8.95 shipping for books!
Please join us in the forum and feel free to ask any and all questions!
I just can’t stand the idea of watching somebody buy a night cream for $30. I like the products but I buy off of Ebay and you can buy MK lots for less than 1/2 of WHOLESALE. MK needs to make their products reasonably priced.
I can understand some folks being upset about being mislead by unscrupulous directors. And I will say I am not a Mary Kay rep – I am researching whether or not I want to do this. I appreciate all the comments here and find them very helpful.
But one comment I want to make on the Sales Tactics discussed here. This is NOT unique to Mary Kay. Reading any book on sales, how to close the deal, work any sales job – this is what you will be taught. Good sales people know what to say to overcome reluctance.
I only wanted to add this because is it unfair to bash Mary Kay for what is a normal practice in sales. Whether you are selling computers to a Fortune 500 company or selling cars at the town lot, this is what you will learn. If you don’t like sales and are uncomfortable with those tactics, you should not join any type of sales venture.
Again, thanks for all the information here….it’s helping me come up with questions to ask the MK consultant.
I only wanted to add this because is it unfair to bash Mary Kay for what is a normal practice in sales. Whether you are selling computers to a Fortune 500 company or selling cars at the town lot, this is what you will learn. If you don’t like sales and are uncomfortable with those tactics, you should not join any type of sales venture.
Anna I would like to point out a BIG difference between MK and other sales jobs like those you listed. The sales person in the examples you cited does not have any money invested in inventory, and they do not have overhead and business expenses. They must use sales tactics to close the sale and make a commission.
The tactics most on this site have a problem with are that MK teaches their SD’s to push “purchasing an inventory” with phrases like “You can’t sell from an empty wagon”. The truth is purchasing inventory puts a new recruit at a higher risk for losing money. Most of the time, they can place an order and have it within 3- 5 days. Placing an order before you have customers places you at a greater risk for losing money and not having the items your customer will need on hand.
Once you have built up a steady clientele and can determine what they use on a regular basis, then you can invest in a small amount of inventory. As for purchasing Limited Edition items, once again you are “guessing” what might sell and risking having inventory that won’t sell on your shelf.
It doesn’t matter if you have 1 of everything in the book, SOMEONE will want 2.