PinkLighthouse.com » Articles & News

Donald Trump Starts His Own MLM

L J — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:48:27 +0000

Donald Trump has jumped on the MLM bandwagon with the debut of his Trump Network.

Great. Just what we need. Another celebrity lending their face to an MLM scheme.

After all, if Donald Trump has gotten into MLM that must mean that MLM is a valid business structure as all the MLMers tout, right? If Donald Trump is in MLM it must be great, right?

Wrong and wrong.

Obviously associating Donald Trump’s face with a “business opportunity” is an attempt to add legitimacy to not only his little MLM venture but the industry as well.

I can just hear all the MLMers now, in their recruitment schpeels: “MLM must be great. After all, Donald Trump apparently thinks so.”

The Trump Network products are a strange lot: There’s an in-home test to assess whether you’re getting the proper level of nutrients; The Silhouette Solution, a meal plan that looks similar to things like Jenny Craig, to help you shed that unwanted weight; and QuikStik, described as a “Mood Infusion beverage.”

Oh brother…another supplement and nutrition MLM. Why? Because you can make up anything you want and market it as effective. The FDA doesn’t regulate these types of supplements, so you can basically claim what you want without fear of having to prove it. Then charge a pretty price.

And like a good businessman, Donald makes sure that if you sign up to sell his products, you must accept a monthly auto-ship of the products, which will cost you $129.20 per month.

All the typical trappings of an MLM are there, including a “fast start bonus” for recruiting others quickly and your own website, which you can have for $19.95 a month.

Donald Trump is a businessman who’s counting on his name recognition to add credibility to his MLM business and thus make him a fortune. With this venture, however, he’s completely lost any credibility in my eyes. His MLM is just the same old hype in a new package.

Did Bill Clinton Endorse Network Marketing?

Maybelline New York Holding Big Beauty Event July 30th at Grand Central

L J — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:35:35 +0000

Received this press release in email yesterday and thought you might be interested.

MAYBELLINE NEW YORK TO HOLD SENSATIONAL EVENT JULY 30 AT GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL RITE AID AND OUTSIDE GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL

Professional Makeup Artists to Offer On-The-Spot Mini Sensational Lipcolor Makeovers Inside Rite Aid
and Under Grand Central Taxi Stand at 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue

Live Musical Performances by the Cast of Broadway’s CHICAGO the Musical Under the Grand Central Taxi Stand

Camp Hill, PA (July 27, 2009) – Maybelline New York will be center stage Thursday, July 30, with the cast of Broadway’s CHICAGO the Musical to launch Maybelline New York’s new Color Sensational Lipcolor. The fun starts with free on-the-spot mini sensational lipcolor makeovers at the Rite Aid in Grand Central Terminal and outside under the Grand Central Taxi Stand at 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. Highlighting the event will be live musical performances by the cast of Broadway’s CHICAGO the Musical under the Grand Central Taxi Stand at 3:30 and 4:30 p.m.

Professional makeup artists will provide lip-scriptions and help women identify their perfect lip shades and offer first come, first served mini sensational lipcolor makeovers at Rite Aid, 26 Grand Central Terminal, July 30, 8-10 a.m., 12-2 p.m. and 3-7 p.m. Makeup artists also will be outside under the Taxi Stand at Grand Central Terminal 3-7 p.m.

Visitors can enter to win free tickets to Broadway’s CHICAGO the Musical, with Maybelline New York giving away a free pair of tickets every hour between 3 and 7 p.m. Coupons for Maybelline New York’s Color Sensational Lipcolor, gift bags filled with sample size products and 50 percent off discounts for CHICAGO the Musical will be available on a first come, first served basis.

“We’re thrilled to support the national debut of Maybelline New York’s Color Sensational Lipcolor with the lipcolor makeovers at our Grand Central Station Rite Aid store,” said Judy Wray, Rite Aid Category Manager, Cosmetics/ Fragrances. “From the CHICAGO Dance Mob street team dressed in costume promoting the event inside and outside Grand Central Station to the street performances of the cast of Broadway’s CHICAGO the Musical, this is a tremendously creative promotion that is sure to get some attention.”

The promotion also gives Rite Aid customers a sensational deal on tickets to the hottest show on Broadway, CHICAGO the Musical. Tickets are available for as low as $64 now through Oct. 6 and can be obtained by visiting BroadwayOffers.com or calling 212-947-8844 and using the code CHMBRO625.

With any purchase of Maybelline New York Color Sensational lipcolor, New York customers also can enter to win a CHICAGO prize package with a grand prize of two free show tickets, a post-show backstage tour and a CHICAGO gift basket including a CD/DVD package, stockings, t-shirts and souvenir books. Ten runners-up prizes include two free show tickets. Details are available in Rite Aid stores.

Maybelline New York is available in over 90 countries worldwide. Offering more than 200 products, Maybelline New York combines technologically advanced formulations with on-trend expertise to create accessible cosmetics with a spirited style. For more information, log onto www.maybelline.com for the latest news and product introductions, seasonal trends and advice. Also available in Spanish.

Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains with more than 4,800 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia with fiscal 2009 annual sales of more than $26.3 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company’s Web site at www.riteaid.com.

Even If Most People Are Lazy, It Doesn’t Make MK Great

L J — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:16:07 +0000

So often we get comments from Mary Kay consultants pointing out that you have to work to make Mary Kay, or any venture, successful. They argue frequently that most people are lazy or give up.

It does seem true that most people do the bare minimums to get by. They are content to put in their hours at their job and go home. There is a small percentage of the population that excels. They don’t give up. They persist where others would throw in the towel.

And this is true in sales positions like Mary Kay, even more than regular positions. No one ever said sales was the easiest thing to do. It takes a special personality, I think, to plug ahead and shrug off the rejection, to do the actions necessary to make connections and make the sale.

But from all the information I’ve gleaned over the years, MLM still seems to be a losing proposition for the majority of people. I’ve seen people work their tails off in various MLM companies with very little success. Yet I’ve seen this same effort put forth by others in what I would call “real” sales positions and do very well, thank you. And they don’t necessarily have to believe whole-heartedly in their product either. Lots of people in sales work for companies whose product they don’t necessarily think is the best out there, but they are doing their job to promote it.

So while most people may be lazy, it doesn’t follow that MK, or other MLMs, are necessarily a good idea.

Making money through Garage Sales and Flea Markets

L J — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:01:31 +0000

Here’s another article written exclusively for pinklighthouse.com by bizymoms.com

There are many of us who have a keen knack for trading, and we simply know a good bargain when we see one. This natural skill can be turned into one of the most successful home business ideas by engaging in buying and selling activities at garage sales and flea markets. Most of us do not have the financial capacity or the risk appetite to indulge in a large volume trading business. So garage sales and flea markets offer an attractive opportunity to conduct the same business at a small scale, with very low investment and risk, and such a business can be run from the home itself.

In fact, you can start your home business in this field with absolutely no investment. You can simply clean out your closets, attics and garage for old stuff that you do not need. Simply load all the stuff in your vehicle and sell it at a garage sale, a flea market or a swap meet. You will be able to earn an amount of cash from this sale that you can use as capital for your flea market home business.

If you have a sharp knack to judge good products that are available at throwaway prices, you can start buying a few such items that you are sure have a strong demand in the market. Therefore, apart from good buying sense, you also need to have a pulse of the market and be aware of what the trends are as well as the hot selling items that are in demand. Accordingly, you can buy a few surefire items from the flea market and refurbish and clean them up for sale at another place.

With your initial buying and selling efforts and your experience in flea markets, you may then consider starting your own garage sale or a flea market out of your home. All of the items that you have purchased from a variety of places can now be put up for sale at your home. Sometimes a flea market may also specialize in a particular product such as furniture, while some other flea markets may deal in all kinds of merchandise under a single roof.

In fact, it is not necessary to deal only in used merchandise for your flea market or garage sale business. You could even make a tie-up with a wholesaler, a general merchandise liquidator or a surplus trader who keeps a large stock of items that are production overruns, order cancellations, or leftover items from stores. All these are basically A-grade quality products but available at much lower prices due to odd lots. You could create a successful business if you can buy the right products at the right price, which will always have assured demand from customers.

BIO: Bizymoms has been helping women work at home for over a decade and now helps those who are looking to start a home business with a variety of home business ideas to choose from. Visit today to get your business started!

Viral Followers: Pyramid Schemes on Twitter!

L J — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:22:01 +0000

PinkLighthouse.com is now on Twitter, like so many other sites and people.

As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on Twitter. While I use it for several other sites and can see its usefulness in many applications, I also see the ridiculousness of it.

But I thought PinkLighthouse being on Twitter could engage some interesting discussions. When this site is experiencing glitches (which, thank goodness, doesn’t happen often) you can check in on our Twitter feed and get the status of things.

And in the less than 24 hours since PinkLighthouse.com joined Twitter, I’ve already discovered pyramid schemes on Twitter!

It’s called “Viral Followers” and there are several sites online where you can sign up to be part of this scheme.

It works like this:

You go to one of these websites and enter your Twitter username and password and it “retweets” a message to six or eight other Twitter users
As a result, you will automatically start “following” the 6 or 8 people in front of you “in the system.”
Your “retweet” contains a link to the viral follower site and when others follow this link and sign up to do the same thing, they will have to automatically follow you
You get more and more followers as a result.

Isn’t that exciting?! It’s a pyramid scheme to get you more Twitter followers! Yea!

And it continues on and on, up to 7 levels deep until you have ten of thousands of followers! As one of these viral follower sites says, you could get over 87,000 followers “if the scenario…happens exactly as I described it.”

Where have we heard this before? Oh…that’s right! MLM! You recruit a bunch of people and they recruit people and if everything happens just the way their little diagrams show, you end up making a bunch of money!

So you can collect thousands and thousands of Twitter followers, and if you’re lucky, maybe one or two of those people will give a hoot about you or your business or website (since this is what most of these people are trying to promote.)

I know that the people participating in these types of pyramid schemes think that more followers are going to translate into more money or visibility for them. But have they stopped to think how ridiculous it is to blast their “tweets” to anyone and everyone who signs up for this thing?

You can market your brains out, but if you message isn’t going to the right people, the people who are interested in and might need your service or product, you are COMPLETELY wasting your time.

But hey…if you get bored collecting “friends” on Facebook, at least you now know you can head over to Twitter and collect “followers” as well.

No! Not Another Article About How Great Direct Sales is, Especially in This Economy

L J — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:15:06 +0000

I’ve mentioned before (See this previous article) there have been numerous stories in magazines, newspapers, and on the television talking about how lots of women are flocking to the direct sales companies given the downturn in the economy.

Yesterday, I picked up my newspaper only to find yet another article about companies like Mary Kay and AVON seeing an increase in their sales forces.

Mary Kay rolled out a new ad campaign in March to try to recruit new consultants. According to this latest AP article, Rhonda Shasteen claims that the traffic on the Mary Kay website increased by 108 percent during the month of March.

Every story I’ve read or seen is always the same. So-and-so was laid off and then decided to sign up with XYZ “direct sales” company and at her first party made $2000. Something like that.

And what a great option direct sales is, they point out. An extra fun job where you can make some extra money.

But here’s what I want to know: Who is going to buy all these products? All these women are signing up to peddle these products, to make some extra money in this lackluster economy, but who is going to be their customer? You need CUSTOMERS to make any money selling. As more people sign up to sell these products, there are now even more consultants competing for the same customer.

Another thing these articles never mention: These products aren’t cheap. As people are being more frugal, I doubt that they are inclined to pay $13 for a lipstick or $15 for mascara when they can find comparable or better products at the drugstore or Wal-Mart for half that or less. Besides price, the selection at the stores is phenomenal…and you don’t have to deal with a sales person calling you every other week to try to get you to hold a party or invite you to a “girls’ night out” recruiting event.

What burns me is that these stories never mention the expenses, or if they do, they gloss over them. I’ve never seen any mention of the pressure that Mary Kay recruiters exert on new consultants, trying to convince them to shell out thousands of dollars on initial inventory. Never.

The problem is that the people writing these stories know NOTHING about what they’re writing about. And thus, the picture they paint is distorted and incomplete.

Exclusive Article: Tips For Creating More Profit From Your Work at Home Business

L J — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:17:10 +0000

This is an article written exclusively for PinkLighthouse.com by the great people at bizymom.com. Enjoy!

Tips for creating more profit from your work at home business

When looking to increase profits for your work-at-home business, you should be willing to do anything and everything that is required to ensure that these profits actually come to you. Here are a couple of tips to ensure that you get more profits.

1. Outgoing expenses – When looking at profits in a home business, what really matters is the expenses that are being spent and the income which you are making by selling your product or service. If you aren’t able to make the profits that you originally envisaged, then you should trace back your expenses and see where it is going wrong. Are there some areas where you can cut down on expenses? If possible, look for some low cost alternatives for particular services which yield nearly the same quality of service that you are currently receiving. If there are some unnecessary expenses, trash it. This is the first step towards creating more profits for your work-at-home business.

2. Targeting Sales/Customers – You should now review your sales and see who is buying your product. You should also see whether the current market that you are operating in is sustainable and also see whether you can go further and reach a wider market.

3. Advertise your home business – Once you have identified the target market for your business, you should look at the advertising mediums that you are using. Are you constantly reminding the customers about your products & services? Maybe you have to improve your website. Put an ad in a local paper or send out some flyers. Try sponsoring a local ad even so that you can get more people to see your name. Use word – of – mouth as well.

4. Be creative and adventurous – Don’t be afraid to look outside the box. Be creative. Give your customers a 30 day trial or give them some discounts. Let them sample your product and if they are impressed, they are sure to purchase your good or service. Increasing profits in your work-at-home business is a matter of reviewing it and acting upon the result of the review.

Just like how building your business took so much focus and effort, maintaining home business performance and good profits will take a lot of effort throughout the life of the business. Whatever you should do to make the business succeed should be done. Trial and error is the only way towards achieving success in your work-at-home business.

Bio:

Bizymoms has been dedicated to helping women work from home for over 10 years! Visit today to enjoy our interactive message boards, informative articles, help and advice from the Bizymoms’ Home Business Support Team and achieve your own work at home dreams with our home business start up kits.

Tax Time Always Reminds Me of Those “Mary Kay Deductions”

L J — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:12:05 +0000

Every time April rolls around, I think of all those Mary Kay meetings I attended, where the Directors would spend the entire time advising all us Consultants on what Mary Kay expenses were tax deductible.

Turns out they tried to find a way to make nearly everything a deductible expense.

But the trouble is, deductions do not equal income, and if you’re not careful with those deductions you could find yourself in trouble with the IRS.

While it’s true that things like your cell phone costs, if used for your Mary Kay business line, and other things like mileage and meeting costs can be deductible, it’s not the same as income.

So what if you have thousands of dollars of deductions? Your goal as a business person is to create income. Deductions reduce that income, sure, but there was so much emphasis on how Mary Kay created tax deductions that it missed the point.

If you’re showing a loss on your income taxes, guess what? You didn’t make much money. Sure, there are things you can deduct that you would have as expenses anyway, perhaps. But loss is loss. And if you show a loss on a business you’re reporting on a Schedule C for several consecutive years, the IRS may not see that as a business and you could be in trouble.

Mary Kay Wins Lawsuit Against Touch of Pink Cosmetics

L J — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:35:07 +0000

Straight from the court decision document:

After a trial on the merits, the jury found that Defendants infringed Mary Kay’s
trademarks and engaged in unfair competition and passing off with the specific intent to cause
confusion, to cause mistake, and to deceive. The jury also rejected all of Defendants’ affirmative
defenses, and awarded Mary Kay an accounting of profits. Based on the jury’s verdict, Mary
Kay now seeks the entry judgment for the amount of $1,139,962.00, plus post-judgment interest
at the applicable legal rate.

Yep. That’s over 1.25 million dollars that Mary Kay is now trying to get from Touch of Pink.

Ouch.

Touch of Pink Lawsuit Marches On

L J — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:01:09 +0000

As proceedings continue, the Touch of Pink versus Mary Kay Inc case continues on.

Apparently the jury has been selected because a jury roll now exists in the documents of the case.

There have been numerous documents filed in the last few weeks. Basically it’s a formal rehashing of the same issues, with each side stating their assertions.

As I mentioned earlier, Touch of Pink Cosmetics did score several victories in the case already and this is noted in one of the case documents:

On February 20, 2009, the court granted partial summary judgment for
the defendants on Mary Kay’s claims of tortious interference with contract, tortious
interference with prospective contract, and unjust enrichment. For that reason, Mary
Kay has removed those claims from its list of contested issues of law and fact that will
be a part of the trial of this case. This should not be read, however, as an
abandonment of those claims by Mary Kay. Mary Kay respectfully disagrees with the
order granting these portions of defendants’ motion for summary judgment and
believes that these issues should be presented to the jury.

There are lots of issues still to be determined, naturally, and I’ll keep you up to date as best I can.

I know we’re all eager to see what the outcome of this case will be.