Sherri Is Trying to Make Mary Kay Work for Her

Your Name: Sherri

Date Joined MK: 01/15/2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: 4800 (nieve) Big mistake

How were you recruited?:        Lovely facial I though would be given to me!

Memorable experience you had in MK: My Jan 2009 Skin Care Class!  I couldn’t do it quick enough.  No one listened, everyone complained, rude and disrespectful!

What did you learn from MK?: Alot and paid the price as you can see by my inventory!  That is what happens when you put faith in someone you think is looking out for you  because I had not clue in sales and feel I was taken advantage of!  Don’t come into MK with a large inventory until you know how your sales are going to be and how you work it.  Only buy 1 or 2 of the new products until you find out if it selling.   Just be cautious with how much you buy.  Mary Kay is not bad company it is the people you come in contact with who are making it bad.   People definately disappoint you, which includes customers, referrals, directors.  Not all of them but alot of them.  Difficult to know who you can trust in MK, there is alot of misrepresentations with leaving things  out.   Some not being completely honest. with things.    Very shocked with alot of it because I truly don’t believe  Mary Kay would have run her company the way I have seen it!

What are you doing now?: Continuing my full time job and trying to make Mary Kay work for me!

Additional Comments: Just trying to hang in there and ge as mucht info from as many as I can to make this work!  Being the honest person I am and being true to myself!

Allison’s Story

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.

Like Many Consultants, Lydia Has Too Much MK Credit Card Debt

Your Name: Lydia

Date Joined MK : 2/28/2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: Still Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: 1800

How were you recruited?:
Through a friend.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
Love to get together with other positive thinking women. I really enjoyed giving gifts to my relatives & chruch ladies.

What did you learn from MK?:
How to run a business wisely & with integrity. How to listen to those around you with experience.

What are you doing now? :
Regretting how I ignored my husband’s advice & how much debt I acrewed on the CC. I need to sell back a lot of product. Or do about 5-10 trunk shows!

Additional Comments:
I believe that there is a smart way to run any business, it just depends on what level you want to be at & how much time & energy you are willing to commit to this business. PLEASE KNOW that when you purchase any amount of inventory that you are comitting to do that much work in your business to even recoup sales to pay for product. Do not think that you are at a profit level until ALL of your product is paid for.

Another Consultant Recruited at Wal-Mart

Your Name: SassyLady83

Date Joined MK : 11/01/2007

When Left MK or Still Active?: Still Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: 600

How were you recruited?:
I was in Wal-Mart shopping.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
When I realized it was a scam.

What did you learn from MK?:
To research any business before signing up. Also that purchasing inventory isn’t mandatory. Not to trust anyone that doesn’t let you know up front about the total costs of anything.

What are you doing now? :
A Consultant for JP Morgan Chase. A Healthcare Consulting Business Owner. In Graduate School.

Additional Comments:
I am thankful for life’s lessons. I thank God that I didn’t get into any debt and that I had the good sense to let go. I don’t feel any business is legitimate if you have to buy yourself up to the top. I love my life and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Rachel’s Getting Ready To Do a Facial, But Took Time Out To Tell Us How Wonderful MK Is

Your Name: Rachel

Date Joined MK : 04/28/2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: Still Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: $200.00

How were you recruited?:
Asked to have a facial, loved the products and asked to have an interview and thought it would be right for me.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
First seminar just past July, It was so well put together and it was just a real eye opener about how you can make this business work for you!

What did you learn from MK?:
Being a Mary Kay Consultant is a great way to meet new people and help out women all over.

What are you doing now? :
Getting ready for a Facial.

Additional Comments:
I love my Mary Kay business! If you do it correctly it can give you wonderful things!

True or False: It only costs $100 to join Mary Kay

TRUE and FALSE.

To become a Mary Kay Consultant, you must sign an agreement and pay $100 for your “starter kit.”

However, in order to stay “active,” you must place a $200 wholesale product order with the company every three months.

Now, it makes sense that you can’t just sign up and never place a product order. That would be silly, since the whole point is to sell the product. And it makes sense that in order to be considered a Consultant that you would have to order certain minimums to be able to represent the products.

What doesn’t make sense is the big presentation on “initial inventory packages” that comes after one has signed the agreement, and the sudden push by your Director to start your Mary Kay venture with hundreds, even thousands, of dollars worth of inventory.

The problem is that in my observation and experience, Directors almost always emphasized the $100 starting figure and never mentioned what came after that: a hard push to buy an “initial inventory package.”

Many women know nothing of the impending “Inventory Interview” they will be subjected to once they join MK and many current consultants feel guilty recruiting women with what they feel is only half of the story.

Lisa Shares Her Story

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.

Brenna Will Be Tearing Up That $100 Check She Wrote Yesterday

Your Name: Brenna

Date Joined MK : August 7, 2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: August 8, 2008

Initial Inventory Purchased: None

How were you recruited?:
I recently moved to a new area and a lady randomly called me and said she wanted to welcome me to the neighborhood by giving me a bunch of free MK products and a free facial. (The “free products” were actually just a bag of those stupid paper samples tied with a ribbon–Thanks for adding to my recycling bin lady) That facial took 3 hours. My husband was pretty annoyed since it was his day off.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
The hilarious “scripts.”

For an answering machine: “Hi Sue. This is Mary. You ARE coming to my Mary Kay Debut, AREN’T you? I REALLY need your support. You CAN come, CAN’T you? I KNOW you’ll be there. I’ll count on you as coming unless you call me. Can’t wait to see you!!!!!”

Can we say “shoot me now to redirect my agonizing pain?”

What did you learn from MK?:
That all of life revolves around winning a free watch.

What are you doing now? :
Full time parent, part time art instructor.

Additional Comments:
I was actually really excited about the idea at first. I am an artistic stay-at-home-mom, and the thought of doing makeovers for a living was attractive. So, I sent in my hundred dollar check with the lady who came by today. Not until after I signed everything, did she tell me that the minimum starting inventory was $600! Luckily, I had known someone who just ordered as they got orders, so I knew that it couldn’t be the “real” minimum. She finally admitted as much when I pressed her.

Now that I have been researching and thinking about it tonight, I came to realize that when it comes down to it, MK parties are just plain cheesy, as is all the literature that I’ve been given so far. I don’t want to be some kind of pink robot.

As far as “reinventing the wheel goes,” I’m a creative person, and if I were to do it, I would want to do it my own way. No pressuring, just girls having fun gettin pretty!

The recruiter wanted me to make a list of 50 friends/relatives for my debut party, and the script she gave was soooo whiny and pathetic. “I’m counting on you” blah blah. AND she was going to be the one giving facials at the party–some strange old lady no one knows? I was thinking of telling her no way on that humiliating party, but then I started having visions of going door to door in my neighborhood handing out flyers, inviting other full time moms to a block party to meet the neighbors. The tag line would be something like: “How excited would your husband be if you actually had makeup on when he came home from work Friday night?” (Since most moms of toddlers can look pretty haggard at the end of the day)

I did the math though, and I would need thousands of customers to make a living at all. So the question remained, even if that worked, where would the other thousand customers come from?

I already got suckered once with Cutco (selling knives-$215 starter pack-got my money back on that one too). The whole reason I was interested was to try to contribute financially to our family as a SAHM. But it definitely sounds like I would have to sacrifice a lot of family time to be successful at this.

And now, hearing that the product is not all it appears to me, especially that the mineral line could even be harmful… I called the MK lady and told her to hold the $100 check until I can “get more info” from her. She agreed, so I will go by tomorrow and tear it up. Also, I am going to exchange the Mineral foundation powder I bought for the Medium cover foundation. I prefer tumorless lungs, actually.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who was so helpful in sharing their opinions. You saved me lots of time and money!

Blessed Says You’re Just Mad Because You Couldn’t Make It Work

Your Name: Blessed!

Date Joined MK : 11/07

When Left MK or Still Active?: Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: $3500

How were you recruited?: By a friend.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
The wonderful people I meet.

What did you learn from MK?:
Still learning.

What are you doing now? :
Working the business full circle.

Additional Comments:
I can’t believe all the negativeness at this site! That might be one of the reasons your business was not successful. Who wants to be around a bunch of negative people.

MK does not twist your arm to participate in any of the training, Seminars, events, etc. It is all optional.

Sounds like you’re just mad at everyone else because you couldn’t make it work. Just continue to work for someone else for the rest of your life!

Jane Says “…most of your experiences were with misguided people”

Your Name: Jane

Date Joined MK : 2005

When Left MK or Still Active?: Still active and loving it!

Initial Inventory Purchased: None

How were you recruited?:

As a personal use consultant, I later decided to work my business and it was one of the best decisions I ever made!

Memorable experience you had in MK:

There are so many… I guess I would say my 1st $400 class! Or getting my 1st team member!

What did you learn from MK?:

So many things… self-donfidence,[sic] courage, friendship, loyalty… there are so many wonderful things and I keep on learning!

What are you doing now? :

I work full time and work my Mary Kay business part time and it is fabulous!

Additional Comments:

I am sorry that many of you have had negative experiences, but just remember that most of your experiences were with misguided people, the values and success that this company fosters in its consultants is, unfortunately, not what you experienced.

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