The news of Allison LaMarr quitting Mary Kay has rocked the pink bubble. Sure, the “spin” is that she is “retiring” to do other things. The reality is that she’s a quitter, just like every single one of us at Pink Truth. Allison LaMarr is officially one of us, whether she wants to admit it or not.

The story she’s giving in her Digging Deeper blog is that she paid her “mentor” Murray Smith $50,000 to tell her to quit Mary Kay. She is going to spend more time selling her “Sharpen Your Edge” road show to MLMers everywhere. Allison’s public speaking skills are atrocious, but in spite of that, Murray says she can make millions peddling her seminars.

But why quit Mary Kay? After all, Allison was a record breaker in MK. She made it to NSD faster than anyone else. What is the real reason Allison LaMarr has decided to come over to the dark side (as a Mary Kay quitter and therefore honorary Pink Truth member)?

Quite simply, I believe there are two reasons:

1. By disassociating herself with Mary Kay, she has expanded her potential market to include the millions of Americans in all MLMs. There was never really anything stopping her from selling to people in other MLMs, but the fact is that by being linked so heavily to MK, there would be people who would not buy from her.
2. She was in a massive downslide for the last 4 years in Mary Kay. She can’t hardly claim to be “a successful businesswoman” to the world if they are going to see what a massive failure she was. She had to stop the bleeding now, and hope no one noticed how miserably she failed as a Mary Kay NSD. (Fortunately for the world, I’m going to show everyone what a failure she was so that it is recorded for all of humanity!)

A long time ago, I reflected on how Allison got to the position of NSD so fast. The only way to do it is by churning and burning through women, which is a very unstable business approach. It requires constant churning and burning at a high level to sustain. She certainly didn’t get to NSD by teaching women to sell Mary Kay products. The last time I looked at her numbers (which incidentally was when she was in her 4 year slide downhill), she had an area of approximately 1,000 consultants, and not even one was profiting $1,000 a month or more from the sale of products. Not one woman was making a living from actually selling products. Telling, isn’t it?

And check out the size of the LaMarr Area. To enter NIQ (national in qualification) a director needs 20 directors in her first and second lines. As of January 2009 at leadership conference, there were a whopping 8 sales directors in the LaMarr area there with her. I can only imagine what the numbers were one year later.

In February 2007, Allison said the following in a conference call for Mary Kay sales directors:

There is an important element of taking ownership for taking a seemingly Unpredictable Business and Making It Predictable! We can do that! How to keep working when others don’t? All businesses are seasonal/cyclical. All businesses are! Any professional will know the cycles of the year for their business. The obstacle is to maximize the high seasons and minimize the low ones. Make up in the high times. It is the ebb and flow of all business – not a flaw in the MK Business!

Clearly, when we look at Allison’s earnings in Mary Kay, we see that she didn’t know how to make it predictable or maximize the highs. She is a failure at implementing her own advice. Take a look at her commission checks, remembering that she became NSD in October 2006:

Every year since 2006, Allison LaMarr’s earnings have gone down. She would have brought in less than $125,000 in 2010, and she’s got so few sales directors in her area, that she doesn’t even show them on her website (because it’s embarassing, I presume).

Remember that $125,000 is before any business expenses, and the expenses as an NSD are very high. I’d be surprised if she had $60,000 left after expenses. How’s that for being at the top in Mary Kay?

Not only do Allison’s own numbers show her to be a failure in business and multi-level marketing, the performance of her area proves her to be a loser as well. How many of the 1,000 or so people in her area are actually profiting in their MK businesses? She has to quit before anyone figures this out. After all, who is going to take business advice from someone who is such a miserable failure?

If she can’t teach her own area how to make money, and she’s supposedly working closely with all of her directors, how is she going to teach anyone else to be successful in business?

Of course, I find it just rich that all of Allison’s quotes about how wonderful Mary Kay is can now be turned around on her. In her promotional video for her “new business,” she talks about being a “frustrated entrepreneur” in Mary Kay.  I suppose it is frustrating to be “at the top” and be making a fraction of what she would be making had she stayed in her corporate job.

Thank you to The Scribbler for pulling this one out of a document Allison called “Million Dollar Advice”:

We are very blessed professionals who are part of THE most incredible career opportunity available to women on this planet! I would just never forgive myself if I didn’t share this “ticket out of the rat race” with everyone I come into contact with.There is only one way to fail in this business – to Quit. Are you committed to never give up? The average person does not understand why we do these things. That is why they’re average! This business works if you do.

I guess that ticket out of the rat race wasn’t really the ticket. If Allison was a failure at Mary Kay, how is she going to teach anyone else how to succeed in business, particularly in MLM? Some of the most common lines used to insult Pink Truth members now apparently apply to the inspiration Allison LaMarr:

• You just didn’t want to do the work to succeed in MK
• Not everyone is cut out for Mary Kay
• It’s not a get rich quick scheme
• The only way to fail is to quit
• This business works when you work
• It’s your own fault if you didn’t do things the Mary Kay way

A personal note to Allison: I believe you are doing the right thing by getting out of Mary Kay, even if you’re not doing it for the right reasons. You have seen first hand how even someone who is supposedly the most successful at this MLM can fail to make a consistent living. And you know it’s because of how the MLM system is set up. Any money you did make was only because thousands below you failed and lost money. Do not try to sell your services to people in MLMs. You know that the MLM system dooms people to failure, and it is unethical to try to make money off people in these systems. You have a chance to tell the world the truth about MLM. We would love for you to become a part of Pink Truth and share the real truth about Mary Kay (and all MLMs) with the world. We would welcome you with open arms.