This was written by a reader of Pink Truth, who started with a piece by Ann Vertel, the “unit coach.” If you don’t know who Ann is… she sells her services to Mary Kay sales directors, basically promoting the idea that she will teach you how to move up and make it big.

Unfortunately, you and I know the truth. The big money in Mary Kay is reserved only for a tiny fraction of women who hit the MK lottery. The rest of you can work as hard as you want, all day long, and you’ll never get there. Why? Because the multi-level marketing system of Mary Kay is set up for you to fail. 99% must fail in order for that small fraction of 1% at the top to profit.

So here’s how you take back your life and come out of the pink fog…

1. Identify and eliminate everything you are currently tolerating. This can include minor annoyances all the way up to the behavior of other people. The more you “put up with” the less you can focus on your goals.

This includes your director calling you on the last day of the month and, like today, my last day to order before I’m “terminated”. The more I put up with MK, the less I can focus on my goals of mothering and working my real JOB.

2. Automate everything that can be automated – paying bills, marketing systems, administration, voice mails etc. Hire a Virtual Assistant from UnitVAs.com. Have TheWebWonder.com breathe life into your website. Have Keeping-Clients-Close.com send your customers a fun monthly newsletter so they’ll know you still care.

Automate everything. That way you can avoid calls from said director and spent more time on the IMPOTANT people in your life.

3. Eliminate toxic people from your life. They may have gotten you this far, but they won’t get you where you’re going. Sometimes you just have to let people go. Now is the time.

This FOR SURE means all the people who talked you into MK, kept you ordering, and told you you weren’t working hard enough if you quit. Instead, draw closer to God, who nudged you to get out, your alienated friends who didn’t want the product, the husband and children you never saw, and the person who finally convinced you to get the heck out.

4. Decide who gets to be in your life – who gets to affect your energy – who gets to “play in your yard” then establish impenetrable boundaries. Think of it like having a fence around your yard. You determine who is in the yard and who stays out. Only you can open and close the gate. You can talk to people over the fence but that doesn’t mean you have to let them in. People don’t get to come in your yard just because they want to. You choose. You decide. Choose wisely.

Choose wisely indeed. We only get one life, and I want my “play yard” to be full of people I love, with my playing in comfy clothes, not pantyhose and skirts. I don’t wear heels in my sandbox, and you can’t either [them’s the rules, sorry]. I want people to come in who edify, and that just means that they speak the Truth.

5. Decide to only do business and associate with people you like, trust, and respect. If one, two (or all three!) of these are missing, why on earth wouldyou want these people in your life or your business?

Wait, I don’t know ANYONE in MK who this applies to. Why on Earth would I be around them?

6. Workout. Not for anyone else, just for you. Not because you’ll look better but because you’ll feel, breathe, sleep, think, relax, work, and play better. And, most importantly, because you can’t accomplish such lofty goals when you feel awful – you need maximum energy.

Workout. Just for you, so that you can use those endorphins to pick up some of the self-esteem you lost in hearing that you weren’t good enough, not working hard enough, weren’t Christian enough or you’d be more
successful already.

7. Refuse to participate in anything negative, including gossip, one-upsmanship, and sarcasm, whose sole purposes are to tear down something or someone else. It also includes tearing yourself down. Replace all talk of the past, which is unproductive, with talk of the ideal future. Moving forward physically means moving forward mentally.

Refuse to participate in negative MK. It’s all whitewashed tombs, pure negativity wrapped in a pretty pink bow. Indeed, replace all talk of the past, which is unproductive, and move on with your future, without
Mary Kay.