An article about making money with spa parties, but it also mentions Pink Truth and our mission to expose the lies in Mary Kay and to help women avoid the company.

Excerpts from: Home spa parties great for socializing and making money, too, by Autumn Phelps of Florida Today.

The party that was the subject of the article:  

Stephanie Williams filled her plate with crackers, cheese and dips, then joined the semicircle of women in Pam Clark’s living room, all soaking their feet in tubs of warm water. The West Melbourne woman estimated she’d been to about six or seven of the Girls’ Nite Out home parties, including one she hosted in her own home, but Williams still seemed as eager for the experience as if it were her first time.

“Welcome to Spa Pam,” said Tifnie Ehmer, Melbourne-based independent coordinator for The Body Shop At Home.

Clark, Ehmer’s mother-in-law, agreed to host the party for six women including herself. The theme for the night was Royal Spa. The women began by scrubbing their legs and feet with the Spa Wisdom Blissful Body Cleanser, then continued sampling several other luxurious Body Shop lotions and potions.

“Ooh, ahh,” the partygoers said, when Ehmer asked how the first exfoliating treatment felt. Oohing and ahhing is one way participants collect tickets, which go into a drawing for free products at the end of the party.

Home spa parties are nothing new, but remain a popular way for girls to gather, gab and buy things they normally wouldn’t spend the money on. According to the Direct Selling Association, personal care products (including cosmetics, jewelry and skin care, among others) is the leading category for direct sales, consisting of about 33 percent of direct sales.

On starting one’s own “home based business”:

Since the creation of Tupperware more than 50 years ago, home parties have not only been an excuse for women to get together and shop, but also have empowered them to start their own businesses.

For Ehmer, who’s been working in direct sales for five years, being her own boss is the best part. She joined The Body Shop At Home to help support her family as a stay-at-home mom. There are a couple of reasons she chose the company.
“One, I turned 30 and wanted to take better care of my skin. Two, we needed money,” she said.

Plus, Ehmer said, she takes pride in working for a company that supports community trade, recycled packaging and is against animal testing.

The business has paid off for Ehmer in more ways than one, especially since she won $10,000 in a drawing last month at the Body Shop at Home National Conference.

The mention of Pink Truth:

Robyn Emison of Palm Bay, a Mary Kay representative, has been throwing home makeup parties for the company for almost a year, and said the best part is the flexibility.

“The big one for me is setting my own schedule,” Emison said.

For Ehmer and Emison, the home party business has worked out, but it’s not easy for everybody. To make money, consultants must be good at two things — selling and recruiting.

Generally, the more people a consultant recruits to work under her, the more money she makes and the higher up the ladder she moves.

The career can be life-changing for consultants who put a lot of effort into it, but there are many critics of this direct sales business model. For example, www.pinktruth.com is dedicated to deterring women from joining Mary Kay and other multi-level marketing companies, claiming the companies are pyramid schemes.

The site features discussion boards, “Mary Kay Lie of the Week,” and even has a section for “struggling Mary Kay husbands,” all of which urge women working in Mary Kay to get out, and those thinking about joining to reconsider.

Skeptics of Mary Kay and other direct sales companies might say the business consumes women’s lives.

Emison admits it is easy to find yourself taking on too much in the career path.

“To me, actually the hardest part is maintaining an even keel,” she said. “When it starts interfering with the family routine, you have to be careful, because you can get too much business.”

But if you are careful, and good at the job, it is possible to succeed. Emison, a team leader, has five people working beneath her. Ehmer has eight. Both women say they are happy with their income and have plenty of time to spend with their families.