Written by The Scribbler

Welcome back, Mary Kay directors!  It’s now September, you’re back from Seminar, and your steaming Visas are ripe for a long winter’s nap, right?  Not if you’re truly serious about your Mary Kay business!  Just when you thought it was safe to pay down your credit card bill, along comes Chef NSD Linda Toupin with a fresh platter of debt (plus breadsticks) just for you!  Take a gander at what our NSD du jour’s latest wave of “free” training entails, courtesy of her website:

Fall Director Boot Camp:   Louisville, Kentucky Convention Center/Conference Theater. September 23-24 and November 11-12.

Recommended Hotel: Galt House Hotel and Suites (suggest you register for both September and November class.

RIVUE Tower (Deluxe rooms) $105 single $125 double $145 triple $165 quad
Suite Tower (Suites) $125 single $145 double $165 triple $185 quad

You want the Suites…they are fabulous and spacious!

NEW Cost! $150.00 for all 6 sessions covering a total of 4 days.

What say you, professional businesswoman?  Can your Kathy van Zeeland star prize handbag handle another financial blow to its tender belly?  Let’s explore, shall we?

Let’s pretend that we’re flying into Louisville Staniford Field via Dallas on the early afternoon of September 23rd   and flying out the next day.  If we booked our flight last month, we would have snagged an airfare rate of $148.  If we book it today (while we’re browsing Pink Truth’s articles, no less – but please don’t tell the unit) we’re potentially looking at paying $348 for airfare.

As far as hotels go, our deserve level is entirely too high to settle for the La Quinta Inn.  In Mary Kay, it’s all about projecting the image of success so others will want our position, so let’s stay in the suites, just like NSD Toupin recommends!  Two days at $125 a pop equals $250 for the hotel.  Add the Boot Camp’s non-refundable registration fee and there’s another $150 on our steadily-growing tab.

NSD Toupin also wants everyone going to her boot camp to be on the Intelliverse system. If we’re not on it, she recommends the $21.95/month package before she will consider us “fully registered.”

Our ballpark, bare-bones cost to attend the September session of NSD Toupin’s Phase 1 boot camp (if we don’t have Intelliverse) is $569.95. This figure does not include meals, tips, or other miscellaneous expenses we might incur.  That figure jumps to $769.95 if we’re booking airfare now or haven’t done so yet.

What happens if we plan on attending BOTH the September and the November Boot Camp sessions? This:

Two plane rides @ $148 apiece = $296  (later booking rate:  $348 x 2 = $696)
Two 2-day hotel stays at $250 apiece = $500
One registration fee of $150
One Intelliverse hookup = $21.95

Ballpark, bare-bones cost to attend NSD Toupin’s Phase 1 Director Boot Camp: $967.95.

Ballpark, bare bones cost to attend NSD Toupin’s Phase 1 Director Boot Camp (with later airfare booking rate):  $1367.95.

Now granted, this figure is for out-of-state attendees.  If you live in Louisville, naturally the price of admission would be significantly lower.  If you’re a good director, you’d still pay for two 2-day hotel stays @ $250 apiece (because in Mary Kay, it’s often taught that you cannot have an effective “thought-shift” if you commute between home and a training event, and so should stay in a hotel), the $150 registration fee, and the $21.95 Intelliverse hookup.

Ballpark, bare-bones cost to attend NSD Toupin’s Phase 1 Director Boot Camp, Louisville residents:  $671.95.

Bottom Line:  NSD Toupin expects directors to pay between $650 and $1400 for two lousy days of “free” training.  How many of those directors are still nursing badly-battered Visas because of Seminar, which – may I gently remind you – took place a little over a month ago?  And while “school is never out for the pro” there’s a difference between schooling that’s provided to you free of charge by your company (as is often the case in Corporate America) versus having to reach for the credit card every time NSD Pam Shaw gives you the puppy-dog eyes and sniffs, “You don’t HAVE to do anything, but the leader who want to increase and bring others along will attend everything.”  (As is often the case in Mary Kay).

Mary Kay’s Free Training:  It’s got more racket than Wimbeldon!