1. Can you imagine commuting to work and trying to have a business call with numbers and a sales pitch. How unsafe while driving. I guess this works well for the MK bot because the target is distracted and will say yes just to get off the phone.amd she only picks the hostess and two sharp guests? So she’s assuming and denying the opportunity to other guests? That flies directly against other advice that they should ask every single person they meet because you never know who will say yes.

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   • I was thinking the same thing. Even with a handsfree phone, a call like this is too distracting. I’m trying to picture merging on to the freeway while answering questions about my goals in life – SMH.

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   • My husband used to do talk/text and drive. If we went anywhere as a couple or a family, I’d drive because I hated how much attention was not on the road conditions.

     In Quebec, you are allowed to use a Hands-Free device. I have a dash-board mount for those times I need to use my map feature on the phone. In theory, I could sync my phone to my stereo system but I chose not to. I still see plenty of people using their phones.

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     • When I worked as a territory sales manager, I drove A LOT. Like approx 30-35k miles per year (oh, the things I’ve seen on the road lol) for over a decade. Early on was before Bluetooth, and I rarely took calls whilst driving. But even for the later years when I had Bluetooth, I still rarely answered any calls that came in when I was driving. Usually, it was because I knew that the call would require me to answer questions or take notes (client needs a return authorization for damaged product, wanted to place an order, whatever) and I could only safely do so when stopped.

       But those are they types of calls you receive when you are already successful with your sales business…ie existing customers just needing assistance or wanting to place an order. With MLM, these directors are so desperate to recruit, that they just CANNOT let any call go to voicemail, because WHAT IF THAT CALL IS A POTENTIAL RECRUIT??

       If the Mary Kay “opportunity” was anywhere as successful as claimed, directors would have so many recruits and so much business that they could feel comfortable in letting a call go to voicemail when they’re driving. But of course that’s not the case. When you’re left BEGGING for recruits and business, you can’t afford to miss a single call. It’s so sad.

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   • I do NOT use the phone while driving … she would get a hard “hell no, my commute time is for ME” response.

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2. “What do you like most about your job?
   Nothing.”

   I know these are fake answers written by whoever wrote the script, but I call bullmuffins. Most everyone has something they like about their job, even if it’s only the employee discount. If you really hate your job, you’re allowed to look for a new one at any time.

   “What would you like to change?
   Everything – more time to myself, answer to nobody, more money.”

   Which is exactly why you shouldn’t emulate a woman who admits to working 8-5:30, longer than normal office hours, every day plus extras on Saturday. Not to mention you’d be constantly answering to your recruiter and your director about everything from why havn’t you ordered enough to why did you wear pants to a meeting. Extra money? Sell your plasma. That’s at least honest. But seriously, if you can live comfortably within your means but have to forego some luxuries, welcome to the real world.

   “Where would you like to see yourself personally, financially and career wise in the next 5 yrs?
   In NC on the coast somewhere with a six figure income so my husband can retire.”

   As if. Six-figure salaries don’t grow on trees. People making that kind of money were either born to it or worked their asses off for years to get to that level. And if your husband wants to retire early, why should the full burden fall on you? He can meet with a financial planner and come up with a workable plan like a big boy.

   “What do you need the most in your life right now?
   Free time.”

   Said every parent ever 😉

   Once again, longer days than your standard office hours, stuff on weekends, extra meetings, time spent running around…

   “What do you value the most in your life?
   My family.”

   Once again, longer days than your standard office hours, stuff on weekends, extra meetings, time spent running around… Whatever Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash might have said, throwing an onion into a pot of boiling water doesn’t really make it smell like dinner’s cooking.

   The time will come when you’ll have to choose between a family event and some spurious Mary Kay goal. Which do you want – six-figure income (HAHAHAHA!!!!!) and a daughter who resents you for never being around, or a normal life with some potholes and sacrifices but you’re all together for the whole journey?

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   • One of the things we comment about a lot on PT is how if these ladies (such as the subject of today’s post) would just take even HALF the energy/time they expend on MLM in an actual J.O.B., oh the success they could have!

     They could be an hourly or salaried sales professional, working in a retail store that they don’t have to pay any rent or utilities for, with willing customer traffic driven by their employer’s own advertising dollars, selling products to legitimately interested customers and being rewarded for their time, PLUS getting training AND benefits, all on the employer’s dime.

     But instead they somehow buy into this whole spiel about being their own boss and setting their own hours…yet neither of those things are actually true.

     What we can surmise from many of the posts and videos we see coming from these MLM folks is that unfortunately they lack the basic skills needed to be successful in an actual JOB (the horrible spelling and basic grammatical errors, the total lack of any business understandings, the begging/pleading/guilting others to buy from them are a few).

     Sadly, most of them wouldn’t get past an initial interview for many jobs, even entry-level ones. So how can someone who would not succeed as an actual paid sales employee for a company think that they’re capable of running their “own” (MLM) business?

     THESE are the types of recruits that MLM recruiters want…those who desire to be successful sales professionals but who lack the basic skills to actually BECOME successful sales professionals via employment with a retail company. These are the people who will buy into the MLM dream and not question the most basic business issues with the MLM format (they don’t ask how many other sellers are in their area, they don’t question why it makes any sense for them to recruit their own customers as their competitors, they don’t wonder why they can’t advertise as they want to).

     And as long as there are MLM recruiters dangling that fake carrot, there will be those who buy into it.

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3. “…answer to nobody…”

   Except in MK and other MLMs, you DO answer to somebody. It could be corporate and your lack of ordering, your upline (and your lack of ordering), your spouse/partner due to always ordering and not selling, your bank account (for always ordering and not selling), your children since you’re always working, and more…..

   These scripts have not changed in 30 years.

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4. What’s the obsession with retiring husbands? Maybe he likes working and contributing to the family.

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   • It’s to make the family dependant purely on the MLMer’s money. Plus he can become her unpaid office assistant/ boy Friday removing another expense.
     In LuLaRich the founders stated that if the business got that successful, then the husband should take it over thus demoting the wife.

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   • It fits right in with the whole faux empowerment “husbands are the enemy” gaslighting, though.

     Husbands are bad because they’ll try to talk you out of the opportunity of a lifetime (yeah right) and because they have logical brains that get hung up on numbers and figures and they don’t realize you have to spend money to make money. Therefore you must hide your inventory from him, open your own credit cards to buy inventory on the “husband unawareness plan,” never say anything negative about MK or that mean old man will make you quit, etc. etc.

     Therefore, when you make executive income doing part time work (yeah right) and become the sole breadwinner, when he complains about you and the kids never seeing you, you can throw it right back in his face. Because affection with MLM is transactional.

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   • I followed two MLM distributors who claimed they had “retired” their husbands.

     As time went on, it was revealed that, in one case, husband had lost his job and was working out of town (no, he wasn’t “away on fishing trips” like the wife claimed.)

     In the other case, husband had been injured at his job and was collecting disability insurance. (And THAT is why he was always home on the couch while she filmed those opportunity videos.)

     Liars.

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   • And poor Roya Mattis, she supposedly “retired” her husband (likely lies) and with his newfound free time he took up with another woman, thus pushing Roya into her bizarre current downward spiral!

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5. No mention of the product’s value, or how much she’s made from selling product. In fact no real detail on how to make money in Mary Kay! Also no mention of the $1000/yr commitment to stay “active” and remain eligible for commissions and discounted product.

   This whole thing is hot air geared toward building a downline, with little or no mention of selling product to end consumers.

   We all need to band together on one important theme: When approached by any MLMer to host a party, reply with, “It’s your business, so it would be most appropriate for you to host your own sales events.”

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   • “No mention of the product’s value, or how much she’s made from selling product. In fact no real detail on how to make money in Mary Kay! Also no mention of the $1000/yr commitment to stay “active” and remain eligible for commissions and discounted product.”

     But but but…it’s not about making money, it’s about enriching women’s lives, right?

     I mean, that’s the only way to justify recruiting your own customers (so, trading in that fifty percent retail profit you make on their sales for the itty bitty percentage you’ll make on their wholesale purchases after you’ve recruited them) amirite?

     Because if it’s really about making money, you’ll keep your customers’ fifty percent profit all day long, and will continue to build your CUSTOMER base without recruiting a single one.

     But…if it’s NOT about making money and is instead SUPPOSEDLY about sharing the opportunity, you’ll happily give up that profit and if you don’t, not only are you not sharing the opportunity, you’re also not “lifting women up” or whatever catch phrase they use to drive this point home to you.

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6. I always get stuck on the “free travel” thing. Disclaimer: I am not in MK- I became fascinated with this website after doing the interview for a cousin and feeling icky afterward. I was hoping she would get out of it, but, here we are…..7 years later. I have only seen her pay her own money to go to Dallas several times. There were a couple of cruises (I think) she was trying to win, but they make it nearly impossible to win. For one of the contests, the angle was that she would pick one customer to go with her to NYC for a “girls weekend.” Does anyone remember that promotion? Why would I want to do that? I would want to go with my husband, and so should she. Just a weird promotion. Of course, she didn’t win that either, because no one actually wins their contests. That “free travel” angle is just a small part of the lies, but it is still so gross. I think most of us associate free travel for work with the opportunity to see a city for a day or two after you have done your work there (on a flight your company paid for). Or perhaps, you can bring your spouse along to share your company-paid hotel room, because you don’t have four people in your room, and then spend a day or two soaking up the city after your work is done. Mary Kay’s idea idea of “free travel” is the off chance that you might win one of their contests. Just gross….

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   • Everyone PAYS DEARLY for the so-called free travel. They end up buying products they don’t need and will never sell. They’d be better off using that money to buy their own trip somewhere.

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     • And the “free trip” shows up as taxable income on Form 1099, as does the “free car.”

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   • Welcome! And you’ve hit a nail on the head…the “free” trip lies. They could have worked as an employee of an actual company and could have saved up for their dream trips, scheduled on their own terms and to their own liking.

     I’ll admit that as a salaried plus bonus employee of actual companies, I earned a couple FABULOUS trips (oh Quebec City, LE Frontenac; the Bellagio in LV; Marco Island and Naples…) so maybe my intolerance for the whole “MLM free trips” lie is particularly vehement, but even people who haven’t worked in jobs where they get these types of trips can see how blatantly FALSE the whole MLM free trips claim is.

     It is so true that they have to spend so much more to “earn” the trip than what they would have spent on the trip themselves.

     I am so glad you’ve found PT, and that you can see MK for the scam that it is. Maybe one day your cousin will be free of the MK pink fog, hopefully. At least you can continue to learn more about how bad it is and continue to steer clear. That icky feeling was your own smarts and instincts telling you that MK and MLMs overall are bad news!

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7. My Schedule – I work MK full time – I take off all day on Tues for me!

   Work Monday through Friday – 8a-5:30p & I do a Thursday night SCC (while my husband works that night), plus I do a class 2 Saturdays a month – plus always a class at my Monday meeting. I do not work on Sunday.

   Pick the nights that work for you – what works best with your family schedule.

   I work really hard some days but also take off and enjoy other things. I really live God first, family second, career third!

   Have I been lied to? I was told it was/is executive pay for part-time work. Not a 5 day week from 8-17.30. Plus evenings .

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   1

   • You might want to sit down for this, DA, because it’s so shocking.

     There’s a possibility that someone along the way…

     [looks furtively right and left]

     …told a FIB :O

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     • Staggers to fainting couch, clutching pearls….

       A God-honouring Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash following paragon of beauty and honesty told.. a a FIB in this economy!!!!

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       • Thanks, DA. Now everyone in my office is masking up and giving me the side eye because I just laughed so hard, I inhaled my water, then nearly fell over coughing. 😀

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         • Sorry, Frosty Rose.

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     • Okay so because I love to use the “trademark” symbol, could we maybe start a thing like “Pink Fib”? Such as:

       Pink Fib ™?

       I mean, I know I can’t trademark EVERYTHING (though ™ it won’t ™ stop ™ me ™ from ™ trying ™) BUT we are due to add one more trademark to the site, I believe! We should start a thread on the boards as to what MK phrases/words could be considered for a trademark and maybe vote for one to add.

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8. #1 -We are looking for women that are busy because we know that they get the most done because they are good time managers. Are you busy?
   Yes. I am.

   If I’m busy, I’ve messed up my time management.

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9. Acting like fifty percent is such an ah-MAY-zing profit margin…when it’s actually not.

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   • Well mainly because it’s not profit margin. It’s possibly gross profit, but actually almost never is.

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10. “We make money by selling the products”

    But notice she moves right into these statements:

    If you want to move up you do that by bringing other people in to the company.

    When you have 1-4 people you get a 4 % commission check from the co – that comes directly from MK. When you have 5 or more you get 9- 13%! And as a Sales Director you get an additional 23% plus bonsuses!

    My first recruiting check was only $4.34 and my husband and I laughed about it — but my largest commission check now is over $12,000 for one month!

    “The free car is another way to make money!” — Also requires recruiting, not “selling the products”.

    The quote should really read:

    It’s impossible to make any significant profit selling products. The only way to make decent money is to recruit your mark by telling her the lie “we make money selling the products”. This, so the mark will place an order for products, then the recruiter makes her recruiting commission on that amount. The bigger the order, the bigger commission. Remember that 12k check? That’s recruiting commissions.

    In summary for the lurkers: You’re only ordering products so your upline can make a commission on your purchase. It’s about her. Once in, you will also have yourself order products, not to sell, but to qualify for something. You will also be encouraged to find a mark like yourself. No retailing of product ever required.

    MLM Golden Rule: Do unto others as they have done unto you.

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    • How often the closing line is the gut wrencher….you nailed it, Char. Absolute travesty of EVERYTHING mk purports to be.

      “MLM Golden Rule: Do unto others as they have done unto you.”

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    • “When you have 5 or more you get 9- 13%!”

      So…I can either make the magical fifty percent on the retail purchases from five of my friends/family, OR I can make nine percent of their wholesale purchases if I recruit them instead. So for example if as CUSTOMERS, these five each buy $100 at retail prices from me, I get $250 in profit. BUT if instead I recruit these five and they each buy $50 in wholesale, I’ll earn five percent of that figure, which is $22.50.

      Hmm…$250.00 versus $22.50.

      How is this even a question???

      Well, if I am smart and choose to NOT recruit my fifty-percent-profit-paying customers (instead continuing to enjoy that mad profit) then anyone else in MK (whether my director, her director, or total strangers) are not only allowed to recruit my customers, they’re ENCOURAGED to. Because if I’m unwilling to give up my sales profits by not recruiting my customers, I’m apparently denying them of The Opportunity, and it’s only right if some other Kaybot swoops in and offers it.

      Even if you’re an English Major like me (I don’t do mathematics, but I can spell mathematics), this Mary Kay “math” makes no sense. If you’re an IBC, you’d best figure out early on that retail sales profit is not what’s important; sharing the opportunity with any breathing life form IS important, and giving up your retail profit to enable the “opportunity” is expected of you.

      If you as a Mary Kay IBC (or director) truly consider yourself to be the “business owner” they tell you to believe that you are, you’ll have enough business sense to recognize that giving up profit in such a way and for such reasons MAKES NO SENSE!

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11. The next time an MLM’er asks me for leads cause thats what they are, I’m gonna say sure I’ll introduce you to x amount of people but it’s gonna cost you = cash.

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12. Please please please continue using “Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash” as often as possible lololol. Nothing wrong with seeking the right spouse hee hee but guessing the kbots prefer the much abbreviated Mary Kay!

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    • Lol, I can appreciate the effort it takes to type that out every time it’s used!

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      • Copy and paste, my friend 😉

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        • I may or may not have it saved on a word document. Just in case.

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