Written by Frosty Rose

Last week, as normal, I opened my Facebook memories. Drizzled among the funny kid sayings and pictures were the highlights of my Mary Kay end-of-month at Seminar from seven years ago.

What the public saw were the parties, the prizes, the ridiculous jewelry. The photo opp with the president of MK US. Seven years ago, I thought that looked impressive.

Today, I think it’s sad. The jewelry was tacky, the president fake, and my eyes are now open to the true cost of that “celebration” party where we couldn’t even get a drink of water without waiting in a line of 500 other achievers who also earned the exclusive honor of being there.

What you don’t see from my Facebook posts was the real story. You see, this was the umpteenth time I had gone through DIQ (director in qualification), and I was absolutely committed. I was finally the “find-a-way, make-a-way” woman that they talked about in all the trainings. I was going to stretch. I was going to shoot for the moon. I was going to work like it depended on me and pray like it depended on God.

So, at the end of the day on July 31^st, 2016, after being showered in gifts and celebrated at “exclusive” parties, I found myself with all the other committed women, in a bank of probably 100 computers that Corporate had set up at the convention center for our convenience, wrapping up my final order of the month.

By this point, I think most people visiting this site realize that the DIQ period is where minimum production (read: ordering) really kicks in. My team simply had to order $4,000. And in Month 1, you absolutely do not have enough people on your team to do that with any level of integrity. So, I, along with 99 or so of my besties, sat on those computers till the eleventh hour, before I jetted off to whatever other mandatory fun we had planned that night, until I was sure that my team had finished ordering. It was a delicate balance—I had to hit minimum, I knew it all depended on me (and my order), but I didn’t want to order more than I absolutely had to. My team ordered just under $1,800 that July. Naturally, my order was just over $2,200, a mere few dollars over the monthly minimum. What an accomplishment! What a miracle! God really brought it all together for me because of my commitment. This was the story that would be told from Seminar stage one day when I finally made NSD. Nobody ever needed to know about the credit card that paid for it all.

I was so deep in the fog at that point that I didn’t realize what I was seeing. What I saw through Mary Kay pink tinted glasses was a hundred or so winners, committed to their success, working to the last minute to achieve their goals, and writing their own success story.

What I know now is that Corporate set up those computers not for our convenience, but for their own bottom line. End of month is a huge money maker for Corporate because of DIQ and director minimum production, along with whatever other ridiculous contest they’re running at the moment. Imagine making it more difficult for the “sales force” to order? Never! Pair that with the excitement and unbridled euphoria generated at Seminar, well, it’s a no-brainer!

That bank of computers was Mary Kay summed up in one image. The consultants saw how much Corporate cared about us and facilitated our success. Corporate saw money signs.