Why Badmouth Mary Kay
I don’t know what kind of bad experience you may have had with your Mary Kay experience, but why create a site totally badmouthing about this business and the women and network marketing principle?
It may not be for everybody, but the principle of network marketing is the most humane capitalistic way to do business according to Dr. Charles King of Harvard. One is always going to run into “bad” apples in life and maybe our own failures which we are not capable of owning and place the blame on others in Mary Kay or other ventures is truly the issue at hand.
I met wonderful women in Mary Kay and although i chose to move on to another network marketing company in the health and wellness industry I would never badmouth another human being especially who offered me an opportunity to grow personally and a business to grow. The outcomes are a direct result of our own making, not someone else’s. I enjoyed my Mary Kay business and Sales Director and women very much the few years i was actively a consultant and still think it’s the best skincare in the world, but my lack of advancement was not anyone else’s fault. I learned that i let other events in my life interfere with my daily focus and so the results followed.
So your site greatly reflects on your integrity and the energy that you have put into it may certainly be more useful in creating positivity in your life and maybe instituting principles or habits that you are gifted with to blossom in your own magnificence.
I just had to respond when i stumbled on your site because there is no disgrace in any aspect of Mary Kay and sometimes keeping things that have hurt us or our own failures or better kept in our own hearts or shared privately with a trusted friend.
God bless you
Visit the
Dr. Charles King holds a degree from Harvard Business School. According to LinkedIn he is the owner of the University of Illinois Chicago in Wheaton, Illinois, which doesn’t exist. UIC is a real public university in Chicago. There is a Wheaton College, a private Evangelical liberal arts college, but he ain’t the owner.
He appears to spend all his time shilling network marketing (aka PYRAMID SCHEMES) and has self published a book.
As an argument from authority, he sucks rocks.
He’s also kind of hard to Google since there’s another Charles, King, who’s just a skosh more famous 👑
I had to see his Linkedin for myself. What a joke. The guy can’t even mis-represent himself very well and tell a good lie. Says he went to Harvard Business School but doesn’t say what particular degree he received or if he even received a degree. We can’t assume it’s an MBA because he was there for three years and the typcial MBA is a two-year program and I don’t think they have an evening or part-time program at Harvard. Then it says he’s the “Owner” of the “university of illinois chicago”, uh, no, the state of Illinois owns this university that he typed in lowercase. I looked up one of his books on Amazon that shills network marketing like it’s next great thing and on the back it says he is a professor of marketing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There is a marketing program/major at that university but there’s nobody on the faculty with his name. Granted the book he supposedly wrote is 20+ years old and he may have retired from the University of Illinois by now but I have my doubts. If I had the energy I’d call the university and ask if he was ever a faculty member. Maybe someone else on this site has some idea about this. It all sounds like bunk to me. I don’t think the University of Illinois would want to be associated with someone that promotes network marketing but what do I know.
Good enough to fool anyone who can’t or won’t think past DR!!!!!!!! HARVARD!!!!!!! LEGITIMACY!!!!!!!
Like everything else in MLM it’s all sizzle, no bacon.
Is that Harvard Business School or as Norma from Feb 23 2024 critic thinks Harvard Business College?
And just like Charles, King several of Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash’s relatives managed to snag the top jobs.
There are two ways to make real money in MLM:
1) Start one
2) Get paid to speak at their events
“…but why create a site totally badmouthing about this business and the women and network marketing principle?”
PTC, please stick around and read more articles on this site. Your appeals to authority don’t change the fact that it is impossible for MLM to be profitable as a whole…something Dr. King conveniently fails to mention.
The burden is on MLM promoters to demonstrate that MLM is a viable opportunity for more than the top 1%. Can you identify just one downline in any MLM that is not losing money in the aggregate? MLM is great for the kingpins…but at the cost of folks in every single downline.
The folks at Pink Truth are looking out for the exploited masses in Mary Kay, who are mostly women. You, PTC, are taking the side of those doing the exploiting. Aren’t you proud?
Tracy, how are those guardrails coming? With so many people stumbling on this site unwittingly, I’m concerned you’re opening yourself up to a slip and fall lawsuit. Maybe they’ll file it with that slander suit they keep threatening.
Yes, I love it when someone says they “stumbled” on the site, lol!
We need those bumpers they use for kids’ bowling parties.
I don’t know what kind of bad experience you may have had with your Mary Kay experience,
Why then are you criticizing something you never bothered to investigate? Five minutes reading here would have shown you some other peoples experiences, the good and the bad.
but why create a site totally badmouthing about this business and the women and network marketing principle?
First day on the internet? Do you criticize sites that talk about the bad in Amazon or Apple, Disney or Wal*Mart? No company, big or small, should be shielded from criticism.
It may not be for everybody, but the principle of network marketing is the most humane capitalistic way to do business according to Dr. Charles King of Harvard.
There is nothing humane about capitalism. In any form. I refer you to my learned collogue Ms. Popinki for her summary on Dr. C. King.
One is always going to run into “bad” apples in life
True.
and maybe our own failures which we are not capable of owning and place the blame on others in Mary Kay or other ventures is truly the issue at hand.
That’s a very wordy way of victim blaming.
I met wonderful women in Mary Kay and
You probably did. However, many of them benefitted financially from you.
although i (sic) chose to move on to another network marketing company in the health and wellness industry I would never badmouth another human being especially who offered me an opportunity to grow personally and a business to grow.
So, your Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash business failed and you became a serial MLMer. Desperately searching for the buried riches in an over-ploughed field.
Pointing out lies and deceptions is the opposite of “badmouthing”.
The outcomes are a direct result of our own making, not someone else’s.
Except the system is rigged against you. Failure is a feature not the bug here.
I enjoyed my Mary Kay business and Sales Director and women very much the few years i (sic) was actively a consultant and still think it’s the best skincare in the world,
Anecdote does not equal data.
but my lack of advancement was not anyone else’s fault. I learned that i (sic) let other events in my life interfere with my daily focus and so the results followed.
But what interfered with working part-time for executive wages? Building your business while scrolling on your phone? Perhaps you should have “found a way, make a way” or asked your director “to match her time with your energy”.
So your site greatly reflects on your integrity and the energy that you have put into it may certainly be more useful in creating positivity in your life and maybe instituting principles or habits that you are gifted with to blossom in your own magnificence.
What a forking word salad. “All sound and fury, signifying nothing”. But I’m sure Ms. Critic thought it illuminating.
I just had to respond when i (sic) stumbled on your site
Puts in another order for flashing lights, cones and caution tape. Got to wonder what exactly Ms. Critic was Googling .
because there is no disgrace in any aspect of Mary Kay
I disagree with you, ma’am. Mary Kay and companies who operate as MLMs, network marketing, direct sales or whatever fancy buzzword they are using are not the shining beacons of honesty and integrity. Their success is built on the financial failures of over 98% of their consultomers.
and sometimes keeping things that have hurt us or our own failures or better kept in our own hearts or shared privately with a trusted friend.
And yet, opening up about abuse should not be pushed back on. MLMs flourish on the perceived aura of success. Pointing out the pitfalls should not be shamed.
I would be negligent if I shared only with a “trusted friend” that some-one we knew was buying a dangerous car-seat for their child. I HAVE to tell them that there is a problem . It’s a moral imperative.
Likewise, going to some-one with facts and figures if I think that some-one I know is going to act against their own interest shows how much I care about them.
God bless you
Not every-one here is a Christian or even monotheist. So stop with the passive aggressive.
The “I stumbled onto this site” thing is so tired. Just own the fact that you came looking for this site; you walked right in with a purpose. Folks stumble on here a great deal and I know it helps them find the truth and break free.
Honestly. There’s no shame in looking at a (legal) website (which this is. Kbots have been bugging Legal about it for almost two decades and they can’t do jack about it). The critics prattle on and on about how the people here only failed because of bad decisions, and you have to own your decisions, and decisions and blah blah blah.
You had to either click a link or type in the URL. You made a decision. Freaking own it already.
Will this comment speak to the brainwashed people like the OP? I doubt it, but at least we try.
I found a YT video of Dr. King speaking at a Qnet event. Some of his speech included these phrases, “I want to again confess, I’m an evangelist about the power of network marketing….My theme is that I want to emphasize your belief system in the network marketing industry…”
The description under the YT video reads: V-Indonesia 2012 attendees were lucky to spend time with network marketing expert Dr. King when he graced the stage as the event’s keynote speaker. Having travelled all the way from the USA, he selflessly shared his rich knowledge of the network marketing industry and profession, also explaining QNET’s present positioning from a global perspective. Dr. King ended his presentation by declaring “QNET is one of the finest network marketing companies I have ever worked with”.
Before I continue, let’s read that again: Dr. King ended his presentation by declaring “QNET is one of the finest network marketing companies I have ever worked with”.
Behindmlm has several dedicated articles on Qnet, and I copied each individual title below. I think I need not say more.
QNet ordered to get out of Ghana (fraud, money laundering)
QNet Review: How is this MLM company still in business?
QNet pyramid scheme fraud warning from Russia
Armed youth storm QNet office in Ghana, stab scammers
QNet pyramid scheme fraud warning from Bhutan
QNet still recruiting in Ghana despite arrests & deportations
18 QNet Vihaan arrests in India, BFH covers up fraud
7 QNet scammers arrested in Togo, criminally charged
52 QNet scammers deported from Ghana
QNet affiliates arrested in Ghana over hostage recruitment
Indian authorities freeze $11 million tied to QNet
60 QNet scammers arrested in Ghana
QNet scammers jailed for 48 months over kidnapping ruse
Ghana threatens QNet illegal immigrants with jail time
Three QNet executives arrested in Hyderabad, India
QNet affiliates busted for posing as National Security Operatives
QNet spinoff Serfa Marketing shut down, owner arrested
QNet human trafficking scammers arrested in Liberia
QNet human trafficking recruitment ring busted in Liberia
Indian celebrities summoned to explain QNet association
18 QNet Vihaan arrests in India, BFH covers up fraud
70 QNet victims protest lack of regulatory action in Bengaluru, India
QNet victim loses $28,900, commits suicide
8 QNet promoters arrested in Ghana, 120 hostage victims freed
QNet affiliate crippled by signup loan, takes life
QNet banned in Afghanistan, staff & promoters jailed
QNet a threat to Indian national security, govt corruption exposed
$16 million tied to QNet frozen in India per new investigation
15 QNet affiliates arrested in Ghana, 396 hostages rescued
Three new QNet arrests, eBiz asset seizures in India
QNet India shut down, management and top promoters hunted
Crowd1 & QNet banned in Côte d’Ivoire for being scams
Victim group calls for “urgent action” against QNet in India
36 arrested in Ghana for “network marketing scamming”
Wow!! That doesn’t look like a scammy company at all./ sarcasm.
I would never badmouth another human being especially who offered me an opportunity to grow personally and a business to grow.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I believe you’ve completely missed the point. This site isn’t really about badmouthing people. It’s about exposing the systemic flaws in MLMs in general and Mary Kay in particular.
You’re blaming yourself for your failure to prosper in Mary Kay, but do you realize that failure is the norm in MLMs, not the exception? Mary Kay will not disclose this to you when they recruit you. They won’t tell you how much the average consultant nets (or, more accurately, loses) after expenses. How could they? They don’t even track that information!
Think about your own experience. When did you ever submit any kind of statement to your upline, showing your expenses and your total sales? When were you ever acknowledged for your actual sales to your own customers, as opposed to being acknowledged for how much product you bought?
I hope you’ll stick around and do some reading here with an open mind. I hate seeing decent people getting snookered into schemes that rob them of their time and money, then leave them blaming themselves for their failures, when there was never any chance of succeeding to begin with. Please don’t let that become your own life story.
Well said Peggy. And I will add that there is no “systemic flaw” in MLM from the kingpin’s perspective. MLMs work exactly as designed. While traditional companies get money from the outside (via customer purchases) to pay the bills on the inside (including salaries), MLMs take money from the inside (from the bottom of the sales force), and funnel it to the top of the sales force (and to the corporation). All of this happens from within the sales organization. MLM is not a sales distribution model. It is a very dishonest system designed to fool people into believing they are starting a business, when in reality, the MLM sees every sales rep as another customer…as a cash-flow source for the company, and free labor to recruit even more customers.
It is flawed in the sense that it can never be profitable for the sales force as a whole. But the corporation gets to sell well above market pricing, making MLM very lucrative for the corporation. MLM was never designed to be profitable for everyone involved. From the perspective of the folks who “create” these MLM companies, it is one of the most lucrative ways to make money in the “retail” space, without ever really having to compete in the retail space. MLM eliminates competitive pricing by exploiting a captive audience of sales reps (which are actually the MLMs target customers). Marketing and distribution costs, as well as risk, are borne entirely by the sales force. Most product-based MLMs price their product at 2-10 times the going price of items of similar quality available through traditional channels. Just do a quick search on water filter systems and compare to Kangen. Your draw will drop.
The overhead costs of paying all those commissions destroys the “value” of these products, thanks to the ridiculous pricing required to cover all those costs. This is why no one buys MLM products from strangers. Without the relationship pressure, you are not likely to get a “pity” purchase. This is likely why most MLMs don’t allow you to open a public store. Such a move will quickly expose the lack of any market demand for these overpriced products, and will likely fail quickly. This is not good for the corporate image, so it is simply not allowed!
“And I will add that there is no ‘systemic flaw’ in MLM from the kingpin’s perspective. MLMs work exactly as designed.”
Good point!
So THAT’S why MLMs don’t allow their consultomers to open stores! I have been wondering about that for a long time.
One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned here on PT (yet, I’m guessing I haven’t found it) is the FNBO MK credit card. The Company likes to boast that it is run “debt free” … except for the mountains of debt that the consultomers saddle to themselves to “get their businesses going.”
I bee-lieved that line of nonsense three different times. THREE different times I purchased Emerald inventory orders (you can’t sell from an empty wagon!). Not using the FNBO credit card, but I did use it to “beef up my inventory.”
I cleared all of my credit card debt, including the FNBO Visa, in October when I finally got my house sold. The house was one I owned with a toxic ex-husband. “Marriage is hard work.” .. “Relationships aren’t easy.”
These little bumper stick phrases that MLMs like to tote were very effective on me. They apply in MK AND they could be applied outside of MK as well. Like, to say, your abusive marriage. That you didn’t really realize was abusive because “quitters never win and winners never quit,” and who wants to “quit” at their marriage (or their glamorous MK “business”) ??
I had come across this site during my 21 years as a consultomer but made myself turn away because it was just “negative thinking.” I wouldn’t allow myself to look behind the pink curtain.
Glad I became a Quitter. It got me out of the pink haze. It got me out of a toxic marriage. It lead me to a job that I really delight in.
Quitting isn’t always bad.
p.s. the FNBO MK credit card I had was at 27.99% APR when I closed it in Oct 2023. Yeah, you read that right. And my credit score is decent.
p.p.s. sorry for the rambling post, lol, I covered a lot of random bases with this one 😀 thanks for reading and helping me heal. <3
I love my Mary Kay business and products ! The only way you can keep up with your business is knowing g your inventory and how much to order . I suggest taking business courses and learn how you can managed your business and accountant . In order for you to be successful in any businesses you must learn how to take control of it and learn from other consultant mistakes . We are here to enhance other woman and their needs for the beauty regiments . I’m a beautician for 38 years and I’ve been doing my Mary Kay business rss for about five years . I’m still learning g from my business and I know my goals is to be successful and have a good self esteem and understand the need of your customers . People will always buy from you simply because you handle your customers in a professional way . Bad mouthing is not going to help you succeed but lead to failure and lack of confidence to yourself . As the Bible preaches us ….. Give them it will be given un to you , press down and shaken where there will be enough room to contained it . Love your business keep ve your customer , share your personality of ioen arms to willing to sacrifice yourself to help others . My goal is …… You f there us a Will , there you s a Way . May God Bless You . Remember , God is in control ! Success is here ! Mary Kay will always be part of my success !
This is satire, right????
Keep a happy thought.
Although if she’s serious, you’ve got next Friday’s column ready to roll 👍🏻
Maybe put your money toward grammar lessons instead of MK?
But I guess bad grammar is par for the course for mlmers
Okay, hun…
Business and management courses will only help for a legitimate business. It will never help trying to succeed in an MLM scheme.
From a fellow person who is professionally licensed in a cosmetology field; you look like a fool when you shill for an MLM brand. It makes you look uneducated when you push overpriced crappy products onto your customer base.
Also, not everyone is a Christian NOR SHOULD THEY BE ONE. So stop pushing your damn religion on everyone you come across or try to virtue signal that because since you’re a Christian, it immediately makes you have the moral high ground.
You won’t be successful as long as you back an MLM.