Seminar: The Biggest Fraud of Your Life
Written by Raisinberry
Over a decade of postings on Pink Truth from consultants and Directors have yet to produce an honest response from the company or the Nationals concerning the abuses suffered from starting a Mary Kay distributorship. I say distributorship because it certainly is not a “business.”
Thousands of women have posted here about their years of working it, multiple earned cars, status on the career path, and still they have come away with the realization that they can rarely be truthful about the internal workings of Mary Kay because women wouldn’t join if they knew! Telling the TRUTH would definitely curtail all the enthusiasm!
The scripts have been revealed, the tactics discussed, the poor conduct and unethical behavior of those we were supposed to trust are now out in the open. Mary Kay Cosmetics, the Corporation, has the power to issue an apology, or at a very minimum, make their regret known concerning the core values that were compromised along the way. Instead, we are barreling towards a celebration in Dallas saluting how well we all deceive each other
It would be easy to say that Corporate owes us no apology. But that would be another deception in a long line of same. Corporate knows and has known all the atrocities that have been perpetrated on consultants and Directors for years! They choose to look the other way because they need the money… they want the money… they MUST HAVE the money.
They are totally aware that orders will come in to win a bonus product or a Mary Kay token. They are completely abreast of how many orders are placed on hold, or declined at month end. They can see how many orders are delivered to a Directors home in another persons name, and they also see the chargebacks. They know that consultants deep in the pink fog will order $1,000 worth and more to win a prize from corporate and to receive recognition from their NSD and Director. In fact, they bank on it. And Seminar is the great culmination of all those orders and recruits.
The fact that the company NEVER wants to see your actual retail sales, never requires your weekly summary, never requires them as mandatory, never asks you to include sales tickets, when doing so would be as easy as posting them on intouch under the PCP… this should SCREAM VOLUMES to any women with an ounce of sense. If they did, they would have to acknowledge that no honor bestowed at Seminar is legitimate.
The year end extravaganza has you, me, all of us, sitting in our seats, applauding not ONE SINGLE OUNCE OF RETAIL PROOF. What kind of mind control must exist if after 45 years, women still flock to a giant awards night to PRETEND they earned a RETAIL SELLING AWARD with the greatest portion of the wholesale still sitting in boxes or on consultant shelves.
This isn’t the “greatest night of your life”. It is the “greatest fraud of your life!” And you are paying for it. PAYING for your dress, PAYING for your transportation, PAYING for your food, PAYING for your hotel, Paying for your registration to sit in a Convention center and pretend! Those who are new to the game of course think it is all real. Plus, you get to sit the following day and listen to top director stories that are sanitized from what actually occurred for the sake of the newbies and the “PMA secret pact.” The actual events that led up to the so called “miracle year” can not be made public.
One of my offspring applauded her Queens Court of Sales winner at our area Seminar Awards night. She wanted to be QUEEN. It was her goal. When she found out who she had to beat, she coughed up the dough to achieve it. No, she didn’t sell it. She just wanted to BEE it. All night long, I sat there, watching the attention paid her, and the climatic moment as the NSD read off the Number 1… “Our girl”.
She wore the tiara, sat in the throne, got the microphone, shared her secrets to success… all those secrets anyway that didn’t involve interest rates. And I thought to myself, we are all supposed to swallow this as true. Smile and Nod.
In this area event, we watched a microcosm of the grander fraud happening in every hotel ballroom all over Dallas. Do some sell it legitimately? Sure…probably a few… those who do not recruit and those with a volume selling scam. Selling $40,000 a year means you sell $110 a day, everyday… $3,300 a month. Other than holiday open houses where big discounts are given, and fundraisers once or twice a year, the typical consultant is nowhere near that figure legitimately, so I think we can all agree that Queens Court rarely equates to $40,000 sold much less $20,000 in profit.
So there you have it. From start to finish, Seminar is a phony awards night, clapping for phony achievements while phony achievers sit on a cardboard throne, with a faux tiara, telling a phony story about how they achieved this grand accomplishment.
Since they can not reveal the total truth about the real condition of their area, or achievement, even their humble acceptance speech is phony. The only thing “real” about Seminar is the sweet deal they got on all the jewelry awards and the hard earned cash you’ll part with just being there. We are told Seminar is the Emmies, Broadway and the Academy Awards all rolled up in one! That is very true. It is true because all those awards programs recognize excellence in ACTING- which is the ability to stand on stage, convince your audience of a fictional reality and be a credible pretender! Sounds like a perfect description of Seminar.
Visit the
Cue “The Great Pretender” by Freddie Mercury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLRjFWDGs1g&t=1s
I knew a director who was consistently in the top 5 of personal sales. She had BOXES of products in her basement office…. dozens of shipping boxes stacked everywhere. Did she sell a lot of products? Yes, she did have many clients who bought a lot at once. Yet the number of boxes she had all over was insane.
Not just “paying,” but “praying” for it, too…
You misspelled “preying.” 😉
Today is Amazon Prime Day and Mary Kay products are all over it, discounted and free shipping, with free returns. Does corporate even care that products are sold on Etsy, Amazon and eBay? No. As long as the consultants and directors keep ordering( not selling) to win that prize and recognition.
As part of the mind control that cults usually exercise the typical Amway convention sessions go on for literally hours with no breaks, only when it’s time for lunch or dinner does a session end. Then there’s more after dinner and then they have another session going after midnight called the “night owl” that most people attend (because you just can’t miss one little kernel of information that could make or break the business). People might sleep for three hours a night in the hotel rooms they paid for. Does Seminar follow anything similar to this or is Amway just a hell of a lot worse?
Amway is the gold standard, but MK does it very similar. Not so in your face, but you are pretty heavily immersed in 24/7 MK. There’s the seminar activities themselves, but the meals are all together so pink bubble right there and then the NSD and director activities that you can’t miss. Difference is that there’s a dress code/uniform so everyone knows you’re with MK so you can’t even hide out to miss some of it.
But nothing like those “night owl” sessions they have in Amway, I presume? I’m guessing after dinner or evening activities the individual groups are together for their “meetings” or “group time” and some stay up late while others don’t? Just curious.
Rarely are the “night owl” sessions official. Occasionally, NSDs will have a super-duper exclusive, invite-only “sit at her feet” and learn session in her suite for certain people who qualified. Seminar Awards night used to go past midnight, but it’s moved to the afternoon, so you are out at a more reasonable time. Most activities wrap by 10:00 at the latest.
But you have to remember that these women are 4 to a standard hotel room. And, inevitably, there’s that high-enthusiasm person who will. not. shut. up the entire night. She oozes excitement and pink glitter, and if she’s not sleeping, no one else gets to, either! Ok, I exaggerate. A bit. But you get the point.
They stay 4-to-a-room because they can’t afford a room for themselves. Think about that.
“Enriching women’s lives.”
I don’t recall many “after hours” events sanctioned by corporate, but there were plenty of after hours events. Our director had a night dinner (be there or be square), the national area had an awards dinner (better not miss it), and there were also “additional” trainings you could attend – we haven’t delved into these anywhere on here, to my knowledge. I was super obsessed and into Deb Erickson and the “I Can Institute.” These type of folks were not affiliated directly with corporate, but they knew we were good candidates for their “services,” so they would have trainings available. Very pricey trainings, I might add.
The biggest one to fool is yourself. When you come out of the fog you can’t in good consciousness, continue to try and fool others.