What Was Your Highest Check in Mary Kay?
Women in Mary Kay love to talk about their “highest check.” They know if they talk about the one big check they got 8 years ago, women will quietly multiply that by 12 in their heads and say “wow, that’s a lot of money each year!”
No one tells the unsuspecting victim that it was one check, several years ago, and most of the time this woman’s checks are a fraction of that.
Thanks to our friends over in the Mary Kay directors group on Facebook, we get some allegedly real numbers from some sales directors. Remember: These women are not working and earning money. They are perpetuating a grand scam that swindles women and their families out of money. These commission checks are ill-gotten gains.
Visit the
Big difference between gross amount, and net amount. Figure a third off, right there, then factor in and deduct expenses… Telling that NSD commissions are no longer published in “Applause.” Of course, those were gross numbers that were always flaunted.
Highest check was $4000 back in the 80s. Never equalled or surpassed in 40 years. That’s the one to keep in mind.
The rest all reek of burning britches and manure. Especially the coat, which is just a way of shaming her negative Nelly doubting husband.
That shop assistant knew just how to trap some-one’s interest and get her to buy that coat. If she hadn’t have bought the coat, I’m pretty sure it would have been marked back up for the next sailing.
It is interesting that Ms. Navrkal never mentioned actually wearing her fluffy status symbol. I’m guessing that she was making sure that she could return it if possible.
Can someone explain to me what is going on with Seint?
The way I understand it they can sell it but not team build?
Yeah! They are affiliate now. The sellers will no longer get commissions from purchases from their downline.
Rodan and Fields too. All the big money makers just lost their teams as of September 1. Who will be next? Maybe MK in a few years?
Monat will be going that way sooner rather than later.
Just think of all the cumulative losses in their downlines to make those checks possible.
This is a much better question:
“What is the highest value you reported on line 31 of your sched C from your MLM business?
The answer to this question represents true annual business profit after expenses, which is the closest comparison to regular “income”. Sharing top-line business revenue is dishonest, especially when most of these ladies have produced an aggregate lifetime loss with Mary Kay.
Ideally, every MLM recruit should insist the recruiter share their last 2 or 3 sched C forms, and refuse to continue any discussion of the MLM “opportunity” until those forms are produced.
“This is a much better question: What is the highest value you reported on line 31 of your sched C from your MLM business?”—
But line 31 can also be commissions from MLM downline, aka commissions from pyramid scheming. They could never retail a single product and would still use line 31. Profit/loss from participating in a scam isn’t saying much, and it misses the big picture which is stated beautifully below:
“Just think of all the cumulative losses in their downlines to make those checks possible.”
Well stated! I maintain that even those getting the occasional big commission check are still reporting a loss on line 31. Amway is famous for coaching their IBCs to write off everything and report a loss every year to get a tax advantage for participating. Line 31 would bely the “fake it til you make it” lifestyle exaggerations, while the IBCs proudly defraud their fellow tax payers.
But I see your point, Char. Since they can’t write off product purchases (their biggest expense), and they have to report commissions, this gives the impression of profitability when their ledger shows a recurring operating loss. And they have to pay taxes ON TOP of an operating loss. What a mess!
CPAs must shake their heads when working for MLMers.
“But I see your point, Char. Since they can’t write off product purchases (their biggest expense), and they have to report commissions, this gives the impression of profitability when their ledger shows a recurring operating loss.”—
Although you make a valid separate point, I’m not talking about profitability. I’m talking about what kind of business it is.
It is how you earned the money, i.e., via pyramid scheming that matters. While line 31 is probably mixed in with a little bit generated from retailing, it is not required. Hence, you can be a MK consultant and never retail a product to a non-affiliate, but you would still file a Schedule C. Whether it is a net profit or loss on line 31 is immaterial.
Tax paying drug dealers would file a Schedule C. We don’t ask them to prove to us whether there’s money to be made in drug dealing as a measure of it’s legitimacy. Drug dealing isn’t ethical work. We don’t argue to avoid drug dealing because…the money sucks.
MLM isn’t a scam “because everyone loses money”. It’s a scam because you sell an opportunity endlessly to other opportunists who think they will all make money selling products or building teams. It is those participants’ losses (purchases) that fund the company, i.e., an endless-chain recruiting product-based pyramid scheme.
IMHO, that day can’t come soon enough. I hope most, if not all, of the remaining consultomers will wakeup and begin to rebuild their lives and relationships. We can hope, anyway.
The other problem with the highest check is consultants think “If she made 11,000 in one month, surely I can earn 4 or 5 thousand.”
But, they can’t! Those high checks represent income losses of their downline. Their down line will make negative income, or a few hundred if they’re very lucky.
Ahem, Samantha Kay Miller never says what her highest check was. But she lists things she paid for with cash and expects us to assume her MK scamming paid for it. In the words of the great Shania Twain, “That don’t impress me much”. I wonder how much her MK scam actually funded those purchases and how much was her husband’s income, especially because she says she was a part-time consultant.
The highest check thing is a scam in and of itself. Those one-off checks often appear after the big June purchases and pushes.
Ask about their highest check after chargebacks, taxes, and expenses. Ask about their Schedule C and whether they are really making a profit. If they are making a profit, how does their conscience feel knowing that it’s only due to losses by their downlines?