A Mary Kay consultant tells us how easy it is to make money in Mary Kay. After all, with minimal effort, she sells $400 to $500 in reorders. And if she worked more, she’d make more. She was told there is no quick and easy way to make money in Mary Kay. Huh, that’s funny. I’ve always heard directors say how easy this “business” is. Here you go, ladies. We all just did it wrong.

Does Mary Kay work for everyone? No. There are plenty of reasons why that might be. You may not enjoy the work, you may not have the time to really focus, you may have trouble selling, you may not have access to customers, you may be at a disadvantage you can’t overcome, etc. But this is true of any sales job. And true for any job really. Haven’t we all seen people be hired at our own jobs and they don’t last? Some people are just not cut out for certain types of work and maybe they have extra hurtles that don’t help. But why blame Mary Kay for something that happens with every career? I love my full time dance teaching job. But you know what? Some people hate it and that’s fine. We’re not all built the same.

I’ve been with Mary Kay for two years now. I came in to make a few extra hundred a month and that’s exactly what I do. I make about $400-$500 a month with minimal parties. I essentially built my customer base at the beginning and now the bulk of my income comes from reorders. And during Christmas time, I pull in almost $1000. One thing is for sure, when I spend more time on it, that’s when I make more money. I know that, at least for me, I could make more money if I had the will power to work it more. But I didn’t get in to make it a full time career and that’s okay. My friend did make it her full time career and she’s doing very well for herself.

Can some women be pushy and desperate? Of course. But haven’t we all met sales people like that? Why the focus on this particular company? I’ve been hounded by car salesmen who don’t stop calling me. But I still go back later when I need to shop for a car. I don’t blame the entire Carmax company for a few desperate individuals.

Do they recommend you buy product? Yes. Right now, if you opened up a jewelry store, for example, guess what you have to invest in? Jewelry to sell. I didn’t start off with product right away. I had to learn that a lot of women will cancel or not buy if you don’t have the product on the spot. So by month three, I invested in a good amount of product. No one had to trick me into doing it. I had to learn it for myself. And my director was still nice enough to pretty much lend me her product when she could. Nothing of what they recommend you do is unlike starting any kind of retail business.

I’m sure there are plenty of bad consultants and directors. Just like you can find bad employees and bosses at almost any job. But that’s not the experience that all women have in Mary Kay. I’m happy with the decision I made. I move my products well and I definitely make way more than my mom did when she sold Avon or my friends selling DoTerra. It’s worked out for me for what I was personally chasing. I was a customer long before becoming a consultant and I and my customers stand by this product. So to me, when I spent $100 on a kit worth more than $400, it was a deal. If I decided to quit, I could either return my starter kit or keep it. I knew I would keep it if I quit because I was accustomed to spending $95 on the Miracle Set anyway and at least this way, I was getting the Miracle Set plus mascara, my foundation I adore, makeup remover and there were a few extra things when I signed up. And I could still give away the stuff I wouldn’t use as gifts to people. I have struggled with acne since I was in 5th grade. I have adult onset acne now. I’ve tried everything under the sun. The ONLY thing that has ever actually improved the pH in my skin is Mary Kay. I still have friends who haven’t seen me in a few years who ask me what I’ve done for my skin. So yes. I’ve been genuinely recommending MK since before I was a consultant.

What I’m reading is a lot of people who had bad experiences with their director or unit. My experience has been wonderful. My director was honest with me. She told me I couldn’t make a few hundred just doing catalog sales. That I’d have to do at least some parties. She told me from before that I’d likely lose sales if I didn’t have product on hand but she didn’t push me into it. I learned on my own that she was right. I’ve done pretty well. I didn’t go in expecting to get rich. The day I went to the studio meeting and signed up, all of the directors said, “There’s no easy quick way to make good money. You have to work for it.” They were pretty honest before we were even given the chance to sign up. If you’re going to really invest in your store, then yeah. You’re going to make somewhere closer to 40% so you can keep up with new products coming out and your demos. But to be fair, they strongly recommend you set no more than 10% of your 50% to that kind of stuff. Why new products? For the same reason Sephora and Macy’s are constantly releasing new products as well. To compete with the market. 40% for me has still proven to be good for me and what I wanted and 40% is still high compared to other direct sales companies. For example, I know DoTerra gives a 25% commission.

I write this only so that people can know that these bad experiences are not representative of all units, all consultants and all directors.