Trying Mary Kay Over and Over
This was left as a comment on an old thread. If you read carefully, this woman was in Mary Kay at least 3 different times, maybe 4. It’s interesting that she notes mostly negative things about the company, but kept signing up, and also thinks that Mary Kay the lady was great.
I was in MK on and off for 25 years. I reached red jacket status but as fast as I would add people they would fall off. I wasn’t comfortable with encouraging people to place big orders that were beyond their budget.
When I was brand new a Director hired me to clean her house and she paid me in product. I figured that was a great way to build my inventory except the longer I was in the more I learned. I finally realized she had been charging me full retail for the product. As fast as I filled orders, I went deeper in being obligated to her. The more experienced I became the more shady the deal became.
I eventually quit. As bad as that experience was with that Director, there were a few along the way that were exceptional. Their ethics were top-notch.
The last Director I had I really didn’t want to be under. She had a Director under her that quit and so then I slid back under her. When she wasn’t my Director, I went to a function where she was. I hadn’t seen her in years and I was so excited to see her. Turns out because I wasn’t directly under her she didn’t even give me the time of day. Wow.
Then circumstances required me to be under her again. The next event, she did a total turnaround. You would’ve thought I was the best thing since sliced bread the way she greeted me and hugged me and gushed over me. No thanks. I quit for the final time.
I learned a lot through my Mary Kay years, good & not so much. The emphasis is too much on volumes of orders and how many recruits you can get. The good directors are far and few in between. The products have too many ingredients in them that I don’t want on my skin. I imagine with the Internet now it would be really difficult to build an in person business.
I do however, believe Mary Kay herself meant well with her philosophy. She truly did love women and I was fortunate enough to better myself under her philosophy. It fit the world at that time.
Visit the
This is similar to my story, being under different directors I didn’t choose to be under. My “ah ha” moment came at my second trip to Seminar where my director was pressuring me to go into DIQ. I was a team leader and I had just finished star consultant with a huge order of inventory essentially buying my way to star. But then, Mary Kay debuted their new packaging, compacts, colors. The new products didn’t fit the previous compacts. It was so frustrating knowing I had a closet full of “old” inventory at home. I quit the second day of seminar. When I got home I packed up my inventory and sent it back( thanks to finding the information on this website).
“I reached red jacket status but as fast as I would add people they would fall off.”
Exactly. Churn is the name of the game in MLMs like Mary Kay. Ideally, your recruits will make a huge inventory order, recruit their own replacements, and then drop off without returning their inventory, ad infinitum.
Only in MLM is such employee churn so lucrative.
“As bad as that experience was with that Director, there were a few along the way that were exceptional. Their ethics were top-notch.”
If they made their money off of downline orders moreso than direct product sales to outside customers, they were NOT ethical. To be ethical in MLMs like Mary Kay, stop recruiting and then build a proper business of actually retailing the products to outside customers.
But no one is making any real money ethically in Mary Kay now are they?
One of the questions that occasionally comes up on r/antiMLM sub-reddit is “I’ve been offered a job at MLM corporate, should I take it?” The consensus is “yes if you only can’t find another job, but make it plain you are corporate rather than an independent salesperson”.
The director she was under “quit?” Durectirs don’t really quit. They have invested so much time, effort, and money into being a director. Most likely the director lost her directorship due to not making sales quotas.
Mary Kay rivals Elizabeth Taylor in the marriage department. She love herself, then men, then saw an opportunity to take advantage of women.