MLM is Failing
News of MLM companies not MLMing anymore is really upsetting the bots who are completely invested in these scams. They’re the kind of people who won’t admit that they’re in an MLM.. and they play word games and call their scams “direct sales” or “network marketing” or “social selling.”
Just this year, we’ve seen these companies eliminate MLM from their business model or shut down altogether: Beautycounter, Seint, Rodan + Fields, Beachbody BODi… did I miss any?
So it’s important for Mary Kay die-hards like Katy Goldstein to remind us how fabulous and strong Mary Kay is, and there is no way they could ever stop being an MLM.
Just remember… As a consultant or director, you own nothing. You have no rights. The company can terminate you at any time, with or without a reason. You take nothing with you. And if the company shuts down or decided to get rid of the distributors, you’re also out of luck.
A lot of lip service is paid to how “strong” Mary Kay is. What a great foundation it was built on. This is being touted by those who are completely blind to what a scam the whole thing is. They can’t admit to themselves that 99% of people lose money, not because of their own failures, but because the system is designed that way. They can’t admit that they company fills the pockets of Ryan Rogers at the expense of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who are being swindled out of their money.
Make no mistake: It is the same scam as all other MLM companies. And therein lies the risk for MK. The numbers have been falling in the U.S. for a really long time. The company has boosted their numbers by entering “emerging markets.” (i.e. Countries that are much worse off, where consumers are less educated about this type of scam.) There is no guarantee that this scam can continue into infinity.
Visit the
Wasn’t she supposed to be an NSD by now?
I guess she’s just a lazy loser who isn’t willing to work hard! You can promote yourself whenever you want in MK if you’re just willing to put in the work!
Her pumpkin patch wasn’t sincere enough.
And yet car qualifications have been made more difficult (ie expensive), star inventory packages are more expensive, their InTouch website is about as functional as a 2002 Geocities fan page, they’re discontinuing samples of color cosmetics because “the factory don’t make ’em no more” instead of, you know, just finding a new factory, and closing loopholes on time-honored tactics like placing fraudulent orders and on hold orders.
Basically, they’re making life as difficult as they can for their consultomers, almost as if they’re trying to push out as many of them as they can ahead of a paradigm shift…
Katy’s post will be fun to revisit when the inevitable happens.
Monat is slowly tearing itself apart. A large group of market partners were terminated after they joined Olive Tree People, others for “not fitting the aesthetic” and finally the suits and countersuits issued by former CEO Stuart MacMillan and Toni Vanschoyck who was the first market partner had had over 95% of the other MPs in her down-lines.
Mary Kay Corp is well aware of the shenanigans going on in the downline. They are well aware that most of the product ordered is never retailed, and of the product that IS retailed, little if any sells at MSRP.
The illusion of being a business owner must be maintained at all cost. The goal is to create a vast customer base of folks willing to order way more product than they can ever use or sell, and get those same customers to recruit others to do the same.
All the incentives in Mary Kay promote these simple business goals. Nothing in the corporate incentives reward the selling of product to outside customers. The problem is in pretending to support a grossly outdated business model (door to door sales). As time goes by, fewer and fewer people see the value in promoting such an inefficient distribution model, since no one buys other products this way any more.
Every new generation needs to discover and learn to recognize MLM. Thanks to social media, folks are learning about the pitfalls of MLM long before they are approached for the first time. Thankfully, the MLM smell can be detected at a distance, once folks are familiar with the odor. The FTC can smell it too…which is what scares MLM corporate types into abandoning their MLM distribution model once the FTC is onto them.
Well, mk’s demise is inevitable. The makeup sample printing company quit!
Please. The first thing your nepo-baby CEO did was slash your car program. Mary Kay seven-last-names Ash’s family doesn’t give a crap about the sales force. They only care about the trust fund they all depend on remaining fat with cash.
Another company that dropped the party plan is Stella and Dot. The party plan is DOA. All the companies are going to affiliate or ambassador. It’s only a matter of time before MK changes. They say they won’t but they have already started changing. Wait and watch.