How to Finance Your Mary Kay Inventory
Here’s a script that one of our readers says Mary Kay nsd Allison LaMarr uses when pushing the big Mary Kay inventories. That’s right ladies! Beg, borrow or steal to get the money for inventory. It doesn’t matter how you do it… just do it because Allison’s commission check depends upon it.
The choice is up to you! In this business, your business, YOU are in charge! YOU make the decisions! I know you want ONLY THE BEST for YOURSELF! Often, in other employment situations woman complain of NOT being in charge – of NOT HAVING CONTROL OF THEIR PAYCHECK! At Mary Kay – YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE!
**Please remember: All of your product purchases (inventory) are guaranteed by the Company. If, for some catastrophic reason, you are unable to pursue your business, your inventory is secured.**
As a new consultant, I strongly recommend beginning your business by utilizing the PERFECT START PROGRAM. This program asks you to hold 5 skin care classes within your first 2 weeks of business. You may wish to consider the POWER START PROGRAM. I consider your first 2 weeks of business to be those weeks immediately after your receive your inventory. This program is explained further in Chapter One of your Consultant’s guide and gives you:
1. Base of experience
2. Sales and Bookings
3. Recognition
At this point you may be asking… “Yes, I want to start at PROFIT LEVEL, but I don’t have that amount of cash. Where do I find that kind of money?
As professionals in the business world, we recommend using an outside source for funding. We recommend a CONSUMER LOAN to finance your inventory. The best place to find your funding is:
1. Visa/Mastercard
2. Bank or credit union
3. Consumer Loan
4. Loan against the cash value or insurance policy or CD
5. Supportive friend or relative
It is suggested that you begin your business with a credit card (Master Card or Visa), loan from a bank, personal lender or credit union. Interest paid is a business tax deduction at the end of that year. Your loan is to generate income and will be paid for by a portion of your profits and in no way should interfere with prior commitments. If you want to be o a BIG salary/profit making basis as soon as you come into the Company, then you should start your business with a Diamond Star Consultant Order-$3,000 Wholesale. This will give you plenty of everything to sell. Start in as a Star Consultant makes you a winner from the beginning and earns you additional income in prizes. You will wear your “Ladder of Success” pin with pride!
Remember, Mary Kay guarantees a 90% BUY BACK POLICY if you should decide this business is not for you. Isn’t that reassuring! With Mary Kay’s guarantee, you give yourself every advantage of running a successful business.
BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE!
At Mary Kay, as in any successfully run small business, we believe that adequate capital (money to invest) and inventory are vital to your growth and success. Experts will tell you that many small businesses fail because of inadequate capitalization to build and maintain a profit level inventory.
Profit Level Inventory means having enough product to:
1. Pay yourself a salary
2. Re-invest in your inventory
3. Cover your business expenses
4. Maintain an adequate variety of product on hand to service your clients
You have 4 options for beginning your business with Mary Kay:
1. Begin at Profit-Level-$3,000 or more
2. Begin with a wholesale order from $600-$2,400 smaller than the ration needed for profit and re-investment
3. Begin with a $200 wholesale order – enough for your own personal use only
4. Begin with NO PRODUCT
We believe that the strongest way to begin is a PROFIT LEVEL OR ABOVE. Even if you choose to be a PART-TIME consultant. I’m sure you will want to:
1. Make $MONEY$ immediately
2. Serve your clients immediately
3. Not have to hassle with orders
When you approach financial institutions, don’t be nervous or intimidated by the facility or anyone servicing you!
BANKS ARE IN BUSINESS TO SERVICE YOU!
That is how they make their money. Some points to remember when securing your loan:
1. Shop for a competitive interest rat.
2. Set up an easy pay-back schedule of 18-24 months. This keeps the payment low!
3. Don’t accept NO! Be solution conscious. You can always get a loan if you have 1 of 3 things
* Credit rating
* Collateral
* Co-signer
4. Don’t allow a loan rep to “counsel you” in a negative manner! The decision by the bank to fund you should be based on your ability to pay back the loan-Not what, where, when, or why you are using the money. A bank does not stop a house or car loan if they do not like the Real Estate agent or dealership you are purchasing from.
5. Be a professional when approaching the financial institution.
I believe in the value of inventory because I am and you are a professional businesswoman who works in an immediate society that demands service and products NOW! People no longer choose to wait 2 weeks to receive something they value. Also, I choose to protect my time and profit margin by completing my services in a timely manner. I know you will choose to do that also!
At Mary Kay, we believe in your entrepreneurial spirit and your abilities to succeed as a businesswoman!
I BELIEVE IN YOU
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Why would you take out a LOAN or a credit card? That is being unwise with your money…getting IN debt?!
Because the recruiter and her SD tell you it’s the way to make oodles of money, that starting with a “full store” is the way they because successful. That it’s not debt, it’s an INVESTMENT.
They have all kinds of persuasion, and have had 50 years to practice them.
Ok. Do you think that is true? Do you sell mary kay? I want too but I can’t take out a loan and be more in debt. My husband just lost his job and is unemployed. We had to take out a small loan for our wedding. We don’t want to have to keep taking out small loans! Do you think that it’s worth it and it really pays off? (honestly)
Hi Christy. Sorry, I meant to reply to your post specifically, but accidently left a general reply. Please see it below. 🙂
You will NOT make money selling Mary Kay.
http://voices.yahoo.com/mary-kay-home-business-opportunity-flopportunity-133569.html
You will go deeper in debtr.
Seriously, you are better off taking a part time job flipping burg4ers, or cleaning houses. That’s real spendable money.
Welcome to PT, Christy! You have come to the right place to have your questions answered honestly.
To answer your question, no. It is not worth joining MK (or any other multi level marketing company). Keep reading (and maybe even join the discussion board) and you will discover many women here acquired thousands of $ of debt to either attempt to reach or to maintain directorship. I personally have never sold MK, but I know several people that have or still do and struggle(d) or failed. It also affected their marriages negatively. Thankfully, I found this website before I was almost sucked in.
I know times are difficult right now. I suggest your husband volunteer while he searches for a job. It will help him feel he has a purpose and boost his self-esteem. It will also show future employers that he has a good heart and work ethic.
For you, be as emotionally supportive as you can and be sure he knows you love him. If you really need to support more financially, you are better off getting a minimum wage job. MK will take too much time away from your marriage and will land you in debt (or very little profit for the hours you work).
Good luck and please join the discussion board if you need more advice or support!
Well said!
As someone who *did* get suckered into selling MK for several years, I can attest to everything you say, MK Taints.
Fortunately, I didn’t take out any loans to finance any aspect of that so-called business. (I had no debts, and I wanted to keep it that way.)
Borrowing money to finance a stockpile of potions and paint that won’t even FALL off the shelves, never mind “fly,” is a really, really, reeeeeeally bad idea. But a well-programmed Kaybot could talk a dog off a meat wagon, and too many intelligent, reasonable people wind up in debt over this.
Thank you for being so honest. I really appreciate it. I have a full time job that pays very well. My husband is now out looking for jobs. He as well has a good degree and just needs to get another job. I have no doubt he will. Together we make excellent income and I’m thinking of doing MK on the side. I realize many people fail (I could very well too) but am also wondering what if I give it a try…as a very part time job on the side for extra income. The girl that works above me makes 64,000 a year and she has done it for 13 years. I wonder if it makes a difference when you have your recruiter train you really well. MK is a multi million dollar company and has been around for AGES. It must work for some people right?!?! Again, I appreciate ALL the honest answers and I am taking into consideration EVERYTHING you are saying. 🙂 Thanks, Christy
The girl that works above me makes 64,000 a year and she has done it for 13 years.
She CLAIMS to make $64,00 a year … but have you seen her business records?
If you are thinking of buying into a business, and that’s what you are discussing, ask to see the past 5 years of income and expenses for the business.
Not just the check she flashes at the meetings – that is pre-deductions, and shows none of the usual expenses: you want to see the 1099 which shows how much Mary Kay took out for car co-payments and product returns, and the Schedule C stuff to see how much she had left after all the rest of the expenses.
Another thing MK Directors do is exaggerate their income by taking their best month and multiplying it by 12. Fortunately this is easy to verify because Directors make little or nothing from actual sales; their income is from commissions. MK publishes a little magazine called “Applause” which Tracy uploads onto this website.
Go to this page: http://www.pinktruth.com/mary-kay-documents/applause-magazine-back-issues/
Pull up the most recent issues and scan through them looking for her name. If she really DOES collect $64000 in commissions a year, you should see her name show up in that magazine on a regular basis.
The other thing she won’t tell you is that her earnings are BEFORE deducting any business expenses. She doesn’t take home $64,000 a year to her family. If she did, she would be taking in at least twice that in monthly commissions, and you’d see her name in that magazine every month at the $10,000+ commission level. No one in MK consistently does that unless they’re National Sales Directors (the top 1% of the company).
In addition to the normal expenses of running an office, she is also required to maintain both her personal level of product purchases (even though directors do very little selling) and and make sure her unit also orders at a certain level, so much of her “earnings” get churned back into the company purchasing more products.
A MK director is always under a swinging sword. If she fails to make “Production” (her unit doesn’t order enough products) for any two consecutive months, she is stripped of her directorship, no matter how long she has been there. Consequently, most directors wind up taking their own “earnings” and placing product orders on behalf of unit members to meet those “production” levels.
That claimed $64,000 a year evaporates in a hurry.
“a very part time job on the side for extra income”
No such thing with MK, sorry.
And, you really don’t know if the “girl above you” makes $64K a year. MK ladies will lie like a rug to suck you in. Don’t fall for it.
I agree with enorth. Even if the woman you know made $64k last year (I challenge you to ask her for her schedule c), she may have been in the hole most of her previous years. How much of the money she has made has she “invested” back into her business? What happens when her downline returns product to corporate and she loses $ from commission chargebacks?
As with any business opportunity, please research in as much depth as possible. How many consultants are in your area already? (See the MK locator to get a general idea)
Keep in mind that the mlm business model is flawed as you are asked to recruit your own customers. If you recruit them, who do you have left to sell to? Also, they are most likely in your area, so you would be further saturating the market with consultants. Even if you decide not to recruit anyone, rest assured that there will be plenty of other women in your unit and other units who will be “sharing the opportunity.”
Another way you can judge the success of someone’s MK business is to check their Mary Kay FB page if they have one. See who is friends with them. Most likely it will be other MK consultants and some family and (maybe) some friends. Who are they advertising to? Their team (actually their competition)? One way I’ve seen women try to save face on FB is to ask that people message them if they are interested, as a way to distract from the lack of “likes” and comments on their posts.
Saying MK is a multi-million dollar company and, therefore, it must work for some IBCs is like saying Wal-mart pays all of their employees well. If you know anything about Wal-Mart, you know they pay minimum wage to most of their workers and do not provide cost effective benefits. So who gets all of that money? The CEO and other top dogs of the company succeed off the sweat and tears of those below them.
The following paragraph REALLY leapt out at me.. they’re basically further insulating the IBC into a “us vs. them” mentality and cutting off a would-be-helpful outsider at the knees. True, the bank rep shouldn’t be giving their personal opinion on what you do with money, but a) their professional opinion should matter, and they are notoriously OBJECTIVE when it comes to whether a loan is good or not from a numbers-only perspective (sorry, all you bee-lievers in the pink bubble!) and b) this attitude of “do NOT listen to any negative talk” extends waaaay beyond the bank later.
It’s kind of hilarious that they’re basically telling you “everything thinks MK’s a bad idea” if you read between the lines 😉
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“4. Don’t allow a loan rep to “counsel you” in a negative manner! The decision by the bank to fund you should be based on your ability to pay back the loan-Not what, where, when, or why you are using the money. A bank does not stop a house or car loan if they do not like the Real Estate agent or dealership you are purchasing from.”
Car and house loans are something called Secured Debt. If you don’t pay the bank has the right to repossess the car and forclose on the house. The bank is not so worried about how you intend to use that money because they know that if you default they can get their money back.
Small business loans are something called Unsecured Debt. If you don’t pay the only thing the bank has to guarantee the loan is your smile, generously coated with Mary Kay NouriShine Plus Lip Gloss ($14) in Red Passion shade. OF COURSE they’re going to ask how you intend to use the money. They want to know if they can expect your “business” to turn enough of a profit to pay it back. If they’re not satisfied with the potential profitability of your business (and they KNOW that MLMs – including Mary Kay – are notoriously UNprofitable), you can be sure that they will ask you to put up your car or house as collateral.
All I heard there, missy, was a whole lotta NEGATIVITY! Smiles and sunshine pay the bills in Mary Kay! 😀 YOU LAZY LOOSERS just gotta BEELIEVE!
ahaha.. oh well, at least they can warm-chat the bill collectors..
The inventory is secured by MK according to this. My experience is when you get sick and truly cannot sell, no one in MK cares. All you end up with is product slowly going stale. In the end you have to return product and quit (even when you are sick…there is no sick leave with MK). In my other jobs I got unemployment. I had concerned co-workers and bosses who visited and sent flowers. With MK no one including Corp cared. So I had no choice and I returned the product. Even then they tried to cut back on what they’d pay. (No computers back then to keep track). So I demanded the extra products back. I got mine & someone else’s with their labels on it. Fortunately there wasn’t much there. Over the next 2 or 3 years I found dozens of other consultants & Directors. I traded some of it for brand new product (just the odd thing) and I normally bought something I actually used. Then I gave the rest away. Since I got sick, I had time to slowly get rid of some before I quit too. Felt bad for the consultants. I told them it was a cult and mlm (not dual marketing). I wasn’t in very long. I did make sales. I did have repeat customers who bought some product too. I was one of the lucky ones with a strained but intact marriage. To this day my husband and kids hate MK. So the product isn’t actually totally guaranteed if you get sick and can’t work. The product just changes and becomes too old to sell.
“Shop for a competitive interest rat”–I know it’s a typo but I can’t help but laugh at that one. Oh there’s a rat running around alright…