Mary Kay Opinion 17

I enjoyed reading about your Mary Kay experience. I, too, became a MK "consultant" way back in the 80s. You are so right - the company's success(?) is built on an inefficient inventory system, with many incentives for its consultants to over purchase. I found MK's approach to treating its reps' successes (many times, just plain old purchasing of too much inventory I'm sure) involved catering to a rep's ego, need for attention and insecurities by encouraging them to stand infront of a captured audience as they received their "prizes" and "promotions." The consultant's kit, accessories, brochures, etc. are very seductive too.

I clicked on the "other opinions about Mary Kay" link, and all I read were stories about how wonderful MK is and how much money one can make.

Looking back I realized that I was working too hard setting up all those facial parties with all the annoying little brushes, pencils, etc, which one needs to buy, washing all those washcloths, and driving around dropping off all that product. Even our director (who had a pink cadillac) admitted that "the only way you can make money through MK is by recruiting." Ummm...another victim to buy into that fragmented, decentralized inventory supply that is Mary Kay.

All of those who wrote these optimistic opinions swore by the money they made (e.g. "I made $900 my first week!). Well, everyone does best during their first week because that's when their friends are attending the parties, and, how much product and demo necessities did they have to purchase to earn that $900? Well, numbers DO speak; the consultant turnover is extremely high and and average amount one "earns" through MK is about $5,000 a year.

After MK I:

NEVER attend a money-making opportunity that's presented in a seminar/meeting
Purchase "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me" by Paula Begoun so I know what the cheapest, best cosmetics buys are; life is much better
Realize I don't need or even like rounds of applause for my minor accomplishments
Realize I am and love being an introvert
Realize that my director was probably inhaling something to stay so perpetually perky
Remember how her director relied on family members (especially her mother) to help distribute her product and who knows what else

FROM A SOFTWARE DESIGNER WHO IS ALSO A SUCCESSFUL MK CONSULTANT!

I'm sorry you had such a negative experience. I work as a software designer and started my MK business because I can see the trend of white-collar professional jobs (like mine) being outsourced to countries with cheaper labor rates. When I started my business, I did NOT have any family or friends (and very few co-workers) or neighbors that I could count on to build my business off of. My customer base of about 100 women and men, which I started building Dec 2002, is composed of strangers that I met while I was out and about running my errands. I have strong re-orders from this customer base because I WORK to service my existing customers and continue building relationships with new customers. As far as inefficient, it sounds like you are not very familiar with the Internet business side of MK. Because I work a full-time software design job, have a 3-year old, husband and home that we are renovating ourselves, I don't have time to drive around and deliver product (in other words, I WORK SMART, NOT HARD). My customers order directly off of my website and I mail it to them -- same as many other companies do (ever heard of Lands End?). I chose to start my business with close to $3,000 in inventory (without being pushed into it) and I have been very successful in selling it even though I am a computer nerd! Mary Kay has new ways of doing business because it knows that so many of its consultants have part- or full-time jobs like myself. I personally run most, if not all, of my MK business over the internet. But then again, I make it a point to show up to my training (which is great) to learn how to do this. My director is not one of those "perky" types, but she is a saavy business woman who is mentoring me and training me more than I ever received from any major corporation in the 15 years of work experience that I have.

Topic MaryKayOpinion17 . { Edit | Ref-By | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 | > | r1.1 }

You must register before editing pages or using other extended features on this TWiki system.

Revision r1.2 - 16 Jun 2003 - 02:28 by CynthiaGuajardo
Privacy Policy Copyright © 2000-2005 by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration tool is the property of the contributing authors. Collect email addresses here.
Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback.

	TWiki . Edumacation . MaryKayOpinion17	TWiki . { Main \| Edumacation \| TWiki \| Test }
	Edumacation . { Home \| Users \| Changes \| Search \| Go }