What 5 Hours a Week Could Do For You
Here’s another one of those Mary Kay “training” items that is really meant to make you feel like you just didn’t work hard enough. Who couldn’t five extra hours a week to do something important like Mary Kay???
Well, I’m sure that if we all tried, we really might be able to find five extra hours to do something that we’re really motivated to do. But the truth is that you can’t really get anywhere in Mary Kay with five hours a week. There is a far bigger time commitment if you want to do anything more than make some pocket change.
So what is the motivation for making you feel like a loser who didn’t try enough? Well, hopefully you will be guilted to put in one more order to get back that “active” status . (As if it really means anything at all.) Maybe you’ll put in another order to “finish your star.”
You see, these types of documents are meant to squeeze every bit of life out of you that they can. Maybe you’ll put in one more order before you call it quits. Maybe you’ll twist the arm of one more recruit who will hopefully put in an order.
Yes, guilt is a powerful tool. One that is used daily in Mary Kay.
See What Five Hours a Week Can Do for You!
It is my observation that every consultant can find the time to hold an average of 2 classes per week. Yes, even the consultant who has 1 1/2 jobs and family responsibilities. Rarely do you meet a person who does not spend 6-10 hours per week in front of the television, playing Bunko, or some other activity which has nothing to do with her job or her family. What could it mean to her to invest that time into preparing for, traveling to, and holding 2 classes per week?
Find 2 times per week that you would be willing to hold classes. Then, highlight those times in your datebook for an entire year. Then, get on the phone for and Hour of Power to schedule 2 appointments in each of those times. Don’t be afraid to double book – it doesn’t mean you’ll be holding 2 classes (that almost never happens). It does mean that when one of them postpones, you’ll still have a class to hold. Double booking is all about smart use of your time – it’s about dealing with the disappointment of postponements. (In the event that both hold, just do both classes at your home or at one of the hostess’ homes offering her an extra gift for pulling up 4 more chairs.)
Decrease postponements and increase sales by doing all the steps of hostess coaching (check you Career Essentials and Hostess Coaching on this website for coaching tips).
Now, what can the 2 classes do? Let’s say your first classes meet the national average for new untrained, unskilled consultants of $150 – $200 in sales. Two classes per week at $175 would give you $350 in sales. Your 40% paycheck (once you get your inventory built to profit taking leave) is $140. That’s $140 profit for 2 classes. Couldn’t you find 4-6 hours a week for $140? Just think what will happen as your skills increase and you build just a small reorder business. It has been my observation that consultants who are consistently holding 2 classes per week will have their sales to $500 per week in just a few short weeks. These are averages, not guarantees.
$500 weeks = $2,000 months. Your 40% paycheck for a $2,000 month is $800 a month. 60% to replace what you sold in 41200 wholesale. 41200 wholesale every month is Emerald Star status every quarter. Being an Emerald Star each quarter puts you with in a few dollars of National Court of Sales.
What could an extra $800 a month mean to your family? Vacation, swimming pool, braces!
That’s not all. Let’s look at what 2 classes a week can do for recruiting. It has been my observation that there is at least one good recruit prospect at every class (a person who needs money, is already working 2 jobs, needs to get out of the house, is looking for a way to get back home). Company statistics teach us that ever new consultant can expect to recruit one out of every 5 prospects. So, if there is one prospect at every class and you make the effort to do some follow-up (give her a recruiting packet, book a class with her, invite her to weekly events, set up an interview with her), you should get a new recruit from every 4-5 classes. That’s 2 recruits per month. That’s a free car for anyone in 6 months. And, if each of them orders a minimum of $600 wholesale before the Seminar year ends, that mean you walk on stage at Seminar as a member of the Court of Recruiting.
You deserve the financial supplement 2 classes a week can mean, as well as the company prizes. Are you willing to discipline yourself to hold 2 classes per week?
IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME!
By NSD Kathy Goff-Brummett
Trivia question: How many “full time” sales directors with Mary Kay actually hold 2 classes per week every week? Almost none. It’s not nearly as easy as they make it sound to actually get people to hold those classes and have guests show up.
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Comments (25)
MLM Radar Detector
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Don’t ya just love it?? Here are even more of those mythical, anecdotal company statistics.
Mary Kay doesn’t track sellling. They don’t track consultant booked-to-held ratios for classes. They sure don’t track ratios for faces painted-to-recruited.
Have you ever been asked to report that kind of information? Do you know anyone else who has ever been asked to report that kind of information? Does Mary Kay hire a professional survey reporting company to survey consultants do statistical analysis? No, no, and no.
So where do these Company Averages come from?? I’ll tell you. It’s not from actual results published by their Finance Department. It’s from the wishful thinking recesses of their Marketing Department.
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Iwascrazy
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Omg! I just don’t get why I couldn’t see what they were doing while I was in the pink bubble. It took getting told to take out a loan to make me do to see. I tried this extra hours things and they never worked. I did run out of a warm market pretty fast so I was calling complete strangers. They don’t want to have a class or a party.
I should have known something was up with the research. I am a sceptic by nature. You should see me in a doctors office. Anyway I am just mad at myself for not seeing it!
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Tigger
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After all these years and with several mlm businesses under my belt, the mere thought of gearing up to do another mlm is overwhelming. Why? Because it is so much WORK. It’s an astonishing amount of work.
You figure out pretty quickly how fickle people are about actually ‘holding’ the class so you work frantically, clawing and scratching for more hostesses and customers. You are ‘on’ at all times. You never go anywhere or do anything without being totally prepared: cel-o-phane bags with lip/eye samples, bus. card, piece of wrapped hard candy, a beauty book,and a Velocity pencil thrown in – all tied with a beautiful curled ribbon (I had a huge box filled with them at all times in my car.)
I carried the To-Go Tote everywhere as my purse so everyone could see the latest Look Book. I wore my MK upsidedown hoping someone would comment on it so I could go into my spiel. I kept my customers and hostesses in a chronological rolodex to keep track of when to call them for reorders and book more shows. I sent everyone of them b-day and Christmas cards. I was the mother hen and they were my precious chicks. I had worked very hard to get them, and, by golly, no one was going to snatch them away from me b/c of neglect.
I worked assisted living centers, ball games, church events (I’m so embarrassed) and ANY event I could get into to get my name out there.
I went to every meeting/event/rally/etc.
I wore MK from head to toe and was always on the lookout for pink attire. Sold out? Like crazy.
All this with a full time job and children to raise. The next kbot will come on here and tell me I was too lazy to build my business. They will say how dumb I was to do thing that way, how old fashioned it is, etc.
I don’t care how techie or up-to-date someone is, they will be shocked at how hard it is to really make money in MK or any mlm. You can’t sell enough for it to pay over the long haul.
Since most subdivisions don’t allow opening up a business in your home (that’s why it’s a residential neighborhood vs. a commercial one), as soon as a neighbor gets sick of all the cars coming and going in your driveway (assuming they don’t thing you have a drug lab in your kitchen) they will turn you in.
MLMers claim they have low overhead. They are correct. They also have a very low customer base.
Looking back lately, I can’t believe how many times I was willing to work so hard for so little.
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anthonysmom
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Ditto. I was having those same thoughts as I was reading through this – HOW was I so stupid to believe this could actually happen? I mean, really, double-book knowing that one won’t hold??? What kind of asinine business methodology is that? I work for a pipeline company and if we took the stance of “we’re going to double-book the shipping space on our pipe because we know both companies won’t want to ship their gasoline” – we’d be out of business in about 5 minutes! Holy hell…we are such suckers.
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didpink
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“It is my observation that every consultant can find the time to hold an average of 2 classes per week. Yes, even the consultant who has 1 1/2 jobs and family responsibilities. Rarely do you meet a person who does not spend 6-10 hours per week in front of the television, playing Bunko, or some other activity which has nothing to do with her job or her family. What could it mean to her to invest that time into preparing for, traveling to, and holding 2 classes per week?”
Because she should spend time doing down time for herself! Thats why! She should go play bunko once or twice a month and see her girlfriends and LOL and have real girl time. She should relax and watch a few hours of tv. Why? Because that is how you recharge. I bet there will be a few IBCs tomorrow on Friday who hold this class plus another class this week and when she is packing up at the end of it or it didnt hold at all and she was stood up will say- I gave up bunko or Dancing with Stars for this??
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NeverWasPink
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My sentiments exactly!! I can find lots of hours in a week, even when I work overtime… but for things that really matter!
Playing princess/businesswoman (whatever these ladies do)?? Nah.. no time!!
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notapartyfan
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6-10 hrs a week is just a little over ONE HOUR a day! And this woman is saying that even if you have a JOB and family responsibilities, you’re wasting time if you allow an hour a day just for yourselves? How stupid is that? Oh yeah, I forgot – that’s one hour a day you could be making money for HER! **facepalm**
Also, it cracked me up when she said to go ahead and double book. She was pretty much saying “one is going to cancel anyway!” And… if it doesn’t, hold both parties at one home?? Heck, she admits that the one home won’t have to do anything but put out a few chairs out. Pretty much saying there’s not going to be hardly anybody there anyway.
OK, lemme get this straight… I’m finally guilted into going to a friend’s MK party, even though I hate those things, but I love my friend enough to suffer through, and then at the last minute, I’m told that instead, I’m going to a perfect strangers home to sit with a bunch (well, maybe a few) perfect strangers? Nope. Not gonna happen! This would not happen in the real world.
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Laura
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Double-booking really doesn’t sound like a very polite practice to me. As a (former) hostess, I really couldn’t imagine getting a call before a party informing me that my party is “moving” to someone else’s house, especially if I’d already spent time setting things up and making food for people! That would leave it to me to try to convince the few friends I’d already convinced to attend, to drive more out of their way to the home of someone they probably don’t even know, just for a party.
I can tell you, actions like that would NOT go very far to keeping me as a hostess, much less as a customer…
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Lazy Gardens
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Five hours … that’s about enough to go to the weekly suck-cess meeting (2 to 3 hours of prancing pink-boa waving women), listen to an hour of motivating phone calls from your NSD and the rest of your upline, dust your inventory, and read the incessant e-mails and text messages from your director urging you to order more inventory.
There is no time in there to actually do any business.
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Jen G.
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In 5 hours a week, I could run 26.2 miles, which helps keep me sane!
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Pinkinthered
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LOL, Jen! You might be my new BFF!
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enorth
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“Are you willing to discipline yourself to hold 2 classes per week?”
Yes, I am!
But, unfortunately, I can’t discipline the guests to actually show up. And if they do, I can’t discipline them into buying product. And if they do buy, I can’t discipline them into making sure their checks don’t bounce. And I can’t discipline them into listening to the “opportunity” and signing the agreement. And if they do sign, I can’t discipline them into continually buying product so that I can collect commission checks.
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Tigge
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When I complained to an upline about the number of NSF checks and over-limit cc I was getting, she said she couldn’t believe it. After 10 years she said she had never had even one. Liar.
What a hassle it is to deal with that shit. It’s so embarrassing to have to call the gal and tell her the check bounced. Some would ask if I could just hold it for 2 or 3 more weeks! Seriously?? Does Safeway hold your checks? How about the bank for your mortgage? Your car payment?
There is no respect for mlms. I’ve had women dodge me for years on checks as high as $250 and more. I’ve never collected. One mlm-bot said it was ridiculous that I should ever get stiffed. Just call the attorney general’s office and that will fix it. Oh, O.K., I’ll just put my life on hold and use THIS week’s 5 hours dealing with an attorney general.
Then I can spend the rest of my life guardng my car when her family finds out I’ve turned her in. No prob.
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Flannel Girl
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So, when I was in, I was still pretty naive. I figured the “double-booking” advice meant to schedule more than one event each day. (Like I said, naive — and I was only “active” for three months.)
Yeah. Double-booking isn’t about making sure the consultant has something to do that DAY, it’s about making sure she has several appointments as backup for any given time. In a real business, she’d have to be careful NOT to double-book, because most real business appointments actually happen. Not so in MLM.
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gotheart
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Thereya go!
“Are you willing to discipline yourself to hold 2 classes per week?”
Yes, I am!
But, unfortunately, I can’t discipline the guests to actually show up. And if they do, I can’t discipline them into buying product. And if they do buy, I can’t discipline them into making sure their checks don’t bounce. And I can’t discipline them into listening to the “opportunity” and signing the agreement. And if they do sign, I can’t discipline them into continually buying product so that I can collect commission checks.
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ttp
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LOL, gotheart.
Too bad the issues you speak of aren’t funny.
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gothzilla
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This makes me SO MAD!! About a year ago I had 1 1/2 jobs. My 40 hour “real job” and a 20-30 hour a week retail management job. Between the 2 of them I almost always worked 7 days a week. On my 2 free evenings not working the retail job I had zero energy or time to run the MK hamster wheel. Even if a complete miracle happened and a consultant was somehow booked and held 2 classes a week for just 4 weeks the amount of extra crap that goes with it would be way over 5-6 hours a week. You’d be on the phone following up, getting guest list, packing for each class, making stupid sales packets and recruiting folders, cleaning mirrors and many more things. Having worked MK with a decent size customer base for almost 10 years and then later having 1 1/2 jobs I can say 100% this would kill you! I was a total zombie and hardly saw my family with just the 2 jobs and no MK. These “training” materials make me irate! (Can you tell:)
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leavingpink
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I had my business debut for MK in the middle of march. I work full-time…at least, but got stars in my eyes about becoming rich…how embarrassing! Well, it’s 2 1/2 months later. I have recruited nine people, and went on-target for my car last month. My commission check for March was $132, and my commission check for April was $525.
Red flags were popping up all along the way. My director has been in Mary Kay for 13 years, and when I signed up, she hugged me and exclaimed, “I am so excited!” i wondered how many times she had said that in the past 12 years of her directorship-first red flag. She told me how glamorous I am (which I am not)-second red flag. The next day she called me to set up a meeting to “talk” about my business for half an hour. I met her at her house where she and my recruiter were there where she told me if I really wanted to be successful in my business, I should order a “full store” (which BTW, is not actually a full store) at $3600 (or was it $4800?) I can’t remember-3rd red flag. I got all the same lies as everyone else. My director emailed me a mammoth orientation packet talking about how I had to wear pantyhose and skirts to all MK events…really??? We are in the 21st century, and I thought it was my business! My director told me in order to be a success, I needed to go to the weekly success meetings for training…made sense…when I showed up to the success meeting, I had to pay $15 to attend the success meeting, AND was asked how many raffle tickets I wanted to by 6 or 12? I was called up to the front as a new recruit where they pinned me with their MK cult pin and read some corny poem about a rose. They handed me a challenge…a power start…30 faces in thirty days and I would received a blingy pin to wear to let everyone know I had completed my power start… or was it a perfect start…I can’t remember. My director also told me I would receive a string of pearls, bracelet and necklace and earrings if shared the “opportunity” with one other person and they signed up within 30 days. I said, “real pearls?” and my director said “yes!” which is a lie!-4th red flag!
I decided to go with the $1200 order. (My director gets $156 commission check for that.) No wonder she was pushing for the $3600 package…she would have gotten almost $500 for that! I was so scared to spend $1200, but my mind was put at ease when my business debut yielded $1227, Which I reinvested whole-heartedly.
I could write a freaking book…I am realizing, but I have several regrets over the past couple of months. The biggest regret is recruiting my daughter-in-law. She was convinced by my director to take out a $2400 loan to purchase inventory. I feel so bad. She is 23 years old. I want to find some way to pay her back…OMG I feel so bad!
5 out of the 9 people I have recruited bought the starter kit, and then after speaking to my director, won’t answer my phone calls or texts…really??? What I realize is that, and I can’t speak for every director, my director doesn’t give a flying rats ass if spending the money is a bad investment for people as long as it puts money in her pocket and keeps that “free” car in her driveway…last month my director really started pushing that we go on target to be a pink cadillac unit…we needed buy (not sell) $15,000 in one month to go on target for that cadillac. I was thinking…yes…I would love to be in a cadillac unit. I worked my ass off recruiting 5 people in one month, placing $1400 order in one month and the rest of my personal team placing an additional $4100 for a total of $5500. The last day of the month she called me and was trying to get me to get one of my team members to place a $1200 order, and i told her no. When the month was done, i asked my director how close we had come to the 15,000. We had done 13,000, so 13,000 minus the 1200 of my director’s order minus my teams order of 5500 means the the rest of the unit only ordered $6300. I told my girlfriend about it, and she said they are all a bunch of broke hoes…haha! Awww…I am being mean! My director’s take on my teams 5500? $715…not bad! I am through! I will remain active because I do like the product well enough…I don’t think it’s great…in fact I liked it a lot better when I tried it 15 years ago…I don’t quite know how to tell the other people in my unit I am leaving…I have missed the past two unit meetings and am already getting FB messages about how I am missed…I hate to let other people down…not my director, I think she is a snake, but the other girls in my unit.
What I hate about MK is lugging all of my inventory to each class, and the fact that after almost 50 years almost all ladies have been to an MK party and are really reluctant to go because of the high pressured sales. It is really like pulling teeth to get people to go.
My pink dream has turned into a pink nightmare…
Oh, and the “offer” that MK makes about buying your inventory back at 90% if your business doesn’t work out is actually a STATE LAW! It is a requirement…not an offer!
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Lazy Gardens
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The biggest regret is recruiting my daughter-in-law. She was convinced by my director to take out a $2400 loan to purchase inventory. I feel so bad. She is 23 years old. I want to find some way to pay her back
If she sends her product back, she will get 90% of the cost, plus 100% of the tax. That will pay off a huge chunk of the loan.
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ladyscientist
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She has a limited amount of time to do this. It was a year, it may still be.
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enorth
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“I will remain active because I do like the product well enough”
You can buy MK products on eBay dirt-cheap.
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Freefrmpink
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Didn’t know where to share it, but i found this while browsing on unitnet in new consultant training:
Inventory with NO RISK $3600 Full Store
Assume you hold your five Perfect Start Skin care classes with a conservative class sales average of $100 sales per class
5 Classes X $100 sales per class =$500
Let’s suppose you start with the Career Package of $3600 wholesale or ($7200 retail.). You will have a full store (inventory) with all departments (product lines) stocked for an immediate profit as your work the Mary Kay Career Path. You will have enough products to service approximately 40 customers. Let me show you how the No Risk Guarantee works:
$3600 – 250
______ $3350 -3015 ______
Beginning Wholesale investment-$7200 retail
Less wholesale inventory depleted from sales at the five classes (or after you have sold $500 retail.)
Wholesale balance of inventory on hand after your first $500 in retail sales Less 90% Buy-back Guarantee from Mary Kay Cosmetics
(explained on Beauty Consultant Agreement) Not refunded by Mary Kay
$335
Retail sales from your first 5 classes $500 -335 – 100 _____
$ 65
$875 Changes Monthly = $940
Less the 10% not refunded by Mary Kay
Less cost of your Showcase (which you keep and use)
You are ahead!
Plus your New Consultant Bonuses (which you keep) Mary Kay’s thanks just for giving it a try!
(Approx)
You will have invested about 12-15 hours of work time in doing your first five skin care classes. You will have earned approximately $22-$25 per hour just for trying this business- even if you decide to quit at this point! These figures are minimal – if your sales exceeded $500, then of course the benefit to you would increase proportionately!!
Food For Thought!
If you invest $1000 in Mary Kay inventory, you can double your $1000 within weeks! If you invest $1000 in a savings account at 4% interest it will not double for 18 years!
Lots of assumption going on. I believe she may be MK newest NSD. Daughter of a retired NSD from GA.
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MLM Radar Detector
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You buy $7200 retail in inventory. “You will have enough products to service approximately 40 customers.” $7200 / 40 = $180. This means that either the typical customer is expected to purchase $180, or you have a lot of unsellable inventory in colors and formulas your customers don’t want.
Anytime you give your customers a “full store” of choices, YOU eat the cost of purchasing items your customers don’t want. Mary Kay does not allow consultants to return and exchange non-selling inventory for things your customers want. Wonder why? Moving on…
$180 retail per customer is pretty high, but let’s give it the benefit of the doubt.
The example goes on to assume you have 5 “perfect start” classes and sell $500 retail between the 5 classes. Considering that your first customers are friends and family whom you “guilt” into making pity purchases, it’s possible.
$500 / $180 is 2.77 customers in 5 classes. That’s one customer every other class. That’s depressing.
And from this you’re supposed to get enough new referrals and recruit enough hostesses to keep the Personal Activity perpetual motion machine running?
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MLM Radar Detector
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Wait a minute. Wait just a darn minute. Freefrmpink, I KNEW there was something wrong in the math you posted. I just spotted it.
The example assumes you buy $3600 wholesale, sell $250 wholesale, and return the remaining $3350 for the 90% buy-back. So far so good. The example doesn’t take shipping charges into consideration (which you pay both ways!) but let’s set that aside for the moment.
The ahead/behind profit calculation is dead wrong (i.e., it’s typical Mary Kay math). Your $250 cost for the items you sold is omitted.
What it says is: You lost $335 on the buy-back and your starter kit cost $100, but you sold $500 so you’re $65 ahead. WRONG!
What is SHOULD have said is: You sold $500, the cost of what you sold was $250, so you made $250. You then lost $335 on the buy-back and your starter kit cost $100. You’re REALLY $185 behind.
Mary Kay then adds in the “New Consultant Bonuses” and tells you they’re worth $875 cash money. Are they really? Only if you sell the stuff. Merchandise bonuses won’t pay for babysitters or make credit card payments.
Now factor in those shipping charges (both ways!). Figure at least $50; it could be more. Then divide to see how much you really LOST per hour working Mary Kay.
Minus $185 net on merchandise purchases, sales, and returns. Minus another $50 for shipping. Divide by 15 hours spent on those 5 classes (yes, we know it really took more time than that!) and you find that you LOST $16.64 per hour. Assuming you had no other expenses…
But take heart. You still have a bunch of MK starter kit and new consultant bonus merchandise on your shelves to give you fond memories.
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Lazy Gardens
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Thank you! That example the SD gave is switching back and forth from wholesale to retail which confuses the heck out of me. Sticking to the same
But you forgot the website, Pro-Pay, business cards and other ceremonial regalia.
And the hostess gifts. And the party favors.
And, because these are friends and family …. they will expect discounts!
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