Can You Make a Living Selling Mary Kay Products?
If you wanted to just sell Mary Kay products and not recruit anyone, could you make a living doing so?
You might be able to make a living just sellng Mary Kay products, but it’s going to be difficult.
Suppose you sold $1,000 per week, EVERY week. Now remember… there are very, very few women in Mary Kay who sell $1,000 per week. There are very, very few who even sell $500 of Mary Kay products each week. But let’s just assume that you can and do sell $1,000 per week, every week, with 2 weeks a year off.
How much would you make????
Retail sales = $50,000
Less cost of product = $25,000
Less estimated discounts 5% = $5,000
GROSS PROFIT = $20,000
Other expenses:
Sec 2 supplies 5% = $5,000
Auto 50 mi/week @ $0.40 = $1,000
Postage/Shipping $10/week = $500
Loan/CC interest = $500
Insurance on product = $75
Office supplies = $150
Other misc. supplies = $500
Total other expenses = $7,725
NET PROFIT from sales = $12,275
This net profit includes all expenses on the LOW end. Experience has shown that most Mary Kay consultants offer more discounts on the products, and have higher expenses than shown here. So this calculation would represent that absolute best case scenario for a consultant.
Do you consider $12,275 a year a good living?
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Comments (13)
MLM Radar
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Federal minimum wage effective July 24, 2009: $7.25 per hour.
Work full time at minimum wage: $15,080.
Yes, yes, I know McDonalds and Wal-Mart probably won’t give you full time hours, but let’s assume you’re working at both. Or maybe you’re working 30 hours a week at McDonalds and 10 hours a week at the sports arena.
For that matter, for $12,275 anywhere else besides Mary Kay, at $7.25 per hour you only have to work 32.5 hours per week. PLUS, with that many hours per week you’ll probably also get employer-sponsored medical insurance, dental insurance, and employer-matching contributions to your 401(k).
In Mary Kay, from that $12,275 (which I guarantee will take far more than 32.5 hours per week) you have to SUBTRACT the cost of your medical and dental insurance, SUBTRACT the extra “self-employment” premium for Social Security, and you can just forget having anything left over for an IRA.
Can you still say “Executive Income”?
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Amber Starr
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I made more money working at Mc Donald’s in high school than I ever did selling Mary Kay. All you’ll get from selling MK is massive debt and terrible credit.
Sorry Teresa is still in the pink fog, but any benefits of trying to be a personal use consultant go away when you have to place a minimum order or pay shipping for 1 item. Plus the products aren’t as great as they used to be and there are too many awesome cosmetics companies (hello MAC).
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Theresa
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It is a nice way to supplement income on a part-time basis if only to provide enough income to pay for your own personal products.
The rest of the pink bs can take a hike!
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Gherkin
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Theresa, How can you make enough to cover your personal products if you have to work yourself to death 50 weeks a year just to make $12,275. There is no part time profits, that’s part of the myth.
Plus, if someone wanted to stay current on the products and attend weekly rah rah meetings on the low end it would cost another $250 a year if they only charged you $5 a meeting, $350 for $7 a meeting, $500 for $10 a meeting…… You just bleed money.
In Illinois minimum wage is $8.25/hour so with any type of insurance you are so much better off.
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Theresa
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Yes, initially, I put in some time learning. I keep up with products via InTouch. The customers come to me through alumni connections, co-workers and friends. Occasionally, like this Saturday afternoon, I will meet one-on-one with a former co-worker who sought me out because of the results she witnessed first-hand via facebook. At this point, I am receiving reorders from those who have become my customers and word just keeps spreading both to friends and co-workers. The products are worth it.
I’m not bleeding money. I broke even after four months.
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nomoremlm4me
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Theresa,
Seriously? The amount of time it would take to sell this much drek is definitely *not* part-time. I can work at McDonalds to pay for my personal purchases that I make from Ebay at less than cost. It’s not a nice way at all.
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pinkiu
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If your argument is to get the product for low cost, then just order off of e-bay. Thousands upon thousands of current products are there because so many women don’t know they can send it back, or it’s directors who have thousands on their shelves and secretly sell on ebay to recoup a little.
Some argue that ebay has old product. Let me tell you, just go look at the shelves of any director or any consultant who’s been in for even a few years and you will find product for sale that came from year one. Ebay has current product because MK changes the product literally every year. Just look in a current online catalog and compare to the picture on Ebay. Because of the frequent changes in product packaging or size, ebay sellers often call older product “vintage” “signature”, etc.
Talk about cheap…I just saw the coastal colors eyeshadow (identical to the new spring set) for $1.03.
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Theresa
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I’m fortunate that I have a very good job with great benefits. Mary Kay is completely extra and part-time. I can fill an online order in minutes.
Getting together this weekend with a friend has a dual purpose … catching up with a former co-worker and having fun showing her the products and makeup application.
Let’s not make this site all about “hating” … Mary Kay and the “positive pink bubble of bs” is enough hating for me.
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KerryLee
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Hi everyone, I was recently brought to one of these Mary Kay house meetings by a friend where myself and some others were given ‘facials’ by her consultant. I thought the products were okay so bought a foundation and some blusher however since the meeting her consultant has been contacting me relentlessly about joining Mary Kay. She appears very successful and claims to be making a lot of money so I decided to do a bit of research and came across this site which should probably make me run however, all of the post I have read are from consultants based in America whereas I am from the UK. I am basically just looking for anyone who sells Mary Kay in the UK or knows if it’s possible to make money from selling MK somewhere else as I am aware it is a very saturated market in the US. Any advice would be helpful as I’m quite sceptical about what my consultant says, thanks
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MLM Radar
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Your friend’s consultant “appears” to be very successful and “claims” to be making a lot of money. There’s a reason for that. MK consultants are taught to “fake it til you make it” to attract potential recruits. They are also taught to never talk about expenses or time required, partly so they can further entice recruits and partly so they don’t notice they are slowly bleeding to death themselves.
I can’t speak for the UK, but here is a link to Mary Kay Canada’s Earnings Representation statement:
http://www.marykay.ca/content/corporate/en-ca/home/earnings-representation.html
In 2011, there were 31,389 Canadian IBCs. Canada has a population of 33.5 million, so the market isn’t exactly saturated. What do they earn?
Only 3,755 stayed “active” for at least a year and earned commissions. That’s one in 8 of all IBCs; the other 7 in 8 didn’t earn enough to be noticed. Of those 3,755, only 1,782 earned more than $100 in commission. 510 were Directors, but only 260 of those received more than $18,198 in commission. The other 260 directors received much less. Of those 31,389 IBCs, only 22 were classified as National Sales Directors, and only 10 of those 22 received more than $100,000 in commission, BEFORE subtracting expenses.
Only 10 out of a population of 33.5 million were genuinely successful, BEFORE expenses. As any of the former Directors on this site will tell you, Mary Kay expenses will eat you alive. If Mary Kay was all it claims to be, you’d expect to see a thousand or more at that $100,000 level in Canada, AFTER expenses.
Like the UK, Mary Kay has been in Canada for decades, so we know the numbers of IBCs and the low earnings are NOT due to people having never heard about Mary Kay.
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Lazy Gardens
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in 2011, there were 31,389 Canadian IBCs. Canada has a population of 33.5 million, so the market isn’t exactly saturated.
Do the math. That is one active consultant for each 1,067 Canadians. Half of those will be male, so each consultant has 533 females to build a business on (less than that if you remove the under 15 and over 70 females from the market).
That is not a large customer base, even if she managed to get half of them to start using some Mary Kay product.
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MLM Radar
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Oh yes. There’s one other thing.
In this economy, if Mary Kay was all it was claimed to be, people would be lining up around the block to apply for positions with Mary Kay. 69If you post an employment ad for any other company on CraigsList, you’d better make sure your fax machine is loaded with paper first because your phone will be ringing off the hook.
If Mary Kay was all that it claimed to be, why is she so relentless in trying to persuade you to sign up? What makes her so desperate?
Obviously there’s something seriously wrong with this pretty picture the consultant is showing you.
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enorth
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“since the meeting her consultant has been contacting me relentlessly about joining Mary Kay”
That, in itself, should make you skeptical. Why does she want you to switch from being a customer to a competitor? Think about it…
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