The Real Cost of Mary Kay Directorship
Written by PinkPeace
Nobody tells you what it costs to be a Mary Kay sales director. If they did, no one would want this position. It’s the sales directors I feel sorriest for in this business, because they are squeezed from both sides in order to try to be successful.
The minute you finish DIQ (and girlfriend, I know you put in a whopping amount of personal production to make it happen), you are confronted with expenses you didn’t realize you’d have.
First of all, you are instructed to go to DIT (Director in Training) week in Dallas. I was all excited to go to DIT until I realized that I would have to pay for all of it. I assumed that Mary Kay was like another company, and they would pay for management training. Silly me, I forgot I was an independent contractor, so I paid for airfare, hotel and related expenses to go to DIT week. I wasn’t making the big Mary Kay director money yet – heck, I barely had my new unit number! So everything went onto the charge card.
While at DIT, I cannot tell you how many times it was stressed that I quit my regular job to be a director full-time. I wasn’t “painting the picture of success” if I didn’t leave my old job. I wouldn’t be able to devote the time I should to my consultants if I had another job. I wouldn’t be able to focus and make the real “big-girl” money in Mary Kay if I had the distraction of another job.
As I look back on it, that was a very clever tactic on the part of Mary Kay. If I had no other paycheck that I could rely on, I would have to view Mary Kay as the only way I could make money. I would buy into the “find a way/make a way” mentality that kept me hooked into the system. It worked. I came home and quit my job, because Mary Kay was my destiny. All my NSD teachers told me so!
But I digress.
You know what I was most excited about in my new directorship? The suit! For months I had wanted the suit so badly. I wanted to be like the successful women who wore the suit. I wanted to be the one in front of the room in the suit. I wanted everyone at Mary Kay events to see me in the suit. Yay, the suit!
Boo, the cost of the suit! I owned many nice suits from top stores and top brands. Not ONE of them cost me the $325 the Mary Kay suit did then – 13 years ago! Every year of being a director, I got more and more peeved at the cost of the suit (it’s close to $400 now), especially when there were some fugly, poorly constructed ones. And it was just another big expense to go on the credit card.
But let’s go on to the average director income and the average director expenses, and see why directors might have to rely on credit to get by… I’ve run these numbers before, so forgive me if I repeat myself.
I’m going to run the very best case scenario for the average director, so that I can’t be accused of exaggerating the numbers. Let’s say a director is in Premier Club (Vue/G2) production, which is $8,000 wholesale a month. For her to get the maximum commission, she has to order at least $600 wholesale a month. (Many directors don’t sell near that, so they’re adding to their credit burdens right there). Let’s also say that the $7,400 production remaining is entirely from her own personal recruits (which will never happen, but work with me here).
She will receive a commission of 26% on $7400, which is $1924. She will also receive a $800 production bonus, so her total commission for the month is $2724. Remember this is VERY BEST CASE scenario. Ladies, multiply this by 12 months and you get . . . wait for it . . . $32,688 a year! (And remember that most directors are well below this level!)
Oh, but wait – that doesn’t include sales income.
Okay, let’s roll with that. Let’s say the director makes Queen’s Court of Sales. (Lurkers – is YOUR director on Queen’s Court? And if she is, is it because she’s selling or because she’s ordering to save your unit?)
ANYWAY. If she’s on Queen’s Court, she’s ordered $36,000 retail. At the MK recommended 40% profit, she’s taking in $14,400 – IF she’s never held a sale, given a discount, or given any hostess credit. Again, I’m making this the best scenario possible.
Also the best scenario doesn’t include director chargebacks . For any of you who haven’t been blessed with that phone call from corporate telling you about someone in your unit sending her product back, it’s really a treat. I had months when my chargebacks exceeded my check. Good times, good times.
So our perfect director in a perfect world is bringing in $47,088, or $3924 per month.
Okay! Wouldn’t that be great extra money if it were free and clear? You bet! But wait.
Mary Kay doesn’t give benefits to directors. Mary Kay doesn’t take out taxes. Mary Kay doesn’t contribute to a 401(k) or other investment. So we’re going to have to do that ourselves:
- Taxes at a 25% rate – $981
- Insurance (bare minimum) – $200
- Investments (5%) – $197
That leaves you with $2546. Okay, that’s still not too bad, I guess.
Now let’s talk about the real monthly director expenses. These were mine. Feel free to add yours if you like!
- Training center rent – $200
- Unit website – $50
- Unit newsletters and other mailings – $50
- Second phone line – $65
- Mandatory attendance at all company functions, such as Seminar, Leadership, Career Conference, director debuts, regional events, etc. – about $2750 for the year, monthly – $229
- Recruiting expenses (coffees, lunches, materials) – $30
- Director-only prepacks, unit sales aids, consultant Look Book mailings – $20
- Travel to unit members in outlying areas – $75
- Slammin’ haircuts, manicures, etc. – $50
- Monthly unit prizes and Seminar prizes – $30
- Supplies for training center and consultant training – $20
Okay – there’s another $819 in monthly expenses for a moderate unit. I didn’t have other expenses that other directors did, such as personal coaches, virtual assistants, office help, etc. I actually was pretty frugal with my money, to the best of my ability.
So now the perfect director in a perfect world is left with $1,727 in spendable income for the month, or $20,724 for the year. Can you get excited?
In my case, many of the director expenses were to “paint the picture of success” so that consultants would want my job. It was very costly to put on that facade, but it was considered essential to being a good leader in Mary Kay. My NSD, Christine Peterson, used to say over and over that we had to do whatever it took to make our position as sales director seem desirable. We always had to look and act like we had all the money in the world. Who would want our position otherwise?
I certainly didn’t have the cash in my bank account to pay for these things, but I had great credit. So I charged everything I could. Director suit? MasterCard. Airfare and hotel at Seminar? VISA. Slammin’ outfit for the area retreat? Macy’s. You get the picture. I made the minimum payments, and the debt kept climbing.
But it didn’t stop there. Any director who is not one of the top 100 or so in the company knows that she makes nowhere near “executive income” in the business. (Our example above proves that.) But I was brainwashed into bee-lieving that the only way to fail in Mary Kay was to quit, and my biggest success was just around the corner! So I stayed for many more years than it made sense to, and meanwhile I got into more and more debt.
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Comments (15)
Pink Truth » Another Victim of Mary Kay Propaganda
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[...] The Real Cost of Mary Kay Directorship [...]
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Freefrmpink
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My biggest success in Mary Kay was the day I resigned as a director. I now have spendable cash and can actually afford to be slammin’. It’s so sad to see my formal sister directors at MK Leader’s conference faking success and faking having fun! Smh…
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Lazy Gardens
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So now the perfect director in a perfect world is left with $1,727 in spendable income for the month, or $20,724 for the year. Can you get excited?
$400 a week? I’m so excited I almost dropped my coffee cup.
And how many hours a week is this oh-so-perfect director working? You can clear $400 a week with a 40-hour a week, $13 an hour job … and probably be a lot less stressed.
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imewise
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We are not including:
Pcp Program- (it was I think approx $170 to pay for $250 customers to get the book and 1 postcard ) (per quarter)
Look Books (for new faces.. to get court of sales she must be seing close to 30 faces per month right (which is close to 6-7 parties) $9
Section 2 samples, foam trays, customer profiles, sales slips, product put into trays, disposable washcloth, disposable applicators, etc (i would be conservative to say it was $1.25 per face) x 30 faces = $45.00
Phone bill/ Internet/ Office bills (I don’t know where to begin with this, but we could be conservative and say she is a good shopper at only $40 per month.
Paying to pitch in for nsd promotions (many nsd’s charge their directors for the prizes that the nsd’s promote) Lets say its only $10.
Those god damn ribbons, gold medals, pearls of sharing, new consultant pins, and prizes ( know you mentioned prizes, but I spent WAY more than that) The annual prizes were close to $300 (queen in 5 categories, go give, and then the top 5, or 10 depending on unit size) Monthly I probably gave away a minimum of $25 just for regular unit/company awards. So it’s closer to $50 monthly conservative
New unit member training time/ packets/ gasoline ($7 each if you buy them a coffee and yourself one (at mc d’s not starbucks)
Lets not forget the most important thing that I lost in mk- the time with my kids when I was on the treadmill. I skipped out on family outings, vacations, time on weeknights and weekends that I will never ever get back.
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MLM Radar
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From that $1,727 you also need to subtract whatever it costs to S-T-R-E-T-C-H and “make up the difference” every other month when your unit is short on production. That’ll eat up $1,727 in a big hurry.
The other thing no one mentioned is the $200 to $500 minimum monthly credit card payments for all the unsold inventory you ordered on your way to being a director. Remember the part about how you thought it was OK to make inventory orders and put other expenses on your cards before and during DIQ, ‘cuz you were going to pay it all back as soon as you started making the Big Bux as a Director. WRONG!
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Nutmeg
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Oh yeah, “paint the picture of success” … (I’ve mentioned this before on here, but it’s good enough to repeat) – My NSD told me to take my consultants shopping with me and buy whatever caught my eye regardless of the cost. I said I couldn’t afford to do that and she said “They will never know if you return it later.” Disgusting, right? That was the initial beginning of the end for me.
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Lynne
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I think the tax rate is wrong. As an independent contractor you get the privilege of paying the self employment tax, which brings your rate closer to 40% I believe.
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Lazy Gardens
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You pay 15% self employment to Social Security, but that is not part of your taxable income.
1 – Deduct business expenses
2 – Pay 15% SSE on what’s left after expenses
3 – Pay taxes on what’s left after SSE deducted
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raisinberry
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Pinkpeace…standing O. Thank you for writing this and speaking the truth. I sincerely hope a Director, questioning her situation logs on and finally HEARS a truthful account of her own life. Yea You.
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lisalovespinktruth
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God, I am so glad I got out when I did. I was so broke from trying to keep up with a business that was never, ever going to happen. I spent way beyond my means for the brief year that I was in it. I was never so happy as the day I left.
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Theresa
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I hope my ex-friend/recruiter/director falls on her very pink slammin’ backside and/or the Company follows through that what she is doing as they indicated to me it is unethical and not condoned by the Company. We will see right?
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onelessSD
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I wouldn’t hold yoru breath Theresa – as they say they’ll look into it, etc… but if she’s bringing in production- that equals money for them, so the chances are not good that they’ll do a lot if she’s bringing in a lot. Sad but true.
I wish you luck in the direction you are headed… you do what you feel is best for you and you alone. You’ll know when the time is right to let it all go.
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Theresa
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Thanks. I will follow-up to see if the representative has closed one loophole. I don’t want to let go of the products but letting go of everything else is a done deal. I’m good with that and I think that is what matters.
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Bill P
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Your computation is slightly misleading. Taxes are paid on net income, not gross income
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Pink Truth » Mary Kay is NOT a Business Opportunity
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[...] that commission that had to be paid back to the company when recruits returned products, or all the business expenses that deplete that check to almost nothing. You will be asked to claim that women in Mary Kay earn a full-time income with part-time [...]
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