No Executive Income for Half of NSDs

Last year I wrote an article about the fact that half of Mary Kay NSDs do not make executive income. The position of National Sales Director is supposed to be prestigious, since it’s the highest you can go in the pyramid. So in theory, they’re also supposed to make the most money. And some of them make insane amounts of money (all from swindling thousands of women, mind you).

But the sad fact is that half of NSDs aren’t listed in Applause magazine because they don’t make $10,000 or more per month in commissions. Years ago, MK published the commission checks of all NSDs. But some of the lower checks were embarrassing, so they stopped publishing them.

The last month that all commissions for NSDs were shown was June 2010. And for June, the biggest month of the year, there were still a bunch of NSDs who didn’t make $10,000. The lowest was Andrea Newman, with an embarrassing $4,873.

How do more recent numbers look? In June 2020, the biggest month of the MK year, 136 NSDs made $10,000 or more. With about 220 NSDs in the US, that means 38% made under $10,000 in the big big month. Remember, too, that MK’s numbers are up big time since the start of Covid-19. So it seems even worse that so many NSDs couldn’t make $10,000 in commissions that month.What about a more “normal” month? I randomly selected November 2019. In that month, 97 NSDs made $10,000 or more. That means about 56% of NSDs didn’t make even $10,000 in commissions.

I bet you’re wondering how that compares to years past? I chose a random year and took a look. In November 2011, 149 NSDs made $10,000 or more. I don’t have a count of how many NSDs there were at that time, though, so I can’t talk about percentages. My best guess is that there were about the same number of NSDs as there are now. Some have retired since then, but new ones have been anointed. So the percentage is likely the same.

Buyer beware. The job of Mary Kay NSD isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s said to be where the big money is. It’s portrayed as job security for life. And yet half of NSDs aren’t making anything close to executive income. (And make no mistake, even at $120k per year before business expenses, you’re still not at executive income. )

Tagged:

30 COMMENTS

  1. “And some of them make insane amounts of money (all from swindling thousands of women, mind you).”

    – Why do women WORSHIP these NSD women who swindle them out of their money?

    – Why are women IMPRESSED by the most successful liar?

    – Why do women ASPIRE to scam other women out of their money for a commission?

    – Don’t they realize that selling the opportunity to sell the opportunity is an unethical “business” called a con game?

    – Why do they think there is another definition for “fake it ‘til you make it”? Faker = Liar

    – Are they okay with “buying“ love and admiration? (Like some men buy their, umm, affection)

    – If you are a Christian Supremacist, is this really what Christianity represents? Is this how Jesus acted? Pay to play, tell lies, and swindle your followers out of money for personal gain?

    Those commission checks aren’t from reselling product. They are from endless-chain recruiting a horde of women to cough up money, so they, upline, can make a commission check.

    The pics above are basically mug shots. And, it appears one of them spent their swindled money on way too much Botox and filler. Probably some single mother’s money who was struggling to feed her kids!

    8
    2
    • No relationship between MK and Christianity. Scammers may use it to try to gain credibility (it’s called an “affinity scam”) but that has nothing to do with the belief system nor it’s legitimate institutions.

      3
      2
      • I agree, and victims should be aware of that when being pitched the scam. Sadly, religious belief is USED to perpetuate this con game. The perps impersonate what the label Christian stands for, and they use the church community as a feeding ground.

        • So true. And sadly, seekers bring a vunerability to the equation. It might be a belief that God is leading them to this…and the dogma of mary kay seems aligned with the best of intentions. And then you find out how patronized you have been, and how blurred the lines are in terms of your ethical behavior. Let’s face it…you can not LIE about a invitation to a facial, when you mean to INFLUENCE AND RECRUIT, said TARGET. Am I right?

  2. OK, maybe I am ignorant. But what determines if they are diamond, Ruby, sapphire, or emerald? I always assumed those were like levels or something but it doesn’t look like it from that post. Are those like super-areas or something?

    • Those are “Areas” there used to be 5 and now there are 4. The NSD’s are grouped into these areas for seminar and other purposes.

  3. OT: so I saw a pink SUV today (think it was a caddy but could have been a different SUV, I was paying more attention to the driver and the tag). I think this is the same one I saw several weeks ago. I’m in northern WV and this one had an Ohio tag (not uncommon up here, we’re five minutes from the state line). So I’m just curious as to who it might be, maybe you guys can help. It had a vanity tag “YES YOU CAN” or “YES U CAN”. I looked at the tag through my rear view mirror so it was backwards and quick. The driver has chin length straight blond hair and looked “older” (I’m late 40s and I’d say she was in her 50s as a guess). I don’t know how far directors drive, but the most likely Ohio areas near here would be Steubenville (maybe further north but doubt it), St. Clairsville, etc. So who would be a pink MK SUV-driving director in these parts?

  4. I remember the first time an NSD “made it” when we lived in X state. (Not naming the state or the person right now as I don’t have permission to share her story.) She became an NSD around age 61, stayed for 5 or 6 years, and then retired. MK essentially told her she had to retire. She once told me that she never made an executive income (barely 80k/year) and most of what was promised to her as an NSD never came to fruition. Why? Because she was not one of the top people. Sure, she was the first, and thus far only, to come from state X, but that didn’t matter. The NSD trips, Seminar perks, bonuses, etc. She went on two trips while an NSD and one after “retirement.”

    We have remained friends, even though I stepped back over a decade ago. (Honestly, she was incredibly supportive of me when I asked her advice on stepping back. I wasn’t in her area; we became friends because we lived in X state for 6 years, including her NSD DIQ.) She is happier without MK in her life, which kind of shocked me. She travels a lot with her husband to see their children and grandchildren, and I heard from a mutual friend (a former director in her area who also left MK some years ago) that she donates her “retirement” check to charity.

    So if you think that you have made it to the top as an NSD and are going to have all this financial security and executive income, you are so delusional that you might fall off your unicorn.

    • Former NSD Amie Gambian says the same thing. It’s worse the higher up you go. For me, Directorship was worse than being a Red Jacket, and even having offspring became worse that those. There’s more to track, more tough conversations, and more expectations that because you are ____, you should be doing ____.

      Tracy posted an article recently about Amie, why she quit voluntarily, and the specifics of what happens as an NSD. It’s very revealing!

      Boy, I never imagined I’d say this, but I’m so glad I didn’t become an NSD!

      • MK corporate told her she had to retire because she had “aged out” or some other BS like that. Sure, she was the first and only NSD from this state, but it didn’t matter.

        I completely agree about being a SD versus RJ and more. The hamster wheel was crazy, and being military, we moved every 2-4 years. I had to build again and again, and I managed it. Yet the last move was the one that did me in. I was done. I was tired. I was going nowhere. When I reached out to this NSD (and not my own or my senior), I was actually at peace with my decision to step away.

        • Not sure if you’re mentioning Amie Gamboian, but she’s in her 40s. She’s not anywhere near her 60s where they are expected to retire. Is that who you were talking about? Who did they ask to retire?

          • Best – no. This NSD retired several years ago because MK said she “aged out.” She was 67 (I think) when she retired and was only an NSD for about 6 years.

      • When I moved into Dirctorship, I realized how much everything was all smoke and mirrors. The Monday nite meetings were a 10 am call with other directors about ‘so what are we going to do tonight'(no planning, no direction) in our group. All about what promos to run to recruit and get orders. Directors faking being happy on the meeting before the last of month when they were scrambling to make production to not lose Directorship. I was actually happier as a top consultant. Keeping my sales money for my money not funneling a big sales week into making production if the unit was lagging. After I became a Director and earned my car it was all a huge hassle….especially Monday nite meetings and Seminar.

  5. What happened to Roya Mattis, Leah Lachlan, and Aury Hethaway (spelling of all names is likely wrong)?

    I don’t see any of them on the list. Are they out or just not doing well?

      • Roya is also a personal coach. According to her website:

        “Roya invested heavily as a Platinum Partner with the Tony Robbins organization and attended every workshop he offers including those not available to the general public ranging from finance, to relationship, internal growth, health and concise coaching techniques leading her to immediate and deep transformative work with individuals.”
        “A professional trainer, strategist and speaker, she customizes speaking / training / workshops for 10 to 10,0000.”

        • I added the following comment on a different post, but it seems relevant to add here:

          “What I would like to see is if any of these NSDs who leave for these reasons actually migrate into an ACTUAL executive position in the non-MLM world. Granted, there are so few NSDs in general that we don’t have a large pool of examples. But off the top of my head, I’m thinking of NSDs who have ventured into other “careers”, and I can’t think of a single one that has moved horizontally into a real-world executive position…

          I mean, Dacia is desperately promoting maxi pads on her Insta; the con artist formerly known as Alison LaMar runs a cult-like private school supported by her MLM owner hubs; that Kimberly woman who wears tacky low cut shirts to PTA meetings is embarrassing her family on YouTube; and pretty much every other one tries to sell personal coaching via their downline connections.

          As an example, let’s use Dacia. Is she paid for her brand promotions on Insta? Maybe for some and not others. Is her Insta bringing in the same commissions she makes with MK? I doubt it. So why does she do it? If she’s such a successful sales/management executive with MK, why can’t she go to another company as a sales director, marketing director, etc?

          It’s simple: MLM royalty are nothing in the real world, and so they can’t acquire a new position (with an actual executive income). Their best bets are to leverage their social media/MLM “friends “ in sometimes desperate or laughable ways.”

          I guess I need to add Roya to the list of examples I used here!

    • Leah posts she eats only 1300 calories/day and drops to 800 cal every few weeks. She’s obviously trying to follow the nutritional and image madness of her Senior, Pam Shaw, and it’s disturbing. Imagine how many sheep are following her in MK and mimicking that lifestyle.

  6. I guess Auri and Leah are doing “ok”. Roya not so much. And with her “retired” husband and custom built home.

Comments are closed.

Related Posts