This is another heartwearming email that a sales director sent to her unit as she was leaving Mary Kay. Three cheers for the truth!

I wanted to take a moment to let you know that I was just notified that as of 1st of next month I am no longer your Sales Director with Mary Kay.  The company has chosen to terminate me due to our unit’s lack of production (orders).

As many of you know, I had a baby not too long ago, and we have had several personal issues here at home.    I did ask for an exception given this along with my 11 years with the company, but it was denied.  Normally these exceptions are granted without a problem, almost all of my offspring have been given them at one time or another, but they have chosen not to extend this courtesy to me even though I have never asked for an exception before. 

The hallmark of pyramid schemes (masquerading as something legitimate under an innocent-sounding name like multi-level marketing) is false earnings claims. We at Pink Truth know that time and again, research shows that more than 99% of people LOSE MONEY in MLM.

Nonetheless, practically all you ever hear about is how much money participants are making. And these claims are largely lies. When confronted with the reality that so many people lose money in MLM, the companies themselves resort to excuses like “women don’t really want to make money with Mary Kay… they do it for fun and as a social outlet.”

A former Mary Kay sales director shares how her her story was like a gambling addition, waiting to hit the jackpot with the big commission check. 

My journey to the end began the day I was on the computer looking for something and I stumbled upon Pink Truth. It was a shock to see this because I thought everything about MK was great. It was like a splash of cold water. At first I was angry but I kept coming back because deep in my gut I knew there was some truth to what was being written. The doubts started. So of course I went to my SSD and she told me, “never look at that again. It is poison and it will ruin you.”

But I also knew the reality of being a MK director. DIQ was absolute hell. I said and did things I never thought I would so that I could be the “find a way, make a way” type woman and I naively believed that once I became a director, I would have arrived to all my success. Because most of the women I signed up that last month came in to do a one time order, I did not have a unit. I did not really have a team. I was also deep in credit card debt, because I made up the difference each month chasing the mirage of my MK dream.

A former Mary Kay sales director tells us how booking, selling, and recruiting the way she was taught still did not lead to success.

I have been reading your site on and off for the past few months. When I heard of Pink Truth, I was still a Director. A sister director told me about “this evil website” called Pink Truth. I had to see for myself so I instantly logged on to have a clandestine peek.

I happened to be plagued with serious and frightening doubts about my Directorship at that time. When I began reading the articles, I recognized the exact same fears and struggles that others were experiencing. I felt a mixture of guilt, shame and fear of even READING the entries. I had to force myself to stop reading it, but I couldn’t help but return again and again in the days to follow. I so enjoyed being able to identify with other women struggling to make sense of this weird business. Yet, I felt that I was shamelessly indulging in the “dark” side by even remotely shedding light on any possible downsides of being a sales director. I couldn’t help myself. I visited every day.

This is the advice of a former Mary Kay director who quit, sent back tens of thousands of dollars of inventory and sent back her “free” car.

It has been almost 3 years since I returned my product, returned my “free” car and began my humbling journey of becoming normal again.  All those friend Directors?  Haven’t heard a word from anyone, even in my darkest times.  (With friends like that, yada, yada)

I see there are many newbies on here who are confused, considering and I hope that my post sheds some light on what I have come to realize about my 20 years in the business as a Director and help you with your own confusion…..

Recently Mary Kay Cosmetics made a change to the product return option for U.S. consultants. Previously, when a consultant requested the product return form, Mary Kay Inc. told the consultant the total amount of inventory she was eligible to return. She could return any products that added up to that total.

Now, Mary Kay will be telling consultants exactly which products they will be able to return.  Consultants will only be able to return the specific  products that they personally purchased from Mary Kay Inc. during the last 12 months  as described here:

Mary is an ex-director who got caught up in the do-it-fast mentality. Her senior wanted to go NIQ, and needed one more director to do it. Mary joined Mary Kay Inc. in 2005, and started with a full inventory. She was encouraged to buy $600 wholesale each month (that’s how you get your 13% recruiters check, otherwise it’s only 9%). Now she is $18,000 in debt.

She went into DIQ after only a few months as a consultant. She had 4 genuine recruits, and her director convinced 4 more of her customers to be personal use consultants. Voila! Mary had the 8 needed to go into DIQ.

Written by Raisinberry

Stepping out of Mary Kay for good, is freedom. And that is as it should be. It is a step toward becoming “real” again, where you have no duplicitous purpose in your relationships. You were never supposed to be in bondage to an idea, a group, a philosophy. By using your greatest needs against you, you were taken in and held captive by a desire for significance… something you already possess.

The cult devices of, love bombing, isolation, conformity, repetitious doctrine, exclusivity, manipulation, new relationships, mega activities and busy-ness so that critical thinking and reasoning are discouraged, become a pythons grip around you. The PMA code of conduct prevented you from ever finding out the level of fraud that exists in Mary Kay, and locked you deep in a game of denial and bondage.

Written by A Former Director

I pray this note finds you well and enjoying the new year, meeting your goals and following thru on those resolutions!! By now, you have received a letter both from Mary Kay Inc., and Executive Senior Sales Director Xxxxxx Xxxxxx advising you of the change in our unit status. While I’m sure this comes as a surprise to you, it has been a while in coming for me.

There are monthly quotas each unit must meet, or at least meet every other month. Our unit has not been making our minimum production regularly for at least the last 12 to 18 months. For the first time since our unit was formed in 1996 we missed production 3 consecutive months which is grounds for cancellation of the Director’s agreement.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Pink Truth friends. Enjoy today with family and friends, and be thankful that you don’t have to spend your precious time hawking overpriced products that few women actually want. You don’t have to get women at your family gathering to try products or schedule a party. You don’t have to pretend to be successful at Mary Kay while knowing that you’re actually losing money.

I am thankful for all of our Pink Truth members who give so graciously of their time, helping others learn how to get out of Mary Kay and comforting them as they navigate the range of emotions post-Mary Kay.