A letter from a former Mary Kay sales director to her offspring sales director. This letter really captures the essence of the Pink Truth mission. Getting women to understand that reality of MLMs, the predatory nature of Mary Kay, and that there is life after Mary Kay.

Dear XXXXX,

When we met four months ago, and I told you I was leaving Mary Kay directorship, I know it took you by surprise.  I had always presented to you the model image of a senior sales director.  As I was taught, I never complained to you or expressed doubts about the business.  I always presented the positive.  I encouraged you in everything you were trying to do to grow your unit and lead your consultants to success.

In Mary Kay, the pyramid-toppers want you to believe that you control your own income. That you don’t depend on others. If you want a raise, you just go out and get it for yourself. You, as a director, can control your income with the amount of activity you do. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Directors are almost completely dependent upon others for their income. The idea that they can “just sell more” or “just recruit more” is not as simplistic as they make it seem. The director is dependent upon others being willing to open their checkbooks or lay down their credit cards in order to be paid commissions. Dialing for dollars? Sure sounds dependent upon those who answer the phone.

Another one of those nauseating emails circulating amongst Mary Kay sales directors.  Are you convinced about how fabulous being a director is? Well it is! Even when you and 98% of the other directors aren’t making a decent living! Don’t forget – God wants you to sell Mary Kay and recruit more victims.

Dear Directors: this was on my heart this morning so I wanted to share.

Give yourself lots of credit! You are the top 2% of our entire company in Mary Kay out of thousands of women! Do you know how blessed you are that God chose to work through YOU to touch other women’s lives through Mary Kay? Not everyone makes it to Director- but you have! Not everyone is trusted by God to make a difference through offering the opportunity to women to change their lives- but you ARE!

Written by SuzyQ

Burn those bridges, ladies!  It’s the right thing to do!  Trust me!

Oh my.  Did anyone else hear those words in Mary Kay?  Of course you did, especially if you became one of the TOP TWO PERCENT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD (that would be a director, of course), or at least in the company.  I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard “Mary Kay doesn’t like her directors to work.  It makes it look as though you don’t trust the company or the position of director.”

Written by PinkPeace

Hello Lurkers and those still thinking that directorship is the way to real money in Mary Kay!  This is especially for beauty consultants who think that if they just can make it to the “elite 2% of all those in Mary Kay” they will have their ticket to financial freedom and flexibility.

I’m going to show you how a unit with production of $10,000 in a given month STILL isn’t much of a wage in Mary Kay. The vast majority of sales directors do not have production of $10K in a given month. They DREAM of $10K production, but they are probably going between $4K (the bare minimum to keep their units) to $8K (the bare minimum to have the sales director car without copays). Let me stress again, production of $10,000 in a month is very unusual in Mary Kay.

Many recruits are snared into Mary Kay Cosmetics with the lure of executive earnings. They are told that the sky’s the limit, and the earnings are unlimited, if only you are willing to work hard enough. Sales directors tout their “highest checks” without ever mentioning all the business expenses that must be paid out of those checks, or that those are a one-time deal and don’t represent their normal commission checks.

The hard workers are the ones who make it big in Mary Kay, right? Wrong. One has to look no further than superstar Allison LaMarr, who was the fastest woman ever to make it to Mary Kay National Sales Director. Yet all of that hard work resulted in a downward spiral that culminated in Allison becoming the fastest quitter in Mary Kay history. She has flailed around since, attempting to be a personal coach, a failed participant  in multi-leve marketing company MLM Bellamora, a former “executive” for multi-level marketer Seacret Direct, and is now spinning her wheels trying to build a downline as a distributor for Seacret.

As is usually the case, mainstream media completely ignores the reality of multi-level marketing. Stories are regularly run about how MLM “businesses” offer consumers an opportunity to make money, especially during times of high unemployment. What these stories ignore is the reality that 99% of people involved in MLM actually lose money.

Last week, Rebecca Rose of the Killeen Daily Herald wrote a glowing piece about women making money with Mary Kay. She cited no hard facts about Mary Kay, only anecdotal evidence (read: lies) from women involved in MLMs and with a vested interest in inflating their supposed success.

You know I love to get my hands on these things: the real, live numbers that prove how few people are actually making money in Mary Kay. Now let me set this up for you to prove that almost no one is making that “executive pay” in Mary Kay.

A sales director driving a Cadillac is supposed to do $96,000 wholesale production over two quarters. That works out to $16,000 wholesale per month, which equals a commission check of about $3,200 monthly (using an average commission rate of 20%). That equals $38,400 per year gross commission if the director is just meeting the Cadillac minimums. (And then you have all the business expenses that must be paid out of that!)

A former Mary Kay sales director sees beyond the smoke and mirrors and shares her story with us. Can you relate?

You know…….. the more I read and hear about the leaders in this company who ultimately play on women’s hearts, minds and souls, the sadder I am. It is a shame that someone like Kathy Helou and others who are suppose to be “women of God” can continue to give women like us false hope.

The thing that saddens me most is that the MAJORITY of the women that get into this business do not have a support system at home! When you first get into Mary Kay…… you are “LOVED” by all these women that are in Mary Kay!

Shelby Sutton Conklin, Mary Kay Sales Director

UPDATE: From July 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012 (7 months), Shelby has ordered less than $11,838 retail ($5,919 wholesale) from Mary Kay. That means her sales per month are less than $1,700 retail, nowhere near what she’d need to sell to make the $5,000 per month her husband claims she makes. For the first half of January, Shelby’s unit production was $1,364, well below what she’d need to be on pace for $4,500 production for the month.

UDPATE #2: Shelby’s unit production in January 2012 was $2,483. This equals a commission check of about $500, which is well below Eric’s claim that Shelby makes $5,000 per month with Mary Kay.

Since Pink Truth came on the scene in 2006, we have had a number of “Mary Kay Husbands” visit the site and tell us how wrong we are.  Their wives are “successful” in Mary Kay, and we are liars, losers, bitter, spiteful, and more.

Last week, we were paid a visit by Eric Conklin, the husband of Mary Kay sales director Shelby Sutton Conklin. Shelby Conklin is a Sales Director in the Debi Moore area, and her senior director is Taylor Moore Fehring. These women are going to be so proud of how Eric showed us what a great opportunity Mary Kay is!!!!