For Mary Kay Sales Directors Who "Stumble Across" Pink Truth

Very moving, Suz. Thanks.

I never felt comfortable 'frontloading' and after reading here I completely stopped and my unit dried up.

MK is a do unto others what has been done to you business - it's not real.

SuzyQ, I found this group way back when it was Pink Cadillac and I remember physically flushing and the heat that grew up my neck, my ears and across my face as I read.

I was horrified. I also defended MK with a lame post and they quickly made hash of my comments. But I kept reading. I had never heard the term, frontloading either and I was disturbed by it because I knew I had unit members who ordered just for the recognition.

It was the beginning of the end. When MK Sucks was born, I kept lurking and reading. Slowly the lights came on and the dream began to die and I felt as if I was in mourning. I felt betrayed, I felt dirty, I felt stupid, I felt guilty and I felt very sad. Then came waves and waves of intense anger. Finally in June 2007 I posted my true feelings on MK Sucks, now PT and was welcomed. Healing began and for the first time in 5 years I felt relieved and free. Thanks SuzyQ for sharing your story, and thanks women of PT for also being patient with me and showing me the way out.

Thanks Suzy for a thoughtful, open and honest letter to our wonderful lurkers. I believe that there is a lesson in this post for all levels of MK from brand new IBCs to top directors.

We have all been manipulated by someone we trusted and expected to guide us. Reading this should open everyone's eyes to all the dishonest behavior in MK. Everyone should take heed to the wisdom you have just read and just think about what you are doing to/with your unit or what you have been told by your upline.

Is what they are saying ring true to you?

When you question what you have been told, have they responded with the comment that you need to be too dumb to doubt?

Have you been made to feel inadequate because you're "not as succesful" as the woman sitting next to you?

Have so many road blocks been thrown in your path that it is almost impossible to reach the next level?

You will find the answers to most of these questions here. Why? Because 99.99% of us have been there and done that and if we can spare just one person from going through what we have then the means justify the ends.

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto. And I think we can add, that we love the people in our former areas...we are not trying to "sabotage their businesses"...

We are fighting the cult brainwashing that prohibits you from being honest with yourselves.

Yes Mary Kay was fun. Yes we had great times. And Yes, we scoured the earth looking for new women who we knew would end up exactly as the others had. It doesn't change. It can't. Mary Kay is multi-level marketing and disguises this fact by calling itself "duel"...exactly as Amway disguised itself, and even denied itself, to gain new recruits.

Great Job telling the truth, Suz. Feels good, don't it?

Wonderful, as always, SuzyQ! I am thankful everyday for finding pt and the wonderful witty women who are part of the community here.

If you're visiting/lurking - think about what it would be like to NOT feel like an inadequate failure everytime you see a "successful" director. Read some of the recent posts on the homepage. It's NOT your fault your business isn't working.

Excellent post Suzy Q. You have come a long way baby from where you began in the healing process. I hope that my xSD will lurk and be honest with herself. I still hope that she will take off the pink glasses and stop smoking the pink weed and regain her whole self. She is quite an amazing woman.

Knowing you all through this blog has been such an affirmation to the lies, scamming, manipulation and schemes. Believing the lies and defending them tooth and nail is something we all have experienced. Yet, once the shock,horror and nausea of the truth sinks in and we begin working through the ramifications of the truth, the proactive actions no matter how small are so envigorating. Thanks to all for your advice, honesty and transparency posted here. You all are blessings.

SuzyQ- Excellent article!! You speak so honestly for all the ex-directors on PT today. I so wish I had found PT while I was still a Director- could have saved myself and others a lot of money and stress. Lurking Directors, please take the time to read this thread a few times, and then be very honest with yourself...and see how well you can sleep tonight. Just know, when you are ready, we are here for you at PT.

Raisin- you are right, we did have fun. That is still what makes it so hard for us. How could something so wrong, have brought us so many great times? But as we know, that is the nature of MK beast.

Awesome article SuzyQ! I hope that there are a lot of directors that will have a reality check and start seeing the truth of their life in MK. There are too many directors, successful directors, that post on here for their experiences and wisdom to be discounted. It just doesn't compute that every single one of us and several million in product returns are all "lazy loosers." There is a truth here that unseats a lot of hopes built on a pink altar of deceit.

I remember Shabby & all the others from the beginning. I loved MKSucks...we all had a lot of fun on here too. Remember the crazy chat rooms & trolls anyone? We laughed a lot. Laughter is healing while digesting facts & truth.

Reminds me of other lies I believed because I trusted the source:

Mary Kay is taught at Harvard. I so believed that and even defended it.

More women make over $100,000 in MK than any other company in America. Again, not true. There has never been any documentation to substantiate that claim.

You can drive free in MK. Well maybe but most directors are making copays because their unit doesn't support the production needed to drive free.

No quotas in MK. Again not true. Even to get the 50% discount one has a minimum order requirement. Directors have unit production requirements to remain a director.

Work part-time and make an executive income. Define executive income. It is not minimum wage. Again that is a lie. Most directors are busting it, working a lot more than 40 hours a week and you are always on call.

Just some thoughts I had this morning about what I truly believed and found not true. Lurkers, you owe it to yourselves to ask the hard questions, do the research and find the facts.

I found PT after I had left directorship, but when I was still a little fogged. What I took away from this site was the incredible realization that it wasn't just me. We are so brainwashed in MK to believe that if we're not million-dollar directors, we're doing something wrong, we don't have a high enough deserve level or we're not willing to do the work. It had never occurred to me that the problem was the company and its structure.

I have been blessed beyond words by the wise women here who have been open and honest and willing to share their lives. Our stories are so similar and there is great power in our shared experiences.

Love you guys.

I remember I came across Mary Kay Sucks early on in my directorship. As I skimmed some of the comments I was just terribly upset by them. 'Why would someone have said those things about this amazing company and opportunity?' I wish I had just kept reading. Instead I pretended like it wasn't there (even discouraged my consultants from reading it if they found it) and went on 'bee-lieving' all the pink propaganda.

Directors & Consultants: I'd like to repeat one of SuzyQ's excellent points.

All I want you to do is to be honest with yourself. Look at your finances. Expenses. Time management. Stress level. Meeting attendance. Recruiting prospects. Inventory expectations. Consistent customer sales vs. ordering patterns. Events, advances and retreats.

My former director is the most honest, upright woman I know and I would never question anything she has to say unless it comes to MK. A college educated, hard working professional who would walk away before she would lie to you will look you straight in the eye and tell you how successful she is in MK. She is driving for free, making money hand over fist, and cannot wait to quit her JOB to persue MK full time cuz she has to show everyone that she is making it. I have seen her office and know how much inventory she has, ton of it with old packaging, old formulas, etc. The scariest part of this is that she is married to a man who loves her uncondionally and will support her no matter what. He is the poster child for MK husbands in that he will not stand up and make her face reality. I can talk to her about anything other than MK because as soon as the conversation turns to MK I can physically see the pink fog come over her face and the lies start to spew from her pink lips. How sad. I am going to try to talk to her but I really don't think she will listen. She told me all about dual marketing, Harvard business plan, women helping women, etc., and in her pink mind it is all true and I am just being negative since I could not do it.
They talk about God in MK, lets all pray that these women come to their senses.

SuzyQ, Very thought provoking article. I hope a lot of SD's and lurkers take the time to really think about what has been said and are honest with themselves and the situation they are currently in.

Have so many road blocks been thrown in your path that it is almost impossible to reach the next level?


This is what lead me to PT and I firmly believe now that all of that happened for a reason, as God was leading me in the right direction. You are set up for failure in this business from day one, and the only way to have even a shread of success is to manipulate and deceive people.

What you will do with new consultant inventory suggestions in December, January and February? Will you order color for them, “knowing” they can sell it by the time the new products are introduced?

This bugged the heck out of me from my very first day in MK. Not only did I resent my director choosing what I was going to order when "I" was paying for it and after all, it was MY business, I became a consultant when the squarish, pink compacts were changing to a pearlized kind of oval pink compacts. I was stuff with a bunch of outdated stuff from the beginning....along with certain products in the line that I KNEW I was never going to be able to get rid of.

Go Suz!!!!

Oops. "Stuck" with a bunch of outdated stuff. Sorry, can't find the edit button.

Suz, what a great article. I love your simple, friendly, honest manner. Beautiful.

I'm really glad I found PT. It gave me the affirmation that I was not alone in my feelings and gave me the information I needed. I am so glad I sent everything back and am in the process of getting rid of the Section 2 products to pay off my CC debt.

I remember how I became a consultant. I was told if I came to a party and liked the product I could sign up to be one. I thought this was a great oppertunity. I got laid off of my past 2 jobs, and wanted something promising, and this seemed to be IT. SO I went to the party, the women were nice, and fun. We did facials, and talked and laughed. Well I signed up. I was told 120 dollars and not a penny more would get me into this fabulous paying business. I got my package 5 days after I signed. I was on top of the world. I sat down and looked at all this stuff I aquired for only 100 dollars (and shipping) I called my superviser, and she said to come to the next meeting, and she'll show me how to apply make up..and start my paries. I went there, and no one was nice anymore, I wasnt noticed, they said hi, and never even looked at me. I got into a car accident, and had 2 black eyes, and had on very baggy clothes because my body was so sore..I felt I wasnt presentable in their eyes, and they judged me upon my apperance..these were very well kept looking ladies. Well after not being taught anything, the director sat me down and talked to me..she said, "now were gonna start getting you to sell." I thought..Well Im already ready, I got my starter kit, and all I need now is to be trained." She laughed and said, you cant sell what you dont have. I said well what do I need. She brought out a "ready, set, sell" or as I call it "Ready, set, buy" book, and said I need to order more make up, so I can have it on hand. I was told 600 was the least..and about 5000 was the most. I told her theres no way Id ever have that money, and I cant apply for a credit card if I dont have a job. I was at a dead end, I tried getting co signers, but everyone that did, couldnt qualify. I was stuck. I was pulled in, thinking I could start my own business for a hundred+ dollars. I was promised, empty promises, and was told about how all these poor women made a choice to sell, and they were sucsess stories. Now I have to look in my lil pink office, I made for my business, sit there, with all this mary kay make up ill never use. I hate looking in there, because when I see it I see my broken dream. Everytime I see a car with Mary Kay on the back, I think about how that could never be me, because a business that is supposed to enrich and change the lives of women, fed me whole lies and half truth. If u can suceede at Mary Kay I hope you can, but theres soo much more then what theyre gonna tell you. Soo if ur going in there good luck, cuz your gonna need it.

Oh my gosh, SuzyQ, thank you for your post that is so obviously coming straight from your heart. I know the feeling of having your stomach lurch into your throat when you first read about the elaborate con that is MKC. So much sadness, shock, and fury. It is hard to deal with, but it is comforting to have somewhere to finally learn the truth of how we were all duped.

I do hope that SDs who have poured their hearts and hopes into this scam are helped. And I hope that many, many DIQs find their way here before they make the fatal leap.

The one thing for readers to keep foremost in their minds is that this dream of success will cost them, in the form of a lifetime of guilt.

Readers, how will you peacefully lay your head down at night, without researching to ascertain that what you are repeating to others is the truth? Wouldn't it do your heart good to know that you did right by the sharp women who crossed your path? No amount of money, presige, and recognition is worth a lifetime of guilt.

Welcome lil mafia babe,

I highly suggest that you look at the return inventory tab and read about what you need to do to return your inventory and get 90% of your money back. Good luck and welcome.

lil mafia babe, I am soooooo glad you couldn't get that loan! Whew!

I could not tell from your post if you did end up buying an inventory after your starter kit. If you did, you can return that stuff. You are stuck with the starter kit, unfortunately. I am really sorry about your broken dream. You are in the company of women who feel the same way and understand your pain.

yea im currently looking up how to do that, and thank you

www.touchofpinkcosmetics.com buys unopened full size products for 50% of what you paid, and may even be buying section 2 items at this time (not sure.)
Please email them right away to find out what you can sell to them. Don't be discouraged if you don't get an answer right away. There's usually a waiting list - that's how many former Mary Kay consultants are liquidating their stuff. TOP is a good company to deal with. MK will not not take back an opened started kit when I called Repurchase to ask. You may want to call MK to formally cancel your agreement. If you just let it lapse, directors may activate your consultant number without your knowledge. Good luck and write back to let us know how it goes.

Welcome lil_mafia_babe,

Wow. I am so sorry for what you went through.
Hope reading and posting here helps.
We have been through it.

Welcome lil_mafia_babe!

BTW...Love the name!

SuzyQ
As a newbie to PT I want to thank you for making it perfectly clear that my decision to stop participating in MK was the right one.
I was like every other women that commented already.
I really believed the dream of Directorship. That it would somehow be the answer to all of my desires. I doubted myself continually, because I thought I was the only who felt like a loser, like I just didn't "get it", and that everyone else did. It affected other areas of my life in that, I felt that if I couldn't be successful at something as "simple" as MK, maybe I wasn't as smart/competent/hardworking as I thought I was. For more years than I care to admit or want to believe, I held directorship up as the best thing I could ever want to achieve.
I am happy every day since discovering this site. I feel a freedom that I frankly had forgotten could exist. Life without the everpresent pressure of MK. I have cleaned out all of my MK paperwork (4 bags full), and am in the process of trying to "deprogram" myself. I have come to this site every day since last week, and I am continually grateful for the honesty and intellegence, warmth and generosity I have recieved.

Oh, by the way, Last night my local 110 news did a whole segment on MK's increase in #'s and "sales" during this rough economic period etc. AND at the very end when the newscaster-man was giving his pithy (not) wrap-up, He endorsed MK by saying "That is a good one"!!!!! Meaning if your going to do it, do MK. I couldn't believe it. Do other companies get to advertise themselves on the local news like this?? Who gives permission for this kind of thing?

Someone please explain the real reason for this......today I returned $790 in product and notified my SD that I had done so. She responded by saying I had been a wonderful team member and she was doing a training for her consultants Monday night about In Touch. She said since I wasnt in MK anymore, she would like to have my password to my IT site to get it ready to train her group. I declined......but what is the real reason?, I am so suspect now of everything!! Thanks in advance!

sorelieved - she wants your customer list. That's why.

Chop - what is up with that quota thing?? I remember the same stuff you do, and all of it I could choke down except the quota thing. It was an out and out lie, and I could never understand it. Oh, wait, that is because it is a LIE. Oy.

SuzyQ - awesome. While I only ever crested DIQ (multiple times) I found this site while a new consultant. Wow. What an eye-opening experience. It didn't mean anything more than "negative talk" back then, but it stuck with me, and I'm so glad to know it is there for me today!

Thank you Suzy Q! I'm new to PT and I don't know where to start!
I have been reluctant to post because of the paranoia that you speak about here.
I have been a director for 4 years and because of glaring untruths and misrepresentations I very recently decided to resign. I don't want to give a date out of fear, can you believe it!?
I stumbled upon this site while looking for support for the decision I had to make. It was harder than hard!
I too never heard of "frontloading" and I honestly thought it was how I could help a new team member be most successful. The biggest orders I brought in were $3600 but mostly I felt like $1800 was plenty and lots of times I encouraged $600 and building from there.
The thing that broke my heart was seeing women come in and knowing that they had "a long way to go" in the growth process, because we're not supposed to prejudge you know, and wondering how they would even sell a $600! But when your unit continues on wholesale production, it's pretty hard to tell someone not to order product. The company sets the director up for HUGE stress for NO money! I could go on and on but I can only say that I got to the point where I wouldn't push the initial inventory order anymore so I began to dwindle. Then comparison sets in and you feel like a loser director.
I have seen and know tons of stuff as I'm sure all the directors on here have and sometimes I sincerely wish I had never completed directorship. It was my loss of pink innocence! But then, all things happen for a reason and you can be sure I will "help" women understand what this business won't do for them.
I hope you will all be patient with me as I heal and recover because just when I think I couldn't cry another tear, I cry some more. Anger is probably right around the corner as I move through the stages of grief.
I feel used, abused, lied to, and thrown away. My "network" is gone, my MK friends have to keep on pinking out of self preservation. I don't blame them. They are responsible for their own actions and I am responsible for mine. It is lonely.
Shame On Pink!!!

freshoutofpink -

Let me be the first to welcome you to PT! You are amongst friends who care and are along with you for every step in the recovery. I too am recently recovering from Director Detox and I find that PT is my lifeline to bridging normalcy and that horrible pink fog. Keep reading, keep posting and just know that you are not alone!

Ciavin,

Thanks.......went to my IT and deleted all names and weekly update info......
sheese louise!

welcome,
freshoutofpink!
You will find support here.

freshoutofpink - welcome! Glad you are here, and you are right - this is YOUR decision, and you have to deal with it the way you need to. And don't worry - as you start to get more time back, you can begin to do things you never had time for, and the community and friends will grow around truth and common interests, rather than deception and malfeasance. Glad you are here!!

Freshoutofpink... welcome to PT! There is NO reason for paranoia That was mostly my fear and guilt for my defection to PT. There are lots of stories and a ton of info for you here... keep reading and ask questions... it really will be OK, it just takes awhile!

Welcome, Fresh. I think many of us feel that way about being found out, in the beginning. After awhile, you'll probably find that you don't give a flip who thinks what. I'm glad you found your way here. You will be amazed at how much help you will find here. And yes, I wholeheartedly agree: Shame on Pink! It is shameful how MKC is such a con job.

Longtimer, I so echo what you wrote. I just KNEW that directorship would answer my questions and I'd be so fulfilled. Drove myself into a depression in fact because I couldn't achieve it - couldn't even get past team leader. Now I believe I couldn't do it because I myself never truly believed in the opportunity and couldn't bring myself to tell what I knew subconsciously were half-truths and flat out lies.

Welcome fresh! Love the name!

Welcome Freshoutofpink!

You've come to the right place.

[quote]I hope you will all be patient with me as I heal and recover because just when I think I couldn't cry another tear, I cry some more.[/quote]
Of course!

[quote]Someone please explain the real reason for this......today I returned $790 in product and notified my SD that I had done so. She responded by saying I had been a wonderful team member and she was doing a training for her consultants Monday night about In Touch. She said since I wasnt in MK anymore, she would like to have my password to my IT site to get it ready to train her group. I declined......but what is the real reason?, I am so suspect now of everything!! Thanks in advance!

[/quote]
That is another of dumbest things I've ever heard. What a bold-faced lie just to get a hold of your customer list. I'm glad you deleted everything!!

Hey Fresh..welcome. Kudoes to you for finding the courage to post...you are right..its scary and you think you will be engaged in a hostile way or something..but that really isn't us. We are not "pink porn" or "negative nellies". The only women who get a blast of pink poop are those who use the same exact BS sayings we all have heard before.

Yea..stages of grief is right. You will find yourself living them over and over as you process what you were told and what you did. PT is about recovery and helping others get validation in what
they have suspected all along. You are safe here.

Thanks to all who have been so accepting here!
I am still in shock that I actually resigned.
Sales Developement asked if I had thougt it over. Are you kidding me!?!
I just kept thinking my 1 in 10 was coming any day but she didn't arrive in time for my departure! The 1 in 10 was a whopper designed to keep directors in the field, looking everywhere for someone "to run with". Even at that I no longer will share this opportunity. I respect the sister too much for that!
Perhaps sometime I will share my story. It's nothing major, just a girl who thought everything was on the up and up, and got sent over the pink waterfall, wearing her suit, in a barrell with no lid! It was a "rude awakening"!
1. Does Corp really read here everyday?
2. Do they ever try to bring legal action?
3. Do you think things have changed since Mary Kay passed away?
I always thought she was such a beautiful spirit. Am I wrong? I just never got a good feeling about Richard. A little too cheesey for me!
Thanks again!

Welcome sorelieved & freshoutofpink! You've found your place of refuge. Fresh- I too am a recent stepped down director, for many of the same reasons you have. It's been difficult, slow process, but I'm so happy to have made the decision (to have corp help me make that decision). You'll have your days, so don't worry, we're here for you!

hang in there!

Sorelieved...just wanted you to know it will get easier every day. Leaving MK is a part of you dying, so be prepared to morn for a while. On the otherhand, another part of you will awaken & it will be beautiful. Welcome to PT!

1. Does Corp really read here everyday? Probably. They'd be foolish not to.

2. Do they ever try to bring legal action? That would be marvelous, because suing your critics to shut them up is not only a totally stupid idea that draws attention of all the mainstream media, the documents they would have to produce in discovery would be sooooooooo embarrassing to them.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

3. Do you think things have changed since Mary Kay passed away? I think the main change was when it got real easy to do it on credit ... the fast rise to NSD wouldn't have been possible if all that ordering had to be cash up front.

She was no saint: In her bio she makes the offhand comment that all of her friends had already been a hostess and if they hadn't, they were no longer friends ... she manipulated her life story to make her rise to the top of her MLM seem more dramatic.

"I always thought she was such a beautiful spirit. Am I wrong?"

From the D Magazine article "Not So Pretty in Pink" by Joseph Guinto:

It's quiet in Mary Kay Ash's old office at company headquarters...you'd think the company was expecting a resurrection.

[Former CEO] John Rochon says he already made that happen. He says that after Mary Kay's illness took her away from the company, he did for her what he believes the disciples did for Jesus-created the perfect persona for the rest of the world to identify with.

"The idealization of the person was completely in my control," Rochon says. "I could create it. Mary Kay never made a mistake after she left the company. She only said powerful things, because we could be very thoughtful about creating imagery that was sustaining."

Sorry, Rochon - unlike the very mortal Mary Kay Ash, Jesus didn't need anyone to "create" a perfect persona so everyone could identify with Him. Christ is who He is.

While I'm sure MKA was a great lady, like all of us, she was flawed. She displayed a "cutsie" but terribly condescending attitude towards men, per the fact that she was quoted in People magazine as having said, "When God made man, He was only practicing...He looked down and said, 'That's pretty good, but I think I could do better.' So He created woman."

This attitude is not biblical ("God First?" Please.) there's nothing cute or funny about it, and yet Ash is continually uplifted as the Moses of Makeup, always beckoning the masses towards the top of the pyramid.

Scrib..remember she was married 6 times?
She apparently developed some animosity towards men after taking care of good old Dad...kinda like seeing them as weak, and easily manipulated...why else would you say something like that quote, unless you had an underlying distaste for the Y chromosome. She also was quoted as saying, "why would women want to be equal to men? That would mean coming down off the pedastal."

Smacks of being a right rate manipulator to me.

Freshoutofpink,
You are not a loser director. The people in MK lie to everyone about how the business is fueled by frontloading. It was much easier before the internet to convince consultants that "they couldn't sell from an empty wagon". Not anymore. Everyone is accustomed to waiting for internet orders and MK has no more excuses about why everyone needs a huge inventory. MK and companies like it are passe, and I'll be very surprised if it is still in business five years from now.

Scribbler~ All I can say is OH MY GOSH!
I know MKA had to be human but we were always taught she was more than a cut above. Someone great to emulate. The point of it is that we all have a choice to be an influence for good or not so good. So again I have to say shame on pink for fabricating any story that is other than truth.
I remember when the Shirley McClain movie came out about Mary Kay and the company. My upline said that we should'nt watch the movie because it was blasphemous. Isn't that a term reserved for something else? Ha!
They have to keep the image sparkly clean to keep the magic going and the followers attracted.
You guys have probably witnessed the scales falling off someone's eyes before so you won't be shocked when I say "excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor". How did I not see what was there?

Thanks Scribbler. PS I LOVE the picture of the MK ball and chain. Phenomenal!!! That picture is worth a thousand words.

Fresh is taking her life back!!!
Thanks for listening today.

Just so you know, I'm grateful to you all for listening and helping me.
You are a god send for this girlfriend!

Hi fresh, I'm fresh out myself. I was so scared to comment here, but read often and have finally commented a couple times.

This weekend, I actually sat down and typed out my whole MK life story and just emailed it to PT. Maybe it'll be posted and you'll know my story. It was very healing to put it down in writing and send it off.

This is my first month out of directorship and I feel like a million bucks!!

Welcome, Nutmeg!! I'm sorry you have been so fearful to share here but that will go away in time. Please come back often to get any support and encouragement you need.

Hi Nutmeg!
Welcome to Pink Truth.
Look forward to reading your story and hearing more from you.

And greetings to you too Madam Nutmeg. I loved that cheek color. Hope to read your story, but you already know, don't ya, that your story will be 80% our stories. That's the big shock when the blinders finally fall off...EVERYBODY was in the same boat more or less, but never knew that the other gal was too. Dont ask dont tell really worked for mary kay.

freshoutofpink - I was in Mary Kay 20 years ago and the structure was the same then. I distinctly remember being told all the lies everyone else talks about now such as "it's only $X for your starter kit and that's all you need", "there are no quotas", etc. My director did NOT even mention inventory until after my starter kit arrived, then she went on to tell me about how I couldn't sell from an empty wagon. She put in my order ($1200 worth) and the next month the packaging changed - I was stuck with a bunch of inventory that was instantly outdated. I could go on and on. So you see, nothing's changed. Mary Kay became a multimillionaire by being a shrewd business woman. She set the company up to operate the way it did then and the way it does now.

I can relate to how some of you said you felt like your dreams died when you threw in the towel. I remember a year or two after I gave up, walking around to the dumpster to throw my kit away. I kept hanging onto it thinking that maybe if I gave it another try, I could make it. So glad I didn't. In MK, they set you up to believe that if you fail, it's because of something you did. (how convenient) Wish the internet had been around back then.

Would love to hear from any other women who were in MK "way back when".

FreshOutOfPink & Nutmeg, we are so glad you are here. I can't wait to hear your stories. Be sure to start a link under "discussion" so we can learn about you.

One piece of advise I'd give you is to read and post often. This is a healing process and it doesn't happen over night. You have to be de-programmed to think like a normal person again. It isn't easy and your healing will go in stages.

We are here to support you, pick you up when you fall, give you advise, and get some laughs with you. Welcome.

Thanks for this message. Its important for Mary Kay reps to read, and also for reps/consultants of ANY MLM.

The same advice could really be applied to reps of any of the other MLMs, too.

MRW, I started using MK about 21 years ago and was recruited maybe 15 years ago (I've lost track). I'm no longer active but some of my old customers still call once in a while to get a thing or two, I refer them to the internet or a close friend. Anyway, I completely agree with you, nothing has really changed, I heard all the same bs (bogus stories) then that are being told now. All the same scripts, selling tactics and omissions. All of the copies that get passed around from unit to unit of *Roll Up bag* packages were *Basics* or *Basic + Basic* or whatever and you got the tray thingy. So, nothing was any different, especially the LIES, just the product names or combo kits. Which aren't even really kits. Has any one ever been asked "If I buy it all together, does MK give discount" and you have to say "Well, no, but I'm free to give a discount, it's my business, I can sell at what ever amount I want". What an idiot I was. I always thought that was lame that you really didn't get a discount from MK to pass on to your customers if they bought some kind of package. Basically you had to eat the profit on that. And, MKers out there, don't try to say that if you order when there's some kind of promotion and you get your free gift then you can sell it for full retail, cause if nobody wants to buy it then what? That's just stupid. The whole thing is stupid.
Sorry, I went on a rant.

Rant on imfree... it helps! The only differences between then and now are credit cards, many more nsd's (less money as a result) and the internet. Otherwise same stuff different day. And that's why archival MK videos are shown at leadership and seminar from time to time. The message has not changed, the business plan has not changed-- the mottos and stupid sayings have been around since MKA "borrowed" them from someone else. Stacy James, however, put the contempoary spin on things with her "Be too dumb to doubt" message. Long and short---> we were in a cult.

contemporary... edit button.

Thanks for the welcomes! Nutmeg is a lip color now! ... the ever-changing MK line. I am starting to put in my 2 cents here, it feels good to talk to people who know where you're coming from. It helps to realize that we do all have basically the same story. It's also sad that we all have basically the same story