From retired NSD Linda Toupin’s “director boot camp.” I’d venture a guess that almost every single director in Mary Kay fits into 7 or more of these items. And not because they’re lazy or don’t want it… but because Mary Kay is a pyramid scheme in which almost everyone will fail.
What do they mean by a “strong personal business”? The mean lots of personal ordering and personal recruiting. As a sales director, you’re expected to carry your unit. You cannot count on your downline to recruit, so you have to be responsible for bringing in the recruits. And unit production is based primarily on initial inventory orders, so you have to “pull inventory” too. You have to place big inventory orders, even though the money you make from selling products is peanuts compared to commissions on the unit.
Here are Linda’s ten signs that the director does not have a strong personal business:
- Lack of confidence.
- Lack of integrity. Don’t kid yourself – your consultants know if you held a class last week.
- Lack of new recruits in your unit or lack of sharp recruits in your unit.
- Lack of excitement at your meeting.
- Low meeting attendance.
- Family members show frustration with your business.
- You are frustrated with your business and begin to doubt if you are director material.
- You find yourself only talking to the directors who are not working so that you have something in common. You both wonder should I really be doing this. Lots of doubt.
- Lack of belief that Mary Kay is the premier opportunity for women.
- You are broke! Yikes! I can assure you that this is not what Mary Kay intended for directorship to look like. You get to this list by no longer continuing to do what put you in the suit.
Remember you will remain the same until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change.
The great news! Your business is not terminal… it can be healed.
Translation: The system is designed for you to fail, but it’s still your fault if you fail. All you had to do was Bee-Lieve.
For MK as long as orders are being placed, they don’t care about their IBC’s or Directors. For 50 plus years recruits have been buying products. For the MK CEO’s and heirs it’s a win win. Mommy or great grandma set up a company where sales are ongoing. Products might be sitting on shelves turning yellow, products might be resold on eBay (Making it awkward) but the bottom line is the charade continues. Just change the products often, have more than enough variety, bring in a Christmas line for more pretend sales and use everything you can as a tax write off. As long as the real advantage goes towards the few descendants and CEO’s that matter, nothing else will ever matter.
Victim blaming again: “You get to this list by no longer continuing to do what put you in the suit.” No longer having friends and family to recruit, no longer having space on the credit cards for expenses, no longer spending 60+ hours a week lying to recruits.
Excitement and integrity don’t change the numbers of this losing scheme.
Can you get EXCITED about product? When I’m returning it for the 90% buyback, hell yeah. ?
Scolding people when her own daughter has NEVER had a personal business but is at the top. Kind of hypocritical, right?
The more I’ve thought of this, the more it sickens me. We were so beaten up in MK!
Mentally retitle that list to “Signs you need to wake up and smell the coffee” (as the late, great Ann Landers used to put it), and read it again. You aren’t recruiting, no one shows up at your meetings, your family hates what you’re doing and you’re starting to also. What does that really tell you?
You were promised easy money, you’re working your butt off, and you’re broke. And that’s somehow your fault? That’s you doing it wrong? Yep, it’s definitely time to wake up and smell the coffee. Stop blaming yourself and get the heck OUT.
Ah, yes. It’s like the end of “The Sixth Sense.” Once you see the truth, it changes how you interpret previous situations.
This sounds eerily similar to the lists our cult leader would give us to warn us if we were being “double-minded” or even “rebellious” against God (translation: starting to question Cult Leader’s teachings.)
Perhaps the reality is this:
1. Lack of confidence. = You are questioning whether you’ve been duped. A good thing.
2. Lack of integrity. Don’t kid yourself – your consultants know if you held a class last week. = You have integrity and can’t continue the lying. A good thing.
3. Lack of new recruits in your unit or lack of sharp recruits in your unit. = You aren’t comfortable scamming new women to line your own pocket. A good thing.
4. Lack of excitement at your meeting. = Who’s excited about scamming other women? Not me. A good thing.
5. Low meeting attendance. = See above.
6. Family members show frustration with your business. = They aren’t in the fog. A good thing.
7. You are frustrated with your business and begin to doubt if you are director material. = You are not “top” scammer material. A good thing.
8. You find yourself only talking to the directors who are not working so that you have something in common. You both wonder should I really be doing this. Lots of doubt. = Doubt is good. Others are figuring out the scam.
9. Lack of belief that Mary Kay is the premier opportunity for women. = It’s not. Belief is actually a naughty word, as it doesn’t focus on facts. I “believe” I can jump off the Golden Gate and survive.
10. You are broke! Yikes! I can assure you that this is not what Mary Kay intended for directorship to look like. You get to this list by no longer continuing to do what put you in the suit. = Hallelujah, you can no longer scam other poor women.
“Remember you will remain the same until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change.” = Good advice. Run from this Mary Kay scam and never look back.
Notice that she starts with the premise that it’s “your business“. This is false. Being an MLMer isn’t running a business. You are buying products from Mary Kay Inc’s business! But if you accept and believe her premise, all her other lies will make more sense to you. Not good.
*There are a few top scammers in cahoots with Mary Kay Inc.. They make money by lying to you. You are not the “sales force”, you are the “buying force”. This sales force story is Mary Kay Inc’s sales strategy to get loyal customers, and to get those loyal customers to find other loyal customers for Mary Kay Inc.. Mary Kay Inc. simply sells their products directly to customers aka consultomers. The actual employees, the ones who get a paycheck and benefits, thank you for your support and loyalty. Ouch.
“The Ordinary” also sells direct to customers, but let’s not confuse the two. The Ordinary’s sales are driven by pure desire for the product. They don’t dangle a “business opportunity” and call their best customers “Star Quadruple Elite Platinum Supervisors”.
Whether you re-sell anything is of no concern to The Ordinary or Mary Kay. You already bought the product. MK Inc. offers a 365 return policy, and so does The Ordinary, and IKEA.
Occam’s Razor: It’s not that you will, or will not, make money in this business; it’s that it’s not a legitimate business for you at all! Cut out the fluff, the false premise, and the false narrative, and the simple answer will be revealed. Ask yourself: How much money have YOU spent on Mary Kay? Ding, ding.
^^ THIS. All this right here.
Love The Ordinary!
They’re based out of Toronto! I’d love to work there!
Linda Toupin bears down on people by saying they didn’t do enough. She tries to come across as sympathetic and an average person, but she does exactly what all the other NSDs do.
It’s our fault no one is booking.
It’s our fault our unit size is dropping.
It’s our fault no one is coming to meetings.
It’s our fault a Business Debut flopped.
It’s our fault $75 face masks aren’t selling.
Linda, I wish you’d fade off into the sunset, and I hope you’ll apologize to all the other Directors for shoving your daughter to the top. Way to paint the picture of accomplishment when Katie got there by default!
Ya know, If being a MK Sales Director was so great (the premier opportunity for women) and something any director could make money in, there wouldn’t even need to be a list like this.
She obviously knows her directors are struggling, and her answer is to just shame & blame them.
Can you imagine any other career getting a list like this and calling it “training”?!
“You are broke! Yikes! I can assure you that this is not what Mary Kay intended for directorship to look like.”
Exactly! Mary Kay cares about whether directorship LOOKS bad. That’s not the same as MK caring about whether directorship actually IS bad.
It’s all about how it LOOKS. Fake it til you make it, right?
Good catch! You’re exactly right! Whatever you do in mk, don’t look broke.
Linda came to make unlike the comments of this Post. ???
Linda Toupin preaches hard work and then catapults her daughter to Top Director overnight. I’d be furious if I was still a Director. How is that authentic??