For the newbies who don’t know me, I was a non-stellar director for many years, and found PT, read it and was horrified, could not tear myself away, was berated by my then sister directors for reading that awful-spawn-of-the-devil site, decided to do Mary Kay the “right way” (no recruiting unless someone had resources to burn… no frontloading… releasing product changes to my unit as soon as I knew about them…didn’t spend the money for Leadership or Career Conference…that kind of stuff). So, of course, the production dropped and the car co-pays started, the commissions went waaaaaaaaaaaay down (and they weren’t all that high to begin with), and by golly, I was not able to give myself a raise.

My unit died a slow death, the car went back and so did the rest of my inventory. And I was out. The night I was locked out of InTouch, it felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I called another director who was a Pink Truth reader, and cried so hard, I could hardly talk, and all she could do was make soothing noises. I recovered my sense of humor when the blue check for my returned inventory arrived with the wonderful mythical Mary Kay math formula applied.

In this entire process I learned a number of things, and here they are from the mundane to the profound:

1. MK is the best selling brand to CONSULTANTS.
2. There is no tracking of real sales. (MK Inc. doesn’t actually WANT to track that, because they know how dismal the results would be.)
3. Most people cheat to make it into the courts.
4. MK directors can use up to 4 separate credit cards to put in a single order.
5. People DO NOT love MK’s products.
6. The products are not cutting edge.
7. The spin at corporate puts experienced spiders to shame.
8. Corporate does not have consultant’s best interest(s) in mind. It’s all about what works best for them.
9. The bumps you get when you start using the product is NOT caused by pores cleaning themselves out. It’s a negative reaction to the product.
10. TimeWise 3 in 1 Cleanser does not cleanse effectively.
11. When sales are down, new products are introduced. They are limited edition and will sell out. They have been in the works for at least 1 ½ years. Really. I am not making this up.
12. Even when a huge change to the product line is coming, directors will still sell the sizzle of BIG inventories for newbies. They will justify this behavior by saying to themselves and the newbies, that the products will be sold before they are discontinued.
13. Directors generally (but not always) know what is coming down the pike. They are told not to tell the consultants because leaking this info might cause people to hold orders and there goes that monthly production.
14. Many many directors order the last day of the month to boost their monthly production so they can earn a bonus or at least hit the minimum $4,500.
15. Standards and rules enforcement/contract enforcement is arbitrary at best, and malicious at worst.
16. You matter to your director so long as you order. Otherwise you hear from her at the end of a particularly crappy month. Dialing for dollars.
17. If you do not return your product, do not be surprised if sometime down the road you start receiving the Applause magazine again. You were reinstated by your director to meet a goal. Sometimes you are asked about it first, often you are not.
18. Directors are scared. They are also disposable. Watch for qualifications to change. Here today, gone tomorrow. Buh-bye.
19. NSDs are scared. They worked their people and their available credit to make it to the top, and there’s some serious excavation going on at the bottom. $5,000/month is not executive income. Especially since the expenses are not factored in any time anywhere. Oops. It takes a while for the really big areas to show the erosion, but, hey, we’ve got time. Watch and learn. Frankly, it’s more lucrative to stay a top director than to become a NSD. Pay attention to the NSDs who have 8 or so directors in their downlines. And yes, we have up and down lines. “Families?” Not so much.
20. Directors and the NSDs who are fogged, really ARE fogged. They have so many deep deep layers of pink foof on them that they really honest to God, don’t realize what they are saying and doing. Don’t take it personally. Remember, you are not a person, this is a numbers game, ladies, and you are a number. And you obviously “don’t get it” so there you are.
21. God does not hold Mary Kay in the palm of His hand, or at least not any more than He holds WalMart and Target, too.
22. Just for fun, check the Biblical passages and scriptures that are used by directors and NSDs IN CONTEXT, it’s just amazing what leaving out a word or two can do.
23. The truth is NOT negative. It is the TRUTH. Since when is it a good idea for someone to limit the amount of information you choose to receive?
24. And last but not least, Mary Kay is a multilevel marketing company. Period. Just like Amway. Just like all of the ones that want to call themselves direct sales or network marketing or some other innocent term. Mary Kay is just not honest about it.

Do whatever you need to do to make this right FOR YOU! Come back to Pink Truth often, the truth is here, and the people who will help you are here. You aren’t stupid. We all believed the lies at one time. God will bless you richly in OR out of Mary Kay, and be nice to those in still the fog. We were all there at one time.