Help Meet Somer’s Goals
Written by Parsons Green
I started paying attention to Somer Fortenberry’s National Area when I saw this post in her area Facebook group the last week of June 2022.
Somer pleaded with her team that she needed 299,925 in whole sale orders so she would cross the threshold to earn $200,000 in commissions. It was such a simple goal. Only 1,333 consultants would need to place at least a $225 wholesale order and this goal would be wrapped up.
She is asking consultants to order product to help HER financial numbers. Somer doesn’t care if anyone *needs* these products or if they’ll ever sell any of them. All that matters is the order at the time when Somer needs it. Do you think she ever asks if the products have been sold? Or how much her consultants had to discount the products to get them off the shelf? How much of this last week of orders is still sitting in dust in someone’s basement while someone’s credit card still is piling up interest charges for it?
I quickly realized that Somer frequently set outrageous and unachievable goals.
August 2022 – Let’s order $200,000 wholesale this month and recruit 150 women!
June 2023 – $400,000 wholesale orders and 200 new recruits!
June 2024 – $300,000 wholesale orders in 9 days!!!
June 2025 – We need to order $123,000 in on day!!!
It’s clear that the only thing consistent about Somer’s goals is that she never reaches them. Somer keeps her year end results secret until they’re announced at Seminar. (And by then, hopefully those who are focused on the new seminar year numbers will forget all about what we didn’t achieve in June!)
But Somer has already hit the ground running for next Seminar year!!!
What Somer never mentions is that her mother-in-law is retired nsd Pat Fortenberry Smith! I’m sure Pat and her credit cards were instrumental in ensuring Somer’s nsd title. (Along with a fair amount of cheating, of course.)
Somer held a Go Director Faster class that cost $10 to attend. 80 people attended. If Somer’s training is so effective and teachable, why doesn’t she have more directors?
She’s also holding a $1000 giveaway in July. You receive entries for:
- Each $225 Wholesale
- Every new team member
- 5 entries for $600 wholesale
- 5 entries for each step up the career path (which means you must recruit to earn those entries)
Somer even has a contest that depends on activities in both July and August! (These contests are done since July and August are usually the lowest ordering months because everyone has ordered in June to help meet goals, and they can’t bear the thought of ordering MORE products they’ll never sell.)
This contest is for both director and consultant teams. The top winning team of five will split a whopping $250 and costs $10 per person to enter. The top five director winners will receive a day trip with Somer, but only if their unit had $10,000 wholesale or higher.
Sheree Robertson Barnard is one of Somer’s most active and dedicated directors. She posted about the one party held by a consultant in her unit… who sold $200. Are they serious right now? After hostess gifts, prizes, supplies, and possibly discounts too, the consultant probably made $20-$50 on this gathering.
As an outsider looking in, how does this look like it makes any sense?????? It doesn’t look easy and it definitely doesn’t look fun. Somer is asking, begging, pleading for you to join her team and have one more party. Do you want to do this with your free time?
And Somer is one of 122 Remaining National Sales Directors. If she’s struggling, don’t you think they are too?
Visit the
“She sold $200 worth.” But she doesn’t tell us what she sold it FOR.
Men and teenage boys at parties who don’t buy. Women who attend but don’t buy. But, they still “count” as faces toward the “30 faces in 30 days” nonsense. Oh, and the consultant “had so much fun.”
What a joke.
Having the husband post in the area group last days of June is next level manipulation. Craig grew up in MK so I’m sure they took it as gospel. Gotta impress the boy.
I didn’t think it needed to be said, but to the MK reader reading this.. if someone isn’t impressed with your products at a facial, don’t admit that publicly. Not even to the unit/area group. Not even to yourself. Well maybe to yourself.
If her mother-in-law was Pam Fortenberry, then she likely inherited the unit, etc., right? That happened back in my previous city. The million dollar director’s mom (an NSD) retired, and so she (NSD emeritus) got to choose who took her personal unit. She gave it to her daughter (soon to be million dollar director). That’s a big boost to inherit a great big ready made solid unit during your career. Also, that entire unit is much more “malleable” (groomed) as they are already accustomed to the “inspiration” (manipulation) provided by their newly inherited director.
There’s only 122 NSDs left?? That’s wild. They are so ***rare***!
I’m so grateful to be out. It only took 22 years.
Dear lurkers,
Remember, as much as they carry on like they’re hot stuff, everything the NSDs have comes from you. Without your debt and sacrifice, they’re just women in tacky suits. You’re the ones with the power, and all the flash and hustle is designed to keep you from realizing this.
Why should you pay for someone else’s career advancement? Their vacations? Their prestige? What do you get out of it?
I would think by the time they hit NSD, they could look around and see that all the effort is paying them very little. Maybe the top 10 NSDs make good money for the time invested. If they put the time/ effort/ heart into a regular career or even if they decided they wanted to start a real business, they would be paid so much more. Unless, maybe the goal is to retire as an NSD and then sell high ticket coaching.
That fact was pretty eye-opening to me as I understood more about MLMs years ago. You, the “team member,” throw a lot of money at an upline’s goal. If they don’t make it, you lose all that money. If they do make it… you still lose all that money. I’m so glad I trusted my instincts and never got involved in an MLM.
NSD is an interesting position, in that it’s the only one where annual commissions are actually public knowledge. They tie it up in Diamond Circle, Inner Circle, etc, but those “Circles” are tied to their commission check, not to the amount of product they themselves ordered.
Jamie Taylor earned $125,000 in commissions this year. That amount excludes any expenses she incurred. So, you have to deduct all the traveling she did to support her area, travel to and from Dallas for whatever corporate-sponsored rah-rah events, expenses from all her retreats and events, marketing, office help, meals and coffee to recruit newbies. All of that comes out of her $125,000.
That doesn’t include the approximately 30% of her income she’ll owe in taxes because she’s self-employed. Oh, and she has to pay income tax on her car lease. And her company-sponsored trips. And, and, and.
So, say she comes home with 85,000 after taxes. How much of that is she spending to keep her business running?
They say this opportunity is executive income for part time work. Hogwash! Even after just taxes, Jamie, at the pinnacle of the pyramid, is not making executive income. And she’s sure working more than part time. What hope is there for anyone else?
Somer is diabolical, for sure. But I wonder if she had career plans that didn’t involve taking over her MIL’s grift. Did she feel that she couldn’t say no to Pat, and is now stuck scamming women for another 25 years?