Written by Frosty Rose

Recently on one of the “Pink Truth Critic” threads, I went somewhat off the rails over the accusation that I failed at Mary Kay because I didn’t do the work. It’s a common theme, both in Friday’s articles and in conversations with current consultants and directors about why people quit.

Well, I am now ready to take on this particular myth from my own experience. I’d wager it’s more common than not among washed-out Mary Kay consultants.

Not to be immodest or anything, but I was the chick everyone wanted on their team. I ticked all the boxes. Owned my own home? Yep. Had my own credit card and excellent credit? Check. Higher education? Times two, thank you very much. Supportive network of friends and family? Absolutely, and my mom’s network was all well-established and had money to spend on themselves. In a transition in life? Yep, I had just graduated in a field I no longer cared to work in and was looking for The Next Big Thing. Teachable and coachable? Obvs, if you had the path to success, I would run it!

When my director sat me down right after I joined for the big inventory talk, I was all in. I started with a full store, because I wanted to do things right. I booked eight parties during my first two weeks of business, and held five. Because that’s how you earned success in this business. I interviewed my hostesses, got into my red jacket within a couple of months, and even earned super-duper-special one-on-one coaching with my national before I knew she was supposed to be a big deal.

• When my leaders told me I needed to go to extra events, I signed right up. Fall Retreat, January Jumpstart, Career Conference, Seminar, weekly meetings, quarterly recognition. I was there for all of it. I showed up in pantyhose and heels, whether it was 116 degrees in July or -4 in January.
• When Leadership Conference fell on my son’s birthday, I chose Leadership. Because, after all, he was too young to know differently, and we could celebrate any day.
• When I was still nursing my baby when Seminar rolled around, I pumped my way through three airports. Counting Career Conference that year, I pumped in two convention centers. None of the five locations had mothers’ rooms.
• The week I was suffering from a miscarriage, I held three parties, heeding my upline’s advice to “find a way, make a way!” When Seminar rolled around, I was still bleeding. But I went anyway.
• When my leaders said I needed to show up for special events with makeup artists to hone my “craft,” I paid hundreds of dollars and invested multiple days in extra training.
• When I was told personal coaching would move me to the next level, I paid thousands of dollars for coaching sessions. Only to be told to “just get over” diagnosed PTSD. Yeah, that was fun…
• When I ran out of leads and was told the only way to get more was to warm chat, I had a full-blown anxiety attack on the phone with my director. And then I fixed my makeup, stepped out of my car, and did it anyway.
• I did booths at bridal expos, vendor fairs, and festivals of all kinds. Some by myself, and some shared with other consultants.
• I lived the three-foot rule (eventually). I talked to waitresses, ladies from church (including one whose son was actively dying from cancer), neighbors (including one with dementia), other moms at the library and park, women from my other jobs, my insurance agent, old high school acquaintances, ex boyfriends’ sisters, and anyone else who crossed my path.
• I had hundreds of training cds, thousands of pages of notes. I made the “1000 Days to National” notebook at least eight times. I had vision boards and goal posters everywhere. I said affirmations and only read positive books.
• I surrounded myself with positive people and either culled out the nay-sayers or put them on an information diet.

“But, Frosty Rose,” I can hear the Critics say, “none of those things (except warm chatting) are income producing activities! Of course, you can’t be successful if you don’t spend time selling the product!”

So, let’s talk about that.

I was Queen of Sales and Recruiting in my unit every single year I was a consultant.

• I put my director into her first car and her senior into national qualifications. Both fell quickly from those positions.
• I held parties almost every week of my career.
• I always got referrals and bookings.
• I was consistently the weekly queen of sales and recruiting. I was the queen of sales at quarterly events until a “full store inventory” became $4800 and one of the local directors was bringing dozens of new recruits in at that level every quarter (never mind that none of them showed up the next quarter).
• I followed up on sales, bookings, and recruiting prospects at least eight times. Often, I found I was blocked before then.

For thirteen years as a consultant and one as a director, I sold between $25,000 and $30,000 in retail product every year.

And with all that, I put myself and my family into $24,000 in credit card debt.

I did the work. And I did it with excellence. The same is true for many of our regular contributors. We were the top consultants and directors. We won the contests and the diamonds and the dinners. Many of us earned trips. Some of us were on track for national.

And yet, we all saw the light. This system is rigged. Less than 1% of the sales force will ever turn a profit, much less a significant profit. It doesn’t matter how much you work, how much you train, or how positively you think. Math does not bend its will to positive thinking, and failure is inevitable in any MLM system.

Tune in tomorrow for a breakdown of the math of the Almighty Queen of Everything who put herself in thousands of dollars in debt. And we’ll tackle the second most common myth from our Friday Friends: the income disclosure is inaccurate because most people are making their money from sales, not commissions.