New Consultant Doesn’t Want to Place a Big Order
Kristina got a dose of reality as soon as she signed up to be a Mary Kay consultant.
Words cannot express my gratitude for all the information and knowledge at this site.
I am 21, (newly) married, no children, still in college to finish my business degree, and will go on to attend school for cosmetology. I have been a Mary Kay Consultant for about a month.
I believed all the hype about MK. I don’t blame my recruiter because she is new to MK as well, but other consultants constantly spewed lies about the system…especially my director. My husband and I discussed our financial limits and we don’t exceed them, no matter how much my director talks about making HUGE Section 1 orders. I’ve found it very difficult and have only sold 2 items. ( a lipstick, and miracle set totally 113 not including tax) — and those sales were to my mother..
I stopped attending my meetings because I was feeling embarrassed that I hadn’t been selling a lot. Other consultant, senior consultants, directors etc really praise and reward the top seller/ recruiter. I work hard, if not harder and all I would get is “You need to try harder”.
I began to question if I had made the right decision joining this…..cult. I decided not to go to my meeting this week and another (senior, future director) consultant (whom was trying to help me get my business up and running, and that I had respected) calls me asking if everything is alright. I’m trying to explain to her that I have other things in my life I need to address at this moment. All she heard were excuses from me and she became rude about the situation, saying that the MK business comes FIRST.
To me, MK is low on the priority list. I have my religion, my family, my husband, college, friends, and any other important things that life throw in my way that I may need to address first. Then there is MK. She angered me so much. This woman had taught me to lie and cheat in MK, and I always felt deep down that it wasn’t right.
I went online and found Pink Truth. All the information I read left me disgusted with MK and the only embarrassment I feel now is being an MK consultant. I feel like a fool. I have decided that I am going to continue to sell MK to try to make up for the money I spent on inventory. I’m not going to cancel my contract, but just go inactive in the future. If I decide to continue to sell MK, I am not going to stock up on inventory. I figure if people can wait to receive shipment from online orders, then they can wait a little bit to receive orders from me. I’m not going to lie to future customers. I’m going to do what I know is right in my heart and if it doesn’t work out, I can at least hold my head high and not down in shame.
I am so thankful I found Pink Truth and I am so thankful there is a support system for those of us who have awoken from the false dreams of MK.
From this point on, I am a solo consultant until I quit.
Visit the
I bet they touted God first, family second, career third. What it really means is the god of MK Many Last Names first, your MK sisters second, and spend the rest of your free time doing MK.
You’re not a fool; they’re just really good at manipulation and lying.
However, you’ll never sell enough to recoup your losses. It seems no one can make any sales at all without deep discounts and throwing in tons of gifts and freebies. If you return your inventory you’ll at least get 90% back on your Section 1 items. On top of that, this will make it impossible for your recruiter and her upline to place bogus orders in your name when they need to make production.
Plus, once you’re terminated they’ll treat you like kryptonite and won’t be bugging you to sell MK at the salons where you work.
Yes. 100%. Directors are well known for resurrecting consultants with fake orders for production. Find a way, make a way and all that. Never mind how unethical or illegal it is.
If that “resurrected” consultant received a prize for the bogus order, she would be taxed on it, right?
Yes. And it’ll come as a huge unpleasant surprise at tax time. It’s happened to PTers.
Oh, something I just thought of: with the My Shop stupidity and orders being given to random consultants, that’s taxable income for whoever is given credit for the sale. More shenanigans and another good reason to officially terninate your contract.
Ah yes that’s another thing, the MyShop debacle. Random orders could cause all sorts of tax problems with sales tax, income, etc. It’s the IBC holding the can and responsibility and the financial pandora’s box rather than MK. They have offloaded all of the risk onto the IBC.
Popinki is right! Return, return, return!
You’ll get more money back returning inventory than you ever will trying to sell it to recoup what you spent. It’s not worth your time, energy, or money to try to sell what inventory you have left.
Pros of returning inventory:
1. They (fellow consultants and sales directors) will leave you alone because you’re the “negative one” (aka you saw through their BS)
2. You’ll recoup most of your money back instead of sitting on it for the “hope” of potentially selling it (which at best will be to maybe some friends and family, and they’ll likely not want to pay full price for product anyway + any freebies you may give out)
3. Your friends won’t run from you since you’re out completely
4. You’ll never have to feel icky about being a part of the pink scam
5. Your sales director and/or recruiter can’t order under your consultant number (and you potentially having tax ramifications if it qualified for a prize)
Return it. Enjoy life, friends, and any other joy filled things in the world. You’ll feel loads better.
Genuinely it doesn’t even sell well at Goodwill let alone Facebook, eBay, Craigslist, other GOOB places.
OP: I agree with the comments above- Return the products for 90%. Seriously, it’s worth it- I wish I had when I had the opportunity to do so. I have regrets about this.
You’ve come to the conclusion that this is a cult… I also agree with you. So, if in fact, this could be a cult, you remaining a consultant.. even if you want to sell a little here and there – you are promoting and supporting a cult. How is this good in the long run?? It isn’t. When I finally was convicted of that in my heart, I stopped selling completely. I emailed all my customers that I had remaining and told them I was no longer selling/promoting MK. I had to do this to have a clear conscience. I wanted to make a clean break and move my life back into a healthy arena of my faith and family.
I wish you well, congratulations for figuring this out so quickly! (another one of my regrets!)
It would be better, if wanting to earn money here and there, to sell things on etsy, ebay, amazon, et al. And morally and ethically sound, because at least then it’s honestly made money sans cult. Even if you’re not a crafty person, I’ve seen people sell patterns for things, art/craft kits, and loads of other things on etsy.
One thing to consider is if the only reason you don’t want to do the 90% buy back is you think you might do MK sometime in the future is… Corporate appears to be taking steps to quickly change the business model of having consultants and sales directors, or they may sell the company completely. I’m just not sure of the timeline. 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? Idk, but the clock is ticking on MK having consultants.
This is not a stable company, based on change Corporate is making.
Also, Honestly, IF you try again another time, it’s not going to be any easier the next time. (I, stupidly, tried twice.) I just lost more time & money the second time.
Return ASAP and tell no MK person. Block their numbers and get back your life. Trust me!
I am so glad you found Pink Truth and started the process of awakening. PLEASE, return your inventory and get the 90% back while you still can. Just take a tiny bit of a loss now compared to down the road, when your product is too old to return because the items don’t “fly off the shelves.”
If you don’t return your inventory and want to try and sell it off yourself, at least TERMINATE your BC agreement yourself. Do not, under any circumstances, go inactive thinking you will fall off and auto-term. Because you won’t. You already told us just how shady and sick your upline is, and I’m telling you, they WILL reactivate you and place orders under you without your knowledge to finish a unit club, car, etc. Then guess what happens come tax time if you were a “star consultant”??
You probably feel like I’m ignoring the fact you stated you might try to continue selling MK…sis, this company is a ticking time bomb. National Sales Directors have been jumping ship left and right. All signs are pointing to affiliate model. Just save your sanity, your money and your dignity. Be done entirely!
I understand the thought of wanting to sell what you have in stock, but in reality it won’t work. In order to be terminated from the company you have to go an entire year without ordering. If you continue to sell MK even if you are inactive, someone is going to want a product you don’t have. That means you will have to order. If you place an order under $100 retail you will get no discount. You won’t make a dime on the sale. An order of $100 or over will give you a 30% discount. It takes an order of $450 retail to get a 50% discount. But the minute you do that, you become active again. Like the others have mentioned, by not self terminating you are leaving yourself open for fraudulent orders being placed under your consultant number by your director. Also why would you ever even think about joining MK again knowing what you now know about how the company operates?
You are so much better off returning all your inventory for 90% buy back. Take the small loss and move onto your new career.
“I have decided that I am going to continue to sell MK to try to make up for the money I spent on inventory.”
You will get more back, faster, if you return the product for the 90% buy-back (plus 100% of the taxes you prepaid.