You Would Rather Complain Than Work
It seems that those who created this page simply have an ax to grind and can’t stand the idea of any woman having ambition, a positive and uplifting product, or success. Mary Kay is like any other business in so far as it takes a certain personality type to succeed in its structure and sell its products.
Mary Kay treats women like thinking adults who are the best judge of their own character and personality, and who can decide for their own selves whether they can succeed in the company. The fact that they do not hold extensive personality tests and interviews to see if there is a personality match is smart on their part because they show that they are not judging a woman and her ability to succeed in the business.
Many people want success, but they don’t want to do the leg work it takes to make it. When they don’t make it, they don’t take responsibility for their decisions and actions [or lack of actions], rather they look to the company as the “dog to kick”. After all, it’s easy enough to kick a nameless, faceless company and a lot better on the conscience than examining your own motives, personality, decisions and behavior. That might take WORK too! And it seems this whining crowd is made of life’s losers who are sufficiently content to complain forever about the things they fail to accomplish while blaming everyone around them. How terribly weak and sad.
Before I joined Mary Kay, I asked anyone I knew who had left selling the product why they left. Not one of them told me they didn’t make any money or that it was a pyramid or a scam. In fact, I had two women tell me that the ONLY way to lose with MK was to sit and do nothing! I had two tell me that they left because their husbands had problems with them working. I had one tell me she left because she was overworked at her regular job and her husband would not help her with the baby and she was contemplating divorce. In other words, everyone I knew who ever sold MK and stopped had stopped b/c of personal problems, not b/c of any of the allegations listed in this site.
I started MK with $108 for the basic kit and I have NEVER been given a quota. I have never been told that I wouldn’t make money if I didn’t recruit. I have never been required to spend a lot of money on inventory. And the structure of MK is definitely NOT a pyramid. Your social security is structured in a pyramid and that’s why it is collapsing. But MK is no where near failure.
When the great principles of capitalism, such as laissez faire, are actively in place — such as is practiced in MK, there will always be complainers who simply envy people who have get up and go. I have often told other women, “You want what I have, but are you willing to DO what I have to do to have it?” Sadly, many do not because they simply want something for nothing and would rather complain that work.
Last word: You reap what you sow; don’t blame others or your company if you reap failure while sitting on your wide one.
Visit the
“I have never been told that I wouldn’t make money if I didn’t recruit.”
In that case, I will tell you. No one is making any real money in MK on product sales alone. I question whether anyone in MLMs like Mary Kay can turn a true business profit on product sales alone. Recruiting then front-loading is the true path to riches in MLMs like Mary Kay.
“I have NEVER been given a quota.”
Yes you have. If you don’t meet qualifying minimums, you don’t get the 50% discount and you have to pay for shipping. It costs ~$1000 per year just to stay “active” and qualify for the above, as well as commissions and bonuses.
PTC, you can deny reality, but it will be at your own peril.
“Mary Kay is like any other business in so far as it takes a certain personality type to succeed in its structure and sell its products.“
Nope. IBCs are told that anyone can do it, don’t prejudge potential recruits, “she doesn’t have anything that you can’t have fixed”, and that you don’t need a sales personality. The PT-famous Carol Thompson liked to say that everyone should “try on the Director hat” to see if it fits. (As if it’s that easy to qualify just so see what run I g a unit is like! Plus, Carol has a JOB now, so I wonder how much that hat is getting worn…) A heartbeat with credit card is the only “type” that MK cares about.
100% Also, isn’t the lore that the beloved Mary Kay- multiple-lastnames Ash created a company like NO other- the BEST opportunity for women? She created a company that was special and unique, blah, blah, blah.
I had two tell me that they left because their husbands had problems with them working. I had one tell me she left because she was overworked at her regular job and her husband would not help her with the baby and she was contemplating divorce. In other words, everyone I knew who ever sold MK and stopped had stopped b/c of personal problems, not b/c of any of the allegations listed in this site.
You need to dig a bit deeper … what caused the “personal problems”?
Why did the husbands have problems with their wives selling Mary Kay? Was it taking money from the household budget buying products and attending events, not a self-supporting profitable business?
If Mary Kay is such an opportunity, why did she need that regular job? Couldn’t her business support her family?
“It seems that those who created this page simply have an ax to grind and can’t stand the idea of any woman having ambition, a positive and uplifting product, or success.”
I’ve got a hell of a lot of respect and admiration for the women here who looked at their Mary Kay careers, said, “this is bullshit,” and went on to have successful careers as forensic accountants, nurses, college professors, legitimate sales, teachers, and less visible but equally important workaday jobs. I admire anyone with the will to speak out against an abusive system.
Meanwhile, Mary Kay, the alleged women-empowering company, will start an internet flame war if someone wears slacks to an event.
“The fact that they do not hold extensive personality tests and interviews to see if there is a personality match is smart on their part because they show that they are not judging a woman and her ability to succeed in the business.”
I can’t find the article, but I remember one that showed a chart of good vs. bad recruits. Bad recruits included single mothers, renters, unmarried women, people who live paycheck-to paycheck, and those who live with family. Why? Because they don’t have ready cash or a successful husband to pay for all that sweet, sweet production, that’s why. They’re judging you like a MOFO before they even approach.
For that matter, why are the faces of the company overwhelmingly white, straight, usually blonde, Christian, conventially attractive (under the outdated makeup, ugly clothes, and bad Photoshop jobs), married with children, upper middle class, conservative, Midwesterners?
“When the great principles of capitalism, such as laissez faire, are actively in place — such as is practiced in MK, there will always be complainers who simply envy people who have get up and go.”
Did whoever told you that pronounce it “laces fairy”? Because that’s wrong, and I’m sure whatever they thought it meant is wrong also. It means unrestricted trade between individuals free from regulations. Unregulated trade is how we wound up with the Teapot Dome scandal, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Great Depression, the dot-com bubble, Bernie Madoff, and the Great Recession. It’s why outfits like the FTC exist in the first place: to protect consumers from crap like this.
“And the structure of MK is definitely NOT a pyramid. Your social security is structured in a pyramid and that’s why it is collapsing. But MK is no where near failure.”
Let’s see, we’ve got the Rogers family. Then the handful of NSDs, whose income comes from production QUOTAS imposed upon their DOWNLINE of many directors, whose income comes from their DOWNLINE of many, many consultants. The money flows upwards and comes from commissions rather than sales of products, which is literally the definition of a pyramid scheme.
I’ve got Opinions on Social Security but they’d run afoul of the “no politics” rule soooo… I’ll just say, if you’re convinced that SS is going away, what exactly are you doing to provide for yourself once you can no longer work? Making peanuts selling MK isn’t going to keep you housed, fed, medicated, and warm. At least in a real job you get a pension.
Mary Kay hasn’t turned a profit for the Rogers family in years. The few new products they’ve released recently have been dismal flops. They can’t attract new customers or consultants. They’re at least 10 years behind the trends. Their attempts to join the 21st century have been total clusters. It’s failing, and when it does, it will fail you, too.
I think I saw that same article about who to warm chatter. One of them said to learn the different watch brands so you could look at the prospect’s watch to see how much it’s worth before warm chatting. Diamond ring size as well. At the time, I thought it made sense, now I see that it was to determine how much money she’d have to buy a $3600 inventory.
This one. https://www.pinktruth.com/2024/01/22/a-quality-mary-kay-recruit/
Preach it Pop!!!
Quote: “For that matter, why are the faces of the company overwhelmingly white, straight, usually blonde, Christian, conventially attractive (under the outdated makeup, ugly clothes, and bad Photoshop jobs), married with children, upper middle class, conservative, Midwesterners?”
I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen PT discuss a consultant or director in California. I know they exist – I checked the MK consultant finder…
It seems that those who created this page simply have an ax to grind and can’t stand the idea of any woman having ambition, a positive and uplifting product, or success.
Really?? Because there are a lot of highly successful women, and men, who comment here. And they are chasing their own dreams not some-one else’s car fantasies.
Mary Kay is like any other business in so far as it takes a certain personality type to succeed in its structure and sell its products.
Alas no, that is only found in MLM companies. There are an over-whelming number of jobs which do not require selling anything.
Mary Kay treats women like thinking adults who are the best judge of their own character and personality, and who can decide for their own selves whether they can succeed in the company.
Which is why they instantly infantilise women into chasing trinkets or use words like “girlie”, “nashy nat”, “tippy top” and “dippy days”.
The fact that they do not hold extensive personality tests and interviews to see if there is a personality match is smart on their part because they show that they are not judging a woman and her ability to succeed in the business.
Points to the DISC model, want to re-think that statement, ma’am??
Many people want success, but they don’t want to do the leg work it takes to make it. When they don’t make it, they don’t take responsibility for their decisions and actions [or lack of actions], rather they look to the company as the “dog to kick”. After all, it’s easy enough to kick a nameless, faceless company and a lot better on the conscience than examining your own motives, personality, decisions and behavior.
Mary Kay Inc is NOT a nameless, faceless company. Both the image and so-called ideals of Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Miller Hallenbeck Ash have been carefully curated into the Word of Goddess.
That might take WORK too!
Yes, and?? While there are a few here like me who are retired, the majority of the commentariat work. Earn their own money by doing so. Looking at the figures provided by Mary Kay’s Canadian Income Disclosure make more money than every SD and nearly every NSD.
https://www.pinktruth.com/2026/03/02/pathetic-income-for-sales-directors-in-2025/
And it seems this whining crowd is made of life’s losers who are sufficiently content to complain forever about the things they fail to accomplish while blaming everyone around them. How terribly weak and sad.
The ones complaining are STILL in MKI. They are the “weak and sad”. We are the ones taking responsibility for our actions not continually preying on other women for a pathetic amount of profit.
Before I joined Mary Kay, I asked anyone I knew who had left selling the product why they left. Not one of them told me they didn’t make any money or that it was a pyramid or a scam.
So, basically, they had no problems lying to you.
In fact, I had two women tell me that the ONLY way to lose with MK was to sit and do nothing!
Mathematically, there is a chance that you can break even by selling the products of your starter pack.
I had two tell me that they left because their husbands had problems with them working. I had one tell me she left because she was overworked at her regular job and her husband would not help her with the baby and she was contemplating divorce.
What was she doing at a “Just Over Broke” workplace?? Why wasn’t she pulling in “executive pay for part-time work”? Or was it her husband who put his foot down because she was never present with her spouse and child?
In other words, everyone I knew who ever sold MK and stopped had stopped b/c of personal problems, not b/c of any of the allegations listed in this site.
Really? And you bee-LIE-ved them? Or is it far more probable that they didn’t want to admit just how far they were in debt or how close their marriage was to imploding to a relative stranger? I rather expect the latter as a way of saving their pride.
I started MK with $108 for the basic kit and I have NEVER been given a quota.
Except that pesky $225 per quarter you need to
ordersell in order to keep your 50% “discount”!I have never been told that I wouldn’t make money if I didn’t recruit.
There’s a lot you haven’t been told, I suspect. But recruiting a downline is the most reliable way to make money and having one is only way that MKI tracks (general) your success.
I have never been required to spend a lot of money on inventory.
Yet!
And the structure of MK is definitely NOT a pyramid.
Sorry but it is. You’ve joined some-one’s downline and sooner or later you’ll be pressured to add your own recruits creating another level of the pyramid.
Your social security is structured in a pyramid and that’s why it is collapsing.
I’m not touching something that I’m not a part of.
But MK is no where near failure.
The lawsuit issued by the late Richard Rogers and the countersuit from Ryan appear to disagree with your unexpert opinion.
When the great principles of capitalism, such as laissez faire, are actively in place — such as is practiced in MK, there will always be complainers who simply envy people who have get up and go.
People are different. Not everyone has the desire to be an “entrepreneur” and far more people do not have the ability either.
I have often told other women, “You want what I have, but are you willing to DO what I have to do to have it?” Sadly, many do not because they simply want something for nothing and would rather complain that work.
But what DO you have? It’s not your business. You’re a glorified “drop-shipper”. Apart from the Rogers’ family, no-one is earning millions of dollars a year and even they are no longer getting that many. If you don’t have a downline, them you are not earning commissions. No commissions means no “free car”.
If (general) you are being promised “executive pay for parttime work” when the reality is neither, then I firmly believe you are entitled to complain about being misled.
Last word: You reap what you sow; don’t blame others or your company if you reap failure while sitting on your wide one.
Oh, it wouldn’t be a PTC Friday without a Ms. PTC forgetting the “Go Give” kind-hearted compliments and go straight for the negative looks or body shaming that these ladies love to dish out.
“I have often told other women, ‘You want what I have, but are you willing to DO what I have to do to have it?'”
So what exactly DO you have, that all these other women want?
For example, what’s your average monthly net income? (Net income means your total sales revenue, minus the cost you paid for the product and all the incidental expenses of running your business).
What’s your hourly wage? (Divide the net income by the total number of hours you spend on Mary Kay, including time spent on the phone, placing orders, talking to prospective recruits, balancing your books, etc.)
So, are you making at least minimum wage? Are you making any money at all? Or are you not even tracking your numbers? If you’re not keeping good records, then you have no real way of knowing whether Mary Kay is a real business or just a hobby for you.
I suspect that if you were making gobs of money, you’d have led with that. But oddly enough, your post said nothing at all about how much money you’re making. You implied that you’re working really hard, so it seems like you ought to have something to show for it by now. Do you? Actually, I have to wonder if you’re new to Mary Kay. Maybe you really aren’t earning much of anything yet, but you’re pressing forward, full speed ahead, full of faith in the future, because you’ve been promised that the money is just around the corner. If that’s the case, then it’s going to be really rough when you finally run up against reality.
But if I’m wrong about that, and you’re raking in the money, come back and give us some numbers.
“Mary Kay treats women like thinking adults…”
No you don’t.
Anytime someone brings up a problem she gets shouted down for being negative instead of discussing it like adults in a real business.
Also, I’ve seen plenty of photos and videos of your events and you all act like children that never matured beyond middle school, including the mean girl BS. Your stupid prizes are impressive… to an 8-year-old. Do you really think Ryan is impressed with those huge goal posters you sign and give to him? They go in the trash as soon as you leave.
Mary Kay is just a neverending 7th grade farce.
I see a conflict here! “Mary Kay is like any other business in so far as it takes a certain personality type to succeed in its structure and sell its products.“ … “The fact that they do not hold extensive personality tests and interviews to see if there is a personality match is smart on their part because they show that they are not judging a woman and her ability to succeed in the business.”
If there IS a certain personality that succeeds, why are they letting in the people who will fail? If any personality type can succeed, why does The Pink Blamer tell us we didn’t have what it takes?
Geez lady, make up your mind.
“I started MK with $108 for the basic kit and I have NEVER been given a quota.”
$108 is admittedly a very low startup cost, and while others have pointed out numerous other ongoing costs, I’m not going to concern myself with that. I just have ONE QUESTION that I will probably not see an answer to.
HOW MUCH MONEY are your making, NET OF EXPENSES, annually? You may say, it’s none of my business, and you’re probably right but if you’re going to come on here and claim that Mary Kay is so great and works really well if you put in the work, I want see you back that up, or your claims don’t mean a thing. Furthermore, nobody on here knows who you are. So tell us how much you make annually and if you want to throw in for good measure, how many hours you typically work in a week, even better. That will give us an idea as to whether your claims of success in Mary Kay are valid or not. Until you give some kind of number, I can only assume your net income from Mary Kay is little, nothing or a loss.
Just so you know, every time I posted this question on here, I never got an answer. Maybe you could be the first on this and prove that Mary Kay actually works for some people. But I have yet to see that it does.