Some thoughts from a friend on ScamTypes - Kim

This post is thanks to Kim who left this comment on ScamTypes.com. You can read all of the comments here. Re-posted with permission.

"Becoming a successful Mary Kay Consultant is an Opportunity. Because humans are involved you are going to find people trying to figure out shortcuts within the opportunity. You are also going to find people who are willing to work hard enough to make it. If you are willing to be smart enough, work hard enough–it can be done. I am a consultant of 14+ years. Do I have a car? No. Am I a director? No. Do I have any recruits? At the present time–no. But I CHOOSE not to work it hard enough to get a car or make thousands. But Mary Kay meets my needs because of how I choose to run my business. I have 3-5 regular customers who order enough so I can order the minimum every 3 months enabling me to have my own cosmetics at 50% off. Better than Wal-mart brands. No where near as expensive as exclusive brands (Clinique, etc.). I can send product back if I don’t like it and exchange it for what I want. I have a 100% money back guarantee. My director calls me to encourage me, not to strong-arm me into selling. Because I have made decisions about what being a consultant means to me, I choose whether to go for her incentive contests, order more, or explain to her my goals (which may not be her goals).The people that decide to buy large amounts of inventory are weak and immature in their business. They want what they want when they want it. They want all new makeup; they want all the pretties; they want to set up their business like senior directors when they don’t have anywhere near the customer base to support it. If you look at the essence of Mary Kay’s philosophy, if you order product then YOU SHOULD EXPECT YOURSELF TO SELL IT. If you don’t intend to sell it, DON’T BUY IT. It’s as simple as that. Strong arming people into becoming your recruits and buying yourself into the production (sales) you need for prizes cannot be maintained. That’s why people fail and get a bad taste their mouths about Mary Kay. There are plenty of consultants out there selling tons of the stuff. And the really successful consultants conduct business, just like any business–they have good quality customer service. They care. They teach They sell. I don’t kid myself about it anymore. And i am not living in a panacea about it either. I made some stupid decisions early on, but I was an immature business woman. I learned and I don’t kid myself about what I will or should sell anymore. I know my capabilities and what becomes an incentive for me to sell and what doesn’t. My sister is a consultant in another state who has 3 recruits and sells a heck a lot more than I do, for no other reason than she opens her mouth more and talks about it more than I do. If you like a product, any product or service, you will talk about it. Successful consultants use the product and are wild about it. You can and must adapt your business practices to your own personality and lifestyle situation. But, whatever changes you make in how the company coaches you when you do it your way, you have to accept the fact that you will either fail miserably or reap the rewards and be willing to make changes accordingly. There is a humorous side to the sarcastic side of dissing anything, but I feel sorry for people who spend so much energy criticizing Mary Kay. Comments by Kate (above) nailed it."

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I asked Kim if I could post her thoughts here, and her response was as follows

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"Sure you can post my comments on your website. I will probably visit a couple more times, but I find it very frustrating to debate idiots like Pink Truth because their minds are already CLOSED and LOCKED. I applaud you for getting the word out to those who are considering the business. I will say that I joined Mary Kay in 1992 and went to my very first seminar in 1993. That was the 30th anniversary and one of the last appearances at seminar by Mary Kay. seminar that year, the consultants who had been to seminar before talked about her like a god. I am a very skeptical person (and I joined anyway! what’s to lose?) and couldn’t get into the hero worship. Then I saw her at seminar. WOW! What a personality. Genuine, warm, truly caring, and she was everybody’s biggest cheerleader for succeeding. Now Pink Truth would say something nasty like, “Well, it was all about helping HER bottom line, right?” But, I disagree. She was truly giving women encouragement, self-esteem boosts, and she wanted success for every consultant for what she knew a fulfilling job, and love of what they were doing could provide. Her biography shows that her experience in the man’s world with the glass ceiling gave her perspective and will to succeed. She charged like a bull through all the bull to create a company that could actually provide that. BUT, it doesn’t come free or easy. What business that allows a person to become financially indepedent would?Now I just got the feeling reading a little bit in Pink Truth that all the go-get-em emails that directors send out encouraging you to sell sell sell are a little bit too happy and gushy. Well, I don’t like much gush myself, but since I am a mature individual, I don’t take it personally and it doesn’t make me sick to my stomach–I take it in, digest it for what I need to get out of it and leave the rest. People are enthused and excited about it! And they want to make money but they also want to help other women, who come from all over the place, with all kinds of strengths, experiences, and baggage to “get it.” I would much rather be around the gushing than the toxic “stuff” coming from Pink Truth. They just don’t “get it” and its eating them up inside."

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I wanted to send this message loud and clear. There are many different ways that you can get a lot of enjoyment out of Mary Kay. It is a good or bad experience based on what you make of it. Pink Truth unfortunately makes it out to be all bad. Mary Kay tends to make it out to be all good. Somewhere in the middle is the truth, and I invite you to find out what that truth is. Just be sure to use good common sense!!!

Thanks Kim! Hope to see you and your friends/clients around here!