My name is "David Shepherd" and I am a Mary Kay husband!
My wife (of 4 1/2 years) has been in Mary Kay for almost 2 years.
She achieved DIQ, but decided to take time rebuilding her team and is currently a team leader.
Her goal is to achieve a full time income (and perhaps an executive income)!
I don't know specifically about her earnings, but I believe she sells about $750/week (retail) and so earns about $375/week. I know that she has had some really good weeks and some pretty rough weeks as well. I couldn't tell you off hand what her "highest" anything was and she is not right next to me right now! (I will update that later!)
She runs her business full time which for us means that she probably puts in about 40 hours/week (between phone calls, visits, meetings, etc.) I think it is probably less than that (hours) but is a pretty safe estimate.
I like Mary Kay and think it is a great opportunity.
My wife LOVES Mary Kay!
My other job (currently) is Account Executive for a small advertising/marketing agency in the Los Angeles area.
I live in lovely, beautiful southern California! Los Angeles area specifically. For those of you familiar with the area, Sherman Oaks to be exact.
I enjoy my wonderful wife, photography, social observations, blogging, my dog, boogie boarding, the ocean, driving and I am sure many, many other things!
I will add more "unique" things as time passes!
Nothing Follows
David,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story. I do appreciate you giving us some hard numbers.
Here is my analysis of what your wife is doing -- and please, don't take offense to this. I am just using your numbers to make more numbers, okay?
Mary Kay teaches the 50-40-10 rule for what to do with your sales. 50% of the retail price goes toward purchasing the product, 40% is profit, and 10% is used to fund catalogs, samples, Preferred Customer Program, etc.
So, at 750 a week, we're down to $300 profit, if you use those numbers. I'm not even going to get into all of the things that decrease profit (hostess gifts, discounts to friends, etc.), but you should know that most think even a 40% take-home profit is hard to achieve.
If your wife works 40 hours per week, she is making approximately $7.50 per hour. In California, minimum wage is $8.00 per hour. (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_MinimumWage.htm)
That's not to say your wife doesn't get some other benefits from Mary Kay -- many are happy to be able to work some from home, the companionship, etc. --b ut maybe this will help explain why most people say that if you look at the hard facts, most people cannot make a living doing only sales in Mary Kay.
unbeelievable,
ReplyDeleteAs many here know, I rarely comment on anything in the morning (got to get to work!), but I have just a few minutes so I figured this would be a good chance to say "hi!"
I am not sure if you have posted elsewhere on this site (I tend to lose track of where I see people commenting) so if this is your first post, welcome!
I believe your analysis is close to accurate. I also understand why that is one of the major complaints about being involved with Mary Kay.
However, I will reiterate that the numbers I provided were my estimates. I am almost certain that she does not put in a "traditional" 40 hours. It is possible that she doesn't even give a full "non-traditional" 40 hours! She may do a little more some weeks, a little less some weeks. When we discuss, "how was your day", I am not demanding a time sheet!!!!!
Also, I truly believe that we are building something here. If she needed to make more money immediately, she probably could, but it would require a lot more than she is doing now (and thus would probably be better for her to get a "regular" job).
However, as she builds her client base (now over 200), those clients are almost "automatic" income. They call and order (or order online), she fulfills the order, we get paid. Very few discounts, few concerns about inventory, just, "I want this - Ok, here it is - Ok, here is your money!"
I have mentioned here before, we are approaching this with our eyes open, as well as our minds. She really enjoys doing it which certainly counts for something. We have set certain goals for ourselves to measure whether or not it is worth it for us. So far, it is.
I will at some point post some information about her director who raised two kids (one autistic) as a single mom, living off of Mary Kay only. I know it is possible, I know that not everyone can/should attempt it! I try not to make broad sweeping statements about Mary Kay because I think that for every person that has ever signed up for Mary Kay you could get a significantly different story!
Again, thanks for stopping by and I hope I have shed a little more light on my wifes experience so far!
Unbeelievable,
ReplyDeleteI only work about 10 hours a week on Mary Kay. But, it's the QUALITY of that time that adds to why Mary Kay is a benefit for me.
I work out of my home, so "work" can mean being on the phone while cooking dinner or while on the treadmill . . . it can be a friend stopping over to try a new product. I can do laundry, houseclean, even grocery shop (sometimes I do it online) while I work Mary Kay. It's multi-tasking at it's finest. I don't need childcare, I don't need to commute, I don't even need get dressed it I don't feel like it!
Do I think I could make a full time living out of this? Not the way I run the business. Do I think I could make full time wages without recruiting - but by just selling? I just don't know. Right now, I'm just not willing to put in the work for recruiting.
So, I guess I'm saying that I, too, don't put in "traditional" hours doing Mary Kay. Case in point, I sat in an MD waiting room for an hour last night and made phone calls while there. Sold $72 in those conversations. Take out 60% (inventory and sales aids) and I made close to $30 just sitting there. I could have just read a magazine, but I thought I made better use of my time this way.
This is MY experience. Thanks for reading.
That's excellent work, love4mk! I, too, don't put in "traditional" hours with MK. I haven't built my business up to the point that I hold classes consistently on a weekly basis, but I can get an email while at my day job that an order's been placed on my website; or I can send an email out to customers about new products and get some orders that way.
ReplyDeleteI don't discount my products often. I don't need to. When I started, I told my family I would give them a discount. They wouldn't accept it! They were like, NO! This is your business! We'll pay what it costs... Um...OK! :)