HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2010 be a wonderful and prosperous year for all of us. I wish the very best for family and friends. I personally know I have so very much to be thankful for and plan on trying to give back as much as I have been blessed with. Have a Very Happy and Safe New Years Eve!

Thinking about becoming a Consultant?

Another great question from one of our readers, thanks Nicole!

Nicole said...
"This really clears things up! I am looking into becoming a consultant and I was unclear about this. I have some questions about becoming a consultant. Let say I decide to do this, so I order my $100 starter kit. I'd like to take some time to become familiar with the products before I try to sell them to people. Do I have to place my $200 order within a certain amount of time? Also, does it have to be $200 all at once? Or could I place several orders within a month equaling at least $200? I currently have a full-time job, a husband, and a 6 month old daughter, and I'm looking into doing this to earn some extra income. Thanks!"

Once you submit your agreement and purchase your starter kit, you actually could take up to a year to place your first order without having to submit a new agreement.
A minimum order of $400 retail which gives you a 50% off discount so $200 wholesale is required in one order for you to receive the discount. If one was to place just a $100 retail order - it would not receive a discount. Once a minimum order of $200 wholesale is placed, you have earned your "earned discount privledge" and for the month that order was placed and the following two months you can place any size order and receive the discount. During this time if you should place mulitiple small orders that total $200 wholesale during the months, your discount period begins again.

Now, if a new consultant wants to take advantage of the bonuses available for coming in qualified, which is $600 wholesale/ $1200 retail.... she will receive a $140 retail value bonus if the $600 w/s is placed the same month as her agreement or the following month. If she places a $600 w/s within 15 days of submitting her agreement, she also receives a Color 101 bonus valued at approx. $114.00 retail
To receive the bonuses, it must be one order of $600 w/s (not multiple little ones adding up to $600 w/s). Of course the larger the initial order, the larger the bonuses. Each new consultant should consider what she is looking for and how much time she is willing to committ to her business when making her decision on how much inventory she should start with. There are pros and cons of all levels.

Personally, I do like to see a new consultant start with a qualified order if she wants some part time income simply because when she sells the bonuses at 100% profit, she can use that money for her business cards,etc.. without having to invest additional personal money. If a consultant is looking at personal use, this may be way too much product for her to want to have and why have it just sitting around if a $200 will serve her needs.

If someone is really committed as long as the products that are ordered are products that are going to be demonstrated at facials and parties, starting with a large inventory will save her time and help her grow her business faster because she can deliver all products right at her appointments without having to backtrack.

Whatever one decides, I always say, you can always order more product and as often as you want, so start and grow!

A consultant has the right to receive whatever she wants in her order. For example, if a consultant only wanted products for n/d skin and beige foundations, she should express this when working with her director on her first order. I always ask my consultants what items do they absolutely want to have on their order. If then they don't get up to their desired level, I suggest items that I think would be beneficial. A happy consultant that is making money will stay a consultant!

Would you share you special Christmas minute?

How about some totally heartwarmning stuff?

Our son (the Marine) made it in just in time to celebrate with us before being assigned to his new duty station so we had the whole famiy in one spot (not for long) but all together!! Please share and make this a totally "feel good" post!

(it can be funny too... like my pomerian got into something very sticky, and I thought being able to cut hair could adjust for a dog, lol... oh my.. poor thing looks like a dork, thank goodness, I had all his little Christmas sweaters! (good thing is he is showing no signs of p.t.s.d.! :)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Peace be with you!

Enjoy the Day!

Merry Christmas to You and Yours

I baked.

Active/Inactive/Terminated/ Gone

Great question and I feel the answer is one that may benefit many so I am moving it from a comment to the front page. Thanks Nicky!

Nicky said...
How long can you be inactive before they give you the boot?

Once a consultant, they ONLY requirement to remain a consultant and receive the discount is one minumum ($400 retail with a 50% discount to cost $200 wholesale plus tax on the retail and $8.75 s/h). As long as a consultant places one order a year, she could remain a consultant for the remainder of her life.

A consultant is considered active, the month she places a $200 w/s order and the following two. For example if you placed an order in December, (any day in December) one would be active December, January, and February. During this window there is no minimum order required to receive the discount, but $8.75 s/h is still applied on all orders regardless of size. ... once this window passes, a minimum $200 w/s order is required to receive the discount and return to active status. For the next 3 months if no orders is placed, the consultant is termed "inactive" - the particulares of being inactive... no earned discount, will not receive a commission check if you have a team, and you do not count as an active team or unit member for your recruiter or director. (Now if you have no commission check you are going to forfeit or it would be a $5 check, and you do not need the product, it would not be a financial savy move to order simply to be "active". Now on the other hand, say you need some product... and your commission check would be around $170... I would say, it would be worth it to order) but this is where "thinking comes into play" - I have heard a person say, "Oh, I have to order, so I don't loose my commission check" but they don't need the product and it is a $4 commission check. Financially savy people would not do this. Because if one continues to buy product if they are not selling it, they will eventually quit because they can't move the product they are buying.

So, A1, A2, A3 are your active months, then you will be I1, I2, I3 these are your inactive months. Then comes the T month (T1) it is called.. you are terminated month. Now.. listen up... you are technically not counted as a team member or a unit member, you will loose any team members you have, you may not attend Company functions, and there are a few other perks that are lost but!!!! and most importantly!!! you are not gone forever. A consultant as from T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6 to simply put in a $400 retail / $200 wholesale and she is reinstated without having to submit another agreement.

If one goes past the twelve months then a new agreement with the option for the starter kit or the second chance offer are both available.

Your recruiter and your director could care whether you are active or not depending on what may be going on in their career path... but this is where honesty should come first.. before manipulation. But that would be another long story.

This was brief and I would be happy to explain more but I will address the questions as they come in to provide full picture on this topic.

But the bottom line... to remain active- one order a quarter, to remain non-terminated - once every 6 months, and to remain a consultant, one order a year.

Generally my personal use aka pink piddlers order two a year to get their products and close family and friends, and still have the opportunity to get the limited editon items by not ordering one large order a year.

Are you ready for Christmas?? Not me... will be shopping on Thursday, lol..
Now must go fill orders, received 4 emails and 2 phone orders today! I just Love, Love, Love this business!!

My work of art tree, the picture doesn't do it justice... it is near perfect... took over 7 hours... think I got a little ocd while decorating but it rocks!

New and improved commenting

Finally!!!  Blogger has made it possible to add comments below the post.  Give it a try!  Let me know how you like it.

DIY french manicure

OK, here is a tutorial on how to do your own French manicure, be it regular or reverse.

First, base coat. Let dry 5 minutes. Then your 2 coats of color. Let dry 5 minutes.

Now the tips. You don't need stencils. Instead of trying to draw the brush perfectly across the nail tip, hold the brush steady and rotate the finger underneath it instead. Apply second coat of tip color if necessary. Dry 5 minutes.

Then apply a quick drying top coat to entire nail. Not that icky oil stuff. Lots of companies make quick drying anti chip top coats. Orly, Sally Hansen, Seche Vite.

Lounge around 15 minutes or so while all this dries. Tada, people will think you paid for an expensive manicure!

Just a thought..Author Unknown

My Name is Pride.

I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny ...
because you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...
because you "deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing....because you are too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness....
because you refuse to admit when you are wrong.
I cheat you of vison....
because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship...
because nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love....
because real romance demands sacrifice .
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...
because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory....
because I convince you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue.
I'm looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry.........
If you stick with me,
You'll never know.

Brow gel

You gotta have this too. All the other brow gels I've found on the market are either clear or they get brown color all over your face rather than just the brows. The MK one has a large spooly brush that picks up the right amount of gel. It seems to be tinted, not opaque like an ink. So you don't get what looks like mascara smears all over your eyebrow area. It just darkens the brows and holds them in place. Definitely something I will keep buying.

Product reviews

I got my Romantic petals set (the pink one) and my brow tools set today. Haven't tried out the brow gel yet; will tonight.

The romantic petals fragrance is delicious! It smells like candy. There's a pink bath pouf, shower gel, lotion, and perfume spray. There are two sheets of pearly pink tissue paper in the bottom of the box. Don't throw those out! Wrap gifts in them!

The brow tools fit in your compact. Spooly brush for brushing through your brows and lashes, angle brush for applying brow powder and dry lining eyes with shadow, and little tweezers. You need this. I hate being out and about and discovering that I have stray brow hairs, or trying to touch up my dry liner with a sponge tip applicator. Might as well eliminate frustration and do it right.

OK, I gotta get some work done before I go out for the evening...catch you later!

A Bag for the Compact Pro

From one of our new members, Sun:

I stumbled across your blog after googling Mary Kay blogs. I'm not a rep, but I am a satisfied customer. Since your blog has a healthy following, I thought you might be interested in letting your clients and other readers know about a nifty protective bag that they can purchase for their Pro compacts.

Here's the backstory: when I purchased the small compact, it came with a nifty drawstring protective bag which I really liked. When I purchased the Pro, no bag, so I did some online sleuthing at etsy.com, and discovered a seller from Wisconsin who makes KIP (knitting-in-progress) bags with handy drawstrings, cord locks, and nifty interior pockets sewn into the interior. I measured the Pro's box and emailed her the dimensions, and she recommended a modified mini KIP bag in my fabric of choice. She modified the bag in that she changed the orientation from vertical to horizontal, just like the compact. There are 6 interior pockets sewn into the lining (4 small pockets on the sides; 2 large pockets sewn on the ends), and it's in those pockets that I place extras such as a small tube of mascara, a small double-ended eyeshadow brush, a spoolie brush, and my eyebrow pencil.

The seller's name on etsy.com is "Ruddawg" (click on the drop-down menu to "Sellers" then type "Ruddawg" on the search box. The bag cost me $7.50, plus $2.50 to ship. I picked out a very pretty fabric, Yun Qi, so I feel it's pretty enough to carry on its own, and if you select the wrist strap option, you can!

Disclaimer: I'm not in any way affiliated with Ruddawg except for being a satisfied customer. Just thought other MK customers out there might be interested in something pretty but protective for their Pro compacts.

Here are 3 pics from the seller (pulled them right off my reserved listing from my transaction history). I hope the pictures give a good enough idea of what the drawstring bag looks like, although I should mention that seller took the pictures before adding the satin drawstring cords and cord locks. The bag works great. Besides the compact, I am able to carry the following in the narrow interior pockets: small tube of mascara (from Sephora); a double-ended eyeshadow brush; a spoolie brush; a lipliner; and an eyebrow pencil. I could fit more, but that's all I need, plus I have more inside the compact.

Still Busy.. so..Are you ready for Christmas?

Just so I know I am not alone, let's have some chatter, please, I feel like I am neglecting the blog, have some great ideas for articles to come.
I plan on wrapping (lol) things up for the most part as far as my business by the middle of next week. Then it is my time to primp for Christmas. The kids are older now, it is easier.. and the Grandkids are fun!

So what is your status? Are you done shopping, have you begun shopping? I think this has been one of my best Mary Kay December's ever and 95% of the sales I have made this month, the clients have come to me! I just love it. Just unpacked my directors early order today, so Miranda, your goodies are finally on their way, I know you were excited to get them. I LOVE the Romantic Petals gift set, it smells soooo good and the packaging is great. Pictured in the photo: The PCP Gift with purchase.

New Christmas Playlist for Balanced Mary Kay

At this time of year, I crave Christmas music.

I lean heavily to the Christmas Hymn side of the Christmas music spectrum.

I went a little crazy with the playlist.com and came up with the 92 songs now found in the player at the bottom of the page.

There are only about twenty + truly unique songs, but all of them are various versions done by different artists. I think that I like all of them! Please feel free to tune in and leave the music playing in the background. Let me know what you think, and, if I've missed any good ones, let me know.

Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope your holiday season is absolutely wonderful.

Stay tuned.. New Post Coming Soon

Hey all, sorry, I have been very busy with my Holiday Open Houses as always the first weekend in December.... Not bad 4 days of fun... total so far and I haven't check voicemail for the orders that were called in from my clients that couldn't make it..... $3,600+ - there are some very happy clients too! I am tired but no need to feel sorry for me, it is a great tired...

A Name that is Recognized (& not in a bad way)

This is so very cool!!!

Published 12.02.09 From Mary Kay Intouch
Brand Keys List Places Mary Kay® in the Top 10!

Mary Kay was the only beauty brand to place in the top 10 in Brand Key’s Customer Loyalty Leaders 2009 list, ranked at number 7 out of 440 brands. “The ‘emotional engagement’ that women share with their favorite beauty brands is still very powerful,” a Brand Keys press release says.

What’s more, Mary Kay® widened its lead with competitors; none were included in the top 10 this year. (Maybelline ranked at number 12 and Estee Lauder at number 13.) And in the new category of Moisturizing Skin Care for non-prestige brands, Mary Kay tied with Aveeno for first place.

You may remember that last year, Mary Kay® ranked at number three on the Loyalty Leaders list, but this year three of the top four places went to wireless handsets from iPhone, Samsung, and Blackberry. Google was ranked first last year but was number 3 this year. Yet, while handhelds and Smart Phones may be inspiring strong loyalty because of the role they play in our fast-paced lives, it’s clear that women still want the beauty, quality and value Mary Kay products provide.
What makes consumers—and Mary Kay customers -- loyal today? It’s quality and value. A recent BrandWeek magazine article says that cosmetics embody the trend of consumers shopping for value instead of price. As the Brand Keys explains, “The old ‘price-value’ equation has been transformed to an instantaneous ‘value-for-dollar’ consumer calculation.” Women today aren’t only considering price--asking how much moisturizer costs, for example--they are also considering the brand’s reputation and the products benefits and asking themselves how much value comes with that price.

Now is a great time to share the current Beauty on a Budget fliers with your customers. Updated versions of these fliers are currently in the works. They’ll feature some of our newest products for brows that are “$10 or less,” many of which are also designed to fit the Mary Kay® Compact—giving that tool even more custom options and value at a price of just $18. We’ll update you as soon as they’re available in the coming weeks!