Pink Truth: We are running out of bad things to say about Mary Kay

Pink Truth must have run out of bad things to say about Mary Kay. They must even be having a hard time finding those hidden, secret, evil "gotcha" emails where a director says something that sounds (or is) profoundly manipulative. Times are so tough, it seems, that they have even given up on making up emails from consultants and directors that make Mary Kay look like the evil empire they imagine it to be in their heads.

That's right, in fact, they seem to have resorted to simply posting the news straight out of MK headquarters. Pathetically, they attempt to discredit it with "...You've got to wonder how honest he's being..." and "...in light of the fact that the company is down 1,000 sales directors in the U.S. in the last year..." and, in one of their constant refrains, talking about how terrible it is that "their being so positive all the time".

Other than that, they are basically endorsing Mary Kay by passing on, word for word, the latest encouragement from Mary Kay corporate to their sales force.

Don't believe me? See for yourself. Pink Truth tells all, Mary Kay has never been stronger

By the way Tracy, this is what companies do. It is what we as individuals do. It is what our Presidential candidates do. We take a realistic look at our situation, change what we can and promote the positive aspects of what we can't. Do you think that John McCain is going to come out with a press release tomorrow, "Well, looks like Obama is going to win this one... I am throwing in the towel..."? I doubt it. He is going to keep talking about why he thinks he would make a better president, change what he can about his strategy and promote the positive aspects of what he can't. Expect his name to still be on the ballot next week (along with all the other "losers" that could probably stake a significant amount of their life savings on the fact that they will not be the next president*). Expect that hundreds of thousands of American women will still be selling Mary Kay next week as well.

Oh and by the way, if you sent a DMCA copyright infringement take-down notice to me because I quoted one (1) paragraph from one (1) of your posts, don't you think it is a touch hypocritical for you to copy/paste Darrell's entire letter? A touch lazy too, no?

Oh and happy Halloween everyone.

Pink Truth: If You Are Happy And You Know It, Stay At Home... Mom

Well, if you are fast becoming a fan of the grandiloquent "The Scribbler", than you are in luck today.

Pink Truther Declares, "Who-da-thunk that I would be happier when my only obligation is to my children"

This is something that I find interesting about one of Pink Truth's age old refrains.

It seems that some, (not all) had/have the luxury of not requiring a second income to balance the family budget. This is usually a pretty simple equation. There are two types of families (and by family, I include couples with no kids). There are those that have one income earner that makes enough to meet or exceed all of their expenses. (These are becoming increasingly rare.) And there are those that need two incomes (or more) to meet their expenses. (There is a third category, those that could survive with one, but for various reasons decide that having two incomes is a priority... but this is for the sake of argument, so we will call this category's second income optional, leaving them in category 1.)

Based on the following quote from "The Scribbler", I have to assume that she falls into "Category 1".

"My heart melted as I hugged her back. I couldn’t imagine missing out on such simple, beautiful recognition because I was out working my “stay at home” business every place but. You may keep your director suit, ma’am; if wearing that thing means time away from my little one, I’ll gladly take the peach juice hair treatments, the cheese-dusted hoodies, and the blue Play-Doh underneath the fingernails any day.

Working your Motherhood business takes full priority over working your Mary Kay business, friends. Never let a recruiter – or anyone else - tell you otherwise."

Now I am sure that anyone in "Category 2" would love to magically find themselves in a position where they can enjoy peaches, cheese-dust and Play-Doh. For that matter, I, as a husband, would love to make that trade. But the bottom line is that if you are in "Category 2", if your money isn't coming from Mary Kay it is going to have to come from somewhere. And maybe that "other somewhere" is simply less desirable than Mary Kay.

Now, in this situation, I am not arguing the merits, pro or con, of Mary Kay. If it is not earning you money and you are a "Category 2", you better find something else (in addition to - or - instead of) that will earn you money.

But for someone that is obviously in "Category 1" to preach to those in "Category 2" about how they should prioritize their kids over earning the money that will feed those kids is frighteningly cold.

*Disclaimer* I don't know for sure that "The Scribbler" is in "Category 1". With her obvious flare for writing (and writing definitely seems to be something that you could do at home) it is very possible that she found something that works better for her than Mary Kay did. Perhaps Tracy pays well. (**wonder if I should apply..)

Pink Truth: Because we obviously wish we were still in Mary Kay

The subject is Mary Kay's new Customer Deliver Service.

Pink Truth scratches head about Mary Kay's Innovative New Idea

The questions are as follows.

What do you think of the new service.

and

Judging by the responses of PT Readers (no longer in MK mind you) to this new feature, does anyone see any indication why MK may not have been right for them?

I'll give you a hint that I picked up from the main post.

Tracy (at least we think it was Tracy) said:

"You'd have to tell her to get online when she's at home and order her item via your site. And that means bye-bye sale because she won't want the hassle and probably will have changed her mind by the time she gets home."

Now, I know we are not supposed to say that they are being negative. We are supposed to thank them for shedding the light of their almighty truth upon our undeserving heads. But, and this is strictly from the perspective of someone that does not sell Mary Kay for a living, my first thought was, "Sweet, online orders can be shipped directly to the consumer, sounds like an upgrade" (or something like that)

For a community of people that owe their very existence to the internet (not the people, the community) it seems awfully negative (oops there's that word I am not supposed to use) to think that this will hurt a consultants business. Especially considering that it is an optional feature.

I am trying to imagine how long a consultant would last if they operated this way.

"Great, you want to buy the 'xyz' today! Now all you have to do is get on "the internet"... do you have one of those? Ok, good, than you have to find "my website"... do you think you can handle that? Ok, good..." proceeds to explain in painful detail how they can arrange to have the product shipped directly to them from the company, completely ignoring the fact that they have those products IN THE HOUSE AND COULD DELIVER ON THE SPOT, drives home and watches their online account anxiously waiting for that client to place their order online....

Again, I am not in Mary Kay, but even I can tell you that this is not what that feature was designed for.

Perhaps it is because I read a lot online about how to optimize your website in such a way that EVERYTHING is automatic that this makes so much sense to me. Obviously, I am not selling anything here, but if I was, I would want to set it up so that I did not have to lift a finger to fulfill your online requests for whatever I was selling. This is obviously a good step in that direction for Mary Kay.

Will it have a lot of kinks to work out? Probably.

Are there going to be a lot of questions? Does John McCain know how to "do a google"?

Is it a good step in the right direction? I think so.

So again, I ask, what are your thoughts about this new program?
Is this the first time you are hearing about it? (If so, there should be some concerns about how third hand information is getting to you before you hear about it officially!)
Is there anything about Pink Truth's analysis that you would care to disagree with?

The comment section awaits.

Pink Truth: How dare you use our content without our permission... And now for something completely different...

DS (That's me): making introduction Pot, Kettle. Kettle, Pot.
Pot: to kettle Wow... you're really black.

...Pink Truth Copy/Pastes a Sales Director's Entire Presentation Notes... Copyright Infringement Anyone?...

Honestly, I didn't even read it. Skimmed through a couple of times though. Seems like there are some good things you could take away from it. These are obviously the notes of someone that is listening to a presentation and trying to get as much written down as possible.

Which leads me to the irony of the very first comment:

"First of all I can't believe the bad grammer in this piece. Was this taped then transcribed by someone or the actual speech Rhonda gave. If so, she has a lot to learn about the English language."

Methinks perhaps someone should get a better grasp on their spelling... coughgrammercoughshouldbegrammarcough... before they start criticizing the grammatical errors of someone else.

There actually are a lot of comments on this one... seems there are a lot of people that have time to read (carefully I might add) every word that is coming out of Mary Kay these days. Perhaps someone here would care to comment on a comment over there. Please do. That is what this site is here for.

I will point out one that made me raise my eyebrows a bit (no wait, it was more like the corners of my mouth... you know that kind of half-smirk you get when you see someone that is lying, and you know that they know that you know that they are full of it, but that they know that you know that they know that you can't convince the people they are lying to that they are lying, and they look at you with that, "ha, I am getting away with lying because you can't do anything to stop me" look, and all you can do is just kind of smile because you know that the significance of their ability to deceive a handful of people is so grandiosely overestimated in their minds that it isn't even worth trying to correct them? It was that along with the eyebrow thing.).

Tracy in response to "Tracy, how many members do we have? How many estimated lurkers?said:

"Ah, if only Mary Kay knew those numbers. They're dying to get their hands on them, and sites like Alexa (which attempt to estimate traffic) are notoriously unreliable and easy to game. We have 4700 registered members and way, way more unregistered readers. That's the best I can tell you... although I will say if MK had any idea how many visitors we really have, they would wet themselves."

Yup. I don't know about all of you, but I just wet myself. ;)

Pink Truth: How NOT to do Mary Kay - A case study

Okay, I will put this as gently as I can. If the Mary Kay you are being introduced to (or are involved in... or know someone who is involved in) looks ANYTHING like this...

Pink Truth Describes A Very Ugly Version Of Mary Kay

... RUN.

Can anyone tell the class why?

Pink Truth: A case against Personal Use "Consultants"

A Pink Truth reader (keep in mind "allegedly" applies to everything we say about Pink Truth as we have well established the fact that they are less than truthful) submitted her experience as a personal use consultant.

Have a peep.

Pink Truth Reader: I should have stuck with "just say no"

I will start things off here.

First of all, she states:

"This year, though, I really thought about how much that "$200" order cost me. It was nice to buy all my skincare and makeup for the year (at half price!) and be done with it. What got left out of the "personal use" spin when I signed up was I had to pay 15% on my $200 order since sales tax is 7.5% and of course sales tax is charged on retail, not wholesale. Then, it was $8 for shipping. My personal use order is now closer to $250, and it was always a struggle to come up with $200 of wholesale products for myself."

This is kind of like when I go into Burger King to get their wonderful $.99 Double Cheeseburger (the healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner of champion bloggers) and get all peeved at the couple extra pennies they tack on for tax. 7.5% of $400 is $30. That comes to you courtesy of Uncle Sam... not Mary Kay. That brings your total to... (any math majors out there?) $230. Add that horrific $8 shipping fee and your "totally bogus" total is a whopping (not a whopper, mind you) $238. To call that "closer to $250" is a bit of a stretch... sort of like saying "I'm in my first year of Mary Kay" instead of "This is my first class ever"! But, let's call it $250. So, instead of paying 50%, you are actually paying 62.5%. Call the cops, you are being robbed.

Now, from what I observe, there are two problems that occurred here. First, she didn't know how to say no. When I am approached about something I don't want to do... let's say... I don't know, um.... hanging out with "that" friend. When "that" friend calls, I ignore the call. If I somehow get cornered by "that" friend I make polite conversation only as long as is necessary to not be a complete dashboard and then excuse myself from the conversation. How she found herself in a position she didn't want to be in is as puzzling to me as my friend (a guy) that always ends up doing whatever his girlfriend wants because he's too much of a zipper to say no. Keep in mind that with her discount I am still not really sure what made her unhappy with this scenario... oh yeah, the whole "can't say no" thing probably.

Anyway, what are your thoughts about all of this?

It seems that personal use consultants are more trouble than they are worth. "Can't sell the product for full price so we'll talk people into getting it at half price" seems profoundly counterproductive to the goal of creating the impression of a prestige brand!

I mean, if the product itself is good and what makes it great is the customer service, what good could it possibly serve to be creating an army of personal use - or worse, greedy, clueless opportunists - that will only serve to generate enough dissatisfied customers to make it profitable for Tracy Coenen to stir the pot every day?

What do you think about personal use consultants? What do you think about anyone that thinks they can - and tries to - lead people that are merely happy customer along a path that will lead to them being an all star via "personal use" Ave.?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated in the comment section.

**Side Note**

As you may (or may not) have noticed, even though this section is call "Today On Pink Truth, It does not necessarily represent the post that they posted "today". I wanted to point that out now, and also announce that this feature will not appear over the weekend, so that when Monday rolls around and the "Today On Pink Truth" feature is "so last week", no one feels the need to complain.

Thanks.

Pink Truth: Mary Kay is Prestigious

Please, please, please talk to me about this one.

First, go check out the post at Pink Truth.

Pink Truth declares, "...Mary Kay is prestigious...

Now look. One thing that I know is that value is in the eye of the beholder. When you buy an off brand soda (at ten cents to the dollar of the name brand) you are often buying THE SAME SODA. They just turn the machine off, change the labels, and start the machine again. (I know I am over-simplifying a concept here, but the truth is the same.) We have been conditioned to pay top dollar for bottled water that we are now discovering is "worse" (whatever that means) than our tap water. A Ferrari still serves the same function as a Camry (point A. to point B.) with the exception of the fact that one: gets worse gas mileage, breaks WAAAY easier, and has considerably less passenger space and trunk space, AND loses its value at an astonishingly faster pace. Which one do you think would cost more?

Prestige, as it always has been, is a matter of perception. It is that simple. If you can buy a product for $2 and can find it at every Wal-Mart, K-mart, or whachamacallit-mart... it will never be able to "rise" to the occasion of being sold for anything more than $2. NO matter how "high" or "low" it's actual quality is, it will always be perceived as "cheap".

Now, whether you "like" Mary Kay or not, the concept of marketing a product (choosing your demographic and pursuing it) is not "part of [a] massive shell game".

Tracy says,

"I'd rather not pretend that I have only two openings next week (when I really have the entire week free) so that I can sound busy and ask you which is better for you."

Now, I don't know exactly what she is referring to here, but it is a well understood fact (yes, I said fact) in the "sales and/or appointment setting business" that you are much more likely to receive a positive response if you don't ask yes/no questions. In other words, instead of, "would you like to meet with me some time next week?", you might ask, "I have two time slots open next week. My morning is open on Wednesday and my evening is open on Thursday. Which one of those would work better for you?" This leads more naturally to customizing a time that is good for them and makes them comfortable that they are not, heaven forbid, encroaching on your time.

All that to say, this amounts to little more than the difference between the retail salesperson that says, "can I help you" (response: no, just looking) VS "WoW those shoes would look FABULOUS on YOU!!! can I get a pair in your size so that we can see?" (response: oh sure, why not) It can't hurt to just look, right ladies?

Sorry, I digress. Pink Truth would love to make Mary Kay out to be this insidious disease that plagues our nation. (who am I kidding... "would" ... HA!! they "DO" love to...) The bottom line is that it is not. It is just a sales organization, with sales people that are selling a product. Perhaps if Pink Truth would turn their attention to the mess of a financial crisis our country has got itself into they could uncover a TRUE conspiracy. :D

Okay, this is supposed to be about all of you. What are your thoughts on this?

Is Mary Kay a prestige brand? Should consultants "pretend to be busy"? Do you know consultants... scratch that, PEOPLE in general, that think that time with them is a privilege?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

P.S. The following is an exert from today's P.T. post... adapted - just slightly - to be a little more truth-y. Let me know what you think.

Pink Truth is based upon numerous deceptions, and sites like Balanced Mary Kay are the only way to expose these deceptions to the general public and help prevent women from getting duped into living a lonely, bitter life.

Pink Truth: "Mary Kay gives their directors some pretty neat stuff"

The ever eloquent Scribbler (and I don't mean that sarcastically... I am partially convinced that she is actually a professional writer that Tracy hired to keep her blog entertaining!) has constructed a fabulously witty take on the "Star Sales Director Program".

Wading through the obvious contempt she holds (or pretends to hold) towards Mary Kay, these prizes actually seem like what you would expect as a reward that is being given in addition to the compensation you are already receiving.

Check out "The Scribbler's" full post here: Pink Truther wishes she could have gotten these sweet prizes

What do you think. I know we have discussed Mary Kay prizes here before. Some think they are cheap and worthless while some enjoy the small extra value that they add as a "job well done" sort of congratulations. What do you think of the prizes that are being discussed?

What do you think of "The Scribbler's" professionalism?

Is anyone other than me still rolling their eyes at the way that Pink Truth still seems to insist that "you can't make money in Mary Kay without frontloading"... even though it seems that the only evidence they have is that they couldn't "make money in Mary Kay without frontloading"?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Pink Truth: Things "ex" Mary Kay people do not miss about Mary Kay

Okay, as promised, here is your chance to "talk back" about Pink Truth.

Today's post (actually yesterday's post... this allows them time to leave their comments and thoughts so that you can comment on any part of the sentiment coming from there) is about the things that people that used to be in Mary Kay don't miss now that they are no longer in Mary Kay.

Perhaps you would like to discuss what you would miss if you left Mary Kay. Perhaps there are things that you would also not miss. Either way, talk about it here.

If you are going to talk about a specific line, sentence, statement or phrase that you found over there, please take the time to copy/paste, surround it with quotation marks and tell us who said it. I don't want to hear, "Someone in the comments section said something kinda-like..." mm-kay? Thanks.

Here is where you can find today's "Pink Truth" about Mary Kay

Long overdue update and politics

I want to thank all of you for your patience and must apologize in advance that this will be brief.

I have been so busy lately that my email responses (to the few people that actually send me emails) have been, at best, hastily scrawled notes about what I would like to do, or what I intend to do.

In terms of what I will be doing with this blog, at this time, could best be described as "maintaining". I think that it has earned itself a place here and should not be discontinued. I also know that it is not something that I can devote very much time to currently. However, and very fortunately, all of you - the readers and authors - have proven to be much more effective at continuing the discussion than I ever could.

To that end, here is what I have resolved to do for the time being.

Concerning the DMCA takedown notices, I will do nothing. If any of you feel strongly enough about the dozen or so posts that were removed, please contact me with a game-plan that involves more you than me :D and I will see if I can help. Otherwise, lets show them we can't be bullied by "doubling our efforts" in other areas.

Concerning criticizing Pink Truth, I will resume posting a "today on Pink Truth" with the notable difference being a link to that day's Pink Truth post. I encourage you to go visit the post in question, gather your thoughts, bring them over here and tell the world. We now KNOW that "they" read over here. We also know that through honest, unfiltered back-and-forth discussion, understanding can take place. Let's hope that this is the beginning of some really good discussion, by 'both sides'.

Concerning Mary Kay, please feel free to express, openly and honestly, any concerns you have and allow others to either echo or speak to those concerns.

Concerning politics, well, they are a part of our life right about now, aren't they? You will notice that the current poll runs all the way through until the day after election day. Please feel free to change your vote (on this site) as often as you like, right up until after you cast your real vote. If you are leaning one way, and suddenly start leaning the other way, feel free to change your vote to reflect that leaning. The three of you, for instance, that are currently undecided... I hope that we see your votes move to one of the other columns before the poll closes. Keep in mind that I can not see who voted at all... so I won't be judging you... even if your decision is to not vote!

That is all for now. As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts about all of this. It is, after all, your thoughts that make this site what it is. Even more importantly, please be sure to stop by, from time to time - if not daily - to leave your thoughts about Pink Truth or Mary Kay.

My most profound thanks for every one of you in your loyalty and support of this blog.

Question Regarding Where Team Members go??

As we are called "Balanced" I feel compelled to correct misleading or incorrect information...


Here is a post from another site of course, the Raving Raisinberry pops of after someone asks what will happen if she quits this month to her team members as her sister is in last month diq:

{{Your recruits will belong to your sister inlaw's unit if your sister in law makes it. If you return next month, she still gets the chargeback (9 or 13%) and so does your Senior (10 n;d 13%). If you send your stuff back while she is in DIQ, you just reduced her total unit members to 29. The only way your Director gets your recruits (placed in her unit) is if she doesnt make it. So, if she does not have 31 members when she is done on Oct 31, you just blocked her finishing and she loses your team to her Senior. }}

Now, I am hoping she just didn't explain it well as oppossed to scaring the girl into quitting this month. But no matter when she quits, the sister will on be chargeback for whatever commission she received when the proudct was purchased. Whether it be this month, next month, etc... The Company doesn't take back more than was paid, ever.

As I read it, she is MANIPULATING THE GIRL INTO quitting this month to save her sister chargebacks from her team members. Encouraging her to sabotage their relationship (and we are speaking of sisters) because the pt nuts will convince her even though her sister is mad at her, she saved her and will eventually one day will be thanked. So sad to see that yet another "PINK TRUTH" is just another PINK LIE.
It doesn't matter whether you are a consultant, diq, or director, you will only be chargedback the portion of the commission your were paid on the portion that was sent back.


I don't understand how a sister would consider doing this to another sister, she can always quit the first day of the month after the sister finishes. She obviously has been a consultant for awhile because she has a team. How evil it would be for her to quit her sister's last month of diq. The only explanation for that would be to hurt the sister. And pt accusses MK of destroying relationships???

Can a Director earn a Cadillac w/o Frontloading?

Finally, I have had a chance to sit down and share with you a little experiment I conducted. What was my reason for the experiment? David has always expected us to provide “facts” to back up our statements and PTer’s always make the statement: that winning a Cadillac can not be done without frontloading your new consultants with $3000 - $4800 initial packages. I really could not say, “Yes, you can win the Cadillac without frontloading because I had never done so.”

Actually, I had no intention of qualifying for the Cadillac until next year after my youngest graduated from high school. We are not in car qualification because we just qualified for the Saturn approx. 6 months ago but as I will continue to say, if you teach your unit to be strong sellers, and your unit size grows, so does your natural production.
(By natural production, I mean production placed by consultants that are selling the product and need to order).

Well, I am happy to report, PT is wrong. One can win the Cadillac without frontloading new recruits and without charging the car on credit cards. Why can I now say this? Because with my incredible, awesome, super selling unit, we are now a Cadillac Unit! (Just in case you are interested I have selected the CTS)

I had planned on conducting this test next year but am happy to report, that I can report my findings at this time! How did this come about? My unit members that went to Career Conference got excited about being represented as a Cadillac Unit – (not from me), they decided it was time. I told them that it took a lot of work, effort, and consistent selling and I could not do it by myself. Our bookings, classes, and sales went thru the roof. For a person that analyzes everything, imagine my surprise at the end of the quarter when our production total was over $48,000. Without even trying we had done Cadillac Production. Well, I am not one to let anyone down, my unit had stepped it up and the work was being done, the first quarter was already complete so I stepped up my own efforts and we zoomed right along. I accepted the fact that I am now going to put a little more time into my business than I have been, but to be honest, that won’t be hard. I always feel guilty that I don’t put enough time into my business. When I read stories about directors that spend 24/7 doing MK, I figured out if I had been willing to do even 40 full hours that I probably would have been one of the top directors in the Company. I just wasn’t willing to spend all my time on my business. I have and will continue to balance my life. If my business starts to take over my life, I will simply step back to a Saturn unit. I refuse to let my business ruin my life. I do my business because it allows me a great income and the flexibility that I want with our crazy life, (plus I love it).

Now, here is a recap. During the six months, we added 34 new unit members. Of the 34, 19 of them are now qualified. But only 11 of them came in qualified. 10 with $600 and one (totally her choice) at $1800 – I actually tried talking her down but her and her husband had looked over the information and decided that was a great place for her to start (and actually it has been for her). . The remaining 8 started small and then booked, sold, and reordered. I had 5 that have not placed an order yet, if and when they are ready, they will, the remainder ordered exactly what they wanted to order.

Of the $96,000 required for Cadillac Production approx $14,500 came from my new unit members (and many of them did not place there order until their second month) which technically isn’t called New Production on our reports. So I am even being very generous on what I am calling “New” because a few of them had actually sold enough to cover their first order and placed it their second month in the Company.

What is interesting is that means only 18% of our unit production came from initial inventories. Not one of my unit members placed an order for product she didn’t need. When it came down to the final day, I was the only one that stretched, and only a little bit. Because I order between $1200 - $2000 wholesale a month every month, it just means I won’t be ordering as much this month unless my sales justify it, and that means by the end of October, my inventory will be balanced as it should be and the credit card will be back at zero).

As far as this month, we already have a very comfortable amount of production in, (naturally) and none of it is from new consultants. This is a result of not dialing for dollars and asking people to order that did not need to order. No one has product stored in boxes and warehouses and no one has the product on their charge cards. (Many of my unit members do not even have a credit card for their business and many did not even realize we were finishing Cadillac).

I had no charge backs to deal with during the qualification period, and have no fears of any charge backs in the future because of the way we operate. For my unit, do the work and you will earn the prizes. It is so imbedded in their heads, I know I could not even bribe them into ordering just for the prize.

We finished the quarter with approx. 120 unit members and approx 30 on the former consultant status sheet. (There was no “activating” consultants so that they looked active).

My heartfelt advice, if you conduct this business properly, your production will happen and you will not feel like you are on a hamster wheel. Build a very strong selling unit and recruit after one has established a strong customer base.

I am so proud of what we have accomplished. I am proud that I believe in running this business the right way. And I am “tickled pink” that one does not have to throw out their standards and beliefs to attain the Cadillac. It can be done honestly and ethically.... and I can say that now backed up with fact.



I need to share that after reading pt so much I actually had started to wonder whether or not it was possible to earn Cadillac without frontloading (see how reading enough negative stuff can actually get one second guessing themselves?). So, I guess I owe them a big THANK YOU because I think part of my motivation to qualify for the Cadillac was just to see if it could be done the right way!! Now give me a few years and my next experiment will be to see if one can win a Top Director’s trip under my beliefs.

One last thought, I am so glad that the Company started to give us the choice of Cadillacs. Personally, I like smaller, sportier cars and that was another reason I never really had the desire to have the Cadillac. I understand when driving it, it felt like you were riding on a cloud. But to me, the Deville’s and the DTS’s are boats and looks like something my gramma would drive. I don’t care how old I get, you aren’t going to catch mk4me driving a grammy’s boat or a mini van. (No offense to anyone, they just aren’t me)! Now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the CTS!! Woo Hoo.

Isn't it suppose to be the thought that counts??

My interesting post will be coming, promise, family life has just been crazy busy lately. But I thought it was time for something new to read. Took a few minutes today to visit some other sites. Thought this would be a good discussion piece. It seems that many on that other site think it is awful to give Mary Kay as a gift. Of course it spurred from a story about a wife that was irate at her husband because he had taken her out to a nice dinner and then gave her a firming eye cream as a gift, because the wife's consultant had said it had been awhile since she had ordered it. (Now I must admit, this isn't something I would suggest as a gift unless the client had specifically told me that was what she wanted) but, this woman was so upset with her husband. My first thought was how ungrateful this woman must be, if she had used the product before, I am sure he was trying to get her something she could/would use and not have to spend her money on it. I have always been taught it was the thought that counted? Isn't that is what we all have been taught? (Mind you he had taken her out for a nice dinner too). Now I must admit that giving someone anti aging skin care if they don't already use it could lead to misinterpretation... but I would much rather get Mary Kay Perfumes, lotions, etc... than one of those cheap, smelly gift sets that sell like crazy at Christmas time at Walmart and Kmart. I had to laugh because I have many, many clients that will give me a wish list in case their husband calls me because there is stuff that they want but don't want to spend the money on themselves. I have clients that call me to get gift certificate for other clients because they know it is a gift that will be used. (Not set in a closet to be regifted, donated to a charity, thrown away, or set on a shelf to collect dust).

At my age, I pretty much have everything I want and if I want something I am going to go get it, so buying gifts for me can be rather trying for Mr. mk4me. He knows I love clothes so many times I will get a gift certificate, (he is so smart). I hate the thought of friends and family spending money on me and then not being able to use it. Especially these days with things getting so tight for many.

(This is a true story) - on Christmas Eve several years ago, in the afternoon, I received a phone call from a frantic hubby. He hadn't gotten anything for his wife and he said the only thing she had on her list was Mary Kay and Longenberger but I was the only one he know and felt comfortable calling. We chatted awhile, brainstormed a bit and then I remembered I had a brand new Longenberger basket that I had purchased when I attended a friend's party but not being a basket person I had just put it in the closet, still in the box... I told him if he wanted I would put her MK in the basket and shrink wrap it and make it look like a million bucks.. He was so grateful but couldn't figure out how he was going to get it. We ended up meeting in the parking lot of a local department store, laughing that we hoped no one was watching our "exchange" in the parking lot. I actually got a thank you card from him for saving his behind (of course I teased him that if I were ever desperate for cash, I had great blackmail material) and then I got a beautiful thank you card from my client/his wife saying, thank you so much, I know you must have come to his rescue and it was one of the best gifts she had received because even though he was an awesome guy, his gift giving ability was lacking!!I honestly think that if a gift is given with love, it is special. I am sure the majority of people that receive Mary Kay would prefer that over a big fluffy pair of slippers that look like cows or something silly!

Serously, have you ever seen some of the ridiculous stuff that comes out at Christmas and people buy it. Let's face it how many pairs of battery warmed socks do I need? Last point, at least this woman had someone that loved her enough to take her out for dinner and buy her something. I am sure there are many folks in the world that would love for someone to treat them that well. What surprised me was how many others thought this was a terrible thing too. So what are you thoughts? If you were not a consultant and liked/loved MK, would it upset you to receive it as a gift?

Update on Pink Truth's attempt to silence their critics (this site) with false copyright infringement claims

Well, I was waiting to see what action (if any) blogger would take regarding the alleged copyright infringement.

As you may or may not have noticed, I went through the posts alleging copyright infringement and removed any infringing content that I could see.

I also posted a note on the ones that had (apparently) no such infringing content essentially asking blogger to define what exactly was being labeled as infringing.

As the weekend passed and none of the posts were removed, I assumed that this action had proved sufficient. However, as of this writing, I see that it was not.

Now, I know that I can counter notify blogger that the content is indeed legitimate. And I might just do that. However, as Sean (at Franchise Pick) points out, this would amount to "standing up for my "right" to make fun of those who make fun of Mary Kay" (quote is from Franchise Pick website, no copyright infringement intended) This (to me) seems a bit petty.

I have not yet decided what I will do about all of this. I believe that there needs to be a place where the lies that are told on Pink Truth can be exposed. I hope that this site will continue to provide a venue for that. I do not feel that the dozen (less one) posts that were removed are all that crucial to the spirit of exposing those lies.

I am currently leaning toward doing nothing. It is truly sad that Tracy feels so threatened by the truth that she would stoop to this level of bullying and harassing with such obvious deception. Nonetheless, I am beginning to feel that the best thing to do is to not do anything at all.

By the way, and in the interest of full disclosure, as I have read and educated myself on the subject, I believe that the full screen, screenshot that a few of you may have seen could have been construed as a copyright violation, particularly with my encouragement to all of you to not visit Pink Truth. Worthy of a DMCA take-down notice? Not really. Technical violation? Possibly.

Finally, let me apologize for the sudden sparsity of posting lately. I believe that I will be needing to change the schedule of posting here. It seems that all of the regular authors, myself included, have been quite busy lately. I think that I may begin posting more like once a week than trying to produce something daily. Still trying to figure out what works best for the goals/purposes of this site.

Please let me know what you think. What do you want from this site? What do you like? What is important? What can you do without?

Should you be worried about the economy - Balanced Mary Kay reader's reactions

Are you worried about the economy?



If you are, why?

If you are not, why not?

Also, what do you think of the $700,000,000,000.00 "bailout"?

More info and an update on the copyright infringement nonsense soon.