So she packed up, re-grouped, got a grip, came equipt, threw her make-up bag on her back then she split..

      Went out to fight PinkTruth, the master of evil…try to battle my girl? ..That’s not legal!   http://ahref=

     You’ll see some shameless music sampling in my blogs. And, o.k., Pink(half)Truth isn’t the master of evil. They’re just bitter, disillusioned, former consultants who had a bad time in Mary Kay, and now want to hurt the company by spreading their ‘truth’. You know what I mean: ” I didn’t have success so I’ll make sure no one else does either.”

     But what is all this about?  Well, recently I posted a little Mary Kay tribute video on my FaceBook wall in honor of the companies’ 48th birthday. After it was over, there was a little menu of related videos you could watch. One of these caught my eye and warranted further investigation.

   It was titled “Mary Kay NOT a good opportunity”. This elicited a knee jerk defensiveness and I clicked on it. It was a news segment about the direct selling industry in general but named Mary Kay most of all. I’m sure this was due to the involvement of PinkTruth as a source.

     It started out by saying the Direct Selling Association reported sales totaling 30 billion in 2008 in a voice dripping with disbelief and an air of outrage. In fact, the reporter used that tone throughout the entire episode. As if making money were some how scandalous or evil.

    It went on to say that Mary Kay was using the recession to recruit new consultants saying women can earn money selling products from their own homes.  Well, sure, people are looking for ways to make more money, but Mary Kay has been recruiting  new consultants this way since 1963 when the company started. The fact that there is a recession and more people are looking to make extra money isn’t Mary Kay’s doing. Women selling  from home is how the company works. Saying Mary Kay is using the recession is just a sensational way to twist a fact.

     It went on to accuse them of enticing people by saying they could earn commission off their sales and, when they recruited others to their team, ” earn a slice of those sales!”  Horror.  Or, maybe not, if you know that senior consultant’s commissions come from the company’s profits, not their recruits’. Mary Kay Ash was in direct sales for most of her working life before she retired and started her own company. She ‘rose’ to the position of trainer and taught men how to be salesmen for the company she worked for, who, in turn, went out and made a lot of money for the company. They often made more money than her, using her expertise. When she asked the company for a raise that reflected that, she was told she was thinking like a woman.  When she started her company, she chose to pay commission out of the company’s profits as a thank you for the work you put in training others to be a success. Sounds fair to me.

    It continued with the fact that the Direct Selling Association says it has customers even during a recession.  O.k., but so do super markets. Or gas stations. Or movie theaters. People choose what to spend on. If they choose to buy a lipstick or skin care or jewelry from a party, that is their choice. It’s not a lie or a trick. It’s a fact.

     Then it goes on to quote Tracy Coenen who runs the PinkTruth web-site ” The name of the game is recruiting people and getting them to purchase inventory packages that they most likely won’t be able to sell if history is any indicator of that.”   Wow.  First off, I don’t know WHAT her experience is, but I was not pressured to buy a big inventory package. I was encouraged to do so for some very good reasons:  When someone opens a dress shop, do they only have pictures of dresses? If it was Thursday and you had a hot date for Saturday and you really liked a dress, would you like to hear the shop owner say, “Yes! That dress would be perfect! I’ll have it for you in  about a week and a half.”  Nope. You’d go down to the next store where they had what you needed right then.

     The name of the game is customer service, friends. People do not want to wait. You will lose business to who ever has what you don’t.  That is why you’re encouraged to have inventory on hand. If the only way the company made money was tricking people into buying unsellable inventory packages, they would’ve gone out of business long ago. Certainly they wouldn’t be the #1 seller of skin care and cosmetics in the United States for the last 14 years.

    The reporter did admit that consultants could get most or all of their money back if they wanted. In other words, little to no risk on an opportunity for an amazing business. From the most successful National Sales Director to the newest consultant , we all start with the same $100 kit. It’s as successful as you chose to make it. Hmmmm….I just can’t seem to find how this is a bad thing.

     So they move on to interviewing a lady selling Arbonne. ” Recruiting is key. You have to have a team. But we have a consumable product. People ARE buying.” She had risen to area manager and had estimated she’s made about $4,000 in commission. You go, girl! If she’s made commission, not only are people buying from her, but they’re also buying from her recruits. Just the way it’s supposed to work.

    The reporter summed up with the quote ” Direct selling’s median income is about $2,400 a year. That’s according to the Direct Seller’s Association.”  as if the Direct Seller’s Association has the credibility of the mob.( Those damn Mary Kay toughs! Doggone those crazy Pampered Chef ladies!  ) And, she says ” It (Direct Sellers Association) says, “Don’t risk your finances to join direct selling and if you have to buy inventory, certainly don’t buy more then you can sell.”  Oh. My. God.    …I think she just summed up the ENTIRE free enterprise theory! … Oh my gosh! Where, oh where would we be without this AMAZING new insight into business. WHO would’ve thought of that?

     In the end, this “news” segment, was really a sort of smear campaign, full of half-truths and insinuations. I’m very proud to be a part of Mary Kay and it’s way of doing business. Yes, there are people who haven’t made a go of it or who didn’t find customers. That isn’t Mary Kay’s fault. They offer to buy back any inventory you have if you can’t sell it. But you could probably sell it for 40% off and make a 10% profit if you wanted to give it up. There’s always someone looking for a bargain.

    I find it hard to believe Mary Kay is in any way deceitful or misleading. Mary Kay’s business model is taught at Harvard Business school as a successful plan. I truly doubt they would teach Ivy League students how to be nefarious nogoodniks in business. I’d also like to point out  that they are members in good standing with The Better Business Bureau.That would hardly be possible if their business practices were sneaky and under-handed.  

   To sum up MY segment, friends, I’d like to say that I have NO regrets in this biz. Yes, it’s been slow, but the fault for that is mine. I’m listening to my director and taking her advice and I AM seeing an increase in business. Hopefully, I will soon be able to announce that I’m a full-time consultant. In the meanwhile, I’m keeping my day job and purchasing ONLY what I need to make sales. I have the new limited-edition Fall/Holiday items to demo if anyone is interested.  Mary Kay kicks Sarah Rose ASS !! (fist pump)  Call me!  (Bilbo walks away from the dead giant spider, wiping Sting clean on the grass..)

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Desperately Seeking Susan…or Paula..or Anne..or..

   Really? Desperately?

   Well, maybe,… but not the way it sounds. I’m on a mission here, folks; I have a mountain to move. Anyone want to help me push?

   As mentioned in a previous post, I sort of put myself out there to try and submit for DIQ by the end of November.  O.k., scratch sort of, put in did commit to it for the end of November.

   I can hear you asking what in the world is DIQ?  D.I.Q. stands for Director In Qualification.  Ahhh, Director. My dream position. If I make director then I’m either ready, or just about ready, to do Mary Kay full-time. This is my goal.  I want to be my own boss. I want to have flexibility to do what I want, when  I want. I want a new car that I don’t have to pay for.  I want to be instrumental in helping women make positive changes in their lives. I want to help someone else reach their personal best. I like to cheer people on. I like to see them be successful! I don’t want to dread going to work; I want to love it!

   And I do love being a Mary Kay consultant.  Now, I know many of you out there are thinking,” Well, that’s o.k. for you, but I’m not the salesperson type.”  So what? I am definitely not the salesperson type. I never want to sell to anyone.  I am not comfortable with the thought of convincing someone to buy something. I mean, I like to earn money, but I don’t want to feel like I pressured anyone into it.

   The beautiful thing about this is, I am NOT looking for salespeople. I am looking for women (or men) who want to share good skin care with others; who want to enrich someone else’s life.  It’s so easy, I don’t have to sell at all. I just present the products as they are and let them sell themselves. 

   As I’ve also said, I was afraid I wouldn’t like the products, or find that their worth was being over-blown, in which case, I wouldn’t be able to sell them. But really, what I was afraid of was selling itself. I did not want to sell! I couldn’t stand the thought of getting in front of a group of people I didn’t know and try to persuade them to buy from me. …. Still, something inside wanted to try for those things I did so desperately want for my life. So, I took a chance. And I’m falling madly on love with this.

   What I need for DIQ is 10 qualified team members What does qualified mean? It means a team member with a $200 wholesale order.

    “Well!”, you say,” $100 for the starter kit AND a $200 order just to be qualified? If I had that much extra money lying around, I’d put it in my gas tank; pay a doctor’s bill; buy groceries or new shoes for my child, etc., etc.”

   All is not as it seems. You see, we make 50% of what we sell, one of the highest paid direct selling commissions. One of only three, I believe. No one pays higher.  Anyway, the first party I had, I made almost $400 dollars which was a payday of almost $200 profit. I ordered what I needed and then ordered other things I wanted to keep on hand, a nearly $400 wholesale order. From my very first party. I made back the initial $100 investment, and chose to put it back into my business. Voila; qualified!

  And one of the BEST parts of this business is you get to pick your team. You never have to work with people you don’t like ever again. That is a total boon. Yes, I’m sure there may be people in Mary Kay I wouldn’t like, but I haven’t met one yet. The sisterhood is amazing. The support you will receive, both professionally and personally is truly wonderful.

   As for the time issue, as in: ” I don’t have time right now.”, I’d like to politely remind you that I have a full-time job as well as this plus a house to run, a disabled hubby, a frustrating teen-ager….you know how it goes. Mary Kay allows you to work on your schedule, not someone elses. We are trained on how to work it in the time we have. You can work as little or as much as you want.

  * Humph*, I just looked back over what I wrote and noticed that I just started saying ” you” instead of “I”. I apparently have more faith in my powers of persuasion than I thought.  Bilbo is getting braver. Yay!

    So, maybe you think this isn’t for you? Well, referrals are the best gift I could get right now. Do you know someone who might like this or just needs a change? Extra money? Something they can do from home?  But why don’t you give it a shot? You really have nothing to lose. Visit my web-site to contact me, the address is :  marykay.com/lmcfarland92. We could have coffee or a conference call with my director if you don’t live close by. Or call me. Chances are, if you’re on my Face Book friends list or have my cell, I want you on my team.

Liqiud Courage

        Sorry. I’m not talking about alcohol. Not that I’m against a drink now and then, I just don’t recommend it before entering a selling situation. After, well…that’s up to you.

       No, ladies and gentlemen, my liquid courage comes in a small, plastic tube. Beige 1 tinted moisturizer, SPF 20, to be exact. Now, you may be wondering what that has to do with courage? Well, as some of you know, I’d always hated my complexion. It was acne-prone, shiny and all-around make-up repellent. I could never seem to get my foundation shade right and even if I had, my make-up never lasted more than half a day anyway; put it on in the morning and it had slid off my face by noon. Seriously, ask my friends. We all know kids are cruel. We were probably cruel to some ourselves.  I heard all the usual comments that accompany this kind of skin and few really creative zingers that left bigger scars on my psyche than my acne ever did on my face. I learned to layer on the products and became a big fan of full-coverage everything.

         When I signed up for this business, I did it for the opportunity to be my own boss. I had never really tried the products and I was worried that maybe they weren’t as great as everyone said. If that was the case, I’d be in trouble because there would be no way I could sell something I didn’t believe in. But guess what? It works. It works spectacularly well. For the first time in my life, I feel comfortable in my own skin. I may not be model pretty, but I think I look pretty good most of the time. I’ve had several people tell me they thought I was much younger than I am and one young lady said, “I hope I look that good at that age.”  Woo Hoo!

        I seem to be a walking cliché these days. I understand I’m not making earth-shattering revelations of character, but it’s the first time in my life I can see these things at work on how I live. I thought I had to have everything  just- so for this to work. I thought I had to be just-so for this to work. In holding on to that, I took a lot longer to really try at this. I never knew how much energy got sapped from my life by letting perfectionism rule the way I did things.

        Mary Kay’s products have helped me get to the point that I can wear our sheerest foundation formula with pride, but learning this business has led me to reach for my personal best potential. With that comes the bonus of looking for it in others. Letting go of that need to be perfect has allowed me to focus on other people; to see what they bring to the table.

       So far this month I have two challenge-takers. I need 8 more to fulfill my own monthly goal. I may not make my goal but it won’t make or break me. In the past, if something wasn’t immediately successful, I gave it up. In the past three months, since I really started going with this, it’s become easier and easier to get back on track,  dust off  my scraped knees and keep going forward. Disappointment has had a harder time bringing me down or keeping there for very long. I intend for these blogs to be less about trying to climb my hurdles and more about which ones I’ve conquered.  Well…..I’m off to conquer.