Mary Kay Review – Scam Or Legitimate MLM Business?
Welcome to my Mary Kay Review!
Mary Kay is a Multi-level Marketing (MLM) company with a vision to make life more beautiful for women, and they have carried this vision for nearly 50 years.
In this Mary Kay Review, I will be examining this company and the products that they offer. However, my emphasis in this Mary Kay Review will be on the MLM Business opportunity that they offer as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.
Does Mary Kay offer a legitimate and promising MLM Business opportunity, or should this be considered as a scam or pyramid scheme? I intend to answer this very question in my unbiased and third-party Mary Kay Review.
Company Details & History
The woman behind Mary Kay of course is Mary Kay Ash, and their story begins in 1963. Mary Kay Ash had just resigned her position as a National Training Director after 25 years in the direct selling industry when yet another man she had personally trained was promoted above her and awarded twice her salary.
So, with her savings of $5,000 and the help of her son, she founded Beauty by Mary Kay, a company that would later be known as Mary Kay Inc.
The ever so popular Mary Kay product line
Today, Mary Kay offers a tremendous and very successful product line related to:
- Skin Care
- Makeup
- Body Care
- Sun Care
- Fragrance
- Skin Care, Fragrances, and Sun Care for Men
With more than $2.5 Billion in annual global wholesale sales, Mary Kay products are distributed through an independent sales force of more than 2 million Independent Beauty Consultants spanning across more than 35 international markets around the globe.
MLM Business – Getting started and how it works
The cost to join and begin your business as a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant is the price of their Starter Kit. This includes a cost of $100 plus shipping, handling, and taxes.
Your Starter Kit will provide you with products and samples to share with 30 friends and family members at your parties, along with education and training to assist you in getting started.
Compensation – Ways to earn
As a Beauty Consultant, you will earn 50% on every product that you sell. On a side note, I might add that this is one of the highest commissioned earning percentages in the MLM industry, and I did not just pull that off of their website:)
Beauty Consultants are given the option to sell products and grow their business in a number of ways:
- Sell on the go by handing out their quarterly catalog, The Look.
- Sell online through your Mary Kay Personal Website.
- Sell in person
- Sell at a Party.
…or all of the above.
Beauty Consultant Training & Support
I just mentioned that Beauty Consultants can sell products using various methods. However, the majority of company-wide sales are achieved through Mary Kay Parties (home parties).
These parties are scheduled and conducted in the homes of friends, family members, acquaintances, co-workers etc.
Host Rewards Program
Mary Kay offers a Host Rewards program, which will reward your hostess with substantially discounted products, and even free products based upon the sales volumes that are generated by you in their home.
Your hostess will have the potential to earn up to 20% of the party sales in free products if a minimum of $200 is generated and 2 future parties are booked.
As you are contacting your friends and loved ones to schedule a Mary Kay Party, you will offer this rewards program as a perk or selling point.
Mary Kay Review Conclusion
In my opinion, Mary Kay is a very legitimate MLM Business opportunity, and is not a scam or pyramid scheme. Mary Kay is one of the most respected names in the Direct Selling industry, and has been growing and offering trusted beauty products for nearly 50 years.
Food for thought…
However, there are a couple of things to consider:
1. No matter what anyone tells you, Home Parties are a difficult way to build a long-term and profitable business.
Using these methods, your success within Mary Kay will be dependent upon your ability to not only schedule these parties, but maintain a full schedule month in and month out. For those who are limited to only those who they know personally, this can prove to be extremely difficult to accomplish.
You will either need a gigantic warm market of friends and loved ones, or utilize a more modern and effective marketing strategy to catch a larger audience.
2. While Home Parties can be an effective means to generate sales, your sales will be limited to the immediate area of where you live, and dependent upon how far you are willing to drive.
With that being said, if you begin this business with the correct expectations, realizing that this is not a business that will be built overnight, I do believe that Mary Kay offers a solid opportunity.
I hope that you have found my Mary Kay Review to be informative and educational! I wish you the best of luck in your home business research!
Category: MLM Company Reviews
About the Author (Author Profile)
Dave Fennell is the founder and editor of Marketing Methods Online and BloggerGo. Learn more about him here. You can also connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.Subscribe
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Dave Fennell wrote this Mary Kay Review for those who are researching the Mary Kay Business Opportunity. I would love your feedback. If you have any experiences with this company, whether good or bad, please share them here to assist others in their research efforts.
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To Your Success,
Dave Fennell
You need to check out http://www.pinktruth.com
Every day, thousands of woman are getting OUT and sending back the product their sales directors insisted they must buy. The only ones making any money, and it’s not as much as you would like to think, are the sales directors and national sales directors. They make money off what their team members BUY from MK, not on what they SELL! And to remain an active consultant and receive the 50% discount, you have to buy $200 of product every three months. Anyone considering going into MK needs to check out Pink Truth.
Thank you Nancy!
I was a Mary Kay consultant back in the late 90’s. I sent back my products and got back my investment less 10%, and can never be a Mary kay rep again. I never would want to do that again anyway.
Thanks!
Partially of what Nancy says is true. Directors do make money off their team, that THEY WORKED to bill, and what their team members buy…but ANYONE can be a director. You will get out of this business what you put into it, just like with ANY business.If you are not out there ‘working’ the business- – booking parties, making sells, gaining repeat customers AND BUILDING A TEAM, then you will not make money. It’s like being unemployed..if you don’t look for a job, then how do you expect to get a job! I’m not a director, just a PT seller, a month in (w/2 team members)…I came in knowing that the only way I can make this work is if I Work It. I don’t expect major profits over night, or even the first year, as this is my part time right now, but I can see down-the-line, doing well because I know what I have to do…not what Mary Kay has to do, or even my recruiter, or directors. It’s all up to me! p.s. & to speak on Nancy’s comment regarding product a sales director insists you buy-a consultant as the option of not buying but it is required that you purchase inventory because no one wants to buy & pay for something from a store that doesn’t have the product their wanting. Also Mary Kay buys back your products @ 90% cost if you decide it’s not for you.
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Too many people who have said “MaryKay isnt working for me.” Well, are you working for MaryKay?
I did Mary Kay for a while. Many directors just want you to order product to make their quota or keep their car. To me it was just a scam. My director did whatever underhanded things she could do to get you to buy product-I do not like the concept. Why cant I order what I need like Avon allows.