My wife wants to sell Mary Kay??

hooklahoma

hooklahoma

1,000+ Posts
I have real live non-internet buddies and buddy-ettes that could probably help me with this, but I dont want the folks I roll with to think i'm clowning on my wife, whom I love dearly. I am therefore asking the wise and generous folks of the Horn Depot to advise me on this matter

My dear bride is an overachiver. She passed the CPA a couple years out of school and has achived upper management status in a large hospital system soon after her 30th birthday. The problem is, she is devoting way too much time to her gig and our two young children are getting the short end of the deal.

About a week ago an aqaintance of hers gives her the Mary Kay pitch and damn if it doesnt sound like the cheesiest pyramid/work at home schemes i've ever heard. With a little research on the internet i've found accounts of the official script those at the top of the pyramid use to suck in new dupes and I'll be damned if it wasn't verbatum what was told to her.

The bottom line is I dont want to sound unsupportive, but I dont understand how such an intelligent woman could be suckered in to a ponze scheme. A CPA, no less. I just want her to reconsider, without sounding like I'm questioning her intellegence. She's really gung ho about the whole thing.

Any advice reguarding the legitamacy of Mary Kay and/or how i approach telling her shes nuts for falling for it is appreciated.
 
i have an aunt and cousin in north carolina who both sell mary kay and do very well with it. of course, this same family has been involved with amway and other things in the past as well. they seem to like it and get by rather well.

that being said, i'd never do it nor want my wife/gf to do it either.
 
Geez -- tough one. I am always embarassed for my colleagues that say "yep, I've got goals for myself, and I'm going to retire in 5 years. It's not even selling, all I do is save people money by offering them the opportunity to pay less for long distance than they do today...." You can always find the rare person who make out like a bandit on this, but most of the time, it is supported by people with sloped foreheads and low IQs. However, I have seen otherwise perfectly intelligent people fall for this kind of stuff.... sounds like your bride is in that camp.

With that being said, I'd approach it by saying something like this: "Honey, you know that I am totally supportive of whatever you want to do, but I'm not just your husband, I'm your friend, too. I gotta tell you that I am very skeptical of this venture. Perhaps I just don't know all the details, but I think it is a mistake. I'd ask you to do a bit more research prior to making this commitment, however, whatever you decide I'm with you 100%"
 
Run, run as fast as you can. I DESPISE Mary Kay ladies. In order to sell her stuff, she'll be forced to hit up her circle of friends for a "home" party in which everyone has to wash their face and then get little squirts of makeup put in cheezy plastic trays and everyone plays "makeover". I and everyone I know hate these things. Or, she'll have to hit up total strangers in HEB and tell them what great skin they have and sucker them into modeling for a Mary Kay makeup shoot. Finally, Mary Kay is soooo 1980's. Everyone I know who wears it looks *too* made up, because MK has everyone convinced that they HAVE to wear foundation and tons of eye makeup.

Bottom line, your wife sounds really smart, and I think this is an emotional decision she might be making. Wanting to be home with the kids is one thing, but it sounds like she can do something just as rewarding and that utilizes her education and skills without whoring herself out to MK.

My 2 cents...
 
I know several girls that sell Mary Kay or Avon and do very well with it. I know it actually consumes some time and your wife should have a wide circle of female friends/co-workers/family/etc. that she can reach to be customers.
 
If she has high thoughts about Mary Kay, she could move some product. Remember in most cases, it's not the product but the salesperson. My company has the worst software invented but the software companies have outstanding sales people.
 
Perhaps you can convince her that the real way to fortune is to buy up inventory from all the thousands of failed Mary Kay "future financially independent" women and sell the **** on E-bay.

Or you can plan on having a **** load of "parties" at your house. Or maybe she is just the mulit-level recruiting sort and will never actually sell ANY product herself, simply sell others on the idea of "investing" in inventory to become "
financially independent."
 
My girlfriend and her mom both sell Mary Kay.
My girlfriend's mom gets a new Cadillac every two years.
My girlfriend has received three free cars already and she's only 22.
Both are college graduates. Girlfriend from UT.
Both very smart and motivated.
Neither are annoying.
It's not a pyramid scheme, at all.
From what you've said about her, your wife sounds like the type of person that would be very good at it.
 
My wife tried this for a time. It really requires a lot of work, most of it in the evenings. You have to buy a lot of product in advance to have something to show and sell. I knew she probably wouldn't make it, but let her have a chance. They make a great shaving cream and we sent the rest of the crap back after awhile and have had a three year supply of shaving cream.
 
A good salesperson can make money selling anything. She might do well.
But be prepared to look at more pancakes than an IHOP cook.
 
if she really wants to sell something, she should try avon. my sister-in-law does it in her spare time and compared to what my mary kay friends say, it is a cakewalk. the main difference is that you don't have to buy inventory. you just turn the order in to avon and they ship it to you....then, you ship/give it to the customer.
 
my aunt, college educated and from a tiny, tiny small town, did amazingly well with MK. She made it up to the top 5-10 of sellers and stayed there for a long time. She is retired, but still flys all over the world to speak at MK conventions.

You could probably say 'results not typical', but it did work for her.
 
runner summed it up, pretty nicely.

Personally, I despise business like this, but whatever creams her twinkie.
 
Your wife will become hated in your neighborhood and in your circle of friends. Her girlfriends will flee. These types of direct marketing schemes are the surest way to become a pariah. Think Amway.

Under no circumstances allow this to happen.
 
tell her if she wants to do it, then to do some sound research. let her compare it to avon, or other possible ventures. if she wants to start her own business, maybe there is an avenue in her field. one thing these companies do is motivate, so if she goes on her own, with her own idea, she must stay motivated and it may be something you can do with her.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. However, I dont think i'll need it b/c she came to her scences on her own. Thank God
 
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