The Lie of Unlimited Earnings

Here’s a promo piece that some Mary Kay recruiters use to lure women in. How wonderful does this sound?

Wanted: Enterprising woman to achieve unlimited earning potential while enriching the lives of others. Work duties include meeting new friends, interacting with prospective clients, as well supporting the community of women. Candidate will have the opportunity to make own hours, and will be compensated for their achievements with prizes and vacations.

Does this job sound appealing? Then you might have just what it takes to be one of the 1,500,000 million women already living the life as a consultant. As an Independent Beauty consultant you’ll have the freedom to make your own work hours and set time a side for your family. No experience required and you can work part-time or full-time from your own home. You will have great benefits of owning your own business.

What they don’t tell you:

We’ve talked a bunch about how the earnings in Mary Kay are fabricated. All you have to do is go through a few of the false earnings claims articles to see what I’m talking about.  Check out the articles on the income of MK sales directors. They are supposed to be making that “unlimited” income, and yet the vast majority of them have pathetically small earnings.


  1. Pinkiu

    You DON’T “Own your own business!” Mary Kay owns it. You are only an authorized reseller of Mary Kay products. Mary Kay tells you what you can and can’t do with your own bought and paid for products.

    If I actually owned my own MK business, I could see on eBay. I could advertise on tv or in newspapers. I could sponsor FB and IG posts. I could see my product at a local market. I could design my own logos. But I don’t actually own my own business as a MK consultant. I can only resell the products in a limited way.

    1. Mountaineer95

      I used to work as a territory sales manager for a giftware manufacturer, my customers were small independent gift shops, florists, boutiques etc. So whenever I saw a gift shop or similar, I’d stop in to prospect them. One I’ll never forget was a little shop in a kind of dumpy location that was just filled with nothing but old MLM products. Tupperware, Avon, MK, cheap jewelry, kitchen stuff, some expired-looking supplements…it looked like a thrift shop, and not a good one. I was surprised that an apparent career-MLM-Er would actually pay rent for a brick and mortar to unsuccessfully try to sell ancient products, but turns out her family owned the building and was trying to sell it so they let her use it until it sold.

      And that is literally the closest to an “actual business” that I’ve ever seen an MLM-er have.

  2. MLM Radar

    I already have unlimited potential earnings. I always did. My current job is paying me a specified amount, but I’m not boxed in to this employer, or this career field, for the rest of my life. I could apply to go back to school to become a heart surgeon (treasure on earth), or I could join a religious order and become a different kind of heart surgeon (treasure in heaven). Either way my earnings would increase.

    I don’t need an MLM recruiter’s exaggerated empty promises to get something I already have.

Leave a Reply
