Pink Truth: Mary Kay Top Director Income

Pink Truth Facts, opinions, and the real story behind Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Mary Kay Top Director Income Mar 20th 2012, 11:00 Many recruits are snared into Mary Kay Cosmetics with the lure of executive earnings. They are told that the sky’s the limit, and the earnings are unlimited, if only you are willing to work hard enough. Sales directors tout their “highest checks” without ever mentioning all the business expenses that must be paid out of [...]

I want to like this post by Pink Truth because it seems to objectively offer a reality check about the potential earnings in Mary Kay. But the way Tracy strips $150K down to $34K makes my head spin. Each "layer" she peels off and discards gives the impression that there is no value to it.  $50K in prizes?  This is worthless because in her opinion these are "overvalued"?  What were these prizes?  Vacations?  Accessories?  Even if this is "inflated" by 2x (actually worth $25K) this is still a lot of money that the $34K does NOT need to pay for. Tracy talks about taxes as though being a part of Mary Kay is what makes you have to pay taxes.  Everyone pays taxes.  No one in a discussion about income (mind you most people don't discuss income anyway, but) don't say, "Yeah, but how much cash do you actually have on hand after taxes".  Income is income. If, at the end of the day, (or year in this case) someone was sitting on $50K with taxes already paid and another $50K (inflated or otherwise) in prizes laying around the house and the free use of a Caddy for the year, I'd say they were in pretty good shape. Are there billionaires in the Hamptons sitting on more disposable income than this? Sure.  Are there power attorneys and entertainers and wall street gurus making more money?  Sure.  But how does this "poor" director's income compare to Tracy's? Surely she is "rolling in it" if she is going to denigrate this woman's earnings so thoroughly.  What about doctors and other small practice owners?  When you take out their school debt and their overhead, are they pulling down $50K in disposable, post-tax cash?  I doubt it. I am not advocating for or against getting a degree, but the Mary Kay director did not need any special schooling to get where she is.  Many "executives" spend years getting to the income level that Pink Truth would make you believe was just handed to them.  This doesn't make Mary Kay better anymore than it doesn't make it worse.  It is just a different way to make money.  For some people this is an incredible opportunity, and I am sure for this "top 25 director" it is exactly what she had hoped for. I wonder what it would take for Pink Truth to say that someone is successful... and how many of them have achieved that.