Can You Make Good Money Selling Mary Kay Cosmetics?

For example, if you were to sell $100 of products to a woman in need, then you could make $50 instantly. It seems simple enough, as the more time you put in and the products you sell, the more profit you end up making.

In order to qualify for the 50% discount from the retail price, you have to ensure that your account is active. This means that you have made a wholesale order in the last three months with a total of at least $200.

This does mean that you have to place a $200 order every 3 months in order to remain an active seller for the discount. If you were not to do this every 3 months, you would still be able to get the discount, as long as you have signed up as a consultant, and have a wholesale order that totals to at least $200.

For example, some women sign up in order to get the discount; they may sell a few products in order to meet the $200 limit, and then they do this in a few more months for their own personal products.

How Much Does the Mary Kay Kit Cost?

The start-up kit for Mary Kay costs $100 (plus shipping and tax).

For many, this price is low as they realize that other start-up kits for companies can cost much more, while others still think that this price is outrageous.

In the Mary Kay kit, the products you get are full-sized and when you sell these for retail price, you can potentially have $350 in earnings.

In the kit, you have enough products to do 30 facials, as you have foundation that is in every skin shade, cleanser, moisturizer, day creams, night creams, and tons of applicators to ensure you have all the tools necessary to do the makeovers you need to do.

So, Can You Really Make Good Money?

There are some women who make money with Mary Kay, while many never even break even compared to what they spend on these products.

The theory of how Mary Kay works does make it seem as though you can make money, but around 99% of women never really make money with this.

There is a little less than 1% of women who turn this into a very lucrative career in which they may make an executive income. There are also those few chosen who earn a modest income of around $20,000 per year.

The truth is that most women spend their money stocking up on inventory that they will never sell.

Honestly, the products are something that women do buy, but they do not swarm to the product in high numbers, generating any type of extraordinary sales.

The truth of the matter is that when a person is recruited to sell Mary Kay, they are also told to think like someone in retail. But, as a Mary Kay salesman, you are not a retailer as you do not have sales, foot traffic like a store, and you do not have a viable way to market your products.

Due to these circumstances mentioned above, it can be hard to develop a client base.

Even if you are willing to work hard, you are going to find that many other women have had the same mindset and were not able to turn a profit.

The Problem(s)

I have talked to a dozen or so women who have done this, and they often cite that building a client base is impossible, and this is due to many reasons:

1. Women who are not involved with Mary Kay often state that the products are overpriced when compared to the quality of products that you are getting. Most women agree that drugstore brands are just as equal to Mary Kay.
2. Most women know that when you buy with Mary Kay, the person is then going to try to recruit you into throwing makeup parties or becoming a salesperson, and they simply do not want any part of it. They would rather buy makeup from a company that is not going to push them to do other things.
3. Hosting a makeup party is not something that women are interested in as this is not the fun experience that these companies boast. Instead, it is nothing but a product push, and women are simply not interested.

In order to really earn a full-time income with Mary Kay, you would have to sell at least $1,000 worth of products every week.

And this does not happen, despite what the company may claim. There are a select few who can do this, but rarely is it someone who can prove that this was done.

The Money is in…

The real money in Mary Kay is in the recruiting!

The product is really just an excuse for playing the recruiting game. The company draws you in, encourages you to buy thousands of products, then tells you that the real money is in getting others to sign up as salespeople.

And that is true to some extent. If you want to move up to a higher percentage and more money, you have to become a sales director.

And the only way to get there is to recruit more women. It doesn’t matter how much you sell. All that matters is the number of people you have under you selling.

And when you get there, you also get to drive that famous “Pink Cadillac” (and now apparently BMW is added to the fleet as well) that Mary Kay sales directors get to drive around.

The truth is, many women are accumulating significant credit card debt, and there are no indications that they are achieving a genuine full-time income.

If you do reach the point where you make $20,000 a year, understand that you will likely be dedicating 60 hours a week to achieve this, effectively earning less than $10 an hour.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is, if you want to earn an extra hundred bucks per month, you can do it by selling Mary Kay.

However, if you want a substantial income, then you are out of luck when it comes to Mary Kay.

If you desire this type of income, then you have to find a traditional job. Even if you manage to earn $25,000 a year with Mary Kay, you must consider self-employment taxes and the lack of benefits, which diminishes the apparent income level.