Pink Chill’s Story …Inside The Heart Of A Director

It’s been a long time since I last talked to my national sales director and so much has happened. I need to explain why I’ve stepped down as a director but I didn’t want to do it by phone. I don’t want to hear the disappointment and condemnation in her voice when I feel and know I’m doing the right thing for me.

It’s always been about the money with me. Yes there have been months when I’ve enjoyed a $3,500 commission cheque. There have been $1,700 weeks in retail sales. And there’ve also been the $150 monthly commission cheques and the $100 weeks in sales. Does it all balance out? No. Because for every big month, there have been too many little months, so I’ve been constantly trying to play catch up on bills.

Some in MK will think/say “Oh, that’s just little thinking, that’s scarcity thinking.” The reality is, I’m tired of bill collectors phoning me and I’m tired of not being able to budget. I'm really tired of waking at 4 a.m. stressed about the lack of money and thinking I'm not working my business hard enough, when I know I've done so much better than so many other directors.

I’ve listened and tried to practice their money lessons, but to no avail. It doesn’t work when the reality is, too much money going out and too little coming in. Because selling $1000/week retail means quite often giving a discount for volume so I’m only getting $800-$850 back. And it’s costing me $600 for the product and business tools from the company. That leaves a profit of $200-$250, before I pay for gas, and for lead boxes/trade shows/welcome wagon names or other business expenses.

Then there’s the commission cheques, which theoretically I’m supposed to split 5 ways, but I’ll come back to that.

I have been in MK four years and I must admit I hate recruiting. I suck at recruiting. My average, aside from my last month of DIQ when I was pulling in anybody who breathed, is probably one every four months. That’s just not good enough. And after enough time in the company to equal a university degree, I figure if I haven’t learned that lesson by now, I’m not going to – because I don’t want to.

I dislike the chase of “courting” someone to become a consultant and “wooing” them to become a red jacket and beyond. I dislike selling them on the idea of buying inventory and then having them fail to come to training, knowing they will fall by the wayside and be stuck with inventory, attributing their financial "loss" or "investment" to me. Yes, it’s their choice, but that’s not how everyone sees it. I dislike pulling people to training and I even dislike inviting guests to training, and I dislike even more the no shows.

I can book like there’s no tomorrow
and I can sell the product,
but I cannot pay rent on cancellations.

Looking around the MK world, there are very few women who are single and don’t work another job who can survive or flourish with only MK. Do I base my success on other people’s results? No. But it shows me the odds are exceptionally low. If directors are the top 2% of the sales force, it looks to me like a scant 30% are moderately to very successful. Wikipedia.org says .05% of the sales force are nationals and those are the ones I was told about when I first joined as those who get the big and only pension from MK.

The monthly newsletter from my national shows what I’m talking about. Looking at everyone’s wholesale orders may or may not be a reflection of their sales, as I know several directors who are sitting on a stash of product and don’t have the sales to justify that inventory. They get it to finish DIQ, earn a prize or a car. Yes, they may sell it in the future, but again, most likely not at full retail value. And judging from the weekly phone calls and discussions at director meetings, my sales were above average. Only three or four other directors in our area are hotshot sales women consistently.

Then there’s the list of monthly commission cheques. Only the top three or four directors each month earn what I call a good cheque, of over $3,000. And I call that a good cheque because I know my business operating expenses were $1,400 a month (which includes an averaging out of travel expenses), not including my car payment or insurance or living expenses. But I still think the difference of $1,600 is not spectacular to live on.

Speaking of travel,
it boggles my mind to be pressured to go to four events a year at my own expense,
two of which are long-distance $1,000 MINIMUM, the other two are about $500 each.

There is NO way I’m traveling half-way across the continent at my expense and not adding on a couple more days to explore where I’m going. That’s insane. But not having the money and going anyway is also crazy. I can just hear my national saying “But, how can you not have had money?” See paragraph 2.

I could not have survived the last three years on my own without getting a payout on the sale of my house and without cashing in my RRSPs. Did I live extravagantly? No. Did I live beyond my means? Yes. Obviously, or I wouldn't be $28,000 in debt. How did that happen?

Let me explain that I get my hair cut at beauty schools or for less than $20 at cheap salons, I've rarely had fake nails (how come those are so popular in MK and not on movie stars?), I buy most of my clothes at goodwill stores or Salvation army and don't have expensive addictions.

I believe it happened because I was convinced I needed to live in an $800/month suite, when a $500/month one would do. Did I love it? Yes, but it doesn’t mean it was smart. I was convinced I needed an assistant to “do penny jobs,” when on the flip side we were taught you needed one for an hour for every 10 people in our unit. At the max that would’ve been 5 hours a week. What executive would hire help for 5 hours a week and find someone who would perform quality work and get trained for those hours and little pay? I was convinced to get a housekeeper, again, a luxury that does not make sense for anyone earning less than $50,000 a year and likely only if her husband is also making that much. I was convinced to have my own training centre, because it showed leadership, when in fact, I had no one show up to lead and ended up mentoring my national's team instead.

In November, I took a job that included one month of paid training. I was shocked! And I took home $350 at the end of each week, guaranteed! On the second day lunch was provided! Free! I don’t remember the last time I had a free lunch or free anything in MK that I didn't "earn." Did my new company have a recognition program? Yes. And they even paid $250 to employees for each new employee they referred to the company! After three months there’s a benefit package! I haven’t had a filling in four years and my glasses are also pre-MK.

At the beginning of December I took a better job, with an executive salary, four weeks of paid vacation, personal leave days and a full benefits package that starts immediately. It uses my education and experience. At the end of the day I go home and turn my job off. I have weekends to myself. MK cannot compare.

On a more personal note, I have to tell you I was disappointed at our year-end “retreat” downtown, that we directors had to pay for. And I was disappointed about the directors’ Xmas dinner at a very mediocre restaurant. Spending $20 for another so-so dinner out is not my idea of camaraderie and I doubt it is for a lot of people. I would’ve preferred a potluck at my national sales director’s home, to partake of her hospitality and gratitude to her team for making her successful.

Finally, I have to say I'm tired of hearing about the MK love, when in fact I only felt it from my national when I was really succeeding in sales and recruiting (by that I mean selling the inventory talk to new people). When my sales and my unit sales were down, I haven't felt the love from my national. Hmmm. There it is. Not.

I've been wishing for the past few months that there was a MK survivors group, where we could meet and talk about new product, sales ideas and so forth, without the pressure to recruit, recruit, recruit and buy, buy, buy. (I certainly know of enough former directors who I'll be telling about this site).

Maybe I've found that here.