My Small Business Success Story

Before you roll your eyes and say, "Oh no, another Mary Kay lady" let me share with you a few things. I'm not currently with the company but I enjoyed my Mary Kay small business for over ten years. In this company, promotions come at the end of months of hard work by achieving specific sales and recruiting goals. As a Sales Director and later a Senior Sales Director, I was among the top 2% of the company. That's pretty good for the girl who studied archaeology and ancient history at the University of South Alabama.

My successful small business began like all Mary Kay businesses with the purchase of a starter kit. After my initial $100 investment, I purchased inventory over $600. Within two weeks, I had sold all my inventory and had placed another order. I discovered I was good with makeup application and spent my days giving friends and families facials.

When I decided to become a leader in the company, I had to learn how to recruit. Without a good team, no one makes it to Director. I made it my mission to meet 10 new people every day and I gave 30 facials a month. From those 30 parties or facials, I found five women that I wanted to recruit. After a few months, I had enough new team members to enter DIQ or Director In Qualification. This is just an official period when the company watches you as you begin team production.

My days started on the phone booking appointments, then one on one makeup appointments and some interviews. Before I knew it, I had a new unit in Mary Kay. In under a year, I had an offspring director and became a Senior Sales Director. After a time, I earned enough wholesale to drive the coveted pink car and walk across the stage at Mary Kay Seminar. (These are big achievements in the Mary Kay world.)

The secrets of my success were enthusiasm, determination and constantly replenishing my contact list with new names. The results of all my hard work was an income of about $3,000 per month, a swanky new suit and tons of half priced makeup.

Running my small business taught me a lot of life lessons like how to set goals and how to to reach them. I'll never forget the tough climbs and the victories that Mary Kay gave me.