***Mary Kay: Is This Home Business For You?

By Cathy Yeatts, the Official Guide To Network Marketing and MLM’s

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The Mary Kay business opportunity represents a significant portion of the $100 billion dollar per year direct sales industry. In 2006, sales of Mary Kay products exceeded $2.25 billion in wholesale sales, according to the company web site. Thousands of women will enroll as Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants each and every year, hoping to find their way to successful entrepreneurship.

I thought it would be helpful to look at the actual upfront costs, as well as ongoing costs, for starting a Mary Kay home business.

To begin, the initial starter kit for all new consultants is $100. This gets you enrolled in the network, with an associate ID, and supplies you with an online storefront. While Mary Kay does not require consultants to purchase a set amount of product, you will need to maintain at least a modest inventory for direct retail sales clients. And since there is no way to know in advance what colors or products will be most popular with your customers, you may need to spend $200-$500/monthly for your inventory. (This will be wholesale cost, which is 50% of retail, after certain minimums are met.)

Home parties are still the most effective way to move retail product. This will naturally require time for planning and a budget for snacks and soft drinks. Some repeat customers will eventually order product from the online storefront, but others will still prefer obtaining it from you personally.

Reasons to become an Independent Consultant:

Popular and high quality cosmetics, with a recognizable brand name to assist with your sales; Company buy-back program (90% of your cost for the inventory) limits the financial risk; Bring in enough reps and you get that famous Mary Kay ‘Grand Achiever Car’. (Pink Cadillac, anyone?)

Reasons to proceed with caution:

A considerable amount of money will be required to maintain a decent product inventory…some reps suggest this will cost as much as $1,000 per month; As with any mlm opportunity, it’s all about huge amounts of retail product customers and building large down lines.

While many women will become successful with this company, it’s certainly not a highly automated or internet-only home business. However, if you are a people person and enjoy planning and pulling off home parties, you owe it to yourself to take a look at Mary Kay.