A Series of Motivational Life Lessons [4]
[4] SYNOPSIS: MARY KAY ASH (1918–2001)
FOREWORD
Mary Kay Ash was an American business-woman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., a multi-level marketing company that sells Cosmetics and Personal care products. Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Texas, USA in 1918, Mary Kay Ash started her company in 1963 aged 45 in (1963–09–13)Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. She initiated the business with a $5,000 investment (loan) from her older son, Ben Rogers, Jr. With her other son, Richard Rogers, Mary Kay opened a small shop in Dallas, Texas and employed nine salespeople.
Driven by Mary Ash’s enthusiasm, business acumen and philosophy, the company made profit in its first year of operation; and sold about $1 million in products by the end of its second year. The company’s successful growth continued unabated in subsequent years. Every year since 1992, Mary Kay Cosmetics has been listed in Fortune magazine as one of the five hundred largest companies. In addition the company was listed in a book entitled The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. It was also listed as one of the best 10 companies for women to work in. Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. now employs over 3.5 million people in over 30 countries worldwide. The business remains very successful, with the annual sales exceeding $3.7 billion in 2015.
Mary Kay Ash started her business because of frustration at her paid employment. She felt unjustly discriminated against on the job; in protest, she quit in 1963 after watching yet another man that she had trained get promoted above her and earn a much higher salary than hers. Having nothing else to do at age 45, Mary Ash Kay decided to start her own business — Mary Kay Cosmetics Incorporated — a family business.
And how did the company that Mary Kay Ash established achieve such a tremendous financial success and stability? Come with us and read here the story of Mary Kay Ash, her acts, words and philosophy that translated to the great achievements of her enterprise. Learn about the savvy strategies she relied on to turn a $5,000 life savings into a multibillion-dollar global company, without sacrificing what was important to her. You will be inspired.
Mary Kay Ash & Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc.
Mary Kay Ash, an American business-woman, was Founder and Chairman of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., a privately owned Cosmetics and Personal-care products company. Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Texas, USA in 1918, Mary Kay Ash was frustrated out of paid employment in 1963, aged 45. She then started the her company, Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc., on September 13, 1963 in (1963–09–13)Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. The business is a multi-level marketing [2,3,4] company that sells cosmetics products. Mary Kay Ash proved to be an inspirational business leader and entrepreneur.
Using incentive programs and other strategies to give her employees the chance to benefit from their achievements, Mary Kay’s marketing skills soon led her company to enormous success. Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. was the sixth largest multi-level marketing company in the world in 2015, with a wholesale volume of US$3.7 billion that year.[4, 12] By then, the number of employees was: Staff — 5,000; Sales-persons — 3.5 million worldwide.
Mary Kay distributors (called beauty consultants) can potentially make income by directly selling to people in their community, and also receive commission on wholesale purchases made by people they recruit into the distribution network. This way, Mary Kay Ash used her training in direct sales to create her own multimillion-dollar company, and provide women with the opportunity for advancement.
Early life of Mary Kay Ash
Mary Kay Ash, was born in 1918 by Edward Alexander and Lula Hastings Wagner; she was the youngest of four children. Her mother, who had studied to be a nurse, worked long hours managing a restaurant. When Mary Kay was three, her father was ill with tuberculosis. As a result, it was Mary Kay’s responsibility to clean, cook, and care for her father while her mother was at work.
She attended Dow Elementary School and Reagan High School in Houston; and graduated from high School in 1934.[10,11,12] She excelled in school, but her family could not afford to send her to university. At 17, Mary Kay got married to Ben Rogers. They had three children, Ben Jr., Marylin Reed and Richard Rogers. While her husband served in World War II, Mary Kay sold books door-to-door to make ends meet. After her husband’s return in 1945, they divorced. She also spent a year studying at the University of Houston to follow her dream of becoming a doctor, but she gave it up and returned to sales work.
Career
Mary Ash started working for Stanley Home Products, a direct sales firm, in Houston, Texas at a time when few married women with families worked outside the home. [11,12] She conducted demonstration “parties” at which she sold company products, mostly to homemakers (house wives) like herself. Energetic and a quick learner, Mary Ash rose at Stanley to unit manager, a post she held from 1938 to 1952.
In 1952, Mary Kay Ash took a sales job at World Gift Company in Dallas, Texas. She began to develop her theory of marketing and sales, which included offering sales incentives (something that spurs someone to action) to the customer as well as the sales force. Ash was intelligent and hardworking, but, unlike men, women were given hardly any opportunities for advancement in the USA at the time. She became frustrated at this job and she quit in protest after watching yet another man that she had trained get promoted above her and earn a much higher salary than hers. She was passed over because she was a woman, which was a common practice in the USA of those days.
Mary Kay Ash left World Gift Company in 1963 and decided to write a book to assist women in business. The book became a business plan for what she considered to be her ideal company. And, in the summer of 1963, Mary Kay Ash and her new husband, George Hellenbeck,[12] planned to start Mary Kay Cosmetics. Initially, the company was to be called Beauty by Mary Kay. Unfortunately, one month before Mary Kay and George started Beauty by Mary Kay, as the company was then called, George died of a heart attack. [10,14]
Mary Starts Her Business Venture
A month after husband George’s death, on September 1963 when Mary Kay Ash was 45 years old, she started Mary Kay Cosmetics with a $5,000 investment from her oldest son, Ben Rogers, Jr.; and with her young son, Richard Rogers replacing Mary’s late husband in the business. The company started its original operation in Dallas, Texas, USA. [12,13]
Mary Ash purchased the formulas for skin lotions from the family of a tanner who created the products while he worked on animal skins (leather). With her son, Richard Rogers, Mary Kay Ash opened a small store in Dallas and employed nine salespeople.
Mary Kay’s Business Method
The basic practice of her business was much like that of the products she sold earlier in her places of employment. Her cosmetics were sold through at-home parties and other events. But Mary endeavored to make her business different by using incentive programs, and not having sales zones for her representatives. Mary Kay believed in the golden rule — treat others as you want to be treated; and she operated by the motto — God first, family second and career third.
Mary wanted everyone in the organization to have the opportunity to benefit from their successes. Sales representatives, who she called Consultants, bought the products from May Kay at wholesale prices and then sold them at retail price to their customers. They could also earn commissions from new consultants that they recruit. [14]
She was determined to offer career opportunities in her company to any woman who had the energy and creativity required to sell Mary Kay cosmetics. [14,15] Before long, she had a force of female sales representatives who were eager to prove themselves. Ash’s second husband had died in 1963, a month before her company was established. Her oldest son helped guide her through the start-up phase of her company. Three years later she married Melville J. Ash, who worked in the wholesale gift business.
Mary Kay rewarded hard workers by giving away vacations, jewelry, and pink Cadillacs to her top performers. By 1994 she had given away seven thousand cars valued at $100 million. Having self-profiting goals such as these to aim at, her salespeople are propelled to make a huge success of the company. Within two years, sales neared $1 million. The company’s growth continued, and new products were developed and added. Every year since 1992 Mary Kay Cosmetics made Fortune magazine’s list of five hundred largest companies. In addition the company was listed in a book entitled The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. It now employs over 3.5 million worldwide. [4,14]
Mary Kay Cosmetics’ manufacturing plants are in Dallas, Texas, USA; in Hangzhou, China for Chinese/Asian market; and in Switzerland, for the European market. Ash served as Mary Kay Cosmetics’ Chairman until 1987, when she was named Chairman Emeritus.
Commercial Success
Mary Kay Ash’s marketing skills and people savvy helped make Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. a very lucrative business. Driven by Ash’s enthusiasm, business acumen and philosophy, the company made profit in its first year of operation; and sold close to $1 million in products by the end of its second year. The company went public in 1968, but it was bought back by Ash and her family in 1985 when the stock price dropped. The business itself remained successful and annual sales exceed $3.7 billion in 2015.
At the base of Mary Kay Cosmetics’ profitability was Mary Kay Ash’s enthusiastic personality. She sincerely value her consultants, and once said “People are a company’s greatest asset.” Her approach to business attracted a lot of interest because people admired her for her strategies and the results they achieved. She loved the color pink which could be found everywhere, from the product packaging to the Cadillacs she gave away, as incentives, to top-earning consultants each year. Her company’s marketing plan was designed to allow women to advance by helping others to succeed. She advocated ‘praising people to success’; and her philosophy ‘God first, family second, career third’ expressed her admonition that the women in her company keep a balanced life.
Mary Kay Ash died on November 22, 2001, in Dallas, Texas. By that time, the company she created had become a worldwide enterprise with representatives in more than 30 countries. She had built, from scratch, a profitable business that created new opportunities for women all over the world to achieve financial success.
Book Authorship [1,2,16,17,18]
Mary wrote several books about her experiences, including:
i. The Success Story of America’s Most Dynamic Businesswoman - Mary Kay, 1981.
ii. Mary Kay on People Management — Mary Kay, 1984.
iii. You Can Have It All — Mary Kay, 1995.
These are best-selling books, each one of which gives a portrayal of this innovative, inspiring business leader and her innovative contributions to business and to women around the world. The books were expanded and republished, posthumously, as:
iv. The Mary Kay Way: Timeless Principles From America’s Greatest Woman Entrepreneur — Mary Kay, 2008.
This book was written to celebrate the 45th year of the company she founded. It includes viewpoints from top Mary Kay Inc. independent sales-people.
Awards & Honours
Mary kay Ash received numerous honors both during her life and posthumously. These include:
i. The Horatio Alger Award — to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity.
ii. Inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1996.
iii. Fortune magazine recognized Mary Kay Inc. with inclusion in “The 100 best companies to work for in America.” in 1910.
iv. The company was named one of the best 10 companies for women to work.
v. Equal Justice Award — from Legal Services of North Texas in 2001.
vi. Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century by Lifetime Television in 1999.[5] Mary Kay was honored as leading female entrepreneur in American history.
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. It was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity. The association gives the annual Horatio Alger Award to exemplars of its ideals.
Philanthropy
· In 1993 she was honored with the dedication of the Mary Kay Ash Center for Cancer Immunotherapy Research at St. Paul Medical Center in Dallas.
· 1996 — She Established The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, to:
i. Raise money for research into combating cancers that mainly affect women.
ii. Combat domestic violence.
Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001): Acts & Timeless Words That Inspire and Motivate
Mary Kay Ash, the Founder and Chairman of Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. was a very successful business woman. She had a strong belief in people and she inspired people, especially women for whom she provided opportunities for establishing their own businesses from Mary Kay Cosmetics as independent sales people. She started her business with 9 sales members in 1963; the company has grown to over 3.5 million sales members in over 30 countries world-wide today. She encouraged people’s success and provided many incentives to motivate people to reach their goals. By her words and acts, Mary Kay Ash inspired many people around the world.
Born in 1918 and died in 2001, Mary Kay Ash made the following inspiring words, among many others, that will inspire and motivate you to achieve your goal:
(I) On Determination, Optimism and Hard-work as they generate Achievement
1. If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.
2. Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve.
3. You can do anything in this world that you want to do, if you want to do it badly enough and you are willing to pay the price. Often during my childhood, I heard those words from my mother, always urging me on to greater heights! They became so firmly implanted in my mind that they became the theme of my childhood and of my life.
4. Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that; so it goes on flying anyway.
(II) Hard-work with determination trumps Talent as requirement for high achievement
5. Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.
6. An average person with average talents and ambition, and average education, can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society, if that person has clear, focused goals.
7. The definition of successful people is simply ordinary people with extraordinary determination. You cannot keep determined people from success. If you place stumbling blocks in their way, they will use them for stepping-stones and climb to new heights. People who succeed have a goal, a dream, and make their plans and follow them.
8. A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.
(III) On Positive thinking and high achievement
9. Forcing myself to think positively did wonders for my spirit. I was able to overcome the discontent inside me, and my old enthusiasm slowly returned.
10. Hope is wishing for something to come true. Faith is belief that it will come true. Believe that for every problem God gives you, He will also provide you with a solution.
11. The most valuable gift that you can give your children is not money; it is the ability to think positively. The money will soon be gone, but the ability to think positively will go on to help your children be a success throughout their lives.
(IV) On what to do when you encounter Obstacles & Failures
12. When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
13. For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
14. Remember — ‘Every silver lining has a cloud’.
(V) You must develop a Purpose and Goal for your life
15. We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don’t know where you’re aiming, you don’t have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared.
16. Give yourself something to work toward — constantly.
17. There are four kinds of people in the world: Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; those who wonder what happened; and those who don’t know anything happened. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be in the first of that list.
(VI) Importance of Honesty & Integrity to success
18. Integrity is the ingredient that will enable you to forge rapidly ahead on the highway that leads to success. It advertises you as being an individual who will always come through. Whatever you say you will do, do it even if you have to move heaven and earth.
19. Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist.
20. Many women have made the mistake of changing their beliefs to accommodate their work. It must be the other way around. No circumstance is so unusual that it demands a double standard or separates us from our faith. No matter how fast the world changes, exemplary values must remain constant.
21. People change and even products change. But over the course of time, it’s the strength of a company’s philosophy that will determine whether or not it endures.
(VII) On leadership
22. We need leaders who add value to the people and the organization they lead; who work for the benefit of others and not just for their own personal gain; who inspire and motivate rather than intimidate and manipulate; who live with people to know their problems and live with God in order to solve them; and who follow a moral compass that points in the right direction regardless of the trends.
(VIII) Money-making as Motive for Achievement Goal
23. Unlike many people who start a new business, money was not my prime motivation — not that I was so well off that it wasn’t a consideration; in fact, I had put my lifetime savings on the line.
(IX) How you treat or relate to others
24. Before you ever receive the wonderful treasures of a happy life, you must first give. Give of yourself. Be of service to others. Only what you give can be multiplied back into your own life. That is the law of the harvest, the law of the ten-fold return. If you give nothing, even if it is multiplied, you receive nothing.
25. We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you.
26. No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person feel important. Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.
27. Being a mother and grandmother, my maternal instinct made me want to do for my associates what every mother wants to do for her children — what’s best for them.
(X) Criticizing Others
28. Criticize the act, not the person.
29. Sandwich every bit of criticism between two thick layers of praise.
(IX) On Complacency
30. Never rest on your laurels. Nothing wilts faster than a laurel sat upon.
31. Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.
Information Sources
1. Ash, Mary Kay (1994) Miracles Happen: Mary Kay Ash The Life and Timeless Principles of the Founder of Mary Kay Inc. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, ISBN 0–06–092601–5; Autobiography
- Ash, Mary Kay (1984) Mary Kay on people management New York, NY, Warner Books,Inc.
3. Barboza, David (2009). “Direct Selling Flourishes in China”. The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/business/global/26marykay.html; Retrieved June 10, 2017.
4. Direct Selling News, May 31, 2016: DSN Global 100: The Top Direct Selling Companies in the World. www.directsellingnews.com/index.php/view/2016_dsn_global_100_list#; Retrieved October 2, 2017.
5. Entrepreneurs.about.com. (2010). Mary Kay Ash — Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century. Retrieved May 2017. www.entrepreneurs.about.com/od/famousentrepreneurs/p/marykayash.com;
6. Harvard Business School. (2017). “Mary Kay Ash”. 20th Century American Leaders Database. www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/mary_kay_ash.htlm; Retrieved June 10, 2017.
7. http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Ash-Mary-Kay.html#ixzz4w57ndvgp. Retrieved October 6, 2017
8. Mary Kay Company Quick Facts. 2017. Mary Kay Company Quick Facts. www.marykay.com/en-us/about-mary-kay/company-and-founder/company-quick-facts; Retrieved October 2, 2017.
9. Mary Kay Ash. 2017. Famouspeople.cm/profiles/mary-kay-ash-251. Retrieved October 6, 2017
10. Mary Kay Ash Biography. 2017. www.biography.com/people/mary-kay-ash. Retrieved October 6, 2017
11. Mary Kay Ash Biography. 2017. www.notablebiographies.com. Retrieved October 6, 2017
12. Mary Kay. (2017). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org./wiki/mary_kay#mw_head; Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- Rozakis, Laurie (1993) Mary Kay: Cosmetics Queen. Rourke Enterprises, Vero Beach, Fla., ISBN 0–86592–040–0, for young adult audience
14. Stanley, Alessandra (1996). “Avon and Mary Kay Create Opportunities for Women”. Moscow: New York Times. p. D1. www.nytimes.com/1996/08/14/business/avon-and-mary-kay-create-opportunities-for-women.html
- Stefoff, Rebecca (1992) Mary Kay Ash: Mary Kay, a Beautiful Business Garrett Educational Corp., Ada, Okla., ISBN 1–56074–012–4, for young adult audience
16. www.marykaybooks.com/marykayway.aspx. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
17. www.marykaybooks.com/miraclehappens.aspx. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
18. www.marykaybooks.com/youcanhaveitall.aspx. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
