Perpetuating Mary Kay Ash"s Dream of Enriching Women"s Lives
It was September 13, 1963.
A visionary woman named Mary Kay Ash opened her doors to Mary Kay Cosmetics, unlocking potential that existed within many women but was previously unknown or unnoticed .
Could she have possibly imagined the number of lives she would change? The influence of just one woman had an impact on millions of women around the world.
I am one of them.
I have had the privilege of not only being part of the independent sales force for half of the history of the Company, but also have had the ability to learn and interact from the founder herself! What started in a small storefront in Dallas Texas has grown to a billion dollar Company in 37 global markets! What secrets to developing women did Mary Kay Ash possess? How was she able to build a global sales organization using the principles of the Golden Rule? Why have so many women chosen to build customers for life with Mary Kay and how did they do it? Mary Kay Ash said, "The success of Mary Kay Inc.
is much, much deeper than just dollars and cents and buildings and assets.
The real success of our Company is measured to me in the lives that have been touched and given hope.
" Mary Kay learned at a very young age the power of someone believing in them before they had the ability to believe in themselves "You can do it" These words were said to Mary Kay by her mother when she was just a child.
She had a huge responsibility of taking care of her sick father while her mother worked.
Those very same words became familiar to all of us as she encouraged those of us in the sales force that very same way.
"How can people appear to have everything and yet be discontented? Perhaps they have stopped dreaming.
I believe each of us needs a reason to get up in the morning.
We need something to anticipate...
something that really excites us!" - Mary Kay Ash Goal setting is not something that comes naturally to women.
Mary Kay Cosmetics is set up with goals for each step of the career path.
We learned from Mary Kay herself how to have the ability to be a big thinker and the courage to set big goals.
Setting and achieving goals builds confidence while falling short builds character.
Having a reason for our goals makes them even more powerful.
Another secret to the Company's success with women is Mary Kay's motto- "God first, family second, and career third.
" I have built my business this way and I can tell you not only does it work, but it makes happier mothers, and better wives, too.
The Golden Rule principle was so successful in building Mary Kay Cosmetics that many other organizations and companies modeled that approach.
For example, Business Networking International (BNI) founded by Dr.
Ivan Misner uses the motto- "Givers Gain".
Mary Kay said, "You can't out give God".
Her generosity really came from the heart and continues beyond her life with the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation that supports cancers that affect women and domestic violence.
What I believe was Mary Kay's most outstanding trait was her ability to make you feel as though you were the only one in the room when she spoke to you: (even in a Conference Arena of thousands!) She always said to imagine that everyone wore a sign that said "make me feel important.
" The ability to do this came from an experience that Mary Kay herself had when she was in direct sales many years ago.
She waited in a long line to speak to the President of her Company.
By the time she was shaking his hand he was not listening to what she was saying, instead he was looking over her shoulder to see how many more people were waiting in line.
Mary Kay made a promise to herself that she would never do that.
I can tell you from experience that she never did.
My last personal experience with Mary Kay was a special dinner that I qualified to attend at our Leadership Conference.
Those of us who know Mary Kay can tell you that she never ate at those kinds of functions.
Instead, she went around talking to each one of the guests, listening to what they had to say and of course making them feel important.
When it was my turn to speak to her, I got all sentimental and thanked her for what this business had done for me and for my family.
Mary Kay took her tissue, wiped my tears and after listening to everything that I had to say just said, "Pass it on".
I promised her that I would.
A visionary woman named Mary Kay Ash opened her doors to Mary Kay Cosmetics, unlocking potential that existed within many women but was previously unknown or unnoticed .
Could she have possibly imagined the number of lives she would change? The influence of just one woman had an impact on millions of women around the world.
I am one of them.
I have had the privilege of not only being part of the independent sales force for half of the history of the Company, but also have had the ability to learn and interact from the founder herself! What started in a small storefront in Dallas Texas has grown to a billion dollar Company in 37 global markets! What secrets to developing women did Mary Kay Ash possess? How was she able to build a global sales organization using the principles of the Golden Rule? Why have so many women chosen to build customers for life with Mary Kay and how did they do it? Mary Kay Ash said, "The success of Mary Kay Inc.
is much, much deeper than just dollars and cents and buildings and assets.
The real success of our Company is measured to me in the lives that have been touched and given hope.
" Mary Kay learned at a very young age the power of someone believing in them before they had the ability to believe in themselves "You can do it" These words were said to Mary Kay by her mother when she was just a child.
She had a huge responsibility of taking care of her sick father while her mother worked.
Those very same words became familiar to all of us as she encouraged those of us in the sales force that very same way.
"How can people appear to have everything and yet be discontented? Perhaps they have stopped dreaming.
I believe each of us needs a reason to get up in the morning.
We need something to anticipate...
something that really excites us!" - Mary Kay Ash Goal setting is not something that comes naturally to women.
Mary Kay Cosmetics is set up with goals for each step of the career path.
We learned from Mary Kay herself how to have the ability to be a big thinker and the courage to set big goals.
Setting and achieving goals builds confidence while falling short builds character.
Having a reason for our goals makes them even more powerful.
Another secret to the Company's success with women is Mary Kay's motto- "God first, family second, and career third.
" I have built my business this way and I can tell you not only does it work, but it makes happier mothers, and better wives, too.
The Golden Rule principle was so successful in building Mary Kay Cosmetics that many other organizations and companies modeled that approach.
For example, Business Networking International (BNI) founded by Dr.
Ivan Misner uses the motto- "Givers Gain".
Mary Kay said, "You can't out give God".
Her generosity really came from the heart and continues beyond her life with the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation that supports cancers that affect women and domestic violence.
What I believe was Mary Kay's most outstanding trait was her ability to make you feel as though you were the only one in the room when she spoke to you: (even in a Conference Arena of thousands!) She always said to imagine that everyone wore a sign that said "make me feel important.
" The ability to do this came from an experience that Mary Kay herself had when she was in direct sales many years ago.
She waited in a long line to speak to the President of her Company.
By the time she was shaking his hand he was not listening to what she was saying, instead he was looking over her shoulder to see how many more people were waiting in line.
Mary Kay made a promise to herself that she would never do that.
I can tell you from experience that she never did.
My last personal experience with Mary Kay was a special dinner that I qualified to attend at our Leadership Conference.
Those of us who know Mary Kay can tell you that she never ate at those kinds of functions.
Instead, she went around talking to each one of the guests, listening to what they had to say and of course making them feel important.
When it was my turn to speak to her, I got all sentimental and thanked her for what this business had done for me and for my family.
Mary Kay took her tissue, wiped my tears and after listening to everything that I had to say just said, "Pass it on".
I promised her that I would.
