Don’t Give Up!
In the 1950s Mary Kay Ash was the first woman to sit on the board of directors at the World Gift Company. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing! Although she’d earned a place in the corporate world, her associates refused to take her seriously and accused her of ‘thinking like a woman’. Frustrated, she retired in 1963 to write a book designed to help women in business. Sitting at her kitchen table, she listed all the positives about the companies where she’d worked, as well as the things that could be improved. In doing so she created a marketing plan for her ideal company. Her accountant and her attorney discouraged her but with her husband’s support she created a new cosmetic [makeup] line and recruited and trained an all-female sales force. Her motto was, ‘God first, family second, career third.’ When her husband died unexpectedly, she stayed on track and launched her new company. From a storefront in Dallas USA and a $5000 investment, Mary Kay Cosmetics earned $200,000 the first year, $800,000 in the next and, when it went public in1968, sales were over $10,000,000. Mary Kay wrote three best sellers, her business model is taught at Harvard, Fortune Magazine named her company one of the Ten Best Companies for Women, as well as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. When she died in 2001 she had 800,000 independent beauty consultants in 37 countries with annual sales over $2 billion. Never underestimate someone with vision and determination! When you face adversity don’t give up. ‘There is wonderful joy ahead.’