As the first semester of my senior year comes and 2018 in general comes to a close, I started to reflect on how my life has changed and what I have experienced this entire year. I lived in Florida for six months, I worked for The Walt Disney Company in the largest amusement park in the world and I even went on my first date. However, this year I also decided to become a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.
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I have known about Mary Kay and its business opportunity since I was in middle school. My older sister, Renee, became one in her late 20s because she didn’t like the bosses she was working for. She went to Penn State to study health policy and administration, got jobs in what she majored in, but grew tired of working for other people. One day, one of her friends invited her to have a makeover done by another woman doing Mary Kay and my sister saw the opportunity and began her career with them. At first, she was only doing it part time, but after she succeeded her income at her other job with her Mary Kay business, she became a Director and left her job.
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I have heard her tell this story many times since I was in middle school, but I never saw myself doing it because I am completely different from my sister. My sister is outgoing, personable and easygoing, while I am shy, quiet and nervous. Ever since I turned 18, which is the age you have to be to start a Mary Kay business, my sister has brought it up to me to consider doing. My own parents are skeptical about it. It’s not that they don’t support my sister and what she is doing, but they would rather her go back to her previous job, believing that she won’t be as successful as others. They are even more skeptical of me doing it because they believe I will quit the business and that I should start with working for someone else first.
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The reasons I started this business are because what I have witnessed in the past 10 years from seeing my sister and what I have experienced this past year. Although my sister is not making the money my parents hoped she would make or want her to make, she is completely happy and content with the life she is living and created with her family and that is what I want in my future. I do not have to become a director and make it my full time career if I don’t want to but I have the choice if I want to. Most people who start a Mary Kay business do it part time and either have other jobs they do or are stay at home moms. I started a Mary Kay business to help myself grow professionally and personally. Professionally, I want to make some extra cash in college and when I graduate so that I do not struggle with not having enough money. Personally, I feel like this opportunity will help me grow more confident in my abilities and I will learn more about who I am and what I want. I want to show people and myself that I can be successful and even if I make mistakes along the way, at least I will learn from them and learn how to achieve my goals. I am excited to see what I can go with this and hope that I will be supported along the way.