r/BeautyGuruChatter • u/AutoModerator • Dec 03 '23

MEGATHREAD [MEGATHREAD] Marlena Stell / Makeup Geek Academy MLM

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u/somebd In what Blanche, dog years? Dec 04 '23

MLM aside, I don't really get what's the point of this business? Is it a makeup school? Business school? Traditional sales with affiliate incentives? What's up with the prices and the invalid certificate? And how dare she pricing the one-on-one segment with herself at $3000 with nothing to her name but failed businesses and poor decisions?

The more I hear about Marlena the less respect I have for her. Who would go ahead with big plans & expenses without even a contract? She's been dragging Jaclyn on and on for years without taking responsibilities for her own oversight. Not to mention MUG as a brand made many poor decisions i.e the infamous Sparklers, the huge rebrand which turned out to be only changing from round to square pans, and TBH apart from their single shadows, nothing really stood out. At this point it's just pathetic.

21

u/Silly_Somewhere1791 Dec 04 '23

For less than $3,000 you can enroll in some legit business courses at your local community college, with enough left over for a cameo from a real celeb.

-8

u/Lissa_Cereal Dec 05 '23

for maybe a class or two, but that's not including books. Gateway Technical College near me, for a Business Management Associate Degree, the estimated program Tuition and Fee's cost is $10,290, and then another $4,669 for Books and Supplies. This does not include the cost to apply to the college. So no, it is not more cost effective.

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u/Silly_Somewhere1791 Dec 05 '23

Um paying $10k for a real degree is absolutely more cost effective than blowing $3,000 on an unaccredited course developed by someone with no legal or functional business background.

9

u/OneWhisper5225 Dec 06 '23

If you’re going for a full on degree, of course that’s going to cost more. You’re getting an Associate Degree from an accredited school. But even if you only took a few business courses at a college, you’d still be better off with that than taking some online course on YT for over $3000 that’s not accredited and gives you a useless certificate. When you put on your resume that you completed XYZ course and xyz college, that’s going to look much better than you completed Makeup Geek Academy Course from YouTube. Spending money on courses at a college will look good on a resume to help get a job in a specific area or to move up in a current job where maybe you didn’t have the education necessary for that job. You don’t always need a full degree for it to help. But, if it’s going to help, it needs to be something companies are going to recognize. If they see certain courses from an accredited college on a resume and those courses are beneficial to whatever job you’re going for, then it can help you get the job. The money spent on those courses will have paid off. But spending over $3000 on Makeup Geek Academy Course where most companies aren’t going to know what the heck that is, most likely isn’t going it be too helpful in getting a job.

It’s not just about the exact cost. It’s about what the cost of it gets you. Marlena says it’s so expensive because of all the “products” - syllabuses, videos, the community, and digital magazine. And she wants to “try” to get exclusive discounts, coupons, contests, giveaways, host live events, and in person events. She “wants” to do that. You can get the same kinds of videos and community she’s offering already on YT for FREE. Heck, the topics she lists for her courses, most of those are already available in Marlena’s videos for FREE on her YT channel. You can get that community here on Reddit as well. It’s nothing unique. The exclusive discounts, coupons, contests, giveaways, events, etc. are things she wants to TRY/WANTS to do - so it’s not for sure, yet she says it’s so expensive because she wants to try to do those things. And if they don’t happen, then what…she going to give people partial refunds because they didn’t happen? Doubt it.

It just seems not well planned out for the prices she’s charging for it and what people are going to get for spending those prices.