Mary Kay was off to a bad start. Article continues after advertisement She was averaging only $7 a party—and those parties were few and far between. It didn’t look like she would last any longer with Stanley Home Products than she had with the Child Psychology Bookshelf. Or with waterless aluminum cookware. Or with any of the other surefire moneymakers. The company expected each party to bring in a $20 order. A $7 party meant that Mary Kay’s share of the take was only a couple of dollars. Before expenses. A $7 party was a disaster. At that rate, each time she tried to sell Stanley, she would have gotten deeper in the hole. Whenever she sent in an order, Mary Kay was supposed to send Stanley another $2 toward the cost of her demonstration case, until the entire $30 was paid off. She had no hope of earning the $35 a week mentioned in that classified ad.…