For over 110 years, the Direct Selling Association (DSA) has been at the forefront of our industry to protect, serve and promote the effectiveness of member companies and the independent business people they represent; and to ensure member companies’ products and the direct selling opportunity is conducted with the highest level of business ethics.
Your membership matters, and your engagement is paramount to the channel’s success. DSA is your Association. We are entering what is emerging as a challenging economic period: many are reporting recruiting, supply chain and shipping costs to be watch items. We are here for you, and DSA is here to help steer the channel through.
DSA’s education and networking opportunities allow the broadest range of channel executives to share the ideas and insights that will help us weather economic change. To this point, DSA’s 2022 Growth & Outlook Report found sales to be the third-highest annual sales achieved by the U.S. direct selling channel.
Furthermore, the Association’s work to create even stronger bonds with regulatory agencies, together with our efforts to protect the independent contractors who are the channel’s lifeblood, continues to make advances in Washington, D.C. and statehouses across the nation.
DSA’s accomplishments have included:
- Convened the FTC Engagement Task Force and filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission on an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding earnings claims.
- The independent contractor working group guided strategy, engagement and comments on the United States Department of Labor rule on the classification of independent contractors.
- Supported passage of anti-pyramid legislation in Kansas, making it the 28th state to have laws that provide clarity and define illegitimate businesses.
- Created numerous opportunities for members to engage with Members of Congress and regulators through Direct Selling Day on Capitol Hill and the DSA Legal & Regulatory Seminar.
- Continued promotion of the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council with Members of Congress provided an opportunity for United States Senator Marsha Blackburn to provide positive comments on the self-regulatory entity during a congressional hearing.
Furthermore, DSA has built relationships with the regulatory stakeholders that support industry-led self-regulation through the award-winning Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC). The DSSRC is an impressive milestone and will return operational and reputational dividends to the channel for years to come.
2023 Active Membership Renewals have launched with a deadline of March 15, 2023 to pledge your company’s dues based on 2022 U.S. net sales and reaffirm your company’s commitment to DSA’s Code of Ethics.
If your company is neither a member nor an applicant, we hope it will be your New Year’s resolution for 2023 to apply! DSA looks forward to continuing to work in shaping the channel’s future and continuing to fight to protect independent contractors. Please get in touch with me at nburke@dsa.org with any questions.
Nancy M. Burke is the Vice President, Membership of the U.S. Direct Selling Association.
From the December 2022 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
