Founded | 2000
Headquarters | Nixa, MO
Product Category | Personal Care Products
Top Executive | Nancy Bogart, Founder & CEO
Nancy Bogart has always done direct selling her way. Twenty-four years after launching a party plan business with no previous direct selling experience, she’s learned, adapted and achieved more than she dreamed possible—and today, her business is more successful than ever. In an industry that’s evolved dramatically in the last several years, Nancy believes that Jordan Essentials’ success lies in swimming against the current of industry trends and staying true to who the company has always been.
Consistently Consistent
Over the last two decades in direct selling, Jordan Essentials Founder and Chief Executive Officer Nancy Bogart has seen it all—customer trends, industry shifts, economic changes, technology advancements and more. And she’s learned that even when the world feels like it’s changing all around you, staying true to who you are is always the right choice.
“I see a lot of companies just frankly changing who they are and trying to adapt when it’s a long game,” she explains. “I think our industry has completely forgotten that. If you look at our business, it feels familiar because we didn’t change who we are. You would see that while we did innovate and adapt over the last three years, we still stand pretty solid on our basic principles and the structure and the design of our company.”
Nancy launched Jordan Essentials in 2000, after designing a lotion bar inspired by her grandmother’s perfume. Her focus on safe, simple personal care products for the whole family has never wavered. Today, Jordan Essentials offers a range of skin and body products free of parabens, talc, aluminum, gluten and mineral oil, along with solutions for pets, home, kitchen and more.
The party plan business she started with a handful of consultants has adapted over the years, but Nancy remains committed to the model—even as many in the industry are moving away from it. She’s seen what the party plan model can do for her business and thousands of consultants and isn’t interested in the trends.
“Having that ability to stay firm through all this—even as a party plan—it gives our consultants a sense of confidence. We have such a great retention rate. We just don’t lose leaders. There’s something to be said about that.”
Adaptable Always
For Nancy, consistency is key but adaptability honors both her consultants and the business she’s spent decades building from the ground up. And with so many years in the industry, she’s learned that staying flexible and listening to her consultants and customers generates loyalty that lasts.
Adaptability means even more at Jordan Essentials, as employees with adapted abilities make up a quarter of the company’s home office team.
“Our consultants know that whenever they buy something, they’re helping employ people with different abilities,” Nancy explained. “And my daughter’s one of them, which makes it really special. All four of my children work here. When people join our company they think, ‘oh, she’s not going anywhere.’ This is a really strong lasting story that’s going to be here for a long time. That gives us an advantage as well, because when they buy our products, they want to keep buying our products. And the story of how we do that is important as well: how we make the products and how we’re creating jobs in our community where there are so few.”
Post-pandemic, Nancy understands the importance of adapting to her consultants’ new needs, as the expensive time we’re living in affects families everywhere. While she was eager to get back to in-person events, she wanted to make attending field and leadership events accessible to everyone—whether they could afford to travel or not.
“One of the things we added was a really robust virtual option. So, when we’re Zooming into our group for the event, I will get on and everybody at home gets a chance to chat with me. Events equal activity—we all know that. But you cannot pretend like your consultants are not feeling inflation, that they don’t feel what’s happening. Some of them are worried about their jobs. They have kids and stuff happening in their lives.”
Adaptability requires agility, and Jordan Essentials has been agile since the beginning. By manufacturing all its products at the home office headquarters, the company can nimbly make changes, launch new products and test new ideas.
“We’re able to innovate because we manufacture. I probably bring out one to three new products a month, and our field loves it—especially as a consumable bath and body product line that’s enhanced with essential oils, minerals and botanicals. We can create a blend for stress. We can create a new fun facial foaming wash or whatever we want to do for short term or a little pop here, a little pop there.”
Real Relationships
Nancy’s commitment to the party plan model speaks to something deeper—a commitment to connection through relationships. While competitors and peers in the industry are exploring more sales channels than ever before, both the Jordan Essentials product line and business opportunity continue to be shared exclusively through Nancy’s field team.
“I started my business as a stay-at-home mom to help make money. In the past few years, there’s been such a bend towards people wanting to add affiliates or influencers or however they want to define it, to try to broaden or go to Amazon. But I never forget that I was the mom who needed income, and if all my customers are consultants, how will I build a downline? How will I get that residual check? We all know selling just the product alone, you can make some money, but we wouldn’t have that opportunity for those who do choose to build. And man, they’re invaluable. It’s that connection. And I can’t make that same connection corporately with somebody on Amazon.”
Connection is everything to Nancy, from her closest relationships with her husband and children—all of whom have worked for Jordan Essentials at some point—to the lasting relationships she has with friends in the industry.
“We’re still supposed to be having fun doing this,” Nancy laughed. “One of my secret sauces is some of the great people in this industry that I can just pick up the phone and call. We leaned in this last year. We all leaned into party plan because we’re in this together, and we’re not allowed to complain. We only come with solutions.”
The solutions she’s dreamed up with friends and the goals she’s set for her team have resulted in exciting growth at Jordan Essentials. 2023 was the company’s best year yet, and so far, every month of 2024 has exceeded the month-by-month numbers from last year. The numbers alone are exciting, but when they’re coupled with all that Nancy and her team have planned for 2024, it’s shaping up to be an incredible year! Collaborations with industry friends, the company’s 25th anniversary, a debut as an emerging author and new formulations in development are all on the agenda for the coming months. But Nancy is taking things one day at a time.
“People always say, ‘How do you always have a good day at Jordan Essentials?’ I tell them, if you don’t have a good day, don’t come in. I want you to take your time, and I want you to be here because you want to be here. We want to do good things while we’re here. I think it’s because I’m a female founder and mother. We don’t come with unsolvable problems. It may take a minute; it may take a while. This might not be our biggest year, or it might be a bigger year—even better! But it’s encompassed within all the days that we have. We should be having fun. But we do it while also making a difference in people’s lives.”
From the May 2024 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
