Posts by R. Todd Eliason
Stella & Dot’s 2020 Social Retail Rollout
Consultants to pay one enrollment fee and access all three Stella & Dot brands. Last October Jessica Herrin, Founder and CEO of Stella & Dot Family of Brands jumped on Facebook to announce their 2020 Social Retail initiative. “Social retail is our innovative go to market strategy where we are bringing together our family of…
Read MoreHello 2020!
Here we are at the beginning of a new decade, a time of renewal, a time to look forward. And what better way to start off the year than to honor 17 women founders from all different backgrounds. Their entrepreneurial spirit and drive for excellence in achievement has created companies whose monthly revenues exceed $50…
Read MoreIt Should Always Be “Day 1”
Our channel needs to resist complacency by continuing the vitality, curiosity and focus of a startup. Jeff Bezos has written a letter to his shareholders each year since the company’s inception. These letters outline Amazon’s long-term mission, culture and values. His 2017 letter, however, stood out more than the others for me. Bezos defined what…
Read MoreCreating an Empowering Path for Women to Succeed
Joni Rogers-Kante has dedicated her life to helping women become part of something greater than themselves. When SeneGence Founder, CEO and Chairwoman Joni Rogers-Kante’s son Alan was a toddler and became a single mother, she set two goals that would come to shape her life. First, she wanted to devote her life’s work to helping…
Read MoreDSA 2019 Sales & Marketing Conference Reveals New Data on American Attitudes Toward Direct Selling and Independent Work
The Direct Selling Association (DSA), hosted a Sales and Marketing Conference #Vision2020 in Lake Tahoe, CA, Dec 11-13. The Conference served as an educational experience for direct selling industry professionals to share new ideas, best practices and growth strategies for in 2020. Keynote speakers featured at the Conference included Lisa Gudding, Executive Vice President at Ipsos, on…
Read MoreWhat a Year It Has Been…
The year 2019 will go down as one of the biggest sea change years in the history of our channel. Our cover story this month will cover the events that impacted our channel the most: pressure from regulatory bodies, continued competition from alternative income opportunities, a hot new ingredient makes its debut, and finally, customer…
Read MoreQ&A with Neora Co-CEO, Deb Heisz
In a statement released on November 1, Neora fired a shot across the bow of the FTC. They filed suit challenging the FTC’s ability to retroactively change the law without proper authority from Congress or through formal FTC rulemaking. I recently caught up with Deborah Heisz, Co-CEO of Neora, to get some added insight into…
Read MoreQ&A with DSA’s Brian Bennett
Securing direct selling’s independent contractor exemption going forward. Last month, the Direct Selling Association applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing Assembly Bill 5, which includes an exemption for direct sellers. Without the exemption, the bill would have created an uncertain framework for more than 2.2 million Californians involved in direct selling. “We want to…
Read MoreReading the AdvoCare FTC Ruling Tea Leaves
As was announced on October 2, AdvoCare and its former chief executive officer agreed to pay $150 million and be banned from the multi-level marketing business to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that the company operated an illegal pyramid scheme that deceived consumers into believing they could earn significant income as “distributors” of its health…
Read MoreQ&A with Brett Blake
Bringing more investment into Direct Selling According to direct selling veteran Brett Blake, direct selling companies need more capital, but even more, they need the help of smart investors and savvy executives from outside the industry to close the gap between current practices and those that will help it scale into the mainstream of public…
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