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LifeVantage Hosts Momentum Academy in Las Vegas

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LifeVantage Corporation welcomed leaders for a three-day Momentum Academy event at Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Themed “Breakthrough,” the event offered product training, educational insights, networking opportunities and practical, actionable strategies to catalyze business growth. Industry experts and top leaders shared their approach to business building through storytelling and encouraged attendees to share their own personal stories as a way to connect and create stronger, more meaningful bonds with their customers and teams.

Key product innovations and scientific advancements were also on display, with highlights including the introduction of two limited-time AXIO flavors, decaffeinated Orange Cream and caffeinated Passion Fruit Guava. There was also an emphasis on the company’s Clean Commitment through improved formulations and eco-friendly packaging.

“The energy and engagement we saw at Momentum Academy reflects the strength of our community and the clarity of our vision moving forward,” said Steve Fife, LifeVantage President and CEO. “We are focused on empowering our consultants to tell their story, share the company’s story and confidently communicate how they create extra income and impact. These skills are foundational to building strong, sustainable businesses.”

Terrence Moorehead, who will succeed Steve Fife in his retirement, effective April 30, was also introduced to attendees at the event. Current Board Director Michael Beindorff will serve as Interim CEO until Moorehead officially joins the company on August 5.

Sunrider Hosts High-Energy Convention in China

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Sunrider combined European-inspired elegance with the rich, cultural heritage of Chengdu, China, the event’s host city, at its latest convention. Themed Working Together for Mutual Success, Building a Limitless Future, the event welcomed hundreds of distributors and members of the Sunny Club for connection and celebration.  

Sunrider founders Drs. Tei-Fu and Oi-Lin Chen, CEO Sunny Beutler, and Chief of Global Manufacturing Eric Chen attended the red-carpet event and offered inspiring keynote addresses, complementing the educational messages from top field leaders. Outstanding leaders were honored in a recognition ceremony for their work and commitment to drive their businesses forward.

As entertainment, the event offered live sand art, exciting musical performances and a large-scale synchronized Tai Chi session that emphasized unity and balance.

Mannatech Reports Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Financial Results

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Mannatech announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025, as well as year-ending results. Net sales in the fourth quarter were $26.6 million, compared to $29 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales declined slightly year-over-year from 80.5% to 75.3%. Fourth quarter operating loss was $0.2 million, compared to an operating income of $0.9 million in Q4 2025. Fourth quarter resulted in a net loss of $11.3 million, or $5.94 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $2.3 million or $1.20 per diluted share in the same period last year. Last year’s higher net income was a result of foreign currency exchange gains.

In 2025, net sales were $108 million, an 8.3% decrease year-over-year. Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations had an overall unfavorable impact on the year’s net sales and reduced revenue by approximately $1.9 million compared to 2024. On a constant dollar basis, net sales declined 6.8% year-over-year. The company’s implementation of a new ordering system was a significant factor in the revenue decline, accounting for approximately 15% of the total decrease in North America, as it negatively impacted sales.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales fell from 77.6% to 74.9% year-over-year, which the company attributed in large part to increased costs related to supply chain challenges, increased product costs and increased freight costs. Operating loss for the year was $0.4 million, compared to an operating income of $1.4 million in 2024. Net loss for 2025 was $15.2 million, or $8 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $2.5 million, or $1.32 per diluted share last year.

“2025 was a challenging year for Mannatech, particularly in North America, where system-related issues affected our sales momentum,” said Landen Fredrick, Mannatech President and CEO. “In the Asia/Pacific region, we also continued to face persistent economic challenges. However, we remain focused on implementing new revenue programs and incentives, operating as a lean organization and carefully managing our expenses moving forward.”

The company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $6.2 million.

From Activity to Impact

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Rethinking engagement strategies.

Representative engagement is often measured by signals that are simple to track and quick to report, which makes them tempting indicators of success. But many organizations are finding that high participation does not always translate into higher productivity, stronger retention or sustainable growth.

The challenge is not getting people to participate. It is creating engagement that consistently leads to meaningful action across very different business models, field roles and customer experiences. To close that gap, companies must move beyond participation metrics and start designing engagement around behavior.

Engagement Challenges Across Models

Engagement does not look the same across all models. In party-based organizations, engagement depends on event scheduling, host coordination, follow-up and reward fulfillment. In dropship- or ecommerce-driven models, engagement may center on customer acquisition, repeat purchase behavior and content-driven outreach. Hybrid models must support multiple paths to success at the same time, often blending social selling, personal storefronts and traditional relationship-based selling.

While the workflows differ, the underlying challenge is consistent: activity does not always translate into progress. Across models, leaders face the same fundamental question: Which behaviors actually lead to sustainable success, and are our systems and programs reinforcing those behaviors?

Engagement Shaped by Design vs. Motivation

When engagement drops, the instinct is often to launch new campaigns, refresh incentives or increase communication. While these efforts may temporarily boost participation, they rarely solve the underlying problem.

In most cases, disengagement is not caused by a lack of motivation. It is caused by friction, confusion or inconsistent reinforcement. Representatives struggle when priorities are unclear, workflows are fragmented, progress is difficult to track and effort does not reliably produce results. In these environments, even highly motivated people can lose momentum.

That is why engagement must be treated as a design challenge, not simply a communication or compensation challenge. Systems, processes and feedback loops shape behavior far more consistently than short-term motivational pushes.

Behavior Is the Missing Link

Most direct selling companies today have invested significantly in technology designed to support the field. The question is whether technology is helping people take the right actions at the right time.

Although engagement looks different across business models, the behaviors that matter most share the same things in common: they require clarity and repetition.

Organizations that understand which behaviors correlate with long-term success are better positioned to guide the field intentionally instead of relying on broad participation programs. This does not require tracking every possible action. In fact, clarity often improves when companies focus on a smaller set of meaningful indicators rather than an overwhelming volume of activity data.

When leaders can see where momentum is building and where it is stalling, they can intervene earlier, coach more effectively and reinforce the right habits.

Engagement Must Live Inside Systems

Even when leaders understand which behaviors matter, engagement will struggle if systems do not support those behaviors naturally. If representatives must jump between platforms, interpret complex reports or manually track progress, consistency becomes difficult to maintain. Friction compounds, especially in high-volume or high-touch environments, and newer or part-time representatives are often the first to disengage before they ever build momentum.

Engagement improves when:

  • Priorities are visible within daily workflows
  • Progress is easy to track
  • Next steps are clear without additional effort

When support is embedded into everyday activity, engagement becomes habitual rather than dependent on periodic campaigns.

1st footage/shutterstock.com

Reinforcing Engagement through Communication and Recognition

Engagement is ultimately reinforced through how organizations communicate and recognize performance. Broad messaging builds awareness, but relevance drives action. Guidance should reflect where the representative is in their journey and align with the challenges they are facing in that moment.

That same principle applies to coaching. Coaching is most effective when it connects directly to observable behavior, not just end results. Recognition then reinforces those behaviors at scale. When recognition highlights actions that align with long-term success, it strengthens the habits that sustain growth and signals clearly what the organization truly values.

When Engagement Becomes a Strategic Advantage

When engagement is designed around behavior, supported by workflows and reinforced through communication and recognition, it becomes a competitive advantage.

Leaders gain:

  • Earlier insight into performance trends
  • Stronger alignment between strategy and execution
  • Greater confidence that investments in tools and programs are producing results

Representatives gain:

  • Clear expectations
  • Reduced friction
  • Greater confidence that effort leads to progress

At that point, engagement no longer depends on constant initiatives to stimulate activity. It becomes part of how the business operates.

What This Means for You

Moving from activity to impact does not require abandoning participation metrics. It requires putting them in proper context.

Engagement strategies are strongest when they are built around three core principles:

1 / Understand which behaviors truly drive success across your business model(s).
Party-based, hybrid, dropship and social selling models each have unique workflows, but all rely on repeatable behaviors that sustain momentum.

2 / Design systems and processes that make those behaviors easy to repeat.
Engagement should be supported by workflows, not dependent on extra effort.

3 / Align communication and recognition with long-term performance, not short-term spikes.
What gets reinforced becomes what gets repeated.

When these elements work together, engagement stops being a measurement challenge and becomes a growth strategy.

Participation will always matter. But participation alone does not build sustainable businesses. By shifting focus from activity to behavior and from visibility to impact, organizations can create field experiences that support long-term growth across every selling model they operate. 

CASSIE LEWIS brings more than a decade of experience to her role as Director of Client Experience & Partnerships at ByDesign, the leading provider of software for the direct selling industry. Cassie works directly with clients and assists them in fully leveraging technology to facilitate their business plans for growth, including optimizing their technology platform, accelerating field adoption and empowerment and implementing best practices for an ideal customer experience.

From the March/April 2026 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

An Executive Decision

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Why CEOs are choosing to own the AI agenda.

Listen to this story starting at 10:20 on this episode of The DSN Podcast. Even when your day is packed, we make it easy to stay informed, engaged and one step ahead.

Over the past few years, I’ve spent time in leadership rooms across markets, industries and levels of maturity. Different accents, same whiteboards, same question: why isn’t AI delivering the impact we expected?

Most executives assume the risk sits in the technology. Picking the wrong platform. Backing the wrong vendor. Moving too slowly on agents and automation. In reality, the organizations struggling to see value from AI are rarely blocked by technology at all.

They are blocked by adoption.

That is why AI has moved decisively onto the CEO’s agenda. Not because the tools suddenly got harder to use (quite the opposite), but because the organizational challenges around using them properly can no longer be delegated.

From Experiment to Infrastructure

Across regions, AI has crossed a clear threshold. It is no longer treated as an innovation experiment or functional upgrade. Increasingly, it is viewed as core infrastructure—something that reshapes how decisions are made; work is structured; and value is created.

I see this shift consistently, whether organizations are based in North America, Europe or Asia Pacific and whether they operate inside or outside the direct selling channel.

At the same time, ROI expectations have compressed dramatically. Where boards once tolerated a three-to-five-year horizon, many now expect meaningful returns within 12–24 months. This isn’t a local adjustment. It’s a global reset. And it has exposed an uncomfortable truth: many organizations were not as ready to adopt AI as they believed.

PeopleImages/shutterstock.com

Why Adoption (not Technology) Is the Bottleneck

When adoption fails, it rarely does so loudly. It shows up as pilots that never scale. Teams using generic tools for marginal gains. Licenses piling up. AI notetakers outnumbering participants in meetings. Prompt courses rolled out. AI-generated slides everywhere.

Plenty of movement. Very little meaningful change.

In most organizations, AI is technically “in use” but not embedded. Intent exists, but behaviour does not shift. The result is predictable: uneven uptake, modest gains and disappointing ROI.

This matters because the technology is delivering value. Large cross-industry studies show that more than 80 percent of organizations already report positive AI ROI, with most of the remainder expecting it within the next year. But dig one layer deeper and the picture changes.

The majority of gains come from basic efficiency—time saved, tasks accelerated, output marginally improved. Useful, yes, but more vanity than value. Far fewer organizations are seeing improvements in decision quality, revenue growth or the creation of genuinely new capabilities—the areas where long-term value actually compounds.

AI is working. Just mostly at the shallow end of the pool. The gap isn’t technical. It’s human and organizational.

The Human Constraint

I’ve written before about the human economy, where trust, connection and empathy become the real currencies as change accelerates. This isn’t a leadership ideal. It’s a practical requirement for adoption.

AI cannot be forced onto an organization. People need to understand it, trust it, see where they fit and have clarity on what the company will—and will not—do with it. When leaders skip that groundwork, resistance builds quietly; adoption stalls; and progress plateaus without anyone quite noticing.

That’s why AI adoption breaks down when it’s treated as a software rollout rather than an organizational shift that changes how people work, decide and are rewarded.

The Agent Reality Check

Nowhere is the adoption gap clearer than in the current excitement around AI agents. Despite the hype, only a small minority of enterprise AI use cases run with anything resembling true agent-level independence. The vast majority remain assisted or partially automated with humans still initiating, overseeing and correcting the work.

This isn’t failure. It’s realism. But it does highlight a familiar misalignment. Organizations are racing ahead conceptually while lagging operationally. Without redesigned workflows, governance and incentives, more advanced capabilities simply don’t stick.

Direct Selling’s Excuse Has Expired

Historically, the channel has been underserved by enterprise technology. Legacy systems, fragmented data and uneven investment were real constraints—and for a long time, fair ones.

That excuse no longer holds.

AI has leveled the playing field. Capabilities are cloud-based, commoditized and accessible regardless of size, geography or sector. In that world, “we’ve been behind on technology” doesn’t cut it—not in direct selling, not anywhere.

Some of the most effective AI adoption I’ve seen up close hasn’t come from large enterprises. It’s come from smaller, more agile organizations without decades of technical debt. They deploy, iterate and move fast. They’re not experimenting, they’re executing.

Larger players can catch up. But only if they abandon incrementalism. Because the pace these leaner organizations are moving at is real, and it’s already leaving some behind in the rearview mirror.

Why CEOs Are Stepping In

Across industries, the organizations seeing stronger AI returns share a common trait. They treat adoption as organizational transformation, not a technology rollout.

They invest in capability, not just access. They redesign workflows instead of bolting AI onto old habits. They align incentives so people are rewarded for changing how work gets done, not for protecting the status quo.

These are not functional decisions. They cut across governance, risk, talent and operating models. They surface trade-offs between speed and control, autonomy and compliance, efficiency and reinvention.

Only the CEO has the authority to resolve those coherently.

The Real Risk Ahead

This shift is not a reflection of poor leadership or lack of ambition. Most organizations are genuinely trying to move forward. The problem is that meaningful AI adoption requires creating space for change at a time when teams are already stretched. Without explicit executive ownership, that space rarely appears.

Over the next few years, the gap will widen between organizations that treat AI adoption as a strategic discipline and those that treat it as a collection of tools. The former will compound gains as capabilities spread. The latter will remain stuck in cycles of experimentation, wondering why the returns never quite arrive.

For direct selling leaders, the implication is clear. The question is no longer whether AI will matter, or even which technologies to adopt. It’s whether the organization is genuinely prepared to absorb what AI makes possible—and whether leadership is willing to own the structural change adoption requires.

DAN DEBNAM, Founder & CEO, Inovara, is a highly sought-after speaker and trusted expert in digital transformation, AI strategy and innovation within the direct selling and network marketing industry and beyond. Known for his engaging style, humor, practical approach and ability to turn complex technologies into actionable strategies, Dan regularly inspires and equips audiences across major direct selling events in the UK, Europe and the USA.

From the March/April 2026 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

RIMAN Parent Company Enters Sponsored Research Agreement with Harvard

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ASK Company, the parent company of RIMAN, announced a sponsored research collaboration with Mitragotri Laboratory at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The research partnership is expected to validate effectiveness and advance fundamental understanding of the function and action of Araliadiol, the company’s proprietary ingredient derived from Giant BYoungPool.

RIMAN Founder & Chairman Joonghyun Ahn and Dr. Jiwon Seo at the Harvard Science and Engineering Center with Professor Samir Mitragotri.

A formal agreement ceremony was held at the Harvard Science & Engineering Complex to launch the sponsored research initiative, attended by Samir Mitragotri, the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard and Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Wyss Institute; Mr. Joonghyun Ahn, Founder & Chairman; and Dr. Jiwon Seo, Researcher of RIMAN/ASK Company.

Previous joint studies with Sungkyunkwan University and Konkuk University have clarified the mechanism of action and cell-protective effects of Araliadiol, and a synthetic production process for Araliadiol has begun, giving RIMAN scalability.

RIMAN stated that the Harvard collaboration will leverage organ-on-a-chip technology, a biomimetic platform that replicates human physiological environments on microchips, enabling understanding of biological responses and allowing the research team to evaluate Araliadiol’s skin regeneration and hair growth properties.

“This research collaboration marks a significant milestone in our R&D journey,” said Mr. Joonghyun Ahn, RIMAN/ASK Company Founder & Chairman. “We aim to validate the efficacy of Araliadiol and establish it as a functional ingredient in the beauty market.”

Aegon Announces Sale of Aegon UK to Standard Life

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Aegon, the parent company of World Financial Group, announced plans to sell Aegon UK to Standard Life plc for approximately $2.7 billion, which is constructed of approximately $1 billion in cash and a shareholding of 15.3%, or 181.1 million shares.

Aegon described the transaction as “further supporting Aegon in its ambition to become a leading US life insurance and retirement group.” Aegon’s asset management activities in the UK will remain part of Aegon’s global asset manager, and the relationship agreement with Standard Life entitles Aegon to appoint one non-Executive Director on Standard Life’s board of directors.

“The transaction represents an important step in our ambition to become a leading US life insurance and retirement group,” said Lard Friese, Aegon CEO. “The terms reflect our commitment to creating value for shareholders, and through our shareholding we will benefit from further value creation in the combined business. Standard Life is the right owner for Aegon UK and a good home for our employees: we share the same values and a strong commitment to customers, and together the businesses will create the UK’s largest retirement savings and income provider. Aegon’s asset management business in the UK will remain an important asset management partner to the new combined business.”

The transaction is expected to close at the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Cash received from the transaction is expected to be used for deleveraging and share buy-backs once completed. In the wake of the sale, Aegon stated that its free cash flow run rate is expected to increase at around 5% per annum between 2025 and 2027. Dividend per share is expected to grow in excess of 5% per annum, which remains unchanged from the CMD 2025 guidance.

“With financial wellbeing at the heart of everything it does, Aegon UK’s values and culture are aligned with our own,” said Andy Briggs, Standard Life CEO. “Together, we will not only be stronger, we will be better – helping our customers achieve better outcomes and greater financial security in later life. I look forward to welcoming everyone in Aegon UK to Standard Life in due course and working together to capture the huge potential in front of us.”

Herbalife Reports Preliminary Q1 2026 Financial Results

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Herbalife Ltd. announced its preliminary financial results for the first quarter of 2026. Net sales grew 7.5-8% year-over-year, which exceeded the high end of the company’s previously issued first quarter guidance. This net sales performance was driven by the Asia Pacific market, with Latin America and Mexico also reporting year-over-year net sales growth.

The EMEA region is expected to report a slight year-over-year net sales growth while North America and China are expected to deliver year-over-year net sales declines. In North America, severe weather conditions were significant factors in negatively impacting quarter-end sales, which deferred to the subsequent quarter. Excluding these factors, however, North America net sales would have been slightly improved year-over-year.

Herbalife plans to offer $800 million aggregate principal amount of senior secured notes due 2033 and expects the offering, together with proceeds from the refinancing of its senior secured credit facility, to repay indebtedness, including borrowings outstanding.  This refinancing is expected to extend the maturity profile of its senior secured debt.

“Our preliminary first quarter 2026 results reflect net sales growth above the high end of our prior guidance range,” said John DeSimone, Herbalife Chief Financial Officer. “We remain committed to completing a successful refinancing that extends our maturity profile and aligns with our pricing objectives.”

Official first quarter 2026 financial results are expected to be released May 6, 2026.

PM-International Named to Top 5 of DSN Global 100 Ranking

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PM-International has strengthened its positioning as one of the top players within the direct selling industry. Now named to the Top 5 of the DSN Global 100 list, PM-International has proven to be one of the world’s strongest direct selling companies.

The DSN Global 100 recognizes direct selling companies achieving more than $100 million in revenue and ranks both public and private companies based on retail revenue. This year, PM-International was also honored with the Bravo International Growth Award for the sixth consecutive year, a recognition that celebrates one product-based direct selling company with the highest year-over-year revenue growth on the Global 100. PM-International is the only company in the history of direct sales to reach this milestone.

“Reaching the Top 5 in the DSN Global 100 reflects the strength of our long-term vision and the dedication of our global community,” said Rolf Sorg, PM-International CEO and Founder. “Our team partners made this achievement possible. They are the foundation of our success; this ranking reflects their hard work, commitment and burning desire to make the world a better place, and I am proud of what we have achieved together.”

4Life Clinical Study Shows Positive Impact on Immune Stem Cells

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4Life published a technical white paper entitled Clinical Study on Rapid Modulating Effects of 4Life Transfer Factor Max on Immune Stem Cells. Through two phases, the study analyzed the impact of 4Life Transfer Factor Max by administering the product or a placebo, then conducting a blood draw taken three times every hour. A week later, study participants returned and the same process was conducted using the opposite of what they were given in week one.

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of 4Life Transfer Factor Max against a placebo in healthy adults who had never taken a transfer factor product.

“The results were quite positive,” said Dr. Brent Vaughan, PhD, RD, Senior Vice President of Research & Development. “Within hours, those participants who consumed 4Life Transfer Factor Max experienced a notable increase in cell surface markers, indicating cellular activation and stem cell mobilization into the tissue.”

4Life stated that these results suggest that those who consumed 4Life Transfer Factor Max experienced short-term systematic immune system activity.

Bravenly Welcomes 12,000 New Customers and Brand Partners in March

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Bravenly Global announced a record-breaking month, with more than 12,000 new individuals joining the organization as customers or brand partners in the month of March. The company described this milestone as an illustration of customer demand and momentum within the field that will align with the company’s community-centered business model.

Bravenly emphasized that it has existing infrastructure that is ready to support this growth and systems designed specifically to help new distributors with no experience to build businesses and succeed.

“We just experienced the biggest month in company history,” said Aspen Emry, Bravenly Founder and CEO. “We also welcomed over 12,000 new people to Bravenly in March. That’s over 12,000 families now part of this community — people who said ‘yes’ to feeling better, having more energy, and stepping into something new. To our Brand Partners: the way you show up, your consistency, your belief, your heart, it is always felt. YOU are the reason we all do what we do. And to all the customers, thank you for your trust. We’re all so excited to hear about your results and how Bravenly changes your life for the better.”

Emry pointed to the company’s strong year-over-year growth rates and its focus on long-term sustainability and customer retention as the foundation for what she called “even bigger things coming,” as the company steps into “the next new level of growth, results, reach and leadership as a company.”

“We have shown year after year that we believe in what we are doing, the products we are sharing and the community we have built,” Emry said. “Most people who join have zero experience, and we are able to help them build this in a way that fits their lives. More than anything, Brent and I and our family give all the glory to God for what He is doing in and through this.”

The FTC’s Bias Against Direct Selling Suppresses Job Growth in the US

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The US direct selling industry is a $40‑billion economic engine, empowering over 13 million Americans—75 percent of whom are women—to earn supplemental and full-time income that helps pay for groceries, utilities, childcare and other everyday essentials. Yet despite this industry’s scale, transparency and decades‑long commitment to consumer protection, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continues to treat direct selling as an adversary rather than a partner.

The consequences are no longer theoretical. They are now reshaping the marketplace at the cost of thousands of job opportunities for independent contractors.

Forever Living’s US Exit: A Case Study in Regulatory Overreach

On April 2, 2026, Forever Living announced it would discontinue future U.S. business opportunities, citing “evolving regulatory expectations” that created “unmanageable regulatory exposure” and risk to its global operations.

This is not a company fleeing accountability. It is a company that—like many others—has concluded that the FTC’s unpredictable, ever‑shifting standards make it impossible to operate a lawful direct selling model in the United States without risking existential harm.

The FTC’s Record of Failed Allegations: Neora Exposes the Problem

The FTC’s aggressive posture is not backed by consistent legal success. In fact, the agency recently lost one of the most consequential direct selling related cases in its history.

After seven years of investigation and litigation, a federal court rejected every one of the FTC’s claims against Neora, ruling that the agency failed to provide evidence for its pyramid‑scheme allegations and relied on unsupported assumptions.

This was the first time a direct selling company pushed back and defeated the FTC’s pyramid‑scheme theory at trial, a stunning rebuke of the agency’s approach. The court found:

  • No evidence that Neora operated a pyramid scheme.
  • No evidence that distributors’ claims could be attributed to the company.
  • Stale or irrelevant evidence used by the FTC.
  • No clear test from the FTC for what constitutes “overemphasis on recruiting.”

The ruling underscores what the DSA has warned for years: the FTC applies vague, subjective standards that even compliant companies cannot reliably interpret.

The Herbalife Settlement: A $200 Million Failure

The FTC’s 2016 Herbalife settlement required the company to pay $200 million for consumer redress. But the agency’s own refund program reveals a deeper problem: the FTC struggled to even identify harmed consumers, repeatedly mailing out rounds of checks because the fund could not be fully distributed.

This raises a fundamental question: If the FTC cannot locate the supposed victims of an alleged harm, was the harm ever demonstrated?

Even more troubling, the Herbalife order required the company’s thousands of distributors, small businesses across America, to collect and retain sensitive personal information (PII) from customers to prove they exist—despite the FTC’s own mandate to protect consumer PII. This contradiction exemplifies the agency’s bias and willingness to impose burdens that conflict with its own principles.

A Pattern of Forcing Companies Out of the Market

Forever Living is not the first company to scale back or exit the US due to regulatory hostility—and it will not be the last. The FTC’s pattern is clear:

  • Aggressive investigations based on shifting theories.
  • Settlements that impose operational structures no other retail channel must follow.
  • Orders requiring intrusive data collection.
  • Public statements that conflate legitimate direct selling with illegal schemes.

This environment does not protect consumers. It eliminates choice, destroys micro‑entrepreneurship, and disproportionately harms women, who make up the vast majority of direct sellers.

The Industry Has Reached Out—The FTC Has Not Responded

For years, the DSA has sought constructive engagement with the FTC. At the agency’s own request, the industry created the US Direct Selling Self‑Regulatory Council (DSSRC), an independent body that monitors income claims, product claims and marketing practices across the entire industry.

The DSSRC has issued public decisions, required corrective actions and referred non‑compliant companies to regulators. It is a model of industry‑driven accountability.

Yet the FTC has entirely ignored this good‑faith effort. Instead of collaborating with a functioning self‑regulatory system, the agency has moved the goalposts, applying new interpretations without guidance, rulemaking or stakeholder input.

Direct Selling Is Mainstream and Worth Protecting

Direct selling is not a fringe activity. It is a mainstream, community‑based retail channel that:

  • Expands consumer access to wellness, beauty and household products.
  • Provides flexible income opportunities for millions.
  • Supports entrepreneurship in rural, suburban and underserved communities.
  • Helps families bridge financial gaps during inflationary periods.

The FTC’s current posture threatens all of this.

A Call for Fairness, Clarity and Collaboration

The DSA is not asking for special treatment. We are asking for:

  • Recognition of the industry’s self‑regulatory framework.
  • Evidence‑based enforcement, not assumption‑based enforcement.
  • A collaborative relationship, not an adversarial one.

The FTC’s mission is to protect consumers, not to dismantle an industry that empowers millions of them.

If the agency continues down its current path, more companies will follow Forever Living’s lead and exit the US market. Consumers will lose choices. Entrepreneurs will lose opportunities. And the FTC will have succeeded not in protecting the public, but in undermining one of America’s most accessible pathways to economic participation.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has an opportunity to end this attack on thousands of small businesses across America. He can do this by revisiting and reevaluating the FTCs assessment on existing orders against direct selling companies. He can require the FTC to stop treating this industry like a threat and find opportunities to work together to develop real solutions that protect American jobs.

DAVE GRIMALDI is the CEO of the Direct Selling Association, known for bringing fresh energy and impactful leadership to one of America’s most influential trade organizations. With a distinguished career spanning advocacy, policy-making and strategic leadership, Dave is uniquely equipped to champion the direct selling community at every level. Under Dave’s direction, the DSA is leveraging his deep legislative experience, extensive Capitol Hill relationships and strategic foresight to elevate the direct selling profession’s advocacy initiatives.