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New Trade Agreement Supports Direct Selling and Encourages Its Business Model

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After months of negotiations, a new trade pact has been reached for the North American regional market.

The U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) renews and modernizes the existing trade relationship between the three countries. It is one of the largest multi-lateral trade agreements, worth $25 trillion today, three times the market value when NAFTA was introduced in 1994.

Although some of the primary issues included hotly debated topics related to the automotive and dairy industries, there are other matters of notable interest. Specifically, each of the three governments participating in the negotiations agreed to support the direct selling distribution channel.

The reference appears under the Cross-Border Trade in Services chapter, Article 15.10. Addressing small and medium-sized enterprises, the article acknowledges direct selling services as an “SME-enabling” business model.

With a view to enhancing commercial opportunities in services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and further to Chapter X (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), each Party shall endeavor to support the development of SME trade in services and SME-enabling business models, such as direct selling services, including through measures that facilitate SME access to resources or protect individuals from fraudulent practices.

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Positive mentions of this business model in other trade agreements will contribute to promote direct selling as a mainstream distribution channel and encourage government support globally to this type of business model.

Recently, the U.S. government announced intentions to open negotiations on trade pacts with Japan, the U.K. and the EU. In addition, China is currently negotiating no fewer than ten global trade agreements and the U.K. is negotiating three additional agreements. Opportunities to proliferate this language will help to expand the presence of the direct selling distribution channel around the world.

The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations reported that the global direct sales market value in 2017 was $189.6 billion with growth in the number of distributors for each of the last four years. It is a business opportunity that more people are considering every day, and governments are rising to the challenge to recognize its importance.

Several milestones must be met before Congress discusses the USMCA in January 2019 or later. And a potential shift in political agendas based on a new Democrat majority in the House could pose significant hurdles for the agreement’s ratification. So, until the agreement is approved by each of the three governments, it is imperative to demonstrate our continued support.

Randall PopelkaRANDAL L. POPELKA—serves as vice president of Global Government Affairs at Herbalife Nutrition. Based in Washington D.C. he works on a variety of policy issues for the company with the U.S. and foreign governments. He is also responsible for managing industry relations, helping ensure Herbalife Nutrition continues its industry leadership role in advancing healthy, active lifestyles, balanced nutrition, and financial empowerment.

Q&A with Jessica Honegger

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Feeling Scared? Go Anyway. While comfort may beckon us, choosing courage will always be in route to impact.

In 2015, Inc. magazine recognized Noonday Collection as one of the fastest growing companies in America. But years earlier, Jessica Honegger stood in the pawnshop in Austin, Texas and handed over her grandmother’s jewelry to bootstrap her fledgling Noonday Collective direct selling business, which would eventually grow into the world’s most successful fair-trade accessories brand.

In Imperfect Courage, Jessica challenges us to get off the couch and simply go scared, leaving behind our comfort zones for lives of impact, meeting, and beautifully imperfect courage.

Tell us why you wrote it and define a little bit about what Imperfect Courage means to you.

Honegger authored Imperfect Courage. She is Founder and Co-CEO of Noonday Collection.

I feel like fear holds so many people back, and I wanted people to understand that courage isn’t about not being afraid. That there really isn’t some moment in life where you get to a state of fearlessness and if it is, it’s probably you’re not living up to your potential. I wanted to break down the myths around fear—that if I’m afraid it means I probably shouldn’t go in that direction. I really embrace this idea that you can be afraid and you can still go anyway. That is what courage is to me. Quit making up your own excuses, or quit letting fear be the obstacle but instead, just move towards the direction of purpose.

Explain what you mean by the “bubble wrap” concept you talk about in your book.

I think that as human beings, we are wired to go towards comfort. We’re not wired to charge up the mountain. I think most of us naturally want to wrap our lives in bubble wrap and make our lives more and more comfortable, protecting ourselves from suffering or venturing outside of our comfort zones.

My encouragement is really to rip that bubble wrap off of your life. Find those places that you’re trying to protect yourself from and instead step into the uncomfortable. It can be as easy as befriending the person in the grocery checkout line, or it can mean, pulling your kids out of private school and putting them into public school.

All of these things where we are trying to construct these lives of safety and comfort are preventing us from really living into the fullness of our lives into embracing diversity and inclusivity and in purpose and impact. I think that a life of purpose is going to involve ripping the bubble wrap off your life. It just is.

Being a global company, what have you learned about the global want for opportunity?

I think that we have a bit of an entrepreneur inside us waiting to be tapped into, and that entrepreneurship is being able to create possibility from limited resources. I feel like everywhere I go I see innovation. I see this desire for people to want to create more from what they currently have. It’s something that’s innate to all human beings that we are all created with. It’s in our DNA to want to live in this realm of possibility and create the opportunity for ourselves and for our families.

“I think that a life of purpose is going to involve ripping the bubble wrap off your life.”

Our cover story a few months ago was how even executives have those doubting moments where they ask themselves “Do I have what it takes?” What advice would you have for new companies or employees new to executive leadership?

I think for me, the fears at the beginning were definitely there, especially when all of our personal finances were on the line. There was a lot of fear around—Is this going to work, and are we going to be able to build this into something that is lasting and sustainable?

When you’ve never done something on the scale of starting a business or leading an entire company, a lot of doubt can creep in where you automatically think—Well, I’ve never done this before, so I’m not qualified to do it. Instead, you have to build your own new experience and pioneer that trail.

Again, for me as an entrepreneur, it’s so much about that. The internal energy you get from moving forward is exhilarating. I have always had a bias toward action. And like most entrepreneurs, I’m not going to let fear hold me back from moving forward. The same goes for leadership. Many new executives may feel the same way I did, but it’s important to be always moving forward, and the energy that is created by taking action will help in making better decisions.

What do you hope your peers in the industry will take away from your book?

I’m thinking transparency. Well, you know one of the key stories I tell is when we made changes to our core plan. We underestimated how change would impact the community, while still staying in that place of transparency, trust and culture building. The whole book is developed around our ambassador manifesto, which is the manifesto of our sales force, which the sales force fuels direct sales companies.

“I’m not going to let fear hold me back from moving forward.”

You just cannot underestimate the power of building culture, because culture is your best retention tool. People don’t want to leave a culture that lifts them up and rewards them. When you create a culture of empowerment that isn’t just built around the carrot of compensation, but a transcendent purpose that’s addictive. People want to stay with that.

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That culture is what is worth building. As an executive, we are the ones that are the culture builders. We need to think long and hard about the kind of culture that we want to build.

In your opinion, how does the direct selling industry stay relevant and competitive in the era of Amazon, e-commerce and the gig economy?

It’s being able to embrace the fact that people have several jobs these days, and they might see Noonday Collective as one piece in their income earning portfolio. That just makes me want to be more competitive as a brand. What value am I really adding? To me, it’s an opportunity just to keep creating more value for my customer.

I think the trend is to pay attention to our consumers who want experiences. They want transparency, and they want to use their purchasing power for good. Those are clear trends. You are going to need to pay attention to those trends as you move forward as a brand.

To me, it’s just an opportunity to keep upping our game, and how we’re truly offering value that Amazon doesn’t provide. People are gravitating towards personal shopping experiences and more of a curated experience. Amazon is good at making a quick and easy shopping experience, but it’s not beautiful, it’s not personalized. So, the question we need to be asking ourselves is what are those things that direct sales can elevate and offer and exploit for the benefit of the industry? That’s where we can compete.

You Can Be Strategic About Everything

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Are you as strategic as you could be?

Helping people get more of the results they want by being more strategic in every area of their lives, both personally and professionally, is an everyday occurrence for me. Being more strategic (or, in other words, thinking smarter) is a powerful concept. You can be more strategic about everything you do, and that often leads to incredible results. So over the last few years, white papers, books, recordings, and even courses have come from my shop about the simple concept of being strategic. For example, you can be strategic about who you hire, about how you look at financial numbers, about how you build a culture, and even about how you invest your time.

Let’s explore being strategic with your time now, since it can impact your results as much if not more than anything else. The single biggest idea people miss in being strategic about their time is saying “no” more effectively. In 2016 I authored a book called RESULTS Faster! and ended up devoting an entire chapter in that book to the concept of saying “no,” because that’s one of the most valuable concepts of top leaders. If you’re strategic about your time, you understand that saying “no” to some things is a must. And it doesn’t necessarily have to mean “totally no.” It can often mean you’re saying “no” to something someone is asking so you can say “yes” to and be more focused on your High Leverage Activities (HLAs). Handling “no” the wrong way can cause negative consequences, and yet handling “no” the right way can often lead to extraordinary results.

For example, if a friend calls and asks you to lunch and that’s not an HLA for you, then you might simply ask, “What’s up?” If the friend just wants to talk about your introducing him to a mutual acquaintance, you might suggest that instead of going to lunch to discuss it, you can just connect the two of them by email. You have strategically said “no” to the request (burning two hours for lunch), and yet you’ve said “yes” to what your friend really wanted, and it just took a few seconds to execute. Sometimes when people ask us to do something, we say “yes” without going deeper first; being strategic by thinking it through is a must. As a leader, we can’t say “yes” to everything, of course, nor should we say “no” too often. What we should do is be clear on what matters most, and then we can more easily decide our “yes’s” and “no’s.”

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Clarity matters!

Let’s apply that truth for a minute. Strategic clarity about roles and responsibilities is important, of course. Do you agree? Rather than relying heavily on job descriptions as we’ve done in the past, what might be more strategic or important today is sharing with your people where you want them to invest their time. I believe your team members can be more productive and can focus more effectively by having clarity of what their five or seven High Leverage Activities are, versus just having a description of their role.

A super-effective tool we introduced in the RESULTS Faster! book is what we call an Accelerator Matrix, which helps people focus more on their HLAs. Study the template below for a minute or so.

Accelerator Matrix

Accelerator Matrix

Basically, you list out in the first column five to seven of the most important activities (HLAs) someone should be doing in any given week, whether they’re an executive, an executive assistant, or a mid-level manager (and it even works for the field). In the middle column, list the actions they could take to accelerate each HLA. For example, if one of your own HLAs is nourishing your team, one of the actions in that middle column might be to hold inspiring staff meetings. Another HLA may be to monitor three or four critical success factors that matter the most, and an action for that HLA may be to ensure reports are coming to you in a way you can understand them. Then in the last column list any roadblocks that could keep you from taking those actions. A roadblock for nourishing your team may be your busy schedule that keeps you from taking the time to invest in your people; to bust that roadblock, you need to calendar time with those people.

When you become more strategic about everything you do, including your time, you’re on the road to better and faster results.

Very Important Points:
  1. Be more strategic about everything you do, and that often leads to incredible results.
  2. Be strategic about your time.
    • Be really clear on your High Leverage Activities and invest more time in these areas.
    • Be clear on your Low Leverage Activities and do less of them.
    • Make sure you discover roadblocks that are causing you to not focus on your High Leverage Activities, and bust through those roadblocks.

Tony Jeary—The RESULTS Guy™—is a prolific author and a strategist. His organization, TJI, facilitates powerful meetings, keynote events and coaches high performers to accelerate their results.

Stand With Us— We’re Stronger Together

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When I worked at my first job on the Hill, I had the privilege of working with Neil Offen, the DSA’s president at the time.

He was kind enough to help young staffers envision where our professional lives would lead. He encouraged us to become involved in the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Years later, I was fortunate to work for Neil at DSA. He invited me to become an ASAE member, and today I follow in his footsteps and take advantage of participating in ASAE activities.

At DSA, I was able to learn from Neil and my colleagues about the direct selling channel. However, it was ASAE that provided me with the tools to learn how to become an effective association executive. So I too encourage DSA members to be involved in their industry association.

DSA is the vehicle that encourages the sharing of ideas between executives no matter their current job function or product line they represent. I have seen DSA knock down the silos that so often separate those in the channel.

There are many disruptive forces facing direct selling. Working strategically and collectively with other direct selling executives we can come up with solutions that ensure our success now and in the future in this ever-changing marketplace.

There’s never been a more exciting time to be a part of DSA. DSA and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) have created a third party, self-regulatory program that will launch in January 2019, the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC). For more than five decades, the DSA had a self-regulatory program for its members. This new program, at the urging of the Federal Trade Commission, will apply to DSA members and non-members alike. It articulates clear principles, but primarily was initiated and took action based on consumer complaints. The creation of a new, proactive program represents a step forward to raise the bar for the direct selling industry.

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The new DSSRC will monitor the entire U.S. direct selling industry and will embody the following principles:

  • Clear industry standards on issues such as product and earnings representations;
  • Identification of relevant best practices from other self-regulatory models;
  • Creation of a process that both monitors and enforces strict business principles; and
  • Enacts measures to raise the bar of excellence for DSA members and the entire channel.

The program foundation is built on—

  • Comprehensive active monitoring of the direct selling marketplace, including websites and social media of companies and their salesforce in the areas of income representations and product claims;
  • Independent investigation and reporting of unresolved violations of non-compliant companies to the Federal Trade Commission;
  • Rigorous, competitive challenge process, enabling other companies to identify issues for the DSSRC; and
  • Increased consumer protection that will complement law enforcement with the hallmarks of successful self-regulation.

As a DSA member, your company will have a hand in shaping and supporting the new self-regulatory effort to be a fair and effective resource for the entire industry. DSA members will receive discounted access to a searchable database of the program’s decisions. Membership has its privileges.

I invite members to make a New Year’s resolution to increase involvement in their industry association. And, I invite you to join DSA if you are not already a member. Please have a seat at the table at this crucial time. As they say in Washington, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.

Nancy M. Burke is the Vice President of Membership for the Direct Selling Association (DSA).

Prüvit Up in NYC

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Creating brand experiences gives the field a sense of pride, experience, and validation for the brand they are helping create.

Developing a brand is much more than just a logo or tagline. According to Marty Neumeier, author of The Dictionary of Brand, a brand is “all the interactions people have with a product, service, or organization.”

One of the best ways to increase brand awareness, especially for a direct sales company, is to create brand experiences. That’s exactly what Prüvit did by taking over Times Square with more than 400 independent promoters in early November.

The company’s “BETTER Weekend” celebrated the 100 millionth experience of its KETO//OS product in the marketplace. The Kentucky-based company produces exogenous ketone supplements along with other nutrition products aimed at helping people return their bodies to their native optimized state.

Culture & Community Building Experience

The purpose of the BETTER Weekend wasn’t just to broadcast Prüvit logos, commercials and products on the huge digital screens in Times Square. The entire event, which promoters paid their own way to attend, also built credibility and validation in the company’s focus of “the constant pursuit of better.” It was a culture and community building time for promoters to celebrate the brand they helped create. Of course, being in the heart of the media and branding capital of the world, plenty of buzz was generated about Prüvit and its mission.

“It was a culture and community building time for promoters to celebrate the brand they helped create.”

Promoters were asked to dress up as fairies but were not told why. The reason? Prüvit officially launched its new KETO//OS NAT “Fairy Dust” flavor. Promoters also got to sample an up-coming product—KETO//GO, which is a ready-to-drink ketone supplement in a can. Flavors on hand included “Unicorn Slam” and “The Big Apple.”

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NYC Landmark Scavenger Hunt

Promoters participated in a scavenger hunt involving some of New York City’s most iconic landmarks such as Radio City Music Hall, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty, and many others. The goal was to take pictures of KETO//OS products at these different landmarks. They even used a scavenger hunt app called Scavify. The purpose was to create a fun and unique experience of New York City, that Promoters could push out to their social media feeds as well.

“We believe that what the company is proud of, the promoters are proud of,” says an independent promoter for Prüvit who attended. “It creates a sense of pride, experience, and validation for my wife and I to be in the branding capital of the world and see a brand you helped create.”

“It was brilliant branding,” he says. “The whole purpose was creating an experience that was bigger than any one person who ordinarily would never have that experience. It had less to do with corporate branding than it did community branding.”

The Events Horizon

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Technology is helping more people feel connected to a larger purpose.

Events will always be a driving force for growth and belief building. While the benefits of training motivation and culture are at the core of events, they generate some impressive, tangible growth numbers. Some companies are augmenting live events with some of the latest technology and social media platforms to create a unique and inclusive experience.

Events are Crucial to Enrolling

According to LifeVantage CEO Darren Jensen in his recent article titled, The Social Proof Principle: Does Attending Events Matter?, “Event attendees are 2,241 percent more likely to enroll somebody than their non-event-attending counterparts.” He also states that those who attended at least one major event per year earn an average of 119 percent more.

“Seasoned industry veterans understand the power behind events,” Jensen says. “We keep on coming back because we derive value from them. We continue to invest personal money to attend them because, either we enjoy the experience, or it helps our businesses in some tangible way. Events remind distributors that they are necessary while helping them feel connected to a larger purpose.”

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Technology Changing Event Landscape

ACN will enter its 26th year in business in 2019, and still hosts four major corporate events throughout the year. The largest event is in February, and each one builds to the next. Different locations are selected for each and announced during or right after the current event. The company recently held a live event with some of its top leaders that was also broadcast via YouTube Live for any of its Independent Business Owners to view, creating an atmosphere where everyone felt as if they were in the same room. “All of our leaders truly believe that our events are non-negotiable,” says Katie Mapel, ACN Director of Marketing Communications.

Ambit Energy holds two major corporate events per year for its Independent Consultants. Ambition, historically held Labor Day weekend in Dallas, is the company’s major annual convention. The first event each year, called Simulcast, acts as a one-day yearly kickoff held in January. For 2019, there are two live locations (Texas and Connecticut). It’s a mix of training, motivation, plus a time for announcements and goals for the year. For the first time, an after-party will be held near the live locations to help bolster excitement, culture and networking.

The event is also simulcast (hence the name) online for consultants who cannot attend a live location. Groups of consultants around the country hold watch parties, which Ambit corporate staff members have been known to “crash” with prizes. Attendees, whether live or online, are eligible for special bonus promotions following Simulcast.

Create Trust by Solving Problems

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One of the ways direct sellers can compete in the marketplace is to consistently provide value.

Video may be king on the Internet, but sharing your expertise and adding value via a company blog is still a massively popular and effective brand builder in letting people know about your mission, values, and your expertise and thought leadership. According to Statista, the number of bloggers in the U.S. is expected to hit 31.7 million in 2020. In a survey by HubSpot, 53 percent of marketers said blogging is their top content marketing priority. HubSpot also states that companies with a regularly updated blog have up to 97 percent more inbound links.

“Being the solution to people’s problems or the answer to their questions is what opens them up to eventually becoming a customer…”

Many direct selling companies and independent distributors are blogging to not only grow business but also educate and attract people from outside the industry. Most choose to incorporate a blog component to their website instead of using a separate blog URL. The growing trend is focused on teaching, bringing value to a targeted audience, and solving specific problems. This type of attraction marketing is less about selling and more about building a following.

As a corporate example, Plexus Worldwide’s “Sunny + Share” blog focuses on health tips, healthy recipes using Plexus products, and distributor success stories. Categories include Health Hacks, Trust Your Gut, Goal Getters and a few others.

Essential oil producers Young Living and doTERRA International run a blog teaching people how to use the products and offers recipes and overall healthy living ideas.

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Problem Solvers Create Trust

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of blogging is the ability to write targeted posts optimized for specific topics and keywords that people are already online searching for. Sticking with the health and wellness topic, a targeted blog post example might be “5 Tips to Defeat Late-Night Sugar Cravings” as opposed to focusing the post on an appetite suppressant product.

Being the solution to people’s problems or the answer to their questions is what opens them up to eventually becoming a customer because of the trust that is fostered. According to a study by Demand Gen Report, 47 percent of buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. In his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, Gary Vaynerchuk writes, “A story is at its best when it’s not intrusive, when it brings value to a platform’s consumers, and when it fits in as a natural step along the customer’s path to making a purchase.”

Beauty Direct Sellers Highlighted in Glossy

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Glossy, a beauty blog that explores fashion and beauty through the lens of technology, recently keyed in on a few direct sellers who are taking innovative approaches to peer-to-peer selling.

A recent Glossy article mentioned Beautycounter, New Avon and Avon Products Inc., all three of which have launched new initiatives in the past year to enhance the customer experience.

Beautycounter became a full omnichannel brand last month when it opened a store in the Soho. The company, which was founded in 2013, has over 40,000 specialists selling its cosmetics through its e-commerce site. CEO Gregg Renfrew said social selling was necessary to start the brand five years ago because it was a useful tool to scale the business and to educate the customer around clean beauty. However, the opening of the Soho store was the brand’s attempt to be wherever the customer wants to be.

“Direct and social selling has always been an important part of our strategy, because we know our story is best told person-to-person,” said Renfrew. “[But] we are multichannel in order to meet our customers how and where they like to shop.”

Beautycounter—which is on track to generate $325 million in annual revenue for 2018 according to Business of Fashion—is not the only direct selling company changing up the peer-to-peer beauty selling concept. In the past year:

  • New York City-based New Avon launched a podcast called “Make It Happen,” which brought together top-selling Representatives and industry insiders to share stories and inspirational advice.
  • London-based Avon Products Inc. debuted a skin-shade matching app that delivers diagnostics regardless of ethnicity, skin tone and type using a phone camera and a unique calibration card exclusively available to Avon Representatives.

To read the full Glossy article, click here.

WorldVentures Expands into Zambia, Namibia

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WorldVentures™, the direct seller of travel and leisure club memberships, announced that it has expanded into Zambia and Namibia.

WorldVentures Marketing (Namibia) Pty Ltd. is now open in Namibia, and WorldVentures Marketing Zambia Ltd. is open in Zambia. Entrepreneurial-minded people in both countries can now earn income by selling the company’s flagship product, the DreamTrips™ Membership.

“We’re honored to welcome two new countries in Africa to the WorldVentures family,” said WorldVentures CEO Josh Paine. “One of the greatest assets of this company is to give people a way to realize their potential and a space to celebrate their accomplishments. We’re grateful that the culture, determination and enthusiasm of people in Namibia and Zambia align with the character of our company.”

WorldVentures has offered DreamTrips to Africa for several years, accounting for more than 9,100 rooms booked from 2016 to 2018 alone.

Hemp Legalized. Now What?

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On December 20th, President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, So what does it mean for direct sellers eyeing the revenue potential of the cannabis market?

The bill:

  • Legalizes the production of industrial hemp.
  • Puts the production of industrial hemp, now considered an agricultural product, under the supervision of the Agriculture Department.
  • Removes CBD—the non-psychoactive compound found in hemp—from the purview of the Controlled Substances Act, which covers marijuana.
  • Allows states to regulate hemp production, commerce and research, with approval from the USDA.
  • Allows companies to legally market and distribute CBD products, which have already started to turn up in beverages, health products and pet snacks.

Companies eager to sell CBD products should note, however, that the farm bill also “explicitly” preserved the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate products containing cannabis, or cannabis-derived compounds. Upon the signing of the bill, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., issued a statement that included the following:

FDA to Chime in Soon on CBD

“We’re aware of the growing public interest in cannabis and cannabis-derived products, including cannabidiol (CBD). This increasing public interest in these products makes it even more important with the passage of this law for the FDA to clarify its regulatory authority over these products. In short, we treat products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds as we do any other FDA-regulated products—meaning they’re subject to the same authorities and requirements as FDA-regulated products containing any other substance.”

One major challenge direct selling companies will face in selling CBD products is the language used for promotion. As Gottlieb noted in his statement:

“We continue to be concerned at the number of drug claims being made about products not approved by the FDA that claim to contain CBD or other cannabis-derived compounds. Among other things, the FDA requires a cannabis product (hemp-derived or otherwise) that is marketed with a claim of therapeutic benefit, or with any other disease claim, to be approved by the FDA for its intended use before it may be introduced into interstate commerce.”

So, while the Farm Bill has cleared the way for companies to bring CBD products to markets, it may be a longer road to market than anticipated. There is still much work to be done at the state and federal levels, and direct selling companies with intentions of selling CBD products should ensure their legal departments are well versed in cannabis law and their distributors understand what can and cannot be said about CBD oils.

More Direct Selling Companies Entering CBD Space

ForeverGreen, the Lindon, Utah-based direct selling company stated it has had on-going discussions about using CBD in some of its top-selling products. Given the growing awareness of the potential health benefits of CBD, ForeverGreen, which has incorporated CBD in past products, has decided to expand its presence in the category. The company plans to unveil a larger portfolio in the coming months and anticipates the new products will first be available in its European markets.

“The focus of the company has been to develop products that will distinguish the company,” said Joe Jensen, ForeverGreen’s chief executive officer. “We believe that we can incorporate CBD into some of our existing product lines and are in ongoing discussions to add new products that may benefit from the addition of CBD. Our products already have tremendous advantages, which could have additional health benefits with CBD incorporated. The company is poised to capitalize on this movement globally.”

Touchstone Essentials announced it has expanded its CBD oil line. “Research suggests that cannabinoids, especially cannabidiol (CBD), has a range of benefits from calming temporary inflammation to easing the effects of everyday stress and more,” said Touchstone Essentials founder and CEO Eddie Stone. “I experienced these benefits firsthand after a devastating elbow injury that required emergency surgery. Full-spectrum hemp oil gave me fast relief, eased my discomfort and supported my recovery.”

Peggie Pelosi Joins USANA Board of Directors

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USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE: USNA) announced the appointment of Peggie Pelosi to the company’s board of directors effective December 19, 2018.

Pelosi joins the board as an independent director and brings expertise in corporate social responsibility and sustainability, as well as direct selling. The USANA board now has eight members, five of whom are independent.

“I’m very pleased to welcome Peggie Pelosi to our board,” said Chairman of the Board Myron W. Wentz, Ph.D. “Her significant expertise in corporate social responsibility and sustainability, combined with more than two decades of direct selling experience, make her an excellent addition as an independent director. I look forward to the contributions she will make to the board and USANA.”

Pelosi is a corporate social responsibility/sustainability practitioner. Since 2005, she has been the founding partner and strategic advisor at Orenda Connections, a corporate social responsibility consultancy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is also an instructor in the Certificate Program in Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, and a part-time professor in Sustainable Business Management Post Graduate Studies at Seneca College, Faculty of Business in Toronto. Since 2015, she has also served as the executive director of Innovators Alliance, a network of CEOs focused on sustainable and profitable growth through innovation.

Prior to her career and academic work in corporate social responsibility and sustainability, Pelosi served as a member of USANA’s management team, first as executive director of Sales for Canada and then as vice president of Network Development. While at the company, she began the program that would evolve into the USANA True Health Foundation, and this led to her interest in corporate social responsibility.

“I am honored to accept a seat on the board of directors for a company with such strong corporate values,” said Pelosi. “Having spent five years as an employee of USANA, I am very familiar with the company’s business. Although it has grown significantly since then, the company has maintained its commitment to its vision and continues to be a leader in its industry. I look forward to contributing to USANA’s future success.”

DSHEA: Sen. Orrin Hatch’s Legacy to Direct Selling

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Photo credit: AP Photo

Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah—home to nearly 100 direct selling companies—will retire next month.

The 84-year-old Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, has spearheaded several initiatives during his time in Washington, including leading the Senate’s anti-terrorism bill in response to the Oklahoma City bombing, and, as a senior member of the Select Intelligence Committee, helping to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Even in his last few days in office he continues to see legislation he authored being passed by the Senate: the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act, co-written with Democrats Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Brian Schatz of Hawaii; and the Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking Act, authored with Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah).

However, what may be his greatest legacy to his constituents in Utah is his sponsoring, along with former Democratic Sen. Tom Harken of Iowa, of the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act, or DSHEA, in 1994. That legislation, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1995, defined and regulated the sale of dietary supplements, allowing manufacturers—like Utah-based Nature’s Sunshine, Nu Skin and ForeverGreen—and to make general health claims about their products without going through the Food and Drug Administration to prove safety or efficacy.

In October 2014, on the 20th anniversary of the bill, Hatch was honored by the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), the Utah-based organization that has members in the worldwide food supplement industry. According to the UNPA, the compounded sales growth of the dietary supplements industry in Utah is reported to be nearly 11 percent per year since 1992. Sponsors of that event included 4Life Research, Morinda, doTERRA and Nu Skin.

However, the law has not been without its detractors over the years, particularly members of the medical community who argue that it prevents the FDA from vetting or knowing what new products and ingredients companies are releasing on the market. And this is particularly important in light of the fact that consumers cannot determine whether a dietary supplement, in a powdered or pill form, is spoiled like they can with fruit.

However, last year, at Nature’s Sunshine 45th anniversary celebration, Sen. Hatch made clear his commitment to defending the law to an audience that included Gov. Gary Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes, other recipients of the industry’s campaign contributions.

“DSHEA was one of the most hard-fought bills in the history of this country and we still have enemies back there trying to make headway,” he said. “But we have succeeded largely because of companies like yours. We have succeeded in spreading the word around this world that dietary supplements are essential to human living.”

The question is, as Sen. Hatch prepares for retirement, is there another lawmaker who will champion the direct selling industry as he has for the past few decades? While that is unclear, what is clear is the impact Orrin Hatch has made on his state and the industry.