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Reliv Sales Down Nearly 14% for 2018

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Reliv International, Inc. (NASDAQ:RELV) recently reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2018.

Reliv reported net sales of $9.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with net sales of $9.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. U.S. net sales decreased by 6.7 percent for the quarter compared with the same quarter in 2017. Net sales outside of the United States decreased by 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the prior-year quarter. Net sales in Asia and Mexico were up 35.5 percent and 35.1 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter; however, sales in Europe decreased by 17.7 percent.

Net sales of $36.1 million for 2018 compared with net sales of $41.8 million in 2017. U.S. net sales decreased to $27.7 million from $32.5 million, a decline of 14.8 percent. Net sales in Reliv’s foreign markets for 2018 decreased 9.4 percent compared with net sales for 2017. The decline in net sales in Europe represented a significant portion of the decrease in foreign sales. Net sales in Europe declined by 13.2 percent in 2018 compared to the prior year. Net sales in Asia increased by 3.8 percent in 2018 compared to the prior year.

“We continue the work from 2018 to grow sales through improved business development support to our distributors coupled with incentive programs that reward those that develop new business,” said Chief Executive Officer Ryan A. Montgomery.

Stephen van der Ven Named WorldVentures VP of Sales for EMEA

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WorldVentures recently announced the appointment of Stephen van der Ven as vice president of Sales for EMEA markets.

In his new role, van der Ven will optimize growth and implement customer-centric objectives to improve sales performance across the EMEA region.

“Stephen’s a talented and sought-after business executive with a proven track record of amplifing the performance of billion-dollar companies in international markets,” said WorldVentures President and Chief Strategy Officer Eddie Head. “He has an impressive tenure of fueling transformative growth and leading multinational consumer-focused teams with excellence.”

A 23-year executive business leader, van der Ven began his career at Procter & Gamble Benelux and has held leadership and sales positions at multi-billion-dollar companies, including PepsiCo International Netherlands, and Anheuser-Bush InBev. He has strategic leadership experience in direct sales and marketing, consumer goods and the beverage and snacks industry.

“WorldVentures has a talented and dedicated international sales team and is on target to increase its footprint in EMEA markets,” van der Ven said. “I’m honored to be a part of this company’s long-term growth, performance and customer focus.”

Young Company Interview Series – Red Aspen

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If you look at the companies and industries that have been disrupted the most over the past five years, it has been from young companies who have forced bigger brands to not only take a look at their operations but start thinking more like beginners instead of experts.

The same goes for the direct selling industry. New companies with new ideas, deserve our attention. Red Aspen is our latest  Young Company Focus interview published exclusively on DirectSellingNews.com.

I recently caught up with Red Aspen CEO Jesse McKinney to share with us their story.

 

RED ASPEN
Founded: October 2017
Headquarters: Meridian, Idaho
Top Executive: Jesse McKinney, CEO
Products: Beauty                                                                              Website: RedAspenLove.com

 

 

Are you a party plan or a network marketing-based model?

We’re a party plan, but we’ve taken the model 100% online to social media. Our Brand Ambassadors share “pop ups” through different social channels.

How many employees?

We have 12 employees at our office based in Meridian, Idaho.

Tell us how the idea came about to start the company and how it got started

When my partners Amanda Moore, Genie Reese, and I started Red Aspen we weren’t sure what product we wanted to sell or the sales model we wanted to use, but we knew one thing—our mission. We knew we wanted to start a company that would “inspire women to stand up, stand out and stand together by uniting passion with purpose,” and everything just sort of fell into place from there.

What did you do before Red Aspen? How did that experience prepare you for your role as CEO?

I have a background in direct sales various in field facing roles, but the CEO hat is definitely a new one. I’ve had to dust the cobwebs off my accounting 101 text books from college, think strategically about how to do more with less and really set my sights on the future of Red Aspen.

“When Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America last fall wearing Red Aspen’s “Reese” lashes we were elated. We quickly realized that in the “influencer game” it’s not just about having the influencer promote you, it’s what you do with that promotion that counts.” – Jesse McKinney, Red Aspen CEO

Tell us about your company values. Never heard any company who has “playful” for a company value. Explain for us why you chose these four.

Curious, courageous, playful, and fulfilled. These four values were picked intentionally and all have a special meaning to us:

Curious: Be flexible in your assumptions. Be smart. Be inquisitive. Be nimble. Never forget to share the rewards of learning and success with others.

Courageous: We experiment with new ideas, try and try again, learn from failure, celebrate success, and seek to become the best versions of ourselves.

Playful: We believe in showcasing enthusiasm in our work by creating cheerful communication, building imaginative products, and causing just a little bit of mischief.

Fulfilled: Seek an authentic life and fill it with what matters most. Create more time to dream, to live, to grow. Design the life you’ve always dreamed of!

What were your struggles, first wins, and the time you knew you were building something special?

I think we knew from the moment we got going that we were building something special. When you’re working on a project you’re truly passionate about with people you love it feels like magic. We didn’t have a lot of capital when we set out to build Red Aspen, and the little money we had was greatly depleted by the time we actually launched.

On launch day I felt pretty overwhelmed with the idea of “what if.” What if no one joins? What if we can’t pay our bills? What if our product isn’t viable? Then launch day happened, and with it, our first big win. People joined! Just six weeks later we broke even, another big win.

What did you learn from your mistakes in the beginning? If you could do anything over again, what would it be?

We were really hesitant to hire in the beginning. We knew it was a big responsibility taking on someone’s livelihood, and Red Aspen was so new! If I had to do it again I think we would have hired people to help us sooner.

Tell us a little about your product line. What sets your products apart from others?

We launched with six false strip lashes, a lash applicator, and a lash adhesive. Eight SKUs in total. Our lashes are reusable, cruelty-free, reasonably priced, and not readily available at many beauty retailers. Oh, and they are beautiful!

We now have over 70 SKUs and we’ve ventured beyond lashes into the beauty world. We’re always on the hunt for non-traditional beauty items, and last October we launched another hot item with our Nail Dashes, which has gone over extremely well with our customers and Brand Ambassadors.

Share with us a little about the concept behind your Lash Loyalty subscription box?  

Our Lash Loyalty Box was created to target those that love subscriptions. Lashes are consumable, and we knew we could learn from other companies like Dollar Shave Club that have had so much success in the subscription space. Customers that subscribe to our Loyalty Box automatically get 10% off their monthly subscription, and orders over $20 receive free shipping. There are no hidden fees or contracts so you can cancel anytime.

We’re currently playing around with the Loyalty Box concept and trying to determine where it can go from here. Brand Ambassadors appreciate the Loyalty Box because it generates recurring volume, and customers appreciate the ease of setting their order on auto-pilot.

What is the makeup of your Brand Ambassadors as far as those who have direct selling experience versus newbies who are in for the first time?

I’ll be honest, our Brand Ambassadors rock! They inspire me every day to live our mission, and are the best #girlgang any CEO could ask for. We have reps with and without experience in the direct sales industry, influencers, leaders from corporate America, hobbyists and many more. We have at least one Brand Ambassador in every state, and Directors scattered all over the country. One thing is for sure, we feel extremely grateful that they chose Red Aspen and that they are growing with us.

“Not being tied to a catalog cycle has allowed us to drop new products and discontinue them as needed, which has really helped us manage our inventory.”

You did some great influencer marketing at last year’s Miss America. Tell us the effect it has had on your business and what you learned from it?

When Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America last fall wearing Red Aspen’s “Reese” lashes we were elated. We quickly realized that in the “influencer game” it’s not just about having the influencer promote you, it’s what you do with that promotion that counts.

In this case, it’s not just enough to have Miss America wear our lashes, it’s what we do with that information. The next day we released a blog post letting everyone know that Miss America wore Reese while being crowned, and with it, a promotion. For the next 24 hours anyone that spent $50+ received a free pair of Reese lashes. That day marked the biggest sales day we had had since we launched.

Do you handle everything in house or do you have trusted partners helping you do any part of your business?

We handle almost everything internally with the exception of our IT system. We are really fortunate to have amazing third party partners that help us with everything from photography to accounting. We don’t know what we’d do without them!

What is your philosophy on training and tools?

If there’s one thing that I think we do really well it’s providing quality training and relevant marketing tools via our Treehouse website. The Treehouse is an open website where Brand Ambassadors can access information, training, tools, photography, business insights, and promotional material. We chose not to put this website behind a firewall because we want people to know it’s there and have the opportunity to look around before they make a decision to join.

What do you attribute your growth to? Any one thing? Many things?

I think in business you have to have a core strategy that drives you forward, but it doesn’t hurt to have a little bit of luck as well! When we launched with lashes we knew we had an amazing product on our hands, but it was lucky that just a few weeks later Pinterest named false lashes as the beauty trend for the upcoming year.

What do you do different than anyone else in the direct selling/party plan space?

We’ve taken a hard stance on paper products. We don’t print catalogues, brochures or any other marketing materials because we believe you only need three things to run your Red Aspen business: 1) Your brain, 2) a business kit and 3) your smartphone. Not being tied to a catalog cycle has allowed us to drop new products and discontinue them as needed, which has really helped us manage our inventory.

How does the direct sales model stay a relevant business opportunity now and in the years to come?

We’re living in the gig economy. People want flexibility and freedom to work when and how they choose, and I think Direct Sales is a natural fit for those looking for something other than a traditional 9-5 job.

What are your goals for the coming year and beyond?

We aim to become one of the leading beauty brands in the direct sales industry known for high quality products, amazing service, and a Brand Ambassador culture of comradery and positivity.

Best Places To Work

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12 finalists made the cut this year. Here’s what they can teach us about winning organizations.

What makes a company a great place to work? It’s about more than benefits packages, flex days and foosball tables, although those are all attractive perks. Great companies have a clear sense of direction and a vision their employees connect to, care about and support, even when nobody’s watching.

It all starts with culture. Successful companies are built on a firm foundation of principles that guide every decision, are communicated through every touchpoint and define every experience both at the corporate level and in the field. Your culture is perhaps your most important point of difference, beyond your products and business opportunity. It’s why people want to work for you as employees or represent you as independent distributors. And it’s why they stay.

Your employee engagement is a direct reflection of your company’s culture, and we know that employee engagement is critical for retention. In fact, companies with highly engaged workforces outperform their peers by 147 percent in earnings per share, according to research conducted by Gallup.

“The organization leadership must invest in people managers and equip them and empower them to take ownership for their team’s engagement.” —Leslie Aument, Human Resources Director, Noonday Collection

Christina Thompson, Marketing Content Specialist for Quantum Workplace, defines employee engagement as “the strength of the mental and emotional connection employees feel toward their places of work. Employee engagement is NOT the same thing as happiness, satisfaction, or well-being.” That’s a key distinction. A satisfied employee will attend your after-work gatherings, show up on time and do her job dependably. However, should a better opportunity come along will she take it? Or will she be so committed to your company that she can’t imagine leaving? That distinction gets to the heart of employee engagement, one of the core components of a great workplace.

Engagement: Not an Elusive Concept

Today we have the data to measure the percentage of employees within our industry who believe they’re able to make a measurable impact at work, who see a path for their future growth and success, and who trust that their employers are not only invested in their success, but also see them as individuals with unique strengths both inside and outside of the office. Knowing our areas of opportunity as a channel gives us a starting point for making meaningful changes that will help us continue to attract and retain talent.

All 12 honorees have one very important quality in common: high rates of employee engagement. Why should you care? After all, the concept of employee engagement may seem nebulous. A company whose leadership is disproportionately focused on meeting numbers may not give it much thought.

The reality, however, is that the presence or absence of employee engagement translates to some hard numbers, including those tied to your bottomline revenues, profitability and retention. Gallup® found that each actively disengaged worker – that is, someone who’s unhappy and unproductive at work, and whose negativity may rub off on coworkers – costs his or her employer $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, or 34 percent. Engaged employees, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2017 report, make it a point to show up to work and do more work.

They care more about the products and services they deliver to customers, and they care about contributing to the company’s performance. They’re more mindful of their surroundings and are therefore more likely to uphold workplace standards of safety. They’re more likely to help their organizations improve customer relationships and, ultimately, generate increased profit.

Articulating your vision and successfully getting your employees on board is incredibly important not just for your productivity and morale inside the building, but out in the field, as well, since your employees are on the front lines every day articulating that message.

For more than a decade, Quantum Workplace has been conducting in-depth surveys with organizations throughout the world, representing nearly every industry sector, in an effort to measure employee engagement. Higher levels of engagement are linked to better employee retention, higher productivity and more profit. Organizations who know where they stand can make an effort to focus more intensively on the drivers and address the detractors of employee engagement.

For the purposes of our 2019 Best Places to Work (BPTW) in Direct Selling survey, Quantum compared our survey results with all other BPTW survey results, then held them up against the top three overall BPTW results. Finally, Quantum compared the results of this year’s direct selling surveys against last year’s. All of those comparisons reveal some interesting findings worth considering.

2018-2019 BPTW Survey: How Our Channel Stacks Up

Here are some top-line takeaways from the direct selling channel survey analysis, courtesy of Dan Harris, Lead Researcher at Quantum Workplace. Harris compared the findings of the 2017-2018 survey with the findings of the 2018-2019 survey:

1. Became more polarized between 2017 and 2018

Moderately Engaged employees, which represents the middle group on the scale of Highly Engaged to Disengaged employees, decreased and was pulled up to Highly Engaged and down to (Barely Engaged and Disengaged). However, between 2018 and 2019, the trend reversed: The proportion of Barely Engaged and Disengaged employees decreased a little, as did Highly Engaged employees; however, the proportion of Moderately Engaged increased.

2. Favorability decreased for items related to the theme of team dynamics

Whereas the direct selling industry decreased the most in favorability around a theme of trust in leadership from 2017 to 2018, this time around (2018 to 2019), the survey found lower favorability toward goals and accountabilities being clear to everyone on a team, having the information needed to do one’s job well, and employees knowing that they could depend on other team members. So, while the results of the 2017 to 2018 survey suggested a “leadership crisis” of sorts in the industry, the crisis has shifted to more team-based interactions or even a “manager crisis” in the making. “I suggest managers because team goals and accountabilities, providing information to team members, and coaching team members to be dependable are all tasks that fall largely on a manager’s shoulders,” Harris says.

“Employee engagement is NOT the same thing as happiness, satisfaction, or well‑being.” — Christina Thompson, Marketing Content Specialist , Quantum Workplace

3. Lower in favorability around goals and accountabilities being clear to everyone on a team

For example, employees knowing they’ll be recognized if they contribute to the organization’s success, and seeing professional growth and career development opportunities for themselves in the organization. Those three items all point to management: communicating goals and accountabilities, recognizing team members for a job well done, and coaching team members about their futures through one-on-one performance conversations.

Quantum’s 2018 Employee Engagement Trends Report aggregated employee survey responses from more than 600,000 employees at more than 8,000 organizations throughout the United States in 2017, including direct selling companies. The report revealed the following:

  • Employee engagement across all industries rose slightly, increasing .50 percent from 2016 to 2017.
  • The number of disengaged employees remained steady at 2.7 percent between 2016 and 2017.

Employee sentiment increased slightly in all but one area: retention, which declined .03 percent and was measured by the statement “It would take a lot to get me to leave this organization.”

2019 BPTW High Engagement Contributors

Among this year’s Best Places to Work in Direct Selling, we can identify beyond culture several common contributors to high employee engagement, including:

  • Personal and Professional Development.

Companies who invest in their employees’ personal and professional development signal an interest in their employees beyond merely what they can do for the bottom line. Several of this years’ Best Places to Work–like NuSkin and Team National, for example–offer in-house training for employees. Total Life Changes (TLC) offers its entire staff free online mental wellness classes in topics ranging from financial wellness and nutrition to anger management, substance abuse and stress management. Youngevity takes a unique approach to personal development through its Be The Change Foundation, a grassroots, action-oriented nonprofit charitable organization with a mission to promote employees’ personal growth through service to the community. LifeVantage has hosted six homebuilding trips to Mexico for employees during the holiday season.

  • Employee Recognition.

Companywide recognition programs can be highly effective if leaders give careful consideration to what truly motivates employees. Jeunesse, for example, has invested significant resources in employee recognition. Last year, the company launched its Family Circle website, where management and employees can highlight and give kudos to other employees around the globe. The company also rewards an all-expenses-paid trip to a global Jeunesse or other event to randomly selected employees who qualify through its Employee of the Month program.

We’ve all heard the saying that “Employees don’t quit jobs; they quit managers.” If that’s true, then the task of engaging employees should fall to the managers rather than be dictated from the executive suite. Managers must make an effort to understand what motivates their team members and know how each of them wants to be recognized. “Each individual in an organization is motivated and engaged by different things, so it can be challenging to have an organizationwide approach to professional growth, recognition, and even communication,” says Leslie Aument, Director of Human Resources for Noonday Collection. “Equipping the people managers in the organization to take ownership for the individuals on their team can go a long way with increasing engagement in these areas. It’s much more scalable for people managers to work with their individual team members on their professional (and personal!) growth, rewarding and recognizing success in ways that match their personal preferences, and ensuring that everyone on their team is clear about WHY the organization is making changes. This means that the organization leadership must invest in people managers and equip them and empower them to take ownership for their team’s engagement.”

  • Trust.

Employee engagement is impossible for leaders who don’t earn the trust of the teams they serve. At MONAT, leadership by walking around has strengthened ties with employees and encouraged
them to share their honest feedback. “Our President, CEO and Senior Vice President visit employees in their offices constantly. They might be busy, but they will find the time to sit and discuss all sort of issues with the employees,” says Human Resources Director Loretta Pardo.

  • Onboarding.

We strive to validate a new distributor’s decision to start a business by paving the way for quick wins and early momentum, so she gets up to speed as soon as possible. Savvy direct selling companies are employing the same philosophy at home with an onboarding process designed to orient new employees to all aspects of the business and forge relationships. Plexus developed a formal new employee orientation program after growing its employee base by 25 percent in 2017. The company just launched a cohort program that begins a few months after the completion
of orientation. Cohort members appoint a captain and create a team name. The idea is to create a sense of community among colleagues, says Human Resources Officer Mary Beth Reisinger, and while the concept is still evolving, her hope is to facilitate volunteer opportunities for cohorts and even encourage some fun competition among groups for service participation.

  • Work Friendships.

A 2015 survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that the top engagement condition for 79 percent of respondents was their relationship with co-workers. Martin Seligman, founder of positive psychology, named healthy relationships among the most important determinants to happiness. Best Places to Work encourage and provide opportunities for employees to form friendships. Xyngular, for example, created several Slack channels where employees can chat and compare notes on a variety of topics, not all of them work-related. “We spend a lot of time finding out what people are interested in, both personally and professionally, and find ways to get them in contact with other employees who have similar interests,” says Cyndel Stirland, Xyngular HR Generalist.

  • Employee Feedback.

“When you’re a fastgrowing, entrepreneurial-minded organization, you sometimes forget to talk about the why,” Reisinger says–and that’s the philosophy behind “Why’s on first,” which encourages Plexus employees to speak up if they don’t understand the “why” behind any change. At Isagenix, employee feedback led to the institution of a year-round casual dress code, extra vacation time, and new parental paid leave policies, and a pet bereavement policy. Employees should also be encouraged to provide feedback to managers. Zurvita’s employee-run website is a place for colleagues to recognize their peers, exchange ideas and present and discuss suggestions. Each month, the company holds an “all-hands” meeting to update staff and listen to employees’ thoughts and ideas; and the following month, the company updates employees on the acceptance and implementation of some of their ideas.

Employee Engagement Profiles

Quantum Workplace classifies employees in four different categories based on their respective levels of engagement:

Highly Engaged: These employees are your company ambassadors. They preach organization love, go the extra mile and plan to stay. The more highly engaged employees you have, the better.

Moderately Engaged: While they’re moderately connected to your workplace, something is holding them back. The good news is that you still have the chance to pull these employees back in by finding out what motivates them.

Barely Engaged: With one foot out the door, these employees are a turnover risk. They’re barely connected to the workplace, with an indifferent attitude and low motivation.

Disengaged: It’s time to cut these employees loose. They’re completely disconnected from the workplace, and the longer they stay, the more their negative attitude rubs off on their colleagues and hinders productivity.

Opportunities for Improvement

LET’S RETURN NOW TO THE KEY AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY for the direct selling industry: managing team dynamics, communicating goals and responsibilities, recognizing team members for
a job well done, and coaching team members about their futures through one-on-one performance conversations. Here are a few suggestions from Quantum Workplace for making improvements in those areas:

  1. Ask employees for their ideas.In one-on-one sessions, ask employees what they like best and least about their jobs, what opportunities they’d be interested in, and what skills they want to grow. Try to accommodate those needs when assigning work.
  2. Conduct skip-level meetings regularly. Meeting with employees several levels above or below you will open your eyes to a wealth of new information.
  3. Ask employees to write their own job descriptions, including the positions they currently hold and the ones they’d like in the future. This helps highlight what each employee enjoys, what she feels
    her strengths are, and illustrates how the manager can be her champion.
  4. Provide multiple mechanisms for internal communication. It’s important to provide multiple waysfor employees to speak up. Duringperiods of upheaval, get inputfrom employees all throughout the change.

Quantum Workplace Methodology

This is the fourth consecutive year that Direct Selling News has partnered with Quantum Workplace to measure, analyze and, ultimately, honor the channel’s best places to work. We opened nominations August 2018, began surveying Oct. 26 and closed the survey Dec 20. Twelve outstanding companies made the cut for our 2019 honorees.

Since 2010, Quantum has surveyed more than 8,000 organizations annually representing numerous industry sectors through the Best Places to Work Program. This year marks the third year that Quantum has surveyed the direct selling industry. The Best Places to Work Program survey utilizes the same 30 questions across six categories for all participants, regardless of industry. No
single question is weighted more heavily than the others, although certain topics may be covered more frequently than others.

Six of the 30 questions on the survey are designed to quantify discretionary effort, intent to stay and advocacy for company. The other 24 questions measure workplace culture, identifying, for example, the kind of conditions under which employees are more likely to advocate for their employers. The questions may be standard, but the results are highly individual. They shed light on what each company can do to retain their valued employees. And, as we examine the direct selling channel, those results suggest some patterns within our  broader industry that merit discussion.

Where East Meets West

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Vasayo combines the best of Asian and American elements to lay the foundation for a global brand.

YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS COMPANY VASAYO, BUT YOU WILL LIKELY RECOGNIZE THE NAME OF ITS FOUNDER: DALLIN LARSEN. With a background in the direct selling industry that spans three decades, Dallin is perhaps best-known for co-founding MonaVie in 2005. By 2008, MonaVie’s annual revenue had skyrocketed to $850 million. Dallin retired from MonaVie in 2014.

After retiring to the scenic mountains of Utah for two years, Dallin and his wife, Karree, decided to retire from retirement. Now, the couple is back for their third and final venture in the health and wellness company they founded: Vasayo. Headquartered in Pleasant Grove, Utah, Vasayo soft-launched in January 2017 and officially opened its doors five months later, in May 2017.

“Karree and I decided retirement wasn’t for us,” says Dallin Larsen, Vasayo’s Founder and CEO. “We missed building relationships with people through network marketing. Will Vasayo become a billion-dollar company? I wouldn’t be surprised. However, that’s not why we started it.”

Dallin emphasizes the importance of the couple’s intentions in founding Vasayo, and it’s not about being the fastest growing or the flashiest. “We’re in this for the long term,” Dallin says. “We have every intention of building a sizable organization, one relationship at a time.”

“Karree and I decided retirement wasn’t for us. We missed being in the people business.” —Dallin Larsen, Founder and CEO, Vasayo

Vasayo Founder Karree Larsen states that building a company slowly and steadily will win the race, in the end. “I’m not interested in a rocketship ride,” Karree says. “I’m interested in longevity and in creating a solid foundation and building a legacy.”

Although Vasayo is less than two years old, the company has already paid out tens of millions in commissions to its Brand Partners with its top producer earning in excess of $2 million in 2018, and recently named Maria Fiorini Ramirez—a woman The Wall Street Journal once rated as the world’s foremost financial forecaster—and James Bramble, a direct selling veteran of more than 20 years, as the first-appointed members to the Vasayo Board of Directors.

“We’re a private company, we don’t release numbers, but I will say our first year at Vasayo was larger than our first year with MonaVie,” Dallin says. “And MonaVie reached annual sales of almost a billion in three and a half years.”

A Global Commitment

In addition to Dallin and Karree, Vasayo’s owners include two other key individuals: Daniel Picou, Vasayo Co-Founder and President, and Dan Zhu, Vasayo Co-Founder and President of Asia-Pacific.

Daniel brings his expertise in global business strategy and development to Vasayo’s executive management team. And Dan spent 20 years in the U.S. direct sales industry, first at Tahitian Noni and then at MonaVie.

“We have a unique story where east meets west,” Dan says. “We are the only company I know of with North American and Chinese ownership combined. It gives us a unique advantage in Asia.”

Thanks to the company’s strong leadership, Vasayo has planted strong roots in the Asia-Pacific region. Although headquartered in Utah, the company also has global offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong, plus a new office in Thailand is in the works. “We started this company with global intentions,” Dan says.

Vasayo’s commitment to the Asia- Pacific region was evident from the beginning. “We soft-launched in the U.S. in January 2017 and, that same month, Dallin and I made a trip to Hong Kong,” Dan says. “You can see our commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.”

In addition to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, Vasayo is currently laying the groundwork to expand into other markets in the region—such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Vasayo is also shipping into Japan as part of their Not for Resale (NFR) program.

Products With Liposomal Leverage

Vasayo offers health and wellness products, which target a range of needs, from weight loss to cleansing, from energy to sleep, and more. All of Vasayo’s products feature liposomal delivery for higher bio-availability in the body.

Vasayo’s liposomes are doublelayered bubbles or spheres that surround nutrients, helping them to pass through the harsh environment of the digestive system intact for better absorption and use by the body.

“We are the only company we know of with North American and Chinese ownership combined. It gives us a unique advantage in Asia.” — DAN ZHU, Co-Founder and President of Asia-Pacific, Vasayo

“We wrap the nutrient to help it get into your body for higher bioavailability and absorption,” Daniel says. “We use that same technology for all our products and now we’re also using it for CBD One.”

Products With Liposomal CBD

The company’s newest product offering, CBD One, is a cannabidiolbased product that comes in both a cream and a tincture form. “We’ve got the worldwide exclusive rights through a patent for liposomal CBD,” Daniel says. “With the millions of new people entering the gig economy, coupled with the expected growth in the CBD market with the passage of the farm bill, no company is better poised to create significant global market share over the next several years than a company called Vasayo,” says Maria Fiorini Ramirez.

Adding a CBD-based product to Vasayo’s product line has opened doors for the health and wellness company. “It’s giving us the ability to start a conversation with a person who might not have necessarily been interested in our other products,” Daniel says. “We believe CBD is going to be a major part of the company.”

It was Karree’s idea to offer a CBDbased product—something she had pushed for several years prior to CBD One’s launch in early 2019. The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill factored in to the company’s decision to move forward with a cannabidiol-based product.

“The Farm Bill opened up the floodgates for people to have a higher comfort level with CBD products,” Daniel says. “There are a lot of companies out there that are generating buzz about CBD. And people are looking for a bit more detail and documentation, which is leading them to Vasayo. It certainly helps that we have, to our knowledge, the only patent protected, liposomal CBD product that is also THC Free, Non-GMO, Organic Compliant and that is a product of the USA, from plant to package.”

Technology, Tools and Rewards

Vasayo’s Brand Partners run their businesses from a cloud-based back-office platform called the VCloud. Vasayo’s platform reduces corporate overhead, allowing Vasayo to invest more in their products and the compensation it pays to its global Brand Partners.

“I’m interested in creating a solid foundation and building a legacy.” —KARREE LARSEN, Founder, Vasayo

“We’ve been very lean in developing our VCloud,” Daniel says. “Our corporate philosophy is to run lean and mean so we can pay out a higher percentage to the people who are doing the work, our Brand Partners.”

In the VCloud, Vasayo’s Brand Partners can view commissions, run reports, check order statuses, communicate with their team, enroll others and shop—from both their smartphone and computer.

Vasayo also puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to its rewards program. “We took 200 Brand Partners to Paris last year,” Dan says. “This year, we’re taking about 300 to Germany as well as other trips to Hawaii, the Bahamas, Greece and Fiji. We’re really investing in our Brand Partners.”

All told, Vasayo seems to have the best of both worlds—a solid infrastructure combined with the entrepreneurial excitement of a new startup. “We’ve got the foundation of a five-to-10-year-old company with the timing of an 18-month-old company,” Daniel says. “With a combined 50 plus years in Direct Selling experience in management, we’re making sure the right foundation is laid so we can be a global company for decades to come.”

HEARTS & HANDS FOR HUMANITY

IN AFRICA, more than 40 percent of the total population has no access to clean water, and more than 60 percent of the population has no access to sanitation. Every minute, a child under the age of 5 dies due to water-related disease.

Vasayo is helping to support this need for clean water through its work with Hearts and Hands for Humanity. This charity provides clean water to communities in Africa using a Center Earth Drill, which can drill up to 250 feet below the earth’s surface, creating wells that reach clean water buried underground.

“Through Hearts and Hands for Humanity, we’re drilling wells for children in Africa where over 2,000 children under the age of five die every day from water-borne diseases,” says Dallin Larsen, Vasayo Founder and CEO. “Since the company launched, we’ve raised enough money to drill wells for about 75,000 children. Our goal is to have more than a million children in Africa drinking fresh water every day because of Vasayo within the next three to five years.”

Part of Vasayo’s commitment to Hearts and Hands for Humanity is to ensure that 100 percent of Brand Partner donations go toward providing clean water to African communities—with no administrative costs or salaries taken out.

“We, along with our Brand Partners, want to leave a legacy  that outlives us,” Dallin and Karree say. “We feel like we already have because these kids in Africa are going to continue to have fresh water long after we are long gone. We’re off to a significant start.  And to do something significant is exactly the reason we birthed Vasayo.”

Stoke The Flames Of Success

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Infuse confidence and meaning into people’s lives.

For several years as an executive of Young Living, I’ve had a front-row seat to witness what this amazing industry can do for people. Prior to that, as an international business attorney, my time was spent on the consummation of big business deals. Today, like all of you, my time is spent helping to infuse purpose and meaning in people’s lives, empower communities, and in Young Living’s case—which is why I joined—connect people to the earth.

Today I would like to share with you an avalanche of ah-hah moments that has allowed us to stoke the flames and go from $200 million Ma and Pa Shop to a billiondollar multi-national corporation in less than three years.

We Focused On The Founders

Prior executive management teams had attempted to sterilize and root this out from our story. As we all know–emotion and energy are a currency exchange in this business. Founders are the glue that keeps that emotion together for the company.

So what did we do? We repositioned Gary Young and his farming story as the centerpiece of our company. We took our Seed to Seal process, an underused marketing term, and made it the centerpiece of our marketing. We talked about our vertically-integrated farming process. We didn’t talk about the company as a business–we talked about it as a movement. Everyone on earth wants to be part of something bigger than themselves. When you talk about and invoke a movement–people connect to you, and they want to be a part of your tribe.

We also connected people to that authentic story of our founders. We wanted them to get to our farms, plant, harvest and distill lavender and take a bottle of lavender home to their families. It’s amazing what that does to create loyalty and gratitude. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard one of our members say after spending time at our farms along with the executive team, “You should charge more for your oils because that process was so rigorous.”

See yourselves as emissaries of your founders and their mission. Align to it in every way, and get your members involved with the production process of your products. If you have manufacturing facilities, warehouses, labs, get your members in there. Get them on the pick line so they can understand and appreciate what it takes to make their products come to life.

We Obsessively Focused On Enrollment

Thanks to Success Partners we developed our kit, I consider the best in the industry. We brought the authentic story of our founders, and we plastered it on the marketing collateral on the inside, and the vivid farm imagery on the outside. It showcased our lavender farm in Mona, Utah. And inside the kit, we included some key essential oils and sharing samples. We wanted our members to immediately have an immersive experiential experience–a wow experience–and immediately begin to share those oils with their friends.

We Retro-Branded The Whole Company

I didn’t want to create something that didn’t connect with our members–something new and fancy–just to appeal to a younger demographic. We went back to our roots and took elements of our story and put them together with beautiful marketing. Essential Oils magazine is one of those pieces of marketing collateral that’s allowed us to be successful. It includes do-it-yourself recipes to add validation for an essential oilinfused lifestyle. We include these magazines with every one of our starter kits.

Importance Of Talent Acquisition

This is not your grandma’s Young Living essential oils company. It is hip and fun. The number one element that emerged from that refiner’s fire of growth during that 3-year period was the importance of talent acquisition. Find passionate, culturally-aligned people who believe in your mission, who believe in your purpose, who also want to infuse meaning and purpose in people’s lives.

As we all know, as companies grow the bureaucracy, levels of management and process can smother the very spark and fire that got you to where you are. So the question is–how do you maintain your innovative, entrepreneurial soul without smothering it as you implement all of the layers of management that are necessary for growth? You hire the right people. You hire unicorns. These mythical beasts of fairy tales from days, years old, are a term of art used in the IT industry to denote that rare programmer who has the ability— not only are they brilliant but they have the ability to program in multiple languages. In Silicon Valley, they fight for these unicorns. I’d like to expand that definition for our industry to include not only people who are brilliant who can dominate multiple disciplines, align with founders and culture, but most importantly have a flaming entrepreneurial spirit.

Separating Truth From Stereotype About Entrepreneurs

The question is–when you’re trying to find these unicorns–how do you separate true entrepreneurs from otherwise talented people, without falling back on broad stereotypes of what an entrepreneur is?

Some interesting research came out of Harvard Business School, a professor there named Timothy Butler. He did a research study of 4,000 self-described entrepreneurs in corporate America and crossreferenced that with another few thousand managers who did not consider themselves entrepreneurs. Out of that came a list of attributes and stereotypes and antistereotypes of what they were.

First, entrepreneurs are unusually creative. It’s one of those stereotypes, right? The subtle truth is that entrepreneurs are curious seekers of adventure, learning and opportunity. They crave adventure. They have an openness to new ideas and new initiatives.

Another stereotype: Entrepreneurs enjoy and seek risk. This is probably the number one stereotype you think of when you think of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are more comfortable with risk. What’s interesting about this research, entrepreneurs are able to manage anxiety. They’re able to keep that under control when they need to make a risky decision that could potentially in their mind harm the company.

They are also driven by ambiguous environments, by uncertainty. It’s motivation for them. And what more ambiguous and uncertain environment is there than network marketing, with regulatory authorities?

Entrepreneurs are more personally ambitious than other leaders. You’ve probably heard this too. The truth? Entrepreneurs are driven by a need to own products, projects and initiatives. They want to know that what they create will see the light of day–that their initiative will see new revenue.

Entrepreneurs are natural salespeople. This stereotype is true. Think about it–you need to be able to persuade your board to follow your vision, to do what’s right for the company and persuade your department heads to follow your strategic objectives for the year.

Power Of Persuasion Can’t Be Underestimated

Lee Iacocca, one of the greatest CEOs in American history in the 1960s successfully convinced an otherwise conservative Ford Motor Company board to invest in a low-cost sports car, the Ford Mustang. Twenty years later he was able to convince the United States government—Henry Ford II had fired him, and he was with Chrysler—to bail out Chrysler. The power of persuasion cannot be underestimated in these unicorns you seek.

Unicorns align with the owners in every way. You need them to feel passionate about what you stand for. They have lots of different hobbies and interests and seek challenges. Why do they seek a challenge? Because they want to provide solutions. They also require trust to know that even if they make a mistake that you’ll still back them up, and know that maybe the next idea will be better than the previous one.

In their soul, they yearn to create. It’s what they care about more than anything. They are the artists of the business world, and they will never stop thinking of how to improve things–ever! They’re not linear thinkers in terms of time. At 5 pm they don’t check out mentally, and their minds are processing at night and on the weekends. Who can relate to this? Can you turn it off, ever? You
can’t. You won’t be able to –so don’t try, because you’re a unicorn.

What resulted in us hiring Unicorns?
• We implemented a new ERP system in one year because of a unicorn.
• We removed the Social Security Number requirement at enrollment to mainstream our brand. This required herculean changes in process and mindset internally to allow for this.
• We launched the 95 Percent Plan to align with our founders’ vision of getting oils in every home, not just rich Western homes, but shacks and shantytowns.

How do we tap into the 95 percent of people on theglobe who can’t afford this opportunity but should be involved in it? We hired unicorns who are amazingly adept at extreme field engagement. They run for mayor in every interaction with our field. They bridge the gap between corporate and the field, building genuine, authentic relationships with people.

How To Find Your Own Unicorns

Talk to your management team about the attributes you are looking for—alignment with culture, alignment with founders, entrepreneurial spirit – define those and bake it into the process and company culture. Your job postings should ask for entrepreneurial attributes we just discussed.
A few Interview questions could be:
• Have you ever owned a business, a nonprofit?
• Have you created something you’re proud of?
• Are you adventuresome in your private life?
• Have they traveled to interesting, unique or even dangerous places?
• Did they take a major in college that’s off the beaten path?
• Do they walk to the beat of a different drummer?

Find these people. Yes, they are out there, and they want to work for you and help take you to a billion and beyond.

Taking Care Of Unicorns

What’s the environment unicorns need to flourish? Allow them to explore ideas—all ideas— even if it’s not part of your corporate strategy for the year. I often hear people say it’s the number of NOs you say that make you more powerful. I don’t think that’s true. I think saying yes is needed more. Your team or field leaders need to know that if they have an amazing epiphany regarding an
idea you’re willing to entertain it, even though it’s not in your company’s objectives for that year.

You also must trust them to test out the hypothesis of that idea. Nine times out of 10 they’ll come back to you and say, “It didn’t work, it wasn’t feasible.” But that one idea could turn into a best-selling product, DIY kit, a new oil-infused product blend that can make all the difference in the world.

Give them recognition. Every creator wants to know you honor and cherish their creation. This is an amazing business and industry, and it’s the best part of my life and of 100 million people’s lives
around the world.

Key Takeaways

Consider the role of your Founders’ Legacy and company mission. It’s the glue that keeps both employees and customers connected.

Create a ‘WOW’ enrollment experience in order to best engage your new distributors.

Hire Unicorns. Look for those with an entrepreneurial mindset who are curious adventure-seekers with a passion for learning and the ability to manage risk.

Aaaaand We’re Live!

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Are you using these Facebook Live updates to grow and engage your audience?

When Facebook Live launched in 2016, it gave everyone on the platform the ability to instantly broadcast to and interact with their friends and followers. It has become one of the most effective ways for businesses to connect with and grow a targeted audience.

According to HootSuite.com, more than 3.5 billion Facebook Live broadcasts have been created by hundreds of millions of people. Nearly two billion people have watched a live broadcast. The site also notes that Facebook Live videos get six times more interaction than regular videos. Facebook says people comment more than 10 times more on live videos than regular videos.

Jeunesse brands its videos “Jeunesse Live” and offers product tips, announcements, event promos and more. Revital U’s Daily Draw gives away cash to people who comment and engage with the videos. “When we were creating the revital U business opportunity, we wanted to make it as simple as possible and use the one tool that everyone already owns…a phone,” says revital U’s CEO Andy McWilliams. “Our Daily Draw give away is just another way to engage and delight.”

Prüvit hosts live Q&As with thirdparty doctors and nutritionists to educate people on how their products work. Plexus LIVE episodes interview top distributors and announce company updates. As direct selling companies and distributors figure out how to best apply this tool to their businesses, Facebook Live has undergone a few important updates.

“ Facebook Live videos get six times more interaction than regular videos. Facebook says people comment more than 10 times more on live videos than regular videos. —HOOTSUITE.COM

Web Browser Broadcasting: This one has been around for a while, but it’s still important to note that a live video can launch from a web browser on a laptop or desktop computer. This is a great benefit for those who have a camera, microphone and lighting setup. It also helps when connecting the videos to a conference platform like Zoom.

Detailed Insights: This might be the most underutilized feature of Facebook Live. Insights and metrics include total minutes viewed, number of views, total engagement (reactions, comments and shares).

Cross-Posting To Pages: A live video can be posted to more than one Facebook business page. If a business manages a few pages, the same video can broadcast as an original post without having to share onto multiple pages.

Live Comment Pinning: Because a main focus of going live is viewer interaction, Facebook allows you to pin certain comments, which highlights them for the viewers. This is a great way to answer questions, increase engagement and personalize the videos.

Video Permalink: Why is this a big deal? It allows business pages to send out a link to the live video as soon as it’s broadcast. The “Facebook.com/ yourpagename/videos” link can be used to access a library of past videos.

Questions and Polls: Polling is nothing new on Facebook, but doing it in a live video is a great way to spark comments and debates. It also allows viewers to comment with each other and gives you insight into your audience’s opinions.

12 Facebook Live Tips

  1. Announce your Facebook Live in advance.
  2. Write an enticing (but short) description.
  3. Pose a question that will be answered in the video.
  4. Select a specific audience (age, gender, location, etc.).
  5. Offer value, educate, and answer questions.
  6. Share the video on other social platforms, or link to it on your website and in emails
  7. Welcome people who join the video.
  8. Ask people to comment, like, share, and invite other guests.
  9. Ask questions throughout the video (encourage engagement).
  10. Promote your next Facebook Live.
  11. Give a Call to Action (reach out for more info, click a link, etc.).
  12. Broadcast regularly (example: at the same time every week).

Thinking Outside the Bubble

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We’ve all heard the expression “thinking outside the box.” As direct sellers, innovation drives us, and we must always embrace this thinking. But another type of thinking–“thinking outside the bubble”–is different, and it poses an idea worth considering.

Our own corporate cultures breathe life into our brands and shape how our brand ambassadors compete. These are the individuals who carry our brands’ message to market, not massive advertising campaigns or an extravagant retail presence. Culture is King for direct sellers. But the bubble of corporate culture that drives us can also present limits. Executives often explain that as they focus on their fields, team members, products, investors and regulatory issues, they can lose sight of broader industry developments.

True: each of our businesses is unique. But also, true: none is as unique as we may believe.

From cosmetic sellers to energy resellers, we each experience marketplace differently. But the dynamics that define the channel–for big-ticket, party plan and network marketing companies, as well as social selling and information/data companies–we share. This “bubbleized-thinking” threatens to separate us more than ever before.

The direct selling channel is how we all go to market. DSA creates opportunities for companies to emerge from their cultural bubbles so that we may explore the channel we have in common in ways that honor our individual corporate cultures.

DSA convenes direct selling’s top legal minds annually with an event for which participants set the agenda. These experts–who are otherwise laser focus on their work, office and even an occasional courtroom–emerge from this summit with new insights on topics including unemployment compensation issues, proselyting, trademark protection, online sales, data protection, among many others.

CEOs, CIOs, big-ticket executives and party plan personnel enjoy similar events, and DSA’s new Regional Council events give leaders the opportunity to explore topics ranging from handling online retailers, product delivery expectations, virtual parties and more in an informal environment.

Piercing the cultural bubble is critical for executives joining our companies, especially those from outside direct selling. The uninitiated Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) executive may be overwhelmed by a company culture. Exposing this individual to the channel’s shared experience creates a stronger, smarter and more strategic thinker.

DSA events are opportunities to exit our individual bubbles and learn from one another. Since DSA is a not-for-profit, any information shared is done so in an environment free of commercial interests except those that concern our channel’s success.

When we pop the bubble of our own corporate culture, we have so much to gain. Give it a try at one of DSA’s upcoming get-togethers.

3 Event Trends You Need to Know Now

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What’s 22-times more powerful than facts alone? Stories. Stories are the lifeblood of the direct sales industry. In this industry, we hear and share amazing stories of success about life transformations: financial security, college tuition, independence from a job, care for loved ones, world travel, and more. Their stories are about success–hard work, persistence, consistency, caring for others. To grow businesses, sharing stories is critical. How we share them is equally vital. Why? Because stories are the most important form of human communication and connection.

While there’s a score of event trends driving the future, the three trends that are at the forefront driving the future of impactful direct selling events are:

  1. The growing importance of exterior branding.
  2. The growing need for event strategy – how to create strategies to deliver dynamic, engaging, live events.
  3. The increased role of digital.

Let’s first step back and think of historic events. Events are the oldest form of marketing and sales. Humans have been marketing and selling at events for centuries. The importance of events cannot be overstated. To underscore this point, consider the fact no United States president has ever been elected without events at the core of their campaign.

Events have the greatest potential to create what Dr. Morris Massey, from The University of Colorado at Boulder calls “SEEs” (Significant Emotional Events–SEEs). The direct sales industry has incredible and powerful opportunities to create “SEEs” to generate personal transformation, grow business, and celebrate achievements.

Richer, More Connected Experiences

Starting with trend number one, “Exterior Branding,” our audiences are demanding richer, more connected, and more meaningful experiences. Competition among direct sales companies has never been greater. There are more companies, more products and more sales plans. Increased competition means your company’s brand is now even more of a priority. Gone are the days of confined, interior branding. Look outside the walls, literally, for exterior branding opportunities.

A simple and effective way to help deliver richer experiences is to brand the exteriors of your events’ facilities. And not with just a single banner. That won’t achieve any real impact, and in fact, may hurt your brand. For sufficient impact, exterior branding works best when it is used to convey key points of the story you wish to tell. When design uses scale to its advantage to amplify your story and to drive impact, remember, it delivers on our goal with direct sales events to create “SEEs”–significant emotional events.

But there’s another good reason for exterior branding of your events; Ambush Marketing by a competitor. This is the sad new reality. Competitors buy outdoor advertising billboards, street pole banners, the sides of buildings facing your client events’ facilities, and more. Technology companies that hold user conferences like Salesforce’s Dreamforce and events like the Super Bowl have battled this type of competitive activity for years. As a tactic, Ambush Marketing at direct sales events is growing.

Bright Shiny Objects

Trend number two is “The Growing Need for Event Strategy.” Not long ago it was enough, at direct sales events, to get audiences excited, enthusiastic and energized to sell and recruit more. We added lots of what I call “BSOs” (bright shiny objects), special effects and theatrical devices deployed for audience effect. These tactics have their place for sure, but today, audience sophistication demands more than the “Wow factor.” To maximize the impact of your events and reinforce the authenticity of your brands, make sure that your “BSOs” are effectively applied for the right reason.

The most compelling way to ensure “BSOs” increase the authenticity of events and maximize their impact is to engage in a methodology of creating an Event Portfolio Strategy. As a primary marketing channel, direct sales companies are collectively spending tens-of-millions-of-dollars every year. Yet, most companies are relatively casual or late in their planning, especially for content. This diminishes the impact of our events, reduces their authenticity, and increases costs. Ironically, those same companies are engaged in significant strategy efforts when it comes to product, distribution, sourcing, and more. Why not apply that same discipline to a primary marketing and sales pillar that represents a significant investment for the company?

Event Strategy works to increase the effectiveness of events by defining clear objectives, audience definitions, messaging, style of the events, and how the objectives will be achieved.
THE STRATEGY GOALS SHOULD BE:

  1. To drive authenticity
  2. To create more meaningful experiences
  3.  To deliver greater effectiveness

The significance of an Event Portfolio Strategy is overarching. It looks at all of your events to ensure effectiveness, efficiency, optimization of resources and maximization of reach and impact. Event Strategy is a methodology that takes discipline, organizational adoption, and time. But you will find it is well invested time and is the future of impactful direct selling events.

The Role Of Digital

Trend number three is the “Role of Digital”: live streaming, social media, online, virtual and digital. In most event development discussions, these terms get used interchangeably and co-mingled. As we all know, there are distinct and profound differences between them. In this article consider “digital” as an umbrella term.

There are two important things to know about this digital trend; digital is here to stay, and it’s growing.

In 2007 and 2008, as technology costs dropped dramatically, as tools proliferated, and as the internet’s infrastructure significantly improved, we began seriously exploring how to deploy digital at events. Current infrastructure is vastly better, servers are exponentially faster and cheaper, and a multitude of tools and applications exist, often eliminating the need for custom development. Gone is the time when digital was treated as a bolt-on, as a secondary consideration to the physical event.

A previous prevailing assumption, what works for face-to-face also works for digital audiences, is no longer valid. That has all changed. In the “BYOD” world – bring your own device, it’s vital that your digital audiences and digital devices be treated and integrated seamlessly into your events.

The aspect of the “Role of Digital” focuses on live streaming and virtual engagement. These are two very different mediums, though they look very similar on the outside. The best way to think about live streaming is to look at it through the viewer’s eyes. Streaming is viewing. It’s just like watching broadcasting, and it’s a passive experience. There’s no engagement with the viewer and no feedback to receive. Virtual engagement, on the other hand, does just that: it engages the digital audience by turning them into participants with real-time interactive opportunities.

An excellent example of virtual engagement is Cisco GSX back in 2009, at the height of the recession. Traditionally, Cisco would fly their more than 19,000 salespeople from around the world to a
single destination for their Global Sales Meeting to experience a week of communication, motivation, and recognition. In response to the economic climate, the world’s first ever, virtual global sales meeting was born. Cisco GSX was an industry and historic milestone.

Your events are the unique expression of your company’s brand, where you will meet your most important audiences. Events are your most powerful, enduring, and meaningful strategic marketing and sales pillar available to your company. Leveraged appropriately, your brand and your sales will achieve great results.

Youth & Beauty From The Inside Out: Yijia’s Belief In Nature’s Power

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FOUNDER’S BIOGRAPHY

George Guo is the founder and chairman of YiJia. With over 20 years of experience in the direct selling field, the successful entrepreneur with keen insights established YiJia in 2004. The company’s name where “Yi” in Chinese represents “wealth and infinity” and “Jia” stands for “peace and happiness,” symbolizes Guo’s aspiration to create a beauty business platform where people could pursue their dreams.

THE IDEA THAT YOUTH & BEAUTY comes from the inside out has been consistently capitalized by business worldwide. The demand for products that offer benefits for skin health and overall wellness provides companies and individuals seeking business opportunities with a growing and promising market. The founder of YiJia, George Guo saw such business potential. YiJia North America was founded on September 24th, 2016 as an expansion to Mr. Guo’s global business, launching a series of skincare and supplement products that are produced under the cruelty-free principle. The company’s mission is simple but truthful: To succeed while helping others thrive; to strive with love and perseverance.

A GROWING GLOBAL BUSINESS

YiJia, founded on 28 March 2004, currently has over 30 subsidiaries around the world, with businesses spanning across over 50 countries and regions worldwide in a wide range of fields such as cosmetics, agricultural ecology and production, and high-tech products, etc. YiJia has set up subsidiaries in various Asia-Pacific cities including Hong Kong, Macau, Jakarta, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru, Singapore, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei, creating an excellent base for the expansion of the company’s global business. YiJia North America was founded in 2016 and has now opened branch offices in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles. With a well-established distributor system including the application of both multi-level marketing and e-commerce sales models and a focus on skincare, health, and wellness, the company has been attracting an increasing number of business individuals to join its international platform.

Fully understanding the importance of technology and customers’ fondness of natural ingredients, YiJia has perfectly merged the two into its products. The company has set up several professional teams equipped with distinguished scientists and experts for its Research & Development Center and manufacturers in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Malaysia. All featured ingredients are carefully selected with strict standards, and met various production and manufacturing standards such as GMP. In 2019, YiJia decided to significantly increase its scientific investment for the North American markets.

BRAND PHILOSOPHY

Committing to bringing beauty and love as one, YiJia firmly believes in the coexistence between human and nature. Currently, YiJia has three product lines, namely, MIRIKEL for nutrition, MAIONE for skincare, and Vii for daily necessities. MIRIKEL features various plant- and fruit-based dietary supplements, aiming to meet people’s increasing needs for a greener diet and benefit their overall wellness; MAIONE products are formulated with some of the finest and rarest natural ingredients bringing vitality and radiance to the skin. Together, MIRIKEL and MAIONE help to achieve customers’ youth and beauty from the inside out.

“CHARITY WITH LOVE AND PERSEVERANCE”

UNIQUE PLANTATION

Like many successful businesses, YiJia has its own secret ingredient researched and developed – Dalbergia Odorifera extract. Dalbergia Odorifera are mainly found in the primeval tropical rainforest of Sanya, China. Due to its immense value as luxury furniture material and its significance in traditional Chinese medicine practices, it is also known as “the tree of gold.” Intrigued by Dalbergia Odorifera’s market and medical values, the scientists and experts at YiJia Research & Development Centre started a fervent quest to uncover what has endowed the tree with such benefits and what more it could offer. As a result, YiJia set up the only Dalbergia Odorifera tree plantation and production base in the world, with about 300,000 trees planted. YiJia became the first to use Dalbergia Odorifera extract in skincare products. Including antibacterial, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory benefits, this rare but incredibly beneficial ingredient can effectively enhance skin immunity while awakening natural beauty. To ensure that the products are of the best quality, the leaves are picked between 5 to 10 AM from Dalbergia Odorifera trees that have at least ten years of age; in a year, there are only 45 days when such process can be conducted. Therefore, a limited amount is produced annually, making the ingredient extremely rare and valuable.

UNIVERSAL LOVE

Upholding its promise “charity with love and perseverance,” YiJia has also been committed to charity work and giving back to society. Most of the company’s subsidiaries have established their own charitable foundations, benefiting people and organizations residing in various countries and regions including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand,
Australia, Canada, and the U.S. Combined, the Group has donated over USD 10 million, hoping to bring YiJia business and charity together.

Since its foundation in 2016, YiJia North America has been supporting children’s health and education as well as poverty alleviation by making donations to several local charities via the company’s charity foundations, namely YiJia Charity Foundation and YJ Charitable Foundation. All donations come from the sales of YiJia North America products. For example, for every bottle of its signature product, MAIONE Youth Original Essence Advanced sold, $1 will be generated to the company’s charity foundations.

THE FUTURE

To reward its distributors’ endeavour and commitment, YiJia organizes luxurious trips each year. It’s a once-in-alifetime opportunity for the dedicated distributors, as these well-thought-out trips are ensured to include the most memorable events and activities. Since 2013, the distributors have been invited to visit the world’s most beautiful places such as Australia, Bali, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Maldives, Taiwan, the U.S, etc. Besides, the scale of these trips grows every year, for instance, about 3,800 were invited to the 2017 YiJia Hong Kong & Japan Cruise Trip, and around 10,000 to the company’s 13th anniversary at Kaohsiung Arena. September 29th this year, YiJia will take the distributors to Las Vegas to celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary at Bellagio Hotel, planning to take the trip to another level. 2018 was a good year for YiJia. The company has made some impressive progress and achievements in its newly expanded market. As customers’ needs for high-quality products that adopt natural ingredients continue to grow, YiJia has set up plans to recruit more competent distributors and provide customers with even better services. With a series of product launches coming this year, YiJia aims to expand the market to a greater extent, believing that a better future for their business is yet to come.

Direct Selling Health Companies Face Increased Scrutiny in China

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Increased scrutiny by the Chinese government of health companies in the direct selling sector has intensified since December after high-profile incidents.

In December, Tianjin-based Quanjian Group was investigated for false advertising after it used the image of a girl who died of cancer in a promotional poster for cancer-fighting products. Eighteen employees of the company were later detained by authorities.

In January, authorities in Huanghua investigated Hualin Suanjianping Biotechnology Co. Ltd. on suspicion of deceiving customers and operating as a pyramid scheme. Hualin’s branch office in Shangqiu was closed by local authorities pending an investigation into whether its “pH-balancing massage therapy”—which entails stimulating the body with electrical pulses—was effective in strengthening the immune system as advertised. Such services had been previously criticized by health experts as having no basis in medical science.

Since the Quanjian incident, the State Administration of Market Supervision has attached great importance on promotional claims by health companies. On January 8, thirteen departments jointly launched a 100-day action to rectify the healthcare products market and banned local regulatory authorities. While evaluation of health products was being carried out, the Municipal Public Security Bureau requested that the relevant approvals and filings for direct sales be suspended.

In response to the action, a leading Chinese publication, The Paper, published a commentary noting that direct selling health product companies are able to thrive in China despite their business models because regulatory authorities—with an eye to boosting their local economies—tend to look the other way.

“Quanjian and Hualin would not have been able to expand to such a large scale, fooling so many customers, if laws and regulations had been strictly enforced,” the author wrote.

Direct selling companies in operating in China have actively cooperated with the 100-day action to regulate self-discipline. However, due to the increased scrutiny, many are now unwilling to disclose their financial achievements.

China is the second largest direct selling market in the world after the U.S. and home to some of the channel’s top direct selling companies. It is the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region, with 2017 sales of $34.3 billion. On its own, China accounted for 40 percent of the sales in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017. The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations estimates that some 5.3 million Chinese participate in direct selling.

Natura, Santander Join Forces to Offer Exclusive Banking Services

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Natura, in partnership with Santander, will offer its Beauty Consultants a bank account with exclusive benefits.

The initiative, part of the company’s revitalization plan and the digitalization of its business model, will contribute towards “bankarization” as well as the increase in productivity and income for its Beauty Consultants, expanding sales and consolidating loyalty by allowing them to offer a better customer experience.

The fully digital account has an embedded interface with both the website and the Natura Consultant App, allowing access to banking services such as the Natura card, withdrawals, deposits and transfers, as well as a POS (point of sale) machine for credit and debit card payments offering exclusive conditions. The proceeds from sales (made via the webpage, the Rede Natura or the card terminal) will be paid directly into the account. The balance can be used to make purchases with the Natura card, to pay bills and to make transfers.

Beauty Consultants will also be able to access microcredit directly through the App, to be used solely for the purchase of Natura products. The new service also aims to offer credit to Beauty Consultants so that they can invest in the expansion and professionalization of their activity.

“This is yet another initiative to empower our Beauty Consultants, enabling them to offer better customer experience” said João Paulo Ferreira, Natura’s CEO. “Moreover, we are contributing to their “bankarization” and social inclusion. Our goal is to enable the Consultant to earn more, which in turn will increase our revenues. By enabling them to conduct more business transactions, it is a win-win situation for all. It is also another step towards further cementing their loyalty. New services like this pave the way for an ongoing increase in Consultant productivity.”

“Providing support for Natura Beauty Consultants means providing support for enterprise and financial inclusion, both fundamental needs in Brazil, where the most urgent challenge is to generate employment and income,” saids Sérgio Rial, president of Santander Brasil. “This partnership was only possible because we are a bank that has an integrated vision of the value chain. We are able to offer solutions both for large companies and for their suppliers, employees and partners.”

To develop the project for Natura, Santander integrated customized solutions offered by three of the group’s units: Superdigital, a digital payment account whose interface will be incorporated into the website used by the Beauty Consultants; SuperGet, a portable Getnet payment terminal, offering the best rates in the market; and Prospera Santander Microcrédito, the biggest and most efficient private guided production microcredit program in the country. The process will be 100 percent digital, and Beauty Consultants will not need a guarantor or support group.

Since 2016, Natura has been conducting a study to measure its Beauty Consultants’ Human Development Index (HDI). The study identified a high need for financial education. To address this, the Natura Account card will be pay-as-you-go; that is, the Beauty Consultant can only make purchases when there is a positive balance in the account. Natura will also be offering Beauty Consultants training in finance via WhatsApp.

The Natura Account initiative will be available to the network of 1.1 million Beauty Consultants in Brazil in the first half of 2019.