Nu Skin President Ryan Napierski has been selected to lead the direct selling industry as chairman of the board of the U.S. Direct Selling Association (DSA). He began his one-year appointment as chairman at the DSA Annual Conference on June 4. “I am proud to be affiliated with so many outstanding member companies and suppliers and am excited […]

Jeff Bezos has written a letter to his shareholders each year since the company’s inception. These letters outline Amazon’s long-term mission, culture and values. His 2017 letter, however, stood out more than the others for me. Bezos defined what he calls a Day 1 company vs a Day 2 company. Day 1 companies are: Agile […]

Well, I can’t quite say yet publicly, as they are still being refined and digested by the Direct Selling Association Research Committee. But we will be revealing and discussing industry performance at the upcoming DSA Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas June 3-5. And it will be a hot topic. Direct selling, like many businesses, and […]

It feels like opening day! Or a Broadway premiere. Or the first day of a new job. The excitement is there, palpable. It’s the future— the potential, excitement, fear, danger, and thrill of something new and unknown. That is what I am hearing from direct selling executives across the country as we take the next […]

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 […]

Most of us know the game “Telephone” where one person whispers a statement to their neighbor, and that person turns to their neighbor and repeats the statement as they heard it. The further down the line, the more the statement is misinterpreted and altered. In today’s fast-paced digital environment, unchecked or even false information can […]

A recent story by the Chicago Tribune noted two direct selling companies—Hempworx and Zilis—that are giving moms new side hustles selling CBD oil. According to the article, CBD oil is the latest in a string of products that women, many of them mothers, are selling and recruiting others to sell. In the U.S., the availability of CBD products grew by […]

In our January 2019 issue of Direct Selling News, we published a story on some best practices to employ when responding to misleading facts about your company or negative criticism of the industry. The article illustrates that sometimes it’s better to leave things alone because it can just bring more attention to the story. But, there are times when […]

Vigilance, continuous learning are industry’s best defenses against cybercriminals. It has become a painfully common headline: “Cyberthieves breach company’s system, steal credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, birthdates, passport numbers . . .” High-profile corporations such as Target, Equifax and Marriott all have been robbed of massive amounts of valuable consumer data in recent years, proving […]

Some years ago, on this page, I wrote about a “defining moment” for direct selling. And during last year’s DSA Annual Meeting, I spoke of the changes that were taking place in direct selling, and those changes I predicted we could see over the next few years. Now, as we move full ahead into 2019, […]

Last week, Washington state Attorney General Robert Ferguson filed an injunction against LuLaRoe, Inc., which the Attorney General described as an unlawful pyramid scheme. The complaint alleged that the LuLaRoe plan violated the Washington state Anti-Pyramid Promotional Scheme statute, made false and misleading earnings claims to potential and existing participants, and otherwise violated the state’s […]

The US Direct Selling Association (DSA) has announced that its Board of Directors unanimously approved the establishment of a third party self-regulatory program. The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (Direct Selling-SRC), which will be administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), is designed to ensure high standards of integrity and business ethics which remain the guiding […]