Although Total Life Changes’ Independent Business Operators (IBOs) are just that, independent, the company distinguishes itself from other multi-level marketing initiatives by how close-knit many of its entrepreneurs are with one another.
This is most apparent when IBOs bring their families and friends into the business. This was the case with recently promoted National Director Busisiwe Mashele of Tembisa, South Africa, who got her start in TLC thanks to her best friend since childhood.
Busisiwe’s friend is Onthatile Makagalemela, well-known at TLC for becoming the first National Director in all of Africa. Onthatile’s trailblazing success was based on the same principles that are required wherever an IBO operates: hard work, winning personality, and a willingness to pitch TLC’s products and model to those closest to her. It is little surprise then that Onthatile would reach out to her best friend, but Busisiwe admits she was not the easiest sell.
“I was very skeptical,” she recalls. “I’d never been involved in network marketing, and the stories you hear about it are always very mixed. Of course I trusted my friend, but I needed to do my own research to be sure it was for me.” As the mother of a young daughter carrying a