A former multi-story retail center on the bank of the Manatee River has a new life as the headquarters for a health and beauty company that is projecting $1 billion in annual sales.
It Works! Global, a direct marketer of health supplements, skin care products and body shaping aids, debuted its $10 million headquarters building in a public grand opening. The company remodeled the former Riverside Plaza on Riverside Dr., converting the former mall space into an airy, 50,000-square-foot creative business space.
The company, founded in Michigan in 2001, moved to Bradenton in 2011.
It Works! leased offices on State Road 64, but began looking for more space when the company’s growth called for a larger headquarters. It bought the Riverside Plaza building in December 2012 for $3.125 million. It Works! employees started moving from the old building in May.
“I thought that building would last us at least 10 years,” said It Works! CEO Mark Pentecost during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We’ve been going through tremendous growth.”
It Works! currently employs 86 people full time. The new headquarters, which is designed to accommodate up to 150 employees, is the center of a business that sells its products through 90,000 independent distributors in 18 countries. The
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Rob Sperry – mynt Hits Blue Diamond
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
How do you build a multimillion dollar business from giving? mynt Purple Diamond Rob Sperry has found the way.
Giving back has become a healthy addiction for new mynt Purple Diamond Rob Sperry. Sperry, who became mynt’s first Blue Diamond just last month, explains, “The value of being a giver rather than a taker in life has transformed our business from a standard network marketing company to a culture of young enthusiastic markets who are making a difference in the industry.
“Instead of having our new distributors promote products, they participate in a mynt moment. A mynt moment is giving back any way that we can. It can be anything from a simple random act of kindness to something bigger.
“The movemynt really is about people getting together all over the country with an excuse to have some fun and make a difference. The biggest lesson I have learned so far was from a recent mynt event we had with team members from all over North America. At the event, everyone who had organized a humanitarian event, or mynt moment, was invited to the front of the room to be recognized.
Toward the end of recognizing these 16 individuals, I realized that each one of
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Zrii Expands To New Zealand
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Zrii LLC today announced the opening of a new office in Auckland, New Zealand, as the rapidly growing company begins its expansion into the Asia Pacific.
“With over 700% growth since this month last year we have now officially finished the month of May with over $8 million in sales, making this the single greatest month in the company’s history,” says Zrii President A. K. Khalil.
“Our focus is now set on massive global expansion and the biggest product launch in Zrii’s history, which took place on June 19th at our Latin American Leadership Academy in Guatemala.”
Adds CEO & Founder Bill Farley, “We’ve entered a phase of accelerated growth and I couldn’t be happier for everyone involved. We are on our way to building something incredibly special.”
The New Zealand office will serve Independent Executives with a full meeting room, product warehouse, and will-call center where customers and business partners can pick up Zrii’s premium, all-natural nutritional and wellness products.
Moving into New Zealand, Zrii has looked to Vince Rimmer, a 30-year veteran in the industry, and his son, Todd Rimmer, to set up the company and office. Vince and Todd together have launched a number of successful companies in New Zealand, Australia
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Paul Southworth Of Direct Selling Association Named In Queens Birthday Honours List
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Paul Southworth, outgoing Director General of the U.K. Direct Selling Association, has been named an Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
As part of the celebration honoring Queen Elizabeth II’s 88th birthday, the royal honors recognize individuals for their achievements in public life and their service to Britain. Southworth will receive the award “for services to Business, Arts and the community in Northamptonshire” from her majesty during a special investiture at Buckingham Palace.
“The award came as a complete surprise and I feel both honoured and humble to receive such recognition,” Southworth told DSN. “As always it could only have happened because of the incredible team of people I have the privilege to work with, and it is as much their recognition as mine.”
Southworth’s career in direct selling has included the role of President and CEO of Northampton-based Avon U.K. He has also chaired the Trustees Board at Northampton Theatres and sat on the Board of the Northamptonshire Arts and Management Trust. For nearly 10 years, Southworth was Chairman of the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), previously Northamptonshire Enterprise Limited (NEL), where he helped secure millions of dollars in support of local economic development.
Southworth will continue
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Xango Launches In Taiwan
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
They’ve been preparing their businesses and their organizations. And now — via a couple of explosive events in Kaohsiung and Taipei featuring XANGO Founder & CEO Aaron Garrity — XALO has officially launched in Taiwan.
To celebrate, local leaders decked the halls in swaths of purple. Hundreds of Distributors matched their decorative intensity with purple XALO t-shirts and an energy that captured the XALO spirit. They were led by luminaries like 100Ks Beauty Chan & Chan Wen Long, Chris & Angel and Vincent Peng; and Premiers Chou Fang Chi, James & Rachel, Hiao Der Chang, Zeng Hua Chen, Wu Xiu Nu, Leader & Mei and Chang Chu Chin.
They kicked off with product demonstrations and trainings about how to let XALO revolutionize your life and your business. Visiting leader 500K Anton Garrity shared secrets from his own experience about building a powerful organization, beginning with straightforward one-on-one presentations, building to small group meetings, all the way to large gatherings.
A huge xie xie (“thank you”) to those who shared their powerful XALO product experiences. (We’re looking at you, 100K Chris Huang, Premiers Grace Zhen and Zhang Qiu Qin, 20Ks Amy Huang and Sunny Jian, and 5K Huang Mei Jing… Great first-hand accounts of the noticeable, measurable benefits of XALO after only two weeks
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Top Industry Leaders Join Vísi
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Powerhouse Partnership Joins Vísi. “Meet the Cargans” #Carganstyle
Industry icons Steve & Jennifer Morgan and Greg & Lisa Carter have joined Vísi, the two-year old progressive global network marketing company from Pleasant Grove, Utah, USA.
The powerhouse partnership these two couples have formed has become one of the fastest partnerships to reach the rank of Arctic Ruby in Vísi’s history.
“I’m thrilled that these great leaders have decided to join Vísi and share our vision of what the company is and will be,” said Vísi Founder & CEO Kent Lewis.
“To attract such high-quality and well-known leaders like the Morgans and Carters is a testament to the hard work and planning of everybody involved with Vísi. I can’t wait to see what they will accomplish with Vísi and how it will positively impact thousands of lives.”
Steve & Jennifer Morgan have been successful entrepreneurs for over 20 years, making network marketing a perfect fit for them. They own a lucrative specialty construction company in Northern California that has allowed them to become self-made millionaires.
They also have a huge passion for health and fitness. Jennifer has spent over 20 years as a professional fitness trainer and Steve is an avid outdoorsman and professional bow hunter.
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Direct Selling Statistics USA – Reps Increased To 16.8 Million
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
The Direct Selling Organization has published interesting statistics about the growth of the USA Direct Selling Sales Force.
Number of People Involved in Direct Selling in the U.S.
The size of the direct selling sales force increased 5.7% to 16.8 million in 2013, a record high.
The industry experienced a surge of new direct selling independent representatives at the height of the recession.
Due to normal attrition and the fact that some people join the industry for the short term, the slight reduction in force was expected in 2010 and 2011. The size of the industry’s sales force grew 1.9% in 2012 and is continuing to rise through 2013.
The percentage of households estimated to have a direct sales person as a member is the same as in 2012 at 13.8% of U.S. households.
Estimated Total Direct Retail Sales
The 2013 estimated retail sales of USD 32.67 billion for the direct selling channel were up 3.3% in the United States, from USD 31.63 billion in 2012.
The U.S. market increase of 3.3% in 2013 continued an upward trend that began after 2009 and brought the industry to a record high.
Direct sales grew 0.8% in 2010, 4.6% in 2011 and 5.9% in 2012.
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The Bill Ackman Contradiction
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
Over the last year I’ve been reporting on the battle between hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman and Herbalife. Bill Ackman has made very little, if any, progress in his attack. Each time he comes at Herbalife with something that looks potentially disastrous, Herbalife returns with further proof that Bill Ackman is wrong. This has no longer become a matter of whether Herbalife is selling good products (the question has never come up once, strangely) or whether they have a good pay plan, or even what their training programs are like.
The main issue, for Bill Ackman, has always been that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme, focusing on only recruiting individuals to make money. The hypocrisy seems to alude individuals paying attention to the ongoing and unforgiving battle. Bill Ackman’s only products offered by his own company is based on one sole result; money. His sole job is to take money and turn it into more money. He’s the CEO of Pershing Square Capital, a company that’s only product is money. Sure, he considers himself an ‘activist investor’ but that alone can seem like an oxymoron to many, especially those who could never afford the Harvard education he received and millions he himself invested to
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Bill Ackman Now Attacking Top Network Marketer, Anthony Powell
by Tina Williams • • 0 Comments
The promotional attack machine used to bring Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) to its knees is now targeting Anthony Powell, one of the nutritional supplement company’s top distributors.
The Pershing Square Capital operated website has, under the subsection “perpetrators,” a profile of Anthony Powell, an aggressive entrepreneur highly successful at closing deals to build an Herbalife distribution network of over 16,000 distributors under his domain. Powell used this aggressiveness to become one of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)’s top distributors, in some years earning nearly half a million per year. The problem is, on Ackman’s Herbalife attack website Powell is accused of making get rich quick promises using a pyramid scheme to build his fortune.
In 2002, NWTW, Herbalife, Powell, and other senior Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) distributors were sued in a class action in federal district court in Los Angeles. Plaintiff alleged that Herbalife and NWTW constituted a pyramid scheme and that the defendants were committing fraud and securities fraud by making deceptive earnings projections and omitting and misrepresenting the risks inherent in the business.
Plaintiff further alleged that “Powell, along with other of the defendants, conceived, authorized the use of and operated the Lead Generation System known as ‘The Newest Way to Wealth.’”I Herbalife settled the case for $6 million in 2004.
“Dream
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Young Living Essential Oils – 530,000 Active Members
by Ted Nuyten • • 0 Comments
Young Living, the World Leader in Essential Oils, officially surpassed the 1,000 employee milestone this month.
The company plans to continue adding additional jobs at its global headquarters in Lehi, Utah, and 12 international offices, as well as expanding its global farms to meet growing demand for its products.
“This is a great milestone, which underscores the amazing growth we are experiencing as a company. This growth is exciting because it means more and more people are enjoying the benefits of Young Living’s unmatched products,” said Young Living’s Chief Operating Officer Travis Ogden. “More than 20 years ago, our founder Gary Young envisioned taking these products to the world, and that continues to be realized more every day.”
Young Living’s diverse employee talent—from the scientists working in the state-of-the-art research labs to the expertly skilled farmers on seven botanical farms around the world—is a vital part of Young Living’s proprietary Seed to Seal® process, which ensures that the highest quality standards are used from the seeds planted to the sealed product.
In addition to the 1,025 company jobs provided, Young Living offers more than 530,000 active members around the world the opportunity to build a Young Living business and provide an income for