YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST, BUT YOU SURE CAN IMPACT THE FUTURE!

President's Message By
Frank L. VanderSloot
President & CEO

April 2007

Unfortunately, it is the nature of some of mankind to focus on the past instead of the future. Many people dwell in the past, thinking about what could have been or should have been, what they should have done or what someone else should have done. They agonize over opportunities lost or mistakes they’ve made or others have made. They spend their present in the past, regretting. They struggle with the process of forgiving and forgetting. Often they find the most difficult people to forgive are themselves. And because they spend their present in the past, they not only lose the present, but they lose the future as well. How unfortunate! How tragic! The fallacy of living in the past is so evident and the cost so high you would think people would avoid doing so—but once they get themselves into the rut, it’s hard to get out.

There are others who live only in the future, dreaming about what might happen to them someday but never taking action today to make sure that dream comes true. The costs of dreaming about the future but not taking any action to affect that future are also great. Life is so precious that it seems a crime to waste it away either in regretting the past or aimlessly dreaming about the future. We all would like a bright, prosperous and joyful future; therefore, it is helpful to realize that our present situation is a result of our past activities and decisions. And although we cannot do anything about our past, we can act today to ensure our future. We must also realize it is useless to dream about the future unless we act on decisions today so that our future will be as we would like it to be.

The healthiest approach is to plan our future today and to take action today to implement that plan. As we implement that plan, we must take a long-term perspective. In other words, we must “act with the end in mind;” we must “stay the course.” As we make investments today for the long-term, we must not always expect an immediate return. A mistake that some people make is that of working and acting only for the “here and now.” In other words, they make investments only for an immediate return. Therefore, if they do not get an immediate return on their activities, they withdraw the investment. Such an investment strategy is shortsighted and does little to ensure a bright future.

Most of the big money that is made in the stock market is made by those who implement long-term investment strategies. They know that companies are growing and they can see the day that these companies will turn the corner and bring them a substantial return on their investment. So they are investing their dollars today because they are willing to wait for what they are confident will be a return on their investment in the future. They are acting today to ensure their future. Yes, they know that there is a risk. In some cases they are risking their entire investment, but they are willing to take that risk because they are confident of the future. It is a long-term investment strategy, and it has made thousands of millionaires over the past decade.

Unfortunately, the average family has very little money to set aside to invest in the stock market and take advantage of the tremendous track record that the stock market has had over the last several years. It seems almost unfair that only the wealthy are in a position to accumulate even greater wealth from what is happening on Wall Street.

For those who do not already have wealth, I know of an opportunity that will provide greater returns at a much lower risk than the stock market. This opportunity also takes a long-term investment strategy. Those who have a “here and now,” “get-rich-quick” philosophy will not benefit from this program. The investment is not one of money, but of time.

The Pacesetter program and Leadership Pools combine to give a substantial, immediate return on people’s investment of time in building a Melaleuca business. Millions of dollars have been paid out in these Leadership Pools since their announcement in January 1999. It is so rewarding to see the wealth that families have created for themselves with Leadership Pools alone that it would be easy to focus only on the money earned from the Leadership Pools while building a Melaleuca business. Although we would admit that the money is exciting, we would also point out that focusing only on the Leadership Pools is focusing on the “here and now” and not focusing on the long term. The real future in building a Melaleuca business is not how much one earns this month from the Leadership Pools, but in how much one grew in number of Preferred Customers this month.

Even though there is a tremendous opportunity to earn large sums of money for the Leadership Pools, let’s remember to have a long-term perspective, to be building and acting on your future and to remember that the future is in growing your customer base, which will bring you residual income for years to come. Like the Wall Street investor, we need to take a long-term approach in building this business. We should not take much stock in how much money we made this month, but in how much we grew our customer base this month.

The first 21 years of Melaleuca’s history have been phenomenal. You may not yet have taken advantage of this tremendous opportunity like you could have. You may not have invested much effort in building a Melaleuca business. You cannot do anything about the past. It does no good to spend time thinking about how your life would be different today if you would have acted on this opportunity sooner. But it is good to remember: If we want a bright future tomorrow, we must take action today. If we do not take action today, we may find ourselves, 10 years from now, regretting this very moment. Don’t let that happen! Make a decision, develop your business plan, take action, and prepare for a great future!

Sincerely,

Frank

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