THE MAIN THING

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

January 2007

Hard work. It doesn’t sound very appealing. It’s old-fashioned and it surely is not romantic. But it is the key to almost every successful business venture on the continent.
When people ask me, “What is the key to building a successful Melaleuca business?” I know they are looking for some profound statement or magic formula. But the answer is very simple. Clearly, all those who have created the most successful businesses have one thing in common: they are hard workers—very hard workers!

It takes discipline to own your own business—deciding when to open for business and when to close, etc.—especially if you are used to working for a boss who has always told you what time to come in and what time to go home. It’s kind of like when the kids go off to college. It’s a real test to see if they can get themselves out of bed each morning and discipline themselves to do their homework and get to bed on time so they can get
adequate rest.

Only those with self-discipline will make it. Only those who know where they want to go and discipline themselves to set aside time on a weekly basis to work their Melaleuca businesses will reach
their dreams.

To be sure, there are many distractions. In our world, there are literally thousands of ways we can spend our free time. Working our businesses can always wait “one more day.” It’s the fact that Melaleuca is a “part-time” business that makes it even more difficult to stay focused on. We get caught up doing things that seem more urgent (or more fun) for the moment. Yet it is clear that only those who are disciplined and stay focused on their goals will reach them.

Dr. Stephen Covey points out that “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” At Melaleuca, the “main thing” to growing your business is enrolling new customers. No other activity is as rewarding as enrolling new customers and helping them do the same.
Fortunately, enrolling new customers is not difficult. Very few people find that they “can’t” do it. It’s that self-discipline that seems to be the hard part for most people who see others succeeding but don’t quite get there themselves.

Those who build big Melaleuca businesses have the persistence to put themselves on a rigorous regime of enrolling one customer after another. With every free minute they introduce someone new to their products and to their business. That’s the “hard work” I’m talking about. Actually, it’s not “hard,” and very few people would call it “work.”

Once they get into the swing of it, it’s really a lot of fun, but for those who do not have a calendar or a plan for when they are going to work their businesses and enroll new customers during the week, the hard part seems to be getting out and doing it.

So what is the solution? How do you discipline yourself to get out and get to work? My counsel is to first write down your goals. Sit down with your spouse and loved ones and decide where you want to be 10 years from now, and five years from now, and one year from now. Then develop a plan to get there. Write it down! Make a commitment to yourself as to what you are going to do to make your dreams come true. Remind yourself that this is your life! You are alive right now! This is it!

We all hope for a life after this life. We probably don’t know much about what the next life will be like. But we know we have this one. Let’s not waste it! Let’s make the absolute most out of it we can. Share your goals, commitments and plans with someone else. We get more committed when we tell others what we plan to do. And then follow through!

For as long as we live, hard work will continue to be the key to success. That is an eternal principle that will continue to live on even long after we are gone from this earth. Hard work is one of the most important principles we should teach our children. It is something we all must exercise in our lives if we want to reap the benefits of having lived this principle of success.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing! And in the case of any successful business, the main thing will always be hard work. We are fortunate that in the case of Melaleuca, our “hard work” can also be a heck of a lot of fun!

Sincerely,

Frank

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