The Wellness Revolution – Success From Home
SUCCESS FROM HOME – AUGUST 2007
By Paul Zane Pilzer
What good is a vacation home in the mountains if pain prevents you from skiing, hiking or walking? Or if you can’t inhale even enough oxygen to take in a cleansing breath? What good is the ability to travel if even a short walk to the beach leaves you too tired to enjoy yourself?
As baby boomers reach their 60s, wellness is becoming an investment more of our population is turning toward. Health is becoming an investment affordable to almost everyone, and the dividends are priceless.
The Sickness vs. Wellness Industry
We’ve spent years calling doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies the health industry, when in reality these businesses are truly the sickness industry.
The wellness industry is products and services that promote wellness rather than respond to illness—this includes nutritional supplements, super foods and juices, personal trainers and “alternative care,” such as chiropractic.
The “New” Wellness Revolution
In the 1990s, I stumbled onto the wellness industry quite by accident. For 10 years (against medical advice) I had put off getting expensive knee surgery. Experiencing chronic pain, I began to take a supplement—glucosamine—and within a year the cartilage was repaired. My surgeon was amazed when he examined my X-rays; I no longer needed surgery.
I began to take a look at the truehealth and wellness products available—pure water, nutritional supplements, juices, pesticide- and hormone-free foods, anti-aging therapies and alternative medical care, to name just a few. I was stunned to learn that an industry that had barely existed a decade before was already a $200 billion business—and it was just getting started!
Who Is Interested in Wellness?
Is the wellness market serving a large enough segment of the population to be lucrative?
The Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers are definitely looking to improve their performance, and they represent a significant piece of this market. But the baby boomers are a huge part of it. This generation is no longer focused on remembering what it was like to be young—they’re buying things that actually make them young by achieving a healthier body, more acute senses and a sharper mind!
An Economic Revolution
The wellness industry has only just begun.
Most people don’t even know such wellness products exist—much less that they are legitimate solutions to age-old, old-age problems. But, as more learn about wellness, this sector of our economy will continue to explode.
Today’s wellness opportunities lie not only in the distribution of products, but even more so in the distribution of information—called intellectual distribution.
Intellectual Distribution: The Opportunity of the Decade
The big-box stores, so prevalent in this decade, provide an affordable way to purchase things we already know about and want.
In today’s self-checkout, cash-and-carry world, you will rarely find store employees well-informed about the products, or even able to recommend anything that hasn’t been heavily advertised in the media. These employees simply aren’t paid to be, and therefore aren’t trained to be, product experts.
While the Internet is a source of useful information, it can only give you information on products you ask about.It cannot tell you about something you don’t know to ask about.
So how do consumers learn about new products? Today, more than ever, consumers learn about the latest products by word-of-mouth.
Success by Sharing
In the wellness industry, it usually works this way:
Sam has been feeling achy, and therefore cranky, lately. He bumps into Joe, who has pep in his stride and sparkle in his eye. When Joe shares that he’s feeling great due to a new product or service he’s tried, Sam thinks, “If it worked for him, it might work for me!” After getting more information from Joe, Sam tries the product or service. When he gets the same results, he shares the information with Sue and Pat.
The information shared is not only, well, informational, but alsoexperiential—which makes it even more effective.
This word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective means available. The expert passes on not only the “how” and “why,” but also adds personal experience and credibility.
The Home-Based Business Boom
Intellectual distribution becomes a financial opportunity when you begin to benefit from the impact of educating the consumer and sharing your personal experience and credibility.
Having studied economics for more than two decades, the best system I’ve ever seen for intellectual distribution is the direct selling business—also known as one-toone marketing, network marketing, referral marketing or relationship marketing. This home-based business takes intellectual distribution to its pinnacle—creating wealth by helping others.
Direct selling provides an opportunity open to absolutely everyone, regardless of background, specialized skills or capital worth.
Owning the Opportunity
Direct selling is impressive because it allows people to begin to captain their own ship; they choose the hours they work, and through their activity levels they choose how and when to increase their income.
And with direct selling, the headaches of traditional business ownership are virtually eliminated. This business offers low startup costs, has no employees or insurance expenses, and the overhead is practically nonexistent. The direct selling business model also utilizes new technologies, such as the Internet, which help make it easier than ever to own a business.
Your Next Steps
1 Investigate a Wellness Product or Service.
Make sure it’s a product or service you can become passionate about—and commit to.
2 Invest in Education and Training.
Your total startup investment in most direct selling businesses will be low compared to the cost of most startup businesses. This will purchase a business plan and system, as well as access to tools and training, much like a franchise but without the half-million dollars in initial franchise fees.
A Better Quality of Life
While many entrepreneurs choose to own a direct selling business because of the low overhead and flexible (even part-time) hours, most soon discover that it’s the quality of life that keeps them forging ahead.
Direct selling allows you to schedule your work hours around family priorities—to be able to choose your priorities and live your values; that’s why you want wealth, right?
Like any opportunity, owning a direct selling business isn’t effortless. But it is simple, and it can create wealth for those who choose to pursue the opportunity.
