Direct selling companies operating in the United States face a constantly evolving legal and regulatory landscape. Business practices and methods that were once viewed as acceptable or compliant may now invite significant legal or regulatory risk to a company and its stakeholders. Companies should, therefore, regularly evaluate their business practices to ensure that their risk profile has not increased due to business activities that are now deemed noncompliant or illegal.

This story begins nearly a century ago. Two friends with a resume of hit and miss business ventures enter the direct selling arena. They sell a nutritional supplement called DOUBLE X, build a successful distributorship, and with some trepidation, launch a new company. Corporate headquarters is split between two basements in Ada, Michigan. The product is soap, not a particularly glamorous item. But they understand the power that lies in the dreams and ambitions of people searching for an opportunity.

In his December 21, 2021, article, Scaling A Startup: Look Toward Operational Automation, Forbes Technology council member and reporter Aaron Vick writes, “When first building a business, founders reach for tools that will help them achieve specific tasks—frequently by cobbling together a Rube Goldberg collection of off-the-shelf software and homegrown solutions without much thought on the larger picture. The focus in this phase of startup growth is on acquiring customers and growing revenue, not how to make the business operations function more efficiently at scale.”

The past couple of years have been defining for Europe and the world. As the pandemic brought forth challenges we could not have imagined, direct selling leaders used the opportunity to adapt, modernize, and transform into a more diverse industry.

With annual revenue of US$18 billion and more than 900,000 direct sellers, Germany is the largest direct selling market in Western Europe, with an upward growth trajectory spanning more than a decade. Geologically based in the heart of Europe with more than 80 million residents, Germany is treasured for its strong and dynamic economy, innovation, and stable political environment.

Flexibility, work-life balance, opportunity for all . . . these are some of the guiding principles driving the direct selling industry, principles not only appealing to women but also extremely forward-thinking. In the past, a woman’s duty to family often meant she was tied to the home and couldn’t enjoy a career or earn money of her own. For years, direct selling has afforded women with the ability to do both, long before the virtual, work-from-home days of COVID.

"The way to get started is to stop talking and start doing.”

Walt Disney shared this concise advice on how to get things off the ground and, given his track record, there’s obviously some truth to it. Thinking about starting a new business is one thing; actually starting one is something completely different.

A record-setting year in 2020 for retail sales, direct sellers, and customers had the US direct selling channel riding high and carrying tremendous momentum into last year. Although 2021 sales are expected to return to historical norms—the USDSA will release final figures in June—during the pandemic, the channel emphasized the impact of its presence on local economies, showed investors the adaptability of its business model, offered displaced workers clear paths for career options, and gave consumers a diversity of products for living in a post-COVID world.

We sometimes learn more about our company and ourselves when the business is in decline and during those pivotal, humbling moments as we work toward the next ascent.

Like many entrepreneurs, direct sellers embrace the spirit of independence. And like industries that are built to last, direct selling has adapted and endured over the decades by preparing generations of Americans for many of the defining moments that changed the course of our nation’s history. The resilience and independence that have been intrinsic to the business for more than a century are fundamental to who we are and where we are going.

Mary Kay Inc. Chairman and CEO David Holl discusses the launch of the company’s virtual reality platform Suite 13, women’s empowerment and leadership, and how staying relevant was built into its solid foundation—starting with its visionary Founder Mary Kay Ash. 

Across the United States and around the world, a direct selling presence brings more to a community than just a business opportunity. It brings a commitment to good citizenship—a pledge to give back to those communities where direct sellers live and work and to respond to the needs of others in times of a national or global crisis.