Be The Architect of Your Dreams: Asking the Experts

Brian Rurak ~ Coordinator, RI

Brian Rurak is a Certified Personal Trainer with a Bachelors Degree in Physical Education/Health (PK-12) and a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology…and he’s excited about Shaklee Sports Nutrition! Check out why!

As a fitness professional, what attracted me to Shaklee was the science! Before Shaklee, I avoided recommending nutritional supplements to my fitness clients. But I realized, even though I was educating my clients on how to shop properly, prepare their meals/food and eat properly, TIME was always a factor when they were trying to improve their performance.

Being a lifelong athlete I know the benefits of good nutrition in order to perform at the optimum level. The science and bioavailability of Shaklee’s sports nutrition gives athletes, even the recreational athlete, that little extra edge to get the most out of their body.

The nice thing about the Shaklee Sports Nutrition line is that it so versatile that any one of the products can be recommended to anyone across the spectrum of “athlete.” So whether the person is an elite athlete, a recreational athlete or a “gardening” athlete, everyone needs to hydrate and replenish/repair muscles when they are fatigued.

Be The Architect of Your Dreams

R. Dean Aldridge - Senior Executive Coordinator

R. Dean Aldridge, FastTRACK Executive Coordinator, Washington

R. Dean Aldridge began with Shaklee in July 2009. Seven months later he began qualification for Executive Coordinator in the FastTRACK accelerated career path, a full eight months ahead of schedule, and more than quadrupled his income in that time. "We needed to redesign our lives and come up with a blueprint for success that worked for us, where we could do well, feel good about it, and touch some lives along the way." I came from a lower-middle-class background and saw my parents struggle to make ends meet. Perhaps because of the way I grew up, I always had an entrepreneurial spirit. When I was in high school,I formed a DJ company with some friends and we hired ourselves out for parties in the area. But I was a pretty talented baseball player and I thought baseball would be my ticket to the life I wanted. When I lost my athletic scholarship, however, I had to look for a new way to achieve my dreams.

By age 20 I was selling insurance and making a lot of money, but it was HARD work—I was always competing for the next auto or home owners' policy. Then I moved to the corporate side and built several large sales teams, but I realized that I was stuck in Corporate America.

When we learned about Shaklee, we quickly discovered that Shaklee was special— special team, special company, and a special cause. My wife, who is a naturopathic physician, looked at the science and saw just how strong Shaklee products were. We saw that Shaklee was the perfect mix. With Shaklee, we could help others and earn a living along the way without cheating our family.

Be The Architect of Your Dreams

Asking The Experts: Bill Firth, New Senior Master Coordinator, NY

Master Coordinator -- the top leadership tier in Shaklee -- represents the pinnacle of achievement in the Shaklee Field…but how do you get there and grow beyond to Senior and Presidential Master Coordinator? We asked new Senior Master Coordinator and 42-year Shaklee veteran Bill Firth what he’s doing to take his business to the next level.

Look for builders with heart: We pinpointed teams within our organization that “have a heart” for Shaklee. If the desire and heart is there to build, volume will come. We contacted them and let them know they have the right attitude and skills to build. Commit to those teams, invest a part of your life in them, and make it a strong working entity that can go forward into the future. Keep in contact with them on a regular basis.

Differentiate Shaklee by emphasizing our history and philosophy: Today’s landscape is different than when Shaklee first began. There are many competitive products in the marketplace. That’s why we emphasize Shaklee products as an extension of the philosophy of being In Harmony with Nature® that Dr. Shaklee founded the company on and which represents a major element of what makes us different. We’re not just another vitamin company and it’s important to convey that to prospects.

Keep refining your presentation: I started out by using a DVD presentation, and at first, I would play the entire program straight through. But I realized I was losing my audience. After thinking this through, I broke down the DVD into five segments of 6 to 9 minutes each. In between segments, I interject comments about what they’ve seen and heard, reinforcing the Shaklee philosophy at each juncture.

Follow up and follow through: I make sure that each prospect goes home with a packet that reinforces what they just heard. Documentation beats conversation. Then we follow up on each packet with the goal of having each attendee start with Rx for a Healthier Life™. If someone says that they cannot afford the Rx, we encourage starting with Vitalizer® or Vivix®.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Shaklee Share Common Values

How can a cookbook written by an Academy Award winning actress help people in Japan to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in history? Here’s how.

Recently, Gwyneth Paltrow learned about the Shaklee Family and our values, and about Shaklee Cares® and its mission of providing aid following a natural disaster like the one in Japan. She was impressed with the way that the Shaklee Family organizes around helping others, and she wanted to participate.

The inspiration for Ms. Paltrow’s new book, My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness was the time she spent with her father preparing food for the family – time that taught her the importance of putting people and relationships first. So taking some of the proceeds from her book to help people rebuild their lives – while at the same time honoring her father – felt like the right thing to do.

Shaklee Cares is pleased to announce that part of the proceeds from purchases of Gwyneth Paltrow’s book through a special Shaklee Cares affiliate page on Amazon.com will benefit the Shaklee Cares for Japan Earthquake Relief effort

To help make a difference, and to get some ideas for how to make great food that will bring together the people you care about, please visit our Amazon.com affiliate page here.

Asking the Expert: The Best of Both Worlds

Kathj Minsky, Master Coordinator from Nevada

The Best of Both Worlds
It’s a new year and everyone is talking about the Shaklee Dream Plan! We asked Kathi Minsky to share why she’s excited about the Dream Plan and how she’s sharing it with others!

Shaklee has always had the most exciting products in the industry. It is what made us the # 1 natural nutrition company in the US. When Roger purchased Shaklee, he promised to create the most compelling plan in the industry to match the quality of our products. And today we can truly say that we have a plan that offers what prospects are searching for in a home-based business.

When you are determining needs as you talk to a new prospect, find out what components capture their imagination. Ask questions that will help you understand what part of the plan would appeal to their personal goals.

My favorite way to do this is to use the Live the Dream Brochure (#76055) as a starting point and find out what interests them and talk about how THEY can achieve THEIR personal goals in Shaklee.

In the initial conversation, keep the details to a minimum. But remember, regardless of their initial interest, you’ll want permission to TELL THE WHOLE SHAKLEE STORY at some point now or in the near future.

Learn stories of success from your own team, or borrow them from the Power of Shaklee. Then share success stories that are relevant to their interests, rather than specifics about the plan. Or consider using the Shaklee Success Line numbers to hear stories of young entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms, business men and women and others who have succeeded. Once they see that others have done it… they will know they can too.

It’s about possibilities! Let them see what is possible when they build a Shaklee business. If you can capture their imagination, you won’t have to talk them into joining. Many will see that they can achieve their dreams and will say “yes” when you ask them to join you.

Let’s talk about you! Do you believe that the new Dream Plan can help YOU achieve YOUR own goals? Are you moving towards those goals every day? If you are, you will have no problem in sharing your excitement and belief with others.

Why Shaklee, Why you?

In this sneak peek at what's in this year's January 2011 Kickoff DVD, Roger Barnett, Chairman and CEO of Shaklee Corporation, tells us why he chose to invest in Shaklee, and why he believes we can become the largest force for positive social change in the world.

Roger Barnett wanted a company with growth potential, the right products and a purpose, and the only company he found that met all these criteria is Shaklee. Why? Shaklee is a pioneer in health, and health is a trend that will continue to grow for decades. Shaklee has the best natural health products, that are not available anywhere, that are unique and consumed every single day.

We offer a healthier life and a better life for everyone. As you use Shaklee products and share them with others, you also have the opportunity to earn rewards like cars, cash and trips along with a lifestyle and experiences you may have only dreamed about.

Shaklee offers the opportunity to be part of something far greater than any one of us can do on our own. Please join us and be part of the collective movement to help make people and our planet healthier, one household at a time.

A Steady Business in Tough Times

Article by Mr. Caceres~ Shaklee Colorado Branch

Margaret Trost to describe her life with an old Creole saying: “ Little by little, we all arrive.” She finds both comfort and truth in this motto that has successfully guided her through many challenges over the years.

“Small step by small step, you can make big things happen,” she says. “I’ve seen that in my Shaklee business and in life.” Now, the 15-year Shaklee veteran is using her financial and personal success to help impoverished families improve their lives one step at the time.

Originally working in public television for many years, Margaret was ready to leave TV production and sought an opportunity to work more closely with other people and to make a difference in their lives.

So when she discovered Shaklee’s health and wellness products soon after leaving the world of television, Margaret decided to give the business—and its products—a try. She was so impressed with the results that she became a part-time Distributor, transitioning into the business full-time when her son Luke was born in 1992. Margaret still uses the products to this day and credits them with her great health.

A believer in Shaklee product quality and integrity, Margaret is equally passionate about the people and the atmosphere of support, whether it’s sharing a technique with a colleague across the country or an encouraging word to a fellow Distributor.

However, the Shaklee support that meant the most to Margaret was the ability of her business to support her family when her husband unexpectedly died. Emotionally devastated, Margaret would have been too shaken to return to a traditional job, but her home business maintained itself while she sorted through the grieving process.

“I needed to pull back for a while, taking care of Luke and myself,” she says. But my business still grew. My customers reordered and the Distributors in my business kept building their own business. My income was solid and steady in a period in which I was not. For that, I’ll always be grateful.”

Much like that chance meeting with a Shaklee Distributor 15 years ago, Margaret stumbled upon a chance to help thousands. She accepted a last-minute invitation on a two-week volunteer project in Haiti. Knowing little about the country, she arrived and was devastated by the tremendous need.

Returning home, she shared her desire to make a difference much in the same way she grew her Shaklee business—conversation by conversation, contact by contact. Soon, checks began arriving. “Shaklee makes it possible for me to earn enough to support my family and also build my foundation,” Margaret says.

Today her What If? Foundation feeds children in Haiti five days a week, serving 800 to 1,000 people daily. Because she makes over $100,000 a year working just 15 hours a week, Margaret is able to devote half of her time to her personal mission, half to her Shaklee business and them many people who are part of it.