Twenty-five years ago, young Frank L. VanderSloot relocated to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to take the helm of a small company called Melaleuca. From the beginning, Frank didn’t want Melaleuca to be like other companies. He wanted to make it an opportunity that would allow the “little guy” to succeed. Now, 25 years later, that tiny operation in Southeast Idaho has flourished beyond what anyone could have expected, and Frank is being recognized across the nation for his leadership as Melaleuca’s Chief Executive Officer. Recently, Frank generously shared time with Leadership in Action to answer some questions about his passion for enhancing lives, his determination to empower the “little guy” and his love for the Marketing Executives who build Melaleuca businesses around the world.
LIA: Frank, this opportunity gives us a chance to ask you some questions that we hope will give Marketing Executives a chance to know you a little better and understand some of what motivates you.
Frank: Hopefully, I can say something that will be helpful. As you know, I feel very honored that so many people have thrown in with us through the years.
LIA: In the past you have said on many occasions,
including early on in Melaleuca, “The truth is always good enough.” What do you mean by that?
Frank: The truth is a wonderful thing. Scriptures
say you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. That’s really how truth is. To know the truth makes us free from fear, and it is empowering. People often use hype, exaggerate and blow things out of proportion. People who do that lose credibility and become less effective. My father taught me that the truth is always good enough.
LIA: You have often stated that you identify with the “little guy” and believe that Melaleuca levels the playing field so they really have a chance to compete.
Where did this passion for everyday folks come from?
Frank: I think there is something in all of us where we want the underdog to win. We want to see David beat Goliath. And, I suspect I am just like anybody else in that regard.
I think it also made a difference how I grew up. My dad was a “little guy,” and I see myself as a “little guy.” I wasn’t very good in sports, so whatever team I was on was considered the underdog just because I was on it. I have always enjoyed personally being the underdog in sporting activities, and I guess that carried over into the business world. The bigger the odds are, the more fun the event or challenge is for me.
You’ve always got to figure out a different way of doing it. David beat Goliath with a sling. No one was expecting it. They tried to put armor on David, but David had a different plan. He did what he was good at, not what was expected.
I believe there is opportunity like that in all of us—but you can’t do it through the normal way. I think our business model exceeds the potential of any business model out there. It certainly isn’t “traditional.”
There are millions, even billions of “little guys” on this earth. When all the “little guys” are doing business with each other, you have the power of the masses. If that spirit catches on around this world, and I believe it is ripe for that, I can’t even imagine how much potential that gives Melaleuca and people who throw in with us.
When people understand where their dollar is going and catch the spirit of doing business with each other instead of with large corporations, then, I believe we can beat the Goliaths of this world.
LIA: It doesn’t seem to matter to you whether someone has money, status, or what their race or religion is. How have you learned to find common ground with people who may be different than you?
Frank: I probably also got that from my father. He certainly never lectured on that, but always set that example. He never gave great esteem to the wealthy, but did not downgrade them either. He never esteemed them to be more important than someone else.
Nor did he esteem those who had no wealth to be less important. So based on his example and how I saw him interact with other people, and talk about other people, he never degraded anyone. Neither did he give undue respect to people who had more means than he did.
I think all of us are vulnerable in ways, but one lesson that came with me out of the corporate world is that everyone, no matter what position, has the same fears and worries that most folks have. Through the years I’ve talked with several Presidents and candidates for President of the United States. I have also talked with U.S. Senators, CEOs and others. I’ve just always thought we are all kind of equal, and considered people both famous and not accordingly.
LIA: During Melaleuca’s 25-year history it seems we have done many things that simply either weren’t being done before, or done in the way Melaleuca does them. Can you take a moment and identify a few of those areas?
Frank: From a product perspective, the first real scientific breakthrough we had was Fructose Compounding. This allowed us to take a mineral, and bind it to a fructose molecule, thus making it more available to the cells. We didn’t invent this, but we bought the rights to this technology. That was over 20 years ago.
Now, of course, our scientists have added amino acids to the formula, and developed the process of Oligofructose Complex®. This groundbreaking discovery has clearly put us ahead of any competition
regarding human nutrition. The power of Oligo continues to be reinforced through our ongoing research.
LIA: Have there been other major breakthroughs in our history, some of which are not product related?
Frank: You know, I believe the way we market our products has never been done before. Not ever. We offer an income opportunity without requiring people to invest in inventories. That’s contrary to how the “multi-level” companies make their money, by devising programs to get their people to buy huge inventories. Furthermore, they appear not to care whether the product gets sold to the end consumer or not.
So, we were the first, and I believe we still are, and the only company that has a viable product line, that provides a viable income opportunity without any risk whatsoever. Our Preferred Customer program has provided and secured for our customers a discount and a backup order if they forget to order. This has been a real boon to our business builders who now have built in “repeat” business and therefore residual income.
LIA: In the years that have followed, haven’t many companies tried to copy this concept?
CEO Frank VanderSloot stands by his favorite Piedmontese bull, Clem.
Frank: We were the first company on the planet to use an automatic credit card or banking transaction for consumer goods. The only industry doing that was insurance companies who were using credit cards to pay for life insurance premiums. The multi-level companies have tried to copy us, but they don’t really get it. They re-named the process an auto-ship program, which is entirely different. It certainly isn’t a back-up order, in case you forget to place an order. Personally I think that’s a huge difference. Copycats have established more like a book of the month program. You automatically get shipped something every month, no matter what.
LIA: Culturally, Melaleuca took a huge departure from any multi-level company, or for that matter, any other company. How did that happen?
Frank: I think that has a lot to do with our mission statement. It is so far different from any mission statement I have seen or heard. Usually those statements have to do with earning profits, or being the biggest or the best in a particular industry. Our mission statement took us in a whole different direction, of enhancing lives and helping people reach their goals. It set us on a different direction. It truly is a concept of people helping people, instead of someone trying to get ahead of the other person. The spirit of competition still exists, but now you want to take everyone with you. We didn’t set that business model because we thought it would be the most successful, but because it would bring actions that were more rewarding and fulfilling. Our mission statement has been a wonderful driving force that I believe to be the best model I have ever seen.
LIA: You said “a simple story told from the heart is more powerful than the 10 years of science behind the product—but never leave out the product!”
Frank: Well, if you have sound science that really is the most compelling. But sometimes, that doesn’t speak to people nearly as much as the value of what it did for someone. What was proven in the laboratory is one thing, but what it did to change lives is something else.
LIA: You said, “Sometimes the weirdest people have the most potential.” What did you mean by that?
Frank: You know I learned early on in my experience, that sometimes I would judge someone. They didn’t have people skills, or maybe they just were considered a little weird. And I’ve been so surprised, so wrong about people’s potential. I’ve learned not to underestimate anybody’s potential. And I really have learned, in managing a business, and with Marketing Executives, sometimes employees or leaders may seem to others a little weird—but often they are phenomenally successful and productive.
LIA: Why do you think this is?
Frank: I think this is because they learn to think outside the box. And sometimes, there’s a lot of magic in that.
LIA: You said “a peaceful home is like a fine garden. Those who live there can experience phenomenal growth.”
Frank: To me, I have been in a home without peace, and you cannot grow very much personally. And I have experienced a home that is always peaceful, and that is because of my good wife, Belinda. It is during the last 15 years of my life with her that I believe I have experienced the most phenomenal personal growth. To have personal growth you have to look inside yourself. You’ve got to change some things that need to be changed, and strive to be better. If you are full of anxiety and turmoil, it is hard to look inside and change. Somebody said, “If you are up to your fanny in alligators, you forget that your purpose is to drain the swamp.” I’ve surely learned the value of peace and love.
LIA: You said “forgiveness, tolerance and understanding create healing and peace of mind.” Have you experienced this in your own life?
Frank: Yes, and I’ve been on both ends of forgiveness, at the end of needing forgiveness, and receiving it. It is a wonderful thing when you’re forgiven, and I’ve been at the end where someone needs my forgiveness, and I’ve felt the peace of that. There is a peace that comes over you when you forgive someone, that is healing, to both of you.
LIA: Finally, this last but very important question. You said, “The number of shoes in a wardrobe is in direct proportion to the number of purses in that wardrobe. Over time, a man’s space in the bathroom diminishes in direct proportion to the number of years married.” Would you care to comment on that?
Frank: It’s just one of those elements of life that you really don’t understand until you have been through it!
LIA: Thanks so much, Frank!
Related posts:
- Melaleuca Introduction – Frank VanderSloot
- Melaleuca Expanding – Frank VanderSloot CEO – KPVI NBC News
- The Threshold of Greatness! – by Frank VanderSloot
- American Solutions Names Frank L. VanderSloot Entrepreneur of the Year!
- You Can’t Catch a Thing Unless You Keep Your Line in the Water – Frank VanderSloot
- Frank VanderSloot – 25 Years of Truths and Discoveries with Melaleuca
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This was very interesting to read. A lot of the ways that I was raised are similar to this man’s way of thinking. It makes me interested in learning more about both the product and the man behind the product.
A great man