1 of 2006: Career in Health

By now most of you are back into your normal routine and possible carrying a few signs of overindulgence from the holidays. Mark and I are doing our usual 2-3 weeks of raw food which I will share in more detail next week.

This letter includes some info on making a move to a health orientated career if you are considering a move or change, we are both regularly approached by people wanting to get into a health business with the top of the list being a health shop, so we discuss our findings and hopefully will help some of you from losing your shirts.

Our products are getting around and now available from Dischem in Gauteng and Cape Town in fact we are growing so fast. Peter needs independent sales people in the Gauteng area. You must be a real salesperson, own your own car and be motivated and hard working and be able to work without supervision and be passionate about our products. You will basically be running your own business. Contact Peter on 021 881 3624.

 We have moved all the admin and processing of the courses down to Cape Town so Melissa and Jason Klopper will now be managing the process. They can be reached on info@mary-anns.com or  082 33 66 747 for any information on our courses (but check out www.mary-anns.com first) and the monthly DVD Digimag.

 I will be on SABC3 with Nolene on 3Talk on the 25th January 2006 and we will be looking at losing weight naturally, tune in at 17 45hrs. Be ready to phone in and share your successes on the evening as Noelene usually encourages people to phone in.

 Digimag

The Digimag is a monthly DVD sent out directly to you which is designed to encourage and help you in your quest for a healthier lifestyle.

Every month we do 2-4 recipes showing just how much fun and how easy it is to eat healthier, we interview someone who has befitted from a change in diet, we cover a talk topic and we have one other article of interest. This is designed in such a way that it answers many of your questions and some that you had not even thought about.

The digimag is growing in leaps and bounds with an awesome response from so many, We would love to focus on what you want so please feel free to send us the recipes or topics you would like us to cover in 2006. We are trying to make it more fun and easier to help you get healthy.

If you want to find out more about subscribing to our monthly DVD “Digimag” go to www.mary-anns.com) You can always share the cost with a friend and it makes  a great gift to a health conscious friend.

P.S. Remember that that as a DVD subscriber you are entitled to a discount on our products if you order directly from our warehouse.)

A Career in Health?

We are so often approached by people wanting to be in the health business so will share with you our thoughts. Mark and I have been committed to The Natural Way principles for just over 20 years now, previous to that we were ‘health conscious’ but in the restaurant, fast food and hotel industry. Our health is at unsurpassed levels having not had a medical bill due to illness for just on 20 years now (the age of our youngest daughter)

We have seen a lot happen in the health industry, built a successful wholefood emporium and through sheer stupidity lose everything and more. We cover in great detail what we learned about health, business and life in our book “Take Control” if you want the gory details.

A Health Shop

The most common question is from someone wanting to open a “Health Shop”

Well Mark and I have been in the retail and wholesale side of this for nearly 20 years now and we have seen more people lose their shirts owning a shop than in any other line of business, including ourselves.

We have distilled this down to the following observations

1.      Most people start a business on borrowed money or using their life’s savings.  

Mark has analyzed this to death (spread sheets projections etc) for many years and come to the conclusion that to do well and stay in business you need to have at least R1million of your own money. This would not be borrowed against your house of from anyone else; it would need to be cash. This you would need for stock, working capital and for fixtures and fittings. Mark is more than happy to chat to you about this just email him on mark@mary-anns.com

2.      Most people have no retail experience and are not very good with customers tending to see them as an intrusion, you have to really love people and want to spend a lot of time with them

3.      Most people keep too little stock on their shelves (probably because of point 1). No stock means no sales, there is this strange misconception that stock on shelves means money sitting, but money on the shelf is what you need to make more money and nothing puts people off like empty shelves. If you cannot get your head around this don’t open a health shop or any retail outlet for that matter.

4.      Most people are not prepared to work at it for at least 2 years before they start to make a real profit. Don’t open a health shop (ore most retail businesses) if you cannot work with this in mind.

5.      Most people sign leases without reading them or realizing the long term implications. If your lease is for 5 years you are legally bound to pay that for 5 years even if you go out of business. Check the annual increases and work out exactly what you will be paying. It is sheer greed to have the rent increase at a rate greater than inflation and yet most landlords still have the annual increase fixed at 12% each year!! You will battle like anything if that is the case to pay that especially the 3rd, 4th and 5th years

6.      Mark suggests you buy the building or make sure your rent is 5% or less or your monthly turn over. Land lords promise the earth before you sign and then generally ignore you once you are in the premises and they don’t like helping people that are battling, especially if the landlord  is one of the large companies, as they have to produce profits for their shareholders and are not interested in your stories. You cannot survive with rent over 5% of your monthly turnover as your profit margins are too small on health products and food. Restaurants can afford bigger rentals as they make huge profits from alcohol! And even then you are not guaranteed profitable business.

7.      Most people who open health shops do not have a unique selling point (USP). Mark and I would never open a health shop without a totally unique product and approach as most supermarkets and pharmacies are your competition and their mark up is a lot less as they have more buying power and get better prices.

8.      Most people are not great with admin. If you don’t like paper work you have to hire someone to look after it for you from day 1. If you cannot afford someone to do this you should not be in business until you can.

A Natural Health consultant

Helping people to make better choices regarding their lifestyle is probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Consulting can be emotionally and financially rewarding if you are the right person.

1.      You need to be compassionate

2.      Love people

3.      have boundaries with your time and space (otherwise you will pay the price personally (I know I crashed once)

4.      Have a decent space in which to consult (your dining room table is not ideal – you need a separate space)

5.      Have done the Natural Health and Nutrition course (NHN) and then completed the practical Consulting (NHC) course if you want to be affiliated with us and listed on our website. Download the info from www.mary-anns.com or phone Jason on 082 3366 747

Wholesale Health products

In most countries there is an abundance of health products and foods, but insufficient distribution and or retail space and attention.

You may have the best organic peanut butter in the world, but if you cannot get someone to distribute your product to the various retail outlets you are not likely to be in business within a short while.

As a wise man once said, it is not what you can make that counts but what you can sell.

I would say that right now in South Africa there is a huge market for someone to start a distribution company that focuses on natural foods and health products. They need to be slick, well funded and on the ball and have good relationships with the supermarkets and retailers.

Mark has considered doing this as he has years in the industry but the funding needed for this is huge and right now we are not in that league. So if someone else has the wherewith all to do this there is a huge market as the products are just not getting to the market, even our brand which is relatively well known in the health industry. Maybe chat to Mark about this too on 084 2233 200

Wholesale sales – We have a few positions available in wholesale sales. This is a job you get paid for directly related to your effort and if you apply yourself can be very lucrative.

Contact Peter on 021 881 3624 if you are passionate, enthusiastic, reliable and honest and hard working and love our products.

You will basically be running your own business.

Direct Marketing

Probably the easiest way to get into the health business is through a direct marketing company. The premise is that word of mouth is the best way to sell anything as people trust their friends.

People often comment that if there is so much available to pay commissions then surely they could sell the product in a shop and sell it cheaper.

Not so..  In the retail industry two thirds of your price goes to rebates to the supermarkets, transport, distribution and sales commissions. Direct marketing takes this money that would go to these people and pay it back to you for marketing their product to your friends and family.

1. But to be successful you need to totally believe in the product, not only that you should be using the products and benefiting from them.

People are not stupid they know when you are trying to sell them something just for the financial reward; you need your own personal testimony and that of people around you of how you have benefited health wise from the products.

                2. You need to check out the company and make sure it is not one of those companies where if you did not get in on the ‘ground’ floor you don’t stand a chance of earning much.

3. The product must have integrity and be able to stand alone; it should not be about the financial rewards. Someone recently approached me with a product that a world renowned preacher was promoting that apparently healed all manner of disease. My first question was “why does it contain Sodium Benzoate if it is so healthy? Sodium benzoate is a preservative that causes asthma, urticaria, hyperactivity and foetal damage (is also found in all margarine). I was told not to worry about that because I could make a lot of money!!?? Go figure?

4. A company that has integrity should not cost an arm and a leg to get involved and you certainly should not have to buy cases of product each month to stay in the system!

5. The company training should be about the product not about revving you up to make big bucks!

6.      The company should not make claims about their product curing you. A company with integrity acknowledges that a healthy lifestyle is what produces health and their product is part of this lifestyle not some miraculous cure all. You may find out that individual members make claims but that should not be coming from the company.

7.      A Good direct selling company makes no claims about getting rich quickly, like any other business it will take about 2 years to have a solid business, the advantage though is no leases to sign, no huge layout financially and no boss to report to.

8.      A good direct marketing company provides you with all the admin back up you need. There should not be pages of stuff to hand in, fax through or handle. They are there to do al of that.

Mark and I have found the Aim Company which markets the dried vegetable juices (Barleylife, Just Carrots and Redibeets, also Herbal Fibre blend and a whole lot more) to fill all these criteria and fro R115 you are in your own business and can build it slowly while you keep working at your present job. Then in a year or two you could continue on a full time basis. There is no pressure to perform but if you want to build a business and get serious they offer the support. If you need more info and would like to chat to someone who lives near you, email mark@mary-anns.com and Mark will send you the nearest business builder in your area or country (they are in most English speaking countries)

9.    The people that do exceptionally well with this have a background in health or have completed our Natural Health Course. This will give you a balanced view to health and make sure you don’t go off on a tangent selling the latest miracle cure every time a new product or company is released

10.  It is essential if you choose this route to stick with 1 company, trying to be involved in more than one is the surest way to make people run away when they see you

You can always use this system to start saving the R1 million you need to open that little health shop!

 Thought for the week

 “Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good. If you act too quickly, you may make a mistake” Proverbs 19:2

 Cookery Classes-

 Durban: Melanie 031 767 2563 or 082 659 5623 (Kloof /Westville)

Connecticut: Raema Salmon email raemaj@hotmail.com

Somerset West:  Georgie (021) 853 3123

Los Angeles:Alice (818) 541 1991

Midrand: Bev Wium ( 011) 468 3931 Cell: 082 888 7875

Consultants

Please contact any of the Natural Health consultants if you need a full program worked out for your lifestyle; I am simply unable to work out detailed programs via email due to demands on my time. As you will be taking at least 90-120 minutes of their time, they do have to charge. Please do not phone and expect a free consultation over the phone, it is unethical for them to hand out information when they know nothing about you and unfair to expect someone who has taken the time and effort to study and live a healthy lifestyle to spend and hour on the phone with you for free. Some of the consultants do phone and email consultation but only after you have filled in the relevant documents and made the payment. I have found that people who are not prepared to pay for a consultant’s professional time simple do not value and seldom take responsibility for, their health.

Please check out our website for a full list of consultants http://www.mary-anns.com/consultants.htm

If you wish to become a natural health consultant you first need to complete the Natural Health Course and then complete the Consultants Course, see www.mary-anns.com  or contact Jason on 082 33 66 747.

Back to Top