Oh Canada! Ten Years and Going Strong!

The long anticipated day had finally arrived! It was May 2nd, 1994 and Canada had just become Melaleuca's very first international business! Marketing Executives from Canada were ready that day at the break of dawn. In fact, several were even lined up outside the downtown Idaho Falls product store in the early morning hours, waiting for it to open. Some had driven up to fifteen hours just to get there the first day and buy products for Canada!

And the excitement could be felt throughout the halls at Melaleuca's headquarters too. Phones had been ringing non-stop since six in the morning! By 10 a.m., orders for 3,000 Canadian Customer and Independent Marketing Executive Agreements were made, and by the end of the first day 700 Canadian Business Kits had been ordered.

And that was only the first day! Now celebrating their 10 year anniversary with Melaleuca, Marketing Executives in Canada are still going strong. In fact, there are currently tens of thousands of Marketing Executives in Canada and currently four members of the Executive Director Council are from Canada. And just last month Melaleuca had the first ever Standing ELC in Canada at Banff!

"Canada started with a bang," National Vice President of Sales, Johnny Morgison says. "They have a tremendous work ethic. When Canada opened they didn't have Melaleuca Oil or the Value Pack."

But that didn't stop Melaleuca businesses from skyrocketing in Canada, Corporate Director V Eddie Bestoso says. With a company built on a foundation of amazing products, Canadian business builders used everything they had and welcomed any and all new products to their businesses as they came. "It's all in how you present and how you perceive," he says. "We had enough products. We worked with those we had and knew that the others would come and we went off and built our businesses," Eddie says. And did they come! Canadians today enjoy the full product line and hundreds of products from the categories that Melaleuca offers.

Sales soared and businesses quickly grew in Canada. Canada's very first Executive Director, Raymond Aaron, enrolled on May 7th and became an Executive Director on June 30th! And Kim Cherveney became Canada's very first Corporate Director in only a little over two years!

"Canadians are such wonderful people," Kim says. "They are very well networked. Everybody knows everybody. I rented a small amphitheater and I would go there once a week and do a presentation and people would come to that. It held up to 150 people and it would be packed."

A few years after Canada opened, Eddie Bestoso, Tom Pisano and Kim Cherveney did a special group of presentations for business builders called Firing up Across Canada that really took off! They gave workshops in six cities and there were seven meetings where they trained several thousand Marketing Executives.

"It certainly was a blast helping them build," Eddie says. "They were eager to learn, eager to work and anxious to get ahead with nothing to slow them down or hold them back."

Melaleuca's brand new Canadian Corporate Director, Jeff Miller, agrees. "I think it's exciting to see Canada do so well and for us to be a part of the success here. Now it's been 10 years and we are still rocketing forward. There is no stopping us," he says emphatically.

"It's been such a successful expansion into another country because of the people," Kim agrees. "The people there are wonderful! I lived there for 10 years and I feel like I am part Canadian. I want to thank them for their hard work and example," Kim says. "They support and mentor and care about one another. They are nurturing and hard workers and loyal. All of those qualities create unbelievable businesses."

While Canada has seen great milestones over the past 10 years, one that really impacted the country was the opening of Quebec in 1997. "Quebec opening was a huge deal for Canada," Johnny Morgison says. "The first meeting in Quebec had over 1,500 people." In Quebec alone, there are many Executive Director businesses that are growing with tremendous speed.

"Canadian business builders are very well respected and well represented," Doug Moss, Regional Director of Canada, adds. "We have four Executive Director Council members from Canada right now. Rick and Jacqueline Jongkind, Donna and Art Stewart, Wayne and Rita Crosby, and Mark and Myrna Atha," he says.

Executive Directors V Wayne and Rita Crosby will be celebrating their very own 10 year anniversary with Melaleuca in Canada this August and are ecstatic with the growth and progression of the company. "We're excited because when Canada opened there was tremendous growth, and here we are a decade later and Canada is continuing to grow! We've come a long way. We have so much to celebrate!" they say.

And there certainly has been a lot of celebration in Canada recently! In the past five months alone there have been 14 Executive Director advancements in Canada. Three of them were brand new Executive Directors. And in 2003 there were 21 Executive Director Advancements and seven brand new Executive Directors from Canada!

Executive Directors IX Mark and Myrna Atha say the continued success can be attributed to the great leadership that has been developed in Canada since the get-go. "We are so proud of all of our Canadian leaders," Mark says. "They put a lot of pride in personal accomplishment and working hard and they are very loyal and committed. We've had some real consistent teamwork and leadership since the beginning. It's produced phenomenal leadership and it's the first of many decades to come!"

"It's apparent that Melaleuca is not going to slow down in any country we are going to go to, and especially in Canada," Eddie Bestoso says. "Now would be the time to really work as hard as they can to build their businesses. I can guarantee the work they do for the next 48 months will benefit them for the next 48 years," he says.

It has been an amazing decade of success in Canada starting from the day Canadians lined up outside the Idaho Falls store to enroll and get their businesses going! With Canadian sales increasing daily and leaders steadily growing, the past 10 years prove that when a person puts their mind to it, there is nothing that will stop them from finding success with Melaleuca.