Beginning

The Melaleuca story begins with Frank’s childhood, growing up on a small farm

in the mountains of northern Idaho. Frank watched his father work long, hard

hours on the railroad for less than $300 a month. The family raised their own

beef, tended a garden and worked to make ends meet.

After promising his father that he would get a college education, Frank worked

hard on the farm, on the railroad, in a laundromat and at several other jobs to

pay his way. After college, Frank landed a job with a Fortune 500 company and

rose to the position of vice president. Through the years he learned that as long

as he worked for someone else, he would never enjoy wealth.

“I never really imagined being wealthy,” he says. “But I noticed how the system

worked. There wasn’t much of an opportunity for the little guy.”

“People don’t want to be given money,” Frank says. “They just want an

opportunity. Today, opportunity is getting tougher and tougher to find. With

corporate mergers and leveraged buyouts, the big corporations just continue

to expand. In the old days you could start a small business on a shoestring

investment. Now there are franchises on every corner, and if you want to break

into one of these existing franchises, you have to invest hundreds of thousands,

even millions of dollars. If you don’t have a lot of money, most likely you’ll always

work for someone else.”

In December of 1984, Frank got the chance to try out some of his business ideas.

He was offered a job with a multi-level marketing company that planned to “set

people up in business.” Sales started out with a bang, but within six months the

company folded.

“I learned a lot through that experience,” Frank says. “First, I learned that

I didn’t want anything to do with multi-level marketing. Second, I learned that

it is important for people to buy real products because they really want them,

not because they are trying to qualify for a bonus. Third, I learned it doesn’t work

to set people up in business or sell them inventory—we have to remove the risk

and help them operate a business. And finally, I learned that there are hundreds

of thousands of people out there who either haven’t made it or don’t want to

continue in the corporate world, but who are hard workers, full of potential and

full of enthusiasm.”

Frank started over with a new company, one that was not a multi-level marketing

organisation. He developed a mission statement he could believe in. He hired

top product chemists to combine science and nature to create the best products

available. And he developed a business plan that would reward those who produced.

He implemented his idea of redistributing profits to anyone who contributed

to the growth of the company. The result is a company that provides anyone,

anywhere, with the opportunity to enjoy quality products and build a thriving

home business.