My Nikken Journey, Part 2
"If you are not willing to learn no one can help you. If you are determined to learn no one can stop you. "Ā Ā -- Zig Ziglar
Close One Door, Open Another.
For the last 24 years, I have been an advocate for the Nikken Wellness Home and the Nikken business. It took some time, research, product evaluation, and understanding the Nikken business model before I fully engaged.Ā
My first experience was a product experience that dramatically improved a neck condition that had bothered me for over 3 years. I had never entertained the idea of a business opportunity with Nikken until the distributor that I had purchased products from asked if I might have an interest in the Nikken business. My immediate response was no and that I didnāt have time for another business. The fact was, that I really didnāt have time for much else other than my embryo transfer business, and that had been the case for myself and my business partner for nearly 20 years. Donāt get me wrong, we loved our business but the more successful our business became, the busier we got. It seemed that although we loved the company that we had founded, it didnāt seem to love us back. Time freedom was the key issue that plagued us both.Ā I remembered Jerry's invitation to join Nikken as a distributor and this prompted me to complete due diligence on Nikken as a possible business option.
As I was researching Nikken, I was impressed with the diversity of the product line and they seemed to fill the increasing need for those looking for natural health solutions. The company held a very high Dun and Bradstreet rating had been in business for 24 years and had expanded into international markets since its inception in Japan in 1975. By all measures, Nikken appeared to be a very stable company with a great future ahead of them.Ā
My first experience was a product experience that dramatically improved a neck condition that had bothered me for over 3 years. I had never entertained the idea of a business opportunity.
As part of my due diligence, I traveled 400 miles from Lodi to Irvine, California to visit the corporate headquarters. I entered a beautiful building spoke to a receptionist and told her that I was considering joining Nikken as a distributor and that I would like to speak to a corporate officer about the possibility. She asked if I was interested in a tour of the facility while she set an appointment for me with the vice-president of Nikken. The tour of the headquarters was impressive and during it, I asked others on the tour questions. Some were Nikken distributors that were excited about the Nikken business and product line. I also interviewed many of the employees at Nikken. Everyone I talked to was very happy with their jobs. This included department heads to people answering phones and those working in the shipping department. This impressed me and every employee told me that working for Nikken was the best job they ever had. When I asked why they responded that Nikken was a company that was based on the 5 Pillars of Wellness. Namely, a healthy mind, healthy body, healthy family, healthy society, and healthy finances this philosophy was especially important to provide a healthy work environment for their employees.Ā
After the tour, I was escorted to the office of the vice president. I was impressed with the fact that just showing up with no scheduled appointment the VP of this big, successful company would take the time to talk with me. The meeting with him was enlightening and he asked me as many questions as I asked him. He displayed a sincere interest in finding out what I was looking for from a possible Nikken business. I explained to him that my current career was time-consuming and involved a lot of travel away from my family. I wanted to create time freedom for more balance in my life. He explained that Nikken offered a personal development program, Humans Being More, that explored the opportunity to create and set goals for more balance in our lives. He suggested that I attend the program to learn more. Wow, this blew me away, a personal development program to create balance in my life. I have to admit that at this point in my life this was a novel and exciting possibility.Ā
While researching the Nikken technologies I had come across a scientific organization that was cited in many of the papers that I had reviewed, the organization was the North American Academy of Magnetic Therapy. They were holding their annual conference that week in Los Angeles and I decided to register and attend. The proceedings were very informative and I met many researchers in the field. I was a bit surprised to also meet a number of Nikken distributors at the conference. I was impressed that leaders in the field were also very interested in expanding their personal education regarding technologies that Nikken incorporated in their products.Ā
Nikken offered a personal development program, Humans Being More, that explored the opportunity to create and set goals for more balance in our lives.
I was informed that many leaders in the field conducted weekly Wellness Previews that presented the Nikken products and business for guests with an interest in either or both. I knew from the previous interaction with the physical therapist that I mentioned in Part 1 of My Nikken Journey that there was a Wellness Preview in Eugene, Oregon. Since I traveled a lot, I started scheduling my business trips to coincide with the Wellness Previews that were being conducted in or near the cities that I traveled to. I attended many of these meetings and was impressed with the information and professionalism of those involved. The meetings were well attended, educational and fun. There was never any high pressure to join or buy and they concluded with a simple call to action to get fully informed before making a decision. Good advice and that was exactly what I was doing. Of course, all this investigation took time, and I have to admit much more time than usually expected, but it did give me the information that I needed to make a decision and join Nikken as a consultant and share it with others. I really didnāt get the big picture at the time but soon came to realize that with its products, philosophy of the 5 pillars of Wellness, and its business opportunity, what Nikken was offering was a healthy lifestyle. A Life in Balance is what I was looking for.Ā
From my due diligence what I learned was that Nikken was a 24-year-old, stable company with products inspired by nature to improve health. It started in Japan and had expanded globally. The products were in demand, relevant, patented, and unique to Nikken. The corporate leadership and leadership in the field displayed professionalism, integrity, and high regard in service to others. Nikken as an opportunity was passing all the criteria that I would expect if I were to join them as a business partner.Ā
One more aspect of Nikken needed to be explored and evaluated. Nikkenās business model was Network Marketing. Once again, here was an instance where I had an opinion on something that I had no knowledge or experience with. In fact, I had never been approached about a network marketing opportunity, but I did have an opinion and it was not very favorable. Here was another instance where I had to ask myself, why did I have an opinion about an industry that I had no knowledge or experience in?Ā
A Life in Balance is what I was looking for.Ā
Was it possible to create a lifestyle that would allow me the freedom to work around my life rather than planning my life around my work? This epiphany came to me while on an extended business trip my son was giving me the play-by-play account of his little league game on the phone. Why was it that I had worked so hard for so long and still couldnāt be there for my sonās games? This elicited some real soul searching and evaluation as to what it was I really wanted. Was Nikken and Network Marketing the answer?
This set up my next course of study to learn and evaluate Network Marketing and Nikkenās business model and more importantly, was it a business that I could learn and be proud to represent.
What I learned from that investigation will be the subject for next week's Impetus. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter below and get healthy choices in your inbox.
