Partner.Co: Partnership Built to Last

BY JENNY VETTER

BUILDING A LEGACY organization is the dream of every ambitious direct sales leader. The compound success of consistency through the steady, everyday activities this industry teaches lays the foundation for businesses to last generations. But the industry is in constant motion, and legacy organizations aren’t immune to challenges. It’s how people navigate those challenges that separate leaders from partners.

FOUNDED: 2023

HEADQUARTERS: Midvale, UT

TOP EXECUTIVES:

Darren Zobrist, Chief Executive Officer

John Wadsworth, Chief Brand Partner Officer

PRODUCTS: Health and Wellness

Facing a Crossroads

John Wadsworth’s direct selling journey was 25 years of building a dream business from the ground up. After launching his career in Japan, he steadily followed habits and practices that grew his network to include teams in over 30 countries.

“This is the quintessential idealistic network marketing story of how cool network marketing can be,” he shared. “I spent my career, 25 years, working boots on the ground with a single network marketing company, witnessing firsthand the impact these products have on transforming people’s lives for the better. I was blessed to see thousands of people around the world truly experience the magic of network marketing and have experiences and accomplishments that, in most cases, exceeded even what they had dreamed.”

But in 2022, John’s dreams of a business that would stand the test of time felt like it was about to be dashed. NewAge was facing financial challenges, and its future was uncertain. Everything John had built throughout his career in the field was on the line, and starting over seemed daunting.

“Your dream when you start (in network marketing) is to do it once and build with a company that lasts forever,” he said. “The magic of this is that every day adds to what you did the day before and compounds to a huge scale. But if you ever had to start over—that’s traumatic. When you face something that you didn’t expect, that comes out of left field, that throws you off your track, you have to respond quickly. One, you want to try and see how you can influence the outcome. But two, you want to keep an open mind and say, ‘Maybe this could be a silver lining. Something good.’ I hit that point. When I did, I called Darren.”

Preserving Legacy

Darren Zobrist chose a different path, starting his career in the financial industry, followed by Wharton Business School and launching a hugely successful seafood business that he eventually sold in a lucrative deal. But he wanted more.

“I started my career in the financial industry on Wall Street, working with some highly reputable firms,” Darren said. “But the longer I was there, the more I realized I wanted to do something more meaningful. Throughout my career, I’ve learned that there is more than just the bottom line. To be truly successful, you have to think about others and how you can support them, too.”

Fast forward to 2022 and a phone call from John that would change everything. The two had met at church years earlier and became fast friends, finding commonalities in how they viewed both business and life.

“I called Darren and told him that I can accept starting over because I’m pretty resilient, but I don’t want to,” John said. “Darren listened to me, calmed me down a little bit and said, ‘John, no big deal. We’ll just buy the business.’”

The solution sounded simple and crazy at the same time. But in a matter of days, it was done, saving not only all that John had built, but countless other leaders’ networks worldwide. While he intended to be more of a passive investor, Darren became CEO following a life-changing trip to a field event in Barcelona, where he experienced the heartbeat of network marketing for the first time.

“I didn’t know much at all about this industry,” Darren said. “It was really touching to see how people’s lives were changed by this company, by this industry, by improving their health and their finances. And I saw the opportunity to help people on a much larger scale. Then all the discussions started, and we realized how unique our partnership was. Here we have John with 25 years as a distributor. You have me with Wharton, Wall Street, ran a big company. We’re unique, and it’s a huge advantage for us to build something that will last—hopefully for generations. And something that is a very unique opportunity for distributors who are looking for a place to land.”

Discovering True Partnership

It became clear that John and Darren’s venture wasn’t just new ownership, but something new entirely—a true partnership that could inspire a new vision for what’s possible in network marketing. They took a critical look at every aspect of the company, from products to compensation plan, corporate structure and strategy. They took stock of what they had on the table: timetested products, efficient worldwide logistics, a license in China, established brands and experienced leaders, a fair compensation plan and a great opportunity— everything they needed to create something new that the industry hadn’t seen before. They dreamed up a partnership of existing brands, all working together as a new entity with the stability and longevity of a legacy company. But what to call it?

“We want to be a true partnership with all of our people, hundreds of thousands of people around the world who look to this community to better their lives on a daily basis and give them a vision for what their future can be over three years, five years, 10 years, next generation,” John explained. “As we contemplated that and considered different names, we kept coming back to that concept of partner, a partnership. Something that really signifies how we feel about our relationship with everyone else who’s part of our community, be it the vendors and the suppliers; the people out in the field; the executives at corporate. Everyone locks arms in a partnership. It was then we came up with the name Partner.Co, the Partner Company, and if you understand the context, it’s a really cool name with a deep meaning.”

Partner.Co officially launched in February 2023 as a brand-new company with Darren as Chief Executive Officer and John serving as Chief Brand Partner Officer, combining established brands and leaders from four companies, ARIIX, LIMU®, Morinda and Zennoa®, into a new platform of brands and product categories that supports existing Brand Partners and offers a fresh opportunity to a new generation of prospective Partners.

“We think of ourselves as a blended community— one that gets this tremendous opportunity to build off the accomplishments and hard work of the people who helped create and grow ARIIX, Morinda, Limu and Zennoa. We’re incredibly grateful for that,” shared John.

Reimagining the Future

John’s desire to preserve what he’d built plus Darren’s business leadership experience combined to birth a new way of operating a network marketing company with powerful leaders working together to achieve the team’s goal of longterm, sustainable growth. The team is quick to observe, listen and adapt, leading their field-driven organization with transparency and collaboration through: n The Brand Partner Bill of Rights, which guarantees the company’s pledge to give its Brand Partners a seat at the table, helping drive business decisions together with the corporate team, sharing profits, incentives and fun. n The Partners Council, a group of key ambassadors selected each year for their proven records of success combined with their passion for Partner.Co’s shared vision. n The Founders Club, the most prestigious group of recognition that a Brand Partner can achieve in the entire industry. This group has all the privileges of being a founder, including profit sharing.

Partner.Co considers the entirety of 2023 its “launch year,” giving prospective Brand Partners the exclusive opportunity to join during such an exciting time for the company. And Darren and John can’t wait to see what’s next.

“I’m excited about the adventure of experiencing this from a new perspective with new possibilities, new scale and new scope,” John said. “We’re bringing people along on that exciting journey because we only get one chance at life.”

“It’s incredible to me how we were able to bring Partner.Co together so quickly and so cohesively,” Darren shared. “We have incredible leadership. We have amazing products. Everything just came together. And for me, that’s been unique in my business career. I’ve loved every minute of seeing that happen.” DSN

BY PAULA FELPS

RON STURGEON inadvertently became an entrepreneur at the age of 17 when his dad died and he found himself with no place to live. He started repairing cars and—from those humble beginnings—built a successful chain of salvage yards which he sold to Ford Motor Company in 1999. He then began exploring other business opportunities, which led to him becoming a real estate investor, landlord and developer

Along the way, he has remained a fierce advocate for small businesses and entrepreneurs, founding the small business consulting firm Mr. Mission Possible as well as becoming a motivational speaker and strategic planner for entrepreneurs. The author of 10 business books, Ron tells the story of his unconventional path to success in the forthcoming book Homeless to $100 Million

In this interview, Ron and Heather talk about some of his learnings as an entrepreneur and how leaders can help develop an entrepreneurial mindset in others.

HEATHER CHASTAIN: I know that you’ve spent the latter part of your career coaching and inspiring other entrepreneurs. We know how much is changing, but what are some of the constants that you consider to be foundational or fundamental to success?

RON STURGEON: Well, it may run contrary to what a lot of people feel, but I didn’t go to college, and I don’t think a college education is necessarily needed. Had I gone to college, I believe I would have been a better business person. And yet it didn’t take me very many years to have learned what I needed. I got everything I would have gotten from college by just reading books. And I read voraciously. My advice to people is always to read one book a month. After you’ve read about three or four on finance and three or four on leadership and three or four on marketing, you’ve got a pretty good platform.

HEATHER: I agree with you on the lifelong learner mindset. I did go to college, but I went entirely at night and recognized that what I was learning full time during my job during the day was serving me much better than the things I was reading in the books at night. What authors are you reading that you think are interesting in this area?

RON: There are a few basic books that I tell people to read and I keep them here and give them out all the time. I always recommend The Mind of a Millionaire because millionaires think very differently than other people. They see the opportunity where other people see barriers to entry.

One of the reasons bankers like me is because I don’t eat out of the pie. More often than not when I see a business owner’s business plan, he shows the business growing and growing and growing, but he shows drawing a salary of $100,000, $200,000, then $500,000 out of the pie. If he would just take the $100,000 and maybe go up really modestly to $150,000 and put the rest of it back into the business or other assets, in the end he’ll build wealth and stop focusing so much on income.

HEATHER: One of the things that I’ve noticed in my 25 years of encouraging and coaching entrepreneurial leaders is that mindset of longer term. You have to act like sort of what’s happening today isn’t necessarily going to happen forever. And that shift to how do we build something that in the long term will be successful to protect ourselves against that future has been a big piece of certainly my passion and my coaching. What are some practices that you had or approaches that you took that you don’t think are relevant anymore, that really aren’t good?

RON: I think of course the marketing has changed dramatically. Most of the people nowadays that used to do well that are not doing well today have not adapted to the new mediums and the way to attract business. They don’t think about their unique selling proposition and how noisy the world is.

HEATHER: How do people go about understanding what their point of difference is, what makes them unique when you’re trying to be competitive?

LEARN MORE from Ron’s upcoming book!

Homeless to $100 Million

An Entrepreneur’s Roadmap to Building Wealth uncomfortable and talk about things…I’ve coached a lot of leaders where that’s super hard for them to get over that hurdle to say, I don’t want to brag. It’s not about me, it’s about whatever it’s about. What kind of coaching would you give to somebody who is struggling with that?

RON: Well, first, I’m not sure everybody’s an entrepreneur because their aversion to risk is very different. And until you’ve made payroll on your credit card, you kind of don’t understand that. There’s a lot of people out there that no matter what kind of work ethic or good product or service they might have, they are not willing to make their payroll on a credit card ever under any circumstance. And if they’re not willing to take that kind of risk in the early stages, it’s going to hamper their ability to get ahead.

On the marketing thing, a famous person once said if you don’t talk about yourself, nobody else is going to talk about you. So you better learn to be able and willing to talk about your successes. That can be a real daunting task for people that are really shy, really humble or who don’t want to be braggadocios. But you have to learn to think success, talk success and not be afraid to talk about your own success.

HEATHER: That’s particularly apt for our audience because so much of what we are selling in the direct selling channel is attraction marketing. It’s be attracted to us and be part of my community and part of my circle and part of my team. And unless you’re willing to get out there and be a little

RON: One of the things they can do is talk about how everybody helped them and how they led the team to this success. And we all know that they were the leader of the team, but there’s a way to couch that statement so that it doesn’t sound overtly braggy about that leadership role. And I think that feels a lot better; it feels better to people that are listening, and it can feel better to the person that’s speaking about it.

HEATHER: What are a couple things about that entrepreneurial mindset that you’ve experienced in yourself and that you see in all the entrepreneurs you’ve coached that you would sort of articulate or hope that our audience would understand about how to motivate an entrepreneur?

RON: I think that being able to motivate and coach is also about being able to understand what the definition of success is and how to measure it. Too many owners and executives know nothing about the financial statement, and they haven’t had any experience on the financial side of the business. And it’s a huge weakness—a blind spot that they have. So I think learning more about finance, but then learning more about metrics and being able to measure success. And think about how to promote the right things to get that done. DSN