It’s no secret that one of the perks of success in Amway is that we send our distributors on business and incentive trips to some of the world’s most beautiful locations. But just as often, we simply bring them home – to our World Headquarters in Ada, Michigan, a community of 10,000 residents that is also home to rivers, working farmlands and a historic town village.

When they visit, they share their stories with employees, who frankly, never tire of hearing about who they are and how they’ve built their Amway business. Employees consider this a privilege, and we hope our Amway Insider readers will, too.

A few days ago, Founders Council member Wonbo Shim told us that when he was a mechanical engineer in California, he was relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with no say in the matter. That’s when he realized, “my life is not mine,” and started his Amway business.

During that same employee meeting, Deidre Sala told us that when she was a young girl, her mother bought fruits, vegetables and Amway products from a small truck that drove through her tiny town on Australia’s Gold Coast. Naturally, her first thought when someone approached her about the Amway business was, “but we don’t own a truck!” She soon learned what it actually takes to be an Amway business owner – no truck necessary!

Igor and Valeria Kharatin, Ukranians, shared, “We both started our careers as teachers, but now, we have our own school.” Igor and Valeria used their profits from Amway to set up a school teaching sportsman-like conduct to young athletes.

And to wrap up that day’s meetings, Foo Howe Kean, an Amway Founders Council member from Malaysia said, “They say opportunity never knocks twice, but for me, it did.”

He was shown the Amway compensation plan once, but was unsure if was for him. That second ”knock” came from the former chairman of the Dental Association of Malaysia, a friend of his at the time. Foo joined Amway 35 years ago. Since then he has also started Amway businesses in China, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand.

Perhaps Deidra’s husband Mitch summarized how we all — employees and distributors alike — often feel. He said, ”We all become slightly better people than we were when we joined [Amway].”

At Amway, we encourage people to take control of their own health.

Amway Malaysia’s Nutrilite Shape Up and Amway Indonesia’s Nutrilite Ambassador programs are two excellent ways to start.

For 10 weeks, 20 of our distributors from Malaysia and Indonesia met with nutritionists, physicians and exercise experts. They learned about the importance of balanced nutrition and exercise.

And then they went to work. 

Losing weight is not easy. But their friends and family would not let them give up, encouraging their journey toward better health through social media. Facebook fans followed their progress, watched their testimonial videos and were inspired to start their own weight loss programs.  

The result? In less than three months, these 20 distributors lost a combined weight of more than 100 kilograms or 220 pounds.  

But what they gained was even greater – lower blood pressure, reduced body fat and the improved self confidence that comes from achieving your goals. 

Congratulations! 

The readers voted and ARTISTRY won!

Among a list of some of the world’s best-known beauty brands, ARTISTRY, the prestige beauty brand of Amway, recently took home not just one, but two Her World Beauty Awards in Malaysia.

Both the ARTISTRY Hydrating Foundation and ARTISTRY Intensive Skincare Renewing Peel received the 2012 Readers’ Choice Award in the makeup and skincare categories.

The winners were announced in the July issue of the monthly women’s magazine.

A round of applause to our colleagues in Malaysia!

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Did you know that Amway employees and distributors have volunteered more than 2.5 million hours to make the communities where they work and live a better place?

Read about our ongoing efforts around the world in the 2011 Amway Global Corporate Citizenship Report published today, or in the Amway One By One blog.  That blog, by the way, was recently honored as the “Best Corporate Social Responsibility” blog by PR News.

Three Amway leaders recently shared their experiences and tips on what helped make their markets successful.  Responding quickly to the needs of a specific market is a common thread, but what that looks like in different markets is, well, different.

At Amway Russia, it meant quickly expanding the support network – stores and staff included – to provide distributors with products as their businesses grew exponentially when this market opened, general manager of Amway Russia Richard Stevens told The Voice of Russia.

For Amway Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of distributors are age 35 or younger, success required providing them with meaningful ways to interact with the company and its products, said Amway Malaysia’s Paul Yee in an interview with the radio station BFB 89.9. For example, Amway opened experience centers and stores so distributors could get the “touch and feel” experience they prefer.

Amway Vietnam has focused its efforts in educating the public, government officials and the media about the direct selling business model, which until recently was largely unknown in that country, general manager Kam Chiong told BaoMoi.com. The market also has provided continuous training to its distributors to ensure they have the best tools to successfully build their business.

Leveraging these differences supports active entrepreneurs and helps our businesses grow stronger together. How has innovative thinking helped your business transform?

Today Malaysia became the latest Amway affiliate to launch a page on Facebook.

They marked the occasion not just with a status update but with a Facebook cake to celebrate the team effort that went into the launch. 

Now you can “like” Malaysia on Facebook – along with the other Amway affiliates that host pages there, ranging from Australia to Venezuela.

There was lots of confetti, cheers and celebration at Amway’s offices in Malaysia and Vietnam this week.

This week Amway Malaysia opened a 10,000-square-foot brand experience center at its headquarters in Petaling Jaya.  It is the first center in Malaysia and one of our largest brand centers in the world.  Amway Malaysia also plans to open three shops this year. 

Across the South China Sea, we had another celebration.  Just three years after its launch, Amway Vietnam opened its first shop in Ha Noi to serve customers in Ha Noi and northern areas in Vietnam.

Brand experience centers and shops help our distributors market our products and give our customers the opportunity to see, feel and try all of our products at once.

And that’s a reason for celebration!

Word of mouth – it’s how you found out about the free giveaway at your favorite makeup counter or the shiny new, imited edition, can’t-live-without-it lip gloss.

And it’s how bloggers are helping us spread the word about our beauty brand, Artistry. Recently, some of our affiliates around the world have invited media personalities and beauty mavens to special events to “talk beauty” and educate them about our latest line of skin care and colour cosmetics.

Our beauty team in Malaysia invited five bloggers to the Khareyana Spa, PJ to discover the benefits of Artistry Time Defiance products. Amway Hong Kong hosted a press trip to Beijing for the Artistry Fall/Winter Makeup Show featuring makeup artist, Zing. The event was organized by Amway China. As the official skin care and cosmetics provider of the Miss America Organization, our North American affiliate flew bloggers to Las Vegas to watch the Miss America Pageant and pampered them with Artistry products.

This snapshot is only a taste of how we’ve spread the Artistry word around the world. How would you spread the word?

Often the simplest ideas are the most powerful, like using color as a guide for eating the right mix of  fruits and vegetables. That’s an idea Nutrilite pioneered last year with the release of America’s Phytonutrient report and the launch of the Phytonutrient Spectrum.

Now that idea has gone global, and Amway Markets around the world have adopted Nutrilite’s daily dose of color campaign.

Here’s what some of them are up to:

• Amway Malaysia launched a Facebook game a few weeks ago that challenges players to create healthy salads for choosy customers. Between filling orders, players are served up tips and facts about how eating a colorful diet can help improve health and wellness.
• Amway Singapore held the Nutrilite Walk and Optimal Health Carnival. People committed to eating fruits and vegetables by signing a Color Yourself Healthy mural and then took part in a variety of fitness activities – aerobics, kickboxing, and hip hop dancing – and had free health evaluations.
• Earlier this month Amway North America was in Denver, Colorado participating in the latest Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon event. Miss America, Caressa Cameron, and Denver Broncos Quarterback, Brady Quinn were on hand to talk about the benefits of eating a colorful mix of fruits and vegetables.

So no matter where you are, keep an eye out for Nutrilite’s Phytonutrient Spectrum, and use it to color your world with a healthy diet.

There are lots of games to play on Facebook. 

You can tend a farm, join a sorority or take care of a virtual pet.

Now you can learn while you play through a new Facebook game launched by Amway Malaysia.  The “Colour Yourself  Healthy” game challenges players to create healthy salads to meet choosy customers’ specifications as quickly as possible.

And in between filling orders, players get a serving of tips and facts about how eating a colourful diet can help improve health and wellness.

You might say Amway Malaysia is serving up an entree of solid nutrition information with a side of fun.