Taking Root
Watson capitalizes on wellness trends to create local job
03/11/07
By Keith Lawrence
Messenger-Inquirer
Like a lot of Daviess Countians who leave home for college, Todd Watson talked about coming back someday.
But when he graduated from Western Kentucky University with two degrees, Watson started working for an insurance company in Bowling Green.
And more than a decade rolled by.
Finally, in the fall of 2005, Watson decided it was time to make the move.
"My wife (Bridget) was six months pregnant, and my father had just had a heart attack," he said last week. "It was time to come back home."
So, he created his own job as an independent team member with Agel Enterprises, an international network marketing company based in Provo, Utah. The company launched in October 2005 -- about the time Watson was making his plans.
Agel -- pronounced "agile" -- markets what it calls "Gelceuticals," which it says are "nutrients suspended in gel."
Basically, they're plastic pouches with 0.75 ounces of fruit-flavored gel -- a day's supply of nutritional supplements.
You just rip off the top of the pouch and suck out the gel.
"The whole concept is to take ingredients that people already trust and deliver them in a new way," Watson said. "There are no pills to swallow, and people are more likely to take supplements this way. The gel tastes good."
New delivery systems are where the growth is in the wellness market, he said.
"Mouthwash is being replaced by breath strips," Watson said. "And we think suspension gel technology is the future of the supplement market. This is the iPod of the nutrition industry."
The Associated Press reported last month that an estimated 80 million to 160 million people take antioxidants in North America and Europe -- about 10 to 20 percent of adults.
Information Resources Inc., which tracks sales at grocery stores, drug stores and retail outlets other than Wal-Mart, says that last year Americans spent $2.3 billion on nutritional supplements and vitamins.
Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com, predicted last fall that nutritional supplement sales will top $6 billion by 2011.
The Direct Selling Association says that wellness products accounted for 19.1 percent of that industry's $30.47 billion in sales in 2005.
There are 14.1 million people -- like Watson -- working in network marketing, the DSA estimates.
The Federal Trade Commission says, "Multilevel or 'network' marketing plans are a way of selling goods or services through distributors. These plans typically promise that if you sign up as a distributor, you'll receive commissions -- for your sales and those of the people you recruit to become distributors. Some multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. However, others are illegal pyramid schemes."
"We're all standing on the shoulders of Amway," Watson said. "They fought the legal battles (in the 1950s) to prove that this was a legitimate business. Agel is not a pyramid scheme."
Watson said: "People can order products through my Web site, and I get credit for them. But there is no inventory to buy and no need to store the products. That's all done from a central location."
He said, "I train others, and I sell directly to people. I have team members in Singapore, Brazil, the Carolinas and Detroit now. And I have a preferred customer in Malaysia. We're in 41 countries already, and we're still growing."
Agel.com says the company has regional offices in Israel, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong.
The company's products include energy, weight loss, joint flexibility and vitamin supplements.
Watson recently rented space -- Suite 209 -- in the Midtown Building, 920 Frederica St., for a training center.
He expects to begin training new team members there soon.
One of the difficulties with operating an international Web-based business, Watson said, is the multitude of time zones involved.
"I'm going to bed when Singapore is waking up," he said. "But the Internet gives you customers around the world. The world is our territory."
His Web site is http://www.ToddWatson.com.
"I'm 35 years old," Watson said. "This has let my wife be a stay-at-home mom, and I don't have to worry about income too much. I'm working a lot now, but it won't be as much in two or three years. I'll have more time at home with my family then."
