The Land We Love

We are truly blessed with a number of freedoms in this great country.

A group of our friends were making plans for the big Fourth of July holiday when someone asked, “What does freedom mean to you?”

We looked around at each other, and finally someone said, “It’s really all summed up in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.” That may be true, but freedom means so much more to those of us who run our own home-based businesses. That’s not possible in a number of countries.

We are fortunate that the J.R. Watkins company has such a strong history in America. J. R. Watkins was a wise man. Not only did he create a company that has been around since 1868, he realized that people will most likely buy a product if they hear about it from a friend, or tasted it in their friend’s home. He also realized that rather than pay for expensive advertising and marketing, or pay a store owner a commission to sell his products, friends could tell their friends about Watkins and earn that commission themselves. America’s first direct-sales company was born.

Watkins also stood behind his products, and offered the country’s first money-back guarantee. Today, you will see a line on bottles and jars that indicate customers should use the product until the contents reach that level. If customers are not satisfied for any reason, they will be refunded their full purchase price. Just imagine how easy it is to sell products with that kind of guarantee behind them!

While Watkins searched the globe to find the most natural ingredients for his products, he never swayed from his “Made in America” belief. All Watkins products are manufactured in the company’s production facility in Winona, Minnesota. All workers are either U.S. citizens or Canadians.

The company’s greatest period of growth came in the Great Depression, when numerous Americans lost their jobs, and couldn’t find another place to work. That’s when more and more individuals realized they could go to work for themselves in selling Watkins products to friends and neighbors. Slowly, the country began the long journey to recovery. So today of all days, we salute American enterprise, and the many freedoms we all enjoy. Happy Fourth of July.