Jackie Pacione / Shaklee
- September 2009If you knew that making a few small changes every day would improve your life over the long term, would you make them? Life, of course, comes with no guarantees, but there are people who believe it's the daily things we do that have the greatest potential to make a real difference—not only in your life, but in the world around you. Jackie Pacione is one of those people. As an independent distributor of Shaklee products, she helps people make the kinds of choices that may keep their loved ones and the planet safer. "Prevention has always been a really important part of my life," Jackie explains.
Like many Shaklee distributors, Jackie started out as a customer. In fact, she's been using Shaklee products since 1979. While working as a licensed massage therapist, she would sometimes recommend that her clients try various Shaklee supplements to help with their chronic health issues. Quite a few returned to her massage table feeling much better. "I've always been a Shaklee advocate," she explains. "I've seen my mom and sister get great results with the products, and I've had great results. From the beginning, I've used the multivitamin, skin care, and cleaning products." Jackie joined the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce in 2002, initially through her massage business, Wellness Advocates Therapeutic Massage. She still runs this business, which provides chair massages to employees at companies around the area.
Jackie was drawn to a career in wellness partly because of her own experience with its benefits. When she was born, the doctors told her parents that she probably wouldn't walk until she was at least five years old, due to foot problems. But they also encouraged Jackie's parents to try massaging their daughter's feet and legs. So everyone in her family—parents, aunts, and uncles—massaged her feet whenever they could. "I never wore leg braces and I was walking at three years old," Jackie recalls. "I was so grateful for their help. Whenever my aunts or uncles were sick or went into the hospital, I would go see them and massage their feet to thank them for what they had done for me."
Interacting with massage clients inspired Jackie to expand her horizons. "I started to get interested in more than just massage," says Jackie. "I decided that I needed to get into more preventative roles, so I became a fitness instructor." She's also a continuing education provider for social workers and teaches a variety of classes on subjects such as breathing and relaxation, stretching to prevent repetitive stress injuries, energy through nutrition, and how to keep your home safe.
All along, she remained loyal to Shaklee. "Everyone I knew seemed to be selling something at one time or other and wanted me to try out their products," explains Jackie. "I tried everything with an open mind, but always went back to Shaklee products." A few years ago, she attended the Shaklee conference in Chicago, and that was the final push she needed to join the network and start her own Shaklee business.
The story begins with vitamins, at a time when supplements as we know them didn't even exist. After fighting tuberculosis and other maladies as a child growing up on a farm in Iowa, Forrest C. Shaklee became a chiropractor in California and developed a liquid he called "vitalized minerals" in 1915. Dr. Shaklee founded the Shaklee Corporation in 1956 with his two sons and drove around the state selling nutritional supplements from their car. They chose to sell without the middlemen, pioneering the network marketing industry. "He wanted people to make a living by selling his products, rather than by putting them on a shelf," Jackie says. Following Dr. Shaklee's death in 1985, the company was bought and sold several times until it was purchased by now-CEO Roger Barnett in May 2004. "When I first saw Roger speak, I knew at that moment that Shaklee would be a big part of my life for the rest of my life," recalls Jackie. "He shares the same vision, philosophy, and care for the earth as Dr. Shaklee." A bit over fifty years later, it's a thriving business with a marketing force of 750,000 distributors and members with an eye to global expansion.
Shaklee was way ahead of its time in terms of its green product offering and practices. Long a supporter of the environment, Dr. Shaklee believed strongly in conservation and organics. He had his own radio show where he spoke about environmental topics and he grew an organic garden on the roof of his office. In the 1960s, Dr. Shaklee created one of the world's first biodegradable cleaning products, which is still one of Shaklee's top-selling items today. To use Basic H, you start with its base liquid and then dilute it to create different cleaning formulas. "It's ultra-concentrated and takes only two drops to make an entire container of window cleaner." The result is simple, safe, and effective. Dr. Shaklee believed the world shouldn't use dangerous chemicals and ship thousands of bottles on trucks, wasting packaging and petroleum sending it around. Now Shaklee has found the moment when the green movement is hitting critical mass. If you do throw away Shaklee packaging rather than recycling it, most items are biodegradable. In 1999, the company built its Pleasanton, California headquarters using sustainable, green design and in 2002 became the nation's first Climate Neutral Certified business by completely offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions. "Shaklee just recently did an in-home sales presentation at the White House," Jackie says. "As a result, the White House and the vice president's mansion both use Shaklee's entire line of 'Get Clean' products."
Shaklee products fall into four main categories: nutrition and diet, household, personal care items, and water purifiers. Everything that's sold in the U.S. is made here and rigorously tested. Best known for its nutritional items, the company offers a supplement for any age and just about any physical need, from pain relief, to digestive problems, to immune support. They are as simple as the Shaklee Vitalizer, easy-to-use packets with a complete supplement regimen based on your gender, age, and needs. Unlike other products labeled "natural," Shaklee products are the real deal made from natural ingredients, with no artificial sweeteners. "Most people don't know that a product only needs to contain one or two natural ingredients to say 'natural' on the label," explains Jackie. Shaklee products are all carefully designed to work the way our bodies do. "Shaklee only makes iron plus vitamin C because C aids in the absorption of iron," Jackie explains. "I ran into a neighbor who told me that he was hospitalized because too much iron in his body, coupled with a vitamin C deficiency, made him seriously ill. It happens a lot more often than we realize." Among all of these items, Shaklee caters to kids with supplements such as Mighty Smart with DHA for brain development, all-natural diaper rash cream that's certified 99% organic, as well as baby wash and baby lotion with lavender and chamomile.
What Jackie calls the "prescription for a healthier life" includes the Vitalizer packets, Cinch shake mix, Vivix, and NutriFeron. Cinch is a low-glycemic protein shake that helps you lose weight without losing muscle. Vivix is a cellular anti-aging formula that helps protect the body from age-related diseases and helps increase energy levels. It's made from muscadine grapes and concentrates the beneficial components of red wine—so much so that a day's serving is equal to about 1,000 glasses of red wine. "I gave it to one of my massage clients recently," recalls Jackie. "When she came back in the next time she said to me, 'I don't know what's in that stuff, but I feel like a whirling dervish.'" Available only through Shaklee, NutriFeron was developed by a Japanese immunologist to boost the body's natural defenses with plant extracts. "My lawyer told me he gets a debilitating case of the flu at least two times every year," Jackie says. "I recommended the NutriFeron supplement and he told me he hasn't been sick once in the past two years since he started taking it."
Shaklee household products do everything from cleaning bug guts off the window to the gunk off your grill—all in an environmentally safe way. You can replace just about any of your non-green household products with items from Shaklee for safer living. One way to make the switch is to try the Get Clean Starter Kit, filled with Nature Bright laundry care products, dishwashing concentrates, ScourOff polishing paste, disinfectant, and of course, Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate. It's an efficient way to clean your home that reduces waste and the emissions of harmful chemicals into our water systems and the environment. It's especially important to clean your clothes and bed sheets in nontoxic chemicals. "Your pores absorb chemicals, so it's really important to use harmless cleaners on anything you'll be coming into contact with a lot," Jackie says. To keep skin looking beautiful, there's a whole system of skin care products and cosmetics, as well as items like non-soap cleansing bars, shampoo, and conditioner that are all nontoxic. "Shaklee products just flat-out work," says Jackie. "Loyalty is created through the quality of our products. We offer a 100% money-back guarantee for every product. No questions asked. You can give me your empty package and I'll take care of everything."
Although you can't just run to the corner drug store and pick up Shaklee products, Jackie makes it easy for both the people who know exactly what they want and for those who need some guidance. "I typically start out by asking my clients what they're interested in," explains Jackie. "We have so many products that it's easier to jump in if I know they're looking for more energy, or if they're looking for safe ways to clean their home." You can meet Jackie each summer at the Lincoln Square annual sidewalk sale, where she sets up a booth. "People love it," she says. "I don't sell any product there, I just answer questions and raffle off a gift certificate." Her presence in the Lincoln Square area has helped her build local customers, which include La Bocca della Verita, Ricochet's, and Duet hair salon. For 2009, she is offering a free basic membership to all Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce members. "All you have to do is order something a minimum of once a year and you'll never pay a renewal fee," she says.
Membership is available at various levels and costs, but all offer discounts on purchases. You can join anytime by visiting Jackie's website or by giving her a call so she can help you figure out which membership level is best for you. But you don't have to be a member to buy. "There are people who have never heard of Shaklee products, and they just want to try a few things out before becoming a member," Jackie says. "We welcome that, too." Jackie will also give in-home presentations to groups of five or more, where hosts receive $50 worth of free products for their time. "I'm seeing more and more people looking for preventative measures that can help them bring down their health care costs," Jackie says. "They want to know what they can do to stay well."
Jackie believes strongly that Shaklee can not only help others through its products, it can also give them the income boost they may need. "I always say that our best product is the opportunity to make residual income," says Jackie. As a social marketing business, Shaklee's success comes from ever-expansion of its sales force. Jackie holds weekly conference calls that anyone can join, "The calls discuss our products and the opportunity. There's always a weekly product focus, and time for a Q&A." She appreciates the support she gets from the company, as her income has surpassed what she makes from her massage business. "Shaklee always says that you're in business for yourself, but not by yourself," says Jackie. "The company does much of my bookkeeping for me." Whether it's through helping people find ways to be more healthy or simplify their lives, Jackie finds fulfillment in what she does. "I love helping people, " says Jackie. "The best part is that I not only am helping people be healthier, but to earn their own money. They get so excited when they see their first checks, whether it's a $40 check or a $400 check. My biggest satisfaction in life comes from helping others."
Jackie Pacione
Shaklee Independent Distributor
Office 773.784.5274
Mobile 773.720.1217
www.shaklee.net/qualitycomes1st
View More Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce Business Profiles
This feature is brought to you by Swartwerk Media Design, Inc.
