The Direct Selling Self-Regulation Council Begins Enforcement.
It’s a new day and a new year, and the long-anticipated self-regulatory council has launched its efforts to monitor the channel and bring to task any company, whether a DSA member or not, that steps outside the bounds of a defined set of behaviors (see the cover story for details).
By all indications, the council appears to be built on a strong foundation with a no-nonsense charter and most importantly, does not depend on DSA membership for enforcement.
If the council lives up to its promise of genuine and strong self-policing, a line in the sand will be drawn that will finally start to separate the bad actors from the legitimate companies operating within this channel. Such action will hopefully begin to put an end to the severe reputational issues generated by a few, but suffered by all.
Challenges and opportunities: it’s the stuff of life, and there is no getting away from it. This year we may see sweeping changes in health care that could provide independent contractors with a new avenue for benefits (see story on page 10), while more tech advancement and the incursion of retailers into social selling will continue to press us towards innovation.
The start of this new year is also an exciting time for us here at SSN, as we celebrate eight months of bringing you the latest news and information relating to our business model and channel of distribution.
We’re even sponsoring our first industry event, the Direct Selling Legal & Compliance Summit to be held in Austin on January 24-25th. The topics discussed and presented at the Summit will mirror many that you’ve seen in these pages, and more.
Open to all direct selling company executives, you can find more details at dslcsummit.org. Join the conversation and perhaps we can meet in person at the Summit.
I wish you a wonderful beginning to your new year!
Warmly,
Teresa Craighead