timing really is everything
Being a good surfer isn’t so much about how strong a swimmer you are as it is your sense of timing. It’s about knowing how to catch the wave that’s building now—great swimmer or not. If you can do that, it’s incredible energy will lift you up and carry you with it to where you want to go.

The very same thing is true in business. The key thing is anticipating the build-up of market demand, driven by powerful cultural forces, by demographics and a host of other things. If you can pick up on that wave as it grows, it will lift you up and let you ride it to the success you seek.

fads versus trends
The big question, then, is where the market is going. And next to that is the need to distinguish between fads & trends. A fad generates huge market demand, but a demand nearly as short-lived as it is fast & furious. Think hula-hoops, pet rocks, Cabbage Patch dolls & Pokemon. Fads follow a predictable cycle of 1) insider discovery leading to 2) media ballyhoo & then 3) mainstream embrace followed by 4) growing obscurity.

There’s no denying that fads can earn their marketers a lot of money. The problem is that, while a fad can grow to massive proportions almost overnight, it typically collapses as fast as it spikes. After selling $600 million dollars worth of its Cabbage Patch dolls in 1985, toymaker Coleco filed for bankruptcy in 1988. So the fad went from a literal buying frenzy to relative oblivion just 3 years later. Today you can find a lot of dirty, naked & very forlorn Cabbage Patch dolls on EBay truly desperate to find good homes to live in…  So much for fads.

what’s the difference?
So how do you tell the difference between a fad & a trend? By looking beyond mere numbers—as impressive as they might be—to 3 vital markers:  1) how is the growth occurring? 2) what human needs drive it? and 3) what do demographics tell us about the growth curve? A fourth question we could add here is:  Is this a worldwide or a purely regional trend? For the more global a trend is the more permanent its success will be.

Unlike fads, trends take much longer to build and often do so in the face of real resistance. Fads are driven by things like the need to conform and fear of being left out. That being so,  resistance on the part of competitors is futile. By contrast, trends are driven by much larger concerns, concerns with deep cultural roots.  Building slowly, their effects can be felt for decades & their longevity ultimately proves a far better bet than the fads’ flash-in-the-pan success. Only a solid trend can assure you of long-term growth & stability—of something that will be here 20 years from now and be much bigger then than it is now.

a solid trend
The growth of the organic industry over the past 15 years has been very impressive, but it stretches back a lot farther than that. Most encouraging here is how steady the past 15 years or so of growth has been. What’s driving this trend? People’s concern for health, wellness & more quality of life. And that’s something that’s here to stay. Another thing driving the market here is that people are waking up to how blatantly cavalier food producers & processors alike have been in their disregard for our health. People are getting really sick of the smokescreens & blather, are putting 2 and 2 together and saying, “No, toxic chemicals are NOT alright in small doses—especially when nobody’s able to keep track of how many doses we’re getting!” They’re getting fed up with government agencies’ easy compliance with industry when they should be protecting us against industry aggression.

Another phenomena that plays into this is concern over the environment, no longer just something for tree huggers. Thanks to a groundswell of public opinion internationally, the environmental movement has gone mainstream, forcing politicians of every stripe & persuasion to deal with it. People are realizing that big business has had its way far too long. Just like our bodies, our environment is telling us to take better care of it or pay the price. And that concern fits hand-in-glove with our growing concern over toxins in the body. Another factor driving food producers to switch to organic farming, particularly in the USA, is the possibility of litigation for health effects from toxic chemical use.

non-organic resistance will ultimately fail
In fact, desire for organic food is growing despite resistance on the part of the non-organic food industry. In a recent North American food scare, the media fingered Earthbound Farm Organics of California for E. Coli-contaminated lettuce. Then days after the blaring headlines had done their worst, they released their tiny muted corrections:  none of Earthbound’s lettuce had been contaminated after all. Only other companies’ non-organic lettuce was contaminated. I’m not suggesting the media is part of some big conspiracy. I fully expect they were somehow misled by producers in the non-organic sector. The point, though, is that although we can expect the non-organic industry to continue fighting for their shrinking market share, such resistance will ultimately prove futile due to the depth of this trend’s roots.

Even Walmart—the corporation representing the antithesis of the green movement to many people—has recognized the importance of the organic trend & is introducing & promoting its growing organic product range. That’s not to suggest that Walmart has gone green. But Walmart is about selling whatever people want to buy, even if it means more & more green products. Similarly, China, a country not known for its concern for health or environment, now leads Asia with roughly 300,000 hectares of certified organic farmland under production.

the demographics say yes
Looking at the demographics of the organic market, we can see how profoundly it’s going to be influenced by the aging of the Baby Boomers. The Boomers, our largest age group, are now between 49 & 66 years old, the age at which health takes on increasing importance and, with it, what goes into our bodies. Some Boomers still haven’t clued in to the importance of that, but they will in time. That being so, it’s impossible to think the organic trend isn’t going to continue growing.

its international scope says yes
And what we’re seeing is a truly global phenomena. We’re talking about $52 billion in sales worldwide. Each year the organic market is growing at 20% in North America—that’s compound growth—and by a massive 40% in the UK. I’ve already referred to China’s lead in Asian organic farmland. Organic foods are now one of the fastest growing sectors of the food industry in Japan. The European Commission estimates that growth of the organic produce sector has increased from 25% each year (1993-1998) to 30% each year (1999-2005). Belgium has now legislated that 100% of all farm produce must be grown organically by the year 2008 and Sweden & Switzerland have also taken a legislative approach. Despite the fact that trends tend not to cross cultures, what we’re seeing is an unstoppable global trend, a trend rooted deep in humanity’s growing concern for more quality of life in a healthier world.

how could one group’s timing be more perfect?
We’ve seen how the larger public has become increasingly aware of the importance of organic food over the past 15-20 years. During that period, there’s been a steady growth in organic food sales all over the world, something that’s bound to continue. But what does this have to do with any of ONE Group’s products? Here’s where I’ve really saved the best till the last:  In terms of ONE Group’s 3 main market sectors—probiotic, cosmetic & personal care products—we are today where we were 10-15 years ago in terms of the food industry. People are just beginning to realize that what we put on our skin is every bit as important as what we eat. In fact, it’s more important since what we put on our skin goes directly into the bloodstream, without any digestion. Since the larger public’s awareness of that is at the same level it was at on the importance of organic food 10-15 years ago, our growth prospects are very bright indeed. The wave here is just beginning to build.

australia takes the lead here
The growth of ONE Group in Australia, its home country and first market, has been nothing short of phenomenal. Over the past 18 months, ONE Group’s Australian sales have grown by a massive 2500%. Two things explain this:  First, Australia is ONE Group’s home country & first market. Our co-founder, Narelle Chenery was already writing about the need for organic cosmetics & personal care products in Australian publications years before ONE Group’s first products were ready to sell. And the exponential growth inherent in ONE Group’s network marketing approach takes a year or two to really take off. But second, Australians are generally 5-10 years ahead of the rest of us when it comes to the need for organics & environmental sustainability.

That should be really exciting news to everyone, whether in Australia or outside it. Australians can be encouraged that ONE Group’s network marketing’s growth is still just at an early stage—so they’re nowhere near putting the pedal to the metal there. And the rest of us can be encouraged that we’re really just near the start of our great upward growth curve. As people become increasingly aware of the dangers of toxins in all manner of products—from skin care & shampoo to cosmetics & insect repellent—our market share will increase dramatically too. Remember, the global industries we’re part of are multibillion-dollar industries & we’ve only begun to tap into them.

but what about competitors?
Which competitors? I’d urge you to check out our industries & see if you can find anything as good or better than ONE Group’s products out there. You won’t be able to. With not a single serious competitor to deal with now, we have only to think of new competitors in our industries.  Revlon, L’Oreal, Unilever & the other non-organic companies could all develop organic lines to compete with us if they wanted to. But they’d never think of doing so because it would mean admitting their present lines of shampoo, soap, deodorant & cosmetics aren’t good for you—which they’ll never do. That means our only possible competition will come from companies starting from scratch. And that would automatically give us a 4-year lead on them. So with a line of now over 80 amazing products, ONE Group isn’t going to have any serious competition in the organic industries we’re in for the next 4-5 years at least.

so go ahead & ask:  how can I get started?
Remember, the rewards are huge! You can:

• become an independent business owner
• grow your business with the help of our extensive training & support
• achieve financial independence with integrity
• help people by introducing them to an organic lifestyle
• contribute to the growth of the organic industry worldwide
• help reduce the toxic load on our planet
• write your own chapter in ONE Group’s success story!

Please contact us if you have questions or want to talk more about ONE Group’s singular business opportunity. If it feels right to you, we’d love to have you on our team!