Pleasant Grove micro-nutrient direct sales business growing
Q Sciences CEO Marc Wilson poses for a portrait Thursday
, Feb. 23, 2017,
at the Q Sciences offices in Pleasant Grove.
ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Q Sciences CEO Marc Wilson poses for a portrait Thursday
, Feb. 23, 2017,
at the Q Sciences offices in Pleasant Grove.
ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Q Sciences CEO Marc Wilson poses for a portrait Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, at the Q Sciences offices in Pleasant Grove. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Q Sciences CEO Marc Wilson poses for a portrait Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, at the Q Sciences offices in Pleasant Grove. ISAAC HALE, Daily Herald
Utah’s technology business leaders have worked hard to brand Utah’s business sector as the Silicon Slopes, but the state — and more specifically, Utah County — could also possibly be known as Supplement Slopes or maybe Direct Selling Slopes.
Marc Wilson, former National Football League player and CEO of Q Sciences in Pleasant Grove, believes this idea wholeheartedly. Wilson is from the Seattle area, and has lived there much of his life. But in 2013, he founded Q Sciences in Utah County — now headquartered in Pleasant Grove — specifically because of the area’s direct selling prevalence and talent pool.
“The executive level talent is here, the nutraceutical manufacturers are here, the shipping and fulfillment is here,” Wilson said. “None of that is available in Seattle.”
Wilson has been commuting to the county from his home in Seattle for four years to run his business. It’s grown so much that just this month, he and his wife decided they need to move to Utah full time. It’s quite a change for a man who thought he was retired.
Wilson played quarterback for Brigham Young University before being drafted for the NFL. He played for the Oakland Raiders and the New England Patriots for 10 years during the 1980s. After retiring from the NFL, he moved back to Seattle, and went into real estate development. He retired from that around 2010, and said he took up “the retired golf course thing.”
“But after six months, I was bored,” he said. “I was driving home from the golf course one day in 2011, and I had an epiphany. I thought, ‘Am I going to do this every day for the rest of my life?’ I mean, I’m not that old.”
He said he knew then that he wanted to do something that mattered and made a difference. He just didn’t know yet what that was. Connected through a mutual friend, Wilson met with Dr. Stephen Kimberley, an internal medicine specialist in Oregon and senior editor of WebMD. Through their conversation, Kimberley encouraged Wilson to look at the micronutrient supplement field.
“There are lots of nutritional supplements out there, but Dr. Kimberley thought none of them were doing it well. He said if you could do it well, where you get people from an insufficient state of micronutrients to a sufficient state, that would be good business,” Wilson said.
Wilson researched more, and ended up partnering with Kimberley with the goal of doing it right. They found a Canadian manufacturer, Tony Stephan, who had already developed and tested a micronutrient complex.
“At the time, it was one of the only micronutrient products that had multiple published third-party research studies on it — at least 20 then. That became our flagship product,” Wilson said.
Wilson said society’s fast-paced lifestyle has contributed to the rise of the supplement industry — people in general are eating less nutrient-dense food. While most of us are good at getting protein, carbohydrates and fats, we often don’t get zinc, iron, vitamin A and others. Many of these nutrients are found in vegetables and fruit — two food groups lacking on most fast-food menus.
“That’s just our life now. That’s my life, and I’m president of the company, I should know better,” Wilson said laughing.
Roxanne Thayne, a Lehi resident and part-time seller, learned about Q Sciences when neighbor’s son struggled with several disorders and disabilities. The neighbors used Q Sciences products.
“He started having fantastic results and that got me to sit down and listen to their story. Because my husband and I work with families around the country who have struggling teens and young adults, we thought it would be good to learn more about the product to see if it could be of use for them,” Thayne said.
She and her family tried the product, and said they also noticed changes. As a cancer survivor, she said she is grateful for the science that backs up Q Sciences products.
“We didn’t know that vitamins, minerals and amino acids could actually make you ‘feel’ something. We were so excited we started telling all of our closest friends and family. They started to have amazing experiences as well,” she added.
Q Sciences distributes its supplement products through direct selling, because Wilson believes that is the best business plan for the company. Wilson said he and his partners are committed to a high level of quality, and that quality can’t hit a Wal-Mart price point.
“We wanted to do it this way to give people a business opportunity, and we believe it’s the best way to distribute our product. And the whole key to this program is not the money, it’s the product. This is a product line that helps families around the world,” Wilson said.
Thayne, who works full time elsewhere, started earning commissions for her recommendations of the Q Sciences products to friends. This initially surprised her, and got her over the network marketing hurdle.
“If this is what network marketing truly is, then I had formed a totally arrogant and misinformed perception of it. This is something I do naturally all the time, and it was fun to actually get paid for it. So now I am proud to market the exceptional products from Q Sciences,” Thayne said.
Q Sciences is in nine countries around the world, and Wilson expects that number to rise to about 20 within the next few years.
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