Research the Products You Choose to Take

Does anyone else love getting those invitations on your doorstep from one various product to another? Two hours of your time wasted on products that carry little if any credibility.

I never sign on the dotted line. I always decline and look further. And most of the time, I find a whole different story than the one they are talking about to accompany that product.

While everything has a place, please make sure that what you talk about has credible, verifiable sources. Or I'm going to call you out on it.

One such party I recently attended made a very outrageous claim. Perhaps the associate was misinformed or didn't get her facts straight. So I stopped and asked her to clarify. To which she repeated the exact same thing.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I worked at that same hospital. In the same department that you claim this study was done, during the same period of time you are claiming. And I can tell everyone in the room that NO such study was EVER done unless it was done on an isolated patient or two. There was no study done like the one you are indicating. And if that's the case, then your claims CANNOT be true because the study would not have been done in the correct manner to make the claim that you are."

To which she repeated the same thing and told me she believed it was true.

Game on.

Later on in the presentation, she brought up the fact that their vitamin line was considered "the best in the industry." I stopped to ask her why their ingredients were the best and what a particular ingredient name was.

"I don't know, but if it's in there, it must be good for you."

"It's a coal tar derivitive. And this one is processed with formaldehyde."

"They wouldn't allow that and I have a hard time believing that anyone would allow someone to consume something like that. If it really has that in there, then I would totally want to know about it."

"I did too." I named about 10 different credible studies done on that particular ingredient. Harvard, CNN, Cornell, and even Merck.

I asked her again what made them the best.

"There was an um, study done at Ohio University done that proved our vitamins were made with the best ingredients available. I personally know the owner and know he is passionate about his product and living healthy and wouldn't allow anything like that in our products."

"You've never mentioned what he does. Is he a doctor, a medical professional, a chiropractor, a holistic doctor, a biochemist?"

"He's our VP of marketing."

Hmmm. Note to hosts: Check me out before you invite me to your next party. I'm bombarded on a daily basis by vitamins, minerals, products, oils, diabetes products (thanks to a Type 1 diabetic husband), and more. I do my homework.

And I'm not someone who will sign on the dotted line just because it "sounds good" or because I'm in the health or medical profession. I do my homework.

And I absolutely urge everyone else to do the same. Just because myself and many of us are associated with the healthcare industry doesn't mean we are going to buy your product just because we come to your party. We're usually the ones you don't want to invite in order to make your dollar. We're educated.

Perhaps maybe I am someone to invite to your party. I've only been to a couple of parties where hosts and owners can give me verifiable, credible information at the drop of a hat and in researching, I find it's absolutely true what they claim. Perhaps every company should be scrutinized.

While I'm not opposed to making money or building a home-based business based on a good, quality product, I am opposed to companies that send out associates who know little to nothing of the makeup of their product other than "they use the best ingredients and buy their products from all around the world from the best places." Shouldn't these, the people who are trying to convince me to purchase their high quality products, know something about:

• the makeup of their products?

• how they are manufactured?

• where their products come from?

• how they are produced?

Shouldn't they know where their company buys their ingredients and products from? The facts behind their studies? Because only the truth makes you credible. Warped truth is transparent and easy to see through with a magnifying glass.

Lesson learned. I shouldn't open my mouth or attend a party anymore. (In all fairness, your product had to have been worthy of my time in looking into if it's the first one I've attended in 5 years. That should be an honor in and of itself.) And a testament to how good of a friend I considered you to be that I felt comfortable in standing up for you in front of a large group of staring eyes.

Am I upset that I made a mistake? Yeah, because I made a friend mad. And I truly, truly have worried and felt bad about that. But I've also got her, her associate, and everyone else in the room convinced that I'm full of it—but thinking.

Last night, the day of her party, I dropped off 50 pages of credible, reliable sources on her doorstep with an apology and an invitation to call me and I would email her more (but just couldn't print that much) if she needed it. I've yet to hear from her company vice president or the person who conducted this study who said they could verify this study as true.

Many of you reading this probably are thinking: out of line Traci, out of line. I believe maybe I was a little bit. And I've apologized for it, taken responsibility for my actions, and tried to rectify the situation by providing my evidence. And I do have a habit of getting very upset sometimes and calling someone out if they lie.

But let me ask you this: Do I have a right to allow someone to lie and mislead a group of people when I personally know that situation didn't happen in the way she said it did? Or should I sit quiet and let her make false claims and misrepresent herself, her company, and her product and possibly cause harm to someone else or to her company who are believing or allow this false claim to be made?

To me, I don't care where I am or who I may offend temporarily. To me, truth holds more value than words and claims.

Please, please look into the things you are taking. Look into the things you are allowing yourself to be associated with. Our society is so swayed by false claims and false promises, it's disheartening to see how divided our society has become on the truth of the products we are allowing ourselves to consume.