The introduction of AIM BarleyLife® is significant not only in revitalizing AIM’s flagship product, but also in giving us all pause to consider who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. We are, first and foremost, a company that was founded on the concept of making a difference in the lives of people, whether they simply use our products or decide to pursue AIM as a business opportunity. We are a company that has consistently stressed integrity over gain, balance over obsession, community over competition, and self-determination over careerism.

In our efforts to tell the AIM story, these are all values that we should recognize. Fortunately, for our success as a company, these are also values that resonate very strongly with a core group of AIM customers and business builders: women.

Today more than ever, women are the prime movers of our consumer economy. Each and every day, women decide what their families will eat, what their children (and sometimes their spouses) will wear, and how they and their families will spend their free time, and, of course, they make many of the health-care decisions affecting themselves and their loved ones. They will act as peacemakers, remember birthdays and wedding anniversaries, manage the family budget, and zealously attend to the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of husbands, children, and friends.

For all these reasons, and for many others, women are an ideal audience for the AIM message and culture. By aligning AIM’s values and products with the roles and needs of women, we can all benefit. Here are some things to keep in mind when introducing AIM to women, whether as customers or potential Members.

AIM Is About Family Health

As arbiters of what their families put into their mouths, women want the assurance that their family’s nutritional needs are being met—especially in an age when convenience foods trade nutrition for expedience. AIM products offer women a way to provide their families with supplements that are whole food-based, quick and convenient, and tailored for any number of health concerns. Whatever her husband and children may have grabbed on their way out the door to work or basketball practice, the certainty that a glass of AIM BarleyLife® and juice will contribute to their basic nutritional needs is a comfort to any mother.

AIM Is About Financial Empowerment

Women understandably want to not only contribute to their family’s well-being, but also to create a source of income that is uniquely theirs. Very often, women sacrifice career potential or the security of financial independence for the sake of raising a family. AIM offers not only products that have value, but also a framework and support structure for building a business.

AIM Is About Balance

While today’s generation of women came of age with the belief that they can “have it all,” there is a price to pay. Women still expect themselves to be perfect spouses, perfect mothers, and perfect friends—and over the years, they have added the demands of career to the list. At some point, something has to give. Usually, that something is the time to replenish themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. AIM offers a business structure that allows women to establish their own priorities—particularly as these priorities shift with the raising of children. Being able to set their own goals for their AIM business makes balance a possibility rather than a pipe dream.

AIM Is About Making a Difference

While there are numerous network marketing plans that promise financial self-determination, AIM differs in a way that is important to many women. Rather than simply focusing on material gain driven by sheer consumerism, AIM promotes a mission of wellness. The AIM focus on Living Well™—is based on products that make an improvement in people’s lives, not just on making a buck.

AIM Is About Community

An unfortunate reality of the workplace is that it is often filled with people who believe that they can only succeed if someone else fails. Too often, pettiness, jealousy, and resentment are simply looked at as facets of ambition. Through its Members, AIM has fostered a community of people who share common visions and values, and who have no reason to compete and every reason to cooperate in sharing their ideas and successes. AIM conventions and conferences are perfect examples of the AIM spirit in action. This atmosphere is especially nurturing to women, who in their family lives often take on the role of “arbiters of harmony.”

To suggest that only women can appreciate the attributes of AIM membership would certainly be unfair to men. Nevertheless, it is probably not unfair to say that while men will often focus first on the bottom line advantages of starting an AIM business, the AIM culture meets a multitude of needs that affect women much more profoundly than it does the average man. Recognizing these needs and their fulfillment when communicating the AIM story to women will not only grow your AIM business, but also populate it with people of intelligence, energy, and integrity—as well as ensure that AIM will perpetuate those values that make us proud to be a part of this organization.