China Trip a Memorable Experience for USANA Executives

The last week of June was an exhilarating one for USANA’s chief marketing officer, Dan Macuga, chief legal officer and general counsel, Jim Bramble, and vice president of Canada and North American Asian Market, Belynda Lee. The three of them joined 208 members of the USANA family in China for a visit to BabyCare.

Now back from a whirlwind week of meetings, touring and sightseeing, Belynda, Jim and Dan are excited to share their thoughts on the trip.

Belynda Lee

Dan and Belynda Great Wall of China

Belynda and Dan walk the Great Wall of China.

It was so exciting to join with 66 North American Gold and above Associates as they traveled to China for a very special two-day meeting with teammates from numerous provinces across China. For these hardworking and dedicated USANA Associates, there was no distance too far to travel for opportunity to learn more about how to grow their business in USANA’s fastest growing market.

Associates who attended not only received a chance to network with other leaders working in China but also the corporate staff who can assist them while doing business in the country. Everyone left satisfied knowing that they are path to success!

This trip to Beijing was also Dan Macuga’s first visit to China. What fun to be by his side as Dan got to know the operations of USANA China and took time to understand the culture the history and the people of China. He made it a point to walk the Great Wall, understanding and appreciating the meaning behind the amazing landmark — the hard work and dedication of the Chinese. Dan was impressed with the attendance and information provided to the associates. He saw passion in all those who attended and know that this group along with many others in China will surely take USANA to a billion dollars.

China 2

Dan visits the BabyCare facility in Beijing.

Jim Bramble

Jim China

Jim visits the Forbidden City.

This was my first visit to USANA’s operations in Beijing, and I couldn’t be more pleased with what I saw.

While there, I toured our world class manufacturing facility and met with top leaders and their teams, and what stood out to me the most was the excitement surrounding USANA. Our staff in China is amazing. These talented employees compare with any USANA office in the world. They’re level of competency is impressive.

Touring the facility, I was able to see first-hand the high level of pharmaceutical GMPs that we adhere to in China. This attention to detail is why I put my trust in Dr. Wentz and USANA and truly puts our China operations on par with all of USANA’s facilities worldwide.

Of course, you can’t travel all the way to China without a little bit of sightseeing. And I did get time to visit some amazing places — Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City. My favorite stop, however, was spending time with our staff at the Great Wall. After several days filled with long hours of work, it was great to relax a bit and experience the amazing history of this great and ancient civilization and the vastness of this amazing landmark. The wall goes on forever!

Talking to staff, government officials, competitors and, most importantly, distributors, I came away from my visit heartened by the high level of acceptance USANA and BabyCare enjoy. We have a strong Distributor base that’s success is carrying and enthusiasm that I know translates into a bright future.

In my travels I have visited countries across the entire globe, but I can truly say that during my stay, I fell in love with China. It’s a beautiful country — the food, the people, the culture, the architecture. I left with a great affinity for the people and the country and can’t wait to visit again.

China group

Dan and Belynda meet with the USANA family in China.

Dan Macuga

Dan Macuga at BabyCare.

Dan at BabyCare.

One of those phrases that is heard all too often and usually takes a significant experience to really make it hit home. Well, I got my chance last week as I boarded a plane headed to Beijing! I had never been to China and I had only heard about it from others that had the opportunity to fly halfway around the world. Well, reality set in for me as the plane touched down in the middle of the night. I got off the plane and instantly felt like I was far from home. No one spoke any English; there were no signs to help out so basically I just followed the crowd. As you probably have guessed by now, I made it to immigration and customs and found myself jumping into a taxi to head to my hotel.

It was late and I needed to get ready to meet about 200 of our Associates visiting Beijing as well as our fellow USANA employees from BabyCare, our subsidiary in China. That next morning, I made plans to do something most people only dream of. I told myself if I was flying that far from home that I would have to do something to make it more memorable. I had the opportunity to tour the Great Wall of China! We drove out to Badaling, took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain and began to explore.
It was an incredible site to see! My kids were getting to experience it as well, as I promised to send photos and video while I was there. This is one of those bucket list items I can now check offJ It was amazing to me to see that this piece of architecture was still standing proudly despite the many years that had passed and the large number of people that had toured it. It was a marvel to see that something that took so long to build and so many people to complete could stand the test of time and still be as strong as ever. It was incredible to think that the Wall was built in such terrain and without the tools and machinery that we have today. Clearly determination and drive made the project continue to completion.

It was an incredibly tough walk up and down the wall. There were surprisingly steep grades and numerous uneven steps as it wound up and down the hillside. To add to the experience, it was very humid and since it was the middle of Summer, blazing heat. None of those things could stop us though as we made the trek to one of the outposts far down the wall. We set a goal to get there with no turning back, and we pulled it off! We did it even though we were a little late getting back to the hotel to get ready for our meeting.

China 1

Jim and Dan with Bibiana and Peter Pau.

As we drove back and cooled off in the car, I really began to think about the experience and the purpose for my trip to China. What I found so unique about the experience was that, in my mind, it summed up our acquisition of BabyCare and the time needed to get our two worlds to work as one, focused on bringing amazing products and good health to people in such a large country. As we toured the offices, saw the products, toured the manufacturing facility, and spoke with the employees it was clear that USANA’s way of doing business was becoming the norm. Much like the construction of the Great Wall, all major undertakings take direction, dedication and time, but the results are quite significant.

As I got to spend time with our Associates at the meetings and in the local offices in Beijing, they too saw that USANA’s culture was, in fact, in China and was something poised for greatness. They realized that we are all working together to share the USANA story, and that while we may be worlds apart, we are working as one. The future is looking very exciting as this country begins to expand USANA’s business in China and I can tell you that I look forward to seeing the growth happen and to have the opportunity to once again set foot in this amazing country and do my part to ensure that we are working together focused at our company goals as one USANA family worldwide!

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