I have been looking at selling various health and fitness related products on our website. I thought it was a no-brainer really. We would sell items that benefited our clients and that complemented our programs and services. This has been a more difficult process than I originally thought. It seems that once I let people know that I was looking, everyone sells something.

The funny thing is that everyone’s stuff has the research to back up their claim to be the best. They have at least one doctor on board to say, “Yes, I support it!” They have 100 billion testimonials…ok, maybe a little exaggeration on my part…from users to convince me.

The other thing they all seem to have is a compensation plan that looks like a triangle. I won’t say “pyramid” because each one has told me that it is definitely not that! While I am a fan of making money to support the needs and goals in my life, I believe that true wealth comes from how I treat people and the reciprocity I receive back. If I support a product merely because it will put $700 in my pocket each month, but fail my clients in support of the health and wellness they desire, I am doing wrong by everyone.

I was again reminded of the concept of reciprocity from Michael Josephson, founder of Josephson Institute, from his weekly newsletter Character Counts.

Click here to listen to a clip called The Golden Rule as the Road of Honor.

I am in the process of developing criteria against which products we would look to adopt would have to be measured. An example of the criteria is that research would have to be performed by independent labs. I am definitely interested to hear what you think is important. Send me a comment back and let me know.