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Striving for Greatness in Business Ownership
When Taj and Brittani Zacharias first became Amway Independent Business Owners (IBOs), they never imagined the level of professional – and personal – growth that lay ahead of them. Six years later, the couple has continued expanding their Amway business, learning more about how the products are made and connecting with other IBOs across the U.S.
Amway’s resources and support helped Taj and Brittani hone their business ownership skills, but their entrepreneurial roots date back to their childhoods, before they even knew what Amway was.
Brittani’s mother was a single mom and, in Brittani’s words, a “serial entrepreneur.” She started multiple enterprises, including a towing company and a locksmith business, and defied odds as a female business leader in those industries.
Brittani grew up seeing her mother lead by example. Her mom showed her that business ownership was possible, exciting and transformative. So, when deciding what she would pursue as a career, Brittani was open to exploring entrepreneurship.
However, the entrepreneurial spirit that her mother demonstrated and that inspired Brittani wasn’t without risk. She also witnessed her mom lose her businesses in the 2008 global financial crisis, which led to Brittani’s family temporarily experiencing homelessness. Despite this experience, Brittani remained optimistic. She knew, without a doubt, that she and her family would bounce back.
“I remember looking at the stars and thinking this is just going to be a part of my story. I’m going to do something big with my life,” says Brittani.
Brittani often remembers her mother telling her: “If you believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says.”
And believing in herself is what Brittani did as she worked to become a Triage and Intensive Care Nurse while building her Amway business with her husband Taj.
When Brittani was in nursing school, Taj was already in the throes of his first entrepreneurial venture. Immediately after graduating high school, Taj started his own media production company.
Like Brittani, Taj was also supported by his family, who was there with him every step of the way. It was his experience with business ownership prior to Amway that helped Taj see how valuable the Amway model was, offering him the support he didn’t initially have with his media production company.
Taj was able to leverage the strong infrastructure that Amway already had in place when starting his Amway business.
From setting up personal online storefronts through Amway’s website to giving IBOs the opportunity to sell well-known products, Amway offers a low-risk, high-impact opportunity for Americans to explore business ownership without facing the hurdles and costs of traditional entrepreneurship. Amway also provides people like Taj and Brittani the chance to build upon and develop the skills they bring from their lives and other businesses and channel that into being an Amway IBO. And they join a company that has been doing it for 65 years.
“We’re small business owners and I appreciate [Amway] empowering us to be able to own our own business” says Taj, referring to the tools and support that Amway provides the ~290,000 IBOs in the United States. “Small business is the backbone of America.”
Recently, Taj and Brittani were able to visit Amway’s headquarters in Ada, Michigan, an opportunity they never imagined they’d have. Visiting the headquarters was a full circle moment for the couple who couldn’t help but reflect on their start with Amway more than half a decade ago. What began as a way to earn a little bit of extra income turned into a true passion for Amway, its products and its people.
“We’re a part of something really great,” they said.