Putting the Green Into Clean

Despite all the publicity and media attention, Shaklee is still a secret to many people, perhaps because the company buys no advertising and its products cannot be found in supermarkets. According to the Kline Group, 89% of cleaning products sold last year in the U.S. were bought in food stores and from mass merchandisers. So why on earth hasn't Barnett moved away from the Mary Kay model and put Shaklee on the shelves?

"We think that the most compelling way to get people to live a greener, healthier life is to help educate them," says Barnett. "There's not enough time in a 30-second TV ad to properly explain the need." Instead, Shaklee's 750,000 members and distributors go into people's homes, talk about the toxic chemicals in regular cleaners and demonstrate how to use Shaklee's nontoxic, superconcentrated (using less packaging) products—in either Spanish or English. "Their selling model is to work on environmental education at the same time," says Yale's Esty. "It really is taking the whole commitment to reducing chemical exposure to a higher level."

For those who still can't quite shake the notion that a direct-selling party is incredibly uncool, there's the Internet—both for buying Shaklee products and for learning about them. "The next generation is the most networked generation in history," says Barnett, who is on Facebook. "They're constantly talking and referring. Our business model is not dependent on people gathering in a home to demonstrate it. It's dependent on people learning something they didn't know, having a positive experience with our products and then sharing that with their friends." No matter how famous or ordinary those friends are.