In the 1980’s Ralph Oats was earning at most $38,000 a year as a truck driver. He hated his job and the long hours that kept him away from his family — but it was a living. “Every time I wanted to buy something, Ralph would tell me how many miles he had to drive to buy it,” says Cathy Oats. Times got even harder when Ralph landed in the hospital for one back operation after another.
“The stress of having my husband disabled and told he may never walk again, and the mental stress of having no income, just $125 per week in disability, was almost crippling for me emotionally,” Cathy says. Not to be defeated, she and Ralph took the necessary steps to provide for the family. With Ralph unable to work, Cathy took their oldest daughter Sheri, then 13, with her to help clean houses and doctors’ offices after school and on the weekends. It was the responsibility of their youngest daughter Shannon, then 10, to stay home and help Ralph. “As you can imagine, it was tough. Our life was turned upside down. The trauma of Ralph being sick, losing the house, moving in with relatives, then finally getting enough money together to move into a duplex, I tell you it was really tough,” says Cathy remembering how Sheri and Shannon had to change schools three times during that first year Ralph was ill.
With a simple goal of earning $100 a week while Ralph Oats was out of town, Cathy Oats was certain this opportunity was the best path to take.
Finally after 22 months of sickness that included a spinal fusion and rods put in his back, Ralph Oats recovered and was able to go back to work. But exactly three years later, in January 1984, just when the family was getting back on its feet again, Ralph was in another bad truck accident. 
Fortunately this accident didn’t lead to as much injury as what would have been expected. “God had his hand on Ralph that day,” Cathy explains. “The 46,000 pounds of freight that pushed Ralph down the interstate only bent the rods in his back. There was no injury to his spine. It was unbelievable.”
Shortly after Ralph Oats went back to work, in May 1984, the couple’s former pastor called and wanted to come over to see them. “We thought he was coming over to check on us because of our recent problems,” says Ralph, “but as it turned out, he started talking to us about water filters!” Their pastor and his wife had started selling water filters to make an extra $100 a month to get their 14-year-old son off of the free lunch program at school. They told Ralph this would be a good way for him to earn some extra money to send Sheri to college in the fall.
Although Ralph and Cathy had both been praying God would send them an opportunity to get Ralph off the truck, they weren’t thinking it would be in the form of a water filter! “What a joke,” Ralph remembers thinking, “there’s no way I was going to sell one of those water filters.” Even with the desire to send their daughter to college they weren’t convinced that selling water filters would help. “It made me mad that John was over here trying to sell us on something when he knew the tough times we had been going through,” says Ralph.
Some two months later, Cathy decided enough was enough and took action. “We both wanted Sheri to go to college, but there was just no money,” she says. Frustration soon gave way to determination, as Cathy began to see the positives of joining the MLM company to sell water filters. “What got my attention was the idea that this was something I could do while Ralph was 
out on the road,” says Cathy, adding that the couple had agreed early on that to maintain a strong family, one of the two would always be at home and this opportunity would not interfere with that plan. With a simple goal of earning $100 a week while Ralph was out of town, Cathy was certain that this opportunity was the best path to take.
“So we go to the bank to borrow $5,000 so we can buy 40 water filters for Cathy to sell. I thought this was the craziest thing I had ever heard of, and even told the banker that,” says Ralph. But Cathy could not be deterred. Her strategy was simple. “I set a goal to demonstrate four water filters each week,” Cathy remembers, “I figured if I let people use the filter for a few days, they would love it as much as I did, and at least one of the four would buy one.” Ralph agreed to support her efforts by installing the filters “if” she sold one. Much to his surprise, he was spending a lot of time installing water filters. “He would actually fuss at me about having to install so many,” Cathy recalls, “but, you know, money changes things.”
In their first full year of business, the couple earned $100,000. They doubled that amount their second year, and by 1987, they earned more in one month than Ralph Oats had earned in one year.
Although Ralph wasn’t optimistic about Cathy’s plan at first, he took notice when she earned $14,000 in four months — working part-time. It was at this time they made a decision that would change their lives forever. Ralph decided to quit his job to sell water filters alongside Cathy. “We were excited and scared to death,” he says, adding that neither of them had had any sales experience, “but we were determined.”
In their first full year of business, the couple earned $100,000. They doubled that amount their second year, and by 1987, they earned more in one month than Ralph had earned in one year. Six years later, they built an organization of over 500,000 distributors that sold over a billion dollars worth of products. It was at this time Ralph and Cathy decided to take a break from the business.
“We had accomplished a lot, but it had taken its toll,” says Cathy. “Ralph and I were simply tired out and burnt out, so we decided to take a sabbatical — move to the beach and enjoy a life of doing nothing.” But word travels fast in the industry and it wasn’t long before other companies were trying to recruit them. “This was back in the days of the ‘diet’ cookie,” Ralph recalls, “in 1990, everybody out there had some kind of ‘diet’ cookie — we simply weren’t interested.”
Then Ralph and Cathy were introduced to products that had an immediate and dramatic impact on their personal health. They began challenging themselves with the idea of building another business — one built on the power of consumption. They knew what they’d been able to accomplish bringing a durable product, a water filter that was way ahead of its time, to the marketplace. Now they saw an opportunity with life-changing products. Ralph adds, “We knew we were at the forefront of the next greatest trend — wellness. We were also ready for the next challenge and determined to prove it just wasn’t luck for us the first time around.”
For the next two years, the Oats duplicated their earlier success, quickly working their way to Top Producer and Top Earner status for a nutritional company. It was during this time that Ralph and Cathy were named “Masters of Multi-Level Marketing” by Success Magazine.
Successful by monetary standards, most might think this couple would retire, but as Sheri remembers, “For years my parents told me they weren’t satisfied with everything they had 
accomplished — they wanted to do more. In the early part of 1992, they began to share their vision of starting their own company.”
In October 1992, Ralph and Cathy’s dream became reality when they launched Wellness International Network, Ltd. Dedicated to creating a network marketing company built by distributors for distributors, they knew global success depended on keeping the needs of those truly seeking an opportunity in plain view. “We understood what we were doing — we had a vision,” says Ralph. “We started this company wanting to make it easier and simpler for people to earn money. We wanted consumable products and services that people needed or wanted. We wanted to make it doable and duplicatable, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
As WIN continued to evolve, global expansion began with an energetic launch into The Netherlands in 1994 followed by exciting growth into the United Kingdom, South Africa, Belgium, Canada, Germany and Spain. The building and opening of its Corporate Headquarters, located in North Dallas’ prestigious Legacy Business Park campus, in 1999, cemented the company’s stature in the industry.
In mid-1992, a plan of action was developed... Ralph Oats and Cathy Oats took the giant leap of faith that they could be successful in their own MLM company and launched Wellness International Network, Ltd. (WIN).
Today, more than 20 years after Cathy’s decision to make an extra $100 per week by selling water filters, the Oats have created a legacy that continues to grow. A legacy that has led to their own corporate dreams of WIN reaching 15 years of success, and bringing success to thousands of people just like themselves, people who wanted a better life and had the fortitude to grasp hold of the opportunity placed before them.
Years of steady operations is an achievement worthy of notice, but all successful organizations have to start somewhere. “I remember my parents sitting at our dining room table telling us they had made the decision to start their own company. It was something Michael and I had hoped they would do for some time,” says Sheri Matthews, Director of Marketing & Communications, adding that she and husband Michael, Director of Regulatory Affairs & Finance, were excited to jump on board and play leading roles in developing an MLM company built by distributors for distributors. Ralph and Cathy acknowledge that it takes a community to raise a company to the height of prosperity. WIN is made up of both independent distributors and corporate employees, all contributing to the overall success of this sizeable organization.
In mid-1992, a plan of action was developed, decisions were made on what products were worthy of distribution, and a compensation plan was formulated. Together with Phil, Ralph and Cathy took the giant leap of faith that they could be successful in their own MLM company and launched Wellness International Network, Ltd.
WIN officially opened with those involved certain that success would come right from the start. “October 5th had been set as the launch date, so we were running around like crazy trying to get the office semi-functional for that first day,” says the Oats’ youngest daughter, Shannon 
Camp, then Director of Distributor Relations. “I still laugh when I think about the day we ‘opened for business’ — all we had was a phone on the floor of the lobby — but that didn’t keep the calls from coming in or the orders from being sent.” Immediate success was evident the very first month of operations with $1.7 million in sales and close to 400 people joining as independent distributors.
From that first day of operations, WIN started down its destined path. Ralph and Cathy, fortunate to have a strong support network around them, were able to pool resources and develop their dream company. With both of their daughters and their daughters’ husbands all having expertise in different areas including finance, marketing, technology and business, as well as a group of dedicated distributors, it seemed that all the pieces were coming together.
“Our first ‘network’ was actually set up on my kitchen table in Fayetteville, NC,” says the Oats’ son-in-law Nick Camp, Director of Operations, adding that while wrapping up his commitment to the U.S. Army, he spent his evenings writing the first commission program for WIN. Traveling back and forth between North Carolina and Texas on the weekends to contribute technical knowledge, Nick says he’s proud to still be in this role today. “We had a strong commitment to technology and automation. We knew that by pushing technology’s leading edge out to our distributors in the form of utilities and programs, we could make this company the industry leader in efficiency and productivity.”
WIN has seen many changes, both in the economy and in technology. Unlike many traditional businesses that have suffered the ups and downs of the fluctuating economy, WIN has held fast and remained a strong, profitable company benefiting its distributors with the non-corporate 
environment. While standard businesses had workforce reductions, reorganizations and sometimes closed down, WIN continued to thrive, often being the answer for persons affected by corporate downsizing around the world.
Just two years after WIN’s debut, the international market was tapped with an introduction of WIN’s products and opportunity to The Netherlands. This international market has continued to develop and build strong businesses. In 2002, WIN opened its European affiliate, WIN Worldwide BV, located near Amsterdam, which resulted in explosive growth for its distributor base in The Netherlands, and has served as a foundation for further European expansion efforts. In 2004, WIN opened its South African affiliate, Wellness International Network S.A. (Pty) Ltd. in Johannesburg, South Africa. “Like our WIN Worldwide BV office, this new facility, which features corporate offices and a distribution center, will help WIN distributors by offering local, rather than transcontinental, access to both corporate personnel for more timely assistance with business matters, and provide the convenience of onsite product pickup and decreased shipping time,” says Michael.
Constant product development and research has given WIN the opportunity to continually meet the challenging demands of the nutritional supplement industry and expand into other product categories. “International expansion throughout Europe and Asia, as well as product expansion and introductions are the future of WIN,” says Michael Matthews, Director of Regulatory Affairs, about bringing new products into diverse markets. “I see innovative products taking the opportunity to places and people all over the world.” Today, the Wellness product line stretches beyond the weight loss and nutritional supplement category and includes hair and skin care products and more. Additionally, WIN has published its high-quality products in the prestigious Physicians’ Desk Reference for NonPrescription Drugs and Dietary Supplements for 13 years, making the medical community take notice of the products. “It affords the ability,” says a well known Internist and Medical Director of a women’s healthcare facility in Chicago, “to state with confidence that these are high-quality products that deliver, the ingredients and the purity of the ingredients obviously formulated as they are, produce results.” Joining WIN as a distributor, she recommends the products to her patients because of their quality. “I do the Five Step Program, so I know that not only do I have consistent ingredients and labels, I know from the personal end these products do work.”
