The CEO of MONAT Global is a humble man with a dedication to his family. Rayner Urdaneta moved to the United States of America in 2000. He attended college and dedicated himself to creating a business that would benefit not only his family, but many families over time. After trying several options, he settled on creating a company in partnership with his father.
This company became MONAT Global. It began modestly as a hair care company with naturally-based ingredients. After several approaches they created an avenue to allow others to earn an income with his family. Over the years MONAT has grown into a global powerhouse of hair care products and business opportunities.
Rayner Urdaneta continues to work with the business every day. He is dedicated to seeing everyone who embraces the business opportunity find the success they are striving for. This means he spends time among his team, organizing events, and ensuring the products are the highest available quality. Together with his father, Rayner has been able to see his goals achieved, despite his humble beginnings.
Now, Ray Urdaneta and his wife have three children they cherish. Their hard work, dedication, and drive has produced the best opportunity for themselves to enjoy time together while knowing they have been able to positively impact many lives
How did you get started with MONAT? What inspired you to do so?
MONAT began from an idea. In 2013 my father and I were trying to reinvent ourselves after we had purchased a manufacturing company. We purchased the company to expand ourselves and produce a product that would be more sophisticated than their previous product line. My inspiration came during my research of the hair care industry when I found that there was little awareness of the fact that hair ages. I began more extensive research on the topic. I spoke with my R&D manager who told me that he had some ideas regarding a formula. We began doing research and development. I began going to conferences to learn all I could. I did not find one company in the direct selling industry who focused on anti-aging hair care, even at premium prices. I recognized the niche in the hair care market. It had the potential to become a hundred-billion-dollar industry.
How does your firm make money?
We sell to consumers through our Market Partners. We provide them with a website so they can sell their products to friends and relatives. We encourage them to meet their customers face to face, but we place no limits on ambition. We use high tech tools, social media, webinars, conferences, whatever it takes to brand ourselves and to get the word out. We sell in three countries right now.
How long did it take for your firm to become profitable?
We pre-launched MONAT in 2014 with 500 distributors. Within 2 years, we became profitable and debt free. No one knew us when we first got started. We promoted the company with the opportunity for new distributors. We made the public aware that we had our labs in the U.S. We gave the history of my family and our challenge. Four years later, we have about 450,000 distributors and more than 200 directors who are the company’s top producers. By 2017 we experienced 700% growth. We are projected to grow by another 50% next year.
We opened Canada in 2016 and 2018 we opened the UK, and our technology allows us to expand further into the European markets. I would like to expand into the Asian market within the next five years.
When you first started out did you ever doubt that this would work for you? If so, how did you handle it?
We have always been believers. We built a good solid foundation. We hired the best VP’s for our offices. We did our research and we found our niche in anti-aging hair care products, which makes us unique. We are fulfilling a need in the market, and we have offered a great business opportunity. We offer value to the market and we walk with integrity. If you believe in what you are doing, then everything will work out. That is how you get rid of those fears.
How did you find your first customer?
Our first customer came through social media.
What is one marketing strategy other than referrals that you use to generate new business?
We use a lot of social media platforms but one of the best things to have are testimonials from people who have been happy with our product. We let our customers tell people how MONAT changed their hair, or the opportunity changed their lives. We also do a lot of events. We just had an event with 4,000 people. We show people that we are an innovative company.
What is the toughest decision that you have had to make in the past few months?
We got some bad press at one time saying that we were not used by hair care professionals. You either must fight it or let it go. We chose to sue for defamation. I didn’t want to get into a legal battle, but I felt as though we had to.
What do you think makes you successful?
I am always moving. I have a good command of my time management. Each day is productive and time is used efficiently. I have a lot of drive. But I always believe that we can do better. We do not settle. I am always trying to improve myself. I stick to a routine.
What has been your most satisfying moment since opening your own firm?
I think the most satisfying moment in my life came when I realized that MONAT was a success. There were five hundred people in one month who were interested in MONAT at the pre-launch. When you launch an idea, you have faith, but you never know if an idea is going to work. Many companies strive to have 500 customers in their first year, we did it in our first month.
What is a recent purchase that you have made for your business?
We just added a new shopping cart to our technology. It will make it much easier for our customers to shop. It was a great purchase.
What does the future hold for you and your firm? What are you most excited about?
We want to be a billion-dollar company in the North American Market. We are in the UK and expanding into the European Market. We want at least one Asian country within the next five years. We are ready for expansion.
What books have inspired would you recommend.
- Good to Great by Jean Collins
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
- The Influence