Deb Hoffmann and her husband, Jim, lived in Iowa near her parents and the family farm she grew up on until the fall of 2021, when they moved across the country to North Carolina.
In 2023, Deb felt a pull to be near her parents again, who were now both in their 90s. It was at that point that her mother’s health began to fail. Deb traveled back to Iowa six times in nine months, supported her parents and siblings, and was at her mom’s bedside around the clock for her last five days on earth.
“I had just returned from 10 days in Iowa when I got a call at 2:00 a.m.,” Deb remembers. “They told me that Mom had fallen and that, ‘If you want to see your mother again, you need to come right now.’ I was able to be there around the clock and spend quality time with her for the last week of her life. I could also help plan and pay for portions of her funeral. I had both the time flexibility and the finances because of Melaleuca.”
Deb and her daughter, National Director 9 Makenzie Schultz, both started shopping with Melaleuca in August 2018. Deb recognized the company name from when a friend had shared Melaleuca’s laundry detergent with her 30 years prior. She loved it then, and when she learned that the company now offered more than 400 products, she was excited.
Deb purchased a Home Conversion Pack and switched everything in her home to Melaleuca products. But that wasn’t the only way Melaleuca changed her life. She began to wonder whether, at 60 years old, she could build a business too. As she started sharing it with others, she realized Melaleuca’s potential to reshape the future for herself and others.
“I don’t have that gene that you need to be able to sell things,” she says. “But I can sure tell someone about something I love that will help them. If you can share a restaurant you love, you can tell someone about Melaleuca.”
Before Melaleuca, Deb had retired from a 35-year nursing career, then worked in a direct-marketing company while her husband owned a print shop. In the years since her enrollment, Deb has built a Melaleuca business that yields a consistent income and is strengthening her retirement. While she’s grateful for what Melaleuca does for her, her greatest satisfaction comes from knowing she can help others have time with their loved ones just as she has.
“My why right now is helping people find their footing,” she says. “Melaleuca is for anybody, but it’s especially for that age group who are looking for something that will give them security in their future—that will give them complete freedom to live how they want to live, especially in retirement.”