How I Visualize LifeWave’s Growth

One of the big stories about LifeWave over the years has been its rapid growth. Inc. magazine listed us as one of its fastest-growing companies in three separate years. We’ve expanded our operations to now offer our products in more than 75 countries. We also now have offices around the world. All of that helps demonstrate why we’ve come to be associated with growth and how that growth has helped our products significantly change the health and wellness industry. However, it’s occurred to me recently that the way I view our growth may be a bit different than the notion popularly shared by the business world.

Growth in Stages

Where others might be inclined to view our growth as a continuous curve from start to present, I tend to think of our growth as occurring in stages. To some, this might sound like semantics, but I think it illustrates an important point about how the identity of a company can change over time. They say that every cell in the human body gets replaced every seven years, resulting in a new body. Though the parts of a company may stay the same over time, it can go through similar identity shifts that change the work it does and how it is perceived in the world.

That’s why I think it’s helpful to think about a company’s history as occurring in stages. In each stage, a company’s focus may shift and adjust to accommodate current market realities and the needs of its customers. It also might shift based on where an organization’s research efforts are taking it. Or maybe it shifts based on the success of a particular product that helps clarify which of its efforts are likely to be most fruitful at that moment.

Whatever the reason for their existence, looking to the stages of growth of a company can be an illuminating process. In our case, it showcases how we transformed from a company with insight into how to support human health into a global operation tapping into some of the most exciting research and studies in the field.

Stage One: Quality of Life

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I view our first stage as starting when we launched in 2004. I was excited to debut our hard work on the Energy Enhancer patch, which I felt could really make a difference in people’s quality of life. While I was confident in the technology, you don’t know how the market is going to react until you debut. Thankfully, the patch was a big success. And then came Ice Wave for pain and discomfort and Silent Nights for better sleep. We brought in about $17 million in sales that first year, and we confirmed our assumption that people were looking for ways to improve their health and wellness without turning to drugs or stimulants. a

The first stage is important for any company, and it can really set the tone for the organization for years down the line, especially if it is a strong start. In our case we focused on better quality of life and it worked. In my opinion, this first stage of growth is critical, but it’s important to create plans to expand on it when you can.

Stage Two: Anti-Aging

For LifeWave, that expansion came with the release of Aeon in 2011. So much about that release felt like a major shift for the company. We had been working on the product for years, and we were excited about the research that we had conducted around its mechanism. We knew that we had a product that could make a profound impact on the way people relate to aging.

The launch itself was also a big event for me. I was on stage with Suzanne Somers, and a photo of us ended up posted in Times Square. I grew up not too far from there, so that really meant a lot to me. It was a personal win, and it showed just how far the company had come. Aeon, followed by Glutathione and Carnosine patches, all collectively known within the Y-Age System, turned out to be another big success for us and helped usher in a new phase of growth involving anti-aging..

Stage Three: Regeneration

With the recent release of the patented X39 patch, I now consider LifeWave to be in its third stage of growth revolving around regeneration. The way that this patch taps into stem cell activation to promote health and well-being represents such a big step forward for the company. We’ve already been seeing amazing results from customers and distributors that top the research we accrued during a decade of studies. The response has been inspiring, and the product is already showing how it could change the company in the years to come.

If you’re an entrepreneur or just interested in business, I highly recommend considering this staged approach to growth analysis. It can be a great tool to highlight when a company is entering a new phase of growth. This can, in turn, inform future product development and customer interactions.