“At the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, we say that innovation and change are the only constant,” shared Amanda Tress, Founder and CEO. We celebrate Tress and the company she founded, as the first recipient of DSN’s inaugural Bravo Innovator Award. This new award honors the direct selling companies that embrace and deploy the emerging technologies and future-focused strategies that propel the channel forward.
Tress is a Certified Nutrition Coach, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Personal Trainer. She developed a program for her clients that taught them how to burn fat and live a truly healthy lifestyle through intermittent fasting, carb cycling, macro tracking, whole food nutrition and strategic workouts. The consistent results she saw were incredible and inspired her to launch The FASTer Way to Fat Loss in 2016, giving her the platform to share her program more broadly.
The FASTer Way is a membership program that includes one-on-one coaching, education and support accessible through the company’s mobile app or desktop portal and offers a comprehensive library of tools that empower members to transform their lives. Members can easily access a daily food log, customized nutrition plan, workouts, meal guides and more in just a few clicks. Members can also access The FASTer Way’s selection of nutrition and fitness products to support their health goals. Since its launch, The FASTer Way to Fat Loss has worked with more than 250,000 members and been featured on the Inc. 500 List for the past four years.
A Different Approach
The FASTer Way’s business model stands out in the crowded health and wellness space. While the company offers a handful of traditional health products, such as protein powders, supplements and fitness gear, the monthly membership is the focus, offered directly to consumers online and through its field team.
The FASTer Way offers multiple ways to earn income and build a business, through its Ambassador and Coach Certification programs—each providing a unique entry point and entrepreneurial path. Tress and her team are pioneering a new model for the direct sales industry, one that builds on the focus of earning through sharing, while leaning into the most common way people are sharing today—social media. Years ago, as Tress was building her personal training business, she was working full time in digital marketing, observing the power of influencers. When it came time to dive headfirst into her own business, she knew she wanted to market differently.
Future Focused
“We developed a one-tier micro-influencer marketing model,” explained Tress. “You can choose one of two tracks: become a Brand Ambassador for free or a Certified Coach for $5,000. The reason I call this a one-tier model is because not only do we have Ambassadors who work directly with the corporate team to send clients to the six-week program, we also empower our Coaches to bring on their own Brand Ambassadors within their organization. When an Ambassador spreads the word about the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, they receive a one-time $50 commission on our six-week program. We believe that micro-influencers represent the present and the future. We empower our micro-influencers—whether Ambassadors or Coaches—to generate highly qualified leads, and then we do quite a bit of hard work to help convert those leads into paying customers. We give them social media content. We share marketing tips. We have lead generation campaigns that our micro-influencers love to promote.”
With 20,000 Ambassadors and 3,000 Certified Coaches, her dream of sharing her life-changing wellness program far and wide through the power of digital marketing is being realized. What began with 11 clients and a dream, has grown into a thriving business in seven years. And she’s just getting started.
“We’ve all seen the reality of where the channel is headed,” she shared. “At The FASTer Way, we say we can change, and we can innovate by decision or by disaster. We choose to innovate by decision. And whether its iteration or innovation with our affiliate model or using tools like Chat GPT to integrate with the business, we’re going to continue to innovate so that we can make a big impact on the world.”
Congratulations to the FASTer Way to Fat Loss team on their Bravo Innovator Award.
From the June 2023 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
