Bill Farley FAQ

Michael Puhala writes a wonderful Zrii blog. I always appreciate his thoughts and his thorough research. We recently met in person at the Zrii Launch Convention in Salt Lake City in late May. Though we are in different down-lines, the Zrii Prosperity Plan encourages people in separate organizations (or cross-line from each other) to share ideas, help each other, and work together to grow the Zrii business. This is just another well thought out idea from this cutting-edge company. Whether you are already involved with Zrii, join my team or work with Michael, you know that are part of something very unique and special.

Michael wrote the following post last week. It answers a question that often arises when new prospects start "googling" Bill Farley. The complete URL can be found at the end of this post.


Bill Farley FAQ’s - Controversy Debunked!

June 27, 2008 in business | Tags: business, debunked!, Zrii | by mpuhala

The business mogul that started Zrii is Bill Farley who is also Zrii’s CEO. The reason for this blog post is that I’ve run into all kinds of information and questions about Bill Farley, however a vast majority of it seems to be based on rumor or false information (or at best, partial information). To clear the air, here is the information that I have been able to gather on Bill Farley in the format of ‘Frequently Asked Questions’:

Q: I’ve heard that Bill Farley was responsible for Fruit of the Loom going bankrupt, is that true?

A: Bill Farley’s company, Farley Industries bought the company Northwest Industries in 1985 which was the holding company for many conglomerates including Fruit of the Loom. At the time, Northwest Industries was a public company. This was a $1.4 billion dollar leveraged buyout with Bill Farley putting in $70 million of his own money at risk. With the acquisition, the company became private as Farley Industries was not a public company that was traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As President & CEO, Bill Farley grew the Fruit of the Loom brand from $500 million in 1985, to over $2.5 billion fifteen years later in 1999. With $2.29 billion in assets (according to its annual report), Fruit of the Loom was the eighth largest company to file for bankruptcy in 1999, according to BankruptcyData.com’s annual rankings. It followed in the footsteps of several other textile and apparel companies that had entered Chapter 11 in 1999, including Tultex, Pluma, Forstmann, Brazos Sportswear and Starter Corp. The textile and apparel industry has been suffering for some time due to foreign competition. As a result of this bankruptcy and in an effort to sway public opinion about the direction of Fruit of the Loom, the board forced Bill Farley out of the organization. See 1985 Fortune article here.

Q: I’ve heard that Bill Farley was a partial owner of the Chicago White Sox, is that true?

A: Yes, in 1976, Bill Farley became a minority partial owner in the Chicago White Sox.

Q: It seems odd that Bill Farley would start a network marketing company in nutrition, does he have experience in either of these industries?

A: Bill Farley is not new to the business of nutrition & health nor to the network marketing industry. He has a long-standing reputation of being passionate about living and promoting a healthy lifestyle. Taken from an article in Fortune Magazine in 1985:

“A three-sport man in high school and college — football, swimming, and baseball — Farley is still a relentless jogger and splendid tennis player. His passion for fitness permeates his company. Soon after acquiring a new ) plant, he usually polls the workers to find out what kind of athletic facility they would like. Virtually every Farley plant has a baseball field, track, tennis courts, or other such amenity. Farley is particularly offended by cigarettes; addicted visitors are quickly informed that smoking is banned in his office. Herbal tea is the beverage offered.”

As well, one of Bill Farley’s first attempt in the health and nutrition industry was his attempt to purchase Herbalife. After he was outbid to purchase Herbalife, he continued to look for a company that he could be involved with in this industry. He was pointed to a troubled company in the vitamin supplement business Body Wise International. He acquired this company in 2004 and this was his first foray into the network marketing industry. Through most of his career, Bill Farley has been involved with leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and has been considered a turn-around business expert. Bill Farley was still committed to start his own company from the ground up in the health and wellness industry and he considers Zrii will be his best and largest legacy.

Editor Commentary: Any business person who has succeeded in business at the level that Bill Farley has, is going to have both hits and misses on their resume. Most everyone can relate to managing a career where the most successful learnings have come from the biggest challenges and mistakes. To use a baseball analogy, look at the records of those who hit an astounding amount of home-runs. Chances are the number of strike-outs far out number those that played it more safe and hit far fewer home-runs. For me, I am glad that Bill Farley is leading this company. He has a fantastic track record, a great reputation among his peers, and he is not afraid to take risks.
Link to mpuhala's Blog Post


I so agree with the Editorial Comment above. To continue with the baseball analogy, if you have a batting average of .300 you are said to be a really good ball player. The reality is that you strike out 7/10 times. 3/10 success rate and you are considered a really good player. We should all keep that in mind as we move through life. As you grow your network marketing business and you talk to 10 people, 7 of whom say "not interested", you're doing pretty well!

In our team we train and work with our down-line on a daily basis. Teaching you to take those 3/10 "tell me more about it" people and bring them into your business. Our upline has 41 years of experience in this industry and can often be found on the phone helping those in his organization, 12-15 hours per day. That is support and that is dedication.
Join our Zrii Team if you are a leader looking to join with other like-minded, strong, caring and supportive entrepreneurs.

A Zrii Controversy???

This post was taken from another excellent Zrii blog that can be found at
http://z.puhala.com/

It is a well written and much needed response to an article found in naturalnews.com

A Zrii Controversy?

May 1, 2008

Rather than sweep it under the rug and ignore it, this post is directly responding to Mike Adams article at naturalnews.com (”Review: Zrii Juice and the Chopra Center - Does it Stand Up to the Hype?“). Because naturalnews.com receives a fair amount of web traffic, you are most likely to bump into this article if you are using search engines to find Zrii related articles.

At best, Mike Adams article about Zrii is sloppy journalism. However, from my perspective it’s much worse than that — it’s entirely misleading and filled with inaccurate information.

In his first paragraph, Mr. Adams writes:
So to learn more about Zrii, I went to the website (www.Zrii.com) to find the nutrition facts on Zrii. That’s where this review ran into a significant stumbling block: Zrii doesn’t list its “nutrition facts” label on the website! (At least not that I could find as of this writing.)

I want to point out two things here. The extent of Mr. Adams research seems to be based entirely on the Zrii website. Secondly, why do you suppose he puts the phrase “nutrition facts” in quotes? Is this because of the way that he defines nutrition facts?

If you do your own research on the Zrii website, you will find a lot of information about all of the ingredients in Zrii, including the additional fruit juices.

Mr. Adams also writes:
I’m always suspicious of network marketing products that don’t openly advertise their ingredients. Sure, the Zrii website lists the “featured” ingredients — Amalaki, Ginger, Turmeric, Tulsi, Schizandra, Jujube and Haritaki — but it does not conspicuously tell you what else is in the juice, but if you dig around the site and read the fine print, you learn that the primary juices in the Zrii product are:
• Apple juice
• Pear juice
• Pomegranate juice

Fine print? Just what fine print is Mr. Adams speaking about? Read the back of the bottle! You will plainly see all of the ingredients in Zrii. Ingredients that he missed:
* Purified Water
* White Grape Juice Concentrate
* Pear Puree Juice Concentrate
* Concord Grape Juice Concentrate
* Pomegranate Juice Concentrate
* Cranberry Juice Concentrate
* Raspberry Juice Concentrate
* Lime Juice Concentrate

Mr. Adams goes on:
This discovery, all by itself, is worthy of a great deal of skepticism about the integrity and value of the product. But that’s not where my concerns end. I’m also concerned that:
• The website does not offer a nutrition facts label that clearly lists all the ingredients. To really find out what’s in it, you have to “read the fine print” in the F.A.Q. section.

Again, Mr. Adams liberal use of quotations is misleading. ”read the fine print” in the F.A.Q. section?? He would make you believe that Zrii has posted information in secret areas of the website that is hard to find. It’s true that there is a lot of information in the FAQ section of the website. FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. How is that fine print exactly?

Mr. Adams goes on:
The website does not say HOW MUCH of each ingredient is in the juice. Are we talking 99% apple and pear juice and 1% of the other botanicals? Or is it more like 80% / 20%?

If you go to the Zrii Radio section of the website and listen to the Scientific Advisory Board calls, you will learn about the following:

* The formulation team, even after having locked down the main botanicals (Amalaki, Ginger, Turmeric, Tulsi, Schizandra, Jujube and Haritaki), spent nearly a year to come up with the right combination and mix of ingredients to insure potency, taste and so that there are no counter-effects of the botanicals being mixed

* There are no more than 15% of filler products outside of the core ingredients. This directly answers Mr. Adams questions of filler juice ratio to the main botanical ingredients.

Let’s continue. Another one of Mr. Adams points:
The website says the product is pasteurized. That means it’s heat processed, and heat processing destroys many of the natural medicines that the product is touted to contain in the first place!

Here is what the website actually states in the FAQ section:
Is Zrii pasteurized?

Given the presence of fruit juices, the product has to be pasteurized. Zrii employs a highly effective flash pasteurization process which heats the drink for a shorter period of time to preserve its potency.

Again, very misleading on the part of Mike Adams.

Here is one of his biggest journalism sins in my opinion. Mr. Adams states in his article:
The product is packaged in a plastic bottle, not glass. Does the plastic contain the toxic chemical Bisphenol-A? Most plastics do.

Wow - So, because Zrii uses plastic bottles, he automatically jumps to this conclusion? Here is what the website states in the FAQ section:
Is the plastic used in Zrii bottles safe? Which plastics have been shown to leach?

Within the world of food-grade plastics, High Density Polyethylene HDPE #2 (Zrii’s bottle) is considered one of the safest and easiest to recycle.

There has been some concern in recent months regarding the leaching of chemicals in plastics. This concern stemmed from a study suggesting that #7 plastics (also called Lexan) can produce the unwanted chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), thus leading to a variety of health issues. One major manufacturer of reusable sports bottles just switched form #7 plastics back to HDPE #2 for this reason.

At this point, it’s Mr. Adams credibility that really suffers due to his inaccurate, misleading, and selective use of information.

Here is more of Mr. Adams article:
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a strong supporter of Ayurvedic medicine and the healing benefits of the touted ingredients. I openly advocate the use of turmeric to prevent cancer, ginger for circulation, schizandra for immune modulation, and so on. These are powerful ingredients if used with proper potency. But understand this: Nowhere in Chinese medicine or Ayurvedic medicine does it say that you should combine a few milligrams of these ingredients with a bottle of pasteurized, non-organic apple juice and chug it! This product, in my opinion, is an insult to genuine Ayurvedic medicine.

This paragraph is completely misleading because he thinks he has already convinced his audience that Zrii is made up of mostly fruit juices and not beneficial botanicals — which is not true. As well, the Chopra Center’s endorsement is clearly evidence of the contrary. The Chopra Center is thought to be one of the foremost expert institutions in Ayurvedic medicine in North America and yet Zrii is the only third-party product that it endorses.
Here is some more misleading information from the article:

The current talk about Zrii seems focused on two things: 1) The seven key ingredients (which are dwarfed by the grape and pear juices), and 2) The income opportunity.

So, he is jumping from his weak conclusion in the beginning of the article (referencing the amount of traditional fruit juice), which is wrong and is now stating it as fact. Again, sloppy journalism.
I could go on and on about additional flaws that Mr. Adams makes. Okay, one more:

In my personal opinion, the Zrii company will fail unless it substantially reformulates its products.

Okay, at least he is stating his opinion this time and makes it clear. However, his opinion on the formula of Zrii is completely based on him reading certain sections of the website. This is hardly a qualified opinion (nutritional or medical).

Do your own research on Zrii. Listen to the Scientific Advisory Board calls that are recorded and published on the Zrii website. Even if you only spend 30 minutes of research, I think you will find it refutes much of the claims of Mike Adams. It appears that Mike Adams did much less research to write this very poor article.


I give my heartfelt thanks to the author of this blog post for dissecting Mike Adams non-researched journalism and giving consumers factual information. As always, each must make his/her own choices based on their own research.