Forbes just published its list of the 250 greatest living self-made Americans, and one name on it belongs to the network marketing world.

Frank VanderSloot, founder and Executive Chairman of Melaleuca, came in at No. 43. For context, that ranking puts him ahead of Arnold Schwarzenegger (No. 50), Barbra Streisand (No. 65), Sylvester Stallone (No. 185), Stephen King (No. 231), and Martha Stewart (No. 250).

Forbes built the list in honor of the country’s semiquincentennial, evaluating individuals on how self-made their success was, along with entrepreneurial achievement, obstacles overcome, long-term value creation, and sustained national impact. Oprah Winfrey topped the list.

Where VanderSloot Started

Forbes described VanderSloot simply: “The Melaleuca founder labored on the family farm while his father worked the railroad; he lived in a laundromat during college.”

The fuller story is worth knowing. VanderSloot was born in 1948 and grew up on an 80-acre farm in northern Idaho, the third of four children. His father worked the railroad five days a week to keep the family going, which left a 12-year-old Frank managing the farm’s daily operations. He raised crops, fed cattle, milked cows, and chopped wood. To earn money he sold cream from a cow his father gave him, raised and sold calves, hired out to other ranches, and cleaned laundromats.

He was the first person in his family to go to college. During his time at Brigham Young University he lived in a laundromat he was being paid to clean. He earned a degree in business management, went to work for Automatic Data Processing, and eventually found his way to a struggling startup in Idaho Falls called Oil of Melaleuca.

The company was, by his own account, a mess when he arrived. The FDA had come knocking because salespeople were making exaggerated medical claims. A supposed corner on the tea tree oil market turned out to be far smaller than advertised. The multilevel model required new distributors to buy large amounts of inventory upfront, which VanderSloot objected to on principle. The company folded.

In September 1985, VanderSloot founded Melaleuca, Inc., built on a different model. Instead of loading distributors with inventory, Melaleuca ships products directly to customers on a monthly basis. The company does not advertise in traditional channels. It grows through word of mouth and referrals from independent marketing executives.

What Melaleuca Became

Over the 40 years since VanderSloot founded it, Melaleuca has grown into a company with over $2 billion in annual revenue, more than 5,200 employees, and operations in 20 countries. It has been on Inc. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies multiple times and is a member of the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame, the only company to remain on the list for five consecutive years while earning the publication’s top profitability rating each year.

VanderSloot served as CEO for 37 years before transitioning to Executive Chairman. He has been named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, USA Today, and CNN, and is a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

Why This Matters for Network Marketing

The direct selling industry rarely gets this kind of mainstream recognition. A Forbes ranking that places a network marketing company founder at No. 43 among the greatest self-made Americans, ahead of household names from entertainment, literature, and other industries, is notable on its own terms.

Melaleuca occupies an interesting position in the direct selling world. The company has consistently distinguished itself from the broader MLM industry by emphasizing retail customers over recruitment and by building a subscription model that generates recurring revenue. Whether you consider Melaleuca a traditional MLM or something different, VanderSloot built it from nothing in a small Idaho city and grew it into a two-billion-dollar global company over four decades.

That is the story Forbes recognized.