March | 2014 | The Gift of Health

Xavier Ortiz’s Vi story began early 2012 with the words “free protein” and a simple Google search. Little did he know that only 25 days later, he would become a Vi Regional Director and earn a new BMW. Of course, Xavier would have to wait a few months to drive it around his home state of Texas; he was, at the time, serving as a Captain in the United States Army thousands of miles away in Afghanistan.

“A lot of soldiers were taking supplements and protein, like I was,” says Xavier. “But it got really expensive, and so my wife told me to stop spending so much money on protein. That’s when I did an Internet search and found ViSalus. I did all my product research, read numerous Customer stories, watched their weight-loss videos, and loved seeing the results people were having. I decided to try a Challenge Kit.”

The Military Scale

Xavier had another reason to take on The Challenge; he needed to lose weight. “The military requires you to meet a specific weight limit; otherwise, there is a chance you will be kicked out,” he says. “I was 20 pounds over that limit, and I just couldn’t lose my belly fat.”

While on the Fit Kit, Xavier not only lost that fat (30 lbs, in fact!), he gained something new: opportunities. Financial ones. “I had to lose weight, but I also had to earn money,” he says. “And so I started ‘stalking’ Facebook profiles of Challenge Promoters to find out their stories… to look for evidence that I could truly make good money promoting a product I loved.”

It’s how Xavier found Jeff Davis, a Vi 2-Star Ambassador. “I saw all of Jeff’s pictures and status updates about how much success he was having as a Promoter,” says Xavier. “He was literally traveling the world and positively impacting thousands of lives. And so I was inspired to reach out to him.”

Skype and a Webcam

Jeff connected Xavier to another military officer who had earned his BMW while also in Afghanistan. Xavier then learned how to harness the power of social media in promoting The Challenge, http://www.giftofhealth.co.uk .

“I followed Vi’s Getting Started Training, and I leveraged the benefits of social media to build my business while overseas,” he says.

Instead of inviting people to Challenge parties in Afghanistan, Xavier took them viral. The host house: Skype. “You don’t always need a physical place to host a Challenge party or build a team; use technology and social tools to connect with people,” he says. “Literally take the PROJECT 10 Challenge viral and challenge people anywhere, any time. Use the support of your upline. Commit. Dive-in head first. Sacrifice.” http://www.viinuk.co.uk then click “overview” then “Getting Started” to see how.

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Having served in the military overseas while his younger son was born in the U.S., Xavier knows firsthand the value of sacrifice. Now, a year later and living in Texas (ask him about his strategy called “Texas Boom”), this 30-year-old Vi Ambassador enjoys a different kind of life—the Vi-Life with his wife, Brianna, and two small children.

Operation Nelly Body

Some people might naturally assume a solider would be tired of facing challenges, but you only have to talk to Xavier a few seconds to recognize his deep passion for continually challenging himself and others. “My goal is to help at least seven people in my organization reach the Ambassador rank by the end of the year,” he says. “It’s about creating a positive culture and connecting closely with your team members. I took the quality of camaraderie I learned from the military and instilled it within my team. I give all the glory to the Lord for my success, but also to my Team FUEGO.”

And although Xavier is no longer involved in military operations, he does have a personal mission of his own. “I’m still challenging myself to lose weight and build muscle. I want to achieve the body of Nelly, the rapper. It’s going to take me awhile, but I am definitely going to get there. I call it ‘Operation Nelly Body.’”