By Kay Clark
For the Sun Day
SUN CITY – How would you like to be the President of your own wholesale business and work out of your home Monday through Friday?
Meet Neighborhood 2 resident Diane Bell (Gustafson), an Independent Sales Representative carrying ten different lines of wholesale materials.
From plants and flowers to other gardening related items, Sun City resident Diane Bell sells it all as an independent wholesale representative and loves what she does. (Photo provided)
Just the Best, Inc. in Huntley is a private company categorized under Garden Supplies. Some of the lines include Sprinkler System Services, Green Lawn Products, Safer Garden Products, Lawn Garden Products, International Garden Products, and Scott’s Lawn Products.
Diane has been in the business for 25 years and can boast an annual income for the company of two million dollars last year. She only deals with wholesale and works with area businesses such as Platt Hill and Countryside, shipping her products in semi truck-loads.
“I’m the middleman,” Diane said.
After working for her brother many years ago, Diane began working for the head buyer at Frank’s Nursery. After eight or nine months, the business was sold. Not to be daunted, Diane then worked for another company for the next six months.
Her first boss commented on her work being “very clever,” and she increased sales by 25%.
“My second boss commented that I would even outsell him,” Diane said.
In 1978, she became a Master Gardner, and in 1979, she became an Advanced Master Gardner. Diane then attended Michigan State and studied horticulture.
Her first husband saw an ad for a wholesale representative of gardening products and told her, “This is right up your alley. You love to garden.”
She applied and after a round of interviews got the position. “I was the first woman in the business,” Diane said.
Diane has a secretary who conducts business in her home, taking messages and collecting orders while Diane and her husband drive to Illinois, Wisconsin, or Indiana, showing samples of their product lines. “She’s fabulous and has been with us for the past ten years,” Diane says of her secretary.
“I do the driving in the a.m., and he drives at night,” said Diane. “We only sell to retail stores.”
Diane and her husband of 23 years have lived in the Del Webb community for ten years.
“He’s the World‘s Best Husband,” she said, and added, “We were number 24 of the first 100 people to move into the community.”
Diane has three boys and her husband has three daughters.
“We look like the Brady Bunch and just had our ninth granddaughter.”
Check out Diane’s Website at www.justthebestinc.com
