Business Insider: Vibrant Health

The idyllic Berkshires and Litchfield Hills are known vacation destinations, not necessarily the perfect location for a company’s headquarters. Vibrant Health, however, has made them just that. Since 1994, the company has called Litchfield County home. Starting in Lime Rock and eventually moving to North Canaan, the company has continued to grow and expand.

Founder and formulator Mark Timon has been in the nutrition industry for over 40 years. He founded Vibrant Health in 1987, with a 38 ingredient product called Green Vibrance that promised to “Get You Right” on the inside. The product, which is still sold today, along with many new additions to the Vibrant Health line, was wildly successful. Mark sold the company to Ted and Paige Parker in 2002, but remains active in the company. He gives lectures about treating disorders through nutrition and is currently working on a series of books. Recently, Mark took the time to answer some of Berkshire Style’s questions about life and business in the Litchfield Hills.

I saw that you started the company in New York Sate, what prompted the move to Connecticut, and why did you choose Litchfield County?

Ho Ho! That is a bit of a loaded question. I had come to refer to New York State as "the Great Socialist State of New York." In the few years predating 1992, my consulting and raw material sales business had grown to the point where my accountant had convinced me to become a one-man corporation. At the end of each year, I would evolve dreams of growth and expansion based on the retained earnings in my little business. Then the accountant would give me my state and federal tax returns, and all retained earnings would disappear.

In the third year that it happened, my ire was piqued, and I refused to file my federal tax return. Instead, I took the scant $15,000 left in the business, and used it to finance the first 500 jars of Green Vibrance. Probably the simplest and least inflammatory way to explain the situation is to say that I used $15,000 of personal savings to start the company.

Yet, as a one-man corporation, I was required to file 18 tax reports and returns of various kinds throughout the year to both the state and federal governments. The added tax burden from the state of New York plus our local municipality in New York suppressed this person's ability to work toward and achieve his goals. Investigation of the tax structure in neighboring states showed me that anywhere else but New York would provide a better business environment. Aside from New Hampshire, Connecticut was most attractive.

I was familiar with the northwest corner of Connecticut from having visited my brother there through the late 1970s and 1980s when he owned a home in Lime Rock. I was struck by the geographical beauty and the pleasing balance of rural nature with just enough cosmopolitan atmosphere. So in 1994, we shut down the business in New York and reopened in Lakeville, Connecticut. By that time, my brother had moved to California. Perhaps I scared him away. (Actually, he had gotten the job he simply could not refuse.)

What have been the advantages of being located in Canaan? Do you feel there are any disadvantages?

Canaan retains its small-town atmosphere and friendliness while providing a more established industrial base. We had simply outgrown the available commercial space in Lakeville/Salisbury, and were able to find commercial buildings to meet our needs just 15 min. up the road in Canaan. At the time we made the move, there were no disadvantages, but I could see one lurking on the horizon. Eventually, I knew, we would grow to the point where we would need an even larger commercial building than we had found in Canaan. But in Canaan there is still sufficient open space and opportunity to either build or refit an existing commercial building to meet our needs. So the disadvantage of currently limited commercial space can be remedied without leaving Canaan.

Do you feel that your location has helped your business?

If our interests were only in business, it would, of course, make much more sense to be located in a large metropolitan area, specifically down near New York City and its environs where our contract manufacturers are located. But my interest, as founder, put business advantages in second position behind quality of life. You see, each person who comes to work at Vibrant Health invests a major portion of his or her lifetime to the workplace and coworkers. It is my belief that that major portion of life should be spent as pleasantly as possible; that the environment should be attractive and the personal relationships nurturing. The workload for each should be manageable and he/she should have the freedom to attend to personal affairs as needed. That means if the worker has a child, and the child is in a school play or soccer game, for example, then Mom or Dad should be able to leave work to be present and accounted for in the life of the child. That's more important than answering an urgent business e-mail or finishing a report or nearly anything else. Business can wait while a young person's character is formed up within a family.

So ultimately, yes, our location has helped our business because it helps support the peace and tranquility of the employees, and does not impede them from participation in the other aspects of their lives.

What has been the most rewarding part of the business?

That's easy: developing dietary supplements that not only support health, but that can actually heal people and restore health. When a consumer contacts me and tells me that their osteoporosis has been reversed, or that their eczema has disappeared, or that their arthritis has abated and they can once again go bowling or golfing, or that their tumors have shrunk or disappeared, then I, well, just feel great! I have a reason to be alive.

How do you enjoy the Berkshires? What activities do you like to do? Where do you like to go?

We now live in the Adirondack Mountains. In 2007, I sold the company to Ted and Paige Parker and they have carried on beautifully with Vibrant Health. I still work with the company in a consulting capacity but can do so from a remote location. Unfortunately, we chose the Adirondack Mountains. Yes, much to my chagrin, I am back in New York! But our goal is to return as soon as our last child finishes high school. That will be in 2015. So we have already begun the process of looking for our new home in our old environs. The Berkshires are captivating, warm, welcoming, and it is where we want to be.

But we did live in the area from 1994 into 2007. While we were there, we hiked the mountains and ravines, swam in the lakes, kayaked the rivers and I rode my bicycle everywhere I could. We always saw a few shows each summer at the playhouse in Sharon. We alternated theatre with trips to Tanglewood. Great Barrington was our favorite place to shop for anything, especially during Christmas. Lakeville and Salisbury was our home, and still feels like home each time I come down to the area on either business or pleasure. I don't believe there was a restaurant in Lakeville, Salisbury or Great Barrington where we have not eaten. And all my children learned to ski at Catamount.

Most valuable was the sense of community that we enjoyed throughout the entire region. There is a friendly camaraderie among businesses and their patrons that I have never experienced anywhere except the home town where I grew up. I think everyone who lives in the Berkshires knows they are in a special place, and carries a healthy respect for the environment and the people around them because of that awareness. So what do I like to do in the Berkshires? I guess you could say, anything.