His SEL/Amsoil enterprise is affiliated with Amsoil Inc., the brainchild of Albert J. Amatuzzio, whom Durand describes as a close friend and father figure.  Amatuzzio had the foresight to see the potential benefits of synthetic lubricants early on.  He created the company, then called Amzoil, to produce and market the product.  But Pennzoil, looking out for the proprietary use of the letter ‘Z,’ challenged the company’s use of the name.  Amatuzzio was forced to change the spelling, but the publicity he received from the battle put his company on the map, and today the company he founded has members all over the United States. Durand’s affiliate alone has over 200,000 members, who buy and sell Amsoil synthetic lubricant products directly.

Durand began as a member of the company back in 1974, and has been working with Amsoil ever since. “We immediately got relocated to Alabama,” he recalls, “and we started a group there. That just took off like a house on fire; my own company got started in April of 1976, and by December we already had 450 members in the organization.” He later relocated to the Lake Superior area, where his original company name—Southeastern Leaders—didn’t fly. So he shortened it to SEL/Amsoil, has since watched his company grow in leaps and bounds.

Durand loves working with Amsoil because it’s a multi-level marketing organization with integrity. Individuals who join the company begin as members, he explains. “Every time you make a purchase as a member, you get commission credits. Then, if you achieve 3000 commission credits a month—which is maybe $4000 in wholesale products—that makes you a direct dealer. When you do that three months in a row, you become a direct jobber, at which point you can move up different levels.” As a veteran Amsoil worker, Durand is one of only two people worldwide who has achieved a seven-star status, the highest possible ranking for Amsoil employees.

Durand’s direct, common-sense approach to business dates back to his early days.  Raised on a farm in Wisconsin, Durand wanted to see the world, and as part of the Air Force ROTC he visited over 60 countries.  He secured command positions in Texas, Europe, the Pentagon, and Vietnam, where he earned a bronze star.  Later, he taught at universities in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Alabama.  “I got to meet the Southern folks, so when I retired [from the military], luck and circumstance led me to start SEL/Amsoil with my wife Donna.”

Bill and his wife were able to start off on the right foot because of the flexibility of the job. “Amsoil can be done right from home,” he told The Suit. “The wife had six kids, and she wanted to do something at home so she could watch them. With Amsoil, we could do that.” But business expanded quickly. “We went from the kitchen table to the basement to another office to another floor, and we just kept adding. Now our home is a really nice office with an elevator.”

They have also recently started a new endeavor: a SEL/Amsoil museum. As Durand explains, when you have a good thing, you want to spread the word. “We have 320 acres of recreational space, and we’ve got really good contractors working there,” he said. “It doesn’t come cheap, but we wanted to do more for our organization than anyone else was doing for their organization.”

Durand is enthusiastic about his work because he knows that his product is first-rate.  “If you want a good tomato sauce, start with good tomatos, and then [economies of] scale will lower your costs,” he explained.  “The fuel savings [brought about] by using our synthetic oil means that it more than covers any added cost.  Big truckers even call it ‘free oil’ because it improves performance so much.  Using special Amsoil filters, which keep the oil clean; truckers get as much as 400,000 to 500,000 miles on an oil change.  It is pure.  And it’s easy to deliver, not requiring a truck to dump oil into twenty different lines.” 

And the environmental benefits are also important.  “Being synthetic, it helps to keep water and the ground clean.  You don’t have to fight wars over it,” Durand said. “And the longevity [as compared to] regular oil means there is less waste.”
Durand and his wife know that the work they’re doing is good for the country as a whole. Considering the environmental  benefits of the product and the freedom of autonomy for employees, he says, “it’s good for America. It keeps it strong and independent and free.”