Rick's Story...
I’m often asked about my history and career as an entrepreneur, so I thought I would share that with you here…

rick billings | DIVERSIFIED ENTREPRENEUR
I'm Rick Billings, a diversified entrepreneur, professional photographer, network marketer, website developer, and a true serial entrepreneur. Besides God and Family, I am passionate about helping others achieve their full potential.
2024 -
RVing the Lower 48
2019 - 2022
Our bucket list included going RVing for 3-5 years. So, in December 2018, April and I sold all of our possessions and furniture, keeping only their real personal items, and purchased a 2019 Newmar 44-foot motor coach and a 2019 Jeep.
I continued to build his Network Marketing business while on the road.
If you want to see some of the landscape images Rick made, you can click the button below.
PartnerCo (Formally ARIIX)
2011 - Present
In May 2011, four executives left USANA, the company I was building. They were publicly traded on the NASDAQ, which I found strange. So, I connected with the executives and found out they were starting a new company called ARIIX. Needless to say, I joined them on July 4, 2011, the first day of their launch.
ARIIX was purchased in February 2023, and it changed its name to Partner.co, but it still offers all the great products it has always had.
I won the Premier #1 Salesperson Award in my network marketing company for North America in 2017. So my company gave me an all-expenses-paid 9-day cruise through the Caribbean with many other top successful leaders. We took our three boys and had the best times of their lives. For me, this is what hard work as a Network Marketer is all about.




My wife, April, and I were married in 1984 and celebrated our Wedding Anniversary in Cancun in April 2016. We won a company trip, and our network marketing company paid for everything at this 5-star resort.
USANA
2006 - 2011
Billings Photography (Orlando)
2002 - 2009
It was January 2002, and April, the boys and I relocated to Windermere, Florida, in SW Orlando. We also moved ASPN.com to Orlando, but a couple of years later, the business was failing, so I started doing portrait photography again.
Rick offered portrait photography as a concierge-type service to high-end individuals. After a few years, he realized he had to do something else to quickly regain his wealth, so he got involved in Network Marketing.
Merged with PhotoWave (ASPN.com)
1998 - 2004
It was 1999, and my partner and I decided to launch a sports photography business online. Youth sports was a growing market then, and we wanted to offer action photos along with the traditional team and individual pictures taken every year. At the time, they built and launched ASPN.com (American Sports Photo Network). My partner and I, along with an investor, invested 5 million dollars into this venture. In April of 2000, there was a dot com crash. Thus, our path to an IPO was crushed, and we began reorganizing the business infrastructure and relocated to Orlando, FL.
I traded my time for dollars in my photography business for over 30 years, working 12 hours daily at times. I made a nice six-figure income but realized I was always working. About 6 years after the merger with PhotoWave, my world changed financially. I knew I needed to make a change, so as a visionary, I soon began looking for a business that would allow me to rebuild my income with no limits, help others, and achieve financial freedom in a shorter period than he had in the past.
Being online since 1994, I loved the power of the Internet, so I knew that it had to be a significant component. I have been using WordPress since 2006 and have mastered it very well. So, I ventured into Network Marketing, helping people build multiple streams of residual income and achieve financial success. The freedom to be with your family and do what you want to do when you want to do it.
United Nations Millennium Summit
2000
My highly regarded position in digital photography was evident in the fall of 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit. Kodak asked me to digitally photograph 189 Heads of State of UN member countries, including President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Minutes later, a digital image was transmitted electronically to news organizations worldwide. The group photo appeared in full color on the front page of the New York Times the following day.
Rick Billings Photography & Video
1985 - 2006
One day, a West Omaha photographer approached me with an intriguing proposition—to buy his studio. At the age of 24, I was faced with a monumental decision. This photographer was renowned, and his studio ranked among the top three in Omaha. Newly married to my beautiful wife, April, I had to seize this fantastic opportunity. We decided to embark on this adventure, purchasing a beautiful 4000-square-foot home studio in West Omaha. The purchase was a journey that took months to navigate as we did not have significant savings. After much persuasion and 8-bankers later, I secured four loans totaling $267,000. A first and second on the home and a first and second on the business, and in October 1985, I plunged into entrepreneurship and business ownership.
I had to make one of the hardest business decisions of my life. I had been working for my mentor, Les Hassel, for seven years, and they had become best friends. Les's kids were my age, so Les was like a second father to me. But I had to leave and start my own business.
The studio, which had been in business since 1967, was called David Lee Studio. A few years later, we changed the name to Rick Billings Photography & Video.
Rick Billings at the peak of his Photography Career
In 1989, I got a knock on the door, expecting a client; I was surprised by two gentlemen from the State of Nebraska wanting to purchase our home, which included his studio. They needed it for a new road coming through. Father Flanagan’s Boys Town was across the street, and our property was an easy target for their needed land. To make a long story short, I acquired an acre of land 50 feet behind the old studio in the condemnation. I had the property rezoned commercial, and as a result, the price of the land quadrupled. He used that for a down payment and borrowed $500,000 to build an 8,000-square-foot state-of-the-art photography studio on the corner of 132nd & West Dodge Road in Omaha. April and I designed every inch of our new 8000 sq ft home studio and were there during the entire build. We moved in March of 1992.
Later, in the summer of 1995, after a year of immersing myself in digital photographic technology, I fearlessly embarked on the transition of our professional portrait studio into the unknown world of digital photography. Unbeknownst to me then, I was about to become a pioneer, one of the first photographers in the world to embrace digital capture technology in their portrait photography business. This journey began when Kodak developed a camera for NASA with a CCD (charged couple device) that matched the quality of the film for the first phase of my business. The biggest obstacle was the cost, a staggering $29,950 for just the camera body with the CCD. But my unwavering vision and determination prevailed, even when my peers doubted me.
I quickly captured Kodak's interest, and they asked me to share my knowledge and experiences. So, I dedicated the next eleven years during my off-season in the studio to lecturing on digital photography and traveling to over 40 States, Canada, and Mexico. My mission was clear: to help others successfully transition their film studios into the age of digital photography. From 1995 to 2003, Rick was a proud member of a select group of professional photographers who served on Kodak’s Digital Professional Photography Mentor Team, a testament to his commitment to the industry and his peers.
In May 1997, I opened the first digital photography training center in the United States, getDigital Training Center.
One of my top three goals was to develop a business that could continue without me. I achieved that in March 1998 when I merged my business with a Pittsburgh-based company called PhotoWave. We relocated our family to Pittsburgh in June of that year. We operated the studio remotely until April 2003, and they sold it to Tim and Jinnie McCormick. I am proud to say Billings Photography in Omaha is still experiencing great success today.
Les Hassel Studio Apprenticeship
1978 - 1985
After graduating from high school in 1978, I was photographing weddings and working for my second photographic mentor, one of the top award-winning photographers in the Midwest, for decades, Les & Lorraine Hassel.
Les & Lorraine had a very successful studio in Bellevue, NE. I spent 1000's of hours off the clock just talking to Les about portraiture and the business of photography. I would not have become the photographer that I was without their mentorship.
My Entrepreneurship Started Here!
1970 - 1978
It was 1970 in Bellevue, Nebraska, and at 11, my father gave me one of his professional cameras. My father was a United States Air Force photographer for 34 years and ran the photo-reconnaissance division at SAC Headquarters, Offutt AFB. Those pre-teen years were very informative for the development of my career.
My father taught me a lot about the craft, business, and life without his father ever realizing that. "Photographers are a dime-a-dozen, son. You have to become the best."
My first money-making venture was taking photos of horses near our house growing up, returning the same day with finished black and white 8×10’s to sell. My professional camera allowed me to create images that people really loved.