{"id":1104,"date":"2018-11-12T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifehackerguy.com\/?p=1104"},"modified":"2021-12-13T07:42:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T07:42:41","slug":"creating-supplement-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifehackerguy.com\/creating-supplement-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating a Lifestyle Supplement Brand in 90 Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since my early twenties, my immune system and energy levels have not been great. I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome brought on by overtraining as a Triathlete<\/strong> and not resting enough when I developed a severe cold one Christmas. When I was at University the symptoms were at their worst, but it\u2019s safe to say that it feels as if I\u2019ve never really completely shaken it off. <\/p>\n

For years I needed many hours of sleep and attempts to exercise caused my symptoms of sore throats and bouts of fatigue to re-occur. So, what did I do, I gave up on trying to exercise and put up with feeling crap most of the time.<\/p>\n

Bizarrely since having kids, my condition has improved in that I experience fewer periods of illness, but I still have a relapse every few months. It\u2019s only during the last few years have I delved into what can be done to improve my condition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can read more about my story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stay up-to-date by following all my creating a supplement brand from scratch<\/a>.<\/strong><\/div>\n

Are supplements the answer?<\/h2>\n

Of course, the answer to this is in most cases a resounding no. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re eating a balanced diet with fresh food, you're unlikely to need any supplements if you\u2019re a healthy adult.<\/p>\n

But I am not a 100% healthy adult<\/strong>, and like most of us, I rarely eat what is considered a balanced diet<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Personally I see using supplements as a nutritional insurance<\/strong> to make sure I get the right micro nutrients each day.<\/div>\n

The caveat here is, a supplement that contains PROPER INGREDIENTS in the RIGHT AMOUNTS<\/strong>. It\u2019s these two critical points as to why I have decided to create my own.<\/p>\n

Why am I creating my own Super Green Supplement?<\/h2>\n

If you read my recommended super greens guide<\/a> you will see I have been interested in a daily Greens supplement and I\u2019ve tested a few as well. It occurred to me that this is a great way to combine micronutrients with a load of antioxidants and other ingredients that can be beneficial to my health.<\/p>\n

I took a look at over 50 Super Greens products for my article<\/strong> and even produced in-depth information for each one (subscribe to my mailing list to get this for FREE).<\/p>\n

I was truly surprised at what I discovered as I delved into the current Super Green brands available.<\/p>\n

The result was none of the supplements met my criteria<\/strong> and I wondered if I had set the bar too high?<\/p>\n

Bu thinking about it the criteria I set wasn\u2019t difficult or impossible to do.<\/p>\n

Then it struck me, why not produce my own \u2013 it can\u2019t be too hard eh?<\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/p>\n

My 5 Point Criteria for a Lifestyle Supplement<\/h2>\n

1. Ingredients and Amounts<\/h3>\n

Firstly, I needed to know exactly what the ingredients and the amounts were inside<\/strong>, this is the only way I could determine how effective it would be.<\/p>\n

I have tried 3-4 Super Greens supplements over the last month and most either failed to fully reveal their ingredient amounts by using proprietary blends, or they had insufficient amounts to do much if anything.<\/p>\n

2. Supported by Science<\/h3>\n

Secondly, after reading the science I noticed that whilst the ingredients were effective all the products I tried had insufficient quantities in their servings for them to work<\/strong>. I could \u201cdouble dose\u201d I know but that would double the cost right?. <\/p>\n

I discovered that capsules provided too little ingredients to be truly effective and that green powder in a pouch is not the easiest to scoop from.<\/p>\n

3. Reasonable Price<\/h3>\n

Thirdly, the price needs to be reasonable.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mind paying for a premium supplement as long as it\u2019s providing everything I need, and I have confidence in the right amounts. My monthly coffee bill works out to be around 140-160 USD.<\/p>\n

4. Money-back Guarantee<\/h3>\n

Fourth, it must have a solid money-back guarantee and returns policy<\/strong> \u2013 just in case I am not happy with the product, or that I find my stomach just doesn\u2019t agree with it.<\/p>\n

These days this is a standard customer service requirement and one that if the manufacturer truly believed in their product they would offer.<\/p>\n

A 30-day return policy is okay but ideally, I was looking for 60-day plus to give sufficient time to give it a go<\/strong>. I believe a longer guarantee also inspires confidence in the product and company as it demonstrates they believe in their own product.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure about what you think, but I always think a tricky and complicated returns-policy is there because the company is only after my money for a quick buck and that they\u2019re not interested in developing long-term customer loyalty.<\/p>\n

5. Tastes Good<\/h3>\n

Lastly, it\u2019s had to taste nice! Well at least palatable, it wasn\u2019t how would I drink a super green every morning.<\/p>\n

I know some brands encourage mixing the powder with other drinks, but I wanted to be able to make the drink straight from the tub<\/strong>. I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s that difficult to add natural flavoring.<\/p>\n

Disclosure:<\/strong> For transparency purposes I should disclose that working with supplement companies isn\u2019t completely new to me. When working as a web developer and performance marketer, I had a couple of supplement brand clients which is where I picked up some of the intricacies of the business.<\/div>\n

Starting my Own Supplement<\/h2>\n

Creating a brand from scratch that can be sold is not an easy process. I have been involved with companies who do this and it can be incredibly time consuming and, in many cases, very costly, which in turn makes it risky.<\/p>\n

A project like this is going to take a significant amount of my time and money<\/strong> to get this off the ground, and so the decision to do this was not taken lightly. If it fails then I will have lost considerably more than my monthly coffee habit. Therefore the planning and budgeting of this project are going to be essential for the project success.<\/p>\n

So, what is the plan of attack? I create a supplement, but what then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only will I be taking this as my daily greens, but hopefully friends and family and I will then need market and sell my Super Greens, which will mean developing my own e-commerce business and researching other ways of selling the product.<\/p>\n

\n

I have broken the process down into eight stages:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Market Research:<\/strong> What will my supplement do \u2013 what\u2019s unique about this supplement? Who is it designed for? and Demographics.<\/li>\n
  2. Ingredients:<\/strong> Find ingredients that science can support <\/li>\n
  3. Manufacturing:<\/strong> Where and who I should use to manufacturer?<\/li>\n
  4. Branding:<\/strong> quirky or straight forward name, logo, colours \u2013 single product or shop, packaging sachet, pouch or tubs?<\/li>\n
  5. E-Commerce:<\/strong> Scope website \u2013 e-commerce software<\/li>\n
  6. Order Fulfilment:<\/strong> Find a company that will handle sending out my orders to my customers<\/li>\n
  7. Payment Processing:<\/strong> Company set up and payment processing<\/li>\n
  8. Customer Support:<\/strong> Customer service and brand policies \u2013 returns, support, CRM \u2013 Handle pre-sales and after sales email funnels<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    I have given myself a target of 90-days to do this<\/strong> as targets are essential for project management and to ensure this doesn\u2019t turn into a project that takes years to get off the ground. The pressure on myself will help to keep me focussed. I want to say I am super excited about this project.<\/p>\n

    I believe 90-days is achievable to get most, if not all, the above points completed, the only problem I foresee is the lead time for the manufacturer to produce the final supplement so the time scale for getting the product on the shelf may slip \u2013 But I will update the timescale throughout the project.<\/p>\n

    I will break this process into the parts outlined above and will write each part starting from December 2018. <\/p>\n

    My live date for launching my supplement is going to be 1st March 2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    UPDATE:<\/strong> We eventually went live in August 2019. It turns out the manufacturing takes much longer than expected, so please bear that in mind when doing custom and bespoke supplement formulas.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Since my early twenties, my immune system and energy levels have not been great. I suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome […]<\/p>\n

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