You can see my introduction thread here for more on my background. This will focus solely on my company, Sanctus Nutrition.
Background - Why I started a nutritional supplement company
I make nutritional supplements with zero artificial sweeteners, zero food dyes or colorings, no proprietary blends, and with ingredient dosing backed by science.
My first product is a pre-workout called Focal Force. I built the pre-workout I wanted to take, that I couldn't find elsewhere. I wanted a pre-workout with:
February 2017:
For the next 8 weeks:
Background - Why I started a nutritional supplement company
- I got the idea from a startup incubator I was a member of in Fall 2016. My original idea (in the medical apparel industry) had merit but I wasn't 100% into it. When I couldn't find supplements that met my standards, I grabbed this idea from the incubator and went to work.
- I'm a pharmacist and I F*cking love nutraceuticals. I could talk this stuff all day. I've been dropping money on it since I was 16. I can work on this stuff 18+ hours a day and not get sick of it.
- I was unhappy with what was available on the market. I couldn't find the products I wanted to use myself. Being in the incubator helped me realize it doesn't take special credentials or permission to start a supplement company: it's something I could do. Like, right now. So I did.
I make nutritional supplements with zero artificial sweeteners, zero food dyes or colorings, no proprietary blends, and with ingredient dosing backed by science.
My first product is a pre-workout called Focal Force. I built the pre-workout I wanted to take, that I couldn't find elsewhere. I wanted a pre-workout with:
- Zero artificial sweeteners or food dyes/colorings. Every product I've found that claims to contain "zero artificial sweeteners" still contains "natural flavors", which is total BS - those are anything but natural.
- Proper dosing. For example, PurePump meets criterion #1 (no artificial flavorings, etc.) but their dosages are too low. Their product contains 2g L-Citrulline when the science backing its use requires a dose of at least 6g. It also lacks some other good ingredients I want before I lift.
- A low enough dose of caffeine for safe use in the evening without wrecking my sleep. Most pre-workouts have a minimum of 200 mg of caffeine. I've seen some in the 400mg+ range which is a great way to wreck your adrenals. No thanks.
- No creatine. I prefer to cycle it, and I prefer to take it post-workout (which, currently, data is starting to back more vs. pre-workout) when I do use it.
February 2017:
- I had a formulation in mind, bought the individual powders off Amazon, bought a micro-scale, reassured my fiancee I wasn't dealing (illegal) drugs, and got to work.
- I started off experimenting on myself. I began telling my friends what I was doing and made them samples. I combined our experiences and feedback to keep making tweaks to the formula.
- I got up at 4am every day to make the website before I went to the gym and worked at my day job. I put in 20+ hours to make a super shitty Wordpress website that I can't get to look halfway decent.
- After searching around for names, I settle on Sanctus Nutrition. "Sanctus" roughly translates from Latin to "pure", which reflects my mission of making pure supplements. I got the idea to look for Latin names from Tim Ferriss' podcast with John Crowley while on an airplane back from Italy. This was the trip that sold me on being an entrepreneur. I want to take trips like this whenever I want, and go wherever I want, without having to ask permission.
- Website still looks like shit and I'm tired of doing web design.
- I hire someone on Fiverr to design a mock-up label for $40 for my "Focal Point" product.
- I make an Instagram account and immediately get banned for following 300+ people in 2 minutes. Whoops. Lesson learned. A week later, IG re-instates my account. Crisis averted.
- I realize "Focal Point", as a nutritional supplement, is trademarked. I had searched TESS but somehow missed that. My $40 label is useless.
- I change the name to "Focal Force".
- Key lesson: I've been very open about this entire experience since day 1. I'm soliciting feedback on Facebook. I'm making posts on my personal Instagram about opening a bank account and starting a business. This leads to a friend, a very talented graphic designer, offering to do my designs pro bono. Not just the package label, but an entire brand identity package. HUGE WIN!
- I start taking pre-orders at a small scale. I convince a friend to buy and I earn my first $1 on my own, ever. Three more friends buy and I make my first $100.
- I give up on Wordpress, nuke the site, and jump to Shopify. The design looks 3000x better. I pat myself on the back for not getting caught up in the sunk cost that was trying to make the site happen on Wordpress.
- I run my first true "promotion". I discount the product 30% and flood Facebook with posts. I go completely vulnerable: I talk about why I started the company, why I'm making this product, what I want it to offer to people, the effect it has had in my own training. Shortly after, I get a Shopify notification: a sale. Ten minutes later, another sale. The promotion gives me my most successful week, and I've now made my first $500 without the product being in a single person's hands.
- I finalize the formulation, sign an agreement with my manufacturer, and production begins. Goal launch: July 28th. Likely launch: August 4th.
- My Instagram account just reached 500 followers. I'm getting good engagement on posts, but none of it is leading to sales. Nearly all of my sales are from friends, or friends of friends.
- Earning $500 in pre-sales. Yes, these are basically all from friends. In the past, I've attempted business ventures not even my friends would buy, so this is a big success for me.
- There are two local, independently-owned pharmacies who have expressed interest in selling my product.
- I have a local gym signed on to sell my product. One of their owners is working with me as an affiliate. I have another local Crossfit gym interested in trying the product once it arrives.
- From day 1, the plan was to attack using affiliate marketing. Get IG influencers to sign on to promote my product, and pay them 15% of sales. There have been several problems with this approach:
- I am not the only one trying to use the Influencer Marketing approach. I knew this coming in. My goal was to fly under the radar by approaching accounts with followers in the 15K - 50K range. These influencers are either 1) already working with another supplement company, or 2) monetizing on their own and not interested in affiliate marketing. I'm having to work in the 1K - 10K range, with little success. Because..
- Very few people are willing to endorse and market a product they have not tried. This is obvious. Until my product is ready, I'm not sure how to make progress here.
- Finding my customers. My product doesn't taste as good as other supplements. I don't offer "Blue Cotton Candy Raspberry" or whatever BS flavors. This doesn't matter to me, because I chug it in two seconds. I need to find others who feel the same way. I know they are out there, but I have to be more targeted in my marketing. My market is not everyone who takes pre-workout. I need consumers who care about their health more than taste.
- Keeping momentum until production is finished. Focal Force won't be available until late July/early August. I've built some good momentum on pre-sales, but I can't just keep running promotions for 20 - 30% off. I need to develop more ways to keep people interested and talking about my brand.
- I've built up a list of Influencers who are willing to sample it once it arrives, so there is potential. There's also potential they'll hate it, or have a "meh" reaction, so I can't be complacent here. I've reached out to 92 people so far, 23 agreed to give me their email address to receive details, and 15 have agreed to sample. 92 isn't enough. I need to reach out to 1000 people, at least. I'm using Ninja Outreach to find IG influencers in the health space. This needs to be a bigger priority. Ideally, I need 100 people ready to receive samples the day the product comes in.
- Find my most efficient marketing channel. I've experimented with Reddit ads. They are great at driving traffic, but have resulted in exactly zero sales. My IG following is growing, but again, zero sales. I've ran a couple of Facebook re-targeting ads to try and capture initial visitors from IG/reddit. Zero conversions from this as well.
- My conversion rates are 4%, but again, this is all from friends or friends of friends. No random people or strangers are buying. I need to establish trust as a brand. As a beginner, I do not know the best way to do this.
For the next 8 weeks:
- Have my product stocked in 3 local businesses on launch week.
- Make $1000 by the end of August.
- Have 10 Influencers signed on as affiliates by the end of August.
- Sales of $5000 total.
- Gain 5 local businesses who agree to stock and sell my product.
- Have 20 Influencers signed on as affiliates.
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