How We Grew Revenue From $30K To $75K/Month Last Year
This is a follow up story for Human Tonik. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 4 years ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hi, my name is Adam Wright and I am the CEO/founder of Supergreen Tonik.
We produce a greens superfood powder that contains greens, adaptogens, superfoods, vitamins, and minerals, that help with immunity, energy levels, and cognitive ability.
Our focus on fewer ingredients in clearer dosages has resonated with our customers who want to know exactly what they are taking.
I started the brand to help me personally as I have been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for over 25-years - you can read the founders story here.
In 2021 we grew our revenue from $30k per month to $60k per month, and are super excited for what’s planned for 2022.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?
We have seen significant growth this year by onboarding more affiliates, getting into Amazon, and optimizing for the traffic we already get.
As with most businesses though there have been challenges this year.
For us, this has been with our supply chain with getting raw ingredients that have increased our production times. Thankfully, we ordered stock well in advance and haven’t had any delays that affected the business.
To a lesser extent, there have been logistic issues with getting orders to customers. To resolve this we used better tracking and Insurance for packages for customers.
This year we also explored some different marketing channels, with mixed results.
The main one was with influencer marketing.
We didn’t find this a profitable channel and in fact, was more of a distraction.
During the middle of 2021, we set up our Amazon store and got a team of experts to manage this for us. Amazon is a different beast that I have never gone into before, so I believed I needed an Agency to manage on our behalf.
Towards the end of 2021, we invested time into giving the brand a refresh. This included the logo, website, emails, and supplement labels.
You always underestimate the time needed to brainstorm and execute this process and it took a little longer than anticipated.
We’re super happy with the outcome though.
As well as improving how we communicate our message we have seen a significant increase in conversion rate too!
In 2022 we will be launching more products too, so watch this space.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
I made a couple of mistakes this year but the main one was with looking to scale staff too soon.
I struggle with this anyway and tend to thrive better in a solo company or a very small team.
The lack of experience managing a team and not having clear enough SOPs in place meant my time management went out the window. I spent way too much time in conversations with staff that ultimately didn’t drive the business forward.
Amazon has been a tricky one this year. We were hesitant to get on board but decided to give it a go in the end.
It’s been expensive but we’re starting to see good progress in the last few months.
In the last month, we moved into a new condo with fantastic office space. This has been a game-changer for how I work and made it easier to jump on conference calls day and night - although I am hoping not too many at night!
This move will be invaluable for 2022 as I am looking to create more content to support the brand.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
We have been exploring new products for 2022.
Work has already started on the first one that we plan to release in Q2. Followed by the second later in the year.
If you’re bootstrapping your business, having a foundational understanding of all aspects of your business means you will waste less money and in most cases be able to scale to the next level before needing to hire talent.
I am super excited about these as they are two products I am keen to be taking.
Our roadmap in the next three years is to have a boutique of complementary products for our customers that will be all they need to supplement their diet with.
Have you read any good books in the last year?
Recently I have been reading “The Bullet Journal Method” by Ryder Carroll.
I struggle with planning and sometimes execution and from what I have seen so far, the Bullet Journal Method looks like this could be the solution.
The other book that has inspired me is “Company of one” by Paul Jarvis.
This resonated with me, especially with the recent experience of hiring staff and then letting them go. There is power in remaining a smaller company in terms of employees, I know I feel more comfortable in a smaller company.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
The biggest advice is not to rush into hiring agencies to run your Ads, SEO, or in fact in any part of your business.
It’s much better to have an understanding of how this works before hiring staff or agencies to manage this for you.
If you’re bootstrapping your business, having a foundational understanding of all aspects of your business means you will waste less money and in most cases be able to scale to the next level before needing to hire talent.
The other tip I recommend is to focus on one thing at a time.
We hopped between different strategies this year when we should have focused and double-down on the channels that work best for us.
In short, have a basic understanding of what you’re doing before outsourcing, and focus on one thing at a time.
Where can we go to learn more?
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
