Building a Supplement Brand From Zero - 1. The Set Up

Come watch me build a business from scratch. Either I make a lot of money, or it's a dumpster fire.

Welcome to my behind-the-scenes deep dive into building a supplement brand from zero.

I’ve made the mistakes, wasted the money, and learned the hard lessons… so you don’t have to. This series is everything I wish I’d known before I started: the wins, the failures, and the real story of launching a supplement brand from scratch.

If you’re dreaming of starting your own, or just curious how it’s really done, you’re in the right place.

Let’s jump into it.

This is what I needed when I got started:

• Identify a problem

• Business name/domain

• Package design

• Landing page

That’s it.

Identifying a Problem

In the summer of 2024, young Lemon was going through a rough patch at work.

Early mornings, late nights, constant pressure to perform at a sales role. It wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to already, but it was starting to take a toll on me.

After browsing the sales subreddit, it seemed like this was the sentiment across the board.

So I thought to myself, if I could present a solution that helped sales reps feel more calm in stressful situations and make it easier for them to hit quota.. this would be an overnight success.

My target audience was:

• Men and women

• Ages 25 to 50

• In sales/high-performance careers

• Problem: They feel stressed out from their careers and require a solution to feel calmer and happier

• Pain: Stress and anxiety result in lower job performance, less money, and potential job loss

• The outcome: A convenient solution that makes sales reps more relaxed/confident in their career and results in higher quota attainment

Based on my personal experience, I knew this problem all too well and would throw any amount of money to solve it.

I slept on the idea for a while until one day, BowTiedBull wrote an article about potential ecommerce businesses to start today.

One of said ecom businesses was anti-stimulant gummies since most people are jacked up on caffeine.

This was perfect. It validated exactly what I was thinking. A stressed out corporate worker could just pop a few gummies during the day and feel relaxed before a presentation, forecast call, client meeting, etc.

This was a pivotal moment in my ecom journey as I viewed it as divine orchestration.. or a message from The Universe to start that relaxation supplement business today.

And that’s exactly what I had set out to do.

Business name

While this wasn’t the most important part of getting started, it still served as the foundation of my brand.

It had to be catchy and memorable. That’s really all I cared about.

I took to ChatGPT to mess around with a few words and combine a couple words that described the feel I wanted to go for. I landed on a blend of “Calm” and “Comfort” which got me to “Calmfort”.

I went as far as saying it out loud a few times to make sure it rolled off the tongue properly.

Wanted to especially make sure influencers in the future would have no problem in pronouncing it.

Checked GoDaddy to make sure the domain was available, and it sure was.

If you land on a good name but the domain is not available to purchase, I would strongly suggest finding another name.

The whole process took about 10 minutes.

Total cost? $15 for the domain.

Package Design

This is where I spent the bulk of my time.

I messed around a bunch on Canva and probably went through 30 different variations of what I wanted the label to look like.

Pro tip: If you’re strapped for cash and find the Canva subscription is too expensive, you can use sites like Gamsgo for cheaper, shared family plans.

It had to be eye-catching and showcase a calm feeling.

Starting with the colors, blue was a top contender for that calm feeling. I also thought waves were a very soothing design feature.

As for the font, I thought it would be best to use rounded characters as supposed to something more blocky or sharp.

This process was entirely based on vibes and no real science. After all, the design is meant to invoke a certain feeling which is usually harder to break down into an exact formula.

But if you’re struggling with what works here, books like Color for Men by Carole Jackson are a good starting point in understanding how color affects the way we see things.

Here’s a quick checklist I used when creating my design:

• Product name (and slogan)

• Include “Dietary Supplement” on the front

• Net weight (I knew I wanted to go with gummies and estimated this for the early version of the package design)

• Info blurb and benefits (on the back side)

• Supplement facts with ingredients, serving size, quantity, etc.

• FDA disclaimer (if needed)

• Distributed/manufactured by: [company address]

This is all really high-level stuff and a lot of it can be tweaked as you continue with the manufacturing of the product.

It’s best not to get hung up on the details as we’re just getting started here and speed is the game here.

Once I had a decent design I was content, the next step was to decide how I wanted to have my gummies packaged. The two main choices were bottle or doypack.

A lot of gummy supplements use bottles which I personally find takes up a lot of space in purses, briefcases, and backpacks. So I figured doypacks were a) unique and b) travel-friendly.

Plus I could use this angle as a selling point down the road.

With my new package design ready, I went to Fiverr and found someone to create a mockup of my label on a doypack.

Total cost? About $50.

A day later, I had something that looked like this:

This image is very important because without having a physical product in hand, this image is the foundation of your ads and what goes on your landing page.

Landing Page

I now have my domain and a mockup of my product.

Next is a landing page.

This is another area I wanted to spend a lot of time on.

I used Shopify for this and signed up for a $1 trial that lasted 3 months.

Because I have a background in affiliate marketing, this part was a breeze for me.

You can either rip a landing page from a competitor or just make one from scratch.

I went ahead and purchased a theme off Shrine because I didn’t like any of the free themes off Shopify. I was very picky on this but in hindsight, I’m confident that a free Shopify theme would probably get the job done if you’re truly strapped for cash.

Then again, ecom is not for someone who is strapped for cash..

Anyways, I’ll put you on some alpha and quickly tell you the elements of a high-converting landing page, especially as you’re just getting started.

Note: Cashvertising is your friend here. Ask ChatGPT for a quick summary and incorporate these elements into your landing page.

Landing page checklist

(optimize your page for mobile)

Section 1 - customer acquisition:

• Start with a bold, emotional claim (eg. Feel [benefit] in 30 days or don’t pay a cent)

• Or use a question (eg. Wish you could press pause on your busiest days?)

Pro tip: On ChatGPT, look for a Meta Compliance GPT and run all your text through that to avoid any possible bans.

• Add a few differentiating factors in bullet form (eg. The only [product] with XYZ ingredients, all orders ship within 24 hours, love it in 30 days or your money back, etc.)

• Call to action (eg. Try [product] risk-free, experience [feeling] today, Order now)

Spend a LOT of time making sure this is near-perfect.

Section 2 - social proof:

• Instagram grid

• “See why thousands love [brand]”

• Case studies

• Customer testimonial

• Reviews

• Comparisons

• Before and after

• [X] times more effective than [Y]

• Influencers are great here, but if you don’t have a physical product yet.. you could also just get them to speak about it

Section 3 - the close:

Make this is a no-brainer for them. Consider including…

• Cost breakdown of the individual ingredients/competitors, and then showing how your product is more affordable in comparison

  • The goal here is to increase your perceived value. Make it appear that paying X$ is nothing in comparison to what they’re going to receive.

  • Therapy costing you hundreds of dollars? A calming gummy supplement is only a fraction of the cost! (exaggerated claim but you get the point).

• Subscribe and save options

• Some form of buy now, pay later (Shopify payment portal comes default with this)

• Add a free gift (ebooks and guides are common)

• Discount off their first order

Put it all together with some product images on Canva, and you have yourself a high-converting, early-stage landing page.

Total cost? $150 for the Shrine theme and $1 for the Shopify trial.

Conclusion

So far we’ve spent:

• $15 on the domain

• $50 on the product mockup

• $150 on the Shopify theme

• $1 on the Shopify trial

For $216, we’re now ready for the next stage: Demand testing.

Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below and I’ll be sure to get to them. Alternatively, you can DM me.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. I’ve been quietly testing an affiliate program for Calmfort and a few people are already making great money with our commission payouts. I just opened up a few more spots - hit the link if you want to apply.