I had an opportunity to interview my friends, Jeremy Sherk and Kevin Pasco, the CEOs of the top Amazon nutritional supplement brand, Nested Naturals. They gave me a tour of their office in downtown Vancouver and shared their journey towards entrepreneurship.
Jeremy and Kevin pride themselves on crafting unique products that are made with the highest quality of ingredients and providing customer care that is based on honesty and integrity. More importantly, they are passionate about making a difference in the world, through their products. Through a partnership with a non-profit agency called Vitamin Angels, a portion of their profits from each product that is sold helps those who suffer from vitamin malnutrition.
Jeremy Sherk and Kevin Pasco are shining examples of successful entrepreneurs who have built a successful Amazon business and a socially conscious brand that they are passionate about. They are proof that anything is possible. In the words of Seth Godin, “Get in touch with what it means to feel passionate. People with passion look for ways to make things happen.”
Watch the video below:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
Do you want to learn the proven system for building a successful Amazon business? CLICK HERE for instant access to a free Amazon training course!
Do you want to learn more about Nested Naturals amazing line of products? CLICK HERE to visit their website!
Here is a behind the scenes look at my interview with the CEOs of the top Amazon nutritional supplement brand, Nested Naturals:
Can you tell me a little bit about your brand?
We are a heath supplement company, based out of Vancouver, B.C. Our company prides itself on honesty and transparency. It is our main focus in this industry, both as consumers and as business owners. We wanted to create products that we would buy ourselves and that we would recommend to others.
Since you’ve started your business, have you found that there is a lot of shadiness in the supplement industry, where people market something to you but don’t care about the quality of the product?
Absolutely. Getting involved with the manufacturing side of things was a big learning curve for both of us. We didn’t know what that side of the industry was like. The lack of integrity and transparency runs right from the retailer all the way back to the manufacturer. You have to be careful whom you are dealing with. Unless you are asking the right questions or testing, you don’t know what is going in your products.
What kind of work culture did you strive to create?
I’ve (Jeremy) worked in offices before, whereas Kevin dove head first into entrepreneurship from an early age, but it was important for both us that we created an environment where we loved coming into work. We wanted to pass on that energy to the people that work for us so that they love what they do as well. Just like we strive for autonomy as online entrepreneurs, we also want our staff to have a sense of autonomy and have the ability to set their own schedules.
On a deeper level, we wanted to provide that. When people are energized and inspired, they do great work. People think that you need to put pressure on your team, but that’s now how you get people to thrive. We get told so many times how much people love coming to work here, and that’s music to our ears. It’s been a big part of our success.
I want to provide my audience with more inspirational stories of entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses. How did you get started with Nested Naturals?
We were both playing around with marketing and working from our laptops. Sometimes we tried things and we failed, but the core desire of ours was always to become entrepreneurs. We always had a drive to create something amazing, and have an impact, on a larger scale. We are both very health conscious. Jeremy spent a lot of time in the health and wellness industry, whether it was from working in a gym, eating really well, or being obsessed with smoothies.
On my end, I (Kevin) was a really skinny kid when I was younger. I wanted to bulk up so I took a bunch of powders and protein weight-gainers, without knowing what was in them. I got huge, by my standards, but I also got a lot of bad health side effects from it, and that triggered me to do my research. Jeremy approached me with an idea and was passionate about changing the industry, and we soon bonded and joined forces – all of this happened over a Skype call. It was like a virtual handshake. It took us a few months to put together our first product, but the rest is history.
What kind of research did you do to get into the supplement industry?
For us, it was important to not only follow trends, but we also had to believe in the products that we were selling. We started with a sleep aid. Back in the day when I (Jeremy) traveled a lot, I would experience bad jet lag, so I took melatonin from time-to-time. That was a product that I understood, so I thought that we could improve on that and make something better. With regards to the research, it starts with asking a lot of questions and finding the right manufacturer.
You need to look at the other products on the market in order to have a standard of what is out there. In addition, you need to have the dedication and commitment to do the right thing and not go after the cheapest formula with the highest profit margins. Rather, focus on choosing a quality product that you stand behind. From our first product, all the way to our 20th, our philosophy has always stayed the same, as far as caring about what we are putting into our products.
How did you first launch your product? Was it on Amazon or did you create your own website and store?
We saw Amazon as a pretty cool launch platform. There is a ton of benefits to it, and there’s a couple of downsides. One of the great things that it can do, really fast, is launching products. Nobody knew who we were, so Amazon gave us a voice in order to launch our products. One of the greatest benefits of using platforms like Amazon, Shopify, websites, Etsy, etc., is it that you can see how everything is trending in the market or niche that you are in.
It was no surprise that our first product was a sleep aid because we know it would do well. We had numbers to back that up. We are not a sleep company, but we make a great sleep aid that has a lot of great reviews. By starting with a sleep aid product, you might think that we could have gone into selling sleep masks and mattresses, and we could have. Instead, we used an area of that market that we could do well and get some notoriety in, in order to launch our other products.
What are some other best-selling products that you have?
We have a super Greens powder, magnesium supplement, a variety of Luna products, which are currently our best seller, and within that line, we have a sleep supplement that is safe for children, over the age of 4. We also have a super enzyme supplement and a pre-natal line.
Can you tell me more about the work that you do with Vitamin Angels?
We pride ourselves on being a forward-thinking company with regards to the workplace we are creating, our company message, and our products, but we also have a social conscious. We wanted to find a way that we could give back. Vitamin Angels provides vitamins to people all over the world who don’t have access to good nutrition, which seemed perfectly aligned with our values and our mission.
We are in our 3rd year working with Vitamin Angels, and we love the relationship that we have been able to create with them. They provide prenatal multivitamins, primarily to women and children who live in Africa, Asia, and even parts of the U.S. That is one of the problems that we are solving with our donations.
What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur who is just getting started?
One of the things that made a huge impact in the results that I was able to receive, in terms of going from where I was to where I (Kevin) wanted to be, was in going after a big, scary market. That is what we are doing now. The advice that is out there is to go after a tiny market and own it, and although I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, we would rather have a much bigger impact.
Because the market is a lot bigger, we have more opportunity. We’ve got a larger customer base, and partnerships, like Vitamin Angels. Overall, we have more opportunities at our disposal. Even though it might seem insane for someone just starting out to go into something like the computer business, you have to be smart about it. Just because it’s big, doesn’t mean it’s terrible. I’ve (Jeremy) had a lot of failures over the years with different ventures that I’ve tried, but the best advice I could give would be to have self-awareness, with regards to what your strengths and your abilities are, and how you can apply those in business.
As entrepreneurs, we often have super hero syndrome, where we think that we can do it all or nobody can do anything as good as us, which is erroneous, because we all have unique skills and strengths. If you can align yourself with your strengths, and collaborate with people who are operating in their strengths, that is how you have the biggest opportunity to make a massive impact in your work. In addition, get behind something that you believe in, 100%. Don’t just chase something because you are going to make money at it. If you want to build a long-term, sustainable business that matters, you need passion to drive it, or else you will eventually get worn out.
From your book shelf, what is one book that you would recommend to an entrepreneur?
I (Kevin) recommend Elon Musk's biography. It's called, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. It has a lot of great stories of the value of making smart, calculated decisions. I (Jeremy) really like a book by Simon Sinek, called, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. If you are a leader and want to do big things in this world, you need to learn how to bring people together, and not just rely on yourself to get the job done. Learn how to inspire and lead others towards a common cause.
We couldn’t do what we do on our own. Our team matters. Every morning, we meditate with our team for 10 minutes in our office, and then we all do 10 minutes of reading, and then on Fridays, we share what we learned from that weeks learning. We are big on growth and development, which is something that we value and encourage with everyone that we bring on board in our company. That is a pre-requisite to hiring them. As a growing company, we have to make sure that everyone is growing alongside us.
It was a pleasure to interview my friends, Jeremy Sherk and Kevin Pasco, on their top Amazon nutritional brand supplement, Nested Naturals. They are doing some great work and I highly recommend their products. They have built an amazing business and brand, and are proof that, with commitment, hard work and passion, anything is possible.
Do you want to learn the proven system for building a successful Amazon business? CLICK HERE for instant access to a free Amazon training course!
Do you want to learn more about Nested Naturals amazing line of products? CLICK HERE to visit their website!
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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