Scott Ohlgren join us today to share about his past experiences growing Brain Toniq and the lessons that he learnt from his failure. At its peak, Brain Toniq sold over 2 million units a year in Whole Foods supermarkets and over 1,400 independent retailers in USA, Europe and Russia. Despite its success, Brain Toniq ultimately folded and Scott has learnt the importance of embracing the bitter as he finds acceptance in himself and his new drink formulation called Cognition as he builds his come back story!
Join us as Scott shares about the key reasons that led to Brain Toniq’s failure, how he was able to recover and move on from the failure and how he is now applying the lessons he learnt with Cognition.

Newsletter l Podcast l Free Resources 

https://synapticscientific.com/ – Check out Scott’s current venture

1. Getting into brick and mortar shops like retail stores and supermarkets comes at a price. While you will be able to appear in front of more eyeballs, it does come at a price and your profit margins may be lowered to the point where you need to move a large amount of product volume to even break even. If this is a problem for you, consider moving towards e-commerce or another model where you have more control.

2. Don’t grow your business constantly even when you are loss making on the idea that someone will acquire your business at a later date like most technology firms. This is a dangerous game to play and you might just get burnt. Slow and steady wins the race.

3. Failure is a part of life and business. Be ready to go through the different stages of grief but ultimately it is acceptance that will help you overcome it.

[6.10] Scott shares about how he got interested in wellness and nutrition during his time backpacking the world and meeting people who were into this space and he was immediately intrigued. When he got back to the USA, he joined a school to learn about diet and its effects and joined a supplements company where he eventually became one of its top salesmen where he earned about $1 million a year. Scott also wrote 3 books on wellness and nutrition and this helped him develop his expertise.

[12.00] Scott shares about his previous venture which sold a non-caffeinated performance drink called Brain Toniq. At its peak, he was selling over 2 million units a year in Whole Foods supermarkets and over 1,400 independent retailers in USA, Europe and Russia. Despite its success, Brain Toniq ultimately folded and Scott shares his key takeaways from the whole experience.

[17.05] Scott shares that getting into Whole Foods and so many independent retailers was a big mistake for him they would take a huge cut from your profits and it became a game where you have to sell a high volume of product before you can make a profit yourself. Despite having a gut feeling that this was not a good move for the business as he viewed brick and mortar was to him an outdated business model, Scott ultimately did not fix this problem in time and this led to the eventual of the business. 

• While Scott did not feel that going into brick and mortar stores was the right move, his consultants told him that this was the right move. Scott ultimately realized that they were experts in a method that would work a decade ago where e-commerce has not yet started.
• Scott stresses on the importance on keeping every penny in a dollar that you can.
• If he could go back in time, Scott said he would never get into a brick and mortar setting.

[21.00] Scott also attributed a big mistake in the fact that the drink he made was not potent enough because he was worried that the bitter properties of the herbs he used would not be accepted by consumers and ended up loading it with extra ingredients to make it delicious. He now believes that he should embrace the bitter and accept that it is more important for the product to be beneficial for consumers than to taste good for them but be less potent.

[25.50] Scott also shared that the need to get into brick and mortar stalls required him to hire more employees and this added salt to the wound. Scott shares that the fewer employees you can employ the better it is for your bottom line.

[27.55] Looking back Scott realized the mistake he made which was growing the company even at a loss. While this model is used widely by technology companies, it was not one that he would even do again.

[29.30] Scott shares how he felt after his business failed and how he ultimately recovered from the fall.

[31.50] Scott shares that a large part of his recovery is attributed to his wife who always an unwavering pillar of support. The moment he accepted his failure, Scott was able to move forward with his life and overcome his state of depression.

[40.15] Scott is now working on a new drink called Cognition and he is applying the lessons he has learnt from his days with Brain Toniq. Scott is no longer growing the business with a brick and mortar model and he is embracing the bitter taste of the herbs and focused on the potency of the drink instead of making it taste good but less effective.

Scott Ohlgren join us today to share about his past experiences growing Brain Toniq and the lessons that he learnt from his failure. At its peak, Brain Toniq sold over 2 million units a year in Whole Foods supermarkets and over 1,400 independent retailers in USA, Europe and Russia. Despite its success, Brain Toniq ultimately folded and Scott has learnt the importance of embracing the bitter as he finds acceptance in himself and his new drink formulation called Cognition as he builds his come back story!
Join us as Scott shares about the key reasons that led to Brain Toniq’s failure, how he was able to recover and move on from the failure and how he is now applying the lessons he learnt with Cognition.

Newsletter l Podcast l Resources 

https://synapticscientific.com/ – Check out Scott’s current venture

1. Getting into brick and mortar shops like retail stores and supermarkets comes at a price. While you will be able to appear in front of more eyeballs, it does come at a price and your profit margins may be lowered to the point where you need to move a large amount of product volume to even break even. If this is a problem for you, consider moving towards e-commerce or another model where you have more control.

2. Don’t grow your business constantly even when you are loss making on the idea that someone will acquire your business at a later date like most technology firms. This is a dangerous game to play and you might just get burnt. Slow and steady wins the race.

3. Failure is a part of life and business. Be ready to go through the different stages of grief but ultimately it is acceptance that will help you overcome it.

[6.10] Scott shares about how he got interested in wellness and nutrition during his time backpacking the world and meeting people who were into this space and he was immediately intrigued. When he got back to the USA, he joined a school to learn about diet and its effects and joined a supplements company where he eventually became one of its top salesmen where he earned about $1 million a year. Scott also wrote 3 books on wellness and nutrition and this helped him develop his expertise.

[12.00] Scott shares about his previous venture which sold a non-caffeinated performance drink called Brain Toniq. At its peak, he was selling over 2 million units a year in Whole Foods supermarkets and over 1,400 independent retailers in USA, Europe and Russia. Despite its success, Brain Toniq ultimately folded and Scott shares his key takeaways from the whole experience.

[17.05] Scott shares that getting into Whole Foods and so many independent retailers was a big mistake for him they would take a huge cut from your profits and it became a game where you have to sell a high volume of product before you can make a profit yourself. Despite having a gut feeling that this was not a good move for the business as he viewed brick and mortar was to him an outdated business model, Scott ultimately did not fix this problem in time and this led to the eventual of the business. 

• While Scott did not feel that going into brick and mortar stores was the right move, his consultants told him that this was the right move. Scott ultimately realized that they were experts in a method that would work a decade ago where e-commerce has not yet started.
• Scott stresses on the importance on keeping every penny in a dollar that you can.
• If he could go back in time, Scott said he would never get into a brick and mortar setting.

[21.00] Scott also attributed a big mistake in the fact that the drink he made was not potent enough because he was worried that the bitter properties of the herbs he used would not be accepted by consumers and ended up loading it with extra ingredients to make it delicious. He now believes that he should embrace the bitter and accept that it is more important for the product to be beneficial for consumers than to taste good for them but be less potent.

[25.50] Scott also shared that the need to get into brick and mortar stalls required him to hire more employees and this added salt to the wound. Scott shares that the fewer employees you can employ the better it is for your bottom line.

[27.55] Looking back Scott realized the mistake he made which was growing the company even at a loss. While this model is used widely by technology companies, it was not one that he would even do again.

[29.30] Scott shares how he felt after his business failed and how he ultimately recovered from the fall.

[31.50] Scott shares that a large part of his recovery is attributed to his wife who always an unwavering pillar of support. The moment he accepted his failure, Scott was able to move forward with his life and overcome his state of depression.

[40.15] Scott is now working on a new drink called Cognition and he is applying the lessons he has learnt from his days with Brain Toniq. Scott is no longer growing the business with a brick and mortar model and he is embracing the bitter taste of the herbs and focused on the potency of the drink instead of making it taste good but less effective.