Transcript of The $150B Supplement Industry Scam (And How LiveGood is Breaking It) | Ep 269 with Ben Glinsky Founder of LiveGood

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Everyone needs supplements. But there's definitely a lot of shady stuff, dirty stuff going on out there. And the biggest one is lack of transparency.

I've heard that it's $150 billion market.

You know, people have always kind of compared high quality to high and that's not always the case.

I remember buying pro hormones and I remember other supplements that turns out they put like steroids in the first batch.

Most of these products that you see out there, they're, they're using cheap ingredients, low quality ingredients, so they can improve their profit margins. We're using only highest quality, purest, healthiest, premium USDA certified organic ingredients. But at the same time, once people see it, once they understand it, they're not going to go back to spending 60 bucks for a lower quality product. And they know they could get the best one for half the price.

So Ben, I gotta say the supplement world is something I've been passionate about since I was about 4, 14 years old. So we're talking, I don't Even know, almost 30 years and I've seen so many parts of it that I just couldn't believe in. So I'm glad that someone like yourself is really looking to disrupt it. I've heard that it's 150 billion dollar market and I know, I've listened to the things that you said and one might say this industry might be full of a scam or scams in the supplement industry. So what is the ugly truth that no one wants to admit?

Yeah, it's a big space, it's a big industry, everyone needs supplements, so it's a necessary industry. But there's definitely a lot of shady stuff, dirty stuff going on out there. And the biggest one is lack of transparency. Companies will here I've got some competitor products here. So they ever, you have to list what's in the product, the list of ingredients, but you don't have to tell people how much of any ingredient is in there. And that's kind of what most, I shouldn't even say kind of. That's what most brands are doing out there. They call it a proprietary blend and they just list a bunch of ingredients and don't tell you how much of anything is in it. And so to buy a product for that, they're pretty expensive. And that's the other crazy thing about this industry, most products cost like that one, you know, 8 to 10 bucks to make. And companies are selling it for 59, 69, 79 bucks. So they can have big profit margins. They could pay out big influencers, pay out a lot of commissions to people to be able to go out there and sell it, talk good about it, all that stuff.

The challenge there is that number one, you don't know what's in it. But number two, people can't afford it. I mean, the average person only stays on a supplement for three months because they're too expensive. And that doesn't help people get healthy. And the whole point of supplements is to help people get healthy. And so what we recognize is, hey, you know what, if we can give people the highest quality supplements with full transparency, show them all the toxicity test, the heavy metals test, the third party test that other companies talk about and never show you and give them to people for just a few dollars above cost. And that's exactly what we're doing. So unlike, you know, this product that cost $59 isn't organic, doesn't even tell you what's in it. This is our highest quality USDA certified organic super greens. You want to know exactly what's in it? Every single ingredient is listed right there on the label in the exact amount. 16 milligrams of spirulina. For those of you who know, spirulina is probably the most nutrient dense superfood on the planet and about half the price, just 24.95 retail. And we have a member program, just 18 for members of Libya.

So yeah, you know, high overpriced products, not transparent. That's the problem with the industry and.

That'S what we're fixing, man. Yeah, I remember buying, there was a superfood I used to buy was like a hundred dollars and, and container was like this big. I mean, it's crazy what you're saying. I've experienced that now. I think a lot of the, I think because the industry has been this way for so long, many people that are into buying supplements, they just see this as the norm and they might see a lower priced product actually thinking it's less quality. But what you're saying is it's a better quality at even a better price. So what have you had? What, what have you done to change that mindset?

Yeah, you're absolutely right. You know, people have always kind of compared high quality to high price or high price to high quality, however we want to look at it. And that's not always the Case as we just showed you. So most of these products that you see out there, they're, they're using cheap ingredients, low quality ingredients, so they can improve their profit margins. We're using only highest quality, cleanest, purest, healthiest, premium, USDA certified organic ingredients, showing people all the full testing, analysis, all that stuff that we talked about, and again offering them for a few dollars above cost. So yes, that kind of education is, has been our biggest challenge. But at the same time, once people see it, once they understand it, they're not going to go back to spending 60 bucks for a lower quality product when they know they could get the best one for half the price. And so people are, that education is really waking people up. And at the same time, you know, we're getting help from the economy, help from society, help from AI, help from chat, GPT, Google, all this stuff because you could, it's a lot easier now than it was 10, 15 years ago when you just blindly kind of believe in whoever, you know, people would make a product because Dr. Oz said acai Resveratrol was good.

And so, hey, this product has Resveratrol in it. I'm going to buy it, I'm going to, you know, know or I'm going to sell it for 60 bucks. People are going to buy it. But that doesn't work anymore. People can compare prices. I mean, you got Amazon. That's the first thing people do is go to Amazon and see if they could get it for cheaper or get something similar for cheaper. And so when we have that full transparency, there's no secrets. There's, we're not hiding anything. We're showing everyone exactly what I mean, you don't have to ask us for those certificates and analysis. We publish them right there on the website. And so you, when you recognize what's going on in the economy, you align yourself with the trends, with the way that consumers are shopping and spending their money and just their buying habits. You really give yourself an advantage and position yourself to win and help a lot of people.

I love the transparency. I think there's a lot of direct consumer products that need more transparency, especially with the supplement world. I mean, I remember buying Pro Hormones and I remember other supplements that turns out they put like steroids in the first batch, which is insane. Like there was so much stuff in like the early 2000s. It was really wild, wild west. I know you've hit over 2 million customers in two years, which is insanity. So what did you do different that the giants in the industry didn't yeah, great question.

Let me actually start with the first thing you talk about with the product you were buying that had extra stuff in it that you didn't even know or the company didn't even tell you. They did a study at the University of Mississippi. They bought 30 supplements on Amazon, tested all of them to see if what was on the label was actually in the product. And of those 30 products, 17 of them didn't even match what was on the label. Most of them were missing ingredients. Some of them actually had extra stuff like you're talking about that weren't on the. Wasn't on the label. And that's scary. And so just another reason you really gotta know who to trust in this industry. And most companies, you don't even know who's making these products. Most of the time it's a big corporation. They're just doing it to make money. They're not taking the products themselves. And, you know, to not know who's making these products and if they're using, why they're making them, that's a scary thing. But to answer your question, yeah, 2 million members, you know, again, once people see it, they can't unsee it.

They're not gonna go back to, to spending 60, 80 bucks for a lower quality product when they know they could get the highest quality for the lowest price. And so we're really, you know, shifting a lot of mindsets out there. And it started slow as we talked about. You had to really educate people, let them know that, hey, high quality doesn't have to mean high price. For the first time you get value and higher quality, lowest price is actually a thing now. You know, the supplement space is huge. People need supplements. And when they could get the best at the best price, it just makes sense. And so really no surprise that we've, you know, we've become the fastest growing company in the supplement space. Two million members in two and a half years. And, you know, just getting started.

So was there a specific marketing tactic or something that you found really worked that you triple down on? And also because you said something early on that if you have a very high margin product or a high expensive product with a high margin, you can dump a lot of money into the marketing. So what you're doing is very unique. And I think in not just the supplement space, but I also see this in like the health, the beauty space, skincare, that it also runs very similar. So was there a special marketing tactic or technique that you find or had found that worked really well?

Yeah, that's a great question. And yeah, we moved into the skincare space. Clean, healthy, affordable skincare. Same with pets.

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Pet space We've got an amazing pet multivitamin, pet cbd. Well, but to answer your question, yes. So unlike you know, when you have a $6 product that you're selling for 80 bucks, there's a lot of money in there to spend on advertising and still be profitable. When you're making a product for 12 or $13 and selling it for 18, the margins are a lot tighter. So the way we built it at the beginning was almost exclusively through affiliates. And because of our membership model, very similar to Costco. I mean, Costco has tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of items in their stores. That's not where the money is made. They make very small profit margins on those items, just very similar to how we do with our supplements. They make their money on the membership. 60 bucks a month, 160 a year to $120 a year, depending on which package you get. Where $10 a month. If anyone's buying more than one product a month, you're going to save more than $10 from the difference between the member price and the retail price. And so we've been paying out those affiliates on that membership so we don't have to mark up the cost of the products, that's how we're keeping prices low, giving people highest quality, lowest price and at the same time, you know, helping some affiliates get the word out.

You know, they've got followers, they've got influencers make some money by helping, you know, share the highest quality, lowest price. And it's, it's a very easy model. I mean when you've got an $80 product, it's harder to convince people that hey, this is a good product, especially when you're not telling them what's in it. And then when you've got a very amazing quality product at a great price, it's very easy for people to see it. And trials and same time we've got a 90 day empty bottle of money back guarantee so there's no risk and is working.

Yeah, it's great to hear that affiliate marketing is still strong, if not stronger than ever. You have the likes of, you know, TikTok, shop and other shop, YouTube and Instagram, they're all launching their own. How have you looked at or thought about. I know you, you said something before about AI around the, the recent launch. I don't think Shopify has picked it up yet but ChatGPT is going to be integrating Shop and the ability to buy on site within ChatGPT. Any thoughts on that?

Yeah. So as far as the influencers, I mean that market and the affiliates is getting crazy. I mean everybody wants to be an influencer now and it's working. I mean TikTok is blowing up. They're also doing live shopping now. Facebook is always huge, Google's huge. So all this stuff, I mean there's so many different ways but I think it's getting a little bit diluted and people are at least going to start not necessarily trusting everything that they hear out there. And ChatGPT is an interesting one. And yes, to answer your question, you know, that's where, you know people have full on conversations with Chat GPT. I mean they don't want to make a decision. They asked Chat GPT to make the decision for him and my son did it this morning. He's like, who should I play in my fantasy football team? You know, this guy or this guy and Chat GPT told him you know who to play. So I, you know, we're definitely doing a lot on the SEO and now it's called GEO Generative Engine Optimization which is the AI, chat GPTs and the GRO and all that stuff to, to educate those systems on what we do.

And yeah, it's, it's, it's interesting. Things are moving, things are moving fast, changing fast. So we'll see where it goes. And I think, you know, from a business perspective, I know you got a lot of, you know, know entrepreneurs listening, a lot of new young entrepreneurs, a lot of more seasoned ones. But, you know, you got to adapt. You got to align yourself with what's working, what's happening in the marketplace where consumers are spending the money and the advertising side, same thing, you know, what's working out there, what's driving traffic, what's driving conversions, what's getting people's attention. And yeah, you should stay in front of it, Find your niche, find your way to make it work and hit it hard.

I remember we started selling skincare and beauty health on Amazon in 2012. It was amazing. But then after four or five years, Amazon really destroyed the ability to make any profit there. And a lot of the players then either went out of business or had to move. So, yeah, I like you're saying it's you got to adapt and you got to be up. You got to be at the forefront of things, trying things, doing things, because you never know, you might lose it, you might lose that platform and now you have nothing. So it's great that you're diversifying. I'm curious around the ups and downs. Like, I think we all know that entrepreneurship sounds incredible, but it's not easy and you got to work a lot. So was there a time for you, any story where something happened and you're like, you know what, I'm just going to quit. This is it. It doesn't mean the business was bad, but maybe the stress, maybe family, something happened in your life where you're like, you know what, I'm just going to give up. But you didn't.

That's a great question. I mean, I've been in the space for the last 20 plus years, brought a lot of products to market, been fortunate to have made a lot of money, helped a lot of people. But six years ago, I walked away. I was done. It wasn't that I quit because it wasn't working, it wasn't making money. I actually had a very successful company at the time. I merged it into another company and, you know, made sure people could study the products and be happy. But I just didn't like where the industry had gone. I didn't feel just morally and ethically was my issue. I didn't feel right about selling overpriced products anymore. I didn't really know how to fix it at that time. And so I was done. I walked away. But I don't know if that's really a question you were asking. As far as, you know, challenge. Challenges are always going to happen in any business. And I look at the challenges as an opportunity. I'm always thankful for the good, the bad, the ugly, everything. Because even challenges are an opportunity to learn, to grow, to get better, and to take it to that next level.

And so when you're able to not get frustrated with it and just, look, don't get upset, and this is the challenge with a lot of people. You let emotion get into it, and you're toast, it's over. But if you look at it, you're like, all right, what are we going to do? What's the solution? Let's put together a game plan and let's move forward. And then you get over that hurdle and another one's going to come. It's inevitable. It just continues to happen. And so. And like you said, yeah, you know, stuff changes. I remember about maybe 15, 20 years ago, Google stopped allowing. They were doing all those. What do they call them, continuity programs where people would buy, you know, get a free trial for something, then get. They get billed every month. And Google, like, turned it off overnight. And all these people, all these affiliate marketers and affiliate networks and stuff were like, they lost a ton of business and didn't know what to do. So, yeah, you know, and now more than ever with AI, things are moving so fast, changing so fast. And so, you know, you just got to expect it, think changes are coming, and you got to be ready and, and, you know, when they, if you get ahead of them, awesome.

If they just, you know, surprise it, that's fine. You know, just recognize it, figure out what to do and move forward. But you try to keep doing stuff that's not working anymore. That's when you know, that's when you lose.

I like that. You got to adapt or die. So you. I. I enjoy this story. So you, you were working or you, sorry, you were with this company before, whether it was your company, say, merged there, was overpriced, and then you, you walked away. So when you, when you walked away, what was it like when you did you immediately say, okay, my mission is, is the things that you said before, this is my mission. I'm going to sell prices, I'm going to sell products, great quality, transparent, at an affordable rate. This is what I'm going to do. And you went and did it. Or was there a transitional period? And how was it when you started? Like, take me Back to that time?

Yeah, good question. I mean I had this idea in my mind well before I walked away. But when I walked away, when I retired, I was done. I was not coming back. I was happy. I made enough money that to be happy. I moved on to other projects. I bought a golf course here locally. That's been my, my fun project. I started a nonprofit soccer club. We got 15 teams of kids, you know, helping them. We have a no kid, let me high program. We scholarship a lot of kids that came afford to play travel, soccer otherwise. So, you know, I have other projects that I enjoy that I like that are, you know, keep my time. So I had no intention of coming back to this space. I just continue to kind of watch it get worse instead of better. Companies get more and more greedy and just the challenge of being able to get affordable supplements at their high quality was non existent. So as the economy continued to change, as consumer buying habits continue to shift away from expensive, overpriced things more towards affordability and value, it's like someone's got to fix this.

But one was doing it. So you know, let's come back and, and make it happen.

So was there a. Or what was the most rewarding story that you've heard from a livegood customer and really made you realize that this is way bigger than just supplements?

Yeah, great. Qu. And that was the thing since the beginning. And, and I think that's been our biggest advantage is this has been more of a passion product, mission focused, as you said, than money driven. I wanted to fix this broken industry. I genuinely want to help people get healthy, stay healthy and do it in an affordable way. Because on top of the consumer buying habits shifting the world is as unhealthy as it's ever been. More people are obese and overweight than any time before in history. More people are prescription medication than ever before. Lifespans are going down, people are dying earlier stuff is not working. And so I want to do my part to fix that and make it, you know, more affordable. And supplements are so easy. You know, most people to get them to change their diet or start exercising or you know, focus on their sleep, those are harder things. They should be doing that anyway. Supplements are so easy. You take a supplement in the midst of with water, you swallow calcium, like it doesn't get any easier than that. It can have such a huge impact on your life.

So yeah, you know, when, when you're driven by the mission, it, it really is a different outlook and a different way to run a company. And you know when you're keeping. So I keep my overhead very low. We don't have a ton of corporate employees, we don't, we have a very lean staff which allows us to be able to keep the prices low and be able to save people money, give them high quality without compromising quality or price. And yeah, I don't know if that answered your question, but it's worth it.

Yeah, no, it's the amazing thing I think now with technology is you can have a leaner team. You can do more than what you could do before with even more team members and still be able to provide the savings back to the end user and customer. It seems like this could be a trend for a lot of other industries and products going forward as these companies can maximize on, on the margins that they have without having to spend. You know, maybe having a whole team of marketing and all that because AI and such, you can, you can do more with less. But I really like what you said around having. It's creating a company that a solves a problem but really is something that you are super passionate about and that you really know and understand that I think is super important. And thank you for sharing that because if, if you're like you said, if you're going through, if you're just going at it for the money, we already know what normally happens, then it's probably not going to last. So Ben, if people want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more about Live Good, they want to follow your story, your journey, maybe they want to get one of these awesome shirts that you're wearing.

How can they do so?

Yeah, great question. But yes, you know, when it's, when you know, in spite of the passion and other money and the mission and genuinely helping people, it really is a different mindset. And you know, chasing money isn't necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't mean the company's gonna fail, but it means decisions are made differently. And you know, when decisions are made on money instead of helping people, that's when you know this whole non transparent thing, the whole shadiness stuff happens. And you know when you're focused on number one, helping people, generally helping people, just giving and not allowing them to get hurt. And that's what you know, that's why I walked away. People were spending 60, 80 bucks for a single product. It wasn't helping them get healthy. Even though it was a good product, they couldn't afford it. And so, and because one product isn't going to change someone's life like we have, we've got like 40 products right now. And so like you know, we talked about our super greens. Best so important for digestive health, immune strength, stress, anxiety, energy. Awesome products. Our super reds. Highest quality cardiovascular health product ever created.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the world. This is packed nitric oxide boosting ingredients. Great for sexual health, brain health, energy. An awesome product. Our essential aminos, great for muscle support, but just basic fundamental stuff. Everyone needs a multivitamin. None of us are getting everything we need out of our daily diets. Most high quality multivitamins are selling for 30 or 40 bucks. This is the highest quality in market. Just 995. Less than 10 bucks a month. Less than 30 cents a day for something everyone should be taking. Safeguarding magnesium. I mean it plays a role in every single thing our bodies do. If something's not working in your body, you're probably not getting enough. Magnesium is such a simple thing. Again, most companies 30, 40 bucks $8.95 with a full 90 day empty bottle money back guarantee. If you don't absolutely love any of our products, send back the empty bottle. We'll happily give you a refund. Another one. Vitamin D3K2. This we call this our daily essentials pack. This is three products are magnesium, multivitamin and vitamin D. So important for just immune system support, bone health, heart health, brain health. Vitamin D is super important.

But those free for 27 bucks. As a member of Lyftgood, less than a dollar a day for just no brainer supplements that everybody should be taking.

That, that's insane. Ben. That is great. By the way. Magnesium I think may have saved my life. I, I am a huge proponent of magnesium. And the other great thing I find about magnesium, I get incredible dreams when I take magnesium but when I don't, I, I'm like dreamless. It's, it's really bizarre but it's really been something for me that that's been incredible. I, I think that the fact that you're trying to allow people to afford not just one product but all of the products that they need to take or they might be lacking makes a lot of sense and that, that is definitely a problem to solve in the marketplace of what you're doing. Because what I've seen over the, you know, 20 some odd years is yeah, you can, you have to kind of pick and choose. It's like I only want to take this one product because I can only afford one or I can only do this product. I can only afford one. And like you said, but if you're lacking on this, this, and this, then you're only really solving part of the problem for yourself. So. And we all, like, like you said, technology is getting better, but we're not necessarily living longer.

We're not necessarily healthier. So we really need to be. But I, I could tell you're passionate, Ben. You are passionate. Like, I could see you, like, with a microphone at Costco talking about these supplements because I, I used to do that way back in the day, but. But yeah, I, like, I can tell your passion, your drive. You could be on the street with a microphone, you know, in the middle of some, like, busy, crowded New York City area talking about supplements. I think people would enjoy it.

I mean, people need this stuff, magnesium. Most of us are not getting enough. And like you said, I mean, it's great for sleep. I take them before bed and it helps me sleep as well. But I mean, migraines, cramps, digestive issues, sleep issues, something's not working. And most of us are not getting enough magnesium. Literally over 300 chemical reactions in the body. It plays a role with everything. So, yeah, check out Little good dot com. You can look at all our products. We even have comparable products on there with prices and all that stuff tells you exactly what each one of them does, but they genuinely are highest quality, lowest price. And it's backed by. All the documentation is right there available on the website as well, man.

Ben. Ben Glinsky, livegood.com Thanks for sharing all the wealth of knowledge today. I'm freaking fired up, man. Like, I want to go take some supplements from livegood right now. Like, you got me really fired up and I know exactly what I need to take right now, what I don't have currently and where I can fit in the things that I already have with something that is way better. And hey, I'm saving money. But thank you so much for joining us today on Founder story.

Yeah, thank you, Daniel. That was awesome.