Muscle Diet

Q. Mark, I read your column every issue for supplement advice. Why haven’t you started your own supplement company?

A. A few reasons, really. If you look at virtually everyone who’s ever started a highly successful supplement company, they didn’t have a particularly vast knowledge of supplements. They certainly didn’t have a degree in nutrition! Most didn’t have degrees in any “health science”!

There are tons of guys who know way more about supplements than these guys. In fact, the only one I can think of who built one of the leading companies was Dr. Scott Connelly, way back when he founded Met-Rx. Most people who know the history of Met-Rx’s beginnings know that it wouldn’t have been as successful without the brilliant marketing of Bill Phillips and Muscle Media 2000 magazine.

But let’s get something straight: The best-selling supplements are not always the best-formulated supplements on the market. Otherwise, Patrick Arnold—the guy who brought prohormones and geranium to the market—would be a multi-gazillionaire. Other companies went on to make money with his ideas because they knew “the business.”

I’ve helped lead the formulation and re-formulation of several popular sports supplement products—including, at the time, the world’s best-selling protein and the world’s best-selling fat burner—but I couldn’t have marketed and sold them myself, as I didn’t have the budget or the advertising and marketing resources, etc. The best companies have the best R&D teams, so the owners don’t have to know everything about supplement science!

To build a successful company, you have to be, first and foremost, a good businessperson who is willing to work very hard—at least 12 hours a day—and put some time in on weekends too. You also have to know your customer and how best to market your brand to them; the supplement industry is very sophisticated in this regard these days! A vast knowledge of nutrition and supplements isn’t required.

I’m not taking a shot at these owners, by the way; I have a great deal of respect for most of them and know quite a few of them (who will probably read this), but I have to be honest with readers or there’s no use in me doing this column!

I should also mention that quite a few owners who’ve been around for a while actually do have a pretty good knowledge of supplements, but again, many of them didn’t when they first started, and they certainly don’t have as good a knowledge of supplements as qualified, experienced sports nutrition experts.

To read more by Mark Gilbert, check out his website FitnessInventor.com