rainforest11

Great questions 1. Yes, every product is inspected prior to coming into the country, and needs to be approved by the FDA before we can receive the product and sell it 2. We rarely run into issues but occasionally shipments can be held up and delayed when they're entering the country, as the FDA needs to hold it for inspection (to make sure all of the ingredients are compliant to their standards)

From the very beginning we bought from wholesale suppliers and never re-sold individual items! In order to purchase at wholesale, I had to take an initial risk in ordering a relatively large quantity of products (and not knowing for sure if I would be able to move them.) It was a nervous first few weeks but luckily it ended up working out! We get our supply from specialized distributors in the United States as well as working directly with manufacturers and suppliers overseas!

Hm... at the risk of sounding like I'm copping out to answering all 3 of your questions, my biggest/silliest/most subtle mistake can actually be answered in two anecdotes:

1. Initially the company grew so fast that it caused other problems. For example, in the first six months we had already grown from 0 to several thousand subscribers. All of a sudden we ran into cash issues to support this growth, and I needed to take out business and personal loans in order to get us through this!
2. I waited too long to hire more people! Even after our explosive growth, I was still the only person handling everything (from customer service to warehouse operations to marketing) and I think that slowed us down. As soon as I hired more people I immediately saw the benefit (it allowed me more time to focus on what I'm good at) and wish I had done it sooner.

To be honest, I keep most of the capital in the business as retained earnings and pay myself just a modest salary :). I have paid off all the debts I initially took out though!

Good question! I found my very first suppliers through a lot of online and offline research for specialized distributors/suppliers (ie. attending a food trade show.) I learned the process as I went along and when it came time to place an order, I placed a relatively large order (based on how much I estimated I would be able to sell in the first month). The product was paid for upfront and without credit terms, so the question of if we were a well-known/established company at that point did not come up