Sometimes being unique is not to your advantage. I would suggest to you that LOOKING Unique is more important than actually BEING Unique these days.
This is certainly true in the supplement world. Let’s take a simple product, inositol for example. Inositol has many suppliers and many distributors but not nearly as many manufacturers.
This means when you go on Amazon and look at side by side comparisons you often see same/similar doses, and similar numbers of capsules or pills per bottle. The price varies usually by 2-3 dollars, plus or minus.
The supply chain looks like this (hypothetical): There are 6 major suppliers of the raw material which vary only slightly in their quality, and 25 distributors and dozens of people selling it, maybe hundreds. People price shop most often which in this case actually makes sense since you are pretty much buying the same thing!
What differentiates products far more these days is the packaging and the appearance. A very expensive product may not be that expensive to make and put in a fancy box, but the fancier the box the more people will pay for it. Similarly with products in bottles, the bottle has to have a fancy label.
IN most cases including those claiming to be the originators of the compound they are simply selling something provided to them and slapping a fancy label on it. Of course, the words “We use the highest quality blah blah blah” will follow but there will be no testing done to prove it.
Heavy metals like lead and cadmium and toxins like arsenic and plastic are commonly found if they were to be tested. A long time ago I sent a famous krill brand in for testing to compare purity with my Fish Oil The individual will remain nameless but the marketing was well done if typical. “Highest quality” etc. etc. What I found with a 3rd party lab was measurable and alarming (to me) levels of inorganic arsenic in this famous krill brand! Organic arsenic can be found in a lot of things and is basically harmless. Inorganic arsenic is toxic.
Now it’s highly likely that the individual selling the product did not have any knowledge of this. How could he have, he never had it tested most likely! Or worse it was tested and not posted!
This former is often common in what I call “supplements by google”. People do some basic research, pick a few compounds that are popular, throw them together in a supplement, and try to add one that isn’t so it looks exotic. People respond with a comfortable familiarity to the “known” products and a curiosity to the “new” and different ingredient.
Notice the actual product construction does not start with the question “What are the most likely things that will help this issue, problem or achieve the desired result?” Instead, it starts with the question, “What will grab people’s attention and get them to buy this product.” The information is easily found on google and getting a manufacturer to add one additional ingredient to a preexisting compound is easy and not costly.
Viola! Instant new sexy product that does nothing new or different and is not tested. But the label and the box, OH! they are so cool and suggestive of magical results and huge amounts of unique value.
I make things from scratch. I create blends and individual compounds that did not exist before. And I look for specific levels of purity and potency and above all else – results.
The average person buys a specific brand product 2-4 times before they stop of move on.
Why?! Two reasons:
- They noticed nothing different while taking it.
- Some other shiny new object (label) caught their eye and wooed them into a different product for 2-4 cycles of purchase.
I have people who have been taking my product(s) for 10 or even 20 years without interruption. While I do make changes and improvements the results are the same or better, no matter what the “supply chain crisis” dictates.
This has become my best advantage on a now crowded market while also being a huge disadvantage.
While I create things in a lab that is run by my chief scientist, we cannot scale up the production of the processes there. We have to perfect the formulations, do the research see the results and then have a larger highest quality (there I said it!) manufacturer make some of our stuff. A few exceptions are the skin serum, hair serums and Telokynase. These are directly supervised by me during manufacturing.
This process is time consuming, expensive and requires process that are not yet in existence! You may have noticed it’s often more than a year from when I tell you I am working on something new before it hits the market.
Telokynase is a classic example of this. It took 2 years to isolate the correct proprietary compound(s), get them to micro and soon nano encapsulation and test them against stem cells for their effects (it is posted on the site)!
All of that was self funded, but the result is a one of a kind Dr Dave creation!
The unique nature of my products has made me an easy victim for the BS of today like the “supply chain crisis”. If you want to know why scooping something out of a vat and putting it in a pretty bottle has not been interrupted, it’s because it made en mass, distributed to various sellers and then someone puts a pretty label on it. This is also where the lack of testing will come back and bite these people in the arse when toxins and or bacteria are found in the mess.
Starting from zero and creating a hero is time consuming, niche market, expensive and in these times difficult.
But here is the punch line: I take everything I make every day with the exception of Sweet Sleep Z (like most I take this as needed). I have been taking my Fish Oil for 22 years everyday. The doses are special, the capsule is a one off uncommon size and the manufacturing quality is unparalleled.
That is why I am confident to take these products forever!
It used to be a great thing, but now unique has been replaced by unique appearing and the step by step process has become like pulling teeth with labs only wanting to cater to “Big Box” high volume, low quality distributors.
But my business has survived for 22 years because of loyal customers and readers who are smart enough to actually expect something other than pretty bottle.
You expect results and something that actually is unique. Formulating everything from an Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine view point is something no one can copy. It sure as hell ain’t “Supplements by Google!”
Thank you for being a reader, a customer, a friend and a supporter.
I have a lot more to contribute so fasten your seat belts!
To an accelerated, dense, magic life!
Dr Dave