Unshakeable Ethos - Joe Rakoski and Justin Quinn

When you were saying, you know, what what makes you guys different, I think it's I think it's both Joe and my core ethos that challenges that as coil. So it's if we see something out there and that's the way that it's normally done, we are automatically looking at that and saying, can we do that better? And you know, I think a lot of customers do that too and say, Man, I wish somebody would make that. And the difference between us is we did make it. You know, we we've always really tried to stay true to what do we want to do? What do we want this company to be?

Hey Fitz fans, welcome back to the Future Fitness Podcast Interview Series. This is your host, Eric Fellstone, and we are at episode number 91. I get to talk to Justin and Justin from Naturalforce.com is a company, it's a supplement company, but it's more than anything, it's a health and lifestyle company. And the fun part of this interview, because I got a lot out of it, is that you know the supplement field it's tough, it's competitive. I mean, you see it. And you go to walk into even just a regular pharmacy and you see how many supplements are out there. How do you stand out? How do you do that? Um, it's also a tremendously large industry as far as revenues go. Um, I don't have the current numbers, but I remember reading them last year, and it blows my mind at how much supplementation uh is sold out there and how much of it's actually crap. And you know, it's tough as a fitness professional, you know, what which ones do we recommend? Right? Who what companies can we trust? Like, what do we really know? Are we really there seeing what the ingredients are that are going in there, where those ingredients come from? Uh we don't. That's the answer. We just don't. So you have to find companies that uh you trust. And that comes from the top down. And that's what's cool about Justin and Joseph is they tell their story. It's extremely transparent. And uh, you know, the title of this is unshakable ethos, because you can get um your take from this that they set down a mission and they could have easily got kicked off that mission and that ethos um by chasing a little bit more profit, right? Or taking a little bit of an easier route or a faster route, right? But they didn't. They stuck to it, they stuck to their guns, and I really admire uh what the company is all about. And it's much more than a supplementation company. I'll let them describe what that means. So uh yeah, great interview with Justin and Joseph. I hope you enjoy it. And you know, I want to talk to you too about our uh our Fitness Blitz podcast. So I have two podcasts. I have this one, The Future of Fitness, and I also have Fitness Blitz Radio. And uh they serve the industry, but in two distinctly different ways. Um, this one is all about keeping you informed about the trends that you need to know to stay up to date uh with the incredibly fast-changing industry that we live in. Um and the fitness split radio is all about you, it's about highlighting fitness professionals from all over the globe. Easy interviews, you guys, 10 to 15 minutes, but fun, super fun. Ah, some go 20 minutes. Um, so if you want to be on that show, if you want to be heard, uh, I'm always looking for great guests, and you can reach out to me at Eric Malzone at fitnessprofessionalonline.com, and uh I'm happy to discuss getting you on the show. Um it's fun. It's a great show, great piece of content, uh, nice following, so you will get heard, and uh you know it establishes you as uh an expert in your particular uh niche in the field. So go check it out. You can find it at fitnessprofessionalonline.com under podcast, and uh I would love to have you. So without any further ado, let's get on to episode number 91 with Justin and Joseph from Naturalforce.com. Enjoy the show. All right. Today I have Justin Quinn and Joe Rakowski. Did I say that right, Joe? Uh Rakowski.

Rakowski, sorry, sorry, I should ask you before I they should just list that as the common secondary pronunciation because awesome. That's how it always comes out.

Yeah, well, I'm excited to have you guys. Just uh just seem like two two great guys. Um, and you guys are the founders, uh co-owners, I believe, of of Natural Force. Is that correct? Yep. That's correct. Yep. Awesome. So let's start with this, you guys. Um, you know, everybody always has a story. Um, I'm sure you guys have one. I actually read it on your website. So give us give us some background on how you guys met, how you guys started your company, and what you're all about.

We just were two guys that went to college together and had some like-minded interests, man. I mean, it it really started, uh, we both went to Towson, uh, which was a state school north of Baltimore. Uh so Joe was from Frederick and I was from Fair Hill, kind of two opposite ends, and we met in Towson, started working out together. I worked at GNC and Joe worked at uh training, national training gym. And we just started, we had a lot. What happened was we got into the entrepreneurship program together. It was the first year that they ever had that. Uh, we didn't know we were unified in our not knowing what we wanted to do, but we were unified in our knowing that we probably weren't gonna work for anybody else uh or have a boss. Yeah, we love we loved health and nutrition. Uh so from there we kind of started working out together. And we're just really I would always bring in the things from GNC. Like I would always bring in, you know, the flashy marketing, uh purple, bubble bath, you know, fizzy, whatever, and we tried. We were pretty into bodybuilding at that point. Uh we were, you know, it was pretty much the objective was to get as big as possible, uh and as strong as possible, strong as possible. And, you know, we were sitting there on the bench one day, I remember it very vividly, and I just said, like, man, this this stuff does not match how we live, our nutritional values, or anything like that at all. And Joe says, Yeah, what why are we taking it? Somebody should come out with something that's all natural. And um, I had had some previous skin conditions and afflictions and everything, and like through that, uh, I had always believed in healing naturally, living holistically, and that food really could be your medicine, and that in many times uh, you know, taking preventative action is always a lot better than doing reactive action, which usually involves traditional medicine. Yeah. So Joe said, Well, we should make it.

So it starts, yeah, yeah.

So we actually, I was like, Well, we can do that. Uh and man, we started buying stuff off the shelves at GNC. We started formulating our own formulas there, and we started with a pre-workout because we were like, all right, so we went down the computer lab there at the school, it was like in this basement, uh, just had this little yellow notebook where I was scribing all of the ingredients and different types of products that we'd have, and we basically landed on that. We we're gonna do a pre-workout, right? You're gonna do a pre-workout because the barrier to entry was low on those products and it actually had an effect. You know, you could feel it working. Uh, so we just kind of formulated 15 herbs and superfoods and mixed it up, and I'll let Joe take you from there.

Yeah, so needless to say, uh breaking open some capsules of different herbs uh definitely was uh an interesting way to uh to test the test the product. Um doesn't get any more uh raw than that. So we were basically mixing these up in little baggies and you know passing them around to our friends, like saying, hey, try this out, let us know what you think. And uh the first version tasted absolutely terrible. Um so the initial feedback we got was man, that really, really works. Like that's probably one of the best uh workouts I've ever had, but man, it tastes like crap. So uh we did we did do some additional testing with that. We removed and decreased some of the ingredients that tasted really bad and kind of bumped up some of the ones that tasted good. Um, we threw in a little bit of um natural stevia to kind of sweeten it up a little bit, and we had something that was maybe not palatable by everybody that was used to drinking like blue raspberry or black cherry flavored type of pre-workouts, but we had something that if you cared about uh what you put in your body and you were into living holistically and drinking natural type of drinks that you would you would you would enjoy it. Uh so that that formula is still the same one that we have today. It actually hasn't changed. Uh so that is the original, and it's uh we originally called it uh pre-workout formula. Today it's called raw tea, uh raw tea pre-workout. So that's our original product that uh started this entire company, and uh it still hasn't the formula has not changed one bit since that since that inception. So you guys have expanded to how many different products in your line now. Man, uh I think we're I think we're just under 20 skews, somewhere around 20 skews. Um it's probably about a dozen products, but there's some different flavor and size size variants uh of those. But uh one of the bit one of the biggest things that we've done since then is we've evolved past your sports nutrition products and into more daily lifestyle products that um people can use on a daily basis just because they want to live healthier, they want to they want to be healthier versus just man, I need to get hyped up before I go into the gym, or um, I can only take this because I work out. And that's really where we've seen the most significant amount of growth and where we think we can actually help the most people uh is in is in that area.

Awesome. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, and you you guys mentioned it too. There's a very um, you know, for the most part, from what I understand, you know, I've never actually uh owned a supplement company or dabbled in development of supplements, but I I know a lot of people in the in that specific industry. And it does seem that the barrier to entry is low, which means that competition tends to be high, right? Um how have you guys, you know, from from the onset, um, how did you find a way to to get traction? You know, in such a uh I mean, especially pre-workout. I mean, there's just yeah, I as a gym, I we I think Joe, you're a gym owner, I was a gym owner. I would get sent pre-workout supplements all the time. Um and uh I probably have like three or four just sitting in my luggage somewhere. Um, you know, how did you get traction?

I think it goes all the way back to the roots of why we started the company and the values that we set as the core foundation before we started building anything. And it has to do with everything Justin said about um living holistically and going, you know, as whole food-based or using uh natural herbs and superfoods over synthesized vitamin powders. Uh so that really set the foundation. So everything we did after that point was how do we design our products? And any product that we design has to be whole food-based or as close to whole food-based as as you can get. And we set super high standards for ourselves in terms of the sourcing of where the ingredients come from, the um the quality of them, and those those foundational principles of how we've really um not compromised um our brand integrity uh over the years and kind of you know carved carved ourselves out um our our place uh in the supplement industry. And sometimes it wasn't the easiest road to take. You know, you kind of take that path that's a little less traveled uh because you know that some other people aren't gonna want to go down it. Um or um, you know, they might not go down it because they don't know what's at the other end or nobody else is doing it. So I think that that's really been uh the driving force but behind what we're doing and where we're at, where we're going ultimately.

Yeah.

And it it is hard, you know. I mean, like you said, the the the barriers to entry are low. But to to last in this business, I mean, we've been doing it for nine years. It it it's that's very hard. Yeah. That's very hard. And and you know, it like Joe said, it's the it's the core principles. I mean, we we started this company out of a desire to help people because uh not everybody knows how to be healthy, but everybody wants to do it, you know. Uh and and we believe that the way to health is through what you put in your body. It's not you know, let me continue doing something for years and years and years, and then I have a reaction to that. Uh so now I need to go to the doctor and take medicine. It's hey, let's focus on one step at a time. Let's start with your nutrition. And what we make is that nutrition that you know people are making recipes with that they're making, they're adding it to their foods. Uh you know, it's a it's a lifestyle, really, and it's it's for people of all ages and you know, any gender who believe I'm gonna focus on my health and I need help. And these products are the way that to for them to do that, you know. Um it certainly doesn't replace medicine for for serious things, but you know, it's it's it's really an ethos and a desire to help people, uh, and that's that's how we do it.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I know you guys have created a movement, and I'm curious too, because you Joe, you mentioned that um, you know, you took some paths that were less traveled, you know, um, along the way, some things that maybe other people wouldn't have ventured down. Do you can give me some examples like or or maybe even an example of of what that what that actually looks like, you know, like what did what did you guys what were some hard choices you guys made along the way that that ended up being maybe scary when you did it, but then paid off, you know, now after nine years of of being in business?

Well, I mean, definitely just starting the company in general, um, nobody had ever made nobody had ever made an all-natural pre-workout. We um, you know, we claimed to be that we were the first to do it, you know. Okay. Um there may be other natural pre-workouts at this point that are that have been created by some larger brands uh when the when uh the natural products wave started coming. But um we definitely we definitely uh staked uh staked first claim to that. But um there was there was another product development that uh that we did that was uh for our organic whey protein. And there's so many organ this is another good example because there's just so many whey proteins. Uh there's a lot of proteins in general, but there's just there's just a flood of whey proteins on the market. And uh we were one of the first movers in the organic whey market, and you couldn't find the supply anywhere four years ago. It was just non-existent. So we we decided we wanted to come out with a protein powder. Uh, we knew that we wanted to come out with a whey protein powder, and we're like, all right, well, what fits our principles? Well, it needs to be organic, it needs to be grass-fed, and it needs to have very simple ingredients. Uh, it may be a version that's unflavored and maybe a version that may be flavored, but if it is flavored, it needs to have less than three ingredients and it need to be whole food-based. So we set out to find the supplier for that organic whey protein, and I mean, we couldn't, we just couldn't find it. So we had to keep moving further and further up the chain. So we eventually started researching uh where whey protein comes from, which you know, it's a byproduct of the cheese making process. Um what we did was we actually were like, all right, where can we find where the very beginning of the source of this stuff's coming from? So we looked up what the the uh business code was for organic cheesemakers, and we got a list of all the organic cheesemakers in the United States and just started literally cold calling every single one of them. And we made our way uh through the entire list and uh narrowed it down to a couple of leads, and we finally landed on a uh a small operation of uh organic farms in Northern California uh where we could actually source uh this whey protein from. Um we we locked down uh you know that supply and launched that product. And you know, that's definitely one of those paths that was probably not traveled yet at all because we had to go do all the digging to find it. Um so that's that's definitely an example of where we kind of um went out went out of the comfort zone a little bit there from traditional product development and found something that wasn't quite on the market yet.

So that's that's I love that. We're in Northern California, by the way. That's where I'm I'm from. I'm curious where the good cows are.

It was uh Del Norte County is where most of the farms are.

Okay, okay. I don't know where that is. I grew up there. Yeah. Um, so it's been pretty popular with people. Uh so you know, all the time this is this is great because organic is is thrown around a lot, right? Um, you know, people talk about organic way. Obviously, you guys did the actual work to find the best quality sourcing. I feel like a lot of companies will slap organic on. Is there like, what does that even mean nowadays? You know, what does organic mean? What what is what should consumers be looking for? Um, you know, so obviously you guys are very transparent. A lot of companies are not. Um what what does the consumer need to know today about like organic supplements versus and what what is yeah, what does it all mean now? Because there's like someone told me you only have to be like 30% organic to actually qualify as organic. Um so I keep hearing all these different things, but I don't know. And I'm if I don't know, the consumer doesn't know either.

There's a couple different organic certifications. There's part organic, which is basically contains organic ingredients, which is up to 95% organic. Um I believe there's a 70% organic certification, and what we do is the full organic, um, which is what you usually see when you have the USDA organic stamp. Now those are those are still quality ingredients. That means everything in the product, uh, with the exception of a couple percent here and there, has to be certified organic. Uh so you know you can't use organic protein and then put natural flavoring in it. And you know, everything that stands behind the organic symbol is still true and it's still good. But you know, what what I think it comes down to the consumer, the table stakes are changing, right? So if you go sit down at the poker table, uh, you know, you need a certain uh amount of things, money, uh whatever, to sit at the table. Uh those certifications are kind of becoming the table stakes with our consumer. Uh so you know, going further past that, uh, you know, it's it's do I know where this product is coming from? Is there a story about where it came from? Uh do I trust and value the people behind the company? I mean, we're regular people, you know, just like them. And, you know, we we always try to do the right thing. So it's you know, it's it's do I value the people behind the company? Does this product say something about me and my values? You know? So I think there's those other things separate from organic. Uh I think organic is still good and still widely recognized, you know, because it means that GMOs weren't used in the process, um, you know, antibiotics and hormones weren't used in the process, depending on whether it's plant-based or animal-based. So there's a lot of good behind it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. And and you you started touch on something that I would like to dive into because I think you guys have done from from what I've seen, right? And I haven't taken a complete deep dive into your company nor your your products yet. Um, but it seems you've created, you know, community, a movement, right? Um, behind your brand. And to that fact, you've created a brand, right? That people can really get behind. How intentional was that and what steps have you guys taken um to really kind of you know continue that forward and really grow that that presence? Because it's it's cool. I mean, I look at it, and the first thing I see when I look at your website, I see your products, I see a story, right, of two guys. Like that's evident. It's it's not just you know, some company, it's two guys, right, who started this together. Um, I see, you know, um a mission and I see um, you know, what you guys are creating with the knowledge and a lifestyle and all these things. And these are all big buzzwords that I'm bringing up, right? Community, lifestyle, brand, um, story branding, all these things. Is that something you guys have intentionally put behind it, or is it something that you've organically grown?

And and yeah, give some tips on people who want to do the same thing.

You know, it just it just kind of happened.

Cool.

I mean, we and it happened where when you were saying, you know, what what makes you guys different? I think it's I think it's both Joe and my core ethos that challenges that as coil. So it's if we see something out there and that's the way that it's normally done, we are automatically looking at that and saying, can we do that better? And you know, I think a lot of customers do that too and say, Man, I wish somebody would make that. And the difference between us is we did make it. You know, I mean, we just kind of we don't really pay attention to external factors, you know. I mean, it's just we've always really tried to stay true to what do we want to do, what do we want this company to be? And I mean, all the way down to throughout the whole manufacturing process. I mean, it's better now because we've tr kind of trained our manufacturers that we use, but I mean, it was a headache just getting the product made in the first place because they would say things like, you know, we well, we need to add this or the machines work, and we need to add this, or add this filler, or use this, and we're like, no, you're not doing that. You know, we we we don't want that. Um, so I guess it's an unwavering uh ability to challenge the status quo and to kind of keep our eye on what we're trying to do from that.

Yeah, and I mean we always we always set out to to, and Justin says this all the time: like, we didn't start this company to be a flash in the pan. Um, so from the point that we started, we knew that we had to put the brand first, and all those things Justin mentioned about uh that core that core eat. ethos and not compromising our values is just what has uh helped us helped us continue to grow grow that following and not uh not changing that or change you know you're always evolving and your mission is always evolving as well but um we've really tried to stay true to that core um to that that core belief and just let it drive us through everything that we do yeah yeah I love that guys and you said train your manufacturers and Joe laughed what uh just no it's just I laugh because it's I just can think of all the instances and just remember it's I laugh because it's true. It's just funny. It's like and we love our manufacturers. Um it's just it it's just not the normal way that they would have and this is also nine years ago. So um you know it's not the normal way that they would have produced the product. You know it if you add something to it that's gonna help basically um allow the the powder to flow a little bit better through the machine they can run the machine fast faster they can use less uh and save save a little bit more per unit or you know dust in on the machine you have to clean it more or it takes a little bit longer to run it because in the long run we don't we just don't want this in our product like it's okay if the machine goes slower just like you know add a little bit to the price for us and because that's what we want. So that's pretty much we don't have any issues with that anymore. A lot of it's evolved to the point where like Justin said it's now the table stakes um but it was one of those things in the beginning where you're like you're gonna do what uh we don't we've never done this before. So and you know hats off to them for wanting to work with us in the beginning I'm sure they were laughing. I'm sure they were laughing at us when we sent over our first formulation. They probably were just like is this a joke?

Uh what are they you know why are they putting beetroot powder and you know green tea powder and um you know all these weird roots why do they want this is gonna taste terrible why do they want to put this in a container someone's gonna drink this so I'm sure they were sure they had a few laughs at that yeah yeah well once again it comes down to that that unwavering commitment to you guys right I think that's really cool and and you know it's so um so many times when people jump into business and I know because I've started my fair share um not all successful but you know when I skip that first step of like okay what is the core ethos here what is what is that mission? What are what are we what's the pillars that we stand on? Everything else just falls in line. It's like your day becomes so much easier your marketing becomes so much easier. You know um did you guys spend when you started you spend a good amount of time on what that was or is that just like obvious to you because you've been you've known each other for so long you know it wasn't evident to us at first but it's become much more evident to us in the past couple of years.

So we always had it but we never were kind of able to articulate that until probably about two years ago and when we really were like okay we need to we need to write this down yeah we kind of really went into what we call the pain cave uh which is where we like nobody hears from us for a couple days and we're like totally unshaven in a dark room just like pounding out of you know uh work and and documents so it it it became really evident we all had it all along but it came really evident uh in the past couple years yeah awesome awesome so tell me what do you guys think like um you know we've talked about so much but but the the supplement industry you know it it seems like there's just so many players in the market um what what trends are you seeing within the supplement industry I mean do you think there's a bubble?

Do you think there's more companies are going to come in do you where do you see like you must think about this all the time where where do you see the the supplement industry going? Do you think there's gonna become more regulation become less regulation where where do you yeah talk to me.

I mean I think I think there's gonna be more regulation I think the barriers to entry are going to go up. I think it's gonna be harder to last you know but at the end of the day you know like you said earlier I mean all those things kind of fall in place if you're doing it for the right reasons and if you talk to your customer. I mean we read reviews daily we I mean we literally I mean some people on our team literally call our customers uh to survey them over the phone yeah about things we've done so I think I think to to last you really have to be in touch with that core customer base and what they're looking for.

So you know there's there's always going to be there's always going to be trends uh you know obviously the trend uh lately has been lots of certifications you know what what can I put in my product I think some customers see through that towards the things I was mentioning earlier about the people behind it and the quality of the product um you know because you can put organic sugar in a product yeah but that doesn't mean that it's good for you right exactly yes yeah yeah it's kind of like the it's like oh the well these Oreos are gluten free I can eat the whole thing it's like you could yeah I mean I was talking to uh a close family member of mine about macros and she's like well yeah I'm you know I'm hitting macros but I still feel awful I'm like well you can't have Oreos as your car I mean you can some macro specialists would say you can but I'm like let's think about this logically for a second like do you really think eating Oreos you know as your carbs is is gonna be the best way to get your she's like well it's it's science. I'm like no it's not it's just common sense and uh yeah so you guys I mean so you have people who actually call your clients and or call your customers and get feedback. That's that's remarkable for a supplement company. You know what what else do you guys do from like a customer service customer relationship standpoint that that makes you guys special because I've never heard of that from a supplement company. That's that's rare.

Well I I don't think Joe and I think of it as a supplement company. You know we we we think of it as a helping people be healthier company. I mean that's our that's our mission and whatever that leads to it leads to uh our passion is really building businesses. You know I mean we we love helping people and we also love building businesses. So to us it we never even thought about it like that. You know it was yeah what can we do that is going to build this business in the best way that we can and you know talking to our customers one of those things. Yeah we I mean we we send out a lot of you know we have an email list but we try to really make it fun and engage the consumer I mean we do things like we're doing things now like exclusive launches only on our website so we'll actually release products that you can't get on Amazon you can't get um from anyone else you you know you pretty much have to be in our core group uh you know we have uh forces in nature influencer tribe for people who are really uh have a big following and kind of want to be part of our group and help spread that message yeah that's really cool and you know I apologize because I've I've in my mind I've been kind of pigeonholing you guys as as supplement companies but you're not um you do a lot more and you do a lot more good for for the common sense and we had talked about this previously but you know topic over nutrition uh nutrition over you know medicine right um and I think that seems to be one of your core principles too if you guys want to dive into that how how you're you're getting that message out as well. So that that really started I think I mean I think both Job and I both have stories about where reactive medicine didn't work for us you know and I and I think that's that's the challenge right is you you go through your entire life and your parents say time to go to the doctor and then you get older yeah you know and you're like why why do I need to go to the doctor? I feel great I I'm in incredible shape uh why do I need to do that? Yeah you know for me anyway I was I was dealing with some stuff on my skin and I kept going back to the dermatologist and she was like well we need to freeze all this stuff off again and it was starting to get on my face and it's like that was really the light bulb going off point for me where I was like hmm like okay obviously what I'm doing is not working. And like I think we both really feel like doing the same thing over and over is the definition of insanity. Yeah Yeah if it doesn't work yeah and you know you're like okay well at this point basically now I'm the dummy for continuing to do that. So health and nutrition this was probably when I was like 14 and health and nutrition being such a big part of my life uh you know I played sports in college and was always really concerned with looking good and feeling good and recognized there was a correlation between looking good and feeling good usually until you get on the fringes you know but I just took it into my own hands and started researching all these herbs that I could take and and vitamin C and everything and fasting and did all that and it was gone within a couple weeks. You know so it's like I think that for me was the really nutrition over medicine do you know preventative versus reactive uh point in my life anyway.

Yeah yeah I I I think it comes down to um where you what your starting point is too like if you have an issue um not just going like Justin said go to the doctor. I mean obviously if it's serious you need to go to the doctor but um and you know we're not uh claiming that you shouldn't go to the doctor but um there are things that you might be able to try some other alternative that might not be recommended to you that you might have to go seek out on your own uh that would be super helpful to you. Can you guys hear me?

Yeah yeah and it's interesting it's such a big topic too because I was actually conversation um you know ultimately Dr. Eric Goodman was on the show not too long ago and uh he's one of the guys who started foundation training or he is the guy who started foundation training and you know the topic really was like when it comes to preventative medicine ultimately it comes down to taking responsibility and people taking responsibility for their own health and that's a big ask nowadays.

It shouldn't be but it is and that's you know that's exactly what I was getting ready to go into. Yeah I mean that's get into it then because I think it's important you know give give your point of view on that well I mean we we live in the blame society right like so everybody wants to you know this is the reason my life is X but you know I think when you start taking extreme ownership over things you know it really really just makes your life better you know and and like you were saying I mean that that so much of the preventative part is personal responsibility. You know it's it's do I need to have this food in my house? Do I need to feed my kids this food? Is our food affecting our health? You know what I mean? And I think that's a big secondary piece of why Joe and I started this company.

Yeah I I don't think people want to they don't want to admit that either because then it means that they have to stop eating it. Or it's a fear of the unknown um what you know I've always eaten this way or I've always done it this way if I stop um does that mean I can does that mean I can never have this again? Yeah it's just and it's it's fear of change mentality too. Yeah um you know how how many people do the doctors tell all you have to do is X, Y, and Z, and then you don't have to take this medicine. Yeah. They'll just take it anyway because everybody wants a quick you know easy an easy easy way out. Um so it's taking take taking taking responsibility for uh your your own health and taking it in your own hands and it's okay to question things sometimes and and like Justin said go against the status quo. You know just because if you're you know you're hurting or you're you know maybe you haven't uh your elbows bothering you or something and the status quo is to take ibuprofen well you know why not look into something else that that might help that uh some other things or maybe let's find out why the elbow is actually hurting um so that it stops doesn't happen in the first place.

Yeah so you just don't end up with perpetual uh shitty elbow so uh there's a great Louis CK uh yeah take on the shitty ankle yes yeah yeah that's one of my favorite especially when I turned 40 my my ankle actually just started to get shitty like you can validate you can actually validate that yeah you know it's interesting when you talk about the taking responsibility thing because everyone wants to shit on the medical profession right um when really like you know their only option nowadays is you know they can educate but what they see someone for an hour every two to three months you know and their best option really is just giving them some pill because that's what they want.

Well the other thing you know what they can't do though is they can't they what they do is they follow what is backed by studies and what's backed by um you know the the medical field. So if something's not actually backed by it, you know, they might say yeah you could try that it might work but they're not gonna really give you any other information. Most of them unless you go see a holistic doctor which I think you're gonna see a huge huge huge rise in um it's just gonna continue to go as people start taking um their their their health into their own hands. But yeah you know in their defense they're really just following you know what the medical profession teaches them to do. So they you know they have to follow those those guidelines.

That's really why we're here is one word empowerment. You know what I mean? And that's that's why we focus so much on education. I mean it this half of our company is the products you know the other half is hey let's all take a look at what we're doing here and let's put out educational pieces so the people can kind of decide for themselves. Yeah you know I can't tell you how many you know some of my family members start going to a nutritionist right and she's you know they're saying well should I try because I do fasting a lot. So like I've really been getting into fasting nearly daily I do intermittent fasting and it's and it's it's just what works for me. That doesn't mean it works for everybody. Yeah we're not we're not saying here that doctors are bad. We're not saying that traditional medicine is bad.

We're just saying hey before you need that uh make your own decision you know yeah yeah see if see if you can't take some lower hanging fruit and get fix the condition uh before it gets worse um versus just trying to cover it up yeah yeah I love it you guys so you know if you guys are projecting I'm sure you think about this all the time but where where do you see this company what's the trajectory it's on where do you see your company in like two years I think we'll probably be releasing more products that you use every day you know as as we get a stronger following uh things that you use every day that are kind of like we believe everybody should take XY and Z.

You know, here's where to start. Um it gives our kind of customers a clearer direction of hey you start with this like we're saying see how you feel uh you know and then you can start adding on you know X, Y, and Z protein and and so forth. So I think that's kind of where we'll be going.

Yep, and making it more convenient, you know, more people are on the go and more people are uh looking for that uh single serving type of an option where they can just grab it take it with them or just grab that one packet and know that they uh took that for the day uh versus carrying around you know bags or tubs. So we're we're looking we're looking at making it more convenient uh for people to incorporate that healthy lifestyle uh into their daily daily routines.

Yeah ultimately we're getting into a time economy right um everyone wants to save time and even like I look at like the coffee I make in the morning where I use the MCT oil and the protein and the um you know in the almond milk and things like that. Like that just takes time. If I had one little packet that I could just pour in there I would I would freaking buy it. And yeah you'd probably pay five times as much as it was for the all the ingredients separately exactly and I would I would I would probably pay it because what it saves me five minutes a day.

And that's okay.

Well that's that's cool. Yeah. Well it's cool man I I I love what you guys are doing. I love the way that you um you know whether you do it did it intentionally or not the way you built your business is is great. I think it's inspirational. I think a lot of people um start their business with you know great intention um you know great mindset but somewhere along the way they kind of sell out on their principles because maybe they felt a financial squeeze or um you know they saw the the promise of bigger profits or more yeah whatever it is that drives them. So I I commend you guys for sticking to it because it's not easy you know to do I think that's just that's just who we are.

I mean there is there is I guess what maybe makes us unique or and that Justin and I work so well together is because we both believe in it and we just don't the other the other side of the fence is not an option. We wouldn't have started the company so it's just see to us it just is that that's that's what we do.

And like that you know a lot of people say hey I'm I'm thinking about starting X business or you know I'm toying with this idea and like I wish them all the best luck profitability whatever that they can but if they're starting it simply to make a profit uh you know more oftentimes than not that's gonna fail and that's that's really down to you know Joe and I were never in this to make a profit we didn't sit in the basement of that uh college uh computer lab making products because we thought we were gonna get rich I mean we're we're still not rich we we we did it because we we saw a need and we wanted to help people you know so that's why we did it and why we still do it.

Yeah awesome awesome where where do people find you guys you know if they want to find out more about obviously uh naturalforce.com but maybe about you guys or you mentioned you do business consulting all those kind of things where where do you where do you send people you know naturalforce.com is really the best and the best place to reach us and I and I would say sign up for one of our email lists.

I mean we do a lot of we do a lot of cool stuff um on there that you won't see on the website so I would say sign up for that um maybe we'll shoot you the link to do that.

Cool cool well uh Justin Joe it's been it's been a pleasure I appreciate you guys coming on sharing your story um it's a good one and I'm excited to see what you guys do in the next few years because I think it's gonna be uh you know maybe your your pockets aren't full yet but they will they'll fill up you know I think you guys know that and uh you know you deserve it so um keep up the great work and I appreciate coming on sharing your insights cool thanks Eric yeah yeah thank you very much Eric it's been a pleasure hey fitness fans don't leave yet it's your host Eric Malzone and I have a quick favor to ask actually three favors so number one if you're a fan of our show I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes go to iTunes please and subscribe to our show please please please it means so much to us it's so important and then give us a favorable review we would really really appreciate it and uh I can't tell you how much it means it helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel or Fitness Marketing Alliance and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge. That's a big deal for us. And we'll we put a lot of work into these episodes uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry so that would mean a lot and that's it so we have some big plans coming up for this show I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes but thank you so much for listening it means so much and uh if you have any questions please reach out to me I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric E R I C at fitnessmarketingalliance com