- Blogger-turned-wellness influencer and CEO Olivia Amitrano started her business with just $200.
- She said the best way to grow a blog is to use enticing titles, lists, and concrete solutions.
- Her supplement business, Organic Olivia, currently brings in approximately $14 million in revenue each year.
- This article is part of “.Enabling small business success,” is a series that provides small businesses with a roadmap to growth.
This told essay is based on a conversation with Olivia Amitrano, a 29-year-old wellness entrepreneur from New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up with health issues, including skin and gut issues and anxiety, and I always thought they were related. It is known that there is. gut-brain axisbut the doctor I went to at the time kept saying my problems were not related.
This motivated me to enroll at Fordham University as a pre-student student in 2011. Although I eventually realized that traditional medicine, or integrative medicine, was my calling, I found the statistics and research classes I took to be extremely useful later in my career. After a year, I changed my major to Psychology and graduated in 2015.
Now 480,000 Wellness Influencers Instagram 120,000 followers tick tock followers.i have too unique supplement line 2020 was our most profitable year to date, with $14 million in revenue. This is how I built my business.
Throughout my teens and early 20s, I was sick from stress and doctors told me there was nothing they could do.
One day in 2012, I left school and drove myself to school. Acupuncturist who practiced traditional chinese medicine. He took one look at my tongue and wrote down every symptom I was experiencing. He also prescribed herbs for me. It gave me more relief over his next week than any other medication I've tried.
After that visit, I started a blog to record my travels. I started trying herbs and seeing more alternative medicine practitioners. I wanted to explain to people what worked for me to solve my problem, the dietary changes I made and why.
I tried to monetize my blog in 2013, but there wasn't much information out there. affiliate marketing Influencers weren't big back then. All I could do was post Amazon affiliate links for the various herbal, skin care, and household products I mentioned on my blog, and he could earn anywhere from a few cents to a dollar per sale. On average, I was making between $200 and $500 a month.
I grew my blog using specific strategies
The title of your blog is important. People have very short attention spans and are bombarded with digital information, so you need to convince your audience in seconds that the topic is easy to understand, fun to read, and valuable. there is.
The most valuable content provides solutions, so make sure your article solves a real, specific problem for your readers. Instead of writing about your favorite skin care products, write about skin care products that have helped you with a specific skin concern or condition, such as eczema.
Structure, format, and quantify your articles. It's easy and fun for our brains to break things down into neat, digestible pieces, and lists can help break up long articles.
Naming my blog post “Everything You Need to Know About _____” is a format that works well, especially on TikTok and Instagram Reels. one of my blogs This style is based on a reel that has been viewed 329,000 times and includes “Protein, Calories, Hormones” in the blank space, and performed well on my site.
Other topics that worked for me were digestion, sugar intake, aphrodisiac herbs, and preventing cognitive decline.
In 2013, I decided to write an e-book to accelerate my business.
I had a series of side jobs and had $200. I spent all my money at Trader Joe's buying ingredients to make and test and photograph my favorite juice recipes. The juice recipe book earned him about $4,000 in three months, all of which he poured into his business.
Digital products have very low overhead costs, so it was important to start very small and eventually put that money into a physical product. I started working on his supplement product development in 2016 and named my business Organic Olivia.
In 2017, I started attending ArborVitae School of Traditional Herbalism in Brooklyn.
I wanted to understand the science and traditional wisdom that could explain why the herbs I was using for my health conditions were so effective. I also wanted the credentials, knowledge base, and real-world experience to formulate my own products and be taken seriously in the supplement and wellness world.
I completed a three-year intensive clinical program in 2020 where I learned how to formulate herbal remedies using appropriate therapeutic doses and complementary herbs.
Manufacturing the supplement required a huge learning curve
I was lucky to have a friend who worked in the food manufacturing industry and was able to explain the do's and don'ts of the industry and point out some of the corruption that exists.
Then, at a supplement conference called Expo West, I met and worked with great manufacturers as co-formulators who helped me understand the tricks of the industry. We also verified that 33 products ranging in price from $25 to $79 are tested and certified by reputable laboratories.
I have never received any money from investors and currently have 9 full-time employees.
As an influencer, I promote my formula
Although I was an early adopter of Instagram and truly part of the first “generation” of influencers, I didn’t receive any sponsorships. I get paid as an affiliate, but I've never been approached by a company to promote anything. That helps us maintain trust with our audience.
Instead of lining up 100 products in front of my followers, we build relationships so they can trust my supplement products.
Maintaining a blog is a big part of my success. While researching and writing content doesn't directly generate revenue, the brand is my face and philosophy, so it's important that it's my voice.
The biggest mistakes I made were spending too much money on web agency fees instead of hiring my own developers, and continuing to hire unathletic employees because I wanted to be nice. That's it. Not only did it hurt me financially, but it also affected the energy and culture of the company.
