Bloom Nutrition founder Mari Llewellyn
In the fast-paced and competitive world of health and fitness, building a successful brand takes more than just a passion for wellness.
Mari Llewellyn, the founder of Bloom Nutrition, knows this all too well. Her journey to the top wasn’t easy but she persevered and created a thriving business that inspires people to lead healthier, happier lives.
If you look at her on Instagram, it’s hard to imagine that she wasn’t always the epitome of health.
But at one point in her life, Llewellyn weighed 250 pounds. She was also diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a mental disorder characterized by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships.
She recalls a lot of self-loathing and how she could barely stand to look at herself in the mirror. Her low self-esteem led her down a path of unhealthy habits that left her feeling utterly depleted.
Llewellyn reached a turning point when she decided to take control of her life and embarked on a journey of self-discovery. She became passionate about fitness and nutrition and started sharing her knowledge with others.
She posted a body transformation video, on Instagram, that led to hundreds of DMs asking about her workout plan.
So, she went down to Kinkos and created a PDF guide to her workouts and sold them on Instagram for $5.
Llewellyn said, “We sold a ton of PDF workout guides. We sold thousands of guides.”
She knew that she had found her calling and wanted to build a bigger business around it.
So, she and her husband Greg took all of the money they made from the PDF guides and invested it into exercise bands.
Once they decided on a prototype, they had 1,000 bands shipped to her father’s house. They hunkered down and actually wrote the shipping labels, by hand, and all 1,000 themselves.
They relied exclusively on Mari’s Instagram to promote the product. It was an immediate hit and turned out to be an incredible business.
But a trip to a local GNC showed her that maybe they could create an even larger business.
She went there to buy some pre-workout powder and noticed that all the supplements, and marketing, in the store was geared towards men.
Think lots of reds and yellows and pictures of things exploding. That didn’t resonate with her at all.
She wanted to build a product that spoke to people like her and her community. That’s when Bloom Nutrition was born.
Llewellyn focused on a few key products that she knew would be effective, rather than creating a wide range of options.
She said, “Having a wider variety of products can be confusing to the customer. Specializing in one thing allows companies to make it even better and keep improving. I think that simplicity scales. And when you focus on a product that you want to do really well; that’s the key to success.”
And Bloom Nutrition’s success has exceeded Llewellyn’s wildest expectations. Last week, it was announced that Bloom Nutrition products are now available in Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
Her journey to success was anything but easy but her commitment to health and wellness kept her going. Her story serves as a testament to the power of passion and perseverance.
Llewellyn said, “The most successful businesses and the most successful people are people who are truly, truly passionate about what they’re doing.”
Jane Prior, Chief Marketing Officer at The Vita Coco Company, said, “Mari’s authentic approach to building meaningful relationships has created a supportive, uplifting community that inspires people to take charge of their well-being in an accessible way.”
Llewellyn is proof that with passion, perseverance and a little bit of hustle, anything is possible.
