We recently connected with Brett Bartel and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Brett thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

One of the hardest things to do when running your own company is having the faith to put it in someone else’s hands. I’m not even talking about bringing in capital investors or selling the company off, I mean, just delegating your tasks and duties to new employees.

Part of the fun, and stress, of a startup is being involved in every aspect of the business— everything from product development, marketing, accounting, sales, and customer service. As the company grows, it’s simply impossible to be able to do everything well and move forward. You must hire employees. And so far, it’s the scariest thing to give them an important duty and let them run with it.

One of our approaches is doing Zoom conferences with medical practitioners. We go through a presentation showing the science behind our products. It’s fun to engage with medical practitioners, and I love taking their challenging questions. A year ago, I simply didn’t have the bandwidth to take all the Zoom lunches, so we hired a Medical Practitioner Specialist that became our contact to the medical practitioners. Luckily, we were able to find someone with a background in pharmaceutical sales, and more importantly, someone very familiar with the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in phospholipid form.

I still interact with some medical practitioners, but I miss the daily interaction. We do dinner events where practitioners talk about their experiences and patients’ experience with Accentrate®, and I share a small presentation as well. And as we grow, we’re looking to put together a Medical Advisory Board.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Our first product, Accentrate®, was inspired by my son. He was diagnosed with ADHD and we wanted to address it from a nutritional perspective. We wanted to make sure that he was receiving all the nutrition he needed before considering medication.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to support attention and emotional regulation, and certain nutrients are also necessary for the proper regulation of dopamine. We formulated Accentrate® with omega-3 fatty acids using the form that is the preferred carrier to the brain as well as nutrients in their active forms in amounts significant enough to provide marked improvement.

Our first product was dosed for children, but upon its launch, customers started asking if we had an adult version, so we created Accentrate110®. Then customers asked, “What about minerals?” We knew magnesium, zinc, and iron are needed for enzymes that make dopamine, but there wasn’t any room left in the softgel, so we created a mineral capsule MZI™. Accentrate® and MZI™ are intended to be taken together. We also created Accentrate® Gummy because we heard from our customers that many children couldn’t swallow a pill.

We also listen to our medical practitioners that recommend Accentrate®. A couple years ago we started hearing, “What about a probiotic?” Three years ago, I didn’t know much about the importance of gut heath and the connection with mental health. I reached out to Jennifer Giustra-Kozek, the author of “Healing Without Hurting: Treating ADHD, Apraxia and Autism Spectrum Disorders Naturally and Effectively Without Harmful Medications” and she put together the initial research for formulating a probiotic with us.

In the last two years, I got up to speed on the science behind probiotics and reached out to suppliers to formulate the MicroVita® Probiotic Kit, which includes two products, MicroVita® Focus and MicroVita® Mood. What makes this kit unique is the formulations contain specific probiotic strains in clinically validated amounts that support focus, mood, and emotional regulation. The combination of the two are provided in a way that helps increase diversity of the microbiome for a healthy gut-brain connection.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

Many people are skeptical of dietary supplements. This is understandable as there have been many products with outrageous claims and questionable quality.

Part of our branding includes the selection of which nutrients are in the product and the form of each nutrient. The selection of ingredients is backed by science, and we use clinically proven ingredients.

I actually enjoy the skepticism when I’m given a chance to address it. We attend Psych Congress each year, which is attended by physicians, psychiatrists, neurologists, and other medical practitioners. Most of the vendors are pharmaceutical companies, so we stand out a little. I love being challenged by doctors that are skeptical that nutrition can make a meaningful difference in mental health.

After two minutes of discussing the science behind omega-3s in phospholipid form and supplementation of neurotransmitter cofactors, which support dopamine regulation, it’s the biggest thrill to see their face change from skepticism to an open mind and desire to learn more. It’s in that moment that I can see in their eyes that they recognize we are something different.

One of my favorite stories was in the early days, a medical practitioner who called and said that we should be using phosphatidylserine and that our omega-3s weren’t the most effective. The Customer Service Manager passed her on to me and said, “I have an impossible one for you.”

I walked her through the metabolism of phosphatidylserine, cited scientific journal articles, and by the end of the phone call, the doctor ordered some Accentrate® for her daughter with ADHD and said she would recommend it to her patients. I’m a total nerd for finding this so thrilling.

The fact that most of our customers come from recommendations from medical practitioners is how we maintain a good reputation. We’re also keenly aware that we don’t have all the answers. We’re small and we’re not bound to a patented ingredient or patented formulation, so we can evolve when there’s better information. When we’re informed that there is a better way, we listen. We’ve reformulated Accentrate® once before and we plan one more reformulation next year to provide the best nutrients possible.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Because our greatest source of referrals are medical practitioners, we actually lucked out with the shutdown due to Covid-19.

We have a small sales team, and we visit doctor’s offices like pharmaceutical sales reps. The scientific message behind the product is complex to communicate and it’s tricky to do it through a social media posts and digital advertising. When we get a few minutes with a doctor, we can show the evidence that helps them understand Accentrate®’s benefits and value.

After the shutdown, Zoom meetings and Door Dash lunch and learns became far more acceptable means of communicating with medical practitioners and providing them with lunch from hundreds of miles away. We have a ten-minute presentation where we walk through the science behind the products. And we can “meet” with multiple doctors in different states each day. We still personally visit some doctor’s offices but Zoom meetings have shown to be more efficient.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fenixhealthscience.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accentrate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accentrate/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fenix-health-science-403677178/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/fenixhealth?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FenixHealthScienceAccentrate

Image Credits
Lewis Cady, M.D.; Mandi McNeal