We recently connected with Mina Elias and have shared our conversation below.

Mina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I am an MMA fighter and my background is in chemical engineering. I started a supplement brand out of passion, but it getting it in stores was very challenging. Gyms denied me and I sold my product at sports events. I had a small booth and passed out samples. People would ask me how they could purchase it online, so I said it’d be on Amazon next week, even tho that was a lie, and I had NO idea how to get my product on Amazon. So after that event, I went to work and called Amazon seller central and did everything I could to get my product on Amazon. Once it was on Amazon, I quickly realized how difficult it is to sell supplements on Amazon bc of how saturated that market is. I eventually learned how to scale my brand with Amazon PPC, which is pay-per-click advertising. I got so good at it and started sharing my knowledge with people in FB groups and going on podcasts. People started asking me to help them with their brands, and then one day I was approached by a huge aggregator and they asked me to build and train their PPC division. I really enjoyed doing this and after I did that, it gave me the confidence to start an Amazon Advertising Agency. That is how Trivium was born, on March 11, 2021.

Mina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always been a very dedicated and disciplined person and I owe that all to MMA. I’ve been an MMA fighter for nearly ten years. I own my own supplement company called HRDWRK. I am also an Amazon Advertising expert. My agency helps all kinds of brands on Amazon get to page 1 and scale their revenue. However, my favorite clients are supplement brands because I am a huge supplement junky. I used to ask my mom to drop me off at the GNC store when I was a boy and I would stay there for hours reading all the labels and asking a ton of questions. Most Agencies are scared to touch supplement brands because of how competitive the market is but for me they’re my favorite.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had to choose between going all in on my supplement brand or my agency. I realized in order to achieve great success, I need to give 1 thing my total attention. I chose my agency and in 2 years my agency is now a multi-million dollar company with over 60 employees and 130 brands under management.

Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?

Yes – I sold a women’s supplement brand. It was my first exit and it was exhilarating. It taught me a lot about making sure you have all your financials air-tight before ever going to market. I also learned that there is so much power in the terms. For example, you can exit a business for 500k where you get 300k now and 200k over 2 years, or only $350k up front. The terms make all the difference. Finally, the one thing that helped me sell was a pitch deck. I sold the company by talking about all the things that make it stable and all the exciting opportunities for growth for the new owners.

Contact Info:

• Website: triviumco.com
• Instagram: @theminaelias
• Facebook: @theminaelias
• Linkedin: @theminaelias
• Twitter: @theminaelias
• Youtube: @theminaelias