#awinewith Brooke Lowther
MEET Brooke Lowther, Founder of Fox Supplements
You can find them here:
Transcript
Danielle Lewis (00:00):
You are listening to Spark tv, where we bring you daily interviews with real women in business at all stages. I'm your host, Danielle Lewis, and I am so grateful to have you here. Amazing. Brooke, welcome to Spark tv. I'm so excited to have you here.
Brooke Lowther (00:16):
Thank you. And thank you so much for having me.
Danielle Lewis (00:18):
Oh, my absolute pleasure. I was just sharing with you that this is literally my favorite time of the week where I get to talk to amazing women doing amazing things. So Yes, absolutely. My pleasure. Let's start out by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Brooke Lowther (00:35):
Sure. Well, my name is Brooke Lauer and I'm the founder of Fox Supplements. So Fox is, it's something that I've been working on for the last three years, so when I talk about it, I feel like, yeah, it's launching now. I think even though it's been going for three years, it's just taken a really long time. But yeah, Fox Supplements is basically a wellness brand that are hopefully going to change the game in the way that we take supplements.
Danielle Lewis (01:09):
Hopefully. Oh my God, this is so exciting. And isn't it funny how long things really do take, I think we have these moments of genius where we're like, oh my God, this is the best idea ever. I'm going to change the world. And then you start the journey and it's like, whoa, this is not quick.
Brooke Lowther (01:26):
Oh, absolutely. And I think that's it, and especially in this space as well, supplements, a lot of people have these quick fads and they'll throw together things that actually don't work. They'll create a hype about it and then all of a sudden they sort of crash and burn and I realized that we really need to put science into this. People are putting things in their bodies and I actually want the longevity of seeing how this works for people. It was really a personal journey, the whole reason why I started.
Danielle Lewis (02:02):
Well, tell me about that. So how did you get into this in the first place?
Brooke Lowther (02:06):
Well, look, my background's actually in media. So I've been doing TV presenting for the last 23 years, and it came from, I suppose, falling pregnant at 40. I always joke and say that my partner switched out my contraceptive for tac. I always say that to people, but actually, yeah, we had this amazing surprise, baby, but my body really, it was healthy. I've always been healthy, but I found afterwards I really did struggle and it came from conversations with girlfriends who had gone through breast cancer. It came from women that go to the gym all the time that were having problems with falling pregnant. So there was all of these different types of women in our group, I suppose, that had different stories to tell and we were trying to find some solutions, and I suppose we tried lots of different supplements and loads of bad diets, but there's nothing out there that really just worked that really supported our, we're just walking hormones, I think. And I think that we just need things to really work for us. So that's kind of how it all started to be honest.
Danielle Lewis (03:18):
Wow. And you said at the start you had this vision to change the way that supplements worked or how people consumed them. What's that vision for you?
Brooke Lowther (03:29):
Well, we now have gone in, after three years of research, have found that the powders and the capsules take about 20 to 30 minutes to actually absorb into your body, whereas a liquid form is so much faster. It takes two to three minutes to absorb. You can have a high potency. So we are working in the space now of liquid and we are doing the prepro and also postbiotics, and we're working around gut health because we feel that is what is fueling so many different things. So we decided to branch into that, stick with that. And honestly, it's been amazing. The results that we've seen have just been phenomenal. So I feel so much better and I've always taken so many different supplements and sometimes I'm just constantly filling my body with stuff. I feel this is really clean as well. It's a really nice clean way to take them that is working for us. So
Danielle Lewis (04:28):
This is so cool because the powders are a pain in the bum, let's be honest. So that's right. It's interesting that you talk about the efficacy and the science, but just as a general consumer, I find it such a pain to be mixing and I'm like, I'm busy. I just need this to happen.
Brooke Lowther (04:46):
That's right. And I think that's it. We just found that putting the powders in milkshakes and time to make a smoothie, and sometimes the taste was actually disgusting it to change your tea or it to change whatever it was that you were having. Whereas it could be taken just a couple of drops under the tongue if you want to. You can put it in a smoothie, you can put it in a hot tea as well as something that's cold. So we we're finding that that is a really quick and easy way on the run. Put the bottle in the bag and off you go sort of thing.
Danielle Lewis (05:16):
Oh my god, I love this already. Okay, good. You've already got a customer out of me. I'm conveyed.
Brooke Lowther (05:22):
Great.
Danielle Lewis (05:23):
Oh, that's so good. So again, we talked about the three year process
Brooke Lowther (05:28):
And
Danielle Lewis (05:29):
Obviously being in supplements, it would be highly regulated, very scientific. It's not something that you can kind of just a service-based business where you can throw off a landing page online, done in a day. Talk to me about how the process was like for you. How's it been actually getting this ready to go to market?
Brooke Lowther (05:49):
Really hard. Really hard, and I think that's where the three years have come into play. So we become with a whole lot of ingredients, we'd come with all the different measurements. Will this work? No, you can't have this. Even in February, we had to take out our ashwagandha because there's a lot of side effects now that they're finding. So it's been an ever, it's just been something that we have had to work with our biochemists with and they've been fantastic. They've got 35 years experience. They've been doing this when I was running around, still in prep. They know what they're doing, but it is really regulated, which is a really good thing here in Australia. We didn't start out in the States, so we did have a few products out there that went gangbusters, but it's very different to Australia. So we just wanted to make sure that we met all the Australian standards and that our products are actually doing what we say they're going to do as well. So that was really key for us.
Danielle Lewis (06:58):
So that's really interesting. So have you already had something going on in the us?
Brooke Lowther (07:03):
We did. We just trialed it, I think, because they've been doing for such a long time, and I spent a bit of time over there for a little while in my younger days and I think, yeah, they have been doing it for a little bit longer than us, I feel. So we did trial a few of our products over there and they went fantastic. We sold out libido product. It was actually two months worth of stock in six to eight hours when we
Danielle Lewis (07:33):
Launched. Oh my God.
Brooke Lowther (07:36):
But then, yeah, we then sort of, right, we're going to come and we want to do this. Obviously in Australia, this is where we're based, this is where I'm from, let's do this. And it was completely different. So we've learn so many lessons, but even though we had FDA approval, we wanted the TGA, we wanted to work in those guidelines here.
Danielle Lewis (07:58):
Wow, that's really interesting too. I think that as consumers, because we can buy anything from anywhere online, I think we think it's all the same. So that's really interesting that you had that experience around going to the US having one set of guidelines and then now in Australia, and it's hilarious too. I think usually people do it in reverse. They just start here and then scale. So that's really cool.
Brooke Lowther (08:24):
Yeah, that's right. So hopefully we can go back to America with even a better product. We were doing capsules over there as well, which is really different. We hadn't even thought about doing liquid, and it wasn't until we came up against some of these things that I'm like, well, why are we doing capsules and powders? Why can't we do liquid and make it more potent and actually give people an amazing product that's even 10 times better than what we're doing? So it was a really good learning lesson and a journey, which was all meant to be. Even though there was nights where I was up going, why is this TGA causing so much problems? Maybe this is a really terrible idea. And then I sort of looked at other women and other businesses, I'm like, how are they doing this? And they just multimillionaires and I'm not there, and I kind of throw money at stuff and I just really had to go back in and almost start again, which was humbling and also really upsetting at the same time to try and do it on your own.
(09:34):
So that's the other thing. I think you're just a one man band, and I wear so many different hats, and I really do feel like women in business are like that. Does it matter if you have children or not? I still feel that you take on so much more as a female within a household, and whether it's the cooking and the washing, and even working from home's hard because you're looking at, oh, I could do that. Oh, I need to put another load of washing on. It's just things like this, let alone how women are running around with picking up and dropping off kids as well as running a business. So yeah, that's why I think women are just so amazing.
Danielle Lewis (10:18):
It's so true. I mean, it's really interesting. Anyone who's listened to this podcast will know my gripe with working from home and then being the person that's apparently is responsible for groceries and cooking and all the things I'm like, drives me wild. But that's like a whole nother podcast episode.
Brooke Lowther (10:37):
Exactly. Yeah. I think there's a whole nother podcast kind of thing. Oh, my do on this,
Danielle Lewis (10:45):
Absolutely. But it's so interesting. I do love your comment around women and how we are amazing. True. Obviously, I wouldn't have a women in business network if I didn't think that, but I mean, I feel like running a business is so difficult and is you do have to wear all of these hats. You do have to problem solve so much. And I think you're right. It's just like women do have this naturally ingrained desire to solve all the problems, do all the things, be in all the places, and usually even though we tear our hair out, we usually make it work.
Brooke Lowther (11:21):
Yes, I do believe that. I think we're so used to juggling, and I won't lie to you, I think there are times where I just feel like to your partner, why can't you think to do all these things?
Danielle Lewis (11:35):
Oh my God. Let me tell you a story. So I had a mental breakdown last week, and on the weekend, literally my husband was sitting in bed watching tv totally fine. He works very hard, so he's allowed downtime.
Brooke Lowther (11:47):
But
Danielle Lewis (11:48):
I put clean sheets on the bed, the pile on the bed, and I kind of made a little joke of it, and then I walked off and did my own thing, and then he migrates to the other TV and doesn't bloody change the sheets. I was furious.
Brooke Lowther (12:05):
And it's funny how they function with so much a pile of Mount Everest clothes next to them that they can easily walk past. Whereas I'd start my eye would start twitching at that, be like, I've got to do that as well. It's really, I know. I don't know how they don't see stuff like that, but they don't.
Danielle Lewis (12:25):
Oh, I know. And I actually don't even think it's on purpose. I literally think
Brooke Lowther (12:31):
I agree. They just don't see it. They just don't see it there. Yeah, it's just part of the bed
Danielle Lewis (12:38):
Anyway. It's wild. It's wild. Oh my God. So I have to ask you, you mentioned that when you had the product in the US you literally sold out two months supply in six hours, six to eight hours. I've got to ask how, so one of the things I love to share is how people grow, how you actually grow your business, how you get bigger, how you do all the things. What was the secret to selling out in a day?
Brooke Lowther (13:05):
I think it was my TikTok and I think it was, yeah, and I was so scared to do TikTok stuff, but I feel like I sort of started and it was terrible. So no one go on and have a look at my previous TikTok stuff, and it was that. It was TikTok and it was a little bit of the Instagram, and it was really that kind of thing that started to shift for me, and I think that's what helped. And it was such a scary thing because I'm not really in that space, and I always thought it was a younger space to be in. Well, I
Danielle Lewis (13:44):
Feel like I'm too old for TikTok. Me too.
Brooke Lowther (13:46):
So you're giving me life. That's what I thought. But that's where a lot of the, even though my demographics around that 25 to 55, it was, that really started some traction for us. So that's what helped. I think so. Cool. Yeah, and me just being a little bit crazy and doing, I was trying to think of funny videos and that sort of stuff, so yes.
Danielle Lewis (14:11):
Oh my God is so cool. I do love that you said that. It is one of those things where there are so many different ways to market a business, and I think sometimes we do get a little bit scared trying new things, especially as we get to a vintage I'm getting to do, and then I'm looking at TikTok going, so not interesting. How am I going to post?
Brooke Lowther (14:34):
Well, and I was like that as well, and what am I going to post? Yeah. So I started to Google a lot, what can I post? And I've got a supplement business, what is it? I could post on TikTok? So I started to find things like that in research and then asked a lot of younger people around me. I even asked my daughter, and she's not really allowed to be on social media yet, even though she's 16, she doesn't have that and it's great. She's not really on that, but a lot of her friends might be. And so it was like, oh, what would you guys have a look at? And so that's kind of where it's really started to happen for us, especially in the States this time a little bit. It's different. So I'm looking at the TV networks, just some print campaigns, all the old stuff that I know of in the old journalists within me, but we'll see. It might actually be social media here as well, so I'll have to find out.
Danielle Lewis (15:29):
I do love that as well. I mean, really interesting that you are going for the perhaps old school media, whereas, because I always think we shouldn't dismiss that stuff. It's obviously lasted for such a long time because it works. Exactly. And I think sometimes we get obsessed with social media like, oh, if I'm not a viral sensation, my business won't work. So I actually love that you're tapping into other platforms. That's really cool.
Brooke Lowther (15:57):
Yeah, I think people forget about that. So we've got a couple of little write-ups in some of the magazines that Cove Magazine, which is a really nice prestige magazine that's based in Queensland, but it sits around so beautiful. It sits around in cafes, it's in some of the airport lounges and the things that I think people still pick up and read about. So for me, I think looking at all the marketing still I think is important, not just social media. So
Danielle Lewis (16:27):
That's
Brooke Lowther (16:27):
What I think, but I dunno.
Danielle Lewis (16:31):
No, I completely agree. I love it. I struggle because I guess I'm from the vintage of business where I'm like, do everything, be everywhere, hustle. And it's funny, I think today people are trying to take a softer approach, more balanced approach to business and life, and so I do struggle with giving advice to people. You literally have to try everything and figure out what works. Yes, it is hard. I know people lack their
Brooke Lowther (17:03):
Downtime. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
Danielle Lewis (17:08):
So good. What do you think has been the biggest challenge in the last three years getting this off the ground?
Brooke Lowther (17:15):
It would be the regulations, obviously the T tga A and I think, I don't know, sometimes questioning myself. I think as women we sometimes do that and we've got to stop doing it. It's just a, oh, I don't know if I can do this. Am I better off just going back to say my nine to five and playing it safe? But I realized that women have this emotional intelligence that I don't think really a lot of men have terrible. I'm just sort of putting down men, but I'm not, I think that we really do have an emotional intelligence and a gut feeling that I think that we really need to follow at times. And women, I think lead their brands with their heart because of that emotional intelligence. So what we're putting into it I think is so much more sometimes, if that makes sense. Hopefully the biggest challenge for me was obviously the regulations and funding. That's been huge because I've been funding it myself, but it's the confidence within myself.
Danielle Lewis (18:25):
Wow. What's kept you going then with these challenges in your way? What has kept you going and kept you motivated to keep pushing to make this happen?
Brooke Lowther (18:38):
I think it's been wanting to see how other people are going to feel from what it is that I'm trying to do. So I think that's what it is, because there's been people that have written back going, I feel so amazing, or I've seen, we've got a slimming tonic that I've been taking as well, and it's just makes you feel like a lot lighter. And so comments that are coming through, I think from the community and other people, that is the biggest driver for me. As I said, this has been derived from personal experience, watching really close friends go through breast cancer. So that for me has been my driver to keep going, the pep talk within me, and also trying to go for grants, trying to find, do we come under a research and development grant? So those hurdles have been hard because you can't make someone come on board and give you money, say, so any sort of savings I've had or things like that I've put everything into. But then, yeah, so that's kind of been it really. They've been the biggest challenges, I think.
Danielle Lewis (19:54):
Yeah, I mean, so interesting because I think that sometimes we forget that we are actually making an impact in the world, and it's just, I always say to people, if somebody has had an impact on you, whether it's product service or just your friend with a, oh my God, I love your shoes, I'm going to throwaway line. I'm always tell people that because you just never know. It might be that one comment or testimonial or review or whatever that actually keeps the person going. So you love that you said that because we are, I think a lot of us women specifically create impact led brands, and it is hard to keep going. So yeah, you've got to remember that you are making a difference in people's lives.
Brooke Lowther (20:40):
That's right. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
Danielle Lewis (20:43):
I love it so much. I could talk to you all day much. I know
Brooke Lowther (20:48):
Know. As I said, I'm a talker, so cut me off at any time.
Danielle Lewis (20:53):
I love it. Well, good segue. I always love to wrap up these podcasts with one last piece of advice. So reflecting on your time in business, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her business journey?
Brooke Lowther (21:09):
I think if you're starting out, just start. I think that's the biggest thing. Start messy. Don't worry if you don't have all the things lined up yet because they kind of just fall into place. You're either going to go down a slightly wrong path and you go, oh, okay. I'm not going to do that, but I'm going to do this. Start messy, but start, don't hesitate. I think that's probably the biggest advice I could give and refine later. You've got loads of time to refine as we go. We grow as say a brand or we grow by meeting new customers or whatever the business is. But I think that's probably my biggest thing. And trust your instincts. Trust
Danielle Lewis (21:49):
Your, oh my God, I could not agree anymore. Brooke, you are amazing and I'm so excited to see the Australian launch and follow your success and share it with everyone. And also can't wait to actually check back in. Let's get on a podcast again in 12 months and hear how it all unfolded. That's cool. I'm just wishing you the best of luck and so grateful that you shared your story with the Spark Community.
Brooke Lowther (22:16):
Look, thanks Danny. Thanks for having me. And I'll definitely be back on to tell you how it went in 12 months time. For sure.
Danielle Lewis (22:23):
That wraps another episode of Spark tv. Shout out to Spark TV sponsor IP Australia for their amazing support of the Spark Podcast and women in business. And if no one tells you today, you've got this.
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
