Today we’d like to introduce you to Duke Armstrong.
Hi Duke, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi! Thanks for having me here. I’m Duke – a small business owner as well as a husband, father to 3 great kids, and fitness enthusiast. I’m obsessed with living a healthy lifestyle, soccer and learning.
After 13 years working in corporate America and various smaller privately-owned companies, I knew I wanted to start my own business for three key reasons. First, I saw a gap in the dietary supplement market in a niche that I was super passionate about. Second, I wanted to create a company to share and educate the world around my beliefs on holistic health and wellness. Third, I wanted to break free of the traditional corporate structure, and build a company that values family, community, whole health, quality, and hard work.
Too many times, I found myself working for companies that valued sales and profits above everything else. Success and life are so much deeper than just money – I am on a journey to build a company that is driven by more!
Propello Life was created to Inspire, Educate, and Fuel active lives. We feel that to be a positive impact on the health of people you must first reach their hearts, then you can reach their minds, and finally we wanted to provide them healthy solutions to meet their health needs.
In an industry dominated by unrealistic body images, exaggerated claims, and loose regulatory, Propello Life is on a mission to be a positive light. We are building a community of real people, sharing their stories and successes, and to provide premium, natural supplements that meet the standards we hold our food to. I am proud of what we have built over the past five and a half years and look forward to where we are going.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Lol! Smooth is not a word I would use to describe what starting Propello Life has been like. I would describe it as the most exciting roller coaster you can imagine. One moment you feel like you are on the top of the world, everything is going great, and then literally 10 minutes later the floor falls out from under you and you are saying to yourself, “What was I thinking? How is it taking this long? Why is this so hard?”
When we started out, a few of my mentors cautioned us that everything will take twice as long and cost twice as much as you think. Well, they were right. It is like Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” So, we planned for this reality, and we focused on our discipline, grit, and patience; and anyone that knows me knows that patience is not always my strong suit.
In the first year in business, we had to completely change our sales and marketing strategy because of major changes with two key sales channels for us – Amazon and Whole Foods. This one turned our world upside down, but it helped us adapt and grow into the company we are today. And we didn’t know it at the time, but it helped us be more prepared for the next big issue – COVID.
One quote that really spoke to me throughout the COVID pandemic is, “we are all in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat.” I love this quote, because it illustrates that even though the environment around us was the same, our individual situations were very different. The pandemic hit us in year 4 of our business and it has really tested our resolve, persistence, grit, and adaptability. We had to adapt how we communicated with our community, how we found new customers, and what products we launched. The pandemic accelerated our growth in the first 6-9 months of the pandemic as everyone moved to working out at home, shopping online and supporting local businesses. But about mid-2021 we hit what I call the “Great Fatigue.” People were tired. Tired of everything. We saw online traffic and sales decline almost overnight. This forced us to focus on the bottom line, our loyal base of customers, and to adapt our sales and marketing strategies. It was hard, but the changes we made worked and we are growing faster than ever now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Propello Life is a small, family-owned business that formulates premium, natural supplements that meet the standards we hold our food to. All our products are non-GMO, gluten-free, free of artificial ingredients, backed by science, simple, and delicious. Our mission is to Inspire, Educate, and Fuel active lives. We believe that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to health and that it is a journey each of us must take. Propello Life was founded to help you along your journey as a guide, a source of education, and a source of inspiration. Propello Life was born out of the journey I went on personally. I have tried just about every fad diet, done just about every fad exercise program, and self-educated my way to figuring out what my healthiest, best life is for me. Through these self-discoveries, I learned that health is so much more than what you are eating and how you sweat. It is a holistic, whole life effort based around 7 key aspects of living: nourishment, movement, rejuvenation, love, passion, mind, and spirit.
Additionally, the supplement industry is filled with over-hyped products and claims, shady ingredients, and unregulated companies. Trust is hard to come by in this industry and earning it has been even harder. Propello Life uses simple formulas you can understand, fully transparent labels where we list all the ingredients and quantities of each, and we provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee as well.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Here is some advice I was given and a few things I learned along the way. Hope it helps any aspiring entrepreneurs!
- Planning is priceless, plans are useless. The act of planning is important, but know that your plans are going to change. We live in a world that is changing faster and faster, and you have to adapt to stay alive.
- If you are married or in a serious relationship, your other half better be just as committed as you are. There will be trying times, and to get through them you will need the strength, commitment, and resolve of both of you to get through them. Otherwise, you will be choosing between saving your business or saving your family, and you never want to have to make that choice.
- “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I love this African proverb. Pick your priorities and act accordingly. Personally, I favor going together.
- Grit is what will lead to success. Starting a business is one of the hardest things you will ever do, but it is also one of the most rewarding. Never give up.
Pricing:
- Discount Code: FIRSTORDER for 15% off your first order
- Collagen+ (30 servings): $39.99
- Energy + Focus (30 servings): $34.99
- Rejuvenating Aminos (30 servings): $34.99
- We have sample packets too!
Contact Info:
- Email: darmstrong@propellolife.com
- Website: https://www.propellolife.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/propellolife
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PropelloLife/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbyzVnZIWDnCivpymQHx6AQ?app=desktop
Image Credits
Michael Patrick Studio
