I had the pleasure of sitting down with Patrick Firlik, the founder of Well Traveled, a healthier and more effective alternative to other immunity boosters like Airborne and Emergen-C. Resilience is all over this company – Patrick is a first time entrepreneur, learning the supplement space, bringing a new product to market, and using that product to build resilience in his customer base! A resilient mind is critical to entrepreneurship, and I enjoyed talking to Patrick about his journey.
In this interview, you’ll learn about the mindset you’ll need to just pull the trigger and start a company, how an idea for a product takes shape, and you’ll get a great primer on the world of naturally derived health supplements – and you’ll learn how most supplements aren’t always what they seem.
If you enjoyed this interview and you’d like to contact Patrick (or try Well Traveled!), you can contact him here.
I’m chiefly interested in the concept of resilience – personal, communal, and societal. What does the concept of resilience mean to you and Well Traveled?
I’ll start by talking about the business. With Well Traveled, our whole value proposition centers on resilience. From a scientific standpoint, the product actually helps your immune system adapt more quickly and fend off infections better. In terms of lifestyle, it’s about building resilience against the various challenges encountered from frequent travel or just a busy life. Whether it’s physical fatigue, stress, germs – all sorts of things that can run you down.
You don’t even need to be traveling a lot – it can happen when you have a young kid going to daycare and picking up every bug, or when it’s cold and flu season like it is right now. There are so many things that can knock us off our game. So Well Traveled aims to help people withstand those pitfalls and be their best selves. It’s about resilience from a big picture view, so that you can thrive. That’s the business side of things, anyway.
Personally, I also think resilience is massively important in life. As an entrepreneur, I’ve had to stretch into new territory. As an entrepreneur, you have to learn to deal with “no” a lot! Retailers say no, potential partners say no. I didn’t have sales expertise before this, so building resilience through the process of “constant no” has been huge.
More broadly, as with all startups, it has ups and downs – you need to have resilience if you want to make it work. Honestly, I’d guess any truly successful company relied on resilience at key points to power through tough situations. And outside of work, resilience helps us weather difficult patches in relationships, personal crises, all kinds of life events that can really hit hard. But being resilient enables us to bounce back and make the absolute most of things.
Creating Well Traveled is a bit of a career switch for you. Can you talk about the process of becoming an entrepreneur?
I was a management consultant for seven years, and spent a lot of time traveling on the road to clients. I never really ever felt like I was my best on the road, and that’s where the idea for Well Traveled came from.
I had good routines at home for eating, sleeping, exercise, everything, but when you get on the road, those are hard to maintain. Your life gets disrupted too; you work late in the night, you’re stressed, and your immune system gets run down. You just get sick way too often!
I tried to take Emergen-C and Airborne, but I really hated how sugary and artificial they are. They’re not that much different than a multivitamin, really.
So I always had this idea in the back of my head like, there has to be a better alternative. Something cleaner, something more effective. And then, after seven years consulting, I knew it was time to leave and do something new, and I decided to just go for this!
I will say, though, in 2022, I worked on Well Traveled on nights and weekends while I was still doing consulting. I was working to get the foundation in place. Then, at the start of 2023, I went full time. So that’s how I “became an entrepreneur,” so to speak. It’s not a one size fits all process, but that’s how it happened to me.
You didn’t have much of a background in supplement manufacturing. Can you talk about that process? What have you learned?
I actually don’t have any background in science or supplements!
When I came up with this idea and I decided I really want to test and pursue it, I did some research and I found a nutrition consultant who had few decades of experience in the vitamin and supplement space. He does personal consulting for businesses that are launching and growing. He was just absolutely instrumental in getting this off the ground because he helped me formulate it from a scientific standpoint – like what are the innovative new ingredients on the market that we should consider using? What are the dosages we should use?
He connected me to the ingredient suppliers, the manufacturer that I use, all of that. So I owe a lot to him. He was kind of really my connection into the industry and space.
What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome? The biggest success you’ve celebrated?
I think it’s a challenging time for consumer packaged goods companies in general. Obviously, the economy’s not the greatest, and we have high inflation, so people aren’t buying stuff like they used to, especially if it’s something they see as discretionary.
Five years ago, it was also a bit easier for startups to raise money. I raised a little bit from family and friends to get started, but a lot of that was used on our first production run and getting the business set up, so we’ve been working with a pretty limited budget. And I’d say that’s been the biggest obstacle so far.
Luckily though, immunity is top of mind for consumers, especially after COVID. Immunity boosting products are expected to grow. Natural products are expected to grow. Travel’s on the rise. So there are some good tailwinds I would say.
Our biggest success, on the other hand, is getting an approval to get our product into Vitacost. Vitacost is owned by Kroger, and is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, online retailer of vitamins and supplements. And we’ve also gotten into a couple retailers in San Diego. But getting into a pretty big name brand like Vitacost is pretty big – and hopefully we can expand into getting into other brands, other physical stores, and beyond.
How are you working to build resilience into Well Traveled?
I think this kind of goes back to what I talked about in the beginning! Our slogan is, “Stay Well on the Road.” We’re all about helping travelers and other busy people be more resilient with their lives – overcoming environments that challenge their health, and making the most of it.
Part of the value proposition of Well Traveled is that there is no added sugar or artificial additives. Do you see Well Traveled as fitting in as part of an overall larger trend towards realistic supplements? Or is that space still being defined?
I think in general, consumers are looking for better, cleaner, healthier products. People are starting to become more aware and savvier about what is inside of different products. I think in general, consumers are looking for cleaner products with no added sugar and no artificial additives, and that’s what we are trying to provide, and I think that’s a good thing!
However, even though customers are getting wiser, I still find there’s a bit of education on things like synthetic vitamins versus real vitamins. Honestly, even I didn’t know this until I was working on this business, but I would say 99% of supplements out there, the vitamins are synthetically made in a lab! They derive these things using chemicals like petroleum because it’s cheaper to go that way, versus sourcing the vitamin C from an orange or cherry or something.
Most people don’t realize that – but your body does. Your body wants natural vitamins that are real, from whole foods, because the chemical structure actually makes it more easily absorbed by your body, in turn making it more effective. If you can’t absorb it, you can’t utilize it. So when you take a synthetically derived vitamin instead of a naturally derived one, the vitamin won’t be absorbed as well and some of it will be wasted, and I don’t think most people realize that!
I guess my point is, even though customers are getting smarter about where their food comes from, there is still some education to be done in the space – and I hope that over the next five or ten years, people will become more aware.
So, naturally derived supplements solve the poor absorption problem that most multivitamins have?
Absolutely. Synthetic is just harder to absorb. We talk actually talk a lot about plant-based, whole food-based vitamins, and how they are better than synthetic vitamins because of an absorption issue. There have been studies that indicate that synthetic vitamins might even be harmful to your health! There’s no conclusions about that, but there is some evidence that suggests that – so it’s definitely something to consider and be aware of if you’re a consumer.
For example, for certain types of commercially available magnesium supplements, your body won’t absorb about 90% of it. So if you’re taking a 1000mg pill of magnesium, you’re only going to get about 100mg of it! Your body will excrete the rest because it can’t break it down or process it! You’re not getting anywhere near what you think you’re getting, because it’s a really cheap, synthetic form.
Before I started this company, I didn’t really know a lot of this stuff. I just thought you buy a magnesium pill and it worked – but that’s not really the case. And I don’t think many consumers are truly aware of that yet.
We really worked hard to get away from that problem. For example, our Vitamin C is directly sourced from Acerola cherry. Our zinc comes from a guava leaf. Our bodies are built to break these down efficiently, much more than the synthetic varieties.
Interesting. So consumer education is a big part of what you’re trying to do. What other trends in your space do you see?
I think that people are starting to really realize more about the importance of gut health! Your gut is like your second brain – and 80% of your immune cells are in your gut! So we really wanted to create a product that would capitalize on this and support a healthy gut as well.
We use a prebiotic product called BeniCaros and a postbiotic called IMMUSE. They’re really interesting products – they’re both patented branded ingredients and have been clinically studied in a bunch of clinical trials. They’ve won awards for their effects on immune and gut health. They’re incredible, really. Normal vitamins and minerals can’t train your immune cells to be smarter and faster, but our prebiotic BeniCaros does. Not only does it help build healthy gut bacteria, but it actually teaches your immune cells to be faster, stronger, smarter, and more resilient. And I think customers are looking for something like this.
Similarly, IMMUSE activates parts of your immune system that coordinate all the other cells. It’s a really comprehensive way of supporting your immune system. So these are very cool breakthrough scientific discoveries in the last few years that are present in our ingredients, just based on the fact that we, and consumers, know that gut health is important – and most importantly, they make the product more effective.
Do you have any advice for people looking to start their own company?
Sure! I think the first would be simply that it’s going to seem daunting at first. There’s just a ton to do in order to bring a product to market and have it succeed. But I think that breaking down that process into tangible steps and starting slowly helps get you through the hardest part – and the hardest part is just getting started! So I’d recommend just thinking about the first few things that you need to do in order to advance your business, for your idea to take just the tiniest next step beyond being just an idea, and work at each step at a time. Slowly you’ll build momentum, like a ball rolling down a hill – you just have to start somewhere!
I also found it helpful to start and test my business on the side while I had a full-time job. Everyone’s situation is a little different, but if you have that luxury, even if it costs you some nights and weekends, it can really help you get over that initial hurdle. I don’t think in most situations you want to jump full time into something just because you have an idea. So it was nice that I kept my salary for a little while until I felt like there was enough traction to go full time with Well Traveled.
The last piece, I’d say, is just getting to the MVP – the minimum viable product. Build a prototype and test it out. Get feedback from your customers before you invest too much money or time into it. That part is huge too.
What is your ultimate goal with this company?
My vision is to be more than just immune support!
Right now, we’re branded for travelers and we’re going after that niche, but anyone can take it! I think, just like Emergen-C, it’s not just a travel thing – people can and should take it at home or when they have the sniffles – really it’s for everything. So yes, ultimately I want to expand in the immunity category and be front of mind for people that aren’t just thinking of it for the travel use case.
However, the vision for the overall company is, I want to serve all the needs travelers. I’m not just thinking about immunity; I think there are things like energy, sleep, hydration, and other needs that travelers have, beyond just making sure that they aren’t sick. Down the road, I’d love to launch more products that fulfill those needs, and Well Traveled would become your go-to brand that someone thinks about when they’re packing and throwing their toiletries in their bag. Clean and science-based products that keep you feeling your best.
That’s obviously a much longer term play. We’re starting with immunity, which I think is the biggest pain point for a lot of people – and we’ll see what happens from there.
What are the best ways for people to learn more about, or get involved with, Well Traveled?
Well, first of all, purchase it and try it for yourself – you can head to our website, gowelltraveled.com, or find us on Amazon. Follow us on Instagram too at @gowelltraveled!
The second thing is that if you like our product and it resonates with you, we’re always looking for brand ambassadors to help promote it. You can sign up through a page on our website to receive cash commission for anyone that purchases the product using your code.
We want people who believe in the product and represent the brand well of course, but it could be a nice way to make a little bit of money if you think you have friends or family who would be interested. That’s something we encourage and are actively looking for.
Interested in becoming a brand ambassador for Well Traveled or talking more to Patrick Firlik? Contact him here.
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Mick Hammock 
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