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Hillman got into the supplement business on the ground floor. It was 1985, and the entrepreneur was already a partner in a gym called LivingWell, and VP of sales for a supplement retailer. He eventually left and teamed up with a new pal, Jeff Compton, a competitive bodybuilder and winner of the 1993 North Carolina state bodybuilding championships, to sell supplements for Vitalabs, a private-label manufacturer.
Their sales were good; but when gyms’ checks for their purchases would bounce, the company would take it out of the pair’s paychecks — and the gig eventually grew frustrating. “I saw a need then for a one-stop shop,” says Hillman, “and that’s when we decided to go out on our own.”
In 1990, most gyms were in the hands of competitive bodybuilders the duo already knew from events. This was before the Internet and big-chain supplement stores and easy-to-order-from catalogs, so gyms had a hard time staying up to date as the supplement market grew. To fill this glaring hole in the marketplace, Hillman and Compton decided to become not sales people but actual distributors — and Europa Sports Products was created. The name came from the Europa gym in Greece, where Hillman worked out on his frequent trips to Europe with Mr. Olympia Lee Haney doing seminars. So the pair started working out of Hillman’s living room — and supplement history was made.
But there were obstacles. Hillman remembers the early days, when the line between legal supplements and illicit performance drugs was still blurry, and many athletes avoided supplements altogether.
“At the [bodybuilding] shows, guys would say they were ‘all-natural’ and didn’t want to take anything.” But as awareness grew, they started expanding their horizons by using egg powders and amino acids to bulk up and speed muscle recovery. Hillman sees the same thing happening today with the functional fitness and CrossFit crowds — who for the most part have avoided nutritional supplements — blowing up into a megamarket for nutritional supplements.
“These guys are starting to realize they need their protein powders and branched-chain amino acids for recovery,” he says, giving as an example Rogue Fitness, the popular CrossFit strength-equipment manufacturer, which didn’t start offering supplements until earlier this year but now sells a wide variety of proteins, energy drinks, vitamins, and sleep enhancers. “All of a sudden we’re setting up at all the regional events for CrossFit,” says Hillman.
As for the next big leap in nutrition, Hillman believes it’ll be something far more surprising — specifically, a supplement in the form of a new protein. “We have enough casein and whey protein today, but it won’t last forever,” he says. The fitness world has gotten the religion of protein in a big way, and demand is rising. Chobani’s decision to add a few grams of whey protein to each container of yogurt will tighten the market all by itself, Hillman says, driving prices higher, so something else is needed. In case you’re wondering, that something else he’s talking about is bug protein.
“There’s a ‘yuck’ factor,” he says, “but we used to have that same problem with sushi.” And unlike traditional protein supplements, bugs are high in omega-3s and other essential nutrients because they’re ground whole. “They’re the perfect combination of protein and fats because you’re eating the whole thing; but this is going to take a while to go mainstream.”
We’ll agree with him there (and also freak out knowing that he’s probably right about all this, given his track record). But in the meantime, after all his years of experience, Hillman has some great lessons to share about how to become successful in business and in life. Here, his top three pieces of advice.
post from sitemap
