Joshua B. Smith, Owner of NRG-X Labs (Springfield, MO)
Joshua B. Smith founded his sports supplements company two years ago, NRG-X Labs™, for the simple reason that he thought it was the right thing to do.
Having been named in 2007 as one of Inc. Magazine’s “Top CEOs in America Under 30,” Joshua’s first entrepreneurial venture was an e-commerce company that he started with $50 in a spare bedroom. To say that it was a financial success is an understatement. In the six years that Joshua owned his online fitness and nutritional products store, he sold over $15,000,000 of fitness and nutritional products, and was #40 on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing retail businesses in the US in 2007.
At this point, though, Joshua was waging an internal battle. The deeper he involved himself in the nutraceuticals industry, the more uncomfortable he felt participating in what he was starting to realize was an untrustworthy marketplace.
“It was commonplace to hear of another manufacturer’s CEO or founder going off to jail again because of some illegal substance in their formula or, even worse, finding out that what they said was in the formula wasn’t ... it was just sugar flavored powder!” Joshua recalled.
Even though he knew it would cut deep into his profit margins, Joshua decided from the start that all of NRG-X’s products would be exclusively made of ingredients sourced in the US so he would know that what he was buying was authentic. Nutraceuticals sourced from outside the US, he explained, are not regulated and therefore are not as trustworthy.
Joshua also felt it was important to have his products be certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). NRG-X currently is cGMP certified, meaning that it meets the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
When it came to spending more money for certifications, Joshua’s investment paid off. When it came to investing in product labels, however, Josh learned that spending a lot of money doesn’t guarantee a quality product and good customer service.
Prior to discovering Lightning Labels, Joshua had purchased product labels from two other printing companies. When one of the companies told him it would take at least 12 weeks to correct a mistake they had made on his label order, he jumped on the Internet and found Lightning Labels.
Thinking that this would be a one-time order, he was surprised to discover that the labels that only took a few days to print were “10 times better” than the ones he had been ordering from more expensive companies.
Prior to stumbling across Lightning Labels, Joshua had been paying more money (including expensive plate fees) for grainy-looking labels that took six to 12 weeks to print.
He was also impressed by the quality of Lightning Label’s customer service department, which connected him to award-winning graphic designer Josh Tocko of Premier Design. Since then, Premier Design has won two prestigious awards for labels designed for NRG-X Labs™ that are printed on chrome Bopp.
“When I first started NRG-X Labs™, I wanted something that would set apart our ‘look’ from the hundreds of other sports supplements on the market,” Joshua said. “Josh Tocko at Premier Design recommended using chrome foil in our label design to add that extra edge in shelf presence. We started incorporating it into a few of the new labels, and now use it in nearly every label we print.”
Joshua says he has noticed an increase in sales and customer feedback on the unit that NRG-X Labs™ packages with chrome labels.
“Having Premier Design work so closely with Lightning Labels to produce a sharp and crisp label, while still using chrome, sets both of them above and beyond other design and printing firms I have used in the past.”
Needless to say, Joshua is now a lifelong customer of Lightning Labels.
(Christy Correll)