Inspiring Conversations with Michael Bires of Nutrition Faktory

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Bires.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a small town (13,000 people) in Northern Ohio with a dad who worked his butt off at Ford to provide for my sister and I. I graduated high school at age 17 and found myself working at a factory to save up money for school. While in school I worked part-time at a health food store where I’ll never forget meeting an elderly woman who claims I “saved her life!” About a month prior I had recommended a joint product that allowed her to work in her garden again because the product stopped her knees from hurting. Her garden was everything to her since her husband had passed and it was the one thing that gave her joy and made her want to continue living. This was CRAZY to me that I could change someone’s life for the positive by simply “doing my job” THIS is where I fell in love with this industry!

After that experience, I owned a few nutrition stores in Ohio, moved to Southern California and became VP of a big chain of nutrition stores (where I learned so much), and left there to become VP of a large supplement brand (again, more learning). Ultimately I felt like I was “chasing money” and lost sight of WHY I fell in love with this industry in the first place. That’s when I became President of a brand in 2014 with the goal of creating an empowering brand that genuinely wanted to change peoples’ lives for the positive… and it worked!

Fast forward to 2017, when I moved here to Tennessee to get closer to my family in Ohio and I was still focused on my role as President. Living here I quickly noticed that it was hard to find affordable supplements here in Middle Tennessee so my focus shifted. Having been in the industry for so long I reached out to supplement brand owners that had become my friends over the years and asked them if they would sell directly to me. This would allow me to sell wholesale to the public so we could show Middle Tennessee that supplements can be AFFORDABLE! They agreed and Nutrition Faktory was born! Since that moment my goal has remained the same, give customers the best experience they’ve EVER had shopping nutrition while changing lives for the better along the way!

I can tell you that I am done chasing money. I’m done doing things for the wrong reasons. I’m here to be a part of something TRULY SPECIAL that has a positive impact on the communities we serve.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. When I first left my stores in Ohio to “Chase My Dreams” in SoCal I quickly learned that I didn’t know it all like I thought I did. Other stores were simply better at business than I was and I quickly got in over my head. I still remember at one point in my life I was at an In N’ Out Burger drive-through with my friend’s son. I normally ordered two burgers and two fries, I know it’s a lot lol, but he wanted something too and I didn’t have enough money to buy more than two burgers and two fries. Obviously, we each had one burger and fries but I’ll never forget that moment.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Nutrition Faktory is a retail store chain and website where people can purchase all of the top brands of vitamins and supplements at the lowest prices. Our goal is to help others accomplish their goals of building muscle, burning fat, or simply living a healthier lifestyle. I have become obsessed with continuing to add value for our customers. We currently offer free in-store body composition testing, free advice on improving your diet and fitness regimen, along the best advice on vitamins and supplements from our trained professionals. We NEVER push products on a customer that they don’t need and in many cases we educate them to the point where they put products back that other nutrition stores pitched to them as “must-haves”, but were really just unnecessary up-sells.

In an industry that’s filled with a TON of false information, and can be overwhelming to many consumers, Nutrition Faktory is the place people go for REAL, HONEST information. I’m pretty proud of building a business that’s grown simply by focusing on giving customers a great experience.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I was very fortunate that my first experience in this industry was working for one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around, his name is Barry Stock, and he owned a health food store in Ohio where I’m originally from. I’ll still never forget standing at the counter with him and watching a customer bring up 6 or 7 items. Barry proceeded to talk this customer OUT of buying most of them, convincing them to start with a couple and that may be enough to get them the outcome they were looking for. I couldn’t believe he talked a customer OUT of buying products so I asked him why he did it. He told me that if he puts his focus on giving customers what they needed, and only what they needed, to get the results they’re looking for, then everything else would work itself out.

He taught me very early in life that running a business the right way is NEVER about the money. After Barry, I was fortunate to learn a ton about Sales, Business, and Marketing from my next three mentors and some of the best minds in the business. I’m very thankful for those lessons but Barry is the one who provided the most important lesson… treat customers the way they deserve to be treated and the rest will work itself out.

 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://NutritionFaktory.com/
• Instagram: @NutritionFaktory
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NutritionFaktory/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nutritionfaktor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNq0iGvKUC_eOhLsp7ygdQ/featured