Ep 52: How to Build a Brand with Adi Arezzini

After being in the military for a couple of years, Adi Arezzini developed a digestive issue that wasn’t easily solved. That’s when she decided to take matters into her own hands. After years of testing and research, Adi and her partner started Teami, a tea-based health and wellness company. 

The Steps to Developing and Selling a Product

Adi takes us through the process she went through while developing Teami.

Step 1: Isolate the problem and target one solution at a time.

After she finished her stint in the army, she decided to take the initiative and start looking for herbal and natural solutions that would solve her digestive issues. 

If I’m training others and I’m around the health and wellness field, I need to set a good example and I need to be able to solve my own problems.

Step 2: Do your research

Adi went through a process of elimination by trying as many holistic and at-home remedies that she could. She tested her water intake levels, eating more fiber, cutting out dairy or gluten, etc. While her digestion did begin to get better it was never really resolved. So she decided to do a deep dive into the digestive process. She found that a lot of resources cited remedies using herbs, teas, and other natural supplements.

I started researching first by reading a lot of books

After buying various teas claiming to help with these issues, Adi did not see any relief.

That’s when I knew that it had to be a “quality of the product” problem. 

She conducted research on the tea making process, which is where she found the quality control issues: the powders these companies use don’t yield the nutritional value needed for the consumer to reap the benefits. So she decided to change that by creating her own tea blends.

Step 3: Development

After using herself as a guinea pig, she finally felt confident enough to be able to offer the product to others. She took the first step by selling to friends and family, before further expanding her audience via social media. Specifically, Instagram.

We tweaked the formula until it worked for me and once it worked for me, we felt confident that we could take it out and sell it to friends and family.

Step 4: Production

It was easy for Adi and her team to work on products that she used in order to best enjoy the teas as well as making the brewing process a lot easier and run smoother. 

People were experiencing much healthier digestion, better energy, better moods.

The go-to product that everyone loves is the detox program that Adi and her team developed. She wanted to expand but didn’t want to be known as a tea company. So she turned to her community to ask what they wanted and they answered with, “Skin care.” 

Step 5: Marketing

For new brands that are just getting off the ground, Adi suggests posting on your favorite social media platform once a day to stay in the forefront of your customers’ minds.

Because they started with absolutely nothing, Adi found that putting her product in the hands of someone who her audience trusted, really helped her brand to take off. After that, she knew that the key to staying relevant was to have an open line of communication with her customers and potential customers.

Post every day, post on your stories, really be there and communicate with your audience.

When it comes to approaching influencers, Adi says that it is like any other contractual relationship that you would do with anyone. The key is to make it personalized when you do reach out to influencers. Also, make sure you follow up with them to make sure they do the reviews they agree to do.