When Leonie Lynch first created collagen and protein superfood Juspy in 2016, it’s fair to say the market was radically different compared to today. The demand for high quality supplements (especially from Irish brands) has only increased in those years, and her product is now competing in a much bigger market.

Collagen wouldn’t have been on many people’s radar, but the current number of Irish-owned supplement brands is reflective of how much appetite there now is.

“it's such a heavy wellness space now, there is competition everywhere. Someone said to me recently, ‘there's enough for everybody, so put your blinkers on, drive on, do what you're doing.’

“So how I'm trying to stay competitive is; my recipe for Juspy is completely unique. People are selling collagen powder, and people are selling protein powders. I'm selling a collagen and protein powder with 10 other superfoods, but the superfoods were chosen because they have a functional aspect to them,” Leonie says.

Lean for Business

Especially when competing in a fast-moving competitive space, there can be a temptation as a founder to try to wear every hat. Having already proven her entrepreneurial abilities by creating the business and putting her PhD in Branding to use in building its core identity, she sought ways to take things further still.

Leonie contacted her Local Enterprise Office (LEO), and found she was eligible for supports such as Lean for Business. Businesses owners like Leonie can speak to qualified advisors about what support is applicable to their brand, rather than the onus being on them to already know which specific ones they should apply for.

“Where the LEO has saved me time is on the mentoring. Recently I had to get projections together for various listing pitches and all that. I reached out to the LEO and I said I need help, you know, my strong suits are elsewhere.

“They said ‘okay, apply for a mentor.’ I got three hours with a guy and his knowledge saved me weeks of staring at spreadsheets trying to figure out what I had to put in where. He asked me questions on the logic of the numbers and I could tell him, and he put them into the spreadsheet and we were done.

“Instead of three weeks work, it was three hours work. And then if you need more hours, you just apply for more mentoring. So, the time that the Leo saves you is in the training and the mentoring, I think.

“If you were trying to figure out what was wrong with your website and Google some training courses on how to discover what the UX was… every minute is precious because you're wearing so many hats.

“Using other people's knowledge and skills to save your time is the key there. My effort is the same but it's supported effort, right? So, it's like someone having your back. There's a champion there, they want you to succeed, so they help you be more efficient with your effort,” she says.

“Let's say for argument's sake, I needed to send 100 emails to 100 customers to tell them that I had sold out, and I wanted to do it from a personal point of view. I would email them one by one.

“So I would get their email, put in an address, copy, paste, copy, paste. And my sister, who is processes driven, says, ‘we can actually just do this, send them all and each of their names will be input and it'll look like it's coming from you personally.’

“That's the process that Lean for Business kind of promotes. With Lean for Business, I’m in it at the minute but it's going to save me time and effort because we're going to streamline all the processes that I do.

“When I spoke to the consultant that's working with the Local Enterprise Office, you look at every aspect of the business. So, either communicating with the customer or how you make something or how you ship something and he's looking for ways that you can cut out the unnecessary bits

“You can save time, money and effort because there's a quicker way to do things and there's a leaner way to do things. Because of that program I will be more lean and more efficient,” Leonie says.

Setting an example

Regardless of whether or not your business is in the same space as Juspy, much of what Leonie says is applicable across the board. From having a steadfast belief in what makes your business unique and understanding what your strengths are to simply making use of the supports that are available, it’s a good example for others to follow.

Other LEO supports include Digital for Business and Green for Micro. While the former is centred around businesses looking to make a more successful shift towards the digital space and the latter is related to the benefits of a sustainable business model, both can prove useful to a wide range of brands.

“The LEO is where you should start, because they’re local for a reason. they've done it all before, hundreds of times, they've helped hundreds of people. But, people really, really don't know what they can tap into and the supports that are there.

“I've met people that think, ‘oh, actually, that wouldn't apply to me. I don't have a consumer product like you.’

“You don't have to have a consumer product like me. You just have to be export focused, jobs focused and focused on manufacturing or whatever. I’ve met people and people are intimidated by doing an application. I know that's a big barrier for people. They say, ‘I don't have the time.’

“But the money that's there and the supports that are there are huge, huge! And people have a, there's a block there. They don't know how to go about it.

“So very simply, just go in and talk to them and say, ‘can I book an appointment to talk to an advisor?’” Leonie says.

Juspy is one of six brands promoted as part of LEO’s All in a Day’s Work campaign. To see some of the other brands featured or to find the best support for your business to start saving time, money and energy, head to the website here.