Building a Brand from Scratch: What I Did in My First Year (And What You Can Learn)

If you’re thinking about starting a brand in 2025, you’re in a much better spot than I was back in 2012.

When I founded The New Primal, influencer marketing wasn’t even a thing.
DTC? Not what it is today.
Amazon? Just a place to buy books and random stuff.

But here’s what I’ll tell you:
The opportunity to gain traction today is at least 10x greater than it was back then.

Of course, there are challenges. Always have been. Always will be.

But if you want to know exactly how I built my brand in Year One, while working a full-time job and spending very little money, here’s the playbook:

The Blueprint: How I Built My Brand in the First 12 Months (While Working Full-Time)

✅ I made samples in my kitchen—lots of test batches.
✅ I took those samples to work and the gym—“Check out my new hobby!”
✅ I paid $100 for a logo.
✅ I paid $100 for a nutrition facts panel.
✅ I paid $100 for a vacuum sealer.
✅ I paid $400 for a small dehydrator.
✅ I rented a shared commercial kitchen for $200/month.
✅ I built a very bad website.
✅ I showed up at festivals, breweries, and fitness events with a sign, table, and samples.
✅ I made a list of indie retailers (bike shops, climbing gyms, mom & pop stores) by borrowing a store locator from another brand.
✅ Every morning before work, I emailed 20-30 of those shops.
✅ Every evening, I had replies from 8-10 of them.
✅ At night, I packed shipments and sent them out the next day.
✅ By the end of year one, I had ~100 independent retailers selling my jerky and had generated ~$60K in sales, part-time.
✅ I launched The New Primal Games to gain brand awareness (think Caveman Olympics).

What I Learned building my business in Year One

What I didn’t realize at the time was how much I was learning by just taking action:

✔️ Regulatory knowledge — Understanding food safety and compliance.
✔️ Market feedback — Low-risk, real-world insights to refine the product.
✔️ Sales skills — Learning how to speak to buyers and pitch my product.
✔️ Margins and yield rates — The foundation of profitable growth.
✔️ Supply chain basics — Spoiler: it's not fun, but it’s critical.
✔️ The dark side of the food industry — Realizing why the industry needs disruptors like you.

What You Can Do in business in 2025 (That I Couldn’t in 2012)

Starting a brand today is both easier and harder than it was back then.

Here’s what you’ve got that I didn’t:

📱 Influencer marketing: Leverage niche creators to build awareness faster.
📦 DTC platforms: Tools like Shopify make e-commerce accessible from Day One.
📊 Amazon: It’s no longer just a marketplace; it’s a massive discovery platform.
🛒 Social media: You can build a community before your first sale—something I didn’t have back then.

4 Big Lessons for Entrepreneurs Starting Today

If I were starting over today, here’s what I’d do differently to get there faster:

1️⃣ Stay Focused on Your Core Products
Don’t launch 15 products in your first year.
Focus on 3-4 products, make them better, and build traction before expanding.

2️⃣ Don’t Jump Categories Too Soon
I expanded into new categories in Year 3.
Unless you’re ready to raise a lot of money and manage two brands at once, stay in your lane.

3️⃣ Go All In on Amazon
I ignored Amazon for my first 7 years.
Rookie mistake. Don’t make it. E-commerce is essential for early traction.

4️⃣ Tell Your Story
Every brand is a media brand now.
People want to know the person behind the brand.
Step out of the shadows. Share your story. It will pay off in ways you can’t predict.

Final Thoughts: What I’d Tell My Younger Self about building a brand

Starting a business isn’t easy.

But it’s never been more possible to build a brand with limited resources.

Take consistent action.
Focus on core products.
Tell your story.
And start small.

What’s stopping you?