Courtesy of Andrew Kozlovski
Andrew Kozlovski never stops working.
- Andrew Kozlovski is a 21-year-old student at the University of Southern California who runs a business selling cognitive-enhancing supplements through his company Brainz Power.
- Brainz Power generates between $6,000 and $10,000 per month, primarily driven by marketing on Instagram.
- Kozlovski wakes up at 5:00 a.m. everyday and splits his time between working on the business and attending class. He rarely socializes outside of meals or the gym.
Unlike most college students, 21-year-old Andrew Kozlovski doesn't leave much time for socializing. He's too busy updating Instagram. Literally.
The 21-year-old student told Business Insider that he has built a business selling nootropic supplements, primarily by marketing on social media.
Kozlovski was finishing up his first year at University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business when he heard about students taking Adderall and other drugs intended for those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to finish their school work. When he found out how dangerous the drugs were, he realized there might be a market for a safer alternative.
As a star swimmer in high school, Kozlovski had taken all kinds of natural supplements. So he started compiling a list of all the natural supplements said to boost cognitive performance. Then he found a FDA-licensed lab near his hometown of Atlanta that was willing to run a small order of pills combining the various supplements with the $500 he had saved up over the year.
While supplements are legal and many people swear by their effects, the evidence around their benefits are murky and US poison-control centers have recieved 275,000 reports of people who reacted badly to them over the last two decades. The supplements industry, which is as much as $37 billion a year, is not regulated by the FDA.
But the burgeoning demand for supplements presented an opportunity to Kozlovski, who has built a social media following selling a supplement called Brainz Power. Today he has nearly a dozen accounts with followers in the hundreds of thousands, where he posts aspirational content for budding entrepreneurs, fitness nuts, fellow students, and people who just like looking at pictures of cool cars and California sunrises.
He said that posting and marketing on social media has turned into consistent sales of Brainz Power, generating between $6,000 and $10,000 per month. He uses the money to pay his college tuition and living expenses in downtown Los Angeles. Everything else goes back into the business.
"I realized that if I wanted to be a successful businessman, I needed to start now," said Kozlovski. "I thought I'll learn a lot more from actually running a business while in business school than waiting four years to get started."
But running a business while attending school isn't easy. Here's what a typical day is like for Kozlovski: