Unlike most college students, Andrew Kozlovski doesn't leave much time for socializing. He's too busy updating Instagram. Literally.

Kozlovski, 21, 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 or other drugs intended for people with ADHD to finish their schoolwork. When he found out how dangerous the drugs were, he realized there could 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 those said to boost cognitive performance. Then he found a lab near his hometown of Atlanta that was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and willing to run a small order of pills combining the various supplements; he'd pay using the $500 he had saved up over the year.

While supplements are legal and many people swear by their effects, evidence about their benefits are murky, and US poison-control centers have received about 275,000 reports of people reacting badly to them over the past two decades. The supplements industry, estimated to be worth as much as $37 billion a year, is not regulated by the FDA.

But the burgeoning demand for supplements presented an opportunity for 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 aspirationalcontent for budding entrepreneurs, fitness nuts, fellow students, and people who just like looking at pictures of cool cars and California sunrises.

He told Business Insider that posting and marketing on social media had turned into consistent sales of Brainz Power. He first 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," Kozlovski said. "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.

Link to Business Insider feature: http://www.businessinsider.com/student-pays-tuition-instagram-business-2018-2 

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Kozlovski.

Andrew, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The story starts when I was a freshman in college, I saw how bad the use of Adderall (a prescribed medication for people with ADHD) was among college campuses. When finals would come around, when essays were due everyone was talking about the drug, so out of curiosity at what is was I went to a doctor to see if I could get a prescription because who wouldn’t want more focus? After speaking to them they said only people with ADHD can get this which is when I realized almost all students taking the drug are not prescribed it, so my next thought was to just buy a natural alternative, I was an All-American swimmer in high school so I knew there were nutrients and vitamins that could supplement almost anything you want. There was not a single main stream solution to cognitive enhancement, there were a few but they were so hard to find, they website made the product look sketchy and they had almost no social media following or presence to legitimize the brands, I took my idea and went to scientists in an FDA approved laboratory in Georgia and came out with a cognitive enhancing supplement with 9 targeting ingredients. I took it for 2 months and knew this product worked and would have a major impact on thousands of college students lives. I then knew ALL of college students attention was on Instagram, and I knew if I could pop in that feed every single college student would at least know that there is an alternative solution to the drug being abused. So for three month I ripped apart Instagram figuring out how to grow on the platform and eventually grew a following of over 100k in the first 12 months I was in business and generated revenues of 10k per month as a 19 year old, now I am a senior at USC and I am making around 25k per month in sales and have been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and Huff Post for my success as an entrepreneur thus far.

Has it been a smooth road?
I would say the biggest obstacle I faced was starting, because I had a great idea but I was a freshman in college and had no money, and had no experience it posed for a lot of criticism from family and friends. I did not come from millionaire entrepreneur parents, I have a very humble upbringing by very hard working immigrant parents, so all I had to start the business was $500 of my own money, I kept reinventing that over and over again and that turned into a quarter of a million only three short years later. I don’t know if this is a struggle this is just the cards that I was delt, and if you use that as an excuse not to start I think that is having a loser mentality I am just happy and thankful I have the opportunity to pursue a dream.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Brainz Power story. Tell us more about the business.
I specialize in Instagram marketing because that was the sole way I grew the company. I am most proud of becoming a Forbes featured entrepreneur as a senior in college. There were so many people that laughed at my dreams directly to my face and to have succeeded so early along in my life long journey as an entrepreneur makes me confident that I need to follow only my heart and disregard everyone’s negative thoughts and opinions.

What sets us apart is we only market through Instagram, the people who need the product are college students, college students spend hours on Instagram everyday thus we know exactly where their attention is and I figured out how to capitalize on that. No one else has been able to penetrate the demo the way I did because I was in it, I was essentially marketing to myself.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Biohacking and nootropics are the current trends. I got into it at the right time, and now we are riding the wave, but I think cognitive enhancement will not be a fad. Nourishing the brain and pushing to peak performance will always stick around this isn’t a trend diet or anything like that. My sole mission is to create the best biohacking company there is, we added another product MCT oil to our line which also helps with cognitive enhancement and I will continue to search for new and innovate ways to support our mental health.

Another change that I think will occur is we will see more companies starting though social media platforms. I think a lot of traditional media is outdated, overpriced, and few actually watch it. Most college students don’t even have cable anymore. TV ads will not reach anyone my age, even if you promote during the superbowl as soon as a commercial goes on we all reach for our phones and we are tuned out. Social is where it is at.

Pricing:

• Brainz Power Nootropic- $29.99
• Brainz Power MCT Oil- $49.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brainzpower.com/
• Email: andrew@brainzpower.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainzpower/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/andrewthekoz/

Link to article: http://voyageatl.com/interview/meet-andrew-kozlovski-brainz-power-gwinnett-county/

Andrew Kozlovski, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Southern California, has hit it big with a product designed to help students use their brain power more efficiently while avoiding the risks of common "smart drugs" like Adderall.

Andrew, a graduate of Mill Creek High School, has had his product, Brainz Power, featured in national press such as Forbes and Business Insider. The supplement is designed to enhance memory and focus. It is a combination of herbs and supplements that many believe can improve cognitive function in a number of ways, according to the product website.

The Gwinnett native promotes his products on social media, including an Instagram account with 140,000 followers. Andrew is vlogging his experience as a young entrepreneur on his YouTube channel.

You also get sense from his YouTube videos that he's living the American dream in sunny California, but he attributes a lot of his success to growing up in Gwinnett. "My success comes from my parents, my upbringing, and where I grew up. And growing up in Gwinnett played a major role in building the person I am today," he says. "In my opinion, Gwinnett is the perfect place to grow up."

Andrew was a swimmer at Mill Creek, which he says played a role in his development into a businessperson. "The local school system taught me if you want to be different, if you want to be an anomaly, you have to take massive action and act like one. In school, I was an average kid, average grades, below average SAT scores, but being an All-American athlete taught me lessons that were fundamental to my success."

"Being a kid in high school with a 3.2 GPA and below average SAT scores says you'll go to an average college, and then have an average job, and have an average life, I knew that was not me and I knew that that system did not represent me nor my mind," Andrew says. "I had a very different mind, and I knew that. I just needed to figure out how to apply it."

LINK to Magazine: http://lovegwinnett.com/2018/04/25/recent-mill-creek-grad-launches-successful-smart-supplement/ 

8 Bacopa Benefits

1. Adaptogenic Stress Reducer

It’s been shown that up to 90 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints — 90 percent! Crazy, I know, but not hard to believe. Stress — especially chronic stress— does terrible things to our minds and bodies, and general stress reduction should always be a top priority for anyone trying to live a healthy lifestyle.

Bacopa extract has actually been shown to work as a natural stress reliever by helping our bodies better handle or adapt to our daily stressors. An animal study conducted at the Central Drug Research Institute in India showed that a standardized extract of Bacopa monniera successfully guarded against acute and chronic stress. More specifically, it reduced damaging stomach ulcer and adrenal activity. The study concluded that bacopa possesses a potent adaptogenic activity. 

2. Anti-Anxiety & Antidepressant

It’s probably not too surprising that just as it reduces stress, this beneficial plant also can reduce anxiety and depression. Animal research published by the University of Michigan Health System shows the positive brain effects of bacopa, including reduction of both depression and anxiety. These very positive effects on the nervous system have biochemically been attributed to an enhancement of the effects of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine and, possibly, serotonin or GABA. 

3. Memory Improvement

A small, double-blind, 12-week study conducted at the Neuropsychology Laboratory at the School of Biophysical Science and Electrical Engineering in Australia had volunteers take 300 milligrams of bacopa daily while other volunteers received a placebo. Prior to the study commencing, researchers tested all volunteers on visual information processing, memory and speed of information processing.

The tests were repeated five and 12 weeks after the study began. A significant improvement among the volunteers in the bacopa group was found compared to those in the placebo group, leading researchers to conclude that it “may improve higher order cognitive processes that are critically dependent on the input of information from our environment such as learning and memory.” 

4. Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia Treatment

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that progressively causes memory loss, dementia and early mortality. Natural Alzheimer's treatment can include supplementation with bacopa. According to the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, it might hold promise for preventing the dementia (decline in mental ability severe enough to affect daily life) associated with Alzheimer’s.

Studies in rodents and test tubes suggest that it has biological effects that might protect against brain aging and/or dementia, but we don’t yet know if these effects are the same for humans or if the effects are strong enough to be clinically relevant. One encouraging human study showed that in elderly people with memory complaints, bacopa improved scores on tests of attention and verbal memory when used for three months at 450 milligrams per day. 

5. Epilepsy Treatment

Seizures occur in the body when your brain cells, which communicate through electrical signals, send out the wrong signals. Generally, several seizures are needed before there is a diagnosis of epilepsy.

One preliminary trial in India found that an extract of bacopa reduced the frequency of epileptic seizures in a small group of people. However, another similar preliminary trial gave inconclusive results. Controlled research is needed to properly evaluate whether bacopa is helpful for epilepsy, but there is hope that it could benefit those who suffer from seizure disorders like epilepsy. 

6. Chronic Pain Minimizer

Chronic pain is a huge health concern and health cost around the world today. Sadly, 77 percent of people with chronic pain also have some degree of medically treatable depression. Bacopa is well-documented to be a safe and well-tolerated herbal therapy for pain management in multiple clinical trials including various age groups.

A study published in Current Medicinal Chemistry showed that Bacopa monnieri not only has strong antidepressant effects, but it has pain-reducing capabilities comparable to morphine. The study also indicated that this herbal treatment offers protective benefits for organs commonly affected by opiate toxicity like the brain, kidneys and heart. 

7. Blood Pressure Regulator

A recent animal study showed that bacopa might increase the human body’s utilization of nitric oxide and encourage vascular muscle function, two benefits that positively influence normal blood pressure. The Journal of Ethnopharmacology study concludes that some Bacopamonnieri ingredients could be effective at reducing high blood pressure. 

8. ADHD Treatment

The bacosides in Bacopa monnieri are said to sharpen cognitive function by improving transmission of nerve impulses, which makes it promising for the treatment of ADHD. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often begins in childhood and is a chronic condition that involves attention difficulty, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

In a 12-week, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, children with ADHD who took 50 milligrams twice a day showed significant improvement over children receiving a placebo in tests of mental control, logical memory and paired associated learning. Evaluation of study subjects did not occur until four weeks after stopping bacopa usage, indicating that the supplementation had a lasting effect.

Overall, it makes sense why it would be helpful for the symptoms of ADHD. Bacopa creates a sense of calm and peace, which is very helpful for the hyperactive and impulsive tendencies of those with ADHD. It also has a unique ability to invigorate mental processes while reducing the effects of stress and nervous anxiety, which is a perfect combination for an ADHD sufferer’s attention difficulties

source: Dr. Axe

Business Insider has written an amazing article on Brainz Power and our CEO Andrew Kozlovski. Please click the link below to read it! 

Link: Click Here