We started the business because we were interested in buying some of the peptide products ourselves, and we couldn't find a trustworthy, reliable source to get them from. We saw a gap in the market and thought: we may as well be that company people can come to and trust, because we're going to give them top-quality products and make sure that what they're told they're getting is actually what they're getting.

On top of that, we'd had an experience with a company that didn't give us a refund after they messed up one of our orders and we couldn't use the product. That's when we realised these companies are run by people who just don't care — they want the money, they don't care about the person they're selling to. We do. We want to make sure the products are good quality, and if there are any issues, we sort them out instantly. We don't shy away from problems.

We understand that customer service is something a lot of these companies just don't have. So we decided to create Reliable Research Labs, where we're reliable — we make sure people are happy with the products, happy with the delivery, happy with the customer service. Basically, we wanted to fill that gap.

The most frustrating part is probably everything that goes on behind the scenes — the stuff customers never really see. People see the website, the product, the orders going out, but they don't see how difficult things like advertising, payment providers, and even social media can be in this industry. You can be doing everything you can to run a proper business, and then suddenly an ad account gets taken down, a social media account gets taken down, or a payment provider causes problems. Then you're spending half your day trying to fix something that has nothing to do with actually growing the business.

That's probably the biggest frustration. You're not just competing with other companies or trying to make sales — you're constantly having to adapt to things that are completely outside of your control. At the same time, I think it's made us better. We've had to learn quickly, find different ways of doing things, not rely on one platform. It's frustrating, but it's also probably one of the reasons we've managed to grow as quickly as we have.

The hard part is not quality control. Our main aim is to make sure we have quality products, that we give quality customer service, and that we run a business that can be relied upon — that's not the hard part. The hard part is the back-end stuff: making sure we're getting seen by the people we believe deserve to see our company, because we really value our customers. If one customer comes and they're happy with the product, then another one will, and another one will. We understand that quality products bring a quality customer base.

So when people say quality control is hard, it really isn't. It should be your main target, your main goal — and in our case, it is. We find quality control very easy, because it's the only standard we have.

One thing I wish companies knew when they started in this space is that customer base and quality of product are the most important things. Chasing sales and a quick buck is not the way to go in this business. You don't want any problems along the way — when it comes to customers and product issues, that's the worst thing you can do for your company.

People want to join this space and make a quick buck, and it really isn't the way to go. You want to understand that it's a slow burner to start with, and getting everything in order — getting your house in order — can easily allow your business to grow, because you're reliable, you're trustworthy, you have good customer support, and you're doing things by the book. A lot of companies don't do this, especially new ones.

Our prices directly match the quality of our product. We've done our market research — we've looked at extremely cheap companies, and it really does show when they're priced that low: low purity, or bad customer service. We've made it our mission not to fall below the price we believe we deserve, given the quality of our products and our customer service.

We're always open for conversation — if anybody needs help, we're there. Customer service matters hugely to us, and so does product quality. The price is based very specifically on that. We don't think of ourselves as high-priced — we think we're priced just right.

We realised that a lot of companies — including ourselves — struggled with the marketing side of things when it comes to ads, because of the regulations. So we decided to bring in very good affiliates. We made sure they were properly vetted, and that we were happy having them represent us. Now it's like a little family — we speak, we help each other out, and they're a really good team.

We believe it's crucial, when it comes to growing a business, to have good people representing your brand and getting you out there more. You're hitting markets and audiences you wouldn't necessarily reach if you were just running ads.

The whole idea behind our business came from wanting people to have good-quality peptides, because a lot of companies just aren't doing that. We want to be the reason that changes — we want to be the biggest in the UK, so we can give people what they deserve. Our affiliates are a big part of that.