Foraged for You founder Sheridan Austin shares business tips

A Sunshine Coast mum and nutritionist who went from earning $50,000 per year to creating a multimillion-dollar business has shared advice on how to set yourself up for success.

Sheridan Austin is also a nutritionist and gut and psychology syndrome practitioner, recipe creator and author. Picture: Foraged for You

A Sunshine Coast nutritionist and mum-of-two who spent two years developing an all-in-one food-based supplement has shared her tips on how to set yourself up for a successful business.

Sheridan Austin is the founder of Foraged for You, which is best known for its prenatal supplement for mums and more recently for its Children’s Blend.

She also worked until very recently as a nutritionist and gut and psychology syndrome practitioner while sharing her own recipes on her blog and to her joint 71,300 social media followers.

Her product derived from a passion project and a personal need during her first pregnancy.

Mrs Austin said she was spending a fortune buying superfoods and supplements and felt dismayed at the lack of quality in prenatal options.

“My passion grew so deeply when I saw the conditioning around the societal pressures for women to only source their nutrients from synthetic nutrients,” she said.

“We often forget that the most important nutrients come from a food.”

Foraged for You's "The Mother Blend" can be consumed by both men and woman. The product has extended to "The Children's Blend" for under 13s.

Other expecting mums also came to her for advice on what they should take to keep themselves and their baby healthy.

She said getting the right ingredients from different sources tended to be “annoying and expensive,” for soon-to-be mothers.

Thus, Mrs Austin’s idea was born to “slap it into an all-in-one” using some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, she said.

She threw herself into two years of developing her formula from a corner in her house, while working part time as a nutritionist and taking care of her child.

Sheridan Austin and her two children. Picture: Foraged for You

In 2020, she finally launched her first batch and sold out within 24 hours.

Mrs Austin said she reinvested and sold out each time, and her sales would grow each month.

Her success had come from word-of-mouth and organic growth and she had not dabbled in advertising until recently, Mrs Austin said.

“The love and growth of Foraged For You was overwhelming, all consuming and grew without any pre-existing expectations,” she said.

Her product is now used by men and women of all ages with more than 200 wholesalers globally.

Social media personalities including Hayley Bonham and Justine Illarda also keep their family nourished using the blends, Mrs Austin said.

While it took two years to develop the product itself, Mrs Austin said her 10 years working as a nutritionist consultant greatly contributed to where she is now.

Providing free work, creating recipes, talking at seminars and giving advice – Mrs Austin said she learnt so much about her industry and what people need in the process.

As her brand has grown to become a multimillion business, Mrs Sheridan said funds are continually reinvested to keep using high-quality ingredients and to ensure her product can be accessed globally.

“All I ever envisioned was women all over Australia consuming the blend and being nourished, I never thought of a dollar value,” she said.

“The benefits people feel, the endless reviews in all inboxes and on the website is what lights me up at my core.

“Our sole purpose always has been and always will be to support all aspects of health of our community.”