From Debilitating Illness To Wellness Warrior: A Case Study With Peak Performance

A profound, life-changing experience may not be a necessary building block for a successful startup, but it certainly can push things in the right direction. 

In the case of Peak Performance, a cult favorite organic supplements brand in the wellness industry, that’s exactly what happened. 

Founder Talor Zamir began suffering from debilitating pain back in 2013. Already a driven entrepreneur, he was working long days at a computer at his prior business, an internet marketing company, when he began feeling the effects of massive inflammation throughout his body. Because he was using his arms and hands to type, the pain was the worst there—in fact, the pain got so bad in his arms that for some time the only way he could work was to use a voice dictation software.

After seeing doctors, specialists, alternative medical practitioners, chiropractors, and having a huge battery of tests to see what was ailing him, no one was able to give him any answers. 

That’s when Zamir took things into his own hands and decided to attack his problem from the inside. He went on his own personal health crusade, treating the food he put into his body as medicine. 

When he began changing what he put into his body, he says, everything changed. Not only did the pain ease, allowing him to return to his work, but his sense of purpose changed, too. After making a successful exit from his first business, Zamir founded Peak Performance in order to help others achieve the health and vitality that he’d found during his own health journey. 

I sat down virtually with Zamir recently to get his take on how he built his business, and how he stays motivated day in and day out. 

Shama Hyder: Tell me what “peak performance” means to you. 

Talor Zamir: To me, peak performance means living your best life possible both physically and mentally. That means following simple strategies that allow you to be the best version of yourself, and that requires making conscious decisions each day about what you put into your body and what you do with your time.

Hyder: How does that understanding play into your vision for your company? 

Zamir: I started Peak Performance because I became passionate about helping other people achieve the kind of transformation that I experienced myself. If you’re not feeling your best, and you know that you could be “more” of whatever’s important to you—more involved with your family, more financially successful, more productive, more fit—I’ve been there. And the good news is that I know from experience that things can turn around faster than you might think. 

So besides putting out our high-quality supplements, we inspire and help people through health education on our wellness blog and podcast, Peak Performance Life.

Hyder: There are so many wellness brands and supplements out there. Peak Performance has managed to not just stand out but become somewhat of a cult hit – similar to bulletproof coffee. What are your major differentiators?   

Zamir: Well, for one thing, I’m not doing this for the money. I’ve already made money—I do this because it’s my passion. So I’m not looking for the cheapest ingredients in order to make a huge profit. I’m looking for the highest-quality ingredients—organic whenever possible, nutrient-dense, grown in places with robust soil fertility. 

We also formulate our products in the U.S., not China, and we have them tested for safety and quality twice: once in our own facility and once by an independent, third-party testing company. That’s something not many other supplement companies do. I take more than 20 Peak Performance products daily, and I give them to my family and friends. They have to be of the absolute highest quality.  

Hyder: Tell me about your cause. Do you think every business needs one these days?

Zamir: Helping people achieve maximum health is what I’m most passionate about, and that doesn’t just go for the people who buy our products. I want Peak Performance to support as many people as we can, which is why we partner with the nonprofit Vitamin Angels, which gives vitamins to children at risk of malnutrition around the world. 

We operate on a 1:1 match with them, so with every product a customer buys, we supply vitamins to a child in need for a full year. By the end of 2020, we will have supplied more than 750,000 children with vitamins. We’ve set a goal to reach one million children by 2021. 

I feel like a business without a cause can still succeed, but it is a hollow victory. What we are doing feels much more aligned with my personal mission.

Zamir’s story is one of those inspiring examples of how something that seems like a horrible experience—chronic pain—can be transformed into one of the best things that ever happened—inspiration for a passion-driven business. It’s not all of us who can take a challenge like that and turn it into a business that not only achieves millions of dollars in annual revenue but also changes the lives of millions, from customers to children across the globe.