Jack Sullivan is a 22 year old who is a Director of West Ham United Football Club & Part Owner of Supply Life that specialises in food intolerance testing’s. Jack started his business career at the age of 17 becoming Managing Director of West Ham United Women’s Team, during Jack’s time the team reached an FA Cup Final, achieved the 3rd highest attendance in WSL history and also raised over 50k for Breast Cancer Now.
The team also grow a large following gaining 250k followers across social media alongside also having two BBC documentary about the side. He felt in the summers of 2021 and is now focused on helping his new business supply life flourish.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
Supply life is a food intolerance business we provide a home testing kit for people to see what foods agree and disagree with their body. We can help people that suffer from Energy dips, Unwanted-weight, Bloating, IBS , Acne, Eczema, Joint-pain & Migraines with 92% of our customers seeing a significant help benefit when working with us. Alongside being used by 1000’s of the public supply life is also used by pro boxers and footballers and we are the best rated food intolerance test on the market.
- How did you get into the industry?
Supply Life actually came down to WHUW to test their intolerances and whilst they was at the training ground I did a test. I was suffering from eczema at the time and after following what foods and should and shouldn’t eat my eczema went and I thought the podcast was so good I spoke to the founder Ricky to see if they was looking for investment and the rest is history.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
Our biggest opportunity is we believe we offer the best test on the market. We test over 200 foods more then most of our competitors, we test igG 1,2,3 & 4 when a lot of our competitors only test igG4, we also offer a wonderful aftercare service that is better then our competitors. With all of our current customers having the opportunity to speak to the founder once they get their test results. Therefore our opportunity is to help as many people as possible live happier and healthier lives through supply life and help people that have been suffering from one of the symptoms and really change their life! Our biggest challenge is to find out how to advise correctly to our customers, however we are more then confident that we can do this!
- How would you describe your leadership style?
There are no leaders at supply life. Ricky is the founder and he is the person I work with day to day. We are all learning together and working together to make sure supply life achieves its goals. We offer a really personal touch at supply life and that is something we are all keen to make sure we keep.
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
I think the key to getting the most out of people is firstly to make sure they are working on something they really believe in and secondly make sure people are managing their time well and stuff that they are good at! Not wasting their time on stuff their not so good at.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
I think for supply life the most crucial element is Ricky, as the founder he knows the ins and the outs of everything and he’s a very important part of supply life. Its his baby and we are all here to help try and grow his dream.
- How has the past 12 months been for you?
Last 12 months have been super interesting, leaving the women’s was obviously a difficult decision but I think it was the correct one for me personally. I’ve been able understand a lot of my dad’s other businesses and also look at lots of business and how the work and operate. Now obviously I’ve found my new challenge with supply life which is looking to be an exciting one.
On a football side of things, it’s been amazing to also see west ham flourish and continue to flourish in Europe, which we hope can continue for as along as possible.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
The next 12 months for supply life will be interesting. It will be a lot of trail and error to see what works and what doesn’t work in terms of marketing but its an exciting time for us and we hope within the next 12 months we can continue to break revenue numbers and continue to drive sales and help as many people as possible!
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
I have a few highlights however my biggest achievement was probably reaching the FA cup final with the WHUW! However it was an amazing achievement by everyone at the football club and something that I know the players and staff are still very proud of! It made the moment even more special as it was our first season as a professional club.
- What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
To be honest I’ve made a lot of mistake but I think the most important thing is to learn from your mistakes and to always look forward and to try and find a solution.
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
My dad gives me advice all of the time and I am extremely lucky to have such an amazing mentor the best advice he has given me is probably a few bits. Most business is common sense so don’t over think things to much, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Its always very important to keep a level head and don’t celebrate the victories to much and don’t commiserate the loses to badly.
