Meet Ashish and Dhwani Upadhyay of Bael Wellness in Irvine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashish and Dhwani Upadhyay.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ashish and Dhwani. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ashish: I being IT professional, used to seat for longer hours in front of laptop for years. Over a period, he developed chronic back pain to an extent that sitting become painful. We visited a few chiropractors, massage therapists, tried a few OTC drugs and various other cushions. None treated back pain permanently, however, over the period, we learnt a valuable lesson, that is, back pain can be treated permanently and holistically if 1. keeping spine straight, 2. optimally supporting pain points & 3. distributing weight evenly.

With this principle, my wife and I started designing foam based seat cushion as we were knowing a few foam manufacturers. Our initial seat cushion was very different that the one we have currently. Our design evolved based on feedback from relatives, friends and colleagues who had similar back pain problem.

Initially, we were never thought of selling the products on large scale, however, we got extremely good feedback, so thought of giving a try with Amazon. The product was hit almost over a week.

Last year our patent was approved. Moreover, this is the only seat cushion that is approved by American Chiropractic Association after 90 days of rigorous evaluation process.

Last year, Kevin Harrington (original shark from shark tank TV show) approached us to market this product under AsSeenOnTV program. The program helped us to take our product on Walmart.

Currently this cushion is sold in 2 different variants (1. anti-allergic velour fabric & 2 organic bamboo fabric). Apart from original seat cushion, we have a few other unique ergonomic seat cushion and natural personal care products all under our brand name Bael Wellness.

So far, we have sold more than 25,000 cushions on Amazon, Walmart and our own eCommerce website http://shop.baelwellness.com

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has never been smooth road. In initial phase, once our product became popular,
– We faced many sellers who started selling counterfeit products with inferior quality and at much cheaper price. – We often struggled with funding inventory as manufacturing is capital intensive.

All in all, managing new business with 2 kids (boys) can never be a smooth road.

Please tell us about Bael Wellness.
We manufacture and brand health and personal care products. Each of our product solves specific health problem without any side effect. Our brand DNA is ‘Stay Awesome Naturally’

Bael Wellness seat cushion is our top selling product and that is something we started with originally. Currently this product is available in 2 variants 1. Anti-allergic premium velour fabric cover & 2. Organic bamboo fabric.

Apart from that we have a variety of ergonomic cushions, natural skin care and personal care products.

Our products are currently available on Amazon, Walmart.com (DSV), Sears.com, Jet.com, our own eCommerce site (http://shop.baelwellness.com) and a few other small retailers.

We are looking for a right company/distributor who can help us out in taking our products to brick & mortar stores and individual health care providers like chiropractors, physio therapists.

Regardless of sales channel, all our products come with 30 days money back guarantee.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
During the journey, we met a few so called professional, who we found later completely ripped us off. As a startup, you always would want to grow as much faster as possible, you have very little or no legal knowledge and out of enthusiasm, you sign a deal without even reading contracts completely, and ultimately that cost heavily later.

I would feel that we should have got good legal help specifically with signing contract with a few manufacturer reps.

Pricing:

• Most of our sciatica/orthopedic seat cushions are available under $40.
• Our 30 ml 100% Australian tea tree oil is available under $19
• Face mask with Indian healing clay with organic turmeric & cloves powder and with aloe vera & lemon peel powder is available around $13

Contact Info:

• Address: 9 Northlake, Irvine, CA 92604
• Website: http://baelwellness.com
• Phone: (855) – 707 – 3268
• Email: sales@baelwellness.com
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/baelwellness
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/baelwellness

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