Memoirs of a Steroid Kingpin, Episode 04: “Brand Ambassadors”

I didn’t have long to ponder. I had to figure out how to deal with these three emails that I had received from my post on iSteroids, where I publicly listed my products for sale and contact information, before it was taken down by a moderator after only an hour. In retrospect, I should have seen this as an omen of what was to come. I posted for one hour on iSteroids, without being considered a legitimate source, and I received three potential clients. They all pretty much said the same thing. They had seen my post on iSteroids. They liked the brand British Dragon, and were interested, but there was no way they could purchase anything from me with all of the scamming that had taken place. Each of them suggested that I send an order to them for free; and when they receive it, test it, and see results, they will post good reviews on multiple forums, not just iSteroids. My extensive research revealed that, usually, when a new source enters a forum, the new source will usually get one patron who takes the leap and purchases for everyone else on the board, and posts the results. I was looking for this scenario. I understood that no one will trust a brand-new source, but I can’t give away free products, especially to all three of these customers. That would cost me about two hundred dollars in products, and almost six hundred dollars in lost gross revenue.

Psycho boasted a lot of influence over others on iSteroids and had highest points rating on the forum.

All three of these guys gave me their handles, or usernames, that they use on iSteroids or other forums. I did some research on all of them. iSteroids has a point system associated with each user. The more each user provides informative or educational advice, or the more each user posts informative reviews of products, the more points they are awarded. In this way, you can tell who the most prominent and well-respected users are, and the users who likely have the most friends and influence. One of the potential clients in these three emails had no points, and was probably not going to be too helpful. Another had a moderate number of points. But the last, he had among the most points of anyone I had seen! His handle was Psycho, and he boasted a lot of influence over others on iSteroids. He said that if I sent him a free order, as soon as he received it and noticed results, he would send me twenty or thirty clients. I thought that sounded ridiculous, but if he was even ten percent right, he could get me two or three new clients. I still couldn’t shake the idea of giving away about six hundred dollars of product. I decided that I would explain to these gentlemen that I put everything I have into this inventory, and I would send them their orders if they promised to post reviews and promote my products on multiple forums, as well as send me money once they received and tested the products. All three of them agreed.

Looking back, this was one of the most important business moves I made, and I should not have been so reticent to send out some free samples to establish myself. Branding isn’t only about name recognition. It is about a background story that connects to people, curating an experience for people, and, most importantly, trust. I had brand name British Dragon steroids, which is part of the equation, but I, personally, didn’t have trust, and I had yet to curate a customer experience that exalted me above my current competition. One of the most important factors to establish a brand is word of mouth from trusted and influential people, followed closely by engaging a multitude of people to speak on behalf of your business and your products. If one trusted confidante tells you to patronize a business, people are likely to follow the confidante’s advice. Furthermore, if hundreds, or thousands, of satisfied customers recommend a certain business, potential clients are likely to trust the recommendations of a large group of people. If you have quality service and a quality product, in order to optimize your branding, it is imperative to get your product in the hands of as many influential people as possible.

Looking back, sending out free samples was one of the most important business moves I made.

I had decided to restrict these three brand ambassadors to products that had a short half-life, and would react quickly within the body. All three of these clients wanted nandrolone decanoate, or Deca, but Deca took about a month for the effects to become apparent. Steroid molecules are chemically modified, and have “esters”, or carbon chains, attached to them. Humans have to break down these carbon chains before the endocrine system can utilize the base steroid. The length of the carbon chain modifies the release time of the base steroid. Shorter esters have a short release time, and physical effects become apparent more quickly. Long esters have a long release time, and physical effects take longer to become apparent. Deca has a ten-carbon ester (“Deca” is Greek for ten), and takes among the longest of all the steroids to break down. Therefore, I did not want to give them Deca, I wanted to give them something with a short ester so they would notice results quickly, and leave reviews quickly. At the time, one of British Dragon’s most popular products was an intra muscular injectable anabolic steroid called Andropen. Andropen was a modification on the arrantly popular steroid Sustanon, created by the pharmaceutical drug company Organon, which is a blend of four different testosterone esters. Sustanon blended two short esters with two long esters, while Andropen blended three short esters and two long esters. Andropen was my favorite testosterone, I had a lot of it in inventory, and the incipient effects generally took about a week. I sent everyone an Andropen and an oral steroid, either Methandrostenolone (Dbol) or Stanzolol (Winstrol), both of which are fast acting and take about a week for results to begin to become apparent. Both of these steroids should kick in together, in about five to seven days, so these three brand ambassadors could quickly leave positive reviews and I could start gaining a few new clients.

I sent everyone an Andropen and an oral steroid so my brand ambassadors could quickly leave positive reviews and I could start gaining a few new clients.

I wrapped the twenty-five-milliliter glass Andropen vials in paper towel, thinking that would keep them from breaking. I put thirty Dbol pills, or Winstrol pills, into three separate sandwich baggies. Next, I put both the paper towel wrapped glass vial and the sandwich baggie with pills into a USP Priority carboard envelope. Looking back, this shipping technique was haphazard, and created fragility that dramatically increased the potential for something to go wrong. Fortunately, over time, the shipping methodology would evolve and efficaciously improve. I shipped these three packages Priority, so they would be received in two or three days. Additionally, I gave each recipient tracking numbers so they could track the package all the way to their door. I wanted these three brand ambassadors to have a uniquely positive experience that included fast shipping, excellent communication, and quality products. This way, they would quickly leave positive reviews concerning all aspects of my new business.

Next >> Episode 05 (My Anonymous Website)

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Memoirs of a Steroid Kingpin (Table of Contents)

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Ryan’s Root’s real-life autobiographical story is a must-read account of his rise and fall as one of the largest anabolic steroid dealers on the Internet.

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