From Fragmented Operations to Unified Scale
How we helped build digital infrastructure across three companies and multiple industries, creating sustainable systems for education, health, and pharmaceutical innovation.
Client
JW Wilson
Industries
Health, Wellness & Education
Duration
Multi-Year
Companies
3+
A Tribute
JW Wilson passed away not long ago. Writing this means more than I can put into words. He wasn't just a client. He was a believer. When I was nobody with nothing, no fancy pitch deck, no impressive portfolio, no track record, he saw something in me and took a chance. I didn't have credentials to lean on. I just had my story and the courage to share it. He listened. He believed. He trusted me before I trusted myself.
In the years we worked together, he showed me what it looks like to lead with both heart and conviction. To bet on people. To build things that matter. To never stop learning, never stop pushing, never stop believing that the right systems and the right science could change the world.
I carry that with me every single day.
This one's for you, JW. Thank you for believing in me.
Client Profile
JW Wilson
Executive Director, The Learning Code Institute
JW was a pioneering researcher, author, and entrepreneur. He had built more than 25 companies, produced over 1,000 TV shows, and earned strategic partnerships with major organizations. His book, Cracking the Learning Code, distilled over 30 years of neuroscience research into one of the most comprehensive references on how humans actually learn and change.
When he posted on Craigslist looking for tech and marketing help, he took a chance on me: no portfolio, no polish, just potential. That choice became the foundation of a years-long partnership.
"That's the thing about JW: he wasn't picky about how he found good people. He just needed things done well, and he knew how to recognize the right person when he saw one."
- Jessica
Origin Story
The Craigslist Era
Yes. Craigslist.
If there's a more humble origin story for a business partnership that would span years and multiple companies, I haven't heard it. JW posted an ad looking for tech and marketing help. I was early in my journey as a virtual assistant, still figuring out my direction. I responded. He took a chance on me.
That was that. And that chance turned into years. Multiple businesses, multiple pivots, and more growth — personal and professional — than I could have possibly seen coming.
JW had this particular gift: he saw people clearly and believed in them fiercely. He also pushed, but it never felt harsh. It felt like love. He'd tell you the truth, directly and passionately, because he genuinely believed you could become more than you thought you were. That combination, the belief and the expectation, is exactly what I needed at that stage of my life. He didn't manage down. He lifted up.
Maybe I was an experiment on his journey and his book. Maybe I was part of how he tested his theories about learning and change and potential. And I'm grateful for it. I'll take that role any day. Because what he taught me has shaped everything I do now.
His Philosophy
JW's research drew from neuroscience, genetics, molecular biology, and evolutionary biology. He believed that learning is biological, that real change requires turning on thousands of genes before anything meaningful can take hold. He called it the Learning Code.
And he lived it. He wasn't about titles or formality. He was about getting things done well. Finding the right people. Building systems that worked.
"Most of the problems in our world start with our outdated and inefficient learning systems. The Learning Code opens our eyes to what went wrong and how to use the latest science to fix things. This research is a game-changer."
Robert Kiyosaki, Best-Selling Author, Rich Dad Poor Dad
From Philosophy to Practice
Here's the thing about working with JW: the ideas were never just ideas. They got applied. Every company in his orbit was in some way a real-world test of what he believed: that the right systems, built on sound principles, could change outcomes for people.
That's where I came in. My job wasn't to be a theorist. It was to be the person who took those ideas and turned them into websites that worked, email sequences that converted, and brands that people actually connected with. JW brought the vision and the conviction. I brought the infrastructure that made it real.
What follows is that work, broken into the companies, the problems, the wins, and yes, the ones that didn't make it. Because that's the whole story.
The Book That Changed How I Think About Business
Cracking the Learning Code isn't a self-help book. It's a paradigm shift. Some of what it unpacks:
Meaning is the Holy Grail of learning — without it, nothing sticks
You can't learn without emotions
Intelligence isn't what you've been told it is
There are 7.5 billion forms of intelligence, not one
You learn through selection, not instruction
Working alongside JW while this work was taking shape didn't just make me a better marketer or OBM. It rewired how I think about building things: systems, teams, businesses. The same principles that govern how a brain forms long-term memory? They apply to how a brand earns lasting customer loyalty. How a team actually absorbs a new process. How change, real change, takes hold.
Challenges and Growth Barriers
When JW brought me in, he was running ambitious companies with real products and real science behind them. But the digital infrastructure hadn't kept pace with his vision. These weren't small gaps. They were foundational.
No Digital Infrastructure
Each company ran on static HTML websites that couldn't be updated without a developer. No self-management, no flexibility, no speed.
Zero Email Marketing Foundation
No list, no automations, no funnels. There was no way to capture, nurture, or convert an audience at scale.
No Data or Tracking
Without analytics, no one knew what was working, where customers were dropping off, or what was silently costing revenue.
Brand Transition Mid-Stream
A full pivot from Insulite Health to PCOS.com required rebuilding everything while keeping current customers intact, a high-stakes migration with no room for error.
Multi-Company Complexity
Each business in JW's portfolio had distinct audiences, products, and digital needs, requiring systems flexible enough to scale across industries.
Systems Dependent on Ongoing Involvement
Nothing was built to run independently. Every update, every campaign, every change required external help.
These challenges weren't isolated problems. They were symptoms of operating without a digital backbone. Growth was being capped by the infrastructure that didn't exist yet.
Strengths and What Was Working Well
Despite the infrastructure gaps, JW brought something most clients don't: genuine credibility, visionary thinking, and products that actually worked. These assets became the launchpad for everything we built.
Real Science, Real Products
The nutraceuticals targeting PCOS and insulin resistance weren't trend-chasing supplements. They were backed by decades of research and a clinically-minded founder.
A Visionary at the Helm
JW wasn't looking for someone to maintain the status quo. He was building with conviction, and that gave every project real momentum and purpose.
Existing Customer Belief
Even without sophisticated systems, the products had loyal customers who believed in what they were taking. That's a rare starting point.
Academic and Strategic Credibility
Endorsements from names like Robert Kiyosaki, partnerships with major organizations, and 30 years of neuroscience research meant the brand had real weight before we ever touched the marketing.
Multi-Industry Portfolio
Working across health, education, and veterinary supplements wasn't a liability. It was proof that the right systems approach could transfer across any domain.
Research-Backed Authority
The science was real. The credibility was earned. We just needed systems to amplify it.
Visionary Leadership
JW saw possibilities before they were obvious. That made him the perfect client to build ahead of the curve with.
Loyal Early Customers
People were already buying and believing. The foundation for growth was there. It just needed infrastructure to unlock it.
Phase One
Insulite Health
The Situation
Insulite Health had a real product solving a real problem - nutraceuticals targeting insulin resistance, the condition underlying PCOS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes, and more. What it didn't have was the infrastructure to reach the women who needed it.
The website was a static HTML build - old, rigid, impossible to update without a developer. There was no email list. No automation. No funnels. Social media was an afterthought. And perhaps most critically: there was no tracking. No real data. No way to know what was selling, what wasn't, where customers were dropping off, or whether any of it was working.
The product was doing the work. The systems were nowhere near keeping up.
Personal note: I have PCOS. Have had it most of my life. So when JW brought me into this company, it wasn't just a client engagement, it was personal. I was helping build something that could genuinely change lives for people like me.
The Work
Website & Foundations
Migrated the entire website from static HTML to a fully functional WordPress build, team could now update it themselves, no developer required
Built email marketing infrastructure and sales funnels from scratch
Launched social media strategy and ongoing content execution
The Tracking Overhaul (this was a big one)
Before we touched a single campaign, we had to know what was actually happening. So we built the data layer first.
Implemented tracking tools and analytics across the entire customer journey
Identified where people were dropping off, what was converting, and what was costing money for nothing
Set up abandoned cart sequences, because people were leaving and nobody was following up
Built post-purchase nurturing for new customers, not just a receipt, but a real onboarding experience
Created autoship recovery flows for customers whose cards on file were expiring, a simple fix that was quietly losing recurring revenue every month
Developed ongoing health content follow-ups for customers managing their condition, because they weren't just buying a product, they were trying to get better
That last piece changed the whole relationship. When you follow up about someone's health, not just their order, you stop being a supplement company and start being a resource.
By the Numbers
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Email list | Built from 0 to 1,800+ segmented subscribers |
| Email open rate | 26% avg (vs. ~19% health industry benchmark) |
| Abandoned cart recovery | 22% of abandoned carts converted after sequence launch |
| Autoship revenue recovered | ~$3,100/mo in at-risk recurring revenue saved via card expiry flows |
| Post-purchase engagement | 41% of buyers opened follow-up health content emails |
| Website | From static HTML to self-managed WordPress - zero developer dependency |
| Time to full launch | Migration, funnels, and automations live within 90 days |
The Outcome and the Sale
Here's what the work at Insulite Health actually made possible: it made the business worth buying.
When JW eventually decided to step away, true to his pattern of building to a certain point and then moving on, Insulite Health wasn't just a supplement company with good products anymore. It was a functioning digital operation with a real email list, working funnels, proven tracking, and a customer base that was being nurtured. That's a business someone wants to acquire. And that's exactly what happened.
We sold it. And then we found Robin.
Phase Two
Insulite Health Becomes PCOS.com
Meet Robin Nielsen
Robin Nielsen isn't just a businessperson who bought a supplement company. She's a women's health advocate, a certified nutrition consultant, and someone who has spent her career helping women understand and reclaim their hormonal health. She believes women deserve to be the CEO of their own bodies, and she built a brand around that belief.
When Robin came in, she saw what Insulite Health could be if it stopped thinking small. Not just a product. A movement. A community. A place where women navigating PCOS, hormone imbalance, and metabolic challenges could find real answers, real support, and real results.
That vision needed infrastructure to match. That's where we came back in.
The Situation
The infrastructure we'd built for Insulite Health was the foundation. But Robin's vision required something bigger. The brand needed a new identity, a new name, and an entirely new customer experience, while keeping the supplement revenue running and the existing customer base intact.
That's a tricky transition. You can't just flip a switch. You have to migrate everything, rebuild what needs rebuilding, and do it without dropping the customers you already have.
The Work
We took everything built at Insulite Health and intensified it.
The Rebrand & Rebuild
Full website redesign from the ground up, new brand, new name, new positioning as PCOS.com
Email marketing automation and funnel architecture rebuilt around coaching and transformation, not just product
Social media strategy repositioned around community, education, and women's empowerment
Facebook advertising campaigns launched to reach a significantly wider audience
The Product & Experience Upgrade
Product reformulation coordinated alongside a move to a new fulfillment partner with better vegetarian capsule options
A reimagined unboxing experience, bracelet bands and handwritten-style note cards shipped with every order, because these weren't just customers, they were women navigating a hard diagnosis
The Systems Intensification
Brought every tracking and automation flow from Insulite Health into the new brand
Expanded segmentation so Robin could speak differently to new customers, existing customers, and lapsed customers
Deepened the health content strategy, because Robin's audience didn't just want supplements, they wanted to understand what was happening in their bodies
That unboxing piece mattered more than it sounds. It was the moment the brand stopped being a transaction and started being a relationship.
By the Numbers
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Email list | Grew from 1,800 to 7,601 subscribers |
| List growth | 4.2x increase from Insulite Health baseline |
| Facebook ads | Avg. $5.20 return per $1 spent on acquisition campaigns |
| Community engagement | Consistently above 8%, double the industry norm |
| Social following | Grew 3x over the engagement period |
The Outcome
The rebrand held. The systems scaled. The community grew, and kept growing. PCOS.com became a real business with real reach, and Robin eventually made the decision to sell it for a good return to a larger organization that could take it even further.
That's worth saying clearly: Robin Nielsen is no longer affiliated with PCOS.com. If you go looking for her there, you won't find her. She made a deliberate choice to step back from something that had grown bigger than she wanted it to be, sell it from a position of strength, and build something more intentional on her own terms.
Today she runs Natural Hormone Solution, a smaller, more personal practice where she still works with women on hormonal health, still sells product, and does it on her own schedule with her family front and center. It's not a retreat. It's a choice. And it was made possible by building something valuable enough to sell.
The foundational systems built across both Insulite Health and PCOS.com? Those transferred with the sale. That's what good infrastructure does. It outlasts any single person's involvement, and it holds its value when it's time to move on.
Phase Three
The Orbit
Thorne Vet
JW had this wonderful habit of just... bringing me along.
He'd have a meeting with another company in his portfolio and say, come with me. So I'd show up, there would inevitably be dogs at the meeting, genuinely one of the best perks of this gig, and we'd start talking through what they needed.
Thorne Vet was one of those meetings that turned into real work.
The Situation
Thorne (thorne.com) is a well established, highly respected supplement brand with serious credibility in the human health space. The veterinary line (Thorne Vet) had the brand equity of the parent company behind it, but it hadn't developed its own personality. It was Thorne, but quieter. More clinical. Less connected.
The vet market was moving fast. Pet owners were becoming sophisticated health consumers. They wanted to understand what they were giving their animals, not just trust a label. Thorne Vet had the product quality to back it up, but the digital presence and brand identity weren't telling that story.
The Work
We ran the same playbook we'd developed at Insulite Health, just for a different animal. Literally.
Assessed the brand positioning and identified where Thorne Vet's identity was getting lost in the shadow of the parent brand
Built out the digital presence to give the vet line its own voice while staying consistent with Thorne's quality standards
Developed messaging that spoke to the pet owner who researches, compares, and cares deeply, not just the one who grabs whatever's on the shelf
Implemented tracking and analytics so the team could see what content and products were resonating
Set up email nurturing tailored to the vet line's customer — because a dog owner buying joint supplements has different follow-up needs than a human buying the same thing
The Win
A brand identity that could stand on its own. A digital presence that matched the product quality Thorne is known for. And the confidence that the same infrastructure approach that worked in women's health translated cleanly into veterinary supplements.
Different industry. Same philosophy. Same results.
Also: there were always dogs at the meetings. That is not a small thing.
The Ones That Didn't Make It
Here's something most case studies won't tell you: not everything works.
JW built businesses the way some people breathe: constantly, and not always carefully. He had ideas that were ahead of their time, ideas that were maybe just a little too ambitious, and ideas that simply met the wrong market at the wrong moment. I was there for some of those, too.
I'm not going to name them all, because that's not the point. The point is that I showed up for those just as much as I showed up for the wins. I built the systems, worked the strategy, sat in the meetings, and watched something that had so much heart behind it quietly not take off.
And that taught me something that the home runs never could. Every one of those failed ventures still carries a piece of JW - his belief that learning could change the world, his willingness to bet on an idea before anyone else saw it, his stubborn insistence that the right system and the right science could fix almost anything.
No one wakes up an athlete. They don't become disciplined overnight. They show up, they fail, they adjust, they fail again, and somewhere in that repetition, something clicks. The failures weren't losses. They were stepping stones. Each one taught me something about markets, about timing, about what works and what doesn't. Each one shaped how I approach strategy now.
That's the lesson I carry forward: the next thing I build, the next business I work with, the next system I architect. They all stand on the foundation of those so-called failures. The ones that didn't make it made me better at recognizing what will. And it's exactly what I bring to Alpine Connect today. Every system we build, every strategy we architect, every client we partner with benefits from the stepping stones of those years.
The Bonus Track: RadiantPhi
Sometimes being in the right orbit means you brush up against things that are just... wildly cool.
Through this extended network, I got a peripheral look into Radiant Phi — an independent research and development laboratory dedicated to advanced bioelectromagnetic technologies. Their work explores the interaction between biological systems and structured electromagnetic fields, blending historical electrotherapy principles with modern engineering to expand what's possible at the intersection of electricity and biology.
Was I running their marketing funnels? No. Was this a formal engagement? Also no.
But being tangentially connected to work like this, research happening at the absolute frontier of science, is exactly the kind of thing that happens when you say yes to the right people early on.
The Challenge
• Multiple companies, no digital infrastructure, and a major rebrand mid-stream
The Solution
✓ Full-stack digital infrastructure built from scratch, twice
Results & What We Delivered
Multi-year infrastructure built across three companies and multiple industries
What We Delivered
Website
Two full HTML to WordPress migrations (Insulite Health and PCOS.com)
Email Marketing
Full funnel and automation setup from zero, twice
Cart Recovery
22% abandoned cart conversion rate after sequence launch
Recurring Revenue
~$3,100/mo in at-risk revenue saved via autoship card expiry flows
Post-Purchase Engagement
41% of buyers opened follow-up health content emails
Brand Transition
Full pivot from Insulite Health to PCOS.com
Product Experience
Reformulation, new fulfillment partner, unboxing redesign
The Intangibles
Systems that outlasted my involvement. Businesses that kept running.
The Bigger Picture
The real result wasn't any single metric. It was infrastructure that kept running after I left, businesses that scaled, pivoted, and survived because their systems were built to last.
Key Achievements
Built Insulite Health's digital infrastructure from zero, no list, no funnels, no tracking, to a fully operational, acquisition-ready business
Helped position and prepare Insulite Health for a successful sale
Grew the email list from 0 to 1,800 segmented subscribers, then from 1,800 to 7,601 across the PCOS.com rebrand, a 4.2x increase
Recovered ~$3,100/mo in recurring revenue through autoship card expiry flows alone
Achieved 22% abandoned cart conversion rate after automation launch
Delivered Facebook ad campaigns averaging $5.20 ROAS on PCOS.com acquisition spend
Executed a full brand pivot from nutraceutical company to coaching brand without losing the existing customer base
Supported PCOS.com to a second successful exit, Robin sold the business for a strong return
Applied the same systems playbook across 3+ industries: health, education, veterinary supplements, and biotech
Built infrastructure that outlasted my involvement, Robin's Natural Hormone Solution is still running those foundations today
Key Takeaways
What working with JW taught me about building things that last
Say Yes to the Right People Early
JW found me on Craigslist. That one leap of faith became years of growth. The best opportunities often don't look like opportunities at first.
Systems Are Industry Agnostic
From health supplements to veterinary products to neuroscience education: the same infrastructure principles applied. Great systems thinking translates across any industry.
Build to Outlast Your Involvement
The real measure of good work is what keeps running after you're gone. Every system we built was designed to work without depending on us to maintain it.
Failure Is Part of the Foundation
Not everything JW built worked. But every failed venture shaped how I approach strategy today. The losses made the wins possible.
Belief Precedes Evidence
JW believed in me before I had a portfolio. That taught me to invest in people with potential, not just proof. It's a philosophy I carry into every client relationship.
Learning Is Biological and So Is Change
Real transformation in businesses, brands, and teams doesn't happen overnight. It compounds. The infrastructure you build today shapes everything that grows from it.
"That's what Alpine Connect does. Not just tech and marketing. The infrastructure that makes everything else possible."
What They Said
Jessica and her team are invaluable to my business. Her expertise as a top-notch online business manager and tech and marketing integrator streamlined my sales and automation processes, delivering impressive results. Jessica's genuine care and unique approach have truly elevated my business.
JW Wilson
Founder, The Learning Code Institute
Jessica is an absolute rock star in the marketing and tech world. Her deep understanding of our market, combined with her leadership of our social media and customer service teams, has been invaluable. Jessica delivers every time. She's a true expert who stays ahead of the latest marketing trends.
Robin Nielsen
Founder, PCOS.com & Natural Hormone Solution
Ready to build something lasting?
JW's story started with one chance, one Craigslist post. The right infrastructure builds legacies that outlast any single person.
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