Sarah Wilson To Close I Quit Sugar

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian author and healthy eating advocate Sarah Wilson has announced she is set to close her business empire I Quit Sugar, seven years after its launch.

In a letter published on her personal website, the 44-year-old explained:

“Seven years into a movement, five years into a business, I feel my work in the realm is done. I set out to educate the world about the truth of our eating habits and to find a technique that could shift things in a meaningful way.”

The entrepreneur explains that in order to remain true to her original vision, she has decided to pivot course.

“I decided a little over 12 months ago that it was time for me to go. I’m an educator, a communicator. Not a money-spinner. It was best for everyone and for the message,” she commented.

Launched back in 2011, after the success of a column documenting Wilson’s own experience of quitting sugar, I Quit Sugar quickly grew into a successful business, turning over $534,000 within its first year.

By 2015, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the company was set to generate more than $4 million a year from its e-books and programs, while Wilson, a best-selling author, had cemented herself as a global thought-leader.

Having reached a point where the next stage of the business required “growing the existing structure exponentially”, Wilson said she realised the main motivation was now financial — a factor she didn’t feel comfortable with.

“My motivator had not been money previously,” she wrote.

“A freedom that enabled me to make bold decisions that at times startled peers and the industry, but ultimately, and ironically, saw my message and product spread further.”

With this freedom now gone, Wilson had decided to sell the company “to a respectful soul”, but her plan never came to fruition.

“Normally with such a sale, the owner is kept on for about three years to continue the brand and image messaging for consumers,” she explained.

Not willing to go down that route, Wilson revealed that she had even floated the idea of giving the business away, but added that she wouldn’t have been able to step away and watch as a new owner steered her name, brand and values in a direction she wasn’t on board with. Instead, Wilson made the “agonising” decision to sell the business and divert her attention towards other areas, including raising awareness about anxiety and food waste.

For the time being, I Quit Sugar will remain up and running, with anyone that has “signed up, or who signs up to take part in the remaining programs, receiving the full service in their sugar-quitting journey,” Wilson wrote.

“I hope we can all go out with a bit of a bang,” she concluded.