Online business owners tell all: 6 nutrition business owners share behind the scenes of what's it's like to start, grow or choose nutrition as a second career part 1

I'm taking you on a girl's trip with me this week to MN, where I got together with 5 colleagues for a get away, decompress, end of summer business trip.

Business is our lives so we were talking about the things behind the scenes, especially since some of us were newer acquaintances and I forced us to come to the table and spill the tea on what we've learned about being online business owners. 

We covered:

• PART 1: 
• How we started and got to where we are now
• Advice to early business owners
• Discussing whether you should niche or help everyone 
• PART 2: 
• Mentorship and coaching
•  Things you didn't know you'd have to talk to clients about before you got into business.  

Coming to the table are long term and new business owners as well as two teachers that took a second career in nutrition: 

• Kaely McDevitt, MS, RD of Kaelyrd.com and Leveraging Labs practitioner program
• Robyn Johnson, MS, RD of nutritionbyrobyn.com, Rayvi Shop electrolyte drinks, and Functional Nutrition Practitioner Institute
• Emily Field, MS, RD of emilyfieldrd.com and Macros Made Easy 
• Christa Biegler, RD of christabiegler.com and Food Sensitivity Solutions program and host of The Less Stressed Life podcast
• Emily Morris, MS, RD working with emilyfieldrd.com 
• Maria Sylvester Terry, RD of Maria Terry Nutrition and @vitamin_ri 
• Kristin Vondenstein work with Macros Made Easy and emilyfieldrd.com 

Don't miss part 2 of this episode next week! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/775589/11250900-252-online-business-owners-tell-all-6-nutrition-business-owners-share-behind-the-scenes-of-what-s-it-s-like-to-start-grow-or-choose-nutrition-as-a-second-career-part-1.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-11250900&player=small

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TRANSCRIPT:

Christa (00:01):
On this episode, I'm taking you on a business trip with me behind the scenes, the fun kind, where you're girlfriends and you just get together. And actually one person is the host and kind of mixes up the groups. So some of us have gotten together a lot and some of us are a little bit newer together, but behind the scenes we were talking about Steph in business, like stuff we see online and things that aren't working and things that we, we were having the conversation. I said, no, we are gonna go to the table and we are gonna record this and it is gonna be a podcast. So if you were a person who was thinking about wanting to get into entrepreneurship or into private practice or your dietician, if you're in the fitness field, you have any interest. This is the episode for you.

Christa (00:42):
And before we get started, I just wanna thank our VIP sponsor Rupa health. Who's a lab concierge service that I use to order blood testing through access medical labs for almost $5 a marker for really good labs. It's super handy. I also use it for other testing that I do. If I'm doing mold testing, or I want to go ahead and just not log into all these different portals and get it all in one space, it is so easy to use. It's a free account. And I guess I just love passing on that savings to my client. So you can get a free account if you're a practitioner by going to Rupa health.com. I think it's wonderful. They have been awesome and so easy to work with. And the other thing I love about them is that they act as the concierge. So they help the clients find the labs as well as not naming any names, but there is a micronutrient testing company that I just could not handle the admin for.

Christa (01:32):
And they take care of everything. They make the forms, they get 'em sent out and they never lose this, the test. So they are so valuable for so many reasons. If you're a practitioner or you want to consider offering testing, Rupa health has an amazing backend health Porter for those that have a free account. So go over to Rupa health, sign up, let 'em know I sent you. So they keep hanging out with us over here on the podcast. All right, on this episode, I am surrounded at a table. Here's the stage we're in, we're at a kitchen table in Minnesota gathering as a group of dieticians plus one. And everyone's kind of got a little different background. They do different things. So I'm just gonna like briefly introduce you to who is here. And we're gonna go around and talk about yesterday. We are gonna chat about what it takes to have a business.

Christa (02:21):
What you wish you would tell yourself to your earlier self. There's a couple girls here that teach men like a few that teach other practitioners, you know, how to be successful in either private practice or in their health professional world. And there's just so many lessons that we've learned over the years. And so we are dumping those yesterday and I thought the world would really like to know the, the other women and maybe men, maybe the few men would really like to know what it's like if you are, because we're in a transition time of people wanting to get out of the typical workspace. People have like reached a ceiling. They want to consider they're considering going out on their own. And so we have a little bit of everybody. We have people that are owning that are owning the business. And then there are people that are working in other people's businesses.

Christa (03:08):
Some of those businesses are here. And so there's a couple versions of this because maybe not everyone is cut out to build an entire practice from scratch, but they'd love to work behind the scenes and that's a beautiful place to be. And <laugh>, there's so many opportunities. So we're gonna talk a little bit today about advice to early business owners, what we wish we would've known the things that we thought. <Laugh> the things that we thought we would know that we didn't know. Just things like that. So here, who is, who is at our little round table Robin Johnson is here and you have, how long have you been in practice?

Speaker 2 (03:39):
I've been clinically since 2014, so eight years. And then I've owned my private practice since, or for five

Christa (03:44):
Years. And you worked in like a PT practice?

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah. I built the nutrition company within a physical therapy office.

Christa (03:49):
Yeah. So you did like everything mm-hmm <affirmative> at that place. And we,

Speaker 2 (03:52):
So I didn't have the financial risk, but I had the risk of losing a job. Yeah. Yeah. You have to have some fire in your ass. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> somewhere sort.

Christa (03:59):
We several of us met working I'll shadow Ashley Sweeney because she was our connector. We met because we were working in a fitness influencers program around fasting and weight loss, weight, essentially weight loss. It could have been anything and like 2017 ish. So Robin Kaylee, Emily fields. And I met that way. But anyway, so Emily is sitting next to Robin at the table. Emily. When did you start your practice?

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Probably 2017. And I was out on my own a hundred percent by 2019. Okay,

Christa (04:30):
Cool. And you, so Robin you're in an essentially integrative and functional space, women's health, et cetera. And what would you say you do? Emily? I

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Work mostly with female athletes and I use that word on purpose because I think a lot of women don't consider themselves athletes, but if they care about their fitness, they like to work out their athletes. So I started out of CrossFit gym, so similar to you, I started somewhere else and then went out on my own and I had take a macro based nutrition approach in my practice.

Christa (05:00):
Yeah. So I was, I remember telling Emily, like you are the macros expert and you must share and like tell women about this because there is so much accidental failure in like composition, body composition. And we maybe we'll dabble into how the trend now is like helping women eat more because of like, just shit dogma from the past. But anyway, next to Emily is Maria Sylvester Terry from I'm from new Orleans. Yeah. So tell us about like you are sitting. I mean, everyone we've got diversity here, so like tell us about your beginnings.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah. So I actually was not a dietician to start. I was a late bloomer. I was an English teacher for six years and then changed for, be dietician, moved to new Orleans for my dietetic internship and never looked back and decided to go out on my own. You know, like six months ago to open my own private practice, full time. And it has been a whirlwind. I would've never done it without Emily. So in so many ways, we're all connected and related in a beautiful way. And it's just been a learning process. So every day is an opportunity to win and lose and learn from it. That's how I

Christa (06:05):
Feel. So I think if I was listening to this because so O like mentorship is a big thing to me and I, I don't think this is true all the time, but it's true. A lot of the time, it's not only what you know is who, you know, like massively. And we actually all know each other only by who we know we're only sitting at this table by who we know. So when you said I wouldn't have done this without Emily, who's sitting next to you, Emily field, that's sitting next to you. Why is that? Like, how did that end up? Like, how did you two connect? And why did that, does that make like, I'm gonna have you tick that?

Speaker 3 (06:36):
So I think it was, we follow each other on Instagram and while my audience is so similar to Emily's, my approach is quite different because my folks are, are really all are strong, all or nothing, thinkers that are trying to unlearn their dieting behaviors, but it's all they've ever known. So they really are starting at zero. So the way I help them find their healthy habits might look different from Emily, but we tend to talk about the same things. So our content overlapped in some capacities, we found each other funny, but we just sort of like you're silly <laugh>. And it, I remember distinctly where I was in my house. It was like pandemic time. I was finishing my dietetic internship and Emily sent me a voice message and was like, if you need anything, you need a mentor. You just need somebody to ask questions too.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Like, I will do that. I was really surrounded by the online coaching space, which is very much like if you pay me X number of dollars per month, then I will answer your questions and to have someone just say, Hey, if you, you have a question, feel free to ask. I care about you. So that really set the tone of wow, like that that's a really kind space. And to know that I have like an ally in this space, someone who believes in me doesn seem as competition. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, it's really cool. So that's sort of how that started. I said, oh, I got this job. Everything's fine. And then two years goes fine that I'm doing it. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> you said, freaking go for it.

Christa (07:52):
That's generous. I mean, I feel like maybe, maybe one of Emily's core values is generosity or something <laugh>

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Or something,

Christa (07:58):
Something. So we'll get back to it. Let's not forget to come back to the business space later, cuz like you can get the main point is that you it's hard to do things without some kind of mentorship. Even you Robin starting back here, like you had mentor, like you had very clear mentors, but well, yeah, both on the

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Clinical and business side.

Christa (08:14):
Right. Mm-hmm and if you don't have a mentors, you have to just keep seeking them out. Like you had, what was your mentorship experience like, man?

Speaker 3 (08:23):
You just figured out no, the nutrition bloggers, the dietician bloggers back in the day were really, really helpful for me to me. And they like believed in me and they posted my stuff. They worked with me and that chatter really helped boost me in the meeting.

Christa (08:35):
And how did you build those relationships?

Speaker 3 (08:39):
I think really, I just, okay. It's weird, but I get along really well with gen Xers <laugh> and a couple of those bloggers are in their forties and they were looking for that next thing and they heard about macros and they sought out the macro expert or at least I was posting about it. I was podcasting about it. I was writing articles about it and so comes along a few of them and then they hired me and they helped me. I, I think they helped improve my business from the inside out because they were clients I really wanted to impress. And I looked up to them a lot. So Reagan Jones was one of them and like one probably the most prominent of that. And then we just became friends and she's, it's one of those things. Like if you never need, if you ever need anything, like let me know.

Christa (09:18):
Yeah. It was really nice. Yeah. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, I'm sure there was times where you met these people in per, did you meet them in person at some things? I know you'd gone to some blogger friends and conferences. Yeah. And if someone here, if you're like, oh, I wish I knew more about XYZ. What she does. Emily's already been on the podcast like two or three times. So you just have to go look for her name. So I we're stealing, I'm like weighing down one side of the table, but as I continue to go around, Kay, Kay. MCT is sitting next to Maria and Kaylee, like when did your business start and what did you do?

Speaker 4 (09:48):
Yeah, I started my practice in 2017, but I wasn't full-time in it until the start of 2019. I was like still doing some contracting part-time stuff on the side. And I work in women's health.

Christa (10:03):
But you started in sports, started in a gym as well. Right.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Worked in a couple different gym settings. And even my private practice, I worked out of a CrossFit gym for like the first couple of months. And then it was very clear that that was not, not the, the space I wanted to be in, but it was great because it gave me permission to start my private practice. The gym owner was a friend of mine and it was like the sign that I needed to take the leap. And then I was working, I created a nutrition program for a large OB GYN practice in long beach, California and was working for them while building my practice too. And kind of just getting my feet wet and all of things women's health. It was like the full age range of women that I could see and realize that that's where I wanted to be. And haven't looked back great.

Christa (10:45):
What I hear is that I tried thing I'm and as you speak, it makes me think of like my first website that I ever built. And it's like, so cringy. But you just

Speaker 4 (10:55):
A cringy website you're doing

Christa (10:56):
Right. If you didn't have a cringy website, you just start somewhere. And I remember like taking you thought you wanted to be in sports literally. Like I think your master's was even targeted that way. Right? Yeah. And then you get into that space and you realize actually don't even really like this as much as I thought I did. So the point is, is like where you start is not where you land later. Yeah. So you can't be afraid to like start somewhere necessarily. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so sitting next to Kay is Emily Morris, who I always call by her maiden name, but Emily and it's funny, like going back to Emily field, I met in 2010 going to public policy workshop if theres side told me this, like as she was a student. And then I was friends with, which is funny because Emily Morris, I also went to a public policy.

Christa (11:40):
We were roommates for like five days and ate all the food in DC. And why I think Emily's experience is valuable is you were having the feeling that if someone is, if someone's listening to this podcast and they're like, Hmm, I'm not really digging my job. I don't really feel like I can do anything. I don't feel like I'm able to make a difference in the way I really could make a difference because actually you can make a huge difference in this space. That's like where you were after we met mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so tell us about that.

Speaker 5 (12:07):
Yeah. So I think when we met I was in grad school and when I, the end of grad school going into my first job, I started a blog with one of my friends from grad school and we were very passionate. We wanted to be in private practice. We didn't wanna do the traditional dietician job. And so we're like, we'll start a blog, we'll start seeing clients. We really didn't know what we were doing, but we knew that we wanted just go a different direction. So we did that, doubled our toes in it and got into that space and just realized if not what I wanna do. I don't wanna own a business. I don't wanna be the one in the, like running the private practice. And so the stars didn't align on that. We both went, our separate ways, ended up in different jobs.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
And then I ended up in more of a traditional dietician role. And also didn't like that like knew, kinda went back to like, this is why I started to block. I didn't wanna be in a traditional like clinical or outpatient dietician role. And was that space for like two to three years. And then just got a little bit antsy and so started looking for other outlets. And in 2020 when I started working from home and I had a little more time on my hands <laugh> I reached out to a couple dieticians and was like, Hey, I just really don't like my job when I want some like extra work on the side and was able to pull some hours together on the side and built that over time and was able to leave that job and move into the private practice space, supporting Emily field. So I, yeah.

Christa (13:20):
And, and we talked about this a lot over boxer <laugh> yeah, it's fun. Like I wish I was doing something else. I'm like, just find someone you like and ask them if they like everyone needs support and help and everyone would love to have. So the thing that Emily is not like just maybe accidentally forgetting to tell you that I think is valuable is that I've had past clients ask me, could I maybe work for you? Just like a few or people? I think that's a thing is like, oh, if you're listening to this, what a cool alternative avenue you could get out of your space and work with someone else and have a dream job. But Emily does have skills. So she has skills because she like built a website once. And then we built a website together and like wrote the copy. And you did like some online graphic work and not like everyone needs that. Like, there's so many different things that you could do. But Emily who these Emily's worked together, like looking at the other end of the table with Emily, if this Emily didn't have any skills, she, would've not been a very useful part of your team. Right?

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Absolutely not. And to Emily's credit that she's not saying is like, you do have to hustle a little bit. So even though she's doesn't wanna own the business and be the front facing entrepreneur side, she hustled to get her job. Cuz she was like poked me and poked me. And I was like, I don't think I need this. And then I was like, actually I really do need this. And if she like, one thing I credit Emily too, is like, she is, will say, this is how I can take something off your plate. So if you see a whole beautiful in somebody else's business, go after it because I don't even know. I don't know what, I don't know. Like I don't know how she could help me, but she definitely filled a gap, a gap that was definitely there. You know, and as an entrepreneur, sometimes you like one of the things that I think holds us back is we are the bottleneck in our business. Like we have to be the one that's delegating to multiple people, but if somebody can come in and be creative and say, here's what I can take off your plate, here's what I can do for you. You're like suddenly the world opens up and you have free time to do other things, like, as I'm sure in the face of the business

Christa (15:13):
And you poked the other girl, like you just liked these people online and you're like, Hey, Hey, gimme a

Speaker 5 (15:18):
Job. <Laugh>

Christa (15:19):
Right. But you didn't say it like that. You found, you found, you found a way to be useful because we've all gotten several of us have gotten pitches or oper, like if you're an intern or someone looking for hours, you know, I work with Jenna and Kaylee works with Jenna and Jenna asked me, she wrote a really good pitch and she wanted to drive almost five hours to my home to shadow me years and years ago. And here she is, she's still there. Right? Yeah. You just, you have to have some skills is the point. And I think you can have skills without like trying and sucking at stuff.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Yeah. And I think the other part is that I also was willing to accept whatever the offer was. So when I I worked for another dietician when I first got into private practice. Along with Emily, I was working for two people and I was working for Megan for five hours a week and Emily for three hours a week. And like Emily offered me three hours a week. And I think some people would be like, well, that's like, what can I do with that amount of time? But that was what able, like I did that and I built that and built that and built that and then was able to quit my full-time job. So I just, whatever the offer was, I was like, cool, I'll do it. Like it's anything. So

Christa (16:16):
Yeah, that, I think that's an important piece is like, there are so many people that need support and depending on where someone is in their business, they may or may not be able to give you much space or time, but it's a door and it's a connection. Yeah. And then once, you know, one person, maybe you work for a couple people. I think one of like the fears that holds people back and I, I don't have a solution for it, but we'll just acknowledge it is that people are concerned about their benefits or whatever, all those pieces. And so, and people will say like, when do you jump you jump when like, whatever your side is exceeds now,

Speaker 2 (16:48):
You know, or this is Robin here. We can plan and build a bit of a business curve ball account so that you have a little bit of security, cuz people are scared to jump and then some people will wait until it's equal, but you need the time to be able to build it yeah. To the revenue that you want. And so you wanna be desperate preparing to jump before, but having, I mean, know, think through the worst case scenario, it's unlikely to happen that you're not gonna have any revenue for three months, but have a backup plan so that you, you know yeah. Just it's a little bit easier. Yeah.

Christa (17:18):
Speaking of support the last person at the table and I should mention like Emily field is the hostess in Minnesota. And so who is who you know here, but we have another person that works with Emily who is Kristen Bondin, Stein of bond Stein, Bondin Stein. Yeah. Bondin Stein. And your history is pretty interesting as well. So tell us about like how you, how you are sitting here

Speaker 5 (17:44):
At the table. I will enlighten everyone that I am the only person

Speaker 6 (17:48):
That is not a dietician here. But I found Emily. I actually, I, I graduated as a music music education teacher for elementary school. That's where I started. And then I became a stay-at-home mom. So I was stay-at-home mom for like six years. And I was very, I felt very isolated and stuck where I was, and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And so I thought weight loss was a solution. And so I chased that for years and I found Emily and she helped me realize that that's not who you are and that eating more can like really change her life. And she really has impacted my life. And so earlier you mentioned how like clients had go to like path clients can work for. And so she reached out to me and was like, Hey look like there's value in your experience. People relate to you, you are a successful client of mine. Like let's do this. And I was like, really

Christa (18:47):
What?

Speaker 6 (18:48):
And so it, it felt great to like have value in my like horrible experience with like yoyo diet for years and like have something great come out of it. So it's been an awesome experience.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
I think Kristen likes to downplay like for like coaching abilities, but yes, the point being like I found, I saw Kristen like incredibly relatable and a natural coach. This is Emily field talking. <Laugh> but yeah, I, I think that one of the things that Kristen does really well is we, we lead with maybe a lot of dieticians that might be listening to this. They're already to BES that listening to this might lead with their experience or I'm sorry, their academics, what Kristen leads with is her experience. And I think that's incredibly Val valuable to her clients. So she sees clients on her own. She also supports my business. And another thing that you're doing that you've shared with me that is really cool is that you, like, you have another outlet, it's a career move. Like it's not like a side hustle for you. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and, and fortunately like some people in your life, or maybe that are looking at, you might not think it's a real job, but it's truly a real job. And yeah, the more you sink your teeth into it, just because it's a small number of hours per week, or it's just your own schedule or you're working from home does not mean it's not a real job. It's not a career move, cuz it totally is.

Christa (20:04):
I think one thing bringing up the fact that she is not atrician sometimes people probably ask us all, I'm thinking about like I'm interested in nutrition. Should I go back to school for this? And I'm like, Hmm, I'm not like, do you want to go to school for that long to do, to then have another mountain to unlearn what you just, yeah. Maria, tell us, you know, you were a second career dietician is that worthwhile? And then like what is our opinion about that? Because you have like, Kristen, you're able to work this thing that you love without doing that by working in someone's space and finding, and maybe you guys wanna tell a little bit about like what Kristen does in your business to help people understand like there's opportunities. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> for people who have, and of course teachers can do, do everything <laugh> like, did you hear, did you catch that there was two teachers at this table? So we love

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Each other

Christa (20:53):
<Laugh> they can do they, they get, they can do things, right? Like they're, they're resilient and resourceful. So those are good, good traits, but anyway sure. Is it worth it? Yeah,

Speaker 3 (21:03):
This is Maria. I felt that because of my proximity to Drexel I'm from Philadelphia originally and being able to go back to school to Drexel, which really catered to career changers was the move because I needed the connections. So Drexel was very well connected in sports, which I loved my research project was in whew. It was, it was everything. We were calculating the intake and the VO two max, the R R and the, we did Dexus scans of professional and recreational athletes. And it was, it changed my whole life. Never saw myself in a lab, never saw myself going, speaking at ACSM, basically blacked out, but I didn't. I never saw myself working with, you know, the person who wrote my sports, nutrition textbook, like that's it was incredible. So in some ways I feel like schools would allow me to get where I am to realize not only do I really struggle with the nutrition program at my gym, but I can change it and I have the knowledge to do that.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
So I think for me, it gave me confidence and the program was so streamlined. It's two years with summers off so I could get lots of experience. And I was able to use my teaching degree to teach nutrition education in Philadelphia public schools, which I would not have had the ability to do without Drexel without the snap grants and the things like, you know, that come with those academic programs. However, what I do now does it require my RD. Does it require the years of schooling that I've since had to unlearn? There's a lot in dietetics that needs to be revamped. And I find I'm trying not to resentful of that, trying to be open minded. So there is some give and take with going back to school. And there's the take is obviously on your credit and your <laugh> your bank account.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
I was very lucky to have a partner who had a job with benefits. So in some ways I think could I have maybe reached out to Emily and said, this is something I'm interested in. Do you need an intern? Do you need like, maybe I could have gone that route and still achieved, you know, essentially the same work I'm doing now potentially, but I didn't. And I'm grateful for my journey and grateful I went back to school, but I don't necessarily think it is the only way mm-hmm <affirmative> to impact people, to remind them that their worth is not their weight. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> that they can eat more food. And here's why it's not proprietary. It's not something that is only made in a school classroom. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> so I think it really depends on what are you looking for? What programs are available to you, any streamline that process mm-hmm <affirmative> and you get an internship that's virtual that is flexible. That is affordable. Ultimately I think the field really gate keeps right. It keeps dieticians looking and talking the same. And so diversity is incredibly important for us to be able to, to help more people. And so maybe, maybe schooling isn't the end LPL to helping more people

Christa (23:51):
Experience brings steps. I just wanna bridge a couple things really quickly because you already had at least a bachelor's degree. Yes. So you were able to add on a master's degree and were you able to bundle in a, basically your long internship within those two years? Did you have to do that? In addition, I

Speaker 3 (24:05):
Had to do that in addition, and I also spent a year getting basic credits, like taking college level science again, because an English degree, I have English degree. Right. So I just like breezed through like life science mm-hmm <affirmative> oh gosh, sure. I'll just like <laugh> it's like, okay, sure. Had to redo a lot of classes or the last psychology class I took was in high school, AP psych. So I had to retake a lot. So for the first year I actually had to put in that grunt work of then getting into a master's program. But I did have the degree to start with, which was a helpful leg up mm-hmm

Christa (24:37):
<Affirmative> yeah. If you didn't have that, it would be a bit more time. It

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Would've been a four year four year degree process. So fortunately it was four years, but it was four years with the internship.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
I would imagine we all would agree that no matter if you go the R D route or another route, you need the physiology, the, the basic that's the depth, like how that's the body works.

Christa (25:00):
Yeah. That's the experience like, even if you have feelings about your education, you know, even as teachers, did you go to school and then jump in with what you used in college or did you have to learn other stuff? Anyway,

Speaker 3 (25:14):
This is Maria <laugh> and yes, you had to learn, you had to learn about personalities and classroom management outside of a vacuum. So there was so much, you had to learn by observing other people and having a mentor and having someone peek into your classroom and say, I don't think that's working for you. I'm sure that's what you learned in school, but that's actually not how it's gonna work here. So in so many ways, yes, there was a lot of external support that you just didn't apply. Everything you learned from a theory. Yeah.

Christa (25:41):
We just talked yesterday about like people get imposter syndrome and think they need XYZ. You do need to have skills in some capacity. You have to have some skills you can apply. Do you have anything to add to that, Kristen, as being a teacher and now doing what you're doing or do you feel like, I think like, no matter what, you're not gonna know what you're doing initially and that's why you seek mentorship, but

Speaker 6 (25:58):
Right. Well, for the longest time, like I have been a battle. Like I, I feel like I've grown up with some people that knew what they wanted to do with their life. And I had no idea and I was very good at music. I love music. I loved teaching music. When I went to school, when I finally became a teacher, I was like, oh my gosh, did I waste four years of my life? Like becoming a music education teacher. And I don't love this. Like, am I supposed to love my job? And so I felt lost for so long and then motherhood happened and like going back to school felt really daunting. And so find getting into the nutrition space, like helped me realize that I can lean into my talents that are creativity and really connecting with people and coaching. Like, I am really good at that and I can lean into that and I don't have to go back to school. I can work with someone who is a professional. And I think that's why I'm such a great team with Emily. Well, Emily squared, both Emily <laugh> because we're all great at something like, we all have our own skillset and we work really well together, cuz we're D we're great at something that's very different. And so we feed off of each other and it's fun. It's fun work.

Christa (27:11):
So by nature, we've already given some advice to early business owners, but like, what are you guys I'll just like, start back around and whoever wants to go. Like if you could tell in early, like when you watch, because Robin, you have a, you have a program that helps people get into integrative, functional nutrition and Kaylee, you do too. They are a little bit different programs. They're both wonderful. But you guys like see firsthand kind of what this looks like in people and what are the, the issues that you sometimes see or, or instead maybe cuing it up to like, what's your advice to someone that's trying to, or considering starting a business? Like what are things mistakes you see or advice you'd wanna give someone?

Speaker 2 (27:52):
I think imposter syndrome shows up in a lot of ways and that can really be something that holds someone back. Maybe that's holding them back from going even starting the business or doing something around marketing to get their first clients, or there's just a lot of ways that that can show up. And I think you have to be really gentle on yourself. This profession tends to be like kick yourself in the ass, which is not necessarily the way to get through imposter syndrome. So I mean, we can all chip in with advice on how to handle imposter syndrome, but that's just one area that I think go no knowing that everyone experiences it, everyone at this table, anytime you're doing something new, we all still feel that like that's part of entrepreneurship.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
And then I think it was interesting to hear two people with teaching backgrounds, getting into what you're doing now. And I think there's this misconception that you'll go through a program like your schooling and you'll come out like ready to help people. <Laugh> and you get no training on how to coach people on how to interface with real humans. And I think a lot of new practitioners that I see are like, God, I just spent all this time and money in this program. Why do I feel inept to actually coach people? And it's like helping people understand that you have to just jump in and start doing this because that's where you learn. And that's why you can go from like a teaching background to being a really great coach, because it's how you relate and help people. It's not something that's gonna be taught in a classroom. So it's like one knowing that we all go through this, we've all been there. Nobody comes outta school feeling like ready to coach people really well, but you have to be willing to start. I know that all of that learning happens like in real time with actual people, like nothing theoretical is gonna get you there. You

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Don't get to skip it. Like you don't get to skip not knowing what you're doing.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
No, it's uncomfortable and we wanna skip uncomfortable things, but you just can't <laugh>

Christa (29:42):
What about the kind this actually brought me back to like, oh, I forgot that my experience with this was like basically not getting paid and affiliating for a fitness brand for a second, because I was unhappy with myself. So sometimes your own journey. And actually I think that's where a lot of people decide that they're interested in nutrition or co like question, should I do this? And like, that's you Kristen? Right? That's probably many of us is like, I'm gonna try fixing myself or I'm gonna go on a journey of healing and fixing myself. And that's a useful, that's always important, always important your own experiences. But what do you guys think about nicheing for early businesses? Cause everyone's like, that's the answer to getting all the business is nicheing

Speaker 3 (30:24):
I started, this is Emily. I, as a reminder, started at a CrossFit gym and I literally was like I'll help anyone and just come at me, bro. Like, I will help you with your heart disease. I will help you with your cholesterol. I'll help you train for a triathlon. I'll help anyone. And what I quickly realize is like I've got a process and a method and a slant on nutrition that works for the right client. So you start matching up your process with the right client, but I could not have developed that if I didn't talk to a lot of people. So yeah, I mean, it's, it is a I guess, I guess we see in the space right now, a take on business coaching, which is form a niche, find your people. They will find you or help as many people as you can to get reps and learn your method. And I fall into that camp. I think that's the better advice, but that's really my experience. I don't know if anybody has any other experience where they started with the niche, but I think everyone at this table started with the reps. They started with the, whoever I can help. I will help them. It wasn't always a great fit. Like it was not great. It was not comfortable. There were, you know, I don't know. So I just think you, I think reps matter

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Totally. And it's not comfortable. It's also not fast that this is love that, but it's like the opposite of an area of business coaching for our field. That's like you immediately come in, you pick a very narrow niche and like stay in that space. And I wouldn't have found where I am now unless I was willing to help anyone and everyone in the beginning mm-hmm <affirmative> and be uncomfortable and take the time mm-hmm <affirmative>. And it's funny that all of us have done that. Mm-Hmm

Christa (32:00):
<Affirmative>, you've gotta figure

Speaker 4 (32:01):
Out, you gotta

Christa (32:02):
Figure out how to help people. If you, you can't, if you have just been doing diabetes education, which is the, a very common thing, you know, in clinical dietetics, you didn't get the opportunity to coach all kinds of other types of things. If you have RA or if you've got some other autoimmune condition or if you've got IBS, if you have never experienced those, how can you confidently say that you can help that? And if you can't help someone get results because you have no experience, your confidence is gonna plummet. And so is your bank account because I think like the most, like the thing that matters the most, which is really the same thing on like getting a job is like, you gotta have some skills mm-hmm <affirmative> and how are you gonna build skills if you don't suck at something first? Right. Well, and

Speaker 5 (32:39):
That we'll try it. Yeah. This is Emily Morris. I would add to that, that, so you can cast that net and see any clients in private practice, but in my world that was kind of jumping around between different job, different jobs. Like I wasn't seeing all those clients in private practice, but I worked in I wrote menus for jail jails all over the country. Like that was one of my jobs. And then I was in a, working for a health insurance company. And then I worked in like an outpatient setting. And so I had those experiences of seeing different clients and different types of, or different ways to practice nutrition. And I kept feeling like this isn't the right fit. This isn't the right fit until I finally, you know, found the good fit of like, I wanna work in private practice and have more flexibility with my job, but I wanna be behind the scenes. I don't wanna be that person. So whether that experience is working with different types of clients or just working in different jobs until you find what you like, I think there's kind two different avenues to see, to do that.

Christa (33:28):
If someone looks like they have become an overnight success or a really quick success, it's probably an exception or a facade,

Christa (33:39):
Laughter is the best medicine I'm gonna wrap the episode there and give you part two at the very beginning of next week. So you don't have to wait on the second part of this episode. Things that you'll get from there is coaching and mentorship conversations like Frank conversations about what you should do with getting help, getting to the next level of your career. And also what are some of the things that these women didn't know, they'd be telling their clients later in your career. So if you wanna have another good laugh, come back next week and make sure you hear part two. And if you found this episode helpful share with friends and please leave us review on iTunes, have a great week.