This week I was asked by a Holistic Nutritionist Student to be a part of her school project which was to interview a successful Holistic Nutritionist. It was ironic that the interview was scheduled for a day that turned out to be a complete disaster.
Being an entrepreneur in any field including one as wonderful, lovely, spiritual and beautiful as Holistic Nutrition has some rough days. That’s right folks it’s not all rainbows, unicorns and butterflies.
There are some really challenging parts of being an entrepreneur. Adding to the complications of creating a business, growing a business, running a business is the fact that I work mainly online. It is rough out there. lol.
You have your trolls.
You have your random haters.
You have your copy cats.
And just a whole lot of unfair practices that you have to be up against every single day. You have to have a tough skin and you have to genuinely love what you do to continue every single day.
On this particular day Google decided it didn’t like me. That’s right Google switched up what they like about people today and I am just not vibing with them at the moment. So they punished me and by punished me I mean cut my traffic in half.
This is traffic and viewership I have worked my whole career on creating every single day. For many years every waking hour. So you can imagine the mental state I was in today when I had to do an interview with this sweet, hopeful, fresh entrepreneur.
What I learned from this cruel twist of fate is no matter how many times I get kicked in the face I genuinely love what I do and it’s the only reason I experience any success. That, and I will always get back up.
If you are looking at starting a business in any field but especially those working in the wellness, health, online niche below may be of interest to you. It is my deeply genuine interview on the worst of days.
For anyone starting a business I wish you so much love and light.
Buy a rain coat, some tissues and some champagne. You’ll need all three.
The Truth About Running a Health and Wellness Business Online
1. What motivated you to become a Holistic Nutritionist?
The personal desire to heal my own body and life.
2. How long have you been practicing?
5 Years.
3. Can you describe the setting in which you practice? (Clinic, Online, Home, etc)
Fully online.
4. How do you attract the majority of your clients?
Creating a name and brand for myself has taken good old fashion hard work. Through writing, recipe creation, personal coaching, providing free online resources, consistently motivating others and living a true holistic lifestyle myself (leading by example) I have created a wonderful community that now knows me.
5. What types of marketing do you do? Which techniques would you say is the most successful at drawing new clients?
I do all of the above – The most successful is the combination of everything and being consistent with who I am and what my brand is. Time and consistency is what I would say.
6. Who is your target audience/ niche? How did you decide to specialize in this area?
I work with women between the ages of 18-55 who are looking to lose weight in a healthy, natural way. I basically let my following find me. I started more broad and then narrowed in as I saw who my demographic was going to be.
7. Approximately how much do your charge for your services? How did you develop your pricing scheme?
It is hard for me to answer this question, as I don’t have specific price point for individual consultations. If I were doing hourly consultations at this point I would charge $175 for the first hour. This is based on helping thousands of women all over the world with a consistent method and being in demand.
8. Have you diversified your services or started to sell products that compliment your services to supplement your income? (If yes, which products / If no, why not?)
Yes, I have multiple ebooks and ebook cookbooks and this year will be publishing a cookbook and launching some apps.
9. What were the three biggest challenges in setting up your practice? How did you overcome them?
1) First, it doesn’t happen overnight. I was so passionate and excited when I first got started and I thought the whole world should want to listen to me lol. It’s just not how it works. It takes time to develop your brand and your own clientele.
2) The learning curve of the whole marketing world – I found it initially very frustrating and disheartening that there were so many emulators, fakes and ill-indented individuals in the weight loss world. It took a while for me to adjust and explain to my audience that this isn’t a quick fix or another diet.
3) Fully understanding that being a Holistic Nutritionist is being an entrepreneur whether you work for someone else or you work for yourself. You have to learn to create your own opportunities, show the world your strengths and be a complete individual in this industry.
10. What has been the greatest reward in setting up your practice?
Helping others. Whenever someone says that something I’ve done, said or taught him or her has enriched their life in anyway it brings my heart so much joy.
11. If you could go back to the beginning of setting up your practice and starting again- is there anything that you would do differently?
Yes. I would relax. I would outsource more. I did a lot on my own that I probably should have delegated to other people. I would keep my eyes in my own lane. I would think bigger, faster. I would be more confident in my individuality.
12. Do you have any advice for someone starting a practice in the field of holistic health?
Be yourself. Do not follow other people. To get ahead in this industry that is so saturated right now you have to stand out. Work really hard each day and focus on your intention for starting. You will be led to do what you have to do to be successful.
13. What are three highlights of your journey?
1) Every time someone sends me a note saying that I’ve done anything beneficial in their life.
2) Bethenny Frankel sharing one of my recipes.
3) The first year I was able to support my family.
14. What are the top three reasons for success?
For my success:
1) I genuinely desire to help people live their best lives.
2) Having a deep understanding the of struggles around food, wellness and real life issues that people face.
3) I won’t give up. Being an entrepreneur in any field there are a lot of ups and downs especially when you don’t have financial backing or major support but one thing I’ve learned that if you genuinely believe in what you are doing and you refuse to stay lying down at one point or another you will succeed. Just always get back up.
