Resources mentioned in this episode:

👉 Register For Clients Week Here

👉 Start The Profitable Practice Free Course Here

👉 Learn About The Profitable Nutritionist Program

👉 Apply for The Mastermind

Episode Summary:

Welcome back to the “What I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started My Business” series! 

Today I’m welcoming my student Amy White to share the evolution of her 12 year business as a board certified holistic nutritionist, including how her client filters have changed over the years.

She has great nuggets of wisdom to give regarding working with other practitioners in a clinical setting and structuring those long-term referral relationships. Enjoy!

Connect with Amy: 

Website

Instagram - @thesimplicityofwellness

Facebook

Transcript:

Note: The transcription below was provided for your convenience. Please excuse any typos or mistakes the automated service made in translation.

Andrea Nordling 0:00
My friend Welcome back. It is officially September it is officially post Labor Day. And it is officially time to get back to work. Set how you're feeling. That's kind of how I'm feeling. It's not to September yet, as I'm recording this for you. But I know that it will be when you get this and I know that I'm going to be feeling all of the fall feels the day that this comes out. So let me tell you a little bit about the episode that is in store for you today. I just had the pleasure of interviewing one of my students in the profitable nutritionist program. Her name is Amy white, she is a wealth of information about growing a thriving holistic nutrition practice, because she has done it and she tells us all about it in this episode. In particular, Amy and I had a lot of fun talking about the different types of clients that she worked with in the beginning of her practice, and which is 12 years old, and then how that has changed over time to the type of clients that she works with. Now, she had a lot to say on this. And I loved the timing of this discussion. Because if you do not know if you're not aware, I'm going to tell you right now, starting next week on September 12, it's a Monday, we are doing a huge free five day training called clients week. And in the clients week training you are getting actual material from inside my paid program the profitable nutritionist, where I teach you exactly how to speak to your easiest clients, what to say to them, literally the words to say to them in your copy, or in your verbal conversations, what to say to these clients, and exactly how to craft your marketing message so that you are attracting the highest quality clients that are ready to get started with you right away. That's what clients week is all about, you absolutely have to reserve your seat for the free training. It doesn't happen very often. But next week, starting September 12 is go time. Okay, clients week is exactly what you need, if you specially if you resonate with this episode. If you need more clients in your life, or you need higher quality clients in your life, you need clients week, but if anything that Amy says as you're listening to her story, and what she's working on now in her business, and how that has all changed, if it lands for you, then you absolutely for sure need to be signed up for clients week. So go to build a profitable practice.com/clients and register to save your seat for the free training. If you're listening to this in real time, it's happening next week. And if you are listening in the future, make sure that you are getting my emails so that you are notified via email of future free trainings as they happen. Okay, without further ado, I have to take you to this interview with Amy, which was just full of gems, I know that you're gonna get so much out of it. So enjoy. So Amy, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast with this special episode all about all of the mistakes that you've made every single one of them we want to know all about every bad thing you've done in your business. I'm just kidding. But thank you for coming on and sharing any little tips or tricks that you have that you can share.

Amy White 3:01
Yeah, my pleasure. I hope I have some tips and tricks.

Andrea Nordling 3:06
I am sure that you do. So let's start with just a little background on your holistic nutrition business. When did you start? Is this something that you always wanted to do? Was it a spur of the moment? I would I just would love to hear kind of your your origin story there. Yeah. So

Amy White 3:21
it was not something that I always wanted to do. In fact, it was something I knew nothing about. I kind of stumbled into it. Like, for real, like somebody said to me, you need my daughter had some health issues. And we weren't having any success with our regular doctor or the experts. And somebody said, You need to go see this nutritionist and I said I don't even know what that is. But okay, we're in I'll do whatever it takes. And so that was my first introduction to this idea of a nutritionist. And I thought, huh, and it was it was interesting, you know that that time it was over 12 years ago, she basically told us that my daughter had to stop eating gluten. And of course, we were like, what, okay, and so we just went and bought everything we could find at Whole Foods that's a gluten free on it, you know, every packaged item, which is, as everyone probably listen to your podcast knows that's not really the right thing to do. However, it made a significant difference in how she felt. So all of a sudden, I was like, Wait a second, what is happening? How is food having this kind of an impact? And that's when I dived into this rabbit hole and I thought I need to know everything about food and what it's doing to the body. And so, you know, as years have gone on, she's adapted her diet more and she's, you know, she knows what works for her and what doesn't work for her and whatever. But that was sort of when I realized, and we were in Chicago at the time and I said to my husband I had run out of things to read and I said I think I'm gonna need to go back to school because I need a reading list. I need a syllabus and he was like, okay, so I started looking at all the universities that surrounded us. We're literally surrounded. And it just kept coming up with our D programs registered dieticians. And I kept looking at the syllabus, and I kept thinking, well, this is kind of what I'm learning is exactly the opposite of what. And so then I was like, but I nutritionist, right? So I have to do this program. But how does that work? And then I finally stumbled upon the phrase holistic nutritionist. And then I was like, Oh, hold on. So then I started researching that. And that's when I found the program I wanted to do, which was very different. And so I ended up getting my master's degree in holistic nutrition. Yeah, you know, when that happens, all you want to do is help everybody, right? You look around, you're like, oh, I can help you. Oh, I know what's going on here. Ooh. And so I sort of did that while I was going through school and working with friends and family and anybody who, you know, wanted free advice, basically. So that's kind of how it started. And then I honestly didn't have any idea how I was going to make it into a business. It just sort of, I was just kind of kept working towards my degree kept looking at other things, I needed other certifications. So I was doing that as well, simultaneously, you know, finishing my program, but then also doing these other things on the side. And it was just clearly a tunnel of never ending certifications is what I was looking at. And that was very safe, right? Because then I didn't have to have clients or I didn't have to charge because well, I'm not, you know, I'm not really done yet. So free advice is really what I should be doing. Of course, and quite frankly, I don't know if that would have changed. Except that when I moved to California, I saw a doctor, a local doctor here. And then my husband went and saw the doctor. And then they said, Hey, isn't your wife a nutritionist? And he said, Yes, she is. And they said, We need to talk to her because we need to hire a nutritionist. And so that happened. And so that's when all of a sudden it became more of a job. And yeah, so that was kind of where the big shift was. And I would say that that for me was also when I realized, I was so afraid when I had to sit down with a patient and work with them one on one, I was just terrified. But that went away, the more people I saw it and it became so and fun and exciting. And then I have been working for him for nine years. And so I didn't know it had

Amy White 7:29
been that long. Neither did I until I started doing the math. And I'm like, Oh my God, I've been working for him for nine years. And in all that time, I've had this opportunity to work one on one with hundreds, I should probably count now how many people maybe 1000s, I'd probably hundreds of people. And so I had that chance to kind of repeat everything that I say constantly. And I'm like, and then watching it working and then having you know him come to me and go, I can run this practice without you and being like, oh, okay, so this is actually making a difference. And, and so that's when I and I at the same time I was sort of and I told them, I'm running my own private practice as well. But I was definitely seeing way more patients and I still do see way more patients than I do privately. And a lot of those patients are now shifting over and becoming private clients as well. Oh,

Andrea Nordling 8:22
yeah. Okay, so I think that people are going to be really interested about this. I know that people have a lot of questions about partnering with other practitioners and getting referrals from other practitioners. So I don't even know my exact question here. But can you talk us through like anything that you've learned from that experience that might be helpful for someone else that's looking at a relationship like that?

Amy White 8:41
Well, it was, well, it was very interesting, because they hired me as a medical tech, like an assistant. And they were paying me like that, like, you know, I was expecting, I was charging a lot of money for my time, you know, when I was having clients at that time, which was very few and far between, but I was charging a decent amount of money that I thought and it still wasn't very much. I think I was charging, like, maybe $90 a session or something. And so then they hired me, and they they were they were like, Okay, well, we'll pay you $18 an hour. And I was just like what I'm like, and she's like, that's not what you were thinking. And I'm like, No, I was thinking a lot more than that. And then so anyway, we settled on $20 an hour. That's what I got hired for $20 an hour. And I was just like, Okay, well, you know, it's good experience. I want to try this and see what it feels like. And, and I was I was not confident, right? So I was just like, Okay, you want to pay me Trumpcare how are you? Let's do $20 an hour. And as it turned out, it wasn't that I was in the office all day, I would only come to the office when they had a new patient, which was you know, several patients turned out to be a couple patients a day. So it wasn't like I was in the office for eight hours or anything. I would come in meet with my patient. And then if I had another patient back to back I'd stay. If I had one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I'd kind of you know, go do air ones go home come back, we finally figured out a schedule so that I had my patients kind of always at the same time, so I wasn't in and out, or just hanging around, because I could also do that in between patients, and then they have to pay me for that time. But So this went on for a couple of years. And I just kept saying to myself, well, this is okay, because I'm, I'm learning so much, and I'm building my confidence. And I'm really learning how to work individually with people. And, you know, so that was great. But at the same time, so this is weird. I was also. So I used to meet with new patients, and then I'd meet with them a month later, always. And then they change the schedule. And I only met with a new patient that first time, unless they wanted to get on my schedule, and they would book with me separately as the health coach. And so I wouldn't see them after I met them that first time. And so there was a period of time, probably years, where I just kind of kind of went in the dumps. And I thought I don't think I have no confidence. I don't think I know what I'm doing. I don't think this is helping I, you know, nothing. And I sort of mentioned it one day to some of the other women in the office. And they were like, What, are you kidding me? These people come back in a month, and they've lost like all this weight and they feel amazing. And they're all balut Baba, and all this stuff that no one was ever sharing with me. So there is something to that, right, you you kind of do need feedback, and I was getting none. And then I don't know how many, you know, it's been? Maybe it was two or three years into it. Maybe I don't know, because it's been like I said, I had no idea what's even been nine years. And the doctor came to me and he was just came into my office. And he was just like, I need you to understand. And this was well, he had no idea it had a conversation with anybody. And I don't even remember when that was this was completely separate. Because you need to understand that I cannot run this practice without you. He said what you're doing is amazing. And my my patients are so happy. And anyway, he she bumped my salary up to $75 an hour.

Andrea Nordling 11:56
So that was nice. Love it. Yeah, so

Amy White 11:58
I'm actually so that's still when he pays me $75 an hour. And for me, I feel like it's totally worth it. I'm not looking for clients, I'm not rounding people up. You know, I just get these people like served me on a silver platter. And it's super fun. And everybody's a little bit different men, women, sometimes teenagers. And it's really cool. And then this year, you know, I said, you know, I have this program that I run it's a 12 week program. I said, Do you think it would be a good idea? Or how do you feel about offering that as an option to the patients? And so this year 2022, he was like, Yes, do that. Tell them that you can, you know, do this with them if they want it. So I've had now patients sign on to my 12 week program from his office, which is so cool.

Andrea Nordling 12:43
That is so cool. So is this a an alternative medicine clinic? Or is this like Western medicine? I don't know what that was so interesting.

Amy White 12:52
Enough, he is a general practitioner, but he specializes in hormone replacement therapy now. Yeah, so very interesting. But he so he thinks of himself as more of a functional medicine doctor now because he's all about whole body health and food nutrition lifestyle. And that's what I'm there for. And so he often will get patients in who want to talk to him about understanding hormone balance and all that. And he'll say, you know, at this point, you're not somebody that I think would tolerate that kind of a treatment he said, or that kind of a protocol, you need to talk to Amy first and you need to work on diet and lifestyle. So often he'll push patients along over to me before he'll even talk to them about doing anything with balancing hormones or whatever.

Andrea Nordling 13:44
Oh, that's incredible. Yeah. So okay, I love this so much. I love the there's there's a lot of threads we could pull on. But what standing out to me is that you were willing to just get a lot of practice, while building your own practice in the background. We'll use the word practice as many times as we can in one sentence, but you were willing to just get experience and clients and like you said they were served up to you on a silver platter. You were not making a ton of money doing it. But you were getting a lot of experience. I absolutely love that. But then in the background, you are also taking your own clients and now have since built out your 12 week program, which is a grip. Yes. You want to tell everyone a little bit about that journey? Yes.

Amy White 14:21
So let me say two things First, when I was working for him at the very beginning, as that medical tech, and then he come into my office and then he would say Okay, so here's what I want you to do. This is what you know, they need to have this this I want you to tell them this and I want you to put them on this diet and this this not. And so at first I was kind of like Okay, so this is good. He's guidance, you know, whatever. And if anything happens, it's his fault, because it's all whatever. And then eventually I got to a point where I was like, yeah, that's no, he's wrong. I don't think that's what they need. He's also a doctor, right? So he come into my office with a supplement List of 12 things and then In this crazy, like, they need to stop eating this and do this and all these things that this patient was going to completely freeze up and paralyze over. And they were going to take no supplements. And so I would take pics there, I started taking that list and knocking it down to three things. And I'm like, here's the three things I want you to start with. And so eventually, he came into my office and started to spiel, and I looked at him, and I said, I don't agree with you. And if you want to be the nutritionist, then you should do that, because there's no reason for you to pay me. And that was the end of that ever. Now, he just would go, okay, so you say, you know, make sure that they're eating a healthy diet, and, you know, whatever. And so he kind of just, he finally backed off and let me do my thing. But it was interesting for a little while, I kind of let that go. And then I finally just said, No, if you want me to, if you want to pay me, I need to do what I do. So that's, that's that. So anyway, I've had these years right of talking these people over and over, basically saying the same thing, there was a lot of metabolic imbalance, there was a lot of type two diabetes, there was a lot, you know, of all this, you know, insulin resistance, there was a lot of obesity, that's what I was seeing, this is my favorite stuff. And so I was able to kind of dial that in and get people to, you know, within three months, their triglycerides went from 500 to 80, you know, and I was seeing them, take these pre diabetic lab markers back to like, Oh, you don't have pre diabetes. Even people, you know, they'd be on blood pressure medication, no more blood pressure, all of this, but I was seeing the results because he was doing lab work. And I wish I could have done lab work. But it was so easy, because he was just doing it. And I'm like, yeah, in three months. So I ended up putting together a 12 week program, because I knew those three months was what it would take to actually adjust somebody like that's what it would take those three months, you could actually see change. And so I started doing this offering a 12 week coaching program. And very quickly, I transitioned that coaching program into a 12 week group program, which I know you always say, Don't do group program first, you know, you have to work with people. But I kind of feel like I just went right to the program. But I didn't. I had all these years. Yeah, I had all these years.

Andrea Nordling 17:11
Okay, that's how you have the 12 month group. But I've just worked with this doctor, how I think I would be wondering if I was listening to this, and I kind of am wondering how many hours a week are you working at that clinic versus in your own business,

Amy White 17:24
I'm only so I probably see one new patient a day now. And it's usually an hour and a half. So an hour and a half a day for him is what I do. And then in my business, everything else is. So I'm doing an hour and a half with that patient. And then I'm in my office at home kind of all day, because I'm trying to you know, continue to build my private practice. So I'm trying to build my coaching business. So, you know, it's I do two group calls a week, so I do an afternoon or evening call. And then I do a lunchtime call only because some people, I've met people all over the country. So I have different time for time zones. And so some people can do a lunchtime one more so than do an evening one or whatever. So I do both of those. So there's an hour two hours a day that I do with group, group people. And my group's tiny like, you know, it fluctuates right now I have I only have 565 people in my group. I have a call today with another potential client. And then I have two people I need to circle back with in the beginning of August. But interestingly enough, there's another doctor in town who I haven't met who is now recommending me. Is that incredible? Yeah. So that's the call I have today without patient of hers. So that's kind of fun. I was like, I don't know how that happened. But okay.

Andrea Nordling 18:50
Yeah. Cuz people are getting results in their talkin. That's the best kind of marketing ever. Yeah, so

Amy White 18:56
that's what's going on. But again, I so what do I really want in my group program? Well, I probably would like to see 1010 people at all times kind of flowing through. But I stopped doing launches, because I just was like, I just want to have it ongoing and running partially so that I could make sure that any patients from the doctor's office could just seamlessly kind of jump in when they were ready. But you know, I've been doing that now for six months. And I'm not seeing the numbers that I want. So I think I need to reevaluate now and kind of maybe go back to a launch model, right? So just test, evaluate, adjust. So I'm kind of back to sort of thinking about how I want to adjust my my marketing, I guess, but more, but I'm also always working on my language and what I'm taught how I say things, and I feel like that's getting better and better. But I'm still it's not totally dialed in.

Andrea Nordling 19:47
Yeah, it's never totally dialed in, though. That's why it's always still a fun puzzle to keep working on. We never get the final piece.

Amy White 19:55
Right, right. It's just how do I say the same thing again, but in a different way. As you know, literally the way I'm saying it isn't necessarily hitting. I don't know, I don't know. So curious. I do feel like the clients that I'm getting, though, are much more dialed in to my ideal client.

Andrea Nordling 20:13
Okay, let's talk about that a little bit. I was going to I was going to ask you what you're currently working on in your business, it sounds like marketing. So let's run with that a little. I know that you have such a good perspective on this because we've talked about it before I should say this We have actually met in real life you guys I've met me in real life in person, we had dinner together, we had like real hugged in actual real life at a conference a few months ago. And we talked about this. So I would love to hear any wisdom that you have to share about your like working with easiest clients versus working with hardest clients and what that has looked like for you.

Amy White 20:49
It's It's so interesting, and I am at that point. Now the so I do what you do. I don't advertise on Facebook, I don't advertise anywhere, mostly because I got completely blackballed. I'm afraid if I could, I probably would. And I'd be wasting money because it never worked. So I do just my organic email list. And I am the person now that watches my email list. And when people unsubscribe, I'm like, Oh, thank God, you know, thank God, they're not there anymore. Because clearly they were not my they are not my people. And so I feel like my email list is definitely shifting more toward people who appreciate what they're getting and respond to me occasionally, occasionally, still crickets. But they do occasionally respond is that's fun. But where was I going? Hardest clients, right. So that's one of the things I've started to be able to understand is who's not going to fit. So my program obviously is not a, you know, let's drop 20 pounds in the next 30 days, it's not a quick fix at all, it's definitely for those who are interested in more than anything feeling better. Like they just want to really feel good. And then there's everybody wants to lose weight. So then the weight loss is part of that package. But it's not the, it's not the thing on top. And the when I get people who say to me, I just really need to, I want to change how I eat, I want to feel really good. And I want to know I'm eating really, you know, the right way. Those are my people. And then they're like, I mean, I want to lose about 20 pounds, that's usually the second thing they'll mention. And I'm like, Uh huh. Okay, now we're talking. But the people who are like, Oh, my God, I have this wedding coming up. And I mean, I need to lose this weight. And I at least I mean, I have three months, but I have to lose this weight for that gotta get to this wedding, and blah, blah, blah. And you know, and I had one person who said, everyone is going to be looking at me, and I'm like, I didn't know, you know, the bride is gonna be looking at you. But you know, there's that kind of crazed mentality, sort of like, oh, you know, and they seem kind of frantic. And they're very focused on the scale, and they can't, you know, they can't kind of break away from that these. So I'm starting to recognize those people are just, they're not my people, they're somebody else's people, for sure. And that's awesome. But they're not my people, I they're just, they're gonna like, in the group, they're gonna change the energy and freak everyone out.

Andrea Nordling 23:11
Totally, oh, I think that that clarity is so helpful to maintain, especially in a group to maintain the vibe that you want, and like the culture that you want for your group. And that's another consideration about transitioning from working with one on one clients into a group or a program, or somewhere where you have a lot of people together is to be very clear about the culture that you want to create within that group and how to maintain it as the leader, because just a few, a few weird situations like that can really change the whole dynamic of the group if you're not aware of it. So I think that that's yeah, good to mention it. You

Amy White 23:47
know, it's interesting, too, because recently in in January, I got a big group that started in January, and one of the women in the group was actually pretty sick, like unwell. Like she was constantly at the doctor's, she was constantly getting checked. And she ended up having had, I think, two operations. And, you know, there was a lot going on. And it was so interesting, because she was lovely, she was such a nice person, and she's wonderful. And she's super, she's in my Facebook group. And she's, you know, she's graduated from my program, and she's had success, but she's always always comments on my posts, and she's always emailing me back and telling me, you know, I love this email and giving me updates on how she's doing. And but it was so interesting, because somebody asked me this a really long time ago, they said, Do you want to work with sick people? Or do you want to work with healthy people? And I was just like, Well, I think I have to work with sick people, right? And they're like, No, and I all of a sudden, I was like, oh, I want to work with healthy people. And so that is a difference like in my group, there's typically everybody's pretty healthy you know, they you know, some people have a lot of weight to lose like over 50 pounds but still healthy, like they're still like, walking or exercising or you know, It's so that's something now that I watch for too, is where they are on that spectrum of health.

Andrea Nordling 25:07
That's so so good. I want to say that I think on a an early coaching call maybe I think it would have been over a year ago. Now, you mentioned that I remember, I remember this, this is sparking a memory for me where you were like, No, I work with healthy people that want to feel even better. The way that you articulated was so confident and it was so certain, and that just stuck with me.

Amy White 25:28
Yeah, it was probably nine years ago, before I was even working for that doctor, with this health coach, or this life coach, I guess she was just asked me that question. And I was just like, my, and I still obviously think about it, right? It's just like, do you want to work with sick people? Or do you want to work with healthy people? I'm like, wow, that's a choice. That's a choice I get to make. She's like, Yeah, you get to decide, okay, well, healthy people are easy, sick, people are hard. And I would like to work with healthy people that, you know, their energy is good. And they're excited. And you know, yeah.

Andrea Nordling 26:01
And I would think that you have much, maybe I'm taking a leap here. But I would think that in the clinical setting that you work in, you get less healthy people. Is that true?

Amy White 26:10
Yeah. Oh, sure. Yes, it's very, yes, it's interesting. And occasionally, we get pretty healthy people. And I can tell when by the supplement list that he's knocked out, if there's three things, and I'm like, Oh, this is a healthy person, if there's two things, I'm like, oh, boy, here we go.

Andrea Nordling 26:25
You can see your fair share of the of the sicker people

Amy White 26:29
I do. So I go to sick people through him. And that actually is awesome. Because it's not quite as scary in a sense, because I know they're under a doctor's care. I know they're being watched. And I know, you know, and I also know, the things that I'm going to recommend and suggest for them are not in any way harmful, they're going to they're gonna benefit from it. Right. At the same time, I still have that, you know, safety net of them checking in with the doctor, I know, they're gonna see him again, in four weeks.

Andrea Nordling 26:58
I think it's just so helpful to remind people that you really do have that choice. I know a lot of people, especially when you're starting your business might feel this way, that it's that you're gonna get, how do I want to say this, like, you're going to get in over your head, and all of this, like, give me to get someone that whose case is so complex, and they are so sick, and I'm not going to know how to handle it. And I'm not going to know who to refer to. And that's just paralyzing that fear is, so I think it's like a such a good nugget to remind people that you don't have to work with sick people, you can only work with healthy people that want to be even healthier. That's totally, or

Amy White 27:33
if you're working with sick people, you know, you pick your niche, right? I know that, you know, you don't have to pick a niche. But if you are, if you work with sick people, and you're like I specifically work with thyroid issues, or I specifically work with gut health, or I specifically work with migraines, or whatever your thing is, you can get really, really good at that thing. But if you're like taking like it with me at the beginning, it was like, oh, it's all about autoimmune diseases and gut health. And that's just huge. And it's broad. Well, it is gut health in general, then there's this fear that I'm not going to be able to help them or I'm not really sure what to do. And now I need a new certification. And now I need to get this certification. And I have to get this one. And I was constantly running in that, you know, rabbit hole, trying to find certifications to make myself feel like, Oh, I think I can help them. Oh, I know what to do. And always looking for that perfect formula, which there isn't, you know, and even before I met you, I was always still looking for the next program looking for the next thing. And I think that was the biggest change for me. In the last year or two years now, a year and a half, probably since I met you was that I I stopped looking for new certifications, I stopped looking for business programs, I stopped spending money on all this extra stuff. I just stopped and quite frankly, my bank account has never been bigger. All of a sudden, I'm making money and it's staying in my bank account. And so but I just it, all of a sudden I settled and I just kind of went I can you know, you always say, tell them, I can help you. And I just That's my mantra now in my own head, I can help them I can help you. I can. And I just and I just look at it that way instead of going, what else do I need to know to help this person? I'm like, nope, nope, I can help them. I can help them. Yeah, absolutely. And

Andrea Nordling 29:25
then the, the the more you practice that the more you realize that they want the help. You're not convincing them that they want help. They already want the help. They're already raising their hand saying but could you help me me ready?

Amy White 29:38
Or stop chasing the people that don't want the help? Because that's kind of what also happens at the beginning is you look at everybody and most of those people aren't looking for help even though they need it.

Andrea Nordling 29:49
Yes, though such a good distinction. Yes. And there are plenty of people that are looking for the help they just don't know where to find you kind of a rabbit hole topic here but I have been talking to several People in different industries recently, and this keeps coming up there, they are asking me a bit like, this is something I kind of need to explore for myself, but I'll say it here first. They're asking me, How do I get into the network? I'm like, What do you mean, the network? And this is coming from several people, they're like, you know, like the underground network, where you find like the people to work with? How do I find that? How do I find the people? I'm like, This is so interesting. There's so many people that just do not know, like you said in the beginning, like they don't know the term holistic nutritionist to even find what it is they want. They know that it's not a dietician that they want, but they don't term about what it is that they do want. We have to remember this, that people are looking for the solution we offer, they maybe just don't know where to find it. They don't know how to plug into what they think is the underground network. And it kind of is let's not like, let's be clear. And they don't know the terms.

Amy White 30:50
Yeah, I didn't I had somebody else tell me. I was like, Well, I don't know what that is. Yeah, that's so interesting. But I know. So I, yeah,

Andrea Nordling 31:00
it's just so good. Okay, I have enough for you. Kind of a specific question. I know, we've talked on a lot of things that probably could be the answer to this. But I'm very specifically curious, what would you tell someone who's just starting out with their holistic nutrition business, to help them avoid some of the mistakes that you made? Is there anything that jumps out at you?

Amy White 31:17
I would just say try to if and I personally, I would say try to get very specific with one thing that you're passionate about, like, what's the one thing about health that you're passionate about? Are you passionate about gut health? Are you passionate about thyroid imbalance? So you're passionate about migraines? I don't know, you know, whatever it is, get really focused on that thing. So you're feeling so good and confident that you're the go to person like, because that was where I didn't do that. And I spent years just kind of all over the place, I felt like it was very, I felt very spread very thin. And I feel like now I have that focus. For me, it's it's metabolic balance. It's that, you know, insulin resistance, whatever. And it's so much fun, because I can really dial up really down into that, and I can, so that would be the thing. I felt like for years, I just was all over the place. I'm like, I'm the jack of all trades, I can do it all. And it's it's a lot. It's a lot, yeah, get discouraged. And you never feel like you're actually good at anything. And, you know, you're you're, you're you do have so many things, you're not actually good at any of them.

Andrea Nordling 32:34
So what do you think was the turning point that shifted you from trying to do all of the things into really owning the metabolic health as your niche and that was a

Amy White 32:44
foreign people? Yeah, that was definitely the doctor's office, for sure. Because those were the people that I was seeing, and those are the people that I was watching have these really crazy results. So I was like, Oh, I know how to help these people. I this I can do. So that for me, and also for me, I mean, I'm 55 now and I've been able to dial in my own metabolic health over the last 10 years, my husband 65. And he's like, in the best health and shape of his entire life. So not only do I see it happening with the people I'm working with, but I've I get to use myself as my own personal experiment and watch and see what works and doesn't work and how you tweak things. And yeah, and then yeah, so I would say the doctor's office helped because I was able to really see transformation.

Andrea Nordling 33:34
Yeah, I think that for a lot of people owning their specialty, it comes down to just not believing and not wanting to make that choice comes down to not believing that there are enough people that will want that special, that specialized help, right. I

Amy White 33:48
mean, there's plenty everybody out there is doing weight loss and metabolic health, myself included. But you know, it's okay, everybody does it. That's probably one of the bigger lessons also I've learned in the last couple of years is everybody does it different. And I'm not, I'm very different than the next person. And you just have to, I just had a patient yesterday was talking to and, and she, you know, we were just whatever it was, she doesn't necessarily follow kind of the pattern that I would look at. I'm very protein focused, and she's a plant based eater, but I was like, that's awesome. You know, I said, that's great. It's working for you. You feel amazing. You know, it works for you. I don't want to mess with that. We don't mess with that. And she's like, Oh, thank God, because I was talking to some other women. And they were so militant on having to follow exactly what they're doing. And I was like, yeah, no, you know, and so you do find the people that kind of, you know, connect with you. And everybody's very different.

Andrea Nordling 34:51
Ya know, it's so true people can, people can offer the exact same thing and it and they have completely different clients just because of the way that they connect or don't connect with certain people and the words that they say and the way that they message and just their personality it there's enough for everybody. It's a very, very big pie. Unfortunately the world, it's not well, by and large, it's a very, very big pie. We all have a piece of it.

Amy White 35:16
Yeah, yeah, no, that's definitely an learn something I learned. And it took a long time to just trust that my people are out there.

Andrea Nordling 35:25
Your people totally are out there. Okay. So on that note, I have one final question for you. I hope I don't take you by surprise with this one. But this is something I'm curious about. Where do you see your business three years from now?

Amy White 35:37
Um, well, I see my business actually, in three years thriving. And I really see. And maybe this isn't necessarily a good thing. But I see myself being very busy. So in three years, I really see my husband's retired and I really see me as the person that's now working and, you know, confusing our vacation plans. Because I've been busy. But I also see him working for me. And he even said that, he even said he wanted to do that. So once he retires, he wanted to kind of help maybe with the business part of this, which would be so great. I would love that. But yeah, so I sort of see this as a bigger deal. And it being more of a family focused thing between the two of us. But much busier, like I do see me having to cap my groups, you know, at certain points, because there's not enough room for somebody else to join. For sure. I actually see that when a year not even in three years. So in three years, I'll have that dialed in.

Andrea Nordling 36:38
Yeah, and maybe more of a program instead of the closed group.

Amy White 36:42
Yeah, I think that in three years, I'll probably have something, I'll have my my group, but also then have something that's more of a DIY thing that I sell, to get people prepared for group if they didn't want to move into that.

Andrea Nordling 36:54
And I love that you are not in a hurry to create that right now. By the way, congratulations. But for you.

Amy White 37:01
Yeah, I think I gotta get this group like rolling. More, more. So

Andrea Nordling 37:07
yeah, but it's well on its way for sure. And I know this because we coach on this periodically, and I can see the change on the different kinds of questions that you're asking. And clearly your marketing is getting very, very, very dialed in. Which means and that's

Amy White 37:23
how it's getting there, but it's not there. So I'm it's kind of and I have to just continue to look at that as this fun thing that I get to play with and see what happens.

Andrea Nordling 37:31
Yeah. But yeah. Oh, so exciting. Okay, anything else that we didn't cover that you think the world needs to know about? Oh,

Amy White 37:39
I don't think so. I think I think that we covered a lot and I hopefully it was there was some nuggets to take away there. I don't know there was definitely

Andrea Nordling 37:48
were many of them. I just think it's so helpful to see how windy of a road we can take in our business. And it's okay. It doesn't you know, you didn't anticipate that you were going to work in a clinic but you have it has been great experience. And it's led to these other opportunities, one of which coming out a phone call today for you so excited. I just I love the transparency behind that. So thank you for sharing. Now what find you.

Amy White 38:12
So I'm so I'm Amy white, but my business is called the simplicity of wellness. And you can find me on Instagram. You can find me on Facebook, you can find my website. It's all the simplicity of wellness. It's I'm on Twitter, I'm on LinkedIn. I do not tweet much. I'm more of a lurker. I use Twitter to find scientific studies actually that's a place where I watch to see what studies pop up so that's where I kind of how I use Twitter. And just the noise is out there. See what's going on what's hot. What just popped up? Yeah.

Andrea Nordling 38:46
Got it. Yeah. Thank you for sharing some of your time with us today. I'm so appreciative. I know everyone is going to be just loving this episode and loving hearing from you. So thank you for that.

Amy White 38:56
It was my pleasure.