Andrea Nordling 0:00
Welcome back to the profitable nutritionist podcast, my friend. So today was a really interesting episode, audio quality might be a little bit different than usual, because I am recording this episode from a hotel room in between a fantastic lunch and early dinner that I will be going to in a little bit, I wanted to just take a little bit of time. While this is fresh, in my mind, sneak away to my room and record this episode because I have a lot to tell you about attending conferences. And specifically why conferences and groups and in person events will change your business probably not in the way that you think I'm going to say this. However, I do have an announcement about a live event that you can come to with me at the end. So stay to the end, if you want to hear about that. Here's what I want to say though, give a little context about what's going on. I am at an event right now in Miami as I'm recording this, I am surrounded by amazing business owners that have the exact kind of business that I have. And I am enjoying so much conversation and collaboration and insights and strategy and sharing resources and tips and tricks and the fields and the flops and all of the things that happen. As a business owner, I'm in it right there with you doing the exact same thing that you're doing and having a grand old time here commiserating and strategizing and figuring it out with my colleagues. And the reason that I have so many people here at this event that I know that I can talk to about what should we do when this happens. I need suggestions here. Oh my gosh, this is amazing. You should try this. And when you can imagine how these conversations go. I have about I think about 10 people here that I'm particularly close with was very excited to come to this event to see in person so we can have these amazing conversations. And the reason I have them is because I started putting myself into rooms of people like me that were had their own business that had a lot they could teach me and that I had a lot I could teach them this is another part of the equation that we're going to talk about in this episode is actually how much giving back to a room helps your business. We'll talk about that as well. Four or five years ago, if you had said that I would enjoy traveling so much and have such a network of close entrepreneur friends. I would have thought you were crazy because I was the for sure. All the time. Non participator.

Andrea Nordling 2:22
I'm gonna tell you all about that as well, because it is totally, totally changed. Actually, yesterday, I was at the pool with a friend of mine here. We came a couple days early. We've been just relaxing. We've been doing some work. We've been doing some masterminding we've been eating excellent food and just having so much fun. I as you know, or maybe don't know, I live in Minnesota. So coming to Miami in the wintertime is all I'm always there. Don't tempt me with a good time. I'm gonna come for sure she felt the same way. So we came a couple days early. And we were talking at the pool yesterday. And she said, What is the difference between your business two years ago at 150k a year and your business now at a million a year? And she's she was like, What's the difference? And this was one of the things that I could really point to I mean, there were a problem. I told her well, basically what she was asking me she's like, How does someone at 150 a year are at that level? How do they get to where you're at now? Like, what is the difference? What have you learned? What do you do and not do? And so there were a few things. And so I'll just gonna give you the list of things that we were talking about that came off the top of my head, I said not quitting. But just keep going. Even when it's not working, keep going keep showing up not starting and stopping. I see a lot of people if this resonates with you know, I'm thinking about you, and you don't you can stop doing this today, you can stop shopping today, we see a lot of people that start and stop, start and stop they're in. And then they take a break and they're in and they take a break. Not doing that has been huge. I don't do that at all, which I think is a huge contributor to my success, not remaking my decisions, meaning when I make a decision, I execute on it. And then I tweak and I iterate on the execution of that decision. Instead of constantly revisiting the decision itself and making new offers and new prices and big decisions. I'm talking about the big decisions, all of those things, I don't do them. Okay, I just make the decision once and then execute on it. I also sticking with that line of thinking have had one offer and gotten really good at selling one offer for years and years. Instead of always introducing new offers. I only recently introduced a second offer and that was very methodical and strategic. And I just am doing two offers. So you'll never hear me talk about two offers. That is also a huge reason for success, in my opinion, is having the constraint to make the one or two things really good instead of having all the different offers. So these are all things I teach in the profitable nutrition program. It's things that I coach on in the mastermind that we take to the next level there. So you've heard me talk about all of these things before if you've listened to the podcast any number of times, but then she pushed me a little further. Now remember, this is just a fun Poolside Chat. Like most people probably don't go too in depth on their bull's eye jazz but we were really going for it and she

Andrea Nordling 5:00
He said no, but like, what else? What else is the difference between your business two or three years ago? And your business now? Like really, really? What's the difference? And I was like, Oh, I know what the juiciest revelation is I know what it is. It's surrounding myself with successful peers. And she was like, yes. Oh my gosh. And I was like, yes, that is it, that there's all the other things too. And they're important, and they're helpful. But I truly believe as I reflect on how quickly my business has grown in the last two to three years, I know is hugely, hugely a result of putting myself in rooms with people who are more advanced than me, who had more coaching to give to me, who could see my blind spots who were successful, who could support me in many, many, many different ways, and whom I could also support important to, and that has been game changing in my business. So I want to talk about it in a little bit more detail. As you can imagine, we're just having a little love fest right there at the pool at the shell barn in South Miami Beach, and having so much fun, just like oh my gosh, oh my gosh, that's it. That's it. Because we both know that for both of our businesses, we have gotten so much value from being around successful peers, and putting ourselves in masterminds and going to conferences and going to paid events. And I want that for you, too. So we're going to get to unpack this a little bit more. But remember, I want to go back in time here, it took me a long time to sign up for an in person event or to put myself in any in person situation at all for my business. Because I thought it was a hassle. I thought it was an added expense that I didn't need or that I wasn't ready for. I would have said, like I didn't need it that I didn't think I would get enough out of it. And it was like a hassle to do things like that. And I didn't think I would get enough out of it. If I'm being totally honest. I know that those were my thoughts. I was so incredibly wrong. And even a couple weeks ago, I sent an email about how conferences will change your business. And I want to embellish on that a little bit, because I do get responses to that email, and questions. So here are my thoughts on exactly how conferences and workshops and live events will completely change the trajectory of your business, not in the way that you will think.

Andrea Nordling 7:13
But here's what I think of when I think of this topic and why I wanted to kind of sneak away to my room right now and just record this episode for you. While it's fresh in my mind that dinners and lunches and coffee chats and glass of wine in the hotel lobby. And just in between it like breaks in between sessions at a business event, or any paid networking event, maybe not even paid any networking event any in person event that you go to where you are surrounded by people with a similar interest or similar goals or similar background to you that are learning something and then collaborating on that and building off of it is going to be such a great use of your time. You also have if it's something that is requiring you to be on an airplane you have like what I love luxurious amounts of whitespace for time on the airplane and at the airport and in my quiet hotel room where nobody needs me to cook for them or to answer their questions. I have all of this whitespace it feels so luxurious. For me to be super thinking about my business and about my clients and about my programs and what I'm offering to them and really having time to get into the tedious, mundane stuff that can sometimes get pushed to the backburner in our businesses. I love blocking out space for a live event to go somewhere to learn something and knowing that I'm going to have a lot of extra time while I'm there, I try not to do too much work while I'm on events like this because I want to just enjoy the experience. And I want to have a lot of whitespace while I'm at an event so that I can not be in my room. I mean, it's a little ironic since I snuck away to my room to record this podcast right now. But just pretend that didn't happen. Normally, I would be out for a walk with someone or you know, any any number of things, people are on walks right now sitting by the pool, whatever. But I love that I think it is such a great time to recalibrate. To do some planning and some outlining I like to get really clear on what my next 90 days are going to look like. So I will usually take time at a quiet hotel room or quiet coffee shop in a hotel lobby to do that in between sessions or or maybe the day before other people get here. I would never have thought that this would be part of my business process to be honest, because like he said just a few years ago, I was too cool. I was too busy. I didn't think that there was enough value. I was not wanting to invest monetarily in that way. Whatever it was. I was not putting myself in rooms like this and I missed out because it has been the best professional investment and I can't even put my finger on exactly why all of the time. But I had like I just came back from lunch had the most incredible lunch conversation with someone that I know is going to make

Andrea Nordling 10:00
To me so much money in my business, just the ideas she gave me and a tiny little strategy, I'd never thought of that she shared at lunch, like, oh my gosh, that's so good. The whole table was like, That was genius. And I just thought to myself, that was worth the price of admission right there, not because of necessarily what we're even learning in this conference, although this is a business related conference, and we are talking about marketing strategies, and we're talking some very tactical things in this conference as well. But I just would love you to think about the opportunities for yourself to connect and collaborate with other peers. And not even necessarily for the content of whatever paid event you're going to. And if you are super introverted, and it may be hard to believe, but I can tend to be someone that is introverted in situations like this, you can get so much I mean, really, really so much from even just a one on one conversation with the person sitting next to you at your seat at a conference, or at a workshop. It doesn't have to be big groups of people. Now, because I have been going to these events for a while. And with a lot of the same people. Of course, we meet new people, and it's an ever changing group. But because these are people that are now my close friends that I've spent a lot of time with and that I collaborate with. Also, when we're not at events, of course, we get together, and we have big dinners, and we have big lunches, and we do big group things. But I remember the first event that I went to, and I'm going to tell you about this, where it was just the person sitting next to me, and just having an excellent conversation with one person sitting next to me at that event that opened my mind to oh my goodness, what have I been missing out on, because it doesn't have to be a big thing. It could just be one conversation, one connection, one person that sends you referrals, whatever that could look like for you and possibilities are endless, could just be that one person. So even if you're introverted, I don't want you to think that this episode doesn't apply to you. Okay, I want to touch on a couple things that we're going to go back in time. First of all, how fun is it to go dress up, and to eat amazing food and to do things that maybe you don't do in your normal life, I think it's incredible. So this is just a little aside. I love coming to events like the one I'm at right now, where I am not just in my own home office. So I am dressing up nicer than I normally do. I get to go out to fancy restaurants and do amazing food experiences with people that really appreciate amazing food, not to say that other people in my life don't. But where I live, we don't have quite the same restaurant scene as I do. Some of the bigger places that I go to events that so that's always a really fun part of it as well. And if you do go to events, this is just a little shareable nugget, Rent the Runway, and newly and you you ly.com are two websites that I personally use a lot of my friends that go to events like this do as well to rent amazing clothes to wear at the event. So just a little tip. I think that it is an incredible value to know that you can dress really nice, but not have to buy all of the fancy clothes that you'll only wear one time. I don't like to do that. So I always rent my clothes for events like this. Like I said, Rent the Runway and newly are my very favorites. You pick the actual outfits that you want. I talked to a lot of people about this. No, like, I don't want someone else sending me clothes. No, no, both of those websites, you're going to pick the actual clothes that you want. You figure out your size, they have tools on there for doing that and they get sent to your house, you wear them, you get them die, hopefully you don't spill on them. But if you do, it's okay. You get them all sweaty or whatever. And then you just send them back dirty, someone else dry, cleans them, and you can rent other ones or someone else or rent those. So, so little nugget, I wanted to share that I think it's super fun to rent, trendy, fancier type clothes that I don't actually want to own in life. I'm wearing a very Miami, little romper right now that I would never actually own. But it's kind of fun. So I'll just say that that's that's another fun thing about live events is getting to dress up a little bit be a little fancier than I am in my, my real life at home. I mean, I suppose there's something to be said for I could probably always be a little bit fancier in my regular life too, but that's not.

Andrea Nordling 14:06
Okay, so I said I wanted to take you back in time, I have a few recollections of live events that were really transformative for me, but I didn't realize it at the time. So that's what I want to talk about. Now, in 2015. When I got certified as a nutritional therapy practitioner through the nutritional therapy Association, they did things a little bit differently in that certification than they do now. And it involved three in person workshop weekends. So over the course of a year, we met with our cohorts and our instructors three times in person and did and then we had instruction obviously in between those but we did like testing and functional testing and some hands on stuff at these workshop weekends. So this is the first time I really had any experience that I can remember so if I if I did any before that it must not have been very impactful because it's the first time I can remember that I was terrified. I mean not terrified. Like I couldn't do it but I just was very nervous about not knowing what to

Andrea Nordling 15:00
expect at that very first workshop weekend, I obviously did not know anybody in my certification class, I didn't know what to expect, really, I felt like I don't belong here. Like everyone else probably knows this stuff, I have no idea what I'm doing had all the impostor thoughts is what I'm trying to say. But I attended that first workshop weekend in Denver, and I didn't live in Denver. So I had to fly to Denver. And I think that this was probably the first time that I ever had a quiet hotel room all to myself that felt very luxurious, as well, because my son was probably a year, or a year and a half old at that time. So I had two kids at home, one of them was very little. And I had this quiet, pristine hotel room, it just felt absolutely incredible. So I loved those workshop weekends. And I remember leaving there being so recharged and thinking, Oh, my gosh, this whole time, I've been thinking that I've been having all the impostor thoughts like, I'm the only one that's not getting this, this is so hard. Other people must understand this better than me. I don't know what I'm doing. Just all of it, I'm doing it wrong. I'm not going fast enough. All of those thoughts, I was having all of those thoughts. And I got in person with everybody there and realized everybody else was having those same thoughts. I fit right in, everything is fine. And it's so amazing, to be in a room with 30 or 40 people that have similar interests to me, that speak the language that I'm speaking that read the same kind of books I read, they listen to the kinds of podcasts I listen to, and they just want to talk about this stuff. No one else in my real life, I'll call it my quote unquote, real life, you can imagine doing air quotes here was even remotely as interested in nutrition, and functional health and all of the cool things that I was learning about. I mean, they were supportive, but they didn't love it, they weren't geeking out about it. Whereas at this first workshop weekend, I realized, oh, my gosh, everybody else is totally geeking out about this, I was learning things. I was getting tips for brands of things to buy. And, oh, you gotta try this kind of chocolate, you gotta try this supplement. You know, if you've done anything like this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's all of the little side conversations and the tips and tricks and all of that, that is so transformative. So by the end of the third workshop weekend, I felt like oh, my gosh, I have a tribe, I have my people, they understand me, I have support here, it felt so good. And then I went and launched my business. And I spent the next two or three years pretty much behind my computer alone.

Andrea Nordling 17:19
Most of the time. Does this sound familiar to you? I bet it does. If you listen to this podcast, I have a pretty good hunch that you spent a lot of time behind your computer alone as well. And I didn't recall I mean, I just got into the thick of things. And I didn't connect the dots at that time to remember how good it felt to be at the workshop weekends and to be amongst my people. But in retrospect, after I did start putting myself out there into networking groups and paid events, again, I realized, oh my gosh, this is exactly what it felt like when I was going through my certification. And we had our in person workshop. So I remembered it then, at the time, I didn't appreciate it as much. But anyway, fast forward 2015 And 2016, I was getting certified. I was doing those in person workshop events, just to kind of give you a timeline here. Then the rest of 2016 2017 2018, I was out and about I was a girl about town doing, you know, groups, I was doing nutrition groups, I was teaching classes, I was trying all sorts of stuff. So it isn't that I never left my office for years. But it's kind of like it never left my office for you. It feels like it when I looked back, I wasn't plugging in to peer groups, that same events that I was doing were networking, they were marketing for my business, they weren't necessarily to support me as a business owner. But in 2019, this would have been August of 2019. I did go to an event. And it was the first professional event or conference really, that was specific to something I wanted to learn. Now this was about creating and scaling membership sites, which is what I was doing at the time. And so there was an event in Toronto, it was live, it was a two or three day conference. I can't remember how long it was. And I was like I'm doing this. I'm going. I'm doing it. So I registered for the event, bought the plane ticket, rented the hotel room, I was committed, I did it and then it got closer to the time to actually leave. And then I had a lot of doubt about should I even be doing this I bet I could get a refund. What if this? That's kind of like a hard it's a hassle. People have to, you know, do kid things for me because I'm going to be gone. And there's just you know, all of the excuses bubbled up. But I remember like, no, no, no, I'm going to do this. I'm going to learn so much there. So my focus was definitely at the content I was going to learn at the conference. And I got there. And I thought, oh my gosh, once again, had all of the imposter thoughts. Everybody else knows what they're doing. I don't even belong here. I quickly realized though, that that was not the case. And I realized that by sitting at a table in the hotel lobby because my room was it wasn't ready yet. Otherwise, let's be clear, I brought

Andrea Nordling 20:00
Probably would have just gone up to my room and bed alone. But my room wasn't ready yet. So I sat down in the hotel lobby, there happened to be a couple other people there. And I heard them talking about their membership sites. And I just I like, okay, I can do this I can play along, I can be a participator was kind of begrudgingly. But I struck up conversation with them and start talking to them about their membership sites. And I realized, oh, my gosh, I have a lot that I can share with them as well. So first lesson learned was, Oh, it wasn't just about me getting from this conversation actually had a lot to contribute. And we had fantastic conversation. So I felt like well, okay, couple wins there. That was great. felt wonderful. Then the event actually started and I didn't, this would have been the next day. Actually, it might have been that afternoon, I think that we did some sort of an event. Oh, we did like a scavenger hunt. There was like a scavenger hunt around Toronto in groups of strangers, where you kind of got to know people. So we did that in the afternoon, then the content started the next day. And I sat next to someone and struck up a conversation with her, we had a great chat in between the session about our membership sites, I was learning from her, she was learning from me, I was like, Oh, my gosh, I kind of belong in this room. It says, it's almost like this is a great use of my time and resources to be here. I'm learning so much, I'm able to help other people, which feels great. I think that's a human desire that we have to help other people. And we can forget that until the opportunity presents itself for us to help someone else. And that feels amazing. So oh my gosh, it was fantastic. I left that event with several new friends and business contacts and invitations to do zoom calls and to keep in touch and keep masterminding collaborating together, which was fantastic. But I distinctly remember on the plane on the way home from that event, being so grateful for previous me that had booked the tickets and just made it happen. And I was like why I've been missing out. I've been missing out this feels so good. And then I started reflecting back on those workshop weekends at when my nutrition certification, I was like, Oh, that's it, that felt so good. I need to keep doing that. So I decided at that point that I was going to be continued to be I actually had done one session and I was going to continue to be a group mentor for the nutritional therapy Association cohorts in Minneapolis that were going through their workshop weekends. So as part of like what had been so transformative for me, in doing those workshop weekends, I was able to come in as a group leader and mentor and assist with the new students and answer questions for them and help them out. And I just kept seeing in those workshop weekends that I was volunteering, and I kept seeing people continually saying the best part about this is when we're just talking about our businesses, the best part about this is when we have lunch break, and everybody's sitting around and sharing what's working for them and helping each other and looking at each other's websites and figuring out you know, what isn't working because you can so easily see that in someone else's, whereas it might be hard for you, and just jamming on this stuff like this is the best part. No, I thought it was the best part. But it was great to hear that they also thought it was the best part and that you know what it is, it actually is and you'd never even know you never know what conversation or what strategy or what little helpful nugget someone is going to give you that completely changes the game. And they're always there. There's so many of them when you put yourself in a room of people who speak the same language as you and are interested in the same thing as you maybe are even a little bit further ahead than you and can help. So anyway, I remember coming back from Toronto and thinking I'd have to do more of this. Okay, just absolutely have to do this. This was August of 2020. I also had an I didn't realize this, but I had torn my ACL and a partial tear of my meniscus earlier years earlier. And I had been limping around. And I don't even know I just didn't know that I had such a bad injury. But I knew something was definitely wrong with my knee for years. But while I was in Toronto at that conference, my meniscus fully tore. So we were down on the floor doing an exercise with post it notes and I got up, we were in a group there was like, six of us in this group. And I went to get up and like, crawl up off the floor and my knee just wouldn't move and hurt so bad. It went both my minute. I didn't know that at the time, my meniscus fully tore.

Andrea Nordling 24:09
Did you know that one of the people that I had become quite good friends with over the last two days who was sitting right next to me, was an Olympic trainer for the Canadian Olympic swimming team.

Andrea Nordling 24:22
She was able to kind of rehab my knee and she had supplies and stretches and like wraps and whatnot to get me to the point where I could get on the plane on the way home. But I tell you this, because let me just kind of pertinent to the story and the timeline because I ended up having like really having to address this knee issue and I had my ACL reconstructed and my meniscus repaired and whatnot. Right after coming back from that, and then I was laid up for a while and was not going to any live events and then COVID happened shortly thereafter. So anyway, that's the timeline but also how incredible and just the synchronicities of our life if we're open to them, How incredible is it that will

Andrea Nordling 25:00
One of the people that I met happened to be someone that could help me in that situation, I actually have another story about that, that I'm going to tell you about in a minute. I don't know, I just think everything happens for us in the people that we meet everywhere in life. And it doesn't just obviously have to be at a conference or at a paid workshop or something like that. But if you're open and your open sign is on, that you are someone that is approachable, that you're a decent human being to talk to you that open sign is on for you. It's energetically people will talk to you, you will make connections, you will realize, oh my goodness, I actually we just did this at the pool yesterday. We were my friend and I that we were there having this conversation I told you about. There was a bachelor party next to us sitting at the pool, and they were kind of overhearing us and asking questions about coaching. And one of them she's a weight loss coach. So one of them had questions about weight loss coaching, and they ended up having the longest conversation for 30 minutes afterwards, she said, I do don't think I've ever talked to a man about my business for 30 minutes before, he was so interested, I have no doubt that he will send her podcast and her website out to any woman in his life, that would be a need. It was just a reminder about, hey, being open to any conversation and any opportunity to help people, which is really, I don't know, just just another little aside, great reminder. Okay, so I rehabbed my knee COVID came, we know the end of that movie, it was a good bit of time before, there was an opportunity presented once again, to do an in person event of any sort. And by the time that opportunity was presented, I was in a mastermind was a virtual mastermind, because of the pandemic and all that. So I was in a group of people that had incredible value to add to my business. And I would like to think that I had quite a bit to add to theirs. But we were not in person. Because just the logistics of that. So I had, at this point, a really good opportunity to lean into a specifically curated virtual community. So I want to talk a little bit about that. I think that virtual networking and virtual groups can get the job done on this absolutely. But physically putting yourself in the same place as your people as often as you can, is no substitute. Or the other way around virtual is no substitute for putting yourself physically in the same place as your people as often as you possibly can. I am of the opinion that a virtual Group option will probably never be as good. But maybe that's a thought I should question. I don't know. Anyway, this is why we have the lounge. If you're familiar with the profitable nutritionist program, we have the Lounge, which is and just why I call it the lounge, it is the virtual equivalent of the hotel lobby, and a amazing business conference, where you grab a beverage you sit down and you're just jamming with your people about whatever you need in your business and strategies and giving ideas and have you tried this and oh, my gosh, I need to send you my resource for this and that it ended up. That is what I think is the most incredibly transformative, obviously, you can tell from the way I'm talking about this the most incredibly transformative thing for your business. Because it's the fast track. It's having all the conversations, it's getting the ideas, it's the energy. It's the excitement around it. It's it's just the best, it's the best. I'm on a conference. Hi, can you tell

Andrea Nordling 28:20
the conference I right now. But I know that the people are going to be, you know, listening to this and go there. There isn't anything like that in my area, or there aren't any things like that coming up right now. I understand. I would challenge that there probably are. And I would try to get to them if possible. And definitely engage in virtual group specific. And I am using the word curated very specifically curated groups, whenever possible, okay, virtual can be fine. And don't let it be a substitute forever. Like I tried to do I really cut myself short for a long time thinking I could do everything virtually. So don't do that. Do as I say not as I did.

Andrea Nordling 29:01
But yes, virtual can be a good option. I just want to make the clarifying observation that a noisy Facebook group or and I think free groups in general are just going to have this vibe more often than not, because there isn't really a curation to a free group. I think a paid group like a paid mastermind or a paid program where everybody has paid to be there, it's going to be a lot more streamlined, in my opinion, because hopefully that group is well moderated and that there's support in the group. And there are parameters of the way that people conduct themselves in the group. And then the level of conversation and resources that are being shared and the coaching that's happening in there is very high because there's a method to the madness. So do I think that virtual groups can be very valuable? Yes, absolutely. I just think that they should be in addition to getting yourself in physical proximity to your tribe whenever you possibly can. Again, I put this off for way too long. And then there was this

Andrea Nordling 30:00
thing where the entire world was in a pandemic, and then that prolonged it even more, but now I'm back. So that in 2020, the virtual mastermind that I was in, I maximized that resource to its fullest. Absolutely, I connected with a ton of people to the best that I could virtually, and made that a great experience. But then, in, let's see, this would have been in PT one, D 21. So that was for actually that was for halfway through 2021 was still virtual. And then in August 2021, that mastermind was back in person with an in person option. So I was able to actually go to Cabo and to meet with my people. I mean, I met a ton of new people. But there were some people that I had met and developed relationships with in our virtual community up to that point, and was able to go in person. So up to date, I have been now in several iterations of masterminds that have an in person component to them with a live event. I have done lots more conferences, I have gone to specialty conferences where I learned a very specific thing. I've gone to more general ones. I've done local, I've done once on airplanes, basically, I have been trying to put myself in rooms with interesting people that think like I do, and that are interested in the things that I'm interested in as often as possible. It has been very fruitful. I have also been an exhibitor. So last year, last spring, this would be spring 2022, I had a booth at the National Association of nutrition professionals and ANP at their annual conference. And that was amazing. I got to and I had no idea how to do this, I had no idea how to do a booth how to execute on this no idea. I just knew I couldn't go be with my people, like my people are here. My students aren't here. There actually were students that were there that were in my program, but I had never met them before in real life. And of course, that was amazing get to have dinner together, I got to connect with them. But just being among my tribe, felt amazing people have same priorities, again, speak the same language, share the same resources, interested in the same things all that watching the speakers, their speak, like watching Joel Saladin speak, I've read his books, but actually like watching him present on stage. And then we actually had a chance afterwards, kind of happenstance to talk politics a little bit afterwards, which was so fun, just opportunities like that. I feel like it has enriched my business, but also my life so much more. So obviously, this is a commercial for getting yourself into rooms of your people, if at all possible. In December, I know I did a recent podcast episode where I talked about this, I went to a week long Joe Dispenza advanced meditation retreat in Mexico, which was amazing as well for lots of different reasons. But I realized after I recorded that episode, I forgot to tell one of the best stories of the entire event, which was the very first person that I met while I was there. So there's 2000 people at this event. I'm going there, not as a business building activity. Although I think that just, you know, being out in the world and talking to people about what I do, everything's probably a business building activity in a roundabout way. But that wasn't my intention, my intention was to go participate in this meditation retreat. And just to love every second of that, and to maximize the opportunity. But the person is that next two out of 2000 people person I sat next to was lovely. Her name was Erica, we had a great connection, which just chit chatted away,

Andrea Nordling 33:26
directly while we were waiting for the event to start, then the event started, we had our first session. And it was very late to that first day when we stopped, and we both were really hungry. So we went to go eat, we ended up eating together.

Andrea Nordling 33:38
Like halfway through the dinner conversation. We were talking a little bit about her priorities at the event. And I said, you know, what's your like, what are you trying to get here? What's your intention of being here? What are you interested in? And she's like, well, you know, a lot of it's actually business related. For me, I'm trying to figure out what the next step is with my business. And I was like, Oh, that's so interesting. Like, what, you know, what, what do you do? Like, well, I have a nutrition because

Andrea Nordling 34:00
I just keep my mouth shut, like really, really? Like, what do you do? Oh, I have an online course. And I'm trying to decide, you know, if I should keep this core, especially keep selling it if there's a different way that I should be marketing it. I just like have a lot of uncertainty about next best steps for me. And I said, Well, what do you I hadn't said anything else at this point. Like she had no idea what I did. And I said, Well, what are you? What do you think is the standing in your way of growing your business? She's like, well, to be honest, I hate social media, like I absolutely hate social media, and to have the kind of business that I have. You have to be on social media all the time, and I just hate it. And I burst out laughing, which I'm sure she thought was crazy. And she was like, No, I'm serious. Social media. And I said no, no, that's not why I'm laughing. I'm laughing just because the world is. It's just such a great place to be right now. Because look how amazing this is. You sit next to me, we talk to each other. I literally have an entire

Andrea Nordling 35:00
A process that I teach nutritionists and health coaches how to build their business without social media, and she was like, What are you saying? I'm like, no, look at the front page of my website, it actually says,

Andrea Nordling 35:10
nutrition business without social media. So she's like, I can't believe it, I can't, we just, you know, we kind of thought that that was a great little synchronicities in the world. But that's just another example of you never know who you're going to meet, you never know why you might be sitting next to this person or that person. But don't be afraid to strike up conversations with them and see where it goes, could be a very fruitful experience. Okay, so I've done those types of events, I've done professional events, I've done just all sorts of things. And it always is a way bigger return on investment than whatever I paid to get to or be at the event. So I believe that the reason for that is because my intention is to always 10x my investment. So I'm at this event right now, in Miami, it was a $5,000 event. And I know for sure, for sure, when I was at dinner last night, I had a conversation that will make me at least $50,000 This year, from that one conversation. And from just a few nuggets I got out of that conversation and the coaching that I got for sure. Like no doubt about it. And I can think of so many examples of that. But I know that that was at least a 10x investment, at least a 10x investment. But because my mindset around it is that I always 10x my investment, I'm always looking for ways to do that. So again, if you have the story, introverts, I'm looking at you, if you have the story, that you don't get enough from it, or it's like not worth your time or anything like that, I would challenge that the way to make sure that you get whatever you need out of any event that you go to any room that you put yourself in ever is to tell yourself that you 10x your investment, and then your brain will start looking for how that is true. And if you just keep telling yourself that that is true. And that's your intention, you will start to collect evidence for how that is the truth. Always, I promise, I promise, every time I clear my schedule to get out of my routine, sign myself up for something, you travel there. Or even if it's local to get there and prioritize attending I get far more value than my wildest expectations every time. But I also think the key to that is looking for those opportunities and collecting the data that they're there and that I'm experiencing them. So I will give that little tidbit to always look for how you're maximizing your investment. And, okay, I feel like this was just a weird commercial for me saying go to live events, obviously I'm on a conference I but I do want to just challenge anyone listening to this that thinks that there aren't events for them to go to, to find them. Because there are there are so many opportunities, there may be local things that may be things a little bit of a drive, you might need to get on an airplane. And it might not be something that's imminent, maybe this is something that you're going to save for, and you're going to invest in, in six months from now or nine months from now. But get, like excite yourself by doing a search and getting some dates on your calendar and finding what those trips are that you would like to go on. What are those events that you would like to attend? What are the things you're interested in? What are where are your people? Where are they? Let's go find them, put it on the calendar, work towards it, make it happen. It is the human component of it's just we can't get it when we're all alone in our home office watching videos. And we're in the crap and we're just working through our own our own crap all the time. I don't even know any other way to say it. Well, I do. But it's words that probably saying on the Vive guests, I won't do that. It's hard. It's hard to see the forest for the trees when we're in it and having the recalibration opportunities to be around people that can see what you can't see, they can see your blind spots is so valuable. Obviously, this is also what I provide with coaching inside of the profitable nutritious program and inside the mastermind. But those aren't the only opportunities for it. I mean, of course, you're welcome. In both of those programs, I would love to have you there. I would love to support you with coaching and for you to be part of our community, which is virtual for the profitable nutritionist program. And then in person component for the mastermind, which I'll talk about in a minute. But we would love to have you we would love to welcome you there. And don't limit it to just that don't limit it to just that one outlet, because there's so many other places probably local to you even that you could be putting yourself into rooms of people that are interested in the same things you're interested in. And you could get your cup filled up with the conversations and collaboration and support. So it doesn't have to be an either or give yourself as many opportunities as possible. I'm telling you, we need the connection. We need the collaboration. We need other people who get us it's just it's not optional. It's essential in my opinion, and it's also why your clients want to hire you instead of reading another book or instead of watching more YouTube videos or taking another DIY online course it's why they want to hire you. Maybe they don't need

Andrea Nordling 40:00
even recognize that that's what is so appealing about hiring you and working with you. But it is they want the connection. They want someone to help them directly. They want to feel like they can ask questions to you and get your support in real time. How does the saying go if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far go together. I love that thing so much. I think it all the time. If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together. Something to be learned from that for us in our businesses, of course I think about it for me a lot, but also for your clients, for sure. Now, like I said, I knew from reflecting on the in person workshop weekends that I had been part of as a participant in my nutrition certification. And then as a group, mentor and leader later I knew I wanted to facilitate and host live events for my clients. That means for you, for the very same reason. Because it has been so transformative. It's been it's just unlocked so many potentials, by being amidst people that speak the same language as me and have the same interests. And I know that that is the same for you. So in addition to the virtual Lounge, which is the community, the hotel lounge, the virtual hotel lounge, if you will, that we have in the profitable nutritionist program. When I launched the mastermind last October, which is higher level business strategy for holistic nutritionist and health coaches, and wellness practitioners that have made at least $50,000 in their business. That's what who The mastermind is for, I knew an in person component was going to be part of that offer, because I really wanted to start bringing groups together in person. And so we did that first round in October, it was fantastic. The consensus was, oh my gosh, I didn't even know what I was missing. This is so valuable, like the content that we're going over here is incredible. But I feel like just the dinners and the side conversations going on are infinitely more valuable than what I thought it was gonna get here, which was the entire intention. Right. So for the second round of the mastermind, which is starting in early April, we are again incorporating an in person work Keishon event for the mastermind as a retreat in Cancun. Now this has changed a little bit since the last time I talked about it because we had several participants in the mastermind that could not get to Cancun, we had issues with the international travel, some people can only go international, some people can't go international. And as you can imagine the logistics there are a little bit tricky. So I wanted to give an update in real time on the change for the mastermind live event. So what we have decided to do is we are doing all of the content for the mastermind, which normally would be delivered at the live event where we would be auditing offers, and creating the three year plan and working backwards on marketing priorities and doing all of those foundational decisions and planning and that type of strategy would normally be done at the live event. But because there are people that can't be there in person, what I have decided to do is do all of that virtually on zoom in a two part extended workshop. They're too long workshops the week before we go to Cancun, so that's an early April, April 11 and April 13. And then we are going to Cancun for like a workstation retreat, basically what we're going to be coaching, and we're going to be strategizing systems and processes, my operations manager will be there helping with the participants that are there in person to go through their systems and processes and organizing the back end of their business, the very non sexy systems and operations side of things. So it's going to be all about the coaching, and all about the back end strategy that will be happening in person in Cancun. So again, it's, it's the best because you'll be there with your people, you'll be there having the side conversations, you'll get coached by me, you'll be poolside and having the dinners and the quiet hotel room to implement everything that you have planned to do. So best of both worlds. But that is different than the initial plan, which was to actually be delivering content and to be doing the planning stages at the live event. So we have actually changed that. And then there was a second component of what we're going to be doing at the live event which is overcoming objections, sales and marketing intensive. And that is all centered around how to structure a very high converting consult call from somebody booking a call to having the actual sales process of what to say on the call, how to overcome their objections, and how to sell very powerfully on a call when you are selling a premium offer in particular. So there's a very strategic way to do this a specific way to do it, especially with the overcoming objections portion. And then we have a very specific process for how to evaluate that consult. And then based on the evaluation and the copy that comes from that the snippets of how people explained their problems in particular, we then create part

Andrea Nordling 45:00
Powerful copy sales copy for marketing website and sales emails from that as well. So it's how to take a konsult convert at a very high level to a premium offer, how to sell that way. And then long term, how to take the intel that you gained from doing those consults, and turn it into evergreen marketing through copy. So that was also going to be delivered in person in Mexico. But because we will have people that aren't there, I have decided to do that also virtual as a two part workshop after we get back. So that's at the end of April, beginning of May. And the reason I'm telling you this is because I don't think that I have explained that yet on the podcast. So I thought it would bring you along on the journey. And let you know that if you do want to be in an in person event, you've made at least $50,000. In your health and wellness business, you have to apply for the mastermind, it would be the absolute best opportunity to experience exactly what I've been talking about waxing on about this entire episode, which is the connection and collaboration with your peers in person and how incredibly transformative that is. So for all of the details on the mastermind, you go to build a profitable practice.com/mastermind We do have a few spots left for the right people who are all in to streamline and scale their business to six and multiple six figures over the next 12 months. As I'm recording this episode, there are five spots left in the group. And they are going to fill up in the order that the applications are received. So depending on when you listen to this, go to build a profitable practice.com/mastermind. If the button is available for you to submit an application, then do that all the details, including the dates I just threw out are going to be on that page. The travel dates to Mexico are April 17, to the 21st. That's when we'll be there. All of this is spelled out in detail on that sales page, you'll get all of your questions answered. And if there is still spots available, there will be a button for you to submit your application. If there are no longer any spots available, there will be a button there for you to join the waitlist for the next round. So depending on when you're listening to this, you may be listening to this well in the future. And you'll still be able to get all the details of the mastermind and the next dates when we will be enrolling at Build a Profitable practice.com/mastermind. So

Andrea Nordling 47:16
have I compelled you to open up your computer and to figure out what events you are going to put yourself in the room for the rest of this year, I hope that I have I hope I get to see you in Mexico is my sincere hope or at some point in the future. But it doesn't have to be my event. It doesn't have to be that you know, this isn't a sales pitch. For me. This is me telling you it is amazing to be out in the world with people that think the way that you do and they're interested in the same things you are and I highly, highly recommend for you to find them and to systematically put yourself in the room with them as much as possible. has been incredibly fruitful for me. I will continue doing the same thing because of that. It is just so enjoyable to dress up and eat really good steak.

Andrea Nordling 48:02
They say that. Okay, I'm gonna say that. Now on that note, I am not going to shut down my computer and go find my people and probably go eat a steak. So have a wonderful, wonderful week, my friend. I'll see you next week.