Andrea Nordling 0:00
Welcome back to the profitable nutritionist podcast my friend. I am so so grateful to be able to introduce you to one of my students in the profitable nutritionist program. Her name is Molly Sellars. She is on our episode today talking about the journey of her business, which has been a long journey, it turns out, but specifically in the last year, where she has had wonderful success in growing a very profitable and busy private practice in addition to her corporate job, so she’s still working. In her full time career, though she is slowly transitioning out of that which we talked about in the episode. But she had a lot of insights on what it has been like in the last year to be graduating as a newly certified nutritional therapy practitioner turning on her open sign metaphorically and physically and getting her first clients which has snowballed into many clients. Since then she has been busy figuring out what to sell, who to sell it to how to sell it, and then how to deliver to her clients on a limited timeline because she is still working her full time nine to five, and having a family and doing all of the life things that she wants to do. So I think this is a really valuable conversation, I know you’re going to get a ton out of it. She was very open in sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of the last year in particular, which is so helpful. So I am so grateful for Molly that she came on and did this episode. And I want to let you know, you are listening to this in real time. The profitable nutritionist program is opening for enrollment September 14 to the 20th. Molly talks a lot in the episode about things she’s learned in the program, and specifically how her results have really skyrocketed since she joined in March, which is relatively recently. And so we talk a lot about that I want to just give you the heads up that enrollment is coming up, we open the doors publicly every quarter. And this is now for third quarter is September 14 to the 20th. So you can get all of the details, add yourself to the waitlist and join on September 14 when the doors open at the profitable nutritionist. Don’t forget the the the profitable nutritionist.com/join. And if you are listening to this in the future after the enrollment has closed for this period, no worries, we will always have the dates of the next enrollment on that page. Again, it is the profitable nutritionist.com/join Okay, enjoy the episode. Welcome Molly sellers to the profitable nutritionist podcast. So glad that you are here today. Thank you for joining us.
Molly Sellers 2:37
Thank you I am so so excited. Like I said you have no idea this is like a dream come true.
Andrea Nordling 2:44
Find that well, it’s going to be a dream come true for everyone to hear about your story, your business. What’s working for you. What have been the surprises along the way? I know well, we’ll talk about all of these things, because I just love doing these episodes because I think it is so valuable to hear from your exact people that are going through the same thing that you’re going through to hear oh my gosh, this is totally normal. Oh, that’s happening to them too. Oh, and it’s still working?
Molly Sellers 3:07
Absolutely. 100%.
Andrea Nordling 3:12
So tell us a little bit about you. Who are you? Why are you here? I’m so glad that you are.
Molly Sellers 3:16
I’ve been a fan for a long, long time. And I actually went back and was pulling like all my kind of outline and notes together. So I got my dates, right. But I’ve been following along for quite a while. So this was a long time coming. But I am a NTP so a nutritional therapist practitioner. And I How did I come to be that I had my own health scare in 2013. And really kind of got the runaround from conventional doctors, and no one could give me a straight answer. And I got really frustrated and I don’t like taking no for an answer. So I was like, no, that’s just not gonna cut it. There’s like, there’s got to be something else going on. So I went on this really deep personal health journey was a lot of money and a lot of time. But I went kind of off the deep end trying to find answers and get to the root cause of what I was dealing with. And like I said, took a lot of time and money. And I kind of picked and choose from different things and kind of created my own protocols, so to speak, and basically healed myself in a nutshell, which was really empowering. And when I got through that, I thought, You know what, I don’t want other women to feel like this. And I know that they do. And it’s frustrating, and it’s scary. But I did this pretty much on my own. They can do this too. And I really became passionate about that and started sharing my story with other people. And people thought that was great, but no one wanted to like hire me to help them because they were like, well, that’s great. You have your personal story, but where’s your certifications like? We are we trust you but not all the way. So I started looking at programs and schools that would give me those certifications and I I found that in TA, and I applied, well then apply right away. But I wanted to apply and the neat, you know, as things happen, oh, no. Money. No, no, right. Not right now it’s not the perfect time, as you always say, and there’s no perfect time. So finally, I just took the jump and did it. And it was the best decision ever. I learned so much I met when this have been, this would have been let me look at my timeline, this would have been in. So I joined in September of 2021. Okay, yes. And then you came to speak at our school? Well, it was online, but you came to speak, I think in the spring of 2022, maybe. And I was blown away. I was like, Who is this lady? Like, this is amazing. She’s making so much sense. And I was like, I think I need to follow along. So I signed up for the emails. And that is how it started. And now here we are.
Andrea Nordling 5:55
Now here we are. Yes. So when did you I didn’t look this up? I could have looked this up before we jumped on. When did you join the profitable, nutritious program?
Molly Sellers 6:03
So I wrote that down to hold on, I want to make sure I get all my dates, right. I joined officially in March of this year. So March 2023. Yeah. Okay. When you did enrollment, yeah.
Andrea Nordling 6:13
Okay. So your own health journey, that becomes a mission to help other people going through the same thing. So common, I have my own version of that as well. I didn’t go into I’ve said this before, but I didn’t go into holistic nutrition, either thinking this is going to be a career. This is like, No, that was not my thought at all. I was just like, this is this is important. Oh my gosh, this is changing my life. Oh, I love this. It was just for me, for my family to feed my kids better to heal myself. I had my own health stuff going on. And then very quickly realized, no, but this is like the thing that people need to know. They don’t know that this even exists. And it’s like, I could be that person. I need to be that person. I felt all like purposeful about it. Like, I’m supposed to be this person. Here I go. Yeah. So I totally resonate with that. What is your niche? Who do you work with specifically?
Molly Sellers 7:01
Well, you know, that was kind of the whole thing I’ve started out with to I was like, Do I have a niche? Do I not? And I went back and forth. And again, thank goodness for you and all your words of wisdom. And I finally just bit the bullet and said, I’m going to have an itch, what is it going to be? And I was taking clients at that point. And I kept seeing a lot of the same patterns. And I knew I wanted to work just with women, again, based on what I had been through with my own health stuff. And all these women were coming to me and no matter what they said their issues were, they were all dealing with the same thing. And it was basically hormones, and the hormones were out of whack. Anything from Adrenal Fatigue, to digestive issues to not sleeping through the night, it all comes down to hormones. So that’s basically what I focus on is helping women that are having hormonal issues feel better. And that covers a lot of bases.
Andrea Nordling 7:52
Yeah. So out of curiosity, and maybe this is something that has even evolved, do the women you work with know that they have hormonal imbalances when they start working with you? Or is that something that they come to recognize
Molly Sellers 8:03
later? No. And that’s a really good question. Some of them think that something’s off. And that’s why I love working with women is we’re so intuitive by nature that we know when something’s a little wonky, like something’s not right. And then you go to the doctor, and they’re like, you’re fine. You’re like, but no, I’m not. Your normal, your normal, this thing. So you’re in it, no worries, you’re perfect. And so some of them may have an inkling that there’s some hormonal something, or they’re usually like, Okay, I think something’s off with my thyroid, but they don’t really know until we dive in. And then they’re like, oh, okay, yep, that would be my hormones.
Andrea Nordling 8:46
Yeah, okay. I just was curious. I think that that’s so like, it’s just so it couldn’t go either way. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to that question. Definitely. But I just think it’s a good question for all of us to ask, do your people even know that they have the problem that you’re fixing? Or is part of your marketing and your messaging to educate them on the problem that they have? I mean, it’s just, like, fun to think about.
Molly Sellers 9:08
And I was just talking to another colleague about this yesterday, and we were kind of laughing but it’s so funny because I have intake paperwork that my clients fill out, you know, their health history, everything they’re dealing with, and I do a 90 minute intake call, are we face to face go over everything, and I can literally watch on my clock and like a timer and see I’m like, Okay, here it comes, they will start to reveal to me what is not even on the paper and I’m like, here we go. Here’s the meat like, here we go. Yep, right on time. So I find that so fascinating that they may come to me with, you know, a digestive issue or thinking they have something else going on, but when we really talk about it and get into it and uncover all those layers, it is always something hormonal that they’re dealing with. And it’s fascinating to see that unfold.
Andrea Nordling 9:57
Yeah, definitely. Okay, so like we had to go back ACC have been more questions now. So you said you had your own health issues. But then 2021 is when you enrolled in the nutritional therapy association to become an NTP. So in between that timeframe like Phyllis and a little bit, were you working with clients? Were you wanting to work with clients? Or were you thinking that wasn’t even going to happen yet? Because you weren’t certified? Like, bring us through that a little bit.
Molly Sellers 10:21
So that was a long time. Didn’t realize that. So you pointed that out, we had
Andrea Nordling 10:28
a couple 100 clients. And we should establish some facts here.
Molly Sellers 10:33
No, it wasn’t anything like that. I was in kind of like corporate America doing my thing. And but on the side, I was always, you know, talking to my co workers and saying, Hey, you, maybe you shouldn’t be eating that. And, you know, let me tell you about this. And people didn’t care. I was sharing my knowledge. And most people like, Okay, that’s great, whatever. But like I said, before, nothing really concrete happened, because I didn’t have any sort of certification. So I, I really didn’t think I could make a business out of it. Because no one was really, I didn’t find my people. I didn’t find my audience. I didn’t know how to market myself, I didn’t know how to just do it. Now I can look back and see I did it all wrong. But I didn’t know any better. So it took I did not have any clients. But I had friends here and there that would say like, Hey, will you come to the grocery store with me? Will you help me understand how to read food labels and buy some groceries and they paid me like 50 bucks. And I was like, Oh, cool. This is pay 50 bucks. This is great. But it was never anything official. And then it never went anywhere from that, you know, they just kind of they were great that they were trying to help me. But they, they were like, Okay, here’s 50 bucks, and then they went about their life. So it took all that time to really figure out what I wanted to do. How did I want to go forward with it? And yeah, it took until 2020 to get that two together?
Andrea Nordling 11:58
Yeah. And I mean, I would imagine for you to get to the point where you wanted it to be a real thing. You wanted to make more than 50 bucks being the healthy friend. But how cool is that?
Molly Sellers 12:09
Like, I wouldn’t get paid for real for this?
Andrea Nordling 12:11
Yeah. So I think I mean, for anyone listening, I would say you don’t have to be certified to start helping people and charging them. But what I think is really interesting. And what Molly is saying is she felt like it was legit, when she was certified, like your mindset change and your belief in your process. And your professionalism probably had a
Molly Sellers 12:33
big change, then, totally, it was a definite big change. And I think it made people start to really sit up and take notice they’re like, oh, oh, she’s certified in this. Oh, okay. So there’s some legitimacy behind that. She’s not just talking. The talk. She knows what she’s talking about. She could have something to back that up. But no, you do not have to be certified. Go, go do your thing. And get out there and start talking to people. But I just found for me, it was easier, because then I kind of had some guidelines as to what I wanted to do.
Andrea Nordling 13:03
Yeah. So were you working with practice clients while you were getting certified? Or did you wait until you were done with the program? Yes, I
Molly Sellers 13:09
had two practice clients who were really good friends that were gracious enough to be guinea pigs. And I took them on, I think, halfway through the program. And that was really interesting. And they were ready to do the work. But I think as I’ve heard, like other people say, especially in like the lounge, and then on the podcast, they didn’t really want to put in the work because they didn’t have to put anything into it. There was no investment. It was free. And I was your friend. And I gave them recommendations and talked about their health. And they were like, okay, yeah, that sounds nice. And then when I graduated, or even got my certification, and I said, Okay, I’m going to start charging. They were like, oh, no, no, no, no. Not interested. We liked the free, we liked the easy going, we don’t want to pay, we don’t. We’re good, we’re good. So that was really interesting that they didn’t want to continue. And then again, like I said, their level of investment was totally different when it was a practice client, and it was free, versus being a real and true paying client bit. Yeah. Big.
Andrea Nordling 14:18
I also think the way it’s sold to them is a huge difference as well. Because when you’re in your certification program, and I remember this for myself, too, when I was thinking I just need someone to practice on. I was selling it to them like I just need to practice that I did that. Yeah, yeah. So no wonder I had the exact same experience with my practice as it didn’t feel like this was going to be a long term journey for them because they were like I was I was doing you a solid by letting you practice on me. I’m not like actually invested here. So yeah, it turns out that our messaging actually matters.
Molly Sellers 14:52
Well, and I will say there is a silver lining to that that one of the practice clients is now one of my current clients. I convinced her As I worked on my thoughts, I worked on her thoughts and bam, she signed up with me about a month and a half ago. So there’s a good ending to that story. She came back around and she was like, alright, let’s just do this. Let’s go for it. And I was like, oh, goodness, finally,
Andrea Nordling 15:14
I just want to help you. Yeah, okay, so you had some practice clients,
Molly Sellers 15:19
then what happened?
Andrea Nordling 15:20
Let’s hear all of the good, the bad and the ugly. With Cerny, what’s this look like? Yeah, what? How were you charging? How were you not charging? What was happening in your brain? Want to hear all of it? Oh, all the
Molly Sellers 15:33
things. So hopefully someone else can learn. So I took him saying I graduated. But I got my certification in July of 2023 is when I are sorry, 2022. And then I was ready to go like right out the door. I was like, I’m ready to do this. So I opened up, my business turned on the open sign, as you guys say. And I got two clients in September, mid September. Like I did all the legal things in August, kind of got my business together. And then I was like, here we go. Let’s take clients, and bam, two people signed up right away.
Andrea Nordling 16:04
Are these people you knew? Where do we come from?
Molly Sellers 16:05
I knew Yeah, there are people I knew. And I was like, completely shocked. Oh, my gosh, they want to pay, they want to send it for me and I at that point, I was getting your emails I had done like clients, we had done a couple of other free trainings you offer. So I kind of had an idea. Like I had a little bit of a roadmap. And I really was trying to figure out pricing. And so I came up with a number that I thought was okay. And they were willing to pay it, they signed up. And oh, my goodness, I learned a lot. So I was doing two different offers. While I started with one offer. One of them, I think I think I had several different offers, which of course we know is confusing. And they signed up. And then I added another service on to that. So I had a four month package. And then I had like another little service that I tacked on to that and suddenly paid for that. And it was very confusing for them and for me, and I really had no clue what I was doing. The program was
Andrea Nordling 17:09
okay, I have to stop you. Do you feel like you didn’t know what you were doing? Now in retrospect, as you look back on it, or at the time, did you not feel like you knew what you were doing?
Molly Sellers 17:17
I think at the time, I didn’t have the confidence to trust myself and to know that I could do it. And, and I was thinking about this too. And this is in my notes as well. But that confidence is so important and to ensure yourself and portray to your clients that you’re the one in charge, like you’re the one that knows you’re the expert. And I don’t think I was confident enough in that. And they would question things and I would Oh, oh yeah. I didn’t stand my ground say no, no, like, I know this. I understand this. Yeah. So I don’t think they were confident because we know my thoughts and actions reflect theirs. And so they weren’t confident. So we were both kind of wishy washy with what we were doing. And we normal. Yeah, totally normal to be expected. Yeah. And I learned a lot of things the hard way, I learned that I needed to put some procedures in place some policies in place, because I didn’t really have those in place yet. And I got burned on a couple of things like cancellation policies. And if someone decides to be a no show when you have an appointment set up for them, and they cancel 30 minutes before your time and just things I didn’t even think about, like I’ve never run a business before. So I had no idea what.
Andrea Nordling 18:42
Yeah, it is bliss, isn’t it, though? Like, well, I didn’t even know I needed to worry about this. I guess I’ll just handle it today. And now I’ll be good to go.
Molly Sellers 18:53
And all the little things you don’t think about you know, okay, well, when they sign up, then what do I do? What forms do I need to have them sign? Okay, they did this now, what do we do next? And I think that was something in the NTA. They taught us so much. But we didn’t really learn kind of what to do in between the lines. There was like a step one and step two, step three, but then all these things in between. No one taught us how to do that. Yeah. Oh, not on the fly. You learn that on the fly and by trial and error and you cross your fingers and you hope it works. And then when it does, you’re like okay, that works. Let’s write that down.
Andrea Nordling 19:34
Yeah, and that really is the way it goes. I don’t think that there’s a way around it. I don’t think there’s a way to prepare for any of it. I think back to and I think I referenced this a lot. But I think back to my real estate days as a 22 year old selling real estate. I mean how ridiculous it’s the most ridiculous thing as a now 40 year old that I can look back and go but what was happening, but I remember those first few deals, I don’t know what they’re talking about. People are calling me and using words, I don’t know what these words are not sure what this process is all supposed to be like, fake it till you make it, I got a big I remember going to my broker’s house, the first time I signed a purchase agreement, well, I was going to have buyers sign a purchase agreement. And I went to his house on a Saturday morning, and I was like, she don’t understand, I don’t know where they need to sign. I’m gonna need you to take a highlighter and literally showing where they need to sign on here. Obviously, I was, you know, really giving them prime guidance here of these poor buyers. So it’s just it but it had to be that way. And the first few times had to be that way to get to the point where I could go through those forms in my sleep, I knew the questions people were going to ask before they asked them, I knew how to explain the process in full, totally simple way versus the first time I explained it the probably the first 20 times I explained it, I made it way more confusing, way harder than it needed to be. Because he hadn’t done it enough. And I was probably scaring people and giving them way too much information. I hadn’t learned that yet, because it just hadn’t done enough reps. And then you get to the point where it’s just like, I am the expert, I’m going to tell you what you need to know, I’m going to answer your questions I’m going to guide you, you have the easy role here. Don’t even worry about it. And that confidence does bleed over to our clients. Of course, I’m using your real estate example. But like you said, same thing with your with your health and wellness clients or your nutrition clients, I did the same thing that when I started taking nutrition clients, I gave them way too much information, Oh, I
Molly Sellers 21:31
did all that too.
Andrea Nordling 21:32
Way too much detail, I went down all of the rabbit holes, not only did they not care, they were not understanding that was making it way more complicated than it needed to be. They were getting very scared. And nobody was telling me where to highlight on the right. And all out by trial and error. And in retrospect, it was so messy. And it was so complicated. And it was so much harder than I had to be. But I had to go through that to get to the point where it could make it you really concise, and it’s part of it. It just is. So I’m so glad that you’re normalizing that and saying yes, in the beginning, nobody really is telling you those little things.
Molly Sellers 22:09
No. And if I could say one thing that I learned and that I would share with everybody else, no matter where you are on your journey with your clients, please keep it simple. Again, I think we’ve all said this before, but we know so much. And we really try to we get excited about it. And we want to share that with our clients. And I can’t tell you how many times I get like the deer in headlight look. And they’re like, Okay,
Andrea Nordling 22:33
I’m like, Oh, I
Molly Sellers 22:33
said too much. I gave him too much information. And I have, again, by trial and error, I have just learned, really scale it back. Like I think you say sometimes even just drinking enough water during the day like you would be amazed how many people don’t do that. And so when I really scale it back, then they’re more receptive. And they’re like, oh, okay, I can handle that. They don’t need to know the scientific stuff behind how you digest your food. And they don’t care. Don’t care. They don’t care. They just want to know how you can help them and keep it simple. And that again, I have learned as I have taken on more clients, because I didn’t know that in the beginning. And those four people as gracious as they were to sign up with me. They just, I gave them all the things. He thinks they could
Andrea Nordling 23:25
never, ever, ever have absorbed all that information. I think it’s so important. You’re kind of like making me think a little bit about how important it is that we all make our clients feel really smart. Yes, and May. And when we talk over their heads, we give them too much information and we try to over deliver in that way by like, I’m going to share I’m going to make you an expert like I am I’m gonna give you all of my information and while you with all of this, because I’m just going to give you everything that will make them feel dumb. I think a lot of times people feel dumb. I was just talking about this with a friend of mine. Yesterday, we were talking about our kids. And we have she has four kids. I have two kids. And we have two of them are very simple. Actually. Wilson, she has like a million kids. She has one that’s similar to one of mine and one that’s similar to the other one. Anything over two kids is a million kids me. So she has a million we were talking about this. And we were talking about the difference between the personality types of kids in sports that can just roll with it. And then we have and they don’t care and they don’t care if they feel dumb and they don’t care if they don’t do it. Right. They have just like out there to play. Versus we each have one that hate feeling stupid. And so they avoid sports that they’re really good at. This is I’m talking about my daughter here and she’s she’s so athletic. She’s so good at but she had a situation she hasn’t played softball since she was like four like a lot of kids now she’s in eighth grade. A lot of kids have been playing for a really long time. So she played softball last last year and she’s really really good at it. But she doesn’t know every rule because she hasn’t been playing that one. And so there was a situation where she should have thrown home and she didn’t did it was like this nuanced thing that nobody had told her and I guess I don’t know. I’m not really up to speed anyway. It was just one of those things where she felt dumb and She just like wants to opt out of the entire experience now, because she just hated that feeling. And I don’t know, like, I’ve just go down this rabbit hole, I feel like that’s kind of what you’re saying is, when we make things more complicated than they need to be for our clients, we may inadvertently make them feel dumb. And then they just want to opt out of the experience. So like, I don’t want to go have that situation again, where she thinks I know more than I know. And I have to either admit that I don’t know what she’s talking about, or just fake it. I’m out. And like, that’s what a terrible experience. And we don’t know, we’re doing that
Molly Sellers 25:30
one of those first clients that I had of the first two that signed up with me, she quit halfway through. So that was like, My worst fear. And it happened, of course. She did all the things that I didn’t want a client to do. She was my hardest client. I learned a lot from that. And I was like, I don’t want one of these ever again. Thank you for the lessons. I don’t want this, again, don’t want to repeat, but I didn’t know how to do that. And now that I look back, just like what you were saying, I think I gave her too much information. I think I made her feel dumbed down a little bit. And she’s a very intelligent lady. And I’ve known her for years. And I think on some level, yeah, I probably made her feel stupid and incapable. And that was not my intention. But I think she was like, No, I’m not doing this right now. I can’t, I’m done. Yeah. And I was like, Well, okay, then. I guess we’re done, because I didn’t know how to handle it. But yeah, now I understand so much more that I could have done and coached her more and helped her and I just didn’t have those tools yet to help her. But she probably felt very, I wouldn’t say dumb. But yeah, she just felt dumb, and like it wasn’t going to work for her. And so she backed out. Yeah,
Andrea Nordling 26:47
I think it’s just this weird thing, especially depending on the kind of people that you work with. But I think we all to a certain extent, work with high achieving ambitious people that have that have these health goals, they like want to go after it, they’re motivated, they want to do it those like kind of naturally the people that you’re going to work with, and that personality type catch 22 is tends to be perfectionistic tends to know the information before they come to you to get the information. The way it is I see this with my clients do I see people are like I need to go make a bunch of money first, so I can afford your program. Great. So if you would come into the program, you’d make a lot faster, we could really expedite that. You’re not gonna figure it out first, before you come and get the information, I can help you with that. But it is kind of the nature of the beast, when you work with the type of people that a lot of us work with. It’s like, oh, I just want to have it all figured out. And I want to come to you, as the star student that is going to do the best, I’m never going to screw up the timing is going to be perfect. I’m gonna slide this into my life, where there’s no vacations, there’s no holidays, I’m gonna do it perfectly. Because God forbid, I would learn how to do this imperfectly. So I could just live my life none at all. I’ll be a certain way. And it’s our job to to navigate that because we have to navigate it in our own brains, but then also for our clients. Yeah. And
Molly Sellers 28:02
just like you said, there is no perfect time. And I think that’s finally why I pulled the trigger to join the program was I kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off. And yeah, it was like, why don’t all the things you say like, I don’t have enough money in my business. I can’t afford to make this investment. I need more clients. I don’t think I know enough yet. You know, all the things that go through our head, and I was like, Just do it. Like, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? Okay, I’m going to build my business quicker, I’m going to gain more clients, I’m going to make more money. Why is that? That’s not a bad thing. Why do I not want to do those things? And I’m making an investment in my business. So it’s a win win all around. But that’s hard to get convince our brains to do that. Sometimes.
Andrea Nordling 28:48
It is it is because we think not at all, I first have to go prove it to myself first, that I’m going to take it seriously. I need to go make some money first and prove that this is a real business. I need to prove it to other people around me. I need to like I’m too busy. Well, yeah, that’s why you need to come in and figure out how to streamline your schedule and stop doing the things that are wasting your time. So you’re less busy like all of that, and we know that but it is it there’s a real temptation there to want it all to be perfect. And knowing that about ourselves makes it so much easier to serve our selves which are going to be our clients because they’ll always reflect our own thoughts back to us. So it makes it so much easier to lovingly say, a totally understand that the time isn’t perfect, which is why it actually is perfect because you’re going to learn how to take care of yourself. Even when the time isn’t perfect. Even when you’re really busy. Even with all of the vacations, even with all of the fill in the blank, you’re going to learn how to take care of yourself once you rather learn that now. So then in the easy times. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe you have the skill. Yeah. Yeah. Fantastic. Okay, so early clients taught you a lot. Oh, yes. You had some hardest clients. What else? Oh, actually, I did have a question while you were talking. This was long ago now but we’re gonna circle back to it. Did you have an any drama working with people that you knew in the beginning of your business? Or was that comfy to you? It was?
Molly Sellers 30:06
That’s another good question. Because I still have some clients that I know I, I’ve only had like one or two that were kind of strangers, so to speak. There’s pros and cons to it. I would say, for some of the people, it’s easier when they know me, because I think it’s easier for them to share their personal journey. And you know, I joke with my clients, we talk a lot about poop, because it tells a lot about what’s going on with your health. And we get a lot of good laughs about that. But it’s a serious thing. And so I find that sometimes when I already have a relationship with the client, it, it makes it a little easier. But then there’s also pros to when I don’t really have an established relationship with them, and we build one as we work together. So I guess there’s pros and cons to both, if that’d be answered the question
Andrea Nordling 30:59
I just asked, because I think some people really struggle with that. And I think I don’t want to charge people I know, I don’t want to work with people. I know, I don’t like church and state all of that. No right or wrong. But I just think it’s interesting to know, like what your brain does, but it doesn’t sound like you have a problem with
Molly Sellers 31:15
it, which is great. And again, when people are paying, I’ve changed my prices a couple times and my package offer. And I think when that became clear, and then the more I talked and the more I said, Hey, this is what I do, I can help you. I think people are always listening, it’s up to us to always continue to kind of plant that seed. And at some point, they’re going to say, oh, okay, click Like that’s going to work for me. Yeah. And so I think the more that you keep doing what you’re doing, they’re, they’re always listening, they’re always waiting in the wings. And then when it’s ready for them, they’re ready to sign up. And they don’t mind paying the money. They don’t care if you’ve been friends forever. They’re ready to do it. And they trust you, which is a huge part of it. Yeah, they know you you backup everything that you’re talking about? Totally, totally.
Andrea Nordling 32:01
I think I mean, I love working with people that I know personally, I think it’s great. Because exactly what you’re saying they already trust you, then they’re going to experience the results that they’re going to get working with you. And they’re going to be like your biggest evangelists that are going to just about you sending everyone to you, more so than a stranger because of course, we want to support people that we know in our lives even more than, you know, strangers on the internet, obviously. So yeah, that’s I feel like it’s a super win. I would also would there was one other thing that I was going to say while you were when you said that what was it I lost my train of thought? Um, oh, shoot. Okay, it’ll come back to me anyway. All right. So no drama with working people that you know, with no work with people that you know, love that. So you worked with? Well, let’s like go to this would be like a year ago, right? You’re working with your first clients, you’re in the messy middle of like, I don’t know what I’m doing. But I’m doing it probably going to change this process. At some point, as I figure it out. What did that keep looking like? You said, You changed your price a couple times you did remind packages? Like bring us through that a little bit? What were some of those changes? And why did you make them?
Molly Sellers 33:07
So I had so many services listed out on my basic basic website. But I was like, I just need a landing spot for everybody to go to, here’s my website, go to it. But I had so many things. I had like grocery store shopping assistance I had, like I had like meal prep, but it was just like all these random one off things so that when people were looking at what I offered, they were like, well, my goodness, how am I supposed to know which thing to pick? I don’t even know where to start. And then I was doing a four month or I was doing a three month package and a six month package. And then I realized, well, what’s the difference between that? Most people I feel like we’re trying to pick the three month package because it was cheaper. And then I was confused. So they were confused. And then I offered an additional testing, like lab service as a one off thing. And everybody was picking that because it was a cheaper option. Mm hmm. And I was like, this is not working. And people were confused. I was confused. And what I was finding was when I was just offering the one off lab service, it was great because it provided so much information to my clients. But then I think I had like a two week follow up thing where they could follow up with me after I gave them recommendations from this test. And then that was it. And they went off into the sunset. So I gave them all this information. That was really in depth. And then I said okay, bye Good luck with your life. And I realized that’s not serving them at all. What they don’t know what to do with that information. There’s no one to walk them through it. They don’t even know where to start. It’s a lot of information. It’s overwhelming. So I stopped doing that. And I have a few people now and then say hey, you know, do you still offer that? And I said no, because it didn’t serve my clients. So I come by Ain’t that with my main package and got rid of all those little piddly other services I had? And people were like, oh, okay, you have one thing that you offer. I like that. That’s easy. It’s simple. There’s your one thing and your one price. And I was like, that’s all I have to worry about, to worry about all these other things. So that just made it so much easier for me and for them. And yeah, it changed my price a couple times, I’m probably getting ready to change it again, just because I’m feeling more confident. And I’m seeing kind of how I want my business to progress. And it will continue to change as I evolve and add things to my practice. But initially starting out, yeah, like I said, I had no idea. So I just tried it, and then evaluated it, and then was like, Okay, let me try this and see how this works. And it’s always going to keep changing like that. And I’m okay with that.
Andrea Nordling 35:51
Yeah, yeah. Because how else do you not? Well, you have to get in, you have to try something. To inform what the next move is going to be, you just have to, you have to, you can’t arrive confidently at a decision in the beginning, unless you’ve you test it a little bit, gotta be battle tested to get to that competence. I love. It remembered what I was going to say. Previously, when we were talking about, like, you were saying, you just have to be consistent, you just have to, like keep showing up and people are looking and they are listening, they are paying attention. And I wanted to just like build on that for a second and say, We will never know when someone’s threat like when is the day when they because of external circumstances will never be aware of already, could be, you know, something health wise could be something else in their life where it’s like, their threshold is reached that day, I’m changing it, like I’m in enough pain I have whatever it is, today’s the day, we have no idea, we just have to keep showing up, we just have to keep being there, we have to keep lately like serving and being there and reminding them of what we do. And that we can help them. Because you you can’t control that you can’t control when someone is ready to make the decision. We can of course, inform that with as much information and as much useful help and value and all of that, like we always talk about, but you never know. So just consistency just being
Molly Sellers 37:07
there. I have a client right now who had numerous numerous health issues and came to me and I was first I was like, oh my goodness, I don’t think I can do this. This is a lot. But she ended up being one of my best clients. And she had tried for seven years, she had tried numerous different programs and was in pain and was on like prescription medications. And I mean, you name it, she tried it. And then she finally, like you said, hit a breaking point. And she was like, I can’t do this anymore. Like there’s gotta be some other options. And she had been watching me for a while she said, and then she was like, I just decided, what did I have to lose at that point, like, I may as well sign up. And I think that was so important, because then her level of commitment was so much there because she was pretty much like at the at the giving up point. She was like, I don’t know what else to do. This has to work. And she’s had phenomenal results. And she like I said she was one of my best clients ever. So I’m so glad she pulled the plug, decided to do it. But like you said, you never know how long someone’s been watching, when they’re going to be ready to do it. But just staying consistent and keep, you know, giving the message and sharing what you do. And then knowing that they will, they’ll come when they’re ready to you know, this is so silly. I was watching field of dreams last night. But if you’ve time it’s such a good movie, and so inspiring. And I was like that really relates to our business little bit like if you build it, they will come keep building it. And they’re going to show up. Just have faith in that. And yeah, that’s my little tidbit of information.
Andrea Nordling 38:45
For sure. For sure. Okay, going back to so now you have you’ve consolidated your offers into your form. So you consolidate into a four month package, right? Yes, yes, three to six month and then just into four. So I’m curious in no right or wrong. I just would love to hear how this has evolved for you. How much do you find yourself customizing that package for each client? Or have you do you have like a process that really everybody fits into that you bring them into? I just curious about that. Yeah, that’s,
Molly Sellers 39:14
that’s good. I, I do pretty much have now my procedure set up and kind of an onboarding process so to speak. But what I’ve learned, kind of like what we were saying before with the overwhelm, is I’ve really learned to stop talking with my clients. And one of my instructors in the in the NTA used to say this, like when you’re listening to a client, if you can’t shut up have like a bottle water or something to sip on. So that occupies your mouth, and then that allows them time to talk and I’ve used that tip a lot. I just take a sip of water, have a pause and let them fill in the blanks because then they’re going to start talking. So I’ve learned that the more I scale back and let my clients kind of show to hear and talk about the things that they want to talk about, you know, we come up with goals and action plans. And when I stopped saying, These are the goals I want you to do, I’ve now started to turn it around and say, you know, what goals would you like to work on? In the next week, we meet bi weekly, for eight or nine sessions, it’s about eight sessions. But I’ll say what goals do you do you want to work on for the next two weeks until we meet again, and I’ve learned that the goals that I would like to pick for them, usually have nothing to do with the goals that pertain to them and what they want to do. And I’m always like, Oh, that’s it. Oh, I was gonna say XY and Z. But that doesn’t necessarily work for them. It’s again, it’s not about me, it’s about them. So really, kind of turning it over to them and saying, okay, like, I’m here to guide you, but what’s going to work for you? Yeah, within those parameters, and that’s been amazing to watch how that unfolds. And that’s different for every client.
Andrea Nordling 41:02
Yeah, oh, that’s so good. I want everyone to rewind and listen to that, again, for like, having them establish their goals instead of you. And, like, really think about, if if you weren’t doing that, if you weren’t having that open dialogue and giving them that opportunity, they would feel behind because you would have way bigger goals for them than what they are satisfied with and what feels like attainable and doable and feels like a win to them. So you would be unconsciously, like pushing them, like, work fun, we can do more here feels terrible. And they would feel like I’m not doing it right. I’m not doing it right. I’m not. But yeah, you’re taking that out of the equation by just letting them guide all of it. I mean, it’s so it’s these simple things that are such good reminders. They love us.
Molly Sellers 41:46
Yes. 100%.
Andrea Nordling 41:49
Thanks. So glad that you’ve reminded all of us of that. I just took that in for myself as well.
Molly Sellers 41:54
That was a hard lesson to learn. And I’ve only come to that within the last probably three or four months. And like I said, it was a game changer to really just, again, slow down and listen to what they are saying and what they need. And stop trying to impart all my wisdom on them. Yeah, because that doesn’t work.
Andrea Nordling 42:16
But why? Why do we always try, we always try. Alright, so Okay, let’s talk more about I know, you wanted to talk about the 3k in 30 days challenge, but you have to bring us through the journey up until then, because that was just a couple of months ago. So we have lots of time here where I assume you’re working with clients, you’re testing out these processes, you’re streamlining, you’re figuring out what works better. Anything we’re missing there in the in that interim? No,
Molly Sellers 42:44
I had those first two clients. And then I kind of like I said, I had these one off offerings. So I kind of had clients and quotations here and there. And again, I kept listening to everyone talking about the three key and 3030 day challenge. And I kept wanting to try it. And I was like, again, let’s just do this, let’s just go for it and see. And again, I felt like I was kind of at a standstill in my business where I was doing okay, but I knew I could do better. And again, like why not? I don’t want to be
Andrea Nordling 43:18
like what would be your client load before then give us an idea of how many clients you’re working with,
Molly Sellers 43:22
I really I have, I still have my full time corporate job, which I’m grateful to say I’m slowly moving away from because I want to do this full time. So I was doing a full time corporate job plus my clients. So I could really only take like two clients at a time. Because that entailed, you know, getting off work at five o’clock and getting home and trying to log on and deal with clients and deal with dinner and family things. It’s a lot. Yeah, and then trying to squeeze in time on the weekend. And then oh, when am I going to do the paperwork and the follow up with these clients? How am I gonna squeeze that in? So that’s been kind of a balance and a juggle. And when I usually have those two clients, I kind of was going for a four month stretch, like this is all I can do right now. I’m good. Like, this is all I can do. Because it was just a lot. And I was trying to figure out so much that I think I was kind of putting up a road sign like not right now. I can’t they can’t even back later come back bigger. I’m good. I’m that capacity. Which now you know, again, I’m learning. I continue to learn but still What if more clients signed up? Why why is that a bad thing? You know what? Okay, then I can leave my corporate job quicker. So yay for me. Yeah. Why is that? I would make it work. So yeah, I really only had like one or two clients at a time. I would say like, per month or so, before I signed up for the 3k challenge.
Andrea Nordling 44:48
Okay, I would say I’m not trying to interrupt you but I just was going to say for anyone listening to this like this is very important. Keep that open sign on, get the clients in the door because then what happens when you have the on what’s the very worst case scenario, you actually hire somebody like you’re in the profitable, nutritious program, you will have hundreds and hundreds of very, very well qualified practitioners that you could hire to service those clients with you and to help you. I mean, you would figure it out if you actually couldn’t do it yourself. You get that money. And you? Yes. Oh, it is not actually a problem. That is for sure. People want to pay me this is not a problem. Okay. Just had to put that out there. Well, and that’s
Molly Sellers 45:28
funny, you say that because I did the 3k and three day challenge, and I hit my goal, which was higher than that I was going for 4k. Yeah. And then it happened. Of course, like painted them all at the end of the month. And then I had a moment where I thought, Oh, crap. Now what do I do? I have all these clients and have to unboard them. And like total freakout moment, okay, I did it. But now know what what do I do? How am I going to do this? I don’t know. But I just rolled with it and did it. And I was like, Okay, again, this is not a bad thing. Like you did this. It’s okay. This is what you want. Figure it out.
Andrea Nordling 46:03
We’re gonna figure it out. The challenge that she’s talking about is called the three Cain 30 Days Challenge. If you haven’t heard us talk about it on the podcast before, this is something that we do twice a year live inside the profitable, nutritious program. It is 30 days of its I mean, it’s mindset exercises, basically, you’re unpacking your thoughts about your success, your clients success, your business success, all of the things, and it’s just five to 10 minutes of a writing exercise every morning is what the challenge is, it’s incredibly simple. It is also incredibly effective to quickly sort through, oh my gosh, what’s going on in this brain? What are the what do I actually thinking about these things? What’s going on, and then that awareness typically will have a domino effect to I mean, you’ll just take massive action after you see Oh, I see what I’m thinking here. That’s not serving me unbelievable. Boom, it things go very quickly. From him,
Molly Sellers 46:53
it is wild to see, again, I think like you always say put it do pen and paper and to sit just for 10 minutes in the morning, like I would set my timer. Even when I was at my corporate job. I was like, I got my 10 minutes, I gotta do this first thing, or otherwise, I’m gonna forget to do it, but to see the thoughts that came out on the paper, and then read that back and then read that back as I went through the challenge. And I was like, I really think that I don’t think that but I wrote it down. Where is that coming from? I don’t know. That’s not true. So it’s fascinating to see what our brain tells us, and the why behind it. And then when you tie that into your business and how your business is growing, it makes so much sense.
Andrea Nordling 47:33
It really does make sense. Yeah, it really make
Molly Sellers 47:37
it so hard.
Andrea Nordling 47:39
So your goal was 4k in 30 days? Yeah, I’m guessing that was more than you had made in 30 days up to that point.
Molly Sellers 47:46
Oh, yes. Yeah, far. Yes.
Andrea Nordling 47:49
So what did you find yourself doing differently during the challenge that contributed to surpassing that goal?
Molly Sellers 47:55
It was a lot of the mindset and a lot of repetitive motions, meaning I just kept talking to people and re talking to people and I do do some social media. I don’t love it. I really don’t. It feels very inauthentic to me. But I’m there. I don’t do a lot on it. So to me, I have no interest in trying to promote myself on that. Because I’m more like, I want to talk to people face to face, I want to interact with you, I want to shake your hand. So I did more of that. And I just started reaching out to like people in my community in my town, hey, this is what I’m doing. Can I come collaborate with you? Can I come talk at your yoga studio thinks that I think I was too scared to try before. Again, what did I have to lose? I wasn’t moving the needle any more forward by not doing it. So go do it and see what happens. And I had huge results from that. And I think that helped me build confidence in myself. Yeah, therefore and how I was messaging myself and marketing myself and I just kept doing more and more of those things, that imperfect action that you talk about and just kind of pushing myself. Like okay, I’m a little scared to do this. But what do you have to lose? Go do it. Yeah. And I think that came across in my emails, I do a weekly emails, I have an email list that I send weekly emails out to and I think that came across in there. So just those same things over and over again and being confident and working on that mindset and those actions, and it actually worked. Turns out really surprised me.
Andrea Nordling 49:31
Turns out we like to make this way harder than it is. Yeah, unfortunately, there’s plenty of clients for everyone listening to this podcast. There’s no shortage of people that need your help. For sure. Okay, I’m gonna put you on the spot with my next question, boy, okay. Okay, now this is gonna be an easy one, but I’m just curious. Okay. So, for context, we are going to meet in real life. In this we are in there. A couple of weeks. Yeah, like next next week, actually, I have to start packing. I’m stressing mice coming to Big Sky, Montana, I am hosting a retreat in Big Sky for students that wanted to come in the profitable, nutritious program, we’re in the mastermind. And it is a working retreat, meaning we are going to be working while we’re there, like you’re coming with a project that you are going to get done or make massive progress on while we’re there. So I’m just curious, what are you going to be working on in Big Sky? Next in your business,
Molly Sellers 50:32
I can’t wait, I can’t wait. I am really hoping to tackle the emails. That’s a, that’s a big request for a lot of us that are going, I do okay with them. But I it’s still a struggle for me just to get my point across. And I really want to fine tune my messaging and really start selling and marketing from my emails, because they can be better
Andrea Nordling 50:57
batch creating a bunch of emails or you outline your emails, what is your plan,
Molly Sellers 51:02
I would love to batch create, I would love to outline, I would love to do all the things. And I would also kind of have more than one. I would also like to amp up my website, because it’s very basic, and I don’t think it’s helpful at all. So those are kind of two big things that I want to work on. And at some point down the road, I would love to turn everything into like a group program. So I kind of want to think down the road for that. And then I would be interested in like podcast stuff. So those are kind of like future things. But immediate would be the emails, and the website, email and
Andrea Nordling 51:38
website copy. Okay, yeah, cool. I just me professional curiosity. I’m gonna find out in a week. But yeah,
Molly Sellers 51:45
I’m excited to dive in. Yeah,
Andrea Nordling 51:48
amazing. Okay, well, what was there anything else that you thought would be useful for anyone starting out in their business, just getting, I mean, just getting going that you think would be helpful for them to hear?
Molly Sellers 52:00
I’m looking at my notes to see, I think that I think I talked about it a lot. But again, just staying consistent, being confident, please stop comparing yourself to everybody else. I think you said before, like when you’re trying to figure out pricing in your business and what you should offer, please don’t look at everybody else yet. Don’t
Andrea Nordling 52:16
do it. Terrible idea. Don’t
Molly Sellers 52:18
do it. Depressing. And then you feel less than and then you stress about it. Don’t do any of that. Just really trust yourself. And know that if it doesn’t work, you’re gonna figure it out. And you’ll try something else. But yeah, just being confident and portraying that with your clients. And then like I said, sometimes just shutting your mouth and letting them relate to you what they need. Yeah, it’s huge. The such a big thing, and then continuing to take that imperfect action. I know, it’s scary. I know. It’s hard. I just had a girlfriend of mine. We had dinner the other night. And she said, You just amaze me. You just keep doing these things. And I said, because this is what I want to do. I said, I I haven’t. I mean, not in a bad way. But I was like, I have no other choice. Like, this is what I want to do. So what do I have to lose? I’m just gonna keep going out there and saying, This is me. This is what I do. I can help. How do we make this work? And she said, I could never do that. I said, I bet you could. You can do it. And you would learn from it. And it’s empowering. And it builds confidence. And there’s some things that don’t work out. But then you learn Okay, I won’t do that again.
Andrea Nordling 53:24
It’s the fast the fast track of personal development, business. Everything about your site, every insecurity you’ve ever had that you thought you buried since middle school will come right back.
Molly Sellers 53:37
100% se Yes.
Andrea Nordling 53:39
All of it. Okay, well, where does everyone find you? Tell us tell us where we are. I mean, your your website’s about to be completely beautified. So you for sure want? Yes.
Molly Sellers 53:53
So I do have my website. It’s good for you. food.net. Good for you food as my company. And then I am on social media. But it’s good for you. Good for you food, but it’s good for you. FD is the handle on Instagram. But yeah, that’s where you can find me. And then I usually just tell people to email me because email is great. And that’s easiest way to do it. Yes, but it’s what’s your email and email is good for you. fd@gmail.com
Andrea Nordling 54:24
Perfect. And we’ll have all of that linked up, of course in the show notes as well. Fantastic. Thank you for sharing that with us today. I think that this is so I mean, I always think these conversations are great, but I think this is so particularly inspiring because of what you have created just in the last year as we go through your timeline. It’s been a year really since Yes. Okay. Well let me and physically put your open sign on while working your full time corporate job. And think of all of the ripple effect of all of the people already that you have helped that have heard about you that are pay Paying attention and where that’s going. It’s
Molly Sellers 55:01
so exciting. It’s very inspiring. And you know, that’s something to remember too, is always like, keep a record of the things and the positive things your clients say. And realize when you do feel down or you feel like comparing yourself go back and look at that stuff and realize, oh, I helped her with this. Yeah, it helped her feel better. I helped her do this. And then no, that gives you more confidence. Oh, yeah, I can do this. I am doing this. Yeah.
Andrea Nordling 55:25
Especially when people talk about like, you teach them one little thing that probably seems so insignificant. And so well, duh, do you? Because this is, you know, as we’ve already talked about, that’s how everybody knows that. They don’t know that. The people that say, Oh, my God, that like that one thing. I taught that to my kid. I taught that and think about generationally, just the ripple effect of that is so big. I just think you goosebumps. I love that. Yeah, what kind of well, yeah, okay. Well, thank you for sharing your story with us today. I’m so glad you’re here.
Molly Sellers 55:54
Thank you.
