Podcast Episode #231: Advice About Starting a Business

Topics:
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:52] 2. Starting a new business; is there room? [10:24] 3. Building the foundation [22:23] 4. Connecting in person [26:35] 5. Liz and Diane first starting out [33:29] 6. Diane’s Facebook memory 7 years ago [43:37] 7. Social media and what the internet has done for business [45:12] 8. #Treatyoself: #Epsomsaltsbath [1:00:41]

 

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/balancedbites/231_final.mp3″ title=”#231: Advice About Starting a Business” artist=”Diane Sanfilippo & Liz Wolfe ” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” ]

Links:

Subscribe to Real Food Liz! 

Subscribe to DianeSanfilippo.com

Tickets to our live Portland Podcast event on March 17th can be purchased here!

Symposium on The Paleo Approach and Evolutionary Medicine

EMPACK: The Multi-Functional Weight Training Backpack

The episodes are also available in iTunes & Stitcher.

 Show sponsors:

You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 231.

Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast with Diane Sanfilippo and Liz Wolfe. Diane is a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo, The 21-Day Sugar Detox, and co-author of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. Liz is a nutritional therapy practitioner, and the best-selling author of Eat the Yolks and The Purely Primal Skincare Guide. Together, Diane and Liz answer your questions, interview leading health and wellness experts, and share their take on modern paleo living with their friendly and balanced approach. Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Liz Wolfe: Hi folks. It’s Liz, and that’s Diane.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s me. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, you always have to say hi. That’s always; 231 episodes later, we’ll get it down, right? Hi!

Diane Sanfilippo: Hey everyone.

Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone. So, let’s hear about one of our sponsors; the Nutritional Therapy Association. The Nutritional Therapy Association is the educational and certifying organization for NTPs, just like me! Their 2016 conference called From Theory to Practice runs from the 18th to the 20th of March in Portland, Oregon. You’ll find speakers and panelists like myself, Julie Matthews, Sarah Ballantyne, Nora Gedgaudas, Caroline Potter, Mickey Trescott, and more talking holistic nutrition as well as running an NTP practice and business. I’ll also be doing a book signing on Sunday for my book, Eat the Yolks, with the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. And that book would not have been written had it not been for my NTP education.

In addition to that, I’ll be doing my talk and panel on Saturday. The Nutritional Therapy Association conference is for nutrition professionals, naturopaths, acupuncturists, functional medicine doctors, massage therapists, any other holistic practitioners who want to stay up to date on the latest information about functional holistic nutrition. I would also say it’s for mainstream practitioners who want to get a grip on what real prevention is all about, but that’s just me editorializing. And of course, it’s also for folks who are curious about what the NTA has to offer, people that just want to attend talks like mine about building a business online, the basics of that. It’s really for everybody, so go to NutritionalTherapyConference.com and get your tickets now.

Also remember that on Thursday March 17th, one day before the NTA conference starts, Diane and I have the live Balanced Bites podcast event in Portland. So we hope to see you there, too!

1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [2:52]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, so, other than all that, what’s going on with you Diane?

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} So other than our Portlandia podcast event, which I’m actually super excited about that. Not that I wouldn’t normally be excited about events, because I always am, but we are working on a bunch of fun stuff sort of behind the scenes, hopefully getting some swag together.

Liz Wolfe: What!? Swag bags?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, swag. {laughs} How fun!

Liz Wolfe: I love how you let me just show up to stuff. You’re like, “Liz, you’re really busy and you’ll forget everything I ask you to do anyways.”

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: “So you just show up. Here’s a swag bag.” {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: You’re responsible for cups and ice. I’m just kidding.

Liz Wolfe: Oh crap. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m just kidding. So, no it’s going to be really fun. But I do want to tell people again, I’ve been kind of posting all over Instagram, but we’re about a third of the way already sold out on that, and I have not yet sent; I always send an email out to people who have attended events previously in that area. I have not sent those yet, so there are a bunch of folks who probably don’t even know that the event is happening yet, and they do live in the Portland area. So if you’re listening, and you’ve been hesitating and waiting; don’t wait because they’re going to sell out. And if you live anywhere in the area, make it a little road trip. Grab your girlfriends. Grab your best girl friends! {laughs} Or boyfriends, or whoever you want, and come up to Portland if you’re anywhere in the area. So that’s going to be fun.

Also February 27th I’m just going to quickly mention there’s an event at UCSF here in San Francisco. I won’t be speaking, but I will be attending. Speakers include Chris Kresser, Robb Wolf, Michelle Tam, all sorts of fun smart awesome people, so you can check out the blog post for this episode. We’ll have a link to be able to get tickets; use code BALANCEDBITES I think you get, I don’t know, 10 or 20% off, some kind of discount. {laughs} I forgot to write it down.

And the only other update I have for folks this week is, make sure you are on my emailing list. Which I know we talk about this all the time, but I know there are people who listen and are like; “Well, I probably hear it all.” Hmm, you can’t really hear it all because some of it is not audible content. So I’ve got a bunch of videos coming out. We have a brand new video editor on our team who I’m very excited about. She’s doing awesome things, and I know you guys have asked me quite often for my egg poaching video; that one’s coming out this week. So by the time this episode airs, I think the video will already have launched, but it may be something that we launch at large, and it may be something we send to subscribers only first. That’s kind of something that we’re doing with a lot of the video content.

So eventually, it will all get out there somewhere, but a lot of it’s going to be subscribers only first, and I know some of you guys have been waiting to see; you know, what’s the demo, and recipe videos. All kinds of fun stuff. So that’s it. Those are the quick updates from me. What’s up with you?

Liz Wolfe: I’ve had a long week. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Oh man, I’m just really happy that my husband works in an industry that gives him really stupid days off; like, Columbus day and President’s day. Yay government! Because I needed a short week this week. So I’m glad.

Oh, and here’s a real update. I’ve had a few people ask me about the mom’s group and where to find it. So try to search in Facebook “Parenthood! With Liz Wolf, NTP” and if you can’t find it, you can access my email archives if you’re a subscriber to grab the email I sent out about it. Search your email. We’re approving people every two weeks or so just to keep things at a steady pace. At this point I'm not making it super public on an ongoing basis which is why I’m not just putting the link out on the Facebook page, because I just can’t handle the influx. So once you're added, don’t forget to use the search box because we’ve had some really good threads already on things like teething, and milk production, and baby sleep, etc., not that I know anything about baby sleep. Yeah.

What else? I went to brunch today. It was really nice.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Today is Valentine’s Day. We’re recording on Valentine’s Day.

Diane Sanfilippo: Aww. Hey Gal-entine!

Liz Wolfe: Hey Gal-entine! Gal-entine’s Day.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: We did brunch instead of Valentine’s Day dinner because; I mean…

Diane Sanfilippo: Because you have a baby?

Liz Wolfe: Because I have a baby, I want to go to bed at like 5:30. Like, in my head, I’m thinking “I’m going to go to bed exactly when the baby goes to bed and get some sleep.” And then of course, she’s in bed, and I’m like, “I could sit here and watch Property Hunters on TV with the commercials for 3 hours.”

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Why not do that? It’s just so ridiculous. I don’t know who I am anymore. Pretty much they’re giving anybody a reality show these days, I think.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Yes, they are.

Liz Wolfe: These hosts on some of these TV shows; I mean, it’s like watching bread go moldy.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Who are you?

Diane Sanfilippo: Not that you’ve seen that happen in a long time, I’m sure.

Liz Wolfe: Not that I’ve seen that happen in a long time, exactly. Alright, so I have a shout out, if I may?

Diane Sanfilippo: You may, yeah go for it.

Liz Wolfe: Thank you! So our friend, Emily Schromm’s Kickstarter just basically blew everyone away, which was no surprise at all. We’ve had Emily on the show; you’ve interviewed her, I believe.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm, yeah she’s awesome. We were on a couple of panels together at PaleoFx, yeah she’s cool.

Liz Wolfe: I believe she has been confirmed as a speaker at the NTA conference.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh cool.

Liz Wolfe: So that’s going to be really awesome. So she basically; she created a multifunctional training backpack that’s pretty much like a customizable weight pack that allows you to do anything you do with a sandbag or dumbbells, or a barbell, you name it, with customizable weight because of the adjustable water bladders within it. There are 4 of them, and they can each be filled up to 15 pounds, which is just brilliant. It’s made of military grade material. You can use it for deadlifts, weighted squats, power clean, squat cleans, thrusters, rows, lunges, good mornings. Whatever you can dream up, and this thing is just really, really cool.

Better yet, it’s going to be made in the USA, which is super awesome. I do think, as of the day this podcast airs, there will be a few days left on the Kickstarter, so go to her website, SuperheroUnleashed.com you can scroll down to get to the Kickstarter, or we’ll put a direct link in the show notes, and just check it out. I totally want one; I know my husband is going to want one. It’s just a really cool idea. Very much functional fitness, where as a lot of the Crossfit stuff has turned into; I remember when we first started Crossfit, or when my husband did, it was like we were going on the message boards and figuring out how to make kettle bells out of a bucket and poured concrete.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And it was like, as cheap as you could get, you know? We hung some rings from a tree branch.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. Now people have multiple investors to open a gym.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah, it’s crazy. So this is truly, I mean functional and go anywhere type of fitness. I believe there’s a laptop pocket and everything, so really cool. Really happy for her success there.

Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food.

2. Starting a business; is there room? [10:24]

Liz Wolfe: Alright. Diane.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes?

Liz Wolfe: We have listener comments and questions. No we don’t, actually.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I just read that off the piece of paper. This is how tired I am right now.

Diane Sanfilippo: And that you called your screen a piece of paper, also.

Liz Wolfe: Did I just do that?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Are you for real?

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

{honking}

Liz Wolfe: Is that honking in my head, or is that at your house?

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} No, it’s outside.

Liz Wolfe: Ok, well at least we have that. That’s good. So, this was kind of my idea to do this show because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a ton, and it’s something that you help people with all the time, and we are often asked about running a business based around holistic wellness and nutrition. Basically, kind of like what we do and what a lot of our colleagues do, and given my upcoming talk at the NTA conference about this topic geared toward NTPs, I thought we’d do an episode for the people that are curious. Because there are so, so many people that; I don’t know. It becomes kind of this feed forward type of thing where you really get into the information, it changes your life, you start a blog; which both of us always encourage everybody to put their thoughts out there for the benefit of other people. They start blogs, they realize; wow, people are reading this, I’m helping people. How do I move this forward, and is there even a point because there are so many people trying to do the same thing. And I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about it.

Diane Sanfilippo: For sure, yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I’m excited.

Diane Sanfilippo: We get tons of questions about all of this stuff every week. I think there are different questions coming in about having a nutrition business, and we’ve talked about this before on the show, but I think we’ve talked about our certifications and things like that, and I don’t know that we’ve really gotten into this side of things.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: And I know that a huge percentage of our listeners are these people.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: You’re either at a job and you're considering making a switch, or it’s something that you’ve already started a practice. I know tons of listeners are 21-Day Sugar Detox coaches, for examples. Different NTPs, NCs, etc., and just have all this stuff milling around in their heads and don’t know really how to move forward I think.

Liz Wolfe: I wanted to say something before we really dive in. I think a lot of people feel like you and I are similar in what we do and how we do it. And while I guess that’s kind of true; I also want people to understand, you and I…

Diane Sanfilippo: So different.

Liz Wolfe: Are so different!

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m laughing! {laughs} I’m like, no.

Liz Wolfe: So completely different. And I think that’s; I hope people take that away from this whole discussion. You can do this your own way.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yep.

Liz Wolfe: And you can make it work. You don’t have to do things exactly like me or exactly like Diane. But understand that Diane and I come together on a lot of projects, but we have different; I don’t know, would you say goals for our businesses? Different priorities and different infrastructures, I guess.

Diane Sanfilippo: Everything about what we both do with our businesses, with the way that we approach things; everything is different except for the way that we kind of see the work that we do in terms of how we help people and the type of information that we’re sharing.

Liz Wolfe: Uh-huh.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, we see eye to eye on that. We definitely, we can make different choices for ourselves and support each other in that, which is also part of seeing eye to eye. We know that different strokes for different folks works, and that’s the same in business as it is in nutrition. So I think because neither of us are uber dogmatic about any of that stuff, it just kind of; I don’t know, it works for us to work together. And I do think that it’s a hard thing for me to actually work with other people in a lot of ways when it comes to important projects and big things. I mean, for us to work together this long on a podcast.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Is testimony to us being both very open minded about a lot of things, and then also just the ebb and flow of me being somebody who does; I mean, I like to call the shots more and you are cool with being like, “ok, this is the stuff that matters to me, and the rest of it I’m cool to go with the flow.”

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, you always get your say, of course, because I think it would be disrespectful not to, but if you don’t care you don’t care. And you’re like; “well, Diane probably has an opinion,” {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: So let’s just let her do what she’s going to do. But that, you have to find someone to work with. I think that’s actually kind of a good topic, which we didn’t have written down here. But if people are going to partner with someone else. Which, I’ve seen a lot of folks coming up doing podcasts, and that’s great, and I think having 2 women; how funny, Liz, when we started this podcast, there were definitely not any groups, duos of women doing podcasts.

Liz Wolfe: Nu-huh.

Diane Sanfilippo: On this topic. It was Robb and; Robb Wolf had one

Liz Wolfe: Chris; Chris Kresser.

Diane Sanfilippo: Was Chris’s out before ours?

Liz Wolfe: I can’t remember. I was trying to remember that the other day.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m not sure.

Liz Wolfe: He does it less often, so maybe that’s why there are fewer episodes.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I think he was weekly for a while and then maybe every 2 weeks. But I think his was probably around the same time as ours. When we started this podcast, people said; literally the first episode, I remember one of the questions was, are we at a paleo podcast critical mass. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, it’s exploded since then. So, to give people perspective, I just feel like, think about that. The fact that people were asking us if this was already too much when we started.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And what if we had said to ourselves; yeah, it’s probably too much, we probably shouldn’t do this. Can you imagine if we hadn’t started this? For those of you who have been listening for more than 4 years, you would be like, “Who’s going to drive with me to work every day?” {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: So I think it’s important to realize that. We all start somewhere, and if you’re going to get stopped in your tracks by naysayers or just questioners along the way, then you're not going to be able to proceed forward. I mean, I think there’s definitely a healthy amount of, “this is what I’m going to do,” you know, and just move forward with it. I definitely commend those who’ve come since us, especially the duos of women that are out there doing podcasts, because I feel like people look at it and think; well, do we really need another podcast? Do we really need this? It’s like, who cares?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: There’s something for everyone. So I know that’s one of the topics that we do have on here that we get asked about a lot. Is the market saturated when it comes; not just podcasts, when it comes to a nutrition practice, when it comes to speaking and doing events, when it comes to books, whatever it’s going to be; online programs. I think there is room for everybody.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think one of the big struggles that we have is we are so in this world, you know, and we get so deep into it that we forget how small it is in comparison to how many people are out there who need help.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Who’ve never even found it. I know you have something to say about this too; but just before I even open that up, for people to just gain perspective on the fact that there are consistently, every day, every week, tons of new people coming into this world, whether it’s real food paleo, whatever. When I post stuff on Instagram or Facebook for example, and I’m eating white rice and I get questions about it, where people say “I thought rice wasn’t paleo.” I know that those of you who have been with us for a long time have this gut reaction to want to just tell people to calm down or tell them the answer or ask them, “why are you asking that, I can’t believe you’re still asking that. She’s been talking about it for this long.” I get that reaction, I understand it, but realize that it’s because so many of these people are brand new. And what I want people to see is, that’s the opportunity.

I know how many new people get a copy of Practical Paleo every single week; it’s a lot of people, you guys. I don’t know where they come from, I don’t know who’s telling them about what. I feel like sometimes we’re in a bubble; I sometimes don’t feel like I’m reaching new people all the time, but then they come in and they ask these questions and all of you have to realize that there are so many people literally every week, every day who are learning about this stuff, who are getting diagnosed with health conditions, who are going to the doctor and are like, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” and the doctor says, “I don’t either.” Right? It’s endless. It’s endless how many people need help. And that’s the market. How many people need help; that’s the market. It’s not who is already here teaching; it’s who is out there that needs help.

Liz Wolfe: That’s really actually, that’s helpful for me to hear that right now. Just because with Baby Making and Beyond, having worked on it for so long. And you know, I feel like you know that you’re in that place where you’re about to be done with something; when you're about to complete something, when you’re like super depressed {laughs}.

Diane Sanfilippo: When you hate it is when it’s almost done. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And you’re like, “I hate it! Nobody is ever going to want this, it’s not going to help anybody; everybody already has this information!” It’s not true, there’s room for everyone, and you’re right. There are people constantly seeking all of this and just don’t… if you have something to say, and you have an idea that could help people, there’s room for it. That’s probably, if you kind of like the woo-woo sides of these things; I don’t think ideas come to us by accident. I think they come to us so they can be put out into the world. There’s a purpose to every idea that comes to us. So if it’s there, and it’s in your head and it’s on your heart, then there’s a place for it in the world.

Diane Sanfilippo: For sure.

Liz Wolfe: Whoa. Whoa! That might be all I have to say!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} You’re like, “Mike drop, I’m done.”

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Yeah!

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok wait, so I was talking to a colleague/friend of mine today who has been in the health and wellness area for a while, but is kind of shifting gears, moving into something else, and she’s feeling super excited about it because she feels like there’s a huge need for it, and she sees the potential, and she sees people doing well with the stuff that she’s teaching right now and it’s kind of freaking her out because she feels like the potential is so big, and that gets really scary.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: It gets scary because when you think that there could be so much success, or you see other people who have amazing success around something and it seems big or nerve wracking, and what we just talking about a moment ago. When you step back and realize who this information is out to help, that’s really what everybody needs to focus on. I think people get so focused on the idea of success, or the idea of money and income. I know it sounds crazy for me to say it this way, but this is the truth. And you and I have talked about this a bunch just, on our own, casually, whatever. And I think people hear me say this, and they think; “well, it’s easy for you to say because of XYZ,” whatever they see of my success. But I didn’t start where I am. So I think people lose sight of what their mission is, like what you said, that voice, that thing that they want to talk about, the people they want to help. They lose sight of that because they get really stressed and focused on the money.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And that becomes a problem. Because as soon as you put your focus on the money, you will not succeed, because there is no way {laughs} there is no way for you to pour all of your energy into helping people who need the help if for some reason you’re side tracked just thinking about money. I don’t know another way to put that, but when I wrote Practical Paleo, I did not do it for the money. I didn’t need the money. I had income from other means, from my online program, from other things that I was doing with the website and things like that. And I said it repeatedly, even through the process of feeling like I was killing myself working on it.

So I just want people to picture that; picture someone working super hard just because you feel like it’s burning. Whatever it is that’s burning; and if you don’t have something that’s burning, then it’s not the right time. So if you feel like you want to help people with nutrition, or whatever; start a practice.

3. Building the foundation [22:23]

Diane Sanfilippo: So, I feel like we should talk about this, because a lot of people who might be listening, they’re going through nutrition certifications. If you’ve got something burning; if you’re like, “I really want to help people with this stuff, and I need a certification,” great. Go back to school; that will give you the foundation that you need to feel more confident in what you’re talking about.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Liz and I both did that. I think; I don’t know if we were both finished with our studies when we were starting the podcast or not, or we were just about wrapping it up.

Liz Wolfe: Can’t remember that either.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I think we might have been both wrapping up our studies at the time, and it’s important to get started and just start working with people and not look around at what the rest of us are doing who are further into our careers, and think you need to compare yourself to what we’re doing. Because that’s never going to make you feel good. It’s only ever going to make you feel like you’re not good enough, or you’re inadequate, or you’ll never get to this place of success that you’re deciding for yourself as what you need. I just don’t know what that picture is; I don’t have those pictures for myself.

I don’t know, what’s your take on that? I think that’s where people need to start. You need to start with some sort of form of education, whatever it’s going to be.

Liz Wolfe: I think so too. I think; and before I lose this thought I’m going to just piggyback on what you just said about, I guess, comparison. Comparison is the thief of joy; it’s also the thief of motivation and dedication and along down the line, income. So the more you focus on what other people are doing or the idea that there’s not any more room for anybody and that the market is saturated; the more you focus on that, the more the potential goes away for reaching people and being successful. And like you’ve always told me, and this is a phrase that has stuck with me; there’s room for everybody. I also think that once you get a little bit of a platform, or once you start moving forward, you will see that from the very beginning, you’ll have opportunities to make room for other people.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: It gets a little bit harder, of course, once you kind of get to a point where you’re managing a lot of social media and business and all of that stuff; you’ll have people that are doing great things that you actually kind of don’t get to see and delve into as much. So it gets a little bit; I hate to say, the bigger you get. But the more you have on your plate, the harder it is to lift up…

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, the more people come knocking on your door.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: And it’s harder to lift other people up, but you do; I think you and I both do the best that we can. But there will be opportunities along the way for you to consciously make room for other people and lift them up, and I think that’s a big part of how this community continues to grow and continues to work well. I know that’s not everybody’s value, I think a lot of people are like; I’m just going to put my head down and do my thing and my success based on what I do only and to a degree that’s true, but I think it becomes a more collaborative, “let’s move this movement forward”

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: When you’re willing to make room for other people and work together. And you know what sucks, is that I’ve seen a couple of times in the community; particularly on the skincare side of things, where; and we’ll talk a little bit about protecting your brand if we get around to it later, at that balance between protecting your brand and just being a completely just being out for yourself. I think in the skincare side of things, I think there are a lot of natural skincare companies that are coming out now, and they’re all doing awesome work, and they're all unique, and they’re all run by great people. And then there’s this one running around suing everybody that’s using the word primal.

It’s just one of those things where you just want to say, “stop it, there’s room for everybody, let’s lift everybody up.”

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: And that’s kind of the business value I wanted to really put out there before we continue, because I want everybody to be successful, but I also want everybody whose goals are to be successful to help other people do the same things, as well. And I would hope that if we were closing ourselves off to new ideas, that people would call us on it, you know?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, that’s a good point.

Liz Wolfe: Totally off topic!

4. Connecting in person [26:35]

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well, ok. So, which way do we want to go now? We can talk about what happens when you're building a practice, building a business. I mean, what I’ve been talking about to my Sugar Detox coaches; that’s kind of the community that I have who is getting the best of me in terms of business coaching and all of that, because I’m not doing any one on one stuff. I do have the podcast, the Build a Badass Business podcast if people haven’t gone over and listened to that and subscribed to that yet, definitely check that out if you want to hear more of this kind of conversation. But one of the things that I’m encouraging everybody to do is step back a little bit from the social media world. I know that that sounds hard, and we have massive FOMO; fear of missing out {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Is that what that stands for?

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s what it stands for.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Oh my gosh!

Diane Sanfilippo: P.S. Netflix and chill does not mean watch Netflix and hang and chill. That’s not what it means, just so you know.

Liz Wolfe: What?

Diane Sanfilippo: You need to go Google what it means. Not that you’re posting it, but I Googled it and I was like, that’s not what I thought it meant. So anyway. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Wow, I hadn’t even heard that yet, but now I’m going to Google it.

Diane Sanfilippo: I digress.

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: So people, you guys need to; if you’re getting into this world, everybody listening, this is super important if you are driving and you cannot write it down, ok don’t write it down. I’m going to repeat myself a couple of times. If you are taking notes, you’re in your kitchen doing dishes, whatever, this is what you all need to hear. You need to connect with people in person. That’s the secret, the key, the core of everything that we are doing. If the internet were all we had, great. The internet is awesome. I think one of the things that’s happening;

I’m going to say it again. You need to connect with people in person. You need to connect in your local community. You need to be talking to parents are your local school. You need to reach out to trainers at your gym. Whoever it is that’s in your community, they need to know what you’re doing, how you can help them. You need to hold classes. You need to talk and teach people for free, whether it’s one person, or 5 people, or 50 people in a room, you need to do it for a little bit of money, whatever it’s going to be.

You need to start doing that, because every single day there are people who are on my social media commenting, liking, sharing, etc., every single day there are so many people who I see their names; I know them. I’ve sat face to face with them, whether it’s an hour they were a client of mine and I did a one on one consult with them here in the Bay area; whether they came to a seminar and you and I talked to them for 8 hours in a room, or they came to a book signing, etc. I mean, the number of people that I’ve met; and the number of them who I’ve met in person just locally. I’m not even talking once we started traveling and teaching and all of that. Even just the people I’d met locally, I’m still connected with them. That is the core of what everybody needs to get started with.

And I think as soon as we try and look too far away; I literally just looked out the window, I’m like, ok. I live in San Francisco now; everybody lives in an area where there’s a community of some people who are interest. It could be the library; it could be the grocery store. Go to the hippie coop that’s in your town. Maybe it’s an hour away; whatever it is, there is a community somewhere.

The thing about social media that’s awesome is that for people who are having trouble finding that community locally, they can find it online. Right? We can find these pockets on the internet where we’re like; “ok, these people are like me, so I’m going to connect with them!” And that’s cool, but if you’re actually spending time sharing an energy and an exchange with people in the flesh, what happens is completely different. There is no other way for me to express that with any sort of intensity or severity other than to say, you just have to do it and you will see what I mean.

Every week I see more of our 21-Day Sugar Detox coaches coming back into our; we have a private Facebook group just for certified coaches, and a lot of them have apprehension about what they’re doing, and they feel, when they’re all together online, that’s all they see, is that, there’s hundreds of us. But when they step into their community and they realize, nobody even knows about this program in their community, everything changes. Their perspective changes, their mind opens up, their anxiety drops because they realize that they just connected with 20 people in a room who they are really going to help. And that just changes everything from the stress of feeling like the competition is just big. It’s heavy, you know what I mean?

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: If you stay focused on the internet, all you see is competition instead of seeing the people that are waiting for you to help them. So, that’s something that’s going to be really different when you step into the community. There’s just no way to replace that or exchange it.

This is just one example, but it’s an example nonetheless. When I look at the books that might be selling on Amazon; and this is not to say that everybody is going to have a book, right? I mean, it just happens to be one way to go. You guys, not everybody needs to publish a book. It’s not the end all, be all. I’m going to tell you right now; it’s not the only thing that’s out there.

Liz Wolfe: Agreed.

Diane Sanfilippo: And people; you guys would not believe the success that people have who you don’t even know about because they’re not on social media. Social media is such an abyss of fame for the sake of fame most of the time.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s fine; I like sharing things on social media. I’m not trying to crap on it for any reason, other than it is not what you think it is. Do you think that’s true Liz?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, I know there are people for sure who have huge followings on social media who just; it does not convert. It doesn’t translate into sales, and I think that social media is great as a way to stay connected, but it’s not the real connection. It’s just not.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: You can’t replace that in person connection. So if you look at, just for example books that are selling out there, for the most part with few exceptions, it’s either books that have people who have taught seminars or connected in person with people for years before the book came out, or people who made it a big commitment and a big decision of theirs to tour, to continue to reach out to local grocery stores, Whole Foods, what have you, and consistently get out there. I just don’t know what else to say about it; that’s the thing that everybody just needs to stop freaking out about social media.

5. Liz and Diane first starting out [33:29]

Liz Wolfe: Ok, so what did you do? What were the first; this is one of the notes that we were going to talk about, so let’s talk about it.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.

Liz Wolfe: Exactly; the first things that I did when I was first getting started

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, tell me.

Liz Wolfe: I ran a gym challenge.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yep.

Liz Wolfe: And you don’t have to be certified, you don’t have to be; if you are a great motivator, and you have some nutrition knowledge at your fingertips. I mean, clean eating is just clean eating. You can brand it one way or another; but you can run a clean eating challenge at your church, at your gym, at your support group, wherever, where you serve as the person that’s going to be distributing information, that’s going to be providing accountability. Maybe, you know, take measurements. You know I don’t like the scale, but the tape measure is maybe a good way to go. Take pictures, whatever. And just serve as that live, living breathing touchstone for people to have accountability towards.

And charge $100 for a 6-week challenge for what you’re going to provide, do a weekly meeting for an hour. Everybody gets together; pick a topic, talk about digestion, talk about whatever you learned that week in your own research, and just provide that space for people to be successful. And you’ve probably made half your tuition for the Nutritional Therapy Association program. So that was some of the first stuff that I did. And it was really, really helpful. And it was great, because it was up front money. Of course, you have to commit to really seeing the program through, and continuing to help people so you actually earn that money after the fact. But it can really power a lot of up front movement and you end up with a loyal group of people who will see what you put on Facebook, and they’ll share it.

So what were the first things you did?

Diane Sanfilippo: Well no, I was going to ask you. What about how that made you feel in terms of how nervous you were to present the information, and feeling insecure and not like, “oh, am I going to be able to answer the questions.”

Liz Wolfe: Right.

Diane Sanfilippo: Or, what’s this going to be like, compared to after the hour is up, and then the next one and the next one and the next one. What did that feel like for you?

Liz Wolfe: I guess there was some degree going in. I knew the information. I had no doubt about my grasp of the curriculum. But translating that into a real world situation, it can be scary because you lose your words, you forget what you know, you want to make sure you help this person exactly where they are. So there’s a little bit of becoming a chameleon in some ways as far as that goes.

You know that imposter syndrome; I had a little bit of imposter syndrome where I felt like; ok, even though I have a grip on this information, I know what I’m doing, and I know what is going to be helpful to people, I just have to fake it until I make it.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Even though I wasn’t faking it.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I had to just feel that way. And I think what you really have to do; there’s some adrenaline involved, of course when you're sitting there with even 2 or 3 people that are looking to you for inspiration and wisdom. There’s definitely that stress metabolism going on. But just taking a deep breath; every time you get a question that maybe you’re not entirely sure about; and even if you get a question that you are sure about. Take a breath, show them that you’re thinking about it and internalizing it and maybe even applying it to their point of view as you see it; and if you don’t know something, it’s ok to say I don’t know.

That might be the biggest thing, actually of all.

Diane Sanfilippo: I just wrote that down. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: If you don’t know the answer; boom.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: You have to be willing to say, “Well, I’m not sure about that.” You can even say, “I know how this particular circumstance might apply to this issue, but when it comes to exactly what you’ve asked me, I’m not quite sure. I’ll do some digging, I’ll figure out some more questions to ask you to get a little bit deeper, and we’ll figure it out together.”

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I think that’s totally fair. I think that’s probably the most important thing, is that you realize that you’re just there to share a passion. Something you’re excited about and interested in and you want to teach people about it. I do think you have to teach before you're ready. Because you never get more ready by not doing it.

Liz Wolfe: That’s so true.

Diane Sanfilippo: You only get more ready by actually teaching.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. That’s 100% true.

Diane Sanfilippo: And every time we would do a seminar, for example, we know more every time. We know more; not about, this is a thing you don’t need to know more; you guys, I think this is a hugely important thing to remember. Of 100% of the curriculum you might learn, you’re going to use 20-30% of it when you teach. You will not be teaching methylation pathways to the gym challenge that you’re talking about what to eat.

Liz Wolfe: Oh my god, wait! I have to tell you that I did that. I’m so excited for what you’re saying, because the first time I ever volunteered to teach a nutrition class…

Diane Sanfilippo: You went too deep.

Liz Wolfe: I stayed up for 48 hours straight making a 65-page packet with everything anybody could possibly need to know, took it to get it color copied, because I felt like I needed to have the graphs and diagrams in color. It was going to cost thousands of dollars to get one printed out for every single person. I could have gone with a 2-page handout and been fine.

Diane Sanfilippo: People; the people who are learning from us, at this level you guys, we are not teaching higher education science, biochemistry. That’s not who we are as nutrition practitioners. We are here at the end of the day, we are not even here to talk to people about their diagnosed health condition; yes, that’s what they’ll come to you with, and that’s what their struggle is. Your job is to talk about food. That’s your job. So it’s important to know how that works in the body, it’s important to be able to explain, “Here’s why you’re not digesting that well. Here’s why that feels this way. Here’s what to try.”

But the minutia; and I think that’s probably one of the reasons why; I don’t think I ever felt that imposter syndrome, and I think it’s because I, for some reason, have always known, “just talk about what you know and don’t talk about the stuff you don’t know, and be ok to say you don’t know.” Because when you’ve experienced teachers who work that way and operate that way, and you ask them a thoughtful question and they can’t answer it, and they just say; you know what, I’m not sure, I don’t know. Or like you said; I’ll look into it, we’ll get back to you, we’ll figure it out. There’s no disrespect there.

And I think if you can look at the scenario as; if you can be a respectful student and a good student, then you can be a good teacher, because you just know you have to find a way to communicate what it is that you're passionate about with the people who are in the room in a way that makes sense to them. It doesn’t matter how much you know if you can’t communicate it effectively, and I think that is kind of at the crux of what we do. Liz, you and I have talked about this for years now, how we are not scientists. You didn’t like that I was calling us teachers in the beginning because there are teachers; we have so much respect for teachers. My entire family and community where I grew up are educators and teachers, but we didn’t go to school to become teachers. A teacher is anyone who teaches something, so we’ve been teaching this stuff for probably more than 6 years now. And that is what we do.

I think when you realize that you're not there to diagnose and treat, you’re there to just help inform, and educate, and share information with people, you can peel it back to, “what are the basics.” Stick to what you know.

Alright, so I’ll take it back to your original question; what’s the first stuff I did? I’m going to think back to a handful of things, events that I did here in San Francisco. I did a class at a gym, a gym called Diakadi here in San Francisco on label reading. So I brought in a bunch of junky food that people think is healthy, like Kashi cereal, and Nature Valley granola bars, and all kinds of weird stuff that has junky ingredients, and I taught people how to read labels. I taught them that the first thing listed is what there is the most of by weight in the product, and that blew people’s minds. When you do that; when you hold a class like that, sure, out of 10 people, 1 or 2 might know what you were just talking about. They might have already known that coming in; most of them won’t have. And when you realize just how little people know about nutrition, it starts to break down that imposter syndrome. It chisels away at it little by little, and then you realize, “I do have something to say.”

So, I think that’s super important. So that was one of the first things I did. I did a talk on sugar and blood sugar issues for women entrepreneurs. There were maybe 10 to 15 people at that. I did a cooking class with my friend in her apartment which seems totally shady now.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: But there were like 4 or 5 people that came there, and I’m still probably in touch with at least half of them. I definitely did a talk at my gym before I ever started teaching at other gyms. But you guys, I remember I guest blog post for this website, it was called Paleo Chicks. Which doesn’t exist anymore, but the women who co-operated that blog all owned gyms or were coaches at gyms in different parts of the country, and after I posted with them, one of the gym owners asked me to come teach a seminar. I have no idea what made her think I was qualified to do that, but I said yes. {laughs} I was like, ok I’ll come to Arizona and teach this seminar. I think had been blogging for a while, and she liked what I had been writing about, and she felt like I would be able to share this information well with her gym. So I just said yes, and I figured it out from there. I remember asking Robb Wolf, “What should I teach?” and he was like, “I can’t tell you what to teach. You have to decide what you want to teach.” You guys, you just have to get started. You just have to start somewhere.

6. Diane’s Facebook memory 7 years ago [43:37]

Diane Sanfilippo: So, I have this really random thing to share that came up on Facebook a few days ago, so it was February 11th. I got one of those flashback things on Facebook, whatever they’re called.

Liz Wolfe: I love those.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, February 11, 2009 I had 4 different status updates over the course of 12 hours of the day. I have no idea what was happening on this day. 2009, I think I was working at my day job, the last job that I had, and I was probably doing some side hustle of nutrition and who knows what. But at 9:55 in the morning, it says, “running on empty.” At 12:30 in the afternoon it says, “Is frustrated.” {laughs} At 8:15 p.m., “Is not a fan of the 15-hour work day.” I have no idea what I was doing. And then at 9 o'clock p.m., “Should measure when I cook so that I can share my recipes, but I’m more of a mad scientist than a chef.” This is 2009.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} You really needed a roommate.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m sure I lived alone. But how funny; Facebook used to be like, “Diane is…” or whatever, remember, and they would have you fill in the blank.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: But I posted that to the Build a Badass Business group, and people were like; “that makes me feel so much better,” “I feel better seeing that.” You guys, it’s not that long ago.

Liz Wolfe: No.

Diane Sanfilippo: What is that, 7 years now? 2009?

Liz Wolfe: And you probably blinked and 7 years was passed.

Diane Sanfilippo: I couldn’t even tell you what was happening that day, but I saw that update and I was hysterical. And the fact that that last one was about, “so I can share my recipes.” What? {laughs} Anyway, I just thought that was crazy.

7. Social media and what the internet has done for business [45:12]

Diane Sanfilippo: So let’s get back to the whole thing of social media, the internet, and what the internet has done for business. Because I’ve got a thought here that I wanted to share, and it actually was kind of on the tip of my tongue just a few minutes ago and I forgot to say it. The cool thing about the internet is that it gives us all a space to have a business, create a business, start something from scratch. You can actually do that without the stuff I’ve been talking about this whole time, getting out in your community; although, I think that what you're building on when you don’t build a real live business in person, I just don’t think it’s the right way to start, building a business that’s only online. I do think that having that interaction with people is important.

Because one of the things that I am finding with people who only have an internet business, or who see the internet as this infinite potential in opportunity, and this is going to kind of hurt for some people to hear this, and it’s a little bit antagonistic to some of the stuff that’s out there, that are like, “anybody can be an internet entrepreneur.” But this is how I really feel about it. I think that people get a false sense of entrepreneurial skills when they think anybody can be an entrepreneur because of the internet. I don’t think that the internet existing and having the ability to set up an online shop, to have a blog, to get Amazon associate links, all of that; that alone does not give you the skills that it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Liz Wolfe: Right.

Diane Sanfilippo: You don’t have to be an entrepreneur if you’re a nutrition practitioner. You guys, bottom line; you can work with someone else. You can work in someone else’s office. You can work in a partnership, in some kind of situation where it’s not all always on you. And I think people; I don’t know what the tool is to take inventory of who you are and what’s right for you, but I do think that there are people out there…

I have an NTP on my team, Holly, and she’s extremely entrepreneurial, but she is not running this show. You know what I mean? Her value on the team is huge. She has an NTP; this is not like, it’s not going to waste, it’s something that she uses all the time.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: But I think people need to know what it takes to be the face of a business, to run the business in a certain way, and to have the whole internet entrepreneur online thing going on, I just don’t think that everybody has it, and I don’t think everybody has to have it.

Liz Wolfe: Well, not everybody wants it, either.

Diane Sanfilippo: There you go.

Liz Wolfe: I actually, I’m not sure if you’ll disagree with me on this or not, I don’t know. I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur, and I don’t necessarily have a desire to see myself that way. My business is important to me, but I think it means something different to me, and it fits in my life maybe differently than if I were to consider myself an entrepreneur and conduct my business that way.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think that; yeah, I think that’s totally fair.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. And you can make a great living running a business; I make a good living. So that’s fine. But you're right; I do think the internet. We’ve said a couple of times before, there are a lot of people out there who make their money teaching other people how to make money, and that’s not necessarily, this is kind of a black hole here, but you see a lot of these internet “entrepreneurs” who are like, “I’m going to teach you how to be an internet entrepreneur.” There’s a lot of money in that, but I don’t know that it’s necessarily the place that everybody needs to aim for.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, it’s something that I’ve been thinking about and struggling with a little bit as I’ve been developing whatever Build a Badass Business is. It’s just that become my outlet for talking about this stuff.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, what you’re thinking about.

Diane Sanfilippo: But as I sit back and think; people keep asking me, is there going to be a program, or a book, or this, or that. I’m like, I’m not sure I can teach you what I think it takes, because here’s the truth. Even what you’re going to teach people at the NTA conference, where you’re going to give tips and tricks and little things that you’re like; you guys, you’re going to have to do this, or do that. Or don’t forget to add this to your website, or that. Right? Those are strategic, tactical, check list kind of things. I don’t think the checklist makes someone an entrepreneur.

Liz Wolfe: Totally.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think the person who is an entrepreneur doesn’t get a checklist; they get one person who says something to them that tips them over the edge. I had someone say to me, “Don’t run this online group where you need to be present for it X amount of times.” Like, “you're thinking too small, think bigger, and you need to be on an affiliate network.” That was the end of the conversation, and it was a point in the direction of one of the affiliate set ups, and that was kind of it. It was like a one hour call once with somebody that I knew, and in terms of business coaching or advice, I don’t read books or whatever. This is stuff that’s just in me. And I think that it can be developed and crafted in a sense; in you Liz you don’t see yourself as an entrepreneur, but you can entrepreneurial.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: And it can be encouraged and you can ask for advice, and you can take it and run with it, and that’s cool. I just think people need to know where they stand with themselves so that then the expectations you have of yourself will be sort of appropriate. I don’t think you need to limit yourself; if you want to feel like you're capable of something bigger and badder and whatever; then cool. There’s no reason to be limited. If you were like, “no, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m doing this,” and you’re like, that’s it, don’t limit me, don’t put that label on me or whatever, cool. Then make it happen. I just don’t think that an online program to teach you how to have a business is what separates people, you know what I mean?

Liz Wolfe: So it’s like, the difference between, “yeah, that would be cool,” and “I have a burning passion to make this happen.” That’s kind of what I heard from you.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, you know me. I’m like a freight train with this stuff.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. And I’m not.

Diane Sanfilippo: It doesn’t stop. I always think, I’m going to have reprieve, but this is just how I am. {laughs} It doesn’t mean that I don’t take breaks. I was joking to you about this on text. I have days where I don’t know what I just did all day. Or weeks where I get the things done that have to get done and I’ll goof off or I’ll do whatever, but that’s the upside of having a business where I can call the shots and there’s money coming in the door and I’m not worried about things.

And when I say I’m like a freight train, I don’t mean I’m crushing myself and my energy working that hard all the time, it’s just that this is the stuff that comes out of me.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like a volcano of I don’t know, I just have this energy and motivation for business and marketing and communicating whatever it is I’m passionate about. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: No, I like it. I think this is good. It reminds me of a discussion that we’ve had in previous podcasts about knowing who you are, and we’ve talked about this regarding food; are you a moderator or are you an abstainer. Is that what the conversation?

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: So I think that this is good advice and we didn’t even know we were going to go here with this episode; but knowing what type you are and what would be most fulfilling and what you would be most proud to accomplish. For me it’s one thing, for you it’s another. We dovetail on a lot of things, and we get together on a lot of things, but we’re two very different people when it comes to our businesses and how we do things. But it’s knowing what’s going to; how you can kind of identify. Because I think for a long time, maybe part of my imposter syndrome, and my follower envy, and my “is there room for me in this community” thing was I felt like I had to be the same type as the people I was watching on social media. And when I finally started to have some success, I realized that what I was building was completely different from what I thought I was supposed to build. Yet I was having success with it, so that kind of convinced me to keep going. It was great positive feedback, but in the end I think I was misunderstanding maybe my business type.

Diane Sanfilippo: Hmm.

Liz Wolfe: Does that make sense?

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, yeah we were talking about that, the business type. And I don’t even remember what; I had a framework written down of that somewhere, right? I feel like we chatted about that back and forth.

It does make sense because I think; this is one of the topics I’ve talked about on the business podcast, was just this idea of self confidence and I think; you’re a really confident person, but then sometimes you have little twinges of, “but with this thing I’m not quite sure,” because it’s business. And for some reason, people think business is a thing, or marketing is a thing. People think I’m not; this drives me crazy, when people are like, “I’m not a good marketer, I’m not good at marketing.” And maybe this is a tangent now, but all marketing is is communication, so I think people get in this place where they think they have to do something the way someone else does it. They have to communicate the way someone else does to build some kind of success. You guys; nobody knows what anyone’s got going on under the hood. Nobody knows who’s got what kind of income, also what kind of lifestyle they have, even if they do have an amazing income from it. I look at people and I’m like; well, they’re making boat-tons of money. But I don’t want that life, you know. So it all really depends.

I think what you discovered is kind of that little piece of magic that you just have to be you, as much as people say it and it seems not real. You have to be you in a lot of ways. You have to be you in what you post, in how often you do it, how often you're blogging, whatever it is. If you’re doing it because you feel that you should because someone else does, but that’s what they want to do and it works for them in a certain way, we do it all the time. We learn everything by modeling. We learn how to be people by modeling what our parents do, right?

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: People want to say, “I want to teach my kids XYZ.” I’m like, you can’t tell them what you want them to do; you have to be it. You have to be that, and then that’s what they will be.

Liz Wolfe: So I have to sleep if I want my kid to sleep?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, basically.

Liz Wolfe: Ok good.

Diane Sanfilippo: Think about it; you’re like, oh my gosh I’m becoming both my mother and my father.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: And it’s just, like, it’s just because this is how they were, this is how I’ve learned to emulate being a human adult. {laughing} Instructions on being a human person come from modeling what our parents have done.

So, we see instructions on how to be a business person by watching other people do what they’re doing. And of course, there are elements of that we want to take and we want to make our own, but making it your own and making sure that it suits you in a lot of different ways is really important, and I think the thing to remember there too, is the way we do things really differently too; first of all, I have a big team, you don’t have a big team. So how much I need to do to pay for that team is totally different than if you have a couple of people helping you.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: So for people who are like; oh my gosh, they have all these people on the team. Well, it’s a little bit chicken or egg. It’s a little bit like, the income comes and then I can hire people to help me and then I can have a more relaxed lifestyle every day versus not having to grind as hard to pay as many people. I mean, it’s a little bit self fulfilling. So you see people who might be super successful in one way, but you have to pay people to help you do that. But I think if you want something that’s just a little more sustainable for yourself, then doing what feels right for you, doing what’s manageable for you, and living the life that you want in the meantime is fine. You just have to recognize that the pace that you want to operate at will also reflect the pace at which the response comes.

So if somebody is trying to make X amount of dollars with their work, and they need a pace that’s manageable because maybe you have an autoimmune condition, and you’re like, well if I try and work really hard I’m going to work myself to the bone, I’m going to be sick after this and that’s not the life I want. I don’t think people look at it that way. I don’t think people realize that you have to pace yourself according to what you can physically handle.

Liz Wolfe: True.

Diane Sanfilippo: And I think people want to push really hard and knock on wood, I’m lucky that I don’t have a health condition that pushing myself really hard with certain things will make me sick to that degree; but that being said, we’ve all dealt with exhaustion and different ramifications of that. Anyway, that’s kind of a tangent as well. But I do think pacing yourself and doing what feels good for you every day, while also being honest with how hard you’re actually working. You can’t just sit back and not work hard and expect this stuff to come and to happen. You have to make it happen. You’re building something from nothing. If you’re building a practice, you’re getting out there teaching, etc. So those are kind of all the random other topics we were going to get into {laughs}. We have so much on our list.

Liz Wolfe: No kidding. We filled up an hour already, so I think we’re going to have to TBC. To be continued.

Diane Sanfilippo: To be continued.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: We have 3 episodes now that are part 1 episodes. We’ve got this one, we’ve got carbs which part 2 I believe will be coming next week, then we’ll do another part 2 to the women’s health and fertility. Which was not just a women’s health episode, actually, last week. If there are any guys listening right now, we touched on some stuff. Well, that sounds bad. {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Liz Wolfe: Oh man.

Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo is a friend of the Balanced Bites podcast. They’re bacon is insanely delicious, and sugar free, and their premade paleo meals make your life so much easier when everything is getting busy and getting real food on the table is still a top priority, as it should be. Pete’s Paleo is now offering a 30-day gut healing kit containing bone broth, gelatin gummies, instant organic soup packs, and an E-cookbook. It’s the perfect complement to any anti-inflammatory diet. Get yours today at www.guthealingkit.com. Use code GRABACUPPABROTH to get $25 off; that’s an amazing deal. It’s GRABACUPPABROTH, C-U-P-P-A. And you can grab that code any time at www.BalancedBites.com to just read it and make sure you’re typing it in right. You can also use code BALANCEDBITES to get $5 off any of their regular meal plans. Check out www.PetesPaleo.com today. Pete’s Paleo; bringing fine dining to your cave.

8. #Treatyoself: #Epsomsaltsbath [1:00:41]

Liz Wolfe: So do we have a treat yoself of the week? #TreatYoself of the week? It’s Valentine’s Day today, when we’re recording.

Clip: Three words for you; Treat. Yo. Self.

Liz Wolfe: You know what; I’m going to take a really nice Epsom salts bath tonight to try and relax. That, I think is going to be a huge treat yoself for the week. #epsomsaltsbakingsodaandlavenderinabathtub.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: That’s it for this week. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and you can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Join our email lists for free goodies and updates that you don’t find anywhere else on our website or on the podcast. While you’re on the internet, please leave us a nice iTunes review. See you next week.