Today, I’m joined by Registered Dietitian, Haley Miskowiec. Through her practice, Nutrition with Haley, she helps expecting mamas have a healthy, feel-good pregnancy.
Haley started her practice working with mamas through her signature program, Nourish Baby and Me Foundations. Haley has also built her Instagram following up to 30,000 people. The best part is – Haley is doing this completely part-time while still working a 9-5 job and raising her family.
So today, Haley and I talk about her journey in building her practice and her Instagram following.
Links:
Access our freebies – the Business Planning Workbook, Client Resource Kit & PES Statements Cheat Sheet here: https://www.dietitiansuccesscenter.com/freebie
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Follow Haley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prenatal.nutritionist/
Check out Haley’s website: https://nutritionwithhaley.com/
Learn more about Wellness Marketing Co.: https://www.instagram.com/wellnessmarketingco/
Episode Transcript:
Today I’m joined by registered dietitian, Haley Miskowiec. Through her practice Nutrition with Haley, she helps expecting mamas have a healthy feel-good pregnancy. Haley’s career started with the women, infant and children program. After seeing hundreds of expecting mamas, Haley started to see a pattern that they were coming to their appointments, feeling confused, scared, and generally misinformed about how to eat well for themselves.
And they’re babies. So Haley started her practice working with mamas through her signature program, nourished baby and me foundations. Haley has also built her Instagram following up to 30,000 people. And the best part is Haley is doing this completely part-time while still working a nine to five job and raising her family.
So today, Haley and I talk about her journey in building her practice and her Instagram following let’s jump in. Haley, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much for joining me. Feel free to say hey to the audience. Hey guys. Thanks so much, Christa, for having me. Excited to chit chat today and,. yeah. Me too. And we were just saying it’s been like two years since we last had an actual chat, but we’ve been obviously in touch over Instagram, so it’s just nuts to see how things can change and I’m so excited to talk through that because I feel like your business is completely different than it was two years ago.
when we first got so different. Yeah. . Yeah. It’s crazy. Yeah. . I’m so excited to get into it.
Okay, so I’d love to hear more about your dietitian story. Just bringing it back to when you first got started as a dietitian. Can you give us the Cole’s notes of how you got to where you are today? Yeah, so I’ve been a dietitian for about eight years, probably going on nine now.
You know, I always forget exactly how many years it’s been, but I really started out outta my dietetic internship in the Women Infant and Children Program and absolutely loved that. I honestly say Like God really chose this path of my specialty just because I kind of just got that job right out of my internship.
It was my second job I got hired into. But as my career advanced, I became a headstart dietitian and so worked with families and kids. Still, but also teaching teachers nutrition and overseeing a food service team, which was really great. So always really had a passion for that prenatal space along with kids ages, like one to five or birth to five, just cuz that was always what my career had been around.
But as my career advanced and everything that really is what took away like that one-on-one time with clients. Um, You know, a lot of other things came from that. And so right now my daytime career is being a dietitian who oversees a statewide health improvement partnership which is a grant from our state department and helping and partnering with agencies and nonprofits within the community to work on policy systems and environment change around healthy eating, active living and wellbeing.
So, Really have, I just really realized as I was in the WIC program in the headstart position that I could give education and information to families all the time, but like when they didn’t have certain things like policies, systems, and environments. Set up to actually ha allow them to take the advice I was giving them and put it into practice that was not getting them anywhere.
And so really found a passion in that space as well. And so that’s kind of a little bit about how I got here, but then really on my private practice, we know that. , there’s so many things that we can change and make such a big impact on if we can help a mom during preconception and in her pregnancy for the long-term health baby.
And so just really wanted to focus and hone in into that space just cuz I’m very passionate about kids, but at the same time I know that it starts with mom. Right. We also know it actually starts with grandma. So hopefully, you know, helping moms now helps those future generations as well. And so are you.
Full-time in your nine to five, and then you operate your private practice on the. So I work 32 hours in my day job. So technically part-time, depending on who you ask, where three quarter time falls. Yeah. . Yeah. , yeah. Ok. Depends who you ask. And so, yeah. Then the other eight hours of my work week is dedicated to my private practice, but I also do like nights and nap times on the weekends as well, but try to really balance making sure that I’m also taking time off so that.
I can also be the best human . Yeah. And so tell us more about your business. First, when did you get started? So how long have you been operating? And then how did you get started? What were some of those first steps that you took? Yeah, so I’ve been in private practice three years now, going on to four, so probably about three and a half currently.
And I got started because I like started having friends and acquaintances and friends at new friends, reaching out to me and asking me for , help with , Either like preparing for pregnancy cuz they had heard that they needed to be like an optimal health going into their pregnancy or also like during pregnancy, just knowing what I had done with my background with work and stuff like that.
And so started really working with them one-on-one and just really started feeling that light and like that passion that I had that had really gone missing, as my career advanced. And I stopped doing so much one-on-one. Work. And when I’d walk away from those one-on-one sessions, I was like, wow, like I’ve missed that feeling.
What is that feeling and how can I keep that feeling happening? Right? And so I was like, you know, talking with my husband and stuff of that nature of just I really think that this would be something great to do. Like I could do it on the side, get some of that one-on-one time. And then just really started.
Posting on Instagram. I mean, I had listened to podcasts and looked at other dietitians that were doing it and that type of stuff, and. Just, I remember the night specifically where I was just like, okay, I’m gonna create a business Instagram. And my husband was like, just do it. What do you have to lose?
He’s it’s not something we like you need to do, it’s something you want to do, so just do it. And so, yeah, I just like I said, listen to podcasts and stuff like that, and I was like, okay, like I’m just gonna do it and I’m just gonna throw myself out there and just see what happens.
and then things have been co become more strategic since then. . So , first it was just like, let’s throw a dart in the dark at a dartboard type of thing. Totally. And now it’s very, you know, now it’s very strategized. Yeah. So yeah, so that’s kind of, how I got started and how long I’ve been in there.
Did I miss anything? No, I don’t think so. I love that you. . I love that you talked about, cuz I think a lot of times there’s this perception that you have to have everything figured out before you start taking on clients. And I really like the idea that you just started working with people. You’re like, I don’t have a formal bus.
I’m assuming you didn’t have a formal business at that point. You didn’t have a business name, you didn’t have a website, you didn’t have any social media you were just, you were like, Hey, cool. Yeah, totally. I’ll start working with these people one-on-one. Did you have anything like an e EMR set up at that point, or it was just, you know, I did have an E M R set up at that point, and that was just because I wanted to like, Support.
Yeah, of course. Like a HIPAA compliant, I think that’s all totally anyone’s a healthcare background, right? Like your mind automatically goes to what’s HIPAA compliant? A hundred percent and just ah, gotta make sure it’s HIPAA compliant. Yeah. So I did, but I use practice better .
And so I used that at the beginning with one-on-one clients. Yeah. And Google Docs. I’m so glad that you told that story because that’s such a common theme for dietitians, especially as people who tend to be a little bit more type A, maybe a little bit more perfectionist.
It’s I need to have all my ducks in a row before I can do anything in this business. And I love the idea of let’s test it. Let’s just start working with a few people, see if you even like it, and then let’s do all of the other things. . Yeah. I feel like mine was kinda like a hay bell. Just like slowly rolling.
Yeah. Where I didn’t really, I think I didn’t, I mean, I definitely thought about the fact of what happens if I actually start getting people, but I feel like I started more so with my Instagram of like, how can I just like connect with people and get this information to more people and just share it.
Versus like, how can I get clients? Maybe more so, so I wasn’t as, Worried about everything else. Yeah. And then kind of when the traction took off on Instagram, I was like, oh, I probably should put my ducks in a row. Yeah. So , yeah, there’s a lot to figure. I’m so excited to get into that. Yeah, there is for sure.
We’ll talk more about Instagram specifically in a minute. But you had mentioned before that you. After sort of that first year, you started to get more strategic about things. What does that. Yeah. So I started like realizing that I needed a strategy, right? Yeah. Like a strategy to stand out on Instagram, a strategy to be getting clients you know, more consistency, that different type of stuff.
If this was gonna be something that. The passion really just got big enough where, and the seeing the success of it just really started to implant the idea in my mind that this is something I could do full-time, long-term. And there are plans for me to be quitting my day job and all that fun stuff, but,
You know, the thing is at the end of the day that because of that it was kind of like, okay, like I need to start taking this seriously as a business. And I will say that I did talk to other dietitians too, and a dietitian that I did talk to. She said, you know, one thing you had to figure out is are you doing this for fun or are you doing this for business?
Because you have to decide which one you’re going to do. Because if it’s just for fun, then do it just for fun. But if it’s for business, then there’s a lot of other things you need to think about and a lot of other things you need to consider. Almost like a grit you need to have, if this is gonna be a business, right?
Versus if you’re just doing it for fun. And so really making that decision. And I was just like, well, I don’t really just want to do it for fun. So I guess I’m gonna take it as a business, so I probably should start figuring that out. What does that look like? So then, yeah, I started doing, making, figuring out what that strategy looked like consistently posting on Instagram.
What was my ideal client looking for? What information did she need? Who was my ideal client, and what did she look like, sound like, struggle with, you know, all those things that you don’t really. , A lot of times we, we think about those things, we know those things, but I, we get so caught up in the fact that, you know, we have 5, 10, 15 different ideal clients, right?
Or just mm-hmm. , real life clients look a lot different than your ideal client and honing in on that. So really just taking the steps that I needed to, to really focus in on what does that look like, so that way I can be talking to that person and only that person to be really attracting those ideal clients.
Yeah. And so from there, you obviously created a signature program to really attract this person and to speak to this person. You could you call it the Nourish Baby and Me Foundations. Yeah. That program. Can you tell me, , let’s hear about it. Yeah. That program has, it took its time to be developed?
Definitely. For sure. I will say, My packages changed, right? So I was working one-on-one with clients, session to session type of thing. Then I was doing packages of sessions. And then I started doing like long, more long-term as I realized what does that person need to be successful, right? At their goals and everything.
We know that nutrition habits do not change with one session. And so really thinking like what does that ideal client need to be successful? And so then I developed my Nourish Baby and Me Foundations program with help also too, with a business coach. I’ve hired a couple of business coaches to really get me to where I am at this point in time.
And done. Other like conversations with experts in the field as well in different spots. Like me and you had chit chatted about me launching my first group program. And so, you know, really I, I would say too, you know, don’t forget to Talk to people who have the expertise of, and the knowledge of what you need to do and the steps you need to take to do successful launches of things as well in hiring that help as you need it.
And so really have now developed my signature program, which is, it’s a really like a high touch hybrid program of group coaching and one-to-one. And it has three different tiers to it. So the difference of the tiers really is just the difference of amount of time. That clients have with me and how often we’re checking in just based off of their goals and maybe previous knowledge and where they’re at with everything.
And , there’s a minimum of a four month commitment to be in the program. So definitely having clients for a little longer of a term than those one-on-one sessions or those packages and then they’re getting access to, the way I like to describe it is that there’s coaching from me in multiple different ways in the program.
But like I said, all of my, all my tears have one-on-one time with me just cause pregnancy is a vulnerable time and there’s a lot of things that happen on a personal level and just really making sure. Women have that support and have someone to have those personal conversations with is something I didn’t wanna get away from.
And just, women tend to feel more, we all, we all tend to feel a little bit more comfortable in a one-on-one conversation than in a group conversation. So didn’t want to lose those aspects as I built into a program that could serve more people. So then at the same time, have the. Also have a curriculum, so have modules to really help.
Because at the same time in my, in my niche, like there’s a lot of anxiety and overwhelming concern, but it can happen at 2:00 AM on a Saturday morning or something of that nature. And just really wanting women to have access to the, that information at their fingertips where they’re not turning into Google and stuff.
And those modules really have been developed based off of questions I’m consistently getting from clients. And then, , built resources and all that fun stuff inside there as well. And then have the community as like the Facebook groups aspect of it, and have Zoom calls twice a month where anyone that’s in the program can jump on, get personalized help in that space, but also learn from other people, connect with like-minded women and all that fun stuff.
So, . Yeah. That program I feel like now is in a really good place. I just got done redoing all my modules, so what my modules used to look like when I first launched my first group program compared to what they are now is night and day different. And really, like I said, like they’ve all been developed based off of, and my resources too have been based off of what have clients told me that they need more of.
And so, but not, I would say not going over the top with it because that becomes overwhelming. You gotta find that Fine balance of that because you can either be super overwhelming or underwhelming and finding like that happy middle. So just really listening to people and at the same time communing that and communicating to clients that like my program is a buffet for them.
And so they’re to take what they need and different things are gonna serve different people. And so not to get overwhelmed, but really figure out and me and them can figure out what they specifically need from the program to be successful with their goals. . Wow, that’s so awesome. I love the explanation of your program being a journey to get to where it is today, and you creating this program in response to what you were hearing people need.
I think that that’s such an essential part. . There’s often this thought that I’m gonna create a program and it’s gonna be like my first signature program and it’s gonna be exactly what people need. And that’s never the case. Like I, I really believe that the program that you start with is , it’s never the program that you stick with because like you need that experience of being able to work with these people and kind of figure out like what are the issues in there?
Like What are the gaps? What are the things you need to add that, just that whole point around program duration, like you wouldn’t have known that four months is really the ideal time, unless you got a sense of that from just working with people. Yeah, I would say like this is my signature program. But at the same time, I wouldn’t say that it’s like, it is in a really good spot now, but it’s taken me, I would probably two years to get to this per like this space, a building my business in general, along with my program along the way, and I’ve learned a lot.
And I would still say though, it’s like still in draft mode, right? Mm-hmm. , because what’s working right now for my clients and the people that I’m attracting may not be what is going to work like six months, a year, two years from now. And I may need to change and adapt it. I mean, there’s still so many things that I think of of, you know, how it could serve someone else.
Like we all have different learning styles, right? Yeah. And some people do better with being able to read something versus watch something. And so really at the same time, like that’s a space where I could see my signature program getting a little bit more you know, better in like expanding in.
But at the same time know that right now there’s also I think a difference between what we think our client needs and what they actually need, right? Mm-hmm. , like I could have put so many more modules together, but at the end of the day, like I still want my clients to come to me and ask questions.
I’m never going to have all of the modules to explain all of the things mm-hmm. that clients are gonna have questions of, and to be honest with you, Every client’s different. Some clients are gonna look through your resources first and see if they can find the answer to their questions. By looking through your resource, other clients are just gonna come straight to you.
Mm-hmm. , and it’s just that’s what they’re going to do. Doesn’t matter that you have a module on it that’s right in front of their face. They wanna come to you. They wanna ask you that question. They wanna have that conversation with you on that question. And so everyone just functions a little bit differently in that space.
Absolutely. And so can you tell us a bit more about the experience of the private Facebook community? Because I think that that’s something that a lot of dietitians think about incorporating into their businesses, but they’re not really sure what that looks like. So can you just walk us through just sort of the practicality of that?
Like how often do you plug into the Facebook group? Do you find that people actually engage in the Facebook group? What does that look like? Yeah. So I will say, I will say it kind of ebbs and flows on how people engage in it, but I do provide q and a through there twice a week.
And so that really brings and draws engagement into that space. I will say that I do have clients who don’t use Facebook. They just don’t use it, and that’s completely fine. They have other ways that they can communicate and chat with me on things. . But I will say it is a space for them to ask questions, to see questions to be able to connect with other people.
So we’ll do fun things in there of you know, what is what are you doing for the holidays or like, how have you been feeling lately? Just like fun things to kind of get to know each other, drop a picture of like your pet, and sometimes too if I get a question that’s been consistent from the clients, and I don’t ha, I have a, I have time to hop on a Facebook live, but I don’t have time to record a formal module.
I’m gonna just like hop into my Facebook group. I’m gonna go live. I usually don’t even tell them. , but I’ll go through and then I’ll just talk about it and I’ll just tag the people who have had questions about it. Because that way, you know, sometimes you just can’t do as thorough of an answer in a one-on-one space of a chat where that you can really hit in a video.
And so again, now that I redid my modules, I’ve taken some of those lives and turned them into modules. But at the time I wanted to respond to that need. Right. And that question and do it in a way that I. Get multiple people at one time versus having the consistent conversation over and over with everybody.
So some of those things, and then reminders of resources that are consistently being asked of and stuff like that. So I wouldn’t say it’s I think it really depends on your niche and what that looks like. And what would serve your clients? I wouldn’t say it’s a make or break. It, it’s a nice feature to have, but I wouldn’t say that my program would fail if I didn’t have it.
It’s just really hard to find cuz there’s so many different platforms that you can have. But I also didn’t. It to be one more thing that people had. And a lot of people have Facebook already, and if they don’t, they don’t. But then having, you know, multiple things that they have to download, like this way, it’s just practice better.
And then it’s just Facebook. Like those are the two things my clients need to have to be in the program and work with me, and they don’t even need to have Facebook. It’s just a good thing if they do have. . Yeah, and I think the important piece there too is that if you’re gonna have a Facebook community, it requires active.
Effort on your part too. Yes. Like I think, I mean, and I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this analogy, but they call it kind of the 99 and one rule for a community where if you have a community of a hundred people, 90 people will never participate and will never ask questions. They’ll never post anything.
Nine people will plug in once in a while and then one person will be your like super contributor and your super user. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And I think it’s just an important. Sort of, it’s true reframe around communities, right? It’s if you don’t actively invite that engagement and bring people in, they’re not just gonna do it unprompted.
and people have this, like some people, and you’ll notice that with your clients too. Like some people will engage in like the personal things all day. Yeah, totally. The second it comes to oh, do you have a question on anything? They might be like talking to you one-on-one with all their questions, but they’re not comfortable putting it in a Q and A thread.
And that’s Yeah, and that’s okay. That’s like in, I think at the same time, don’t have this expectation when it comes to even, I would say any of your program. add-ons or like features that a hundred percent of people are going to show up and they’re always going to be on there. That’s the same with like I offer like the two times a month, like Zoom calls with my clients, and that ebbs and it flows on how many people attend, and it is a numbers thing, right?
The more people that are part of the program, the more attendance I see on there, but at the same time, , you also had to think about what does your program structure look like? Mm-hmm. , I tend to do a lot of one-on-one conversations with my clients, and so they don’t need to make those a priority because a lot of their needs are already being met that they don’t need to get on that to get their needs met.
And so is it a fault maybe of my entrepreneur? Yeah, maybe it is a fault of mine. If I wanted to get more of them on there, then maybe I would decrease that. But I en, I en, I enjoy that one-on-one space, so I just provide that. I’m okay with the fact that not all of ’em jump on a Zoom call or participate in q and a threads, you know, so it’s just some things like that that you have to remember that just because not all your clients are showing up to these things are participating in these things doesn’t mean that their needs are not being met and that your program is failing.
It could hundred percent be thriving in other spaces. . I think that’s such an important reminder. And I, I even think about myself, right? And like business coaching programs I’ve been a part of, and I’ll make big investments and I don’t go to every single session, or I don’t watch every single module. But I still, the pro I’m getting what I need out of the program.
Right? Right. Like it’s serving its purpose for me at that point in time. And my needs from that program are going to be different week to week. So I think that’s a really important piece. And I would, and I would just add on that, that if you notice that you’re talking with clients and you know that it would be beneficial for them to participate in some of your features.
Be blunt about it and say that Hey, I love the fact that you’re having this issue and everything like that. I think popping on this week’s Zoom would be super beneficial. How about me and you tackle this on that zoom, can you make it, you know, and yeah, engage them into making it, because they may sometimes not even know that that would be a way for them to get that help either.
So you had to kind of help them understand that. . Yeah. And I think people just so appreciate being seen. Mm-hmm. like to know that you are like sitting there, thinking of them and thinking about how that would be helpful for them is just that means so much to people. Mm-hmm. . Okay, so I noticed your program too is application based.
Yeah. What made you decide to structure it? Well, honestly, so I will say I like I started in the discovery call space and honestly, people did not show up for discovery calls, and I kind of got to a point where I just kind of got annoyed of that space. Sure. And I know that it’s very, and it is very typical for people not to show up for discovery calls.
So I used to have just like a link where they could do that, but then I was setting aside my time and I was preparing for those calls. And then I would say like 50% showed, and then the other 50% didn’t show.
And I would just kind of like be so, it was, it was just like really starting to impact me of feeling bad on like, how come that person didn’t show? I. Checked in with them, made sure that they were gonna be able to make it and they still didn’t come. And then it was just really wasting my time.
There was so many other things I could be really doing to be building my business than waiting for someone for 10, 15 minutes to show up on a call and then having to take 10 to 15 more minutes to get in to actually doing a task that needed to be done for my business. Right. So then I really got into the application base though too, because of the fact.
It allows me to see everything in one spot. I understand what people’s struggles are. I understand what their reservations are with joining the program. I understand like their best way to wanna communicate with me, cuz not everybody wants to do a phone call. So I offer the fact that I, I do I’ll talk with them via Instagram dms.
I’ll talk with them via text messaging. And then I’ll also jump on a Zoom call with them or a phone call. So like I just really get to know what’s gonna work best for them. And I might start by talking to them via text or anything like that. And then I always tell them that at any point in time, like if they wanna jump on a call or something like that, that we definitely can, cuz everyone has a different way that they wanna get to know you and really want to understand whether you are the right person to invest their money into.
Right? Mm-hmm. . So just really the application space, just so I can see all of that. Really have those conversations, make sure they’re ideal clients for the program and really decrease, like wasting my time, but at the same time mm-hmm. meeting clients where they’re at. And how does the text messaging piece work?
Do you have a program that you use for that or you just I don’t, I just use my phone at this point in time. Cool. Yeah, I haven’t really. So cool. I love that though. I think that’s great. Yeah, I mean, people really haven’t That’s great. Haven’t overstepped the boundary. So it’s, it’s, I haven’t had an issue at this point, so.
Oh good. That’s awesome. , I, well, no, I just, I really, I really appreciate the idea of, cuz I’m, I’m kind of the same like when I’m looking for a service. I don’t always need to have that discovery call. Like I don’t need to get on a Zoom call with you. If I’ve already watched all of your Instagram videos, like I know you
Yeah. You know what I mean? Right, exactly. I just wanna DM you for a bit. . Right. But then some people hear smart about you from a referral. Right? A hundred percent. So they like, oh, my really good friend. , you know, recommended you to me, but yeah, I’m not someone who like finds people on Instagram, so can we do like a call?
Yeah. You know, and like I would love to do a Zoom call with you and stuff. So it’s always so different on how people want to get to know you. So I, I love being able to just do a little bit of a combo and then at the same time I will say if people. You know, get out of boundaries. It’s always easy to redirect them.
Oh, hey, let’s let, I’m gonna answer your text message, but hey, this is a really good spot for our one-on-one chat inside of the program. You know what I mean? So let’s save it for that. And they’re really good. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s really easy. So, good. Cool. Okay, so obviously you’re working nine to five, you’re doing this as, I mean, a quote unquote side hustle, but in reality I feel like it’s, it’s bigger than that.
Do you hire out anything in your. . Yeah. Definitely do . I would not be at all a human being if I didn’t, to be honest with you. I have I currently have a social media manager who does A whole lot and literally would not be where I’m at without her. So she is phenomenal. I’ve been working with her for nine months now.
You know, it does take time for you to hire out, I would say in general and to really. , find your groove with the people that you bring onto your team. So I always say to like, remember that when you’re hiring people mm-hmm. Is that it’s gonna take a little bit of time for them to get to know you and your business as much as it took you to get to know your business.
Yeah. But it’s gonna take them time too. And so she and you work with Nicole. It’s Nicole, right? Yep. I do work with Nicole. Shout out to Nicole . Yes. Big shout out to Nicole Wellness Marketing co. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. She’s been phenomenal. So I’ve been working with her since she started her marketing business.
Love it. And we were, we had connected on Instagram prior, since she was in the same niche as I was. And when it just, everything just aligned when I was ready to hire out. And so she does my social media managing comes up with the ideas, tells me what needs to be done. All that fun stuff.
Looks at my analytics helps me with my stories, helps me with reaching out to people like lead generation stuff. But my conversations in my dms as well, and honestly hiring her was probably one of the biggest strategies I’ve ever put into place because, you know, she’s really the one diving into what I don’t know, social media, and I really don’t have the time to figure it out, especially as it’s ever changing.
And things are always consistent. And I think also it just took a lot of stress and anxiety around social media, off of my plate. You know, she’ll do polls in her stories sometimes, and it will be like, How’s your reach bed? And I’m like, I don’t even know. Like I, because I don’t pay attention to those things anymore because like I trust her to be paying attention to those things.
And so it’s like I don’t need to be, and so it just takes so much stress off me. I don’t know if my story reached 300 people or 2000 people, because. I will say like in one week, it, it is that difference between one day to another. And so, you know, it’s like one of those things that I just have like really been able to trust in the long-term social media plan with having her.
And just really it allows me to just , relax and also have someone who I get to talk to about my business and strategize with behind the scenes. But you know, and she’s also put in a lot of different, I have to be organized because there’s someone else in my business too, right? Yeah. So I have to make sure that there’s communication going on.
There’s spreadsheets that are taken care of that like we communicate. Stay on the same page together, going back and forth. And so there’s been a lot of strategy and organization put in to my business when we started working together. So, that would be the only thing I’ve hired out in my business at this point in time.
She’s kind of done a lot, I’ve taken a lot of responsibility off my plate, so . That’s awesome. But then you can stay in your zone of genius. Right? Exactly. Which is exactly, which is so essential. And so your audience has grown a lot now you’re at over 30,000 followers. Yeah. So was there like a point in time where that suddenly start, you started to see that? You know, not really. So Nicole would probably be better at answering that question for you. Okay. But totally.
I do know that if we just did like kind of a reflection space, and I know within the last eight or nine months that we’ve been working together, we’ve seen a 20 k growth. We do really know what posts bring people in. We know, you know, like what type of content that is. And so it’s sprinkled in, in the strategy.
And so we real, she really knows what do we need to be doing to balance my goals? Right? Like your social media is completely based off of what are the goals of your business? Mm-hmm. . And at first my, one of my goals was to grow my following a little bit more. I think my goal was just to get over 10 K and then I was good.
And so we got to that. And then Nicole has her own goals with my stuff. So it’s always great because. I’m, I also have like a, a public Facebook group and like I said, she has her own goals with the social media side of things. She’s oh yeah, I think we can get your following here. And I’m like, okay, that’s not even like on my radar for a goal, but Sure.
Let, that sounds great. You’re, you are more the knowledge of what it’s capable of doing, so. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s been. I would say it’s been since I hired it to her because honestly, before I, the, one of the biggest reasons I hired a social media manager was because I was spending so much time trying to find trending sounds, trying to figure out what was I gonna post, trying to figure out like, What works, what doesn’t work, and at the same time like, okay, how do I create that?
Is it gonna be a Camba graphic or is it gonna be a real, what does better like in that type of stuff? And I really just did not give it the time. , it deserved for me to become better at making it a good strategy where that’s her expertise and that, that’s really where I’ve seen the growth is having someone with that expertise or that person that has the time that the, and does the education.
No, social media, um mm-hmm. , just cause I can’t keep up with everything like prenatal and pregnancy related research wise. Yes. And keep. Spot in there and help my clients the best I can and at the same time be on the social media and really figuring all that out. Sounds like that’s been an awesome investment decision.
Mm-hmm. in from both a financial and also just a time back perspective. Yeah. Yes. Very cool. Yes. Love it. Yes. So with regards to your business, what have been some of those things that have really worked for you in terms of getting clients? I would say that really the things that have worked with me getting clients is really being consistent with showing up on social media answering questions and really just trying to get to know people genuinely in a space of the fact that like when I’m talking to people, like I invite people to DM me if they feel comfortable doing it on my Instagram.
I’ll reach out to people when they answer. If they have questions on my post or anything like that, and really just offering to give them more resources, right? Because at the end of the day, not everybody is going to become a paying client, and that’s okay. Like my whole motto is I wanna help you where God kind of intends me to help you.
And if a client is what that is, that God intended. Space, then so be it. But if it’s not here are some free resources, here’s my Facebook group. Get that help. Get as much of this information as you can in these spaces. So I think at the same time, just like genuinely getting to know people and really still realizing that even when you’re providing free information and free content and stuff to people that you still can learn so much about how.
It impacts your business and how you can bring in more ideal clients. And so I’d really say the things that I’ve worked is just consistency, being like a human and having conversations with them and really getting to know them. I will say in my niche, the hardest part is like there’s a lot of loss and stuff like that, and really just being a human and.
being there for them and checking in on them and just making sure that they’re okay. Mm-hmm. , when they’re going through probably one of the worst times of their life is important. So really just being a human and just having conversations with people, talking to people and really just like being consistent and showing up and building those relationships.
And then just really figuring out like how does your program solve their problems? What are the problems your program solves and. , if you are talking to someone, then, then offering your program as an option for them to solve that problem. Right. So just, I would really say it would be consistency and then building relationships.
And then on the flip side of that, has there ever been any sort of like a tactic, whether it’s a marketing tactic or a strategy that you feel like hasn’t worked as well for you? You know, you’ve tried it and you’re like, eh, I didn’t really see any sort of return in terms of getting clients. Well, you know, I would say, like I mentioned like the discovery call thing earlier.
Yeah. I just don’t totally like in not having an application. I think that an application. Can, can, I wouldn’t say it does a hundred percent, but can weed out the people who really aren’t an ideal client for you. But at the same time too, I would say winging, it hasn’t really worked out for me when I came to my social media strategy.
Just like really just like throwing whatever out there. Didn’t really. Work very as, as much. I was still getting clients, but not nearly what I am at at this point in time. But at the same time, I will say really at the end of the day, there’s probably a many more things that have not worked for me that I have literally just like kind of.
Decided okay, that didn’t work. So pivot, right? Like that’s what entrepreneurship is all about, is try something and pivot. And so there’s still things all the time that even with social media and all that stuff, even when something’s proposed to me, I’m like, let’s try it.
Worst case scenario, you know, after a couple months we realized it didn’t work, then we pivot. Or yeah, let’s throw out that content and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, we pivot. Right. So it’s just some of those things that you’re just constantly. . I feel like that’s like a part of the entrepreneurship game is that you kind of toss things out there, but you can’t expect everything to be successful.
And you just learn from it and then you just pivot. Yeah. To what. what does, and there’s some things that you kind of just continue to build and realize. And then other things you kind of just like block ’em out and like your mind knows that didn’t work. We won’t do that again. Yeah. But we don’t really remember what that was.
Yeah, totally. But if someone was to ask me, I’d be like, Yeah. No, that doesn’t work. . Yeah, , totally. I mean, it’s all, it’s all just a, it’s just a process of testing and learning, right? It’s like right. There’s never one way to do anything. There’s not one. Specific formula that’s going to lead to success for a business.
It’s about figuring out what works for you. . Mm-hmm. . And I think just this podcast episode is just an important reminder of, of that. So what’s one piece of advice that you would have for new business owners or those who are looking to get. , I think we alluded to this earlier, is the fact of just getting started.
So just get started. Just do it. Just start throwing darts at a dark board, and just like start taking the clients, figuring out what works, figuring out what doesn’t, and just knowing that where you’re starting isn’t where you’re going to end.
And really, I would say too is develop grit. Like grit for consistency and staying consistent for yourself and knowing what is. , what? What is your why? What is your why that you’re doing this? What is that long-term why of like, why you decided to start this, why you want to do this? Why is it a passion for you?
What does that look like? Because you are going to have rough patches, like you’re gonna have slow times in your business, and you’re not gonna know what those look like until you start to see patterns. And unfortunately, I’m three years into this and my patterns are still not. Figured out consistent.
Yeah, they’re not totally, they’re not. Last January, last January looks so much different than this January in a, in a good way, but I was expecting it to look like last January, so I was like, oh, wow. Okay. This is not last January. But then again, I might see a different month come along where I’m be like, oh yeah, this is gonna be a great month, and then it’s not gonna be based off of last year’s and the year before.
That’s trend. So just to know that it’s ever changing and that you’re gonna have rough patches. But the thing is, at the end of the day, your business is not a direct reflection of you as a human being. Your business is a business going through the cycle of business. And just know that at the end of the day, like there’s gonna be people.
like to go for No, it’s like a book that is out there. And go for no, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there to hear. No, because you’re going to hear yeses too. And there’s always seasons of that in our businesses. Right? There’s seasons of hearing. I, I’ll say like sometimes they’re long and sometimes they’re short seasons of where you’re gonna hear nose a.
And then there’s like another, and then it’s followed by a season of yeses. And it’s just so crazy of how business works that way. It just kind of always keeps you on your toes, but you kind of have to keep yourself steady. So I would just say like one, do it and just develop grit for your why. And don’t let people hold you back for that.
I wrote down that book cuz I think that’s important for every entrepreneur to read. . Yeah. It’s a, i, it’s a great book. And I mean, I guess the same time too, I would say do not compare yourself. Mm-hmm. , that is like the biggest thing too. What people like. What dietitians or business professionals are doing.
You don’t know how long they’ve been in the business. You don’t know what they’ve, what they’re doing behind the scenes. You don’t know if they’re successful or not. I will say that has been the biggest learning curve I have learned is , I thought when I first started, especially on the Instagram focus space, that like followers meant that they were like successful.
And I have learned that that is not true. And so just like remembering that don’t compare yourself and don’t try to build something else that somebody already has. Mm. Build what works for you, what your vision looks like and what works for your clients. Right? Because mm. Or else you just get really tangled in well this person has a course and this person has a program.
Mm-hmm. and this person sees people one-on-one. And you just don’t really feel, find your way in that space, and it’s really about finding your way for your business. Hmm. And do you feel like that has gotten easier over time, that like comparison. Yeah, I would say it’s get, it gets better over time just because once you start having some real conversations with people, you start finding things out.
So true. And I think at the same time, you had to be vulnerable to have conversations on yourself, for people to be vulnerable, having conversations about them and their self. Yeah. You just start to learn. So everyone has different goals at the end of the day. Like some people are doing their business just to have a little bit of extra income.
Some people are doing their business because they’re the breadwinner, you know? Mm-hmm. , some people are doing it just because they want to. Mm-hmm. , and whatever they make isn’t a, like a big thing. So it’s just it’s just really interesting and I will say there are so many different ways to be successful in your business.
Mm-hmm. , that it’s not even just. what your business looks like with working with clients. Mm-hmm. totally couldn’t agree more. And so on that note, yeah, a hundred percent. And so what, what is next for your business? Yeah, so I, you know, this is a question that I struggle with in general right now. My business is in a season of really just like finding this level zone of just like really honing in to just like the fact that like my program has.
Really perfected to a space that I’m enjoying at this point in time where really now it’s all about consistency for me and really figuring out what does this look like for my business? And then really just staying in this space until I quit my job at the end of this year, beginning of next year type of space.
And then really thinking about now where do I go and yeah, all that fun stuff. So right now I’m in a season of maintaining what I have. . And just making sure that I’m maintaining this space so that way I can also maintain my friendships, my relationships in general, being a mom and all that stuff.
So I wish I had these like great big visions, but at this point in time, I’m in the, let’s maintain what I have and keep it going and keep this happening and just really perfect where I’m at, just to get used to those, the steps I need to take and the consistent steps that need to happen
that’s such an awesome place to be. It’s a place where you can also just, but enjoy the work that you’ve done so far. Like just enjoy your business for a little while. Doesn’t need to grow. Yeah. Right now, like just enjoy it. Yeah. Just love the, the place that you’re at right now. That’s so cool. I’m so happy for you
So happy for you. That’s so great. So exciting. Thank you so much for joining me. It’s been so amazing to talk to you. Where can the audience find out more about you and the work that you do? Yeah, so you can go ahead and find me on Instagram at prenatal dot nutritionist. I also have a website. It’s nutrition with haley.com.
But those would be the two biggest places that you could find me and don’t hesitate to reach out and DM me. I’m always like up to talk to other entrepreneurs and all that fun stuff. Love talking about, you know, how I got to where I am and any questions that you guys have in that space. Reach out.
Such an awesome offer. Well, thanks so much Hailey. Have an awesome rest of your day. Thank you. You too, Krista.