In this episode of The Dietitian Success Podcast, I interview Kristen Carli & Gillian Barkyoumb all about how they’ve grown successful, thriving, profitable media-based businesses. We discuss: how to become a media dietitian (including TV, print, social media and more!), how much money can be made in media, and what a typical day in the life of a media RD looks like.
Links:
- Dietitian Success Podcast listeners can get $100 off Making Money with Media using the code “dietitian” at checkout: https://www.itsgillean.com/sales-page-1
- Follow Kristen on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/kristen.carli/
- Follow Gillian on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/itsgillean/
Episode Transcript:
Today I am joined by two incredible women and dietitians, Kristin Carli and Gillian Barkyoumb together. These women have built successful thriving businesses focused on media work. So by media work, We’re talking, getting featured on television in online publications, on social media. Being a spokesperson and so much more. So in today’s episode, they’re going to share how they built their businesses and what makes a dietician successful when it comes to breaking into the media space. And yes, we even cover how much money can you really make as a media dietitian.
You are going to really enjoy this episode. I promise you let’s jump in.
Kristen and Jillian, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I’m just so thrilled to have you here. Oh, thank you so much for having us. Absolutely. We’re so excited. I know you mentioned this isn’t a topic you’ve really covered here yet.
Yeah. So we’re so excited to dive into all things media. Yeah, totally. And like I was saying before, this is pretty new for me too. This is definitely an area of entrepreneurship that I’ve never dabbled in. A little bit with the writing and the social media and stuff, but the other media piece is so foreign to me, so I’m so excited to ask you guys all the questions.
So just to start off, just to get the audience up to speed, can we get just a little bit of a backstory in terms of your dietician experience? So What has your history looked like as a dietician, and how did that bring you to where you are today? Kristen, we’ve had you on the podcast a couple times before.
And so people will probably recognize your story a little bit. But Jillian, why don’t we start with you. Okay. Amazing. Yeah, so I did the dietetic program at a S u Arizona State University here in Arizona. And it was a combined master’s and internship program. And, going into that I thought I might wanna do pediatrics or maybe sports nutrition.
And when I finished my internship, I realized like I didn’t wanna do any of that stuff. None of the things that I thought I wanted to do, I really felt called towards. When I finished my internship, I did get a job at the hospital that I did my rotation at, and of course, like graduating, you’re like, Whatever job I can take, I will not say no to anything.
Yeah. So I started working there, but shortly after, honestly just like a few weeks into it, I got a job at a network marketing company that sells supplements, protein shakes and I worked on the research and development team. So when I started writing, I was actually a writer, so I wrote science articles and lemme just tell you, I have zero writing background.
I learned a lot because like my first article that I wrote for there, science blog, came back with all these red marks. They were like basically rewrote it for me. So yeah, I learned a lot in that role. But it was actually, I was there for eight years at this company and I moved from r and d to sales and marketing.
So I got so much experience doing, hosting their livestream events, doing videos, learning how to use a teleprompter. Doing sales on products and things like that. So it’s really where I got a lot of my skills. And on the side, while I had this corporate nine to five, I was also doing TV segments at local stations.
So I would drive down super early Saturday or Sunday mornings and do TV segments, whether it was, healthy appetizers for the holidays or something like that. So I was really just like putting myself out there. And this was pre-kids, so I have three kids now, so my time is a little less free these days.
But then as I started to develop this TV stuff on the side, I started to develop my own business. And eventually I was able to take the leap about three years ago from having, my nine to five job, which I actually really loved. I just was feeling a. Pull towards something else. And for the last three years I have been doing this media dietician work.
So working with brands, I have consulting opportunities with different companies. I do a lot of recipe development for different brands that I work with. So it’s been one of those really fun transitions to focus on. What I really love, and I know we’ll dive more into this, Today on this podcast. And that’s what I’ve been doing.
And now Chris and I are taking what we’ve learned worth all this video work and we’re mentoring people through it too. So that’s our latest endeavor that we’re really excited about Next. So awesome. And do you remember how you got that first like side hustle media opportunity that was outside of your nine to five job?
Yes. So my first paid opportunity, this was a big thing cause I definitely did again free for a very long time. And honestly it wasn’t, it was like less than free because you’re actually buying all your groceries and show records. It’s costing you money. Yeah, it’s costing me, we’ve all been driving downtown.
Yes, I was spending money to do this. Yeah. But first paid opportunity, which I’m really glad I did all that because then I had experience to showcase. When this opportunity came, it was actually on the Nutrition Entrepreneur’s listserv through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. So there was a listserv at the time, and I got an email with someone saying, Hey, we’re looking for some media dieticians that have experienced doing tv.
So I literally just responded to the email and it was this gal, her name’s Parker, and she’s transitioned now, but for a while she had a business called R D T V, which was registered dietician television. And so she her business that she created, which was so great was connecting dieticians with brain.
Fans and to do tv. So that was my first opportunity to work through her. She mentored me through a lot of it. I learned so much about doing TV with her. She’s now kinda transitioned to this cool, she’s doing more lifestyle, so not just dieticians and not just food products, but that was my first paid opportunity, was working with her and I have.
I’ve done so many different partnerships with her, with brands. So it was a really good starting point to, to dive into working with brands, and now I can just reach out to brands myself and build those relationships too. I have more confidence doing that, cool. Okay. That’s awesome. All right, Kristen.
Do you wanna give us your dietician backstory? Sure. When I graduated from my internship, I went into private practice first thing, cuz I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Mainly just because I was a career changer. And I had m I felt like I had more on the line. I didn’t really I’ve already.
Had a bunch of jobs I hated, right? So I wanted to do the thing I liked after spending the money to go back and get this additional degree. So I ended up opening a private practice and that was awesome. And we still have the practice today. I just have a team of dieticians that meets with patients one-on-one virtually, and I no longer see patients face-to-face.
I started working and transitioning maybe about two years into. The business. I started transitioning to more of the consulting side of things, and then that opened the door to recipe development and media work and have really loved it because there’s a lot of flexibility in my schedule, which I love. I love being able to have days where I don’t see a soul and I am a total, like just grunge, just pajamas, slippers, no makeup. I love that. And then some days I can doll up and do big scary, extroverted things and I really love both. What’s really cool about this work too is that it snowballs and I think Jill and I have experienced that. Like you start doing a bunch of different types of work and then you have this work to showcase as a portfolio and.
Opportunities start coming to you. And I always say it’s so exciting to open up my e email in the morning cuz I don’t know what’s gonna be in there. And it’s just a bunch of fun opportunities and really exciting stuff. You never do the same thing every day. So I have a lot of fun doing that.
Yeah. That is so awesome. And okay, let’s, I wanna define the term media dietician a little bit for those people that are totally new to this world. And what I think would be helpful too is if you’re able to speak to some of the specific projects that you guys have worked on, just so people can really understand, when we say, okay, a TV segment or recipe development, like what does that actually mean?
So let’s just paint the picture. Jillian, do you wanna start first? Yeah, I’ll go. I’ll do my best. And then, cool. Chris, can you pick up the pieces where I miss out on this? But I think what’s really exciting about the term media dietician is that it’s, I feel like it’s new. It’s new and up and coming.
Yeah, because. I feel like a lot of times it was like communications, dietician, or it was, you would just say retro dietitian that did some sort of communications work. But now I feel like the term media dietician is getting a lot more focused because there is such a need for it. It’s actually a whole division of our career.
It used to be like, Clinical or food service, like media is a huge part of that too. So as far as media goes, like you said, it’s, there’s a lot that you can do. So it’s really hard to define. It’s ev, if you think of the word media, it’s everything from printed publications, online publications, tv, and then we’re like throwing in this brand work concept, which is really where it can be super lucrative.
And I know we’ll talk about. To just like the opportunities to like make money by doing media work. And so it, it’s super bra broad, so to just define it a little bit of what I have done personally, So when I think about my work with the media, so definitely tv. So I will work with a brand and they will either reach out to me or I’ll pitch myself to them.
And we will have either one segment or, which I prefer is multiple segments, right? So a lot of times you can get the same messaging, you’ll use the same script and the same props and recipes, and you’ll do multiple TV segments at different, even. Now with the way that everything is so virtual, yeah, you can do it on Zoom.
So I just set up my computer in my kitchen. I will do, three to six TV spots for one brand saying the same content to a different TV host each time. A TV segment is, Three to four minutes. So it’s really short and you have to be really concise with your messaging, and that is one type of partnership.
So the brand will pay you to do that work, to be on TV and to provide their messaging through, the TV segment. And a lot of times you’re, you’re sh showing a recipe, doing a demo and really getting interactive with it too. There’s other ways that you can work with do media. One of the ways is publications.
You mentioned that you’ve done that a little bit. Krista too is getting your name and different online publications. Harrow, which is help our reporter out, is one of my and Kristen’s favorite things to teach on for our students in our classes. And that’s another one. Writing, doing quotes, expert quotes is huge.
And you can get paid to do that work too. Or even writing to put on your own blog or in your own newsletters. Brands will pay you to incorporate their content there. Recipe development. Kristen, I know you’ve done so. I, if you follow Kristen on Instagram, I’m like, how many, oh my gosh. How many Popsicle recipes are you making right now?
True. I’m obsessing over popsicles right now. I love that many Popsicle recipes. Love. That’s one of my favorites. So that’s one of my partnerships with Ninja Kitchen, the appliance company. I have been working with them. For over two years. And really funny story of how I actually got the partnership. I like applied to a contest and it was to become they called it their, they were doing a search for a smoothie bowl sommelier.
I know. It’s so silly. It was a total PR thing and they’re promoting their smoothie bowl blender. Yeah. My friend actually sent me the online application and I applied and now I like owe her so much. I’m like always Thank you. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do it. And since I did it, it was a two month contract initially with some TV segments, recipe development.
I hosted a virtual event where they had media and PR people attend, and I showed how to use the appliance and how it worked so that they could go off and write about it in their own publications. And so I, that was a two month stent. And then I just really afterwards I was like, I’d love to keep working with you guys.
I’d love to keep working with you guys, and pitched a ton of ideas. So about, for about two years I’ve been doing recipe development and social media content creation for them. And like Kristen said, how it snowballs. I al I’ve even done, so Ninja also has their sister company, which is Shark. It’s all their home appliances.
So it’s like vacuums and hair dryers and different washing equipment and. I’ve actually done some videos on like hair dryers and stuff. Cool. Even though that’s not my thing, but they’re like, Hey, you’re great on camera. We know you like it’s easy. Can you do this side project for us and we’ll pay you for it.
So it does snowball in that direction. Okay. So I covered just like the TV recipe development. What else, Kristen, do you wanna throw in there? Yeah, I think so I can speak a little bit more to the recipe development piece. I do a lot of recipe development work for different brands and media outlets, and really what that involves for every brand.
The specifications are a little bit different, but for the most part it involves a lot of food photography, food styling, and the proper writeup of a recipe, which. At the beginning of this, I didn’t know there was a proper way to write this up. Yeah. And step-by-step photos of each step of the process of the recipe, and sometimes videos as well.
It’s involved. But what I really love about that work is I’m jamming out to music. I’m in my slippers, in my pajamas. I definitely lean more introverted and that work is really fun for me to just I def I get to control my whole day and. Get through a ton of work, so that is really fun.
We also do a lot of social media work, so now that is, I think most people are probably really familiar with this, but again, it’s just getting this brand message across in whatever way. You can, so via social media. So different partnerships, whether it’s reels, stories, Instagram posts, ideally a combination of a few for longer term partnerships is always great.
And what didn’t we cover? We said tv. We talked about writing. Social media spokesperson work falls under TV too. Jillian, you do a lot of that. Yeah, I was gonna say, obviously like you do TV work, but as a spokesperson you could even be at booths for events. You can again do virtual types of like trainings.
So there’s more than just being on tv. If you’re like, okay, that’s not my jam. Like I don’t know if I really wanna do that’s totally fine. You can still be a spokesperson and attend, be at a booth for one of their conferences or speak on stage to their. At their employee events. There’s lots of different ways where you can be a spokesperson and like you said, the social media content too.
I feel like you don’t have to have a million followers, which neither of us do. There’s this whole thing, obviously a focus on having just true engagement with your community and being an expert with influence rather than just an influencer. I think there’s so much behind that, so they aren’t always looking for you to have tons of followers.
And then also there’s this whole big push. For creating that U G C content, which is that user generated content. So you’re creating content and then they post it. I do that with Ninja, so I create the recipes and then they want it to look authentic on their page, like someone’s making in their kitchen versus some employee on their staff, trying to make it.
So there’s also that aspect of it where you are still gonna get a ton of exposure if you post on a page like that, which has. A huge following. And then you’re not feeling like all the pressure’s on you to get this word out or get a ton of views on this reel. So social media I think is always gonna be there.
And like you said, I like to it to be a part of my partnership. So if I do a TV segment for a brand, so for example, I did. Four TV segments for Aldi grocery store. It was virtual from my home, which I love. It’s so convenient cause you’re not traveling or taking a bunch of stuff down to a studio. So it was from my home.
I did four TV segments and then I also did two two reels and a blog post. So they bundled all of those things together into one partnership. Which is great cuz then it’s like really, you get, they get the most out of their money and so do you like it really is worth to do that type of stuff.
And the other thing I would say is it’s just like they’re, you can dream up so many different ways to work with brands in the media. It’s like ever-changing. Now they’re doing these these live. Videos almost like qvc. It’s like the latest QVC thing if you guys have seen that where they, people are going on talking about their products and they’ll either post it on their website or it’ll be like on YouTube.
And so it’s not always, defined by what we’ve been doing. Now, I feel like it’s ever-evolving and changing and brands are trying to get really creative with how they use experts like us to get their message across. Yeah, and I feel like too I think that the, when you’re first getting started, I think the.
The impression of what it looks like to work with media is maybe a little bit more fixed in that, oh, a brand just pays me to talk about their product on my Instagram. Whereas I think in reality there’s so much opportunity, like you said, Jillian to like pitch this super robust, like really rich ex.
Experience that includes all of these different components that can be super beneficial for the brand, but then also really lucrative for you as the dietician. So I think it doesn’t have to be, we shouldn’t think of, we should get more creative when it comes to how we think about working with and interacting with brands.
And I think it’s on the dietician to, think about what those opportunities could be and pitch those to the brand. Is that, Does that? Totally, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Including stuff in your newsletter or doing on giveaways. That’s actually one of the things I did with Ninja is they gave me the contract and I said, Hey, would you guys be willing to give me one appliance a month for a giveaway?
So that’s just, and that’s, they get exposure. I obviously nurturing my community by giving away something fun. Yeah, I think there’s, you definitely can do that. Have you had any experience like that, Kristen, where you’ve pitched something different to a brand? Oh yeah. I think it’s definitely about being collaborative and I think when you’re starting out you feel like, oh my gosh, there’s this opportunity here.
And it’s exciting and I definitely did that at first. Like I would just accept it and I was like, whatever, totally. It’s fine. I’ll just accept whatever’s in front of me. But now it’s more thoughtful and thinking about a really well-rounded partnership to have a greater impact. So that. What the brand is actually looking to accomplish, which is like a wide reach is very impactful.
And yeah. So yeah, it’s a little bit more what’s gonna work for me with when I think about my social media page and the brand, and then think about what the brand messaging is and what their goal is. And so yeah, definitely more collaborative. Yeah. Okay. That’s so awesome. That’s really helpful and honestly sounds so much fun.
Sounds so much fun. Oh my God, it’s the best. Fun. Fun. It’s the best fun. That sounds amazing. Like such a fun way to spend your days. Yeah. Okay, so let’s talk about the money side of things then. Heck yes. So curious. We love this. We love talking money. Okay. I love it. We do love it. I love it. So can you make good money doing this type of work?
And are you willing to share sort of some specifics around what kind of money you can make in different areas of media work? Hell yeah. We’re all about transparency here. Thank you. Oh, that’s awesome. Super important. Yeah. I think when we. One of the reasons I think Jill and I really connected over this is because we both love media work, but we also really connect on the idea of making money and how empowering that is, especially as a woman.
Yeah. And dietician salary on the whole like is very low. Yeah. And in the states, now that we have a master’s requirement, it’s. Depressing out there for students who are looking at their student loans now they’re looking at, they have to complete a master’s degree in order to continue to maybe make 40 K at a hospital.
That’s not enough. They’ll never pay that off, and maybe you don’t even love that type of work. What I really love about media is that there’s a huge potential. There’s no cap on the income that you can make, and you don’t necessarily have to dive in and create your own business from the start. I know not everybody’s willing to do that.
So Jillian, for a while, like you said, you were working your corporate job and on the side you would do media segments. It’s a great thing to pick up extra income. Yeah, I think that’s one of the cool things is that it’s Chris and I have talked about maybe you really do love private practice and that’s great.
Have this as another revenue stream. Let’s like do what you love, but then also incorporate some of these other super lucrative opportunities too that are gonna be fun. They’re a little more flexible, they’re not as stable as something like a corporate job, right? You’re not getting a paycheck all the time.
But I’ll Elise, in the last three years, I have never had a time where shoot, I’m getting not no pay is coming in this month. That has never happened to me. Totally. Cause like you said, there’s always opportunities. You can always pitch more. For example, right now I’m coming in this time, so I have a, an, he just heard eight months, an eight month old, and then I have my six-year-old and my four-year old.
And so I’m just coming out of this postpartum where I’m like feeling really good. I am sleeping through the night and I’m like, I was just telling my husband last night, he’s Hey, I have a couple, like I wanna pitch a couple of these different brains. And I’m just feeling more excited so I can, it’s like I slowed down for a little bit and just, did what felt good, what I had space for, and now you can totally, it’s not like I’m going to my boss and asking for a promotion.
Like I, you have all the power here Totally. To get yourself out there and to have these opportunities. And I love that it really can be part of your business. It doesn’t have to be everything. But the opportunity always overlap. So like I’ll get paid from one contract and then something else is coming up.
So there’s always these pieces that fit together. So it’s really beautiful in the end. And if it’s one part of your passion, I think it fits into the big puzzle for your vision as a dietician. Yeah, totally. Okay, so let’s talk about specific rates. And obviously you don’t have to name any brands or companies or whatever, but what have you been paid for different projects in the past?
I think my most notable, and this is always the fun one that we talk about a lot, is the recipe development client that I work for currently still work for. Yeah. I, for. A one year contract where I developed many recipes for them. In that one year I was paid $200,000. Woo. So this is on the side of my private practice.
This is on the side of my social media work. This is just one client now, not just one recipe. Yeah, some people have said that. No. Obviously not many recipes. Hundreds of recipes over the course of a year. And it was just one of my revenue streams. Wow. So yes, you can make a ton of money. Interesting.
Yeah. And it’s I’m still just Chris and I is so cool. I just love that. That is so cool. I’m like I, that makes my mind explode. Like I didn’t even totally know that there were Yeah. And I, okay. And I’m I so appreciate that you shared that because I feel like there’s such a, I think there’s a, such a fixed mindset with a lot of.
Rds who are going into recipe development work thinking there’s never gonna be a brand that’s gonna be, that’s gonna b value me enough to want to pay X number of dollars every month. Like they think it’s just not even possible. And so they sometimes end up chasing these like really cheap opportunities or.
Staying with free work for too long. I think there’s absolutely a time and place for like doing things for free, especially at the beginning. At some point we have to move on and we have to upgrade. So I feel like yeah, that’s like that money mindset, right? Yeah, totally. Totally.
That’s a huge, we have a whole course on that in our training that we do. Cool. But cool. That’s so great. I think that’s, Chris and I really bonded over that of just like you are, again, you are an expert with influence. You have. So much to give you are credible. There’s so many people out there saying stuff that is just crazy and not helpful for people in the end.
So I feel like that is probably step one would be working on that imposter syndrome, that money mindset, and really knowing your worth because you have, when people ask you your rates, like you have to have a really confident answer. And if they don’t wanna pay you that, then you say, okay, it’s not a good fit.
Move on. Yeah, totally. Be willing to walk away. Yeah. Yeah. And I share buying one. I had, the one that I always talk about is last year I was actually just last year I was looking, we were doing our taxes and so I was looking over my financials for the year for my business, and I had one month where I had over $45,000 from brand partnerships alone.
And that when I did my first job after that clinical job at that ho, hospital I was making $54,000. So literally in one month. Yeah. A year. Yeah. So this was like in one month. Yeah. You sickly made that. Yeah, totally. Isn’t that crazy? Yeah. I think bra, when I also had this realization, I went to this event the Super Bowl was here this year in Arizona and my husband was on the Super Bowl committee, so he was a volunteer that helped host guests that were here.
So we got invited to a couple fun things and we went to this one event and it was this beautiful restaurant. And it was, everything was free. If you had a ticket there, you had all this food. And I don’t even know how we got free tickets to it, but we went to it and all over the event, there were all these ad like advertisements for lo logos for brands all over the place.
Yeah. And the whole time I just kept thinking, I. These brands have so much money literally to just throw out like, here, let’s post everyone for an entire weekend at this beautiful restaurant with amazing food. Oh, true. There’s so much money there. And so for us to take that and then be able to like make an impact as dieticians and share ways for people to make nutrition easier or healthier or wellness tips, things like that.
So I feel like you can, actually, this is a big thing Chris and I talk about is you can actually make a bigger impact. By working with the media cause great working one-on-one. That’s amazing too. That’s, you’re helping that person. We love that. But if you can also pair that with that other revenue stream where you’re working with the media and you’re getting your voice out to hundreds, if not thousands of people.
There’s so much that you can do to help people through that. Yeah. And I think, it’s so funny because it’s I think because we are. We go to school and we start working in the healthcare industry where money is so scarce generally. Yeah. And we’re like, oh, okay. Like $45,000 in a year.
Okay. It’s totally, it’s like we don’t, I think we’re blind to like the corporate world where like money is just and I know like for me, working in corporate, Working in food industry was like, I think really where it started to open my eyes around actually how much money brands have and how much money they have to spend on these types of things.
So I, both of those examples were incredible in terms of just helping expand people’s minds around, what the possibilities are. And imagine being able to, Kristen, you could have easily just been like, okay. This is gonna be my one project for the year. Like definitely I got $200,000 from this and I’m just gonna spend my days, in my PJs cooking in my kitchen, which like, funnest thing ever.
And you could have just totally done that, right? This is awesome. Such a totally, yeah. Yeah. And I, and it’s fun and I think that a lot of people would have done that, right? But I love like the stacking and Oh yeah. Strategizing and thinking of the million other things I could do. And it’s just, I just love that stuff.
Yeah. I just love it. I could just build huge masterpiece. I think some people think about, like you’re talking about expanding your mind to different money opportunities. Like I was telling my husband the other day you think in your head that Bill Gates is like the only person that has money, like everybody else is just or like millionaires.
Yeah. Like that. It’s. Only just like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, but it’s no, there are tons of people out there with tons of money. Yeah. And I was watching, this is gonna be so stupid. I was watching. Yes, exactly what? Thinking That’s already funny. Dusted the new season. Yeah. About this. I thought the same exact thing.
Kristen, they had a millionaire guy on people buying these $30 million houses. They’re like, I, I. I feel like I should recognize him, but I don’t. I was literally gonna say the same thing. Money out there. Guy comes on, they’re like, it’s my billionaire client. Who is this guy? It’s like a famous celebrity. And then you see him and it’s he just it’s like geography.
I know. It’s so true. I know. Or are some of the realtors who are like, oh yeah, I specialize in billionaire clients. Those are, and you’re like, oh, so there’s more than one of you, right? Yes. It’s wild. I know. Hi. I love that show. And also, the other thing I love about that show too is seeing, it’s It’s just, it’s wild for that type of industry, but like seeing the commissions that these people are making off of these properties, right?
It’s that’s insane. And these are sometimes people who like, don’t necessarily have degrees or like they just did this certificate in and got their realtor license and right here they are making, six figures on one sale. It’s just, yeah. It’s insane and they’re gonna make five more sales.
It’s good for us. It’s us to yeah. Yeah. And it’s good for us as people in Yeah. The health world. That tends to again, be so cash poor that we like, challenge that mindset, think a little bit bigger. Totally. I so appreciate all of those examples. That’s awesome. Okay, at what point do you feel like, and I think we’ve, we’ve touched on this, at what point do you feel like in a business Somebody can start to dabble in this media work?
Is it something that can be done from day one? I think, it comes back to this conventional idea of a dietician business where we have to start working with clients one-on-one and then we can add these other components to the business mix, which I think is it’s so false and I think we know that, we have enough examples where that’s not the case now.
But do you feel like somebody can go into business and just be like, this is all I’m gonna do, I’m only gonna do media work, and can they start as like a new rd? Absolutely. Yeah. I think so. I think a hundred percent. I think that I. One thing, we talk about this in our curating credibility course. I think it’s really important to establish your credibility because everyone, if you’re pitching yourself or if you’re going to apply to certain openings, the first thing they’re gonna do is look at your Instagram, look for a website, look at your LinkedIn.
And so we talk about all of that in our curating credibility course. Like how to really. Structure a good solid foundation, but absolutely, there’s no reason why you need to work in a clinical job or you need to even have a private practice to do this type of work. You could dive in. You don’t even technically need your RD for some of it, so I think you could dive in.
ASAP today. Yeah. Even students interns. I feel like there’s just such a need for a nutrition expert voice out there. Yeah. And like Kristen said, I think there’s a couple things that we personally recommend just so as you start to reach out, like people are gonna look you up so that they’re like, oh yeah.
They’re gonna be a good person to help us with this messaging. So we talk about your social media, getting your name in a couple publications through that hero opportunity and creating a media kit. Those are like some of the simple, basic things to get started, but I do think you can start anytime. One thing we also talk about a lot is just setting your rates.
And if you are just starting out, I feel like a big part of that. I, we are huge fans of getting paid for your time. I think we both have done things for free too, because a big part of that is when you’re setting your rate, we also talk about how is this something you’re really excited about? Like it’s just, I don’t even care if I don’t get paid for this.
This is an amazing opportunity. I am pumped about this and I just can’t wait to partner with this brand or to get. Started or whatever. Or maybe you think this is okay, this is great, I like this and I see this opening up a lot of doors for me. Like this is gonna be an opportunity for me to make this relationship with this brand.
And then afterwards I’m gonna pitch this, and this. Cuz we are perfectly aligned in our messaging and our audience. So I think that’s a, a big part when you’re starting out is to, do things that excite you and that are gonna like we have talked about how it snowballs.
All of a sudden a brand was like, Hey, we had this girl, Jillian, help us with this thing. She was great. They all speak to each other. There’s agencies that work together, so your name will get passed along and then you’ll get opportunities that just come your way. So you’re not chasing them either.
You start to attract all of these amazing opportunities, and I think the more experience you can get, the better. So get out there. Do the TV segment where your mic doesn’t work, that’s happened to me, or you forget part of your recipe. That has happened as well. And luckily I was not supporting a brand for that one, so I got away with it.
But yeah. Yeah, I think just getting out there and doing stuff a s a P to get the experience is so key. And then when you do start to make relationships with brands, you have you can show, oh, I did this TV segment, like here’s a link to it. Like having that is really important for your credibility.
Yeah, I think too, I could give an example. Yeah, absolutely. Of Jillian, when you were getting ready to have Cooper, your third baby who’s eight months old now, you had reached out to me and said, Hey, I can’t do this TV opportunity, but this station needs, somebody to come in and do a healthy veggie chili.
And it was a free opportunity and I had been putting off TV for so many years after talking to you probably two years. Maybe more where I was just like, I don’t wanna do tv. I’m scared shitless. I’m not gonna do it. I just don’t want to. And then you reached out to me and I thought, okay, I’ll just do this one.
This is fine. And I did it for free. And literally now I’m on that station because I’ve developed great relationships with them. I’m there once a week. Wow, I it’s all, every opportunity is worth it. Even, Like Jillian said, I don’t think we should be paid nothing forever. Yeah. But little opportunities can open doors and then you’re set.
So yeah. Go for it. Yeah, totally. Okay, so then on that note, for people who are just getting started, what are some pieces of advice or just some tips for some of those first steps that they can take if they’re wanting to get into the media world? I would say, like one of my first things for anyone in entrepreneurship is to just know your brand and your audience.
So one of the things that we teach is about who you know, who are you, how you help them, and who your audience is so that when. Brands start to build relationships with you or reach out to you, they know exactly who they’re speaking to. So for example, like if I was a plant-based dietician, like it’s a very clear message for a brand.
Like she is a perfect fit for us because that is our messaging too. For me, I am like, Busy, crazy mom of three. So simple and easy meals is really what I focus. Simple, convenient nutrition. So anytime, like I just did two reels for Ninja and Hey, we want you to do these reels because we want, we’re targeting busy moms.
So in the reel, I’m holding a baby. I have my two kids running around as I’m, making dinner and they’re amazing appliance, right? I think really having your brand message, your voice, which. Side note can also evolve. So don’t think it’s forever. So just start with something, get out there and play around with it.
That will like, really figure me what that is and then starting to develop your social content around that because your social media is your living resume. That’s where people go. When they’re looking for a restaurant to go to or like what beauty skincare thing, they’re, they like, go search on Instagram or TikTok.
So I think that would be my first step is to get clear with your messaging and your content so that you start to be really niche and brands know exactly who they’re gonna reach out to when they wanna work with someone in that area. Yeah, I agree. And I think the second step would be once you have all that information, show up in all these places digitally that you need to be.
So LinkedIn we talk a lot about Hero, we talk a lot about you need to have a website, you need to have some form of social media, whether it’s Instagram or TikTok, show up at these places. Giving that message you’ve just defined. Yeah, and I almost think too, I think the idea of I know a lot of people get tripped up on the I have to define this niche and I have to niche or niche.
I feel like in Canada we call it niche and maybe, do you guys call it niche more? I think niche. I don’t know. I feel like I say visual every time I say it wrong. I’m not sure. Yeah, I have no idea. But people get really hung up on this step because it feels so it feels like such a big th thing.
But I think to your point, Jillian, it almost sounds like you just started with Your audience is people like you, and I think that’s like the easiest place to start. It’s like just start creating content for people like you. I love that advice. That’s so true. I feel like that’s what you speak to, like you can speak to it.
That’s just your day to day. It becomes so easy to create content when you’re just creating content about your life and attracting. I did, when I first started out, my business was called Millennial Nutrition and that was my Instagram handle. I had a website and I loved it and I was great. Cause I’m like, I’m a millennial, like I’m speaking to millennials.
And I got a lot of different opportunities when it was specific to millennials for brands that were speaking to that audience or that generation. Yeah. And then honestly, I just this was just last year, I was like, I feel like I’m grown out of that. Yeah. I just change and so I just did it and it was like, there’s all these little pieces that sometimes I actually, I think when my invoices get sent out, it still says millennial nutrition.
So there’s still just not fully there yet. Yeah. But like you can totally evolve and change. So I would think, speak to where you’re at right now. And where I was. Seven years ago, I didn’t have any kids, so this wasn’t me. Like I didn’t have this space, right? So I didn’t have this experience. I feel like I’ve got, felt really good about just being okay with changing or like when Kristen and I want to do more mentorship, like a lot of my content shifted more towards media work and br My Instagram will have recipes and stuff, but I’ll have like tips on what to say on camera or what’s the best equipment for lighting, things like that.
Which again, a few years ago I wouldn’t have had that on there, but now I feel, oh, I really wanna focus more on how I can help people do what I’ve been doing. So yeah, I just know that you can always change and evolve and just go with who you are and then find a solution. There’s always a problem, and then what solution you’re providing and that just stick with that.
Yeah. And Kristen, do you feel like your, the people that you speak to has changed and evolved over time? I feel like when you were at the beginning of your entrepreneurship or private practice journey, you were more, I, and maybe you still are, but like you’re more niche in kind of the plant-based area, I think.
Yeah. Okay. I am definitely transitioning I think now to motherhood for sugar. Yeah. I it’s so funny because the. Plant-based thing is the messaging got lost somehow. And I’ve never been like strictly vegan, but I feel like the messaging of me saying plant-based was, you have to be a hundred percent vegan.
And like that, and then it just got muddy. Like it just was very muddy. So it wasn’t clear enough. And now I, I try to share a lot of plant heavy and plant forward recipes without being, necessarily even. Animal meat free. Yeah. To try to make that message be a little bit more clear.
But yeah. That, that’s like the trickiest part, but I think now that I have a one-year-old I’m definitely doing a lot more motherhood content and I’m in that transition phase trying to figure out what that is. Yeah. Totally. Okay, that’s so helpful. And did you guys find at all, cuz this is something I hear often is there’s a fear around when we start to shift who we speak to that we’re suddenly gonna lose all of these people that are not interested in that content anymore.
What do you have to say about that? I totally was nervous about that. Yeah. At the same time, I feel like you’re still you. Yeah. Like people still are there. They still wanna see you. They wanna see what you’re up to. A lot of times people are like, I’m, they’re excited for your change, even if maybe they’re not the one that’s gonna be like taking all your tips because they aren’t gonna be doing media work now.
But I feel like people are still like excited to see your journey and support you and honestly, sometimes like you do have to move on from people that they’re not a good fit anymore. Yeah. And that’s fine. It’s like you just move on to the next phase and you gain new people in a new community that needs that message from you.
Yeah, so true. So true. And. I was thinking too, as you were saying that like I feel like there’s a lot of people that I follow that I’ve only just I follow them cuz I connect with them as a person, but we might be in completely different life stages. I don’t have a bunch of young kids, but I love following you because it’s so entertaining that you do and it’s I still right.
It’s right. And so it’s just, I think that’s a big part of it too. We don’t have to worry about people like leaving in droves is if we start to change our messaging a little bit, that’s. It’s fine. Totally. You’re safe to do that. Yeah. Okay, so tell me more, tell us more about the media related programs that you guys have available.
I know you have your three tiers of programs, so tell us about those. Yeah, so we have three basic offerings. We run this 90 minute live webinar called Curating Credibility that talks all about how to establish a foundation before you start working with brands. We run that several times a year.
But right now we actually launched last week our six video self-paced course called Making Money With Media. So that’s for individuals who really wanna dive in and. Start making this lucrative career. Within that course, we actually also bundle in the curating credibility recorded webinar so that you have that and you can also establish that foundation before you go any further.
Yeah, and I think we’re like a lot of the things that we were talking about here, I just wanted to be like, oh, there’s so much I wanna say because totally we’re just putting all this content together over the last couple weeks, so it’s so fresh in our minds. But even like setting your rates, like we have five steps to setting your rates or like literally walking you through how to create your media kit.
We do a whole. Training on, we have two trainings on pitching. So how to write a pitch, what to do if you don’t hear back, and how many like different ideas do you include in an email to a producer? How do you even find their email address, right? That I feel like the, there are so much great content that like dives off.
What will you said here to really get you into the strategy of how to get it done. Like we’ll give you the steps and the strategy so that you can actually know what to do. This is, these are all things that Kristen and I. Struggled with the hard way. We didn’t have anyone showing us these things. And we actually had a lunch early this year and this is where this idea came.
We’re like, oh my gosh, we need to help other people. Cuz we were both sitting there just like hemming and hawing about how like hard it was like to get these contracts and stuff at first and we’re like, we should totally show people. Cuz if we could go back, man. We would get there so much faster.
Yeah, totally. So yeah, our making Money with Media course is, I think it really covers like elaborates on what we spoke here. And it’s awesome that it’s self-paced so you can go back and watch it’s lifetime. So you can have it like now and then watch it in a few years too. So whenever you wanna get all the recordings you can.
And then we have some really cool resource guys in there too. Different worksheets and workbooks and checklists and things. We all love that kind of stuff. If you wanna write stuff, Oh yeah. And then last we have a mentorship program too that Chris and I will be talking about and launching two times a year.
So just make sure you check in with us on social media. We’ll be sharing stuff there. Phone, we do that, but that’s more like hands on, like we will be working with you doing live calls to support you and answer your questions as you start to do your media work. Yeah. So it sounds like making money with media is honestly the best place to start for anyone.
Yes, for sure. Who is interested in this type of work? Because it’s to be able to learn from both of you. Who are you? You, you guys have such an insane wealth of knowledge and to have both of your brains together in this awesome course, like to me, this sounds like an absolute no-brainer.
It’s it’s. 9 99 investment and I mean let’s, we’re talking about making $45,000 in a month or $200,000 on one project is for itself. That’s a pretty sweet roi. Sounds like a no brainer for me. Should we do a little special discount for Yes, let’s do a hundred dollars off with dietician.
So if you do dietician, I’ll add in there so you can get a hundred dollars off the course. The Making Money With Media Course. Ooh. That’s so awesome. I love that. Okay, so what’s next for each of your businesses then? I lo always love to finish off with this question cause I wanna know what are you dreaming about?
What are you thinking about? Kristen, let’s start with you. Sure. So I love that Camelback Nutrition and Wellness, the private practice and kind of media work side of things is going strong. I love that. Just it’s like a self. Running machine now. Yeah. Which is great. Awesome. My goal is to continue working on this media mentorship and media work with Jillian, and then I also have a podcast with my sister-in-law, all about motherhood.
So I’m I’ve got these three main buckets that I’m all just trying to keep everything running at the same time. Yeah. And what’s the podcast called? The podcast is called Second Shift. It’s so much fun. It’s not really related to nutrition at all, but it’s all about motherhood. I do it with my sister-in-law and it’s just, About working parents and in two working parent households and just the madness that ensues.
It’s so good. I love it. Awesome. It’s so great. I’m a guest on there too, talking about dinner, so you can tune into that. Cool. But honestly, I love your guys’ content. Just even talking about like you, we, you, I love your podcast at the episode about childcare and all the different options. Yeah. From like nannies to childcare to like just doing on your own.
Like it was just such, you have such good discussions, so I love your podcast. Yeah. Thank you. I agree. And Jillian, what about you? What, yes. Okay. So for me, like I mentioned, just I’m really looking to grab I would love another, I have two long-term consulting contracts that I have right now with different brands, and I’m like feeling like I wanna grab one more.
I have a little more space in my, in time that I feel like I could adjust to doing another project with a company. So I have a couple different brands that I wanna pitch and reach out to. One of the things I’m gonna do is clean up my LinkedIn based on Kristen’s recommendation. She has so many good ideas for Being more efficient with your LinkedIn.
So shoot, I’m gonna do that first, then I’m gonna start pitching myself. There you go. Awesome. There you go. Yeah. So that’s one of ’em. The other one is we just finished two years on my dinner membership. It’s called the What’s for Dinner Club? So I have two years of content. So when someone joins the membership, they get four easy, healthy dinners texted to them every week with a grocery list.
And now it was, I was like a hurdle just to get all of the recipes and photos and everything put together. So now that’s done, I feel like. It’s just running on its own, just like you were talking about Kristen. So it’s just been fun to promote it and get people in that so they can experience that membership.
And then I would say lastly, my dream, my like dream thing that I’ve just been like manifesting and meditating on is to be on the Today Show. I knew you were gonna say that. I know I been saying it for years, but I swear just in the last two months, like I got a very clear vision for what it looks like and I was like, oh yeah, I wanna be on it.
I wanna be on it. But I never like, Really knew what it is. But I like see myself, like I go on a limo there, Eric’s with me. Yes. He’s like taking all the pictures and I’m doing one of those segments where they have it’s five like long TVs and you’re like giving tips. Cause I was like, I don’t know if I really wanna do like a whole like recipe and cooking.
Like I feel like I wanna do some really awesome tips. So that is what I’m manifesting to be on. That’s so cool. It’s gonna happen for you. I love that. Yeah. I see it a hundred percent. I see it happening. I do too. I do too. That way. So I’ll tune back in to share with you guys the result when that happens.
Okay, cool. I love that. And so where can the audience find out more about you guys? Where can they follow along? Sure. On Instagram, I’m at Kristen dot Carly. And on Instagram and I mostly ’em like TikTok. Same. It’s at, its so I t S and then Jillian, which we’ve all discussed is what’s spelled a little differently.
It’s G I L E A N. So you can find me on those different places. I mostly hang out on. Instagram I say is like my favorite space. Awesome. And is that where you guys mostly share about the media related courses? Is Instagram? That’s where people can find out more about that stuff? Yeah, and we have a link in our profiles too.
So if you are like, oh, I wanna do the Making Money with Media course, yeah, just jump into our profiles. There’s a link on there. And then we’ll add that coupon code too, so that you guys can get the hundred dollars off. Awesome. I’ll include that all in the description of this episode. It was so good to talk to you guys.
That was so much fun. I learned so much. I’m so excited about this world of media and the opportunities for dieticians, so thank you so much for your generosity in terms of just being open and willing to share and for your time. It was so much fun. Oh, of course. Thank you so much for having us. It’s always fun to talk to other entrepreneur dieticians.
Yeah. Like I feel like we’re all on the same wavelength, like I really, yeah. Just. Get along so well with serial entrepreneurs. Yeah, totally. Exactly. I actually think this is the first episode too, where I’ve had two guests at the same time. Oh yeah. Out of 137 episodes. I think this is the first one. I know.
I didn’t even realize it until we were talking and I was like, oh I’ve actually never had a group of three on this podcast before. So fun. It’s really fun. So let’s do it again. Yay. Awesome. Okay, thanks guys. Have an awesome rest of your day. Bye. Thank you. Bye.
