What It Takes To "Go BIG" As A Nutritionist: Media, Mindset & Meaningful Relationships

What does it really take to make a good financial gain while working as a nutritionist?

How do media, mindset, and meaningful relationships play a factor in your success and potential to “go big” as a nutritionist?

Joining us on this very special episode of Making it Real is Toronto nutritionist, public figure, women’s health expert, public speaker, business mentor, and host of the Empowered Feminine Podcast, Ciara Foy.

Besides the amazing, do-it-all, influential woman that she is, Ciara specializes in women's health and all things hormones, weight loss, IBS, gut health and so much more.

If you’re ready to be inspired and uplevel your practice and get to the level in your business that Ciara has manifested for herself, then this episode is just for you.

When did this journey start for you?

In 2003, Ciara had her first daughter. She had come from a law firm but always had a keen interest in the gym, eating healthy, nutrition, and overall staying healthy.

After being expected to be a stay-at-home mom (something she didn't feel she was cut out for) she decided to go back to school to pursue her passion, nutrition.

To be honest…

I never planned on it being my full-time gig. It was more to keep my brain going and have something that was mine to help a few people but I never intended on it being a business or something to support myself.

Fast forward…

It completely rocked my world. Going into nutrition was a complete paradigm shift- who I am, my values, and what’s important to me.

I ended up getting a divorce and I was on my own.

The first year…

In my first year of practice, I was where many nutritionists start off. I had all of this information and I had this passion but I didn’t know how to get clients. I ended up trickling in a few clients but eventually decided I really needed to uplevel if I was going to keep myself in the lifestyle that I was accustomed to.

So, I ended up buying two weight loss clinic franchises.

That was so important in my journey to becoming the public figure that I am today and my own confidence journey.  

“Pressure yields diamonds.” - Ciara

When you fully invest in yourself like that (hundreds of thousands of dollars) you feel like this HAS to happen. On top of that, I had to hit 35k in sales every single month to cover my expenses.

That put me in a place where I was working with people in the health industry and was around other driven people with million dollar companies.

I learned a lot about psychology and sales and I learned to have really deep connectic conversations with people to be able to enroll them and to have a vision of what they needed.

“At the end of the day you can have the most amazing information, you can give your clients the best protocols (or you can have them there) but if you don’t have the clients, you can’t help anybody and then even when you do have the clients, the other issue is being able to get them to be compliant, to enroll them in that and have them have the success that they so badly want.” - Ciara

That was the beginning of my story and how I was able to really invest in myself. That confidence piece is where a lot of that media attention came in and how I positioned myself was very important to the foundation of the business that I’ve built over the last 16 years.

What do you think gave you that confidence to invest in yourself?

“You’re a product of the people you spend the most time with.” - Ciara

Prior to making that huge leap, I had always loved to be around people who wanted to do their best.

When I worked at one of the top law firms, my friends were all people who had very high expectations of themselves. Even after my divorce when I started dating, the majority were entrepreneurs who had those same high expectations of themselves so I was really surrounded by that.

“At the end of the day, you have to be able to invest in yourself and bet on yourself, otherwise you will never ever be successful.” - Ciara

I really took on the mindset of “if somebody else can do it, that means that I can too.” So surround yourself with the people who are doing the things and committed to doing the work, not just in your industry but in others as well.

“If you’re going to trust in anything, it's your own ability.” - Ciara  

Taking full responsibility is the key to all of the success that I’ve had.

What would you say to someone who doesn’t have the money to invest in themselves?

“The people trying to build a practice today are already way, way ahead of the game.” - Ciara

You don’t need to have a massive following, all the bells and whistles, all the money to do all the things in order to be successful and I’m a prime example of that.

You have to find something that really commits you. Whatever it is, how much money or time it takes, you have to find something that you are committed to and makes you feel uncomfortable.

Whether that's an IG or FB live, you have to have some type of skin in the game to tell other people and speak your dreams and desires out loud.

The first thing you want to do is get 1-on-1 clients. A Lot of nutritionists spend a lot of money trying to build a massive community or get lots of likes but what you want to do is go deep and start building relationships.

You want to start talking about your passion, commit to showing up every day, and show people that you walk the talk.

“Why should people listen to you?

Because you walk your walk.

Why should people take you seriously?

Because you're authentic.

You can show up and be able to be vulnerable and talk about your story.”

- Ciara

When you start, you always want to go deep instead of going broad because you can create a huge foundation for your practice by going in deep and having a few really good clients that are committed to longer-term programs that bring you in a chunk of money that creates that foundation where you can build from there.

So, in short, the first step is to really focus on 1-on-1 clients and driving that until you can't take on anymore 1-on-1 spots.

What would you say to the person that doesn’t believe it's possible for 1-on-1 clients to pay what would be necessary to support them in a full-time career?

Those are limiting beliefs that you have to dig into and tear apart.

If your limiting belief is: people don’t spend that much money on a nutritionist.

Consider:

• What information do you have that backs up that hypothesis?
• What information can you find that proves you wrong?
• What’s a more balanced way of looking at this?

I focused and chose a demographic of people who I know could pay. I focused on women that worked at my law firm who were my friends, who worked really hard and burned themselves out, who had tons of money but didn’t have their health and happiness.

You want to make sure you’re focusing on the right people (if that’s what you want and if you want to have a high ticket item.) You have to do the work yourself, for what is possible for you.

That’s the foundation of you creating who you are, how you show up in the world, and deciding who you are going to help. When you value yourself, you have to think about what the transformation is worth, not what your hourly wage is worth.

If you can transform somebody’s life, if you can help them be more successful, if you can help them lose weight, reverse their diabetes, feel amazing, get the partner of their dreams because they started taking care of themselves, their health, their confidence then what is that worth?

That’s the key. It comes down to your confidence and your ability to coach.

How did you master your coaching skills?

Personal experience. I have been through a lot so I have a lot to pull from.

When I had my weight loss clinics, it was so intense. I would have 7 consults a day and wouldn't even have time to go take a break and go to the bathroom or eat.

But it allowed for having deep conversations with these women and asking those uncomfortable questions about what really drives them.

The most important thing is that I have to experience and continue to work on myself. I do a lot of reading, I listen to audiobooks, and I’ve had a lot of great mentors. I continued to invest in myself.

What’s your favorite part of your work today?

My podcast is called the Empowered Feminine Podcast for a reason because that's what really lights me up, seeing women realize that all of their power comes from within them.

When I work with women for an extended period of time and see them go through that full transformation that totally changed their mindset, that's the type of stuff that lights me up.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

How the only ways to achieve success are to invest in yourself and to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

In order to succeed you need to believe in yourself and overcome limiting beliefs.

Mastering your own coaching skills will help you connect 1:1 with people and truly transform their lives.

To learn more about Ciara or her services you can check out her Instagram, her website or her podcast, The Empowered Feminine.

‍