The RDtoCEO Podcast
Dive into The RDtoCEO Podcast, hosted by Registered Dietitian and CEO, Eva Haldis, where she shares her journey in entrepreneurship, with discussions on the basics on building a private practice and becoming a confident CEO. The RDtoCEO Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering the art of transitioning from a dietitian to a successful CEO.
The RDtoCEO Podcast
Celebrating 5 Years in Private Practice and 5 Lessons Learned
Welcome to this special episode of The RDtoCEO Podcast where we celebrate one of my significant milestones —five years in business as private practice RD! In honor of this anniversary, today I'm sharing five lessons I've learned along the way (that I continue to remind myself of every day!) Whether you're just starting your journey or looking for some inspiration, I hope these insights resonate and inspire you to keep going in your business!
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*Please note that while we strive to provide valuable insights, our podcast is not a replacement for personalized legal or financial counsel. We strongly advise consulting with qualified professionals for specific advice tailored to your individual circumstances.*
Welcome to the RD to CEO podcast. I'm your host, eva Haldis, registered dietitian, who one day found herself a whole CEO of a business. Join me as we navigate the world of entrepreneurship so you can go from being an RD who sees clients in private practice to a confident CEO growing the practice of your dreams. Hi everyone, Welcome back to another episode of the RD to CEO podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm not sure if you'll be able to tell from my voice I'm a little raster than usual and just as I said that, my voice cracked. I am feeling a little under the weather, and this is what my procrastinating little self gets for putting things off, because it is the last day that I have to record an episode before Wednesday. When I really started this podcast, I was like I'm going to batch record a bunch of episodes that I don't ever get behind and I was doing really well, and then now I'm behind on that again. So the other thing I will say is I keep trying to record episodes about motherhood and ADHD, and those are just two things that are, I mean, obviously very intricate parts of my life and are interwoven into everything, but they also really impact me as a business owner. So I feel like I just have so much to say about the topic that every time I try to record an episode I get too overwhelmed about it and then just stop. So that's the other thing, and we're going to talk about this today in the episode because I think I'm just honestly wasting time. But those are two topics I want to get into and I feel like they just have so much that need to be said. But I also think having a guest to join me in discussing both topics will be really helpful too to help me sort of just stay on track. So stay tuned for that at some point. But that's sort of the problem I think I'm having is getting in my head a little bit too much about these two very impactful parts of my business life. Anyways, all I'll just say I am now reporting live from my bed and if you are a Bravo fan like me, one DM me and please tell me, because the more Bravo friends I have, the better. I love talking about Bravo. That is like my guilty pleasure, but I don't know if I should be guilty anymore. But anyways, if you're a Bravo fan and you watch Summer House, I definitely am feeling like Paige and Hannah right now in my bed recording a podcast. This is kind of like the dream, right, but anyways, I'm recording for bed because I'm not feeling well.
Speaker 1:But I really wanted to get this episode out because it is a Monday before Wednesday, which is when I post the episode, but also it is July 1st and I've mentioned a couple times on the podcast episode so far. But this June was my five-year business anniversary and it has been five years since I started my business and so I really want to do this episode, in particular on kind of my reflections on the last five years and I narrowed down five kind of takeaway things or lessons learned and things I'm continuing to take with me to, hopefully, the next five years of business and who knows what will happen. So I really wanted to get this episode before June was long gone. So it is July 1st and I think it's a great time for me to reflect back on the last five years of business. So that'll be today's episode.
Speaker 1:As always, be sure to like subscribe If you enjoy the podcast. I'd love if you could leave me a review or leave some star ratings, whether it's on Spotify, apple or wherever you're listening. I know that really can help the algorithm getting the podcast out to other dietitians. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, maybe sharing it with one of your dietitian besties, and if you're not a fan, you can just disregard what I just said. I've mentioned this a few times so far, but I'm hoping to start this in August. But I would love to start incorporating some business question or advice questions into the episodes and so kind of like a column kind of thing, only in podcast form. So if you have a question or maybe looking for some kind of advice, I'd love to hear from you. You can send me a DM or a voice note. I prefer a voice note because I'd love to be able to play it on the podcast, but if you feel more comfortable just sending me a message, you can do that on Instagram at evahaldus, underscore rd. I also have a phone number that you can reach to text or send a voice message there, and that number is 857-VMRDCEO, which is 857-867-3236. So hopefully, stay tuned for that in August and, without further ado, let's talk about the five things I've taken away or learned in the last five years in business.
Speaker 1:The last five years have been a whirlwind in many ways. I started my business. Obviously. That is the whole point of this episode. I started my business five years ago. I filed for my LLC in June of 2019. And within that timeframe, I have grown my practice from just me to now having five dietitians employed currently four actively working, one is on maternity leave but we do have five dietitians one administrative assistant who is also going on to her dietetic internship this fall, so I'm now hoping to hire an office administrator and, yeah, continue to grow my team. I've grown the team up to about six employees, so that's really exciting. Starting from nothing to that and being able to reflect on that is pretty cool. I also started my business coaching business, so I now have RD to CEO. So it's not just the podcast that I do, but I also do offer business coaching, because I obviously, if you can tell, I love talking about business stuff.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, a lot has changed within my business, within my employment. The biggest change, of course, is that I had a son. He was born almost four years ago. His birthday is next well, it's actually this month because we are now in July, so his birthday is coming up, which is also so wild to think about that. He's almost four. So I've been a business owner and a mom almost the same amount of time. I had one year of business ownership before having him and so that's obviously really shaped a lot of my life and really shaped how I act in business, because being a mom has had to force me to do a lot of things a certain way, probably because of the time constraints that I have, but it's also given me so much freedom and space and flexibility that I really was hoping I'd have as a parent. With having a private practice. It's also had many different challenges, of course, with, once again, lack of time and childcare and space and finances, so it's had a huge impact of course. So both things have been really a big part of my life the last five years. I mean I guess I was pregnant during most of that first year of my business as well. So parenting has always kind of shaped my business life, but nonetheless a lot has happened. The business has grown.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when I'm really reflecting back and I talk about our finances and revenue in the money episodes, part two If you haven't listened to that I'll link it in the show notes and I tell you literally what our business has made. But sometimes, although I obviously can see our revenue has grown significantly. We were having a slower month or something like that. I have to really remind myself that this started as zero. It started with zero clients, zero income, zero revenue and has grown. So sometimes, when you're just feeling like in the weeds or in a really tough period, just remind yourself of where you started, because if you've started and had even just one client and made one income stream from that, that's growth. That is growth in and of itself. So it's important to really reflect on all the things, and so this is going to be a fun episode for me to talk about things that I've sort of learned along the way, and so the first thing that I will say that I have sort of learned to really embrace is to not overthink the small stuff.
Speaker 1:I've always said I feel very grateful that I didn't stress so much about the name of my business when I first started my private practice, because I knew myself and I knew I would have such a hard time picking a name, because it is so hard to pick a business name and I was like I'm going to take forever to think about this and it's just going to derail me, and I picked my name Eva Haldis Nutrition LLC, and that was when my business started out, because I did not ever anticipate having a group practice. I'd never anticipated I'd be where I am right now with this business. I just knew I wanted a private practice. And it's not the end of the world. It's one of those things that you can change. It's something that, even with insurance billing, we've been able to adjust and manage the change through there. I filed my LLC as Eva Haldis Nutrition and then, when I did rebrand to Reclaim Nutrition, we filed what's called a DBA, which is called, which is stands for doing business as.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of options. You don't. Nothing is forever. You don't have to stick with the same name or anything like that. So I would a lot of options. Nothing is forever. You don't have to stick with the same name or anything like that.
Speaker 1:So I would say that the small stuff, the things that aren't really going to break the bank or make this huge impact, things like even this is, ironically, going to be posted after. I just posted an episode about our websites but even that, when you're first starting out, don't stress about it. Don't stress about the colors of the website or your design, or is it perfect? Does it have everything, because it is going to change so much that it will just keep you from starting. The most important thing about business is you just have to start somewhere. There are obviously important things that I talk about in one of the episodes around starting your private practice, so you want to listen to those around like legal things, like liability insurance and you know, making sure that in your state your business is registered, how it needs to be registered. But those aren't the small stuff. The small stuff is really like things like your name, your website, you know designing the perfect business card.
Speaker 1:I mean, I had completely different business cards when I first started. I'm just thinking back on them now too. I haven't thought about them in a while. I had like little donuts, which is like so it's intuitive eating, dietitian coded, I think, as the kids would say. That's so typical intuitive eating, but I had little donuts on them. They were very cute business cards and then, as Reclaim Nutrition became and we grew our team, I did change the business cards there. But I mean, honestly, I feel like nobody even gives out business cards anymore, right? So it's like one of those things like why stress about it? I really wish I would have taken a screen grab of my website when I first started because I had no idea what it looked like, but it looked significantly different. First of all, I had a different logo many times from when I first started to. You know, before I even changed it to Reclaim Nutrition and then even once Reclaim Nutrition started actually I think once we started Reclaim Nutrition because I started with as part of a collective with my friend, sarah, who has her therapy practice Reclaim Therapy so our collective and our practice logos are pretty much the same, which was helpful. But even that, I adjusted the colors and I've changed things along the way and made adjustments and learned, and that's just part of it.
Speaker 1:There is no perfect and I'm sure I'll just keep on editing these things because it's one of those small things that most people don't even really pay attention to and I do think our tastes are going to change, right Like the things. I always say this to my clients when we talk about body image and how, when our bodies change, part of it is that we're just maybe not used to seeing our bodies different and, of course, if we are socialized with, one body is considered more attractive than the other. It's going to be hard to feel like like how will I ever feel okay in this body physically? And this is more from just like the accepting yourself, liking how things look, et cetera, not from you know the other parts of it, which I won't get into because this is about business and not necessarily about the work I do on the inner side.
Speaker 1:But one of the examples I'd love to give people is like thinking about fashion styles and how they've evolved and changed and like we have also evolved and changed with them. Like I, when I was in high school and middle school, bell bottoms were really in and I still remember my mom being like you should try straight jeans. And I was like, oh mom, I'm never going to wear straight jeans. And then, obviously we all know, straight jeans came and skinny jeans and that was all we wore. And now in 2024, bell bottoms, wide leg pants, are way more quote unquote in style than the skinny jean of the last gosh. I feel like it's been like a good 15, 20 years of wearing those. So in that time frame, the way that I perceived how jeans look has changed, from when I thought, oh, I would never wear straight jeans to oh, I don't ever want to wear bell bottoms again to now. So now I wear wide leg pants again. That's just what it is right Like.
Speaker 1:If we think back to like 70s haircuts and when things were like really like big and fluffy or even like the 90s haircut. Like a lot of the 90s stuff is now coming back Right, but there was a period when we didn't like that as much. So, anyways, all that to say, our tastes will change. This is like a very common analogy I use with clients. But the same thing goes with your business. Like your website, what you think looks good today might not look good in two years to you. The trends around websites, the trends around design that changes too. So just don't sweat those things because once again, that's just going to keep you from taking action and starting your business and actually growing with it. So that is my number one Don't sweat the small stuff, don't overthink the small stuff. It leads me to number two don't underestimate the bigger stuff.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things and like I said in the intro, around ADHD and I really wanted to talk a lot about this I often feel like a lot of entrepreneurs have ADHD and one of the things that is such a superpower of ADHD is our impulsiveness, because it forces, kind of helps us do and act and do things Like. I always think back to when I was starting my private practice, like I don't remember having a lot of thought around it. I was just like I think that's what I'm going to do, yeah, I'm going to do it, and then I just did and I was impulsive about it. And that's one of my ADHD superpowers and also one of my ADHD challenges is that I can be super impulsive and sometimes that can get us into trouble. And I think this is where not sweating the bigger stuff or underestimating the bigger stuff gets us in trouble. And with this I mean really those bigger decisions that are gonna have impacts on your business, like investing in things that cost a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Money is very complicated and I think there's a lot that I have to say about money and even my own understanding and relationship with finances has changed so much, even the last six months. I've started working with a financial coach, and the way I think about money and even my own understanding and relationship with finances has changed so much, even the last six months I've started working with a financial coach and the way I think about money is so different even through that. But one of the things that's really confusing, I think, when you start a business is depends on to like, if it's your side hustle like I had a full-time job for that first year of my business so I didn't rely on any of my business income to pay me, so it was something that I was able to just collect money and keep it sitting there, which was really nice, because when I eventually did quit my job a year in after having my son, it was nice to have that money in there as I kind of picked my things back up with my private practice. But having money sitting there, say, if it's your side hustle and you're like I'm just going to have this money there, a lot of people online will try to be like you need to invest in coaches and you need to invest in your business. And yes, that is true. Having business coaching has been so, so helpful for me. Finding the right business coach for me has been the more important part, because I've shared this before Like I hired a business coach and did this like coaching program, that just was like not the right fit for me in any capacity.
Speaker 1:It was a group program. The dietitian running it was not a dietitian who had experience working with the population that I work with and it just was not the right fit for me. But I spent a good couple thousand dollars on that program and always regret it. And it's funny because I remember seeing another dietitian who was more popular online earlier when I was starting mine, talking a lot about investing money into things and I really took that and was like, yeah, I need to do this thing. It's going to help me return my investment.
Speaker 1:But sometimes it's not really necessary and we really want to be careful about what we're spending our money on and if it's really going to be helpful. So when I say don't underestimate the bigger stuff, I really mean don't impulsively make decisions. It's okay to tell somebody let me think about this and I'll get back to you tomorrow. I've learned that with hiring dietitians. My business coach, hannah, I've learned from her. She says hire slow, fire fast. Hiring slow is important because you want to make sure that the person you're hiring is going to be a good fit for you and your team and wanting to work with this person.
Speaker 1:And I think sometimes we feel really excited about something and we maybe like clouds our judgment a little bit and we're not noticing things that are like is this person really going to be a good fit, personality wise, for me, Is this going to be what I want? And not making a decision immediately. You know, I had more recently one of the dietitians I hired. We were talking about, maybe, hours and expectations, and I've always sort of done things one way and I was open to changing them and sort of adjusting and allowing for more part-time hours as she was growing and old me would have talked to her on the phone about it and be like, cool, let's just do that, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:But this time I was like, okay, this was really helpful, I'm going to think about things, I just want to look at everything and I'll get back to you, and I really took the time, gave myself a day or two to think about it without you know, making that impulsive decision or that people pleasing forward decision around, something that could have been a bigger problem for me if I didn't, and it ultimately, of course, worked out well, but like it's just important for us to not act super quickly Because I mean, listen, I get it Right. Like I said, it's like my superpower and also my biggest challenge is the impulsiveness. Sometimes we feel like if we're not going to act on this thing, it's going to just maybe the energy for it will go away or maybe it won't feel as exciting. And, of course, when you have this really exciting thing, you want to just jump on it. But we have to be thoughtful, we have to take our time and make decisions. If it's a long-term impact type of decision where I think that's more stuff like hiring, when it comes to paying for things, so like website designing or anything else that you're going to be really investing in your business.
Speaker 1:I've done a lot of discovery calls over the years with people who I'm like because I get you know it's like the joke of my life is like not everything has to be a business. But I've had a lot of different business ideas since I've started my private practice like side businesses before landing here already to CEO, of course. But I've done discovery calls on things to just sort of, you know, feel it out and talk about it. That's always been helpful for me and I don't want you to like waste people's time with discovery calls, but it can be helpful, like I thought about starting a consulting kind of business and I did a discovery call with somebody who does branding and I was like, do I really need to invest in this right now? Is this a good time for me right now? Are the finances there? What makes the most sense long-term?
Speaker 1:I think also the bigger stuff that sometimes we fear is stuff that people tend to avoid and I'll just figure it out later. Sometimes we fear is stuff that people tend to avoid and, like, I'll just figure it out later. One of those things I see a lot is hiring 1099 contractor versus a W-2 employee. I feel very strongly about this. I'm definitely going to be posting an episode soon about which you know, kind of breaking the two down. I do feel very strongly about hiring W-2 dietitians employees because there's a lot of different factors that I won't fully get into here.
Speaker 1:But a lot of times I see dietitians or other business owners in similar fields who hire contractors because they sort of don't want to deal with the complexity maybe that they're worried about with W-2. I get it. It's like am I going to do it right? Of course that perfectionism part comes out and it keeps us from acting If we were like, well, if I do this W-2 thing, I have to look into it. Do I need a lawyer, do I need all these things? And so it can just sort of spiral into like let me just do 1099 and I'll figure it out later.
Speaker 1:Once again, like a lot of things, a lot of things are not permanent and I do know people that have changed from having 1099s to W-2s. But that is a big change for a business to go through and I always feel like it's better to think ahead first of like when I'm hiring, what do I really want my business to look like and really what am I hoping for and making a decision from that place versus maybe the thing that's easiest. There are certain situations, like recently one of you know my coaching clients has something where they're having to pay somebody as a contractor before they can become a W-2 employee. But there's a path to it, it's going to happen. It's not everything's gonna be perfect, but ultimately it's like a thoughtful decision has to be made, and so those are the bigger things we want to really think about when it's like investing in our businesses, whether it's financially hiring somebody or, you know, having something that if you feel like you're like leading with your people pleasing part, or maybe like ignoring your gut feeling on something a day.
Speaker 1:My therapist told me a long time ago to make an impulsive list folder somewhere and if I have an idea that I want to do on something, I'll put it in there and if I still want to do it in a couple of weeks. It was like that. I really thought a lot about this podcast before starting it because I was like I need to be sure that this is something I really want to like invest my time into. And I took the time and then, when I was finally ready, I was ready and here we are almost 300 downloads already done with the podcast. So that's awesome and exciting and I'm glad that I'm feeling ready for it, whereas if I would have done it maybe six months ago, when I was first thinking about it, it could have been something that could have easily just fallen off and never to be done again.
Speaker 1:So, number two in summary don't underestimate the bigger stuff, which also once again leads me really well into trusting your gut and learning to really listen to that internal part of you, which can sometimes be really hard, I think, especially as a profession that's typically dominated by women or I think also a profession that's typically dominated by women, or I think also a profession that's typically just not really respected in a lot of spaces. So like if you've worked clinically or even other jobs like, I definitely feel like dietitians are underestimated or sort of like belittled or looked down on or like just not taken seriously. I will say I worked in long-term care first as my first job and the dietitian role there is very important and very taken seriously. I will say I worked in long-term care first as my first job and the dietitian role there is very important and very taken seriously, which I think was really helpful for me because it really sort of shaped how I felt about being a dietitian, whereas if my first job was like in a hospital that doctors were just dismissive of, I would be like what's the point of this? Like nobody cares what we have to say anyway. And then I feel like the job I had right before quitting to become a private practice owner, my boss was so supportive of dietitians. It really helped me to know that our role, our jobs, this field is important and we should be treated with respect, which is like a basic need.
Speaker 1:But nonetheless I know a lot of dietitians who've had really bad experiences, and so it can be hard to sometimes feel like we can trust our gut, I think, because it's been, we've been told so many times not to. It's the same thing. Once again, coming back to the work I do with clients and our team does with clients, it's like you know, we, a lot of us, are taught at early ages to sort of not trust our bodies when we're eating right, and I see that all the time with clients and I think it's like the same thing when it comes to being even like a human being, but really an entrepreneur. How you were taught to be, your whole life is really going to shape that right. Like, were you taught to second guess yourself often? Were you unsure a lot of times and maybe criticized for things right.
Speaker 1:Like a lot of people especially you know, female identifying women who have ADHD as a late diagnosis into adulthood we are often like overlooked because maybe we do okay in school or we're not in that typical like hyperactive state and we're just kind of told we're just not trying harder enough, or like we're just not using our brains well, or you know, I god bless my mom, but she used to say stuff like well, if only you tried harder you would have gotten into like xyz program and things like that, versus being like what is? You know I see your potential, what's getting in the way, right? So anyways, all that to say, I think there can can be an easily our brains can become adjusted and and know what it feels like to doubt ourselves often. And one of the things that's been so amazing about becoming a business owner is and I don't know if this is just like because of I'm getting older I mean, I've done this now for five years so I can see the person I was when I first started and I was like this, like very intimidated you know girly who didn't really know what she was doing to now still feeling intimidated a lot of the times but also seeing like, okay, I do kind of know what I'm talking about. I've done this for a couple of years. I feel comfortable making the mistakes I'm making, even if they're quote unquote imperfect.
Speaker 1:But I feel like I've really learned to trust my gut on things with business and like even to the point where I'm interviewing for somebody, I can tell pretty quickly whether someone's going to be a good fit for me as an employer and like, a lot of times that's a personality thing and it's not because there's anything wrong with people. Like, if we've interviewed before and you're listening, like it's not because maybe I didn't like you or think you were wonderful or great RD, but like, sometimes it is a qualifications thing, sometimes it's just a personality thing. Like I remember interviewing somebody who just finished my sentences and that's like a thing I do, probably for, like my husband and my friends, when I talk to them, I probably do that too, which is probably why it was triggering for me. But I was like I think this is going to be hard for me to lead somebody, just like knowing my personality, and that's important to me, because I don't want to feel like, oh gosh, how am I going to talk to this person, how am I going to provide feedback, if I'm always feeling like they're you know, and sometimes when people finish your sentence, you feel like you're being talked over and that's probably some of my own shit that comes up. But nonetheless, I've learned to trust that part of me that says this probably won't be a good fit for you and it's important for the leader of the team to like feel good because it's like it's. It's you know, like my very first insurance biller. They were wonderful, but just like wasn't working for me from like the standpoint of just how they managed it and it was just such a hassle constantly to like now my insurance biller. She does things in a way that just like works so much better for me, communication wise, and it just feels so much less stressful. And so, once again, we want to just trust ourselves. Like if you're like like I'm not really feeling, like this is a good fit of a person.
Speaker 1:Even with taking clients, I've learned who, when I talk to somebody on the phone, if they're going to be a good fit for me as a client, I really try to instill that in my team as well. When they're doing discovery calls, like yes, we want. We don't want you just to say no to people that because you feel like they're not gonna be a good fit for you. But also I don't want my clinicians to feel like unfulfilled by the work they're doing. Like sometimes we work with clients that end up becoming big challenges or just not good personality fits and ultimately those are like not great fits for the client anyways for as us as their clinician too right. So we obviously want to be like thinking about the client, but like I don't want people to have to see all their clients as clients who are not ideal fits and good personality fits for them. And so really learning to say, like, okay, this feels like a good fit, this feels like a personality I really enjoy working with.
Speaker 1:And sometimes it can be hard to know, like what is my gut telling me? And I remember like thinking like okay, what do I want to do with my business? Early on, I think this was really what, before I started really growing and going into this more leadership role with my team, of just being like I don't know what I'm doing with my life, I don't know what I want to do, I don't know what clients I want to see, and I actually wrote my therapist saying well then, start by writing the clients you know, write down characteristics or traits of clients maybe you don't look forward to seeing or you have a harder time with, or parts of your day job that are not fulfilling and that you don't like. Like, start with what you don't like and then you'll start to recognize the feeling inside of you that's like oh, this is actually something I do Like, and knowing how to sort of trust that feeling. One of the other things that Hannah's taught me is if it's not a hell yes, it's a no. Sometimes hell yes is going to look differently also, so that's something to keep in mind. It's not always going to look differently also, so that's something to keep in mind. It's not always going to be the same how, yes, but does make a difference.
Speaker 1:I will say like, if I have doubt and hesitation and I make an impulsive decision, I can usually like sense, like what's the bad idea? How do I feel afterwards, you know, should I have thought that through more? And so learning to really trust my gut and give myself the moment to like, if I'm not sure about something, taking my time. This comes back to like not underestimating the big stuff and really just being patient with whatever it is that is feeling off, and sometimes it might not be like super clear at first, like I've interviewed people before and then done a second interview, being like actually no, this is a great fit for the team and I'm looking forward to you know and I offer the position to somebody or something else where it's like I'm looking for somebody to help me with a project, like around you know something within my business and having that that gut even like hire a contractor to help my mom with her basement Like I'd have a great feeling about the person we end up hiring and it'd be such a nightmare I'm like why not just trust my gut?
Speaker 1:So learn to really trust your gut and know that like your body knows right, as long as we can learn to listen to that part and allow that information to be brought in with compassion and now with judgment and understanding and just really like curiosity, that will help you to start to learn. How do I actually like listen to myself and feel like confident in the decisions I'm making? And that's that which, as always, the other thing you want to do is just to be prepared to make mistakes. So we're going to come to now to number four, which is be prepared to make mistakes, be prepared to do things imperfectly, be prepared to like have something that maybe you trusted your gut on and it didn't work out. And that doesn't mean that your gut sucks or you made the wrong choice and you suck. I personally feel like I have to go through something to know whether or not it's the right fit for me, sometimes Like going through hiring and interviewing now so many times, I can now figure out the right fit for what I'm looking for when I'm hiring, but sometimes you just got to go through things and do them wrong.
Speaker 1:I say this to clinicians all the time when I'm training them to start seeing clients, like there have been so many times. I use a lot of analogies with my clients. Sometimes those analogies they work and they're probably repeated analogies I use all the time. Sometimes I say stuff and I'm like that did not make sense, that did not land, and instead of beating myself up about it, I'm like okay, I'm just not going to say that anymore. We have to make mistakes to learn. There's no other way around it. Unfortunately, perfectionism is not correct. I don't know. Perfectionism is not real. It's impossible to be perfect, so you're going to make mistakes. I think the most important thing.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of us worry about saying things wrong or doing the wrong thing. I think it comes down to this as long as you're not doing it, it's like illegal and that you can get like legal trouble. For If it's a fear of like what you're going to say and maybe someone's going to like, call you out on it or things like that. One don't do it If you're not doing it. It's knowing and working and really like living in alignment with your values is going to be key as well, because that's going to be like the North Star, the compass that's going to like guide you is the values that you have and the things that you want, the way that you want to be as a clinician, as an entrepreneur, and you're going to make mistakes with that and maybe your intent is not to cause harm, but maybe the impact was still there. That's important, right? Like we still need to like acknowledge when things don't, you know they don't land with the client, but sometimes they can come off and actually be, you know, potentially harmful or triggering.
Speaker 1:I don't want you to say that you can just like go and like do things that you're maybe not fully trained to do, but like the way that you learn how to counsel clients is by like going out there and doing it and learning and seeing what works and seeing what helps and if there's something that needs to be corrected, correct yourself. Like it's okay to do a quote, unquote, wrong, it's okay to say the wrong thing. Sometimes we just have to own that and sometimes clients are going to say, like that didn't sit well with me, I'm good, I don't think I'm going to come back and see you again and that's going to happen. And it's a hard lesson to learn sometimes, but honestly, every time you learn you say like okay, not everybody's going to be the right fit for you, right, like you probably don't like everybody you've interacted with, right. And like, if you're looking for a therapist or a dietitian or anybody for a service, like there are certain personalities that maybe you like, that maybe other people won't like, or maybe there's people like I've had, you know, therapists. Like I've done discovery calls with potential therapists over the years before finding my like two that I had one for like ever. Now I have the other one that I've been with now also for forever. Once I switched for my first therapist.
Speaker 1:But you know, in between then like not everybody's going to be the right fit for us, and like that doesn't mean they're wrong, it's just not for me, Right. And so it's like I, I don't like the taste of raw onions. There's a lot of people who love onions. It's just not for me, I don't like it, I never have, I probably never will. But that's okay, right, that doesn't make onions bad inherently. I mean ps. My husband, he would say they are, but we're not an onion household. But anyways, why am I talking about onions?
Speaker 1:The thing with this is you're going to make mistakes, you're going to say the wrong thing, had the acronym was HIPPA, when the HIPAA form is actually HIPAA. And somebody emailed me and was like you first of all she wrote me like an email with corrections but she said first of all, you have HIPAA's acronym incorrectly. It is not HIPPA, it's HIPAA. Guess who didn't make that mistake anymore, even though I just literally Googled on my phone as I was saying it to just double check that I wasn't butchering it wrong again. But that felt kind of silly and I was like oh god. And then she only saw me one time and then it was like a referral that a close, you know therapist friend had referred to me. I was like oh god, no, they're not gonna refer to me, like it was a just small thing, like it was.
Speaker 1:Obviously I made a little, a little mistake. I didn't put it in correctly, but like it's not the end of the world, I don't even. It's now been years and I like I could laugh about it, but it's not the end of the world. You know, there's been situations that I've said to clients where I was like, oh, I would not do that again. But I almost, like you know, of course, I wish I could go back in time and like I remember one of the first clients I had, who who probably really needed a lot of support and I just felt overwhelmed by the severity of their eating disorder and I just didn't feel like I had the capability to help them through that. I was feeling scared. So I was like I can't work with you until you go get, you know, evaluated at a treatment center. We're like now I wouldn't do that necessarily. I would give somebody the time to build the relationship and really like be able to like slowly say okay, like oh, at least let's get some labs to make sure this is okay and give people more autonomy. I acted out of fear and then, of course, the client didn't want to come back and see me and I even tried emailing and being like you know, I've been thinking about the session that we had and I'd love to like just check in and they didn't respond and that's okay.
Speaker 1:No-transcript, the population we have Therapists are required often to do supervision as part of their employment, like as part of like, their licenses. But I feel like dietitians should do it more, because it's such a good place to go and just verbalize, you know how you're feeling about things, and that's another place that I really was able to learn and just sort of be able to externalize. I definitely am an externalizing type of person. Like there's been times I've been in team meetings where we're talking through something and as I'm talking through, I'm like, okay, wait, hold on. I actually want to change my tune because as I'm talking it out, I'm realizing this, this and this. Like it's okay to sort of change how we feel about something. And you know, as we grow as clinicians or as business owners, we're going to learn from our mistakes.
Speaker 1:I've learned from having spent a couple thousand dollars on a business coach that I did not find helpful and was like a waste of my money, that now I'm like, okay, I'm going to be a little bit more cautious about who I work with. Group programs are probably not for me, you know, unless I'm really really like ready for the content or it's like a small group cohort and not like a large group like the one that I was in, you know. Having those experiences have helped me and I always I really try to encourage this with my clients. I try to encourage this with the clinicians on our team is that we have to have compassionate curiosity. That's like our, that's our team like motto is compassionate curiosity. We literally have crew neck sweaters with that on them, because being curious is how we're going to learn, it's how we're going to understand ourselves better, it's how we can pay attention. It will bring me back to all the other things I've said about trusting your gut, being curious, but doing it with a side of compassion is like the key, like you're not a bad business owner or a bad clinician. If you say things wrong sometimes or I don't want to use the word wrong, but maybe you say things that you shouldn't have said, or you say it in the wrong, in the way that was hurtful to the client or or whatever it might be. I've had like I had networking things that didn't go well. I had networking things that have gone really well. I had networking things that didn't go well. I had networking things that have gone really well. That's really where we learn.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was in college I was a sophomore and I'm sure they still do this. But when I was in college they used to have like Red Bull would have people that would just come on campus and really give us Red Bull and I was like, oh, I could do that, that would be an easy job. I didn't know what kind of a job it was. I just applied. I had an interview and I remember I was like up really late, like almost all night studying the night before, and then I went to this interview and she was asking me all these questions like, well, why do you want to work for Red Bull? Do you have any interest in marketing? Like the questions are really on, like this job is about marketing Red Bull. This is not like a server who's just giving out Red Bull. This is about getting it out there. And, of course, like they're hiring young college students but nonetheless, like the whole point of it is to be a brand and market their product.
Speaker 1:And I remember being like, honestly, I don't think I'm prepared for that. And they were like, okay, well, since you're not prepared for that, I think it makes sense to conclude our interview here Like it was like literally the worst interview of my whole life. But I'll tell you what was a learning opportunity for me. It was a big learning opportunity for me and I think about it all the time. And I think about it now, too, when I'm hiring and looking at applicants like why do you want to work for me and our business and our team? What is it about us that makes you want to work here? Versus I just want a job Because for me that's important, right, like that's important for me to hire people who, like want to be in this practice and grow with the practice and grow with our team. And so it was a learning opportunity for me in so many ways. And it came really full circle to now being the person who's interviewing folks and really learning about what their intentions are when they're applying.
Speaker 1:So be prepared You're going to say it wrong, you're going to do it in a way that doesn't feel good and it's okay. I think the most important thing and this is what happens a lot of times with quote unquote cancel culture People don't want to own their shit Like you have to own it. Sometimes you're going to say things that you know your perspective isn't going to be like. I have a very different worldview than a lot of people and I also have a very privileged view from being, you know, a white female in a thin body. I have other privileges. I also have the perspective of being an immigrant and having other cultural aspects that made me feel very different from people I grew up around and other parts of me that have shaped my perspective. Right, but my perspective is going to be different than other people's and that, like, there's going to be blind spots for things. Of course, course, right, and so it's really just about owning. Own your shit if you make a mistake when it comes to others, but be really compassionate about it towards yourself at the end of the day, like you're not a bad person, you're not a bad clinician, you're not a bad business owner if you don't know how to be a business owner, because why would you know if you've never done it before? Right. So that's the way I look at it you have to do it to know how to do it, and then you learn, all right. Lastly, I might have to make a little addendum, additional thing here, but I would say last thing is don't forget why you started your business in the first place.
Speaker 1:For me, I don't think I'll ever not be able to work for myself now that I have unless I, you know, can't financially sustain that. But I've always hated being forced to be somewhere that I didn't want to be being under somebody else's rules, being under somebody else's expectations. It doesn't work for my people pleasing self and it also just doesn't work when it's like just sitting in an office doing nothing because I just have to be here till five for no reason. That just wasn't going to do it for me. I wanted to be able to constantly pivot because my interest changed all the time, because, once again, adhd impacts my life a lot. But that's really been an amazing part of this journey.
Speaker 1:For me the last five years is I've been able to pivot so much. Like I started out thinking I was going to do this as like a part-time side thing, which I did for the first nine months until COVID happened, and then I went virtual, like I didn't obviously expect to be a mostly virtual clinician. I had no idea that I would ever grow a team and have a group practice, like that was just never in my in what I thought would happen with this business. And now the next five years of what I'm thinking like could be. It could be something so different.
Speaker 1:Right, like it's just, you don't really know why, but the core of it was always, like I know myself, I cannot go to a job that I hate every single day. I hate having to be here if I don't really know why. But the core of it was always, like I know myself, I cannot go to a job that I hate every single day. I hate having to be here if I don't have to be here and I want to be able to pivot and that's, like I said, been a really beautiful part of this. Like I can add, you know, I've tried different things. We've done groups before. We've done other things that I'm like. Okay, can I test it out? Do I like it? Do I not like it? Do I want to do this? Is it going to work? Nah, but other parts of this is just like, from the logistical standpoint, like I always thought, like I wanted a job that I could be flexible with. Once I had a kid and I didn't really understand what that would mean not having a child and being a mom. It a child and being a mom. It's really. I'm really grateful that I have the flexibility.
Speaker 1:Like today, I was not feeling well and I had a couple of meetings and I canceled them and I rescheduled my client that I had and I'm so grateful that I'm like not going to be in trouble by anyone. Obviously it's a long-term client. Like if I was like constantly canceling on clients like you would. The quote unquote getting in trouble for it first will probably just be that people if you're not like consistent with people's schedule, they're not going to want to stay consistent clients right. Like there's consequences to our actions. I don't want to say there's no consequences, but obviously that's not how I typically am. I typically don't cancel my meetings but having the freedom to do it has been so nice, I will say, as my business has been slowly growing over the last five years, and that's the other addendum I have two addendums already coming to mind, but it just takes time. But being able to now like have a day, like two, three weeks ago I think it was me and my son went to Delaware. My mom was down there for a conference and we went to the beach for a day and I remember being like I had money come, like revenue was coming into the bank account, like we were getting insurance payments and it was fully from the clinicians Like I.
Speaker 1:Primarily, the practice itself is run by the clinicians who see clients. Now, I have a very small handful of clients, but I was like, oh, this is passive income and I think we see this like quote unquote passive income thing online, which I talk a lot about, of being annoyed by, but like you're just going to be having fun and getting paid and like, yes, that is true. But like I also put in a lot of time into my crew practice. I put a lot of time into helping my team. I hope I'm a good leader for them and that's what I strive to continue to learn how to do and do it better.
Speaker 1:I've done done things in ways that I'm like, once again, same thing with making the mistakes. I've done things as the leader of the team that I wouldn't do again, right, and I had to sort of learn the hard way and it did not feel good, but I had to learn that way, right? That's just how it ended up being for me with something with my business. But it was just so nice to be able to reflect on like, okay, take my son to the beach and have this really nice day together and know that there's still income coming into my business and and then the next day I went and I got to work right, like that's, I think, the true passive income that we can get. But it's been really nice to be able to reflect. I'm like, wow, this is why I love that I don't have to answer to anyone, like as far as like somebody above me who will quote, unquote, give me trouble or fire me.
Speaker 1:Obviously I'm very accountable to my team, to my family as well. Like this is my job, but this is the income that brings in for our family. So like I have a responsibility around my team and the work that I do. But it allows me so much freedom. Sometimes I wish I had more time. I mean a lot of times, but I know, I know it's stressful and as fucking hard as it is now sometimes where I'm like I wish I just had like a full day of work, which I've really never had since my son was born. But I know I'll look back and be just so grateful that I had this time with him and so, yeah, like that's been, the biggest blessing is having this flexibility with my business and being able to really grow it intentionally to accommodate my life really.
Speaker 1:So, all right, I'm going to re-say the five things that I'm going to give you my two addendums that I thought of. Number one don't overthink the small stuff. Number two don't underestimate the bigger stuff. Number three trust your gut, learn to listen to it. Number two don't underestimate the bigger stuff. Number three trust your gut, learn to listen to it. Number four be prepared to make mistakes and to learn from them and to treat yourself with compassion through them. And number five don't forget why you started your business in the first place and the core things you wanted.
Speaker 1:I think I talked a lot about, like why it has shaped and allowed for my life, but the other really important thing of why I started my business is, like I wanted to have a business that was aligned with my values and practice in the way that I felt was in alignment with how I feel like is equal or inclusive, equitable and social justice informed. And we're still evolving and learning from that and it is nowhere near perfect, but that is the goal. That is what I'm hoping to continue to strive for and that was really important to me and that's always been really important to me is to grow a team that feels supported, and not only is that like emotionally and with their work stuff, like how can I support them that way, but also being able to like pay a decent wage and wanting to continue to add benefits for my team, like these are all things that I'm thinking of into the future. And it's not just like how can I like make this quote, unquote passive income for my team or for myself? Right? Like how can I also like put that back to my team and give back in other ways? Right Like we offer sliding scale spots. We do a lot of things to make sure that we can be as accessible as possible in the scope of how we can be, and so that was really important to me and I love that I can make those decisions and ultimately do those things in the way that feels in alignment. So that's the top five things I've learned. My addendums I feel like I already forgot the one, the one addendum I want to add to that. So maybe I'll say 5A, which doesn't really make sense with the 5A, with number five, but the additional little thing I will say we all do it, but social media is a highlight reel.
Speaker 1:Don't compare yourself to what you see, on there, nobody's life is perfect, nobody's business is perfect. You see, on there, nobody's life is perfect, nobody's business is perfect. And if they have this beautiful office and all this awesome furniture and I don't know a million employees working for them and they're on vacation, like how many years have they been doing it? Like, maybe they've been doing it a long ass time, right? Like maybe they've been really investing their life and it's also been probably very hard and stressful along the way, right? Or maybe it hasn't been, maybe they've just been really privileged, I don't know. But we don't know what people's lives are. Behind the scenes of social media, people are only showing what they want to show and they're not really showing the hard parts. So when you're thinking like, why does my business not look like theirs? Like, do you really know what their business looks like? Ask yourself that first.
Speaker 1:And if the answer is no, then don't try not to compare yourself, because I mean, what's the saying? Comparison is the thief of joy, Like it really is. Because it doesn't even make sense to compare it, because it's going to be a totally different circumstance to you, right? Like it's totally different. There are so many dietitians in my area who do similar work, but they have a whole different circumstance than me. They have different offerings, they're different people, they have different personalities, like they offer different things than us, and so it's okay if other people are referring to them and not us. There's people that refer to us and maybe not them, right? Like, comparing ourselves is just. It's never good.
Speaker 1:And if you find yourself in that trap, try to just notice and maybe you know, think about comparing. Compare your day one to where you are now. Like I was saying at the beginning of the episode, compare it to where your business was when you first started to where it is now. So, don't take everything you see on social media as fact and take it all with a grain of salt. And I don't remember the other thing. So I guess we'll just have one little addendum, which is, yeah, don't compare yourself to people on social media. So, wow, that was a lot more to say than I thought, but it's awesome.
Speaker 1:I love being a business owner. It's stressful sometimes and truly sometimes I'm like why did I do this? I've also learned to like, know my patterns, no-transcript, and so learn to know yourself. Nothing is ever going to be finite. It changes constantly and just learn to change with it. I think maybe that's the last addendum Learn to change with your business and be intentional about how it changes.
Speaker 1:Like if it's not working for your life, what do you want it to look like and what are the steps that are going to get you there? It's like any other behavior change that we have clients with. They want recovery. Okay, what is the thing that needs to help to get them there? What are the supports we can get? What are the challenges they can take? You know, what are the ways that they can try new things and see how they go? And I think we need to just take that energy with business.
Speaker 1:So I hope it's been helpful to hear a little bit of my journey and the things that I've learned and some of the perspectives I have. I would love to hear what other people feel like they've learned since they become business owners from like day one to now. Like if can reflect back, like maybe that's a good thing to leave on this episode with is like what? What is like one major thing that I've learned? And also from like day one to where I am now. Like how has my business changed? And, you know, maybe name like two or three amazing things that have happened in that time, because I think sometimes we can tend to focus on the things that haven't worked, but there's probably been a shit ton of things that have worked in that time, because I think sometimes we can tend to focus on the things that haven't worked, but there's probably been a shit ton of things that have worked, and so you should be proud of yourself. If you have even two days in business, you're one day more into it than you were the day before. So, anywho, that is the episode.
Speaker 1:Happy five years to Eva Haldis Nutrition LLC. Slash Reclaim Nutrition PA. Shout out to the amazing team I have and all the work they do, and it would literally not be possible without them. So you know, amanda has been on my team for almost three years, two and a half now. Mackenzie's been two and a half two years oh no, I can't remember. Nick just had his one year. Now we have two others who are, who are new. Nicole, our admin, has been on with us for a year. So yeah, it's been. It's been a journey, and I'm really grateful to have such an awesome team to do it with Makes it really that much more fun and fulfilling, so love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1:Dm me on Instagram, send me a message, let me know what you think of the episode, and I just want to remind everyone that in August I'm going to start doing advice questions, business taking business questions doing one every episode at the end of the episode. So if you have something that you would love some advice on or have a question on, please feel free to message it to me on Instagram or send me a voice note at evahaldas underscore rd. So link the phone number that I have that you can text or voice note as well. Be sure to continue to like and subscribe. If you want to leave me a nice little review or add some five stars, I would love that and share this with your RD bestie. That always helps too.
Speaker 1:Thank you all for listening. I am looking forward to getting caught up on these episodes and having so many more. We have some really exciting guests coming up too that I have scheduled out, so stay tuned. We are just getting started. Thanks for listening everybody, and thanks for being, if you've known me for the last five years. At any point, thanks for being there around and any of my mentors.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Hannah Turnbull, my business coach, sarah Hurstich, who's been sort of like my therapist partner through it all she and I have done. We're always coming up with new business ideas, but we've really grown together in our collective and I wouldn't be able to be the business person I am without, you know, working through all the things together with her. Dana Snook, who I've done supervision with, has really helped me develop into my clinician skills, and so many others along the way. But those are the first, the top three, that come to mind. But anyway, before I get more sappy about it, happy July. Everybody Can't wait to see what this quarter brings us. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye, thanks for listening to the RD to CEO podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for any resources mentioned or find more at wwwrdtoceocom. Never miss an episode by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. See you next time.
