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
Imposter Feelings, The Importance of Community & Growing An Online Practice Ft. Alissa Rumsey
On this episode, we welcome Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS (pronouns she/her/hers) to talk all things building an online practice, staying true to your values and the importance of community.
Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS (pronouns she/her/hers) is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, and the author of Unapologetic Eating: Make Peace With Food and Transform Your Life. She is the founder of Rumsey Nutrition Consulting, a weight-inclusive virtual nutrition practice.
Alissa also supports nutrition entrepreneurs as a business coach and supervisor, helping them to confidently start and grow their businesses. She is the founder of the Dietitian Entrepreneur Foundation Course, an online program that teaches clinicians how to set up and launch their nutrition business, and The Liberated Clinician, a weight-inclusive group-coaching program that combines business coaching and supervision, all done in community.
Listen to her candid insights in this episode with how to overcome imposter feelings, why we shouldn't call it imposter syndrome and the invaluable impact of community support. Alissa's journey is a testament to the power of perseverance and the importance of staying true to your values and own path.
To learn more about Alissa and her work:
www.alissarumsey.com
https://instagram.com/alissarumseyrd
https://instagram.com/theliberatedclinician
Want a question answered on the podcast? Send me a message, or a text message, and maybe it'll be featured in an episode!
You can send me a message on IG -
https://www.instagram.com/evahaldis_rd or https://www.instagram.com/rdtoceo
Find more about RDtoCEO at https://www.rdtoceo.com
For episode updates and coaching packages, check out our website - www.rdtoceo.com
Affiliate Links Often Mentioned:
Gusto for Payroll - https://gusto.com/h/eva6486
Practice Better- https://practicebetter.partnerlinks.io/evahaldis9298
*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 CO podcast. I'm so excited to have a very special guest today on the podcast Alyssa Rumsey. Alyssa is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor and the author of Unapologetic Eating Make Peace with Food and Transform your Life. She is the founder of Rumsey Nutrition Consulting, a weight-inclusive virtual nutrition practice. Alyssa also supports nutrition entrepreneurs as a business coach and supervisor, helping them to confidently start and grow their businesses. She's the founder of the Dietitian Entrepreneur Foundation course, an online program that teaches clinicians how to set up and launch their nutrition business, and the Liberated Clinician, a weight-inclusive group coaching program that combines business coaching and supervision, all done in community. I will say Alyssa was probably one of the very first dietitians who I started following around intuitive eating stuff back in like 2017, 2018, back when intuitive eating was starting to gain traction and it really wasn't, I would say, as popular as it is today, and really loved her content and we talk a lot about this in the podcast of just like seeing her social media presence and being like, wow, this is awesome. She must be doing so well with all this stuff on social media and she definitely was doing well, but it wasn't with social media. Spoiler alert Certainly helped, but it wasn't her main source of referrals.
Speaker 1:And when I started my practice a couple months in, when I was starting to get some consistent revenue and I was like, oh, I can actually spend money money I'm making at the practice, and so one of the first really big training or kind of retreat things that I did was Alyssa's entrepreneur retreat that she did in person. It was in probably November of 2019. We talk about this in the episode and it was so helpful and, honestly, it was really transformative because right when I was starting that, I was actually exposed to work for another private practice. I was going to be working for another private practice locally and my own, and in the retreat, when we had an opportunity to sort of share a stuck point with the group, that was what I shared and everyone was like, don't do that. Like, just focus on your own thing. It's a conflict of interest and I ended up, you know, saying okay and pursuing my own thing and really going forward with the practice. And yeah, it was a big game changer for me and I learned so much and it was really one of the first times that I learned how to think about my private practice from a business perspective. So it feels really special to have Alyssa on the podcast about five years later talking about business. We have a really great conversation today about just growing your practice, building community and kind of just the transitions that I think a lot of us take in private practice building and feeling like imposters and all that stuff. So I know there's a lot of really great nuggets in there and a lot of things that hopefully you all can resonate from.
Speaker 1:So, before we get into the episode, as always, please be sure to subscribe and follow along. Wherever you're getting your podcasts, you can stay up to date on new episodes, which are released every Wednesday. I also am going to be releasing a insurance credentialing tracking sheet that I created in Google Spreadsheets, especially when credentialing a new employee. So if that is something that you may be interested in getting your hands on, I'm hoping to release it this week at some point, if not in the next week or two. So if that's something you're interested in, or just want to stay up to date on what's going on the podcast, or really just get a quarterly email from me, go ahead and go on to wwwrd2cocom and join the mailing list there. I really only send out newsletters, like I said, once a quarter, so that will also just keep you updated on the insurance tracking credentialing worksheet that I have coming out and other fun things when I actually do send out newsletters. As a reminder I've shared this before in the other episodes is that starting in August, we will be incorporating a advice column segment towards the end of the episode, so I'm really excited about that. So if you have a business question or advice that you were looking for, a couple of ways that you can reach me, I would say the best one is probably Instagram. You can DM me either at RD to CEO or at Eva Haldis, underscore RD. I will link that in the show notes. You can, of course, go on the website and fill out a contact form, and there's also a phone number that you can text or send a voice message, to which I will include the number in the show notes, really excited to be adding that component to the episodes. So look out for that in August, and I think that is all I have for this intro, so I really hope you enjoy the episode with Alyssa. Let's get to it.
Speaker 1:Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of the RD to CEO podcast.
Speaker 1:I'm very excited to welcome our guest, alyssa Rumsey, today to talk about lots of different things, but primarily around building an online business and hopefully a little bit of around imposter syndrome. So hi, alyssa, hi, I'm excited to be here. Thank you so much for being here. I have known Alyssa for several years and I actually took your entrepreneur retreat pre-COVID. That was like the last big thing, and so I was just we were saying this before we started recording this. Alyssa is always you had an online business before, everybody else had an online business and we're doing it virtually, so I think your perspective will be really interesting today. But before we do that, I'd love to hear just a little bit more about your journey. The podcast itself is about how we go from that dietitian who's just seeing clients and wanting to have a private practice or a business that do the work they want to do and then how we one day just have to shift into being this business owner. So I'd love to hear a little bit more about your journey and how that happened for you.
Speaker 2:Sure Well, so I started my career as a dietitian in a inpatient clinical setting, working in critical care nutrition, ended up working in a large teaching hospital in New York City for almost seven years and did some management before I left there and left to start my own business, and it was something that I hadn't. I think I'd thought about it like when I was first going to school to be a dietitian, but I really did enjoy, after you know, four years of undergrad, a year of a dietetic internship. I was super perfectionistic at the time, so I was just like studying and working and all the stuff for five years and then going into a job where it was like nine to five and then leave and not think about it. I rode that wave for many years, but then I was getting to a point where I was just starting to get involved in some different things. I was doing media work, I was doing some speaking, I was starting to get some consulting requests and I was also, at the time, really enjoying travel, and so I decided to leave the hospital. I did take a part-time job for the first year, a 20-hour a week job in corporate wellness, but left the hospital to start my own practice and at the beginning it was the corporate wellness job kind of came up quickly. So I did not have a business plan. I was sort of winging it because it came with full insurance benefits, which is rare for a part-time job. So I, you know, really winged it for that first year and was doing all sorts of different stuff in the business world, did have some one-on-one clients but didn't necessarily consider myself having a private practice and saw some people in person would rent. A colleague of mine had an office space that she would let me rent when she wasn't using it. But again, I was traveling a lot and I wanted to be able to take my work with me.
Speaker 2:So, right, this was 2015. I started offering virtual sessions and actually found at first I was doing virtual or in person, giving them an option, and almost everyone was cool with virtual. So I was like, okay, what if I just take the in-person option away? And yeah, it was like a really good transition. And you know, I think the first one to two years were just I quit the part-time job after a year.
Speaker 2:So those first two years were really just like definitely not necessarily operating as a CEO. More was just like doing all the things, trying to do the things that were making me money, would make me money to be financially stable. And then, as that started to stabilize, then I was like, okay, and really started thinking more like a business owner of you know, I'm doing a dozen different things. I can't grow any of these things, so what are the things that I really like doing? Like, where do I want my business to go in the future? So that was probably the, you know, one of the first times I really started thinking.
Speaker 2:Once I had that like foundation and I didn't have to be as kind of. I also was enjoying the hustle. I was younger and, you know, was just like really enjoying being on the road and doing all these different things. And then I was getting to the point of like, okay, I have so much of a split brain because I'm doing so many different things, how about I narrow this down? And so that's really when my private practice kind of came more together, which actually coincided with me.
Speaker 2:Well, learning about intuitive eating, health at every stage and really moving my practice into a way inclusive space, and that also resonant at the time. And so I think I had more, because before, with my clients. I didn't really have a niche and I was sort of all over the place and then I was like, no, this is what I want to be doing. And so, yeah, it took me a couple of years of just doing lots of different things before I really felt like I was stepping more into that role of like okay, let's do a little future planning. What do I want this to look like?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just this week's episode of the podcast is actually about marketing.
Speaker 1:You know, without social media, and one of the first things I talk about is you also need to figure out who you're marketing to. But I do think online we see a lot of like you know, figure out your ideal client, figure out your niche, or even me talking about being a business owner, we have this expectation that we should know how to do all the things right away, and I think a lot of us who are in it after a few years it's because we did the first couple of years of sort of figuring it out and doing all the different things until we nailed exactly kind of what you were saying figure out, what do I like, where do I want this to go, what are the clients I really enjoy seeing and how do I just focus on that. And that's really where I think we can start to say like, okay, I can actually make a decision around this and build a business around the thing I want to do and not just like having to do all the things.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly yeah, because I think you know for a lot of people, myself included, I was like pick a niche, what I have, all of these different interests. I was coming from a clinical background. I was getting all these referrals for home care, for tube feedings, because nobody was doing that. There was literally no dietician in new york city and I was partnering with these speech language pathologists who were like these people have been on tube feed for over a year, no one has touched it. I started doing blenderized feed, so I was was doing that. I have a background in exercise physiology, I was doing sports nutrition and I was really liking all the different things. And, yes, at a certain point it came to like, okay, I'm just going to like stay here and like I'm ready to sort of grow something and I can't grow all of these different things. So I think you know, I know sort of the ideal client.
Speaker 2:Quote unquote is somewhat controversial. I totally agree with you. We need to know who we're talking to, especially with an online business, right? So I got away with this for a couple of years because, I mean, technically it was online and that it was virtual or a lot of it was, was, but I had built this huge network at that point and I was getting all of my stuff through word of mouth and networking, so it didn't matter as much that I didn't have a clear niche until I was like, okay, I really want to start being able to travel more and hone in and start to do more online marketing.
Speaker 2:So I think if you have an online business or want to have an online business there's so much noise in that space and you do have to be really clear. I think it's a totally different thing if you're building a brick and mortar practice in a town and you're the dietician and you're in network with insurance and you're partnering with doctors in a town. Right, that's totally different. You could see you could have a general nutrition, mnt kind of practice, but when it comes to building an online practice, do you have held it in to who you're speaking to?
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah. And it's interesting because when I was first growing my practice so I started in 2019 and then I started the practice in June and I think I came to New York to do your entrepreneur retreat I want to say it was probably like November, because I remember being there and thinking about, well, I'm trying to get pregnant and what's it going to look like? And I wasn't yet pregnant and then I'm pretty sure I found out the next month that I was. So it had to have been probably around October, november, so I was a couple of months in. I wasn't really a new owner of a business at that point.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I think you it's because I knew of you, because you have the intuitive eating world, and I followed you on social media and you had a large like following and then and then you and I did a couple of like coaching calls afterwards and I remember just being like I don't really know if I want to do social media, and I think you were the first people who told me like I don't really get a lot of clients from social media, which was like so surprising to me, cause I think that's what people would expect is like somebody who's on social media that has a large following must be getting all their clients from there.
Speaker 1:And I think really in your entrepreneur tree, it was one of the first places I even learned about SEO and like how to use SEO and building an online business. But I think what you were also saying just now is like you also had built a really big network. So I think there's like there's sort of like both things that have to exist, I think for online businesses is that there's an online piece and there's like a strategy that you can use with that, but also they're in the building of a network outside of. You know, social media is actually not the place that you need to go to and it sounds like it isn't really always that beneficial anyway for a lot of practices. So tell me a little bit about kind of how you maybe figured out how to grow the online business in ways outside of just building that network and whether that's through SEO or other ways that you did that.
Speaker 2:Yeah and yes, I'll just say like I totally agree.
Speaker 2:I think having an online strategy is important and also having that like relationship strategy or like building relationships and using that for more referrals, whether you're online or in person. And so, yeah, so my first couple of years were really from the relationships I had and people who knew me and things like that. And then, once I really honed in on my niche and who I really wanted to work with, then I was, you know, I had a website, I had a blog, I had a social media, I had an Instagram, I had a Facebook, I had a Twitter when it was still Twitter and I was using all of those things. Like I had lots of blogs on my website, but they were all over the place and my website traffic kind of stayed just stable. Same thing with my Instagram following. It was just kind of stable, just sort of sitting there going up a little bit over time but nothing really changing. And so once I got clear on my niche, it actually wasn't like I knew that blogging was helpful for SEO and I knew a bit about SEO, but honestly I was like I'm totally changing track here with what I'm talking about, so I'm going to write some blog posts to explain it, and this was 2017.
Speaker 2:And I was just talking to a group of interns last night and I said I accidentally did some very good blog posts for SEO. And I say accidentally because I was literally just thinking I want to explain this to people, um, and I want people. There wasn't a lot, you know, obviously, the intuitive eating book has been out since the nineties, but it wasn't the thing that it is today yet, which is wild because this isn't that many years ago. So I started, I planned out this series of blog posts and I said, okay, I'm also going to do this. I had a small email list at the time and social media and I'm going to sort of do this and sort of say like, hey, here's what I'm doing now, let me tell you a little bit about it. And those blog posts that first like handful of blog posts because no one else was writing about it at the time that ended up. And so, again, I say accidentally because, like that ended up driving most of my clients over the next, honestly, almost five years.
Speaker 2:Um, and I saw both on social media my Instagram primarily and then then on my website, like it went from this like flat kind of like slightly going up over time to just this like big increase, because I was getting really clear what I was talking about and I had a strategy with SEO and with Instagram. So I think that strategy is really important. And to to your point about like do we need social media? So, yes, I grew a pretty decent sized following, but I rarely got clients who were like found you on Instagram, signed up with you. I definitely had people who found my website started following me, used my Instagram to kind of build some like no like trust factor and then maybe work with me. But honestly, even that was, I can probably think of a handful of people over you know however many years. It's been eight years.
Speaker 2:So for me, the social media part and I didn didn't I wasn't, I didn't consciously realize this it took me several years of like spending a lot of time on it being on stories all the time, like doing all these things before I finally I remember this moment I was looking at my Google analytics and I was looking at the social channels and the traffic coming in from their Pinterest, which I had a Pinterest for my business. Maybe once a year I would have a dietetic intern come and I'd be like, hey, can you go pin the blog posts I've written over the last year. That was literally all I was doing, and Pinterest was driving more traffic to my website than Instagram was and I was like, why am I spending all this time on Instagram? And what if I spent a little bit more time on Pinterest? Like what would that do to my web traffic? So that was a big realization of you know.
Speaker 2:I always say to people I'm like what is your purpose for using a certain marketing strategy? You're on Instagram, what is your purpose, what is your goal? And you should be able to tell me in like one to two sentences and up until that point, my purpose, what I thought was my purpose, was to get clients. And I was like, okay, wait, this is actually not what this is doing for me. So I shifted my purpose and my goal of more just like building community and connection and having resources for people. And just that shift in my head was so helpful because it took a lot of pressure off of me, because, again, I had so much like oh, stories, I can't go more like every 24 hours. There needs to be something up there Like seriously, it was wild and so that took a lot of pressure off it for me.
Speaker 2:So I think, knowing, I would say like, where are your clients coming from?
Speaker 2:If you don't know, please start asking them.
Speaker 2:Always ask like, hey, where did you find out about me? Because that's going to tell you what to put your energy in, what parts of your strategy. Or even, if you don't have a strategy yet, what marketing tactics are working and what ones are maybe not. So for me, I was putting so much time and is nowadays, and if you're just starting from scratch, honestly, like I don't think it doesn't hurt to have a presence, but really just considering the time and energy you're putting into that and making sure, I think people think like, oh, marketing social media and honestly, nowadays, for most practices, that is not what I recommend. You know, do like a, have a handle, have a good, solid bio, a place to send people. Do what Morgan Sinclair calls the Instagram business card of a nine tile where people can, if they find you, they read about you and, if you want to post, post. But again, making sure there's a strategy and not putting all your eggs in that basket, because for most people, that's not going to be where they get their clients nowadays totally, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree with all the things you were just saying and I think I think that's social media can certainly have a place like and I think I said this in the marketing episode I just did but, like, when I'm looking up a local business to do something, whether it's like you know a contractor or painter or something, I will Google it and then maybe I'll go find out oh, they have an Instagram. Let me see what their like latest projects are. It like helps solidify that's like a real person. But it's not usually where I'm starting and so I, yeah, I totally agree with you and I think, using analytics in whatever way, that works like for us, for our practice, I track everything in a Google spreadsheet of where we a second of if it's still a popular one for you. But you know people assume it's like Instagram or Facebook uh, maybe now more so TikTok, but like, yeah, a lot of people I asked, I just thought all the time too, I'm like are you actually getting any clients from there?
Speaker 1:And I think the really important thing too of your story is like you sort of accidentally and and, by the way, way accidentally and like the perfect timing to start an intuitive eating blog post because it was like, right at the I would say like, 2017, 2018 is really when it started to to take off in popularity some great timing. But it was the purpose of it wasn't to like maybe I mean, I'm sure there was something in the back of your mind like yeah, I'm gonna give this resource and it's gonna help my business, but it was really with the purpose of like, providing people those resources and that's that's. You know, something that I had to kind of come to terms with with this podcast, even like yes, there's a part of me that wants to work with you know, I do, I offer business coaching to dietitians but there's also a part of me that just really enjoys this, these conversations, and I want to get this information out and eventually maybe I'll do something with it. But we sort of like have to. I think the same thing comes back for, like, finding our clients.
Speaker 1:We like if it's going to be something that's sustainable, if you hate doing it, especially and I think that's the thing with social media a lot of people just hate doing it and it's not even there's no return, usually as far as private practices go, you know. So it's not worth it if it's not even bringing in the clients for you. So yeah, it's great to hear that's been part of your story. Is Pinterest still a big Um?
Speaker 2:no, I mean, it's definitely not as big it's. And, again, I don't stay on top of the Pinterest updates, but I know Chrissy Carroll is someone who I'm in one of her Facebook groups and she will often like post updates. So I know there's been a lot of changes the last couple of years at Pinterest, but it's still up there and it's probably like equal, if still not more, than, Instagram. So, yeah, it's one of those things of just like that was yeah, I will never forget that. I'm like why am I spending all this time on this app? That is like draining my energy and that's not not doing anything from a specifically with a goal of getting clients.
Speaker 2:I absolutely have built some really amazing relationships through people I've met on Instagram and you know, I think certainly like when I published my book a couple of years ago, being able to talk about it there and having people share and getting support like that was super helpful. And then also, yeah, just like you said, I love that example of a contractor, like it's a real person. And you also, I think, especially for like a clinician or you know someone you're working with, one-on-one, having a little bit of a sense of their personality and their energy can be helpful. So it's almost like another sort of screening tool, but, like you said, not necessarily where you're finding them in the first place. So I think you know, just like you said, do you like it or not? And then how can you make it work for you and not put all your eggs in that basket or expect things that aren't really going to happen from it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally. So I mean it sounds like for you. And the one thing I wonder with social media or just even in building online businesses, is when you're doing stuff outside of just the one-on-one private practice space. So I know you do a couple of different things and you had mentioned you had done some media works and consulting in the past, and now I know you do a lot of work with dietitians. Do you? Do you have this? Is there a similar strategy there or is that sort of a different a way that you market that?
Speaker 2:good question. So, yeah, I used to do a good deal of media and spokesperson work. I don't do as much of that really anymore. If a good one sort of comes along and it's aligned, great. But I'm not pitching myself out or anything like that anymore. Um and and and so.
Speaker 2:For that my social media presence did help right, because I mean the social media stuff was like the least, my least favorite about those partnerships. I loved doing like TV and um, you know, smts and things like that, um, but social media is where a lot of PR companies and brands will go to find folks. So that definitely helped from that perspective and from you know, yeah, so I still have a small private practice and then I the other part of my business is I work with dietitians and other clinicians to help them start and grow their businesses, and for that, you know, a lot of people do like find me or know me from social media and I think this is really interesting because my Alyssa Rumsey RD Instagram the bulk of the information on there is targeted towards my ideal client from my private practice. But actually what I've found and this is also why I've like shifted how I use social media over the years is that clinicians are finding me that way and are connecting with that information too right, like I follow a lot of practitioners where I'm learning from them, and that's informing my client work. So, so, yeah, I don't. I still don't think of social media as a driver for my business, my clinician-focused business.
Speaker 2:For me, that's so much about relationships and just yeah, like building relationships with people, putting myself out there in different ways. Sometimes that's social media. I try to run quarterly free workshops, both as an offering, for sure, but also so people can start to get to know me and see, like, oh, this is someone whose energy I resonate with, I'm resonating with what she's saying, which, honestly, I think like the energy thing in terms of working, whether it's with a therapist, a dietitian, a business coach, like to me that's the biggest thing and so being able to put myself out there in ways where people can learn and also get to know me and see like, oh, yeah, this is someone I'd like to work with or not, right, like I'm not for everybody and that's OK. So I think my, my strategy really doesn't include much social media at all, although that's also personally, for mental health reasons, doesn't include much social media at all, although that's also personally for mental health reasons.
Speaker 2:I've taken a very long, almost a year at this point um break from social media, and I think that's another thing too is I was having a conversation with a client recently who's on social media, hates it, but has this feeling like, oh, I have to be, and like this idea that they didn't have to be, like. They almost got emotional and I was like, oh, something's there right, and I see this a lot. You know they are not the only one that have had that reaction of like, oh wait, I don't have to be. And so again, I try to really like follow my intuition with that of like, sure, could it help my business a little bit more if I was on it more, perhaps, and if I'm going to be spending any time with marketing, it's going to be doing things more. You know, for my private practice it's still it's like the relationship building and it's also some SEO. And then for my business coaching side of my business, it's primarily that relationship building.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think that's such a helpful thing to think about, is like I don't have to do, we don't have to do anything. First of all, like in growing your business, especially if it's something that you like or causes stress or causes, you know, anxiety or and I I totally feel the same way about social media. Um, yeah, I hate hate when I like get sucked into it if I do post something and then I think I'm checking it constantly and I don't want that. So right, and so, coming back to sort of knowing, this is where we can sort of shift that thinking of RD to CEO. Of like we also want to be tracking information and trusting our gut too.
Speaker 1:So like, even if something, even if a marketing tactic, I guess, was like building my business, but I absolutely hated it. Like then it's like what's the point of having your own business if you can't shift away from that? Like that was one of the key things for me of like wanting my own business was because I hated working for somebody else, feeling like I had to stay at an office till five o'clock and had nothing to do, or you know me being a people pleaser just like hated like having a boss, even if they were like the best boss. So it's like when we come back to it, it's like, well, why did we start this in the first place? And if it's a, if you're doing something that you don't even like, then you know you don't have to do it, and there's always so many ways to pivot.
Speaker 1:And I think that's actually an interesting part of your story too is you've done so many different things. I mean, I think when I did your retreat five years ago which is a while to think about I learned so much because it was on a varied thing and a lot of the people, the dietitians that were in there, were also doing a lot of different things. There was media dietitians, dietitians who did food blogs, there was dietitians in private practice, and you had a lot of different resources on all those things like contracts and things I just never even thought about. You know, with media partnerships and things like that, you've done so many different things and it sounds like you've sort of just kept, you've sort of pivoted until you and kind of stuck, stayed where you enjoy or maybe put your efforts in what like. How do I ask this? I definitely think being a business owner involves being a risk taker. What helps you with sort of doing all these things and trying different things and not being afraid to try these different things until you figure out what you like.
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. I don't think anyone's ever asked me that specifically before, you know, I think so. I mean, the first thing that's coming to mind is just confidence in myself. And what I mean by confidence isn't like oh, like I'll do this right, or you know, I'll get this contract, or whatever, but more the confidence of like, no matter what happens, it'll be okay. I you know, this happened to me. I was like enrolling for a program, not enough people enrolled, so I was like, okay, well, refund the people who did not going to run it Right. Didn't feel amazing, but it was also like it's fine, like I can deal. And so I think, the confidence to roll with things, the confidence to try new things and have them maybe not work out, um, and just trusting myself.
Speaker 2:And I was talking to this group of interns last night and they were asking some of them were asking like, oh, do you think it's beneficial to have experience working somewhere else before you start your practice? And like I don't like black and white, so I don't like to say like yes, a hundred percent. And for me, the fact like I worked in a clinical setting which, especially for what I do today, literally like zero translates from you know the nutrition work, but the confidence I built and, like, the trust in myself that I built during those years was so invaluable, not to mention the relationships that I built. So I think, like for me, it's just about being okay, leaning into the discomfort and trusting that I can handle what comes my way and trusting that I have. I'm so big on community building, which is why it's so funny that we're talking today, because, literally, like to several people, yesterday, the mastermind retreat that you mentioned you went to in 2019 came up and you know I was saying to someone like a huge part of the reason I started that one of them was that, like education, you know I had been able to like learn all these things and, like you said, most dietitians, myself included when I started out, I didn't know what SEO was. I didn't know what these things were. So part was education, but a much bigger part was for community and to help entrepreneurs build community, and so I think that's the other thing for me when you ask about what helps me take risks, just knowing that I have a community that has my back and I have my two text buddies who we text basically every day and a lot of it ends up being venting or just like, oh my God, I can't believe this happened. You know, I have my supervisors and I have sort of like a variety of depending on what's going on, but I'll book with them and just yeah, friends and colleagues and communities.
Speaker 2:I run this group, the Liberated Clinician and what's so interesting is that, again, part of my intention was fostering community and this space, because I had been part of some spaces like this where I could show up as my full self, be super vulnerable and be held in that but also be held accountable and be like held in that but also be held accountable. And so I was really trying to create a space like that. And and yet, right Cause, like my little dietician brain of like no, you have to give people stuff so that they get their money's worth. And so I'm like, okay, we're going to cover all these topics and I'm going to like teach you all these things. We're going to bring in these other guests every month and all this stuff and every single cohort. So I've run four. We're in our fifth right now. Every single cohort.
Speaker 2:I get the reviews at the end, like the feedback at the end. I am not joking when I say every single person. When I ask the question, what was the most valuable thing about this? They say the community. And so it's like not the millions of videos I've recorded for them, or like it's the community, which again was the reason I started it. But then I had this part like oh no, well, you have to like do enough so that they feel like they're getting stuff out of it. So you know, for me, like having those spaces, um to be able to be like, feel like you're not alone, um to be able to have people be like oh yeah, me too. This has happened to me too um, or I'm experiencing this too, or I'm feeling this too. Like that, to me, is another big component of my own confidence, of just having other people to bounce things off of and to not feel alone in that, because this work can be really lonely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, oh my gosh. I mean I think that's especially when you're in solo practice, but in being an online business in particular, I mean you're online by yourself in your office or wherever you're doing your work on the computer and not having a lot of social interaction. I was just talking to one of the clinicians on my team about this, because we were talking about, like ways to make the job more fulfilling or exciting. But I have always, since I quit my full-time job and after having my son and shifting into this practice which our practice is primarily virtual, but we do have an office the like in-person work best friend is like the part of my jobs that I've had in the past. That's like the only part of this. It's like the only part of this is the community aspect, because it is so lonely and isolating in private practice and so, yeah, finding your people and having communities and I think I mean coming back to what we were talking about of like people and I think, in particular, working with business coaches or dietitians. I mean this can be the same thing with therapists or dietitians, but like getting a feel for the person and seeing who they are and really finding the person that's going to align with your personality so that you do feel like you can connect with somebody and have that shared experience.
Speaker 1:And we are all still on social media.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know if you go on, but you can realize by watching any TikTok or real like there are very few unique experiences in life the more I go on the internet, and that does help build a level of confidence of like oh yeah, everybody else feels this way and I do, like you know, that's awesome to hear that you've been able to build that with other dietitians, because I think in the past and maybe still so, people see in primarily social media and they see this idea of maybe what they think and like I should be doing that or this person's posting all this stuff and it must mean something.
Speaker 1:And I think that was really what I was saying in the beginning of this episode is talking to you and be like oh, I assume you're getting clients from Instagram. You're like not really. And I'm like, oh, ok, that's helpful and that's really important information for me and so, yeah, building that community is so nice and being able to learn from other people and not just having experts necessarily. It's probably just like the community aspect of the clinicians that you work with that really helps. So yeah, love that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And you know, it's interesting kind of and you might feel this too working also in the business sense with clinicians like I see behind the curtain, right, so I follow these people and I can have one thing. And then I see behind the curtain in session and I'm like, oh, this is really interesting because it it does, it can come across, even if they're not meaning it to, but just like, oh, they're always posting about this program and this must be going really well. And then they're like no one has signed up and I'm like, really, cause, this thing looks amazing and like I've seen you talking about it.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, I think having finding your people, having those communities are so important and also right, like taking the risk, doing the thing, leaning into the discomfort and like that's how you build confidence is by doing the thing. And then like trusting, like no matter what the outcome, whether you, you know, quote unquote fail, um, again, I don't love the black and white, but if things like don't go so well, or if they do, like you learn something and you build the confidence that, no matter what happens, you can get through it, and so I think that for me has been um, you know, it's not that I still don't have imposter feelings at times. I absolutely do, and I'm like one foot in front of the other right, like keep doing the thing and just knowing that those feelings aren't necessarily going to go away. But what can I do to still move forward?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's one of the most common threads of every interview I've done so far is that we all have learned to make mistakes and what do we take from those you know, quote, unquote mistakes or like just done things that maybe didn't land or didn't work out.
Speaker 1:And taking that for for what it is it's just like data collection and understanding and learning from it, I think is yeah, it's definitely something I've noticed as a common thread helps people. It kind of maintains the resiliency of the hard parts of business is like you can't, yeah, like, if you can, you can feel bad about it and like be like, oh my god, I suck. Or you can have those feelings too, which I certainly do half the time, and then the other time I'm like, okay, well, let's take the information I have now and just keep it moving and keep making those mistakes. And you did mention feeling the feelings of imposter and I know you had done some speaking around imposter syndrome or feeling like an imposter. Tell us a little bit about what you've learned over the years around feeling like an imposter in this world, in this work.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, as you just said, said everybody feels this way. It is not a individual experience, um, and as you were talking, and as I say that too, I was thinking of compassion and how, as the with dr kristen neff's research around compassion, the three components of compassion. One of them is common humanity and this reminding ourselves like I'm not in this alone, like this happens to everybody, like it's not a problem with me. And so I think, with imposter feelings and I, um, over the years, have learned to sort of reframe like syndrome, because that, you know, means like something is wrong with us. And with imposter feelings there's not something wrong with us. Like imposter feelings, they're felt by everybody, but they tend to be felt like. Research shows that they tend to be felt more by folks who are more marginalized and not, um, not as represented, and so it's like something we've been taught to feel, like we've been societally and culturally programmed to doubt our abilities. There's this fact that and I'm not going to get it completely right, but something like a very large percentage of CEOs in the U? S are over six feet tall, and is that because tall people make better leaders? But if you think about it, and tall men, I should say, uh, over six feet tall cis men, um, primarily white, and if you think about it, you have like a tall kid, a tall boy. What do they get? They get a lot of attention. They're seen as older, they're seen as being more mature. They're right, it's this like usually they're playing sports and then they're right, like all this stuff. So they are culturally programmed to trust themselves and like, oh, I'm like a leader versus other people, are culturally programmed to doubt our abilities and are questioned and feel inadequate, and that's because of the water we're swimming in does exactly that. So you know, I think that being able to zoom out and be like, okay, this is not a me problem, this is like a societal cultural problem that's made me feel this way. My feelings are valid and it's not that I have to change something with me, and it's not that I have to change something with me. And so I think that, like zooming out can really help and really just this yeah of like the reframing of it's not something that's wrong with me, it's not up to me to fix it right, because when we put the blame on the individual, then the impetus is on them to fix it. And Kelly deals.
Speaker 2:A mentor of mine always says who benefits and who gets off the hook. So, like me feeling like an imposter, who benefits from that and who gets off the hook? It's definitely not me who benefits, right, and who gets off the hook. Like who stays in power if me or anyone Like who stays in power if me or anyone feels like they're inadequate, right, like who stays in power if we continue to like not put our work out into the world? It's definitely not us who benefits.
Speaker 2:So this sort of like zooming out, I you know both my private practice clients and my business coaching clients. I'm always like both my private practice clients and my business coaching clients. I'm always like what is your why? And like having your values and your why is this foundation to come back to of? Okay, yes, I'm feeling like an imposter. Yes, I'm comparing myself. I mean, this happens to me all the time. I'm like whoa, these people are putting out like really good information, or like they're really smart, like they know so much about this, right, and like why should I? Like who am I to? Like also put this stuff out there? But it's like, okay, no, no one benefits if I'm staying quiet, um, and not talking about these things, and so, um, yeah, really kind of coming back to that, zooming out, um, and coming back to your why and I'm like okay, why, what is my why? Why am I doing this work?
Speaker 1:um, and then, of course, having your community to help bolster you back up when these feelings are coming up too that is so many things that I'm gonna keep with me and think about, especially of that of thinking around like who benefits? Very interesting, fun, so fun. Fact on the CEO thing, as you were talking, I was thinking about this one thing that my team and I were talking. I was like our charging late cancellation fees was like a thing. It was like a thing. It was just even though we had a policy, and I was like guys, I support it, just do it. It's fine, it's written everywhere, here's how we're gonna do it. And it was just constantly this thing.
Speaker 1:And we had a male dietitian during our practice last year and we were talking about it and as we were talking about it, the, the females and the group were, you know, we were talking all about the anxieties we had around it and I was like you know, I asked the male, or you know, nick on Nick on our team. I was like do you have any hesitation around charging somebody like P? And he was like no, like why would I? Like it's just, it's like written there, like why would I? He's like it's funny, I never even thought to consider that somebody would question paying, that you know. And I was like okay, let's all take that energy and remember that we've been conditioned to be afraid to like, and remember that we've been conditioned to be afraid to like. You know, stand, have a boundary around something, and so, yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think, the feeling of being an imposter and I think for dietitians because it is a primarily, you know, a female identifying field, and I think the way dietitians are often treated in, I'll say, clinical spaces in particular, but even just on the on the internet, there's people who are like, I think they know more about other stuff and it definitely can foster this place of like, feeling like we are inadequate and don't know what we're talking about. And it's okay to. It's also okay to like not know how to do it perfectly and you will never know how to do it perfectly, because I'm not a thing but being able to like, put yourself out there and and try still, and yeah, who? And so that we can push things and move things, and so it's really helpful hearing your experiences on that and um. I was that's here, right, talk about dr kristen neff when I did. You see the new um inside out.
Speaker 2:Not yet. I am waiting for it to come to this theater near me, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to see it at some point this summer.
Speaker 1:My son loves the first one.
Speaker 1:We were big fans of the first Inside Out and so we were waiting for it to come out in theaters and we waited until the end. So on the internet I saw, if you wait until the end there's a little extra scene, but at the end of it there was like a, you know, in the credits. It was like people that um, supporting providers, I think, and dr kristen f was one of the contributing clinicians to helping, which makes a lot of sense based on what you know and our practice. Our like motto is compassionate curiosity and using compassion is number one for us, and so, yeah, I just thought that was like a fun fact that I noticed from the new Inside Out movie, but it makes a lot of sense that it contributes to that.
Speaker 2:So it does. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to see it and that is really interesting. Yeah, her work has been super, super helpful and, oh my gosh, I love that story of the difference between the female dietitian and the male dietitian in your practice. And I think, right like that, right there, him being like I never would have thought to, even like, not do it.
Speaker 2:And I had a very similar experience a cis white male friend of mine who worked in sales for many, many years and I distinctly I think it was like 2017. I actually had him come speak. I don't know if he spoke at the retreat that you were at, but I had him come speak to some of my retreats, like about sales, because I think like I could have talked about the same stuff, but just like here, like I remember I can't remember exactly what he and I were talking about it was something around charging, it wasn't late fees, but he was just like, why wouldn't late fees? But he was just like, why wouldn't you do that? And just like, no hesitation, and it was so wild to me.
Speaker 2:So, again, it's not our fault, it is our conditioning and seeing those examples of like how a lot of cis men, cis white men in particular are not conditioned that way. Um is so interesting, um, and I think like, yeah, again, I think there's so much nuance, like there certainly can be late fees that like we don't want to charge because of a specific reason, and when is it because of our people pleasing, when is it because we're worried they're going to get mad at us? Have you heard of the people who use like faux virtual assistants with a male name?
Speaker 2:no, but maybe, like maybe I have heard something, I think I see something online or people were doing something like that, but that is actually really yes, so I've like read about this and people will say, like women business owners will say when they put it under a male name, whether it's like billing something or following up a late payment, no pushback. So like whoa, this is so wild and it just I mean it sucks right. But it can also help us when we are in those spaces of you know, both like trusting ourselves but also knowing like when these different aspects might be coming into play.
Speaker 1:That's so interesting and we do that all the time where we'll say, you know, like if people give you a pushback to say it's a policy, like a company policy, but it's sort of like it's because we feel it's yeah, it's hard to still feel like this is just because it's. What I'm saying is we have to do it Like. I always feel that we have to have this like other thing and that probably is also my own stuff, coming up with how I was, you know, taught to be too, and that's something I have to still overcome but it is because of the system and a lot of the work that you and I do. You know, as clinicians is around how the systems around us have impacted us to believe that you know somebody is inadequate based on anything, based on how they look, their gender, anything like that. So it certainly shows up in business and probably why I I certainly had imposter feelings. I'm going to start saying that instead of syndrome, because I certainly did with this podcast and I remember talking to my business coach, hannah Turnbull, like what am I doing? I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about, but really being like, okay, well, I want to talk about this and the only way I'm ever going to feel comfortable doing it is if I just do it, and that is why I'm here. And, yeah, you just have to if it's something that you believe in and it is your why. Like, coming back to that too, I did some work around that myself a couple of years ago, like figure out, like what is it that I want? And yeah, we have to just sort of take it is uncomfortable, but you're right, it's a very universally uncomfortable thing that most business owners probably feel, at least in our space as dietitians. So, yeah, well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:There were so many really great nuggets and things and I love hearing about your story and yeah, it's so funny and surreal. And I think I said this, I said this before we started recording too. Is that the last time you know I had done, I'd done a coaching call with you five, four or five years ago. It was 2020. So I was already pregnant. You were like you should pitch yourself to a couple of podcasts. I was like, nah, I don't want to do that. But I also think it's because I didn't know what I wanted yet, and I think it wasn't until I figured it out and like I still like now I would pitch myself to a podcast, talk about businesses, business stuff. But that's because it's like this is yeah, I like know what I want to talk, being an R&D to CEO, so so exciting and full circle to have you here. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I love this conversation and, yeah, love what you're doing with the podcast. It's really awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you Before we say goodbye. Where can people find you and what are some offerings you got going on right now?
Speaker 2:So on my website, alyssarumseycom, I have a specific section for dietitians and clinicians. So AlyssaRumseycom backslash RD resources has lots of different information. I have a one self-paced course, the Dietitian Entrepreneur Foundation course that actually came out of those retreats that you attended. That walks people through the exact steps to start a practice. And also Jasmine Hormati, who I know you know and I are releasing a course this fall probably October 2024, a insurance credentialing and billing course. So teaching dietitians how to go through that process. It's also going to be self-paced.
Speaker 2:We're really looking to do it both from a weight, inclusive, justice, informed perspective and also to give people a lower price option. We're going to have some options to do some live coaching with us. But, yeah, when you're getting started, it can be hard to spend a ton of money, so really excited about that coming out. And then, yeah, when you're getting started, it can be hard to spend a ton of money, so really excited about that coming out. And then, yeah, I run those quarterly workshops, like I mentioned. So I have an email list that you can join from my website, um, and to stay in touch about that.
Speaker 1:Amazing. We'll make sure to put all those things in the show notes. Of course, I'm so excited for the insurance and credentialing course. That's very much needed, especially in our in our kind of space around weight inclusive care. So I'm really excited for for that when that comes out. So we'll make sure to link all those things that you mentioned in our show notes. And, yeah, thank you again for being here. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. All right, and thanks everyone for listening and we'll see you next time. Bye me, all right, and thanks everyone for listening and we'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.
