IAM289- Blogger and Co-author Helps Parents Navigate the World of Plant-based Nutrition

Alexandra Caspero MA, RD, CLT, RYT, is owner of Delish Knowledge and author of Fresh Italian Cooking for the New Generation. Her award-winning blog, Delish Knowledge, focuses on making whole-food, vegetarian eating deliciously simple.

She is the co-founder of Plant-Based Juniors, an evidence-based platform that helps parents navigate the world of plant-based prenatal and pediatric nutrition. Additionally, she is the co-author of Joyful Eating, Nourished Life, which helps others discover a happier, healthier relationship with food and their body.

• CEO Hack: 90-day year program to help with prioritization
• CEO Nugget: Know more than you think you do
• CEO Defined: Value provider

Website: http://delishknowledge.com/

plantbasedjuniors.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/delishknowledge/
https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedjuniors

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Alexandra Caspero of Delish Knowledge and Plant Based Juniors.

Alexandra, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Alexandra Caspero 0:43

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:45

No problem super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Alexandria so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Alexandria is the owner of Delish Knowledge and author of Fresh Italian Cooking for the New Generation. Her award-winning blog, Delish Knowledge, focuses on making whole-food, vegetarian eating deliciously simple.

She is the co-founder of Plant-Based Juniors, an evidence-based platform that helps parents navigate the world of plant-based prenatal and pediatric nutrition. Additionally, she is the co-author of Joyful Eating, Nourished Life, which helps others discover a happier, healthier relationship with food and their body. Alexandra, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Alexandra Caspero 1:28

Yes. So excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 1:30

Awesome. Super excited to have you on as well. So I wanted to kick everything off with what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Alexandra Caspero 1:37

Yeah, awesome. So you know, funny enough, I actually started my business as a hobby. I started my blog back in 2010. And this was really sort of at the time when there were some people who are making their blogs and tip business. But that wasn't the norm, you know, so in the days of blogger and WordPress, you know, most people are using the free version.

And I really started it just as a way to communicate with my friends and family back home, I was in grad school in California, I have left Virginia and I was lonely and doing a lot of cooking. And so it was just sort of a fun way for me to share those experiments, share those recipes. And then from there, it kind of slowly built into a business. And I would say about 2014 I started realizing that okay, you know, there was definitely potential here for incoming revenue, I was getting the attention of different brands and companies to start doing some sponsored work.

And you know, at that point, I kind of told my husband, okay, I want one year, I want a year to see if I can make this a viable business. And if I can't, that's okay, you know, I'll keep doing kind of my day job. But if I can, then you know, that sort of that was sort of my, my number to myself. So I did it. In one year, I was able to surpass what I was making at my current job. And, you know, I sort of say the rest is history.

And then, you know, when it comes to Plant Based Juniors, that really was designed out of a pain point, I was pregnant with my son, and I had been eating a mostly plant-based diet for most of my life at that point. And I was just having a really hard time finding actual recommendations that were based on science when it came to how to raise a baby, mostly plant-based, and also what that looked like as far as pregnancy.

And so I teamed up with another dietitian, to sort of form this community, this platform, we could help translate the science into what other moms and other parents needed.

Gresham Harkless 3:31

Nice, I absolutely love that. And I love how you know, I'm a big blogger myself. So I always love how, you know starting out as a hobby or just something you're using to explore. And then it blossoms into a business and then another business. And I love the fact that they're all kind of combined. It's not like you're doing two separate things, but they're all kind of in the same pool, so to speak.

Alexandra Caspero 3:49

Yeah, absolutely. There's definitely an overlap. And you know, I always say if I had started my blog with the intention of it being a business, I would have done things so differently. But there is a sort of beauty in hindsight and starting it mostly as a hobby without any intention of ever making $1 from it, really kind of, I think allowed me to make mistakes without there ever being any pressure. Because it wasn't designed to be a business at first, but I'm thankful that almost 10 years later it is.

Gresham Harkless 4:18

Yeah, absolutely. And I've read like a lot of statistics and stuff. And it said that it does take a long time to build up the following, build up a blog, build up anything really, especially like a blog. So sometimes if you sometimes at least for me, I'll speak for myself if I had thought about it being a business in the very beginning. It may not have lasted very long.

Alexandra Caspero 4:35

Yeah, I think there's beauty in sort of that that grace of there's, there's no you know, certain endpoint that you're having to meet or you have to meet in order to pay the bills. You know, there's a lot more creativity, I think sometimes when you're allowed the freedom to let it just be something that you're actually passionate about, instead of having to combine that passion with a bottom line.

Gresham Harkless 4:54

Absolutely. Yeah, I think that's when really creative things happen. And I know you definitely know this from your blog and of course Plant Based Juniors. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about both of those and what exactly people can find.

Alexandra Caspero 5:06

Yeah, so so delicious knowledge is really just sort of your, your average blog in a sense. And what I mean by that is I don't have a lot of specific resources and services that are paid, I make most of my money from that service just based on content from ad revenue.

And so that's nice because it really allows me to deliver a lot of free content to readers and subscribers without them having to feel like they have to buy into anything, and that business model with my traffic has really allowed me to create a sustainable income without having to, you know, to branch out too much and really kind of dive into what my, what my subscribers are asking for.

And giving them that information on a freeway. There's sort of a, I think, a win-win for both parties there. And then when it comes to Plant Based Juniors, that's a little more nuanced. So that community even though we started it a year ago, in just one year, I've grown to about the same level as Delish Knowledge, which has been in existence for over nine years. And I think a lot of that is really serving my niche.

The people that are, you know, coming to Plant Based Juniors are parents, they are individuals who are either interested in eating plant-based eating, you know, semi plant-based, fully plant-based, whatever that means to them, but they really want guidance, and they're, they're tired, and they're frustrated by seeing, you know, sort of mixed messages online and not showing where to trust.

And I think that we've been able to build a really strong really engaged community because we're giving them exactly what they want. And through that, we have a few different services, we've got a pregnancy guide that kind of walks someone through all the stages of pregnancy, if I try to muster by trimester, all the things to be concerned about supplements, exercise guides, etc.

And then we also have a feeding course when it comes to infants. So you know, a lot of the questions that are wrapped up and how to feed and what foods are okay, and different methods, we combine into a paid course right there.

Gresham Harkless 7:09

That makes perfect sense. And correct me if I'm wrong. Do you find that because you had the blog, you were able to create content? As you said, it wasn't so like revenue base, just value base, that it was able to help you kind of laser focus a little bit more with through Plant Based Juniors?

Alexandra Caspero 7:24

Yeah, absolutely. I think so. And, you know, really, I think that that's the heart of it, right? It is providing value, I kind of look at both of those communities with those businesses as having a lot of overlap there. You know, when it comes to delicious knowledge, my value is in providing healthy recipes from a dietitian, there's sort of that inherent trust in there.

And I do that on a freeway. Because again, I have ads on my website that say, hey, and help support that business. When it comes to Plant Based Juniors, again, we're you know, we're creating so much valuable content, we've decided to package it a little bit differently. So for people that need that information, they're able to receive it

Gresham Harkless 8:05

Makes perfect sense. And, and you might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization, well, what do you feel kind of makes you unique?

Alexandra Caspero 8:15

Yeah, so I would say for both Plant Based Juniors, and for Delish Knowledge, we kind of hone in on this idea of evidence-based and, you know, especially in a world where there are so many nutrition influencers, other dieticians and people in the wellness and health space, I think really been sort of the cornerstone of evidence-based is helpful.

And what I mean by that is, even though I think that a predominantly plant-based diet has a whole host of benefits, I'm not strict on the dogma, you know, I want to make sure the science matches up. And in instances where it doesn't, I'm very open about that.

And I talk about that. And I think that that can be kind of refreshing, where I'm not trying to push a certain diet type, I'm really just trying to push the science and, you know, nutrition is is a science, it's confusing, it can be complicated, sometimes it can be really simple sometimes. And it can also be a lot to wade through, you know, I sometimes joke that I've got two nutrition degrees, and even sometimes reading a study, it's like, I don't understand what's happening.

I'm not sure what the methodology is here, or how they got these results. And so I really try to take it from the standpoint of, you know, I can sit here in my office, I can read the studies day to day and figure out what's going on and what the overall message can be.

And then I can translate it into a really simple consumer-ready format. And I think that is sort of my secret sauce if, you know, I talked to my participants, my readers as someone who is interested in some of the science and some of the why behind the nutrition recommendations, but also do it in a way where they don't have to study. They don't have to, you know, read anything, they can just kind of trust that everything that they're getting from, from Plant Based Juniors and from Delish Knowledge is credible

Gresham Harkless 9:57

Absolutely. And I love that idea. And being evidence base and having that information because like you've said, a lot of times, it's very confusing, because sometimes you'll read one thing, and then you hit refresh on the page, or something completely different. So it gets very good.

Alexandra Caspero 10:12

And yeah, and some of that is true. You know, some studies show one thing and other studies show another thing. And it can be really frustrating, I think, to the average consumer on what they're supposed to believe. And, you know, I think some sort of coming from an evidence-based place where it's like, hey, look, here's what we know, you know, there might not be a concrete answer. But here is all of the evidence out there. And based on this, this is what I recommend.

Gresham Harkless 10:35

Absolutely. And it definitely, to me, helps build a lot of trust. And definitely, as of course, you have seen your following growing. And just because you are being transparent and doing it based on the facts so that people can kind of make their own decisions, but you give them all the evidence they need.

Alexandra Caspero 10:50

Yeah, I think that's really, really been helpful for both businesses.

Gresham Harkless 10:55

Absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Alexandra Caspero 11:05

Yeah, so my sort of go-to program that I think really helped transform both businesses is the 90-day year. And that's why Todd Herman, I'm assuming that that has been a spoken quite often, because I feel like when I talk to other business owners, you know, I hear over and over again, yeah, yes, that's what's really changed change my perspective, too.

And what I love most about a 90-day year is it's really a system that helps you prioritize what you need to do, and what you can hire other people to do. And I think that as so many CEOs know, there's so much that needs to get done. And it can be really easy to get in the weeds when you're trying to figure out, you know, every single step you have to do in order to run a successful business.

And 90-day year really kind of helped me take a 10,000-foot approach to say, Okay, if I can focus my time on these things, that's how I'm going to grow my business and all these other things over here, that's what I need to hire out for. Because it's, it's going to take too much time, it's going to take too much energy, for me to learn all of these things I have to do in order to make the small parts work and the small parts successful.

And my time is much better spent working on sort of the big projects that are really going to drive the business to the next level. And so that one was sort of a mind-blowing course for me.

Gresham Harkless 12:25

Absolutely, no, I think you're actually the first to mention that I don't think

Alexandra Caspero 12:30

Now, you know, the other secret sauce?

Gresham Harkless 12:32

Oh, really? Well, I was gonna say, because I think I've heard somebody mention rocks and pebbles. So to make sure it's, focus on the pebbles, but focus on the rocks because they actually make an impact. So kind of along the same lines, just maybe a different one.

Alexandra Caspero 12:46

Yes, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:48

Of course. So now when it asks you for what I call your CEO, nugget, and this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Alexandra Caspero 12:59

Yeah, so I would sort of tell myself, you know, take risks and trust your gut, I was young when I started my first company, my blog, I was in grad school still, and again, you know, I made decisions based on the fact that I didn't know this is going to be a business.

And I think if I could go back in time, I would tell myself that you know, you know, more than you think you do, there's a lot of questions that come up, especially at sort of those crucial forks in the road where I can make this decision, this happens if you make the wrong decision, you know, that can set you back. And I really questioned my gut that I knew enough to make those right decisions.

And unfortunately, that hit me hard, especially in the early years. And so I think if I could go back and tell myself anything, it's that you know, I know my business better than anyone. And so if I'm getting advice from something, or I'm hiring someone, and we're kind of at friction, I don't agree with what they're saying, I know what I need to do more than anyone I know, my readers, I know my content.

I know what I want this to be. And so if I'm getting kind of pushback doesn't quite align with those values. And I should really trust my gut, and not trust the idea that just because someone claims they're an expert, they actually know what's best for me and my business.

Gresham Harkless 14:09

Absolutely. Because deep down, we often already know the answer. And we just got to, you know, face it and follow through with it. So I think that's a great CEO nugget. And now when to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote, CEOs on the show. So Alexandra, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Alexandra Caspero 14:27

Yeah, we kind of touched on this a little bit, but really, I look at my job as providing value. So you know, everything that I do, whether it's Instagram posts, whether it's you know, a Facebook video or a live every single thing that I put out there all of my content, I really try to ask myself, what value am I giving someone?

You know, I think that we are all so busy and so overwhelmed, especially in the online space that trying to create something that has value something that is worthy of someone's time is really where I like to position most of my businesses and I think that not only has helped me be really successful because you know when you're creating a lot of value, even if you're not creating a ton of content, people really gravitate towards feeling like they're getting something from you.

And so in every decision that I make a sort of from that CEO perch, I like to make sure that I am giving value I'm providing something that's actually going to kind of help someone's life and make their life a little bit better.

Gresham Harkless 15:26

Absolutely, no, I definitely think that's a great perspective and a great reminder to everybody CEOs to always provide value and lead with value. So Alexandra, I truly appreciate your time what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and then how best they can get ahold of you.

Alexandra Caspero 15:44

Yeah, well thank you again for having me on. You know this this podcast is so invaluable with all of the the nuggets that you're providing for everyone. So thank you for doing the work. And you can find me @delishknowledge on most of the social media platforms as well as @plantbasedjuniors. And then I'm also at delishknowledge.com and plantbasedjuniors.com

Gresham Harkless 16:05

Awesome, awesome, awesome. We'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well. So thank you again, Alexandra. Have a great rest of the day.

Alexandra Caspero 16:11

Awesome. Thanks so much.

Outro 16:13

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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