IAM228- Certified Holistic Health Coach and Entrepreneur Teaches on How to Become a Healthier and Authentic Self

Nicole is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Wellness Influencer, and Entrepreneur. At the age of 25, she left her corporate job as an engineer and set out on a mission to create a life that set her soul on fire. She teaches others how to become their healthiest, happiest, most authentic selves through private and small group coaching. She also helps other wellness entrepreneurs grow profitable, passionate, authentic businesses that allow them to live more joy-filled lives.

• CEO Hack: Being an avid reader. Two books- You are a badass at making money  & You are a badass
• CEO Nugget: (1) Always come from a place of service (2) There's no such thing as failure
• CEO Defined: Serving others, making important decisions and steering your business

Website: https://www.livingwellwithnic.com/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/livingwellwithnic/
Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/livingwellwithnic/?business_id=223454381749784

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Transcription:

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Nicole Nelson 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 0:27

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 Nicole Nelson from livingwellwithnic.com. Nicole, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Nicole Nelson 0:37

Awesome to have you? Thank you for having me!

Gresham Harkless 0:39

No problem, no problem. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Nicole so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Nicole is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Wellness Influencer, and Entrepreneur. At the age of 25, she left her corporate job as an engineer and set out on a mission to create a life that set her soul on fire. She teaches others how to become their healthiest, happiest, most authentic selves through private and small group coaching. She also helps other wellness entrepreneurs grow profitable, passionate, authentic businesses that allow them to live more joy-filled lives. Nicole, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Nicole Nelson 1:12

I am ready.

Gresham Harkless 1:13

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question that I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Nicole Nelson 1:20

So I actually went to school for packaging engineering, something completely unrelated to health and wellness. And after college, I ended up landing my dream job with General Mills. And this had been a lifelong dream. My dad works there. And we were actually the first father-daughter packaging team in the company's history, which was really cool. And I quickly learned though, after that honeymoon phase wore off of any new job you have that just the corporate environment, the type of work I was doing was just not fulfilling.

And I had this moment of, oh my gosh, what am I doing, I just spent my whole life preparing for this. And I'm really worried that I will not be happy. And you know, even though I have this quote-unquote, perfect job on paper, I just was not fulfilled at all on the inside. So I received my health coaching certification through IIN. And about halfway through that program, I launched my own health coaching business Living Well With Nic. So that was born in February of 2016. And actually, my three-year anniversary is coming up this week, which is really exciting. So I started blogging, I was doing a lot of recipe development.

And then when I graduated, I started seeing clients one on one. So my business was slowly growing on the side because I was still working full-time at General Mills, my job was very demanding. I was traveling a lot. So I reached this point, in April of 2018, I had this wake-up call, I was actually on a business trip. And I was just burned out my anxiety was through the roof, I was so stressed. And I just said you know what, this is no longer serving me, I can't keep holding on to this dream that this will get better.

And I can just have this little side business. So I decided to just quit, I gave my notice at the end of April. So it's coming up on a year this April that I've been an entrepreneur full-time. And it was amazing to see not only the shift in my business but also the personal shift in myself and how I really got a lot of my personality back that my corporate job had completely sucked out of me. So it's been a very, very exciting year. But that's kind of my background, I went from having this extremely stressful, not fulfilling corporate job to this thriving business that I created. And I'm the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. So it's been a very fun past few years.

Gresham Harkless 3:55

Nice. That's definitely you know, awesome to hear. And, you know, happy three years as well make sure that I won't forget that. And it's funny because I'm glad you kind of spoke on it about your evolution as a person. And I think a lot of times when you know you when you're younger, sometimes you think and see like, this is what I'm going to be when I'm gonna grow up and that might be the path and that might be how that happens for some people but sometimes we kind of forget that we also evolve as people sometimes we learn a little bit more about ourselves or we have an experience that we want to kind of pursue and we evolve you know, over time just like you know, everything else does.

Nicole Nelson 4:26

Exactly and I I really did a lot of self-reflecting and I said you know I think I've been holding on to this corporate packaging engineering dream for my dad at the end of the day. And I started finally living for myself and making decisions just thinking about what would make me the happiest and at the end of the day, it all worked out how it was supposed to work out and I tell people you know, even though I left General Mills, you know, not the way I wanted to it was a very difficult decision at the end of the day, but I'm so happy that I had the unfortunate experience I did, I did not have a very good manager.

And I truly believe to this day that she was really put into my life to kind of push me in the right direction and push me to take the leap sooner than I did instead of getting super comfortable. And just keep saying, Yeah, this is okay, I'll just make it one more year, one more year. So even though my experience was very, very challenging while I was in it, I'm so incredibly grateful that I've been on this path, because I have learned so much about myself, and being an entrepreneur, you have to be very resilient. And you really have to be your own cheerleader and your own motivator. And I learned very quickly to do that at my corporate job when things got really hard. And so that skill has really helped me in my own business.

Gresham Harkless 5:55

Yeah, absolutely. And that makes perfect sense. I always say kind of like the binaries happen where you don't have the greatest experience. And then sometimes that pushes you towards the perfect experience. And you start to appreciate it even more because you've had, you know, the opposite side of the spectrum, so to speak. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about what you're doing to help support the clients that you work with and what you feel kind of sets you apart.

Nicole Nelson 6:15

Yes. So when I was in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, they talked a lot about niching down your health coaching practice, which basically means finding a specific group of people that you are interested in helping, or it could be a specific area of nutrition that you're really passionate about. So when I was thinking about my ideal client, I was thinking of someone who was similar to myself in the aspect of they were female, worked in the corporate environment, they were stressed out. And ultimately, they were overwhelmed by all of the diets and the fad diets that were out there.

And so my main focus is helping people really get their digestion on track. And I try not to really push a diet. I'm doing that in air quotes because I don't believe in diets but in a specific way of eating for my clients. I personally follow a plant-based diet, but I try to listen to my client's needs and listen to how their body needs to be fueled because everyone is different. And that's another thing I really preached was this idea of bio-individuality. So a lot of dieticians, are schooled to come from a place of counting calories and macronutrients and health coaches are really there to listen to the client and help them heal themselves at the end of the day.

So my ideal client, as I said to someone who was around the age of 30 years old, she's female single works in the corporate world. And I kid you not, my second client was actually my ideal client to a tee, which was actually very, very, it was very telling that I was I had niched down in the right direction. So right now my coaching practice is kind of split up into a few different ways I work with people, one on one, and that's typically on a six-month basis. And depending on if the client is local, or they're out of state, we'll either meet in person or just over the phone. And then I also have small group coaching.

And this is really great for people who want more of a broad foundation of just wellness and nutrition. In general, they're not they don't really need that one-on-one attention. They're not dealing with a very specific issue. And they're interested in building that small, trusting community. So I try to keep that around five to 10 people. But I would say my main focus with all of my clients, whether it's the small group or one-on-one is really digestion, because the digestion piece is something that affects all aspects of our life, and vice versa. And a really cool part of my job.

And something that IIN is very passionate about teaching is that IIN health coaches are taught to look at the person as a whole being. So instead of just asking someone, you know, what do you eat on a daily basis, we really get to know the clients well on a personal level, and we talk about all areas of your life, we call it the circle of life, and we figure out how balanced this circle of life is. And when you have these areas of your life, it could be relationships, your career, your finances, you'll notice that when multiple things are out of balance, or could be one thing that's just way out of whack your food and how you're digesting that food is not optimal.

And so you might be dealing with some food sensitivity issues or weight gain or weight loss that you feel like you have no control over because you're just eating things that you normally wouldn't eat because you're stressed, you're overwhelmed, whatever it is. So I like to say that health coaches are we're kind of a breed between therapists and nutritionists. And I will tell you that 75% of my conversations with my clients are really about just life stuff that they're dealing with.

And it's fascinating to watch this transformation after talking with people about different aspects of their life that they're dealing with, and how eventually, the food just ties in naturally. So that I would say that the one thing that really sets me apart is that personal aspect and getting to know my clients really, really well and teaching them how to heal themselves at the end of the day.

Gresham Harkless 6:15

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So what I want to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that you feel makes you more effective and efficient.

Nicole Nelson 10:47

I would say my main thing is reading, I swear by reading, I have always been an avid reader. But since being an entrepreneur, it is something that is non-negotiable for me every single day, even if I have time to read a page of a book, it's something that is so incredibly grounding, and it forces you to be very, very present. I feel like it's different than you know, listening to music in the background, or even an audiobook like you're not, you're not focusing as much as reading words on a page and really absorbing it. So I like to sit down every morning, I try to read for at least 15 minutes. And I like to switch between reading books that are both self-development, business-based finance-based and just fun personal reads.

And two books, I will say that I swear by and I tell all of my other health coaches that I mentor to read these are, You Are a Badass, and You Are a Badass at Making Money. They are both written by Jen Sincero. And I've actually read both of them twice. But I read that first book, when I was still working my corporate job, it really just gave me this boost of confidence that I needed. And just the information she shares is so incredibly valuable. And you will notice this huge shift in your mindset after you read them. They're really quick reads, they're funny, they're just really engaging. Those would be my top two books if I had to suggest if suggest a new book to someone.

Gresham Harkless 12:19

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Nicole Nelson 12:27

I would say always come from a place of service. When you are young and you're starting your business, you're not really tuning in to what your consumers or your customers are telling you that they need. And this is actually how I came about launching my Business Breakthrough Academy which helps other health coaches or wellness entrepreneurs launch or create a profitable business because I was receiving hundreds of emails and direct messages on a weekly basis from people who basically wanted to know how I was running my business.

Whenever I meet someone who's either becoming a health coach, or they're an entrepreneur, I always say, think of your job as serving others. And when you shift your mindset to that you will be amazed at the opportunities that pop up the ideal clients that come your way because you're just giving off this different energy and people are really open to that.

Gresham Harkless 13:26

And now I wanted 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 I want to ask you, Nicole, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Nicole Nelson 13:36

So I love this question. Because even calling myself a CEO is very, very surreal. It just sounds kind of weird to me, because I never thought that I would have that title. So it's something that I have dreamed of. For the past several years, I just had this feeling deep down that I wanted to be my own boss and eventually run my own company someday. So being in the position I'm in is It's extremely humbling.

And it means that I have this honor of serving others, I get to make big important decisions and really steer my business in the direction that I see fit, which is challenging because you go from kind of taking orders from someone else and someone else that has that larger vision and then you're put in this position where you have to paint that picture. And I will say that has been the most challenging piece is allowing myself to be in that place of authority, where I don't look for outside opinions as much and I'm like nope, you know what, I'm gonna go with my gut. This feels like the right decision because I'm the leader of my brand.

Gresham Harkless 14:51

And 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.

Nicole Nelson 14:58

Sure. I will say just one more piece of advice that I tell everyone who I meet with all the people that I coach on a business basis is just to not give up, there is no such thing as failure in my book, The only way that you can technically fail is if you throw in the towel and just give it up. There's always room for improvement and changing direction. But that doesn't mean that you have to throw away all this hard work. So stay the course and persevere through it. There are so many people out there and so many incredible resources to help you there is there's no excuse why you can't find an answer or find the right person to talk to with all the different ways to get in touch with people.

So with that being said, you can easily find me on Instagram @livingwellwithnic. I'm on Facebook, I'm on Pinterest, and I do offer free consultations for both my health coaching and my business coaching. And I love to do that just to see if my potential clients are a good fit for my programs and vice versa. So that is how you can best reach me.

Gresham Harkless 16:02

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes it's @livingwellwithnic just so that anybody can follow up. But again, I thank you so much for your time today and all the awesome things that you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Nicole Nelson 16:14

Thank you so much. It's awesome to talk to you.

Outro 16:16

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

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