Episode Summary

In this episode of the Make Space for More podcast, host Melissa Swink discusses the intersection of health, productivity, and business growth with guest Kymberly Klimek, PharmD, B.S, a functional medicine pharmacist. They explore how optimizing health can enhance leadership and productivity, the importance of understanding one's body, and the role of functional medicine in addressing chronic health issues. 

Kymberly shares her personal health journey, the significance of testing, and how to create personalized health plans for optimal wellness. The conversation highlights the importance of a holistic approach to health and the potential for healing through lifestyle modifications.

Key Highlights:

• Discover why your unexplained fatigue or brain fog might be holding your business back from its full potential.
• Learn how understanding your body's unique needs can transform your health and your leadership effectiveness.
• Uncover the surprising connection between hormone balance and your ability to show up powerfully in your business.
• Find out why popping supplements without proper testing is like throwing darts blindfolded, and what to do instead.
• Understand how investing in your health is more than self-care – it's a strategic business decision that impacts your bottom line.
• Learn why traditional medicine might be missing the root cause of your health challenges, and how functional medicine takes a different approach.
• Discover practical ways to optimize your energy and focus without sacrificing your busy schedule.
• Get the inside scoop on why "powering through" health issues can actually sabotage your long-term success.

About Our Guest: 

Kymberly Klimek, PharmD, B.S. is a Functional Medicine Pharmacist with advanced training in endocrinology, hormone balance, and root-cause healing. After personally overcoming years of chronic health struggles through functional and lifestyle medicine, she now helps others restore their health by addressing the whole person—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As an enrolled member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, she integrates both science and indigenous healing perspectives to guide clients toward true, lasting wellness. Visit her website at www.innatehealingandperformance.com

About Melissa:

Melissa Swink, Founder & CEO of Melissa Swink & Co., has a team of virtual assistants who provide administrative and marketing support for small businesses and non-profits.

Since 2012, Melissa and her team have helped more than 100 businesses grow through the services they offer, and she is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create profitable, scalable businesses they love.

Her work is all about doing what works (and eliminating what doesn’t) and driving real, measurable results. Visit www.melissaswink.com to learn more! 

Thanks for listening!

If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcast review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are really valuable and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review.

Hi everyone, welcome to the Make Space for More podcast where we talk strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. I'm your host, Melissa Swink, and in today's episode, we're gonna talk about focus, energy, and productivity from a little different perspective than we normally do. If you've been listening to the podcast for a given amount of time, you realize that I talk a lot about building systems and using tools and apps and

you know, creating workflows, standard operating procedures and things, building a team, delegating, managing your calendar, all those things for, again, better energy, focus, productivity in order to grow and scale your business. But today we're going to shift perspectives a little bit and talk about this from a different angle. We're going to talk about this through the lens of optimizing our health, because I know that if I am not at my best physically,

If I'm not sleeping well, if I'm not eating right, if I've got some stuff going on, no matter how hard I try, no matter how many apps I'm using or how many team members that I'm leveraging for support, I'm not at my best. I am not truly being the CEO and leader of my company. And really even just a mom and a friend and a daughter and all the things that I want to be showing up for in my life as well as I could be just because these things are holding us back.

And so today I'm really excited to introduce our guest, Kimberly Klimek. She is a functional medicine pharmacist with advanced training in endocrinology, hormone balance, and root cause healing. After personally overcoming years of chronic health struggles through functional and lifestyle medicine, she now helps others restore their health by addressing the whole person, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

As an enrolled member of the Kewena Bay Indian Community, she integrates both science and indigenous healing perspectives to guide clients toward true lasting wellness. Kim, welcome to the show. I am so excited to have you. You've been on my list for a very long time to have on this podcast.

Thank you so much for inviting me and having me on today. It's truly an honor and a pleasure to be here with you.

Absolutely. So I will go ahead and just share how you and I got in touch. So a couple of friends of mine have been working with you and they spoke very highly of their interactions with you and really the results and how much better they were feeling as the result of the work that you were doing together. And so I found myself, I'll take a kind of a step back here. going to make a long story short so we can dive in all the things. But I realized that

Yeah, I know it's been great. Yeah.

I'm not sleeping well. And then when you started asking some questions and we started diving into things and we're some testing, we're like, okay, here's all the things that are going on. So it's never just like one thing, like all of a sudden, we're going to start taking melatonin and you're going to sleep great. There's usually more that we can find below the surface. So you and I have worked together on improving my sleep. We've done some gut health and some cleanses and things.

My daughter's been starting to work with you a little bit. So I just wanted to share personally for those listening on the show, Kim is somebody who I work with directly. So just wanted to make sure that you have full permission to disclose whatever you want for the way that we have worked together as one CEO to another. But before we dive into all of the things, we're gonna talk about balancing hormones, gut health, mineral levels, toxin loads.

all of those things that contribute to, again, being at our best and our optimal performance, tell us a little bit about you and how you got into this line of work.

So yeah, I guess my why, right? A lot of us have these.

lot of us have these stories of like why we start a business or why we do what we do, especially like female entrepreneurs who just have a lot of, you know, passion for things that they're doing. That is exactly like how I started my business. Yeah, probably in my early 20s, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a chronic health condition where you're having painful periods, heavy bleeding, irregular menstrual cycles. And, you know, as a woman,

our menstrual cycle is a sign of our health. And so when there's disarray or chaos in that, I learned a lot of my health was

struggling. So most people, if you're having like good menstrual cycles, you know, you may be a little bit fatigued or tired two days or so before your bleed and then maybe like maybe one or one or three days when you're bleeding and that's I guess I would say that's kind of a norm. Whereas my own personal health journey I was suffering, you know, I really would only feel good about one to one and a half weeks out of every month and that was just a huge red flag to me in terms of like energy level, sleep, diet,

So I'm a licensed pharmacist actually, but I practice more in this holistic space now. And it's, it's truly through my own like revelations and my own health journey that I was able to kind of take the blinders off a little bit and see that some of the things we were doing in conventional, like outpatient chronic disease management weren't necessarily ideal or optimal for everyone, including myself. And so when I was able to take a step back and just try something different, because of course, you know, for 10 years I was kind of doing every

that the medical community and the doctors and my OB-GYNs had been telling me and it wasn't necessarily bringing me lot of, definitely not bringing me wellness on a consistent basis. And so I thought there must be something else and it fell, like I said, it fell into my lap. A colleague of mine had given me a book called Hormone Intelligence by Dr. Aviva Ram. I think if you know anything about me, I tell everybody about this book and I've talked about it on podcasts. I've talked about it everywhere.

Thank you.

And it's like it was a good like eye-opening book for me to learn that yes lifestyle nutrition professional grade supplements and these factors toxin load they all have a role in how our health is on a day-to-day basis and that was just something that was never discussed with me even in years of schooling I went to undergrad I did grad school for four years I did a master's in public

health certificate in American Indian Studies. I've done a residency program and all throughout that 10 plus years of schooling, there was just no mention of how the body really can heal itself. And so it was wild how I read a book and I read this book front to cover within like two weeks. I was so intrigued by what it was saying because it was stuff I'd never heard about. And I think that

That hits home for a lot of people because we, as a woman particularly, we live these go, go, go lifestyles. When I was younger in grad school and college, was, you just go, you just go, go, go. And you're running on fumes and you're studying and you're up late and you're eating sugar and anything to get by because, I mean, in grad school in particular, I feel like we lived in a whole different world as well. I spent a lot of my time in the library on weekends.

you

and looking out the window at people actually enjoying sunshine and nature and all the things that I tell people about now and incorporate into my own tools when working with tool kits, when I'm working with clients.

That was really my, like, that was how it kind of came about. And sort of when I started implementing these changes, it was lifestyle, it was nutrition, was using professional-grade supplements. I could see the changes happening for me within 30, within three months of just starting those things. I could feel like my body was like opening up and it was healing. you know, then the rest is kind of history. I started to feel better and not have painful periods all the time.

Hmm.

and not be literally living like one month to the next wondering when I was going to feel sick or not. that was when I had this little inkling. went and Googled, like, gosh, I'm a pharmacist and I want to do something a little bit different with my career, my health care license. It was definitely one of those moments where I was kicking myself, like, my gosh, I went to school for 10 years. I do have a lot of knowledge and education regarding pathophysiology and just cellular processes of the body.

and you know, pharmaceuticals and how they work in the body and drug metabolism. And so I thought, okay, I know like health literacy and I know I have a lot of education regarding like science and math. What can I do with this that's gonna not only help people but also bring fulfillment for me in a day-to-day basis? Because I'm at a point right now, looking back when I actually made the switch, I'm at a point right now where I always tell you this, I think too.

Okay.

is that I truly feel that I'm doing something that resonates with me and that I was kind of born to do. And it's never worth when you're just doing something that you love and you're passionate about. people always like, there's no message.

100 % and we've talked a lot about that. Yes, yes, yes, you and I have talked about that and even just for those listening, it's about that authenticity piece, right? We're doing the work that we know that we're meant to do in the world, we know that we're making a difference and we wanna do it in a way that is authentic and aligned for us. So yeah, after spending 10 years and even longer than that, if you think about your total educational journey from childhood onward,

Mm-hmm.

You find yourself in a job where you're like, okay, wait a minute, I feel like this is helpful, but we're not quite there yet. And especially after, I'm gonna say maybe that awakening to, we can actually heal, our bodies can heal themselves when given the right tools to do so.

Yeah, 100%. That's how I, that's how I.

Yeah.

about and I really do try to help them give give them the tools and just come at it like a

from a whole body perspective, like I said, it's never, even with our health, it's never just one thing. It's kind of peeling back these layers and just understanding that there's gonna be several layers and several components to it. We can't fix everything at once, but I've seen, I have literally seen the power in consistency in doing the little things on a consistent, regular basis that really brings so much growth and wellness for people. And sometimes it's like you mentioned the sleep thing, know, it's like sometimes

that's going to be our primary thing when we're first starting. We may have other things going on like hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysregulation, let alone all the other like social and environmental factors that many of us are dealing with, right? And a lot of people have trauma. So that's just something like your body just holds on to those things. And I realized that I really truly realized that like lasting health and wellness is not a overnight fix, but rather a lifestyle. And if you're

Right. Yeah.

practicing things on a consistent regular basis, you will move the needle. But I always tell people to having data really helps drive the healing practice, the healing process faster. tell people like it's, helpful to be able to understand and you know, we've ran functional testing together. I've done all the functional testing like on myself before I even started doing anything with clients. I was like, okay, I'm gonna do all this stuff for myself.

Yeah.

For sure. Yes.

So yeah, that data really helps, but we can talk more about that. But that's something I do in my business. If we're looking at different tests, that conventional medicine doesn't necessarily run, essentially.

Yes, absolutely.

Yes, yes, absolutely. And I want to touch on something with the testing portion for a moment, because this is something that you and I had chatted about even just the other day, is it's also important, I feel like in the age that we're in, when we're inundated with so much information, whether it be blogs or even medical journals, TikTok, Instagram, there's so many places we're getting information from, and I think it's important to not self-diagnose.

Like just because this influencer has told you like, hey, this supplement changed my life and I'm sleeping like I haven't slept in years and I feel like a million dollars, well, that might not necessarily be the right thing for you based on a number of factors. And so think you and I were talking about how important it is to do some testing to figure out exactly what's going on and not just guess or not just to self-diagnose either.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So again, I had mentioned I practice more in the functional medicine realm. And there's a difference, I would say, too, between naturopathic medicine, too, which is beautiful in its own way. But I think there's a little bit more reliance on symptom assessment, whereas functional medicine, it's going to combine symptom assessment, yes, too, but actual data that helps drive the recommendations we make. Because to your point, yes, I love, I absolutely am a huge fan of professional-grade supplements. I have my own little supplement schedule.

I do very consistently and regularly and I have seen the power of that come to fruition for many clients, especially when we're working with like gotten microbiome health, because it's like those are the tools like they're so powerful to help make that shift for you other than just, of course, we're looking at like functional nutrition. But then having the data component of it is super powerful because it does justify why I'm making a recommendation for someone versus I mean, there's thousands and thousands of supplements

Mm-hmm.

the market. people ask me that question all the time like do you think I would benefit from XYZ? I'm like gosh like this could work for 70 % of people but maybe you're in that 30 % where you have XYZ and you don't actually need that supplement you know.

Yes, yes, absolutely. So I wanna dive into like really the process of if somebody knows that, I feel like the symptoms are what catch our attention. They capture our attention. Like I'm not sleeping well or I've got a lot of acid reflux or I just feel like I'm tired all the time. Like those are things that I feel like draw our attention to, hey, something might not be right. So before we start talking about symptoms, if you're noticing symptoms,

What are some of the next steps of getting this sorted out? Because again, we want to be feeling our best, especially when it comes to running our businesses and just our everyday interactions with loved ones. Take us to the point where you had this awakening and then you went from working as a pharmacist to now owning your own business as well, innate healing and performance.

Peace right there. I First and foremost, I literally will encourage anyone and everyone clients friends family like to listen to those little red flags that your body has been giving you for years it is such a like pivotal moment when you can come to fruition and come to a realization that like this is not normal

Yes.

Even if you've been going consistently to the doctor and they're telling you all your labs look normal. It is not normal Let me just be let me be your advocate It is not normal if you're not sleeping at night on a regular basis if you're having painful periods irregular cycles chronic acne General fatigue and chronic fatigue every day Joint aches and pains, you know, I hear that so commonly even in like younger individuals and it's interesting because people

are always like chalking it up to just aging and getting older and I'm like, no, I would disagree. I've had, I've seen like 70 year olds like out water skiing and just doing amazing things. And I know it was funny. have like a, used to do this, like it was, I think in my first year of pharmacy school, we went and we had these, what's called the Pops partner. So we would go to this elderly, the living, what?

Yeah.

interesting. Interesting.

Yeah, the what do you call it the nursing homes kind of facility is a little bit facility, you know, they're kind of on their own. So anyways, I remember I had a two 72 year old, we were paired with these individuals and she was 72 and we got to like go interview her and we were of course we were talking to her about like her medical

nursing homes, assisted living.

and things like that. But she actually like wasn't taking that many and she genuinely just signed up for the program. I swear to just interact with students and she found it fun. But it was fun because she had traveled actually all around the world with her.

spouse who had been deceased now but she was showing us pictures of her international travels and one of the things we asked her was you know what's the secret to healthy aging and like how have you been able to you know she was up about moving around doing all these things you know one of

she said, she's like, yeah, I never smoked or I never smoked or drank alcohol like my whole life. And I just focused on eating healthy foods. And that was like literally something that was so powerful to me to have stuck in my brain like since that. But the lifestyle component of wellness is very important. And I think people forget that.

because there's so much emphasis on like masking symptoms in chronic disease management versus actually treating the root cause of it and just practicing and living a healthy lifestyle. And what my job is to help guide people to do that. And again, so most of the time, even when I'm helping people get things organized and we are sifting through layers, if they have chronic inflammation, if they have Hashimoto's, if they have imbalanced hormones, like those are all things I'm happy to help

Bring back into alignment and balance and really eradicate like my goal is actually to get rid of those symptoms for people So it's not dictating their life, but then you take these principles And bring them with you for the rest of your life because again, it's a lifestyle. So, you know, it's like okay consistently taking our magnesium or our minerals and our electrolytes every day and making sure that we have blood sugar regulation and eating healthy meals healthy fats and fiber and Organizing that for people and as long as you're

Yes.

those things 80 to 85 percent of the time when we've sort of maybe fixed or you know like helped the underlying conditions because that's a lot of people will come to me when they're they're pretty far in the weeds and it's it's not um and again i love working with all types of clients but sometimes for me learning um learning everything the hard way going through years of just like um healthcare trauma in general like i feel like it was this 10 year like

Sure. Yep.

you

lifespan. put my body through just going to doctor visit after doctor visit, gastroenterologists after GI visits and just doing every test under the sun only to be told that it was all normal.

Yeah.

was very disheartening and very traumatic. And I think my only, my only why of my business is to help prevent those types of things for any, for other people. And it's really great to see like even the younger population is so like very, their mindset is so different. Like they're learning about things on like Instagram and TikTok. And of course, you you take everything with a grain of salt. I'm like, okay, don't follow every little influencer.

Yes.

Yes. I'm like, these are great, great resources and don't just automatically assume that the suggestion is a fit for you. Yes. Look into research, look into resources, that sort of thing. Yes.

Yeah, it's great to question, question the status quo though, right? That's what I love about it. And I don't actually, even if a client says,

Yes, being an advocate. I actually, I don't look at a single client ever and if they tell me a symptom, I do not ever really discredit it because I'm like, I know what they're saying is what they're feeling. So it's my job to peel back the layers and figure out what's the root cause and what's contributing to that. And so many of my clients have a lot of small wins and you know, I document those and I share those on my Instagram and I'm very like, trying to be just a personal person.

Yes.

that they can relate with. I'm not up here. Yes, I have a medical license and I've done a lot of schooling, but I just want to be a partner with people on their health journey because that's what it is at the end of the day. It's still, I'm your health partner, I'm your coach. A lot of people call me Dr. Kim, whatever, you can call me that, but I'm still just gonna be like, you know what, I can lead you, I can lead you, but at the end of the day, you're gonna have to do the things consistently at home, behind closed doors, when nobody's watching, right?

That's sometimes the most difficult part of health. A health journey, I would say, for people is the consistency. But it's just like when you make that commitment, you make that self-commitment, I would say. Like there's just so many rewards on the other side is what I've been seeing for clients in my own particular health journey as well.

Yes.

Absolutely, absolutely. And so you obviously had this awakening. You then went through additional schooling and education in order to be able to do this work that you're doing today. So break down maybe for us, are there common things that a client will come to you with when you've never worked with them before and they're like, hey, like for me, I noticed I'm not sleeping.

as well as I used to. So what's going on with that? Is there something physical going on? Like that was something that initially, and then we of course, like I said, have done hormone testing. We've done some thyroid testing. We've done some gut cleanses and things like that. And just kind of repeat and check and kind of see like, we on the right track and that sort of thing.

That was the initial thing for me. What are some of the things that, know, generally speaking, or maybe some common things that people are coming to you that they're noticing and you're helping them with?

Yeah, for sure. mean, especially when it comes to like the female client population, it's a lot of it is like hormone balance type issues. So a lot of people express, yeah, bowel changes like constipation or they're like cold fingers and feet and weight gain. Sleep issues are common though for.

people and then heavy, painful periods, which again is like my bread and butter with things because it's been a blessing to be able to not have to have terrible periods because a lot of us are learning about the consequences and negative side effects of like synthetic birth controls. Even younger populations are not just like instantly jumping into that. And I've loved how like them, even the moms and who I've worked with are very like in tune with actually trying to help their daughters and

Yes.

prevent these, you know, they want to prevent the things from happening to their daughters too that they went through. So they're huge advocates now trying to help educate their young ones. And I think that's great. And sometimes they're just like, I need them to hear it from you, Kim, because they're not going to listen to me because I'm their mom. I'm like, I get it because I could swear up and down all the things my mom said when I was younger, I never listened to it. And now she was right, like all these years, you know, like later, I mean, like,

Yes.

Right.

Yes. Yes. I hear that too between husbands and wives where the wives are like, you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this. And husband's like, whatever, whatever. And then somebody else brings it up and it's like, hey, you know what I think I should do? And it's like the light bulb goes on. So it is like kids, spouses, family, parents. Sometimes it is helpful to have kind of that.

So that's good.

outside perspective, kind shedding some light on things. What are some common things that men come to you for?

Sometimes it's a little bit similar things with like digestive health is actually a pretty common one for some of the male clients. And then again, hormones.

Okay.

type, hormone type questions too, because testosterone is like really important for men. And sometimes if they're feeling sluggish or tired, or if they're younger and their levels are lower, it's like, why? Why are they lower? Right? So like, we're going to help treat the root causes so that they can make more and help their body be balanced and have more energy. But it's oftentimes it's sleep, hormone imbalances, and then gut issues. But I would say another thing too, for a lot of people is just stress management and cortisol regulation. So symptom wise, people will

Yes.

be expressing like puffiness in their face, the large bags under the eyes, waking particularly in the hips, and then energy levels throughout the day, like constantly needing to refuel with caffeine or they need that afternoon kick or they're getting an afternoon slump or they're just so burnt out that like as soon as they get home they just zonk out like on the couch or waking up between 1 and 3 a.m. all the time, know in Chinese medicine that tells us adrenal

Hmm.

Yeah.

health, but I think a lot of people like never even knew that like adrenal health was a thing because they in conventional care, like they weren't really even talk about adrenals unless you're like Addison's or Cushing's disease, basically like on the very extreme spectrum of either no cortisol or very high cortisol. So, but it's actually an important factor for almost every person walking this planet. So what is, you know, all of us in the gray area in between that's all of us that are just managing our

Okay.

You're right.

you

cortisol patterns and managing our stress on a day to day basis. But it becomes, that was definitely a piece of my own health journey because I was burning the candle so thin in grad school. I was working like two jobs. We had tests three days a week in pharmacy school and trying to have a social life, right, too. And then traveling here and there, like I would drive back from Madison to like Green Bay to work like part time. It was just a crazy schedule. And so no wonder I was having hormonal issues because I teach people too that like

Yeah, of course.

That the very top of our hormone like cascade is well I guess I would say in general is that your body is either gonna make cortisol or it's gonna come over here and make hormones. It's not gonna do both unless So we have to focus on like cortisol regulation stress management so that our body is feeling safe and happy inside so that it can come over here and make our primary hormones that are very important. Hormones get like a really bad rap. I feel like they're like a scary term for people, but I would say like now in today's

Hmm?

Kymberly Klimek (28:47.891)

like timeframe, people are so much more open to learning about them. And it's definitely something that like never, not even like, I never really even got talked about it even for 10 years with endometriosis, which is a completely, it's a complete chronic health condition that is related to the balance of estrogen and progesterone. So it just is wild to me how I never got any of those things mentioned like in an office appointment, other than the fact that I was gonna have to deal with

chronic condition for the rest of my life and it might come back and there wasn't too many like prescription medications that can help it and so that was that was just something that I did I couldn't live with I would say and I just I had to think outside the box and figure things out and to your point you were kind of like how did you get to like where you are now I was just like a yeah I went and googled like hey is there like functional medicine pharmacists and then I I joined this functional medicine pharmacist boot camp and

All right.

or Alliance and then I joined like a little boot camp and they were teaching us like how to start our own businesses and I'm just like I take it all in I was like okay join the something yeah. Yes for sure I had written a

You're like, sign me up. This is perfect. I found my people.

I had done a scholarship entry to the Institute of Functional Medicine explaining to them why I wanted to get this training and how I wanted to help my local community and bring some more of my Native background into my practice. And I won the scholarship. again, so the rest of that was just kind of history. gave me, it was just the universe telling me that this was really the right path for me. And when people hear me speak, they can see the path.

Mm-hmm.

awesome.

in my voice and I don't really back down to things I would say. I just feel like I have a lot of knowledge and experience and then I did, yeah, I ended up kind of quitting my little outpatient pharmacy dispensing job and I went to work for a compounding pharmacy locally and it was interactions with all the people in the community there that helped just kind of push me a little bit to starting my own business. The pharmacy was so gracious. They had sent me to do like training and everything.

Yes.

things. So I was really, really blessed to get just additional education to get me to where I am now.

I think we glitched for a minute. Are we back?

Yeah, I'm back.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. We'll have to we'll wait. We'll make sure so just to recap for me so you had won the scholarship and you wanted to take what you were learning and Share it with your community and so then we were kind of talking about I think we started talking about you knew went from pharmacist to starting your business and then After what was it Kim? Maybe like a year year and a half then you

fully stepped into owning your business.

Yeah, so like I said, I was working at an outpatient clinic in the area, just doing outpatient pharmacy dispensing, ambulatory care, kind chronic disease management, so like full pressure, diabetes, you know, all that kind of stuff. And then I, yeah, when I won the scholarship and was getting more training in functional medicine, I decided to, I decided to part ways with that, which was really hard for me actually, because I was working at a tribal clinic and I'm part native. And so was just, it was really near and dear to me to be working with that kind of patient population.

because it felt like family for me, but I really knew that like I needed to make this change in order to like, you know, have a career path with what I was newly passionate about. And so I started working at a local compounding pharmacy where we did all personalized medicine. So again, all based on like data and hormone levels and thyroid levels and just medicine that really treated and helped people looking with a

personalized touch and it was more of like, okay, there's not large side effects with these types of medications because you're, you're literally replacing a potential deficiency in somebody's body that is clearly right there visible through this data and how it drastically helps people. So the pharmacy was super, and like they were just a wonderful stepping stone for me because it allowed me to be in the community setting and I was answering phone calls and I was talking to people at the window. That's how it all came about. was that, you know, I just start, I would just start

talking to people and they asked me questions and they could hear my voice like how knowledgeable I was about it. The pharmacy had actually sent me to do hormone training and compounding through our chemical suppliers out in Texas. And then I did a hormone certification training through that program as well. Then I did like then I did the personalized medicine certification and endocrinology all because I was very passionate about it. And it was looking at it was looking at treating people from the root cause of

How well?

And again, not really like covering up symptoms, but really trying to treat and heal them as well in conjunction with supporting some deficiencies that they had in the body with You know the whole thing for me about compounding that was so great is that like there's just it's all personalized to your data not a one-size-fits-all and then everything can be customized less chemicals preservatives fillers all those types of things which was like great because as I To learn about how that contributes to our health it was

Yes.

That was a huge eye-opening piece for me too. yeah, within a year, I would say within less than two years, it was through a lot of the community members encouraging me that this was something I needed to do. Even my boss there was really supportive about me just starting my own LLC, and so I did. I was doing it part-time for a little bit, but then I got busy with referrals and everybody has been so kind to me. I've had so many connections myself with my own personal journey. was like reconnecting.

Yes.

with old providers and even like different PAs, nurse practitioners, doctors who would send me referrals because we did like, I think two years ago, we did like a, was it a year ago or two years ago? We did like a, I wanted to host a presentation in the community for providers through the pharmacy to help educate them. This one was focused really on like female hormones and hormone balance for them. But it went over so well and then those doctors actually started sending me referrals. So it was

Yes

That's awesome.

And to have them place trust in me with their patience was huge. And so it just has blossomed, I think, over the past months. And I just keep on rolling with whatever kind of comes my way. And each of my clients, teach me things along the way, too. I certainly don't have it all figured out, but I'm like, I just love reading and researching and learning. I'm always going to do that. I'm always going to conferences. I'm always learning the next thing and trying to work

Mm-hmm.

Hmm?

on continuing education for my practice and for myself. yeah.

That I love that and that's applicable. feel like to so many things where you also have your community as well with other providers like yourself. So you don't have to have all the answers. You're kind of figuring out as you go, know, client presents a situation or a condition that you're like, okay, I have not encountered this before or that's so that's interesting. And then you, you know, you go back and you research and you leverage, you know, your own network and your connections to

Kind of, I don't want to say crowdsource the answer, but figure out what the next steps are. Nobody has the answer for everything.

Hey, you I think you the nail on the head and that's how we are even in part of the small business.

wellness collective or the integrative wellness coalition. should definitely follow our podcasts and stuff because we are just, it is just a large, a big community of like-minded individuals who really want to get you better and really want to help you on your health journey and see you succeed. And that's the most powerful thing. And for me, there's no, you know, there's no better feeling than, having success with clients. And at the end of the day, you know, I work so hard to do that with each and every single individual. And of course everybody's health, a picture is

very different and there's genetic factors, environmental factors, the nutrition component. it's, I always tell people like comparison truly is the thief of choice. So just know that somebody who's maybe here in their health journey, like maybe they put in five, six years of work on a consistent basis to get there. And if you're just starting, let's just start with the foundations and you will see like how much better you can feel even within just like a month of doing foundations. I said, cause I did those things with just a book to begin with.

Yes.

Yes.

of course, like when you're looking for that next step and you're ready for personalized data and information and guidance, like that's where I come in with clients. like you said, if it's something that I can't personally like pinpoint or help, I have a network of individuals who are wonderful and love to contribute to questions in regards to patient cases and things like that. And yeah, I love it because I'm definitely like the science and math kind of nerd. I love the data on a piece of

and I'm very oriented in that functional practice, but I don't touch the body. don't put lay hands on the body. So there's all those practitioners who I absolutely need in my network, like the chiropractic and the PT and acupuncture and visceral therapy, because you do need that energy flow and movement throughout the body is so important. We can have various different blockades. And of course, I'm looking at physical symptoms too.

No.

It's just, it's such a beauty to be able to like have those connections. And I feel very blessed that I can just like, the network is so great that I can send a referral somewhere and just know that they're gonna be in good hands.

Right, yes, absolutely. So like we've been talking about, just kind of bringing all of this, kind of recapping for everybody here. We're talking about symptoms that you have that you've been dealing with for a long time. They're not really getting better. And I think you had shared with me, even when you were working as a pharmacist, where you would notice that people kept coming back month after month, year after year for their prescriptions, and they weren't actually getting better.

or sometimes they were even feeling worse. That's heartbreaking for anybody, but especially being in the healthcare industry that you're in, where it's like, what's going on? How can I help? Because what they're currently doing isn't working. Again, if you're dealing with the same symptoms over and over and over again, or you've been taking the same prescriptions for a long time and you're not getting any better,

Or maybe you're just kind of tired of feeling sick and tired at the end of the day. You're like, what's going on? Again, great place to start would be having a conversation with you. Can you tell us where our audience can connect with you? Because I know that you work with clients from, you're really poised to work with clients from anywhere because you and I connect virtually. My testing is it comes in a kit.

at home and I can send it in. I've done a variety of tests with you now. My supplements can come in the mail. So it's really, really convenient. It's not like where people have to travel a long distance in order to work with you. So can you talk a little bit about how that works?

healing and performance. can definitely just google the website. It's www.innatehealingandperformance.com. I'm actually getting a new website here in July coming up in the July or August time frame. Yeah, so that's good. Yeah. Well, when I first started, know, just threw up a website there and it just got busy fast.

Exciting. Business owners, the things we spend money on and we're super excited about. It's like new website. Yes.

We all start there. Yes. So we will definitely link that in the show notes as well. Yeah.

Yeah, awesome. I like, yeah, I've definitely changed the process a little bit of how I do intake. I'm really so right now I just I love to get down to business kind of thing. I'm not here to waste anybody's time. Like if you're ready for this next step and you're ready to make that commitment, I tell people, okay, go ahead and book like a 30 minute discovery call, we're going to hop on. I'm going to you're going to talk about to me about your biggest three to four primary symptoms or concerns that you're you're dealing with or struggling with right now. We'll discuss, you know, things that you

done in the past, we don't want to repeat old things and we'll get to going right away if we need to order any particular tests. Like I help dictate that for people in terms of what I think they'll need because you don't need to repeat things that have already been done and just depends on like what symptoms they're presenting with. So I help them organize that, giving them recommendations and it ranges between people who have actually done other functional medicine.

processes and maybe still aren't feeling like the most optimized because it's definitely something I learned is that there's definitely a different approach. just it's hard for me with my business. I would say because I really do everything I do is so customized to the individual. I do actually offer some packages if someone's like new and they're like, okay, I'm ready to do it all. I want a full blood work panel. I want a full hormone assessment. I want that and I want to

you know, see this transformation between three to six months, which is a very reasonable timeframe actually, I'll have you know, for working on things with like chronic health conditions. And then there's other people who've like dabbled a little bit already into it they're looking for a different perspective. And so it's again, so that's why it's all customized. I think.

for

There is larger practices and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Sometimes there are protocols though, right? Like, again, again, 70 % of the population may benefit from doing the same thing for every person, right? But then you still have some of these outliers or like that 30 % where they really are, they just haven't quite pinpointed that root cause thing or the picture hasn't really been a full scale like picture for them. And that's like why I'm here and that's why I do the things I do with my business.

Sometimes people may be like, it's a little bit more work and yeah, I'm learning. I'm still learning. I'm in the trenches of like being a business owner right now. But I have found that just genuinely I prefer to get that personalized touch. And the other thing is like you're working directly with me. I am the practitioner, the provider, your partner, your coach, whatever you wanna call me. Like I said, Dr. Kim.

But at the end of the day, I'm guiding you and directing you on the changes, not forcing you, not demanding you to do X, Y, Z. I can only lead people so much. I don't really chase, I guess I wouldn't say I chase a lot of clients. I have expectations in terms of if you're ready to do this, then now is. But one thing I just wanna put out there is a really big message for people is, I think the other day too, I had put like a reel on my Instagram and what was wild to me was that,

Yes.

We do in America, we easily spend like three to $5,000 every year on like a deductible with chronic health conditions that are simply just being swept under the rug and managed as you said. And what you're not realizing is all the progress you could make within a year of actually getting on the right path, getting personalized data.

And of course it is an investment right into our health, but it's an, always tell people it's an investment into lifelong healing and wellness for the rest of your life versus feeling like you have to live with arthritis and inflammation and thyroid issues like forever. So I tend to be very open in terms of, you know, Western medicine when it needs to be utilized and when I think that a holistic approach is going to serve us well, but I think that's

right.

That's perfect. You don't want to live in the extremes of any which way because again, I was trained as a a healthcare provider all you know, which I have a lot of like medical training and so I fully understand I'm actually as a pharmacist too. It's like I would never stop somebody cold turkey on a medication and just be like, okay, it's all bad for you kind of thing. I just I feel like that is you know, that's not doing a service to anybody swinging super far in the extreme versions of one. are the other.

Mm-hmm.

I'm very supportive and I would love to work with clients who are maybe looking for a different perspective.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I do appreciate too, I know for myself and even for my daughter, you have taken tests that our regular healthcare provider, our doctors have ran and everything's within the normal ranges like you say, and then you've taken a look at that and you've looked at them through a different lens and a different perspective and you're like, actually, this is interesting and this kind of correlates with this and here's what I think might be going on here. So you've been fantastic about that as well.

I know even my provider, my OB, she's been happy to order tests for you. I know she ordered my thyroid tests. It's not an either or. can be and. Working with a functional practitioner like you doesn't necessarily mean that all of a sudden we're not working with our regular doctors anymore. It can really go hand in hand.

Yeah.

a good message for sure. I definitely like I always tell clients to like, I'm super happy to work with your PCP primary care provider and our practitioners as long as they're open to you know, open to that strategy as well. And again, it's it's hard, it's hit or miss sometimes like there are definitely some practitioners who are very like, nope, Western medicine is everything that everything we learn in schools, right? This is all woo woo, etc. So it's like those tend to be hard. And again, I don't really let it I don't really let it like alter my views. I

Yes.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I've seen so much benefits and transformations for many people. I just kind of ignore that, guess I would say. I don't let it disrupt how I'm operating my business. I know there's a lot of people who do support this field of medicine too. And it's up and coming, I would say. I do feel functional medicine, like the medicine of the future. And it's here now. So people are looking into it. But like you said, I do order all types of blood work and testing for clients.

think so too.

terms of specialized. Yep, I have clients around the US right now because so I can order blood work, find a local lab if they're going to get it done. I organize all of that for my clients so you don't really have to worry about that.

And then we do if we order functional testing and that can be, yeah, I mean it can be stool samples, blood work, urine testing, saliva samples. So it's all in the convenience of your home. I order the test kits and they get shipped to your home and I direct you on how to get the sample and then we submit it. Testing generally takes, you know, sometimes anywhere between two to three weeks to come back just depending on how busy the lab facilities are. And a lot of these are CLIA certified, like they are legitimately certified laboratories.

with the test so they're not like it's not like a a woo woo kind of test like these are legitimate. Yeah so I do all that and then yes it's pretty much just direct one-on-one communication with me through our consultations and I direct clients on exactly what they should do in terms of their test results right like I create personalized supplement protocols I explain to them okay we're going to be doing this for 30 to 60 days or how long the time frame is

Mm-hmm.

No, not at all.

and we're going to peel back because sometimes it and I work through all that stuff with a client if they're like I can't swallow a capsule right I'm like okay here's my little pharmacist brain okay we got to work on liquids tinctures nutrition components so I will rack my brain there hasn't been a case where it's just like okay sorry I can't help you whatsoever like I figured it out so I figured out and help them and I think that's just what people want they just they do need because of our busy lifestyles I think you're

Thank

Yes!

Yes.

you that's the kind of service you're paying for too. You're paying me to tell you what to do kind of, and as long as I can organize that for people.

specifically for me based on what the test suggests is going on. It's very, very customized. We want to be running on all cylinders because again, we're running our businesses and we have families and loved ones. We have hobbies and things that we want to have energy for. We don't want to be suffering. We don't want to be exhausted. We don't want to be in pain. We want to address it and be feeling our best.

Yes.

Yes.

just have this big soft spot for women too, just because I know how much, like women are just...

freaking incredible, like for all the things that they do. And I don't think it's wrong for us to want to have our hobbies, to want to have a passion to be entrepreneurs, to be moms, like whatever you want to do. And that's my own case. You know, I love living it too. I try to, you know, portray that too. mean, a lot of people know this about me, but I participate in triathlons and I'm like, there's no way in heck I would be able to do what I do. I do half iron pans and it's a very large commitment to training. And I'm like my body, if there's no way I could do this with my body,

Yes!

if I was not, if my hormones weren't balanced, if I was looking at like cortisol regulation, if I wasn't working on decreasing inflammation, keeping my like little supplement routine on a consistent basis, that helps me feel well. But I try to be that example for people and just know that wherever you are in your health journey, it's like, know, right, maybe your body's not in that place. And I wasn't, definitely not 10 years ago. You told me that I was going to be doing half Ironmans when I was dealing with like painful periods, literally like three weeks out of the month, I would have just thought you were crazy. But it's not

Right.

Yes.

That's why I was like the body can heal. The body can heal.

Yes, yes, absolutely. Well, Kim, it has been truly a pleasure to have you on the show today and to all of our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. Grateful for you. And like I said, today was a little bit different angle when we talk about, you know, focus, energy, productivity, because again, we can have all the physical tools in the world. We can have the best team in the world. But if we are struggling and we are being held back by fatigue and pain and

so many other things, we need to take a look at that. So that's another angle of productivity I wanted to approach today. And Kim, you are the absolute perfect guest to have on the podcast today. So thank you so much, everyone, for Kim for showing up for us today, for our listeners for tuning in. And I will be back next week with another episode of Make Space for More, where we will talk more strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. Thank you so much, everyone.

Have a wonderful day, bye bye.