Shownotes
In this engaging episode of the Thriving Holistic Practitioner podcast, host welcomes Angela Brown from St. Louis, Missouri. Angela is a certified functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, licensed physical therapist, and physical trainer specializing in helping women with thyroid and hormone health. Angela shares her journey from dealing with her own hypothyroidism to becoming a holistic practitioner. She provides insightful advice on transitioning from one-on-one coaching to launching a successful group program. Angela discusses the benefits, challenges, and surprising successes of creating a community for her clients. Listen in to uncover valuable tips on managing group programs, enhancing client support, and boosting business profitability.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:53 Angela Brown's Journey to Holistic Medicine
03:14 Transitioning from One-on-One to Group Programs
05:38 The Power of Community in Health Programs
09:39 Profitability and Accessibility of Group Programs
12:16 Setting Up and Managing Group Programs
15:22 Advice for Starting Group Programs Early
19:58 Realizing the Need for Change
20:17 The Power of Asking for Feedback
21:48 Balancing Work and Avoiding Burnout
23:11 The Entrepreneurial Mindset Shift
26:29 Evolving the Program
29:36 Building a Thriving Online Business
31:09 Future Plans and Community Building
34:46 Connecting with Angela Brown
Angela's Bio - Angela is a holistic health coach from St. Louis, MO. She is a board certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P), a licensed physical therapist, as well as a personal trainer. She specializes in advanced testing and thyroid healing for women. She has recovered from hypothyroidism herself after being diagnosed at the age of 22. She used her experience and education to create her program called “The Sexy Thyroid Solution” to help women no longer suffer like she did and get to the root cause of their health issues.
https://www.instagram.com/angelabrowncoach/
https://www.facebook.com/angelabrowncoach
https://www.youtube.com/@angelabrown9508
Meet Lindsay Sutherland, a passionate business consultant with a deep love for holistic modalities. Though her career path diverged from holistic practice, her innate talents and extensive experience have uniquely positioned her to guide others in the field. Lindsay's journey is fueled by a profound desire to combine her expertise in business and marketing with her fascination for holistic modalities. As a consultant, she empowers holistic practitioners to thrive by merging strategic business acumen with holistic principles.
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Transcripts
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Thriving Holistic Practitioner podcast.
Speaker:I'm excited as always to have you here with me and today I'm bringing you a
Speaker:wonderful guest all the way from St.
Speaker:Louis, Missouri.
Speaker:Joining us is Angela Brown who is a certified functional
Speaker:diagnostic nutrition practitioner.
Speaker:Don't ask me to say that five times fast.
Speaker:She's also a licensed physical therapist and a physical trainer.
Speaker:She specializes in helping women heal their thyroid and hormones.
Speaker:And I'm excited to have her here because we have a really episode that
Speaker:I know you're not going to want to miss for anybody who's been doing
Speaker:one to one coaching and is thinking of transitioning to a group program.
Speaker:We're going to listen to Angela tell her story of how she did that.
Speaker:And what was the result?
Speaker:Like what, maybe she has some good advice for us.
Speaker:I'd be glad to have her here with us.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:My pleasure.
Speaker:Well, would you please just share a little bit of your founder's story and
Speaker:how you kind of came to be on this path of holistic medicine to begin with?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:um, I had a pretty long journey myself.
Speaker:Um, I am 47 years old now, but I got diagnosed, um, with
Speaker:hypothyroidism when I was around 22.
Speaker:And, um, at that time I was actually practicing as a physical therapist.
Speaker:And It became very clear to me over the years after I got diagnosed, um, I was
Speaker:not getting a lot of help and I continued to feel worse, um, along the way.
Speaker:And it just became super frustrating that I'm working in the medical field.
Speaker:Um, I even went and got certified in, in, um, personal training.
Speaker:So I'm in the health and fitness industry.
Speaker:I'm in the medical field and doctors are still like, yeah, too bad.
Speaker:We don't know what to do with you.
Speaker:Um, and I just, every year that went by, I just kept feeling
Speaker:worse and worse and worse.
Speaker:And so that's why I started looking at.
Speaker:I got to start looking at other alternatives, functional medicine,
Speaker:holistic, um, health and things like that.
Speaker:Um, and that's when I still want the certification that
Speaker:I have the big long word.
Speaker:Um, we usually just say FDNP.
Speaker:Um, and I stumbled on that and I thought, man, this is really interesting.
Speaker:I'm really pretty intrigued by this.
Speaker:And when I started studying it, I started implementing some of the
Speaker:things on myself, sort of doing some of the testing on myself.
Speaker:It's the first time in like 15 years that I'm like, I think
Speaker:I'm actually feeling better.
Speaker:There is something to be said for this.
Speaker:And so that's why I, um, I was still practicing as a PT at the time.
Speaker:And I decided, you know what?
Speaker:I am not going to work for a clinic anymore.
Speaker:I got out of the clinic and I want to actually start helping other women.
Speaker:In this realm, because I know there's a lot of women out there
Speaker:that struggle with hormone stuff and thyroid stuff and things like that.
Speaker:And so that's what I eventually transitioned to.
Speaker:Um, about 10 years I've been doing it now, and I'm just doing that full time now,
Speaker:working with women all over the world.
Speaker:Um, trying to help them, you know, navigate the process with thyroid and
Speaker:hormone stuff, because it is overwhelming.
Speaker:I felt it.
Speaker:I had it.
Speaker:Um, and it was a very defeating sometimes journey and frustrating.
Speaker:And so I wanted to create a, uh, community and environment for women that they
Speaker:actually have someone they can talk to and can understand them on their own
Speaker:journey because I've been in their shoes.
Speaker:Um, and then just help them actually feel like themselves again.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:So that's pretty exciting.
Speaker:So when you first started, you were doing one on one consultations.
Speaker:Um, how did that go?
Speaker:Like what were, you know, some of the initial maybe challenges
Speaker:that you faced and overcome just in that, that beginning phase?
Speaker:Yeah, it was.
Speaker:So, um, when I very first started, um, It was interesting when
Speaker:I first started probably the first like two to three years.
Speaker:Um, I was doing all one on one and I was actually at that time, um, was
Speaker:doing not only all one on one, but like pretty much standalone a la carte.
Speaker:Test result.
Speaker:Here's this and it was exhausting doing that because I had so many clients
Speaker:coming in, but I couldn't, it was like trying to keep track of all of them.
Speaker:Um, so that, that was a challenge.
Speaker:It was a really big challenge.
Speaker:So then I decided, okay, I'm not going to do this.
Speaker:Like, here's your one test result, or here's your one nutrition consultation.
Speaker:You're going to buy a package with me.
Speaker:We're going to be together for, you know, four to six months or something like that.
Speaker:Again, that was still all one on one.
Speaker:Um, and I was doing that up until almost like a month ago, even.
Speaker:Um, I decided to transition into a group program.
Speaker:I still offer one on one, but I don't have very many spots for it
Speaker:anymore because it, it was exhausting.
Speaker:I'll say, um, to, to have everything be one on one and all the calls and,
Speaker:um, you know, trying to keep up with all of it and having that many clients
Speaker:all at once, it was a challenge.
Speaker:And it got to the point where I was like, I have a wait list now.
Speaker:And I didn't want to have to do that.
Speaker:Um, and so I was nervous.
Speaker:I won't deny that I was nervous, you know, transitioning into a group
Speaker:program realm because it is health.
Speaker:I've been in group programs myself, but it was business.
Speaker:It wasn't help.
Speaker:So I thought, man, this is, you know, is this going to be a smart move?
Speaker:Is this going to be too scary for women to be like, I don't want to talk about
Speaker:health stuff in a group environment.
Speaker:And I have had no problem at all with that.
Speaker:And women actually enjoy having.
Speaker:The community and people they can talk to and people they can, you know, if
Speaker:they need a vent, they can vent not just to me, but like the women in the
Speaker:community, um, and it's been really, really nice being able to do that.
Speaker:Um, I feel like I've created even bigger community with these women than
Speaker:when I was just doing only one on one.
Speaker:So it's, it's been a really nice, um, transition kind of surprised
Speaker:myself by it because I wasn't totally sure how it was going to go.
Speaker:And I'm like, wow, this is, this is pretty cool.
Speaker:I actually really do like it.
Speaker:You know, I think that's really you hit the nail on the head there
Speaker:with something really pivotal, and that's how powerful the community is.
Speaker:I think we underestimate, and I'm, this is from my perspective
Speaker:as a business consultant, but I see it too in health consultants.
Speaker:We underestimate the value of the community as an actual service
Speaker:to our client, because we're like, we're the expert, they're
Speaker:coming to us for the information.
Speaker:But it is.
Speaker:So can you explain like.
Speaker:Just being in an observer mode, kind of looking back, what were some
Speaker:of the cool things you saw taking place that you were not expecting?
Speaker:So, um, I know the big one, like you just said, the community aspect of it, I kind
Speaker:of, that was probably the area that I was the most concerned about was like,
Speaker:are women going to actually like, Open up or, um, you know, if they need to vent or
Speaker:if they have a question, are they going to be too nervous to ask the question?
Speaker:Because I have had, um, women send me private messages, um, my own clients,
Speaker:you know, as one on one, like, I know this is a stupid question.
Speaker:So, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
Speaker:And so I thought, you know, I don't want women to feel that way in the group.
Speaker:And like, they're just not going to ask them because I feel like it's
Speaker:a stupid question or, um, you know, it's too private, things like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it was the exact, exact opposite.
Speaker:It's been very surprising that I'm, I honestly, that was the
Speaker:thing that held me back from transitioning to a group program.
Speaker:I've been wanting to do this probably for three years now.
Speaker:And I just kept putting it off.
Speaker:Cause I was like, I am just too nervous that women are just like, I don't want
Speaker:any part of that because I don't want it to, you know, I want it to be one on one.
Speaker:I want it to be private.
Speaker:Um, and it's been the opposite.
Speaker:And that was what was really surprising for me was how much of them are
Speaker:like, no, I actually liked this.
Speaker:I actually, I want the community because I have a private Facebook
Speaker:group, um, where they're a part of.
Speaker:And then we have group coaching calls and they're like, this is phenomenal
Speaker:because they feel like there's others that are in the same room, I'll say
Speaker:with them that they can relate to.
Speaker:And it's not just, you know, them, you know, it's nice because I've been in
Speaker:their shoes with a lot of these things.
Speaker:But when I'm.
Speaker:Still like the coach, I'll say, and you know, that can be, I'm sure for
Speaker:some of them, and they've told me this, you know, before it can almost
Speaker:be intimidating sometimes, or, um, like you don't want to let your coach down.
Speaker:And so you don't want to say things, but they have no problem saying it to
Speaker:the other, you know, um, members in the other, in the other people in community.
Speaker:And it's been phenomenal.
Speaker:And that's probably been the most surprising thing is how much it's.
Speaker:Like they're like, this is fantastic because my Facebook group, I had
Speaker:a Facebook group the whole time.
Speaker:Um, even with my one on one clients, but I didn't, it wasn't really active
Speaker:because they didn't need to be asking a lot of questions in there because they
Speaker:could send me one on one messages now it's active and it's been really nice.
Speaker:Um, people are putting in there like what their wins were for the week,
Speaker:what their focus is for the week.
Speaker:Cause I asked that in the group and they're just responding like
Speaker:crazy and it's been really nice.
Speaker:And I'm.
Speaker:Even just like hearing, um, the way they're talking to each other,
Speaker:how much they're supporting each other and cheering each other on.
Speaker:It's been really cool to see that.
Speaker:Um, and that, again, that's probably the biggest surprise for me is
Speaker:it was way easier of a transition than I thought it was going to be.
Speaker:And I should have done it a long time ago.
Speaker:Like I said, I was going to, but that was what held me back.
Speaker:And I'm like, man, I, I didn't know it was going to be like this.
Speaker:I would've just jumped in, you know, headfirst three years ago
Speaker:when I started thinking about it.
Speaker:Um, business started really picking up for me with one on one and I was like,
Speaker:I can't, I can't even keep up with this.
Speaker:So many people coming in, how do I, how am I going to do this?
Speaker:Um, and I, you know, I brought a support coach on that's helping me with my
Speaker:business, but even with her, you know, there's still only so much space.
Speaker:Um, and I'm like, I want to be able to help more women.
Speaker:And I can't do that if I'm only doing one on one, um, transitions
Speaker:been really, really nice.
Speaker:And again, way easier than I thought it was going to be.
Speaker:I'm like, well, should have done this a long time ago.
Speaker:Love hindsight,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:Totally, exactly.
Speaker:Oh, so can you mind me asking about the profitability of your business and how
Speaker:that group program changed that for you?
Speaker:Like one of the cool things I think, and I don't even know if this is true
Speaker:for you because we haven't talked about it, but I think it's cool how
Speaker:Offering that group program, it does save you time, but it also increases
Speaker:your profitability usually, but it also offers like a lower price point for
Speaker:most people making it more affordable.
Speaker:So you can even have a greater impact.
Speaker:Like, did you find it to be true too?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And that's the thing that was probably the thing that actually, one of my
Speaker:biggest reasons, cause I like made a list of pros and cons and things like that.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:One of the things at the top of the list was I can help more women because I can
Speaker:bring more women in because I'm limited on space when I'm doing one on one.
Speaker:But when I have a group like this, I am not limited now.
Speaker:I can have a much bigger group of women coming in.
Speaker:Um, I don't have to, and I have it set up kind of as an evergreen
Speaker:so they can come in anytime.
Speaker:So it's not like we start on this date, we end on this date.
Speaker:So if you miss that window, you got to wait till I'm opening and rolling again.
Speaker:It's open all the time, which is great.
Speaker:That's why I did it because I want to be able to help more women.
Speaker:But that's what I noticed, you know, the biggest reason why
Speaker:I want to do it was for that.
Speaker:And that's been really nice because I'm like, I can actually
Speaker:bring more people in now.
Speaker:Um, and even though my one on one is a higher ticket, You know, price point
Speaker:for, you know, what I offer, I'm limited.
Speaker:I'm only limited.
Speaker:I'm limited on how many people I can do it with and the group I'm not.
Speaker:And so I actually can bring more women in.
Speaker:Probability is higher, um, because of that.
Speaker:Um, and women love that, that, you know, it is a lower ticket, ticket price.
Speaker:Then they can come, you know, come in much easier.
Speaker:It's not as, as costly, um, but they still have access to me.
Speaker:They still, you know, can do the testing.
Speaker:Um, and that was another, Area because the certification I
Speaker:have, we do a lot of testing.
Speaker:We do a lot of functional lab testing.
Speaker:And, um, I was a little hesitant with Am I going to do testing?
Speaker:Like that's the, that's the biggest thing that I like to do in my practice.
Speaker:Um, so I can customize protocols for women.
Speaker:And I was like, is that going to be a challenge to be able to do testing?
Speaker:And what I have found, it's been really easy because I still can do a
Speaker:protocol for them, I still give them a customized protocol and all that.
Speaker:And then if they have questions, they can still ask me the questions.
Speaker:Um, So yeah, that was like the things that the two the probably I would say the two
Speaker:things that were on the con list like this is going to hold me back is, are women
Speaker:really going to want the community is it's going to be, you know, is that too
Speaker:private, and then including the testing part and it's been the exact opposite.
Speaker:That's been really well and
Speaker:I'm glad you brought that up about the testing because that was the
Speaker:other question I think a lot of people are wondering is, How do you
Speaker:go over their test results with them?
Speaker:Are you still doing a one on one with them that first time?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so what I am doing now, and it's been really nice, and I've been getting so much
Speaker:feedback on it that women are loving it, and I was testing it out to see if, like,
Speaker:is this going to really work in here?
Speaker:So, um, all of, um, any of the tests that clients are doing with me inside the group
Speaker:program, I do a video recording for them.
Speaker:So I record, um, All of their results, I record everything.
Speaker:Um, and the video, depending on which tests we're doing, but it's usually
Speaker:at least 15 to 20 minutes long.
Speaker:So I
Speaker:do a whole video recording for them and then they don't have to worry about
Speaker:doing a one on one call, but they'll have that recording at all times.
Speaker:Um, that definitely
Speaker:makes it easier for you to work with people anywhere
Speaker:in the world because it is.
Speaker:It's been
Speaker:really nice because I have clients.
Speaker:I have like, I have a couple in the Netherlands right now.
Speaker:I have some in the UK, I have some in Canada.
Speaker:Um, I have some in Australia, um, like the ones in the Netherlands, that
Speaker:in Australia, that time difference, it's a challenge, it's a challenge.
Speaker:And I'm like, man, if I had to try to schedule, you know, all my one on
Speaker:one calls with them, I'm like, that is going to be a challenge to do.
Speaker:And with the group, I don't have to do that.
Speaker:And so, yeah, I, they get a video recording of all their test results.
Speaker:They have the option if they're like, you know what I actually want to do.
Speaker:A one on one call with you.
Speaker:They have the option to, you know, tech on.
Speaker:They can pay for a one on one call with me.
Speaker:That's always there, but I haven't anyone that even wanted to do it.
Speaker:Cause I was like, no, the video recording is phenomenal.
Speaker:Like that's, you give me so much information on the video
Speaker:recording, um, of the whole test result that I don't need that.
Speaker:This is awesome.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:And then they can come, what if they can't make it to one of the meetings?
Speaker:Like they just drop their question in the Facebook group.
Speaker:So
Speaker:what I do, I have, I have a couple of different things though.
Speaker:Um, They can drop any questions inside the Facebook group.
Speaker:Um, and then I send a form out.
Speaker:It's automated right now, um, in my email server.
Speaker:Um, but I send a form out, um, two days prior to our call.
Speaker:Um, I do them every Tuesdays, um, or on Tuesdays, um, afternoons.
Speaker:And they get a, uh, email usually on Sunday.
Speaker:And it's a questionnaire, um, a question submission form where
Speaker:they can ask any questions.
Speaker:And I go over those first.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And if people, you know, and, and that's for, you know, people can't make it
Speaker:live and then they can't make it live.
Speaker:Then I go over their questions too, but they have a lot of different
Speaker:places where they can ask questions.
Speaker:If it's something that needs like a lot more explanation than typing something
Speaker:out in the Facebook group, then I'm like, ask the question for the call.
Speaker:If it's something, you know, that can just be a simple response in the Facebook
Speaker:group, I'm like, then ask him there.
Speaker:Um, yeah, it's really nice because then I record all the calls.
Speaker:So they have, I have a whole place inside my portal where I put all
Speaker:the call recordings and so they can.
Speaker:Have access to those anytime they want to go back and look at any of them.
Speaker:So, yeah, it's been, it's been really nice being able to do that.
Speaker:Um, and way, way easier than I thought.
Speaker:And I'm like, why did I not do this?
Speaker:Yeah, that's fantastic.
Speaker:And I'm really grateful you shared that because I know that's something that a
Speaker:lot of people are asking or wondering or thinking about, do you think like
Speaker:if you could go back and start over?
Speaker:start over.
Speaker:Do you think you would have even started it before you got busy?
Speaker:Or do you think it was better to wait until you got to
Speaker:maybe even three years ago?
Speaker:Like you were still busy.
Speaker:You were not just as busy where you were forced to make that
Speaker:decision because of just capacity.
Speaker:But like, what's your opinion, I guess, is what I'm asking about starting a
Speaker:group maybe earlier on in a practice.
Speaker:Is there any reason not to do that?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, I've thought about it both ways.
Speaker:Um, you know, I probably easily could have started this a long time ago.
Speaker:Definitely.
Speaker:Like even, even, you know, beyond four years ago, I easily could have.
Speaker:Um, I don't think there's any reason why anyone should wait to do if
Speaker:they're, you know, kind of newer, you know, starting out, um, to not
Speaker:start a group program right away.
Speaker:I really don't.
Speaker:Um, the only thing I will say That and this is my own personal experience having
Speaker:one on one clients at least for a little bit got my I'll say like my feet wet
Speaker:with like how the testing works and and you know talking to clients and I got
Speaker:experience with that so I probably would at least do a little bit of that, even if
Speaker:it's like six months, just to kind of get a feel for like this is what it's like,
Speaker:you know, talking to clients and getting test results and and doing all of that.
Speaker:And then easily go into a group.
Speaker:And I've seen, like, I've worked with several, um, business coaches
Speaker:and that was kind of their take too.
Speaker:Like, yeah, we always recommend it.
Speaker:Get a little bit of, um, someone on one time, but it doesn't have
Speaker:to be a lot, not years and years.
Speaker:Like I did, you can at
Speaker:least flush out some of your processes for sure.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, and looking back, like thinking about like all the nuances, um,
Speaker:with like, you know, getting set up with like, I use practice better,
Speaker:um, for my, for my business and like my email server and like.
Speaker:All these things like getting all like the business things kind of set
Speaker:up and then using them with clients.
Speaker:I would definitely suggest that.
Speaker:Um, yeah, there's no reason to sit there and like, I need to be five
Speaker:years into my business before it.
Speaker:No way.
Speaker:Like I would have absolutely, I mean, I've been doing this for 10 years
Speaker:and I would easily say after the first year, I easily could have been.
Speaker:Starting a group for sure.
Speaker:Um, good.
Speaker:That's really good advice.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's really exciting.
Speaker:So you just launched this.
Speaker:It's been about, you said, um, a few, what, a year, six months to a year
Speaker:since you launched your group program.
Speaker:The group I started official, like I was kind of like, It was a little bit
Speaker:in the works, um, like six months ago.
Speaker:Um, but like officially where I announced it on social media
Speaker:was literally only a month ago.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:So where I really started letting more people come in, in other words, because
Speaker:like when I did, when I talked to people who are interested in working with me,
Speaker:I offered the, the group or the, I say group experience or VIP experience,
Speaker:the one on one, I was offering that, you know, for the last six months.
Speaker:Um, but not really like.
Speaker:I'm officially, um, a group program now, um, so it hasn't been
Speaker:that long and it's been great.
Speaker:It's been really nice.
Speaker:How did you come up with your package offer?
Speaker:Like, you know, thinking through the, the offer of this VIP program, like you seem
Speaker:like you have your branding kind of dialed in, uh, what kind of was that process
Speaker:like for you to really get that honed in?
Speaker:It was a lot of tweaking, by the way.
Speaker:Um, that was probably a lot of trial and error, a lot of experience, um, over
Speaker:the years of, um, you know, working with clients and realizing like, yeah, you
Speaker:know, I changed the number of calls that you get in the package so many times.
Speaker:Um, then.
Speaker:The timing of, you know, how often we do a call, um, do we do a call like right
Speaker:away before we even get test results in?
Speaker:Or do we just wait?
Speaker:Like all those things, that was just trial and error.
Speaker:Honestly, um, with like how I came up with like, this is how
Speaker:many calls we're going to have if you're doing it one on one with me.
Speaker:This is how many calls you're going to get.
Speaker:This is how we're going to time them out.
Speaker:Um, I used to, when I first was doing it, I tried cramming
Speaker:everything into three months.
Speaker:That did not work.
Speaker:Um, so that's why like one on one with me is usually six months now.
Speaker:Um, so again, trial and error, because I, you know, getting test results,
Speaker:they don't come back fast, um, as if we want them to from functional medicine.
Speaker:So, um, I was like, yeah, I need more time to be able to do that.
Speaker:So a lot of it was Really came down to like just trial and
Speaker:error and realizing like that.
Speaker:Yeah, we need more time or we don't need this many calls because I, I started
Speaker:noticing like a lot of my, we were getting close to like the end of the packages, um,
Speaker:or they had their, their, their program with me and they had so many calls left.
Speaker:I'm like, they don't need that many calls.
Speaker:Um, I don't know why I have so many calls for them.
Speaker:Um, so, um, Yeah,
Speaker:awkward conversation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm like, I mean, you have, you're almost done and you have three calls left.
Speaker:Like we're not going to use, you know, three calls in one week.
Speaker:Um, so, um, yeah.
Speaker:So then I, you know, just would say, we're just going to extend
Speaker:our time out or whatever.
Speaker:And that's why I started noticing, like, I don't need, we don't need this much.
Speaker:Um, and then even, um, like how I have my, my like module set up in my program
Speaker:set up inside of practice better.
Speaker:I kind of changed that.
Speaker:over the years as well with, so it's not so overwhelming because
Speaker:I had like individual modules for like every single subject.
Speaker:And I started noticing, I'm like, that's a little overwhelming.
Speaker:So I started lumping more things together and had like little subsections.
Speaker:And, um, so it's like little things like that, where it was literally just.
Speaker:trial and error over time and getting feedback.
Speaker:I asked for a lot of feedback from clients.
Speaker:That's the other thing.
Speaker:Um, is mid, you know, mid working with me, like halfway
Speaker:through their program with me.
Speaker:And then at the end, I'm always asking, like, I want feedback.
Speaker:So I'm asking a lot of questions and feedback.
Speaker:Um, and that has helped me a lot with like coming up with like, this is
Speaker:what I, you know, this is my package.
Speaker:Um, you know, this is what I, I offer.
Speaker:Um, you know, this is what you're going to get when you
Speaker:work with me, that sort of thing.
Speaker:It was a lot of.
Speaker:feedback from clients, but also the trial and error and the time with it.
Speaker:Um, you know, cause in the beginning there were a lot of things that
Speaker:I'm like, that is not working.
Speaker:I need to change that.
Speaker:Um, which was good.
Speaker:It was like, I learned a lot, you know, from things that
Speaker:I tried and was like that.
Speaker:I don't want to do that anymore.
Speaker:That's not working or we're just going to tweak this a little bit, but, um,
Speaker:you know, it, it took a little bit of time to kind of get that, um, Down pat
Speaker:what I wanted, um, you know, a what I wanted to help clients with, um, and
Speaker:to make it so that it was feasible.
Speaker:It was like doable for me to actually do it.
Speaker:Um, cause I need to be realistic too, because I was like, if I'm going to,
Speaker:you know, help this many women, like, I gotta be realistic here with how
Speaker:many I can take on and how much time it's going to take and all that stuff.
Speaker:Yeah, that, that was a, that was also a little eye opening to realizing like,
Speaker:you also can't work, you know, 12 hours a day and, and not get like burned out.
Speaker:Like that, that was what I was headed there and I'm like, I can't do that.
Speaker:That's not realistic.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:And you know what you brought you, I'd love that you're sharing that
Speaker:because I think that's something that in any entrepreneurial experience,
Speaker:we can tend to put a lot of pressure on ourself to feel like we have to
Speaker:have it all figured out before lunch.
Speaker:And I love that you gave yourself that grace that you gave yourself almost five
Speaker:months to kind of flesh out your, your, um, group program before you really
Speaker:announced it, like smart, because, you know, just even giving yourself permission
Speaker:to make mistakes, I guess you could say, I figuring it out is just so key.
Speaker:Um, you know, I love, I love podcasts and I think they're great for this
Speaker:kind of conversation and insight.
Speaker:But at the end of the day, Anybody who's listening and thinking, like,
Speaker:I'm going to launch a program.
Speaker:It's still going to be your own thing.
Speaker:Like your schedule and your life and what you're doing and how you do it
Speaker:isn't going to be the same as yours.
Speaker:So you still got to have that, like, you know, testing, testing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and one thing that I really learned about it too, was.
Speaker:You know, again, I was mentioning that there's a lot of trial and error with
Speaker:it, but I had to be so realistic with it and be like, look, you're going to
Speaker:end up totally burning yourself out.
Speaker:If you keep thinking that you have to work, work, work, um, like if
Speaker:you're not working, then you're not going to make it as an entrepreneur.
Speaker:And that is absolutely untrue.
Speaker:And I was always under the impression going into, you know, running my own
Speaker:business and being entrepreneur that if I'm not working, you know, 10, 12
Speaker:hour days, that I'm not going to make it as an entrepreneur, which, you
Speaker:know, it's I quickly found out that it was actually the exact opposite
Speaker:because I was burning myself out.
Speaker:I'm like, no, you, you wouldn't, it's your business.
Speaker:You can set it up however you want.
Speaker:And that's the beauty of having the group to set it up.
Speaker:However you want, if you want to, you know, if you have the capability
Speaker:where you can work longer hours, like, Um, you know, human design.
Speaker:I'm a projector.
Speaker:We do not do well with working and working and working and working and not
Speaker:taking breaks and taking some time off.
Speaker:Can't do that.
Speaker:And that's who I 100 percent that's me.
Speaker:And I had to really learn that along the way.
Speaker:Like I, this is why, like, I, I am going to completely burn myself out.
Speaker:If I have that mentality that I have to work all these ridiculous
Speaker:long hours to make it as an entrepreneur, um, let my hours back.
Speaker:Pretty dramatically from when I first started, like dramatically, and I'm making
Speaker:more than I've ever made in my business now by actually cutting my hours back.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's why I wasn't of course scared to do that, but, um, I just
Speaker:started noticing kind of patterns and things that I was doing
Speaker:that I'm like, you are working.
Speaker:Way too many hours, even on the weekends.
Speaker:I mean, I was taking client calls on Saturdays, Sundays, working.
Speaker:I'm like that, that's, I can't do that.
Speaker:I need my weekends.
Speaker:There is definitely a psychological thing that I think we get caught up in,
Speaker:especially, you know, when you start out in the world and you're, you're working
Speaker:at a regular job and you're trading time for money, or even in industries like
Speaker:massage or probably physical therapy is in some ways similar to where.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You get paid for the hour that you're working based on
Speaker:whatever skillset you have.
Speaker:It's a total mindset shift to go into that coaching.
Speaker:And you're like, no, I can make money million ways.
Speaker:Like I'm not limited to that based on time.
Speaker:It's just such a.
Speaker:Such a
Speaker:change.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:a huge mindset shift.
Speaker:And I went from like, you know, working as a physical therapist, I was salaried, um,
Speaker:at that time and I was making, you know, pretty decent money as a salary employee.
Speaker:Um, my hours were set.
Speaker:These are the hours that I work on.
Speaker:I went home and, you know, after I was off my shift and that was it.
Speaker:And I was using that kind of mentality of during those hours that I was at work, I
Speaker:was working, working, working, working.
Speaker:I mean, my, the clinic was crazy that I worked at the last clinic that I did.
Speaker:And I, you know, kind of had that mentality, like you need to be
Speaker:killing yourself for working to make sure you're gonna make it.
Speaker:And it was a huge mindset shift and it's a little scary.
Speaker:I won't deny that.
Speaker:It was scary.
Speaker:Completely quitting a full time job that had guaranteed pay to, Oh, gosh, now I'm
Speaker:an entrepreneur and I'm gonna, you know, rely on, you know, clients coming in.
Speaker:But the beauty of it is a, I, I actually get to help people
Speaker:the way I want to help them.
Speaker:Um, I'm not being dictated by, you know, insurance company or, you
Speaker:know, my boss, I don't have a boss.
Speaker:Um, you know, and I get the beauty of like actually helping women
Speaker:the way I want to help them.
Speaker:How did you kickstart your transition?
Speaker:Like, how did you go
Speaker:from that?
Speaker:Interesting story.
Speaker:So I, um, quit my job as a, uh, physical therapist.
Speaker:Um, so I, my now husband, but when I met him, um, we were dating for
Speaker:maybe about a year, not even a year.
Speaker:Um, and he actually owned a gym here in St.
Speaker:Louis where I live.
Speaker:And I did not like my job that I had.
Speaker:And he's like, you would be so phenomenal as a personal trainer.
Speaker:You know, all the things.
Speaker:And I was really into fitness and all that.
Speaker:Um, and had my physical therapy background.
Speaker:So he's like, you would be great as a personal trainer, get certified
Speaker:and you can start working and see if that's something that you like.
Speaker:Cause I know you don't like your job right now.
Speaker:Um, so that's what I did.
Speaker:I started working at his gym and.
Speaker:After I got certified in personal training, I was like,
Speaker:man, I really do like this.
Speaker:I want to start looking into the nutrition part of it.
Speaker:So then I got a certification, um, and called fitness nutrition
Speaker:specialist by NASM, um, the National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Speaker:I got that and that's when I started getting into all All this
Speaker:nutrition and all that stuff.
Speaker:And I'm like, okay, I actually want to start looking a little further.
Speaker:What can I do with functional medicine?
Speaker:Because my health was starting to decline pretty dramatically.
Speaker:It was getting worse and worse and worse with my thyroid stuff.
Speaker:And, um, that's when I found, you know, the functional medicine stuff.
Speaker:And so I was still kind of doing a little bit of physical therapy
Speaker:on my own, not with a clinic.
Speaker:Um, Personal training, some nutrition clients.
Speaker:I was kind of doing all of that inside the gym setting.
Speaker:Um, and then that's when I, I ended up getting certified in functional medicine.
Speaker:And so I started taking some of those kinds of clients on, um, but
Speaker:was kind of dabbling in all of it.
Speaker:And then my business started really picking up with the, the functional
Speaker:medicine stuff, um, and working with women with thyroid and health
Speaker:or hormone issues and the testing.
Speaker:And I was getting busy that I'm like, Ooh.
Speaker:I can't do the gym and this, like, that's not going to, I can't do all that.
Speaker:Um, and so I started slowly taking less and less personal and training clients.
Speaker:Um, and you know, physical therapy, people, all those things, and, you know,
Speaker:really working my way up with my business.
Speaker:And then eventually I was like, okay, I got to do one or the other.
Speaker:This is getting really busy.
Speaker:Um, and so I just, you know, I still have my personal training certification.
Speaker:I still have my PT license.
Speaker:I keep that all up to date.
Speaker:But I just, yeah, that's really, that's
Speaker:a really cool story.
Speaker:Cause I've talked to quite a few people even just on this podcast and many
Speaker:are in do that part time job thing.
Speaker:But what's cool about the particular job you've had is that
Speaker:it wasn't so much about the hours.
Speaker:You didn't need to be 20 hours or 15 hours, just like one or two clients
Speaker:or five clients or whatever, and work it around your other schedule.
Speaker:So that's really handy.
Speaker:I mean, that could work for anything like, Literally.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:and it was nice.
Speaker:And my husband was like, he was so supportive.
Speaker:Cause I was like, look, I, I can't do both things.
Speaker:Like, this is just too much.
Speaker:And he's like, you need to stop coming to the gym and handling all those clients.
Speaker:You need to focus on your online business.
Speaker:And so that was actually scary doing that.
Speaker:Um, but it was so huge when I decided to, to, to stop doing that and just work
Speaker:from home and do my online business.
Speaker:That was a massive transition.
Speaker:And it was like a huge one.
Speaker:Cause the minute I started doing that, that's when like.
Speaker:Everything just started, you know, picking up and I was getting super
Speaker:busy, had to, you know, hire a support coach, um, and a VA and all the things.
Speaker:Um, once I like bit the bullet finally and decided to make that switch.
Speaker:And I was so glad that I did because then I could just focus because I felt like
Speaker:I was being pulled so many directions.
Speaker:And I was like, You know, I had a training system.
Speaker:I focus all the time and I'm like, this is not how I want this to go.
Speaker:Um, and so it was an easy decision to make because I'm like, now I have one
Speaker:focus, but scary at the same time.
Speaker:Um, but I'm, it was so glad that I did it for sure.
Speaker:Yeah, I always equate it to like, You remember when we were kids, how there
Speaker:was those little balls with the red, like electric, it's like that with our business
Speaker:and whatever's going on, we only have so much energy that we can output that
Speaker:you can outpour.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's what I felt like.
Speaker:I was like, Oh my gosh, I was getting drained.
Speaker:Like, I'm like, I don't, I would get to the point where I'm like, I'd go to
Speaker:the gym and do all my personal training clients and nutrition and physical
Speaker:therapy stuff, and then come home.
Speaker:I'd have to do the afternoon stuff.
Speaker:You know, with my online business.
Speaker:And by the time I got to my online business in the afternoon, I was drained.
Speaker:I was tired.
Speaker:And I'm like, I don't want to go.
Speaker:It's go like this.
Speaker:I want to be there for these clients better than what I am.
Speaker:And I'm like, I have to stop doing this being pulled in 10 directions.
Speaker:So it
Speaker:was
Speaker:scary.
Speaker:So, but I was so, so glad that I did it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, so what's the future?
Speaker:Like now that you've got your, your membership up and running,
Speaker:do you kind of have your next level plan kind of mapped out?
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so I'm, you know, definitely going to continue with the group program.
Speaker:Like I said, I still offer the VIP.
Speaker:Um, I just don't have a lot of spots open for it.
Speaker:I'm just going to keep, you know, I want to, my goal is to just
Speaker:keep building my group program.
Speaker:Um, and then, um, eventually I'll probably have more support coaches
Speaker:coming into the business as well.
Speaker:Right now, I just have, I have one, um, that's helping me, but I'll probably
Speaker:have more specialty people, um, That are doing like specific topics like
Speaker:mindset or something like that, that does maybe one call a month with clients.
Speaker:Um, so I just want to kind of keep building that program, um, up more
Speaker:to have a more coaches inside of it.
Speaker:Um, have more people, you know, even working under me, um, to help with
Speaker:that and just keep building that.
Speaker:You know, making that bigger and get to, you know, get to more women basically all
Speaker:over the world, because that's the beauty of like this, that you don't have to
Speaker:live in the United States, um, to do it.
Speaker:So, yeah, that's, that's kind of my goal is to just keep, um, getting
Speaker:that built up, um, and have a bigger, have a bigger community.
Speaker:I mean, I just want a big community of, of more women cheering each other on.
Speaker:Cause like when you are done with the program, Like the group program
Speaker:is technically you're in it for four months and then, um, you can join
Speaker:my membership and stay in it then.
Speaker:So you just pay a monthly membership fee.
Speaker:Um, and a lot of my clients are like, Oh, I'm, I'm definitely doing the membership.
Speaker:Like, I love it.
Speaker:And I have a lot of my one on ones that have actually joined the membership.
Speaker:They finished with me one on one and I'm like, you can join.
Speaker:I have my membership option now, and so I have a lot of one
Speaker:on ones that came into that.
Speaker:You house that in Facebook too?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, I do all that in Facebook.
Speaker:Yep, exactly.
Speaker:I do all of it in my Facebook group, um, and then obviously the,
Speaker:the group coaching calls that I have, um, each Tuesday, I do that.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, it's, it's been really great.
Speaker:A nice, you know, transition because I have a lot of clients,
Speaker:but especially my one on ones, they get done, you know, with their, you
Speaker:know, full program, the six months.
Speaker:And they're like, I still want to ask you questions or have access to you.
Speaker:Or if I want to do retest, can I do that?
Speaker:You know, how do I do that?
Speaker:And I'm like, my membership, like, it's just so easy because then you
Speaker:can order testing whenever you want.
Speaker:Um, and you get a discount with it.
Speaker:Now, you know, after you, you know, get into my membership and you, Um, come
Speaker:ask us to ask me questions, you can go on calls or just ask questions in
Speaker:the group, you know, however you want.
Speaker:And so people really like that.
Speaker:So yeah, the goal is just building that up bigger to have an even, you know,
Speaker:bigger community, um, for women to go to.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I can already see this is going to be really awesome.
Speaker:Like it's already got wings.
Speaker:It's just going to get even better.
Speaker:So that is cool.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm excited about it.
Speaker:I'm excited about it just because I feel like I can, I
Speaker:can just, Help more women then,
Speaker:um,
Speaker:and then they get to, you know, chat with each other too, which is nice for them.
Speaker:Yeah, there is definitely, and everybody experiences things differently.
Speaker:So it's sometimes nice to share and then have somebody else say,
Speaker:Oh, that happened to me too.
Speaker:That's totally
Speaker:me.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And I'm already seeing that in my group.
Speaker:You know, there's been some things where someone will say, Hey, Has anyone
Speaker:ever experienced this, you know, they feel like they're totally alone and
Speaker:someone's like, oh, my gosh, that was what I, that's what I had a year ago
Speaker:or 2 years ago or something like that.
Speaker:And then there's just a whole conversation then.
Speaker:Um, so they don't, you know, they don't feel alone because there's a
Speaker:lot of things, especially as women.
Speaker:Um, and I know you can relate to this.
Speaker:There's some things that come up with your health that you're like, what is this?
Speaker:Why is this happening?
Speaker:And you feel alone because you're like, I don't know if anyone
Speaker:ever, you know, has this as well.
Speaker:Um, so it's really nice when you can have someone that you can just like
Speaker:chat with, you can relate, you know, um, whether it's something small or
Speaker:something big, it's, it's nice for them.
Speaker:So cool.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So tell everybody where they can connect with you if they
Speaker:want to get into your program.
Speaker:So, um, I have a website, so there are a couple of different options.
Speaker:Like my Instagram handle is Angela Brown coach.
Speaker:Um, I have a lot of activity on my Instagram page.
Speaker:I'm on Facebook and all the other things too, but most of my.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, activity, the most engagement and stuff that I get
Speaker:is on my Instagram, um, page.
Speaker:And then there's a link in there as well.
Speaker:But my website is AngelaBrown.
Speaker:org.
Speaker:Um, and I have tons of info on there.
Speaker:There's all my program information is on there where they can see my
Speaker:group experience, my VIP experience.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:You know, my blog, like all the things.
Speaker:I have a lot of freebies on there, too.
Speaker:Um, I've gotten so many suggestions for, like, I just, my very first one was, um,
Speaker:how to read thyroid blood testing, because I was getting a lot of requests for that.
Speaker:And then, like, two years ago, I was getting a lot of requests.
Speaker:People were like, hey, do you have, like, a list of, like, Toxin free
Speaker:products that I can use or, you know, that are, you know, better
Speaker:for my thyroid and my hormones.
Speaker:And I was getting so many requests for this and I just kind of kept
Speaker:a running list for like a year.
Speaker:Um, and then I decided to make a guide out of it.
Speaker:So I made a free guide, um, with that as well, um, that people love.
Speaker:Cause it has like discount codes for books for some of the
Speaker:companies and stuff like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So there's a lot of, there's a lot of info, um, on there as well, but yeah,
Speaker:they can always go to my website.
Speaker:Cause that's where I have all my info with the programs and all the things.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That is awesome.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So everybody go check out Angela brown.
Speaker:com Angela
Speaker:brown.
Speaker:org.
Speaker:I always forget.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Angela brown.
Speaker:org.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:I'm glad
Speaker:you, you said that.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:It was great chatting with you.
Speaker:It was only like 20 minutes.
Speaker:I looked up at the time and I was like, I feel like this has been so informative.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:In such a short amount of time.
Speaker:So
Speaker:You bet.
