Episode 50 | How Health Pushed Lauren Towards Business

Sophia Noreen: Hello everyone,  welcome to another amazing episode of the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen, and I'm going to be your host for today.  Today, we had the pleasure of meeting with Lauren who is a professional nutritionist.  She used to work for the non-profit sector and for-profit sector as a project manager and an executive assistant,  but then realize after going through life,  after working those careers,  it was super stressful and it was taking a toll on her health. And that's when she decided to pivot her entire career to helping others with their nutrition.  Lauren understands the value of real nutritional dense food and also recognizes the impact that environmental stress and mindset have over your entire health. 

So when you work with Lauren, you will definitely be touching on all of those points.  She discovered the world of holistic healing through her own personal journey and her health crisis and has firsthand experience with healing imbalances within the body using nutrition and lifestyle practices.  

Guys, you're going to learn so much from Lauren, not only about health but also about her journey as an entrepreneur.  Her story is great because it touches on the situation where she left her career and went back to school so she could become a nutritionist. You guys are going to love Lauren's story.

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it.

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.

Sophia Noreen: Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big-box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family, and self-care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen, and I'm going to be your host for today. And as you heard from our intro,  we are speaking with Lauren. Lauren, thank you for joining us today. How are you? 

Lauren Bryson: I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me. 

Sophia Noreen: So Lauren, before we get started, we always ask our guests, what is their mantra? What keeps you going on the regular? How do you keep yourself motivated?  

Lauren Bryson: I really love that question, first of all. My mantra is the deepest impact possible.  I literally have it written on a post-it that I keep on my laptop that's covered in mustard actually.  But yes, I really try to have the deepest impact possible in my work,  just in my family, in my relationships, and just in day-to-day activities. Being of service fills me up, obviously, just from my career.  So I love that mantra, it's very grounding for me.  

Sophia Noreen: Definitely. And I think,  especially when you're in a service-based industry or even a product-based industry, if you can connect it to something external from yourself and, you know that you're actually impacting somebody else's life or livelihood, it makes a goal for you that much stronger, for whatever goal you're trying to accomplish. So  I love that, and I don't think I've heard that one before.  That's a new one that I'm going to add. 

Lauren Bryson: Good. Yes, it's been on my blue post-it for about a year now and I love keeping little mantras or motivational things literally right in front of me because it's really re-centering whenever I'm working.

Sophia Noreen: Exactly, exactly. We always hit those obstacles throughout our day, or throughout our week. If you have it front and center,  then you'll know that if you stop, you may not be able to make the deepest impact possible. So I love that, that's fantastic.  Okay, let's get right into your story. Tell us how you got to where you are today? Everything that you think our listeners would love to hear.

Lauren Bryson: My name is Lauren Bryson, I am a holistic nutritionist and I am also a kid's cooking instructor and a wellness facilitator and teaches affordable nutrition classes.  The way I got here, I actually have my Bachelor's in Psychology and I spent about 10 years working in the startup in a non-profit world for the majority of my twenties. But during that time, my health was slowly declining, and then in my mid to late twenties, it pretty much plummeted.  I was having a lot of gut-related issues, stomach pain, brain fog, fatigue,  severe nutritional deficiencies.  The Western Medical Model is really great for surgery and other things, but not great for managing chronic illness.

So I went undiagnosed for about six to seven years,  which was very frustrating.  And then I finally got a diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis, and then from there I started researching gut health and just learned about food and different diets. From there, I discovered Ayurveda which really, really helped me heal my gut and just slowly healing using diet and lifestyle, which was so powerful. I decided to quit my job and go back to school, and I graduated from  Bauman College with my Nutrition Consultant certification last year, and I have been working in the nutrition field ever since. I really love it. The body's ability to heal is so incredible, so I'm really happy to be in this profession right now.  

Sophia Noreen: That's incredible.  The fact that you were going through something and you've decided to turn around and say, you know what? I know what it's like. I've been there, and now I can go and help serve others who are in the same situation or similar situation.

I think that's wonderful. And  Lauren, do you mind backing up, what were you doing before in your mid-twenties? 

Lauren Bryson: I was working mostly as a  project manager and executive assistant first, in the startup world and then in the non-profit world.  So it was definitely two very different environments, very, very different.  I enjoyed the project management side of it, but it didn't fill me up.   It was just a nine-to-five job for me.  

Sophia Noreen: Exactly.  It's interesting because when we get into our careers in our mid-twenties or early thirties, we almost have this idea of what it's going to be like. I actually didn't have much of an idea. I'm trying to think, I was a physiotherapist or I still am, working in the hospital. And I've always been part of the non-profit world. That's just the way it has gone for me,  and solely opening up the business. That's more of a for-profit situation, but I'm running the business.

So again,  I may have never felt the same pressure as you did.  Can you speak to that stress potentially, and how did you feel like it may have perpetrated or basically flared up whatever you may have had as an underlying condition? Do you feel like that stress may have contributed because it seemed to have popped up in your twenties?

Lauren Bryson:  Absolutely. Yes, a hundred percent.  I think that it was both a high-stress environment and also just a feeling of being a little unfulfilled at work. The startup world was definitely super high stress and in the non-profit world, we ran different senior living facilities which I really identified with the mission. But the work environment wasn't the healthiest, I would say. We were definitely overworked and understaffed, so I do think that stress was a definite contributor and work stress is something that everyone deals with on a continuum. So it's something I always look at as a nutritionist. It's not just food,  it's your environment, it's stress, it's stress at work, stress at home. So it's definitely the main piece to look at as well. 

Sophia Noreen: Yes, especially if you're giving advice on food.  Fine, that's great and all, but if they can't even follow through with the regimen that you've provided because they're too stressed,  that's going to impact your services directly.

Lauren Bryson: Absolutely.  

Sophia Noreen: So right now, you left your job, and did you go cold turkey or did you have a part-time in between? How did you manage that transition from leaving your full-time career and then going back to school? 

Lauren Bryson: I was living and working in San Francisco. So when I went back to school, I had to move back to my mom's house just for money reasons, because I wasn't having any income. And as I've been building my business, I'm still living here. It's definitely a trade-off.  I worked some part-time jobs in school, but nothing too intense just for a little extra money.  But yes, while I've been building my business, I have been living at home which has its pros and its cons, for sure. Yes, that's one of the trade-offs that I had to do. 

Sophia Noreen: And in the end was worth it, because now you have the luxury of taking the time to build the best client-based that is appropriate for you and appropriate for the clients,  as opposed to picking anyone who would be willing to just sign up, and then you realize later that they're not the most appropriate client and they're not ready for your services. This is giving you the breadth of time to build a solid foundation, I would say. Would you agree? 

Lauren Bryson: Absolutely. Yes, I feel super lucky that I have this opportunity to be here and live here and take the time to build my business.  For me, the pandemic was a good time for me to build my business because I had all the time in the world, and I can do most of my work remotely so I'm also feeling quite grateful for that.  But yes, being at home has been a good shift.  

Sophia Noreen: And I'm sure your parents are very happy to have you back.

Lauren Bryson: Absolutely. 

Sophia Noreen:  That's very nice. Okay, so before we go into advice time, do you have any lows or ugly parts of your transition? I know we touched on a lot of the positives, and of course, your health was a contribution to you switching careers and going back to school, and that's definitely a low because many of our listeners are starting their entrepreneurial journey and to give them some perspective, especially if they're a student and they have to put some investment into going back to school.

Lauren Bryson: Yes, there's always that element of uncertainty. I dealt with Imposter Syndrome a lot, and I still do.  I think especially with women, I think it's something that affects more people than we realize. So just being like, what am I doing? Is this a good idea? Just second-guessing myself, that was definitely difficult.  And the way that I dealt with it is I literally just would take things day by day. Just really simple, just what am I doing today? What am I doing for school?  What school assignment is done? And once I was done with school, I was like,  what am I doing for my business today? Am I going to do marketing or research or things like that? But yes, just the Imposter Syndrome of like, who are you to change careers, to start a business? But always reminding myself that it just felt right for me.

Sophia Noreen: That's right and listening to your intuition and your gut instinct was allowing you to go forward. You've touched on Imposter Syndrome, we do speak about it here and there in the show. We haven't done an episode on it yet. We probably should, but I like the advice and we're leading into the advice now where you're basically saying that I'm going to take it day-by-day and pick one assignment for myself to complete in my business or in my education. I guess you turn it off or do you just find a strategy of how to turn it off, turn off the voices that are saying, who are you? 

Lauren Bryson: I always try to go back. I love that you brought up the word  "intuition" which is just like the small still voice inside of you. I always try to go back to that and when I'm feeling overwhelmed, I'll take a break. I'll do some form of self-care and for me, self-care can literally be like drinking a glass of water or going to bed 30 minutes earlier, or going on a walk for 10 minutes.  It doesn't have to be these huge sweeping things, but recentering regrounding and just trusting the process.

Sophia Noreen: I love that. I think we are in such a hurry to get to that destination that we're not trusting the process because it takes time. It takes time to stand up, it takes time for people to find you.  So if we don't allow ourselves that breath of time and that breadth of the process, then we are actually missing a big component of the experience of being our own boss and being on that entrepreneurial journey. So I really liked that, that was great.  

Okay, let's move on to the advice time. Can you give us one piece of advice you wish you knew before you started your entrepreneurship journey? 

Lauren Bryson: I love this question.  Just do it.  Just take action. Things will never be perfect, and that's okay.  For me, building my website, I put it off for seven months. I have no web design experience, I felt way out of my element. One day during quarantine, I just sat down and I got on Wix and I just started plugging away and it took me a while, and it's definitely still a work in progress but it's out there. Just putting yourself out there is step one, I think.  So yes, just take action whether it's big or small,  is my advice. Also, find a mentor if you can.  Mentors are huge. It's so helpful. Mentor or community, or just people in your field, ask them questions because I've found everyone in my field has been incredibly knowledgeable and really willing to help new students, new entrepreneurs which is awesome.

Sophia Noreen: Exactly.  I think they're key takeaways.  Just do it. I think a lot of people sit on the fence for a while and it really is just pulling off the bandaid and just get going. And then finding a mentor, I did exactly the same thing. I think for me when I go and invest,  I'm more likely to do. That's the way my brain works.  Even with my yoga and all my vocational and healthy habits, if I'm not investing monetarily,  I don't know what it is, I don't follow through. It's just some people are wired that way. 

Lauren Bryson: It's motivational. 

Sophia Noreen: It's like, I'm paying for that so I need to do it. And everyone's different, so that may not work for some so find out what's working for you and just do it. I love that. That was great.  

Okay, how do you keep yourself moving? What are your strategies for goal setting and managing your time? 

Lauren Bryson: This is also a really great question. I have an old school planner. It's not online, it's not on Google calendar. I have Google calendar and I use it.  I literally write everything down that I have to do in the day. All my appointments, all my work things,  and then every month I write out intentions like getting this done, post on social media this many times, and then also just intentions for the month like have more fun.  But every month, I really try to plan everything out.  And for me, the physical act of writing is huge because I'm also trying not to be on phone as much. We're already been on these devices for so long, so having a different way of tracking your days and your hours has really worked for me.

Sophia Noreen: Oh yes, and I do the old school planner as well so no shame in that.  I have right here my planner beside me, and then  I do have the tech just to keep myself organized, but I literally will write down like I'll look at my calendar the night before and I'll write down in the paper agenda.

Lauren Bryson: Yes, me too. 

Sophia Noreen: Isn't that crazy?  And I do believe it's the act of writing things down that really helps cement and commit that you're going to actually achieve that goal. 

Lauren Bryson: I agree. Yes, it hits differently than looking at your Google calendar. 

Sophia Noreen: Exactly. Something more intimate when you write it down.

Lauren Bryson: Yes, for sure. 

Sophia Noreen: We have one more question. How do you manage it all? Your mental health, your physical health, do you have a routine around that? Or is there something you do that pushes you towards staying balanced and harmonized? 

Lauren Bryson: This is also a great question. I love all these questions.  

So I'm a holistic nutritionist and I take a very holistic approach to life.  There are five pillars that I really focus on. Obviously, one is food.  One is movement. One is a lifestyle, so like sleep, stress levels,  meditation.  One's social connection and community, and then the last one is the purpose, like what you're doing in life.  Just trying to take care of myself as best as I can. Obviously, I try to eat healthily.  Movement is huge for me. Hiking and being in nature kept me sane in the last year and a half, I would say. Being outside,  also having fun. I feel like prioritizing joy is something. We need to do more,  go have some whatever fun is to you. If it's going out dancing or cooking or seeing some friends, there needs to be more fun, I think, in this world.  

So yes, as I said earlier, small forms of self-care like just drinking more water, or big forms of self-care like going on a weekend trip if you can is important because especially as an entrepreneur,  I'm sure we can all relate to this.  We work 24/7 just because we love what we do, but then there's the element of burnout.  So taking care of yourself is super important. 

Sophia Noreen: Oh yes, and you've said it best, we love what we do. So sometimes we get into that flow and we're working longer than we expected. And I think,  being a physiotherapist or a physical therapist, as you say it in the US, sitting down at the computer is like the worst thing for you, it literally is. It messes up your hips and messes up your entire posture is like a little fetal. I'm crouching guys if you can see me.

Anyways, I agree. I actually would also suggest for people to schedule it. I feel like if you don't schedule it, it doesn't happen.  A lot of people, need to have reminders on their phone to get up every hour or every hour and a half,  things like that, because when I get into the flow of things, I don't stand up.  I'll be sitting for a long time. 

Lauren Bryson: Me too. Absolutely. Yes, some days I take great care of myself, and some days I don't, and that's okay though. Some days are going to be better than others, and every day is not going to be perfect, which is something I always like to remind my clients of.

Sophia Noreen: Exactly, exactly. And for you being in the food and health world and that being the industry you're working in,  that is a mindset that I think the clients need to have like, okay your day was not that great. For whatever reason, your healthy eating was not optimal. But just starting a fresh new page immediately, not even tomorrow, like immediately. That's okay, that means you're in your control.

Lauren Bryson: Absolutely.  Absolutely. It's all about mindset,  and like we're human. We all make mistakes and it's cool. 

Sophia Noreen: Exactly,  exactly. And we touched on earlier,  just getting into it even if it's not perfect. I have this whole mantra of being perfectly imperfect and starting anyways.  

Lauren Bryson: I love that. 

Sophia Noreen: Just knowing that you're imperfect,  but it's perfectly imperfect because there's no such thing as perfection in this world.  I think it really hones in on your practice as a practitioner, food is so difficult for people to manage. I think that unless you're living a lifestyle within your home environment that is conducive to healthy eating, you're going to be tempted. If the kids have the Oreo cookies sitting on the counter and you're hungry because you've been working like five hours straight, of course, you're gonna reach for that Oreo cookie. 

Lauren Bryson: A hundred percent. Absolutely. I completely agree with that. That's okay. Just try to have a healthier dinner or a healthier breakfast, or just take it day-by-day. 

Sophia Noreen: Exactly.  Okay, that was all the questions we had for Lauren. Lauren, people want to know how they can find you. How they can work with you? Give us all the details.

Lauren Bryson: All right. My company is called Lauren Emerson Wellness, Emerson's my middle name.  I work one-on-one with clients for nutrition consultations,  or I help you achieve your health goals.  And then I also teach kids cooking, this can all be remote so you guys can be located anywhere.  Check me out over at laurenemersonwellness.com and I'm on Instagram  @laurenemersonwellness.

Sophia Noreen: Wonderful, and we will hyperlink that in the show notes. You can just click and go straight to her pages. Give her a follow on Instagram. And Lauren, thank you so much for being with us today. It was extremely heartwarming to hear your story, and I'm so happy that you've come along on your health journey and now you're impacting others. It's a wonderful mission that you have. 

Lauren Bryson: Thank you so much for having me. This was awesome. 

Sophia Noreen: Great. We'll talk to you guys later and remember, make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all. 

Lauren Bryson: Just do it.

Sophia Noreen: Just do it.

So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is the time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story and tag us @BossItclub. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our Top 50 Tips for Starting and Scaling a Business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers. So don't miss out. Now, remember bosses: make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes, you can have it all.