Episode 19: Live Messaging Hot Seat with a Nutritionist

Molly Cahill
So back in episode 10, with my dear friend Kate Matheson, who's a business coach for chiropractors, Reiki practitioners yoga, I mean, you name it, anybody that really has a brick and mortar health and wellness clinic, we talked about towards the end of the episode, we talked about messaging and how messaging is so important. And we thought, why wouldn't we just kind of like casually sit on the episode? Wouldn't it be fun to have you back on the show? To do some workshopping on some messaging with some different practitioners live? And I just said, Hey, if you want your messaging worked on, just send me a DM, well, I got three DMS, from three different amazing people in all different types of work. So this is the follow up episode two that we ended up we're going to split it into three episodes, because it was really long. So they're the first one that you're in here today is with Valerie Houston. And she is a registered holistic nutritionist who focuses on digestive health, and she is mostly seeing people in her brick and mortar clinic. And then next week's episode is going to focus on Morgan Adams, who is a holistic sleep coach for women, her business is pretty much all virtual. And then the week after that is going to be with actually one of my Instagram management clients, Dr. Stephanie Cole, who is a chiropractor and practices functional medicine. So she's got a lot of in person, brick and mortar and virtual with her for functional medicine as well. So I think each one of these will be really helpful for you because I see so much of these three women's businesses reflected in all of you and my audience. And I think you'll get a lot of nuggets out of listening to these three different interviews whether or not it's your exact business or not. So without further ado, here we go. Welcome to holistic marketing simplified a podcast for health and wellness professionals looking to simplify their marketing. I'm your host, Molly Cahill and this podcast is brought to you by holistic marketing hub, our hybrid program that supports you with personalized coaching, captioned templates, and virtual classrooms. In this program, we teach health and wellness professionals how to fish but we also bait their hook, head to holistic marketing hub.com To learn more, and use code podcast for $100 off, you can find full show notes, resources and more at Molly cahill.com/podcast. So I already did a brief intro of what this Today's episode is about, but my friend Kate Matson has been so generous to come back on for the second time. Welcome back, Kate. Hi, thank

Kate Matheson
you so much for having me again.

Molly Cahill
Yes. So

Kate Matheson
embarrassed myself too much the first time

Molly Cahill
No, you're gonna be great. No, it's got your episode got so many downloads, and I got so many direct messages, you're gonna be great. So, back in episode 10, Kate and I went through a little live of like, hey, what if you're a husband and wife, chiropractor duo and husband treats athletes and wife treats pregnancy and babies and like, how do you unify this overarching message and that little segment got more feedback than anything. And we also talked about, hey, we just kind of said, like, nonchalantly, maybe we can record another podcast and have people on live and go through their messaging live. And these three amazing women, all DMS may have volunteered to like do this, like How cool are you three. So welcome Dr. Stephanie. We've got Valerie and we've got Morgan all three are in the health and wellness space. But all three have a slightly unique niche and way they practice. So we're gonna start with you Valerie into the hot seat. Quickly tell us what you do where you practice is your practice virtual, you know, brick and mortar, all that kind of stuff, what to do.

Valerie Hewson
Yep, thank you for having me. My name is Valerie and I am a nutritionist. I run the business called validated nutrition. So I work with people one on one for nutrition counseling both in person in my lovely office here in Newfoundland, Canada, which is very small. In Canada, I'm Canadian, and I also see people online too. So I can see people across Canada and I've got my Registered nutritionist certification actually in England. So technically I'm certified to see people in the UK as well.

Kate Matheson
I first just have to say I love chatting with a fellow east coaster. I'm from Nova Scotia. I don't know if you knew that. So cool. Okay. Well, let's just get into it because we had sort of chatted a little bit via email before and you had said you like one of the challenges that you were feeling in your messaging was just like communicating succinctly like who you are, what you do, but also sharing sort of your unique perspective and an approach to what you do. Does And that still feels like the challenge for you.

Valerie Hewson
It does. So I have a psychology background, I'm also a musician. So I've had this sort of very nonlinear path to becoming a nutritionist and making my way into this nutrition space has been really interesting. And my master's was actually in nutrition and behavior change. So I've got this sort of combination of my two loves, which is psychology, behavior, change, and now nutrition and health. And I do find that even my title as a nutritionist will limit sort of what people think that I do. So yes, I am a registered associate nutritionist, and I have a psychology background, but I'm also a holistic nutritionist. So I think it's probably clear how messaging could be really quite complex and messy. And that's kind of how I feel right now. So that's kind of where I'm at. Yeah, I

Kate Matheson
think that makes total sense. Yeah, there's a lot going on. But already I see this. And I'm like, Oh, my God, this is so cool. When you have so much credibility. And I didn't even realize that until I like looked on what you like, looked on your social media. So you've got so much going on for you. But yeah, I think it can feel like oh, how do these two worlds come together to serve people. And I will also say, and this kind of applies to everybody. But you were saying, you know, like, I don't really even feel like nutritionist is like a comprehensive enough title for me. I used to feel like this as well, when I when I was first starting being a business coach, I was like, I don't want to be a business coach, I want to be a business consultant. But then I started realizing people don't want like small business owners aren't looking for business consultants, right. So I had to sort of lean into the terminology that people were searching for and using, and just accept, like, I'm a business coach. And so not to say that you're not more than a nutritionist, because we'll get into all of that. But sometimes we also just have to lean into the verbiage that people understand us are searching for. And then we can kind of share everything else. So I think it's great that you're a nutritionist, but you're not like a typical nutritionist.

Molly Cahill
Can I add in just two things really fast right here? Because

Kate Matheson
I'm so excited that you can already see I'm bubbling Yeah,

Molly Cahill
I'm excited to First things first, somebody gave me some great advice recently, Valerie that I think also pertains to you because it pertains to me as well. Exactly. Obviously it pertained to Kate to sell them what they want, give them what they need. So they think they want nutritionist but like really what they need, you know, the other this is kind of off a different thing. But I am someone who has worked with health, health coaches, nutritionists, whatever, over the past couple of years. And there is a lot of like, like, if you are going to blog and you have those credentials, right? Like, then that's gonna be really good for Google for search because you actually have those credentials. But I think conventional, not saying that you're, you're in conventional medicine, but I think a lot of times conventional medicine gets a bad rap. My friend Lauren, she's a PA in primary care physician's assistant, do you have those in Canada? They can prescribe medications that it's like a nurse practitioner like nurse practitioner. So yeah, we have a similar we have nurse practitioner, but we have pa two, they're kind of pretty much the same. But anyway. And now all the PAs and NPs are like we're not the same. But anyway, my friend Lauren is a PA in a primary care setting. And she gives people so a lot of the people in like the holistic world like to say, Oh, they just want to give you a pill and they just want you in and out the door. And yes, there are a lot of people who are like that. She's like, I spend a majority of my day beating my head against the wall going, Hey, if you just did these lifestyle changes, you would get better. But people aren't going to do it like or they're not doing it. So I end up having to give them a pill so that they don't have a heart attack. You know what I mean? So the reason I'm bringing this up is because you have a psychology background, you are now equipped to deal with the true issue, which isn't, you know, just here's what, here's a meal plan. It's the habits underneath making those changes, which that's I would want to work with you. Yeah, I

Kate Matheson
was just gonna say the credibility is amazing. So So let's just start working on this. So the one thing I noticed initially in your messaging is the specificity in terms of like, who you serve, and like what you actually help with is, is maybe missing a little bit. So I'm curious, like, Who do you serve? Like, who are you finding are the 123 types of people that you're generally working with?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, I mean, my ideal client is really and you know, this is kind of what I've been working on, you know, trying to narrow that down, and it's still kind of remains is, you know, like typically female, those that have restriction in their diet in any capacity. So there's a lot of food rules, which is, let's be honest, most people but working on, you know, the relationship towards food, how you your attitudes, your beliefs and how you view food and your health, and all that being tied into body image. And so yeah, the, you know, the psychology of eating, but mostly tied to sort of dietary restriction. And with that, you know, my specialty is digestion I saw Yeah, so they usually go hand in hand, but a lot of the guests have issues can really be largely remedied by, you know, targeting stress, and, you know, for your thinking, and your feeling around food. So, it's me trying to sort of connect the dots between how to succinctly tell people that in one messaging, so yeah, I just trying to tell people or trying to be, yes, the thing to my messaging about who I serve, but I will say like, that's kind of how I went into it, like, that is the sort of the therapeutics of nutrition is what I want, you know, is yes, my credentials, but that's, that's what I have so much, you know, drive for, I'm passion for and I've, it's been really great, I only opened my business in February. So I'm, like, brand spanking new. And to do this, it is a perfect time to do so. Like, I'm so grateful for this. And it's been the most fulfilling career I've ever had. And it's pretty incredible. But my ideal client has also been sort of expanding, I didn't think that I would like to work with those who kind of start at the entry level of nutrition, you know, like education, but I really, I really am enjoying working with, with people kind of come in and don't really know much about nutrition, because we're seeing results, like within one week kind of results. For example, I've had a couple of clients who have blood sugar issues, we make some tweaks in their diet and their understanding around sort of what what they can be eating what fuels them, what, you know, how, like the education piece on nutrition, and I've had a client who for their whole life would actually like saints, like, hit the ground. If they didn't eat, you know, to their authority. She no longer experiences that. This is like, I've just started in February. And like, yeah, within a week, another client kind of the same thing. She's always had these two diabetic highs, lows, highs, lows. She's never felt like she's had a consistent energy. But then she followed my protocol for one week. And she felt incredible. So yeah. Okay. It's been amazing. But yeah, my messaging is just felt like kind of all over the place.

Kate Matheson
Yeah. So I mean, again, it takes a little bit of time to organize it. But before we get into more questions, it's really helpful to understand with messaging that there's two pieces to it, there's you connecting with them. So the kind of like, give them what they want peace, right? So this is, okay, I'm working with these types of people with these types of issues who have these types of goals so that they can say, oh, yeah, that's me, I see myself in that. But then we also want them to be able to connect with you. So you connect with them, they connect with you. And it's like a nice synergy. And so them connecting with you is vibing with your personality vibing. With your story and your approach, I think it tends to be what, especially when you're first starting out that we tend to focus a lot of our messaging on that piece, right? We make it very much about our approach our philosophies, our perspectives, and we want some of that, but we really need to also bring it back to them and like, what are they going through? And I think like that piece, I want to get that a little bit. So then when you put them together, then it's really starts connecting with people that I

Valerie Hewson
completely resonate with that because, you know, I don't think people even know what a relationship to food really is. Exactly. So there's so many barriers I find for me, and I, I know that there's a way to yeah, don't have to be like that.

Kate Matheson
The first point of entry is generally meeting them where they're at. So that is like when you say I work with digestion and digestive issues, like what are the reasons that people are coming to you? Like three to five quick, rapid fire reasons, like the complaints they're currently dealing with? Like, is it SIBO is like the actual symptom, the symptoms or the Yeah, the complaints like what what are they?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, it's usually IBS. I like IBS gas bloating, sort of the constipation, the typical digestive issues and food sensitivities.

Kate Matheson
Hey, yeah. And then you mentioned though to clients also with like, blood sugar imbalances, energy issues, is that part of it as well?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's like the energy piece, like the, you know, low or high or, you know, not like the energy.

Kate Matheson
Yeah. So already, you've gotten way more specific than I actually saw in a lot of your messaging in terms of you connect with, right, it's people who are dealing with IBS, the typical, you know, digestive symptoms, food sensitivities, and then those high lows of blood sugar imbalances, right? The people who are feeling like they have restrictions because of these things. Does that feel aligned? Yeah, it goes to the people. And so you mentioned that they like the blood sugar, people have had more energy, less highs and lows, less of the fainting, lightheadedness. Any other kind of results or outcomes that you are helping people to achieve with your work?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of them, I've only kind of seen once and we're waiting for the follow up. So but I will say the mindset shift for a lot of people on their approach to eating or helping themselves or, you know, like, sort of the more Yeah, like psychology part I found a lot of really good feedback on is making a big difference.

Kate Matheson
Is that generally why like, what they want when they come to you, or it's what they realize they get after?

Valerie Hewson
Definitely afterwards. Okay.

Kate Matheson
So what are like one or two outcomes that they're like, desperate for this?

Valerie Hewson
It's usually like, I have no idea what to eat is no idea what to eat. Because, you know, like, you find your health and nutrition advice on Instagram and Tiktok, which is not normally personalized nutrition. So everyone's confused. Yeah, no one knows when to eat those, usually that or yeah, they're not feeling well, and they're trying to address a root issue. But a lot of the time it is, you know, like, I just don't know what to be eating.

Kate Matheson
And they want to like, get rid of the symptoms and start to feel better. And like, what should I be eating to do that?

Valerie Hewson
Yep. Or, like, they just kind of don't know, like, what kind of foods they should be eating to be their best self, you know, to be healthy? Yeah, that sort of thing. I'm gonna

Molly Cahill
jump in here really quickly and say, You just identified all your hashtags to by going through that list. Because what I see a lot of people do like, for example, I worked with a PC, somebody who specialized in PCOS. And she was like, anybody on the PCOS hashtags or just other health coaches who work with PCOS. I'm like, That's because you want to target them thumbs. Because also people aren't Googling, like, how do I heal my relationship with food? Or how do I achieve food freedom? Or how do I you know what I mean? Like people are like, How do I stop crapping my pants? Like, just kidding. You know what I'm saying? Like people, some people probably putting that into Google. Yeah, natural remedies for acid reflux, or like, you got to think about what people are googling versus how do I live my best life? You know what I mean? Like, yeah, how do I avoid an afternoon energy crash? And by the way, I'm like, enjoying this. I'm getting like a cape masterclass. I never knew that thing about the two different types of messaging. I'm like you Yeah, haven't right. Yeah.

Kate Matheson
That's how I think about it. And it's like, because when you put them together, of like, okay, people are like, Oh, my God, I am feeling so understood by this person. And I also totally vibe with what they're about. That's how you start the standout because now there's a gazillion nutritionists who deal in digestive health. So if you only speak to the niche kind of stuff, then you're still going to sound like everybody else. So we're getting you've kind of pulled out some of those things, right? We know what they're dealing with, we know what they want. Now, let's kind of get to the stuff that you like more, which is really important, too, which is your approach the stuff they're going to vibe with. And so I would actually love to know, why do you find a lot of people that are coming to you haven't had results before?

Valerie Hewson
Because they've been given cookie cutter advice? Yeah, I'll be honest. And, you know, like, different practitioners are under different regulatory bodies. You know, they can only recommend so many different things. And I also have worked in health stores. I'm quite like up to date on and from national pharmacy. So yeah, I think it maybe they're not tried for the natural route before or Yeah, they've I have been told like Yeah, I saw another dietitian. then they gave me the Canada Health Food Guide.

Kate Matheson
So Okay, those are really good. What do you think about also like, because you're, you're the behavioral change specialist, basically when it comes to nutrition. And so do you ever find it's like they've started something and then stopped or they've tried something and then fallen off? Or like that kind of habitual, like, actual implementation piece has not happened?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, that is a huge part too. You know, they'll say, like, oh, I started to eat healthy. And then I just couldn't maintain it, or, Oh, I started this diet. And then yeah, I just fell off the wagon. And then it's just this, like, cyclical, you know, feeling of, like, you know, shame and guilt. And I want to get rid of all of that. Yeah. But I'm also to your point, I think, for me, a big reason why I became a practitioner, is, in my health journey, I never felt with a lot of practitioners that I was actually heard, that I was listened to that I was validated in my experiences. And that is like, one of my, like, main ethos is like, you will be heard, you will be validated, you will be listened to, because everyone needs that. And you need that from a healthcare professional. And often you don't, and you just see, like, you'll say, Oh, these are my symptoms, bla bla bla, bla, bla. And then if you just see like the wheels turning, they're not actually listening to you. So I think that's why also, you know, people don't succeed with maybe other practitioners is because they're not actually being heard, like, what is actually going on underneath? All of what's happening

Kate Matheson
on the surface? Yeah. And so how do you find your approach solve some of those issues? Like, well, let's just pick out a couple like, specifically, the falling off and on the cyclical feeling of like, started this couldn't maintain it? How do you think that your approach kind of starts to solve that problem?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, it'll never be an upheaval of your diet, because you're never, ever going to sustain that. And you're just going to feel worse by yourself. So it's making you know, very, very small changes. I mean, that's the number one sort of rule behavioral changes. It's small changes.

Kate Matheson
Oh, my God. Okay. So that is so good. Just stop you right there. Because that is something that you need to really that's like one of your core messages, right is like, the number one rule of behavior change is to make small changes. And that's exactly why my approach is not a whole upheaval of your diet. It's why we do things, incrementally small changes, because having a master's in behavioral change, I understand that this is how it works. And this is why I do with my clients so that you can actually see real change, you can stick with these things. And you don't have to feel the shame and guilt of falling off the wagon, right? Like, that's the type of message that you want to start sharing over and over, that then relates it back to your approach. That's so good. I'm really glad this is recorded so that you can go back and listen to that. Your words were magic. And then what was the other one? Oh, yeah, the cookie cutter advice. So how do you find that your approach maybe solves that problem that they're just getting, like, generic Instagram advice?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, I mean, cuz it's personalized. It's one of one big, you know, the initial consultation, we go through an entire intake form, and we look at your entire health, you know, from it's not, it's so much more than just food, you know, like food is at the very end, I ask you some questions that actually pertain to your relationship to food rather than more so like, like your E. But yeah, we look at your, your whole health and, and I really try to figure out the reason, or our understand our approach to their own health, and sort of target that, and it kind of start there as sort of like a root issue. So that's, that's what I find kind of different about my approach, like I see you as a whole person. And your psyche is such a huge part of how you approach your health. And that in itself is a part of your well being

Kate Matheson
so good. So I've been like writing all this stuff down, I'll send you these notes after because they're so good. So one of the types of messaging that I love to create our culture, Core Messages, these are things that you want to be repeating over and over and over and they're just get like, infused into everything that you say, and you've got a lot of like core messages that I think people will resonate with. They tie into your approach, but I think one of them is like, it's more than just food, right? You even said digestive issues can generally be remedied by shifting mindset, right? There's a mindset component. That's one of them, the behavioral change approach of small changes. Those are other core messages. I think incorporating those into your work into kind of your overall message would be helpful. So we've gone through actually quite a lot, and now we can kind of see you Putting this together, I'm gonna sort of just like, I don't know how it's gonna flow, but I'll send you maybe something afterwards. But like, you know, even if you're writing this as like, or you're talking to people, or it's writing a little intro, and it's just like, Hi, I'm Valerie, thank you have to have a phrase of like, like, you have to say you have a master's in behavioral change. And, and you are a holistic nutritionist specializing in digestive health. And then you say that like, and so yeah, of course, I'm helping women everyday to overcome their IBS their digest their digestive symptoms, their blood sugar imbalances, so that they can, x will have these XYZ specific outcomes. But how I do, it probably looks a little different than what you've experienced before, or what you have in mind, it's not about restricting your diet or making these grand changes that you never stick with, and then feel so guilty afterwards that you've fallen off the wagon. It's not about you know, what we will say we say up grabbing some generic advice on Instagram and hoping it's going to work for you. And then share some core messages, right? Mastering your digestion, feeling great. After you eat, it is about more than just your food. It's about shifting your mindset, changing your behaviors. And this is why I combine my master's in behavioral change with my nutrition to support women or just for whoever to make XYZ changes. How does that feel? Yeah, can I think like, copy paste that? Yeah, that's everything I do. 100%. And then

Molly Cahill
this is so good. Kate, I was just, I just dropped my mic. For those of you who can't see the video.

Kate Matheson
I mean, these are your words, these are not my words. But then what you can do is hold, like, that's kind of like a whole bio. But then you can pull a snippet out here and there, you can start to pull your approach out. And it becomes like, so many messages for social for emails for conversations. But that's kind of that's how, when you're talking about this, that's what I feel like, is the gist of what you do. How does that feel in terms of clarity wise for you?

Valerie Hewson
Yeah, I mean, that was incredible. You just summarize, summarize, like my whole existence as a nutritionist in life three minutes. But no, I think I feel like there are so many messages that I want to get out there. And I think it's actually great to know that I can have a lot of messages. I guess I'm trying to be succinct. But I can have a lot of different messages, like you said, you know, that tie back, I do like to tie back into my name, like validated nutrition, like it do kind of want that to resonate with people. Well, but yeah, no, I definitely have a lot more clarity. Thank you so much.

Kate Matheson
Good. I can't wait to send you this stuff. And before we dive into the next person, the one thing I'll say is like, anytime you want to connect something from like, some educational piece you're talking about or your messaging, you just use the words, this is why this is why I approach my business this way. This is why I always do this. In my practice. This is exactly why I created this program, right? You can talk about something abstract, and then you say, This is why I do it this way. And it brings it back to your business so that people see the connection of how you can help them that is just like a little copy.

Molly Cahill
Yes, that's my favorite segue. Like if I'm ever doing is telling a story that seems to make no sense. You're like, this is why Yeah, I love it.

Kate Matheson
I actually have a post you'll see this I have a post coming out about that. So this was like funny timing that I mentioned it but me because I've been thinking about messaging.

Molly Cahill
Valerie, thank you so much. That was awesome. And I hope it was super helpful for you shoot me a DM to after and after Kate get like whatever you'd magic you do on the back end notes. And we'll, we'll help you with your Instagram bio as well.

Valerie Hewson
I really appreciate that. Honestly, this has been fabulous. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Molly Cahill
Thank you for listening to holistic marketing simplified, brought to you by holistic marketing hub, our hybrid program that supports you with personalized coaching, captioned templates, and virtual classrooms. In this program, we teach health and wellness professionals how to fish but we also bait the hook, head to holistic marketing hub.com to learn more and use code podcast for $100 off and hey, you know every podcaster at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast. Well, that's because it's super important. These podcasts take a lot of time and Hart an effort to produce to bring you free information. So in order for me to be able to continue doing that we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day to leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag at Molly a K Hill. That's ch I ll I would greatly greatly appreciate your support. I truly appreciate you so much. I know your time is valuable and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.