This Dietitian Boss Made $1000 In 3 Days Using Social Media!

Yaa Boayke: [00:00:01] On today’s episode, we have Julia Dugas. She’s a registered dietitian nutritionist and personal trainer from Minnesota. She spent years in the health and fitness industry before realizing that women needed a new approach that encompassed their relationship with food, not just food itself. She’s passionate about keeping things fun and sassy and helping women put an end to their out-of-control cravings once and for all. You can find her on Instagram @cravings.nutritionist, or you can visit her on her website, mostlynutrition.com. Welcome to the episode.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:00:36] Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:00:39] Let’s dive right in, I would love for you to share with the listeners a little bit about your journey starting out and compare your journey starting out to where you are now.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:00:48] Yeah. Yeah, sure. So I had actually considered starting private practice as kind of a side gig a long time ago. In the job I was in then, I felt like it was a little bit of a conflict of interest to be posting about on social media since it was a service that my company offered. So I was kind of on the fence about it then. I should have honestly just started it then anyway. I ended up starting it this year and I started it full time and I was a big skeptic of doing business coaching. I’m not going to lie. I was like, I think I can find all this stuff on the Internet, there’s all these free webinars as soon as you Google one thing about business coaching, like every single ad that you get is targeted for this free webinar and that free webinar. I was like, yeah, I can do this on my own. Then it was actually a call that I had with one of the DB coaches who looks through my Instagram, and she was like, yeah, this isn’t super clear, it doesn’t look like a business page. There’s pictures of your dog, there’s pictures of food like I don’t know who your clients are. I was like, oh my gosh, you’re right. I need so much help. She just totally sold me and I signed up. Now that I’ve gone through the coaching, I’m like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe that I was going to do this on my own. I’ve learned so much about marketing and how to post on Instagram and what my clients want and all that stuff. So I’ve come a long way for sure.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:02:08] Amazing. Yet admittedly, a lot of people have that same mindset. To be honest, I could do it myself. I’m going to MacGyver the heck out of this situation and make it happen, and while that’s good to have that mentality and that instinct that you believe that you can get it done, it is really helpful to have more of a clear and direct path to kind of save you on that, like, million-mile path of endless webinars that you would have to go on in order to land on the same information.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:02:35] Right, and it’s so funny because we’re dietitians, right? So we know that people need professional help, and if they didn’t our profession wouldn’t exist. But then when it comes to myself, I’m like, I should save the money, I should just figure it out myself. And I’m like, no, I’m the client that I hate. Right? I need the professional help. I need someone to tell me how to do it, what to do it, take out the trial-and-error part of it and just have a process to follow.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:03:04] Absolutely. One million percent. Thanks so much for sharing that. I know a lot of others are definitely going to find that super relatable for sure. Let’s talk about the clients that you now work with. You said when you first got on that call, it was very unclear who you work with. So I would love for you to share with the listeners who are the clients you work with now and describing a little bit more about your current niche.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:03:26] Yeah, absolutely. So now I work with women who are in the binge/restrict cycle and people in particular who identify as cravings are their biggest problem. I found this all the time, even in previous jobs I had where I have clients filling out a form and it was like I have cravings for sweets and salty foods and this and that. It was just everyone had cravings, and it really is usually a result of being in a restrictive eating cycle. Right? And so doing the Dietitian Boss method, I learned that I need to try to solve my client’s biggest problem, and none of my clients have any clue what the binge/restrict cycle is. Right? Like they have no idea that’s their problem, and even if we pinpointed it to restriction is their problem because the restriction is what causes the bingeing. Most of them think they’re eating too much, like the reason they’re restricting is because usually they’re trying to lose weight. They usually come to me with all this restriction and all these cravings and they think, well, I just need less. And it’s like, actually, that’s definitely not the solution. That is not going to help at all. So that’s why I work with women in the binge/restrict cycle has a history of chronic dieting and to really identify that they have a lot of cravings and taking it from there and ending the restriction.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:04:47] Yeah, I specifically love how you are really aware of your ideal client and what they are aware of currently in this moment, and you recognize they’re not aware of that clinical speak of the binge/restrict, I think I’m eating too much. You could have went at it and just marketed binge/restrict because you’re like that’s what they have, but if they don’t know it, then they’re like, Julia must not be talking to me. So this back door that you’re going through with cravings is like really helpful because they recognize that feeling and they understand that word, which is amazing for marketing. Absolutely. Would you say that your niche has evolved from where you started? Can you share a little bit about your journey, especially being someone that’s coming from a position where you work with so many different people? So how did you really like land on this mission in particular?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:05:33] Yeah, so I actually came in to not only my private practice, but even into Dietitian Boss, and I thought I had to do weight loss. I think a lot of us might think that because we know weight loss cells. Right? It’s a billions and billions of dollars industry. And obviously I’m a Dietitian. I want to help people. But like, we have to make money, right? Like we have bills to pay. I was really torn; I was tortured over this decision of like I feel like I have to do weight loss because I need to pay the bills and I need to make money. It really doesn’t align with me and how I prefer to coach and what I really feel like people’s biggest problems are, or at least my ideal clients biggest problems, and it was on one of the coaching calls that I was talking through this issue, and I was like this and not going back and forth, about the niche and the Dietitian Boss coach was like, it sounds like you’re niche is cravings. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you’re so right. How did I not see that? As soon as she said it and then she moved on to somebody else, that was like in the hot seat coaching, and I was thinking about it more. I was like, you know what? Every time I used to get those forms before in my old job and they had all these cravings, I’d be like, yes, it was a relief because I knew I could help them so quickly. If cravings was like their biggest issue. I was like, how did I not put this together myself? It really was the coach that told me, I think this is what you’re describing, but I wasn’t able to pinpoint it myself. It was really like the aha moment of like, how did I not come to this conclusion myself.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:07:12] Yeah. One hundred percent. Rahki Roy, who was in my Dietitian Boss cohort described what you said as having someone read the label from the outside. So you’re inside your own bottle, you’re inside your own head and with the help of someone else now you can read the label and know what it is versus trying to read the letters backwards or upside down inside the bottle. So it is helpful in terms of a coaching perspective to have someone read the label to you.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:07:38] Right, and before I started business coaching and Libby’s program, I actually thought that I had a niche already. And once I joined the program, I think it was literally like four solid weeks in before I actually had my niche approved and had it nailed down and I was like, wow, I thought I already had done this. I found out like, no, I wasn’t even close, thank goodness I didn’t waste more time, making content and marketing and posting, like, I probably wouldn’t have any clients yet. My message would be super unclear. It just wouldn’t have been good.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:08:11] Well, kudos to you for seeing the value in allowing yourself to be a sponge in the process, because coming into the program, you already had that I could do it myself, I can webinar and out. So to allow yourself to be coachable and take the information is really, it’s really a compliment to you and your strength and perseverance as a business owner to just let your guard down and just allow yourself to learn.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:08:33] Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. That’s super nice.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:08:36] But it’s true. It’s totally true. So can you share a little bit more about being able to pursue this now? A lot of people have this as a dream, they would love to start their own business, but in their own mind, their like I’m just so used to working for other people, I don’t know if I can get to this next level. So I would love for you to share. Has this always been your dream and what made you start out and take this to the next level?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:09:02] Yeah, so it’s kind of funny, actually. I never would have said it’s always been my dream to have a private practice, but when I started on this path, I was kind of thinking back on things. And when I was in my dietetic internship, my internship director was always talking about like, oh, well, Julia wants to do private practice. I was like, what is she talking about? I’ve never said that before. I don’t know if she just saw some kind of entrepreneur spirit in me or something. But I was like, I’ve never said that before, but she was just obsessed with me having a private practice. I was like, I don’t know where this came from. So that was funny. I’ve also always been super obsessed with Shark Tank, the show, which is all entrepreneurs. I always used to say, oh yeah, like I don’t want to own my own business. I just love Shark Tank. Then all of this kind of fell into place, like I was laid off during covid and during 2020, and this was just it. I just like started this immediately. Right? I just went right into this two weeks after I got laid off. It was just one thing after the next and I was like, OK, maybe that stuff was all a sign. I really deep down did have a desire to do private practice. I just wasn’t really paying attention to that. So I wouldn’t say it was a conscious dream. I think deep down, there was something, something brewing in there that was like, yeah, you’re probably going to end up in private practice.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:10:26] What an incredible story. Yeah, it’s almost like you were sleepwalking around the corner. You were somewhere near around it, even though you didn’t know it yourself. So that’s amazing that someone could see that in you, I think more people should have a good person like that that could say, hey, I really see this for you. It’s a good little confidence boost, too. Can you tell us a little bit about how you’re able to move in this know, like and trust dimension? Because I feel like a lot of people, when they want to get out there, they want to make money on social media. They have to build know, like and trust. So you provide two tips for how you effectively do that so you can attract your ideal client.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:11:08] Yeah, absolutely. So talking on your stories is huge and showing your face and even just telling your own story. Most of us in our niche, we have something has happened in our own life that’s either very closely related or it’s spot on what we went through. And telling that story and being vulnerable with your followers is so important. Whenever I do that, I have at least a handful of women messaged me and say, even just like, thanks for sharing your story. I think what happens is, I think sometimes we can be in a field and I’m a dietitian and a personal trainer, and I know a lot of us are both. I think from the outside, people look at us and they think we have everything together. We were just born healthy eaters who hate candy and ice cream, and we just were straight out the womb wanting to exercise seven days a week and stuff like that. I think they just don’t realize until we talk about it that that’s not the case, and we’ve all struggled and had our own battles with food and body image and learning to be an intuitive eater as we go through college and most of us have a history of being way too restrictive with our food when we were in our dietetics programs, in undergrad and stuff like that. I think that really helps with the know, like and trust factor because they’re not like, oh, it’s a scary dietitian that’s going to be like eat spinach and chicken for every meal, and if you can’t do that, then audios. They are like, oh, she actually has dealt with the same issues so she can help me, and she’s not intimidating to me because she had to go through all this stuff herself, too.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:12:49] Yeah, you make so many important points. One of the biggest point you’re making is you’re completely correct. The standard framing or idea of dietitian is scary, you really do think wow this person is going to be intimidating. So with that framing, you kind of have to really prove to yourself and create an environment of trust, like you said, and say, hey, I didn’t get pushed out the womb going  to soul cycle seven days a week, and I love Snickers like you do, and I’m not going to eat kale salad all day. I think a lot of dietitians forget that, that you actually have to do a little bit, dare I say, PR work for your own self, even though you’re just starting out because so many people have these assumptions about you. So how do you do your best PR? You talk about yourself; you talk about your struggles. You’re actually one hundred percent, correct.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:13:41] Yeah, actually in my previous role, we didn’t do any Zoom calls and I didn’t have a social media account or anything, so my clients couldn’t get to know me before they met with me and they never saw me either. It was just over the phone and I was talking to a woman one time and she was talking about her body fat percentage and she was so troubled over the number and we were talking about it. She’s like, well, I’m sure you’ve never had to deal with anything like this, and her body fat percentage was way lower than mine is. So I was like, they really think that we are just these fit boot camp people that are just grinding all day, every day on our fitness routine. I was like, wow, this is so telling that they really need to be able to see us and see that we’re real humans that eat fun foods and we eat ice cream and we go out with friends and we have a beer on the weekend and we skip our workout sometimes. We weren’t born this way. Right? It takes work and anyone can do it, and especially if they adopt a healthier relationship with food and things like that. But it is so helpful for them to feel like they can get to know me before they even work with me.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:14:49] I love it. Yeah, everyone that’s listening, if you’re afraid to get out there like you have to do your own PR, you have to tell people what you do and that you’re someone that can help them. It’s not just about the letters and the alphabet soup after your name, that’s not enough. They want to feel comfortable because they’re going to show up for multiple sessions. They’re going to join your group coaching program. So they have to get to know you.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:15:11] Yeah, absolutely. Even think about girls who go on the bachelor, like there’s been multiple personal trainers and health coaches and things like that on like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, and they come off the show and they have five hundred thousand followers and they have all of these clients and they don’t even have any credentials, a lot of them, they just show their face and you see them on TV and you’re like, I like that person. I’m going to buy their program or I’m going to do this and that, and people are totally bought in, even though they have like zero credentials at all.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:15:40] Exactly. Totally. So there’s nothing stopping us from doing the same thing, and the one thing that they’re doing that we’re learning from, like you’re mentioning, it’s visibility. They’re making themselves visible, they’re making themselves heard. Just doing that can lead to so many sales, you could literally sell water that’s sitting right in front of them just because you are you and you’re talking to them like they’re a person. So I’m having so much fun talking with you. So let’s get to the part where I know everyone’s like this girl is rambling, but the money. Let’s hear about the money. Obviously, you can tell Julia and I are very passionate about visibility, showing up, creating really great content and being able to essentially help people reach these really desired outcomes. So with that means you’ve attracted some of your ideal client, so can you share with the listeners how much money you’ve made so far in the Dietitian Boss program?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:16:38] Yeah, absolutely. So I’m about halfway through with my three-month program and I’ve made 3100 so far.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:16:47] Wow, that is incredible. I was like, OK girl. 3100. I see you. That’s, that’s so freaking cool. So inspiring. What’s your next money goal?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:17:01] Yeah. So my next goal would be consistently for every single group to have like 15 to two grand. 1500 to two grand coming in for each small group and long term I want to surpass my old salary and be making more money than I was making in my corporate job. And that’s kind of the next big goal, then after that six figures, I want to pay off my student loans as quickly as possible. I want to invest for retirement super aggressively once my debts are paid off. So I’m really money motivated, but it has been great. I mean, 3100 in six to eight weeks that I’ve been in the program now is more than I would have expected.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:17:41] Wow. Very, very cool. Well you’re definitely on track to hit that, so I can’t wait to follow up and interview you. I feel like what? You’ll probably be at that sixth case, consistent month very soon at this rate. So, yes, I’m going to put it out in the universe.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:17:56] Yeah. Yeah, that’s what we got to do. Put it all out in the universe, say, over and over. Write it down in my journal over and over.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:19:05] All right, thanks so much for sharing that and with the money you’ve made so far, what has it afforded you? What have you done with it so far?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:19:13] Yeah, so I was actually furloughed this year in March due to Covid and then I was laid off at the end of June. So this has really helped me with my financial security during such a crazy time during the pandemic. And not only that, but it also allows me to work and do work that I am totally aligned with and not have to just take a job wherever I can get one and have to push whatever diet they’re promoting or whatever supplements they’re selling and stuff like that. I can do things my own way and I don’t have to do things the big wigs away anymore. It’s just exactly what I feel is correct and exactly what my clients need, and that’s when I get to do now.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:19:56] Yeah, that’s one of the beautiful benefits of this, is being able to set your own rules and be able to have the work that brings you the most joy. So kudos to you for being able to do that and be so aligned with it.  So can you share with everyone like how you’re using Instagram to make over 3K? A lot of people are super freaking skeptical about using Instagram to make money. Some people say no way people are going to find me and hand over their credit card information. But it happens. It happens. So can you share with us how you use Instagram to lead into more sales?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:20:34] Yeah, absolutely. So with Instagram, it’s all about the content, right? Like we’re following accounts that are not only esthetically pleasing, like I click on the account, I’m like, wow, this looks really nice. It’s like put together. But also, they have content that speaks to you. You look at their page, it probably has only two or three seconds that you look at someone’s Instagram account before you decide if you’re going to follow them or not or if you’re going to look through multiple of their posts or not. So posting content that resonates with your ideal client and really speaks to their biggest problem. So for my clients, that’s cravings is the biggest problem that they’re aware of. Right? Their biggest problem is actually restriction. They think it’s they’re crazy out of control cravings. So it really speaks to the biggest problem, which is the cravings, the solution that I offer, which is intuitive eating and the outcome, which is no more cravings, no more binge eating, no more out of control, feelings around food or more food anxiety, that kind of stuff. So when my ideal client finds my page and they see that I’m speaking their language and they see, oh, she’s talking about having cravings, like I have cravings all the time. She’s posting pictures of herself eating tortilla chips and bingeing tortilla chips. I do that all the time and she can probably help me. Then they follow me. And no, they don’t buy from me the second they follow me, but then they follow along and then they can get to know me when they watch my stories and they can see more content that aligns with them. Then before I know what they’re answering my calls, like, what do you like to do like this? Yes or no? And then they’re answering to my stickers like what questions you have about cravings? And then we’re messaging and DMing and they’re like, oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. I’ve never thought about it this way. And then before, you know, you have a client.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:22:21] Love it. Wow. You really just took us on the journey right now. That was a really good elevator journey. It feels like we’re going up a few floors. You totally gave me the full picture, and you’re absolutely correct, because I do think the way you described it is so important for people to understand because, yeah, it’s a journey. It’s a process. But a part of that is being able to make sure your message and your content is really clear and aligned, and once you reel them in and keep showing up, it becomes so natural for them to show up in your story, show up in your DM, and then when they’re on the call, closing is easy because you’ve already spent the time nurturing them. So thanks so much for sharing that.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:23:01] Yeah, I’ve noticed that closing is so much easier than I thought. I actually a long time ago in my career, I worked in a position that was one hundred percent commission and I wasn’t working for myself. I should have just started then. But I found closing was so hard in my previous job where it wasn’t my private practice and where people they didn’t know me before, like they would maybe meet somebody else, a different trainer, and they would set up an appointment with me and they would come in and we would talk. And it was so hard to close, even though I knew I could help with exactly what their problem was. Now they’ve seen you so much, they already know. They’ve seen me talk about so many different things. They see me on my stories. They answer stickers. They DMed me to ask questions and all of this stuff. So they come in and they know that my services cost money, they know that I’m not offering this for free. So they come in and they’re pretty much already sold. They basically just want to make that last five percent, make sure. My closing rate has been way higher than I would have expected.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:24:02] Incredible. Thanks so much for sharing that. Which is actually a good transition to the next question, which is we’re talking about being very clear in our messaging, knowing that it’s tortilla chips, knowing that your post is hitting the problem, solution, outcome. So how have you been able to develop your messaging?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:24:20] Yeah, so the calls from Dietitian Boss have helped a ton with my messaging and posting to the Facebook group, and not only that, but looking at insights too. So like looking at my content that’s done well and what hasn’t done well and trying to recreate things in some way that are doing well, either using similar pictures, using the same foods that I’m talking about, I’ve noticed that talking about tortilla chips, it does really well for some reason with my followers. Or the phrasing. Right? What am I talking about? Am I talking about, like, going to a party and avoiding chips all night, eating veggies instead and then binging chips later in the night and repurposing pieces of the content that does well for new content. So that’s how I’ve been doing a lot of my content. Then in terms of my messaging, is the problem, solution, outcome. Talking about not only that, but tying it in with what I’m offering, which is your problem is cravings, my solution is intuitive eating and the outcome is that you stop having cravings, you stop binge eating, your stress and anxiety around food improves and all of that.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:25:31] Oh, so good. You make it sound so easy. I remember that we first started, girl, you just let that flow like a river I was like, wow, you really understand who you’re marketing to. It’s great. It’s very clear who you help. Your energy and your passion for your ideal client totally comes through.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:25:50] Good. Well, I’m happy to hear that. That’s great.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:25:52] We were talking about this a little bit earlier. But just again, because people often hear the confidence of Dietitian Bosses coming on air and they’re like, oh, my God, they have it so together. But they need to remember that there was a before, this wasn’t always this way. She didn’t always have it this clear. So can you share a little bit about what your IG feed looked like before and a little bit more detail? You hinted at it earlier just so they can get a better picture of the transformation?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:26:20] Yeah, for sure. So before I think I was only concerned with my feed looking pretty, which I still want my feed to look esthetically pleasing. Right? That’s something that’s really important to me. I tend to follow more people that have like really pretty quote unquote feeds. But that’s really all I cared about. Right? I was posting things that were cute pictures of my dog or a pretty picture of food or I was posting just a question. Right? And then I had a long caption addressing it and I thought it looked great. It was so funny because after I had a call with one of the Dietitian Boss coaches before I even signed up, just when I was still like, I don’t know, maybe I can do this all for free webinars, which I totally could not have done that. But she was looking through my feed and she was like; this doesn’t even look like a business page like this looks like a personal account. Your bio isn’t clear. Your handle isn’t clear. My handle used to be my LLC name, which is mostly nutrition. She was like, what the heck does that mean? I don’t know what that means. I don’t know who that speaking to. I was like, oh my gosh, you’re right. I thought it was such a good name, and now that you say it, it doesn’t mean anything. Nobody knows what that means, like mostly nutrition. Yeah. It’s cool name for my L.L.C., but my ideal clients don’t know what that means, and that’s what’s important is that your clients know and understand that you can help them and they know that immediately upon finding your feed. So before it was just pretty little pictures and some little graphics, and now it is the problem, solution, outcome. It’s pictures of me and pictures with foods that people oftentimes have cravings for and binge and stuff like that. It’s screenshots of tweets that are also problem, solution, outcome based and that kind of stuff. So it’s been a huge pivot. And I kind of laugh going down farther in my feed now to my old posts, because I took my personal account and I transitioned it to the business account. So it was some personal pictures, and then it’s that awkward middle ground where I was kind of a business page, but kind of not. Now it’s a legit business page. So you scroll all the way back, it’s the progression of Julia as a private practice dietitian.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:28:34] I love it. But, you know, it’s so great to be able to scroll back and see the journey and just really pat yourself on the back and commend yourself for how far you’ve come. So laugh now, but it was all worth it for sure. So one of the things that we talk about and we stress a lot in the Dietitian Boss program and the method really pushes this, is really starting imperfectly because you got to start from somewhere. A lot of times a lot of people are drawn to the dietetics field because it’s very systematic. There is a routine and people like that. But this is a little bit different. You can’t start super perfectly. So can you share what starting imperfectly looked like for you to inspire the listeners?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:29:18] Yeah, for sure. So, I actually had the idea for private practice and I worked on some back-end things for probably two months before I ever even posted that I was starting a business. That was definitely my first mistake. I should have been posting the second I decided I was doing private practice and just started getting the ball rolling and getting some clients and just getting the word out that I was taking clients because you’re not going to have like 10 people DM you the day that you’re like, hey, I have a private practice. It takes time and that’s OK. I decided to start a private practice. I was doing all this back and stuff. I was starting my LLC and I was doing all of the new email address and all these little logistics things. I was doing my website, all of these things that weren’t making me any money, and they weren’t marketing either. It was just back and stuff that was kind of unnecessary. I had my best friend, who is also a dietitian, and I had been telling her, I’m going to start a private practice, blah, blah, blah. Then she was like, I think I’m going to do that, too. She started posting about it before I did. I was like, wait a second, I’ve been doing this stuff for months. Now all of a sudden, she decided two weeks ago that she’s thinking about it and she’s already posting like, hey, I’m taking clients. I was like, oh, my gosh, well, now I have to start posting. Then I started posting. I think she kind of gave me that nudge that I needed that was like, you don’t have to have all this back and stuff set up. Just do it. So I started posting and then it was probably like a month later that I signed it for Dietitian Boss. My only regret with signing up for business coaching is that I didn’t sign up sooner because the sooner I would have signed up, the sooner I would have nailed down my niche and my problem, solution, outcome, and had my marketing strategy in place and been posting consistently and my stories would have been more consistent. All this stuff. The sooner you start that, the sooner you’re going to have more clients. Right? Because the goal is that when your content is on point and when you’re posting and being vulnerable, your ideal clients start to find you. But it doesn’t happen like tomorrow if I make a cool post today. So I was paralyzed by posting and I don’t know why that was. I think I was maybe just scared. Right? I knew I was going to do it, so I should have just done it literally the day I decided I was for sure going to pursue private practice. I should have posted on my Instagram. I have a private practice where you can pay me for nutrition coaching. Let’s do this.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:31:50] I love it. I’m not sure how I’m going to accept payment, but we’ll figure it out just to figure it out. We all have Venmo like, yeah, I’ll take whatever. You can email me. You could quit, pay me. I love it because that’s the mentality you have to have. So what would you say to someone who wants to get started? And ideally, it’s like starting imperfectly. What would you tell them the next steps would be?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:32:14] Yeah, I mean, I would tell them, post. You aren’t going to get any clients if no one knows that you take clients. Right? And you don’t have to have all this fancy stuff. You don’t even have to have your LLC done. You don’t have to have a website done. Like, honestly, I have a website now and I’m like, do I even need this? I don’t even know that I need a website now because people don’t find me through my website, they find me through Instagram. That was kind of just a waste of time that I even did that in the first place. I also made it before I nailed down my niche and my problem, solution, outcome. So then I had to go back and change at all because I was like, well, if I’m going to leave it up since it’s there anyway, it has to actually have my niche and everything on it and not what I thought was my niche before. That was basically nothing. So I would say, if you have a phone, you really don’t need anything else to take clients. Even if you don’t have a good setup to take Zoom calls or a computer like you can do phone call sessions, I’ve literally had a full-time job for a huge health and fitness company, one of the biggest luxury health and fitness companies in the country, and all of our coaching was over the phone. Yes, it’s great to have Zoom and you’re going to make those connections with clients, but what’s more important is that you just start posting so people know they can work with you. You have your first handful of clients talking to you over the phone, who cares? And then maybe it’s your next small group or your next little batch of clients that they can talk to you over Zoom. Every time, like every month or like every small group that you have, it’s going to get better and better and better. I’m about to end my first small group next week and then my next small group, I’m already like, oh my gosh, there’s all these little tiny tweaks I can make in my next week group to be so much better. I can’t even imagine what my small group is going to be like in six months or a year from now. It cannot be perfect right off the bat, if you’re trying to make things perfect before you start, you’re never going to start. You just have to rip off the Band-Aid and do it.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:34:07] Yes. Jazz snaps, jazz snaps. You have to just rip the Band-Aid. So, so true. And once you get out there, once you start posting, once you start sharing in your stories, you’re able to bring more leads and you’re able to get more sales, and I want to kind of talk about that piece because then people like, OK, Julia, you’ve told me I have my phone, I have a business and I don’t need all this stuff. But how do I get these people to be my clients and get them on board? So can you share a little bit about your sales approach and how your mindset is shifted? Because that does scare a lot of people being able to sell online.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:34:47] Yeah, and I totally understand that. Like I said, I had a job a few years ago, and it was a hundred percent commission. It was a sales job. I was doing nutrition coaching and personal training. I was so stressed out in that job I hated doing sales. I moved on and got out of that job and I was like, I’m never doing sales again. This just feels so different. If you’re coming into it and you’re scared of the sales aspect because you have a sales role in the past that traumatized you, that happened to me. I’m not kidding, that really traumatized me. This is just so different because your clients, they come to you and they’re ready to buy when they get on a discovery call with you because they’ve already seen you talk about things and they know what your message is and they know that they’re your ideal client and they know that you can help them and they know that you have the solution to their super specific problem. It’s just not at all the same as my previous role, where I was also selling nutrition coaching. But it was way harder to close. I find that people are so excited when they get on the phone with me and they’re really happy to hear about a different approach. They’ve always just thought they need to eat, eat less, eat less. When someone’s, like, actually eating less is probably what’s causing all of your problems. And they’re like, sweet, OK, like, let’s do this. This sounds totally different than anything else I’ve tried. That’s what I would say is, if it’s a past traumatic experience from a sales job that’s holding you back from this because there’s sales, it for me, it’s been a lot different.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:36:26] Yeah, that’s super, super, super insightful. The way you frame that is so important for people to know. It’s a lot harder to sell something that you don’t believe in. So if it’s something you believe in, it’s really not sales, it’s really you solving their biggest problem, like you said, and that’s going to come off really genuine. It’s just going to feel like a conversation and not even like a sales call.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:36:48] Something that somebody told me, I don’t remember who it was or if it was at a job or a family member or what, but somebody told me once that literally nothing ever happens if there’s no sale. I started thinking about everyone’s jobs, whether they own a business or they’re a dietitian or they’re in a completely different field, like family members of mine who work in totally unrelated fields to the health care industry. I was like, oh, my gosh, that’s so true. Literally no one would have a job at all if there wasn’t a sales. There has to be sales. There is nobody at corporate at Nike has a job if they’re not selling tennis shoes or even people who work at the hospital who are maybe nurses and doctors and people that work in the office, if no one’s coming there and paying for health care, that’s a service that they’re buying. That’s a sale. Then there are no jobs for those people. So literally, every single field and every job out there is sales in some way. It’s just either you are directly selling a product or service yourself or it’s someone farther down the line from you in the company. But a sale is happening for you to make money no matter what you’re doing.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:38:00] Absolutely. One thousand percent. So true. And I hope everyone that’s listening writes that down, internalizes it, maybe print it out at Kinko’s, frame it up everywhere in your house. What Julia said is so true and you’re going to have to remind yourself that a lot, a lot, a lot.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:38:18] Everything is sales, everything is sales. That’s the mantra.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:38:21] Yeah, I love it. So as we get to the tail end of this interview, I get really excited because you’ve built up so much excitement. And I love hearing how people have changed their mindset and have really gone through this program and seen the shift in yourself. Can you provide a specific example of how the method has empowered you?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:38:43] Yeah, absolutely so aside from all the things I’ve already mentioned, obviously, where I didn’t have a niche, I thought I had a niche and now I can confidently create content. I know that I’m sending a clear message to my ideal client that’s going to resonate with them and using their language and things like that. I mean, that alone is empowering to like get into Canava and make a piece of content that I know is going to help me sell my services and help me reach my ideal client. Versus before I was getting into Canva, I was like, what should I slap on this little square today? Like, who knows? I have no idea. I’m just going to make anything that I can post that looks OK. That alone is super empowering. But aside from that, the community has been so great, here’s been days where there’s a call coming up. Right? And I’m just like I don’t necessarily need the information on this call today, but I’m going to hop on anyway just till I get my day started and keep me in the routine and all that. And every time I get on, I learn something new and I’m like, oh my gosh. Today on a call Yaa was teaching me all about time blogging, which is so helpful and definitely a topic for another day. Even just the community of all of the women in Dietitian Boss and being able to see them on a regular basis and not only hear their questions that they have that are relevant to me, but maybe questions I wouldn’t have thought of, but also see them and communicate with them on Instagram too, and see the marketing that they are doing and be able to respond to their stories. It’s just so fun and it’s so nice to have that camaraderie of all of these other women doing the same thing and not just feel like I’m the only one doing it myself or I’m doing it and all these other bosses are doing it. But I’m not part of that group. Right, because that’s how I felt after I found Libby’s profile before I signed up, I was like, I want to be part of that group. I want to have friends that are doing the same thing as me and be able to bounce questions off of people and stuff like that. That’s been really empowering to do is to be like, wow, we are this little click, right?

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:40:49] Oh, my God, I love it so much. Well, thank you. I’m very dark complexion, but I’m blushing. All that makes my heart sing. Thank you so much. Because community is such a big part of what we strive as a team to really deliver and have that really be something of value, because oftentimes being a dietitian, there isn’t a very team like environment. Most dietitians are the only dietitian at their location. So community is not something people thought they were going to really love and enjoy it. They come into the program, they’re like, wow, this is like really, really helpful. So thank you so much for sharing that.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:41:30] Yeah. Even when I had a call with Libby before I signed up and she told me there’s like the community and all the girls and I was like, I don’t need that. I was like, I already have friends that are dietitians like, that’s not a selling point for me. But now that I actually am in it, I’m like, oh my gosh, I get it now. It’s so helpful. They also just come up with so many questions that I maybe wouldn’t think of that are relevant and helpful for me too. So yeah, it’s great. I really like the community a lot.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:41:58] Thank you so much for sharing that. And as we wrap up, I would love for you to leave some advice for people. I oftentimes think the advice better comes from what you think about when you were first starting out. So what advice do you wish you’d been given when you first considered starting your private practice?

 

Julia Dugas: [00:42:16] Yeah, what I really wish I would have done is just started years ago when I had originally thought about it as a side gig and I was like, oh, I don’t know. Even if I had just slowly as I had that full time job, ramped up on the side, even if it was one or two clients at a time outside of my full-time job, just anything to like, get the ball rolling, posted on social media and stuff like that. I really think that’s the biggest thing is like if you know you’re going to do it, start now. Because if you know you’re going to do it now and you don’t start for two years, you’re going to get on Instagram and you’re going to be like, oh, I wish I had started two years ago because I would already have more things figured out in terms of like, what do you even want to do? Do you want to do weight loss? Do you want to do management of a condition like PCOS or diabetes, or do you want to do food freedom and intuitive eating and that kind of stuff? And it might even take you a while after you started to figure that out. So there’s no harm in starting as soon as you can, even if you have another job and stuff like that, just start as soon as possible. Even if you’re starting with another full-time job, I still would super recommend doing business coaching because you’re going to save a lot of time and a lot of trial and error and time is money. Just get all this nailed down as quickly as you can so that even if you have a full-time job and you’re not ready to take it full time right now, once you are ready, you’re smooth sailing. You’ve already got all of these bones of the business, and you’re ready to rock and roll versus spending a year or two years, kind of doing it a little bit, doing it halfway on the side. That’s OK, but still get things under control with your niche and what your problem, solution, outcome is so that when you’re ready to go, you’re just all in and you can do it.

 

Yaa Boayke: [00:44:14] Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that, Julia. It’s been a pleasure talking with you. And as a reminder, you guys can find her on Instagram @cravings.nutritionist. Thank you so much, Julia.

 

Julia Dugas: [00:44:25] Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. It was super fun.