Episode# 017: Turning Your Skills into a Thriving Business (and Bringing Joy Back to Eating!) with Registered Dietitian, Mary Ellen Phipps
I'm SO excited to bring you this momma and entrepreneur who has made it the mission of her company to bring the joy back to eating (and relieving the stress!) Mary Ellen Phipps, MPH, RDN, LD, is a Registered Dietitian and mom behind Milk and Honey Nutrition and she’s also a type 1 diabetic and firmly believes food should bring us joy, not stress. Mary Ellen makes healthy eating easy, realistic, and most importantly … fun! Visit her website and you’ll find yummy low-sugar, diabetes-friendly recipes the whole family will love … as well as helpful tips and a little mom humor. Also, make sure to connect with her on Instagram where she has no problem showing the messy daily life of a work at home mom.
https://www.instagram.com/milknhoneynutrition/
tell us a little bit more about you and in your life that brought you here!
So if we wanted to go as far back as possible, you already touched on it. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was five years old. So from the get go in life I knew what mattered. It affected how I thought, how I felt, the things I can do, how I was limited, how like the different like activities I can even do as a kid. I realized that a lot more than the average kid and I recognize like, oh, if I eat this, I'm going to feel like crap or oh, if I eat this way, whenever. But in the process of that, it kind of, excuse me, kind of just preconditioned me to be obsessed with food in an unhealthy way. And so it's been a lifelong journey of being obsessed with food and the best way possible because I mean, who doesn't love food?
Fast forward, I decided I wanted to study nutrition. I’ve spent a good chunk of my career as a dietitian. I dabbled in a little bit of diabetes clinical, didn't really like it, wanted to throw my own insulin pump against the wall, you know, too much diabetes. Then I sold into the worlds of corporate wellness and I was in heaven there. I loved my boss. I looked at my coworkers is I worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center here in Texas and it was just a fabulous job. And the only job that I wanted to do more was to be a mom and to be a mom that got to stay at home with my kids. And so we made the choice after my youngest was born for me to stay home and everything was great for about, you know, two months.
At that point I had an 18 month old and a two month old and we knew that I wasn't going to go back to my job, but we had some things happen to our house and in our life that my husband was like, you need to start making some income, like steps. And so I really knew I didn't want to go back to a traditional nine to five job. And that's where I was like, okay, I'm just, I gotta make this happen cause I want to be at home with my babies. And so I started milking honey nutrition thinking it was going to be this more like a private practice. And I could, you know, help people with their health goals, help people manage diabetes and that kind of thing. And slowly but surely over the last four years has really turned into this online platform that we can chat more about later. But that's kind of how I got here.
The name ‘Milk n Honey’ warms my heart. how did you come up it?
So we’re Christians and in the Bible there's a passage that talks about the land flowing with milk and honey. And it was a promise that God gave to his people. And so I loved it because it paints this picture of food as a reward. Food is happy, food is joyous. Like it's not this thing that's supposed to scare you or stress you out. And we hear all too often like why does culture revolve around food too much? Why? Why does every celebration you have to have food? And my reply is always, well why doesn't it like food is something to be celebrated. It gives you the warm fuzzies inside. So I think it's a great reflection of how food is joyous and it can be a reward, but it's also something to be worked for. And it's also something that we have a huge responsibility to treat properly. If that makes sense.
When we're talking about bringing joy back into eating, so many people struggle with this. They don't give it enough value. What are some ways that you're helping people bring joy back into that process?
I spent probably my entire adolescence and early twenties hating my body thinking I didn't have as much value as the girl that was sitting next to me who was skinnier or whatever. Even in my like best shape of my life times, I still didn't have the self confidence to know that like really ultimately doesn't matter if I have like the most from bud or the most whatever like and foods food on top of all the diabetes stuff just stress me out because it was always counting calories. And I was like forcing myself to eat these things that I didn't really like, but I told myself I did cause they were, you know, I'm using air quotes here, healthy or whatever. It took a long process of getting out of that mindset.
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19 quick and easy ways to satisfy a sweet tooth?! CLICK HERE!
And so one of my key things that I tried to talk to people about is, especially in this day and age of diets and you know, you've got one friend doing Keto, you've got one friend doing Paleo, you've got one friend doing like the celery juice, whatever. I don't know, there's so many different things. Is that we are all you each unique and different. And the key thing to think keep in mind is what works for you is going to be different than the girl sitting next to you. I don't care how similar you think you are, like we are all unique and different. And so I think it really takes unpacking all of that and you know, acknowledging what food you like and don't like. How, um, with the time constraints you have, you know, maybe you are in a traditional nine to five and you just don't have an hour every night to cook dinner. So you kind of have to consider all these factors and really make food, you know, fit it into your lifestyle. Don't try to fit your lifestyle into a certain eating pattern.
How did you figure out how to use your story and use your skillsets to actually kind of craft something in the online business space? Did you find a coach resources? what did you do to make this thing come to life?
I feel like I'm a great example of someone who I am happy to share my mistakes so people can learn from them. I had to dive right in. There was no ‘let me take a few months’ and figure out what I want it to look like. I made a lot of what I think are mistakes, but in reality, I didn't really have a choice of how I wanted to get started. I just had to get started. I knew that I was a dietitian and I had a certain skillset and a certain area of nutrition and there was a way to make money on that. So I started with that. And we, my kids at the time, we're in about a total of, well actually I had a baby at home, but my older one was in about seven hours a daycare a week.
And so that was my time. And you know, the ultimate mom juggle have, you know what, he goes down for nap. We gotta do this, you know, you only have a certain amount of time. And so, I started off by telling like anybody who would listen, Aka my friends and really for honestly for about a year I had a website. I cringe now when I think about what it used to look like. But I did it, it was out there and it was a place and I started my Instagram account and I started my Facebook account and I just, I kind of followed the money very aimlessly. Like really however it would come, was doing way too much work for Wade, a little pay I now know. But what, where it finally clicked with me was about a year later and I like unknowingly and my husband was the one who pointed it out, was only willing to spend money on my business if I already had the income that had come in to spend that money, if that makes sense.
There was something about me that wasn't willing to like take a leap of faith and say, okay, I'm going to spend, you know, $500 on a session with a business coach or something, whatever it was. And once I realized that it kind of, you know, it was a little soul searching of single do you believe in yourself, whatever. And so I honestly, a lot of my big turning points came from investing in courses that were relevant to the topics I wanted to talk on. Also a key thing is acknowledging like you don't have to do work that you don't enjoy doing. And for me it was like everybody just assumes Dietitians, right? Meal plans. I hate meal plans. I hate writing them. It's just a thing. I don't like doing them. Sometimes you just do and that's great, but they are not for me.
So I just, I said I may have a little like piece of paper that I still have my notebook where I said I will no longer do meal plans and I haven't done another one to this day because it's just not what brings me joy in this food and nutrition space. I would much rather be the one creating the recipes that somebody else will put into a meal plan. And so different things like that. Just recognizing where your passion is. You know, and really that I've heard you talk about this before too, like where do you want to be years from now? How do you want to be making income
One of the things I have to highlight that you said that's so powerful is you said, I didn't have a choice.
I just did it and it wasn't, I didn't have a choice. I researched everything under the sun and when I felt like it was perfect and all my ducks were in a row, I did it. It was I did it. And you admitted to the fact that you've made mistakes and I would have to assume that a lot of those mistakes have taught you really well. Oh yeah, definitely. And I like I always tell people, if you want to take the time, go to my Instagram account, scroll all the way to the bottom from four years ago and see what my pictures used. You still look like, like I am very proud to say a lot of people compliment my photos and that they're really pretty. But that did not happen overnight. That took, I'm taking courses on how to take pictures of food, you know, buying the right camera equipment.
And I think if you know a side hobby is a job that you, you know, you take the money you make and then you use it to do whatever a business is something that you invest on, you take a leap of faith in and you really have to have that mindset of I'm willing to do whatever it takes and this is what I want to be. Yes, yes. And that shift that you went from chasing the money, so you were just doing the things that we're bringing in cashflow into your business and being fearful of spending money if you didn't have it. And then that shift into understanding that you sometimes have to spend money to make more money. Like you have to spend a little bit more and invest a little bit more and like you said, the mindset piece of it. Believe in yourself enough to know that when you spend that money, it's going to come back tenfold because you've got this like you're going to figure it out.
You might screw it up a few times along the way. You might waste a little money in the process, but it will come back. And this is about playing for the long term. I think people think so short sighted when they're looking to start something like this where they're like, I'm going to spend this money today and I'm not going to make it back today. And then if I screw it up a little bit more and it's not back here by tomorrow, I've failed completely and I have to throw in the towel instead of saying, I'm building this for my future. You know, what is your one year, three year, five year, 10 year plan and knowing you're in it for the long haul and there are going to be the path to success. People can't see us right now, but it's that it's not a straight trajectory upward.
“When you follow your joy, that's where you bring your light into the world and you do your best work.”
How did you become a Social media influencer?
If you're looking into this influencer, social media space, blogging space, I think there's, a catch 22 with social media because it can be a really positive place, but it looks like it just happens. Your success happens like that. It's very deceiving and I used to think that's why I struggled with it for that first year of I used to think, well one day one of my photos is just going to get picked up, then I'm going to go viral and everything. When in reality there is so much strategy and thought process that goes behind each and everything that a business puts on social media. I'm saying business as in myself. And so I think that's a key thing to that if someone is interested in this little corner of the social media world to invest in tools and resources that are going to teach you how that works because it's so much more than just, you know, throwing a picture up and hope that it gets shared a few times.
I actually want to talk about that because it seems from the outside looking in um, Instagram to be your jam.
Early on one of the courses I took, it was a course specifically for how to grow a blogging based business and she really highlighted that you pick one platform, pick the platform you like engaging on just you personally. What do you, which one do you enjoy spending time on and put all your eggs in that basket at least for a little while. Because I mean, just like with anything in life, you can, you know, if you throw a bunch of pebbles in the pond all at once, it's going to make it a little each one and make a little ripple. And then it'll die out if you throw a big huge boulder and upon it's going to make a big wave when people are going to notice it. So that's what I did with Instagram. And I think that's why still to this day my biggest platform.
So what are some things that you would recommend to someone getting started in that space?
There's a few things. So I know you said more than just be consistent, but I would first say be consistent in several things. So you want to be consistent in who you're talking to. You're not going to please everybody. You can't have everyone be your friend, you friend, friend. You have to pick who you want to talk to and you talk to them. Every single thing you post on social media is talking to that person. And then you have to decide, okay, when is this person on social? And you pick your posting times and you stay consistent. I think with Instagram, especially if you want to see continued growth, it's important to post daily. Whether that's one, two, the most I would do is three times. That's a lot. But if you want to see that rapid growth, you know, anywhere in there, one to three times per day, which can sound like a lot cause it is.
Then getting fresh content at what, that's your own content and, and, or networking with other people in your space and sharing content and not sharing and content in the sense that you take it on, but sharing someone else's content and saying, hey, check out this from x, y, z.
You're giving credit to someone else who you have permission to share their content and you can kind of do a swap of exposure there. And that's a great way because the more people who are talking about you on social media, the more success you're going to see and you start to create these friendships with other people that really kind of just get your name out there. So I would say be consistent in all of those areas.
What are some of the major hurdles that you've faced over the last few years of, of building this business?
The biggest one I think any mom can identify with is, I left my job, my regular nine to five job that I actually really loved to be home with my kids because I wanted to do that. And here I am growing this business and we reached a point about two years ago where it was like I need the kids to be back in childcare, like full time childcare. It's kind of a come to Jesus meeting for lack of a better word. I've really like honing in on, you know, what are my priorities here? And getting rid of that guilt for putting them in school. And we call it school around here. We don't call it childcare, but getting rid of the mommy guilt, you know, I should be with them 24/7 and so, you know, cause we're, I'm building this business, you know, just like my husband goes to work every day. I'm at home building this business and being honest with yourself that you can't build a huge business with a three year old and a baby on your leg all the time. You have to have help whether that's in your home or whether that's, you know, sending them to school. So that was a big thing for me and it took awhile for me to get in the right head space to be okay with that.
I think so many of the moms that lesson in struggle with that mom guilt and struggle with, Gosh, I have this calling on my heart, the Lord places on my heart that I'm made for something more and that I'm being called to use these gifts that he gave me outside of just motherhood. But I, I want to be present with my babies. I think one of the key things is being present in whatever you're doing because by putting your kids in school a few hours each day, that allows you to be totally present in your business. And then when those kids come home, be totally present with your kids.
I also read something once that really stuck with me. In a book I was reading that said, have you ever seen a CEO build their entire empire or get to that level with a baby on their lap the entire time? The answer is no. You can't, you can't physically get to where you ultimately want to be if you're never seeking out the help to be able to focus solely on your work sometimes, even if it's a small amount of time.