The Nutritional Supplement

What Course(s) did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

I did the BSc in Nutritional Therapy and I graduated in 2008.

What did you do before doing this course?

I was a management consultant in Human Resources in the city.

What made you decide to embark on this course of study and what attracted you to CNELM?

I had two small children and was still working four days a week, but I had always had an interest in health and nutrition, which had been enhanced in my early 30’s when I was diagnosed as a coeliac, so I had read and discovered how to support myself quite a lot. The proverbial light bulb moment came when I felt I had two separate lives – work and home – and they weren’t compatible.

I didn’t know about nutritional therapy work and what they did, but I literally woke up one morning and started googling and reading about alternatives for jobs – an escape plan to get out of the corporate world.

I drew up shortlist of colleges – there weren’t that many then – and decided I wanted a degree rather than a diploma. Wokingham was very nearby, so it seemed like the obvious choice and all this was decided very quickly, within a couple of months. I joined in January 2004 and took four years to complete the degree. I studied full time for the first two years and then in the 3^rd year we went to live overseas which complicated it, so I did the last year part time.

Did you work alongside studying?

For first 2 years, then I stopped when we moved abroad.

What did you do after graduating?

We came back to the UK and during the first year I faffed around a LOT, agonising over what colour my logo should be and other inconsequential details. I made contact with my local health food shop and practised from there and I probably saw on average 2-3 people a month, so not very many.

I thought I was doing the right kind of things, but I realised quickly that it wasn’t as easy as just putting up an open sign and people flooding to you. So I started to write a group programme as I was sure that mothers would want more information on healthy eating and would engage with the process of attending a programme. It took quite a long time and never quite got off the ground, so I didn’t progress much in the first year.

In 2009 I attended a workshop run by zest4life presented by the directors; I loved what they were saying and what they showed me. They had group programme materials already produced beautifully, and I’d been struggling for months trying to do the same thing. There was a nice support network that went with it, so I signed up and trained with them, at the time this was focussed on running group programmes. It was exactly what I needed and gave me the platform to properly launch my practice in Marlow and I’m now a director for zest4life.

I launched a 10 week weight loss programme with zest4life and the results were phenomenal – improved energy, weight loss etc. I loved it and that was really my lucky break and the platform for my practice. I continued to do that for 4 years, and the next step was to provide support to zest4life to help train other practitioners and share my experience.

I am now a director of zest4life and am focusing on how to help practitioners build their own practices, not just via group programmes. I started to put together a marketing blueprint for nutrition practitioners, for both newly qualified and those with years of experience. This has evolved over the years and has become our “10 step Winning Client Success formula”. During this period I have benefitted from being ‘coached’ by World Class marketing and business mentors and my role is now the translation of this into a step by step guide specifically for Nutrition professionals.

Today we provide ongoing support programmes including marketing, coaching training and personal mentoring. CNELM is I think the only college who offer NLP training. Zest4life fills the gap by providing Coach training for NT’s an essential ingredient in supporting people making transformational changes. My typical week sees me spending three days a week mentoring and coaching Nutrition Professionals in building a practice and marketing and 1 day a week running my private client clinic, which I can’t imagine not doing.

Was practising the way you thought it would be when you decided to train as a nutritional therapist?

No. I think I hadn’t really anticipated the importance of getting to grips with how to build a practice and how much time was needed to do this. I was entirely focused on becoming a subject matter expert in nutrition and not much else, but this isn’t enough. Many people are disappointed that they need to be so focused on the marketing side of things too.

The core bit about practicing that was different and that I hadn’t anticipated, was the need for coaching alongside nutritional information – I would place a 50/50 importance on each. I have worked with a lot of weight loss clients and can clearly see how there’s an emotional component needed there, but even with complex clinical cases it’s necessary. That was a big surprise at first.

Is there anything you wish you’d known before finishing your studies that you might have prepared for differently?

I think I would like to have been prepared for seeing practising as consisting of 3 key areas of equal importance: nutrition knowledge, coaching and business marketing, rather than purely nutrition knowledge. That way it’s not such a surprise and you can find answers and get the support you need to work out how to fill the marketing gaps.

What or who has most inspired you in your work?

It’s a bit of a cliché, but clients themselves have inspired me the most. The first group programme I ran, one of the girls who took part knocked on my door after she’d successfully finished the programme with a bunch of flowers and wine and told me in tears that I’d changed her life. That was the first time anything like that had happened and it was so moving that I never got complacent about client comments.  I think Miguel of BANT has also done a great job of professionalising our profession.

Do you have any tips, hints, things you’d have done differently...?

Anyone who has made it through the nutrition degree should take some comfort in the fact that that is intellectually the hardest thing they have to do. All the other things they have to do to make a success of their business are straightforward in comparison, they just need to get a handle on it. Recognise where there’s a gap and then make sure you find a way of filling it with support from a mentor, training, CPD, or colleagues.  It’s not on the same scale as doing three year degree, so don’t be overwhelmed, just cherry pick what you need to know to get your message out there and just focus on that.

We do free workshops on Saturdays every couple of months for all practitioners and students which gives an easy access point as to where to start.

Finally I would say that in our practice we have to be 10/10 precise in what we say and in our protocols, but we have to put a different hat on when talking about marketing and business; in this we only need to be 7/10. Try something and if it doesn’t work, then try something else and keep going until you discover what works!