Freelance Dietitian Podcast

060: Blending Values And Business ft. Laura Jean APD

• Julia Zakrzewski • Season 4 • Episode 60

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Laura Jean is an Australian Dietitian and seasoned entrepreneur. She naturally makes value-based decisions in her business, and now she's trying to help others do the same. Tune in to learn:

You can find Laura online: 

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Hey, and welcome to the freelance dietitian podcast. I'm your host, Julia. I used to be a clinical dietitian and then I quit my job and started freelancing. Today. I sit down with Laura and Australian dietitian who has such great insight to share about building a values based business. Let's get the episode started. Hey this week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Laura Jean. She's a dietitian by trade weirdo at heart and 80 year old, Nana by nature. She's passionate about supporting healthcare professionals and helping them bring more of themselves and their values into their businesses. She's based in Australia and when she's not challenging the status quo over@dietitianvalues.com. You can find her kicking back, enjoying her daily ice coffee or pottering in her permaculture garden. Welcome to the show laura it's so great to have you on here today

Laura:

Thanks for having me. It's always good to chat.

Julia:

Yeah, I'm so excited to get a chance to pick your brain today because I think that you cover different topics in the nutrition entrepreneur space that no other dietitians do or very few do. Before we get started, did you want to introduce yourself to listeners?

Laura:

Yeah. Happy to. So I'm Laura. Um, although sometimes people call me Laura Jean, I think, the Australia to U. S. Slash Canada, although more U. S. I think, um, translation because it sounds like a double barreled name, but just Laura, but I do answer to most things. I'm based in Australia, uh, as you can probably tell by my accent, um, although we can't assume such things in such a global international world that we live in now. I'm a dietitian, by trade, and I've 20 years. In a couple of months, actually 20 years exactly at the end of this month, I started my first job before I'd quite graduated, um, at one of my placements. So yeah, I've worked across quite a wide range of settings over that time, but I've always enjoyed entrepreneurship or, you know, back in my day 20 years ago, while we still think of it as private practice, it was very much, that was kind of it, you know, you did some sort of like practice, um, like a, like a clinic. based somewhere, like somewhere you sat, you physically sat somewhere. The internet existed folks back then, but it was very early days. There was no social media, um, just not to scare people a bit, or maybe that might be a sigh of relief for some people. Anyway, so I've at uni, I did some of my electives I did were around marketing, um, and, and business management. So it's always been something I've been interested in. But I dove into the community health, worked in kind of outpatient health. I've done, health promotion for nonprofits. I've worked for defense. I've worked, across a couple of different state health departments. Um, I did sports nutrition and I've run a couple of businesses. So I ran my first business in 2007. Um, so that was before social media. So yes, you can run a business without social media, just in case anyone was wondering. I really loved it. I ran like a mobile nutrition and corporate nutrition wellness service. Um, it was great. And then had a couple of kids in there, three to be exact. And, um, yeah, when I had my first business, um, four years in, I moved interstate, and my business was very much based on relationships. Uh, the relationships I had in the geographical area I was in. And the online business space. Well, particularly from health professionals, it definitely didn't. It was very early, just in 2010. And so when I moved into state, I had to close my business down and I was like, Oh, I don't really want to have to do that over and over again. Um, my partner now husband at the time was a journalist. Um, and I was like, well, we could move, you know, reasonable amount of time. Um, so I. I don't even know how I came across online stuff, um, online business stuff, but I did. And I dove into that because I thought, well, this is, this is the answer. This is flexible. I can do this wherever. I loved the, you know, that it was just a way to do things differently and reach people differently. To me, it made a lot of sense, um, as far as. You know, yeah, the opportunities, the possibilities, which always excite me. So anyway, I dove into that in sort of 2010, learning all I could about online business. I launched my first online program in 2012 to a total of two people. So we all, it always starts little. Don't be, you know, concerned. My next business iteration, I ran my first, program of that business. And it was two people signed up as well. So it's like my, like, was like my number lucky number two, lucky number two. So anyway, so yeah, so I, I did that. So I was really interested in that and then post kiddos when I came back in. I started doing a little bit before I had kiddos, went off and had kiddos for a few years. And then, yeah, just launched into the online space as far as that being more flexible and easy for me to do, um, worked with women around their relationship to food. So my background or the lens that I practice by as a dietitian and also bring to the work I do now, which, um, which I've kind of half got there. Julia, that was a big question you asked me. You probably weren't expecting me to ramble on for about three minutes. So I, um, yeah, work with women around their relationship with food. So the lens I kind of bring is like a non diet, um, trauma informed, social justice oriented, human centered lens to how I did, uh, my work around. People and their relationship with food and eating, but also around now working with other clinicians around how to bring the values we practice by into how we do business. Because for me, as a health professional, looking at how to do business, particularly in the online space, um, and something I know that a lot of other health professionals kind of feel a bit of a, I suppose you could call it a rub point or attention point is how do I still be a health professional? How do I still be? Like the person that I am that, yeah, bring those values that I have into the practices of marketing and selling and promoting my services and sharing what I do and showing up on social media. How do we do that and still have the same values that we bring to our practice to how we work with humans? Um, and I feel like there's so much possibility in there, but I also feel like it can. It can maybe feel a little bit in insurmountable. Um, and often, I mean, while there's obviously there's, it's never a binary, you know, a a lot of people kind of end up either going, oh, that's not for me. Private practice entrepreneurship. Although there's probably not, not that many, you know, hanging out here. Maybe they're probably, oh, maybe dipping their toe, I suppose. Um, or, um, or just kinda like, well, I have to do it this way, so I just have to put those things to the side and I just have to market this way. I have to do that. And give that a go feels for some people that is okay and for some people that doesn't feel great. And then it's like, well, it's a me problem. I'm no good at insert, whatever that thing was you tried to do without your values coming along. So that's what I do now. Um, and work with people all over the world. Uh, Yeah, holding space really. So I kind of consider myself like the, the non diet dietitian version of a business coach.

Julia:

May I just say, before I forget to say that you are so cool. That is such an amazing journey that you've been on and I have about a million and one questions for you. So

Laura:

it's not over yet while I am on the other side of 40, um, you know, I still have about I come up with ideas about different ways to run businesses. Now I just hand them off to people I work with. It's like, have you ever thought of doing, you know, if it aligns, obviously I don't make people, you know, live out my dreams like, um, like some dance mom. Um, I just always have ideas, I think my next iteration of, of being a dietitian might be like running, like a little food based things in my permaculture garden. I don't know, that's in the back of my head, it's always been there.

Julia:

Yeah, yeah, growing with you. So, so, much that I want to ask you about, but I want to focus in on kind of what you're doing right now and how I found your content, which was all your messaging around a value based entrepreneur value based business. So are you able to tease that out a little bit more for listeners just so because you gave some really great examples and I think marketing is one of those spots where people can start to feel icky because it's essential for a business because you do need to have some marketing to get clients otherwise the business isn't really a business. It's more sometimes it can be an expensive hobby, which has happened to me. Um, so can you speak to your experience about that? Or maybe what other entrepreneurs have come to you and you hear consistently? And I think that reliability is so assuring to listeners. It's nice to feel you're not alone with those. Feelings.

Laura:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's one of the, it's one of the three tenants of, um, like self compassion as well is, you know, having that shared human experience. So I think seeing ourselves or being seen, um, that's, that's a lot that I'm about. So values and, and thanks for asking that because it's really interesting over the last few years that I've been having this conversation. I've started to see more and more people talk about that in their copy, like, um, and copy for those of you, that's just the words people use, um, when they're talking about their business. Um, and, and it's been interesting to see that come up because when I first started talking about it, um, back in like mid 2020. You know, formally I've been having, I suppose, hopefully trying to have system disrupting conversations for most of my career, um, informally, but this is just like, yeah, this is what I want to talk about. I wasn't sure how people would receive it, but it's been great to know that people, other people have wanted that. Conversation. So what I mean by it, um, so values, it's just those things that we, we hold really, um, close to our heart and close to our, I suppose, our, our moral compass for some people. So we often talk about the concept of morals or ethics and really that's That's very individual. Um, how we show up, what kind of guides, how we act. And so my definition that I have for values is the characteristics that underlie our attempts to get our needs met. Um, and most of the actions. Or inactions we take, are us just trying to get our needs met. So whether that's, um, our needs for like, you know, you know, um, our core human needs, but also like we have needs for validation needs for, learning and growth and things like that. So for most of us. Our businesses like that entrepreneurial, the steps we make around that are us getting our needs met. Maybe we weren't as, um, satisfied in, in traditional employment because we didn't have a need for freedom or autonomy met, or we didn't have a need for, a diverse kind of workload, like all those kind of things we're trying to go after through running a business. And so. Our values, to me, are the way we do that, so like, whether we do it with honesty leading the way, compassion, love, and now, if anyone's ever done a values exercise, right, you get this big list of words as one way to do it. There's many ways, um, and I'll... If it's supportive, I'll send you a link, um, Julia, just to like free download thing. There's many ways you can do, but if anyone's done the traditional whole giant list of words, you read those words and you're like, Oh, they're all like, I want to be like, not all of them, but you know, often like. 20, 30, 40 words stand out, like they're the ones, like, I want to be honest. I want to be loving. I want to be compassionate. I want to be helpful. I want to be supportive. I want to be all these things. I want to be respectful. I want to have integrity. I want to, oh, I love learning, um, all that, you know, and you go through this listing like I'm everything. And we are, right? We are. We contain multitudes. Usually there are some specific core ones that are just resonate for you when you show up in most situations, they resonate across settings. So often we were taught to have say professional values and personal values as if you are two different people. But I really hold that one person, one set of values. They're not, situational specific, they're, they're person specific. So when you're looking at those giant lists, sometimes it's the things that, resonate for you across multiple settings. So in your work, but also how you show up for your family and your friends, et cetera. So values is just the how, like the, why the, the vibe perhaps of how we show up and what we're doing and what's, what is important to us as far as action. There's a couple of things I hold around values that I'll just share. So often I'll hear people talk about my values are my family, um, or my values are this. And I just tend to draw a little differentiation about them, that they are things you value as far as they're the settings, the places you show up with your values quite strongly leading the way. So to me, values are verbs. We act into them. We show up, using those kind of characteristics. So to me, values are verbs. They are person specific as opposed to situation specific. They're multi directional. Your values are the way you show up for other people, but also for yourself because you're a human too, right? So what I found, for myself and What I've found talking to other dietitians, um, and other health professionals particularly, is that it can feel tricky, like, how do I, how, even just as a health professional, like, how can I show my values to the humans I'm supporting with my work, but also to myself at the same time? Sometimes it feels like they're in conflict, so it can feel like this piece. For me, as I started particularly looking at business, but then online business is, I, I just very naturally filtered everything through my values. Like, you know, I'd be on a call or a course and somebody talk about a strategy and I just be like, no, that's not for me. And some I'd be like, Ooh, I'm not sure, but I'll give it a try. And it felt icky. And then I was like, yeah, not doing that again. So for me, it was very much my values did lead the way. And what I realized talking to other entrepreneurs, particularly in the online space, is that that wasn't always the case for other people and similarly mirrors to what I used to see in when I worked with people around their relationship with food. For some people, their relationship with food, you know, is, is just, it's food, it's eating, it's fuel. Um, it is what it is, but for some people it's so different. And when they. When something feels disconnected for them, they internalize it as a them, them problem. It's a me thing. You know, there's something wrong with me around food and eating. And what I found for dietitians working in business space is that when that same feeling comes up maybe you go listen to a marketing web and I hear, Oh yeah, I'm going to do this online business stuff. You do a little free free course, or maybe. Maybe you drop some, a lot of money because some coaches can be pretty expensive. And then the strategies that you're trying to implement just feel yuck. Like don't feel aligned and what I've seen is the many dietitians internalize it as a them problem. There's something wrong with me. I'm not cut out for this business thing. I've just got to do it. You know, and we hear a lot of like gaslighting phrases in the business world to try and tell us that, you know, fake it till you make it. Oh, it's a mindset issue. Oh, that's one of my favorites, not favorites. Um, you know, all these kinds of things that basically tell people, yeah, it is you and you kind of got to get over it because this is the way business is done. And I, do we, are we okay to use. Yeah. Please express yourself freely. I just like to check, I call bullshit, um, because it is bullshit and it's, it's very, it's like saying there's only one way to eat. You know, you can only, this is how we eat. And so this is what we do now, you know, um, yet you might feel a little bit uncomfortable over there, lactose intolerant people because of the milk content, but this is just what we do. And so in marketing, same, similar, I mean, obviously it's not same, same, but let's go with the analogy. Um, but you know. You might not want to go cold, cold call people in the DMs, but that's just what you got to do, or you might want to go this. So there's all these things. And, um, but so what I hold and what I've always done with my businesses and with my work is bring my values along. Um, I just thought that's what everyone does. Right? So I didn't think there was anything particularly. unique about it. But as I had more and more conversations, I realized that not that people don't bring their values, like I'm some sort of special unicorn, but just that for me using my values as a filter was something I did. And so that is now, I suppose, what I talk about with my work is how, your values can. really lead the way and you can bring them into business. There is no one way to run a business. There's as many ways to be a dietitian in business as there is dietitians in business. Um, and that your values can actually be one of your most powerful, powerful business tools. Mm hmm.

Julia:

It sounds like you, as you've mentioned, just naturally have this ability, and then, yeah, you realize, oh, I could share this with others, because sometimes what is natural to us is not intuitive to others, but it doesn't mean it can't be learned. So I think it's just so cool that you're sharing that insight, that different way of thinking. I can't remember the exact words you used, but I like the disruptive conversations, I think you mentioned. Um, Because, yeah, it's good to challenge the status quo. It protects your integrity as a business owner. This past year I've taken, a step back, so I've just been reflecting on the entrepreneurship space. And I can really feel how people who are leaving their full time jobs and trying to be entrepreneurs, you know, hopefully they're doing it because they're super passionate, but they're also doing it perhaps because they're unhappy. They're feeling low, they're vulnerable and I do feel like some coaching programs are so predatory.

Laura:

Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of pieces there. And we're often, I would agree that, for a lot of dietitians and a lot of people, particularly for so many reasons, we don't always have the opportunity to stop and pause and really deep dive and go, why am I going to be an entrepreneur? Why am I going to do this? You know, um, Even to the point of like, not, not questioning how we're going to do it, you know, am I going to do it part time? Am I going to do it while still working full? You know, there's a lot of stuff, um, yeah, around that. And yeah, if we stop and think about like what it really is, it's a, it's a second job. Um, and it's kind of being glorified a little bit. No shade, because I love being an entrepreneur and if people have capacity, um, I don't, it's really good to have a side hustle, but if you have capacity and it's what lights them up, go for it. But I do think it's a little bit of a glorified, um, like a bougie version of a second job, right? Um, it's like, it's like the marketing team got together. It's like, well, how do, how do we kind of zhuzh that up a bit? Because, you know, for a long time, having to have a second job, that was not always something that. That was looked upon as, and, and really, realistically, like, if we're really honest, we shouldn't, shouldn't have to have second jobs just to make ends meet, but that's where we are. And I know particularly like, you know, I look at, at horror at some of the, the kind of group boards, um, the U S dietitians around pay rates and around conditions and around what's going on there. Cause it's pretty gross. So I think these things can be catalysts into business and it's fine for them to be there. Like, I don't think it's like, well, no, you should only go into business if you've got a burning passion to do this X, Y, Z. And I think it is really important to know why, why it's, why for you and does it really work for you? Because probably not everyone. You know, being an entrepreneur and even particularly freelancing things is not for everyone because there is a certain level of, um, you know, um, I'm trying to use what it's really interesting because I'm just running through like a list of words in my head around, like, to kind of describe how it's not. Um, it's not predictable.

Julia:

Yeah, I totally agree. I do want to bring it back home a little bit for our listeners just for values, because at the bottom line, values are important. I'm wondering for listeners if there's another way that they could start doing some exercise at home to identify their values. I know we'll we'll supply a link and they can go through it themselves. But I'm wondering if like a quick tip or exercise one can do, because I found it extremely difficult to assess my values and they've actually changed over the past five years, which I think is normal for different life stages. Um, but maybe you have some tips

Laura:

Absolutely. Yeah. Values change for sure. I'll, I'll. Definitely. Um, you know, tackle that one straight out because they do, we change, we grow, you know, and for a lot of dietitians, we're lifelong learners, right? We were interested in learning more and growing. And so we will, um, particularly if you're on the journey of unlearning, you know, unlearning any of the cultural kind of things, um, anyone who's on any kind of healing journey around trauma, um, or, or, you know, it doesn't even have to be trauma, but just kind of healing their own kind of relationship with food or other things like that, you'll change and your values will shift. And that's. That's very, um, very, very standard, very usual, um, and our values, uh, yeah, I like to always bring it back to values, Julia, and I always am. So I'm, I'm happy to come back here. Um, please always pull me back from my tangents as required, because I will go. Um, but yeah, so our values, so we, we talked about them, they're, they're just the ways we show up. And so they are important because no matter, At the moment, whether you're in business, whether you are working for somebody, you are doing it all through a set of values. And the question that I really like to ask people to reflect on is, whose values? Because unless we put time to sit and think about it, or to actually go through some values exercises, and I'll give some ways we can do that, um, ourselves, we will often just... Take on board the values that we've been, um, influenced and by and exposed to and so that starts in our family of origin. So your family would have a sort of set kind of set of values unspoken sometimes, but they're there, you know, they shape how we act, you know, certain types of behavior or certain ways of showing up. Uh, you know, approved of or not, depending how your family of origin demonstrated that, that's a pretty big spectrum, but yeah, we've got our family of origin values. We've got like our educational institution values, social groups. We've got things like professional values. So if you think of what are the values of a dietitian, For many people, we could probably come up with a few like kind of, you know, overarching values that our profession has. Um, and then we're all nested inside a specific type of culture and social kind of setting. Um, so there's a whole lot of values that we're influenced by. And if we don't take the time to just pause and ground and figure out what our personal values are, we will often act into those. And so that's one of the most, I think, powerful reflection points is whose values? Because we all do use values, right? If you haven't had the time to take a look at your values, you're not, you're not walking around, you know, taking action without some values leading the way they just might not be yours. Um, and particularly depending how, you know, how you've gone through life. And, and I will really super generalize is that for a lot of dietitians, um, are tend to be like kind of type a, um, like to follow the rules, like to feel really safe and in control. And so the cultural social, like the status quo values are generally the default. And, and they're the default for most of us. So it is really a conscious effort and I don't want to make it out to be like, Oh, this is so hard. Um, there are parts of it that are, that are tricky and mostly they're tricky or they can feel uncomfortable because we're questioning things, right? Like, um, and for any dietitians who've gone down the path of moving from more, um, a traditional practice towards a weight inclusive non diet practice, you will have gone through this kind of thing. Um, if you've ever used any kind of strategy or way of doing things that's Um, so this is just a hand nod. for what's really important to us. So, but, but the thing is, if you're not showing up in your values, then. You're showing up in somebody else's values and somebody else's values are not going to take you where you want to go. They're not going to build the business that you want to be part of, and they're definitely not going to be co creating a world that, that you, that is important to you. So knowing your values is helpful and finding where your values are. And the, the beautiful thing about values, and I don't know if you found this Julia in your own kind of experience is when we act into our values, it's not always comfortable, but there's a sense of alignment within us. There's a sense of. ease, even if it's not easy, um, when our values do lead the way.

Julia:

Yeah, absolutely. I, I notice it the most in my energy levels once I've completed whatever I'm completing. Um, like, like you said, cause sometimes it's not always easy, but there's just this like hum inside where I'm like, okay, yeah, that felt really great, even though it was hard. Um, versus other things are more draining and I feel more hollowed out after

Laura:

and it's like, ugh. I love that. A hum. Um, yeah. So, so even how we experience that feeling of our values, that alignment within our body is, is a bit different for everyone. And so that's really great to even figure it out for yourself. Like, what is that feeling? So there's a couple of ways that we can look for. Firstly, even just that kind of thing. Like, how does it feel when I am aligned with my values is we can possibly. You can just reflect on times in the past, maybe where you've walked away from an encounter, where it might have felt a bit uncomfortable, you're just like, that was the quote unquote right thing to do. Um, and conversely, you can contrast it with times where you would just walked away from something or moved away, I should say, rather being ableist, um, is like, Oh, um, Oh, I really wanted to say this, or, or, you know, we all have that feeling that we replay a conversational interaction, you know. 247 million times. Maybe that's just me in our heads afterwards around what I should have said, what I could have said, you know, and sometimes that can be a sign where we haven't like our values haven't, um, led us the way and that doesn't feel great. It feels uncomfortable. Um, so, um, we can, we can mind like past experience or we can look at past experiences for, for a starting point. We can start to think of, you know, sometimes our professional spaces, so like our clinical practice or how we show up with our clients can give us a bit of an indicator of where our values are or what's important to us. It's like, you know, you can, you can do some really simple reflection, um, things. It's like, what do I think is really important as a dietitian to bring to my client interactions, you know, and what comes up to me, what. Makes, to me, um, somebody who is a, you can use the word good if you want, or competent or whatever, insert better word there, um, dietitian or daughter or mother or, and I'm sorry, I'm using very gender specific words because I'm thinking about my own experience or how I've reflected. Clearly, it can be transferred across, um, whatever identity that. you know, whoever's doing the reflecting. But one of my most favorite exercises is to imagine you're 80 years old and it's your birthday and there's a big birthday party for you and people from all different parts of your life are coming along and they're going to talk about, um, talk about you. You know, um, you, there'll be a colleague, um, maybe like a fellow dietitian or other type of health professional, somebody from your family. Um, and they're going to talk about how you showed up over your life, over your 80 years and writing a little speech, you know, it doesn't have to be, I mean, I mean, go to town. If you want to do like a full full speech, you can also do this if it doesn't feel morbid to you as an obituary. Um, which is the, the way that I came across at first, but I've kind of switched it to 80th birthday because it's a bit lighter. Um, you don't have to try and, you know, induce tears with the, with your little speech that you're, that you're mocking up. But I find that really helpful because what we're doing is both reflecting on our life, um, and at the same time thinking about how we want other people to see us. Um, because sometimes we want, in there is information about who we are. Um, and then, so if you have these little speeches, these little couple, like it just has to be a few sentences from people from different parts of your life, you can look for where there are the same kind of words coming up. And without a doubt, whenever anyone does this, there's these same words or words with the similar value. So yeah, clearly your mom might not be talking about how innovative you were, um, in the kitchen. Um, but it might be that. It's just, you know, um, Laura was always doing things just a little bit differently. Um, she was always trying to find new ways to, to experience the world or whatever it might be. Because remember, this isn't what you think your mum would say about you. It's what you would want them to say. So, and it doesn't have to be your mum for all of us out there, you know. healing that area of our lives. Um, it can be anyone in your life. So, and it can just be, you can even imagine that the relationship that you have with that human is, is the one you want. So this is, this is role play, uh, but not those awful, terrible role plays we were all made to do throughout, throughout training. Um, but yeah, so just really imagine it because it's a really nice way to think about it. So that's one way you can do it. Um, if you're more just somebody who likes to brain dump, um, journaling can be really good. Just journaling out, it can be just general statements. What do I think are important to me? What do you know? What are my non negotiables as ways of taking action? Um, and how do I want to show up? There are some online exercise tools and I'll, I'll, there are some in this little guide that I've got, which I'll send to you, Julia. And some people just, um, can find it by reflecting on their actions. Like, how do I show up? So the other way you can do it is just by, by, by looking, by watching, you know, your actions over time. What feels aligned? How do I want to do things? Um, what do I see? Oh, and my other favorite one, so there's the, the speech one and the other one that's just a little bit less traditional is to just kind of survey a few people. Um, and no, you don't have to like, you know, get out survey monkey or a type form, but just literally asking like. Um, what are the, you know, what are five words you'd use to describe me and how I act in my, in our friendship or, you know, relationship or whatever it might be. So you could ask people from different parts of your life, you know, just to, um, use five words or phrases to describe how you show up or who you are, how they describe you. Um, and that's a really good one too, um, to do because again, you can find those kind of patterns or what, what keeps coming up for you. And if you are like the typical, um, quiz loving dietitian, you can do them all. Yeah. Yeah.

Julia:

Wow. Honestly, I am absolutely giddy inside because I think it's the first time I've ever had a business conversation with someone and they've talked about doing this internal work. And just two episodes ago, I was talking about how nobody ever talks about the own. self management that you really need to perform if you want to keep growing in your business. So this is like, so exciting to me, Laura. I absolutely love the 80th birthday party. I think that's so cute. And I, I'm going to do that. I love that. And I can personally say that I've done the last one where I asked some family members and I was surprised at what they said to like, and the best way I was just like, Oh my gosh, like these are. much kinder words than I would have given myself, which I think, again, many RDs, high performers, tend to be very critical of themselves. I was telling my fiancé the other day that I was resonating with a villain in a story I was reading, and then I'm like, okay, I need to go to therapy because you start to picture yourself as the villain, you're probably being too hard on yourself and you need to get some, you know, self compassion, and I think that final exercise you mentioned is exactly doing that, like, hearing how others actually perceive you, loved ones who know you very well, um, is so, so nice, so,

Laura:

yeah, I'm laughing at that. Yeah, that's a really nice way to do it because it does give you that, like, and it's an opportunity to just experience how other people see you and like you said, rather than through your own filter, however kind or unkind that might be. Um, and also to throw another light on that villain conversation, perhaps the author is just really good at humanising because... I know, who doesn't love a good villain? We always have this conversation in my, my house. Cause, um, particularly my littlest is three and a half, nearly four. And, um, really into like good guy, bad guys, goodies. That's a goodie. That's a baddie. And I'm always like, there's no such thing as goodies or baddies. There's just people who make different choices. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, Oh mom, I'm just trying to play. He gets really annoyed at me, but anyway, but I'm always in that because, you know. Um, you know, not to tangent it, but yeah, there, there are no real villains, you know, I mean, obviously that's a storytelling device, of course. Somebody was sharing a story about how they love villain origin stories, because there's that real humanization of what happened to you? If we can create businesses that allow us to be humans and also hold space for other people to be human as well. Like, I think that's so powerful because so often we, we chop off parts of ourselves. We compartmentalize things. We only bring a version of ourselves that we think other people want to see or hear, and we can end up creating businesses that don't work for us, you know, creating businesses that don't take us where we want to go is ultimately our businesses are tools to help us to create the life we want to be living in the world we want to be part of. And so we want our businesses to be tools for that. We want our businesses to be aligned with the life, you know, who we are in the life we want to be living, not somebody else's version of what that is, not somebody else's version of what's important. And that's why I think values are so, so pivotal. Um, and, and I think of them like the foundation of our businesses. And I'm a bit of a, plant lover, um, and gardener. And so I think of it like the root system of a plant. Um, and so if you think of a tree, it's got a really strong root system and sure it can be blown around in the wind and sometimes it loses a limb or two, et cetera, but it stays grounded. You know, if, if that root system is strong, if, if the tree has had the space to, you know, grow its roots down, it's had the water it needed and the nourishing it needed. Um, and that to me is like, you know, Kind of the analogy of, of having space in our business to do that work, to take our time to, to know ourselves. Um, when we've got that strong foundation, even if there is a couple of strong winds or things buffered us, we we're rooted and we're grounded. Um, and that is, yeah, powerful in all parts of our, but I'll have, um, you know, our life, but obviously we're talking about business today. So in our businesses. Yeah, it

Julia:

is really powerful because you're right, there is a vision of business entrepreneurship being, uh, unpredictable and, you know, less stable, but imagining a root system is very

Laura:

fortifying. Yeah. And if anyone else is a fellow lover of, you know, Plants and trees and things, or even just a nose, um, nose a little around it. Like most trees, um, and most plants, their roots, they're not independent. They're interconnected with other roots and other root systems of other trees. And in fact, running all through that is a fungal layer, um, mycorrhizal layer, which actually feeds us like a symbiosis. So I'm using that analogy to say in business, um, you know, find. Find your community, find the other people who are really leading with their values. And while you don't have to be carbon copies, you can be aligned. Um, and that the same similar things are important to you and find those people and build that community and connection because that keeps us strong as well. That helps us with that strength and that firmness in our own foundation. You know, you were saying, you know, that very first question at the start. Um, where you kind of really highlighted that people it's, it's affirming to hear, um, hear similarities. It's affirming to hear ourselves in other people's stories. And so when we are on this entrepreneurial journey, particularly, you know, doing freelancing type thing, or just doing your own thing, it can feel a little bit lonely. It can feel a bit disconnected. So finding people where you can get that connection where you can just be like, yeah, me too. Um, and have those conversations. It does help to strengthen that. That foundation to your root system and you know that you are on the, you know, you're going where you want to go in your business. Um, and even the other example where you were like, Oh, should I drop 3, 000 on that course? You know, if there are things that pop up, your value, you know, you can ground back in your values and be like, well, is, is that for me? Is the way this person shows up in their business? Because, um, somebody shared this one of my, um, somebody that I'm like close to talks about how they, how they reach you is how they'll teach you. Um, so if. If somebody's, how they run their business, if that feels really aligned, if how they talk, how they do the marketing for their programs feels aligned, then it could be a good fit. But if it doesn't, you can let your values be the filter for that and be like, Hmm, sounds good, but it's not for me. Um, but having that connection of people who can just help you stay grounded as well. I think that's really helpful, um, in the business side of things. Yeah,

Julia:

absolutely. Perfectly said. Uh, I think that's the end of our episode for today. Did you want to share any closing remarks or maybe, uh, you can share your socials out loud and then we'll of course link them in the show notes as

Laura:

well. Yeah, for sure. So, um, I hang out at dietitian values and I don't need to spell it around here. So that's helpful. Um, everyone knows that one, uh, on Instagram, if that's where you like to be, um, I do have a podcast as well. So if you like to kind of lurk and sort of. semi stalk people, um, or, you know, or deep dive, you know, Oh, that sounds interesting. I want to know more. Um, then you surely can, um, dietitian values again in the dietitian values podcast. And you can find that over on my website, dietitianvalues. com. Um, so that's kind of the main places I hang out. There is like a little email. Laura at dietitianvalues. com if you prefer to email. I must admit I'm much slower on the email than I am on socials. Um, but if you are interested in continuing the conversation, I'm always up for that. Um, and I mean it not as lip speak that I really do love chatting about this kind of stuff. Um, and I'm not here to, uh, DMs and try and sell you something. Um, I really lead, I suppose for me, for my business is really about. This is how I am. And this is how I show up. And I always am here to hold space for people if they want it. Um, and also no pressure too, because what I talk about and how I do the lens I do throw on business is a little bit different. Um, and sometimes people don't want that or just aren't ready for that yet. Like, you know, just like when we become dietitians, we're kind of getting those like. kind of clinical things happening, um, all those kind of basic things. And we can feel like those other pieces are, you'll get to them later. Um, so if that doesn't feel aligned, that's cool too. But then also, like you said, doing that inner work, um, actually, I mean, I'm biased, of course, I think it sets the foundation, knowing yourself, um, knowing who you are and the kind of business you want to build, but yeah. That's the kind of stuff I'm interested in talking about. I do get into strategy stuff as well. I do that, have that in my bag, having run my own businesses and worked across a lot of, um, a lot of different areas. But I suppose because not many people are talking about it, I lead with that inner work stuff. I lead with values and I lead with, yeah, I think. Um, I think most dietitians have been drawn to be dietitians because they want to make a difference. They want to help people. They want to build better worlds. Um, and I think that our businesses can help us do that. I think they can be tools for that. Um, and that's kind of the conversation I'm interested in having. Yeah. And maybe part of that world of course is making new money because we live in a capitalist culture, but also it's bigger than that for most dietitians. And so that's what I like to kind of focus on with the work that I do. Um, thank you so much.

Thanks. That wraps up another episode of the freelance dietitian podcast. I hope that you really enjoyed it, and I hope that you give Laura follow so you can continue to learn from her. Um, have a great week and I'll be back here next Tuesday. Bye.