Episode 400: 8 Years of Building The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast: An AMA with Erin Holt
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
It’s been EIGHT years of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast and 400 episodes of consistency. If you’re waiting to “feel ready”, certified enough, niche enough, confident enough, and your nervous system is fried from comparison and perfectionism… this solo AMA from Erin is for you.
Erin is getting deep in the trenches about how the podcast started, the pivots along the way, identity shifts, primary parenting, what it’s really like to work alongside her husband, and the uncomfortable truths about building a values-driven business over time.
This episode is jam-packed with reminders that perfection is not a prerequisite for growth. Keep showing up, put in the reps, and have the willingness to “go ugly” early.
In this episode:
The platform Erin not-so-secretly is launching as a “no-niche” space
Why going “ugly early” builds clinical confidence faster than over-preparing ever will
What actually changes when you move from solopreneur to leading a salaried team with benefits and 401Ks
The behind-the-scenes tension of growing a podcast in a celebrity-dominated industry
How Erin and her husband Scott navigated parenting and redefining who carries the financial load
Resources mentioned:
The Funk’tional Nutrition Academy Open House kicks off March 11th. Join us for FREE live classes.
Applications are now open for Funk’tional Nutrition Academy, our 14 month clinical mentorship + training program.
Are you a practitioner? Get your exclusive invitation to the FNA Open House.
Subscribe to Erin’s Substack for a no-nonsense & no-niche space about health, entrepreneurship, and manifestation.
Erin also references these episodes:
Episode 399: How To Stand Out as a Functional Medicine Clinician in an “Oversaturated” Market
Episode 325: How To Get Hired as a Functional Medicine Practitioner
Episode 307: Starting a Business From Scratch
Episode 279: How Do I Get Clients?
Apply to work with us 1:1 here.
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LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK and get a free sample pack with any purchase!)
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I don't really live with a lot of regrets when it comes to my business, and that's because every single choice I have made has brought me here. I have grown and evolved and learned from every quote unquote mistake. And I know that that can be super trite and cliché and maybe even annoying to hear, but if we choose to see mistakes as growth opportunities, it really changes the game for us. If you are able to run your business by this credence, it truly makes everything so much better because you stop waiting on perfection to move. And that is something that I commonly see. A lot of people will wait until things feel perfect.
Welcome to The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast, spelled with a K. Because we do things a little differently around here. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I've got 15 years of clinical experience as a functional nutritionist and mindset coach creating a new model that I call Intuitive Functional Medicine™, where we combine root cause medicine with the innate intelligence of your body. This is where science meets self trust. Your body already knows how to heal, and this show is going to show you how. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health, be sure to follow and share with a friend, because you never know whose life you might change.
Hello, my friends. We are here with the 400th episode of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast. 400 episodes. Can you even believe it? I kind of can't. I started this 8 years ago.
My kid was 3 years old. She is 11 now in 6th grade. So that just helps to contextualize it for me, how long I've been doing this. I think this is the thing that I've been the most consistent with the longest in my career, perhaps even in my life, like every single week for over 8 years. So for anyone who's been listening to this since day one, you and I have been on a journey together and I love you and I love that you're still here. And for those of you who maybe just found the podcast a couple years ago or more recently, I love you too. And I'm so stoked to have you here.. And if you just happen to be tuning in today, hi, welcome to the show.
MichelleXO on Instagram said, “I just found you a few months ago and I am obsessed. A lot of catch-up needing to do.” So yay. Thank you, Michelle, for sharing. My hope, goal, and intention this year is that this podcast reaches more people and provides more support, insight to more and more people. So I was really tickled pink to see that. So we did this for the 200th episode. It was kind of like a how it started, how it's going type of thing.
So I figured we could do a refresh. We're due for an update for the 400th episode because that was a few years ago. A lot of you guys submitted your questions on Instagram, ask me anything box. And if you're not following me on Instagram, get on it. We're attempting to interrupt your feed with vibes and solid supportive information instead of just chaos over there. So definitely follow me on Instagram. So what came in to that question box, that ask me anything question box, were a lot of really personal questions. So questions questions like, how do you balance family and business career? Questions that came in that were kind of looking for more of a line of sight into the business model and how I make decisions.
And then we had a lot of new practitioners asking where and how to get started. So that's the direction we're gonna head with today's episode. If you are a new practitioner and you're listening to this, make sure you listen to the whole thing and definitely stay till the end because that's where I'm gonna get more into the specifics of answering your questions. But today I'm gonna tell some stories, and in telling those stories, I will make sure that I'm weaving your questions and my answers to those questions into the mix throughout the whole episode. And my hope in telling these stories, outside of just answering the questions that were asked of me, is that some aspects of my stories will inspire you, or at the very least, give you some ideas for your own life, your own growth, your own career, whatever it might be. Now, I'm gonna tease this out, and we record these episodes like weeks to months before they're actually published. So you'll have to just cross-reference, double-check the show notes to confirm whether this is legit or not. But I've been really, really thinking about joining Substack.
I am going to talk about consistency today. That is the number one piece of advice I would give to anybody just starting off with anything, whether it's building a brand on social media or building a practice or anything. Consistency, consistency, consistency. A few months ago, was on stage for a Seacoast Stories Event which is a local podcast, and that was a question that got asked by audience members, like, what would be your recommendation for somebody just getting started? Be consistent. Keep showing up. Don't just be in it for the quick wins because those quick wins can be pretty rare, and quick wins are not equivalent to or synonymous with longevity and sustainability in terms of your growth and your expansion. So anyway, I say all of this because I didn't wanna fully commit to Substack unless I knew that I could fully commit to being committed to it, to showing up consistently. So, but it's been tugging at my heartstrings because I'm really desiring a no-niche space here on the podcast.
I've been talking a little bit more about like my own personal journey the past couple of months and weaving some of the health stuff in, and we'll get back to the health stuff because this is a health podcast at the end of the day. But I do want a place in a space where I can just talk, talk about what's on my heart, talk about what's coming up, share the peek behind the curtain type of stuff, what's going on in my mind, what I'm thinking about, why I'm thinking about it. And I love to write. So all these podcasts, every single podcast always is started with the written word. So I write out the podcast and then I record them. So I've been really thinking about joining the ranks over at Substack. So check the show notes because if I've officially joined, then it will be linked up. In the show notes.
For those of you guys who listen to the show regularly, you know that I've been really talking about creativity without strategy, and I just would love to have more of a creative outlet for myself. So that would be my main goal of joining Substack. It's not necessarily a business goal. And in fact, I was like, I'm going to join Substack, and all of the posts in my feed were like, how to make money on Substack. And I'm like, I cannot have one more social media strategy that I have to obey and follow, Like, I just can't. So I got scared away for a little bit. So I, I need to come back clean, meaning I just want to create for the sake of creating, write for the sake of writing, and share for the sake of sharing versus like, this is going to impact some aspect of my business in some way.
I mean, it might for sure. I've seen that happen with a lot of people, but I don't want that to be the goal and the intention of me joining. Anyway, I digress. Quick announcement before I start answering more of your Qs. Funk’tional Nutrition Academy, we are officially open. It is March, so we are open for enrollment for the spring cohort. We're doing it. And something we're doing differently this year is we're offering an open house.
So between March 11th and the 24th, we have live classes going. You can join us. Some of them are our typical classes that we teach month to month. So you can join a Business Mindset Coaching class with myself, you can join a Clinical Mentorship coaching call with Rachel. We have Meg O'Neill doing social media sessions. You can join all of those. And then I'm teaching a couple of unique classes. One is Beyond Systems Biology: The Missing Link in Functional Medicine.
And the other one is the Gut-Brain Axis: How Stress Perception in the Subconscious Shapes Digestive Health. So you are more than welcome to join us there, but to get access, to get your tickets, you gotta be on our practitioner list. So join that. And just as a reminder, within FNA, because we have so many practitioners that wrote into the show for today's episode, we do train and mentor lots of different types of practitioners.
So we see RDs, NPs, RNs, Chiropractors, MDs, Health Coaches, PTs, lots of different practitioners. So my suggestion, if you're like, is this the right fit for me? The first thing to do is apply. Once we accept your application, you'll have the opportunity to book a Discovery Call with Rachel, and she can talk you through the next steps of how FNA can either amplify what you're currently doing or help you build the thing that you want to build.
She'll be very direct and very honest with you, like, yes, this can help you, or you might think about something else. This might not be your path. So be sure to apply, be sure to book with Rachel, be sure to have the right conversations, and, you know, join us in the open house too.
So let's start with a fun question. This is from Wanda Morrison. “What is your big 3.” So I am a Pisces Sun, I'm a Virgo Moon, and I'm a Sagittarius Rising. So I've got the intuitive, creative, daydreamer aspects of myself, but that is really anchored by the more grounded and practical Virgo Moon.
And then the Sag in me is always seeking knowledge, higher learning, new experiences. So they really blend up together to make me, me. And you probably, those of you that are into astrology, you can probably feel and sense a lot of them, of those big three through this podcast.
All right. Speaking of the podcast, how it started and how it's going. So this is for those who don't know the whole come up story of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast, but even if you do, I'm gonna weave a lot of stuff in here that I've never shared before. So let's travel back to 2017. Long time ago, I was running my private practice and I'll get more into that in a little bit.
And I was getting more into the functional root cause medicine side of things. So we'll back up even further than that. I went to dietetic school and I graduated from nutrition and dietetic school in 2010. So I had my undergrad degree in nutrition and dietetics. And I'm going to pause here for a moment because I had, I would say, at least 10 people write in who are new practitioners or who are just looking to punch their way into the field. So what should I do? Where should I start? What is the path? Was the questions that came in a lot. And so what I want you to understand is that my path was all over the place, and I am so grateful for that now looking back. I'm gonna share my thoughts on where to start in a little bit, but the most important thing I want you to understand is that there is no one path toward what you want to do or where you want to go.
I actually went to my college advisor my last year of school, and I explained to her what I wanted to do with my work, and she said to me, verbatim, I will never forget it, that career doesn't exist. And she didn't say it in a snarky or demoralizing way. She was just stating facts because at the time that career like legit didn't exist. So I remember at that time being like, oh, okay, well I just have to go create it myself then, I guess. And that approach is something that has served me really, really well in my life, in my healing journey, and also in my career. The ability, the willingness to think outside the box, to go off the beaten path. Rather than thinking to myself, oh, I can't do that, or here's why that thing is impossible. Here's the thing that I want to do, but here's why it's impossible.
My brain doesn't really do that. Instead, I am more likely to ask myself, well, how could I do that? What could it look like? What needs to be true in order for me to do that? And I do kind of think that that is just part of my personality. My mom was visiting recently and she was telling the story of the time we were at the orthodontist office. I had one crooked tooth, one snaggle tooth. The rest of my teeth were perfectly straight. And so we went into that meeting and essentially what I said to the orthodontist was like, I'm not available for a full set of braces. I don't need a full mouth of braces for one crooked tooth. And the way that my mom tells this story, is that he was making a case to her.
He was speaking to her explaining why I did need a full set of braces, and I just stood up and I'm like, I'm not going to sit here and listen to this. You, Mom, are more than welcome to sit here and listen to this. I'm not going to listen to this. I am done, and I'm not available for a full mouth of braces. And he got crafty, and he got creative, and he workshoped another strategy that wasn't a full mouth of braces. And my teeth are perfectly fine to this day. So we did it. But that's just the way that my brain works, is like, let's think outside the box.
Let's workshop a new solution, the options in front of us aren't the only options. We just haven't thought about what other options could be. So yes, this is part of my personality and how my brain works, but, and also this skill, this quality can be trained and cultivated. So that's the good news because from my vantage point, the people who are able to cultivate this are unstoppable. When you take all the limits off yourself, you become limitless. So I was listening to a podcast recently and I heard the guest say something like this: academia says that you cannot be an expert in XYZ unless you are credentialed through that specific channel. But many of the people that are able to see outside the existing paradigm to solve a problem that is not being solved are unlikely to come through that same channel. It's like the Einstein quote, and I know it has been translated in different ways.
Like, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used to create them. A problem cannot be solved with the same mind that created it. Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them. It's all saying the same thing, which is sometimes you gotta think outside the box. My perspective at the time in 2010 was I did not want a governing body dictating what I could or could not say. I did not want someone putting limits on what my work had to look like. And that's a little bit what the RD felt like to me. And if getting my RD couldn't provide a roadmap or a path to get where I wanted to go, then I couldn't really justify it.
I decided it would just make more sense to put my time, energy, and resources into building the path for myself that I actually wanted. And because I know I have a lot of people here who do wanna get into this field, what I'm not saying is don't get your RD. And in fact, my opinion on this might surprise you, and I will share that later. But for me, it it didn't feel right. The other thing is, like, I had gone through all the quote-unquote right channels to heal decade-long battle with eating disorders. That's actually what got me into dietetics in the first place. And I did more traditional eating disorder therapy, and it didn't work. So I had to think outside the box.
I had to go outside the standard channels in order to heal myself. And outside the channels, for me at that time, looked like becoming a holistic health coach through IIN in 2010, completing a year-long meditation and clairvoyance mentorship that same year. I deepened my yoga practice. I started a yoga teacher training and started teaching yoga in 2011. And these were the things that really allowed me to heal. So I think I developed an affinity for more of the alternative space, less rules, less rigidity, more mapping my own path. And I think that was another thing that sort of fed into my decision. Now, around this time, I had already decided to not move forward with getting my RD.
I was continuing my education in a more holistic, alternative fashion, but I was still thinking about going back to school to get my master's. I thought I wanted to work with eating disorders because of my experience with them, and I considered getting my master's in that. I, I applied to different programs. I talked to different advisors at different programs, but I, I think. Turns out I just really wanted to rage against the diet culture machine, that system that tells us we have to look a certain way in order to be of value to society. And I feel like we made like a pretty bitchin' dent on that for a while. I know skinny's back now, so you gotta watch out, protect your neck. But you know, if that's you, if you're trapped there, go back to the beginning of this podcast because I was heavy on the anti-diet culture stuff back then.
But anyway, the point is, is I considered getting my master's in a lot of different things because I wasn't really totally sure in what direction I wanted to go in. And I am so glad. I'm so glad that I didn't lean so hard in one direction before I kind of figured it out. I'm so glad that I didn't spend $25,000, $30,000 in a direction just for the sake of heading in a direction, because that's kind of what everybody told me, like, I needed to do. Like, you know, choose your lane, choose your path. And the reality is that my path was not that clear. It was not that direct. My niche wasn't that narrowed or that specific.
I kind of wanted to do it all. I wanted to do it all and I wanted to do it all my own way. And that's pretty much exactly what I've done in my career. And it's pretty much exactly what I've done in this podcast too. It's a little hard to categorize this podcast sometimes cuz I'm hitting you from different angles. I'm talking about a lot of different things. I haven't really like super duper niched down this podcast. And we talked about this last week, if you listened to last week's episode, how I feel about niching down, especially in the beginning of your career or your practice.
And I will give you the exact opposite advice that so many business coaches will give you, but I'm giving you the advice from somebody who's been in a career for 15 years, who's been successful, who has created more and more and more each and every single year. Don't niche down in the beginning. That is my advice. Do it the fuck all in the beginning. Sample everything in the beginning. Say yes to everything in the beginning. Try everything in the beginning, because how else are you going to know what you love, what lights you up inside. And here's the deal, you have to be lit up inside by your work.
We can't have the light going out behind your eyes, hun. We have to be lit up. The world needs you lit up. Your work needs you lit the fuck up. And especially, especially, especially if you wanna chart your own path, if you wanna be an entrepreneur, if you wanna do your own thing, if you wanna start your own business, start your own practice, listen, entrepreneurship is a lot. It is a lot, lot, lot. So you have to have a passion, a desire, a driving force that is so deep that it gets you up on the toughest days. My very first business coach said entrepreneurship is like getting punched in the face every single day and you still have to get up.
And like, how do you think we're here 8+ years and 400 episodes later? I got up. Every single time. That's how strongly I feel about the work that I do. And I, looking back, if I had siloed myself early into a specific niche, I cannot say that I would still feel that excited. So that's my advice to you. Anyway, in 2015, we're gonna jump ahead a couple of years. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition. Many of you guys know this story, and that is really what pitched me into the functional medicine world.
Now, I had already been into more of the holistic and alternative world, but this is what really plunged me into more of a root cause functional medicine approach. And it wasn't as big of a world back then as it is now, like not by a long shot. So I really had to once again chart my own path forward. I went through a lot of different functional medicine trainings. I started to introduce that into my practice. So I was blending what I was learning with actual, you know, real-world practice. And I got so many questions and realized that this was information that people really needed. And that was really the driving force of starting this podcast to begin with.
I realized that I couldn't work with every single person, but I wanted every single person to have access to this information. I realized that I could get it out to the masses. I could change the way people think about their health and give them even more options and more resources if I started podcasting. So that is exactly what I did. And just everything that I was learning and everything that I was practicing, I started funneling it into the show and it built up steam. The podcast world was also not what it was back then, so there was just a lot less competition. It was, I think, perhaps a little easier to punch my way in, especially with the functional nutrition podcast. Functional nutrition just like wasn't as big of a thing back then.
So I think I did kind of hit it at the right time, lucky for me. It also really aligns with the way that I teach and the way that I think. It's more long form. I'm not a black and white thinker. I'm not a binary thinker. I can't really teach effectively in soundbites. I like to be able to explore and unpack many sides of things. I like to explore context and nuance.
I like to give topics a lot of breathing room. So I do love podcasting as a medium. I love to, to podcast. I also love to listen to other podcasts. It's like truly my favorite, favorite medium. So I'm really grateful to be doing it this long, but But I also acknowledge that I've been doing it this long because I genuinely, genuinely enjoy it. And that is actually something that just came up on an FNA Q&A today. One of our students was talking about all of these things he's created and all of these workshops that he's created because he just loves it.
And I was like, that is something that we have to pay attention to. The stuff that we just love to do and it feels like fun for us, like even if we're not getting paid for it, I would still be doing this anyway, that is messages that we should really be listening to. And I encourage anybody that's listening, like, truly think about it. What is your passion? What lights you up? What is the things that you love to do and how can you bring more of that into your work, into your career? What is the opportunity to do more of that? So podcasting for me, I love it. I love it. And since this is a how it started, how it's going, I'll be very honest with you. I have gone through moments where I loved it a whole lot less. There's for sure been pockets of time where rather than just show up and speak on what's on my heart, I am trying to maybe deliver information that I think people want.
And when I do that exclusively and kind of leave myself out of the mix, out of the equation, that's when it feels a lot less fun. Or maybe a better way to say it is that my excitement about the creation of it, my desire to keep creating more kind of dwindles. So it's important for me to check in with myself regularly, and I do. I always reevaluate. The other thing that I kind of gave a head nod to this earlier, but it's kind of difficult to grow a podcast audience these days. Things have changed. The landscape has changed so much. I mean, you're essentially competing with every celebrity, with every reality celebrity, with every influencer.
You're competing with big production companies with big budgets, video podcasting. You know, I've dabbled in video podcasting. It is a horse of a different color. It is a whole ass extra thing, and I just, that part makes me feel like, ugh, like that does not feel fun to me. So I'm kind of always weighing, is this still worth it? Does this still make sense? And so that's what I did at the end of last year, at the end of 2025, I reevaluated it and I'm like, all right, I've been doing this for a long time. You know, it needs to continue to make sense for me. It needs to make sense for me from a business perspective, and I also have to enjoy it if I wanna keep doing it and do it well, I have to really love it. And the good news is that I still do.
And so I recommitted this year to really sharing what I'm called to share. And when I say recommitted, I use that intentionally. I mean, I am making a commitment to myself to show up 100% of the time, every time I get on the mic to record. So when I am here, I'm fully present. You are getting all of me and And it is always my hope and my goal that you receive something of value every time you tune into this show. So, you know, let's keep it going.
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Somebody asked, when you started this podcast, did you anticipate the impact it would have and how many people you would reach? And I will tell you, absolutely, categorically not. I recently heard my business advisor say that women start businesses to solve a need, to fix a problem.
It is pretty rare that women start businesses because they want to build an empire. It's possible, it happens, but it's not the norm. It's not the majority, right? And that was exactly me. I'm like, there is a problem here in healthcare. I am somebody very much who's like, if I'm going to present a problem or acknowledge a problem, I also want to present an associated solution for that problem. And I was like, people need education. People need information. When I first started, there really wasn't as much information available.
Now, obviously there's tons of information, but the problem is we're like waterlogged. We're being waterboarded with information. We don't know our ass from our elbows anymore. We're all topsy-turvy with information. So that was kind of another reason that I decided to recommit to this podcast. My goal is always to help you quiet the noise that is the wellness world. It has gotten really loud. It has gotten kind of messy.
Some parts are feeling pretty growth. So I wanna continue to create a space where you have access to well thought out and sound health information. So that was another part of my recommitment. So no, I had no idea that it would grow to what it is with all of you guys, all of my listeners, but I am glad. I'm really grateful for it. It makes me feel happy that I can contribute in this way. And speaking of contributing, I want to address another question that came in. This writer said, I literally have zero money available. I'm in debt. How do I start?
And I appreciate her for sharing this. I thank her for sharing this. And one of the biggest issues that I am seeing in this. This is probably something that I'm gonna speak more and more into. It's like this increased consumerism of the wellness space where we're just being taught to purchase more and more and more. Now, obviously we live in a capitalistic, consumeristic society, so that's just kind of like baked into the fabric of like who we are as a society. But I'm seeing it so much more in the wellness space, and the underlying message is we cannot achieve health without purchasing XYZ, whatever it is, whether it's a supplement or specific gym clothes or a gadget or a gizmo. And as you know, I do purchase and utilize some of these things myself, but here's the deal.
I'm not doing it under the assumption or the belief that I cannot achieve health without them. And I think that is the misstep. I think that's the missing link in the messaging. So more and more and more people are getting overwhelmed with this idea and they're like, I don't have this kind of disposable income in order to invest in all these things that I supposedly need to be healthy. And that's a really defeatist thought. Like it's impossible to get healthy or achieve health or have health unless you are rich. And so what I want you to know, and I want, what I want you to hear me say is you actually don't need those things. And again, that's gonna be more of a predominant message from me here on the show and on my socials.
Wellness can be very elitist and very expensive. But there's also so much free wellness available to you right now, and most people are not capitalizing on that. Most people are not maxing out the benefits of free wellness. Your body has the ability to heal. Your own biology is coded for self-healing, and we need to capitalize on that truth. We need to figure out how to do that. You can't build health without the foundations, and a lot of the foundations are free. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet, learning how to regulate your blood sugar.
Having a healing mindset, believing that you can heal, believing that it is available to you. Doing the work to overcome the negativity bias in your brain telling you that that's not possible. Training your brain to see evidence that what you want is actually possible. Supporting your nervous system, supporting your digestion, eating in a way to support your digestion in your gut. Health. And I want to keep anchoring you back to those foundations, to those basics. And that's why this podcast exists since day one, and why I keep coming back to it, to teach you the foundations for free, to help remind you and help you access that free wellness. And so I would say start there, start with the free resources available to you.
There's 400 episodes here as of today. There's 3,000 posts on Instagram. That's not an exaggeration. There's over 3,000 posts on Instagram. I've been on Instagram for like over a decade just sharing as much education as I can. And trust, know, and believe that this stuff can really, really impact you and influence you in a major league way. I love when you guys become clients. I love when we get applications telling us that you came here from the podcast.
It makes me so happy that we get to serve you. And you wanna know what else I love? I love when I get messages or comments from you guys saying, your podcast changed my life and I've never purchased a single thing from you. That is one of the best feelings in the world. So I share that with you because healing does not have to be expensive. You have the machinery built right in. So access that first and foremost. And that would be my advice. To you.
So now we're gonna transition more into a peek behind the curtain, uh, especially as it relates to family and business. A fair amount of questions came in about how my work has impacted work-life balance or my family, and that kind of surprised me, I guess. I sort of wondered, and I know there was no malintent with any of those questions, but I kind of wondered if those same questions would ever be asked of a man. I doubt it, I think that those questions, they all came from women. I think that it signifies how much weight women put on themselves to parent like they don't have work and work like they don't have children, or how important it is to keep things really separate and compartmentalize, like, okay, this is my life and this is my work. And what I can tell you is that I've never really done that. I'm not going to be like a model for that because that is not what I do. It kind of all bleeds together.
My husband and I work together. We both work from home. We're like, you know, Hattie's home with us. My daughter's home with us a lot. Like, we're just all in it together. It's like all mixed up in the same casserole. And that's kind of that. So I don't really ever know how to answer the work-life balance question because I think that perhaps my goals look different than other people's that are asking that question.
But this question I can answer and I will. Somebody wrote in and asked, how has your growth over the years personally and professionally affected Scott? So Scott is my husband, for those of you who don't know, and I thought this one was kind of juicy because I've never talked about this before. I've never shared this story before, the role that Scott plays in the organization and how all of that came to be. I will tell you that I'm a very transparent person. I'm willing to share a lot about myself and my own lived experience, and I do that all the time. No problem. I'll do it with a stranger. It is just who I am.
My husband is absolutely not the same. He's more like a keep things close to the vest type of guy. So I will share my experience, and I've gotten his permission to share certain aspects of this, but I'm obviously not going to be able to share this from Scott's POV. I will share it from mine, and I will tell the tale from my POV. So I think to answer this question, I have to start with the whole story, like how we met and how my work has changed and evolved since we met, because he's been a pretty key player in the whole thing. And I will weave in like working from home with a baby and all that jazz. So we met in late 2010. At that point, I was working at the Portsmouth Health Food Store.
That's actually where we met. I was working at the health food store. It was my first job after graduating from dietetic school. It was also the time that I was completing my health coaching certification. And so I was really utilizing that health coaching certification in the health food store because people would come in and I would talk to them about their health. I would talk to them about supplements. That's when I started to get really savvy with herbs and supplements and was introduced to that whole world. After, I don't know, a little over a year, I think I started getting daily panic attacks.
So I'd have to literally run downstairs into the basement and hide because I was having panic attacks. So that was obviously my body's and my intuition's way of saying like, hey, it's time to move on. It's time to take your next steps. So next steps for me looked like teaching a lot more yoga at different studios. I was doing more health coaching, but working with my own clients and trying to build that up. I also nannied. Nannied, and I received some financial support from my mom because I was like really trying to cobble everything together. And between yoga and health coaching, I wasn't creating a consistent income.
So I've nannied since I was a teenager, so that was always a good default way to earn a living. And I also just really loved it. And then my mom, Cher Bear, she has funded a lot of my come-up journey, I will say that. So a head nod and a hat tip to her. But I also, I'm trying to be super, super honest about all of this too. And that was like around that time-ish that Scott and I moved in together. And so we were splitting our rent and our bills about 50/50 at that time. But pretty soon after that, Scott started taking over more of the lion's share of our living expenses.
He was more of the breadwinner in our dynamic. He had like a real job. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just like floating through space. But he had like an actual job. Scott has had a 25-year career as a graphic designer and creative director, and at the time he was working for a local marketing agency. So that's how we kind of got started, and that was our dynamic. We got married, I got pregnant, we had a baby, and through that whole time I was teaching yoga.
I was building up my nutrition and health coaching practice. I was really immersed in the local community. So between all the different yoga studios, I just got to know a lot of different people that way. I was teaching health and nutrition workshops at the different yoga studios. I believe— I've said this a bunch of times before, but I believe that that is really truly what grew my business. Again, I know we have a lot of questions coming in like, how do I get started? And I think it's very appealing to see everybody on social media have these big glamorous social media followings, and you can infer a lot of things about how their success is related to that. What I will tell you is that yes, I do have a large social media following now, but I sure as shit didn't when I started. I got started in person.
I got started by building relationships. Businesses are built on relationships, knowing people, building trust, showing up consistently. Consistently, the C word, consistency, such an unsung hero. Cause it gets hard sometimes and it gets boring and it gets monotonous. And some days you feel like you're over it and you still have to show up. That is what consistency is all about. Like, can you catch a viral moment and go big? Yeah. Does that mean you're going to be successful? Not necessarily.
Virality does not always translate to success. Your best guess. Virality does not always translate to longevity. Virality does not always translate to trust. Long-term sustainable businesses are built on trust. Virality does not always translate to paying customers either. Okay? So I showed up and I showed up over and over and over again, and that is a little clinical pearl that I'm baking into this for those that are looking for like, how do I grow this thing. Just keep showing up for real.
So at that time, Scott also built me a website, erinholthealth.com. I was blogging then. I had started to build up my newsletter. So in addition to showing up in my local community, I also started to show up online consistently as well. I would send out emails, I would blog and share those through emails. And so that was another way that I was showing up consistently. Then in 2014, that's when I had my daughter Hattie, and I decided that I really wanted to be home with her. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and Scott completely supported that.
He supported that financially, but he also really supported that emotionally. So at that point, Scott was still definitely the primary earner of our dynamic duo, and I was the primary parent. So that was kind of the division of our responsibility. Now I say primary parent, cuz I was home all day with her while he was at work. But the second that he got home from work, he really stepped in and he took over. Super, super, super present dad and just like super supportive partner and husband. Also worth noting here that the first 2 years my kid did not sleep, like did not sleep at all.
So we were just kind of like going through the motions and It's a whole time, as many of you guys know. So home with my kiddo during that time, but also still building my business, still building my brand. I was teaching yoga a couple of times a week. I was still writing my blog and newsletter. I was beginning to develop more of an online presence with Instagram. I was sharing a lot more there. I was still seeing clients and doing some of my group health coaching programs. I never stopped doing that.
I pretty much did that the whole time. We are super lucky that we have family close by. My mother-in-law, my mom, my Aunt Patty, my dad, they all helped out with childcare. So I did have dribs and drabs of time to get work done, but it was certainly not a full-time 40-hour work week at all, at all, at all, at all. But I did have support, so I wanna acknowledge that. And that's like basically what we did for basically the next 5 years. That's like kind of how we ran everything. I was home with my kiddos.
And building a business and like doing all of the things. Now when Hattie turned 4, I realized that I wanted to work more and she's like just a super social kid. So we started her at preschool 2 or 3 days a week, full days, and that gave me full workday. So I got office hour space around this time so I could see more clients in person rather than just online or having them come to my house. And I really, really enjoyed that. But still at this time, very much so the primary parent, meaning if Hattie was sick, I was the one to stay home with her. I was the one to rearrange my workday. But again, just kind of like managed to cobble it all together and really loved it.
And then came kindergarten. So our town has full-day kindergarten, so I would drop her off and then pick her up. But in between, I had the whole day to work. So that was a little bit of a game changer. Momentum started to build. I had all the consistency under my belt. I had all those reps and they really started to compound. I had started my podcast by this point, so that was kind of like pouring gasoline on the fire in the best way possible.
I had more time available to work. I had more time available to build the business. The business was making good money. And this was also around the time that Scott was just not enjoying his career very much. It was a situation that I know happens in a lot of careers, but basically in order to grow within the career, where you kind of have to manage people, which really pulled him out of his zone of genius. He's a creator or creative. He's not really a manager, a people manager. So that was just kind of something that was percolating behind the scenes.
And then we had COVID come along. Remember that? Remember COVID, like the big snow globe that shook everything up for so many people? It was a shakeup moment for us. Hattie got moved to homeschool and we found that we had a decision to make. Like, what do we do here? Scott was kind of mid in his work. I was thriving in mine. I was like, I just need more time to grow. Like, put me in, coach, let me go. And so we had this opportunity to change things up.
And so he decided, or we decided, I guess, that he would officially leave the organization that he was working at. And we kind of did a switcheroo where I became, I was working full-time, like a 40-hour work week, and then he became the primary parent. And that was the year that things really grew for me, like a lot, a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot. So I feel like both of us together kind of bet on me and were like, yeah, let's see if this thing got legs. Let's see what we can do here. So I took over as the primary earner. Scott had contract design work and he still managed all of my brand design as well. But again, he took over as the primary parent and it was just such a special time, just like the best.
They would go out in the woods and go on like 3-hour hikes and eat lunch in the woods and ice skate in the morning. It was just like amazing. It was so amazing. I'm so grateful for that time. And so we did that. Obviously, Hattie eventually went back to school when the schools reopened, but over time, the needs of the organization grew. And so that meant that our need for him grew as well, especially as we were bringing on more headcount, as we were growing the team. We needed somebody to manage all of the finances associated with that.
We needed somebody to manage payroll. We needed to hire a personal wealth advisor. We needed to hire a bookkeeper for the organization. We had to change our accountant so somebody was more familiar with the line of work that we were doing. We had to figure out liability insurance. There was just a lot more stuff that comes with the territory of growing an organization, and we had to make some pretty big decisions, big decisions and big investments. And so this is where Scott really slotted in as more of a partner. Up into that point, obviously he's been a super supportive partner in parenting, in life, in friendship, but this is where I would say his partnership in the actual company clicked in because I just was like, someone help me.
Like, I don't know how to make these kind of decisions. And so he helped me make them together. We really desire to to create a great work environment, a work environment where people actually feel proud of, where people show up to work and feel like they're making an actual difference in the world, a positive difference in the world, to feel like they're contributing to something impactful and supporting people in a real way. Scott, like I said, came from a 25-year career and he worked in some environments that kind of sucked. I personally have never had a real job in my like entire life, so I don't really have much to compare it to. I do. It's kind of the ongoing joke. I'm like, wait, what happens in corporate? I don't, I just, I've never been there.
I have no clue. But I do know if I'm going to build a company, I want it to be like a bitchin one. So we really want to make sure that our employees are well cared for. So we do full-time salaried positions with benefits. That's an active decision that we made. 100% of healthcare is covered. We do a 401(k) contribution. We do profit sharing, PTO, Bonus incentive comp plans, creating a real culture of when I win, you win.
I want that to feel that way. And we get to make choices too. Like we get to say, okay, like legally this is what we have to do. What do we want to do? What feels good to us? How do we create an environment where we get to feel proud of what we're creating? And I, I just wanna put that out there because we're really, really, really trying and and to build a company like this requires a tremendous amount of work and a lot of money. Basically, to maintain the decisions that we've made, it takes a lot. Our overhead is really high because we're investing so heavily into our team. And I, I don't think that this is something people talk about.
I don't think that there's as much modeled behavior here as at least I would like to see. There's not a lot of opportunities where people are really pulling the curtain back and being like, this is how it's going over here. So that's part of the reason that I'm sharing this here on the podcast with you, I think we can see success being really glamorized, and that's awesome. That's not a problem to me. But I don't think people are always so willing to talk about, like, what it takes to do that. And to do it— I don't want to say our way is the right way, that's kind of douchey, but like, from my vantage point, it's the right way to do it this way. It takes a fucking lot. It requires a whole ass human to manage all of that, you know, and that whole ass human is Scott.
So he stepped into the role so we could co-create this environment together, and I would not have been able to bring this all to fruition without Scott. So that's really his mark on the company. It's something I'm very, very proud of. It's something that Scott and I have done together. I'm proud that our daughter gets to see us do that together. So work-life balance and compartmentalization organization doesn't super much exist in my house, but, you know, at least she's seeing us build something cool. And so to answer the question, how has it changed Scott? For starters, he's done a complete career pivot. I don't— I do not think it was on his bingo card to be this involved in the organization, but I'm very grateful that he's made this choice, and it's just super supportive for him to be here.
So that's kind of how we got here, and I think kind of cool, so hopefully you do too.
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All right, let's get into a few more questions. I feel like I've been talking for a long time, but I do want to get to more of your questions. Ash Denoyer says, how many hours a week did you put into your business in the beginning and now? And honestly, I do not track time, so this is a little difficult for me to answer, but I would say a lot then and a lot now. It just looks very different because when I was starting my business, I was building from scratch and it was just me, and I was figuring out who I was and what I wanted to offer, and I was still learning the skill sets of like delivering those offers. How do I actually do this? And now I am running an entire organization, so it's very different.
And in my experience, I know we just talked a lot about team and that's more of like how we pay the team, and this is more like how it feels to have a team as somebody who is basically a solopreneur for so long. I would say that having a team doesn't necessarily create less work than not having a team. It's just like a different kind of work. It's a different kind of hard. I just spend my time doing different things now. I think it also is like tricky for me because my zone of genius is not leading a team. Managing, coaching, the interpersonal part of team can be really challenging for me because I wanna do right by everybody. Remember, I'm a Pisces.
I'm deeply feeling, I'm deeply emotional. I'm like in a glass case of emotion. In like all day long, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to do that. Entrepreneurship, just in case you didn't know this, if you, in case you were deciding to join the ranks of entrepreneurs, just know that it can really activate your core wounding, like pretty much like every single day. And running a company can do this as well. So I'm just like constantly walking around in my feels. My zone of genius is kind of to be in my bubble to be inspired and then create based on that inspiration. And so there's definitely been moments where I've thought like, I could just go back to lone wolf style.
I could scale things back, I could simplify, I could streamline things. And Scott and I have had those conversations and where we both net out every single time is like, yeah, and I like wouldn't be happy because it's not my true desire. My true desire is to have a much bigger impact. And in order to do that, I need the support of a team. So I think because that is truly not my zone of genius necessarily, I think I probably spend more time with that and like thinking about that and kind of preoccupied with that. So I don't have an exact answer to give you, like how many hours, but what I will say is that it's rare that I'm ever turning my brain off from my business. And I do not say that to glorify or pedestalize the hustle, but more so to be honest with you about what it has taken me personally to grow and then maintain a seven-figure business, and it's a lot. I didn't just like hire a team and I'm like sipping Mai Tais on the beach.
That has not been my experience yet, at least. If that happens, if I get there, I will definitely let you know. But I just don't know if that's ever something that I would desire to be like that far, like removed from the day-to-day operations of my business. I recognize that I attach a lot of my value and worth into how hard I'm working and how much I'm doing. That's a pattern of mine. I don't think it's a very super healthy pattern. So I am looking to re-pattern that, and I have talked about that in recent podcast episodes. So yep, I worked a lot then, I work a lot now.
That's like the nuts and the bolts of it. All right, a few more questions, and these are really geared more toward practitioners and new practitioners, particularly Wellness with Clancy says, what advice do you have for a holistic nutritionist just starting her practice and feeling very nervy? So lucky for you, I have been podcasting for 400 episodes now. So I've got a couple of episodes that I want you to listen to, starting with last week's episode. Go back to episode 399. I talk all about what you need to do to be a really great clinician. Episode 307, Starting a Business from Scratch, would be a great listen for anybody who's starting a business from scratch. Episode 279, How Do I Get Clients? And episode Episode 325, how to get hired as a functional medicine practitioner. All fantastic podcast episodes for you guys to listen to if you are a new clinician.
I am not even gonna attempt to read this handle, but I, I'm pretty sure Jackie is the name. She says, new practitioner here. What is a mistake you made early on that you would do differently now? So here's my hot take, and that is I don't really live with a lot of regrets when it comes to my business, and that's because every single choice I have made has brought me here. I have grown and evolved and learned from every quote unquote mistake. And I know that that can be super trite and cliché, maybe even annoying to hear, but if we choose to see mistakes as growth opportunities, it really changes the game for us. If you are able to run your business by this credence, it truly makes everything so much better. Because you stop waiting on perfection to move. And that is something that I commonly see.
A lot of people will wait until things feel perfect before they act. And you guys, online business is changing so quickly. This industry is changing so quickly. By the time you perfect something, the game has already changed. So I think what you can do to set yourself up for success is be willing to go ugly early. I say that all of the time. I was willing to get an idea out of my brain and out into the world and just put it out there and then iterate on it. So build it, offer it, iterate, build it, offer it, iterate.
And I really feel that that is what has allowed me to advance myself and do it relatively quickly. So truthfully, when I don't look back and see mistakes, I look back and see all the opportunities for growth. So every time you feel like you're, I don't wanna do this because I could fuck up. Just say, if I fuck up, cool, I will learn from that and I will grow, and that's totally fine. So that would be my advice there. I think if there was one— again, I don't see it through the lens of mistakes, but I probably would have gotten a mentor earlier. Mentorship really, really, really accelerates clinical growth. That is one of the reasons that we bake it into FNA.
So mentorship is crucial for growth, and I think I waited. I could have done that sooner, and I probably would have had faster growth had I been willing to do that. Next question, jhess0042. I want to be a functional integrative practitioner. Best route? It'll be a career restart. And then she also submitted another one saying, advice for becoming a functional medicine practitioner? It's a dream of mine. So there really isn't a best route. I think that there's a lot of different routes, and I think what's best for you is based on you, who you are, what your skills are.
As I said at the, the top of this episode, in FNA we're training RDs, NPs, RNs, chiropractors, MDs, PTs, health coaches, lots of different types of practitioners. So you kind of have to figure out what you want your starting point to be, and I believe that a more traditional route with traditional credentialing might open up more doors and avenues. And that is really important if you don't have a desire to be an entrepreneur, to be a business owner, to run your own thing. So going the more traditional path could be better for you. And if you have a dream and you haven't started actively working toward it, entrepreneurship might not be for you. And I don't say that to be harsh. I say that for your own freedom, to free yourself from feeling like the only way to be successful is to build your own thing. Because in my experience, true entrepreneurs, like those who were built for this insanity, because entrepreneurship is kind of insane, they're not waiting on a permit mission slip or an exact roadmap.
They're just going for it, off to the races, literally figuring it out as they go. That is actually part of what we love. That's like why we got into all of this. So if you're like, that sounds terrible, totally fine, totally valid. You can still build a career in this field. It just might be working for someone else, which is amazing and so awesome. And so that's why I say I'm not opposed to somebody going a more traditional path or somebody getting their RD to pull this all back full circle. I do think that it opens up more doors for you if you have it.
It wasn't my path. Getting the RD wasn't my path, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be anyone's path. And Ali Chali says, advice for dietetics students who's more interested in the functional and holistic aspects. All three of the practitioners on my team are all RDs. So what they did, how they charted their path, is that they went the more traditional route. They went to dietetic school, and then they went through and got their RD, and then they did their own continuing education specific to functional medicine after. And that would be my recommendation for you. If you're already in dietetic school, keep it up, stick with it, that's incredible.
And then you can further your education in more of the holistic functional medicine space. So for example, Rachel did FNA and she did IFM. Nicole on my team did FNA. So they were both working, they were both getting experience while they studied, and that is really what made them excellent clinicians because they were getting their continuing education, they were applying that education as they were learning, and that helped them grow so, so, so much. And I really spent quite a bit of time last week talking about that. So that would also be my advice go back to last week's episode and listen to me talk about the importance of building reps and how to get those reps, because that is what's going to make you a most excellent clinician. So that would be my advice. And if anyone's looking for help with this, if anyone's looking for this continuing education, that's what FNA is all about, the Funk’tional Nutrition Academy.
And like I said, we are open for enrollment, so get your applications in. You to have a chitty chat with Rachel, come to our open house. And I can't wait to see some of you guys at the open house and even in our spring cohort. Okay, this was a long episode. I feel like I've been talking for a long time. I wanted to get to as many questions as I could. I wasn't able to get to them all, but thank you for all of those of you who submitted. This is a little bit of my story, you know, how it started, how it's going.
It's going pretty well. So thanks for being here. Thanks for being part of my story. Thanks for being part of my journey. Journey. And I don't know, maybe we'll do this for 400 more episodes. Who's to say? Love you guys, and I will check you next week.
Thanks for joining me for this episode of The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you got something from today's show, don't forget, subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.