057: Thinking About Becoming a Health-Coach? Here's How To Rock It With Sahara Rose

It's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. I just wanted to do an episode about a question I get all the. All the time, which requires a lot of clarification and explanation, which is why the podcast was the best place to answer it. So a lot of people ask me, how can I actually make it as a health coach? And tons of us, we want to have careers healing people and helping people and creating this new generation of conscious living. And we don't want to work in these jobs where we're chained to our desks and where the environment is definitely not suitable for health. And we want freedom that freedom that being a health coach provides us with, as well as that purpose of really being able to help others while also making a living. You know, it's such a beautiful thing to be able to truly live your life in Dharma and be provided for and have this concept. It's called Ikigai. And it's doing that thing that you love, that the world needs, that you can get paid for, that you're good at, and just finding that thing that's right in the center. And I talk a lot about that in my Doshas and Dharma program. This episode is for those of you who are thinking about becoming health coaches, or maybe you already are a health coach. And I just want to explain what I've learned through my own experience. So I went to Institute for Integrative Nutrition, graduated in 2012, so six years ago now. And I was an undergrad in college. When I did iin, I was interested in health, interested in nutrition. I was blogging already, but I felt like I needed to have some sort of certification or some sort of credibility to be blogging about it. But I had no intention to become a health coach at all. I just wanted to have some sort of, you know, certificate or just learn more about it, even for my own purposes. So I really was not going into it at all expecting to be a health coach. So a lot of my favorite bloggers who I really looked up to, I saw on all of their about pages that they had all gone to IIT and IIN is Institute for Integrative Nutrition. So I had seen the word pop up everywhere, but I still didn't think, you know, I'm not gonna do this as my job. I still don't really know what I want to do, et cetera, et cetera. So finally I decided that I would sign up. And the reason I signed up was because it was online and so I could still be doing my undergrad, you know, working on my blog, super busy traveling as well. And you know, time is gonna pass so I might as well put some time into also certificate. So I signed up and I think it was like January of 2012 and I didn't know what to expect. So it starts off basically the way that in is structured is the first six months you learn all about nutritional theory. So they teach you over a hundred different nutritional theories. So you learn about what is veganism, what is paleo, keto, macrobiotic, et cetera, et cetera. And then I learned about Ayurveda. And I had heard of the word Ayurveda before, but I never really. I thought it was like kind of massage or sort of oil, but I never really thought about it. So they had a whole module. One of the weeks is all about Ayurveda and discussing your dosha and Deepak Chopra spoke and all of these things. So I mean, hands down, I would not at all be speaking with you right now if I had not done IIN because I wouldn't have heard of Ayurveda. So just that in itself, that one connection made it all worth it. But I'm gonna explain to you so much more. So I learned about Ayurveda, I learned about all these different things. So the first six months was that and a lot of the things already knew since I was already a nutrition nerd. But it was interesting because the teachers, so it's. You get this app and it's like their online education platform. So there's a lot of videos and audio content, which I liked because I'm very active and moving. So I could go on a walk or be outside and still listening to the course information, which is so much better than, you know, I've done course courses before in college is like you get a textbook and you read it and you have a quiz and it's not audio or video at all. So I loved how it was like very, very cutting edge with the online education. I mean, now it's even more so. I love that it was really easy for me because I was engaged in the content that I didn't feel like, oh, I need to set out time. Like, it didn't take me that many hours because for me I was just going through it really fast. But really the amount of hours it takes for a week just depends on you. So did the course. The second months are all about starting your business. So I was like, oh, this is the part that I really need to pay attention to. So, you know, I still had to do it because I had to do it to graduate. And then they teach you how to set up a health coaching business, what is a health history consultation, all of the paperwork you need. I didn't know about any of this stuff and how to set up a program and what are the primary foods you talk about and how do you create a niche and how do you get yourself seen online and how do you talk to corporations about doing corporate wellness? And it opened my eyes to so many possibilities because here I was thinking, like, a health coach had to, like, walk around and like, find strangers on the street, like, solicit people like, hey, can I be your health coach? But I didn't realize that there are health coaches working in doctor's office that they can legally practice in almost every state, that there's literally so many just jobs available. And for me, at this point, I still wasn't sure I could go out on my own. So I was like, oh, wow, you could actually get hired somewhere as a health coach. So I was still thinking, thinking, oh, that's kind of cool. But they were teaching me everything about, okay, what would your niche be? This, that. So as I was doing it, I was thinking my niche could be, since I had gone through it, girls with eating disorders and how I had experienced that and like learning how to love yourself and how to not be afraid of food anymore. And I had gone through so many diets in my life and how to, like, overcome that. So I was like, what if I could become an eating disorder specialist? That would be so amazing, and I would love to help people and empower women and work with women like me. So I started to kind of like, entertain the idea. And they taught me all of the steps needed to actually create this into a possibility. And then the time came to graduate, and then I wasn't really. I still wasn't really sure what I was going to do. So. And while I was still. So, after the first six months, you are allowed to see clients just as long as you tell them you're not done with the program. So I started to just see whoever I could, people who are not my niche at all. I worked with this guy who is like a bodybuilder, and he wanted to run marathons. So I was like, okay, I'll. I'll help you out. And then I worked with this woman who wanted to lose weight for her wedding and just random people again. Like, the marathon guy didn't even charge him. And the other woman, I mean, I, I probably charged her about $20 an hour. So I wasn't really making an income or anything like this. But I, it was just putting my feet in the water. As I was health coaching people, I realized, wow, I actually really love to do this. I love being able to sit one on one and talk to them and get to know them and look at all these aspects of their life. And for me, you know, eating healthy, intuitive, it's so easy. But for them, like, they literally don't know. And here I was thinking like, oh, everyone knows how to make chia pudding. That's nothing new. And they're like, huh? Like, what are chia seeds even? What are you talking about? So I was like, wow, actually I've been in such a blogging bubble where I think that this is the norm when this is like, so still a very small percentage of society. So I graduated and then I was traveling, not sure what to do, and eventually got sick with my own digestive issues, trying to heal myself. And in this healing process of again jumping through so many diets, I last resort came back to Ayurveda, which I had heard about. I had done an Ayurveda consultation in India, but I didn't really vibe with it because she was telling me I had to eat like all this ghee and rice and lentils and these things that I was a vegan, so I didn't want to do that especially so we're a vegan. So I decided to come back to that. And then I've explained this story on different podcasts, but eventually came back to Ayurveda and decide to study it and figure out how can I modernize this, how can I make this accessible to the modern kitchen? How can I make this more alkaline? How can I make this more plant based? The world was so different 5000 years ago when Ayurveda was created. So how can we take these same concepts and theories but apply them today's time? Because the basis of the Ayurvedic diet is wheat and dairy, and those are the two most genetically modified and pesticide sprayed foods in our times right now. So we can't base our diets off that. But I still loved how it was customized to the doshas. So I ended up studying Ayurveda. I ended up staying in India for two years, traveling, learning about Ayurveda, but always modernizing it. And eventually I wrote my first book, Eat right for your mind body type, which you can have the first half free by just reviewing this itunes on the podcast store and emailing it to me at Sahara. S A H A R aatfeelfresh.com it's an unreleased book. I just wrote it myself, graphic, designed it myself, edited it everything myself, and it never actually got published. Then years later, I wrote the Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda. So, you know, one thing fell to the next. And if you've heard my podcast episode, I think it's number 16, about being in Korea. I was in Korea, I got into flow, and one thing led to the next. And here I am today. And now I see I love as a Capricorn. I love helping people with their businesses and their strategies, which is why doing this podcast is actually super exciting for me. So. So let's talk about. So that's my own little story. And I want to also share that when I first graduated, I wasn't getting clients, and let me tell you why. So I, on my blog, put a tab that said $20 consultations. Like, literally, that's what the tab on my menu said. And it was like, I can help you with anything. I can help you if you want to lose weight, if you want to gain weight, if you're a guy, girl, whatever your problem is, I can help you out. If. And I mean, I could to an extent, but am I the best person for someone who's a bodybuilder that wants to run marathons? No, I've never done either thing. Am I the best person for someone who has thyroid disease? No, I've never had thyroid disease. Am I the best person for someone who has pcos? No, I've never had pcos. I can figure it out. I can definitely help them. Probably more than they can help themselves at this point. But not as much as someone who has had it, who's been there, who has dedicated so much of their own time to studying this for themselves. They can help that person so much more. So by setting myself up that, oh, I can help you with any time, any problem you have, like, I'm your girl, call me. Over 20 bucks. What's up? No shit. No one trusted me. They're like, would you ever trust someone with your health who's like, $20 for a consultation? You tell me what's your problem, I'm going to solve it. No, it's like, literally, like, you know those psychics who come up to you and they're like, oh, I see something in your aura. Pay me $100 and I'll tell you, like, no, if you're a psychic. You know, coming up to Forever 21 is like, not going to get my trust. So I was basically that psychic in health coaching and totally undervaluing myself and also not being smart either. So setting. You know, they teach you an iin, and I'll talk about this today, too, but putting your prices super low is not doing a favor to you or that person because that person's not going to value you. They're not going to trust you. They're going to think, oh, this person must actually not know that much if they're willing to work for $20 an hour about anything. And it's not that $20 an hour is a low rate. It's that if I'm saying, oh, I'm the expert in health, I can solve anything. Do you think that that rate would be $20 an hour if I was assisting someone, doing something or something? Yeah, that's a great rate. But for what I was saying that I would promise them that number was not matching. Does that make sense? So a lot of it, it comes to value and how much value you're giving someone. So obviously I really did not believe I was giving people that much value. And that's why I said, you can pay me $20. Hey, I'll actually do it for whatever you want. You know, for me, it was still experience that I needed, but. But honestly, looking back on it, I should have just taken clients on for free instead of even trying to do this like $20 off thing, because at least for free, I could be like, hey, I'm here learning. And this is also an experience and they're not losing anything. So it could have been more educational and I could have asked them for feedback later. And I could have grown much more from that than trying to. Like, I mean, I guess in a way it helped because I was like, trying to be all professional, but I didn't get clients from that at all. So then I kind of went to this thing like, health coaches can't make money. This is all bullshit. Like, no one would ever pay me to tell them about their health. I really didn't believe it. I was in denial. And I was like, you know, it's a one in a million thing. It's like being a famous actor, writer, a lawyer, whatever. I really didn't believe that being a health coach was an actual viable career, despite having done the program, because that's how much I didn't believe in myself. Guys, I was like, I just need to go find a job somewhere. Like, I can't create something of my own. Like, literally this is where I was when I was 21. So though I loved it, I still blocked myself from it through time going into Ayurveda, not thinking it would be a niche. In fact, I was hiding that I was interested in studying Ayurveda. I was actually hiding it because my blog, Eat, Feel Fresh, was a raw vegan blog. All my recipes were raw vegan. I had done a raw vegan course with David Wolf. I was like raw vegan girl. So I was actually, like, really hiding and ashamed that secretly I was eating all these warming foods and cooking everything and avoiding all the raw things because of my digestion. So I definitely didn't go into Ayurveda thinking it could be a cool niche. I did it because I actually just needed help. So eventually I studied study Ayurveda for myself. How can I get my menstrual cycle back? How can I digest food properly? That eventually I just learned so much about it that it just came naturally to want to share it, to want to write a book about it, to start eventually blogging about it and be like, hey, guys, I'm not raw vegan. This is why it didn't work out for me. What is Ayurveda? So I started blogging on ayurveda in about 2013, and again, literally no one knew what it was back then. And with that, then soon, little by little, people started coming to me because I had a niche, you know, and this is the most important thing if you want to make it as a health coach. Niche is everything, because you can't help everyone in the same capacity. Yes, you can help people out to a degree, but as I mentioned, you can't help them to the same capacity as someone who's actually been through that struggle. And in my opinion, I believe your niche should be something that you've personally dealt with. Other people can say, like Ayan says, you can do your niche whatever you want. And it's true, you can. If you're really passionate about something, you can. But what I found is the topics that you tend to be the most passionate about are ones that you've actually dealt with yourself. Otherwise, I'm not going to be like, I need to know how to everything about, you know, about Lyme disease. I'm going to be obsessed with studying Lyme disease. Unless I've dealt with it. I might, I might have had a relative that had had Lyme disease or a friend or something that sparked my interest. But I kind of find that unless it hasn't struck an accord in your life personally. You're not going to put all of that time and effort into studying it that someone who's dealt with it has. So I think pick your niche is something that you've dealt with not only a health problem, but also a demographic. So for me, if I'm like, oh, my demographic's gonna be like, woman 50 plus. Like, I don't really think women 50 plus are. I mean, now maybe at this point, because I'm such an expert in Ayurveda that they could. But definitely when I was 21 and I didn't really know that much, I wasn't attracting women who are 50 plus. But if I'm attracting people who are the same age as me or a little bit younger than me, for example, people who either relate to me or maybe they look up to me in some sort of way, that would work. But it's gonna be really hard for you to attract a niche that you have never been a part of because you're not gonna really know their lingo again, if you really study and you're really passionate about it, you can. I'm not saying it's impossible, but what I have found is, you know, your own niche best, right? And every niche is so specific. And I mean, I can niche talk for days, but like, there are so many niches. Just in the healthy community, there's like the yoga people who are like, like grains and beans, and then there's like the vegan people who are like junk food and the raw vegan people, and then paleo people and primal people and keto people, and then fasting people. And there's so many different niches. And then within those, there's the people who went keto for weight loss, people who did it for energy, people who are doing it for brain. There's a whole brain community, there's a whole bulletproof community. There's so many niches. And I can talk, oh, yeah, biohacking this, biohacking that. I'm not biohacking myself. Really not my thing. So I'm not going to be the biohacker niche because I'm not living that. I don't know their psychosomatics. I don't know everything about them. So I think find the niche that you are a part of because you know where they're hanging out, you know what they're talking about, you know what languaging they use, you know what their issues are, you know what their problems are, you know where to find them, right? So I was just talking to this woman and she wanted to be a health coach and she is working in corporate environment. And I was like, well, why don't you do like coaching for busy, burnt out corporate woman? Because that's what you are, right? Like who better could do that? And she was like, oh my God, that's exactly right. This is like really lighting up a flame inside me. And she realized that that was totally her calling because she had been there, she had been burnt out, she's climbed up the corporate ladder and she's still left unhappy and unhealthy. And then I even told her, once you do one on one coaching and get used to that, move into group coaching and do corporate wellness. And do you know these corporations have huge budgets when it comes to wellness? I mean some of them, 20, $100,000 a year budgets. Big corporations are spending on just their employees well being. So if you can create a program and pitch it to these corporations, they have money that they're waiting to spend and if they're not spending it on this, they're going to be like, oh, let's go go karting. Like literally that's what a lot of corporate wellness do. They spend it on go karting and random things. I've seen it happen. So you can create something like that. I do recommend starting one on one. I always recommend starting one. Want to jump to the group coaching, the online coaching? If you don't know how to coach someone one on one, you are not going to be able to hold the space for doing it for a group. Okay. Because holding it for a group, you have to really know how to manage people and how to see where people's problem areas are. Like you should know that issue like the back of your hand to make it into a group thing. Because everyone in group has different needs. Whereas when you're working one on one, it's such a great learning experience. You learn so much about what kind of support people need, what works for them, what kind of handouts they liked, they didn't like. Work with literally as many people as you can one on one. Do it for at least a year before you even consider group coaching. I do believe the next step to from one on one is group coaching because it's scalable. I can talk a little bit more about that later on. But it should always start with the one on one coaching because that's really like the bread and butter of health coaching. It's working one on one and making someone healthier. You don't have to Stay there. I don't do any one on one coaching anymore because for me I'd rather build something that's, that's scalable. I'd rather do one podcast episode and have 20,000 of you guys hear it. I mean, obviously it took time for me to build it like this, but I always knew, even though I did one on one health coaching for four years, I always knew that I wanted to do something that was larger scale. But for some people, they love the one on one. They love being able to connect with people and work with people. It's a very kapha, very server archetype thing. Whereas I'm more of the priestess archetype vata dosha in my mind. So I'm more into the creative. Whereas I spend a lot of my day editing videos and you know, doing customer service and like all of these other things that come with a larger scale group program. But I find it more scalable. So I can talk more about that even in another podcast or even like I'm even thinking about doing like a mastermind for people who are health coaches already for taking their business a step further. Because I've just seen with so many like little things you can do, you can really scale your business and make a bigger impact to more people. But again, that's not everyone's path. Some people like doing the one on one and I do recommend that's where you should start. So niching is everything be as specific as possible. So literally don't be afraid of how specific you can get. So also another girl who I referred to iin I was speaking with her and she had sibo. So sibo is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. So she had to follow a low fodmap diet, which is like, like specific fibers that are in certain foods and omitting those. So you can't eat like avocados and so many things. But she also made it vegan, like 100% vegan and plant based. And I always thought in my understanding, from what doctors and naturopaths have told me is the low fodmap diet is basically you're eating meats and like specific greens because you can't eat greens, you can't eat beans. But she said that she's figured out a way to make it vegan and low fodmap. I was like, girl, that's your niche right there. She was like, oh well, like, don't you think that's too specific? I was like, no, that is perfect. Because if I was just told by A doctor I need to follow low fodmap diet. I found out I had sibo, I had XYZ issue, but I want to still be plant based. I'm going to go to the person who is an expert in that. I'm not going to go to the person who says, I can solve all your problems, whatever it is, because who knows if she'll know? Maybe she'll know, but chances are if she's an expert in everything, she doesn't know about this specific issue. If I see there's a health coach that literally does vegan low fodmap foods and that's what I'm looking for, I'm going to hire that person. That's the person I'm going to be all about. So that's why having a niche doesn't close you up. It actually broadens your audience. I literally want you guys to take that home so much. Having a niche does not close you up, but rather it broadens your audience because the more specific you get, the more you're going to find people who have those exact issues and want to hire you. By working with everyone, you're actually going to end up working with no one. If I have Candida, I want the Candida specialist. I want the person who knows everything about Candida, who has testimonials on their website about all the Candida issues they've solved. If I want to heal my thyroid, I'm going to go to the thyroid whisperer. I'm going to go to the person who knows all about the thyroid. She had a thyroid issue herself and now she's going to heal it. If I have autoimmune, I want to go to the autoimmune person. If I have an eating disorder, I want to go with someone who knows everything about eating disorders. Whatever it is, the more niche you get and I believe choose something that you've dealt with yourself or a demographic you've dealt with. If I'm a burnt out corporate woman, I'm not going to want to go see some like, you know, hippie girl who hangs out at the beach all day because I'm not going to relate to her. But if I'm trying to get more into herbs, I'm going to be like, yeah, that hippie girl on the beach sounds awesome. She probably knows everything about herbs. But if I am like a lawyer, I'm going to be like, no, that's a little bit too off for me. Right? Doesn't make one better or worse. It's just different niches different people connect to different Personas. Probably if you're listening to this in some way, you connect with me. So you're not going to listen to someone that you don't connect with in some sort of way. Because that's just the way that humans work. We listen to people that we relate to and that we admire. Those are the two things. So if they don't admire you or they don't connect with you, they're not going to listen to you. Which is why you'll listen to an esteemed doctor even if you don't connect with him because you are looking up to him. But if there's someone that you have look down on, obviously you're not gonna listen. And if they have nothing to do with you, you're not gonna listen. So find that niche. Be as specific as possible. Look at the things you've dealt with. If you're a new mom, pick new moms. If you were pregnant and you lost weight in a really easy and fun loving way, do that. If you've had body image issues and you have learned how to create self value, choose that. And I also wanna add that health coaching does not only have to be about like nutritional health at all. The first thing they teach you at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition is that most important thing is that your primary foods are balanced. So your primary foods are the things that feed you in a non food way. And these are actually more important than foods. Foods that we eat are actually called secondary foods in iin. So our primary foods are our relationships, our home, our career, our love life, our friends are all of these things around us. These actually affect us even more than food. And that's what Dr. Suhas talked about in episode 51. Change your schedule, change your life. That even Ayurveda says foods only account to one fifth of your overall health. But the rest of it is the other senses that you have. How do you feel, how do you relate to people, how comfortable are you? These things are so important. So that's what I love about Institute for Integrative Nutrition is it's not just focused on oh, what are the macronutrients in this and that. I mean, I mean you can go into that. I ended up studying sports nutrition after, so I went very, very in depth into that. But it's for overall well being, which surpasses food. So you can do iin and do something that's not exactly health coaching, it's more of a life coaching thing and tying in that mind body connection. So I was just on Melissa Ambrosini's podcast. She's amazing. And she wrote a book called Mastering youg Mean Girl, which is all about, like, healing that, you know, mean girl we all have inside of ourselves. That's like calling us fat and ugly. And so she wrote first about valuing yourself, and then she wrote a book called Open Wide, which is all about sexual healing. And she did iin. So again, you don't have to tie yourself and limit yourself to those things. Like, I talk about spirituality all the time. My next book is going to be a spiritual book. But I had not have even gone on that path. I would not have the confidence that I had to really, like, pursue it if I hadn't done IIN to begin with. So that's why I really recommend having a certificate of some sort. Because in this world, there's a lot that you can know, but if you don't have something to show for it, people aren't going to know. And I know you don't need to do anything. I mean, there's so many people who know things and they don't have a certificate, but they're super knowledgeable. But the way that this world works is we don't know who to trust, especially with the Internet. So when someone has a certificate, that instills a level of trust. Because you say, oh, you actually studied this somewhere, even if that random person in the jungle might know everything. But we don't know unless we've seen verification, right? That's why whenever we buy something on Amazon, we look at the reviews, right? So we need that external verification for people to trust us. So with IIN and any health coaching program, that's what it's giving you. It's giving you this larger database to tap into, not only for support, but also for accreditation. Accreditation, I can't even pronounce it, but you become a certified holistic health coach from Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the world's largest nutrition school. And then you can also become on the board of American association of Drugless Practitioners, which is pretty amazing. That's the National Board for People who Heal without the Use of Drugs. And then. And you can actually also use the credits there to get your master's at certain universities like Maryland University of Integrative Health and one of the suny's, and I think a Cal State. If you ask them, they'll know the exact ones. But you can actually use your credits from IIN to then go get your master's, which is pretty rad too. So back to how to make it as a health coach. So think big. This is super important. So a lot of people, we get stuck in the small. I think you should start there. But also think big, think long term. Do you want to continue working one on one? What are your long term visions? I think corporate wellness is an amazing place to get into because as I mentioned they have the budgets and they're waiting for people to create programs. And with corporate wellness it's like you are helping an entire organization. Think about how many employees, thousands of employees work for these companies. And honestly like, like these corporations sometimes are like modern day slavery. Like they overwork people, especially in finance and things like that. They overwork people, they don't let them leave their office. There was a 23 year old boy who died in New York last summer who worked for a financial advisor bank or something and he died because he was at the office for three days straight and he was found dead in his shower from exhaustion. So corporate wellness is so needed and people are like, oh, I don't wanna do that. That's like selling out. I'm like no, the working. There are human beings, they deserve health, they deserve wellness and they're stuck to their desks. It's truly modern day slavery when I think about it. When I think about when I worked at an ad agency, I felt like a slave. Like I had to check in and out and I couldn't go for a lunch break, I couldn't walk outside. If I was taking too long for something, I was yelled at. I couldn't even spend too much time in the bathroom. I was constantly, how much output did you do? How much this, how much that. It literally felt like I lost all freedom. Like I'm just scarred from that one experience. And I can only imagine people who spend their whole entire lives in this corporate slave ship. So that's why corporate wellness is needed. Because we need to change these corporations from the inside out. We need to be the ones in there, especially you guys who are in there right now. You guys are the freaking crusaders who are gonna do this. We need to change corporations from the inside out. We need to go in there and say, hey, your employees need to be able to stretch, they need to be able to sit outside, they need to be able to have a lunch break, they need to be able to check out and go home. They need to have yoga, they need to have meditation, they need these things because not only is that they're freaking human, right? But it's also going to help Your corporation. Okay, homie, Your corporation is going to be more monetarily successful if these people can think straight. And they're not going to be able to think straight if they haven't slept in three days. Can I get an amen? I don't even know where this passion is coming from, but I'm really passionate about this. You guys should really go into corporate wellness because it's not fair how people are being treated. And most people work for a corporation. Most people in America are working for a mega company. And I mean, even in other countries in India, these call centers, don't even get me started about how they're treated there. They're literally treated like slaves. They are not allowed to do anything. And with these call centers, they're working throughout the whole night. They're all on night shifts because they're doing customer service in the U.S. so most of them are young. They're, like, between 18 to 25. They're forced to talk American accent and they're really mistreated. So corporate wellness is needed everywhere in the world. Wherever you are, there are people working in companies whose rights are not given, and we need to fix them from the inside out. And legally, in most countries, especially in the us These companies have to spend money on healing these people. They have to. It's part of the contract. So instead of going on a lucky strike and getting everyone a beer, these companies can spend money on a mindfulness program or a wellness program that you created. Right. How dope is that? So another cool thing is education. Education is the most important thing. I mean, if it wasn't for education, no one would be anywhere. We wouldn't have schools. We wouldn't have iin. It's all education. This podcast is education. It's like Saraswati Vibes. It's all of the knowledge and passing down lineage, and that's really what education is. So with education going to schools, schools are a really important one, whether it's. Whether it's an elementary school. I mean, most public schools don't have a budget for it, but you could go in there and see. Maybe they'll let you. Private schools might. Colleges, however, probably will, especially private college. So going to a college and saying, like, hey, what if we created this wellness initiative, et cetera, do you guys have, you know, don't even ask them, do you have space for it? Because they're going to say no. Show them how valuable it is. So it's impossible for them to say no. Because if you ask them, hey, do you have A budget for this new program. They're gonna be. No, no, no. Because unfortunately, a lot of people in education are very, very old paradigm and they're not willing to move with the times. And they're stuck in the 18th century reading little textbooks and on chalkboards. Chalkboards can be fun sometimes, but you have to show them that this is important and that students are gonna study, retain more, and be more involved students in the community environment if they have wellness. So, I mean, I remember when I was in college, there was a class called stress management that I took. It actually was the most stressful class. I hated it. But something like that with a good teacher would have been awesome. So you can be that good teacher and I'll take the class. So. Okay, so corporate wellness education. Hospitals. A lot of doctors are hiring. My friend Liana, she was on this podcast, one of the earlier episodes about how she healed cancer with her food. And she works at a doctor's office few days a week, and the doctor has her see all of the patients because a doctor can tell you, oh, this is what's wrong with you. They can prescribe you medication, they can do these things, but they're not gonna sit and hold your hand and tell you what to eat and go through it with you and ask you how you're feeling and how your life is. A doctor doesn't have time to do that, unfortunately, as much as many of them would love to, it's literally the pressures of, of hospitals and these doctors are forced to just see so many people in such a short, short amount of time. It actually really hurts the doctor's well being. I've worked with so many doctors who are so burnt out, it's so sad. So working with a doctor, a lot of doctors are so willing to do it. And now some health insurances are beginning to include health coaching as part of the insurance. So I'm not sure which insurance is. You're gonna have to look into your state, all of that, but even a lot of people are willing to pay out of pocket for a health coach. Now I know that there' like concierge health insurance companies that they have functional medicine doctors and you have like a monthly health coach. And then a lot of doctors are just willing to have that on the side to give their clients a more personalized experience. So communicate with your doctor. Find maybe a doctor who's in line with you, a naturopathic doctor, osteopathic doctor, a chiropractic doctor, acupuncturist, something like that, who would be Interested in maybe working with a health coach because it complements both of your business. You refer them for whatever practice they do, they refer you for health coaching. So it's a really beautiful partnership. So the next thing I want to talk about is the importance to have packages. So people hate paying for things by the hour. Like, literally, it's like you're thinking about the time, right? You're like, oh, my God, I'm paying $200 an hour for this. And five minutes just passed. You're thinking about the time. We all do it, right? You're getting a massage and she's massaging you and she goes to get more oil in the other room. You're like, I'm paying for this. I just lost three minutes. It's like $10. So people don't like paying for the hour. This is just like a thing that I've observed in life. But they love paying for results. By love, I mean they're willing to do it. Like, if I'm like, okay, I will make sure that your digestion is balanced. We will do everything to balance your digestion. And these are the rates. You're going to be like, okay, well, money comes and goes, but my digestion is not. I need to fix this. So I'm going to spend on that. If I'm like, we are going to create a package for you to lose weight for your wedding. You're going to be like, yeah, like, that's what I need. Versus if I'm like, oh, I can help you lose weight. My rates are XYZ an hour. Do you see how just that little, like, language shift changes it so much? People want to pay for results, not for time. So you need to incentivize them to sign up for your package. Three month package. Six month package, whatever it is, by labeling it what the result you will give them is. And by the way, you will have to follow through with that. If they're not happy, you're going to have an issue. Never, ever, ever leave a customer unhappy. But you can do it, right? If you believe in yourself, you know you can do it. So whether it's having them have clear skin or loving their body more or getting more grounded or whatever it is that you want to help people do. Call it that the six Month Get More Grounded package. Three Month Love youe Body package, Four Month Ayurveda Experience, whatever it is, don't charge by time. Create that package. I'm really feeling like I need to, like, make a mastermind about this because I have literally so much to say. I could just talk about that for hours, but I want to keep moving. So the other thing is I don't recommend doing one off consultations and I've done them for a long time and let me tell you why. So when you do a one off consultation, first of all that person's ever worked with you, so it's their first time working with you and they're paying for it. So again it's that you're paying for time thing. Second of all, it actually doesn't really yield results because people need to be checked up on, people need to be held accountable. I mean, the reason that people are unhealthy in the first place is not because, oh, I had no idea ice cream was bad for me. No one let me know, huh? No, that's not why. It's because there's something else going on. It's an emotional issue, it's a stress issue, it's whatever else. Not knowing what to cook, not knowing what to eat, it's not a one time fix. So that's why I don't recommend doing one off consultations because you can say as much as you can in that time, but unless they're held accountable, they're checked in on, they know that oh, in two weeks someone's going to talk to me again and I need to actually do this. They you set small goals for yourself each time, that's how they're going to follow through and that's how you're going to get results and they're going to get results. So I definitely recommend setting up program. This is better for you and better for the client. So it works both ways. And I know a lot, a lot of fear comes in. The reason I was doing one on one consultations was my fear 100%. I thought who would sign up for a six month program with me? You know, no one's going to want to spend that kind of money on me. So maybe I could get them to spend $100 one time, but there's no way I'm gonna get them to spend $250 a month for six months. No one even has that kind of money. Right, that's what I was thinking. But the thing is people actually end up spending that much on random things. They spend more than that on their groceries, they spend this on that. So my limiting belief that no one would ever spend for it is actually what kept the money coming to me. So again, this is the whole financial abundance piece which I talked about in I think episode 46, 6. About how your relationship with money is going to determine how much money comes to you. So my belief that no one's going to pay me twelve hundred dollars off the bat before getting the results. I need to work each time, I need to prove to them each time that I can get their money and if they love it, they'll come back. The thing is, 90% of them aren't going to come back because they have their own money issues. Right? You're going to be like, oh, that consultation was amazing, but I don't want to shell out another $200 so I'll just work on it on my own versus if they were just like at the beginning, like, you know what, I'm going all in. They bought the package, they're going to continue because they put their money and they've invested and they're going to take it more seriously. So they are going to take what you're telling them more seriously. And you're also going to have financial security. Good luck trying to make it as a health coach who just does it by the hour. You're going to have to keep finding new people every single day, which is very, very exhausting. And unless you have a huge following, it's very hard to do. Whereas if you just find 10, 20 clients who are working with you for six months, then you don't have to worry about anymore. You can just focus on them for those six months and instead of hustling, trying to find new people, trying to do more health history consultations, you can just do it all in one month. Find your 10 or 20 clients and you're working with these clients every two weeks. Find those clients and then, then work on them for the next six months. Work on your blog posts, work on your branding, work on your own education. You have to always be educating yourself. You have to know everything that's going on too. You can't forget because the health industry world is changing so fast and I always recommend go all in for your clients. Like I'm always sending them emails, I see an article, it released them, I send that over to them. I'm always have them when I was working with them at the top of mind, if I saw something that would help them, I would send it to them. But if I was constantly trying to find more clients or if I was working with people one time, I wouldn't do because I would first of all not really know what their real issues are. And when I was doing those one time consultations, the whole time I was talking because I felt like, oh shit, they spent 200, $300 to talk to me. I need to give them as much value as possible. So I literally would spend the whole hour talking like a mad woman. This, this, this, and do this and do this. Because I felt like I needed to give them as much value as possible. But actually they were just like, okay, I'm taking notes, I'm taking notes. Thanks so much. Check in with them. No, nothing changed. Why? Because I was just a fucking YouTube video right there to them saying all these things and they weren't following through. What would have been way more helpful is if I had listened to them, saw what was going on with them, really, really listened. But if you're working with them one time and they talked the whole time, it's that fear of, oh, well, they're going to be mad that they paid me when all I did was sit and listen to them. That's why you need to have a three or six month program. I recommend six month program and that's how IIN teaches you to do it every two weeks. Because that way you have time to listen, they have time to implement the practices going on and you can set small goals every. Every two weeks. Oh, this week let's work on changing your breakfast. Next week let's work on including more vegetables. Now let's work on sleeping, let's work on this, let's work on that. By the end of the sixth month, they're going to be a changed person. Whereas you could tell them all of that in one hour. The perceived value is zip and they're not going to listen to it. So now the next thing I want to tell you to do is your first consultation should be free. You should do a free health history consultation. And when I first heard that, I was like, no, I'm not doing that. And the reason why is because I felt like I had to get paid for my time. And I'm not gonna sit for free and listen to someone and they had them not hire me after I was like, that's not gonna get me anywhere. Again, my own blocks, my own limiting beliefs. But people don't know what you know unless you tell them. And this was one of my major lessons in my episod 50 or 49, about the 27 lessons in my 27 years. People don't know what you know unless you tell them. So you need to have that free health history consultation so they can see what is your vibe, what is it like to work with you. Most people have never had a health Coach before, what is this experience even like they need to have that? No one's going to shell out twelve hundred dollars when they've never met you, they've never talked to you, they've never worked with you. They don't. It's too much of a risk. No one's going to do it, no matter how much the problem is not, oh, I need to find wealthier clients. No one's going to trust you if you haven't done that. So you need to do the first health history free. And in that health history, ION teaches you. Exactly. They give you a form, they give you everything that you need, but you listen. You actively listen and you ask high mileage questions. You ask them the right questions so they can realize, oh, these are my issues and these are things I have to work on. And you can tell them these are your issues, and that's not going to hit home. But when someone realizes something for themselves, it's so much more powerful than you telling them. I can tell you all the time, you know, it's really bad that you're eating late at night. It's bad. You didn't know. It's bad for you. You eat late at night, don't eat late at night. But if I was talking to you and I realized, oh, I can't lose weight, I can't lose weight, I don't know what it is. I'm eating late at night and then realizing, yeah, maybe it's because I'm eating late at night. I really need to change this, but I need support and I'm just used to it and I can't do this on my own. I mean, I've been trying my whole life, and at this point, I need help. That that is how you're going to get a client and that's how they're going to get help, you know, so we need to be allowing them to come to what they need. The health history. Don't even expect them to know. Most people going into a health history, they don't even know what they want to talk about. They just kind of know, like, I don't know, I just feel off, I feel low in energy, I want to lose some weight or my skin. They're kind of things. But when you sit and talk to them and you ask them the questions, you go through the form that IIN gives you, then it hits home of, oh, wow, I actually really want to work with someone for this. And again, they teach you in a health history, not every client is for you. You're going to do health histories, and you're going to feel the vibes that it's off, that they're not the right client for you. And don't work with someone who isn't your ideal client, because then you're taking away space from someone who is. And again, my old self, oh, you're a marathon runner, you're this, you're that, I'll take it on. That was just preventing me from working with the actual people with the eating disorders. And I really didn't end up getting to do tried, and I made that my niche and I wrote about it, but I never really created the space and I never really went for it. So that's why you need to really be choosy about who you work with, too, and pick your ideal client. And if that person's not your ideal client, don't work with them because they're someone else's ideal client and you're not doing them a favor and you're not doing yourself a favor. And I know you're thinking, well, then where am I going to find this ideal client? It takes time. It takes putting yourself out there. Which leads to my next thing. Create a lot of free content. So I used to have so many blocks around giving away my best stuff, which was another one of my 27 lessons in the 27 years that I felt like, oh, well, if I know this, I need. That's reserved for the people who are paying for it, right? But I've learned that's the only way to grow. If I wasn't here literally sharing everything that I've learned from health coaching, there would be no trust in me. But now when I'm really thinking, I need to make this mastermind, at least, you know, a glimpse of, oh, wow, she has experienced this. She knows what I'm talking about. If I was, like, going to make a mastermind for health coaches and you had no idea what I knew, and I didn't just provide you all of this value, you wouldn't sign up for it, right? So this is why it's so important to share free content, write blog posts, build your Instagram follower following, make a podcast, do any of those things. You need to build trust with your readers, and that takes time. There are people who will be following you for years. There are people who have for sure been following me for at least five years who've never purchased anything from me. They've probably never even bought my book, but they're still following me every single day. That's actually the majority of people who are in your following. But the more content you put out there, the more likely you are to make those people actually become your clients. Which is why it's so important to keep showing up. Don't expect, oh, I wrote this awesome blog post and no one responded to it. You're gonna have to keep pumping out those blog posts for months and months and months, honey, until people start paying attention. And it's not instant, it's not overnight. And it's better to have a lot of weekly content than one awesome blog post that's never seen again. So you need to keep creating free content. That's what's going to turn. You know, most people who they meet you, you tell them they're a health coach, they're going to ask for your website, they're going to want to read about you, they're going to learn about you, they're going to want to see what content you've put out there. If you don't have that, you don't have a website, you don't have blog posts, you don't have any free gifts, nothing thing. They're not going to trust you. And trust is the name of the game. Especially in the Internet world where we don't know who's out there. Anyone can be saying, I'm the best health coach ever. I've healed people of cancer, I've done this, I've done that. You don't know that unless you've built trust. Which leads me into the power of testimonials. You need to have testimonials on your website because again, you can talk about how great you are, but people want to see other people talking about how great you are. Because that's how you build trust. Trust. And in the Internet world, trust is the number one most important asset that you can have. So we talked about a lot of things. I actually have like 10 more things, but it's almost been an hour now. So most of all, be confident. You need to believe in yourself. Because if you don't believe in yourself and you don't truly believe that you are here to help people, no one's going to believe you. That's what makes one thrive as a health coach. Another person. Not. It just has to do with how much you believe in you. You. Because if you believe in yourself, you know you have what it takes to help people get healthy. You know you have what it takes to help the burnt out woman, to help the girl with the eating disorder, to help the guy who wants to run the marathon you know you can do it, then nothing's going to stop you. And people are going to pick up on that energy and trust you and say, hey, I like your vibes here and I'm going to sign up for it. Whereas if you're second guessing yourself, you don't seem confident. Your vibes are just coming off as insecure, secure. People are not going to trust you. Why would someone rather pay $500 for a consultation than $20? Because that person who's charging $500 is probably charging that for a reason. They've probably built some sort of credibility or trust. Again, you can make your rate $500 and no one will sign up if you haven't built that. I'm not saying make yourself have crazy rates, but I'm saying with experience, with trust, trust comes building your rates. You know, I would never do a consultation for $20 now, but I'm the exact same person that I was. I know more and I've been around the block, the health coaching block more. So that's going to make me change it. And now I get people I have on my website, I no longer take personal consultations, no longer do one on one, please. And every day I get 10 emails from people. Can you please do a one on one consultation with me? Why? Because I've given out a lot of free content, I've put out a book, I've put out all of this stuff, free gifts, quizzes, whatever, you name it. Tons of E courses that they're like, wow, she must really know what she's talking about. And again, I'm niche. It's not for everyone. It's like modern Ayurveda, like alkaline. It's like an alkaline Ayurveda. It's like very, very, very niche. But that's why, because if you're like, oh, I want to learn Ayurveda, but in a modern way, you think Sahara Rose versus if you're like trying to heal yourself from cysts, you're not thinking Sahara Rose, you're thinking of someone else, I don't know who. So that's why. Have the niche, create free content, work the system, do that one on one consultation, do the process. Don't think you can skip to being the author, being the person on top. You need to go through those steps and in those steps you're going to learn, you're going to change, you're going to change your niche, you're going to see what you like to work with, what not. And you might see Health coaching, one on one is your jam. You might see you rather go into corporate. You rather go into online education. They're all different sects. And you know what I've really focused on is online education, because I love it. I love the Internet. I love how it works. But I would not have even known about it. I would not have even started thinking about any of this stuff if I hadn't just taken that first step of signing up for a course. So be confident and know that the world needs you. You offer something that no one else can. No one else has your experiences before. No one else can communicate the same way you can. No one else has your niche. No one else has your Persona. You are so unique, and the world needs you. And if you're feeling a call to be a health coach and you're not listening, think of all of the people who are missing out, all of the people who could have been healed and helped and empowered by your greatness, who are gonna miss out on it because you doubted your own. If I had just said, oh, I can never make it as a health coach, Let me just go back to that ad agency. This is my life, you wouldn't be here listening to this. So it's amazing what the ripple creates, because when one person steps up and just believes in themselves and jumps into the unknown, once that person's made it to the other side, they're, like, calling from the other side of the imagining. Like a river with two big rocks. And I'm, like, calling from the other side. I'm like, guys, come over here. The water's not cold. Just. Just jump. You can do it. Take this vine. I'm, like, throwing it over to you. And you're like, I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm like, no, trust me, I was scared, too. You can go through it. Like, I'm really imagining this, like, Tarzan scene right now. And then you're like, okay, three, two, one. You swing on the vine, you get to their side, you're like, oh, I just did it. Then you're, like, calling over to the people back there like, yo, yo, this shit's cool. Come over here. Okay, well, that's how I perceive health coaching, so. And also be yourself, too. Like, I see so many health coaches, and they're, like, trying to be perfect and, like, really professional, and da, da, da. And. And it's like, most people are not like that. You go home, you go behind closed doors. No one's, like, all, like, perfect, professional Nancy, like, be. You talk like you you don't need a copywriter, you don't need someone to create all your writing for you. You talk like yourself. Because if they're reading copy that's coming from someone else and they speak with you and it's totally different, they're gonna be like, wait, what? What was I expecting? So just be you, be your authentic self because there's no one else who's you. And that itself is in niche. So the more niche you are, the more people you relate to because the more people that can connect with the true you. So I hope you found this episode helpful. I really love talking about business strategy and all of this stuff. It's like really a Capricorn passion of mine. So if you're interested in learning more about iin, I have some special gifts for you. First of all, I am offering a fifteen hundred dollar off discount for their tuition. $1,500 off, which is pretty freaking amazing. And on top of that, you'll get VIP tickets for their live conference. Every year they do a live conference and this year it's in Miami in April. And the guest speaker is Deepak Chopra. Of course, he's everywhere in my life. So you'll be able to go to the conference next year if you sign up for this year. And as a special guest, I will be doing a live webinar all about how to create a thriving health coaching business. So I'll be talking about different strategies you can use to get your first client, how to brand yourself, how to build your online following, all those sorts of things which I've learned along the way. And people don't really talk about and really have been so helpful for me to build my career and make myself more known, known with people. So everyone who signs up with my referral is going to be invited to this exclusive webinar and you'll be invited to join my private Facebook mentorship group where you can join, you can collaborate with people and then I'll be hopping on there, answering different questions and you know, just being there. Just because sometimes when you start this journey you're like totally confused. So it's really great to have an additional support outside of IIN to help guide you on the path and have someone who's done this before. So I have a website on my website, if you just go on iamsaharararose.com, you'll see where it says become a health coach. Click on that and it's a whole page with more information. You can download their curriculum guide, you can download A sample class you can read more about. What does a health coach do? Why should you become a health coach? I have the schools listed where you can get your master's degree. I have so much on this webpage. So you can just go on my website, iamsaharas.com you'll see it says become a health coach. Click there and if you click that link, you'll sign up to get more information. You can talk on the phone with the IIN grads and they are the ones who will answer any questions you have about what are the start dates? Well, with the program, you already know it's gonna be a year long, but can you do a payment plan or whatever question that you might have? They'll be able to totally answer for you. And if you have any questions for me about my experience, I'm so totally open to answering too. And you can send me an email. My email is saharaetfeelfresh.com so go on my website, get some more information about iin. But you know, the world really needs more health coaches. We need more people out there doing this work. And on top of that, it helps you. It gives you passive income, it helps you build a community for yourself, it helps you make your message known, it helps heal your family. And you know so many health professionals from Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Mercola, Dr. Will, Dr. Furman, among others, have all called health coaches the future of medicine, which is really powerful stuff. And they're all guest teachers on the IIN program. So again, if you have any questions or you wanna learn more, hop on my website. And if you sign up, make sure you use the referral code sahararose. And that way you'll be invited to my exclusive webinar, my Facebook group, and you'll able to have access to me with any questions you have. Thank you so much for listening and I'm so excited for you to begin your journey. Namaste, Sam.