Nicole Aucoin (00:02):

Welcome back to the Grow Your Nutrition Business Podcast. At Healthy Steps Nutrition, we believe something as fundamental as nutrition, shouldn’t be complicated. We help gym owners and coaches build successful nutrition programs without reinventing the wheel.

Nicole Aucoin (00:19):

I’m your host, Nicole Aucoin, registered dietitian and founder of Healthy Steps Nutrition, CrossFit HSN, and HSN Mentoring. I’m also the author of the Basics of Nutrition Coaching Course, the CrossFit Preferred Nutrition Course.

Nicole Aucoin (00:34):

I’m going to teach you how to take one step to build a successful nutrition program, where you finally feel confident talking about nutrition to your members and your communities. Today, we have Stephanie and her husband, Turner, on the podcast. They used the HSN platform a few years ago and took a break. After trying to recreate everything, they came back and went through the entire training again, and they were blown away by all of the updates.

Nicole Aucoin (01:04):

Imagine a team working on your business behind the scenes so that you could focus on helping your clients and expanding your reach. That’s exactly what we do at HSN Mentoring. At this point, we have a team of dieticians, senior mentors, and nutrition coaches creating content so that gym owners can focus on working with their clients and not creating all of this from scratch.

Nicole Aucoin (01:30):

Two things really stood out to me during this episode. Number one, the importance of having systems. You need a system and a platform to manage your clients, provide content, and most importantly, provide accountability and support real-time feedback for your nutrition clients.

Nicole Aucoin (01:48):

Stephanie talked about a few things that she had tried, but none of them had all the support, education and features that are built into the HSN app. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars working with app developers to create the HSN app and add a ton of professional video content, nutrition tips, healthy recipes, mindfulness, kitchen tips, like how to cut an avocado without cutting your hand. Everything is all built in there so that gyms can focus on working with our clients and use all of the content we’ve created.

Nicole Aucoin (02:22):

The second thing that really stood out was why we focus on a habit based approach when working with our clients to achieve long-term success. We talk about some of the major updates that we’ve had in the curriculum since launching HSN Mentoring since 2014. Please don’t forget to rate our podcast, leave a review and a comment. Take a screenshot of that review and send it to podcast@athealthystepsnutrition.com and we will send you a starter guide and bundle to help you save time and not reinvent the wheel when it comes to building a nutrition program. Again, write a review, take a screenshot, send it to podcast@healthystepsnutrition.com and we will send something special just for you.

Nicole Aucoin (03:06):

We’ll get started with this episode right after this message.

Nicole Aucoin (03:10):

I have gotten too many emails recently from gym owners panicked because they don’t know what to do. They’re being forced to shut down again and they need a way to keep their clients engaged beyond Zoom. HSN Mentoring has created an ultimate nutrition challenge starter guide, and you can have instant access to this training by clicking the link in the show notes, or go over to growyour nutritionbusiness.com and click the free help tab. You’re going to see ultimate nutrition starter guide there. It is all free help for gym owners. Your communitiesneed you. You have to figure out a way to support your clients virtually, and this is going to be a great way for you to get started. Enjoy this episode.

Nicole Aucoin (03:55):

Welcome to the podcast, Stephanie and Turner. Thank you for joining me today. I am so excited to share your journey, launching nutrition, taking a break, relaunching nutrition, to help expand your reach and help your community.

Stephanie China (04:10):

Thanks for having us.

Turner Moyse (04:10):

Yeah, thank you for having us.

Nicole Aucoin (04:13):

Gosh, so I remember us going back and forth. You were talking with Lindsay for a little bit and you’re like, “Hey, I really need some help. We’re doing nutrition, but I feel like I’ve got all these different places I’m communicating with clients. It’s too tough. It should be easier.” And then she showed you the HSN app and you’re like, “Okay, I’m coming back on board.” I think within minutes you are signed back up.

Nicole Aucoin (04:34):

And the cool thing is, Turner, you’re going through the training this time so now you both get to support each other in the growth of the program.

Turner Moyse (04:40):

Yeah, well, I mean, we got so many of those love letters that were coming through. They worked, we came back.

Stephanie China (04:46):

Yeah, I kept seeing them over and over again. And when I was looking to manage clients, I started looking for different platforms. So I did try the PN, the Precision Nutrition app for a while. And that was good. I just found it wasn’t exactly what we needed, what I was looking for. It was expensive as well. And then I went off that and then I just started looking for platforms.

Stephanie China (05:12):

And so I actually ended up buying a platform. Again, it was still a lot of work. I had to put in a lot of information. I had to get the food choices and it just wasn’t super slick and it was expensive. And then when Lindsay showed me the app, I was like, this is exactly what I need. This is it. This solves all the issues that I’m going through.

Turner Moyse (05:33):

Well, it allows us to concentrate on the other things, so that’s fantastic for us and great for our members.

Nicole Aucoin (05:41):

You definitely need, when you’re trying to build a nutrition program, you need a streamlined platform to manage your clients. And when we talk about what does a platform include, what do you need to look for, I look for a way to communicate with clients easily, all in one place so they’re not texting, Facebook messaging, emailing. I look for a way that I can schedule messages so that I don’t have to in the moment remember to check in on every single client. A way to track biometrics. The coolest thing is the habit tracking. Do you love that part? You can schedule different habits. And then on a check-in day, you can look back. Are they actually doing what they said they were going to do?

Stephanie China (06:16):

Mm-hmm (affirmative). It’s fantastic. And the communication part is the best, because for me, it’s just like you said, I was going with texts, Facebook messaging, and as well, I had everything handwritten. So, I mean, I have scribble all over sheets and Turner’s like, you need to get yourself organized.

Turner Moyse (06:35):

Well only if you’re going to work with more people, then suddenly it’s going to become even more difficult.

Stephanie China (06:39):

And that’s the thing. I had manageable numbers, but now that we’re getting busier, it wouldn’t be-

Turner Moyse (06:45):

It wouldn’t be manageable.

Stephanie China (06:46):

… manageable for very long.

Turner Moyse (06:47):

And the thing is with the app the way it is now, there’s great ability to support and then there’s also great ability for accountability. And that’s really what we’re working with.

Nicole Aucoin (07:00):

Absolutely. As a nutrition coach, you’re in the relationship business, you have to be able to provide support. Another other cool thing that we’ve done and you guys are using it now is all of these customized programs that you can add to your client’s pro profile and then each week there’s new videos that pop up. We’re actually releasing a new one November 1st, a six week accountability challenge for gyms that are being forced to shut down again, because they need to figure out a way to retain their clients.

Nicole Aucoin (07:24):

And I’m sure you guys knowing this, you had to be able to support your clients virtually. And so many clients were just looking for someone to keep them on track, to join virtual classes or not eat junk every single day and you could manage all of that through the app.

Stephanie China (07:39):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Turner Moyse (07:40):

Absolutely.

Stephanie China (07:40):

No, it’s great. Over COVID, we totally shut the gym. We just had our sugar water running or program daily program running. We were doing more videos, but we didn’t really have a nutrition app. But I think it really forced us to go more along the lines of a virtual business.

Turner Moyse (07:58):

100%. I mean, we were shut for four months and then now, like everyone else, you’re in an unknown position. And you can’t run a business thinking you’re going to shut, so you have to have the idea of growth and where it’s going to go and keep going there. But we have to also have it in our mind that there is the possibility that we get shut down. And if that happens, we need to have the ability to still support our clients, to still help them in the way that we want to help them. So that helps us from a business point of view as well. So yeah, it’s been fantastic to have another platform that we’re able to support people on.

Stephanie China (08:35):

Yeah, I think COVID just forced our hands a little bit more and really pushed us in that direction. We might not have gone there as quickly. So I think it’s great. And as well, just opens up. We live in a pretty small community of about 10,000 people, so we’re really limited by our population here and growth. Especially the virtual nutrition we’re really excited about because it just really allows us to open up to a way broader market.

Nicole Aucoin (09:04):

That, and you guys do something really cool. You gear your fitness facility towards an activity that people have to do to get them better at that activity. So I think that’s different than a lot of other CrossFit gyms. People like to ski where you guys are, so you guys frame your marketing towards, “Hey, I want to help you ski better. I want to help you get in better shape and through nutrition and fitness, we can do that.” So now you guys are opening up your business to a virtual realm of athletes that might not have come to your facility for CrossFit to begin with.

Turner Moyse (09:39):

100%.

Stephanie China (09:40):

100%. We found that really early on. I think that we just realized early on that people were coming to us. We were the first CrossFit gym to open a Revelstoke. People didn’t really know much about CrossFit. They thought we started CrossFit, which would have been amazing, but didn’t do it.

Turner Moyse (09:54):

Didn’t explain that one.

Stephanie China (09:59):

Lots of our members have been with us since the day we opened so we’re a really great strong community. They love CrossFit, they’ve come to love CrossFit, but they love to do it for their sport. Often it is like they’re skiers, they’re bikers, they’re ultra runners. A lot of them are doing it to be better at their sport. And so we’ve really catered our business to that to really help them prevent injury, get stronger and be able to do the sport. So as we’re different than I say, a lot of big city gyms, because we’re not promoting-

Turner Moyse (10:35):

It’s not competitive CrossFit.

Stephanie China (10:37):

It’s not competitive. We love the sport, but we’re really helping people get fitter. And we feel like CrossFit’s the best methodology to help them get fitter to do their sport.

Turner Moyse (10:49):

And then what we found, I mean, to be honest, we run a online program for skiers, a six week train to ski e-book. And then with the online nutrition, they really go in nicely. So someone goes, “Oh, I’m interested in doing that six week e-book and then, oh, they offer nutrition and I don’t live near them. So yeah, I can do that as well because I’ve done this online as well.” So it’s both these things are all starting to knock on to each other and work really well for us, so we’re really happy.

Nicole Aucoin (11:21):

I Love that you guys focus on why CrossFit, why nutrition is going to help them do what they want to do. Because at the end of the day, if you can really bridge the gap between how you can help solve their problem and help them accel in whatever they want, they’re going to want to stick around with you longer because that’s what they want at the end of the day. It’s not like, “Oh, CrossFit is hard. It’s this is helping me get to my end goal.” And I think that that’s an amazing marketing strategy which I’m sure you weren’t planning that at the beginning, but that’s awesome.

Nicole Aucoin (11:49):

Now I want to talk about one thing because what’s really exciting to me is you guys are now really building the momentum with your nutrition program with existing members, and it really starts from the two of you. You are having this awesome conversation. You are so stoked that people are going to have this nutrition platform. You’re excited to use it. You’re excited to help your clients and it’s really trickling down to change the tide in your gym.

Turner Moyse (12:12):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Stephanie China (12:14):

mm-hmm (affirmative). Turner and I’ve always been very passionate about nutrition. We both live a healthy lifestyle. We prioritize our food. We don’t drink. We spend all our money on food. Turner’s celiac, so-

Turner Moyse (12:28):

Yeah.

Stephanie China (12:28):

That’s been a big journey as well with him figuring it out and really dialing in his nutrition. I come from a history of eating disorders from really distorted body image and ideas of what nutrition was. I was always an athlete, but not always fueling myself the right way. So when I actually started with Healthy Steps Nutrition, I thought I had good nutrition. And then I realized that I didn’t. I was under eating. I wasn’t eating enough protein. I was skipping meals. I was eating muffins for lunch. I really wasn’t as dialed in as I thought. And since I started with HSN, I’ve been really able to dial my own nutrition and I feel amazing. And so I always tell people that. And especially when people are trying to change body composition build muscle mass, you can’t out train a bad diet. We say that all the time.

Turner Moyse (13:24):

Yeah, absolutely.

Stephanie China (13:24):

But it really is true.

Nicole Aucoin (13:27):

You guys are practicing what you preach. And I think that’s one characteristic of an amazing nutrition coach is you’re able to speak from empathy because you’ve been there. Both of you guys have your own journeys with nutrition, you’re practicing what you preach. You’re eating the recipes that you’re telling. You’re cooking the recipes you’re telling everyone else to eat. So you can relate, you can have that organic conversation in a class about nutrition because you’re doing what you’re asking everyone else to do.

Turner Moyse (13:54):

Yeah. You’re not selling someone a vacuum cleaner. We are passionate and invested in what we’re doing and believing in it. We believe that what we’re doing with both the fitness and then also with the nutrition will help people. And they’re coming to us for that reason of wanting to improve their fitness and general health. And so having these two things work together so well, we’re really just happy to be able to offer that complete program to them.

Nicole Aucoin (14:26):

I love it. And you guys are doing an amazing job. I want to ask you a question. What is one thing that you are doing to increase the presence of nutrition in your gym for existing members? You guys have been around for four years. People have heard you talk about nutrition, but now you’re really getting the conversation to make some moves so that people get started. You mentioned Stephanie, at one point before we started recording, people are having FOMO. They want to do nutrition because everyone else is doing nutrition. What is one thing you are doing to change the tide with that conversation?

Turner Moyse (15:00):

Talking more about it.

Stephanie China (15:01):

Well, we’re talking more about it, but we also decided to relaunch our program with the nutrition challenge. So we’re doing the 20 day nutrition challenge and that’s been great. I don’t know why either of us, we feel like we’re preaching to our members when we talk about nutrition, but we’ve been both more comfortable and confident just saying like, “Hey, this is coming up. We think you should do it. If you’re interested, let us know.” And so just talking more about it. I mean, it’s Turner and I at the gym where the owners were the coaches, so that’s who they see every day. I think that’s just the difference really is.

Turner Moyse (15:34):

Yeah, just talking about it more. It does help having this platform, this app, because it’s different. Some of them have done these challenges before. This is a way of being like, “Well, yeah, you’ve done it before, and how many people slipped off? But this gives you more accountability and helps us help you better, to be honest.”

Turner Moyse (15:55):

And then the nice thing about doing it with challenges that everyone supports each other through that time. So yeah, but definitely I think it’s just talking about it more and being confident talking about it more.

Stephanie China (16:06):

And being confident with the product that we’re offering, working with the dietician, that always makes me feel way more confident-

Turner Moyse (16:11):

Yeah, it does.

Stephanie China (16:11):

… in the meal plans and the recipes. And just knowing that I’m-

Turner Moyse (16:15):

Because everyone’s an expert on Instagram.

Stephanie China (16:16):

Exactly.

Turner Moyse (16:17):

And you’re like, okay, great, fantastic. But it does really help working with a professional.

Nicole Aucoin (16:24):

No, I think the cool thing is with you guys, yes, you’re there to help. You have your own journey, but you don’t have to have all the answers. Hey, if someone asks you a question, you don’t know the answer, not a big deal. Like let me go to our Facebook group, ask it in the member’s Facebook group, and then someone, one of the dieticians on our team is going to answer and give you the confidence like, “Hey, this is the answer. This is the correct way to handle that situation.”

Nicole Aucoin (16:46):

So I think that helps give you confidence because now you know, hey, I’ve got a team behind the curtain helping me implement my nutrition program.

Nicole Aucoin (16:55):

Turner, one of the things that you said, and definitely chime in here, but one of the things you said is, “I talk to people about how many times have you done a challenge and then you’ve regained the weight.”

Turner Moyse (17:05):

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Nicole Aucoin (17:07):

You mentioned that a second ago and getting people like, “Hey, this is different. This is how we can help you this time.” I think that’s a really great strategy when you launch a nutrition challenge. “Hey, how many of you guys have done a challenge before and regained the weight you worked really hard to lose? Because almost every single person that’s done a challenge has, and we’re so excited to offer you individual coaching after this challenge is over to continue to support you on your journey.” And that’s really how you guys are going to leverage this nutrition program. Yes, you already have a good amount of individual clients. You’ll convert those people to ongoing coaching, then you have success stories from that pack of people to carry you into the new year.

Turner Moyse (17:43):

Absolutely.

Stephanie China (17:43):

Mm-hmm (affirmative) No, definitely. I mean that-

Turner Moyse (17:45):

Which is typically a tough time, the new year. Everyone always thinks January’s going to be the month, but if you’d already prepped everything before, then it will be a good time to have people working with us already.

Stephanie China (17:57):

And I think that’s it again. That’s the difference I guess, when I ran the challenges three years ago, is my confidence in the conversion to ongoing coaching. It’s just like this is what you need to do. It’s just my confidence and talking about it with people right from the beginning and not in that last meeting being like, “Oh, if you want to do online, ongoing-“

Turner Moyse (18:20):

By the way.

Stephanie China (18:22):

So I just feel like I have way more confidence in delivering.

Turner Moyse (18:25):

And this belief.

Stephanie China (18:26):

Belief, I guess. Yeah.

Turner Moyse (18:27):

Belief in what you’re giving someone. That’s huge.

Nicole Aucoin (18:31):

No, I think it’s never been more clear what people need to have long-term success and that’s the accountability and support. And when you do those initial biometrics with people, “Oh gosh, you’re starting a challenge in a week.” When you do those initial biometrics for people, you’re going to talk to them about, “Okay, during this challenge, you should expect to see this goal. But your long-term goal is this. Expect to work with us for this many months to reach that long-term goal.” Now at the very initial point, you’ve already laid the groundwork of, hey, this isn’t going to be just a challenge. You have support after this challenge is over. It makes it easy to have that conversation at the end. Right?

Turner Moyse (19:07):

Yeah, yeah.

Stephanie China (19:07):

Definitely.

Nicole Aucoin (19:08):

Awesome. Well, I’m so excited about what you guys are going to do in your community. Where do you see your nutrition program six months from now? What do you see? What’s your vision?

Stephanie China (19:20):

Yeah, I think just growing the online. Growing it in our community, but as well outside of this growing our online presence in nutrition. So getting more clients online. So we just started working with some professional athletes, so some skiers, because that’s really what we have in this community. They’re young and they’ve never really have dived into nutrition or never really have made that correlation between nutrition and performance.

Turner Moyse (19:44):

They might have, but they might just not have had someone to help them.

Stephanie China (19:48):

Or, yeah. I mean, I guess that was it. They didn’t know where to go, where to get help. So we’ve offered that. We’re doing online training, in-person training with them and adding in nutrition for them. So that is exciting, and hopefully that will help to grow that side. We would love to work with more athletes and do nutrition for performance. That’s definitely an area where we’d like to expand, but then also just nutrition in our community.

Turner Moyse (20:18):

Yeah, I mean, in six months time I would like to have the same people that we’ve just started working with. I mean, if we thought 80% or 70% of the people, which is quite a high number of who’s done the challenge, if they convert to ongoing coaching, then that would be really good.

Stephanie China (20:39):

Yeah, I mean when we were talking with Lindsay, we’re like, well, how many clients can we manage each? And yeah, we definitely have numbers that we would to get to, but we’re just really taking it week by week and just trying to get the word out there that the services that we offer. And then when we have more success stories, we’ll be able to hopefully gain some traction there.

Turner Moyse (21:02):

It’s like with coaching a class, you focus on the quality of the class. That’s the building block for the rest of the gym. Each person is important and each class is important. And so each one of our nutrition clients, we just focus on them as an individual and then it will grow from there.

Nicole Aucoin (21:23):

I love that. You build raving fans by truly putting all of your energy in supporting them as a whole person. So it not just, “Okay, Stephanie, you need to eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” It’s, “Hey, Stephanie, what’s going on in your life? How can I support you? If you are stress eating, us not talking about stress and stress management is never going to help you achieve long-term goals.” If your main goal is to get better at skiing, and we’re not talking about sleep and recovery and all the factors that are related to you to get better at skiing, I’m going to slow down your progress and you’re not going to be a raving fan as fast.

Nicole Aucoin (21:58):

But if you look at a holistic approach and you’re able to support your clients in all aspects, they’re going to have an amazing experience. And when someone asks them like, “Hey, how did you just increase your performance so much this year?” They’re going to say, “Oh, Stephanie and Turner helped me with nutrition and fitness.” And personally, those are my favorite clients to work with is the referrals. We don’t do any advertising at NHS on HQ, but all of our clients come from, “Oh, someone told me that we need to work with you.” And it just is so much easier to build a program organically than spend a bunch of money on advertising that maybe you help people maybe don’t, right?

Stephanie China (22:39):

Yeah, no, definitely.

Turner Moyse (22:40):

Absolutely. Yeah.

Nicole Aucoin (22:42):

I love it. So long-term, Turner’s like, hey, I want to have an awesome retention rate with these clients that we have right now, so that we can really make a meaningful impact in their life beyond just one month beyond just a challenge. Which we know we need to work with clients for way longer than 28 days for them to truly make a lifestyle change. And your goal as a nutrition coach is to help them make those lifestyle changes. So that 70-80% retention rate, I love that.

Nicole Aucoin (23:10):

And Stephanie you’re like, hey, we’re going to expand into these skiers and have an awesome program for these athletes, which is a really cool way to diversify your revenue streams outside of your existing members. And I think if COVID taught us anything as a gym owner, it’s like, hey, we need to figure out that all of our revenue as a gym can not come from in-person group classes.

Stephanie China (23:34):

Yeah. We, we got that loud and clear.

Turner Moyse (23:37):

Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Stephanie China (23:38):

We still are just because we are only allowed a certain amount of people and we’re under…

Turner Moyse (23:43):

We’re very lucky in some, we’re able to be open. There’s places that are closing down here.

Stephanie China (23:48):

We’re still open.

Turner Moyse (23:49):

And then we were small at the beginning, so we weren’t overstretched. But yeah, we can’t lie. Cutting our classes from the numbers that they were down to the numbers they are now, it hurts. So yeah, we have to definitely keep this online going.

Stephanie China (24:06):

Yeah, and just thinking outside the box a little bit how we can grow in different ways. And it’s just all coming together. When CrossFit changed, whatever happened this summer, what was going on and we kind of de-affiliated from CrossFit. And then we decided to go back to CrossFit when-

Turner Moyse (24:21):

Once they made the changes.

Stephanie China (24:21):

When Eric Roza came to play and it sounded like they were going to make positive changes. And so we actually changed our name to Mountain Made Fitness Collective. So it was interesting, because it’s all coming together for us with the ski program we’re having, making it a collective and not just CrossFit Revelstoke.

Turner Moyse (24:39):

So it’s this whole thing of health and fitness under the Mountain Made Fitness Collective.

Stephanie China (24:44):

Collective.

Turner Moyse (24:44):

So it’s people recognize, “Oh yeah, it could be nutrition. And Oh, this can be online programming and this can be a ski specific program.” So it’s been circuitous.

Stephanie China (24:54):

Yeah, it’s been all coming together for us.

Nicole Aucoin (24:59):

I love it. And we were forced to do that when all this stuff happened over a summer. I was like, okay, how are we going to respond and what’s the best way for our business to respond?

Nicole Aucoin (25:07):

But I will say, I’m so impressed with what Eric’s doing right now and all the changes with CrossFit. As an affiliate owner, as someone that works with CrossFit, I’m so excited with what the future brings.

Nicole Aucoin (25:21):

One of the things you mentioned, expanding your revenue streams and diversifying a little bit, the cool thing is with nutrition, maybe people don’t feel comfortable coming to your gym, but they would be nutrition only clients. Maybe they start off with nutrition and then they end up switching over to a hybrid membership. We just got a text message from our head coach, right before we started recording this podcast. And she’s like, “Hey, this person wants to switch from nutrition only to nutrition and fitness. Can we get them switched over?” So it’s a cool way to have another entry point for people that don’t feel comfortable coming into the gym yet. And I think now more than ever, some people might be a little bit nervous with COVID. I’m not ready to come to the gym, but I realize I need help and I can’t do this alone.

Turner Moyse (26:04):

Yeah, no, you made a point. I think it was you at some point, you said not on this call, but you said, about the metrics, checking people’s biometrics. And how when you’re doing that over a Zoom call, you, you can’t do that. And that makes someone actually more comfortable as well.

Turner Moyse (26:27):

Coming into the gym can be quite a physical barrier for people. We’re all always really impressed with and respectful of people when they come in, because it’s difficult. But actually this way, it might be slightly easier for people to go, “Oh yeah. Well, I’ll start with that.” And then as they feel supported-

Stephanie China (26:45):

Yeah, definitely can lead to other. Yeah. And fortunately we’ve kept our membership because we’re at capacity right now. We’ve only can allow eight people in per class. And we want to really allow our dedicated members that have stayed with us over COVID and been with us for four years, to be able to get into the classes they want.

Turner Moyse (27:07):

Yeah.

Nicole Aucoin (27:08):

That’s a conversation I was actually just having a couple of weeks ago with a gym owner in California. He’s at the same situation. He’s like, “I literally have to have a wait list and I don’t have any option for these people.” So it’s really cool that you guys can just guide those people to get started with you in a different way. Start building that relationship, help them see some results and then say, when you’re ready or when you guys have an opening, hey, upgrade your membership to add CrossFit now, too.

Turner Moyse (27:34):

Absolutely.

Nicole Aucoin (27:34):

So, it’s an important piece of the puzzle. As a business owner, you have to have money coming in so you can sustain your business and help more people. And we want to be able to help more people, so this is a great way to, again, diversify revenue streams and not have to worry about the government mandated caps that you have to have in classes.

Stephanie China (27:53):

mm-hmm (affirmative). And there’s only so many physical time slots. Everyone wants the 6:00 AM. Everyone wants to come at the same time, so it makes it… We have a pretty small facility, so it makes it really difficult when you’re only running one class.

Nicole Aucoin (28:07):

Agree with that a hundred percent. All right. One more question for you and then anything you guys want to add, I would love for you to add. What would you say to someone who maybe took a break from HSN and is considering coming back? What would you say to them?

Stephanie China (28:22):

I guess when I started with HSN, I thought it was a great program back then. I think it was three years ago. I thought it was really well delivered-

Turner Moyse (28:31):

Lots of content.

Stephanie China (28:31):

… and lots of content. But then going through this training program, the 30 hours of information content-

Turner Moyse (28:38):

Education.

Stephanie China (28:39):

The education, now we both went through it. It was unreal. There’s so much information.

Turner Moyse (28:45):

And packaged. I know it sounds funny, but it allows us to do what we’re good at, especially when we’re working with people that we know and the relationship side. It allows us to do that and then be able to give someone the content that we really believe in.

Stephanie China (29:07):

Yeah, not reinventing the wheel and trying to come up with content every week and trying to come up with social media graphics. And that has been so helpful, all of that information. But the training course was amazing. Turner and I wanted to get it done to get use of the app and so we were doing it in the bath at night. We were taking it out and the listening.

Turner Moyse (29:33):

We’re throwing that one out.

Stephanie China (29:33):

Lessons, we we’re trying to squeeze it in any time of the day that we could because we had to do it together. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great.

Nicole Aucoin (29:45):

Oh, thank you. Well, I’m so excited that you guys now feel confident to help your communities. And at the end of the day, you guys have an important set of people that need to hear the message that you guys are so passionate about changing their lives and taking control of their health and getting better at skiing, or really just being able to prevent chronic disease. All of these things that you guys are so passionate about helping people, and I’m excited that we’re able to give you the platform to deliver your message and help more people.

Turner Moyse (30:15):

Well, thank you.

Stephanie China (30:15):

Yeah. And I think one more thing, I guess I don’t know if the approach was as habit based a couple of years ago, that it’s changed a bit. And I love that approach. We’ve always thought of it as more of a holistic approach. We’ve always said that.

Turner Moyse (30:32):

If you don’t change the habits is going straight back.

Stephanie China (30:35):

And I think sleep is so discounted. People just don’t even think about their sleep or their hydration or-

Turner Moyse (30:41):

“Oh yeah, I sleep really well.”

Turner Moyse (30:44):

“How many hours?”

Turner Moyse (30:44):

“About five hours.”

Stephanie China (30:46):

Six hours. So I think I love the approach that you guys have come back in on and really focusing on that versus the meal plans and saying you have to follow this because we know that you give someone in 30 day meal plan and they follow it. And then in a month from now, when they go off of it, after they’re off of the challenge, they gain the weight back. They haven’t learned the habits and how to properly balance your plate. They’re not really setting themselves up for success after a meal plan. So I love that it’s not as focused on meal plans, but rather the balanced plate which-

Turner Moyse (31:21):

And the thing is our apps, the app allows us to support people through those habit changes because those don’t come overnight. And that’s huge, it’s really big.

Nicole Aucoin (31:33):

Well, we’re super excited because we’re able to… I don’t know if you guys got the announcement we actually made today. Starting November 1st, you’ll be able to group habits and add one habit to an entire group at the same time so you don’t have to individually go. And especially if you’re running a big challenge, it’s going to save you so much time. So starting November 1st-

Stephanie China (31:51):

Oh, perfect.

Nicole Aucoin (31:51):

… that option, perfect timing for you guys, that option will be available. And what you were saying with shifting away from one specific thing and really looking at a holistic approach. Ashley, our director of nutrition education has really developed the content to support all aspects of wellness, looking at the whole person, instead of just one thing. And we made that pie chart of, are you looking at all these things? Sleep is definitely one of them. Stress management, especially right now in the season that we’re in is so important.

Nicole Aucoin (32:22):

But one of the biggest things that I hadn’t focused on enough was support system. And I think that that should be the number one thing talked about when you’re working with a client. Because as a coach, you can not be the only positive support for your client, or they’re not going to be successful longterm. They need an accountability partner. They need a spouse, significant other, someone else that’s going to help support them because you’re not with them 24/7. They need that support system.

Nicole Aucoin (32:49):

So you’re a thousand percent right. We have to look at a holistic approach. Habit based coaching is the way to go focusing on one thing at a time. We know from the research from all these clients that we’ve trained, this is the way to sustain long-term results with clients, so I couldn’t agree more. Awesome guys.

Stephanie China (33:08):

Yeah, definitely the accountability. That’s why Turner and I are able to do what we do because we have each other, we support each other.

Turner Moyse (33:15):

We’re very fortunate that way.

Stephanie China (33:15):

We have the same ideas with food. It’s easy. I don’t have to ever convince him to eat a certain way. We’re just both on the same page and that makes it so much easier for both of us.

Nicole Aucoin (33:30):

Absolutely.

Stephanie China (33:30):

So that’s a huge part of it, having someone that’s supporting you through the journey. Because if you don’t-

Turner Moyse (33:38):

[crosstalk 00:33:38].

Stephanie China (33:39):

Yeah, then Nutrition Coach can be there. That’s so on point what you’re saying.

Nicole Aucoin (33:42):

I love it. Well you guys have all the knowledge, all the tools and the cool thing is, is the knowledge, the education piece doesn’t stop after the training. You guys continue to have additional resources and tools, monthly mentoring calls so that we can continue to help grow your program.

Nicole Aucoin (33:57):

I am personally so excited to watch you guys expand your reach and help more people and just have such an amazing healthy footprint in your city and town and area. So thank you for trusting us to help you on your journey, and I’m excited to watch you grow.

Turner Moyse (34:14):

Thanks, we’re very excited to be working with you.

Stephanie China (34:17):

Yeah, definitely.

Nicole Aucoin (34:20):

I am so excited for Stephanie and Turner. They’re so passionate about fitness and nutrition and helping their community. I am excited to watch their programs grow.

Nicole Aucoin (34:28):

After training thousands of coaches and owners, it is really obvious that you need two things to build a successful nutrition program. The first thing is education. You need a simplified way to teach nutrition coaching, and you need the application to gain the confidence when you’re working with clients. Just because I have my master’s in nutrition doesn’t mean that I was a great nutrition coach when I first started. I really needed practice. I needed it in a simplified way. My clients don’t care about metabolism. They care about how I’m going to get them from point A to point B in the easiest way possible.

Nicole Aucoin (35:06):

The second thing that you need to think about is systems. Systems ensure a consistent experience and in a gym setting, it’s more important than ever. And here’s why. Number one, you really need a streamlined way to communicate with your clients. You do not want clients Facebook messaging you, texting you, emailing you. You need one way to communicate with your clients. This was really the reason why we invested in the HSN app to begin with. I wanted a streamlined way to communicate with my clients.

Nicole Aucoin (35:37):

When we’re talking about communication, another pro tip is you want to make sure that you are setting expectations. At HSN, we recommend a 24 hour turnaround. So the client messages you, you get back to them within 12 to 24 hours. You do not want to set the expectation that if a client messages you, that you respond back immediately, that’s not setting you or them up for success.

Nicole Aucoin (36:03):

The second thing that systems do is they ensure a professional experience. I remember frantically writing things down for clients when I first started, but now we have simplified the process. We identify one thing that we work on for the first week. I add that habit within the app. And then I check in with them to ensure they actually did what they said they were going to do.

Nicole Aucoin (36:27):

When we first launched the app in 2017, I was actually shooting all of the videos from my iPhone. Now we have a camera crew that comes in a few times a year. We shoot 50 to 75 videos in a span of two to three days. Man, is it an adventure. And those videos are then packaged into programs that coaches can add to a client’s profile. It is the professional experience that I was hoping for.

Nicole Aucoin (36:53):

Third thing that you want to think about with systems is they allow you to manage more clients in less time. I have personally run nutrition challenges by myself with over a hundred people no problem. It’s because of the HSN app.

Nicole Aucoin (37:07):

And I’m so excited to announce that we finally added a feature to the app where you can add the same habit to an entire group with one click. It is going to be a game changer for gyms who are running nutrition challenges, because it is going to save so much time.

Nicole Aucoin (37:23):

When we’re thinking about creating your systems for a nutrition coaching platform, you want to make sure that you can track your clients and give them the accountability and support they need. Habit tracking is a must. When we think about longterm success with clients, your role as a nutrition coach is to provide accountability and support. They might think they’re coming to you for a meal plan, but they’re really coming to you to keep them accountable to what they commit to. We look at the longterm success rate of clients. It’s the ones that have that accountability and support that are the most successful. And you want to make it easy to be able to track clients and give them real time feedback. The HSN app allows you to do that.

Nicole Aucoin (38:02):

If you are not an HSN client, many of these things can be pieced together through MailChimp automations, Acuity for scheduling, Google Sheets for communication, but you still want to have professional content that you’re delivering, so that the value is well beyond just an in-person visit or a monthly follow-up visit. This is how you’re able to retain clients for the long haul.

Nicole Aucoin (38:26):

That’s all we’ve got for this episode of the Grow Your Nutrition Business podcast. One thing that would have really help me and other potential new listeners is for you to rate this show, leave a comment in the reviews in iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify, or wherever you are turning in to listen.

Nicole Aucoin (38:48):

As a special bonus for you, if you rate this episode and review it with a comment on the podcast, take a screenshot, send it over to podcasts@healthystepsnutrition.com and I will send you a bonus bundle, including a checklist to help you level up your nutrition program. This will provide you a roadmap to save you time and not reinvent the wheel.