If you want your own signature program but think you need an established business, a certain number of followers, or a big email list before that program will be a success, then this episode is for you. Today, we’re going to hear from my client, Rachel Martin, who went from zero to having a successful beta-launch of her signature program in under 3 months. And when I say zero, I mean zero. Zero list, zero following, zero business. We’ll hear how Rachel was able to start her business and build her program, even with another job and 3 children taking up her time, AND how she was able to attract 20 new clients into her program, even with a tiny audience. Let’s listen in.
“As soon as you get over the fear, the doubt, the uncertainty… on the other side of that as soon as you do it, you do have that confidence, you do it with clarity. It’s just on the other side of you taking that leap.” – Shawn Mynar
“That’s why I love having a signature program so much is because it is bigger than you and you are building a community for other people to have support from other people.” – Shawn Mynar
“There is nothing wrong with asking for help, especially in the beginning.” – Rachel Martin
“One of my core values is affordable functional medicine, having a group program is a way to do that. In this way, I can still share my gifts with those who need help.” – Rachel Martin
Rachel Martin’s website: https://www.rootandritualfxmed.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/rootandritualfxmed
Signature Program Bundle: shawnmynar.com/bundle
FULL TRANSCRIPTS BELOW: (please note, transcripts are auto-generated so expect errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar)
Shawn Mynar 0:00
Hey, Rachel, thank you so much for coming on unstuck entrepreneur today.
Unknown Speaker 0:07
Yes, thank you for having me, Sean, I’m so excited.
Shawn Mynar 0:10
This is gonna be super fun. I know we have so much to talk about. And there’s just so much within your story that I think would apply to a lot of people listening today. And I know you were a listener prior to starting your business. And so it’s all going to come full circle. But first, tell everyone who you are and what you do.
Rachel Martin 0:31
So my name is Rachel Martin, and I’m a functional medicine nurse practitioner. I have Rutan ritual functional medicine, and I help busy professional people, my niche is mostly with caregivers, and service providers, you know, I take care of those who take care of others. And I help them you know, unwind their gut and hormone issues so that they can have energy wake up feeling good, and basically show up in a way that they feel proud of, so they can serve others.
Shawn Mynar 1:05
Hmm, so good. Now, to give everyone some perspective, what was the first like, when did you officially start your business?
Rachel Martin 1:14
Oh, gosh, I think it was the end of March, maybe like March, march 20. Something of this year?
Shawn Mynar 1:21
Yeah. So I know, March, and we’re now at the beginning of June. So a couple months ago, just to give everyone some perspective, it’s crazy to say crazy to say, now tell everyone, what were you doing before this and what kind of led up to you wanting your own business?
Rachel Martin 1:36
So I started my journey. I’m a six years in Family Nurse Practitioner, okay. So about maybe five years ago, I was introduced to the concept of functional medicine, that there was a path for me to become certified in it, and realize, like, Oh, I’ve already been interested in this for a few years. And now I have a name to it. And I can learn more about it. treat myself because that’s how most people come to functional medicine. And, and then, like, implement it in family practice. And I’ve had several kids in between, you know, now and then, and, or then and now. And so, I realized over the past many years, that it’s impossible to do it in this 15 minute model. And I have, I think the the quick version is my my third child, you know, 10 days old, we end up in the hospital in the ICU. She’s a big part of my story, because I already loved functional medicine. But she was diagnosed with a rare genetic illness. And essentially, she doesn’t breathe when she sleeps. So we have you know, for now, she has a trach and a ventilator, and I’m a caregiver at work and at home. And I realize, I’m saying like, when I eventually went back to work part time, I realized that I’m seeing the same people who are just like me, we have gut issues, because we have chronic stress. So I am seeing the same you know, these moms, mostly moms, or busy professionals, like really high achieving dads or other parents who have special needs kids, perhaps or, you know, kids with autism or anything like that, where even the mom they might be staying like a stay at home mom caring for their child, it doesn’t matter the flavor. It’s they’re burned out, and they’re putting themselves on the backburner using their kid as kind of an excuse to not take care of themselves instead of the reason to take care of themselves. And so they’re getting these like kind of weird, nonspecific symptoms of fatigue and bloating and waking up feeling achy, but they’re only like 35. And it just kind of be symptoms. They can’t put their finger on it, but they come in to see me and they’re like, Rachel, I feel stressed and anxious. But I don’t, I don’t think my life is matching my symptoms. And I’m trying to go to bed and work out. And I know they’re trying to do all the right things. They don’t understand that there’s this gut brain connection. And they don’t understand anything about cortisol. They don’t understand anything about their gut. And I was saying the same thing over and over and over and I kept saying like, I need to write this down. I need to like, honestly, up until maybe four months ago, starting my own business was not even on my radar. I’ve had a mentor for years and I just kind of assumed that I was going to work with him. So after in December of 2021, I finished I pushed through with at that point my daughter Parker is a year old and I’m just like I’m finishing my certification. I’ve been working on this I’m finishing finished in December approached him in like, you know January okay I’m finished, I’m certified, like, can I come work with you now? And he’s like, I don’t have room for you. And then the whole idea of like, well, maybe I can do this on my own, came up. And then by way of another friend who’s a nurse practitioner, she introduced me to the concept of like, group programs and a course and like, then I realized I can’t do this on my own. I try. I tried, like looking up things for a few weeks. And then you really get in the weeds. Like, I know how I know how to get you from A to B, but I don’t know how to like, turn that into lessons. I don’t know how to structure things. And Lord, like, I don’t know how to start a business. I was always in a practice where they marketed for me, they did everything. So I, I think I manifested you, Sean, I know I’ve like said that to you before. But I think I found you on Instagram, maybe I don’t really care for Facebook, but I think I found you on Instagram. And, and it was just this beautiful like meeting of the minds where you were speaking to like, not,
Rachel Martin 6:12
not overworking not being burned out. It was the business. If I if years ago, I would have thought, Oh, if I own my own business, it will be X, Y and Z. It was exactly what you were talking about. And I just needed someone to say, Do this, do this, do this. And so the first thing I did was sign up for holistic business starter. And that was very much like, Do this. Do this. And then I started doing my own I remember messaging you like, Okay, I’m trying to start my own course. But I don’t really and I ultimately was like, their signature program labs, Sonya because I can’t I can’t you’ve done this. You’ve done, what a dozen times. And and you need, it’s, it’s just like, I kept reframing it. A patient will try to heal their gut on their own. And they’re going to read books, right? They’re going to, like, follow Dr. Hyman on Instagram, and they’re going to buy books on healing your gut. And it just, it’s like, okay, how will I tell people? Invest in me to show you the way if I don’t invest in myself for somebody to show me the way?
Shawn Mynar 7:25
Hmm, oh, that’s such a good point. It was very backwards.
Rachel Martin 7:29
And then, and somewhere along the way, I had the other realization of like, it’s not all find the money and then hire a business coach, it’s, I’m gonna hire a business coach, so then I can make money and not just have a hobby. I’ll actually have a business.
Shawn Mynar 7:46
Yeah. So that’s what you need to do in order to make the money to have the business. You know.
Rachel Martin 7:54
It is it is a cycle. And it’s, it’s, I know, I say, people will come I want to lose weight. It’s like you don’t lose weight and then get healthy, you get healthy and weight loss is a byproduct of that. Right? So yeah, I mean, it was all mindset. So I mean, the first part of holistic business starter is all mindset. And things that I knew I had no idea, all these money blocks. I had no idea.
Shawn Mynar 8:21
Yeah, I remember when you were in the group, and you were saying, I didn’t realize I was signing up to get a therapist to
Rachel Martin 8:27
write because as I’ve been in this journey of becoming an entrepreneur, or solopreneur, I like to say that word to it. It does. The best therapy for you is to start your business.
Shawn Mynar 8:45
Oh my gosh, it syncs up everything, everything, every insecurity
Rachel Martin 8:51
and you have to address it. You can’t. I mean, to a degree, there is an impostor syndrome that you have to overcome. But the confidence that you get in three months, like sometimes when I’m feeling down on myself, I have to list it all out. Like I’ve started a website, I’ve recorded three podcasts which has yet to be launched, but should in the next few weeks, I have created a program that’s in the beta testing. I’ve started seeing 10 patients and like I had one apply on Friday one apply yesterday. It’s crazy. Even the tech that I’ve was so overwhelming and terrifying. But you do an amazing job of screen sharing and walking people through I mean that just the the tech handholding alone for creating a course and creating a website or anything like that has been invaluable. But yeah, it’s been a really concrete it’s been a confidence builder, for
Shawn Mynar 9:58
sure. Yeah, for sure. As soon as you Get over all of the fear the doubt the uncertainty, like what’s going to happen? What am I gonna do? I mean, we can stay. And I think a lot of people do stay in that headspace for so long. And they don’t realize that the second you just do it like you do it scared, you do it with uncertainty, you do it with the fear on the other side of that as soon as you do it, then you do have that confidence. And you do have that clarity. And all of that is just built up. But it’s just on the other side of you taking that leap. And Rachel to see you go through all of that stuff like you. It’s not like you weren’t scared. It’s not like you weren’t still scared. didn’t have those things. But you did it all anyway, and you were like, This is what I want to do. This is how I want my business to look, I’m gonna like, Yes, I have three kids, and I have a super busy life and you are working part time still, you were doing a ton of stuff. And you still made time to make your business happen in three months. Like that was right for me to see you go through because you wanted it. And you weren’t going to let all of that stop you.
Rachel Martin 11:02
And I will say full disclosure, I we had a nurse for a year who was our, you know, daytime nurse my my child will eventually switch to a facemask and she’ll just she’s fine when she’s awake. But for now with a trach. You can’t just send that kid to daycare. So she has a nurse with her will the nurse as I’m like, launch, creating this business, she puts in her four week notice. And she’s just like, I love I love Parker, but she I feel like I’m not. I’m not nerd, I’m not being a nurse, because really, she just needs a nanny, she’s fine when she’s awake. She just needs help, like, you know, getting hooked up to take her nap. And that terrified me. And I really think I might have Donald, I probably would have pushed everything out. And that really lit a fire of okay, I’m rolling this out, it’s not going to be perfect. But I don’t know, I feel like the universe was just like she needs a deadline. So I think that’s that’s huge picking a timeframe and sticking with it and being like it’s going to be messy. It’s you’re not going to have everything figured out. I still I’m still changing things. So I’m a still working in family practice two days a week. And for the foreseeable future, wink, wink. And I basically have assigned two or three days, which we’ve secured another nurse, obviously, because I’m able to do this, but I have two or three other days where I work on the business. And I think like even now I’m switching my electronic medical record, because I picked one, you just have to pick something, and then you figure out if you like it, or if you don’t, and I’m adapting things and changing things. Not all the time, but improving upon and adapting. And I think it’s really easy to be overwhelmed in, you know, Asana versus Trello, kartra vs Kajabi Active Campaign and all these things. I never even knew what they were what they meant, you know, four months ago. But I think just picking something and sticking with it until you’re giving it several months until you decide, is this working for me? Or is this not? But I feel like with your program, you did a really good job of maybe giving like your few choice options. And taking some of that decision fatigue out, I think, really easy to get decision fatigue, when you’re doing
Shawn Mynar 13:37
just even deciding on the software’s without any guidance, particularly like five years.
Rachel Martin 13:42
I’m ashamed to say my husband was early on the first few weeks he was he at some point, he was like, Are you still looking at colors? And I was like, Yes, I’m ashamed to say and and it’s funny, because in hindsight, nobody cares. No, nobody cared. But it’s your baby. So you care? Yeah. Really, it doesn’t matter, like the. So it’s the big things. And I think because you asked me maybe in a coaching call one time, like, how did you? How have you moved things along so quickly? And I think it’s because we’ll, I don’t even know where I saw this or read this. But I’ve gotten really into time management and strategy and planning my day out. Because I don’t have very many hours I’m limited on when I can get this stuff done planning my day out the night before and asking myself the question of what is truly going to move the needle. Like right Are you are you just playing because I will be I’m the queen of planning to do and not doing and you have said that before and it stuck with me and resonate with me. And so it was very much like no just do something and then see if it works. So that’s what I did. I was like okay, A newsletter writing it done. Like, it’s not going to be perfect. I’m probably accidentally sending it to everybody, even if they’re like in the middle of the nurture sequence, but it’s fine. I’m gonna like do it anyway, and making a blog, like publishing a blog post and creating the slides. I mean, it is ridiculous how long I spent just coming up with like picking in Canva, which can really be overwhelming, the perfect, like slide templates for the court. And none of that matters. If I can give anyone advice. It’s probably set a timer, like 15 minutes for little tasks that okay, in the next hour on picking Thank you told me that. I’ve been wondering, like, yeah, like, pick a timer be like, Okay, I’m picking my fonts in the next 30 minutes? Because it does, it matters, but it doesn’t matter that much.
Shawn Mynar 15:49
Yeah, I shouldn’t take days by any means. Because that’s not moving the needle. And if you really look at like you said, What is what in this limited amount of time that I have? What will actually move the needle will actually get my work in front of more people will actually make some income. What do I really need to do?
Rachel Martin 16:06
Like make a freebie just make a freebie just sit down for two hours and make a freebie?
Shawn Mynar 16:10
Yeah, exactly. Speaking of freebies, so I want to talk a little bit because like we mentioned, you started your business basically three months ago. And this is not one of those things where it’s like you already had this massive following. And you were already showing up on Instagram and doing all this business stuff. You just didn’t technically have a business, you were literally starting from zero, you didn’t have an email list. Your Instagram was like your kind of personal account, right? So this is not one of those stories, this is legitimately starting from scratch, right?
Rachel Martin 16:42
And, and I had been off of Instagram for like eight months, when when we came home from the hospital with Parker when she was maybe two and a half months old. I went like, I went dark, I got off. I’d been off Facebook forever. But I got off of Instagram for about eight months. And so I’d only been occasionally posting for like two months. And yeah, I had maybe I want to say started tracking it, maybe 650 followers. And I switched to a professional account for the insights and tracking and I started posting. But again, their strategy now there was no strategy, then it was just posting things, right. And I lost some followers probably because they were like, oh, somebody else posting about food and health. And that’s fine, like, but a lot of my family, my grandma’s both post, they like comment on my Instagram
Shawn Mynar 17:38
post, it’s so nice. But
Rachel Martin 17:41
part of I mean, part of my desire is to show functional medicine in real life, when you have you know, you’re a working mom with three kids. And one with that has some extra needs to show like, this is what I’m eating. This is how I’m you know, practicing mindfulness or working out or this is what is important. And to kind of live that and show this as a family affair. Not just me, you know, posting these concepts without living them. So yeah, I had nothing but I had nothing. Like I didn’t know what lead magnet meant. I googled it. I was like, What does lead magnet nurture what like I don’t zero marketing zero anything. And that’s why it it’s cute. The Rachel four months ago who thought she could do all this with? I don’t know, I don’t know, like googling are like, asking my friend who is two years into it and has spent a lot of money on business coaching, too. And it’s like, yes, she wants to help me, but she can’t, she doesn’t have the time to sit down and explain an email list or you know, how you attract people, and then get them to know like and trust you. Because the funny part about functional medicine is people don’t really know what it is. Most people don’t know what it is. So I’m marketing something that people don’t understand. And then I can’t guarantee them results, because I can’t do the work for them. So right. So the marketing aspect of it is very tricky. And getting and I know we you talked about that. And you have to show them the outcome because if you talk about just hormone problems or gut like what does that mean people you need to speak in their language
Shawn Mynar 19:33
that is so important. That
Rachel Martin 19:36
was a huge hump for me to to speak in the ways that people speak when they come to me, like they’ll say, I feel tired. I’m exhausted. I require caffeine to wake up and I need wine to wind down like and my hair is falling out and I don’t want to have sex anymore and can I Say that?
Shawn Mynar 20:00
Yes, absolutely.
Rachel Martin 20:02
But that’s yeah, like that’s huge. It was really, I guess it’s made me even more effective in, in as a family nurse practitioner when I see people.
Shawn Mynar 20:15
Mm hmm. Oh, absolutely, I can believe that for sure. Just knowing how to talk to these people who really the people you’re seeing it at your job are also potentially clients of yours on the outside and your business. And just getting that practice, you know, in both places, is so beneficial. So now, like you’ve mentioned, you have this program that you’re running, and it is a group program. And that’s really how you kind of kicked off your business, right? So tell people, what that looks like that process of building your program, which I know you kind of are doing it as you go, what you’re finding beneficial. So talk a little bit about that.
Rachel Martin 20:56
Yes, so I decided I was going to do a kind of, I’ve framed out everything for my 12 week program. And for those of you who don’t know anything about functional medicine, you know, the the mantra is definitely like all disease begins in the gut start in the gut, when in doubt, and there’s a five our framework for step by step how to heal someone’s gut. And I’ve always found it ironic that the fifth step is addressing the gut brain connection in that your cortisol and stress hormones, essentially, the relationship between stress and your gut, it’s at the very end. And I found I would try to get people, you know, as in whenever I was just a regular family practice, tried to get people on board with an elimination diet, and we’re going to do all these things. And they’re so in the weeds, that they can’t even wrap their head around, getting started. So in my method, I put that at the beginning. And we it’s just like five weeks of Well, the first part of it is habit and mindset. And I took that from you, I was like, as I’m going along, I realize you have to talk about mindset, you have to talk about how to have good habits, so that you can do this program once I don’t want people to have to do it 15 times, like you can you get lifetime access. But no, you don’t need to do it 15, you don’t need 15 elimination diets. So it’s very much fun and loading, to calm down the nervous system to you know, get your thyroid working again, decrease your cortisol and then work on the elimination diet and healing the gut. So I decided I would do kind of your hybrid model of getting everything framed out and filming the first lessons. And then as we go through it, I will continue. So I still have like in the next two weeks, I should have everything filmed. And, and then uploaded. And I’ve already it’s funny, I’ve already decided a whole module, I’m like redoing the entire thing. And I’ve shared that with my beta group to have like, I was trying to appeal to everyone instead of just speaking to, you know, quote, unquote, adrenal fatigue. And that is really what those are the people who are coming to me, they have cortisol issues that has led to them having gut issues. So I was trying to, like, just cater to too many people, but to anyone making a program, who’s out there, you just don’t know what’s going to work or what doesn’t until you do it. And then you get feedback. And that’s the beautiful part about a beta group. They, it’s discounted, so they don’t feel like they’re, they’re getting value, they know they’re getting value. And then they’re kind of part of the experiment and the fun of everything of being like do you like this? Do you not like this, and everyone has been so gracious, that was probably one of my big fears of am I gonna I’m a recovering people pleaser. And it’s are people going to be mad if I change things, but I found like, even yesterday, in my coaching call, it was, what do you guys think this is what I want to do. And I walked through the new framework for them. And they were like that, that makes a lot of sense. And because you guys had a lot of questions on Facebook, and I realized it wasn’t clear. And I mean, even another thing I’ve realized my some of my lessons are like 2025 minutes long, it’s too much. I need to like chunk it up into smaller lessons, but you just don’t. It’s fine. You can go and change all of the things eventually, but just get something out into the world.
Shawn Mynar 24:37
Yeah. So you just to clarify, so you did. You’ve framed it all out. You had everything planned out. You knew what you wanted your program to include. You recorded a few of those first lessons, and then you launched it, but the entire thing was not created.
Rachel Martin 24:54
No. And that’s like in hindsight, that’s frightening. But you know, the beauty of it was is already with the first few modules of being like, Man, I think people are dropping off with these 2025 minute lessons of okay, I still have a few more modules to record. I know now, I’m going to record those the way they should have been done in the beginning, and like chunk them into, you know, seven, eight minute lessons. So then I don’t have to redo those. If I would have done the entire program, the way I did the first few modules, I would have to redo the whole thing. Now I’m only gonna have to redo.
Shawn Mynar 25:30
Yeah, so that’s the benefit. Like, while it seems scary, and you’re like, What am I doing, I know, you’re kind of freaking out a little bit when you’re like, Okay, I have people who actually signed off. And now I know, I don’t have like this entire program laid out. But now you’re seeing how beneficial it is. And you’re able to take the feedback you’re getting every single week from these people to make it really great for them to you know ahead of time. And to make it what you actually want it to be.
Rachel Martin 25:57
I think my favorite thing so far. So I love I love the coaching calls there right now they’re once a month, which is which is fine. I think I want to do every two weeks. It’s just, I love I love them. And it’s just, I think they really enjoy talking to one another too. But my favorite has been watching people in the Facebook group, talk to one another. Yeah. Because then you realize this is taken on a life of its own. And it’s greater than me. And I think that’s what I never knew I always wanted in family practice. I wanted to support people to support one another and to make this like like minded community. It’s just still mind boggling to me that the Facebook group like they will like tag one another and speak to one another. And I mean, right now we are all in, in Virginia. Well, I think I think I have like one person in Ohio. But your first group is usually people you know, who are supporting you, which is great and fine. But I don’t know, the fact that it’s bigger than me already is so cool.
Shawn Mynar 27:03
And that’s why I love signature probe having a signature program so much is because it is bigger than you and you are building a community for other people to have support from other people, not just you. But like, and we all know, because we probably I’m assuming everyone listening has had some sort of health or wellness concern in their life and you feel really alone. Like if your family isn’t going through it, or your friends aren’t going through it, you’re like, oh my gosh, who do I talk to? Where do I turn and to be in this group of people who are experiencing something similar and going through this process together, it is in valuable and it is bigger than you You are the conduit to get people into building that community for them to have forever. So they will continue to build these relationships even after your program is done. You know is it goes so it’s so cool. I’m so glad you’re seeing that too. And this brings me to what I wanted to talk about too, which is the size of your program and how the launch went and how you got people in? Because like we just said you were starting pretty much from zero. So I think that’s a big concern is when people say they want their business, they want to have a program. But what if no one signs up? Like who’s going to be in this program? I don’t have this massive audience. I don’t have an email list yet. So what happened? How did your launch go? And how did you get these people in? And what was the end result?
Rachel Martin 28:29
So I like followed your advice. And I started just with, I created a book. Like as I knew I wanted to launch around the state, maybe four weeks before I was like, Okay, I need an email list. So I started with a lead magnet, I created a probiotics and prebiotics guide. I posted about it on Instagram to get some followers and that link tree thing is free. So I got one like link in my bio kind of thing. And I started attracting people that way. And then I got my family to kind of share about that I was just straight up with people. It’s funny, my photographer is kind of a friend and like she was sharing on her instagram about the guide. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help in the beginning of like, Hey, Mom share about my guide. It’s, you know, to get on the email list. And I I decided because I know I asked you like I’m not I do not have time. I’m going to do this differently next time. But I was like I don’t want to do I think I have enough of an audience to not do any kind of live webinar or live event or pre recorded I’m just going to send a newsletter and like an email sequence and then post on Instagram. Basically for my launch, there will be no kind of event or anything. And I ended up doing it that way I met my husband God love him. I was like please share on Facebook because he has a lot of friends. He was born and raised steer. And so one of his high school friends signed up for the program. And I recruited like one or two of our nurses to sign up and it just, I had 10 people sign up. But I also decided which I, I will say this is a mistake, I should not have done it because it was so overwhelming, I decided to also start seeing one on one clients. At the same time, I was launching my program. And I that was part of my, my offering, you also get to be in this program. So I have 20 people in it 10 of which are one on one. Functional Medicine patients and then 10 are just in the group. So I would say don’t do that, if you’re considering it. And you just started your business two months. That’s a bit much. But so it’s nice, because there’s 20 people in there, but I think 10 would have been fine. Yeah, for your beta group. And you can find 10 Like that’s like you can find out Absolutely. And you don’t need you don’t need a big following. I think the important thing is showing people connecting what their symptoms are with what’s going on and what could be their possible future. If they go through your program.
Shawn Mynar 31:21
Look at you talking about this messaging talk. Wow, this is amazing. You learned Wow. Whoa, thank
Rachel Martin 31:28
you. Thank you, I had a great tea. I have a great teacher. But it’s because it’s funny. I think one of my big one of my big humps is just I did not feel like I was a business person. I didn’t know anything about marketing. But I’m like Rachel, you for years, you’ve been practicing functional medicine, you know that. Take away all these impostor syndrome feelings, you have people that you have helped already. What are you good at. And I’m really good at telling women and men sort of, I don’t want to like pigeonhole myself with just, you know, feet, I considered it but I was like, but it is mostly women that you are putting yourself last. And because of that you feel terrible. And this is why and this is why you need my help. And I was like it, I’m great at helping people deal with adrenal fatigue and heal their gut. And I have like proven success. So get out of your head, about websites and social media and marketing, you will figure that out. But you have it a message. And I think I read somewhere. The longer that you don’t put your program out there, you’re really there people you’re not taking care of that you could be serving, and you could be helping those people and you could be changing their lives. So then they show up better for the person or people they’re caring for. So it was kind of that it was kind of like, you’re being selfish if you don’t do this.
Shawn Mynar 32:54
I mean, it’s true, it is true, because you have the ability, there are people out there right now that need your help, you have the ability to help them. And by you not putting yourself out there for fear of what might go wrong, or what you might look like, or people might judge you or whatever we’re saying in our heads, then those people are still out there looking for the help that you can give them. So when you put it into that perspective, and we’re all helpers, we all want to serve people and really bring that to light, then it just takes on a whole new meaning. And you did you realize that the business part really doesn’t matter that much. You know, like, figure it out, you’ll figure it out, you figure it out on the way. So one thing that you said that I really want to reiterate and make sure people understood is that when it came time for you to launch your business, and you started by way of the beta group of this program, and also taking one on one clients, that would be a part of that beta group, which I think is great. I think, you know, like you said, it’s a little overwhelming, maybe like making the numbers not so many or separating them a little bit. But well, there
Unknown Speaker 34:03
was definitely hustle
Shawn Mynar 34:07
maybe spreading them out a little bit or trying to make different woodwork. But when it came time you build your audience by way of the people you already knew. You’re not 100% Your family, your friends, hey, well, you shout this out for me on your social media. Hey, will you talk to your friends about this? Like that’s the cool thing about what we do, especially in the wellness world, is that everyone needs what we do, or they know someone who needs what we do. So building your network, building your audience is actually quite easy if you’re willing to use the people that you already know and get that out there. And then like you said, it is easy to find those 10 people that can be your first group. You don’t want to have a big group as your first group anyway, because you’re doing all of this. You’re kind of figuring things out. You want to get their feet If you want them to have a strong connection with each other, so it’s good to have a small group and you can get those people no matter what size you’re starting at right now. So someone in your network can build that relationship for you, or help you to get those 10 people. And so I just wanted to make sure that that was pointed out that, yeah, you talk to your photographer, who’s your friend, you had your mom talk about it, you had your husband talk about it, and it worked.
Rachel Martin 35:27
Your people, they want you to be successful. Yeah. Right. And they see how much joy it brings you. And that’s infectious that’s contagious. So I just, I’m so happy that I decided to do it. And I think one of my and I didn’t even use some things bounce around in your head. And you don’t necessarily put words to them until later. But one of my for years initial like things that bothered me about functional medicine, it seemed really expensive and inaccessible. A signature program helps you like and that’s one of my core values, I want people need this, and money shouldn’t be this, this big hurdle. But in this way, I can help people without seeing them one on one. And it’s more accessible to the masses. And you’re kind of you’re teaching them how to fish so to speak, and not making them feel like they need you right to get better one on one, right? Because you’re putting them in, you understand this from all of the programs you’ve done. If you’re trying to in the 21st century, lead a healthy lifestyle, you’re kind of a rebel. So to put these people together in a community is huge, because it’s not just every once a month, when they see me or once every three months, when they see me, it’s they have their community that they can go to at all times. Which I don’t know, I just feel like, I guess one of my core values is, you know, affordable functional medicine. Having a group program is a way to kind of feel like you’re helping people. And you don’t have to apologize for charging, because these are not astronomical fees that you’re you know, asking for you’re being compensated for your time and your energy. But it’s really cool, because once it’s done, then the automations are there. And you can show up, you know, every two weeks or once a week, if that’s something you want, or once a month, and then monitor your Facebook group. And I want to see patients one on one still, but that’s the beautiful thing, my life with the little kids and the you know, I’m at the mercy of Do we have a nurse or not, this program has allowed me to still I cannot multiply myself, I am just me. And me just seeing like, I have a cap on how many people I can see one on one. So in this way, I can still share my gifts with the world. So anybody who has a busy lifestyle, and they keep using that as an excuse for why they can’t do what they love. No, you can you just have to think outside the box totally and do your program,
Shawn Mynar 38:15
obviously. And it like you said it’s beneficial for everyone is beneficial for the people going through it, it makes it more accessible, it makes them feel more empowered in their own journey, because they’re learning instead of just relying on you. And it gives you back the time and the freedom that you need to be able to live your life and then you can be more choosy, I don’t want to say I don’t know what the right word is. But with the clients that you do take one on one and you can keep it at a cap, you can work with the people that really truly do need your one on one services and support and leave the group program for those that maybe are just getting started or, you know, have some not as high needs, I guess, to do the program. So it really worked out so well for everybody.
Rachel Martin 39:01
Yeah, and I’m thinking that I might, I’m thinking I might like require the program if you want to work with me, okay, but this is my foundational method that I’m going to do anyway. And instead of me, you know, saying it 15 million times, that’s literally why I’ve recorded it, you funnel in and then the beauty of the Facebook group and the group calls is that eventually you’ll have people who have completed it, and they just want the accountability. And they’re going to encourage and inspire the new people who are just beginning who are overwhelmed. So they like absolutely like even Okay, in your coaching calls me with you seeing all these people in who had already started their own businesses who are already being successful, inspired me to take action, because if it was just me and you or me watching your videos, yeah, I’m inspired, but not nearly to the degree as when you get all these like minded people on a live call. That’s like complete The only other next level and it’s one hour of somebody’s time.
Shawn Mynar 40:03
Yes, exactly. And it is, again, that community piece that you just can’t get in a one on one setting. And you can’t get with just a hands off DIY course, either you have to have that middle ground. And that’s why I love it. And obviously, you’re now an advocate to
Unknown Speaker 40:20
it, I’m addicted.
Shawn Mynar 40:22
Speaking of what are your plans? Now, this group is still kind of in the middle, but what do you foresee happening with your group program in the future?
Rachel Martin 40:32
So in July, I think the beginning of July I want to launch again, open to the public, because I have still, like one on ones haven’t decided how if I want to launch, you know, quarterly or do evergreen, I’m still bouncing things kind of around in my head, but I know I like the structure of the 12 weeks, I love the Facebook group. And I really like I think I’m going to start offering unstructured open office hours for like, where I teach for 30 minutes about different topics within the course. So it’s fine because once you have your your kind of structure your house in place, you can decorate your house however you want. Yep, it’s so true. So it’s like once you just but you have to have your your little house, your your core, your program. And then you can add different things. I’m considering a kind of membership with my program for additional offerings, like having a health coach once a month, come on and do a coaching call as well. And, and kind of build from there. Like almost like offerings at the gym or something.
Shawn Mynar 41:50
Yeah, yeah, that’s so cool. I love it. I’m just so your success and how you really took your idea and went with it, and you just made it happen, and you want it to be perfect, but you’re like, this isn’t gonna happen. So I’m just gonna put it out anyway. I love everything that you’ve done. I’m so proud of you. I think it’s just been so cool to watch. What final piece of advice you have for anyone listening who maybe is just starting their business? Or maybe it’s been in their business for a little while, and it’s not going the way they want. What do you have anything to offer?
Rachel Martin 42:29
Yeah, um, I think I have like two pieces of advice. So the first is just like, remember, this is fun. It’s fun learning new things. It’s fun having beginner’s mind. And I think it’s important to learn the back end of every single thing. So if you have zero help, you still know how to do all the things, but I just made it fun. And I think you you helped make it fun with the videos. And it was interactive. And there were worksheets, I think keep it light, keep it fun, keep it light, and my second piece of advice, establish boundaries for time. I wasn’t good at that. And it was really bad there for a little while with me pushing and pushing and like working all the time. And I realized I’m not beginning with the end in mind that because the business that I want is not what I’m doing right now. And I will accidentally become a workaholic. And then I’m missing the whole point what I’m working for. I’m like, I’m missing the entire point. So I would say pick a date that you want to launch or get things going. But like write that date down in pencil because things might come up. And if you know if you realize that you’re not spending as much time with the people you love, or you’re not pouring into yourself, and you’re getting kind of burned out, then be a little bit flex more flexible and adaptable. Because isn’t that what you would tell your your person that you’re trying to
Shawn Mynar 43:55
help? Totally, yes. Take your own advice.
Rachel Martin 43:58
Yeah, take your own advice. So I would say like keep it fun and keep it light but have have, you know, some some parameters you’re working within.
Shawn Mynar 44:08
So true. Yes, it’s so helpful. And it is I’m so glad you’re brought up to keep it fun because it is fun, and it should be fun. And we can really get bogged down with all the business stuff. And that makes it not fun a lot of times but if you get back to like what you started just do something, just start somewhere, just put it out and figure it out on your wet on the way. Let it be messy and let it be a learning experience then it can be fun again, and that’s what I think is the best. Like it’s not
Rachel Martin 44:41
even a chore it’s just there’s so many things you want to do. You got to pick one thing to do but it’s I’ve had a blast which is crazy because I remember years ago like hating going to work so this is like so different. So different, so
Shawn Mynar 44:56
different and it’s so much better. I’m so so happy for You Rachel, thank you so much for coming on in sharing where can people learn more about you and your business and what you do and follow along? Yeah, so
Rachel Martin 45:08
I am at WWW dot route and ritual FX med.com. And then on Instagram same thing at Route and ritual effects med
Shawn Mynar 45:20
Cool. All right, great. And you have a podcast coming out soon. I
Unknown Speaker 45:23
do good vibes only.
Shawn Mynar 45:25
Love it so cute. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time and for sharing everything that you learned along the way. And we will stay caught up with everything you’re doing in your business as well. So thanks, Rachel.
Unknown Speaker 45:39
Thank you, Sean.
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