The Pivot: Our Business Ideas (+ What We’re Leaving Behind)

wen pt 1: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode. We are currently doing this pivot series, which thank you all for tuning in. It seems like a lot of you are enjoying it. I know sometimes we could be a little random with the things that we cover.

But we feel like this series is necessary at this point because there are going to be big changes happening to our brand, to the podcast, and. You know, I think it would just be kind of weird if we just out of nowhere, we're like, Oh, by the way this is what we're doing. And this is what we're not doing moving forward.

And like, you know, in a big way, like, Oh, yeah, by the way, the podcast is over. Which may or may not happen, but we [00:01:00] feel like we need to, you know, just be transparent, as all this stuff is unfolding. So, you know, In the last two episodes, we talked about, you know, how we've been feeling when it comes to the work that we do, social media, working with brands, you know, just everything and why we've been feeling burned out and kind of tapped out when it comes to inspiration and creativity.

And we feel like this is. It's a long time coming, just like transitioning into something else, creating something different, approaching things in another way. It's it's all coming

to, I don't know, I don't want to say an end, but I feel like it's been

brewing for a while. And it's taken us to where we are.

Now, which is where Jess

jess Audio Pivot 3: Oh sorry, you can edit that out. [00:02:00] Where, where we are right now is basically just trying to figure out what's next for us. If you have not listened to the other episodes. You can still listen to this, but if You want a little more understanding, I would scroll back up and listen to episode one where we kind of give more background. and, then episode two, we break down all of our financials and the pros and cons of being an RD. So if you want to know more details, definitely scroll up

and listen. But this series has been very helpful So for us to just be honest and figure

out where we want to go from here in conjunction with doing this series, we've also been meeting with a coach who we are calling our business therapist, even though she technically isn't a therapist. been so helpful in having those hard conversations like, do we just end all of this? Do we pivot to something else? Like nothing is off the [00:03:00] table and it's nice to have the guidance of a third party who has experience with businesses who are kind of struggling to figure out what's

next. Hopefully

we'll have her on the podcast to talk about pivot, not only as it relates to us, or sorry, to talk about pivoting, not only as it relates to us, but also if you are somebody who is looking to pivot in your personal or professional life, I think it's relevant to us all,

wen pt 1: yeah. So today we're going to talk

about some of

the ideas that we've

had. Thank you for everyone who's been

submitting business ideas. They've been great. They're definitely planting seeds

in our brains.

So we're going to share some of that. We're going to share some of the ideas that you've sent us and some of the ideas.

that we've had. And also talk about things that excite us at the moment when it comes to potentially starting a new business. And also going to touch on the challenge of having too many [00:04:00] ideas because that is something that keeps coming up over and over again. It's like we end up. Having all these great ideas and then we end up not doing anything because we don't know where to go

next so Yeah, what is it called?

Like Is it shiny object syndrome? Yeah, like it's just constantly distracted by all

the ideas so let's start with the things

that are exciting for us right now. So Jess, I think that'll help us figure out

and literally we're

figuring this out as we go. I think it'll help us figure out what we're gonna.

be doing. So what still excites you

that is relevant to the work that we do.

jess Audio Pivot 3: I think what is still exciting to me is. Having a

place [00:05:00] to bring all my experiences together. So whether that is bringing together my clinical experience as a dietitian who has worked in different health care settings for the past 10 ish years. Also bringing together my creative side of things because I do enjoy being creative.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy. visual storytelling. However, not so much in the context of like the Instagram hamster wheel. So it's like, I like that part of things. And I also love strategy. So anything

that is more behind the scenes, business oriented. I love talking numbers and business plans and spreadsheets, so I like all of those things kind of individually.

And for me, the goal would be, is there a way to be able to bring all of those together? What about you?

wen pt 1: Yeah, those are really

good. I [00:06:00] like being of service, so I like that we're able

to, you know, offer resources that

help someone understand nutrition a little better, a little easier. I like bringing my own personal experiences. Into the work that we do, because as a black person, a woman, you know, from the Caribbean, I feel like I have a lot of unique perspectives and I'm able to connect with a lot of people that are underrepresented within wellness.

So I really enjoy that. You know, but then with that, it's like, it gets a little tricky because in trying to be of service. And also being very like empathetic and naturally giving, that's when it becomes an energy suck because, you know, the boundaries can get a little blurry and I'm just like, Oh, you know, I want to do this and I want to be of service.

And then. Kind of ends up [00:07:00] in burnout, which has happened to me time and time again, especially within like the counseling setting. So in trying to like figure out how to help people moving forward with whatever it is that we

do, I have to do it in a way where it preserves my sanity and where I have like really strong boundaries

when it comes to like work.

Also like Technology is really exciting. There's like so many

cool developments happening within

healthcare tech. And I would love to do

something that is tech forward that, you know,

I don't know, like, and I'm not like up to date on all of the

developments happening in the tech space, but I think it is important to be because

it seems like so many

companies are getting left behind if they're not up to date with like

everything.

That's happening. So I think it's important from a business

standpoint to to learn about this. And a lot of a lot of

these like [00:08:00] tech programs and platforms are really cool. And then also being collaborative. I think

I think part of the reason why Food Heaven

has worked for me for so long,

12 plus years, is because it's something that I'm able to do with someone else.

So I think when you work with the right

people, that is something that's really exciting. You can kind of

bounce ideas off of one another.

Cause yeah, I mean, I'm fine doing things alone, but I prefer to

like, work with the right people. I think that that is something that I look forward to.

jess Audio Pivot 3: yeah, I think it makes it less isolating, less boring. I have more confidence to, a lot of times if I know, that it's me and Wendy or me and someone else. Whether it's, It's just more fun And I think maybe it being more fun and you're more relaxed gives you that extra boost of confidence. The other thing for me, which is interesting cause I was kind of [00:09:00] ready to Be done with being an RD to

be honest if you listen to episode one I feel like our

tunes have changed episode one.

I was like after some over it but I've had time to reflect and that's why It's nice to have this live forum and, then also my therapist, because you can really process what it is that you're actually saying and what you're, if it makes sense, what your intentions really are. Because I was like, okay, I think I'm ready to start over and just do a whole nother career.

But then I was realizing that was giving me anxiety and I was like, why am I having anxiety right now? And it was the idea of starting over and I realized I don't actually want to start over and do a whole new career. Because I've already put in. So many years into this career, not that there's anything wrong with starting over, but I think what's most important is just making this career work for me.[00:10:00]

wen pt 1: Mm

jess Audio Pivot 3: sure there's a lot of healthcare providers out there who can relate to that where it's like you kind of get burnout, but it's like you've, you've given so much and you also have. I've gotten so much out of it too personally, and I've loved all the, the counseling I've done and I, and like Wendy, I love the connection that I've had with all the patients I work with.

I mostly work with black and brown patients and it's been such a joy. So I don't want to let like a bout of burnout distract me from my initial reasons for

becoming a dietitian in the first place. Absolutely. Because I feel like if I were to have started over or start over and give it

all up like

that would just be

too much at this point in my

life.

I don't have the bandwidth for that right now. So that's something, a point of clarity that has come to me in the last couple of weeks since episode one.

wen pt 1: Mm hmm. Mm

jess Audio Pivot 3: Now

let's talk about our ideas.

wen pt 1: Yeah,

There's there's been a lot.

jess Audio Pivot 3: Mm hmm. Mm [00:11:00] hmm.

wen pt 1: there one that stands out to you the most? Or where you were the most excited about?

jess Audio Pivot 3: No, because I'm excited about all of them,

but I will say the one, maybe the one that I was

most, most, most excited about really was all of them. But

if I had to pick one, I would say

the buying land.

it's also the least

practical. So it's buying land and developing a wellness retreat center for people who are burnt

out.

That's all about resting and digesting. I would love to do something like that. Something that centers people of color as well because I have not seen.

Anything on a mass, not that this would be massive, but on a bigger scale that centers us where we can just go and be D D stimulated. I know that's probably not a word, but there's just so [00:12:00] much stimulation happening, like whether it's online or professionally

or family wise.

And I think that

we could all. use a reset in a structured way. So that is, was the one that I was most excited about. But of course, like buying land and developing a wellness rejuvenation center. I mean, that's a million dollar thing that maybe might come a little later.

wen pt 1: Right. Yeah, I think we started like doing a little bit of research into it. And then we were

like, whoa,

jess Audio Pivot 3: Yeah.

wen pt 1: were like we don't know how

practical this is in our lifetime. I mean, it's doable. But we were like, we

don't we don't

know. But yeah, some of the other ideas we had. So pre pandemic, we were like, Okay.

100%

knee deep into opening up a creative space, like a physical space for cooking classes photo shoots, video

shoots, like a food space. And we explored doing it [00:13:00] in different places. I think Oakland, we were like doing a

lot of research into, cause I think at that time Jess was living in the Bay still what are, what are some other places that we looked into doing it?

Was

it just Oakland? I don't know, Jess, what do

jess Audio Pivot 3: the, in New York,

wen pt 1: Oh, and in the Bronx, I think, because, that's, you know, that's where I am. And yeah, we were like

doing all this research. We visited a few places. We were, we almost,

jess Audio Pivot 3: on one. I mean, we were like more than knee deep. We literally, that was like what a couple of months before the

pandemic

wen pt 1: pandemic hit. Yeah, we were, yep. We were very close then. Thank God we didn't sign

that lease. Cause then COVID happened

and everything shut down.

Right. Yeah. And we were like, Oh

my God, this is probably not going to work

out anymore. But that was something that we were like, Oh, this will be really fun.

It'll be a way to build community. We'll have different offerings. We could even rent it to make additional income for [00:14:00] events. There has

been Sorry, we can edit that another idea was having a

food platform that featured Creatives of Color and a platform would feature, like, different

cultural recipes from around the world. It would be the equivalent of, I don't know, like a food network, but for

different, like creatives of color. And that one was really exciting too. What are some other ones?

jess Audio Pivot 3: I mean, those are. Kind of it. All of the other ones are a spinoff of those. So well, actually, no, this one's not a spinoff, a food brand. That came from a tweet. One of you, one of you all tweeted us like if y'all did a food brand, I would be a repeat customer. And we're like, Hmm, okay.

wen pt 1: Oh, right, right, right, Like having a food product.

jess Audio Pivot 3: a Yeah, because we are having a physical food product that is sold in the grocery [00:15:00] store, which would be a dream, obviously.

But then We researched that. Thank you. Shout out to Heather Kaplan, who put us in touch with somebody who does that work and we had one meeting and we're like, no, it was just too much work. And I really appreciated that meeting because it prevented a lot of hold on. Let me start. Let me think about how I want to say it. I appreciate that meeting because it saved us a lot of

time. We didn't have to go further down a rabbit hole. He just kept it real with what the investment is and how long it takes. And you don't even know if it's

going to do well. It would be something where we'd have to be working on it. I think he said, what, like a year and a half, maybe two years

before it would actually launch.

And I, I just don't have that kind of time to work on one

[00:16:00] product And you don't even know if it's going to do well. Another idea that we had. was business

coaching. This one comes up a lot and shout out To dietitian Wintana. She hit us up actually a few people hit us up

saying, why don't you.

guys do business coaching?

The RD community, the

dietitian community could really use the insight, especially since we have been working with

brands for so long. The problem with that

is at least for right now, I don't, Wendy, are you there? Oh, okay.

Okay. I'll

just wait. Yeah, you could pause it here, Josh.[00:17:00] [00:18:00]

Okay, so, Wendy's audio is restarting.

wen pt 2: Okay, I'm recording. This is part two. So you were saying

about Wintana. Go ahead. Sorry.

jess Audio Pivot 3: The problem, business coaching sounds like a great idea in theory, and I do feel like we would be good at it and we have so much knowledge to share there, but I just don't see that being a long term thing. that I would want to do at this point in my life. I feel like maybe that's after I am completely done with the clinical side of being an RD.

And as I mentioned earlier, I'm not done with that. And I also think, I don't know, with the whole business coaching thing. It can just be hit or miss because as I was telling Wintana, we have been blessed [00:19:00] in that because we have been doing this so long and because I do think we do a good job at with brands and we deliver on what we say we're going to do and we're very professional.

But I I can't necessarily give advice that's going to translate to every single person's situation because we do things our way and we've been lucky in that brands have reached out to us primarily. Like we haven't really had to do any reaching out really. I mean unless it's a company like Sun Basket for example where I love Sun Basket organically and I'm like, I love you guys so much.

Can we please partner with you? Something like that. But it's not. Where we're pitching ourselves or things like that. So I, I don't even know how to speak necessarily to that experience.

wen pt 2: Yeah. I agree. And also Like there's just so many [00:20:00] courses and so many coaches.

And I don't know. I mean, yeah, we have the experience. We've been doing

it for like, 12 plus years. But like Jess said, I

think it's like very unique to us. it's not.

like we've worked with different businesses and brands to help them develop their business.

And like, I don't know I just feel like ethically like it comes across a little scammy to be like, Oh, now we're doing business coaching. We don't have any business experience outside of our own business. However, I mean, You know, I think something that maybe might make a little more sense for us would be

like

negotiating contracts or like things like that.

I feel like that we have a lot of experience doing and both for us, but also the experience.

that we have with like friends who work in

this

space and kind of like,

Consulting with them and figuring out how they do things,

having experiences working with lawyers

who

have [00:21:00] counseled like, I feel like that might be a

little more helpful than like, Oh, we're going to help you grow

your business or

something like that.

It's just,

I don't think, I don't know. Yeah.

I don't know that we're going to be able to do

that.

jess Audio Pivot 3: right. I almost feel like you kind of have to, I don't know. That's the thing. All I know is my friends who hit me up. Love y'all. And what it appears to be is you kind of have to just put your head down and create the content and then the brands will come. That's what I truly think.

And no course is going to put that work in for you. And I feel like a lot of times people Even myself, like I'll buy the course and never take it. I have so many courses like that because I'm expecting me the act of buying the course to be enough to take me to that next level. But it's [00:22:00] like you don't really need a course to tell you how to grow.

You just have to put stuff out consistently and learn new skills. And then we would jump in and say, okay. Here's how you work with the brands. Here's how you? keep it organized and professional. Here's how you negotiate rates Here's how you do all these things like that I would love to do But it's like I, don't the growing part and like just the grind part of it I feel like that's just unique to the individual and you can't teach that

right?

wen pt 2: Yeah. I I mean, I don't know.

jess Audio Pivot 3: I don't think so I feel like it's kind of scammy when it's like I'm gonna help you Grow cuz you

can't really

wen pt 2: Right. I mean, I can't. I personally like yeah, but there are a lot of courses out there. Are they helpful? Are they not? I'm not sure. I guess for those of you who have taken them, you

can, you know, speak to that. I haven't really done those courses. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing a course like that.

You know, I would feel more comfortable doing like a nutrition course because [00:23:00] that's what I did

like my professional training in. You know, but it's, it's been on the table. It's been something that you guys have recommended we do. Also like having a show is something that has come up a few times or doing a new book.

We've had many publishers hit us up and being like, Oh, you know, we would love to Collaborate on

like This, you know, book

proposal or whatever.

But yeah, I don't know. I feel like we're not super clear on what that book would be and so we don't want to get into a situation where we're

like, you know, committing to a book and we're not 100% sure

about what kind of book we would

want because then it's like you're just kind of doing

it

just to do it.

jess Audio Pivot 3: exactly. I feel like that is one thing for us at least. Yeah, I don't want to, be contributing to the oversaturation of the world. And, and that's also why I have a problem with the courses [00:24:00] about growth and this and just post more and da da da. Because for what though? Like is this actually helping people?

Is this enjoyable? I'm seeing now with the chat GPTs and the AIs of the worlds where people are posting, Oh, You can create 50 Instagram posts with one click in Canva And AI. And I'm like, yeah, but those are just 50 trashy posts clogging up the algorithm. And I feel like we could all probably benefit more from doing less and doing it intentionally and figuring out what is enjoyable for us versus All of us kind of doing the most just to do the most and hope for the best type thing or at least maybe that's a privilege of being in the game for so long and being able to do less too because I recognize that as well. I know for us in the beginning, we did do everything and you know, if, if somebody came to us, which they have a lot, like Oh, [00:25:00] let's do a TV show. We did take all of those meetings and nothing ever ended up working out, but now it's kind of more like, even if it is a great opportunity, if it doesn't make sense or we don't feel like we have something. to say, then we're going to pass on it.

wen pt 2: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we've come to the conclusion that whatever it is that we do

next has to be scalable. One

of the I mean, I love food heaven

to pieces, but one of the challenges that we've had now that we've been doing it for so long is that we can't really remove ourselves from the brand because we are the brand.

That's how we built it. And it's not like we, you know, thought it through again. This was not something that started off as a business venture. So we didn't, you know, fully think it through. But the way that we set it up, [00:26:00] it makes it so now if we're not involved. It's not really

food heaven. Like we're so integrated into the identity of the brand.

We can't really

scale it. It's really

hard because for one, like with brand

partnerships, I think, especially in the space that we're in we shared our numbers with you all in

the last episode, but we're doing pretty well. And like, It's not the kind of business where you like, you know, double

quadruple you know, 10 X your income every year. it doesn't really work like that.

Like I think there is a limit to a lot of the opportunities that start coming

away. And. Jess and I were

saying like, we feel like we're kind of close to hitting

that glass ceiling.

jess Audio Pivot 3: Year will be the top.

wen pt 2: yeah, and,

and yeah, like if, if we wanted To you know, kind of take a step back and be like, Oh, we're going to grow this component

or that component.

It's just hard because people want to see your face. They want to hear your [00:27:00] voice, especially like

with this podcast. For example, I know some podcasts are like,

You know, what they're doing is like getting new hosts for their

podcasts.

So that they can kind of transition out And I think it.

would be kind of weird to have like, you know, like, Oh Yeah.

these, this is the new

Wendy and Jess. These are two people who are

gonna, you know, start hosting the podcast or or like start doing recipe, you know, recipe work on the food

heaven page. It just, I don't know, I don't know how our audience would do with that. I don't know if it would work

very well. So that's a challenge. So I feel like with whatever we do, we have to have more of a separation there where like we're running things, but we're not like the face of the

brand.

It's like, we have a solid brand

and you know, a solid team of

people, but it's not just like, Oh, Wendy and Jess.

jess Audio Pivot 3: Yeah. Yep. I will give a couple examples of All of those different [00:28:00] things. So one is diet starts tomorrow They are another podcast that is somewhat similar to ours. I'll say it's by Betches media the host was one of the old hosts was on our podcast actually and they And he ended up walking away from the pod, but they got two new hosts and they cover kind of similar topics.

And then I also saw that the girl boss podcast by Sophia Amoruso. who wrote the book Girl Boss and founded Nasty Gal. She was the host of that and she walked away and someone else took over. So it is possible. And then there's the Tone It Up ladies who are Karina and Katrina and they started, I believe, before us and they do more fitness stuff and they haven't walked away, but they've transitioned the brand to not be about them in a In a great way, honestly because they have all these different instructors and they, they have, what [00:29:00] else do they have?

They have a protein powder. They have a bunch of different, you know, things that you can purchase on their website. They have a line in target. And so it's not as much about them anymore. Like they don't have to, I mean, at least it seems like they don't have to be there running the day to day. So I do think it is possible to transition a brand out.

The problem with food heaven is we may have waited too long. To do the hat because I think people might be too connected to food heaven being us versus Tony upstarted that transition a long time ago and they were really smart about it.

wen pt 2: yeah,

for sure. Let me just see. Yeah, also, whatever we do has to be tech forward. I mentioned like how important it is to be up to date with all of the technological advancement, and especially with us

working in health care, there's a lot of growth happening in that area. And so, I [00:30:00] think it's important to tap into that and really take advantage of all of that growth and figure out a way to use that to educate people about nutrition and about health in a way that's like responsible and

aligns with our brand.

And so that's something that we've been thinking about like, what are the different

ways that we can use technology like whatever it is that we decide to do?

jess Audio Pivot 3: Yeah. And then the other thing is it can't be hundreds of

thousands of dollars, if not a million dollars to

start. I feel like that unfortunately is a hard stop. So that means that at least for now we cannot do a rejuvenation retreat center centering BIPOC folks. Even though I'd love to do that one day, but we're just not there right now. it has to be something that we can start for a relatively low cost because Yeah, we just don't, [00:31:00] we don't have it like that.

wen pt 2: And the good thing is like, because we have so much

experience, I feel like in so

many different areas at this

point you know, of course, like with nutrition and like clinical work, but also with like social media marketing, SEO, like we have a lot of. good, you know, background experience. We are really savvy with like, you know, how we do things, trying to do things in a way that's cost effective, finding the right people, you know, at a reasonable price, knowing what to do ourselves versus knowing what to delegate.

So. It's exciting because, you know, I do feel like all of our

past experiences have led

us to this moment and we're like, okay, we have so much like

at our fingertips, you know, and it's really just about

incorporating It And, you [00:32:00] know,

figuring out what the need is and how

we can fill that need for, you know, whatever audience it is that

we're going to decide to focus on.

jess Audio Pivot 3: And let me say real quick to

keep in mind, it might not be the same audience. I think initially we were really

wanting to transition to the same audience because we love y'all. We love the Food Heaven audience.

wen pt 2: let's talk about to like our audience, because for those of you who are like, okay, who is your audience? From what we understand with like surveys we've done and looking at the analytics, our audience are

black, brown, also I think it's 50 50, like POC and white women millennial,

Mostly,

Professional, meaning like college educated,

working I think that's our core audience.

jess Audio Pivot 3: yeah. That's our core

audience. And [00:33:00] for the new venture, it may. Not be centering the same audience. And I think that's one conclusion that we have come to in the last couple of weeks. It's That we I don't know. We may have to just re envision who it is that we're targeting because again as we said We have been kind of doing general nutrition, intuitive eating, inclusivity, all of those things, but maybe it's a better idea to kind of hone in on one aspect of nutrition that is More underserved that less people are focusing on, but that there's a lot of people who can benefit by having inclusive evidence based care.

So I think we're just, you know, really trying to think about what that could be. And this is exciting. And shout out to our business coach, Marley, who gave us this idea of doing this [00:34:00] live as we're meeting with her because we just started with her three weeks ago. So it's not like we have it all figured out yet.

But like we said before, we just have to be honest with where we're at and where we're hoping to go. So we appreciate all of you for figuring this out with us. And I also want to say I appreciate all of the dietitians who have been sharing this episode. I have been getting so many texts, DMs, whatsapps from my dietitian friends and community.

in comments on our post saying that y'all are really appreciating the transparency and the kind of behind the scenes of it all. So we receive that and We thank you for sharing.

wen pt 2: Yeah. And also this is not going to be like a never

ending series. We're probably,

we are getting closer. To our idea, we're getting very

close and we're really excited once we kind [00:35:00] of continue to iron out the details to share that with you. But we're probably going to do another couple episodes,

jess Audio Pivot 3: Yeah, just a couple more,

wen pt 2: just a couple more, you know, as we like figure this out.

And then, you know, I, yeah, I think that we're very, very

close. To,

to,

jess Audio Pivot 3: Sounds

wen pt 2: know if it's a, I know,

I know it's like are

jess Audio Pivot 3: I do not have the idea. Y'all, we have the

idea. No, I'm just kidding.

wen pt 2: I know,

jess Audio Pivot 3: Should we edit that out,

Josh?

wen pt 2: oh my god. Let me start that

over.

Anyways, we are getting closer to the idea. I feel like, we're going to announce the idea within the next few episodes.

We're just

still kind of working through it, fleshing it,

out. I don't think it's going to be anything jaw dropping. We're not going to be

strippers or anything like [00:36:00] that.

jess Audio Pivot 3: OnlyFans has reached out. Literally. Yeah. And we were considering it.

wen pt 2: We were like, well,

jess Audio Pivot 3: They wanted us to do food content. We're like, hmm.

wen pt 2: I know we were like, this probably isn't a good look,

jess Audio Pivot 3: Yeah, I don't think so.

wen pt 2: but yeah, it's, it's, exciting and it's

relevant. You know, the idea that we have anyways, I, I'll leave it there. Thanks for tuning in this week. Feel free to

keep sending

us your ideas. We're always open. You can DM us, you can email them to

us.

foodheavenpratgmail. com and we'll be back next week with some

updates.

jess Audio Pivot 3: Bye.[00:37:00]