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Put Yourself out there with Rachel Mansfield

Rachel Mansfield  has had absolutely explosive growth on Instagram and on her blog in the past year. She’s only been doing this for a year which is completely, completely amazing. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her and connecting with her through social media and offline too. She is just full of so much information and I know you’ll be inspired by all of her growth this past year.

What you’ll get out of this episode:

  • What you need to grow your instagram accounts
  • How to reply to every comment you get on instagram
  • What is most important to show to your followers
  • figuring out your purpose with your instagram account
  • What held Rachel back in starting sooner.

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Tell us a little bit about rachLmansfield.com and what you do.

I currently live in Manhattan with my husband who I married in September and I started my Instagram account about last March. It stemmed from an idea of me wanting to make a side income. I wanted to sell overnight oats in a jar because, as my readers know, I love overnight oats. I just started posting about them on my Instagram account and my husband kind of laughed at me and said, “You’re not selling overnight oats. Why don’t you just share your recipes?” I started to do that and then July 31st is my blog anniversary. I started to really see the potential of what I was sharing on my Instagram account. So, it’s a little bit of an unconventional path where I started Instagram and then transitioned into a blog.

As long as what you're sharing is quality, people will want to follow you @rachLmansfield #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

How did you actually grow your Instagram account to 50,000 followers?

There’s no secret sauce. There’s no tips or one secret that everyone thinks that other Instagramers have. I always just say that you need quality content and you need engagement, you need your community and your tribe to support you and want to see what you’re sharing and as long as what you’re sharing is quality people will want to follow you.

grow your instagram account

What would be your best advice to starting out and really growing your Instagram?

I would say to have a common ground like what is the reason you want to have an Instagram account. Do you want to share your favorite fitness routine? Do you want to share your recipes, some travel, lifestyle and I think that when you first starting you want to be as targeted as possible. I just finally started branching out into a little bit more like the lifestyle type post it took me almost a year to even post a selfie of myself on my account. You want to be known for something before you start going crazy and dabbling in everything. Pick a targeted topic and stick with that for a little bit of time and see how that goes.

 

Rachel Mansfield

 

What has been your most proud moment in this crazy whirlwind year of yours?

I think the whole journey in general has been… I was walking on the street the other day and I just started hysterically crying which makes me sound like a ridiculous drama queen but I’m so grateful for this journey. When I first started I said to my parents, “I’m going to get 10,000 followers on Instagram,” and they’re like, “Okay Rachel, good luck to you.” And they didn’t get it. My parents are in their mid-50’s and they don’t understand what social media really means at this point and the fact that’s turned into my now full time job, it’s unreal. I think when Elite Daily recently recognized me as one of the top healthy food Instagramers then my mom text me, “I really think you’re on to something.” And I think that was really like when you have your baby, your pride and joy and someone recognizes your hard work that makes you so proud because you actually realized what you’re doing might be making a difference.

What has been your biggest flop or disappointment to date?

I would say not starting this earlier which I know is not technically a flop within the year but I guess just like not taking the initiative to make a blog and start an Instagram in an earlier date.

What do you think held you back from starting sooner?

Rejection. You create something that you put so much hard work and effort into and to share it with other people, I mean obviously there are people who will always not like it, there’s always going to be someone who is negative and doesn’t like what you do but when you just have that confidence to speak out, it’s just a rewarding feeling.

Rachel Mansfield on the Blissful Bites Podcast

What would you say to someone who is in your shoes where you were a year ago and they want to start but they are afraid?

Just do it. There’s no reason not to. The worst that could happen is that it isn’t as successful as it could be and even if so then whatever you put yourself out there, you tried and the best that could happen it could turn into your job and you could be following your dreams in the most unexpected, unbelievable way.

How do you decide what brands to take on and work with?

My biggest thing is that I will only work with the brand if I personally and authentically love and use their product.

Why do you think that’s so important so you don’t branch out from what your audience knows?

Right now the food Instagram world is so saturated with so many different bloggers and everyone is talented. They’re all trying to share their product and recipes with their community. You need to be careful because if a brand reaches out to you, that’s amazing but do your research on them. They could be reaching out to 50 other bloggers at the same time and next thing you know you’re all posting the same thing. It just doesn’t make you look authentic and you want to make sure you’re true to your brand and you’re not just doing something that everyone else is doing.

Do you have 2 or 3 tips that you can share for people who are looking to work with brands and how to be true to your voice and customize it without kind of selling out to your audience?

The first one is to always get a contract when you’re working with the brand whether it’s a compensated post or not. You want to make sure that the expectations are clear. Another thing is just because a brand asks you to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it sometimes brands are learning too. Just do what works for you, don’t only listen to what the brand is asking for.

Where do you see yourself and your blog and your whole business in 5 years?

I hope that everything continues to grow at this speed and I’m grateful for what I’ve accomplished this far.

How do you stay balanced?

I don’t. It’s such a struggle for me. I just implemented a rule no phones in bed because it just helps me. I leave my phone on the couch and I get into bed and I’m done. That’s step one towards balance. Two is I go to Barre 3-5 times a week. I go there at 9:45 and if I don’t go there my whole day is just like out of whack.

Share one thing that you want your readers and followers to know about you that you think they don’t know.

I hate food photography. It’s my least favorite part of what I do.

Follow Rachel:

Rachel is in her mid-twenties living in the heart of Manhattan with her husband Jordan. She has been blogging for the last 10 months where she shares her latest recipes, go-to products and lifestyle tips. Rachel has a passion for sharing food that tastes amazing and makes you feel amazing.

 

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You Have to Go All In with Natalie Shultz, Healthy Human Life

Natalie is the president and co-founder of Healthy Human Life. Her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis prompted her to make clean living and healthy choices a priority. She co-founded Healthy Human Life to help people eliminate toxins in their life with the simple choice- choose stainless steel.

 

Tell us a little bit about you and your company, Healthy Human Life.

This company is actually my last venture. My partner and I are with it until the end of this one. We started Healthy Human Life because we wanted to be in the health space with a product that would help people’s health. As you know, I was diagnosed with a MS and one of the easiest and quickest thing I did was to start drinking lots of water. I was having a hard time using glasses, my grip wasn’t good anymore and I needed something unbreakable. We decided to choose stainless steel as a container for water. We wanted this to become a universal product. As we all know, we eat and we drink, so this is a product that people could use and they could give the product to their kids.  I really wanted to have something for the entire family as well.

Why would people choose healthy human in stainless steel vs. BPA free plastic?

BPA plastic has really been in the news lately and BPA free is supposedly not safe. We go to extra lengths to make sure that even the lids of our stainless steel stein is lined with the stainless steel and not the BPA free plastic. Even in the malls or the supermarket, they don’t use stainless steel in the lids of their containers. We are doing this so that we won’t touch any plastic that is in the lid, so making this product is convenient for everyone.

How did you actually get started?

My business partner and I combined our superpowers. I am into marketing and sales but before I got to be innovative in that field, a long time ago I was a potter. I was doing sculpting. I have this creative side. My business partner is actually the biggest tech guru that you will ever meet. He was setting up a very successful online stores when the internet was just starting. We decided to work together and planned to build an e-commerce company. From that stepping stone, we targeted Amazon because it is one of the biggest means of marketing. I know what it is like to order foods and what it is like to deal with distributors and I don’t want to do that again. I want to just sit at my desk or just be at the beach while I’m doing the business. I don’t want to manage 300 people. We worked on the means and ways in the business like deciding on what products are we going to have and how are we going to manage this venture. Many people have started asking how we do these things and asking us for advice. We have decided to work with the healthy options product since we’re both passionate about our health. From then on, I realized that this is where I am supposed to be. This product is made for me and I was born to do this thing.

What is your vision of your own company? How do you align your vision and your priorities?

My partner and I really wanted to have a work-life balance. Even though we are the same age, his boys are younger than mine—ages 10 and 12 while I have 3 teenagers, one is in College and the two are soon to be out in the next two years. My life is already getting to a point that it is not home-based anymore that is why I am switching to this new thing and what I’m doing really has to fulfill me. This business perfectly does that. Dick’s sports goods offered us a business partnership but then we thought that would be a new venture. We thought about it and said thank you anyway but no. We didn’t pursue it because we are so vigilant about about vision. We get wholesale inquiries every day and it’s tempting really, it’s nice to know that there are offers for us because it is a validation that our company is doing something right. I think there is value in it but it is very powerful also to say, “No!”

What is the proudest moment you have with Healthy Human?

That is a hard kind of question. I mean, almost every single day I throw my fist in the air and say, “YAY!” There’s that feeling of excitement because I think of the small things as bits of success. Everything, whether how big or small it is, is a victory for me. I love that we’re the first Paleo-friendly product to be approved by the Paleo Foundation that is outside of Food and Beauty Products. It is so cool for me because knowing we were first, and we will always be first and I can hang on that. I just think that is my best and proudest moment I have with Healthy Human. All of these things are just amazing. It proves that we fit in the healthy space, we’ve created a new quality product and people are responding to it very well.

What are the struggles that you have encountered in Healthy Human?

We underestimated the market. In our growing company, we also experienced running out of stock and that’s a huge thing because a company must not run out of stock. We had a lot of angst about that happening. It was really bad and painful. That’s why this year we have a much better stock flow for our customers. I have to say, that was our biggest issue in the company. We’re looking forward to recovering from it today.

What is your best piece of advice for someone who is just starting out?

My brother asked me this question a few months ago because he was starting his own business. I said to him that, at the end of the day as an entrepreneur you have to put everything all in. It means that you have to put it all in, if it means you have to sell your house or you do things that you thought you can’t do. In order to launch it, you must acquire new skills and if you are not willing to do that, maybe because of your family or whatever circumstance, then it is not for you. Any business that I have done and have involved myself in, I definitely put it all in. That would be my advice for anybody who is planning to start any business. You can’t have a plan B, meaning you must have a solid plan or else you are going to fail. I mean that you have to put yourself in the position of thinking the best for yourself. Never allow yourself to think about anything else.

founder of healthy human life

Where do you see yourself in your company 5 years from now?

My goal is just to keep innovating. I mean, my mind is always looking forward to come up with the things. In 5 years, I hope that I’m going to have the most amazing product line. I don’t want to say I’m ever finished. It is always about what are we going to do and how, it is the thing that drives us every day. I can also see that in the coming years, our company will be more “branded” and become larger, it means to hire a super crew. I’m going to keep on doing things until I can’t do anything anymore. I vowed that this will be my last business.

How do you stay balanced?

Honestly, I stay balanced by taking care of myself. As a mom, I know that it is one of the hardest things to do but I actually take hold of that and realize that when you take care of yourself first, everything else falls in line. I also thought that what happened to me (MS) is the greatest kick of my life. If I didn’t decide on doing something for me, I might be laying in my bed for life. That’s why I took care of myself first so that I can do many amazing things with my family.

Do you have a morning routine to make sure your day successful?

I usually take an hour after I wake up to not be looking at computer screens, cellphone or TV. What I do first thing in the morning is that I sit and drink my coffee. I organize my thoughts and read the news. I don’t think deep thoughts, I just organize them. From then, I check my email and do about half an hour of some exercise and take my time before I go to work. When I say take my time, I have to prepare the essentials like having my smoothie. After those routines, my body is super ready to dive in to all the things in work.

What is the best promotional strategy or technique in Healthy Human?

My vision from the very beginning was to be an online company so we had to talk and reach out to people. It starts with the packaging and the entire messaging that people are reading online. When they open the gift and they use it, they feel sought out. Every detail was thought over and is absolute quality. If there’s any questions or follow up, we’re there actually to answer them. We don’t have automated emails, instead we are there personally talking with you. Every email that you get is hand-typed to you that answers your specific questions. I really wanted to create a company that had a human touch in an online world. Instagram, for example, is a large online platform wherein you can have marketing because it allows you to work hands on in a very adaptable way. From there, it blossomed and I loved to give products away.

Click to listen to Natalie Shultz from Healthy Human Life on the Blissful Bites Podcast in iTunes

Find Healthy Human Life!

Natalie is the co-founder of Healthy Human Life. Harnessing every ounce of entrepreneurial spirit starting out in sales and marketing natalie schultzover 20 years ago, she has carefully honed her skills to concentrate on business strategy and development. Recently diagnosed with MS in June 2014, Natalie began using food as her choice bypassing all other medicines. With a very clear vision in front of her today and a unique outlook on healthy eating, living, working and out world, she is ready for anything. “Business is fun, family is better, health in controllable, the earth is fragile, whatever you do, protect those things.”

businesseseThis podcast was sponsored by Businessese. Use code BLISSFULBITES at checkout to receive 10% off of any purchase.

NEW podcast giveaway! (2 Bags Blissful Eats granola, 3 pack of Healthy Human Water Bottles, 3 jars of Nuttzo, variety pack from My Super Foods and CLEAR by Annick Magac)  by filling out the form below AND/OR writing an iTunes review and sending a screen shot of it in an email to me!

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There’s Simplicity in Focusing with Nicole Chaszar

Nicole Chaszar founded Splendid Spoon to take the hard work out of eating well.  Like many women today, she is driven by living a full life, and she felt exasperated by all the conflicting messages in the wellness industry.  Diet programs were confusing, cooking every meal was time consuming and ready-to-eat ‘health’ foods were highly processed.  Splendid Spoon creates simple, plant-based plans and mindfulness exercises that are amazingly effective at establishing healthy eating habits.  Splendid Spoon is committed to making nicole chaszar splendid spoonwomen’s wellness goals a reality through the science of soup, the power of plants, and the art of mindfulness.  Nicole is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, a former media executive at Conde Nast’s WIRED and The New Yorker, and the author of the upcoming Soup Cleanse Cookbook, due August 2016.  She lives with her family in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

How did you get started with Splendid Spoon?

When I was pregnant with my first son in 2013, it was kind of a wake up call of like: ‘Oh my gosh! I just finished culinary school and I had been experimenting with starting a business and testing all sorts of recipes. Ironically, the food and the habits around my food were really not so great. It was kind of manic with a lot of really intense restaurant style cooking. Exercising a lot on the weekends and not a lot of balance and I thought that was something needed to be fixed. I created the business and developed a really peaceful program around it to help ease anxiety. It was the genesis of Splendid Spoon.

What does your company embody and what does health mean to you?

Health to me is being really connected to your food choices so that you don’t feel that they are separate from you. I really believe food is joy and we are what we eat. I really think that you should embrace food for nourishing you and that is what Splendid Spoon is about. We started with soup because everyone has really nice memories of people cooking for them and it’s also really unique and helps stay fuller longer. It’s really easy to get more vegetables into a serving of soup because you are cooking them down, so you’re getting a really concentrated hit of pure vegetable ingredients while also having something that slows you down a little bit. That is what also really helps you connect your actions and sitting down and feeding yourself to what’s going on in your mind and reminding yourself that this is something that is taking care of you.

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What is your proud moment so far?

Having my two kids while running the business. I try to be focused on just what I’m doing and to know what my boundaries are. I really don’t try to do everything all at once and I really accept that I can’t do everything perfectly. When I’m work, I’m at work and I try to be pretty disciplined about my schedule and then when I’m home, I’m home.

nicole chaszar, splendid spoon

There's simplicity in focusing with Nicole Chaszar from @splendidspoonny #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

What is your biggest disappointment?

The biggest mistake that I have made in the past was thinking that I needed someone more senior than me, someone more experienced than me to guide me or help me make decisions and that really derailed me for a period of time. It was a really good learning experience because it made me realize that especially in the early stages when you’re a boot strapped company and you’re doing whatever you can to stay afloat its grit, its intuition and  years aren’t going to give someone those two qualities.

Tell us that moment when it went from hobby to business.

Right before I launched Splendid Spoon, I was working at Conde Nast and cooking in the early morning hours for a soup company that became Splendid Spoon. It became too much for me to handle; the cooking, the selling on the weekends and I started bringing the soup to co-workers. I had a spreadsheet and I worked off with that on my lunch hour and delivered soup. At a certain point I was starting to burnout doing both. I decided if I’m gonna do this, then I’m want to do it really well and I want to launch it as a real business not as a hobby.

What is your biggest piece of advice to someone who is just starting out?

Whatever you are doing make sure that you are really connected to it personally. If you really are connected to it and you really care and it really comes from something inside of you that needs to be heard or expressed then it’s a really beautiful amazing way to live your life.

Do you have a company or business owner you look up to?

I work with a Buddhist meditation coach and I would say she is definitely the person that I looked up to most and she‘s an entrepreneur. She put herself to school and she is trained in Buddhist meditation, is also a mom and is self employed. She’s someone who is truly connected to what she’s doing and gains a lot of joy from sharing her knowledge with her clients. I really looked up to her in that way.

 Where do you see yourself and your company in 5 years?

I really think we are just at the very very edge of what will be a really big movement with connecting the mind and body connection. I think food is a really good medium that makes the connection stronger.  I’m really excited to see how not only the rest of the world will start to become aware of this and invite it into their daily rituals and practices with food, but how our product beyond soup will evolve.

What do you do to make your day more successful?

I really try to prioritize myself as much as possible. But the other element that is really, really important is making sure that you dedicate time to your own emotional and physical health.

nicole chaszar

What is your secret online tool?

The whole team uses Slack which is amazing. You can upload files for review, you can do some longer posts and chat. We use it to edit all of our labels and to give feedback on blog posts.

What is your business book that you recommend?

Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith. I haven’t finished it but he’s an executive coach and he’s worked on a lot of huge corporations. I like it not only for myself as a business person and a leader, but also for an understanding of habits and habit formation. It’s all about how a lot of us want to evolve or change or adopt new behaviors that will get us closer to where we want to go or keep us on the path where we want to be going but it always seems so difficult. It’s also about identifying the different triggers and environmental elements that are going on around you that will either keep you in one place or derail you. It also has really practical advice for recognizing triggers and shifting your personal perception or reaction to them so that you can stay to your path towards your goal.

Share one thing about you that your customers don’t know.

I bet my customers don’t know that I’m not vegan.

Click to listen to Nicole Chaszar from Splendid Spoon on the Blissful Bites podcast! 

Where can we find you?

 

Blissful Bites Podcast Giveaway

Monday March 7th is the last day to enter this month’s podcast giveaway! (2 jars of Wild Friends Nut Butter, Variety pack of 7 soups from Splendid Spoon, 1 bag of Blissful Eats granola and Thinner in 30 by Jenna Wolfe) by filling out the form below AND/OR writing an iTunes review and sending a screen shot of it in an email to me!

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