Starting a Practice Without Fear

Well, so when you're building a nutrition practice or medical practice or really any type of business, if you think about it, the rule number one is you have to not be afraid to start, right?

Because a lot of people are just afraid, right? And the fear is what really keeps us away from succeeding, from something phenomenal, right? So, I mean, I'm sure you know friends and families and people, oh, I want to do this, but I'm afraid.

Oh, I want to do that. So to build a successful practice, don't be afraid to start, but be very calculated about this. You don't want to start too fast and run too fast, right?

You got to get your experience first. You got to really understand your leadership skills. You have to get to know how your team works. What kind of demographics are we attracting?

What type of patients can we help? What kind of vendors can we work with, right? It's not going to start from day one. Welcome to the Holistic Truth Podcast.

I'm Jamie Dorley, CEO of Nutritional Frontiers. And I'm Christine Genovese, creator of the Soul Intelligence Method. We're here to help you break through chronic disease and dysfunction physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically.

with real proven strategies, protocols, and tools you can use in your practice today. Hello, everyone, and welcome back. We're live at the Holistic Truth, your favorite podcast for wellness and longevity.

And I am at the home base in Studio 109. I'm your host today, Jamie Dorley. I am the CEO and co-founder of the Nutritional Frontiers. And I'm so excited to be surrounded with such brains and beauty.

I got, of course, my co-host, The one and only our Chief Growth Officer at Nutritional Frontiers. She has had incredible impact, not only on me, but our business in the last few years and leading the troops.

She is actually live in Tampa, Florida. Welcome back, award-winning author, Christine Genovese. How are we doing? I'm doing great, Jamie. Thank you so much.

Yeah, I'm actually happy to be in Florida today. It's 70 and sunny, so I'm very grateful. Well, it's sunny here, too. We've got a fireplace in Michigan, so I think we're all staying warm and cozy together because we have an incredible guest on here.

She's a colleague of ours, a brand ambassador, a friend, and someone I really admire. She's what I consider the American dream. You know, the American dream is not gone, folks.

All it takes is hard work. discipline and consistency. And she's applied that since she came to our country with only $500 in her pocket over 20 years ago.

And it's funny because in the US when we say we're going to send you to Siberia, It's actually a real place. We think it's like some make believe place, but no, she actually came from Siberia over 20 years ago with dreams, you know, and a heart of gold.

She got involved in personal training and did a NPC, National Physique Committee, bikini and bodybuilding show.

Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome

So she's a champion competitor, a champion personal trainer. registered dietitian, and really an incredible businesswoman. She's done courses for Nutritional Frontiers on how to build a million dollar cash practice, but that's not good enough because now it's how to build a multi-million dollar because a million dollars is not enough anymore, I've heard.

So let's give a nice warm welcome to our big friend out in Michigan, Paulina Petrusovic. How are we doing, Paulina? Hi, guys. Good morning. I'm doing amazing.

How are you? doing great and we're trying to keep up with you. I tell you what, social media is not enough anymore. You're buzzing around the world and I think the coolest thing is the way that you lead by example.

I've seen some people on your team like Taylor and Stacey where they came onto the team and how you helped them grow and you've grown over the years has been, it's really been exciting to watch and admire you a lot.

So we're doing great. How about you, Christine? I am doing fabulous. And I'm so excited to have Polina here. You know, your story is inspirational. And before we came on, we were talking a little bit about how you've really duplicated yourself and gotten to a point in your business where you can actually go and enjoy some time away from your business.

And I would love to hear your story. So would I. I would love to know how to get to that place too. I'm following your footsteps. Wow. Let's hear your story because it's incredible and most people think that they see you or Christine, an author now, or me.

Somebody recently said, you're so lucky. I said, why? They said, well, look at your business. You don't even have to work. Yes, I wish it was that simple.

We wish it was that simple. Well, for the ones that don't know me or don't know my story is I came to United States 25 years ago and I literally had a little backpack full of hopes and dreams and I had just a few hundred dollars in my pocket with no stable place to live and barely spoke English.

You know, by working hard little by little, just really staying relentless, this country gave me an amazing opportunity to make something out of myself.

And, you know, I could talk about it for hours, but to just, you know, to make the long story longer is really the key to success is to just really stay committed.

To stay committed, stay focused, stay driven. Just really, just, you have to have that burning desire to make something out of yourself, right? When you stay relentless, you are unstoppable.

You can move mountains. So, you know, when I started the 7.7 nutrition 15 years ago, Jamie, you know my story because we've been working with Nutritional Frontiers for a long time now.

I started with just a tiny little closet. It was like a janitor's closet. The office was just the size of my, you know, bathroom. You just have to start small and you just have to have this vision that you have to realize why is that you're doing what you're doing, right?

Because little by little by little, when you start building the right team, you start duplicating yourself. That little tiny office becomes multi-million dollar locations.

And for us, it's very important at this point that what we're building is really a legacy. We're not just building offices, right? That's, you know, support the customer service and help our employees.

We're really building a legacy and making a difference. And, you know, when people say like, oh, 15 years, you know, or your overnight success, yeah, 15 years later, you become an overnight success.

Yeah, I actually just heard it's 18 to 20 years, the overnight success. And most people won't be resilient or the hard work. And I think one thing we all three of us have in common are overachievers, right?

You know, none of us were born with a silver spoon or even had a blueprint. of success, even what that looks like. And I think sometimes that's an advantage, right?

You growing up in Russia, Christine and myself growing up in New York, you know, where you gotta hustle. If not, you don't eat, literally, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

And I think, you know, to see you… grow 7.

Paulina's Immigrant Journey and Early Business Growth

7 nutrition and you know I think like you said the legacy that's where Christine and myself and our team is at is you know what is the legacy and I think when you help so many people right get healthy and I've been in your office and seen the success stories there's nothing more fulfilling than that right and I think that's one of the things Christine uh coming to our industry a few years ago really has shared is you know it's the relationships we have with our clients and the customers and and the fulfillment that we get and that we see.

Absolutely. So Polina, why don't you describe for people, since we know you so well, what does your business look like? What do you do and who do you help?

So 7.7 Nutrition is a registered dietitian office. We specialize in holistic nutrition, integrative nutrition, sports nutrition. We started 15 years ago in Tampa Bay, Florida, the city of champions.

We transitioned to the state of Michigan We currently have three locations in Metro Detroit and we're on the rise to expansion, which is the first time I'm ever publicly talking about.

We have a lot of great opportunities and exciting things that we'll be sharing soon. And basically our medical practice slash nutrition practice is like a clinic.

You walk in and it's just really holistic. nutrition center and registered dietitian office. And we specialize in anything from custom diet plan designs to, of course, for carrying professional grade supplements on the shelves.

We do IV therapy, different types of food inflammation testing. different blood work testings for MTHR mutations and the micronutrient testing and, you know, different testings for your gut microbiome.

So basically, when the client comes into our office, it's kind of like a one-stop shop where we, first of all, we look at prevention, right, better than cure, but at the same time, We do help our clients to get off of medications and we do help our clients through integrative nutrition and supplementation and things like that, just to really become their best self.

That's amazing. That's interesting. When Christine joined the team, she actually was on some medications. So. A, you're very transparent, but we want to hear the story because other people, we need hope for people.

I think that's what Paulina provides and we provide. So seriously, if you don't mind sharing that story, Christine, it's quite the accomplishment. Sure.

You know, I was on blood pressure medication. I was like 20 milligrams of low sartan. And, you know, once you go to a cardiologist and they put you on blood pressure medicine, they don't want you to come off it, right?

They don't want the liability of you coming off. And I never even knew you could. I just thought it was a thing. My dad had high blood pressure, so I have high blood pressure, so I got to deal with it.

I didn't realize how much of blood pressure you could control through stress and possibly using nutraceuticals to do it. So I was shamed into getting off blood pressure medicine, quite frankly, by our wonderful Joe Massino, otherwise known as the Godfather of Nutrition.

He was horrified that I was on blood pressure medicine. I was like, what? What are you meaning? So he said, don't you know you could take seven flowers, our circuit core and our enter CoQ10 and not have to be on it?

And I said, no, I did not. So I wound up doing it and I recently just had a checkup and it couldn't have been better. I think it was like 121 over 80, like a picture perfect blood pressure.

But that's several years later and certainly working with our doctors to wean myself off. But that was how I don't need to use any blood pressure medicine anymore.

If you got one cool part of your protocol, plus hanging out with me, Paulina, it always lowers the blood pressure. Oh boy. I don't know about that one.

So Paulina, who do you treat typically? Like what are some of the most common conditions you see and treat and what are some of your favorite protocols?

Yeah, so the biggest type of client that walks into our office is someone either with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, issues with diabetes or pre-diabetes, right?

We work with a lot of autoimmune conditions. We're discovering that a lot of women, women really are more prone towards autoimmune rather than men. I would say 80% of the autoimmunes that we deal with belong to women.

We work with pediatric nutrition, preventative nutrition for pediatric obesity. So it's really, every day is a different day. Every day is a different project.

We never work with the same type of client. So, you know, a lot of people think of nutrition and dietetics that it's weight loss and muscle building, but it's deeper than that, right?

Pregnancies, we do work with girls that are trying to get pregnant or currently pregnant or lactating. Well, it's just really within 10 to 12 hour working day, we can see so many patients that see all kinds of walks of life.

The typical protocols though, the ones that we absolutely love because, you know, we customize them. You've been to our offices, you see we have array of supplements from you guys and things like that.

But the most common protocol that we really love and trust and the one that every single person really truly can benefit in our office is the candida detoxes and the gut protocols.

We all know that our microbiome is what really makes us or breaks us, right?

Who 7.7 Nutrition Serves and What It Offers

So, especially right now with the, you know, the holidays and Christmas, we have so many people already thinking ahead of the game, right? They want to detox.

So, you know, our candida bundles are something that we absolutely love. Right now we're running a Black Friday special. We're doing them as a part of the discounted protocols.

I mean, if you really look through our inventory, or if you look through all of the orders that we place with you guys, our biggest staples are Candy Kill, SBC, Superbiotic, Liver Gold, Bladder, Tincture, GI Complete.

The biggest thing is that one doesn't work without another, right? Candy kill kills the yeast, right? SBC calms down your gut and gets the yeast out of the system.

The vagal bladder tincture helps you to detox. The GI complete really soothes your gut lining. So it's kind of like this big group of best friends that's really working on your microbiome.

And I actually do teach my girls in my office to explain it as if it's a package. Because sometimes people come in and say, can I just start with candy kill, you know, just for sugar cravings?

One doesn't work without another. And you guys make it so easy on us because you're providing us with these beautiful brochures, right? That's just really very clearly explaining how to administrate everything.

Definitely heads down, if there was one specific bundle I could choose from nutritional frontiers, that would be the gut health protocol. Wow, that's fantastic.

I couldn't say that better myself. And thanks for all the support, Paulina. I've seen you on stage speaking to our health care professionals and you are well-trained and you know our product line better than some of our teams.

So I really appreciate that. Did you see the new wellness solution we put together with you and mine, Paulina? Yes, yes, yes. And we're very grateful and very humbled and very proud of that.

So thank you very much. That was definitely for you. So the way we break our products out, you know, we have lots of SKUs, more than 250 SKUs. So we break it up into 12 wellness solutions.

And so this year we're introducing a couple of new ones. And one of them is the microbial solution. So you just talked about the microbiome and I think you hit just about everything in that brochure.

Yeah, it's the next phase from the candida solutions because this will incorporate some of the other formulas. One of the newer ones is remove complete, the IgG, which I absolutely love.

I put that right in my GI complete and super creatine in the morning. I'm hearing a lot of great things about what you guys do at 7.7 Nutrition. What are some of the things that maybe a healthcare professional, even a person that's listening could learn from you today?

What are some of the key pitfalls you see when someone's coming in that you can help people understand today? Because when you say GI health or the holidays, people equate a lot of the health to weight.

Right. And I was just watching a friend of mine's podcast and he was talking about how, you know, people understand the stress of the food just to try and digest this product or processed food that people are eating.

What are some of the key things that people coming for that you see that's very routine and very common that you need to change right away? Sure. So that's a great question, Jamie.

When a client comes to our office, the two big pointers that we really emphasize on is first, of course, it's education. Second, a radical accountability.

One doesn't work without another. Of course we have to educate, right? It's our duty and obligation. We have to explain and sometimes we have to shift our mindset from what they believed in the past and what they've done in the past to what exactly needs to be done, right?

Without education. Without education, we cannot help our clients. That's step one. But then radical accountability comes along where just because you taught someone to do something, now you have to keep them accountable.

You have to hold their hand, right? You have to stay patient with them. That's why it's so important when we see our clients, usually when we put them on some kind of protocol, we see them once a week or maybe once every two weeks or every three weeks, depending on the case that we're dealing with.

Because without radical accountability, you know, people give up. It's a human nature, right? Or maybe it's just a new habit that they're trying to build.

So it's up to us as nutrition professionals, it's our duty and obligation to just really hold them by the hand and really, you know, welcome them to the office and keep on educating them because that gives them hope, right?

Because education doesn't happen overnight. It's like me learning English. I still have an accent, right? I can talk nonstop. You can't shut me up, but I still have an accent.

So I'm still learning, right? So same exactly thing with the nutrition protocols. Definitely education. Because, and because of that, because we have to provide education to our clients, I have to keep my team accountable to prove to, I have to provide education for them.

Right? So that's where the actual seminars that come in handy, the podcasts like this. We travel to different presentations. I mean, we've been with you guys for so long, right?

You do such a great job just putting all of these in-person wellness seminars.

Education, Accountability, and Patient Success

So that's a big deal. And it's a huge part of running a successful nutrition practice. Well, I love it. I heard education and not only accountability, but radical accountability.

And it works. I've seen your patients coming in and I see the success stories that they're getting. Well, that's awesome. So what are some of the things that you recommend practitioners do to help grow their business?

Because you've had tremendous success. You don't run just one facility, you've got three, and you're dropping hints there may be more, which is pretty exciting.

So what helps you do that? Like what are some of the things that you've done besides obviously having an incredible reputation and doing great work? And one thing that she's done, and she mentioned her humble beginnings.

I was at her location, the old powerhouse in the city, and she was literally under the stairwell in a tiny office. Similar to my humble beginnings and Christine starting working out of her house, right?

You know, that is a true story because people, again, see your big facilities, multiple facilities. So I love the question. Great question, Christine.

Yes. Well, so when you're building nutrition practice or medical practice or really any type of business, if you think about it, the rule number one is you have to not be afraid to start, right?

Because a lot of people are just afraid, right? And the fear is what really keeps us away from succeeding, from something phenomenal. Right. So, I mean, I'm sure, you know, friends and families and people, oh, I want to do this, but I'm afraid, oh, I want to do that.

I'm afraid. So to build a successful practice, don't be afraid to start, but be very calculated about this. You don't want to start too fast and run too fast.

Right. You've got to get your experience first. You've got to really understand your leadership skills. You have to get to know how your team works. What kind of demographics are we attracting?

What type of patients can we help? What kind of vendors can we work with, right? It's not going to start from day one. Don't be afraid to start run with it, but just, you know, when, when it's time to slow down.

Right. Because look, we've been in the field for 15 years and only after 15 years being in the trenches, now we're ready to expand nationally. Right. I could not do this 15 years ago.

I wouldn't even want to think about this 15 years ago. So, and, you know, when you start, don't let your fear stopping you from succeeding, right? Because it's, I mean, at the end of the day, a lot of people, when I was starting my business, they're like, well, what if it fails?

What if it doesn't work? But my answer was always like, well, what if it does? And, you know, look at us now, right? So another thing is you also want to make sure you When you start building the business and I speak about it, I think I spoke about your conventions about it.

When you start building or expanding the business, you need to treat your business like a child. Right? When you're birthing a baby, that's it. There is no way out.

You cannot unbirth the baby. When you birth the baby, you have to focus on that baby. Everything goes to the baby. You take away from yourself, right?

All the money that you're making goes back to the baby. Forget about work-life balance. Work-life balance doesn't work when you're building the business.

If you want to work nine to five, you better go work for somebody else. I've never seen anyone who wakes up at nine o'clock in the morning, scratches their behind and like, you know what?

Today I'm just going to work a little bit because I feel like, no. Literally, the baby will need all of your undivided attention, right? The weekends, the holidays, three o'clock in the morning, like you do it until the baby is grown.

When the baby grows, the baby takes care of you. So, right? And I know Jamie, you like to say work-life integration, but you know, you have to find that exciting balance in your disbalance, because if you really want to build the business, you have to really go all out.

I'm sorry to say that, but you know, and that's why the ones that come to my team and the people that we hire, if they want work-life balance, I tell them, go work for corporate company.

You're not going to work for me. I'm sorry, just you and I not going to get along. I'm going to expect too much from you and then you're not going to give me enough.

So, you know, that's, that's, that's a big deal. Another thing I say is, and I compare building a business is like building a house, right? If you are first time business owner, if you are first time homeowner, do what you can afford.

Don't rush into it. If you're a first-time homeowner, $200,000 home will do. You don't need a $10 million mansion. The goal is to provide the roof over your head, right?

The same thing is, you know, if you don't have a car, you can't afford a car, take the damn bus. You know my story when I moved to Michigan five years ago.

I lived in a hotel for two and a half years. I couldn't afford to purchase a home. I didn't have a car. I took a bus to go to work, but I didn't care because I was very driven and focused and obsessed with what I wanted to create, right?

I'm very proud to say I no longer have a bus. I have a nice car. I no longer live in a hotel. I built a beautiful custom home. But basically you have to understand if you can't afford the marble and countertops, you're okay with Formica because it will become, it will come to you, right?

Don't be afraid. Stay focused. Forget about looking at the clock when you're working. But at the same time, just think about everything I'm building, right?

Giving, I'm giving back to my, to my baby. The bigger the baby grows, the obviously the better success I'm going to get. And then when the baby is grown, then you can travel the world.

Then you can have all this electrification. I know that's where you are now. I want to live Paulina's life, right? It's coming soon. Yeah. Yes, exactly.

Well, one of the things I want to share, Paulina, I think, you know, a lot of people get into healthcare because they've had a health crisis, especially that's been the story, I think, for naturopathic health in particular.

And so when you're a healthcare provider or when you're a healer of some kind, right? You're not always a business owner, right? You're not always business minded because you want to make people well, right?

Scaling a Practice and Building a Team

You've got this higher calling, this higher purpose. You've managed to bring all of that together in what you do. So what would be some of your advice to these wonderful healthcare providers out there that are starting their own practices or working in their own practices, but aren't as business minded as you were?

Do you have any tips or tricks or things to help them, you know, bring it all together? Yep, absolutely. Invest in your team. That would be my biggest advice, right?

Especially invest into the skill that you are the lowest at. I'm not going to be my own attorney, right? I'm not going to be my own CPA. I'm not going to be my own financial advisor.

I can't cut my own hair and I cannot do my own manicure, right? So I'm going to hire people to do this for me, right? I don't need to know it all and know how to do it all, right?

But I need to know what is the vehicle to getting to what needs to be done. So find the right team, invest in your team, take away from yourself, give everything to your team first because you're only as strong as your weakest link, right?

And keep on, again, just like parenting, keep on investing, keep on training them, keep on giving them that attention. You know, your team that you're building, you got to build them by your rules, by your own terms.

But, you know, the child doesn't know what the parent is expecting from them. So, and you cannot get frustrated with them if they screwed it up a few times.

Just really take away from yourself and look at your business as the, as a bigger picture, right? So, because what I see a lot in the medical industry is that a lot of practitioners do not think as a business owner.

They think as an operator, right? Working in the business and working on your business are completely two different things. And I have learned it very fast.

And because of that, I was able to scale and duplicate and replicate and quadruplicate Our practice where now I will step away but I know wholeheartedly and blindly that Stacey and Riva and Taylor and Joanna and Amelia and all of my girls got it, right?

I could be in Morocco, I could be in the south of France, I could be in London, I could be really anywhere in the world and I know because I have positioned myself to really think as a business owner.

not necessarily an operator, even though I am both and I'm very good at multitasking and I'm genuinely choosing at this point to be an operator because I absolutely love what I do.

I'm obsessed with making a difference and helping clients, but that's besides the point. The point is that you have to condition Your team to run the way you want them to run.

Right. And a lot of times what happens is a lot of practitioners, they start the business and they're like, I don't have enough money or I don't have enough energy or I don't want to invest.

I don't want to, you know, show up on my day off or, you know, Christmas is here. Like I really want to take a week. vacation. No, there will be time and a place for that.

Invest, invest, invest. Coach, coach, coach. Train, train, train. Everything you make put back in that bank account, put it back into your actual business.

Because again, you have to ask yourself, am I ready to step away? If the answer is not, then you keep on going. You're not there yet, right? A lot of people give up too fast, too soon.

And that's the biggest problem. Yeah, I think that a lot of people don't have a blueprint for success, right? Maybe their family wasn't involved in businesses.

Maybe they're the first person in healthcare. So one of the great things I love is that you and Christine put together your business course. Number one, I'd like Christine to share how people can.

get involved with the course. And then number two is the one-on-one consulting because the people I know that hired you have never looked back. Right.

So Christine, how do we get, how do we let people know how to get involved with her course? Well, that's easy. All you have to do is to go to nutritionalfrontiers.com and you go under education and events and you scroll down and you will see Paulina's business course.

And the reason we do that is, you know, what sets nutritional frontiers apart? We've talked a little bit about it. It is definitely our people, but it's also, you know, our incredible formulations and then our business model.

And our business model is different because we focus on something you remarked about, education. And we also provide business solutions because we want our clients to succeed, right?

We want to set them up to be able to help make the world healthy. And we want to be able to do that in partnership together. So one is take the course.

And what about if they want to do the course? They see what you're doing, they start implementing some of your incredible ideas. The great thing about the course, the easier idea is you can implement right away and most of them don't cost anything, right?

Other than the cost of the course, of course. Well, you mentioned one thing, I think, in a seminar that you did to preview the course, and you talked about even having a phone number that goes to everybody that's like a secret phone number.

And I was like, what? That's intriguing. What is the secret phone number trick? Well, you're going to have to pay me before I can release it. I'm just kidding.

Listen, we live in a world of technology, right? Artificial intelligence, all of these apps, all the little perks that you can just easily download at a friction of a price on our phone.

When I work with medical practitioners and I teach them how to scale their business and I condition them how to take their practice to the next level, I literally tell them, hey, start with the basics.

They don't have to cost you a lot of money, right? And that app that you're talking about is called Line 2. I was like, it's this cool thing. And then people don't have your number, but you can answer them and text them.

I'm like, that's genius. I think that could work for dating too, Polina. Oh my God. Yes. Oh my God, you know, it's so funny you actually so funny you're talking about dating because anytime I talk about business, I literally compare it to dating, right?

Like, so, you know, when someone comes in and they interviewing for a job in my office. I asked them, what is it that you're looking for? And when they say like, oh, I'm looking for this celery, I'm looking for that, I really want them to answer, I have this burning desire to be part of 7.7 nutrition team.

So when you're interviewing, it's literally like going through the dating, because there is so many nutritionists, so many dietitians, so many HR managers, assistants, so many supplement companies, but there is only one 7.7 nutrition.

So the same with dating, right? I wish I could give myself this advice 20 years ago when I was quite younger and stepping into, you know, dating world where, you know, you go out on a date and you ask them like, what's your favorite color?

How many dogs do you have? How many siblings do you have? What time you go to bed? Things like that. But you really should be coming down to the question that why is that you want to date me?

Right. And unless someone says, I have that burning desire to be a part of your life. Same thing. Like unless someone has a burning desire to be a part of my team, same thing.

But again, taking away from line two, you need to download it. It's $9. You can have five people. Nine dollars. Nine dollars, people. A nine dollar tip right here.

Nine dollar tip. You, you download it. Five people can log in into, into that app and. Let's say Stacey, my dietician has that app. I can be sitting right here right now working from home.

I can log in and I can see what she's saying, how she's saying. Is she replying on time? Is she missing any phone calls? But if Stacey is with a client and she's not available or if she's on vacation, I can take over and I can text them from my phone because I'm logged in under her password.

So this way we have such a great integration of communication skills with our clients. I'm back to back packed with clients, right? But Joanna, my assistant can be on my phone and she's replying to my clients and the client's thinking it's me.

So this very respectfully, my client doesn't have to wait for eight hours until I reply. She replies right back. Or if she doesn't know what to say, she will be like, hi, this is Joanna, Polina's assistant.

Polina is back to back with clients till 6 PM. If you don't mind, I'll relay the message. I just want you to know that we did receive this message and she will get back to you as soon as she's done.

So this way clients feel appreciated and they feel respect and they feel like, okay, these girls are busy, but they did not ignore me. And then Joanna will come up to me.

It's her job at the end of the day to kind of give me like all the bullet points of what I have missed through the day while I was behind closed doors with the clients.

And she's like, hey, you need to call this person and this person and this and can you reply or can you tell me what to say to this person? And then I'll tell her the answer and she will, you know, without rushing answer it and text on my behalf.

It's a great tool. You guys should absolutely use it. I think it's fantastic because then you don't have to give your number out to everybody. Exactly.

And they can still get you. But in all seriousness, you said something really important. you're able to get back to clients quickly. And I think that is also that's something that's really important, right?

Because you are making them feel special. Having that high touch. is what I think you call your radical accountability.

Business Coaching, Systems, and Client Communication

If they're going to contact you, you want to get back with them, right? And I think that's one of the things that does set you apart. Now, Jamie mentioned this, and you're very humble, but we've had so many new practitioners join us that have actually gone through your coaching program and grown exponentially.

Could you share, like, what is an experience with you like? What is it like when you coach somebody, you take them under your wing one-on-one? What is an experience with you like, Polina?

Well, first and foremost, when I meet a medical practitioner that's wanting to scale their business, I do a discovery hour. We meet On Zoom, we chat for as long as we need to figure out what are the goals, what are the missing, what are the strong points and the weak points.

And then from there, together, we come up with a game plan. It's not one size fits all, just like with supplement protocols, right? It's not just taking candykill and SBC.

The dosage might be different. You know, the times of the days when you're taking the supplements might be different. And then from there, when we figure out what is it that they need from me, we come up with a game plan, right?

And the game plan typically includes me jumping on a Zoom call with them at least once a week for as many hours as we need. I give them the homework and then from there we revamp and we make sure that everything that I ask them to do has been done.

I, you guys know, we had so many success stories and not only did I help those professionals, but I also built some really, some of my bestest friends.

I mean, you know, uh, Nicole Raymond, Nikki fit fitness, right? She has opened an amazing, beautiful practice called experience house in Atlanta, Georgia.

Right. When I met Nikki. She had an online business, writing diet plans and doing some personal training, exercise prescriptions. And then we duplicated exactly what we have here in Michigan.

We took that copy of 7.7 Nutrition and relocated it into Experience Health. And I'm so freaking proud of her. When I see everything that she's posting on Instagram, I'm like, oh my God, this is totally duplication of me.

This is exactly what we do. This is exactly how we do it. And it's like, you know, it's like a proud moment. Damn, this girl is just really like, now she's becoming even better than me.

Right? Because that's the goal. The good teacher, a good leader, and a good coach is always wanting their students to be better than them. So yeah, I got chills right now because I connected Nikki with my daughter.

So she helped her out and some friends. And then she had texted me a week or two ago and said she had a client in Pittsburgh. So I connected her with Gary you did from the IFBB and the NPC.

So that one referral you got and now look at how it's, uh, you know, trickled out to so many different people helping them. And that's been really cool.

And I have to, you know, give you guys a compliment. You know, Christine, when I work with her team with the training, her team is ready, willing, and able.

They come there, they have their notebooks, they have their water or coffee or shakes ready. They come there with questions. They are engaged, passionate, excited.

and grateful, right? And, you know, sometimes there's a little resistance from people's teams. So I'd like you to comment a little bit on that because your team is highly engaged and then, you know, for them to know that to tell her to do the video for Candid Codes on our website.

It's pretty cool. Yes, I saw that. Well, rule number one, you have to again, invest in your team. Rule number two, you got to really push that radical accountability.

I feel like this is the key word of the day. On yourself first, and then you push it on your team, right? You have to expect from yourself. exceptional results and exceptional customer care before you can accept it from your team.

From their own, you have to make sure that you reward them well, right? Because you're just basically building a system, like just, you know, living in your own government, playing by your own rules, but you have to reward them really well, right?

And then, you know, when you reward them well, you expect that they also going to do what they promise you that they're going to do. It's so funny you're saying this, Jamie, because I always joke and I say that I wholeheartedly and very wholesomely believe that I have some of the best nutrition professionals in the whole entire United States.

My girls are like highly trained canine dogs. They're not little chihuahuas running around. My girls are ready, set, go. They are highly trained because that's what I wanted from the get-go, right?

And that's the difference between being an operator and being the business owner, right? I wanted to invest that time to take away my personal time from myself, to invest into my team, because your team, like I was saying, if anyone is weak on the team, the whole team is falling apart.

I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of that. We do a lot of trainings. We do a lot of role playing and we, you know, we having fun with this, but you have to condition your team because it's your business to run it the way you want it.

Okay. You have to be very honest. If something doesn't go your way, you have to respectfully, you know, shut it down and you have to not be afraid to say no, not be afraid to pull back.

But at the same time, just you gotta keep yourself accountable to the goals that you have. My goal is to build this phenomenal business that just runs like a smooth ship, right?

So therefore I gotta take away from myself to give it to my team and do whatever it takes to, you know, to build it. Because, you know, we don't, we only basically take time off whenever the job is done.

That's all it is. Like, we're not going to stop when we're tired, we stop when we're done. It sounds like because you invest in your team, they're excited to learn more, right?

So tell us, how can people get in touch with you? I'm sure they're like, oh my gosh, this lady's a powerhouse. I want to at least know her. So if they're to find you, where can they go and find you?

Yes, absolutely. First and foremost, follow us on Instagram at 1.7nutrition. Second of all, I can give you my phone number that I pay nine hundred. You can text me and maybe myself, maybe one of my assistants will answer to you, but I promise you we will answer within the first three and a half minutes.

But all jokes aside, you guys can call me or text me 248-702-4724. And then our website, very simple, 77diet.com. That's awesome. And Paulina, do you ever do virtual consults?

Finding Paulina and Closing Remarks

It sounds like you do Zoom when you are working with other healthcare professionals. But what about the average person that's like, oh my God, some of the best trained nutritionists in the country, I'm in.

Yes, we work a lot remotely. As a matter of fact, I have clients all over the world. We have clients in Qatar, Dubai, all over United States. Jessica, you guys know our nutritionist, Jessica, she completely runs our online division.

She works from home, she travels the world herself, but she works seven days a week. We do a lot of telemedicine appointments. Fantastic. Well, Paulina, we could talk to you for hours.

But if people are interested in working with you, I hope you will like, comment, and share this episode. Paulina always brings it no matter when we talk with her.

She's always this lively and full of energy. And I just love being in your energy. So thank you so much for sharing with our audience today. Thank you, guys.

Fantastic. It went so fast. Just like a date. When it goes quick, you know it went well. I picked up a lot of advice on this show. So, mind, body, and soul.

So, no, I really seriously appreciate it. Both you guys always bring incredible knowledge and education. I think the passion is really with, is most impressive, right?

I feel like a lot of people don't get to have that passion and purpose in their career and we do and nobody shows it more than you two. So thanks so much for coming on.

It's always a pleasure to talk to you. I can't wait to get back up to your office. One of the coolest things I walked in her office is the pyramid of shakes that she has.

It's super shake in the best way. It's just like all the way up the wall and she's telling the girls, these will be gone next week. Yeah, we call it our Christmas tree.

When the Christmas tree goes down, I start hyperventilating. No, but it's cool. I mean, I remember years ago, we had gone to a client's place and he had the shakes stacked up like that.

And the person I was taking in to see that looked at me and goes, why does he have all those? I says, because they'll be gone in a couple of weeks. He had, this is food, right?

And when I see that at your place, it gives the other healthcare professionals some clinical conviction that this is the right thing. And I love the full approach that you guys take, and it shows.

Not only you, but your staff. They all talk the talk and walk the walk, and I've seen them in action. And when their patients and clients come in, they do have radical accountability.

Well, you guys, you already know, you're always welcome to our offices. Next time you come to see us, we probably will be not so little anymore. So, but we'll never forget our humble beginnings and you guys had been with us since day one.

Right? So what is the journey together? I look forward to coming up after the holidays when you guys settle in. Christine loves Michigan in January. So.

Oh my goodness. Well, Paulina, we hope we get to see you soon. Definitely in April for the professional training event in Florida, if not sooner. Absolutely.

Thank you so much for your generosity of time and sharing your knowledge with us, for offering the course for people to get into how to work an incredible business like this and for all of your friendship and partnership.

You know we adore you. Thanks for tuning in to the Holistic Truth Podcast. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show and share it with someone ready to take charge of their wellbeing.

And if you can, leave us a review. It helps others find our podcast. For more tools and practitioner support, visit NutritionalFrontiers.com.

Polina Petrusevich

The Healing Power of Gut Health and Integrative Nutrition