Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Alida Iacobellis, founder of Alida Iacobellis Registered Dietitian Services, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I run a small group private practice of Registered Dietitians. We specialize in eating disorder recovery and performance nutrition for athletes using a non-diet and weight-neutral approach. We help our clients feel good about food using our signature process - The MORE Method - a self-care-focused diet and mindset framework comprised of 4 phases: Moderation, Optimization, Restoration, and Elevation. We work with our clients to unpack, process, and re-wire beliefs about health, diet, body image, and self-worth, enabling them to reconnect with themselves and rebuild a much healthier relationship with food.
Tell us about yourself
I grew up in a home where scratch cooking and family meals were the norms. My parents weren't chronic dieters, and weight loss wasn't a common topic of discussion in my house or in my friend group. My grandmother – an Italian immigrant and amazing home cook – sparked in me a passion for good food and an appreciation for its powerful ability to connect us through tradition.
While I don't know what it's like to live with an eating disorder, I have so much compassion for those that struggle to find peace with food and their bodies. It can be such a long and tough road to recovery one that requires a great deal of bravery, vulnerability, and perseverance. I think there is a lot of truth behind the saying that we are the product of the people we spend the most time with. And those who show me how to be brave, how to be vulnerable, and how to persevere are just the crowd I want to hang with.
I do this work because I believe that the meaning of life is to help others find meaning in theirs. I'm motivated to spread the message that you have more to offer the world than a lifetime of trying to manipulate your body into alignment with unrealistic beauty standards and a misguided definition of health. I love that the work is challenging because it's so much more rewarding when you effectively help someone overcome a huge obstacle in their life. It lights me up to help people discover that there can be so much MORE to life.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Successfully making the leap from being a contractor working three jobs to working full time in my own business and filling up my caseload in under three months! It was definitely scary making the jump, and it came a little sooner than I would have liked, but it ended up being my most successful year yet. I'm so glad I bet on myself.
Second, to this, I'm also really proud of myself for honouring my boundaries and not giving in to the pressures of hustle culture, which I think is so easy to fall into as an entrepreneur. Avoiding burnout and not being overworked is a big part of how I define success, so I always come back to this when evaluating what I'm building and where I want to go next.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Accountability! Sometimes being accountable to only yourself can be really hard and leads to a lot of flexible deadlines and extensions that wouldn't otherwise happen if you had other people waiting on you. It's a blessing and a curse - you don't have to feel guilty about pushing something back when life happens. Your focus and attention are needed in another arena, but this also means that it's easy to get behind on things.
I have found that when it comes to running events, committing to a date and putting it out there to my audience is a really effective way for me to keep to a deadline and get content out since I know people are expecting something, and I don't want to disappoint.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
The first is to get good at failing. It has been my experience that perseverance is one of the most important character traits for success as an entrepreneur. You will pour every bit of you into envisioning and creating a new product or service only to be met with crickets. This may happen multiple times. You'll need to pick yourself up and get back to it, and it's ok to take a pause before you do so.
Second, find community. Entrepreneurship can be really lonely, and even for the most introverted among us, having an inner circle of people who get you and who you can bounce ideas off can make the journey so much more enjoyable.
And lastly, I love this advice from Shannan Monson: You have to get comfortable writing when no one is reading. Creating when no one is consuming. Putting in the hours when no one is clapping, no one is listening, no one is watching. That's the big secret.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://alidard.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moremethodnutrition/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alida-iacobellis/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.