Healthy Joyful Relationships With Food

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Shelly Najjar, founder of Confident Nutrition, located in Seattle, WA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business, Confident Nutrition, focuses on helping busy women develop a healthy and stress-free relationship with food. The women I work with learn to get free from their food struggles and be at peace with themselves and their bodies of any size. With my encouraging and practical methods addressing the WHY and HOW we eat, I’ve helped hundreds of people let go of the “shoulds” of eating, so they can enjoy their food, improve their health, and fully live their lives.

Tell us about yourself

I’m a Nutrition Mindset Coach, and I trained as a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. When I started my career, I worked in a public hospital and quickly became burnt out on nutrition. The recommendations I’d been taught were restrictive and shame-based and just held people back. Patients became more stressed, irritable, and overwhelmed. They felt like they were losing control and missing out on opportunities. We were setting them up for failure, not success.

This really impacted me because I love traveling, dreaming big, and enjoying the simple pleasures of food. It broke my heart to witness people missing out on their dreams, and their own lives, because of impractical recommendations.

While all this was happening, I had my own health conditions and struggled to balance recommendations with my preferences and desires. Overall, it was draining, chaotic, unrealistic, and kind of hopeless.
And then, I started learning about the paradox that health is more attainable with fewer food restrictions. And that really changed things!

Today, my approach is flexible and empowering, bringing compassion, fun, and peace, even on our busy days or when we don’t have energy.
I love it when someone I'm working with realizes that food and self-care don't have to be just one more thing on the never-ending to-do list. But that it's possible to be fun, practical, and life-enhancing. The moment when she realizes this is one of my favorite parts of my business!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Other than getting my skills to the point where I know I can help women have that realization, my biggest accomplishment as a business owner, in general, is learning when to say no. I still have a long way to go in this area, but I have also seen so much growth since I started my business. And I've had a lot of people who really helped me in this area too, so I'm very grateful for them.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the things I wasn't expecting when I started my business was the emotional experience of owning a business. It's such a rollercoaster! But it's been teaching me to stick with it, pursue my goals even when there are challenging emotions, and figure out how to structure my business so that it supports me and my personal goals instead of burning me out. Again, this is another area where I've really seen community support as so valuable to my growth.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Ask for help - Help can come in a variety of forms at many price points, but one of the major things that have moved my business forward is seeking help from coaches, colleagues, and other entrepreneurs... we're part of a community, so lean on your community.
Know yourself - If you learn your tendencies and know your values, you can find and filter the most helpful advice and resources, figure out the next steps, and more. "Start before you're ready" is great advice for people who tend to desire perfection, but maybe not the most relevant for those who haphazardly start many things without any strategy (that's a good way to get overwhelmed!). Figure out what YOU need.
Get foundational skills - While each business is unique, there are also certain overarching business principles and skills that are good to know (or at least have someone with these skills to delegate to).

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://confidentnutritionnow.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/confidentnutritioncoach
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confidentnutritiontravels/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shellynajjar
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellynajjar/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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