Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Stephanie Zgraggen, Founder of Lime and Lotus, LLC, located in Charleston, SC, USA.

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

Lime and Lotus is a healing arts and wellness center – where each provider owns and operates their own business out of the beautiful and functional offices I create. We currently have locations in both Atlanta, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina. We are always looking to add like-minded wellness providers to our office!

For my practice, I am a chiropractor and clinical nutritionist and the clinical director of Lime and Lotus. I am also an author and leading expert in women's hormones and health. My private practice focuses on functional endocrinology, lifestyle modification, and whole food supplementation. My expertise includes functionally evaluating thyroid, adrenals, male and female hormone imbalances, and digestion.

My mission is to empower women on how they can transform their lives and incorporate nutrition, supplements, and positive lifestyle choices. I have written for national publications such as Chiropractic Economics, Natural Awakenings, and Nutrition Perspectives and have shared the stage at events with Elizabeth Gilbert and Marianne Williamson. As a functional medicine practitioner and female hormone expert, I'm on a mission to naturally help women reclaim their hormonal health and feminine vitality. I want you to feel sexy, vital, and balanced, which means getting your weight right where you want it, maximizing your energy and sex drive, and doing it all naturally and safely.

I know what it's like not feeling your best, having your hormones rule your world, and not having the energy to be the best mom, spouse, or co-worker. I've been there and I am now here to teach you how to change it naturally and permanently.

Tell us about yourself

I know from personal experience that food and lifestyle decisions have a massive effect on one's health. As a youngster and teenager, I ate anything except the foods I now know to be good for me. Virtually every day, I had 2 hours of soccer practice after school, so my weight was never an issue. Because of that fact, I thought I could eat whatever I wanted. I even remember coming home from soccer practice to sit down, drink a huge glass of milk, and eat an entire sleeve of packaged chocolate chip cookies before dinner. I didn't understand the importance of eating well consistently until I started to suffer the consequences of my actions. It all started to catch up to me in college. Suddenly my period was no longer the regular companion that I had learned to accept. It instead began to act its vengeance on my body. I suffered from terrible pre-menstrual symptoms – extreme bloating, horrible cramps that kept me in bed for one-two days, migraines with nausea and vomiting, and an exceptionally heavy flow. My cycle became so bad that I planned my life around my period by skipping fun events or not even leaving the house during those days.

After a visit to my medical doctor, he stated that my laboratory tests were "normal," but I did have a few small ovarian cysts. He recommended that I be prescribed birth control pills to help regulate my cycle. However, he said this option might not even fix my problems. He also said that I could always have surgery if that didn't work. I did not like either of those options and thus began my quest to balance my hormones naturally and put my education to work.

I had my own hormones tested and found my cortisol levels to be higher than normal, and my estrogen and progesterone ratios were out of balance. I decided to make some changes to my diet, add a few whole food supplements and one herbal remedy to my regimen, and within six months was a completely different person during my period. I now had more energy, was less irritable, and my period no longer ruled my life! Today, I feel 100 times better in my 40s than in my 20s, and it's my mission to share that with my patients!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment as a business owner has been my ability to give homes and safe spaces for other like-minded businesses to grow and create their services.

My thought process in starting Lime and Lotus was to have a wellness center that provided services from multiple providers who were all like-minded and under one roof – Kind of like a one-stop-shop for wellness.

I also felt it was important to provide opportunities to other small wellness business owners to have their own space to practice their modalities and services. It is difficult in today's commercial environment to be able to afford a 5-10 year lease, utility deposits, start-up costs, etc., and I can help them eliminate those. And we can all work separately but collaboratively in the office. It has been a great blessing to have and share my offices with diverse and like-minded practitioners.

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

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is knowing when to recreate yourself or your business. The biggest risk I've ever taken with my business and clinical practice was completely restructuring my business about ten years ago. I decided that I wanted to serve my patients more rewardingly by providing them with better care, increased service, and real results! Now my patients love how they feel after working with me for a short time. I'm continuously being told that I have the best, well-run practice they have ever been a part of, and that is what gets me out of bed every morning and loving what I do!

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

  1. Do not get so overwhelmed that you don't get started - just pick 1-2 items to accomplish off that to-do list and keep your momentum going.
  2. Hire professionals when needed. This includes help setting up your business or a good CPA for your growth tax strategies.
  3. Enjoy the ride - I can promise you there will be ups and downs. Embrace them all and use them all to learn and grow your business and yourself.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

So many women I work with come to me struggling with their energy levels, ability to think clearly, or mental stamina, emotionally, or physically to just get through their days. I'm here to tell you that it IS NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD like you may have been told. True physiological challenges manifest as symptoms, and it may not be you but your hormones. If this speaks to you, seek a professional practitioner who can functionally evaluate your needs and put you on the path to better health and life!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://drzgraggen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drzgraggen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Drzgraggen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drzgraggen
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Drzgraggen/

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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