Advanced Sports & Exercise Nutrition

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Peter Nastasi, Founder of Nastasi Nutrition LLC., located in Iron Station, NC, USA.

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

I run a nutrition coaching business that works with both individual clients to help them achieve their health and fitness goals, as well as sports teams that are looking to improve their athletes' performance through diet optimization.

Tell us about yourself

I'll never forget the six-hour bus ride home from Buffalo to New Paltz, NY after my championship swim meets senior year of college. I had failed to make the national cut-time for my event, and I realized this was truly the end of my competitive swimming career. Since my freshman year, I have been swimming for close to six hours a day.

I had prioritized swimming ahead of friendships, relationships, and at times, even my course work. The hardest part was that I knew I was physically fast enough. I had hit the cut-time just three weeks prior to my final meet in practice. Yet, I was unable to perform at my peak potential when it counted the most. Deep down, I knew I had done everything in my power to accomplish my goal, at least in regard to my physical training.

Eventually, I was able to see the situation with clarity. As I gained perspective, I began searching for an x-factor. I realized then what I was looking for wasn't some elusive training method. It was something so simple, something so often overlooked and neglected in college: proper nutrition. I had no concept of caloric intake, portion control, nutrient density, or even macronutrients. I would always wonder why some days I felt like a fish in the water, gliding through practice with ease, while other days I might as well have been swimming through mud. In retrospect, I believe a lot of this came down to my diet. Looking back throughout my high school and college career, it amazes me that as athletes, we were never "coached" by a nutritionist or dietician. As I would come to find out, that was one of the many differences between a Division III and Division I athletic program. During Christmas break my freshman year, I was catching up with a high school teammate who had gone to a Division I program. He told me how he had an athlete-only dining hall and an individualized nutrition plan he was supposed to follow. It was based on his age, height, and weight and even broke down his daily macronutrient intake. Meanwhile, even the most basic nutrition guidelines were absent during my college career.

Nutrition ironically began to take a more prominent role in my life as I substituted the pool for a weight room. As I stumbled through articles on bodybuilding.com and men's fitness magazines, I was inundated with advertisements for different supplements, nutrition advice, and diet plans. This information, often referred to as "bro-science," is plentiful, yet my scientific background was getting the better of me. The more I read, the more I found conflicting information, not to mention there were rarely any scientific studies substantiating the claims. The majority of the information available was anecdotal at best, and I was at a loss on what to believe. Did I really need one gram of protein per pound of body weight to put on muscle? Should I eat as fast as possible after a training session at the gym in order to see the best results? Was it better to eat before or after a morning cardio session? These were the types of questions I wanted to answer.

During this time, I moved down to Charlotte, North Carolina, and began working as an analytical chemist while pursuing a nutrition certification. I wanted to find a way to combine my chemistry background, love of coaching, and passion for nutrition and fitness. It turned out that becoming a Certified Nutrition Coach was the exact way to do that. My goal, and what keeps me motivated every single day, is being able to help athletes achieve all the goals they have set out for themselves and showing them how important a strong nutritional foundation is for athletic performance.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment to date is working with various swim teams at the collegiate level, as well as having blog articles published on the Sports Illustrated showcase website.

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

I think the hardest thing about being a business owner is just getting started. Especially when you are a one-man-band, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with everything you have going on and know what you need to do. I found it extremely helpful to set small goals for myself each and every day, and slowly I began making progress and achieving some of my longer-term goals. Don't worry too much about being perfect right away, having the perfect website and the perfect blog, and the perfect course, etc. Just keep moving forward.

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

Don't be afraid to ask for advice or help when getting started. Find friends who have started their own business, reach out to people in your industry doing similar things that you do, and reach out to family and friends to see if you can find any mutually beneficial working arrangements. Most people are willing to give you some time and advice; just make sure you are respectful of their time.
Figure out exactly what you are offering; is it a service or product-based business. In the beginning, try to stay focused on what will be actually driving revenue. For example, I was obsessed with designing my website and having it look perfect before launching my business
when instead, I should have been using that time to network and advertise my coaching services and actually trying to bring in business.
Be willing to put the time in and work hard if that means having a full-time job while you are working on your company, waking up early and staying up late to move your business forward, and not going out on the weekend with friends so you can save money and work on your business, etc. Keep learning, networking, advertising, posting, etc. try never to become complacent, and you can definitely make your business a reality and a success.

Starting a business is intimidating at first, but set small, mid, and long-term goals and prioritize them on what will drive revenue and push the business forward.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.nastasi-nutrition.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nastasi.nutrition/

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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