Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jana Jamail, founder, and CEO of Rose+Ginger Nutrition, located in Austin, TX, USA.

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

I am an integrative and functional nutritional consultant. Integrative and functional nutrition focuses on whole-body nutritional care and focuses on finding the root cause of health issues. I personally work with clients who are athletes and clients who have heart health concerns.

Tell us about yourself

I used to work for a start-up in online education, and after working my way up from an intern to the COO, I realized that the hard part about the business is not necessarily building a company but instead finding what you love to build. I knew education was not my passion, so I left to find what was. I have always had an insatiable curiosity about nutrition, and I decided to take a few courses to get a consulting certification. I began my business after receiving that certification in 2017 and have been consolidating my niche ever since.

At first, every client wanted to lose weight, but I slowly began to work with clients who had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, heart disease, and other ailments. Working with clients to heal their maladies through nutrition and even stop taking medication changed how I viewed my company and what I wanted to do. I now work with clients who have ailments and who are athletes. Consulting athletes came from working with marathon runners and iron man athletes who were undereating because of society's toxic cultural body expectations. My days are mostly filled with educating my clients on how to properly fuel and heal their bodies, whether they are athletes or not.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I had a thriving business until early 2020 when the pandemic hit, and then I lost all of my clients because I was a luxury. At that time, I was mostly working with weight loss clients. I felt like I hit rock bottom because what I had built was gone overnight. But, I used that time to consider what I truly wanted to be doing and not just follow the easy money. I decided to go back to school and to be very picky with what clients I chose to bring on. I would say reinventing my business, and my future educationally is my biggest accomplishment as a business owner as of today.

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

One of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is uncertainty. The uncertainty that you will succeed, the uncertainty that you are investing your money in the right marketing strategy, the uncertainty that if you make a change, it will work out. Many people think failing is the hardest, but failure is concrete evidence of what you should or should not do. Uncertainty is the middle ground where you need to make a decision and cannot decisively predict the results.

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

  1. Do your market research. Do not jump into something without understanding the industry first.
  2. Shadow and go to coffee. If you have never worked in an industry, you are interested in asking to shadow the organization or take someone who works in the field to coffee. People love to talk about themselves and what they do. Capitalize on it.
  3. Find mentors. No one built a business completely alone. Find people who are there to help you along the way. There are mentorship programs where you can be matched with professionals. Take advantage of those resources because even after owning a business for five years, I still need help from my mentors.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I would just like to add that one of the most important things I have learned in owning my company is the importance of pivoting if something is not working or I am not enjoying what I am doing. Do not be afraid to take a look at what you have built, and if it is not working, then burn it to the ground and start over. Companies need to constantly evolve to succeed. I have learned to be more afraid of being stagnant than changing.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.roseginger.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jana-jamail-8ba63b18/

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.

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