#064: Money Mindset For Dietitians with Christine Dyan Thomson

Erica Julson (00:00:23): Welcome, welcome to another episode of The Unconventional RD podcast. And this episode has actually been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time, just waiting very patiently to be published. This is an episode I recorded all the way back in December, 2020 with the ever so fabulous Christine Dyan Thomson, AKA the money mindset dietitian. And as you might know, if you listen to this podcast, I batch record my episodes. So I chatted with Christine the last time I did a round of guest interviews, but then a whole bunch of craziness happened, like getting pregnant, breaking my fingers while pregnant, trying to revamp my SEO course and launch an evergreen funnel while typing everything left-handed, doing three hours of physical therapy every single day to try to regain my hand function, et cetera. So my podcasting schedule fell off for a little bit there, but as you know, my evergreen funnel is now officially out there in the world, at least in its very first iteration.

Erica Julson (00:01:29): So I'm back to the podcasting circuit now. So thank you, Christine, if you're listening, for your utmost patience with me getting this episode put together and out into the world. So in this wonderful conversation with Christine, I pick her brain about all things related to money mindset in the world of business and dietetics. I will fully admit mindset is not an area I know a ton about I've sort of dabbled in it lightly and that's about it. So I let the conversation here flow where it may in the episode. And we ended up with lots of really great gems I think you'll enjoy. So strap up and get ready to enjoy this episode. And if you are interested in learning more about money mindset, definitely check out Christine's own podcast. It's called the make more money as a dietitian podcast. And every week she dives into a mindset related topic that will really get you thinking. She has such a calm, grounding presence with her podcast. And it just feels like every time I tune in, she's telling me something like there's a tidbit or a sentence or something she says, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I really needed to hear that today. So I do love her podcast and highly recommend checking it out if you're looking for a way to up-level your business and your life that focuses more on the mindset aspect of things. So without further ado, let's dive into the episode.

Erica Julson (00:02:55): Hi Christine, thank you so much for coming on the podcast to talk to us about money mindset. I mean, this seriously has to be one of the most needed episodes on this podcast because we definitely need some mindset work around money as a profession. So thank you for coming on to share your wisdom today.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:03:17): I'm so super excited and thank you for inviting me. I love talking about this stuff. So I'm here for all of the things. Yes.

Erica Julson (00:03:24): I mean, I definitely have mentioned your resources before, throughout several podcasts episodes, so you may be familiar. but if not, can we start out by maybe providing some background? So like a higher level overview of maybe your career journey in dietetics where you started, where you are today?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:03:42): So I, wow, holy holy, let me see if I can do a cliff notes version because I've been doing this, I've been a dietitian or let me say, I've been in the industry for close to 30 years now. Graduated in 92. I don't like doing the math because math is not my strong suit. So graduated in 92 and, I didn't go into my internship right away, but I will say that, what led me to this profession ultimately was my own personal journey. Like just really struggling with my weight up and down. And, I found dietetics while I was on campus kind of flailing around, not really knowing what I was going to do with myself or my life because I entered into college thinking that I was going to become an OBGYN.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:04:34): So I was a pre-med major at first. And then I was just like, oh, this is so not going to happen because, you know, I just had my reasons, I didn't want to be in school that long. I didn't want to take all the classes. Little did I know I still had a long journey with dietetics, but someone approached me eventually and said, did you know that they have a nutrition and dietetics program on campus? You should check it out. And I did and I fell in love and, graduated and just was really just in love with the whole, nutrition and life cycle. And I've always been really holistic minded. And I quickly realized though that my struggle with my body and my weight and food did not end just because I had all of the knowledge. And I feel like that's where my mindset work really began because even when I worked in all of the different traditional areas of dietetics, and I have worked in all of them, including like being the director of a local WIC program and everything, right.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:05:39): With all of my, my work and my knowledge, I just really knew that there was a more holistic reason behind why I couldn't resolve my own stuff. So I started getting and trainings and coaching and more so in the holistic area and then delved into mindset and all of my work in my private practices, I've had three or four iterations over the course of my career. All of them dealt with mindset and I feel like mindset for dietitians is almost in alignment with intuitive eating, right? Our intuition is part of our mindset. And so even though I did not teach intuitive eating as it is defined, that's pretty much how I've focused in my practice. So then I got to this point in my career where I'm doing money mindset, because I noticed that this mindset work really could help out dietitians with their money issues.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:06:50): Because what I noticed was that a lot of the same complaints that I was witnessing in, back then, gosh, we didn't have the internet as we know it today, but it was like, list serves with the academy and all of that. And they were the ADA back then, but it was a lot of the same complaints about why we're not making enough money and this and the other. And I was like really heavily involved in nutrition entrepreneurs DPG back then. So I was a witness to a lot of the complaints. So I could equate that DPG to the Facebook groups up today. And I was like, I cannot believe we're still having the same 1992 conversation in the new millennium and it's like, why are we doing this? So, because I had a lot of coaching, mindset and neuroscience training and background under my belt at this point, I said, I have to do something like, I want this last leg of my career to mean something, you know, and that's how money mindset dietitian came about.

Erica Julson (00:07:57): Love it. And thank you for taking on the mantle for this one because it's needed. And it's a big mantle and it's hilarious that you say it's the same conversations from like literally 30 years ago. Cause I mean, I haven't been in the industry that long and it already is starting to feel repetitive. So I'm like, oh my gosh, it's been going on even longer. Wow.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:08:20): Oh my God. Yes. It has. And I just say that it's the same complaints, just different faces, different people. And it's really crazy. And I, I want to say that part of the problem that I see is that the training for dietitians, the undergraduate curriculum has not changed much. So of course we're going to have the same complaints because the curriculum is so old and antiquated, it really could use a sprucing up for lack of a better term. Let me just say.

Erica Julson (00:08:57): In case people aren't familiar with mindset work and all that, what does it mean when you say money mindset?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:09:03): So let's just, let's just talk about mindset in general. Mindset is just another term for beliefs, your thoughts and beliefs create your reality. Now, when I was first introduced to that, I was like, okay, cause I'm all about woo. I'm open to all the things until they prove it wrong. Right. So, I was like, oh, okay. Thoughts and beliefs create reality. And then when I was really trained on it and I could see how the things that I had created in my life were based on what I was really believing about it. And I could actually see how I wasn't getting certain things because it was what I believed about it. I was like, oh, there's some real stuff. So when it comes to money mindset, it's your thoughts and your beliefs about money. And then we take it a bit further and it really is about your relationship. What kind of relationship do most of us have with money? What kind of relationship do we have with money in this profession? In this profession as a whole collective, we tend to believe that dietitians cannot make good money. They just don't make good money. Some of us were probably taught that in our internships. I've heard where certain preceptors and internship directors would say just flat out, don't expect to make a lot of money in this, in this field.

Erica Julson (00:10:34): Yeah, that conversation happens in my Facebook group. Oh yeah.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:10:39): I'm just like, Oh my God, that happened. Well, you know, other things happened on my end for internship, but it wasn't really about the money talk. It was other things, but yeah. So mindset, money mindset is really, to me, it's twofold. It's your thoughts and beliefs about money. And it's also your relationship with money and your relationship with money actually was developed way back when you were growing up. It was the things that you were taught, maybe not outright, but even, instinctively. Like . you would see how things were modeled in your family when it comes to money. Maybe, you know, you heard the term money doesn't grow on trees. So then you're like, okay, wow. So that means money is limited. You're taught right off the bat that there isn't enough. So, or maybe you were taught that you have to work hard for your money.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:11:40): I think we were all taught that.

Erica Julson (00:11:43): Yeah. That's one of mine for sure.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:11:45): Yeah. Yeah. But I say that you actually can overcome and create your own new paradigm for yourself. And so that's the work that I do is to help dietitians create their own new paradigm when it comes to their relationship with money and their earning potential in this profession. I don't believe that you have to leave the profession in order to make good money. If you believe that you can make good money and you're willing to put in the work to make the money, then you can make the money right here. You've already invested a lot in this career. Why not make the most of it?

Erica Julson (00:12:34): I think as well, if the underlying cause of maybe why you're under earning is a lot to do with mindset, that's just going to follow you wherever you go.

New Speaker (00:12:42): Oh My God, 1000%, 1000%. So I've witnessed conversations where, you know, dietitians will say things like, I wish I had been told ahead of time that it was going to be this hard. So in my mind, that translates to, oh, you wanted it to be easy or you want it someone to spoonfeed you ahead of time. And instead of choosing the profession, doing whatever it takes to make the most of it for yourself, that's a big difference. Like if you go into another profession, say you want to become the new, the new thing that I hear amongst our colleagues is, oh, I'm just going to go to PA school. That's not hard? I don't understand. Like I don't get that. I really don't. Okay. So it might not be that it's easy to become a PA, but you think that you're going to make more money becoming a PA, but what is the trade off for that money? Is it going to be your time, your energy, your family or whatever, because I mean, to my knowledge, you can't do PA work virtually like you could if you were in private practice or doing something that is more non-traditional as a dietitian, right? You don't necessarily have the ability to do that. virtually when a pandemic hits, I mean, you can have tele-health and all of that. Yes. But it's kind of hard to do a patient assessment, a physical assessment on a patient virtually.

Erica Julson (00:14:17): Yeah. Do you think that part of the problem is that there's a lack of awareness of other opportunities?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:14:25): I think there's a lack of awareness first and foremost, at the core for a lot of people, there's a lack of awareness that their thoughts and beliefs are not true. They actually believe that it's true. And while there may be an underlying current of truth within the fact that we collectively don't make good money, that does not make it fact that is a stake in the ground for every single dietitian that's in this profession. So while there may be an underlying current of truth, that dietitians don't make good money, that's not a fact because there are dietitians that I have interviewed for my own podcasts that are seven figure earners. So that's not 100% fact. So the awareness is more so around the beliefs, than the opportunities. I don't even think that you could get to an opportunity and do it differently if your awareness within yourself and your own belief system doesn't change.

Erica Julson (00:15:32): Love that. See, clearly this is not my realm of expertise!

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:15:42): This is the most passionate I've been about anything in my career as a dietitian. I'm just like, man, the mission is big and sometimes it's hard. And honestly, there are times when I want to quit, especially when I see all of the mind trash, I call it. And I'm not saying that in a negative way, it's just the best way to put it right now. But when I see all of that, I'm just like, oh Jesus, what's going to happen to us as a collective group of people? But, at the same time, what fuels me to keep going forward is my passion for the mission. If I can change just a small cohort of people and the trajectory of their career, man, it will have a ripple effect. It will. And that's what fuels me forward.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:16:36): And I will say that that is my desire, my wish, and my hope for every single, dietitian is that you get to a place in this career where you are full on with your passion, like 100%. Like if you want to leave the profession because you're not making money that you really want to make, then maybe this wasn't the career choice that you should have made. Right? And that's okay. Like we have to do what we're passionate about first. We really do because when the hard times come and you're not passionate about it, you're outta here. You're ready to go. You're like, I'm out, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. But like, even for me, use me as an example, like, man, I sit back and look at some of the conversations and I'm like, why am I doing this?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:17:34): This is so crazy. And then I think back about what it would look like when there is so many more dietitians who have changed their way of thinking about money, believing in themselves. And then they go on to make a greater impact in their communities because they did the inner work. When I think about that, that's what keeps me going. And that's what I want for everyone else, I think is really important. We have to have a passion behind what we do. And I think that's what is one of the threads of success for some of the seven figure dietitians that I've interviewed is that they have a passion for what they do. They're not just doing it for the money. The money is just a result of the value that they brought in to their work. That's it.

Erica Julson (00:18:24): I resonate with that as well, because even though I went back to school to become a dietitian, like I am not really working as a dietitian anymore, but it all weaves together. So I don't consider that a waste at all because it led me to the community that I'm serving now. And if I'm going to be completely honest, I thought I would be a food blogger before I went back to school. And I was totally leaning on that mindset block of "I can't talk about food online without a credential." So then it was like, okay, I'm going to go back to school and get a degree in nutrition. And then I can be okay to be an online professional about this. Which is, I think, a very common block in all realms and all niches. It's like, oh, who am I to talk about this? I, I don't have that degree or credential or certification or whatever. So I think that was really just like another form of a block. And here I am, I worked my way around it and still created an online business and stuff, but I didn't see it in the moment. But looking back, it's like, oh, yeah.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:19:32): And you know what, we all have some level of imposter syndrome that we go through, no matter what stage of your career you're in. So you could be a dietitian like myself who, who's been in the industry for a really long time, but you're like maybe wanting to up-level your career or make a career shift a bit. And you are going to have those thoughts creep in and say, you know, who am I to be doing this? When I started out as a money mindset dietitian, I definitely was like, who in the heck is going to listen to me about money? Like I wasn't even fully over some of my own money stuff. Look, anyone who's listening. Y'all hear me when I tell you that I was a hot mess express when it came to money.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:20:23): I did not manage my money well. I came into a ton. Well, it was a ton for me, a settlement, a malpractice settlement, because my mother died in 2009 from a medical malpractice. And so I received a settlement and just like the lottery winners, that money was gone in two and a half years. So I had a lot of money stuff, but I was the imposter when it was time to switch over to money mindset dietitian, because I was like, who's going to listen to me? I'm a hot mess with this money situation here. I mean, I've learned a lot along the way, but I haven't gotten there yet. You know, haven't we all thought that I haven't gotten there yet? Y'all if you wait until you get there, it might be time to go home and meet Jesus. You have to do it now. You have to do it scared. You have to recognize the imposter for what it is and say, thank you for showing up and making me feel like I need to just stay in my comfort zone. But if I want to do big things, I have to go on this journey.

Erica Julson (00:21:40): And what if someone is listening and they're like, okay, I think I have some blocks, but how do I figure out what they are? Are there any exercises or thought things that they can work through to figure it out?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:21:53): Let me just say the easiest way to figure it out is this: If you don't have what you want, then you have a block. Say you've been struggling with making more than $50,000 a year. You want to make $50,000, but you're only making 25. You're in private practice. There's some block there. There's,some money blocks there, specifically. There are some, probably self-worth blocks there. There may even be some blocks around self integrity. So what I know to be true, especially in our profession, because we're predominantly women, we tend to be more integrous with others than we are with ourselves. So we put ourselves last. And so if you don't have what you say you want, then there's some work to be done. That is the simplest way to go about it.

Erica Julson (00:22:56): When you recognize, oh, I don't have what I want, then what is the next step?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:23:04): The next step is really to evaluate how you can get what you want and stop making excuses. And the first thing to examine is your thoughts and beliefs around money. So if you're not making the money that you want, you have to sit and maybe even journal about what do I really believe about money? What do I believe in about my ability to make that $50,000 or more? You know, if you have this tape running in your mind that, well, we really don't make that much in this profession anyway, then that's what's operating. That is what's leading the way. It's like, that is the horse pulling the cart. So yeah. You got to retrain the horse.

Erica Julson (00:23:53): I did this awhile ago... Writing about what did you learn about money growing up? And that was super insightful, because I think I've held onto a lot of that. I mean, I didn't struggle for anything, but it was definitely lessons of like, it's hard to earn money. You have to work for it and don't be frivolous and don't buy things that you don't really need. Like, wait until you have a hole in your sock before you get a new one. And it's so interesting how you don't even realize that you internalize that and bring it into adulthood.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:24:37): And I'm really curious to know if it's okay for me to ask you a question, Erica, because you've become successful in your career and in your business with all of those money beliefs that you grew up with and you know that you've brought them into your adult life. How do you feel you've gotten to where you are now in your business? What did you needto do? I think your listeners would love to know, what did Erica need to do to overcome her own money beliefs?

Erica Julson (00:25:09): Mm. I think one of my biggest blocks probably related to what you're talking about, about putting yourself last. When I first started, I never had a real nine to five, so I was doing freelancing everywhere and anywhere I could get it and then working on my own stuff in the extra hours. And I think I continued along with that for a little longer than I needed to, because it was like, oh, this person needs me or I would be failing this other person if I stopped writing for them or whatever. When I needed to grow my own business with my own time. So, it took me a few years of that dynamic to let things go and feel confident to focus my attention all on my own business. And then that's when it really took off. So I don't know that I knew that I needed the mindset work. I think it was more like I just kept trudging along and then I finally got frustrated enough, so I changed my behavior, but yeah.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:26:16): I love that looking back.

Erica Julson (00:26:18): Yeah I think if I had a mentor or something, it would have helped to be like, this is the block here.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:26:26): Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I love what you're saying because essentially what I'm hearing you say is that you stayed consistent. And I think that is what a lot of us don't do. And that's why we're not successful because we don't remain consistent and steadfast when it gets hard, because it will get hard. Life is not meant to be easy. It is going to be hard and we will have obstacles, but when we stay steadfast and we can kind of trust our own intuition, I believe that to be like a super, especially for women, a super helpful thing when we trust the gut. And then in the knowing of what we want the outcome to be, if we just say, okay, I'm going to make $85,000 this year come heck or high water, that's what I'm going to do. Just stay focused on that and do everything in that moment of now that is going to lead towards the 85k. Done and done. I mean, obstacles will come, but if you keep just tweaking things and staying steadfast and reminding yourself that I will make this money, it will eventually happen. And we live in a, in a life where everything is microwave instant. Right? So we think that we're supposed to have these microwave businesses too. And that is just not happening. Everyone really should embrace the fact that business building takes time.

Erica Julson (00:28:00): Yes. Oh my gosh. This is so serendipitous that we're talking about this. I was just looking at my stats cause I have an Excel (I do everything in Excel still) an Excel spreadsheet of all my earnings since I became an RD. And I just pulled it up right now, so I could get the actual number. My very first year of tracking my money... I started in August, 2016 with my blog and I was like, okay, I'm going to track all my online earnings. I made $58 in those six months.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:28:31): Wow. Learning. You're learning.

New Speaker (00:28:32): From ads and affiliate links, you know, it was like $5 a month basically. Yeah.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:28:40): That's so fascinating. I love it.

Erica Julson (00:28:42): But flash forward, every year I just kept growing. Like you said, the next year it was $9,000. And this was while I was doing other work too. Like that's what I was saying. I was kind of holding myself back. Then it was $75,000 and then I finally worked for myself and then it was $115,000. And then this year I am already at like $230,000. So yeah, I think you're right. Like by all accounts, looking at that first year and coming to my spouse or whatever, and being like "I made $58 "would not really be a win...

Erica Julson (00:29:23): But I had that intention and the vision even then. And it did eventually come true. But I knew if other people could do it, I could do it. I'm no different than, you know, Susie over there. And I'm just in a different stage. Learning still.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:29:43): Oh my God, I love this. This is so good. Thank you for sharing that because it just a true testament to how, when we stay consistent in working towards the ultimate outcome, you will eventually get there. And we have to sometimes release the timeframe with the outcome. I always say, God does not operate on our clock. Like he doesn't move on our time. Our 24 hour clock is a manmade construction. It is not the timeframe in which God or the universe operates. It operates in a way when it knows you're ready, you might think you're ready, but you are not ready. Like when I started money mindset dietitian. There was a part of me that felt like, girl, you are not ready for this. And no, I wasn't ready to be like where I am today.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:30:41): But the inner knowing also knew that I needed to do this because it literally feels like my soul's work. It feels like my legacy work. It feels like the legacy that I want to leave behind for the profession. Like when they hear my name, they'll be like, she's the one that really helped us start to believe in ourselves and make more money and be the true nutrition experts. Like, we can tout about nutrition experts and all the things that we've had to do in order to become a dietitian, but I don't think that's what people really care about. I think what they care about the most is what you can do for them, how you can help them change and become a better version of themselves in their health and their overall wellbeing. That is the expert to me. That's my definition of expert because look, anybody can do that. Right? Like we've seen other people who aren't dietitians do that. And then they're viewed as all of the things.

Erica Julson (00:31:45): Yeah. Can we talk about that a little bit? Because I feel very passionate about this too. I hate the bashing of non RDs. I hate it so much.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:31:54): I do too. You're my people, you're my people.

Erica Julson (00:31:58): Yeah, I strongly disagree that any sort of formal certification really in anything means that you're better than someone else or like the ultimate authority and everyone else knows nothing. And maybe it's cause... In my Facebook group, someone did a post about the Enneagram and I'm a really strong three and a five. So I'm an achiever and (I don't remember what the five is) but it's something about being really into knowledge and learning. So maybe it's because I'm such a self learner that I'm like, no, you can learn and have value outside of a formal credential. Like a thousand percent.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:32:46): Yeah. And we have all probably heard stories about people who have no even high school education and have gone on and do great things. Right. And I'm like 1000% in agreement with you. I share this part of my story on another podcast and I'll share it here as well, where there was a part of my career journey where I did not even identify as a dietitian because I was ashamed. I did not even want to be a part of the dietitian community because there was so much negativity that surrounded that credential and that designation that I didn't want to be a part of that because I knew that I operated more holistically and it wasn't "evidence-based" and all these things, you know, what we believe "evidence-based" should be. And, so I just totally detached myself from the dietitian community.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:33:40): I became a health coach. I'm certified and trained and all those things, even though after I finished that training, I was like, the people are coming out of here thinking that they can really teach nutrition and O M G like I was thinking to myself, if I wasn't a dietitian, I still wouldn't know what the heck I was doing, but that's a different story. I think that some health coaches have gone on and done tremendous things. And they are just go getters and just amazing. And I have met so many friends through my health coach journey. So I'm 1000% with you that you, you can do great work. And I believe it doesn't have to take a formal education. It takes other things like integrity, honesty, building self-trust and trust with others. Like those really more deeper characteristics of the human, of the person, is what creates success. Then the actual formal education. And that is another reason. And y'all going to be mad at me when I say this, but this is another reason why we are almost at the bottom as the nutrition professionals, because we are not focusing on the right things. Just not focusing on the right things.

Erica Julson (00:35:17): I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Maybe more people who go into health coaching or that type of credential, they're more focused right out of the gate on working with people one-on-one in possibly a private practice setting. So they get more of the marketing training versus a formal RD degree and credential it's more focused on working a job of various types. And so we really lack in that training. We're behind when we come out.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:35:54): That wasn't our fault because, Erica, in our training, the focus for dietetics is to really train you to become a nutrition professional. And it's really based in clinical. Like, you know that our clinical rotation was like the biggest part of the internship. And, so I do believe that as I said before, the curriculum really needs to be updated for the new time that we live in. And that's not just the internships. It is the actual dietetics curriculum needs, in my opinion, needs to include some of the more innovative aspects of nutrition, the things that are up and coming like the integrative and functional nutrition and intuitive eating and all of these things that we weren't trained in either. That's the interesting part. So I hear a lot of dietitians talk about how they weren't trained in business, but we weren't trained in intuitive eating or integrative nutrition or anything like that. We weren't really trained in those areas either, but we are really happy, more than happy to go out and get certified in those things and get ourselves educated in those things. But then we are disgruntled about the business part and I really don't get that part. That's what I don't understand.

Erica Julson (00:37:24): Yeah. Maybe it's foreign. Maybe it's scary.

New Speaker (00:37:28): Yeah. It is scary. It's scary and it's hard. And it's totally outside of the realm of what we learned, but if you are a dietitian who wants to do things that are more non-traditional, like the unconventional RD community should be probably, that's why they're listening, then you'll need to get that extra training. And what's really great is that you can get continuing education credits for it probably.

Erica Julson (00:37:57): Yes. If you're listening, my courses, each one's like 20 something CEUs.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:38:02): That's awesome.

Erica Julson (00:38:03): Yeah. And would this be considered a money mindset block? I hear this a lot in my group... That if you're selling or you're learning marketing, you're somehow being sleazy, or manipulative, especially when it comes to healthcare, like aren't we supposed to be helping people? Why are we trying to make money? We should be accessible. How does that all play in?

New Speaker (00:38:25): Right. Well, I think it is steeped in some sort of money mindset and beliefs and thoughts about the relationship between money and healthcare. And, you know, there are ways that we can make our services accessible to people and then there are ways that we should be getting paid for our services as well. Most of us didn't go into our profession because we wanted to work for free. Most of us go into the profession because we love it. And because we want to help people and because we need to make a living. Like, we need to make a living. And so, sales and marketing, I've really changed my thoughts around that. First and foremost, I will say that there are some people that are really slick with their sales and marketing and we can kind of sniff those people out right away.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:39:21): Right? But then I also believe that there are more people who really want to be of service. And for me, I have really just started to focus more on the work. Like, what I really know and believe could be the outcome for those who work with me is what leads my way. I don't even get into all of the "oh, marketing is this and you shouldn't be selling to people" and this and that and the other. Well, if you don't sell to people, if you don't offer them something that will truly help change their life, why are you doing this work? Like doctors don't think about that. Dentists don't think about that. They make their services available and accessible, but not always available and accessible to everyone. Right? So there are some doctors who will accept Medicare and Medicaid, and there are some that won't, but they are still being of service to people.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:40:31): So I think we individually have to find our own sweet spot and balance when it comes to that. I think that is really important. Like, what do you want to provide the general population that you're going to serve that will help them get some sort of result? And what is it that you want to provide for free that will help them get some sort of result. And what do you know that is of such tremendous value that you provide that people really do need to invest in themselves for? And so the mindset shift around that is people are investing in themselves through your work. So a lot of dietitians think, oh, they shouldn't have to pay me. They're not really paying you. They are investing in themselves through your work that you were highly trained to do. So why invest in your staff to get highly trained if you want to give it all away for free? It just doesn't make sense.

Erica Julson (00:41:41): And there's totally something to be said that when people invest, they're often more committed and they feel like they have more skin in the game and they might show up and get better results. I hear that a lot, even in the online world, like people could put the same content inside a freebie versus a paid course and if you actually follow the outcomes and how many people watch all of it and actually take the actions, it's better when people are invested. It's just like a psychological thing I think.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:42:13): It really is. I mean, you know, I've bought, let's think about this. I've bought so many self-help books and like a lot of them are still sitting on the shelf because I only paid like under $20, $25 for it. But some of those same authors who have trainings and courses, or maybe even masterminds, I have invested in those things and showed up 100% because I'm like, Ooh, I paid for this. And I always say that your client's transformation actually begins with that financial investment. That is the beginning of their transformation because they are likely thinking, whew, I made this investment. I'm going to show up for this cause I need to change. That is when the transformation starts. With that financial investment. There isn't much of a transformation when you're just getting something for free or, you know, downloading something that you're not even going to bring back out of the Dropbox

Erica Julson (00:43:18): Been there. Yeah. And I think being afraid that you're going to come off as spammy or sleazy or something, I think that's just another form of a block because I mean, you buy stuff all the time and probably most of the stuff you buy, you were excited to buy. You weren't like, oh, I can't believe I'm buying this while clicking the button. So what was it about that person's sales process or that company's sales process that got you excited to buy and how can you bring that into your business? Like, don't go and implement tactics that don't feel good to you because that's not going to go over well. So again, bringing it back to the intuition and does this sit well with me? Does this feel right for me and my clientele and my business? That's always the best strategy.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:44:07): 1000%. And I also want to touch on knowing what your core values are. How are you living your life? A lot of times we don't think about our core values, but our core values are always operating within us. And it's how we operate in the world around us. And so what are your core values? You resonate with certain companies and brands because they have a very similar core value to yours. And so when you define your core values, you acknowledge them for what they are. Then you are in alignment with those companies and you infuse that into your business. Because a lot of business coaching programs aren't teaching about core values and infusing it into their business. They actually want you to follow what they did. And then they say, you'll get what they got, which is kind of a 50-50 roulette. But when you learn what your core values are and you infuse it into your own business, then that's when you end up attracting your right clients. That is just how it works. It's very reciprocal in that way.

Erica Julson (00:45:18): I am so glad that we're going down this tangent, because I've been thinking about that a lot as well. And we've had conversations in your book club group that I'm in about stuff like this, but yeah, it's definitely something that was not even on my radar until this year. And then looking back, in retrospect, having lack of clarity on my values got me into some sticky situations that didn't have to happen. Cause I think in the beginning I was a people pleaser and that was what was guiding me. Like, oh, if this person's upset, what did I do wrong? What do I need to change? Like I just would react, instead of, reflect, I guess. So that's been immensely helpful. Do you have any tips on this? Like how do you figure out what your core values are?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:46:13): Oh my gosh. So it's kind of an intuitive process, right? First of all, I just want to preface this by saying that I'm highly intuitive and I just kind of go by my own gut. But what I did was, I Googled core values. You guys, all of my processes, not all of them, but some of them are just so "Really, Christine? That's not that fancy pants!" but a lot of the things that are most powerful are not fancy. So I Googled core values and came across a whole lot of different representations, like different lists. So many lists with all these different characteristics. And so, at the time I was looking for a very extensive list. So I just kept searching until I found this really extensive list.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:47:07): And I would go through, I just like looked through it and whichever ones really felt right. Like, oh, is that me? Is that how I operate? And I wrote about 10 to 20 of them down. And then I narrowed them down to like between five to seven. I love the number seven, by the way, because it's the number of completion. Okay. And so I have seven core values and, I just did it in a very non traditional way. You don't have to take a course to find out all of these things, but you can take personality tests, like the Enneagram, to find out like how you operate in the world. And I'm a number eight by the way. Can I share what number eight is? Oh, it's so crazy. It is the craziest thing.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:47:59): So the number eight, and I got a 98% match for the number eight, is known as the challenger. And the eights see themselves as strong and powerful and seek to stand up for what they believe in. I was like, yes. Because I really do stand up for what I believe in. Eights are motivated by the desire to be independent and take charge of themselves and others. They are assertive personalities and passionate about life, which they approach with vigor and confidence. Eights know how to look after themselves and they pursue their own destiny. When I read that, I was like, this is 1000% me. So when it comes to core values, it's about independence for me. It's about confidence. It's about freedom. Freedom has always been a thing for me. So I would say for anyone listening, if they want to really understand more about themselves and then dig a little bit deeper into what their core value characteristics are, a personality test, like the Enneagram, would be a really, really big help.

Erica Julson (00:49:15): And in terms of mindset work in general, is it something where you're like, okay, I've identified these issues I have and I'm going to... I don't even know. Like, what do you do to work on them? And then is it a one-time thing or is this something you're continually coming back to in your life and your career?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:49:33): I think mindset and money mindset is something that you will continue to work on as long as you're here on the planet, because you're always growing and evolving and things will be changing even around you. Right? And so it is definitely an ongoing thing. But doing the work is not necessarily the easiest thing to do on your own. It really, really isn't. For me, I got to where I am today because I stay with a mentor. I have not been without a mentor since 2003. I have always had something, whether it was a one-on-one coach, whether it was a course that I was taking, a mastermind that I was a part of. I love being in community with people. Speaking of personality tests, I've also taken the strengths finders test and that one helps you to understand what your dominant strengths are.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:50:35): And my top two domains in that assessment are relationship building and influencing. So my top one is actually relationship building because I love being in relationship with others. So being in a community with other people is a huge part of my success. So I just think that this mindset work is not something that's meant to be done alone, because our human experience is not meant to be isolated. So it's important that we are in community with others and that we're getting mentorship from those who've come before us if we want to grow and evolve.

Erica Julson (00:51:21): And speaking of community, if people want to join a community for free around money mindset, you have a Facebook group, yeah?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:51:29): Yes, yes. What is it called again? Money mindset mastery for RD entrepreneurs. The truth of the matter is that I'm just operating day-to-day to be of service. And sometimes I forget about all of the little things. I was on another podcast recently, and I totally flubbed up my Instagram handle. I was like, I don't know what it is, but you guys find me, Christine Dyan. So yeah, money mindset mastery for RD entrepreneurs is the free Facebook group. And you have to be a dietitian or RD to be, or CNS or DTR to be in that group. I don't discriminate against other nutrition professionals, but my message is so honed in for dietitian professionals that someone else might feel out of place if they join.

Erica Julson (00:52:26): And that's a great space to talk through money mindset stuff and get help. I find a lot of inspiration in groups like that where people share their wins or insights into things they've struggled with. And then I can sometimes see myself in their struggles. I'm like, oh, I never thought about that. So I agree. It's very helpful.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:52:50): Yeah. In the coaching community we call that mirroring.

Erica Julson (00:52:53): Oh, okay, cool. I don't know anything about that either.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:52:56): Yeah. Someone's mirroring for you what you need to work on within yourself. They're a mirror for you and it comes up when you're supposed to see it.

Erica Julson (00:53:05): For sure. So can you flesh it out with some examples? Like when you "do the work", what types of positive outcomes can come from that?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:53:18): Well, one of the first things that comes from it is that you have a whole different level of awareness, right? And you have a whole different level of awareness about your beliefs. Then you show up differently. But ultimately the biggest outcome that any of us can have is the one that is most important to me, which is creating a whole new identity. So right now, someone listening may identify as a broke dietitian. Just as an example, I'm labeling it as such, but probably not broke because if we all have internet and we have phones and we have access to this podcast, we're not as broke as we think we are. But you know, you may have the identity that you're not making as much money as you like, and you're broke and you live in paycheck to paycheck or whatever. But when you do the mindset work, it doesn't even have to be like specific money mindset, but just mindset, your thoughts and beliefs. When you do this work, you actually begin to create a whole new identity. And you can identify with being a dietitian who is no longer living paycheck to paycheck, who has created a life full of abundance. And maybe it's not even financial abundance, but it could be abundance in time and just freedom lifestyle and all of these things. Abundance can mean whatever it means for you, but true change in identity is the biggest outcome that you want to have when you do the mindset work.

Erica Julson (00:55:02): I like that so much. So powerful. How can you tell if it's working? Is it like you just wake up one day and you're like, oh, I've really made some progress? Do you have any insight on that?

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:55:16): Yeah. I can give some examples from my own personal experience if that's okay. How I knew it was working was that things were just showing up for me, without me feeling like it was hard work. I wasn't sitting back on the couch eating and watching Netflix, but I was staying steadfast as we talked about earlier. And, then all of a sudden, you know, someone will call me and they will want to work with me. I will tell you this, by being steadfast and true to the mission of money mindset dietitian, I would say just about every single person that I've worked with in one-to-one coaching, which I don't really do anymore, but they came to me. I didn't come to them. I did not do a big marketing campaign. All I did was stay steadfast and true to my mission, showed up with the spirit of being in service to others and created my podcast to provide relevant and valuable content and put myself out there in that way and stay consistent with my podcast.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:56:36): I think my podcast is the only thing I've been consistent with for in a long time. Not the only thing, but one of the biggest things that I've been super consistent and it leads back to being passionate about it. So, yeah, when things start to shift for you, when things start to show up and you feel like, wow, that was amazing. I didn't know that was going to happen. Then you know it's working. Like, for me, in the midst of the pandemic, this year is my highest earning year in my entire career. So, wow. Just out of being of service, not really leading with the money part, but just leading with the service. How can I help people? Like, you know that even when I show up in your Facebook group, I'm in there just being of service, answering questions, maybe even providing constructive feedback or what have you, but just being of service to help provide different and new perspectives, reframing thoughts for people. Like have you ever considered this, you know? And so things will start to shift and show up for you that you didn't even think would show up for you.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:57:52): And that's when you know it's working.

Erica Julson (00:57:54): You know, it's funny, my husband, he always says that I have this magic power to just conjure money. Like it just appears when we need it. And I'm like, well, I don't know, I guess this means I'm doing the right thing!

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:58:09): It really does. And you know, I've gotten to the point now where even though I've gone from doing one to one coaching to having my membership group, it was scary because all of my one-to-one contracts ended. And then I was like, okay, here we are membership. And I didn't know how that was all going to unfold, but I had a desire for it. And now, after only 60 days, I'm pretty much almost back to the same monthly income that I had with the one-on-ones. Which that just blows my mind. I'm like, how, how did we do this? I don't know. Some of it was because I knew I needed to delegate out some work, too. Like I needed to get help with putting this whole membership together. There is no way I could have done it without my administrative assistant who is highly skilled with Infusionsoft, which is the automated system that I use. So we also have to know when it's time to delegate so that we can get the outcome that we want as well.

Erica Julson (00:59:23): Well, I know we've been chatting awhile. The time went by so fast. I just wanted to know if you had maybe three key things or pieces of advice that you could leave people with. Like, maybe some actual things I could do after listening to this podcast.

Christine Dyan Thomson (00:59:38): Hmm. Oh, wow. See, it's a little deeper. So bear with me dietitians who are left-brained. The number one thing that I want you to do is to believe in yourself and your abilities. I don't know why I feel like I want to cry! It means it needs to be said. I want you to believe in yourself. Number two is to get the help that you need and be willing to invest in yourself. And we all know that there's people out there who don't have the best intentions for your money when it's time to invest in yourself and your career, but it is your personal responsibility to do the due diligence and seek someone out that aligns with your core values and what you want for yourself. So believe in yourself, invest in yourself and trust the process. Those are the things. I can't give you a check box thing where you're going to go off and get your notebook out and you're going to do this. No, this work is inner work. When you do the inner work and you stay consistent and steadfast with it, your outer world will show that work is being done. That's what I got.

Erica Julson (01:01:14): That was beautiful. Did that just come to you?

New Speaker (01:01:18): Yes. I'm tearing up! The part about believing in yourself is just so deeply passionate for me because that's the part that's the hardest part. Believing in yourself and then trusting the process. They're on two ends of the spectrum. It's like, you have to believe in you and then you have to trust something outside of yourself. And we have different belief systems about what that something is. But if you could just trust and know that you're not in this alone. That you're actually co-creating your whole life experience. And there's some things that you don't have to worry about. Then it makes it all worthwhile. Every bit of it.

Erica Julson (01:02:14): Well, thank you for sharing that. I think it's a wonderful way to close out the episode. And I think people are going to be like, where can I hear more of this type of advice? So where should people go if they want to connect with you? And I know you also had a free workbook that people might be interested in as well, so we can put that in the show notes.

Christine Dyan Thomson (01:02:36): So first and foremost, moneymindsetdietitian.com is the website. And that is also where you can download a copy of my rate setting workbook. So for those of you who often ask, how much should I charge for XYZ thing, this rate setting workbook is for you. Because I always say it's not the best practice to ask others what you should charge. What you should be doing is actually calculating your rate. I have a whole analogy on tube feedings for that, but I won't get into that here. It's like when you're working in the ICU and you have a new patient, who's on a tube feeding, you don't walk into ICU and say, so what's the going rate. You actually go in there and you calculate it. So it's the same thing with your business. You have to calculate your own rate and then price your packages based on that.

Christine Dyan Thomson (01:03:28): So grab that free workbook and I'll take you step-by-step in calculating your unique rate. And then, find me on Instagram at money.mindset.dietitian. I got it right this time. And I feel like my podcast is really the place where you would want to be if you really want to have consistent like little nuggets of wisdom deposited in you, then subscribe to the make more money as a dietitian podcast, which you can find on apple podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. And I don't know, it might be somewhere else too, but I don't know about that.

Erica Julson (01:04:08): Well, thank you. I'm sure you'll get a lot of people heading over to check out your podcast. Cause it's a really great one. Thank you again for being here today. And I hope lots of people come your way. Because we need this education and we've just got to talk about this stuff more.

Christine Dyan Thomson (01:04:25): We really do. We definitely need to talk about it more. So head on over to the make more money as dietitian podcast, if not anything else, so that we can keep the conversation going.

Erica Julson (01:04:36): Awesome. Well, thank you so much.

Christine Dyan Thomson (01:04:37): Thank you.