How to Start Your Dream Wellness Career
Sam Vander Wielen is a corporate attorney-turned-entrepreneur and health coach. Through Sam Vander Wielen LLC, she helps women confidently create businesses and content they love, all while protecting themselves with DIY legal templates and resources. When she isn’t helping boss babes build their online empires, she’s usually drinking coffee, at the beach, or watching the Bachelorette because Rachel Lindsay is the bomb.
Do you ever feel like there’s got to be more to life than a desk job? Good news…there is! So much more, actually.
And hey, maybe you love your job, and entrepreneurship isn’t for you. That’s perfectly OK - because we need plenty of amazing accountants, lawyers, doctors, advertisers, marketers, and so much more.
But if you’ve found yourself feeling stuck and wondering whether there’s a way you can make your passion for wellness more than your hobby, you’re in luck. And I’m living proof that it’s possible: I’m Sam Vander Wielen, an attorney-turned-entrepreneur who ditched my corporate attorney career in 2016 to pursue entrepreneur status full-time. It’s simultaneously been the scariest and most amazing experience of my life.
Before I left my job as an attorney, I thought wellness, healthy food, cooking, and fitness were just hobbies. I didn’t think they could become anything more. But sometimes when you reach rock bottom, you come face to face with reality. You see how you’ve put up all these restrictions and “rules” in your life that aren’t necessarily true.
One restriction we put on ourselves? That work is work and it can’t be something we love or live for.
The first step to starting your own dream wellness career is to stop thinking of it as a “dream”. Dreams are intangible things off in the distance we can see or touch. We have to change our mindset and tell ourselves that we want to make our passion and hobby our life’s work.
Once you get your mindset straight, here are a few ways to jumpstart your wellness business:
MAKE FRIENDS
Start figuring out how to make your passion for wellness your career by talking to women you admire who are already doing it. Reach out on social, email them, meet for coffee — pick their brains about their experience, how they got to where they are, and whether they have any recommendations. Most importantly, just listen. Be open, honest, and receptive to just hearing them out. Don’t go in with goals or expectations and you’ll receive something you didn’t even expect.LOOK AT YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
At least to me, the best wellness businesses start from personal journeys. Battled and overcame an eating disorder? You have the power to share your journey with your tribe. Hit rock bottom in a cushy corporate career and had the courage to step out and do what you love? So many people feel your pain and will connect with your story.EDUCATE + CULTIVATE
In today’s world, there are so many women who know so much about food + wellness. Being super knowledgable isn’t always enough to sustain a business. Depending on what you want to do, think about enrolling in a coaching, cooking, or other program to hone in your skills. You might know a lot about self-care, but do you know how to coach others to prioritize their own? You also want to cultivate your skills and knowledge base with in-person trainings, working with a coach, and attending events (like Good Fest!) and workshops.SPREAD YOUR MESSAGE
Before you even have a full fledged business, get comfortable writing about your topic, posting on social, and meeting people in the wellness space. Let everyone know what you’re doing - your dog walker, your Aunt’s cousin, that girl you always see at Soul Cycle. And here’s a million dollar tip: start an email list from the get go. That list will be worth its weight in gold for you later.
Do you want to start your own wellness business one day? Or, if you’ve already started, have you thought about what audience you’re trying to connect with? If you thought this post was helpful, you’re in luck! This is the 1st in a series of 3 posts coming your way all about helping you build a wellness business.
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