I’m very grateful for all the support launching my new nutrition business

I graduated last year and I was very keen to get up and running with my new nutrition business as soon as possible, so I’ve been with Zest4life since the very beginning.

To begin with I just wanted to get out and meet as many people as possible. Any conversation I had I considered an opportunity to talk about my new nutrition business, talk about what I do. So I went to, and still go to lots of networking events in person and I joined a co-working space which I go to once a week. It’s been great for my network, and has also been a great platform for me to give talks. I’ve done two talks now which has been lovely.

I also rent a clinic space so I see people in person as well as online. We’ve got quite a number of practitioners at the clinic which has helped to get the word out about my services, and we have shared networks and clients as well.

I also have a collaboration with a personal trainer. I was at a networking event at my co-working space and I met someone who was working with my now PT collaborator, and at the time he was looking for a new nutritionist to work with so it was partly fate, I guess! We met and together we have built a ten-week health transformation programme and I run all of the nutrition elements of it. He owns a high-end gym and is a very experienced PT as well as doing some Qigong and breath work so as part of this 10-week group programme, individuals get support from me, they get access to the classes at the gym, plus 1-2-1 work with him either as a PT or in the more mindful movement and breath work side of things.

It’s a really nice collaboration as I think we have very complimentary skills, we have a similar outlook on wellbeing. Our group programme is quite a high-ticket item but we feel like it’s a really comprehensive offering and we’ve had some amazing results with clients who have done it already. It’s really nice to have that as a complimentary revenue stream to my 1-2-1 work.

The Zest4life Nutrition Resource Centre is unbelievable – I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of what there is! What I like to do is look at the particular area that I’m trying to build content for and then pull copy from a couple of different documents. I can brand it myself and put my own stamp on it, but I’ve still got all of that amazing content that’s already been done for me. It’s been invaluable.

I’ve also just started doing a bit of corporate work. I’ve done lunchtime talks, as well as a couple of pop-up nutrition clinics where I go in for a day and run half-hour sessions. I’ve actually got some 1-2-1 work out of that as well which has been great. I did the Zest4life “Working in Corporate Wellness” training earlier in the year which was fabulous and gave me lots of different ways to approach the corporate market. I’m excited because I feel that’s going to be quite a focus for me for the year ahead. It’s nice that I’ve got that revenue stream as well, and it keeps everything varied.

One of the key things that I did at Zest4life at the beginning was looking at my vision for my business, and the values for my business. Sometimes when I have a bit of imposter syndrome and start to feel nervous, I fall back on that and remember why I am doing it, and that really helps to push me on. For me it’s always about my children and our family and our aspirations, and how I want to contribute to our future. I love being a mum, but I’m also loving running my own business. It’s given me a huge amount of purpose and I really feel like I’ve found my lane. I’m very grateful to Zest4life for all the support I’ve had this year!

Rachel Davies, Nutritional Therapist