The Basics Are Sexy - Julie Starr

When I first graduated and started the business, I didn't write down a a business plan. I didn't know what orderly reports were. I just knew that I was pretty much broke. And so when you're broke, you're not really as a free. We're not taught to have a niche and go with it and stay focused. That's a very business-minded way of thinking. I want to just help everybody. I like making making people feel good. But that doesn't necessarily make me ripped.

What's up, fitness fans? Welcome back. This is Eric Malzone, and you are listening to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is episode number 48, and I talked to Julie Starr. And I really I love talking to Julie. She's great. She's uh she's funny, she's charming, she has a ton of experience in the industry, and I'll tell you more about her just in a second. But I do have a call to action for you. So you are a fitness professional and you've been in the industry for at least seven years, and you're now looking to take your leap forward to be a modern fitness professional and take advantage of all the opportunities that we have as far as technology and being mobile. Um, this is the group for you. Uh, it's a very powerful thing. And if you want more information, just go to fitnessmarketingalliance.com forward slash mastermind, and you'll get all the information you need. Hopefully, you'll fill out the application and then schedule an interview with me. And uh, I would love to talk to you. We are limiting only to 12 spots. So um that's not to necessarily provide scarcity, just let you know that's how small uh the group will be, it'd be very intimate, and everybody will commit it to everyone else's success. Therefore, taking a giant leap forward uh in a way that you couldn't do on your own. So uh back to Julie. So Julie has been in the world of academia as far as nutrition goes. She has stepped out and now she has developed multiple revenue streams. Um she owns a couple studios, uh, she does retreats, she's uh writing a book right now, which it sounds epic. And there's just so many things she's doing right now that are amazing. And she truly is a modern fitness professional, somebody who's spent time in the trenches and done it all. So there's a lot of actionable items and advice that you can take from this. So I hope you hopefully you enjoy it and you get something from it. And if you do, please go to iTunes and rank us favorably. That would be fantastic. So without further ado, this is episode number 48. This is Julie Starr. I know you'll enjoy it. Off we go. Hey fitness fans, welcome back. This was your host, Eric Malzone, and today I'm sitting with Julie Starr. Julie, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Yeah, I'm excited. I think you're uh I know your message is is really valuable to the fitness and especially more specifically the fitness or the nutrition uh industry. And first of all, let's just give some background on your story, right? Who you are, who you work with, uh kind of what you do on a day-to-day basis. And specifically, I want to I I think your education is is really unique because a lot of people don't go through all the education that you've done to be a nutritionist, right? Go ahead.

Well, um, to make a long story short, I first got into health by studying to be a midwife, actually. So um I went to school to be a midwife in college. After college, I went to midwifery school. So I was studying birth and women's health, but I was always drawn to the nutrition side of things. And um I worked with a lot of herbalists on a lot of farms, and then the um the accreditation started to change in the nutrition, um, sorry, in the midwifery field. So I pressed pause in my midwifery training and I wanted to go back to school, so I figured, hey, I'm good at nutrition, I like to talk about food, I'm gonna go get my master's. So I applied for my master's in science nutrition, FBU. I got in and um yeah, I got my master's there, which is a pretty long, I think I was there for three and a half years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of different ways you can become a nutritionist, but I really wanted to learn the science of it. There's some programs that um focus more on public health, like at Tufts. So um I basically started my nutrition career right uh out of grad school and just started seeing clients. I knew I wanted to just do um one-on-one. So back then it was all just about having a private practice. I didn't want to work in a hospital. So um after studying to be a nutritionist, so that was a little over 10 years ago, I then became certified to teach yoga, then I then became certified to teach bar. So at this point in my career, I am certified as a nutritionist, yoga teacher, bar teacher, uh doula, and childbirth educator.

So that's that is uh very unique skill set, Julie. Yeah.

Yeah, and I'm uh but what I love is that I really did study all of this from Eastern and Western philosophy. I've had so you know, I've worked on herb farms picking echinacea with people that uh you know didn't really believe in uh modern medicine. And then I also studied you know the complete opposite. Boss uh BU is pretty traditional in terms of how they teach and from from their perspective. So I feel very lucky.

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. So you also own studios now, is that correct?

Yes, oh yes, huh? Forgot about that.

That little thing, those businesses.

Other than my nutrition um that I do, I own Star Yoga Studios. So I have two right now. I have one in Roslindale Mass, which is uh a part of Boston, and then my other one is in West Hartford, Connecticut, which is my hometown. And I always wanted to open something up there because my dad's from there, and my grandmother still lives there, so I run those. I do teacher trainings both in yoga and bar. We're actually in the middle of a yoga training right now, so just finished a module last weekend, and I host retreats, so wellness retreats. I do about two to three a year. The last one was in the Azores, so we all went to Portugal. Um, there's about 15 of us, and all of my retreats include just a great combination of fun and sweating, and sometimes both of those happen at the same time. Uh a lot of times, but um I'm a huge foodie, so it's not usually those retreats. We we talk more about having a love of food and just the culture of food and healthy eating as opposed to clean eating. If that makes sense.

Yeah, it makes total sense. Yeah. So you have a uh a very strong basis in academia, right? You spent a lot of time learning. Now you're a business owner with multiple revenue streams and projects and going on. Uh, tell us about that experience about learning. You know, the academia is obvious that was a structured setting, but then having to come in and learn how to run your business and your studios and how to market and all that, how was that experience for you? And you'll walk us along that journey a little bit because I think that's something a lot of people are going through right now.

Okay, well, I went to Hampshire College, okay, and I don't know if you know um about Hampshire, but uh Hampshire's in Amherst Mass, and there are no grades. So there's no grades, there's no tests, and there's no majors. So, in order to think of it uh like you have a thesis almost. So you have to create create your idea, you have to figure out what classes you want to take to get to where you want to go. You have to find teachers that will support you and you know be there to edit your papers. Um so you basically I basically had to learn to sell myself and I shouldn't say it that way.

I got it, I got it, yeah, yeah.

But uh uh I had to be confident in in in and passionate in what I was doing, but also be able to take that passion and and sh and give it to somebody else to be like, look at look at my passion, you know, and just transfer it to them as well. So I've always been very interested in making sure that other people understood where I was coming from, you know, like all of us science, you know, scientists or or anybody that has an interest in doing something, it's not difficult to convince yourself why you know what you're learning is important, but it's it's having other people, you know, capturing their interest, um, getting them to listen. So um I learned that from Hampshire. Um and in a way, because Hampshire was this very idealistic uh place because they didn't really teach us some other things, like you actually need money to start a business, or maybe a business plan, you know.

But if you love what you did, you know, you can do it.

Um but I I just always knew that this is what I wanted to do was something on my own. And it's almost my like just being naive and not knowing what you needed to do in business that allow me to do it and allow me to take the risks. I didn't when I first graduated and started the business, I didn't write down a business plan. I didn't know what uh quarters, quarterly reports were. Um, I just knew that I was pretty much broke. And so when you're broke, you're not really as afraid. You know, it's like you make some money, you lose some money, then you're just back at where you were before. So um I was very social. I'd say that I was very I'm very was very good at being social, put it that way, sorry, mom and dad, um, in in the city in in Boston. And um I had a really good network. So as soon as I graduated, I created cards on VistaPrint saying I was a nutritionist, and I just gave them out to everybody that I came in contact with. And it was really through word of mouth that I got my first clients. And once I got my first clients in nutrition, it just was just word of mouth from there. There was no Instagram, Facebook had maybe just started because this is a little over 10 years ago. So at that point, I just said yes to everything. So if they someone needed a nutritionist to talk somewhere, as we were saying earlier, a lot of nutritionists aren't they don't public speak. And I didn't really love public speaking, but I didn't want it to get in the way of me uh being a nutritionist, so I just said yes, and just I tried to wing a bunch of things, and I guess I did it pretty well because I was asked back. So that's that's really how I started my my career was just saying yes to everything and letting go of fear and learning along the way, definitely made a lot of mistakes.

That that's a huge differentiator. I mean, most people will say, No, I'm not ready, I can't do that. No, that's not my my particular niche. That's not, you know, there's a lot of there's a million different reasons to say no when saying yes is uh you know is is is the best path. I mean, it's it that that's uh that's a great lesson.

I had confidence in in myself in terms of uh my education and my experience. So it was that I I knew that, and I I also was taught by by my mentors that if somebody asks you a question and you don't know the answer, it's okay. You don't have to know everything, but you you don't want to leave that person just with nowhere to go. So just knowing what you know, but then also knowing what you don't know. So if you don't know it, outsource. Give them somebody else to go to because then they'll still come back to you for the things that you can help them with.

Right. Well, that's also how you build a referral network, right? I mean, that's that's the basics of it. Staying in your lane, realizing what you're good at, and then building that network of people who can offer you know the full package uh alongside with you. So you uh we've been talking about this a lot. You're seeing the industry change, right? You're seeing the nutrition industry specifically change. Um give us your insight on that and and what you kind of what you think needs to happen for this thing to evolve.

The biggest thing that I see is that nutrition is truly becoming a business. And that's something that's lacking in most nutrition programs. So in my master's program, there was one business class we had to take. It was SMG 299, it's intro to business. It was so foreign to us as master's level nutrition students. Like, why do we have to learn this? It just wasn't created for us. It was a class that I mean, anybody that wanted to get into the math the business school would take too. So we were literally with 18-year-olds that wanted to be, you know, huge businessmen. And then here we are, mostly like 23 and up nutrition students in this business class. So it just wasn't, it didn't really work for us. So that but we do need to know business, and I know that now. I mean, it's it's more so than ever. Like going back to um me referencing my mistakes, it would have been really helpful for me to have made some goals, some financial goals, because I didn't do that, and now I do. It would have been helpful for me to know a little bit about taxes. I don't know.

Yeah, but taxes and taxes can be shocking, taxes as a small business owner, you know.

I didn't I didn't know that. There's so many more opportunities for nutritionists to have careers that are outside salaried positions, and because of that, we need to know how to maneuver uh among like those types of careers. So I wasn't taught that. And um a lot of nutrition now is virtual or has you know, you need to have some skills in terms of social media, in terms of content writing. And we were not taught that. We were taught how to write science papers, we weren't taught how to write content, which I also think is a new word. I don't think back in the day people were like, Oh, you need some content. Like what what I would have had no idea what someone was talking about if they said that. And now it's the number one thing people say to me, Julia, just write down some content. And I'm like, okay, I can do that. You mean bullet points, but top tens? That's what they want. Top ten foods that will help warm you up in the winter. Those are the types of things that nutritionists can write, but it's a different way of thinking and it's a different way of writing. And so I think that that's where the field is field is going that way, and that's where the programs for nutritionists need they need to add these types of classes in.

Yeah, I I totally agree. And you know, coming from a digital marketing background, that content is a big deal, and it has been for like the last, you know, I'm gonna say five to six years, you know, everyone started getting into providing content, right? But now what we're starting to see um throughout the market as everything starts to go digital and virtual, you know, uh is that the day of the generalist is is kind of gone. You know, it's it's going away quickly. So for example, for someone like you with your specific background, like you can carve out a niche for um, you know, uh women who just had a child who need to lose weight or love yoga, right? That's your that can be your solidified audience. Now you can start building content that is specifically for that group and start attracting those people all over the world, right? And that's that's the beauty of it. But what most people are stuck in is you know, well, I do nutrition for everybody, right? And that's that's not the thing. And with all of now, everyone's a content creator, right? Quote unquote, um, doing air quotes right now. Uh but in order to stand out from the crowd with all the content that's now being created, you have to really, really carve out your niche. And I think that's that's the biggest thing that that we're seeing now. Um so that's that's my two cents on it.

Um which is which is a very different perspective that we are taught in in nutrition school. We're we're given a we're we're we're we're told that everybody needs nutrition and that there are so many jobs. But we're not we're I mean, I guess if that's the complete opposite of what you just said, we're not taught to have a niche and go with it and stay focused. That's a very business-minded way of thinking. So, you know, that's something that I had to that I still have trouble doing. I want to still say yes to everything and do everything. And um I I often have to stop myself and say, no, like put your business hat on, write down your quarterly goals. Um, you know, we all as a nutritionist and a yogi and a bar teacher, I want to just help everybody. You know, I I just I like make making people feel good, but that doesn't necessarily make me revenue. So I have to remind myself, like I'm at a different point in my career, and say, is this project that I say yes to, will it make me revenue? Is it a part of my path? Is this is it gonna get me to reach my goal that I put down, you know, in my one-year plan? Is this gonna help me reach my goal in my three-year plan? Maybe it won't, but do I have time for it then? Maybe it's something I work on next year, maybe I refer it out to somebody else that could do an equally good job. So that's that's something that I'm always working on.

Awesome. Where where do you see your practice going in the next two years? Like where where are you focused?

I just worked on this yesterday, writing down my good timing. Um so you know I have I do a lot of different things.

Yes, I'm aware. Yep.

You know, okay, so basically the next couple of years, and some of the things I can't really disclose the details yet because they haven't been finalized.

Right.

But I am with my studios. I hope that both my studios continue to succeed. I I want to just continue working on quality control there and just still offering yoga, um, yoga trainings, maybe once or twice a year, and hiring different teachers to take part in them. So I'm not just leaving them. So that's my my studio goal. Um, at one point it was to open other studios, and and now that's not an interest. Um, after I reviewed some numbers and some ultimate goals, I want to get to. So just keeping my studios running and keeping them high quality and and offering trainings. Um, in terms of my nutrition, I do want to press pause on seeing individualized uh individual clients, and I'm um actually creating a nutrition supplement line with my partner. So um that hopefully our first product will be out in the spring. So I will um that's been really fun. It's been a lot of uh research and just giving me an opportunity to get back into the nutrition world, but also the food worlds, um, again, which I love, and just getting back to working with people, but in a different way because I have to you know do my research and see what people actually want. So in the next two years, hopefully I have a few products, maybe I don't know, a few being 10. I don't know, but a product line and and working on building that that brand, and through that brand, hopefully offering um that will also open up some other opportunities where I can be on some more panels. Um, I do have a couple of panel um conference panels I'll be on for conferences. One is the Strong Process Summit that's in Boston, that's coming up in April. Um, so I love doing group talks, so I would like to have on my calendar year at least two um panel type of conferences. And then I also want to do retreats, but I want these the retreats that I'm doing, I want to be um shorter and more localized. So, like three-day retreats for people who just need an escape from the city or a pause on their day-to-day activities, but where they can go someplace that they can learn skills that they can then weave into their daily lives. So, what I find is that so many people, when they go on retreats, it's just so different from their normal life that when they come back, they don't take anything back. That's just like the be that's all that's what they did when they were in Costa Rica. But then they get back to Boston and they're like, Well, I can't eat papaya, mango rice for breakfast. I'm not in, you know, I'm not in Costa Rica. So um, I'm actually working. I'm partnering with a wonderful boutique hotel line, uh, and uh hopefully offering wellness programs through them that we'll have probably every quarter. Now I do know what a quarter is. So um that's and then I'm also writing a book. That's uh right now it's not going as quickly as I wanted it to because I had to take that hat off and I'm working on the nutrition uh supplement line now, but um hopefully the book will be published within two years.

Awesome. Yeah, wow. Okay, that's I'd imagine just verbalizing all that was probably a little bit of a point of realization. Oh, I am a busy person. Well, I love it because you you are um you know what we uh have termed the modern fitness and health professional, right? Someone who has you know done the local, right, has gone to the local market and now is expanding um their reach due to all of the advantages that we have now, you know, at our hands, you know, we can do social media, we can do content, we can plan things internationally or nationally. So that's it's really uh it's a great story. And I hope more people within the industry kind of go your way, right? Start seeing that, you know, hey, we can't just depend on local markets anymore. Um, because here's the news, right? If you're depending on a local market solely, there's a lot of people globally who are going after the same market within your you know your little town. And that's uh, you know, if that doesn't scare you into action a little bit, uh I don't know, I don't know what will. Um what's the topic of your book? Because I I I we talked about this earlier, and I'm I'm really uh I think it's awesome. I love it.

Okay, so uh it's funny because when I tell people that I'm gonna write a book, they all think it's gonna be just a nutrition book.

Yeah.

And that and everyone said that I should write a book about that, and that to me just sounded so boring. Um at Hampshire we do we did a lot of writing, and um, I'm a strong writer. And um, I'm a storyteller. I really like, and that's that's how I consult too, and that's how I I think I am approachable, is that I I weave my stories and stories about my personal life or my friends in with facts and education, and so if people can feel like I'm approachable, then they'll listen. So, going back to how you get people to listen. So, um, I'm writing a book for uh women mostly, yeah. I mean, men can read it too, um, that are in this kind of awkward age in their life, so it's about mid-30s to mid-40s. So maybe you've had your kids, uh, maybe you've gone through a divorce, um, you're not even perimenopausal yet, but your hormones are still going, they're still they're out of control. Like all of me and my friends, we we're still just we're like, when do this whole when you become a grown-up, you don't have acne? When when why were we taught that? Because it's not true. Um, what you eat change, like how you how your digestive system works changes when you're this age, your relationship you have with your friends, with your partners. I mean, sex changes, um, all your needs change. And so my my book is a playful look at this group, almost like a second puberty, where you have to redefine who you are. You have, you know, you're just in such a different place in your life than you were in your upper 20s, and um, but in in a really playful way. So we'll we'll hit, you know, what's your skin like, um nutrition, um, how you feel emotionally, psychologically, and I'll be interviewing doctors that represent all those different categories and just see how they deal or uh experiences they have had with women in this age group, you know, even from the clothes that we wear. I mean, I can't tell you how many conversations my friends and I have about sneakers. Like it's almost every not every day, but once a week. I'm like, can I wear Converse sneakers? Or do I look like that weird woman that's still holding on to her Converse sneakers? Like, I don't know. You know? Like I'm supposed to be professional, but am I like, do I need to be like fancy professional?

Or that's great.

These these things are really like this age, we just don't, we don't know. Like um, but we all talk about it and we joke about it, and workouts don't don't work the same for us.

We've probably all done a juice cleanse at least three times, even though we know it didn't work the first time. You know, so so now we're like, okay, if it didn't work when we were 30, it's certainly not gonna work now we're now that we're 40. But if I eat like five potato chips, I gain 10 pounds. What but then again, I'm also 40, and I know that life isn't only about how much I weigh. So do I eat the chip or do I not eat the chip?

Yeah.

So that's that's pretty much uh, and every time I talk about the book, I'm all I always like smile, and it makes me it makes other people laugh too. And uh I think that in my career, after you know doing this for almost you know 12 years in this wellness field, it's it's very cutthroat. It's a really serious business, um, especially being an entrepreneur and also a lonely business.

Yeah.

And um the yoga world, that's a whole other podcast, but the yoga studio world has got to be like the most unfriendliest business there is. Um so it it's just not all, you know, Lululemon and you know, sparkles and rainbows. It's it's hard.

Yeah.

So um I just needed a an outlet to just laugh and um connect with people in a different way and not just tell them like what they need to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Yeah, yeah. Because we're we're it's just we're not that simple, right? Humans, we're just not that simple. Uh we would like to be, but we're not. So, Julie, where do people find you? Where can people get more information on what you're doing?

So my website is Star Life Studios, so that's S-T-A-R-R, like my last name, life studiosplural.com. Um, you can find me there. I'm on Instagram under Star Life Studios, but also my websites, um, I mean, my studios have their own as well, if you want to check out my studios. And that's it for now. But awesome.

Well, much more to come, I'm sure. Yeah. Uh well, this has been great. I I uh it's such a great story. Um, hearing everything that that you've evolved through and and you continue to evolve, and uh this book is gonna be awesome, I have no doubt. So, Julie, thank you for your time. Really appreciate it, and uh, you and I will be talking soon.

Thank you so much. Bye.

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