Side Hustle Spotlight: Health Coach

Today I had the honor of interviewing two pals who just so happen to be married to each other. I met Rachel on a bus from Austria to Poland when we were both studying abroad and we immediately hit it off. We also became friends with two nuns, but that’s a story for a different time.

Jarad and I ran in similar circles in college and I was more than a little surprised when they became an item. Fast forward a few years later, they’re now married (I was in the wedding and was the moodiest and whiniest bridesmaid ever, a situation a sorely regret) and have the CUTEST baby and are expecting another little dude in a few months. Yayyyy.

When I first heard that they were doing Optavia, I’ll admit I was skeptical. It wasn’t until (literally) dozens of people I know made huge differences on their health journey with it that I started to see it as legit. I hope you enjoy this interview as much I do!

What is your side hustle?

We are Optavia health coaches!

What is your 9-5?

Jarad works for Two Roads Brewing and up until a couple months ago, I was working for a church collaborative called The Christ Initiative. I left that job to spend more time with my one year old son and to focus on growing our Optavia business. 

How has having a side income changed your family finances?

It has really impacted our total financial picture. But originally when we decided to become health coaches our main goal was to make enough to pay for our Optavia food monthly. Not only were we able to quickly reach that goal but then we started setting other goals for that money. We decided Optavia money was going to pay off certain bills (credit cards or medical) and it did. Then we decided to pay off our car loan and we were able to do that in a few months. Now Rachel is working from home and gets to be with our 11 month old, Kai, full time! It’s been pretty crazy to watch this thing grow into a serious business when our original goal was just to cover the cost of our food! 
One of the aspects we are most looking forward to with Optavia is sharing the coaching opportunity with our friends and family. We have just been so blessed with the opportunity and would love to see others benefit from it in the same way we have!

What does your daily schedule look like (when it’s not a pandemic) with juggling a day job and a side job?

Rachel takes care of most of the Optavia work and Kai, during what is considered “normal work hours” during the work week. She handles most of the scheduling of calls, clients orders and social media posts, etc., while Jarad does his 9-5. Jarad’s job consists of 2-3 office days a week and the other days are spent on the road, traveling between accounts or in meetings. Fortunately, there is some flexibility in his job (plus he spends a lot of time in the car) and he can schedule calls if need be when he is on the road. We also try to schedule most of our calls first thing in the morning or after five on week days. We conduct trainings and connect with our other Optavia coaching teams on the weekends. All in all, our normal work week works very seamlessly with our Optavia work week.

Rach, you were very anti-MLM.  What changed?  What would you say to someone who’s still very opposed?

Haha, this is TRUE! 

The first thing I’ll say about this is that Optavia is different by nature than many other companies defined as “multi-level marketing” companies. By definition it is really not an MLM  but a “multi-level income” company. There’s a few differences. Primarily, I don’t purchase any product from the company to sell. Secondly, I am under no obligation to recruit other coaches unless I choose to. Additionally, I will never make a larger percentage off of any orders placed by one of my coaches clients than they themselves do. 
I think the biggest change in my thought process was just that this product literally changed my life and I couldn’t not share it! I was excited to tell people. Furthermore, when I broke it down, my gripe with friends and acquaintances that were peddling mlm products was when they would direct message or call me under the guise that they wanted to catch up. I would get so excited to hear from an old friend from college for example only get to paragraph 3 of their message and realize they only contacted me to try to sell (insert miracle product here). 

I take a different approach with my business. I’ve never direct messaged or called anybody about it who hasn’t directly expressed interest to me first. I really think people appreciate that. I use my own social media formats and come up with different creative ways to get the word out about my business. I figure if I make it known that this is what I do, they can figure out how to get in touch with me if they’re interested.

I am taking my career and life into my own hands, I’m able to build my job around my life and not the other way around. It’s always been my dream to work remotely from anywhere. I love the freedom it gives me and I feel empowered to be in control of my own business. 

Jarad’s thoughts on this: I feel like now a days many people are leaning towards a preference for “local” and “small businesses.” I think we are doing this because we either trust these businesses more or because we want to see the “little guy” succeed. I don’t think you can trust someone more than your friends. Why not support the products that they can personally vouch for? Optavia has a great product and I think people should try to be  open to the idea of buying things from their friends or people they know whether it be a small business or a mlm. I love Target, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks and the like with the best of them, BUT I think supporting a friend/acquaintance when you can feels great and also helps out a small business rather than one of the conglomerates.

Why Optavia?

We had no intentions of making it into a side hustle initially. We were both just very out of touch with our health and had weight to lose. We started the program as clients and ended up losing a combined 87 pounds! Neither of us had ever been able to stay on a program long term so we shocked ourselves and were so excited about it. People started asking us what we were doing and they wanted to try it to. We figured we could refer them to our coach or just seize the opportunity to coach ourselves…so we did! 

How would someone get in touch with you if they want to learn more?

We would love to tell you more!  Mention the code Britt125 when you call or text for a $125 discount on your first month! 978-491-7647. It makes sense to try the program first before becoming a coach but we can help you set that up too!