We were lucky to catch up with Allie Potter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Allie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

I never planned to start a business. I never even planned to have a career in nutrition. I first became certified in the field for my own knowledge and growth, not as a way to generate revenue; but I soon discovered that I could use the passion and the knowledge I had to help others.

My husband is an active duty service member, and we move frequently; so transition and change are a regular part of our everyday life. The flexibility of entrepreneurship was appealing to me because it provided an opportunity be both a supportive wife/partner AND a career-focused woman building my own professional legacy. The need to be flexible and “go with the flow” as a military spouse has prepared me well for the uncertainty that accompanies entrepreneurship. It’s helped me be more comfortable with the inevitable unknown, so I can continue to push forward.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of misconceptions about female-run lifestyle businesses and whether or not they count as “real” businesses. (Still!) As a woman and a military spouse, people often expect me to be a spouse first; so I’m constantly trying to convince them – and, frankly, myself – that I am both a great spouse and a growing professional, working to build a meaningful company. It’s entirely possible to be both.

The #1 thing I would emphasize to aspiring entrepreneurs is that while running your own business is awesome, it’s also very lonely. I was unprepared for how isolated I’d feel making decisions on my own. This was especially true at the beginning, but remains true even as I continue to build and grow my team. It’s only through seeking out meaningful connection with others who are “in the same boat,” and realizing that we all feel this way from time to time, that I’ve learned to manage these feelings. Seek out like-minded people, be willing to get vulnerable with them, and the journey won’t be so lonely.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I love food – but I didn’t always. I always wondered – am I eating too much? Too little? Do I meet society’s (unrealistic) expectations of what a woman should look and be like? Will I ever?

Then I started getting more serious about my fitness, and particularly strength training; and for the first time in my life, I felt strong and powerful. The more passionate about fitness I became, the more I realized that it mattered what I was putting into my body. Not just for what my body LOOKED like, but for what my body could DO and how I could perform. I realized that I had to be giving my body the nutrients – and the fuel – it needed. Not only for tomorrow, or next week, or even next year; but for 40 years from now. For me, I love hiking, kayaking, long walks with my dog, and lifting heavy weights – and I want to develop the habits now that give me the best shot of doing all these things for years and years to come.

At fuelED, our vision is a world in which reliable and relevant nutrition information is accessible to all who want to lead a happier, healthier life. It is not a meal plan. It is not a 30-day challenge. It is not a quick fix. Instead, fuelED equips you with the knowledge, guidance, and accountability needed to find the right strategy for you – the one you can stick to, and the one that helps you reach your goals.

fuelED provides nutrition education and coaching; helping people develop sustainable, healthy habits for long-term success. We specialize in personal nutrition coaching, working one-on-one with individuals to help them use nutrition to reach their health and wellness goals – no matter what those goals may be. We also partner with gyms and fitness studios to, through nutrition, help them create an additional revenue stream while giving members the best chance of achieving the transformations they’re seeking. Finally, we offer employee wellness initiatives to help teams become their best selves – both in and outside of the workplace.

To me, our greatest success is the testimonials of the clients whose lives we’ve changed in meaningful, tangible ways. Take Rachel, for instance:

“I used to go from diet to diet – losing weight and then gaining it back, giving up on healthy eating altogether, and then starting the cycle all over. Working with fuelED taught me fundamentals for building a much more collaborative and integrated relationship with myself. Allie helped me to make connections between my eating patterns and the other major influencers in my life: stress, rest, and exercise. She starts from a place of awareness and builds on that – it literally overnight added a whole new dimension of hope and excitement that I could reach my goals – even as a working mom with kids and too many balls in the air. She’s given me tools that have fundamentally changed the way I think about health and weight loss!”

There’s nothing better than feeling like our work has a meaningful impact on the lives of others.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Growing up, failure was my biggest fear. I’ve been a “high performer” for as long as I can remember; so grades were important, being good at extracurricular activities was important, and I never wanted to settle for anything less than perfect. As a result, I played it safe – and only participated in things where I knew I could succeed.

This fear followed me through college and my early professional career. I thought my perfectionism was a blessing, not a curse. I performed well, got promoted quickly, and was known as someone whom others could rely on to get the job done right. But I wasn’t happy.

Entrepreneurship has shown me, more than anything else I’ve ever done, that failure is inevitable. Trial and error is the name of the game, and it’s near impossible to be truly successful at anything without taking risks. Even starting my business meant taking a risk; and now as I continue to work in and on that business, I have to take risks almost every day. The new marketing campaign could flop. Maybe that partner isn’t a good fit. We might lose clients if we switch to that structure. The outcomes are unknown… but it’s through these so-called “failures” that I’ve been able to lean into creativity, try different things, and create a business that’s something I can truly be proud of.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

To this day, the most effective strategy for growing our clientele has been word of mouth – i.e., referrals from current and past clients who are satisfied with their experience.

Of course, as the business continues to grow, we can’t rely on this completely; and we’ve certainly utilized a bunch of different marketing strategies to break into new markets (some of which have been more effective than others). But it takes time to develop brand awareness and trust. When a person you already know and trust recommends our services to you, we get to speed up that timeline.

What that means is our #1 commitment remains to providing a high-quality, meaningful nutrition support to everyone who gives our company a chance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://befuelednutrition.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/befuelednutrition/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/befuelednutrition
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/befuelednutrition

Image Credits
Stephanie Sobralski Photography