We were lucky to catch up with Chris McPhie recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Chris thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
The risk I’m going to tell you about, is how I changed my career path from a stable, well paying job, to a much less stable, burgeoning health field, independent practice.
I am a trained Elementary teacher and had been working, quite successfully, in the field for the past 10 years. I had landed a job at the most sought after school in my area, I had great benefits, job security and great colleagues to work with. However, I was feeling less and less satisfied with my type of work and I was becoming very concerned over the state of health and wellness I was witnessing with our youth. In the short 10 years I had been working with children from ages 5-14, I had noticed a clear decline in not only the academic competencies of students, but their mental health too. I was worried and felt there was more I could be doing to help.
I’ve always been passionate about health, but this passion had been growing steadily since my early twenties and it really took off once I had children. We were fortunate to have a really great doctor in our area and when my daughter was undergoing testing, at two years old, it came back showing EMF sensitivities with her. When I inquired about this to my doctor, she said that pretty much everyone shows this. Well, to me this was a massive issue…something that is showing up as an issue with everyone and at the same time, something no one is talking about! My research brain got right to work and I was shocked by what I found in the scientific literature. This eventually led me to Building Biology and my eventual new career path.
I started training with the Building Biology Institute remotely and still maintaining my full-time teaching career. I eventually resigned in November of 2019 to focus completely on Building Biology and helping others create the healthiest living spaces possible.
It was a very big risk for myself as I had two young children, a mortgage payments, car payments, etc…everyone knows the list. It’s been a journey thus far, but one I wouldn’t change in the least.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a Building Biologist and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist, along with being a trained educator with over 10 years of teaching experience. I am an indoor environmental health expert and I help people create the healthiest living and working spaces possible.
As Building Biologists, we are trained to assess spaces based a number of factors. Everything from air and water quality (including mold testing), lighting, product choices, electromagnetics, and more. There is a whole lot going on in a living space and it requires a holistically trained eye to figure out what is the most important areas of focus in that space. By improving the health status of the spaces we’re in we can feel more energized, an improved ability to focus, better sleep patterns, stronger resiliency to disease and more. The spaces we’re in are either helping our health or they are hurting it. Unfortunately, the way our buildings and technology are usually setup, it often creates a unhealthy space to be in.
The good news is, there is lots we can do about this! The first part is understanding there is a problem and then modifying how we setup our homes, the products that we use, how we use technology, this all can be done with minimal cost! As Building Biologist, this is what we do. Help to assess a space and educate others on how to improve this space going forward. There is a wide variety of strategies that can be implemented.
Helping to clean up a home and seeing the health issues of those living inside improve is truly the best and most rewarding aspect of this work. There is a large and growing population of people who are sensitive to electromagnetic fields and sometime this can be so severe that living in a “normal” home is not possible. This can often be a terribly isolating condition for others, as often they are told it’s all “in their head” by some in the medical community. As Building Biologists and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialists, we are trained in how to assess and mitigate the living spaces for these individuals and help them live comfortably in their spaces again.
I focus heavily on educating others on the risks of how we use technology, in regards to electromagnetic field exposure, and all of the different strategies we can implement to use technology in a healthier way. I educate through in-person clients, but also through my website (thehealthierhome.ca), my YouTube channel (@thehealthierhome), social media channels and also through my new children’s book, “The Wishing Tree: A Building Biology Inspired Fairy Tale.” I wrote this with a fellow Building Biologist, Scott Ricker, as a way to teach families about the importance of indoor health and gently introduce Building Biology concepts through a magical adventure story that kids will love!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The journey of life is always opening new doors and opportunities for us, the trick is recognizing them, removing fear and trusting your gut to take the right risks!
In switching from my stable teaching career at the end of 2019, I’ve had to pivot and expand on my entrepreneurship endeavours. I was still retraining a Building Biologist and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist in 2020 and 2021. It wasn’t until the end of 2021 that I was certified and ready to open my business and assess peoples homes and change the world! Well, this isn’t exactly how it went. My wife took a teaching job on a small island in the Caribbean and we moved our whole family down here. Now, I’m trying to open a home assessment business (focusing on EMF mitigation) to a population of about 50,000. A niche business in the best population centres. So I’ve tried to pivot and work on online business side of my offerings. I developed and launched a comprehensive online course, called “The Ultimate Healthy Home Workspace”. This give a full Building Biology treatment on how to create the healthiest home living space possible for people. I’m also continually working on videos and other posts to increase awareness, build my brand and help others.
However, this takes time to build and especially time to generate enough income to sustain a family! So I’ve had to further pivot and stay open to possibilities the Universe is sending my way. My sister and brother-in-law decided to also move down to this island and they bought a boat down here. We decided to all go into the boat charter business (sailrenegades.com) as a means of making a living and sustaining ourselves. So now I’m running two new business, simultaneously opening and building them up. No easy feet and it seems there is an absolute never-ending about of work, but it’s incredibly rewarding to see these two new businesses grow.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think being genuine and real is the most important thing to success. I try to answer and deliver my knowledge in the most level, calm way possible. The field I’m in can be quite emotionally charged (people don’t like hearing that they’re cell phone might be harming them) so this takes quite a bit of tact to handle situations like this. I try to give recommendations and strategies based on what I know personally, and I’m honest if I don’t know something. I also don’t blindly recommend any products without identifying the pros and cons of that specific item (especially in the world of EMF shielding devices).
I stay focused on the positive support and feedback and try to remember the adage that it’s easier to help 1000 people that want help than it is to help 1 who does not.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thehealthierhome.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehealthierhome/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chris.mcphie.92
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thehealthierhome/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkwUQsf44q4EGpBIDITwOUQ
- Other: My Online Course: https://thehealthierhome.thinkific.com/courses/the-ultimate-healthy-home-workspace
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