Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ellen Johnson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ellen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

When I was in the thick of dealing with a personal health crisis I needed to have a test on my brain in which the practitioners needed me to be in full sleep deprivation for over 24 hours. I am not a night owl so I reached out on Facebook asking if any of my friends were willing to stay up with me all night to keep me from falling asleep. to my surprise, none of my close friends responded but I did have someone that was basically a stranger tell me that she would stay up with me all night, I thought it was weird at first but decided it was a good opportunity to see what would compel someone to do this for a stranger. I ended up having a great time with her from enjoying a late movie, hot-tubbing at a 24-hour spa, breakfast at 3 am.. the works. When it was time for me to head to my appointment she said she better get going to work. I had made the assumption that she had the day off or had a flexible schedule and would just go home and sleep all day but she had to go from pulling an all-nighter straight into work. I was in awe that she would do this for me, her genuine desire to help me without knowing anything about me has given me a profound respect for her and I know she will always be a lifelong friend.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was diagnosed with Lupus when I was in my early twenties and went through a 5-year struggle to figure out dealing with a chronic illness when all my friends were actively living their best life and progressing in ways that I couldn’t because I felt so stuck and misunderstood. I had a practitioner that I went to see on a whim educate me and change my understanding of whole body health and since then I never stopped trying to learn more about the intricacies of how our bodies function and heal. When I found myself at another point in my life where my health was significantly declining 20 years later I knew I needed to take my quest for knowledge on self-healing more seriously if I wanted to be around to see my 4 kids grow up. I went back to school to study nutrition with the goal of just helping myself but the more I learned the more I realized I was in a unique position to help others that had been frustrated with their traditional health care and needed a sounding board of someone that had been in their shoes. Nova vita and the subsequent nutritional product lines were born from the desire to help others overcome their wellness challenges in a healthy sustainable way. Nova vita means New Life in Latin, I picked that name because that is what I desire to do, give people a new take on their life. I am the most proud not when my company hits financial milestones or gets recognized publicly or for any of my personal successes but on days that I have a client or customer reach out and tell me they have new hopes, renewed energy or that they can feel a shift in their lives for good.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I find this an interesting question because from my personal experience I feel like always pivoting is the best way to have a well-rounded business. Growing up I remember getting the sense that I need to figure out what I wanted to do for a career and just stick with it because changing careers often was frowned upon. I felt very disheartened about this as there were so many things that interested me. I initially went to school to study medicine or possibly psychology. I took a sales job at 18 to help pay for college because I had decided I never wanted to have the burden of student loans. While in that position in telecom sales, I excelled and realized I had a natural ability to be a great salesman and before long I was making more money than I would in any of the prospective careers I was studying. So I quit college with no college debt and spent the next 3 years in telecom sales. During that time I realized I enjoyed sales and marketing but was not passionate about telecom so I switched gears and took a marketing position with a multidisciplinary medical office. While working there I made a point to tell my bosses that I could better serve them if I understood the inner workings of the whole company, I learned about medical billing, hiring staff, ancillary services that added revenue streams, physician credentialing, you name it. I participated often without pay in every department of that company. I ended up taking all that knowledge and branching out on my own and had a very flexible and rewarding career as a consultant working across the country consulting with various companies in the medical field. It was perfect while raising children to be able to take a 3-month contract or 6-month contract depending on what worked well with my family life. I could go on for hours explaining what I have done in my career, but the bottom line is that I have spent the last 25 years pivoting for the purpose of learning and continually chasing passions because I think it’s ok to just try to do whatever seems interesting to you at the time. I have worked as a federal tax preparer, I have sold cars, I have owned a catering company, I have been VP of a medical device company, I have been VP of a pharmaceutical marketing company, none of these things seem to make sense combined nor did I have the formal education for most of the positions I have held, but what it has given me the perspective and knowledge base I have needed to be where I am now. I have met so many business professionals along the way and my network of not just “business associates” but of true friends is wide. I always know just who to call to help me with almost any aspect of my business. I have never burned a bridge in my life and I have focused everything on relationships. Every new endeavor I have explored has been because of the relationships I have curated with the vast network of people I have worked with and enjoyed learning from.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My current business partner I met while I was working on a contract for a chiropractic clinic that had a consulting arm in which they helped other chiropractic clinics share the same success they had with plug-and-play systems for ancillary services. This particular person came in from Dallas to pitch a medical device used to treat neuropathy. I was tasked with picking him and his father that was his business partner up from the airport so I spent some time getting to know them both while running around the city and we really hit it off. I liked their laid-back sales approach and I could tell they were just good people. In the end the business deal they had come to make didn’t work out but because we were fast friends we stayed in touch and became a sounding board for each other in our industry. At one point maybe a year or so later he called me and asked me to come to help him with a project in Texas as he saw the potential for us to work together. I flew out and helped him put together a supplement line for a medical device he was selling through a large medical service organization and he wanted me to work with him on a more permanent basis. After meeting all the people that would be involved, I sat down with him and said I saw some red flags with some of the other partners and said I didn’t think it would be wise to work with them because there was a potential of greed and disloyalty to come into play in the future, he kind of laughed it off not thinking it was an obstacle to success and we parted ways still friends but with him moving forward with the project and me choosing not to. About three years later exactly what I feared happened and he parted ways with his partners over contract issues etc. We both learned a lot from that experience, I learned that trusting my instincts is important and he learned that he could trust me to do what feels right even when there is a large amount of financial success on the table. He ultimately asked for my help pivoting and starting a new company. At first, I helped him as a friend but we quickly realized that the timing was right for us to move forward with working together. We each own our own companies but we built them in a way that is cohesive so we can work as partners in a way that both of our companies thrive but we can also work without being dependent on each other should one of us want to pursue something else.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mynovavita.com
• Instagram: @Mynovavita