We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Holman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica , appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have always had a love for fitness and overall wellness. After serving six years in the Air Force and deploying to both Baghdad Iraq and Ali Al Salem Kuwait, it was even more important to keep up with my fitness as it has helped immensely in dealing with my struggles with PTSD over the years. Upon getting out of the Air Force, I continued my education at the University of Missouri in Animal Sciences. At the time I had planned on hopefully going to veterinary medicine school as I wanted to be veterinarian and work with exotic animals. While at MU I met my husband and we became pregnant. Two short years and three kids latter, my plans had to change. I graduated with my bachelors in Animal Science at MU and proceeded to stay home with my kids over the next several years. This ended up being a blessing in disguise when the pandemic hit.

Fast forward to 2021, my children are older and I was starting to get the itch to get back out into the working world and find my own identity again. We had just moved to the Lake St. Louis area and I began looking into all the possibilities of things I could do. Over the previous years of staying home, fitness and health had still remained a huge priority. With two marathons, many half marathons, 10ks, 5ks, and two body building competitions under my belt. I knew that if I was going to spend time away from my children and husband that I wanted it to be meaningful. One way I have always been able to help friends and family is when they would come to me for health and fitness advice. I felt I could really make a difference in this area.

My husband and I had been using Nutrishop products for many years at that point. We had always loved the company and what they stand for. There were currently no Nutrishop stores close to us, we had always wanted to own our own business too, we thought it was the perfect opportunity! We officially opened Nutrishop St. Peters in November of 2021 and it has been a wild ride ever since! My number one goal is to make sure regardless of who you are or where you are in your health and wellness journey, you feel comfortable and accepted walking into my store. You will never have products shoved on you and we will always do our best to help you achieve your goals!

Jessica , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Nutrishop USA had been around since 2003 and I have been using their products since 2016. They have always been top quality and I’ve never had any issues. The store owners have always been welcoming and very knowledgeable. Even the first time I walked in I was made to feel comfortable and not out of place. When I began looking around for opportunities, I knew this was something I wanted to be apart of.

All of our products at Nutrishop St. Peters are Nutrishop exclusive. All supplements are made using superior ingredients and manufactured in Nevada. We provide general health and wellness products, weight loss products, vitamins, and sports supplementation. We also provide a knowledgeable staff not found at other supplement and vitamins stores. Our employees are thoroughly trained on each product. We provide free EVOLT 360 body composition scanning, free customized meal plans for any lifestyle, and free wellness talks. We don’t want you to come in our store, buy one product, not know how to use it or how it works, and never come back. We want to be able to sit down with you, talk about your goals, figure out what will help you get there, and form relationship with you through your wellness journey! We will even travel to your place or work or local gym to provide this unique experience. We also provide free samples of our products. We want you to be able to know if a product is going to work for you prior to making a financial commitment.

In this post Covid world it is so important that we are our own advocates and take care of our physical and mental well being. If we don’t as an individual, no one else will. I want to help everyone and anyone I can improve there oveall wellness.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Keep. Showing. Up

That is the hardest part. While starting a business, life still goes on. Kids get sick, spouses work late, economies tank, weather keeps people in, friends come and go, etc…. Regardless of what is going on, consistency is key. Continue putting in the hours each day and you will see a return. One of the hardest things for me was to find my voice as I’m very much an introvert and struggle with PTSD. One of the best ways I have become more comfortable with this is to just keep showing up. Keep showing up to the networking events, keep posting videos and pictures on social media, keep reaching out to people regardless of how many Nos you get. It can and will probably get very discouraging at times and personal life obstacles will make it feel overwhelming and impossible some days. Just keep showing up. I’ve learned to promote myself wherever I go, regardless of what I’m doing. Whether it be a kids activity, speaking with an acquaintance at the grocery story, or talking with someone new during a night out. Be proud, most people would never attempt what you are doing. There are days I want to hide and see no one, these are the hardest days. On these days I just have to keep doing the next thing. Don’t get caught up in thinking about everything you must accomplish and that it all needs to be done now. Just one thing at a time. Keep. Showing. Up

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivoting is essential to growth. The only thing that seems to stay the same is change. It can and is going to happen throughout your life. As the Air Force taught me, you must always be flexible to change. It’s not if, it’s when and where. From being told I’m deploying at a moments notice, to discovering I was pregnant with twins. In both these situations I had to learn to give myself grace and realize that even though I had written my 5 page life plan out, bullet points and all, it was not going to work out the way I thought. This is when you must take the new information given to you and run with it. I would never be where I am today if I had given up because being in a war in the middle of the desert for 6 plus months would be too hard or continuing my education and own dreams with three children would be too much of a struggle.

We all have our own obstacles and may feel boxed in at times. The key to success is to be able to use this new information to pivot and discover something better.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nutrishopstpeters.com
• Instagram: nutrishopstpeters
• Facebook: Nutrishop St. Peters
• Other: Tik Tok- @nutrishopstpeters