We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Freiman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rachel , appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
When I first started my company, I will was full time teacher. I absolutely loved teaching and had no plans to leave, but the more I learned about the health and fitness industry from my own journey, the more flabbergasted I was at how much BS was in the market. The teacher in my was determined to do something different–in a world full of point systems and shakes, I was going to educate.
My vision for my business was for it to be purely online. This was pre-covid so online fitness was an extremely new concept. I would constantly hear things like “Online fitness–is that even a thing?!” and “Shouldn’t you also offer in-person training just in case?”
But my vision was clear to me–I knew I could impact an exponential number of more lives through virtual teaching than the hours in a day would allow for 1-1 teaching.
Fast forward a few years and Covid hit. While every personal training and nutritionist was trying to learn how to navigate the online world, I had a full platform, brand, and social media presence. My business grew 1400% in the first year of Covid.
Obviously I did not build an online business in case a pandemic ever hit…but I love this story as a testament to following your intuition, despite the questions you will undoubtedly receive along the way.
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 back background and context?
As a teacher for 10+ years, education is my passion. When I set out on my own health journey, I was absolutely shocked by how much BS was in the industry from points systems to shake systems and everything in between. What I learned was that–just like learning to surf or knit–nutrition is a skill, and it’s a skill you can learn once and have for life!
In addition to my passion for teaching nutrition as a learnable skill, I’m also a huge neuroscience and psychology nerd. ;) I build my company off these foundations to teach women how to re-wrire their brain for habits that are actually sustainable, as they flow with human nature–instead of fight against it.
In our 12 week signature program, Ignite, we teach women to take control of their nutrition once and for all–without giving up carbs, wine, or donuts–and literally never diet again, while consciously re-wiring their brain for habits that last.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
In an inundated industry, we were able to carve out our niche by doing something differently: educating. Our running joke is that we have the worst sales pitch in the world, because you only need us once.
For most people, nutrition is a big, scary, overwhelming subject because we don’t understand how it works. Once you learn it as a skill, you can never “unknow” it…it’s a skill you have for life.
As a teacher, my superpower is taking what can feel like big, overwhelming subjects and breaking them down into small, actionable steps that feel extremely do-able, as they flow with human nature, instead of fight against it.
For us, this is less about weight loss and more about putting women back in control of their health, their energy, their power, and their life.
Have you ever had to pivot?
For the first 3 years of my business, we were one of the few online nutrition and fitness companies. Launching enrollment to Ignite, our signature 12 week program, was smooth sailin’: we would host a 5 day free challenge, enrollment would open, we’d sell out.
Post-covid, we started noticing a shift. Less people started showing up for the live challenge. Enrollment slowed. It was scary and not at all what we had projected.
What we realized with time is that, in pre-covid world, people would see our ads and think “WOW a free online nutrition challenge?!” Post covid, as the online world became more inundated, it became “Wow…another online nutrition program”.
We needed to pivot–what used to work no longer worked.
We found that a more hands-on approach is doing the trick. Getting 1-1 face time with potential new members to create time and space for them to share their story and get some initial first steps + momentum builds the relationship so they feel comfortable joining in for our full 12 weeks.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MindStrongFitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindstrong/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindstrongwomen
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8LaZeW7rNwG5qBo7tKRdJw
- Other: Podcast: Becoming MindStrong:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/becoming-mindstrong/id1505918838 Book: Becoming MindStrong: The Truth About Health, Fitness, and the Bullsh*t That’s Holding You Back: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-MindStrong-Health-Fitness-Holding/dp/1544514654/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2XP5REGNJSA1H&keywords=becoming+mindstrong&qid=1691102448&s=books&sprefix=becoming+mindstron%2Cstripbooks%2C170&sr=1-1