We recently connected with Rachel Lessenden and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Looking back, I wish I had started my business sooner. I dabbled in blogging about healthy living back in 2013 but I didn’t know how to turn it into a business at that time. I was in grad school getting my MBA so my blog was more of a hobby than a side hustle back then.

I didn’t start taking it seriously until I finally joined Instagram and started growing my following in late 2018. That’s when I started sharing healthy tips and recipes in a shareable infographic style that took off. I grew to 30k followers in my first year.

If I had known the potential of social media earlier, I definitely would have started my business sooner. It is a great way to reach a new audience and customers. And because my blog had very little organic traffic, my audience on Instagram is what allowed me to start selling custom meal plans which eventually lead to building a meal planner subscription service.

Starting sooner would have allowed me to grow my business a lot faster, as the market is becoming more and more saturated each day. I dream of writing a cookbook someday and I see bloggers who started their websites around the same time as me already having published two or three so I feel like I’m behind in that regard. I have to remind myself that it’s not a race and that I am doing the best I can with the knowledge I have now.

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 the founder and recipe developer behind Health My Lifestyle, a plant-based website and meal planner. Through Health My Lifestyle I aim to arm people with the knowledge and resources needed to eat a healthy, whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet including recipes and meal plans to take the guesswork out of what to eat.

Meal planning is what allowed me to turn this diet into a lifestyle, shed unwanted weight, have more energy and just feel better overall. I knew I wanted others to feel as good as I was feeling and wanted to make the transition as easy as possible.

The meal planner is a subscription application with now over 600 easy recipes and customizable meal plans with automated shopping lists to help users save time and eat better.

What sets it apart is that the Health My Lifestyle Meal Planner is geared towards those who want to eat a healthier plant-based diet but don’t want to compromise taste or spend forever in the kitchen. Most recipes can be made in 30 minutes or less and receive a 5-star rating from our members—these are recipes you’ll actually want to eat!

I am most proud of the fact the members share their wins with me and let me know how much they enjoy using the meal planner. To know that I’m making a positive impact in someone’s life is the ultimate gift. It makes me so happy to know when others are enjoying the recipes and feeling better on this healthy diet!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Originally it was through Instagram where I found most of my new clients but unfortunately when the algorithm changed, I was no longer able to reach most of my followers. I had spent so much time growing my following and building a community on Instagram, that I completely neglected my website. That’s when I knew I needed to make a change to my strategy.

Yes, you can reach a lot of people on social media especially if you’re lucky enough to go viral. The downside is you constantly have to churn out new content. The longevity of a piece of content on social media these days is incredibly short. Within a few days, no one is seeing it anymore. It was very draining to have to come up with a new post daily.

At that point, I decided to shift my focus to something more passive: organic search. Publishing high quality articles on my website that rank well in search engines has allowed me to step back from social media while still reaching a consistent stream of new readers.

I focus on writing helpful articles around the topic of plant-based eating, providing free tips and recipes with the hopes that people will see the value in it and choose to sign up for the meal planner membership. This has simultaneously attracted more sign ups to my email list where I can nurture potential customers even more.

I also have an affiliate program which brings in a decent amount of new clients. I partner with other bloggers in the plant-based niche and offer recurring commissions for each new subscriber. This was a great way to jumpstart the memberships before I had a big social media following.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Yes, I truly believe diversifying income is necessary to stay afloat. My business has a few revenue streams now that complement each other.

The main revenue stream is subscriptions for the meal planner. I also offer ebooks that were co-authored with a Registered Dietitian, including meal plans and guides around nutrition and weight loss. These ebooks help to promote the subscription as well. The last couple revenue streams include ad revenue and affiliate marketing. My blog, which provides the free resources and articles, is part of an ad network that allows me to make money per pageview. This ad revenue helps to support the website so that I can attract new meal planner clients. Within the website, I have affiliate links to various products I use and love.

All of these revenue streams together help to funnel new clients to the meal planner. Free readers stumble upon the website, they buy the ebook, then they sign up for the meal planner, and perhaps in the process they buy that blender I recommended through the affiliate link I shared.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://healthmylifestyle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthmylifestyle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthmylifestyle/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2do4RuddA9Rz0ZBuoaWJFQ
• Other: https://mealplanner.healthmylifestyle.com/

Image Credits
Rachel Lessenden