0:00

Whatever you're creating has to come

0:02

from the heart with your why very

0:04

strong. And that why has to be bigger than yourself.

0:07

Because if your why, your motivator

0:09

is something that is needed by either

0:11

a niche or the world or whatever it is,

0:14

and it feels to you like it's important and urgent

0:16

and powerful, the sort of

0:18

divine energy, whatever you need to put

0:21

it out there will flow.

0:57

Hello and welcome to this week's episode

1:00

of the Culinary Creator B-School podcast.

1:02

I'm chatting with Meghan Telpner, bestselling

1:05

author and founder of the Academy

1:07

of Culinary Nutrition. Okay

1:09

now, whether or not you're interested in nutrition,

1:11

you really have to listen to this episode. Because

1:13

Meghan just celebrated her

1:15

10th year of her online

1:17

program. Yes, 10 years.

1:20

She's been at this for a decade, which is

1:22

super rare in the online space.

1:24

We'll get into this later, but most of the

1:26

course platforms that we know

1:28

and use today, didn't even exist

1:31

back then. So she really

1:33

has so much experience

1:35

to share with us. She's seen it all.

1:37

In this interview, we're going to talk about how she started

1:39

the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, how

1:42

she grew it to hundreds of

1:44

students every single year, I

1:46

think now she has over 3000

1:48

alumni, and why she

1:51

almost walked away from it all in

1:53

2022. No matter your expertise,

1:56

your niche, your experience level,

1:58

I guarantee that you're going to

2:00

gain so much from this conversation

2:03

with Meghan. Let's jump right in.

2:05

Hi, Meghan, welcome to the show.

2:07

Thank you so much for having me.

2:09

I am thrilled to have you. When

2:11

I reached out, it was because so many people

2:14

in my program and in my community

2:17

kept talking about Academy

2:19

of Culinary Nutrition, and I was just like, okay,

2:21

I need to learn more. And they started talking about you

2:24

even, more than the program and saying, oh,

2:26

you don't know Meghan. You gotta know Meghan. So I

2:28

reached out, you graciously accepted. And

2:31

I'm really excited to have you here because

2:33

I think you have so much to share given

2:35

the fact that you've been in this online

2:37

space for a while now. For those listening

2:40

who have no idea who you are, which would surprise

2:42

me, but we definitely have people outside

2:44

of the nutrition world listening, I would love if

2:46

you could share a little bit more about who you are and what you

2:48

do.

2:49

Absolutely. So I run the

2:51

Academy of Culinary Nutrition, which is an

2:53

online cooking school for

2:55

people who wanna learn how to cook from

2:57

scratch, but more so wanna

2:59

be empowered with the skills and knowledge

3:02

and language to share it with others,

3:04

whether it's in person or online.

3:06

And then we've had loads of grads do things outside

3:09

of what I ever could have imagined they would've been using the program

3:11

for, and writing their own cookbooks and creating products

3:13

and running retreat centers and

3:15

all kinds of incredible work. I've

3:18

written two books UnDiet and

3:20

The UnDiet Cookbook, and

3:22

I'm a mom and I like

3:24

to grow my own food and I live in

3:26

Toronto and those are a few things about me.

3:29

Cool. Yeah. We're gonna get into a

3:31

lot of those things. So when did you

3:33

start your business. I love hearing the origin story.

3:36

Yeah, so I started teaching

3:38

cooking classes in my little 600

3:40

square foot loft in downtown Toronto

3:43

in 2008. And,

3:45

it was incredible. And the driving

3:47

force behind that was that I had just

3:50

healed from an autoimmune disease,

3:52

was inspired to go back and study nutrition,

3:54

but I needed some friends who wanted to

3:57

eat and live the way I was now

3:59

living and eating. And so the idea was to

4:01

build community around sharing food together.

4:03

So we'd have six strangers come

4:05

together a couple times a week, and we'd cook

4:08

together and we'd eat together. And it was incredibly

4:10

fun.

4:11

How did you find these strangers?

4:12

I had a blog I was writing that caught

4:15

on. It was doing really well, but I also,

4:17

I rode a bicycle covered in flowers, and

4:19

I had sewn these little packets

4:21

that were on the front basket and the back basket

4:24

with business cards in them. So I would just

4:26

park my bike in different places and I would

4:28

leave these flyers in yoga

4:30

studios and health food stores. And I

4:32

think the kids call it like guerilla marketing.

4:34

Like I was just trying to get word of mouth

4:37

and there was no one else doing it at the time.

4:39

So that was how people just started, coming,

4:42

and that was the very beginning.

4:44

And slowly it grew and I got the opportunity

4:47

to appear on different TV shows

4:49

and, you know, lifestyle shows and do that,

4:51

which didn't have a huge impact.

4:53

Everyone thinks that will do it. It doesn't,

4:55

it makes like blips and increases credibility.

4:58

It didn't have a huge impact. It was just

5:00

doing it over and over again. Like,

5:02

okay, we're gonna do another class. We're gonna do another class.

5:05

And being persistent and showing up at any

5:07

events around the city that would have me

5:09

and doing cooking demos and being at trade shows

5:11

and like hustling.

5:12

And at the time, I'm just curious, Meghan, because a lot of people listening

5:15

think about the competition, right? And they're like,

5:17

if I do cooking demos, what makes me special? So

5:20

many other people are doing them. So did you

5:22

ever have those thoughts? Did you just not care?

5:25

I'm really curious to hear how you approach that.

5:26

It's interesting because I think the person who

5:29

could be considered my competition was one of my closest

5:31

friends. She was teaching cooking classes. Like it was very

5:33

similar work. We lived sort of opposite

5:35

ends of the city. We had people come to both of our

5:37

classes. Her and I would meet up to find out,

5:39

you know, where the best place was to get

5:41

organic almonds. And it never felt

5:44

like a competition in that way. And

5:46

as far as the cooking demos, the best

5:48

thing anyone can do is infuse themselves in their

5:50

business. So I would just go out exactly

5:53

as I am and have fun doing it, and

5:55

the audience would laugh. And that was it.

5:57

Like, it wasn't that complicated. Over

5:59

time my writing was

6:01

growing an audience and so people were like, can you film

6:03

your classes? Like, I'd like to join it. And

6:05

it wasn't that easy to do stuff

6:07

online in 2010,

6:09

2011. So we did a live

6:12

stream class as an experiment. I think it was in the

6:14

fall of 2011. Where I had

6:16

like a whole crew, like we needed a

6:18

whole mixing board. Like it was very involved

6:21

to livestream anything, but

6:23

we did it and it was really fun. And

6:26

so then I started experimenting with transferring what

6:28

I was doing in person into

6:30

video-based courses I could offer online,

6:33

on demand. And I think we launched

6:35

our first one in the fall of, or

6:37

the spring of 2012, and

6:39

basically used what I earned from that one to fund the next

6:41

one and the next one. And then in the fall

6:43

of 2013, I launched my

6:46

full program that I was now offering in person,

6:48

online. So that was the first run of the Culinary

6:50

Nutrition expert program. And I had a hundred

6:53

guests from eight countries and I was blown

6:55

away because previous to that I could only fit like eight

6:57

to 12 here in person.

6:59

And people were doing such incredible

7:01

work and I was, you know, you create

7:04

these things and I put it out there and I didn't know

7:06

what people would get out of it, but

7:08

as they were doing the work and having these transformational

7:11

professional experiences, but life experiences

7:14

being like, wow, this is so outside what I thought I was

7:16

capable of and they were doing it and succeeding.

7:19

That kind of lit the spark for

7:21

me to see that this is bigger than

7:23

just me. And that it could be so

7:25

much more. And we actually launched the Academy

7:27

of Culinary Nutrition to create a home

7:30

for this program that had already been running.

7:32

I'm thinking like 2012, 2013.

7:35

I think a lot of us would've said

7:37

teaching cooking online. There's no way, why would

7:40

people do it. Now we know that it

7:42

can work and the pandemic has helped accelerate that.

7:44

So, what was it that you think resonated

7:46

with people and they were like, no, I'm not gonna go

7:48

down the street if I can learn from Meghan

7:51

online. Was it you? Was it the

7:53

uniqueness of the program?

7:54

I don't know. I'd like to think it

7:56

was all of the above. There still is nothing

7:59

that comes close to what we offer and the way we offer

8:01

it. And now it's a, we, it used to just be a me,

8:03

but thankfully I'm not alone anymore. There

8:06

still is nothing like it. And I

8:08

don't know why, but I mean, I do know why

8:10

it's incredibly complicated to create,

8:12

having now done it and revised it

8:14

and gone through the process. Maybe it

8:17

was just the way I delivered. In the first iteration

8:19

of the videos we did were in real

8:21

time. So there was multiple cameras,

8:24

but there was no real editing on it. So

8:26

it was very real and

8:28

what I wanted to do was create as

8:30

close to an in-person experience

8:32

as what I was offering here in person. So the workshops

8:35

I was teaching that were part of this program at the time were exactly

8:37

what I was teaching in the kitchen. So there

8:39

was some humor to it. mishaps

8:42

happened and it was also, because at the time I didn't

8:44

have the budget to have

8:46

a film crew there for the whole day and do retakes

8:48

and shoot multiple angles. Like it was just out of

8:51

necessity it turned out that way. And it had

8:53

mass appeal. So we launched the Academy

8:55

of Culinary Nutrition in the spring of 2014

8:58

and, it's just grown and grown

9:00

from there. And then in 2015,

9:02

I refilmed the entire curriculum

9:05

now having kind of learned how the

9:07

flow would work and getting feedback

9:09

and wanting to make it as incredibly

9:11

awesome and also at that point, being able to afford a higher

9:13

production value. So we

9:15

redid it, and ran that first

9:18

sort of new version in 2015.

9:20

We're still using it. We've modified

9:22

some of the elements. We've, kept it really current.

9:24

I still do live components with it, and

9:27

we still attract three to 400

9:29

people every year. So, it's been

9:32

incredible.

9:33

That's amazing. And again,

9:35

for people who aren't really familiar with your

9:37

program, when you say there's nothing else like

9:39

it out there, how would it compare to,

9:42

I don't know, someone going to school

9:44

to study nutrition? What sets it apart?

9:47

The primary thing that sets us apart is

9:49

that we're using food as the core of our teaching.

9:52

So most nutrition, like natural nutrition,

9:54

integrative nutrition, holistic nutrition, they're

9:56

talking about the body and the systems of the body. You're learning

9:58

how the body works, you're learning how the body metabolizes

10:01

the food we eat. We're learning about food, you

10:04

know, nutrient density and in some cases calories

10:06

or macronutrients. And we're learning about

10:08

vitamins and minerals, but it

10:10

seems to stop there and

10:13

where we pick up. So we have loads

10:15

of our students come from other

10:18

programs. We have loads of students who go into

10:20

other programs after. And

10:22

the most, I think just do what we

10:25

offer and then are able to take it from there

10:27

in creating a business or reaching their

10:29

personal health goals. But we start

10:31

with the food and we use food to

10:34

teach. So if we can't

10:36

take what we learn out of a textbook or

10:38

in a classroom or off a multiple choice

10:41

test and actually apply it in

10:43

breakfast and lunch and dinner

10:45

and our snacks, and we pack our kids for lunches

10:47

and then we're falling short.

10:49

And that is what's missing.

10:52

And there's loads of opportunities to learn

10:54

how to cook online for sure. But

10:56

very few integrate the nutrition

10:58

component with the culinary component

11:01

and are also wholly

11:03

inclusive of all dietary

11:06

philosophies and values. So you can get a plant-based

11:08

course, or there's paleo or there's keto, but we

11:11

are really empowering people to understand

11:14

what food philosophy is most

11:17

important for them and their personal

11:19

needs and their health. And we teach them how

11:21

to tap into this with their clients who may

11:23

seek their guidance, recognizing

11:25

there's no one optimal diet for

11:28

everyone. And so it's really empowering

11:30

people, not just to learn what I

11:32

wanna teach and share, but how

11:34

to learn so that they can

11:36

go off, and in the course of our program, everyone's,

11:39

asked to choose a specific condition or

11:41

interest and focus all

11:43

their assignments on that. So if

11:45

someone wants to study rheumatoid arthritis

11:47

or prenatal nutrition or

11:49

menopausal nutrition, whatever it is, they get

11:51

to focus their learning on something that's really

11:53

important to them. And so in doing

11:56

that, they know how to do the research

11:58

and put the work together so they

12:00

become self-sustaining in what they've

12:02

learned and how they can carry on and continue

12:04

learning independently.

12:06

Wow. And as you talked about, you hinted

12:08

at how complicated or hard it is to

12:10

do what you just said from like the educator's

12:13

point of view. I mean, that is so challenging,

12:15

right? Like you're creating these custom paths

12:18

for people. It's not a cookie cutter, one size

12:20

fits all, which is really hard to

12:22

do at scale. So congratulations.

12:25

Thank you. Yeah, with,

12:27

we see what a lot of nutrition programs is they, they'll

12:30

like tap into like this week's on the immune

12:32

system and this week's on digestion, which is all really

12:34

great and really important, but you end up just

12:36

getting a surface level of a

12:38

lot of information, and I

12:40

know that I learn the best when I have a personal

12:43

interest in the material. So

12:45

we have our core modules, but

12:47

everyone can customize what their assignments are based on

12:49

what they wanna learn about. And everyone

12:51

is assigned a program coach. So they have someone

12:54

who guides them through their personalized

12:57

path and what they wanna learn. And if

12:59

they're stuck trying to find something, they have

13:01

someone who can help guide them. And

13:03

so the result is that we have

13:06

incredible success from our graduates.

13:09

90% of people who sign up for our program complete

13:12

it successfully, which is unheard

13:15

of. And there's accountability, there's deadlines,

13:17

there's coaches, you're paired with someone else in the

13:19

program. We have our community group, we have our weekly

13:21

live classes where I get to dig

13:24

in on, you know, hot topics and people

13:26

can connect with each other. So, there was all these

13:28

things and someone's like, how did you figure this out? I

13:30

have no idea. I

13:32

think a huge help was first doing it in person,

13:34

getting real feedback from real people.

13:37

And it was funny because when I was doing it in person and it was really

13:39

just me and I had a couple interns who would help me. People

13:41

would hand in their assignments and I didn't wanna give anyone

13:44

grades because I didn't want it to be like that.

13:46

But then people weren't handing stuff in so I had to give

13:48

'em grades. But I ended up just giving everyone a hundred because I'm like,

13:51

you did so good. And I couldn't give

13:53

critical feedback and then sit down and have dinner with them. Now

13:55

I have coaches who are much better at the grading

13:57

system than I ever was, but

14:00

our intention is for people to learn the information

14:02

and be able to apply it in their life. And so

14:05

the role of the coach is to support the

14:07

success of our students.

14:08

People need that sense of accountability,

14:11

that community and, you know, people listening here, a

14:13

lot of them are thinking about creating advanced

14:15

courses and in say pastry or whatever it

14:17

is, cake decorating. It doesn't really matter, but

14:19

it's more than just the content, right? You have to build

14:22

an ecosystem to support them, which, you

14:24

know, may not be at the level you're at because

14:26

you've been at it for so long and you've really built

14:28

a team around you. But just thinking about those

14:31

things I think is so valuable.

14:33

I'd love to know, if you could think back to one of the most

14:35

difficult moments that you've experienced as an entrepreneur

14:37

in this space, what really stands out for you?

14:40

It's all been challenging. A hundred

14:42

percent. So in the early days, the

14:44

challenge was that the technology didn't exist.

14:47

The, the way I wanted to deliver this,

14:49

there wasn't things like Teachable

14:51

and LearnDash and Thinkific and these out-of-the-box

14:54

platforms that you could set up and start offering

14:56

courses. So it was, you know, working

14:59

with developers and customizing plugins.

15:02

And so there was times when everything felt

15:04

like it was held together by a thread, like

15:06

one plugin update and everything would be

15:08

broken. We had the challenge where I ultimately

15:10

was like I want this to run this way,

15:12

and it did not exist. So I

15:15

dreamt up my dream learning

15:17

management system and found a developer and

15:19

we built it together. And so that was

15:21

a massive challenge.

15:23

Are you still using that today?

15:25

That is the one we are still using.

15:27

That one launched in 2016.

15:30

We are now transitioning

15:32

to more of an out of the box just because

15:35

maintenance, I think it'll just be easier to

15:37

keep it updated. So there's like

15:39

the technical side that's a challenge. In

15:41

the food world, things change so quickly,

15:44

and especially in the last couple years, food prices have gone

15:46

up, now there's more food scarcity, or when

15:48

you attract an audience from around the world, there's places

15:50

where you just can't get certain things. Or like,

15:53

you know, we have a student in Alaska where a head of

15:55

broccoli is $10. So there's working

15:57

with that, which is a challenge. And

16:00

I would say in the last few years, our

16:02

greatest challenge is, the fact

16:04

that with Covid and everyone learning online,

16:06

which was great, but suddenly everyone

16:09

is offering stuff online. So how do we

16:11

kinda rise to the top of the

16:13

pack? And also with

16:15

all these out-of-the-box systems, it's

16:17

significantly easier to

16:19

create an online offering. there's here's More out there.

16:21

So our challenge now is

16:24

finding the people that

16:26

are the right fit for what we're offering,

16:29

and effectively communicating it. And it's, it's

16:31

more expensive to find, like we never

16:33

used to pay for advertising. Like that's a very

16:35

new thing for us to do because I

16:38

was never trying to get to like a thousand students.

16:40

I was like, 400 is our max with the team

16:42

we have. And I like that size

16:44

and it feels intimate enough. So right

16:46

now that is the current, I don't wanna

16:48

think of challenge, it's the current opportunity to

16:50

learn some new things, but

16:53

it's never been easy. It's never been

16:55

like, oh, this is the year we just like open

16:57

registration and watch them flood in. Every

16:59

year, every year for 10 years, we

17:02

open registration and I sit there being like, where is

17:04

everybody. Like, why isn't everyone enrolling on

17:06

the very, very first day of registration? Why

17:08

are they all waiting till the last day and then we have to worry

17:10

all summer, like every

17:12

year? And my husband reminds me

17:14

of this. My parents remind me of this. My team

17:17

reminds me of like, they're gonna come. But

17:19

I think that's also why we're

17:21

still here doing this 10 years later, because

17:23

I still think it's all been fluke. I

17:25

keep working hard to stay innovative and

17:27

most of all deliver an absolutely

17:30

exceptional experience for the

17:32

people who invest their time and money

17:34

with us to learn.

17:35

It's so refreshing to hear you say

17:37

that, and I think this is one of the reasons why I

17:40

was really excited to have you on the podcast, because

17:42

you're so real and down to earth and

17:44

anyone who has put anything out there

17:47

for sale online knows exactly

17:49

that feeling. You post that Instagram

17:52

story, you're like, okay, everyone, it's available.

17:54

The thing you told me you wanted. No one

17:56

signs up and people wait. They procrastinate.

17:59

Or you get questions that are just like, why are

18:01

you asking me this? Like, how

18:03

do you price this? I'm like,

18:05

I just, you know, I looked at the sunrising

18:07

in the east and the moon come. I was like, no.

18:10

Like there's just questions I'm like, I can't answer

18:13

this. It's the investment and you'll get a return

18:15

on this investment. You know, just random,

18:17

like, I don't know, do you use sesame in your

18:19

program? I don't like sesame, so

18:22

just anything you can think of. And

18:24

also, I mean, we've had now over

18:27

3000 graduates. Every

18:29

single term we run the program,

18:31

we run into something we've never run into

18:33

before with a student. Like whether it's a

18:35

certain circumstance or a strange question

18:38

or a complaint that we're just like, I

18:40

can't believe 3000 people have gone through this, and

18:42

no one has asked that or

18:44

pointed that out So I mean,

18:46

it keeps it interesting.

18:48

Absolutely. So you've probably seen

18:50

this, now that COVID

18:52

has slowed down you start

18:54

to see people who were working on courses for that,

18:56

quick money hit, they're

18:59

ditching it because they're realizing, oh wow, that was

19:01

actually harder than I thought. And it takes

19:03

commitment. So it's interesting, right? because you,

19:05

saw the rise of popularity during that time.

19:07

I mean, that's when I started my program. But

19:10

a lot of people have abandoned their programs

19:13

since. Have you seen that as well?

19:15

I have, and I don't think that's a bad thing. You

19:18

know, I made a very intentional

19:20

decision to stop offering live classes. However,

19:22

as you and I are speaking on this date,

19:24

I just hosted my first live event since 2016.

19:27

Virtual or person?

19:29

No, live in person. We threw a dance

19:31

party and it wasn't nutrition related at all.

19:33

It's about new work that has come up for me just

19:35

as a side thing that I have, I'm very passionate

19:37

about. But we originally

19:39

had 50 tickets. We sold out in 24

19:41

hours. So that was the opportunity where I was

19:43

like, I put it up for sale and it's just like, ding, ding, ding. I was like,

19:45

okay, this is great. And it was amazing

19:47

and I loved it. It's a lot easier to

19:49

do stuff in person than

19:52

online. That being said, there's

19:54

also like people calling and canceling last

19:56

minute, like there's challenges no matter what

19:58

you do. I don't believe

20:01

there's an easy way through. And I

20:03

don't think that's a bad thing. I think there's

20:05

huge value to your brain

20:08

and to your dopamine receptors to

20:10

like working hard on something for

20:12

real. Like not an Instagram post, but like really

20:15

working for something and, planning

20:17

and setting milestones and celebrating

20:20

them and then, seeing

20:22

the results of your efforts. There is magic

20:25

in that and I think that gets lost

20:27

in the falsehood, that it's

20:30

easy to film something in your

20:32

kitchen and hit publish

20:35

and then people are gonna flood in. However,

20:38

what you offer people still,

20:40

like, it's always going to be there.

20:42

We just have to recognize that it also takes effort.

20:45

I will continue offering my online program

20:47

for as long as the Internet exists and I

20:49

still want to do it. And I know

20:51

that there will always be people who will find

20:54

it and gain value in their life. And

20:57

some will do it online and some will do it in person.

20:59

But, it's all part

21:01

of life's experience and it's part of work experience

21:03

and it's just learning and figuring things out. And there

21:05

is no easy way around it if you wanna build

21:08

a really solid foundation for a business that will last

21:10

year after year.

21:11

Exactly. And I think during the pandemic

21:13

there were some instances where,

21:15

people just decided to teach online and

21:18

their classes sold out because it was such

21:20

a weird time. Right. And I explained to everyone like that

21:22

was not normal. And if it feels too

21:24

easy, easy come, easy go.

21:26

And that's what a lot of people experienced.

21:28

Yeah. I actually right when

21:30

everything was shutting down, in March

21:33

2020, I had just returned

21:35

home from California. I had been there on a holiday with

21:37

my family and I was like, what do we

21:39

do? What can I offer? Like how can I help, especially

21:41

the teachers. I'm like, teachers are not known

21:44

for their technical know how

21:46

typically, like they're in a classroom of children.

21:49

So I did a free webinar.

21:51

It was probably the best, most well attended thing I've

21:53

ever done, which was just called How to Teach Online

21:56

because as you know, which is why you do what you do,

21:58

it's not as straightforward as

22:01

hitting record and it's

22:03

its own skill for sure.

22:05

I mean, I have to imagine that those few years

22:07

your program was full, right?

22:08

Yeah, 2020, was like the

22:11

sleeper hit because we opened

22:13

registration April 9th

22:15

so fresh into it. And I was like,

22:17

I don't know the tone to send an email.

22:20

No one knows what their jobs are gonna be like. Is anyone

22:22

gonna spend money? And I made

22:24

the decision. I was like, we are going out to

22:27

be the joy in the inbox and

22:30

see what happens. And yes, it was

22:32

a bigger year than we'd had in a while.

22:35

But then we had the rebound. By 2021,

22:37

the summer of 2021. Like no one

22:39

would show up for an information session in the

22:41

middle of the summer. Like no one wanted more time

22:43

on Zoom and it was really

22:46

hard to get people to commit to spending

22:48

time online at that time.

22:50

And so we've kind of, you know, we've found like stable

22:53

ground, but I never know what's

22:55

to come. We look at our list growth and interest

22:58

and I've built out my team a lot just

23:00

because I work less than I used to.

23:03

And, uh, yeah, we'll see. We'll see what,

23:05

what this year brings.

23:06

Speaking Of emails, I'm on your email list

23:08

and you sent an email out last year in

23:11

2022 and you're like, this is

23:13

it.

23:13

Yeah.

23:14

This is it. This is the last time I'm doing the program.

23:16

And I remember being so shocked

23:19

and thinking, huh, I wonder what she's up to next.

23:21

And we connected and you told me a little bit more

23:23

about that. Would you mind sharing? because

23:26

the program is back, it's here. It didn't

23:28

go away, but you made us all wonder

23:30

what was gonna happen.

23:31

I just thought it would be a great sales strategy

23:33

to say I was leaving. I'm totally kidding.

23:36

It was funny because a lot of people saw me announce

23:38

that I was leaving, but very few saw that I changed my mind.

23:40

So what happened was I was exhausted,

23:43

and I was dealing personally

23:46

being a public person

23:49

to some extent and not

23:52

being fully in alignment with the majority of

23:54

people throughout the pandemic.

23:56

So as a nutritionist

23:59

and an educator on food, it

24:01

was really hard for me, seeing

24:03

messages show up about medical interventions on

24:05

packs of fries from a fast food restaurant,

24:07

and all these things that just made no sense

24:10

to me on what could be open and what could be closed

24:12

and how it was impacting people's health.

24:14

There was a failure to view health from a holistic

24:16

perspective and what individuals could do

24:18

to support their health. And so

24:20

when I would talk about it, it was met

24:23

with a lot of fear and aggression

24:25

and I was like, if I can't teach

24:28

personal empowerment about health and cooking

24:30

and food and the role it plays in our, not

24:33

just our health and wellbeing, but on the trajectory

24:35

of our lives and our children. I

24:37

don't know if I can do this. And I just was tired

24:40

of, I don't wanna say being attacked,

24:42

but you know, having just hateful

24:44

messages in my DMs saying

24:46

I was insensitive or whatever it was, which

24:48

was the complete opposite of

24:50

my intention. It was like, let's reduce

24:53

this fear and look at ways in which we can empower

24:55

ourselves to, to have even,

24:58

should we get sick, like to have the most positive

25:00

outcome possible, to reduce our risk of complications.

25:03

So that was part of my

25:05

need to be like, I don't know if I can be in

25:07

the health field anymore if that's the response

25:09

I'm gonna get. And so after

25:11

I announced that, like I'm done, I

25:13

hired an incredible operator

25:16

for my company and together

25:18

I was like, okay, we're gonna transition me out. Let's

25:21

give more responsibility to team

25:23

members, own their area, help

25:26

them get the skills they need. Instead of

25:28

me like just fixing things when I didn't like the

25:30

way they were, I started communicating to

25:32

my team, being like, this is what I would like to see,

25:34

or here's how you might wanna consider improving it. So

25:36

really passing things back.

25:38

Which is really hard when it's your business

25:41

from the start. That delegation is

25:44

incredibly hard, especially when you know how to do

25:46

the things, right?

25:47

Yeah. And the other part of it was that I

25:49

didn't want my personal views to

25:51

impact the success of the company and the livelihood

25:53

of my team. And so as

25:56

I started to separate myself from it and

25:58

let them kind of of run it and own it, I was

26:00

really left doing the stuff that I love

26:02

most about the work that I do, like

26:05

creating video content and having

26:07

fun and, being creative. And I took some time

26:09

off in the summer and also gave myself the freedom

26:12

to stop censoring and be exactly

26:14

as I am and share what I felt like,

26:16

at least the people who wanted to follow me still

26:19

would be helpful for them. And I think

26:21

in the process of all of that, a lot of healing happened

26:23

for me. And I regained

26:25

my momentum and my drive

26:28

in recognizing the

26:30

role I could serve. Like, so forget

26:32

about the people who don't wanna hear from me. Forget about the people

26:34

who don't want to learn how

26:36

to improve their health. There's lots of

26:38

people that still do, and that's who I'm gonna

26:40

speak to. I'm not gonna try and convince anyone

26:42

that this is probably for the best

26:44

for themselves, but instead

26:47

really focus on those that were seeking my guidance

26:50

and do it in a way that felt truly

26:52

authentic, without self-censoring.

26:54

And so when I ran the program in the fall

26:56

and hearing people's stories about why they were

26:58

joining and what

27:01

specifically about this program, this school,

27:03

me, how we do things,

27:06

it was kind of like the most beautiful

27:08

reminder of what

27:11

I can share, the way

27:14

only I can and do.

27:16

And that's ultimately what, inspired

27:19

me, not just to stick

27:21

with it, but we're actually creating

27:23

something new. And I'm in

27:25

that point of like, we had the idea in August.

27:28

We like, went through the details of it. I'm

27:30

at the point of actually having to create it where I'm like, I just

27:32

created a whole lot more work

27:34

for myself, but it's also

27:36

really exciting to be creating something new.

27:39

So that's kind of how it happened.

27:41

And I imagine it happens with a

27:43

lot of entrepreneurs. Like I started

27:45

a business and haven't stopped for

27:47

15 years, except for six

27:50

days after I got married where we didn't turn

27:52

on phones or have email or anything.

27:54

But otherwise it's been pretty constant.

27:57

And so having a team

27:59

that didn't need me. And they probably

28:01

never needed me as much as I thought they did, but

28:03

that was part of my identity and part of what

28:05

I did all day was answer questions

28:08

and try and help and oftentimes

28:10

just get in the way. And so creating

28:12

some healthy boundaries, it's made it all really

28:14

fun and exciting again. And I feel like

28:17

rather than it being, us winding

28:19

down, to me right now, it feels like

28:21

we're going into what I'm calling 3.0

28:25

of like, what are the next five to

28:27

eight years gonna look like of this? And that's

28:29

what we're working on building out.

28:31

Do you remember that moment over the summer

28:33

where you were like, wait a minute. I want

28:35

to not only be back, but I wanna be

28:37

back and be my big, authentic self.

28:39

Was there a specific turning point?

28:41

Part of it was what we were looking

28:43

at doing was refilming the program with

28:46

other people as the experts in

28:48

it.

28:48

Oh wow.

28:49

And then I was like, I don't want that job.

28:52

Like I don't wanna be a producer of

28:54

video content. You know, we were gonna look at our alumni

28:57

and look at our grads and see who, could hold

28:59

their own and host it and do all that.

29:01

And I'm like, and what if we do all that?

29:04

My delivery is part of the appeal.

29:06

I don't know, maybe it's not, maybe it's nothing to do with it, but

29:08

it was a massive risk.

29:10

For sure.

29:10

And then as I started thinking about, what

29:12

would my job look like then

29:15

I was like, I don't want that job. That's

29:17

not the part I enjoy doing. I like,

29:20

you know, putting on the show and doing

29:22

the cooking performance, the song and dance.

29:24

And so that was part of it. And

29:27

what we offer today, is still

29:29

just as if not more relevant

29:32

and important and impactful

29:34

than it was five years ago,

29:36

eight years ago, 10 years ago. And

29:39

ultimately that's why I decided to keep

29:41

doing it. I was like, this is my calling. And so

29:44

it wasn't like a defining moment. And even my

29:46

team, like I remember when Michelle

29:48

came on, which was last March,

29:50

and I was like, originally she signed a one year contract.

29:52

I'm like, I need her for a year. I need everyone

29:54

to stay for a year, and then we'll figure it

29:57

out. And my team, I don't

29:59

think really knew, like I kind of had left it really

30:01

open. And then in the fall I'm like,

30:03

well, obviously I'm not leaving now, so

30:06

what are we gonna do? What's the next year gonna look

30:08

like?

30:09

Yeah, and I always say like business is personal

30:11

and some people don't believe in that. But I think

30:13

when you are an entrepreneur and

30:15

you've just poured, your heart and soul

30:18

into what it is you're building, it's very hard to

30:20

detach yourself. But even more, sounds like you recognized

30:22

like, wait a minute, maybe people are here for me

30:24

and my delivery and my

30:27

ability to communicate, and I'd be willing to bet

30:29

that's a thousand percent true. When people

30:31

come to me and tell me about the program, your

30:33

name is the first thing they say.

30:34

Yeah. Well, we're actually building out. Do you wanna know

30:37

what we're doing?

30:37

Of course I do.

30:38

You're probably the first person we're telling. We're

30:40

building out a community group, like a membership

30:42

community group. If we wanna talk about the future of courses,

30:45

it's community. That's the future of humanity

30:47

is community. Because we lost

30:49

it and we realized, wait a second,

30:52

life is not so fun without it

30:54

and it's critical to our health and wellbeing

30:56

and our mental health. And especially what

30:58

I do in sort of, you

31:00

know, eating on the fringe of normalcy

31:02

where, you're cooking things from scratch and

31:04

it's becoming more common. But for

31:07

a lot of people they come into this world being

31:09

like the odd one out in their families

31:11

or in their friend circles. Like the ones who

31:13

go and order food and like, well I'm gluten free.

31:15

Or, you know, asking those questions. So, that

31:18

community piece is so critical. So we're creating

31:20

a membership platform to be both

31:22

a network for our graduates

31:24

because they often collaborate and work

31:26

with each other or need to share resources like, who's

31:28

your bookkeeper? Do you have a designer? And so

31:31

as a, professional network, but also for wider members

31:33

of the community to come in and keep learning

31:35

at a lower investment point. And so we're

31:37

gonna be having free events ongoing every

31:39

month with our graduates

31:42

doing cooking demos, expert presentations,

31:44

interviews, all kinds of stuff so

31:47

that collectively we can really

31:49

just keep learning together. So that's

31:51

sort of this new thing we're building out that's

31:53

an extension of the Culinary

31:55

Nutrition Expert program, but gives a really

31:58

solid way for people to maintain connection

32:00

to the community after graduating.

32:02

And so you're allowing and

32:05

inviting people outside of the program

32:07

graduates to be part of that community.

32:09

That's incredible because you have alums

32:11

and grads talking to people who are interested in

32:13

the program, and that's the best form of marketing,

32:15

right?

32:16

Ding, ding, ding,

32:16

So I love it. Do

32:18

you know what platform you're using yet or are you willing to share?

32:20

Yeah, I think we're gonna be going with Mighty Networks.

32:23

Fantastic. Yeah we're seeing a shift

32:25

where people are creating Facebook profiles

32:27

just so they can be part of our student group, but they don't want anything

32:29

to do with Facebook. I think a lot of companies are

32:32

starting to choose platforms based on their values

32:34

and where they want to spend their time

32:36

and money.

32:37

It'll be interesting to see community it's also

32:39

like we're requiring a change of habit like Facebook

32:41

works, especially when it's a smaller community

32:43

community people are still going on it, it's

32:45

still on their phone, and so

32:47

we'll see.

32:49

That's super exciting. When is the community launching?

32:51

We're opening the wait list by the end of

32:53

January.

32:54

I think by the time this episode's out, the wait list would

32:56

be open.

32:57

Okay. So go to culinarynutrition.com/clubhouse,

33:01

Everyone will be welcome to join.

33:03

Fantastic. I know you said you can't predict the

33:05

future, but I'm still gonna tap into you because I think you're one

33:07

of the smartest minds in the space. So what

33:09

are you thinking about in terms of trends

33:13

when it comes to online learning, education, that

33:15

sort of thing?

33:16

I think what we have to accept

33:18

is that there's no such thing as success

33:21

with online courses when they're passive. And

33:23

I think when you see, any

33:25

of the most successful people who do stuff

33:28

online, there's a very

33:30

clear launch period, run

33:33

the program period, move on to the next thing.

33:35

And not to say that you can't have

33:37

evergreen enrollment, but there still needs to be

33:40

very specific incentive to

33:42

join, some sense of scarcity

33:45

and some element of live interaction

33:47

always. So if you can have those

33:50

pieces checked off, I

33:52

think that the other component is

33:54

that the quality now

33:56

will need to be that much better. I

33:59

think technology has improved to the point where

34:01

you can't really just get away

34:03

with filming courses on Zoom. and saving

34:05

that recording. I think that there

34:07

needs to be a quality component in the visual,

34:10

but also so much so in the

34:12

content where it's actually

34:15

something people need and use

34:17

and will talk about. Whereas

34:19

I think for a while you could be like, well here's

34:21

five podcasts I've done and I'm gonna

34:24

do a transcript of them and then here's

34:26

a PDF, of a cookbook. And then

34:28

like, now we have a program. I

34:30

think people are more savvy than that. And because

34:32

a lot of the lousy stuff is being shut down

34:34

and falling away, there's also a higher

34:36

expectation of what will be delivered. So

34:38

I think we have to consider the visuals

34:41

of it, the quality of it, the community aspect,

34:43

and putting in the time so that people feel

34:46

like they matter when they do an online course. If

34:48

you want success, like I

34:50

want people to do my course, I don't

34:52

just want them enrolling in it. And so

34:54

that piece will matter.

34:56

It's so true. And I think, you know, even in our program,

34:58

it's an evergreen program, but we

35:00

have scarcity in that they're just

35:02

limited spots but we've amped

35:05

up our support. Now we're doing

35:08

milestone reviews, like a lot of one-on-one

35:10

support. And we have this experience

35:12

called Demo Week, where people can teach their

35:14

first class in front of their peers. We've had

35:16

to step up that level of support and it

35:19

cuts into, time and it costs

35:21

money but at the end of the day, like we've

35:24

seen our completion increase

35:26

significantly because of it.

35:27

Yeah. And also I don't play a lot

35:29

of the selling games. Like this

35:32

program is worth $45,000,

35:34

but you can get it for two payments of $299. Like

35:37

no, it's not like that's

35:39

where I'm like, where did you get the $45,000

35:41

from? So we aim to give

35:44

an explicitly honest

35:46

and accurate outline of what

35:49

we actually offer and what someone

35:51

will actually take away

35:53

from the experience. And

35:55

then I try and exceed those

35:57

expectations. Like I want them

36:00

absolutely overwhelmed

36:02

with delight at the investment they made

36:04

by joining us. And for example, in this last

36:06

cohort, we had around 300 people I believe.

36:09

We had one refund request and

36:11

that was from someone who just didn't like me. I'm like, okay,

36:13

I'm not for everyone. So like that

36:15

integrity is to me,

36:17

everything. And that was part of like,

36:19

when I was thinking about wrapping up and

36:22

closing this down and I was looking at, different companies that

36:24

buy online cor, like

36:26

a lot of people want to buy online course

36:28

businesses because they're typically

36:30

low overhead and high, high

36:33

margin. And I was just like, I can't just give

36:35

this to someone and have it turn

36:37

to garbage. And then the other thing I'm

36:39

gonna see in, a lot of your audience likely

36:42

is in the food world is,

36:44

a little more on including

36:47

some level of activism around food,

36:49

in protecting our food supply,

36:52

and food availability and food security

36:54

and all of that. Because I don't think you

36:56

can separate at this

36:58

point the idea of, at least

37:00

in my field, like healthy cooking

37:03

with accessibility which is becoming

37:05

more and more of a problem.

37:06

Yeah. It's a real problem. Absolutely.

37:09

And I know you know this, but there's a lot of money from

37:11

corporations and big food. A lot

37:13

of miseducation around what's real.

37:15

Yeah, because ultimately, like

37:17

what I would love to see is that not everyone even

37:19

needs to know all of this, that those

37:22

who do hold the companies

37:24

to account so that the default

37:26

snack at the school is great

37:29

enough for all children.

37:30

Exactly. Thank you for sharing that. I think

37:33

for, those listening who are on the teaching

37:35

side of things, what you laid out just makes a lot of

37:37

sense for them moving forward. What

37:39

is one piece of advice you'd give someone who is

37:42

looking to start online? What

37:44

would you tell them that maybe you

37:46

wish you knew or you would just want them

37:48

to know going into it?

37:50

I mean, it really, I've never given

37:52

anyone the same piece of advice who is starting

37:54

a business. But I think right now there

37:56

are, like the benefit

37:59

I had in 2008

38:01

when I was starting these classes in 2011

38:04

when I started going online was that there was nothing

38:06

to compare to, which both

38:09

allowed me to pave a way, but also

38:12

had to figure it all out. And now there's

38:14

a lot to look at that is very

38:16

glossy and very high budget

38:19

and very fancy pants. And

38:21

you think, well, I can't do it to like

38:23

that, so should I even do

38:25

it? And the answer is yes. I would

38:27

love for everyone to create what

38:29

they wanna create and optimally in

38:31

three to five years be horribly embarrassed

38:34

about their first effort because

38:36

it's never going to be perfect your

38:38

first time out or your second time, or whatever

38:41

it may be. And we evolve as humans,

38:43

the world evolves. So consider

38:46

it your first draft, your 1.0,

38:49

whatever it is you're creating. And

38:51

you will learn so much

38:53

just from the process of creating it and publishing

38:56

it and trying to sell it and having

38:58

people buy it and go

39:00

through it and give you feedback that

39:03

if you don't have anything to

39:05

improve on, you haven't been listening and you

39:07

haven't been paying attention. So that would be

39:09

my advice. Like it's never going to be

39:12

absolutely perfect. Likely

39:14

the minute I finish filming the last

39:16

component of it, they're like, ugh,

39:18

I wish I had added this. That's just

39:20

the nature I think of an entrepreneur mind,

39:23

but also of someone who's

39:26

creative and doing something from the heart. And

39:28

whatever you're creating has

39:30

to come from the heart with your

39:32

why very strong. And that why has to be bigger

39:34

than yourself. Because if your

39:37

why, your motivator is something that is needed

39:40

by either a niche or the world or

39:42

whatever it is, and it feels

39:44

to you like it's important and urgent and

39:46

powerful, the sort of

39:48

divine energy, whatever you need to put

39:50

it out there will flow. But if

39:52

your why is I

39:55

just wanna make an extra 5K a month,

39:57

it's not gonna work. Because it's still

39:59

a business, it's still a creative enterprise

40:02

and so when it comes from the heart and it's

40:04

something that feels really, aligned

40:07

for you, and that doesn't mean it's not gonna be challenging.

40:09

Like you're gonna have challenges, you're gonna have moments

40:11

being like, why did I do this? I don't know

40:13

what I'm doing. As long as you answer

40:16

that, like, what am I doing with, I don't know, but

40:18

I'm gonna figure it out. Then you'll know what you have

40:20

to do the next day.

40:21

Yeah. So what's your why? I have to

40:23

ask you.

40:24

I wanna change the world, and I've always

40:26

wanted to do that. And I want people

40:28

living in a way that is kind

40:30

and compassionate and loving and creative

40:33

and inspired, and the

40:36

food is the way in. So

40:38

if we can fuel our lives

40:40

to fulfill on our own

40:42

limitless potential, then

40:44

we can shift things person

40:47

by person, household by household, community

40:49

by community. And it sounds like,

40:51

oh, that's cute. Like what a cute

40:53

idea to change the world. But you know,

40:55

halfway through my program, my students will start saying

40:57

this isn't just about food, is it? I'm like,

40:59

not at all. But if I told you we

41:01

were going to expand our consciousness, no

41:03

one's signing up. So instead,

41:05

let's start with breakfast and we'll go

41:08

from there.

41:08

That's so important. And it's something that my students

41:11

work on as we, go through purpose

41:13

and why; I'm sure you see this too, the

41:15

first response is, well, I want to teach people

41:18

how to eat healthier. Okay, but why? And

41:20

you finally get to the real

41:22

messy stuff inside

41:24

where it's tied to something more personal

41:27

or bigger that feels hard to share,

41:29

but that's the real why. Thank

41:31

you for sharing yours. And I love that

41:33

it's big, right? Why not? Why

41:35

not have it be huge? And I

41:38

think it gives you the room

41:40

to define many ways

41:42

to get there, right? And your program is one,

41:44

but who knows? There could be something else that

41:46

still helps you get closer

41:48

to achieving that vision that you have.

41:51

Yeah. And ultimately like

41:53

to now have people in,

41:55

nearly 80 countries who've come through

41:57

this program, and we now have the opportunity for our graduates

42:00

to become instructors and teach classes we've created

42:02

that they can go and start working immediately

42:05

and sharing this, I'm not saying we've

42:07

changed the world, but we've changed the

42:09

world for a lot of people and

42:12

that is why I am not retired.

42:14

Yay. The world needs you, Meghan.

42:17

I think your longevity in particular

42:19

in this space is what is

42:22

just, it's rare. it's absolutely rare.

42:24

And I have a ton

42:26

of admiration because it's hard.

42:28

It's super, super hard. And you're not saying

42:30

it's easy, but you're still in the game. And again,

42:32

a lot of it comes down to your passion and your purpose,

42:35

and your attempt to walk away failed

42:38

And so you're still here.

42:39

The only thing I've failed at so far is actually

42:41

retiring.

42:42

Okay. I would love to know where can people go to learn

42:44

more about your program? I know that you have an enrollment

42:46

window.

42:47

Please head over to culinarynutrition.com/program

42:52

and that's where you'll find our

42:55

full signature flagship certification

42:57

program. We also have a free training at culinarynutrition.com/freetraining.

43:02

So lesson number one for everyone is make really

43:04

easy URLs that are nice to say

43:06

on podcasts. We have lots

43:09

of free resources available, lots

43:11

of free classes and sample classes,

43:13

and if you want to follow me, I'm

43:15

at @meghantelpner and I have my own website,

43:18

which is now a hobby project at meghantelpner.com

43:21

where I'm doing other stuff about coherence and

43:23

heart math and meditation and that kind

43:25

of thing. So lots available for

43:27

whatever you might wanna learn.

43:28

Because you've hired people so you have more time. Amazing.

43:31

In theory. In theory.

43:33

You just signed yourself up for more work as you shared.

43:35

That's exactly it. I was like, now I

43:37

have free time. Let's create something new.

43:39

Well, thank you Meghan. It was so wonderful

43:41

to have you on the show, and I know that

43:43

our listeners are gonna be really excited to connect with you.

43:45

Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.

43:47

I had such a nice time chatting with you, and thank you for all you're doing

43:50

to empower people to get their

43:52

knowledge and their skills out to the

43:54

world.

43:56

Well, what did you think.

43:59

Seriously. I want to know, send me a

44:01

DM on Instagram culinarycynthia

44:04

and share your biggest aha

44:06

moment, your biggest takeaway from

44:08

this interview. I really would love to chat with you.

44:11

If after listening to this episode, you are

44:13

super inspired to take your first

44:15

steps in building an online culinary business,

44:18

then I want to share a little bit about my done with

44:20

you program called The Online Jumpstart.

44:23

It truly is the perfect place to begin.

44:25

There is no other program out there like

44:27

this. In just 90 days, you

44:29

will have a legit online business foundation

44:32

set up. We're talking a clear purpose,

44:35

a well-defined niche, an email

44:37

list set up, even your own class

44:40

or course sign up system so that

44:42

you don't have to rely on platforms

44:44

like Eventbrite that might not have the same

44:46

look and feel as your brand. On

44:48

top of all of that, you will have

44:50

taught your first live online

44:52

class, which is the place to begin

44:55

no matter if you want to create a

44:57

recorded course, have a membership

44:59

or anything else in your online

45:01

culinary business. Now The Online

45:04

Jumpstart is not an online course. It

45:06

is a hands-on implementation

45:08

program. You are going to get a ton

45:10

of personalized support. Let's say

45:12

you are just scared of tech.

45:15

I have you covered. You get all of

45:17

my beginner level tech recommendations and tutorials.

45:20

Plus unlimited Q&A support

45:22

to help you get things set up and

45:24

working. So to take the next step, I

45:26

want you to head on over to theonlinejumpstart.com

45:29

where you can watch my free training on how to

45:32

finally get started with your online

45:34

teaching business. And I'm also going

45:36

to show you how your online culinary business

45:38

can support the life you have rather

45:41

than compete with it. This is a very

45:43

big theme for me and my business in 2023.

45:46

You'll hear me talk a lot about having a

45:49

life first business. So

45:51

if you're interested in that, then definitely

45:53

check out the masterclass. Thank you so

45:55

much for tuning into this episode, and I

45:58

will see you back here next week.