How do I make things stick when things are hard? Evaluating the Sixth Session with Joanna

Hey Danna.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hey Megan!

So are going to do our wrap up of Joanna's last session, session

six.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

just as a reminder, these are shorter sessions.

obviously if you listen this far in advance, you know, the structure of what

we've been doing with these episodes.

But this is the very last one.

And,

It was, interesting.

I enjoyed that.

She came prepared to this session and was like, how do I make this stick?

I know this is the last one.

I know I'm not gonna have danna holding my hand every other week.

so how do we make it last?

I really wanted to talk with you about ways to make everything that

I've learned stick when it's hard.

you know,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

travel, we had illness, we had holiday season.

I'm so exhausted again, and I was feeling like I

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Mm-hmm.

so much energy.

So, I need to get back to that because I, I really notice the difference now.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

So, yeah, I guess that's kind of what I'm bringing today.

how do I make it stick when things are hard?

And then really being open to some of these ideas.

and I think the things that she talked about like.

dinner prep, overwhelm, just falling off the proverbial wagon, if you will.

These are all things that I think most of our listeners, have dealt with.

I know both of us have dealt with that.

I will also say

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah,

dinner burnout now.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah, of course.

it's just kind of a lot too.

together, you know,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Of course.

a week and, and if, if something is not planned, then his default is

always like, well, let's just go out or order delivery because I don't wanna

deal with dishes and I don't wanna deal with the planning and we don't have

anything and I don't like that so much.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

you know, it's expensive, but also not going to get good food necessarily.

So.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

So I try to have enough stuff on hand that I can just whip

something up quickly and avoid that.

But no, it doesn't always work.

I enjoyed listening to your, Suggestions.

And again, I, I really wish I could just be like, pop through the microphone

and be like, get an air fryer.

They're

amazing

because

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

think everything that you said was like super amazing.

And then the one bit of information, 'cause we do have a microwave here.

And so for those of you who haven't listened to the episode, it was

more like how to get some frozen stuff and then get it ready.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

I ask a really dumb question?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Always.

And it's not gonna be dumb, I'm sure.

How do you heat up these wraps and stuff if you, I mean, I don't have

a microwave, so then I've like looked

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I don't either.

you know, egg bites in the muffin tin and stuff like that for easy

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Mm-hmm.

But how do I make them warm?

It's such a pain on the stove.

And of course, a microwave is great for that.

A lot of people don't like microwaves though.

It's, they're good, they have purpose, but, an air fryer in these situations

is so perfect because it's so small.

You don't have to heat up a whole oven.

It

heats up super fast and then immediately you have something warm

and tasty, especially for the kids.

so.

Joanna, get an air

fryer.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Get an air fryer, your Joanna?

Um, yeah.

No, I don't have an air fryer, believe it or not, still.

So I, it just didn't come to mind.

'cause I don't use it

knew

Danna Levy Hoffmann: and I don't, I don't, yeah, and that's the thing is

that also, I rely a lot on my Instant pod, for example, but I can't, I

realized that I, you know, I often would suggest these kind of things to clients.

Like, what about just a machine, you know?

I've realized over the time that I've been doing this that I don't

know how big their kitchen is.

so I've started being more reluctant about suggesting specific machines because.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I love the Instant Pot.

Some people go for the, what is it called, the one that like will do anything

but clean your home, the thermo mix.

And I don't I can't click with a thermo mix.

like it's not my world.

so I stepped away from a, from kind of, you know 'cause there are millions.

Food processor, I think is a must in every home to just cut your

cooking in in super short time.

all of the little things that can help.

But then I'm like, yeah, but I can't expect them to fill up their kitchen

with my, the stuff that I like.

So I totally get it.

And I, you know, one day I'll also get a, an air fryer, maybe.

think

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Um.

mean, for people who are listening to this who wanna become a health coach

or are just interested in understanding where the coaching aspect comes from,

think that's a great way to kind of go.

You have your own experiences, but yeah, you need to kind of go with the baseline,

which everybody could possibly do.

And

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

Oven, stove top.

Exactly.

You did a great job with that.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Thanks.

With, how to have the steam inside or a grill outside sometimes if people,

you know, but

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

somebody has a grill.

But you're

right, especially in Europe where the kitchens are much smaller than

in the

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

in

the,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

I mean, that is a constant.

Discussion.

with my husband and I, we are fairly well organized in

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Mm-hmm.

of our storage space

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

but still it's like one machine in one machine out.

if I

get a new

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Exactly.

has gotta go

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Has to get, yeah, exactly.

And you guys have the space.

I was lucky enough to see her beautiful home.

it is, like three times bigger than normal, Swiss kitchens.

So Yeah.

I always have to think about that.

'cause sometimes I talk to people and I have some clients who are just mega rich.

Like they'll have plenty of money and stuff, and they'll

have a really nice place.

And still the kitchen is tiny.

You know what I mean?

So it's not a focus that they have here in Switzerland.

They don't go out to eat much, but then the kitchen is just a

little like, corner in the house.

Yeah,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: but Yeah.

I totally get what you're saying.

I mean, I, I. I have been seeing people stuff, shoving things,

frozen things into their air fry.

Actually, when I was at your place,

yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: you made winks frozen wings, and I was

like, is it really gonna be cooked?

I'm scared.

did meatballs and literally 10 minutes, the meatballs go from frozen

to it feels like they've been barbecued.

They're so good.

They're juicy.

they're a little crispy on the outside, but juicy on the inside.

amazing what an air fryer can do, which is just a convection oven,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Sure.

all you know, if you've ever had a convection oven, it's the same thing.

And we have a convection oven, a big one.

But for two of us, it does not make sense to heat that up.

And that's

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah,

that the energy savings and time savings come in for two people.

and

I, I also know that some air fryers are not big enough for a

whole family to have like a whole meal done through the air fryer.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: that's basically why I don't have one yet.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: it always looks so tiny to me.

I'm like, I have three horses that I'm feeding here.

This is never gonna be enough.

in the situation where, what she was talking about where you

just need to like prep a protein,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah,

easily

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah.

That's true.

in there.

Um, and, and we do it for like also warming up stuff and heating

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

Like my husband really likes it for when he roast.

Vegetables in there.

So he

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

like especially serving size, you know, if he's by himself,

he loves just roasting potatoes

in

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Sure,

and he has his own little process with all his herbs and

whatever, and he puts it in there and he absolutely loves it because

it does give it that crispiness.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah.

in general,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: get paid for, uh, we should get an sponsorship by.

Well, but the other thing I wanted to mention, because I

think that, um, she said she tried meal prepping, it didn't work.

you know, I've tried food prepping before and doing the whole thing and

like meal planning and I think I just kind of went a little bit overboard

'cause people were complaining and I don't want this and I don't want that.

And I wasn't getting any input into what people did want or nor any help with the

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

the prepping.

And I just got resentful.

What I've, learned, I love watching meal prepping videos by the way.

what I've learned is a lot of times the beginning of the meal prep movement

happened where we're prepping a whole casserole, we're prepping a whole

meal where we're gonna take it out and put it in the oven or whatever.

And that's the meal.

And I think that there is the other meal prepping.

Which is ingredient prepping, right?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Exactly.

that's what you were getting into.

But I think to go a step further than that really would be okay, chop four

onions and put it into a Ziploc bag in

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Exactly.

Yeah.

so it's, or

even in the freezer, because these things can come out.

You grab what you need.

And you don't even have to chop.

And I think that that is definitely something where you can just prep

ingredients and then you literally just throw them in the pan.

And again, one less step, exactly what you were talking about.

Just take an hour on the weekend and chop shit up and put it into

a bag and ready for for you to go.

And

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah, a hundred percent.

that would

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I mean, the only thing that we need to think about when

we do that is that they will not react.

I mean, like, they'll collect water.

So if you want the char if you wanna kind of get some color on it, most likely it

won't happen with most of the vegetables.

What

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Um, or it will be because like a lot.

So the, when you freeze veggies,

No, I'm talking about just putting 'em in the fridge most

of the time.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Oh, fridge!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah yeah.

Yeah.

talking like literally just pull out

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Prepping your veggies.

Yeah, for sure.

chopped up and for a stir fry with, you know, some

fried

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

Yeah.

Or sometimes even washed or peeled or something.

Yeah, you're totally right.

Carrots, uh, celery.

Those are things you can even put in a water container and

they will keep much longer even.

So yeah, there's a whole there.

You're totally right.

There's a whole other world to, to even prepping stuff in the fridge.

Um.

get even granular.

You'd be like, what's the one vegetable you love to have but hate to prep?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

Just prep that one vegetable.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

Right,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: will already give you, Yeah, you're totally right.

I think that the world of pre-prep is endless.

I think it's just her having to find her...

right,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Her groove and her way of, of actually

whatever works for her.

Because again, like I tried meal prep also years and years ago,

and it just doesn't work for me and doesn't work for my family.

But if I prep the protein or if I know that I have, like, I need to

know that I have at least one part.

Mm-hmm.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Of the meal, and that already takes a lot of stress off

of me 'cause I'm like, oh great, there's rice in the fridge from yesterday.

Right,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: all I need to do is pull out this or

all I need to do is add that.

Right.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: So any little thinking ahead, I think, is helpful.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: It's just, how do I do it without overwhelming myself, how

do I do it in a way that actually works for me, and that's for every person to

discover on their own, But um, but yeah, we can text her and be like, and by the

way, Megan has some suggestions too.

So to wrap this up, the three months, which is actually

a little bit longer because we had some skip sessions, which we

always

Danna Levy Hoffmann: always, yeah.

have some joker or, extra sessions planned, for the

eventualities of sickness, et cetera.

so after the six sessions, what are your impressions about, Joanna and from the

beginning to the end, like her journey, what can you summarize about that or

what were some things that you found interesting or that you wanna highlight?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I love, I love that we have it recorded, because

she went through all the motions.

She went through everything within the three months, and I have to say,

it's super accurate to every single client almost that I had, which is

that three month mark, three, somewhere between three to five month mark,

there's always this like, oh crap, I did so fucking well, and then.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Fill in the blank.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: vacation, holidays, illness.

And now I feel like I'm back to square one.

It's been a rough, I guess, month since we last talked.

Yeah.

And so I just kind of feel like I felt completely off the wagon.

you know,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Hmm.

travel, we had illness, we had holiday season.

now of course it's beginning of December.

I feel like all of that stuff is coming, even more intensively over the next month.

I did manage to, make it to Pilates a couple of times I was doing my

strength training, so that's been good.

But on the eating, the nutrition part, I've really slipped.

And now, I mean, I don't know if it's related to that or if I'm just

getting sick, but I'm so exhausted again, and I was feeling like I

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Mm-hmm.

so much energy.

So, I need to get back to that because I, I really notice the difference now.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: And I feel like, it was with her as well.

She said, I felt so energized.

I don't have the energy now and I don't know if I'm getting sick

or if it's actually the food.

And I was like, it, it's actually the, you know, it's, it's so clear as day.

Don't try to find another reason for it.

It's obviously that, but also.

It is so easy to get into that downward spiral of you wake up one morning,

you didn't sleep all night, the kid was sick, and then you're tired, so

you're just eating garbage, 'cause you can't deal with now thinking of

what you're eating, and you're, and whatever you're eating is gonna make

you eat more, and the brain is asleep, you know, so you're gonna eat more.

And then it just becomes a thing, and we... we.

We tend to kind of ride that wave just as much.

And just be like, all right, we fell off the wagon, it's fine, but it'll go on for

longer than we actually want it to be.

Right,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: that's why I really made sure with Joanna to

say like, look, just remember that every meal you have that decision.

Like it doesn't have to be like, I fucked up today, so I'm going to continue today.

No, every single meal, everything that goes into your mouth, you

can make a certain decision.

Whichever decision it is is fine, but just know that you have that Choice and

just knowing that you have that power

Mm-hmm.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: already kind of makes a bit of a switch.

so I really think that she did an incredible job.

She was really going through it all.

She was very open and she was open to trying new things, but she was

also open with me enough to be like, look, this is not going to work.

Yeah.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: find another way.

So there are many moments throughout the three months

where she was like, that's not.

That's not my thing.

Yeah, exactly.

Which was so helpful because then I could be like, okay, great, so let's

focus it down to something else.

And what about this idea and what about that idea and what, what are your ideas?

And so it really was a teamwork and it was super helpful to

work with someone like that.

I also think that she will.

In a certain capacity, a, a very human and normal capacity.

She will continue to have these ideas in mind and just pull them back.

that's of course always my hope, but I do have a strong feeling that

she will keep some of that in mind.

so yeah, very typical.

So I love that people get to hear that and, and relate to it.

and I'm happy that hopefully I was there to, help her through

it and yeah, move, move forward.

Um, last question.

sure if we'll use it or not.

Let's see what you answer.

Did you learn anything new or adapt your style as a coach, through this experience?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: always learn something from each client.

I don't know if it's specific things but it's more It is more certain approaches

for the next client, it's almost like little reminders, like when I talk to

someone else and they'll remind me of something that I discussed with her

or with another client that it would link in my head and go like, okay,

maybe this worked for that client or... this client struggled with that so

obviously not giving information about my clients But more kind of helping

me to gather more of that data that always grows Um, So I don't know if I'm

really answering that question, I don't think that there was something yeah,

just your.

Your data

points,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah

So every client is a new data point, and I think a lot of coaches, when

they're starting off, they have an idea about who their, ideal client might be.

And I've heard some other coaches go, yeah, I know what my ideal client is.

Usually it's someone who mirrors your situation in life because then you

can relate the most to that client.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Mm-hmm.

But I think it's also.

When you, you've had a lot of clients, so I think maybe by now you don't

necessarily need to do this because you kind of know your target audience.

But if someone is starting off and they're just taking whoever they can grab onto

because they wanna have experience, I think there's a opportunity at the end

of a client, either at the end of each

session or at the end of a, a period of time with them where you can record.

Like the things that really brought you joy through that experience.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

where like

you enjoyed working with them on food or you enjoyed working with them on, self

care or, you really clicked with this person because of X, Y, Z. And if you

could start to document that in a way that you can then start to see patterns.

I think that's a really great way to hone in your messaging in the future.

Especially when you start to see patterns.

You're like, oh, the last five people that I have worked with, we really got

into meditation Or they had similar problems that they asked you about.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yes.

so I don't know.

What are your thoughts on,

on that?

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I definitely agree.

I think that one of the things that I also did in the past, at the beginning,

when I was trying to finesse my message and understand who my target audience

is and all of the things that you unfortunately have to do when you build

a business, is I actually went through all of the health histories that I ever

got, and I looked at their core problem.

one of the questions that I have there is if I've had a magic wand what would that?

What would it be like?

What would my life look like or what?

So I'm giving them the, what am I struggling with and then how

do I want life to look like and those two are really helpful.

Those two points alone are really helpful to understand like, okay, this

is a person, you get the information.

They're a woman, they're a certain of a certain age, they're often, moms,

so you really do collect all of that.

And then you can also do that with your quote unquote favorite clients or the ones

that you enjoyed the most working with.

You can collect those alone and be like, these are, this is my person.

This is my general person.

What is the red thread there between all of them?

How do I get that one person, like how do I talk to that one person?

so yeah, that's a really, really good point for those who actually

wanna become health coaches and Wanna collect that information.

I would say spread out the health history, even with people you don't necessarily,

you're not necessarily going to work with.

Just do the health history calls that on its own as a first step to

get to talk to people, ask the right questions, get into the zone of a coach.

that's priceless.

And if The more you can do health history calls, A, the more chance you're gonna

get clients from those, and B, the more experience you're gaining from what do

they need, how am I going to answer those Struggles, do I even have the tools?

What do I want to research more about?

Mm-hmm.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: that.

So I think the health history alone is super, super helpful.

So even when, if you go on a call and you go on a health history and you're

like, I'm gonna get this client for sure.

And you don't just, look at it as an a learning experience where you're gathering

information and you're learning more.

And there's a reason why you didn't get that client.

So don't worry about it.

You'll get more.

And

Cool.

again, only three months.

So normally you would do a six month minimum because of this whole hurdle,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: exactly.

itch, if you might wanna call it, was still eye-opening.

It was still great.

I, I hope that our listeners, Received something in terms of understanding

how coaching works, whether you want to go to a health coach to help

you accomplish some of your goals.

in general, I think we always agree everybody should have a therapist, a

general practitioner, and a health coach.

I think these are the three

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yes.

that everybody should have in their, health arsenal, their, your team.

a health coach by far is one of the less expensive options.

So if you're thinking about that, you need help.

health coaches are typically less expensive than a therapist or a

gp.

and they're all around now.

I feel like you can throw a dart and hit a health coach somewhere.

but so I think if you're looking for

a health coach, just shop around.

most health coaches will offer some kind of free discovery call that you can

get to know them, their personalities.

Obviously, we didn't know either one of our clients that we recently recorded.

But immediately we could, have that first call and we could start

to see are we jiving with them?

is there a little bit of, you need to have a little bit of, uh, relationship building

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

or with your coach?

So make sure that you keep that in mind.

And for people who wanna become health coaches, I wanna put

this out there because I am not

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Practic

coach right now.

Like I do not have clients and I'm not looking for clients.

One of the things that I gathered over the last almost six years,

seven years, what was it?

20 16, 20 18, that I

did my right.

whatever, doesn't matter.

The point is that you can coach every day all the time.

You can be that coach for your friends, for your family.

There are very few health coaches that go through health coaching programs that

are successful at making a full-time income at being a health coach.

It depends on your market, where you are, who you're targeting.

and I think

that that's a, a big eye-opener and I wanna be very open and honest about that.

Um, if you wanna be a health coach because you are passionate about

a specific type of person that you wanna help, I say go for it.

But don't quit your day job yet.

you've got to work hard at this.

It is a business if you want it to be a business, if you want it to be a full-time

income, it is no joke, a full-time income and you need to treat it like a business

and you need to have a business plan.

You need to have your finances in order, et cetera.

So please don't quit your day job just

because got your health coaching certification.

And

Danna Levy Hoffmann: a while.

outside the box about how you can use that health coaching

certification your current job.

Can you ask your current employers, Hey, I wanna run some mindfulness,

uh, things for the employees in house.

This gets you access so.

How, how do I start a podcast or start a blog or, do a TikTok channel or something

where you can start to talk about what you wanna do, build that up, and at some

point, if you're ready, then make that

leap to a full-time business.

But it is not easy and.

As I met you, Danna, you were going through some challenges with the

business and I don't know if you

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I

share

Danna Levy Hoffmann: wanna share this, but because of

had structured your marketing it, you got slapped in the

fucking face when things happened.

So do you wanna

explain

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I think it was more, well, what happened with my

business was it was just fucking timing.

I had a hack, a huge hack on all, unlike my website and my... E-mailing

system and I also had a team.

I was actually doing quite well as a health coach.

I was definitely, bringing in good money and had great clients and was super happy.

And then I took off on vacation.

I did so well that year that I actually had a marketing team and a Website

development team redid the website and everything and then I kind of

stupidly relied on them to keep their eyes open and do their due diligence

on everything and they didn't because it's not their business, it's fine.

So they missed out on a lot of warning signs.

And then my website was just out for quite a while before we

realized it and all the things.

So, and then things started with my son.

So it was just like this, like avalanche of shit, coming at me.

I always struggled with marketing.

When I had full energy and I was on like Facebook posting everywhere, my business

was going great, when I Couldn't, didn't have the energy, didn't have the access

or whatever, it didn't go as well.

So you do need to understand that your marketing and your, whether it's

face-to-face, just walking around, going to businesses, going to people, just

literally constantly marketing yourself.

if you don't do that, people don't know that you exist.

And nowadays there's so much noise that it's even easier to kind

of drown between everyone else.

All that to say that I think it is doable, but it takes a lot of energy.

It definitely helps when you have some sort of budget, but like it

takes a lot of energy, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of strategy.

And unfortunately nowadays these strategies change within five minutes.

it's difficult, it's not easy, but if you love it, do it.

yeah, I mean if you love it, but you still have to like, you know,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Making it, yeah, exactly, so yeah, I was,

I was, trying to be, I'm usually an optimist

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah,

to be a pessimist.

I'm trying to

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah, yeah,

I'm, because I've seen so many posts of.

Mostly women who wanna become health coaches because

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah.

issues and they've overcome them and they wanna do

good things with other people.

And I

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Right.

noble.

I love it.

I agree with it, I also know that there is a lot of.

Almost like MLM style

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah.

out there, like how to get a hundred clients in a hundred days

and

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah, don't fall for that shit, yeah.

and here's this template for this program and

Danna Levy Hoffmann: None of them work.

you can get so caught up with

all of

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I did, I pay, I said, ah, I reinvested every penny that I made

into the business, but some of that was, yeah, stupid shit like that, so yeah, I

would not do that, I would definitely,

would say find a health coach who's

Danna Levy Hoffmann: yeah.

there and ask, can you mentor me,

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Yeah,

you

Danna Levy Hoffmann: I've done a lot of that for, other women actually that came

up to me and they're like, can you help?

And we, we jumped on a call and, I don't know if any of them became health

coaches to be honest, but yeah, that is a really good thing because I hope

most health coaches, we understand that there's endless clients out there.

Mm-hmm.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: It's not that we're rivalry, like we all want

to do the same thing, which is help people live a healthier life,

feel better in their own skin,

Mm-hmm.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: So I think it is very good to connect with other health coaches,

to be in touch with your classmates,

Continue to be in that environment and ask the right questions and be able to

brainstorm with other like-minded people.

So that's always gonna be the case with anything you do.

Right.

Yeah.

Cool.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Cool.

we'll just end it there and

Danna Levy Hoffmann: Sounds good.

yeah, this was a awesome ride, and we'll see you next time.

Danna Levy Hoffmann: All right, Bye.

Bye.