#74: Growing a Business While Taking Care of Yourself with Corinne Crabtree, Life & Weight Loss Coach
Before being able to give our all to our business, we have to be able to take care of ourselves.
We have to be able to know when our body needs a break, and take one without feeling guilty.
Most importantly, we need to be able to fuel our body with the nutrients it needs to get through the day.
I was joined today by Corinne Crabtree, Life & Weight Loss Coach. Corinne shares with us how she structures her day to optimize time and energy.
We spoke about:
What key macronutrients help you fuel your body
What self care says about you
Making a schedule that best fits your needs and wants
If you’re feeling the need for a shift in how you operate - this episode is for you!
Learn more about Corinne here: https://www.phit-n-phat.com or check her out on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/corinne_crabtree.
Check out my new free new training on www.yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:03):
So here's the challenge: so many entrepreneurs dream of leading a life of impact by creating a multi-million dollar brand, but only a tiny percentage of businesses actually scale to that point. On this podcast, we speak openly and authentically about what it takes to scale your business, following the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts, and leaders, looking at the behind the scenes of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned. My name is Laura Meyer and I'm your host. I'm a serial entrepreneur, wife and mom to three. I love talking all things business, especially digging into the mindset and strategies of scaling joyfully to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. Let's go!
(00:49):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Scale with Joy show. I'm here with Corinne Crabtree. Hi Corinne.
Corinne (00:56):
It's a joy to be here.
Laura (00:58):
I was just filling in current a little bit about my background and my passion for joy. And I have been listening to Corinne because I'm part of the scholars program of the Life Coach School. She's a life and weight loss coach. And just when I hear you even talk about business, it is so fascinating to me, the way that you approach business, because of how much time you spend on your mind, managing your mind, helping your mind get back on track when it has thought errors. And I was just so fascinated to have you here. So we'll talk about health. We'll talk about business, but when it comes to actually like growing a business and managing your physical health, why do you think so many entrepreneurs struggle with this?
Corinne (01:43):
I will tell you, I think the biggest misconception is that I can only focus on one thing at a time. I think that when you are going to grow a business, you have to be able to focus on your health too. And the way to connect those is to make sure that when you're thinking about all the things that you need to do for your business, your health has to be on that list because they directly tie to your capacity to work your capacity to have creativity, your capacity, to manage your emotions, to manage your moods and things like that. I think that that is what I see happen a lot with entrepreneurs is they don't really understand that going out for walks or doing your exercise or how you eat and stuff, that is very directly tied to your bottom line, your revenue, your to-do list for the day, the things that you're going to get done, all of that's part of it.
(02:37):
And so I think that that's one reason why I miss like entrepreneurs miss out. Is they just, they have it in their brain that when you're growing a business or when you are scaling or when you get to a certain point, like it's like this has to be the priority. And this has to be mindfulness. And we start saying, we don't have time for this. And I always flip it. And I'm just like, you're not going to have near enough time to ever work in your business if you're not going in emotionally and energetically strong, you know? And I think that that is real key. I know that's been very helpful for me. I have never been one to work around the clock. I work a lot, but I always work from the place of, I want to be there or a place of where, like I've never done it.
(03:24):
Cause I think I should. And I avoid working because I think I need to, or have to it's really, I notice when I'm tired, I tell myself, you have, you have got to take a break. That's what the business needs right now. The business need you to take the nap. The business needs you to schedule time off the business demands that you take time away from it so that you can see the strength of your team, the strength of your systems. When you're not doing those things, when you're not prioritizing your health and stuff, you're also doing a complete disservice to your business's health and your businesses operational factor. And what does it run like when you're not there? If it's a crap show, when you leave, you got problems.
Laura (04:10):
So good. And I love that your persona finding your business, like as it's a person like this person needs you to take care of your health, this person needs you to rest. Did you make that shift at a certain point or was that always just a way in which you thought about your business.
Corinne (04:31):
I kind of shifted into that. I shifted into it a little bit, a little bit naturally and a little bit with really good influences as I was building my business the first, the first like 10 years of it, you know, I didn't really make any money. I was very passionate. I did work a lot, but I always worked from passion. I grew up working very hard. My family was, we were beyond broke. I mean, we were so poor and my mother was a single mom and all I've got all the stories.
(05:01):
I was very used to working hard and taking a lot of pride in it. So when I really started building my weight loss business, I was able to combine my capacity to work a lot and hard, but with the passion and the purpose and the knowing why I was there. So for the first 10 years, it really made sense to me to show up. And it also made sense to me to prioritize my health. I am in weight loss. I mean, I lost a hundred pounds. I've always been overweight, but I knew that when I was doing my business, that it was going to thrive the more I took care of myself. And then about the last five years when I really started scaling and you know, just my business really went in a whole different direction where I turned it into like, all right, like I want to scale this thing. I want to grow it. And I want to start setting numbers and I want to have goals and all this other stuff.
(05:57):
During that time, I started understanding that the more money that I made and the more people that I was helping, the more I had to figure out how not to do it all on my own for me, what I had to do is make the shift of it's a good thing to be away from the business, because that helps like show me what it's made of. Like, it's, it's just like when you first start leaving your kids at home by themselves, you know, it's like, you kind of really get a good gut check. Was I really good at helping them cook and take care of themselves.
Laura (06:31):
I didn't even know that was a thing. Like at what point can you do that? I’m not there yet, but that's amazing.
Corinne (06:36):
When he was about 14 , I remember the first time we went to dinner and I looked at my husband, I said, do you think he's going to be able to like survive? Like he was, I was so serious. And he said, well, he pretty much stays in his room all the time when we're at home. And I don't think he's going to do much different. So, but it's one of those things where like, for me, because I always had been someone for a long time, I had to trade hours for money because I didn't have a college education and I had to work hard and stuff. It was a very healthy way for me to start thinking about taking time off. And so that I wouldn't be sitting there riddled with guilt or sitting there worrying about the business and stuff. I really had to make a connection for myself that this is like, what the next level does, the next level steps back and thinks, and the next level lets the business perform and it lets you show what it needs next.
(07:38):
So I think it's a little bit of a combination between kind of organically getting there and then kind of like needing to manage my mind about like, I know this might be a problem for me. So I really want to go into this with some intention. I also had an amazing mentor Brooke Castillo, who is over the life coach school and stuff, had the pleasure of masterminding with her for a few years. Because I was, I was doing master coach training and then the following year I took master coach training and decided like, this is it. Like I am like, I am determined to make this a success, like a big success. And then I got invited to her mastermind and I watched her for years do way more thinking about our business than she did working in her business. And I watched her take impeccable care of herself unapologetically and using that as a way to thrive when she was working. And so just seeing that example really made me question every time I thought it couldn't be that way, you know? So it was just, it was, I don't know. It just the right things came into play.
Laura (08:44):
Why do you think that's so rare? Why do you think that so many people do it the opposite where they are hyper-focused and I fell into this, myself into the grind, into I'll take care of myself later. It doesn't matter if my health is declining because I'm focused on growing this business. It doesn't matter if I'm overweight or I'm a healthy weight, but eating unhealthy things or not hydrating, or like all of this self-sacrifice that happen I think physically when we prioritize our business, like why do we think that's the most common way to go?
Corinne (09:31):
Well, I think it's several things. I mean, even when you were talking about it, like three big things popped up. One of which is as women, we, when it comes to especially weight loss, we have always been taught to lose weight, we're supposed to suffer. Think about diets. They're full of deprivation and restriction. Most diets cut out carbs. Well, hell if you're going to grow a business from a nature brainpower and you're cutting out the macronutrient, that powers your brain. No, God love keto people said I'm all in. If it works for you, but my research and my just watching women, I don't teach that stuff has shown that women more often are triggered to have eating disorders and more often triggered to have body dysmorphia, food dysmorphia, different things like that when they do diets like that. And so what happens is you have this blend of the, if all you think about losing weight is, well, you know what?
(10:38):
That's when I have to get serious. And that's when I have to like change my life. And you know, I can't do these things. Now. We just have such a working definition of what losing weight is. Why would you ever believe that you could grow a business and take care of yourself, be healthy and stuff, being healthy, losing weight, all that kind of stuff has such a terrible rap because of what the diet industry has done over the years. So there's like that piece of it. So if you really believe that you're never going to think that you could do both at the same time,
Laura (11:12):
An impossible, extreme path.
Corinne (11:17):
Yeah. So that's one reason why I don't teach all that. So just want all your listeners to know like, like I know that I'm a weight loss coach, but we work in our brains. But the other piece that the other one that jumped out to me specifically was men, and I hate to say this, but men glorify, the hustle, take no days off. And, like you just see a lot of men who have made that like sexy and that's the way it is. And I think that has been perpetuated a lot in social media and stuff. And it's easy to buy into the idea that if I'm not suffering, if I'm not doing all of those things, I'm doing it wrong. That's the definition. Or if that's what we've seen, then that's like, and we're not in, we're actually enjoying ourselves, taking care of ourselves and stuff.
(12:17):
We will, self-sabotage ourselves to match the definition of what we believe is true. I don't think that it needs to be that way, but that I think that's where a lot of it happens. And then when you combine those two things, if you like, I think this is why so many, like women struggle sometimes really like taking their business to the next level is, and themselves it's like, I either do it at the expense of myself or it's got to be suffering over here. The ultimate no win situation to take care of myself. I have to abandon my business because I got to do all this hard, restrictive crap. That's going to take all of my attention or I need to burn myself out over here. So now I just need to eat my face off. Cause I have no other way to cook.
Laura (13:05):
I love that you're saying this and I don't think this is talked about often enough. I think this idea of we have to suffer to get the thing that we're dreaming about, that we have to hustle that we have to struggle. I know so many of us often will make fun of hustle culture. We'll say, Oh, that's something that the bros do, but like deep down actually like believing it and honoring it is the path less traveled. So how do you honor that? Like what does your day look like as a seven? I think you're at seven figures, multiple seven figures at this point?
Corinne (13:42):
Eight figures.
Laura (13:42):
Amazing. What is your, sorry to underestimate you there.
Corinne (13:48):
That's okay. It just happened this last year.
Laura (13:54):
I was operating at old news. So, so as an eight figure business owner, amazing. Like what does your day look like? Where you're taking care of yourself and you're taking care of the business?
Corinne (14:05):
So one thing, well, my day starts at eight 30 at night because that's when this broad is in bed. So I am not one to stay up late. I have always been an early bed girl. And so I prioritize sleep. Number one, I think that that is something that entrepreneurs tend to sacrifice. Like, like that's got some kind of badge of honor that goes along with it. I always think about as an entrepreneur, the most important asset I'll ever have is my functioning brain. My brain is where the ideas come. My brain is where everything comes. Like I'm not going to create launches. I'm not going to be amazing on camera. Everything starts and ends with the brain. So whatever I'm going to do to protect that has got be above all things. So mine always starts with the good bedtime I get up in the mornings.
(14:57):
I get up somewhere between 4:30-5:30 but I go to bed early, but I would love everyone to know that that's not because I'm a hustler. When I was in high school, I would wake up every day and I would take my brother to school. But before my brother woke up, who rolled up out of bed, the second we had to leave the house in order to get to school, I was at my grandparents, usually about 4:30-5 in the morning, drinking coffee in high school, reading the paper and eating breakfast with them because I've always been this early bird. So I just, I don't want people think you've got to be a member of the 5:00 AM club. You've got to be a member of the seven to nine hours of sleep club, whatever that seven to nine hours looks like for you, I think is important.
(15:38):
I get up and the first thing I do every single day is I get out my planner and I plan my day and I write and answer questions like, who do I need to reach out to today? What are my goals today? What's my quarterly goals. The things that I've got on my calendar are they matching my goals? If they're not, I know to start getting with people and saying like, how does this getting on my calendar? If it doesn't support our big things that we're working on. So I also write each day about the one thing that I'm grateful for and why I write very lusciously about my business. So I do a lot of planning deliberately for the day. My brain is on fire, first thing in the mornings, and that's what I do. And then the other side of it is I plan my food next.
(16:25):
So I go through and I do exactly what I teach my clients. I decide ahead of time what I'm going to eat for the day. So that I just, I like to not leave a lot of stuff up to question. And when I do that side, I do a lot of what I like most about me today. I have my top three, what I'm most grateful for just in my life, because when I do my business planning, I'm thinking about what I'm most grateful for in my business. I'm really trying to practice good thoughts and good attitudes and like, you know, knocking down the obstacles and all that kind of stuff. And then I like to do the same thing for my personal health. And so I answer a lot of questions about like my personal goals for how I think about myself or whatever I'm working on and those kinds of things.
(17:11):
But I spend probably the first 30 minutes of my day, just doing a lot of planning because then the rest of the day, I'm not having to think about what to do next and I'm not over. I'm like, I'm never overwhelmed because all I got to do is look to see what's next, that's it. And so then I usually work out after that. And then while I work out, I always end with a good 20, 30 minute walk. And I do, what's called Marco Polo's, which is an app where you can video talk back and forth with people. I Marco polo, my best friend every day. And I just tell her what out, like, I'll tell her what I'm doing, what I look forward to. And then if I want to complain, then I complained then, and I don't complain the rest of the day and she's a good sounding board for that.
(17:59):
And then sometimes I'm Marco polo, my team, a couple things. And I just use that as a good cleanser, I shower. And I start my day and I'm usually by one or two o'clock on the couch at that point. Cause I've had a nice full day and I lay down and I usually like watch chopped or just something benign eat some lunch. I take a real break because I work from home. I always think if I was at an office, I may be going out to lunch or, you know, I think it would be easier to like take an intentional lunch break. Not always, not every office person does, but I remember when I worked in an office, like I was going to get my lunch every day. I was like, I got to get out for at least 30 minutes, you know? But when you're at home, it's real easy to just keep bringing food back to your office and sit with your laptop and be with your phone.
(18:49):
And I just take intentional time and, and take a break. And sometimes I come back in an hour, sometimes I come back in three, it depends. I just really listen to myself. And I usually wrap the day up with a little bit of just what I call the mindless work. I check in with my team on Slack. I clean up a couple of things, people are waiting on me. I do something that's like an easy, knock it off the list stuff. And then I'm just done for the day. And I'm back to in my bedroom, probably watching Netflix.
Laura (19:17):
Awesome. As I'm listening to you I'm I was so engrossed because what was going through my mind was you're running an eight figure business. You're taking incredible care of yourself. You're not overworking. You're not struggling. You're not hustling. You're prioritizing your health. And it seems so simple. And yet it's, it's so rare. And are there days where you're just like, your, your brain is just like, I don't want to do this. This is hard. I don't feel like this. Does that come into play?
Corinne (19:52):
Oh yeah. So we were launching last week and launches are notoriously, you work all the time and we have a system now I will just say, I love my team. I've trained them very well. I've worked really hard to get to the point to where our launches are. Not just everyone is overworking and struggling the whole week. I mean, I think that that's glorified in the launch world is that that's the standard. And I was like, no, we're going to figure out how to make this a system. And we're going to preschedule stuff in like, we're not going to kill ourselves in launches. It's the business. Isn't worth it if you're having to kill yourself to have it. So there was one day though last week after about the third day of going live and I bring the heat when I go live so energetic experience for about 90 minutes, I forgot the third day.
(20:40):
And then doing what I normally do for my membership because you know, I still have to take care of them just like this one day. And I was like there is nothing on my calendar. That's that important? And I went to the mall for the afternoon. I just left. I was like, peace out, y'all have this. I will see everyone tomorrow. And I literally went to Sephora and just zoned out with glosses and honors and everything that I could think of. But yeah, I have days where I'm just, I think what I'm really good at is learning how to listen to when I need a break and know that my problem will never be that I'm over breaking a lot of people that get caught up in hustling or work overworking and that kind of stuff. I think what we have to do is realize is that man, where you like lazy is not anything we will ever be accused of feel guilty or lazy, but it's not because we are. And so I really have worked hard on understanding that I know that I can perform at a real high level and if I want to grind it and I want to push myself and do all that stuff, I could, it's no longer an option for me. My life is too short to do that stuff.
Laura (21:59):
Yeah. You've made that decision in advance, just like with your food and your time and everything else. It's so it's so refreshing to hear you talk about it in this way. And I think for so many people, they don't think of it as an option. Like it's not even something they would consider. Oh, well, if I spend half hour taking care of myself every morning, and then if in the afternoon I just need a break. I go to the mall and like lists out on lipstick. Like most people don't think of that as an option, they push it away or they dismiss it. I think, particularly for moms. Why do you think this is so difficult for, for women who have children?
Corinne (22:45):
I think part of it is just as a culture, we're still trying to, we're still trying to break the old stereotypes of women. Take care of the kids. I think still at our age, we were raised with women who were raised by women who were raised by women, where the mother is the one who takes care of the kids and shoulders. Even if you agree in your marriage, that you accept my husband and I are good example, like my husband did not come into this relationship going like, look, you going to do all the work and I'm going to be the man. That was not what happened. We both came into it, wanting to be really equal partners, understanding that there are times when one does more than the other, but that there's no roles here. You know? And I still catch myself because I remember that my grandmother was that way.
(23:41):
My grandmother was a working woman. She was an accountant at a car dealership. My grandfather had retired on disability and she came home every day and cooked his dinner. My grandfather was a lovely man. He was a great Baker, but that's just how they believed it should be. And I grew up watching that. I didn't want it for my life, but it doesn't mean that there are times when I am just zoning out and my husband works for me now. When he's up there working, there are still times when I think I should be doing things for our child or whatever, as if I need to make up for taking time off. It's just one of those things. I think we have to just realize where it's like coming from question, what things that I witnessed growing up on TV in my own house, in my grandparents' house, in my friend's homes that I might be thinking is the way it just should be. Because very often what we do is we, you know, in this day and age, we are trying to have this equal, balanced everything, and you know, not having roles and stuff, but our inner brain is in there going like, yeah, you can do all that. But you know, you really should be taking care of it this. Right? Under the radar.
(25:00):
And being willing to question all of it. And if you learned one thing, it means that you can decide to learn a new and you can absolve yourself from the guilt and you can just be like, I have nothing to feel guilty over. I'm just lying on the couch for 10 minutes. This isn't a statement of my motherhood. Right. You know?
Laura (25:25):
Right. Or if you need to go out to target, when you have a babysitter, it's not a waste of a babysitter, just to buy things that you don't need. Yes. It's totally fine. Yeah. It's that, it's that I think internal dialogue, those should, that are so ingrained. And I think you're so right. And that they're often underneath the surface, like when our kids get sick, the nurse calls me. She never calls my husband. She calls my husband if I don't answer three times. Right. So I think, I think it's part of our culture and it's just understood. And I think sometimes when we're trying to grow a business, we get consumed with the way that we should be as mothers so that is such a good point. That's why as we wrap up, like, what do you think your secret is to managing your optimal health while running a business? No. We talked about planning in advance, planning, your health and advance. Is there anything that you do to also keep yourself, keep your wellness a priority while running an eight figure business?
Corinne (26:25):
I think it just kind of goes by, I mean, it's, the planning is just kind of what I do, but it's really just deciding that it's important and really making that connection as to why it's so important. Do like, I've done a lot of writing. I'm a big writer. I write all the time for myself and I write about, and I would encourage your listeners to do this when you're going to take care of yourself. Write about, you know, how does this serve my business? How does this grow my business? How does this make my business better? How does this make my family better? Like, I think like for moms, especially we get so tied to the idea that I coach a lot of my clients on, they feel very selfish when they take care of themselves. And I always remind them that selfishness is where you are doing something with the intention to hurt someone else.
(27:23):
So your bubble bath, you're just like, all of you like, oh, I hope you burn your hand off. I'm on my way to my bubble bath. That is not why we do it. It's ridiculous. Number one to like always when you have those feelings and those thoughts it's to question like, all right, is it true? Are we really being selfish? Are we sitting here taking care of ourselves in the hopes that everyone else will be harmed? A lot of times we just have to overcome that kind of thinking. And so for me, it's been purposeful reminding myself, this is how people benefit. This is how everyone in my life is better because of it. This is how I'm better. Because if you just let your brain keep hanging onto the old story, you just believe it more and more. So you need to give it's like, we already know your crappy thoughts about yourself.
(28:19):
We don't need explore them anymore. Now let's explore the other truth. And the other truth is that people are benefiting, that people are sitting around your team and your family are sitting around watching you be amazing. They would love for you to treat yourself amazing too. It's thinking almost things.
Laura (28:42):
It's that thought hygiene and just cleaning it up and you're so right. It's like just completely something that we allow to entertain our brain without even realizing it. So, so often, especially as mothers. So if people want to learn more about you, they would like to connect with you. Where's the best place for them to go, to find out more information.
Corinne (29:02):
They can go to nobsfreecourse.com. And that's where my blogs, my podcasts. If you want to take my free weight loss course, it's all over there. So that's pretty much the best way to get into my world is just start there and you'll find all the other things.
Laura (29:21):
We'll put that in the show notes too. So it was so great to talk to you, Kerryn. I know our listeners got so much out of it and they really appreciate you being here.
Corinne (29:29):
All right. Thank you so much.
Laura (29:34):
Hey there: before you head out, I want to let you know about a free new training I have right on a brand new website called yournextmillion.me. It's yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses, to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. And I have to tell you, it is not what you think. So check it out at yournextmillion.me. And if you loved this show, will you subscribe to it and share it with a friend or just say something nice about it to someone, you know? I’d really appreciate it so much. Thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time.
The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.