We love interviewing coaches because they can give you the best advice about your business.  This week we sat down with health coach, Ali Shapiro.  She shared tons of good advice on how to invest in yourself, grow your business, and be the best you can be for your customers.  Be sure to check out her site to learn all about her new program!

In case people don’t know about you and your business, would you mind sharing what you do?

I’m a health coach, speaker, and author. More accurately, I’m a Swiss Army Knife of Wellness. I use food, emotions, and coaching to help people see how their food frustrations are opportunities into not just a lighter body, but a better life. Your relationship to food mirrors other patterns and places in life where you are confused, stuck, and feeling out of control.

Professionally I draw upon my Masters in Coaching from the University of Pennsylvania and holistic health counseling certificates from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the Institute for Psychology of Eating. Personally I use my experience as a 20-year cancer survivor and chronic dieter. While I’ve lost and maintained a 30-pound weight loss for over five years, what feels more liberating is feeling in complete control around food.

In addition to coaching, you’re also an author and a speaker. When you first started your career, did you imagine you’d help people in so many formats?

I always hoped I would. Creating and crafting clear communication that inspires people is something that provides joy and meaning to me. However in entrepreneurship, the uncertain is expected.

You offer solo and group service packages. Is there a big difference in how you set up the course or work with the people involved? So many people want to work one-on-one but sometimes setting up a group offering is just as important and profitable.

Definitely. Designing how a private session or how a group will run is as important as the content. It’s not what we communicate to someone—it’s what they understand. Flow of information is a critical piece to that.

Health coaching is a new field with no road map, and definitely not one that incorporates the emotional wisdom of the body. So I created one: Truce with Food(TM)!

My private work brings this understanding and elements into the process but my clients are always in the driver seat. I match what tools they need specifically to their current life situation.

My group work is always an outline or the steps in Truce with Food. However, because the processes are more like choose your own adventures, everyone is able to adapt the information to their unique body and needs. In a group setting, I use the group as an actual tool in my toolbox. Research shows groups are powerful change agents. People learn so much from having witnesses to their challenges and hearing others stories. Groups contain incredible healing power.

You’re taking part in Make Your Mark, a course to help you grow your business into its premium possibilities and attract your ideal customers, and making some big changes to your business as a result. What advice would you have for others about investing in themselves and their businesses?

First, get clear on what you need. I needed real world understanding of how to scale what I offer. I don’t know what I don’t know as I a transition from being self- employed to running a business. I have been profitable since my first year in business so I don’t need start-up knowledge. What got me here won’t get me to where I want to go now.

Second, invest in your business when you need to be stretched, not soothed. I’ve been running my practice for almost six years and just now invested in getting coached on my business. I think investing lots of money up front in coaching services can be dangerous because you don’t have your own voice or viewpoint figured out yet. And the stress of those expenses can cause you to take on headache clients or projects. And even if you have the money, financial constraints often help you get better at what you do faster. By taking the time to experiment and doing the hard work, you serve your clients better.

Finally, I recommend investing in someone who has theory, real-world experience, and aligns philosophically with you. I chose Make Your Mark because of Tara Gentile. She successfully runs her own business aside from being a business coach. Also, she’s progressive and we share the philosophies of not giving people answers but empowering them to make their own.

As a health coach, I’m always investing in myself in terms of working out, farmer’s market food, getting enough sleep and making sure I’m intellectually stimulated (very important for me). A little known secret amongst really successful business owners: the healthier you are, the healthier your business.

You sold out your Truce with Food course for the fall but you’re offering it as an at-home course for the spring. Would you mind telling us a little bit about it?

In this five-lesson program, participants learn about how their food affects their moods and their moods affect their food. Adults learn and change very differently than children. Yet most of the health advice doesn’t incorporate that into their communication. Truce with Food solves that.

I’m converting it to an at-home study program to broaden its impact. I am so tired of hearing people counting calories when that model is broken. It will also free up my time to write the Truce with Food book and run Peace with Food, a deeper dive into my process, which incorporates neuroscience and emotions on metabolism.

If you want to learn more about Ali and her new program, head on over to her site.