Top 5 Things You Should Know About Starting a Wellness Brand (with Rhonda Wright, Wellness Godmother)
The wellness industry whose global market grossed $4.4 trillion as of 2022, is growing rapidly and is predicted to reach $4.5 trillion by the end of 2023. As this industry continues to grow, it is important to understand the current trends and future projections for wellness businesses as 79% of consumers believe wellness is important.
And it’s no surprise that more and more people are prioritizing their wellness. Lifestyle diseases, such as obesity and heart disease, are on the rise due to poor dietary habits and sedentary lifestyles. As a result, more people are becoming motivated to focus on wellness as a means of preventing and managing these conditions.
One of our clients and favorite Wellness Godmother took a few moments to share with our team a little about her journey as a wellness professional.
With over 15 years of experience as a plant-based wellness coach, Rhonda Wright is sharing the Top 5 Things You Should Know About Starting a Wellness Brand.
If you’re someone thinking about starting a wellness brand, or simply wanting to get well, you may want to continue reading for some expert tips from the Wellness Godmother herself.
Starting a wellness brand can be an exciting and rewarding venture.
Rhonda believes in the power of plants to heal the body and mind, and she has been teaching people from all walks of life how to make simple changes in their lifestyle to lead healthier and happier lives.
It’s the decades of experience both as a coach and as a wife and mom, that highlights one major reality for Rhonda, wellness is individual. She explains more:
Everyone’s journey is unique. In wellness, you should never take a one-size fits all approach. I work with each individual to create custom wellness plans that fit their lifestyle.
One thing she does say is collective, is the approach that focuses on making small sustainable changes, in order to achieve long-term success.
So we are ready to get into what Rhonda has learned about becoming a wellness entrepreneur and starting Seedlings’ Place, a company which originated as a playgroup back in 2007.
Top 5 Things You Should Know About Starting a Wellness Brand (with Rhonda Wright, Wellness Godmother):
1. Have Confidence in Your Journey
When starting a wellness brand, use your journey, and the insight and understanding you’ve gained through your journey to build your confidence as the expert. You don’t have to necessarily have certifications or a degree in nutrition, or in whatever your specific area is as regards to wellness. If you have experienced that, if you have lived it, if it’s been a part of your lifestyle and you can speak to it from that perspective, be confident in knowing that your journey makes you the expert. It gives you experience that contributes as the foundation for you being the expert.
The practical knowledge you’ve gained is valuable and when you know who you’re equipped to serve, be confident in how you show up to serve them.
On the other hand, you may not have the experience or maybe you want to target another demographic outside of where your expertise lies. One thing that I recognize, even though for me in my business, I was the one primarily sharing the information with my audience, in your business, you don’t have to actually be the one doing the sharing. You can hire a team of people who have the expertise in the area that you are speaking to. As part of your brand, they can be the experts who share on your behalf. And if hiring isn’t an option for you immediately, partner with other wellness experts.
Partnerships are also beneficial for strengthening your network which also impacts market positioning. It has not just increased my knowledge base, but it’s also increased my credibility as well as my reach. I have partnered with professionals within the wellness industry locally as well as internationally.
Recently, a client in one of my programs said to me that she went to purchase something at a local store where I had referred her. She said when she said to them that Rhonda from Seedlings’ Place sent me in here, and their response was, “Oh, yes, we know her!” and they spoke positively of me, she said it felt good for her to know that I was well connected.
When starting a wellness brand, keep in mind that partnerships and industry relationships have a positive added value for your clients.
3. Have a Coach or Mentor
Coaching and mentorship is important. Connect yourself with someone or a group of persons who are where you want to be or where you want to go. You hear this all the time for so many other business types and wellness brands are no different. Establish a relationship with a coach who you will trust to guide you, support you and hold you accountable to your goals.
I have had the benefit of having two – a general business coach who has guided me and supported me and works with me, that happens to be Elemental. I’ve also had the opportunity to do a short course with a coach on best practices, specifically for women in wellness, who have a business in wellness. So definitely coaching within your specific area of wellness is beneficial.
4. Don’t Neglect Your own Wellness
When starting a wellness brand, I think it’s critical that you don’t overlook your own wellness. It’s easy to do that because you are so focused on supporting other people. It is so important that you go into the business recognizing and remembering, you don’t have to be the picture of perfection. Instead you want to ensure that you are pausing and taking time to nurture and apply all of the things that you’re doing for others to yourself first.
When you’re in the business of wellness, because it requires so much of your energy, it can be more depleting than usual. It’s important to keep at the forefront to nurture yourself and take care of yourself first.
5. Build Your Team
As you start your wellness brand, in the very beginning it may just be you. However, as you want to ensure that you’re honing in on your strengths, do your best to quickly move to where you have at least one or two other people that can bring to the table the skill sets that you may not have. This will also help you to prevent burnout early on and position your wellness brand for faster growth. Having that team is paramount in your business. That’s important.
Knowing these 5 things when getting started can make a world of difference in the decisions you make as a new wellness entrepreneur. For our Wellness Godmother, Rhonda Wright, her journey was sparked through a book Heal Thyself: For Health and Longevity by Queen Afua.
I would’ve transitioned to a plant-based diet in 2001. After the birth of my second daughter, I continued my research into plant-based foods as a whole. The book I was reading was Heal Thyself: For Health and Longevity.
In her book, the author talked about raising her children as vegans. And she talked about starting a playgroup for her children within her community. And that really resonated with me. It didn’t happen right away, but the seed that was planted for Seedlings’ Place.
One question we thought our readers may be interested in knowing was how Rhonda had evolved along with Seedlings’ Place over the years.
Well, one thing that returning to Seedlings’ Place has reminded me, is how much people have a heartfelt desire to really be well. And how much of a need there is for people like myself, people who are providing support to people who are on the journey of wanting to be well.
I moved away from full-time work with Seedlings’ Place for about five to six years. I recently returned full-time and relaunched Seedlings’ Place during a time when covid was at its height. Because of covid, we had to move away from our primary approach which was in-person events. So, we started reaching our customers and the community via social media.
After that, we also started providing services online.
It’s one thing when you are doing this work, as I have done, because it’s a passion, it’s something that you love, and you just want to share, you want to help and you want to support others. But when you now turn it into a business, and it’s for the purpose of revenue generating to support you and your family from an income perspective, it’s not an easy journey.
There are some shifts in mindset that have to happen, again having that confidence in your transition as you move from community support to continue your journey as a wellness entrepreneur.
Seedling’s Place offers 3 primary services:
- 21 Day Food as Fuel Challenge
- What’s Fueling You 28 Day Plant-based Holistic Wellness Program
- What’s Fueling You 90 Day VIP Plant-based Coaching Program
You can email Rhonda at seedlingsplaceinfo@gmail.com with any inquiries about their programs or how she can help you create a wellness plan best suited for your lifestyle.
There were just a few more lessons Rhonda wanted to share before we concluded our call.
Always continue to expand your knowledge base via research, courses, certifications and most importantly practice. So much is changing so quickly, keeping up to date with the latest research relevant to your niche can help you better serve your people.
There is so much depth within what it is that you have to share with others. No matter how many other people out there seem to be in the wellness industry, your story, your journey, and your experiences are unique and there is a need for it. And people when you don’t even realize, will come to you seeking it out.
I hope these tips can really help the next wellness warrior (as we call them at Seedlings’ Place) build an amazing wellness brand.
We hope this feature was insightful and offered some key guidance with things you should know when starting a wellness brand. Find Rhonda on Instagram and Facebook and share this article on your favorite social channel.
– Lovepreet S., EBS MCC
P.S. Join us for our 6 WK Small Business Live Q & A and Development Web Series if you have more questions about setting up your brand new wellness business. Register for free here.
