Organic Growth For Wellness Businesses

You can eat “pretty healthy,” work out, and still feel like your body is failing you. That’s what made this conversation with Megan Green hit so hard, because her turning point wasn’t a trendy plan, it was finally getting the right lab testing after years of being brushed off as “just a busy mom.” Megan is a registered dietitian with 20 plus years of experience, and she shares how an autoimmune disease was misdiagnosed for eight years, leaving her depleted, inflamed, exhausted, and desperate for real answers.

We get into what functional nutrition actually looks like when it’s done with integrity: comprehensive labs, symptom patterns, lifestyle reality, and a plan built around the person in front of you. Megan explains common deficiencies she sees (magnesium, vitamin D, B12, iron), why food alone doesn’t always fix them, and how stress, sleep, movement, gut health, and hormone pathways all connect. We also talk through her personal shift, including the hard truth that going gluten-free made a difference, even when she didn’t want it to.

Then we pivot into the business side: how she built a thriving integrative and functional nutrition practice with organic marketing, referrals, and social media consistency, plus what to do when the economy slows down and leads dry up. We share why “talking to the void” still works, how engagement compounds over time, and how to stay credible when wellness fads and MLM noise are everywhere.

Follow Megan at Meg Green RD, and if you liked this conversation, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review so more women can find the support they’ve been missing.

Transcript

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Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Hey y'all, what's up? Welcome back to your favorite podcast. I am the marketing broker, Shelvin McFarland. And today I am with a fellow boss babe, Megan Green. Hello. I am so excited about this, you guys. She is incredible. Her her success has been 100% organic. Yes. 100%. True. I helped her with her website a couple of years ago, just like helping with the SEO on the back end, making sure we had those keywords and things and like it looked nicer or whatever, right? Tidying it up. Yes, tidying it up. It was a great um experience for both of us. And then all of a sudden she freaking exploded. I guess I'm gonna take all the credit. No, I'm just kidding. You should. It's literally all my SEO work. Why can't I say?

Symptoms Doctors Kept Dismissing

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Um, but anyways, Megan, tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, I've been a registered dietitian for twenty over 20 years. And I started with pediatrics at St. Jude and then children's. And then once my husband and I wanted to have a family of our own, kind of was like, I want to focus on that. And so moved over into veterans. Oh. And um, then COVID hit. And so I was doing very farm to table cooking classes and just regular like budget cooking classes, so hands-on that it all went away during COVID. Right. And everybody, you know, remembers the land of COVID and not feeling well. But I started like having my body completely shut down. My calves weren't, uh, they I would wake up and it felt like I'd ran stairs all night long. Oh my gosh. I had super dry elbow on one side, eyes were twitching, couldn't get rest, hair falling out, just looked exhausted and started gaining weight unexplained. Right. And would go to the doctor, like, you're just a busy mom. It's just literally the worst. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, this is not living, you know, like how can we fix it? If it's hormones, then take the ones that I need and let's literally whatever we need to do.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Bounced it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah. And I went to three different doctors. And so I went to a friend who is a nurse practitioner. She has a fabulous clinic. And I was like, I need you to run all of these labs on me and let's figure it out. I had an autoimmune disease that had been misdiagnosed for eight years. Oh my gosh. So I had so many deficiencies, my body was overstressed, I was so inflamed because the processes weren't happening. And I was like, Am I the only female that feels this way?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

And we all know that that's not true.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

No. And so I started organically like diving more into functional nutrition. And so I became the only integrative and functional nutrition certified practitioner in the state.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

While I was doing making myself project number one. Of course. And then I had friends just coming to me, like, what did you do? How why are you feeling so much better? And it just organically grew. And so while I was still working at a hospital setting, I started to see some patients on the side. And then it was I was doing two full-time jobs.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Um, and it was time for me to make a decision. And then I have been in business. This will be my seventh year starting.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

That's amazing. I know. I know. You made it past the five. Made it past the five. You know what they say? Yes. You know what they say at five years? You're like, if you make it past five, you're good to go. So that's awesome. So, what did you do yourself to if you want to just

Labs, Deficiencies, And Going Gluten-Free

SPEAKER_00 3:40

say a little bit? Like, how did you change like what you ate or and how did you know what to do?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Well, I ran, like I said, a boatload of labs. It looked at specific hormones, and I was deficient in so many different things: magnesium, vitamin D, B12, iron, like pretty much everything. And I mean, I've always eaten pretty healthy, you know, it's like, and I always move my body. Um, so I had to really change up, add-in supplements because I was like, I thought I'm getting it from my food. Where our food is deficient and our soil is deficient. And so used to, we could say you've got to eat your food to get the nutrients, and now we know that that's not the case, especially if you have deficiencies, it's much harder.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

And so I had to change, I had to change up my diet. I had to go gluten-free, which gluten was my love language, you know. And so I was like, I know. I was like, I'm gonna be the first one that can do this without having to remove gluten, but yeah, it does. Um and so now, you know, I just kind of be consistent with everything, all of my supplements, my movements, um, sleep, and stress management play just as much of a role as all of the nutrition stuff. And I've yeah, practiced that with all of my patients as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

And during COVID, I mean, stress and sleep were not really a thing that we did. No, I mean, I I mean, no, I stressed. I didn't sleep. I should say, like I stressed more than when I slept, and then ended up getting pregnant. So stressed even more. You know, it's like, okay, cool, cool, cool, cool. I'm now one of those people. That's um, so let's talk about how it helped with your business.

Learning Business And Charging Confidently

SPEAKER_00 5:09

So, how did you get you said your friends started coming to you? So, what did it feel like when you first started charging for this?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Oh, I felt so out of my element. You know, it was just like, I'm so much of like the nutrition aspect, the medical aspect, that's what I was trained in. And but the business ax aspect was something I was not familiar with. Yeah. How to do, how to build a website, wording and verbiage and your niche. These are all words I had no clue. But organically, I just did that naturally from like talking with people and stuff. Just didn't know what the actual labels were.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Um, but putting in that wording and looking for those like SEO type of things, like that's that is not something that I went to school for. Right. And so it is. It was a huge learning curve. Yeah. And then posting on social media and creating things, and that's just something I felt like a fish out of water. And still to this day, too. I mean, I do it and I do it consistently to make sure that I'm yeah, somebody can see my face or hear my voice. Of course. And know, like, okay, yeah, that lady's still going.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Right, yeah. And especially because, like, I really think like right now, and we're not hating on people, but there is like a fad of like, hey, I'm also a wellness person or whatever, you know, like I also can help you, and and it's a lot of like MLMs are starting to pop up, you know, and then people think they know what they're talking about, but they're not really technically um qualified for being certificated.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, certificated.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Y'all, we are certificated over here. Yes, we are uh certified, but for real.

Personalized Testing Versus Wellness Fads

SPEAKER_00 6:43

So how do you um how have you seen like your industry change over seven years? And like how have you made yourself different still?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yes, I think just being tried and true. Like the testing, everything I do is so personalized, so I don't ever do a protocol like, oh, you come to me, we're gonna just put you on a blanketed amount of supplements. Right. Or you have to buy a package of foods or things along those lines. Like I take that person, well, it's a female because I only work with females. I look at that female, we do all kinds of different lab testing specific to what she's kind of shared and symptoms, so we can figure out what's going on, where's the miscommunication, whether it's hormones or nutrients or gut health or you know, things that aren't supposed to be in the body or in the body, um, and really then fine-tune foods and supplements and how they operate. You know, do they sleep in? Do they get to wake up at four o'clock in the morning to go work out to be in time at work? Right. Because you want to build something that's decreasing their stress load. So I can't say, well, you have to make all of your meals now, meal prep on Sunday and eat everything. That's not real life for most people, myself included. No. Um, so you have to really work with them and meet them where they are, but still infuse it with all of the ways to kind of help support the body from what you find from testing.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yeah. Literally, story of my life today. I mean, like, I was like 45 minutes late to waking up. My kid, I'm rushing for around. I'm like, I'm just a terrible mother. You know, you're like, put my makeup on here at the studio. Like, it was a whole morning. It's like happy Monday to both of us.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I know. It's true. It happens.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Yeah, and that's literally just our life. Like, we're all so busy, you know. And so it's really awesome that you help women stay on that task because we don't take care of ourselves. No. We take care of everybody else before we take care of ourselves, especially mothers. And it's just something that I think we're just born with. I don't know why we do it. I always question that. I'm like, why do we take care of it?

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Society-wise, it gets thrown on us.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Very true. Great point. Oh, society. We don't need to talk about that. No.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

But like also. We wear all of the house. We take care of the household, we take care of the kiddos, we take care of the parents, we take care of the group me's, the emails, the sign-ups, the sporting events, like, and then taking care of our own business and stuff like that. So by the end of the day, most of the time we want to just numb out, watch a Netflix and chill, have your just scrolls so the brain is trying to numb. And all of those things can play a role in your health.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

That's so true. So let's talk about when you got like all these awards.

Awards, Referrals, And Social Proof

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I swear it was like, it was like three to six months at a time. Like, this girl is in the news again, y'all. Like, she was like constantly, I'm like, I'm just so glad we know each other. She has my number. Like, give me a little shout out, girl. Like, what's going on? So tell me how that felt. Like, what you were probably in business, let me guess, like five ish years. I don't remember how long ago that was.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I think I start my official launch was like during COVID, but I hadn't even had a website. Like, I was starting to see a couple of patients and just like on the side, literally had a TV tray in my bedroom with a laptop and doing telehealth, like in a corner that I'd kind of stayed, you know, like trying to feel like I was doing something. Yeah, exactly. Yes, yes. Um, and then I was recognized at a as um a woman to watch in Soiree. Yes, yes, and then that just kind of organically brought more people to okay, this is a real deal. That's not like okay, I have to actually make an office space. Like this is happening, this is what's going on. And then it was like a best AY best of, you know, yeah, all of these things that just started coming. And it was all voted by people and put up by people. And so that's what was so cool. It was like, oh, hold on, people that I've worked with, they're taking this to heart and know that they feel better and wanting to share that. And you can't, there's no better marketing than a referral like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Absolutely. I preach that. I'm like, your referral marketing is gonna be always the hundred percent the best way to market. Yep. And once people say, I mean, they don't people don't get like when they're like, hey, I'm searching for a dietitian or hey, I'm having these problems with my gut health. I need someone to help me. And when you get tagged on that, that's a referral. Huge. Like it's literally the best referral network is social media. Yes. It's the best referral group of social media. I will say there's a couple groups on our social media here in Arkansas that I do get tagged in, no one actually goes through with, but we just like let that you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, you just like let that go. But then at the same time, we're like, hey, it feels really nice to be tagged multiple times. It is. You know, I'm like, oh my god, I feel so special. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Well, and somebody's gonna see that. And it they might not contact you then, right? But even two years down the line, I have patients that I will start and they're like, I've actually been following you for a few years, or I've been meaning to reach out over a year ago, but I just haven't felt confident enough. It wasn't the right time for me. But there you that's why it's so important to continue marketing and to continue doing all the reels. And yeah, most of the time I feel like I'm just talking to the ether. You know, it's just like, is anyone paying attention? I know, but somebody out there is taking it to heart, they're still watching. Yeah, whether they contact you or not, they have that engagement. And that's what I've learned as a business is I want to grow engagement because then those clients are going to come.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

And I like that you mentioned that. Like, yes, people are seeing your stuff. They may not like it, they may not share it, they may not comment on it, but they're seeing it. And that's really what I kind of drill into my clients' brains of like, listen, the views are what we're going for. And just because you have 200 views on this video, that's not the same 200 that saw the next video. I heard that from Adley. I don't know if you follow her, but she's a huge like influencer on TikTok and stuff. As she was at a conference I was at and she was like, These are not the same two to three hundred people. And I'm like, Oh, thank you so much. Because sometimes when you post a video, you're like, I've only got a hundred views. I know. And sometimes Maddie will work on like hours on a video and it gets 50, and like she'll do one in like 15 seconds and it gets like 5,000. 100%. 100%. Yep. I'm like, social media knows which ones we're actually putting more effort in. I feel like you do.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

The ones that are just like, oh gosh, I haven't posted today. Let me just hop on here and say like a blurb. Yeah. That's the one that gets the most. And I think it's because it's so real and organic, and it's just real life. It's literally you know, it resonates more with my population.

Slow Seasons, Pivoting, And Rebuilding

SPEAKER_00 12:59

I love that. So let's talk about like the economy kind of sucks right now. Um, and I will say, even for my business, like the first half of the year was the slowest I've ever been in 14 years.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

It's been a different year for me as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

It's and I've heard that a lot from people. Um, and so what really helps you keep going when you were so used to like being very busy and like people were coming to you, but now you're like, okay, I'm having to make calls. I'm having to follow up with the people. I mean, that's me. I used to never have to follow up with people. They could just hire me like that, and I would never have to do it. And I say that very humbly because this year has very much humbled myself on that, you know. And so now I'm like, now I've got to follow up and like make sure I don't forget about these people, you know. So tell me about your experience and like how you get through that.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Well, and I think every business goes through this. There's an ebb and a flow. And I've learned that my ebb is like, okay, I'm busy, people are coming. I don't know how this is happening, but it's happening. And then you go into like crickets. And that's what I always look at as like, okay, this is my time that I'm getting told to start to rebuild, rebrand, regrow. Yes. This is when you need to go out and send out your flyers. This is when you need to go out and do more public speaking and things like because you have the time to. Yes. And even though we want to do that all year long, there's certain times where it's like I am slammed with seven patients every day for this whole month. Right. Um, and I I don't have the time to go to do that. I am a one-woman show. It's me that does the social media, it's me that does the calls and answering the bookings, everything. So um, yeah, it's kind of like, okay, this when I have a slower time period, it's like, what is it that I can create that can resonate and still dur this is my growth phase.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um, and so you have to look at it as different chunks throughout the year. Um, and then you in the business, this is a word that I hear all of the time. You have to pivot.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Oh yes, literally. Yeah. My next book, Hustle Like a Boss, that's being released in January 2027. Um, it's all about the mind shifts. So pivoting, mind shift, like how did how did I get to those different seasons? And like, how do you change your mindset? Because you can't just be like, oh, I hate myself. This is the worst ever. Because then, like, that's bad energy, y'all. It is. We don't want bad energy, we want good energy.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

No, and it plays a role in your cortisol, and it truly shifts how your hormones work, and you go through more nutrients and things like that. And so, yeah, I have to practice what I preach. Absolutely. So I have to be so mindful of all of that kind of stuff too. But it is, it's a pivot, and it's it is kind of like, okay, what's the universe trying to tell me that I need to be doing right now? Absolutely. Yeah.

Stress, Hormones, And Client Transformations

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Let's talk about the girl or women, sorry, girls, women that you work with. Um, I'm sure most of them are business owners or business professionals. I should say business professionals. How have you seen them be more successful in other areas of their life after working with you? Like getting their body in check.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, most of the time I hear this so much. I'm dead tired. I have no energy, I'm burnout. Um, I'm so stressed. Those are like top key things. Yes. And then it's like, I want to lose some weight.

unknown 15:58

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

It's always like, I want to feel better, but I'd also like to lose a little weight as well. Yeah. Um, but when we are in stress mode, we can't release storage. Yeah. And because the body feels like we need to continue holding on to that storage. So you have to work with the stress mechanisms, but not only this mental stressor, but what internal stressors are going on. You know, if we do have an iron deficiency, that is a huge stressor. Right. So it's gonna affect hormones and everything else. So you really just have to, I love testing on my women because it's like, okay, this is our exact thing that we need to work on. And it's different testing. It's not just like going to your doctor and getting your estradiol checked, your testosterone checked, your progesterone checked. We're looking at all estrogens. We're looking at all progesterones and then the pathways of those. Like, oh, it's not turning on in your inflammatory, your anti-inflammatory, but it's getting shifted into your inflammatory. And so it's like we have to shift that off and put it back in here. So there's so many things that we can do with supplements and foods. It's just we have to have that guidance. And labs tell a picture, right? You have to listen to the symptoms, you have to listen to how their lifestyle is, um, and taking, you know, their foods. Like it's that's just one puzzle piece. You have to gather as much puzzle pieces as you can to be able to help self-correct and come up with troubleshoot so they have that success. But with all of that, they start feeling better energy-wise. Yes. And so then they're able to go and do more. So they're so much more productive with themselves, right, with their families, with their home, with the travels that they want to do. And the quality of life is the biggest piece. And then they talk about it with their other girlfriends.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

And their friends are like, Why are you so energetic? Yep. How did you lose weight like that? You know, like, why are your kids so happy? Why is your skin glowing? Oh, that's a big one. Yes. Yeah. Why is your skin?

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Like, look so good all of a sudden. Most of the time, hairdressers are the first one to know that they're working with somebody like me is because their hair's growing and they can see like new growth happening. So it's little things like that that you just don't even take into account. But yeah, then it's like, well, whoever you're working with, send them the why, because I see women all of the time that have problems growing their hair, you know, and it's like not just doctor's offices, but it's like, oh yeah, hold on. There's this area that I need to reach out to. And that's it's just a constant growth. Yes. I'm ever content because there's always somebody else I can reach.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

I love how similar our mindsets are. That's why I love following you. And I'm pretty sure it's the first time we met in person. Yeah, I think so. I've seen you running on pinnacle, and I was like, I love you.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I follow you. I remember you turned around and was like, okay, strange lady.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Okay, I'm gonna keep going and doing my thing. No, I love that because I mean that's how powerful social media is. We literally know each other without knowing each other because we follow each other because we're both very consistent and very authentic in how we market ourselves. And that's really important, guys. Like, I knew when she would walk in today, I knew exactly who she was, how she was gonna sound, and what she was pretty much gonna say in a way of like how we were gonna have a conversation, you know, like and absolutely I hope you felt the same way. Like this is literally who we are on social. This is who we are in person.

Where To Follow And Recipe Giveaway

SPEAKER_00 19:17

So um, okay, tell us how we can find you on social, on your website, all the things that way people can follow you and better their life.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, so I'm really big more on Instagram, and so it's just Meg Green RD. Everything I do, you can email me at Meg at Meg Green RD. You can go to my website, medgreenrd.com. It's beautiful, yes, it is so amazing. Um, and I just launched a cookbook on there. Thanks to you on helping how to get that. See, it's little things like that. That's I will say too, if you're in a business, don't hesitate to phone a friend. Literally. Because you don't know it all. And to do it all is too much. You're adding too much of a stress load. You have to find that work-life balance. But yeah, you can find me at all of those things. I do a newsletter each week or recipe of the week, yep, sharing some tidbits, but most of the time it is just that. I don't want to bombard people with like, have you are you feeling down and out? Are you tired? And it's like, no, I needed to know what I'm gonna make for breakfast next week.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Did you wake up depressing? Yes. Actually, now that you mention it, let's talk about it, Megan. Yes, absolutely for sure. Well, thank you so much for being on here today. This has been so great. Yeah, we will do it again. Um, and you guys go check her out, Meg Green RD on all the things. Give her a little shout out, give her a follow. Um, and then also if you're watching this on social media, I want you to share this and tag her in it because that is the important part of social media and really helping out our friends.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yes. And if you do that, I have a new fall cook uh um crock pot recipe, like cookbook that I just created. It's digital. And yeah, if you tag me, then I will send that directly to you.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Okay, y'all. We can have free stuff. We know, right? Yes. All right, guys. I will catch you next week. Bye. Bye bye.