Danielle Binns, founder of Danielle Binns Nutrition joins Ward to chat about how she helps families by providing simple strategies to raise adventurous eaters which makes feeding children a lot easier.

✍️ Show Notes

📄 Show Transcript

This transcript is computer generated, please excuse any errors :)

Ward Sandler 0:06
Hey, Danielle welcome to Member Maker.

Danielle Binns 0:37
Thanks so much Ward. Great to be here.

Ward Sandler 0:39
Cool. So what's your business and who do you help?

Danielle Binns 0:41
So I am a family nutritionist and picky eating expert so I help parents and families giving them simple strategies to raise adventurous eaters and make feeding their kids and their family a lot easier.

Ward Sandler 0:54
So you probably help people who have kids who are don't want to eat broccoli, don't want to eat spinach. That kind of thing only want mac and cheese or something like that.

Danielle Binns 1:02
Yeah, pretty much but the funny part about it is actually broccoli is the one vegetable are surprisingly do okay with but yeah, it's, uh, you know all those kids who are more selective with their eating and that's actually 46% of parents feel that they have a picky eater so it's a bigger issue than we then we might come to expect. And as a mom of three I can see why.

Ward Sandler 1:25
Yeah, wow 46% is that within the United States or in general

Danielle Binns 1:28
that is a North American number. And that's 46% of typically developing children. For those who have any form of developmental delay, then the number is closer to 80.

Ward Sandler 1:38
Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So in what you're actually providing those to your family nutritionist, so what do you actually providing for folks? Oh,

Danielle Binns 1:46
yeah, sure. So, there's a couple different ways I support family so one on one coaching, because it's there's no really silver bullet. When you're dealing with picky eating and raising healthy kids. It's more of an ongoing Isn't there's an ongoing system that's involved. I also have an online program. That's where my business started. And that's been running for about five, six years called the picky eater protocol. That's like a six week intensive program for families who want to learn how to raise healthier eaters. And then, about a year ago, I then created a membership program for the very reason that I mentioned around the ongoing nature of being a parent, it doesn't ever end, you don't ever stop feeding your kids. So kids change life changes, you know, self isolation, distance, a little distancing happens. And life is constantly changing. So I provide ongoing support through the form of a membership to parents and give them continued inspiration and ideas for just making dinners and meals a lot more exciting and stress free.

Ward Sandler 2:48
Gotcha. So of those three, what's the timeline there? What did you start with? And what's the most recent one? The memberships the most recent right?

Danielle Binns 2:55
Yeah, so the first thing I started with was one on one consulting and then it was With all that knowledge, I decided to put in a format that would allow me to reach more families through the course. And in the membership was the last one in between, of course, there's a number of smaller services or products that I offer to families like, you know, interactive placemats for kids and and mealtime tools, things like that. Versus the membership would be another way to coach families. And that yeah, that's been about just over a year.

Ward Sandler 3:24
Gotcha. And so how did you actually get into this niche? So you were a family nutritionist before you kind of started this whole business, I assume. But what made you kind of switch I guess from like a private practice model, or whatever you were doing to this.

Danielle Binns 3:36
What's interesting, so my background was marketing, working for multinational companies, and then I came apparent and I had always had an interest in nutrition. So my first foray into nutrition was actually in the family nutrition space with I actually wanted to support parents or moms in particular, just giving them tools to take better care of themselves. But as I realized through the process, that Parents don't prioritize themselves. It's really their kids are the first and foremost. So I really wanted to give parents some tools to help them to just make raising kids a lot easier. And that's when I actually I actually my first daughter was a extremely picky eater, likes to be really underweight wasn't growing destined for a feeding tube. And so once we completely transformed her, I knew exactly what needed to be done and that we were actually using parents were using the wrong tools and the wrong strategies to change the the family dynamic and the eating dynamic. And so once we turned my daughter around, I always say if we can change her, we can change anybody. And we were able to do that. And so that's when parents started to read my story through my blog at the time, that is when my kind of nutrition focus for moms became nutrition focused for families and kids. So it wasn't actually a space that I was pre determined at somewhere that the kind of my audience and my following kind of pulled me into.

Ward Sandler 4:57
Gotcha, yeah, that's wonderful that you're about to figure out the palm yourself. And then you want to share with others. That's always a nice way to start a business, I think. Mm hmm. All right. So you had the issue with your first daughter, you figured out various tactics and strategies to solve that issue. What made you want to tell other people about it? Like, were you blogging about the experience as it was happening? Or what kind of led to that transition?

Danielle Binns 5:18
Yeah, you know, it's so funny. I haven't talked with this a long time. So where did this all start? It was it is sort of as a blog for me, I was just sharing nutrition tips. And then, you know, the story with my daughter. And it was kind of when I went to, we went to see her pediatrician or hinder endocrinologist and I remember the dietician in the office taking notes and asking me what I was doing differently with my daughter because what they had said just wasn't really working. And so I thought to myself at that point, okay, there's something here that's different than anyone else is doing or anyone else has been sharing. And a lot of the picky eating strategies, per se online were a lot of the same things that you see everywhere. And not didn't really jive with what I was trying. And so I ended up getting certified in children's eating and picky eating and taking a number of courses and talking to experts. And all of that then kind of culminated into the I basically had this note of OneNote, where I was jotting down everything that was working for me, and then just starting to share, yes, sharing that, that I started a Facebook group as well. And so that was another way and that community grew quite quickly. And that's when I realized, oh, my goodness, like this is an issue for a lot of people. And so it's I think what parents really gravitated to was the fact that the strategies I provided really was kind of a creative element to them, and really quick and simple, like things that they could just, they could try in a matter of minutes or seconds. It wasn't some like convoluted approach that they needed to take. So it felt very manageable and actionable. And so then I started presenting that through a webinar, a free webinar, and I still run that webinar today. So just like a 60 minute, here are 10 things you can do. Right now, leaving this training, you can go do this at your next meal. And so that's been incredibly helpful for families. And that's how they started signing up for my program, which then led me to where I am today.

Ward Sandler 7:11
So it started with you getting feedback, just serendipity of someone saying, Oh, this is interesting what you're doing. Could you give me some tips for myself? And then from there, you started to take meticulous notes, it sounds like and then from there, you kind of started blogging about it and getting feedback. And then you started a Facebook group. And then from there went to webinars. So when did you actually start charging money for this?

Danielle Binns 7:35
For not the membership, but just in general for my business? Yeah, yeah. So that would have been six years ago. So it would have my daughter's now seven, so it was but when she turned one, one and a half ish, and my first client reached out, someone reached out to me saying, hey, do you coach people on this? And I was like, Well, I don't know. I had a business coach at that time that was helping develop a website for parents. I was like, Well, I guess You know, yeah, I know what I'm doing. So I can I can try this out, of course, I had the imposter syndrome happen, like, what do I know about, you know, feeding kids and I was my daughter, but who else can I help and, and then when I help that family, I thought, Okay, well, maybe I can help somebody else. And so that's kind of how it started. It's always you know, it's like those little bits, those baby steps that you don't think are significant. And then they end up taking you down a path. So each of these kind of where I've taken my business over the past six years, has, it's all been from just testing and trying different things out and some things work better than others, like my course, really does fuel my business because it's an evergreen model, as well as a live model. It's accessible to everyone at all times. And I feel like I can reach more people. So now instead of just being about Canada, or Toronto, which is where I'm based out of now, it's actually a global program with people from Australia to Russia to the UK, like all over all over the globe, which is really nice as well.

Ward Sandler 8:55
Yeah, a common thread I've heard from folks is a lot of people start with one on one coaching That's the most approachable the simplest just start. And then from there, eventually they get to a point where they can't keep scaling and they can't keep talking to more and more people, they could charge more, right? You could just try cater to, like, I guess, really rich parents who have kids with eating problems. But you know, that might not feel right. And especially if you're trying to serve as many people as possible. So that's why nationally, it makes sense to create some kind of an online affordable course which it sounds like is that pretty much what happened to you too?

Danielle Binns 9:24
Yeah, exactly. It's, it wasn't sustainable. You know, there's only so much time we have in the day, so to do one on one consulting, like, there's only so many people you can take, and that then puts a cap on what your capability is, right? And the number of people you can reach. So and as also, you know, I kept telling people the same types of things with some tweaks depending on what each everyone's situation is. So I thought, okay, if I've got all this and I'm, it's kind of it's replicatable some degree, then that's when I started to see this this system of Formula develop. So I've got a six phase system that I use with my one on one consulting and I thought okay, let me see if I can put this into like, a kind of a printable presentable format and see if it does the same thing. And it did, because then parents can then go, you know, at their own pace. But yes, one on one consulting is I feel like that's where everyone does start because you get to at least practice those skills and see what works and see what type of feedback you get from people, where do the strategies that work the best in any industry, not just my own. And that's what was happening, there was a similarities with kind of the winds that were developing with families based on the type of tips and strategies that I was providing to them.

Ward Sandler 10:32
Gotcha. So for folks out there who are starting and they're kind of in the beginning phase, or maybe they're just a little further along, but they're really focused on one on one coaching, but they're considering creating some kind of online course or membership. What kind of tips would you have for them in terms of when to determine to make that jump? Like how far into consulting like, Did you have any like, no metrics or something like that, that you could share to kind of help people with that decision?

Danielle Binns 10:56
We mean, when did I decide to go from one on one consulting to the online programs, you know what not really, it was actually my business coach at the time. So I have a business coach at all times, and I change as I grow. But I find that Dave really helped me it's like the the best investment always has been to challenge myself and help me see what I don't see. Because I would, I tend to have either shiny object syndrome and I work on a number of different things, or they helped me just remain focused on something. And so that's where she actually suggested the idea that I put something together that's more structured, and that can be delivered to anyone without that cap in terms of the number of people that I can support. So I actually didn't have a number what for me, I probably saw about I want to say like 21 on one clients before I actually built this program. And the other thing I did was that when I decided to do the course I spent about three weeks hunkering down at all I did. And the nice thing about doing it earlier on in your business is you actually have the time you don't have the distraction of having like, I now have like 10 different products. So it's hard to just focus on one thing. Like I've been wanting to write a book for years. But with starting out doing that in my first year, I was able to really focus on it and and just get it done and do a really great job of it because it was the only thing I was really thinking about for that timeframe. But I didn't have anything that any specific metric that I was okay, when I had this number of people, that's when I'm going to do it. It was more of a nudge from my mentor and, and I just went for it.

Ward Sandler 12:30
Yeah, I think that's fine. Kind of like a gut feeling of something needs to change here and then someone else kind of guiding you in the right direction. So what are you actually charging for these three options? You have the one on one coaching the six week course and the membership program?

Danielle Binns 12:44
Yeah, sure. So the my one on one consulting it ranges but it's about about 1000 to 2000. us and that's a package of sessions are three to six sessions, and there's a number of things that come within that as well as not just the coaching because I When you're feeding your kids, you feed your kids every day, five times a day. So I do offer another layer of support, and by email and so on where they can reach out to me, they don't have to wait for a consultation to do that. So I'm kind of their partner, I always say, you know, it's like I have had you have me at your kitchen table, because there's no limits to the amount of contact that we have there. So there's that and then my membership is the next step down. So that ranges between 400 to seven or 800. For the course it depends on which package you go with. So there's a do it yourself package as a VIP where you have some support and a VIP plus where there's more support. And then my membership is in the realm of $30 US per month. And then there is of course there is an annual version of that too. So I do find a lot of people do tend to go with the annual

Ward Sandler 13:51
and for the one on one or the one on one coaching and the course let's talk about those first. Where did those prices come from and have they sort of changed over time?

Danielle Binns 14:00
For the one on one coaching, yes, so I started out with, I think it was about like six to eight sessions. And it just felt like it was just too much. You know, I found that I, as I tested different things with people, some people like Oh, I didn't, I don't need don't want that many sessions, I just want three or I just want to or, and I tried the one session and that's one thing I learned for sure was that one session is not enough. When you're dealing with someone's health actually, when you're dealing with any type of coaching one session is not going to help people make the kind of progress that they need, because there's no accountability, there's you know, they get back to their regular routine and and kind of forget about what they do. But when you've got that regular touch point, it does help keep things moving. So I've kind of found a sweet spot of like between three and six sessions and it has yet has kind of waffle, they've gone up and gone down and that's where I've landed and I'll probably stay here for a while. I'm considering going to four to just kind of be in the middle there. And so yeah, so that's where and then the pricing. It did It's it did change. Of course, my coach when I went out the gates, I was like, No, you know, 197 for six sessions, like, you can't do that, you know, you're worth more than that. And so I definitely, you know, the imposter syndrome again, coming up. And now I know what my values worth, I see the transformation that families have, I see how many hours I put into families and when they become my clients. And so now, that's where I've kind of jumped. So every, I would say, you know, every year I would add $100 $100. And now I feel like I'm, I'm in a good spot, it will probably go up again. But I'm currently in the realm of like, $500 a month is what I charge.

Ward Sandler 15:37
Gotcha. Yeah, I mean, I've heard a lot of people evolve over time, obviously, you're generally going to start at a lower price and then go up over time. But knowing when to go up can be tough because yeah, I think a lot of people suffer from the imposter syndrome of like, Oh, I don't know what I'm going to charge here. I'm kind of scared. Was it kind of an intuition on your own to say, you know what, I need to charge more. Was that more your business coach, again, trying to push in the right direction.

Danielle Binns 15:59
You know, there was Coaching element for sure. But even though she was coaching me to increase my prices for a while, I just didn't feel comfortable with it. But then what the gut for me the gut feeling for me was, am I excited when this person says yes or am I like, Oh my god, this is not you know, I should have charged more or this does not feel good for the amount of time I'm going to put in. That's what I knew. Now I know when someone says yes, I feel good about it. Because I know I'm going to get compensated for the energy and the resources, everything that I invest on my end. So that was a definitely a good litmus test for me was how will I feel when someone says yes to this number?

Ward Sandler 16:36
Yeah, like, that's a good way to think of it because pricing so tough. This is a recurring theme on the podcast of like, it's just difficult. You never know what it's going to be, you know, it's going to change. But yeah, I like that idea, at least of like, Okay, if I get someone to sign up, is that making me happier as I may be dread how much work is coming now?

Danielle Binns 16:55
Exactly. Yeah, it's a good way to sell for sure. And I've used that as a For everything I've done, for sure,

Ward Sandler 17:02
yeah, smart. One last thing real quick, when you were talking about building that course, while you're still doing, you know, a lot of the one on one coaching and kind of building it up to get around 2020 people or so what made you feel like that's still not that many one on one clients, I would think unless you're working with all them on a like three to six sessions, that's, you're going to go through all of them pretty quickly, what made you realize that you know what, I need to create a course because a lot of people I think would stick to the one on one consulting for longer, especially if they are getting that kind of traction, you know, and maybe just raise the price there. So what made you kind of decide, you know, what, I think I need to start scaling this pretty soon.

Danielle Binns 17:40
So people were reaching out for support, but even when I was charging less, there's always people who are, you know, I can't really afford this right now, or do you have something Do you have a course Do you have something I can just read or watch or do on my own? And so there was that request and when I got that enough times and I had basically every everything written down I like to create like, it's Something I've really enjoyed didn't feel like work to me. This is why I continue to you know, every few months, I'm creating new products, actually, almost every month, I'm creating a new product. So it's just kind of the nature of who I am. So I didn't feel daunting to me it actually felt exciting. And I also I think it was, might have been at Amy Porterfield like webinar that I watched on webinars, and I thought, Oh, I should do this, what can I sell? And I saw that she was selling a course at that time, like, Well, you know what, maybe I should have a course. So it was that was I remember that being like the first one of the first trainings I'd ever done on my business. And I also felt comfortable because I knew after having spoken to even 20 comments might not seem like a lot, but when you when you are spending successions with each of these families, you know quite a bit and I being a mom now of three, I think it was on my second at that point, when I was building the course, I knew that the material was really solid, and it was something that people needed to have and it wasn't going to take me a long time to put it out there. So I started I just did it very basic at a basic level. I think Keep the course free to a couple people I had, you know, a designer, take the course and return for her to do design my logo and my graphics. You know, I'd had somebody else a couple other people take it for feedback and testimonials. It wasn't like I, I think I had like eight people in the first round. And then now my launches, you know, I'm upwards of like 50 people. And evergreen is a bit different. So it's like scattered throughout the year. But it did evolve. And it all started just from that. You know, that one that first go?

Ward Sandler 19:30
Yeah, no, I mean, it's smart. You had a combination of listening to what people were saying and following your intuition. So it's like, yeah, if a lot of people are telling you the same thing over and over again, how can I access this on my own? How do I do this online? Like listen to them, you know, that's a little, a little bit of common sense. And also just kind of, you know, take the plunge and listen to what your customers are telling you. So that was definitely smart on your end.

Danielle Binns 19:52
Yeah, for sure. And that's another thing too is you know, any products I've created just kind of listening to what people are saying on my Facebook or my Instagram page when they private about message me the questions that I get. It's like, what is something that I can create for them? And sometimes it's free range. And sometimes it's like, No, no, this is actually worth something. And so, and that's one of the reasons why I created this. It's a actual physical product for kids. It was digital. And now I'm in the process once things are up and running in with factories, and I watched him a physical placemat for kids, and it is doing amazing things. And it's, you know, I never would have thought I would ever have a physical product. So it's like that that was based on parents telling me, I can't figure out what to say to my kids at meals to get them to try new foods. And I was like, Well, I know what to do. And you just need to put it in front of your kids. So that's how that was built as well. So it's yet listening to customers is like that is where your ideas will come from. And also, I've also learned, and I wish I knew this sooner, but not to actually create anything until you know whether people want it. So I often just send an email to my list and just say, Hey, this is what I'm thinking about doing. Are you is this of interest to you. If yes, you can get in touch as beta price, and if people will start paying for it, then you know you've got something there. Because the worst feeling is when you create something you put all this time into it, and then it's crickets on the other end, because it's actually not something people need. That is a terrible feeling, especially when you're a solopreneur. And you know, you've got, you know, you don't have a lot of hours to work with. So that's another strategy I've been using before I create anything that takes, you know, more than a couple hours or a day.

Ward Sandler 21:25
Yeah, for sure. So quickly here, could you give a short example of something that hasn't worked in your business and initiative you've tried, it just didn't work for whatever reason, and why you think it didn't work?

Danielle Binns 21:35
So an initiative that didn't work? So I was thinking, when I think about the membership, you know, one thing that just in that space, since we're kind of talking to members about member space, and such as that, is it a membership does not run on its own and I tend to when I first started Well, two things one is you need to it's about community, people were joining for community And I thought once they started to get active in the group, I didn't need to be as active. But I realized, wait, no, they're relying on me to keep this thing alive and energized. And so that's one mistake is that my early months when I first ran it, I kind of went quiet. I felt like I was bothering people. I was like, No, no, you can't be quiet and you've got to be present for people. So you're top of mind. And then the other thing was not like overwhelming people and simplifying, I tend to even when I did my one on one consulting, I was, you know, creating these crazy protocols like pages logs, I want to show people as giving them so much value and look like every dollar you're spending is worth it. And I realized that people are don't have time to read through all of this, especially like my audience are busy parents with picky eaters, and they've got you know, probably for some jobs or they're watching kids at home, like they don't have time to sift through a bunch of material. So I've learned to simplify and just give parents what they actually need, both in my membership and my online course. You know, just like checklist, things like that. So not putting so much work into something that will people just want the top line information.

Ward Sandler 23:06
Yeah, it's a good way. Good, good way to phrase it. So what's the best way for people to learn more about you, Daniel?

Danielle Binns 23:12
So there's a couple ways One would be through my website so daniellebins.com. And then there's my social media so Instagram is at Danielle Bins, nutrition, and that's the I ns be as involved. And then as well as Facebook is Danielle bins nutrition as well. And I have a Facebook group called the family nutrition forum, which is a free group if you're looking for just general inspiration and ideas on how and what to feed your family.

Ward Sandler 23:39
Awesome. Well, thanks for taking time and talking with me.

Danielle Binns 23:41
Yeah, thanks so much for it. It's been fun.