EP.374: The Final Lesson: What Money Was Really Teaching Us

Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to the Make More Money as a Dietitian podcast. I am your host, Christine Diane Thompson. And this podcast is for dietitians who are ready to stop apologizing for wanting more. More money, more freedom, and a career that actually honors everything that you bring to the table. This is where we ditch the guilt and start something big. If that resonates with you, let's go ahead and get started with today's episode. Hey there dietitian friends. Welcome to episode 374 of the Make More Money as Dietitian podcast. I'm so excited to be back here with you. And if you listened to Our last episode, 373, you can remember that I would come back and record episodes only if I had something, uh, to say. And today I have lots to share with you. This podcast, the movement, the Make More Money as a Dietitian movement. This six almost seven year conversation about money and worth and what it means to be a dietitian who refuses to settle for less for less is coming to completion. And before we get to episode 375 where I will share what is next, I want to give you something. I want to give you a gift. I want to give you this final lesson. And it's all about the truth about what all of this was really about. Because here's what I have learned after recording 373 episodes, plus this one after coaching hundreds of dietitians. Whether I have coached you here on the podcast or in one of my group programs, or if I have coached you privately one on one, this work was sacred because it was never really about the money. My friends, when I started this podcast back in 2019, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. I was going to be the money mindset dietitian. I was going to teach you how to charge what your services are truly worth. How to build a six figure practice if that's what you wanted for yourself, how to stop apologizing for wanting to make real money. As a nutrition professional. And friends, I did teach all those things. We talked about pricing and packages and positioning. We dismantled the myth that dietitians can't make good money. I interviewed so many dietitians that were making good money. I mean, uh, not only just six figures, but seven figures. We challenged the belief that you need to make your services accessible to everyone. We also called out the professional martyrdom that keeps so many brilliant practitioners broke and quite honestly exhausted. But I want you to know that something else was happening underneath all of that and it was something that I couldn't really see very clearly until now because I took this Entire year of 2025 off from coaching for the most part. I had a few people that I was coaching behind the scenes, but for the most part, I took 2024 and 2025 off from coaching in my business. And I want you to know what I actually feel was happening underneath all of the things that I have taught over the past six years. Every time I coached someone through their fear of raising their rates, I was also coaching myself through my own fear of being too much. And every time I helped a dietitian see their actual value, I was really learning to see mine as well. And every time I challenged someone to stop waiting for permission, I was practicing giving it to myself. So this podcast wasn't just teaching, it was transformation in real time. If I really have to be honest, mine and yours, the transformation happening simultaneously, uh, and that is so powerful. And this kind of reminds me of my mentor, Brooke Castillo, who recently, um, at the time of this recording, is launching her year long coaching, uh, her coaching program called the Weekly. And one of the things that she shared was that she is not coming back to coaching because she needs to come back to coaching. She's not like, coming back to her business because she needs the money, because she doesn't. But she's coming back because the coaching, uh, that she gives is the same that she receives for herself. And I can totally relate to that. So the podcast was really transformation in real time for both myself and for you. And what I thought was a journey about money, my friends, it was actually a journey about trust. So let me tell you what I mean. Money is the most honest mirror you'll ever look into. It reflects back to you exactly what you believe about yourself, your worth, your safety in the world, and your relationship with God, however you understand God in your life. When I was afraid to charge what I was worth, it wasn't really about the number. It was about whether I could trust myself to be valuable enough. Whether I could trust that I wouldn't be abandoned if I asked for what I needed. Whether I could trust that there was enough, enough clients, enough money, enough grace for someone like me. And when I watched dietitians play small with their own pricing, undercharge for their expertise and apologize for taking up space in our profession or just in the overall marketplace of this Internet world we live in now, I wasn't just seeing business problems. I was seeing women who didn't trust themselves yet, who were still waiting for someone else to tell Them that they were allowed, who believed that wanting more made them selfish or unrealistic or somehow less self spiritual, if that's your thing. So, my friends, here's what I want you to know about trust. You actually cannot teach it. You can only create the conditions for someone to remember it or kind of like feel into it. And that's what the money work was really doing. It was creating conditions for trust to actually show up. So let me share something personal with you, okay? So I'm going to be super vulnerable. I've already had to pause this, pause this recording once because I'm getting choked up. But I am going to try to share this with you and be fully transparent. Okay? In, uh, 2009, after my mother died suddenly, I moved back home from New York where I met my now husband. And quite honestly, everything fell completely apart. I ended up on food stamps as a registered dietitian with a whole degree plus some, um, and with three children in tow, I got evicted from my apartment. I couldn't find work despite having my credentials, because this was during that recession period between 2007 and 9. And the employer that I had in New York City put me on the do not hire list because she was quite frankly pissed that I left to go back to Chicago to settle my mother's affairs, which of course was completely unrealistic. But that's neither here nor there. It was truly a hot mess of a situation. And it created this deep fear in me that if I ever stepped out on my own again, uh, if I ever trusted myself fully, everything would fall apart. And that fear, my friends, followed me for so many years, even when I built my business up to six figures, mid six figures, even when I was fully booked with private clients. Underneath all of that, my friends, was this whisper. This could all disappear. You could end up right back where you were in 2009. So it was the money work that was asking me to look at that fear in the face, to see it for what it was, which was a trauma response. Okay? And I had to learn that trust isn't about knowing everything will work out. Of course. It's about knowing that you will figure it out as you go. And I want you to know that that's what you've been learning too, with this work. Every time you have raised your rates and didn't lose all of your clients, you were learning trust. You weren't just learning how to make more money as dietitian, you were learning trust. Every time you said no to a project that did not honor your Worth. You were learning trust. Every time you invested in yourself, and it paid off in ways that you could not have even predicted. You were building trust within yourself. So, my friends, you weren't just making more money. You were learning, uh, to trust yourself. So I want to acknowledge today something that I feel is really, really important. This journey, these six years, the 374 episodes, could not and wouldn't exist without you. Without the dietitian who sent me a DM saying I raised my rates like you suggested, and I was terrified, but no one blinked at it at all. They paid. Without the nutrition professional who told me, I finally left my clinical job and my business is thriving. Without the student who has written me to say, you gave me permission, uh, to start my business before doing two years of clinical work, and it changed my entire career trajectory. M. Okay. None of that would be possible without this work, without you believing in me. You let me grow in public. You trusted me with your dreams and your fears. Oh, my goodness. You showed up to the workshops and the retreats and the coaching calls willing to be change your life and your business. You even let me be imperfect and still valuable, which taught me more than any certification ever could. And, my friends, what you taught me is this. The transformation was never about the tactics. It was never about the perfect pricing strategy or the ideal client avatar or the right marketing funnel. Okay, my friends, the transformation actually happened when someone finally gave herself permission to believe that her desires mattered, that her gifts were valuable, that she didn't need to shrink herself to make others feel comfortable. And that wanting more didn't make her greedy. It made her human. And that's the work that we did together, my friends, not business coaching. It was what I feel was sacred soul work. Trust work, and ultimately liberation work. And here's what I want you to know. That work does not end, uh, just because this podcast does. You carry it with you. It's in you. Now, if you've been here from the very beginning, I promise you, it is in you. It's in your bones. It's in the way you make decisions. You set boundaries. It's in the way that you value yourself, and. And it's the way that you move through the world. Now, the money mindset work was preparation. It was getting you ready to trust yourself in all the ways that matter. Not just with money, but with your voice, your choices, your yes, your no. Your entire life, my friends. So, uh, when I say that this work is complete, I don't mean there's nothing left to learn about Money. Of course there is and there always will be. But what I do mean is that the specific mission of this podcast and the work of make more money dietitians, to help dietitians see their worth and claim their value in this profession and in the overall marketplace. That work has done what it was meant to do. And I know that I rebranded everything. And that was earlier this summer. I rebranded us back to make more money as a dietitian because I was really holding on, but. Mhm. I have since realized that it's time to let go. Because we're complete. But the completion is not an ending. I want you to know that the completion is an arrival. We, my friends, have arrived at the deeper truth that was underneath all along. Your worth is not determined by your bank account. Your value doesn't need external validation. And your gifts are needed exactly as they are. I have always told you this. And you can trust yourself. You can trust yourself with money, with choices, with your whole beautiful, complicated life. And that's the lesson money was teaching us all along, my friends. And now that we've learned it, we get to live from that place. Instead of, uh, striving towards it. There's no more striving. And I want you to know all of this is something to celebrate, not to mourn. Even though I'm sitting here crying. The work was sacred. It brought us back to ourselves. And that is the whole point of any spiritual journey, in my opinion. To return home to who you've always been, underneath the fear and the conditioning and the stories that you inherited about what's possible. So, my friends, as I wrap this up. Whoo. As I wrap this up, I want to thank you. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for being part of this movement. Thank you for letting me be imperfect and still valuable. Thank you for doing your work so bravely and showing me what's possible. When women decide that they're done playing small, I'm recording this with tears in my eyes and so much gratitude in my heart. Six years, 374 episodes. Hundreds of lives and RD careers changed, including mine. This, my friends, has been the honor of my professional life. And as we close this chapter, I want to leave you with a blessing. May you always trust your worth, even when the world questions it. May you always trust your voice, even when others try to silence it. May you always trust the timing of your life, even when it doesn't match anyone else's timeline. And may you know deep down inside that the money work was just the doorway. Because the real journey, the one going forward. That journey continues. And I, my friends, trust that you are more than ready for it. Now, I want you to know if you in episode 375, because there will be one more episode, my friends. I'll share what's next for me and what that might mean for you if you want to come on this next iteration of the journey together. But for now, I just want to let all of this land and let you feel the completion. And I also want you to let yourself celebrate how far you've come. Because you've come a long way, my friends. That is all I have for you right now. And just let it all soak in. And I will see you on the final episode, my friend, in a few weeks. Have a great rest of your day in the weekend ahead. Bye for now. Hey there my friend. If something in today's episode hit different, I'd, uh, love that for you. This week, I invite you to take one action that feels a little scary, yet honors your work and for more resources and ways to work together. Together. Head on over to Manipur Center Co. Remember, you're not asking for too much, my friend. You've just been settling for too little.