"Are you creating to be happy or happily creating?"

Today: Part 2 of my amazing interview with Meghan Telpner, Nutritionista. I'm sure you'll  find her as inspiring and engaging as I did! Read Part 1 here.

What’s your biggest reward?

We get a lot of love notes – emails from past participants, or people who came to a class and keep coming back and tell us how much it’s impacted their health and their lives and their families. To have a job that has a massive positive impact on individuals’ lives - it doesn’t really get any better than that!

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Because I get bored easily, I need to take on new challenges - for example, getting our online courses up and running was a huge learning curve for me. In the spring I have my book Undiet coming out, which was also a huge project. I just look to constantly keep it fresh.

What’s looking for advice to those looking to change careers, and what are your keys to success?

First of all, you have to really, really want to do this and live like this. It’s amazing and terrifying at the same time – you only have yourself to rely on and there’s no safety net. A big part of it is being really clear on how you plan to make money and how you plan to continually love what you’re doing – and they have to go together. A lot of people, especially in health and healing, say ‘I just want to help people,’ but at the end of the day you need to buy your own good food and your own yoga classes so you need to take a good, hard look at the feasibility of it. You have to be very clear about why you’re doing it, that you love doing it and that you’ll be able to support the lifestyle that you want to have.

I encourage people to quit their jobs all the time – I think it’s a great thing to do, because you need to work somewhere that nourishes you. We fall into this horrible habit of thinking ‘If I do this now, then I’ll get this later.’ The reward has to come immediately; otherwise you’re creating for a person that doesn’t even exist. In one of my workshops, I ask the question “Are you creating to be happy or are you happily creating?” It’s all about the process.

What’s next for you?

In February we’re running a 25-person retreat and in April I have my book coming out. We’ll be taking the school to the next level where we won’t be able to have 12 person hands-on cooking classes on a regular basis, which is why we are transitioning to online classes. I want to write another book – in fact, I’m already working on it. We’re also shooting another pilot, so there’s lots on the go!

In the future, I’d love to run more retreats during the winter and spend the rest of the time writing and cooking and continuing to play. I want to retire in two years. Everybody laughs when I say that, but it’s true. I’m not even sure what ‘retire’ means for me – I just know that I’ll just be working differently. It may mean writing books, having children, speaking and teaching in group settings – but whatever it is, I know I’ll be having a blast!