A conversation with Denise Kennedy, a nutritionist and wellness educator. Denise is dedicated to the betterment of women 50's, 60's and beyond through informative and thought-provoking blogs, videos and courses.
Feeling run-down and depleted, dreaming of a life with more pep in your step? Join holistic nutritionist and health coach Denise Kennedy as she shares her powerful transformation from struggling with her own weight to radiating vitality at 70! This episode is a must-listen for women seeking expert insights and practical strategies to boost their energy, find balance, and reignite their joy.
Denise reveals the surprising ways her entrepreneurial upbringing influenced her approach to work, resilience, and finding her purpose. She opens up about her personal journey with emotional eating and how she discovered the missing piece: integrating mindset work to achieve lasting change. This episode is filled with actionable advice and relatable stories for women who crave a healthier, more energetic life.
Denise also shares her unique coaching method, highlighting the transformative power of personalized guidance, daily check-ins, and habit-building strategies. Discover how her signature three-month program provides the high-touch support women need to create sustainable healthy habits and experience profound shifts in their well-being. She also reveals the secrets to leveraging repetition, replacing unhealthy behaviors, and visualizing your ideal self. Learn how these simple yet effective techniques can help you reclaim your health and unleash your vitality, regardless of your age.
Key Takeaways:
💡 Overcoming Obstacles: Hear how Denise triumphed over personal health challenges and transformed her relationship with food by embracing mindset work.
💡 From Health Educator to Empowerment Guide: Follow Denise's inspiring career path from health educator to building a thriving coaching practice.
💡 Habit Hacks for Lasting Change: Understand how to develop sustainable healthy habits through repetition, replacement behaviors, and daily support.
💡 Ignite Your Inner Spark: Discover how to cultivate more energy, vitality, and joy at any age through holistic wellness practices.
Denise Kennedy, holistic nutritionist and health coach, empowers women to take control of their health and live a life of purpose. Her mission? To guide women on a journey to vibrant health, boundless energy, and lasting joy.
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Laura Rotter
 Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a rut? Especially when it comes to your health, you're not alone. So many women in midlife find themselves juggling responsibilities, feeling exhausted, and noticing changes in their bodies that they just can't seem to shake. And you've tried the latest diets. The restrictive meal plans, the intense exercise boot camps, and yet the weight lingers, the energy lags, and your frustration mounts.
You know what you should be doing, but somehow it just doesn't stick. It's like there's something missing, a hidden factor holding you back. What if I told you that the secret to lasting change isn't just about what you eat, but why you eat? My guest today? Denise Kennedy, a holistic nutritionist and health coach, spent decades struggling with her own weight, despite knowing all the.
Write things to do. She finally discovered that true transformation comes from understanding the emotional connection to food and creating new habits that address the root causes of unhealthy patterns. Denise's journey is a testament to the power of mindset. And the incredible impact it can have on your physical wellbeing.
Listen and discover how she finally broke free from the cycle of yo-yo dieting and found lasting health and vitality even after 60 years old.Â
Narrator
Welcome to Making Change with your Money. A podcast that highlights the stories and strategies of women who experienced a big life transition and overcame challenges as they redefined financial success for themselves.
Now, here's your host, certified financial planner, Laura Rodder.Â
Laura Rotter
Welcome Denise to the Making Change With Your Money Podcast. Thank you, Laura. This is such an honor. I, I'm really, uh, pleased to be here. Thank you. So I'm gonna start off, as I always do, asking the question, what was money like in your family growing up?
Denise Kennedy
Love this question. I was raised by entrepreneurs in, and it's very unusual back then, and it was primarily. Uh, pushed along by my mother. My mother was just way out of her, uh, born in a different era, but she was very, and, and actually I have to even go back before that, her father in the 1930s, back then, they were farmers and they sold their farm and moved to their little tiny town and opened the only restaurant in their town, and they lived up above it.
Wow. So to, to do that kind of thing, to get out of that farming kind of, uh, thought process and, and take a big risk like that and move your children into a, a town. And so it, so my mom must have just gotten that. And, uh, boy, we all, we all got that. So money wasn't talked about a whole lot. We just, uh, we were, it was instilled in us.
You work hard, it'll come.Â
Laura Rotter
Interesting. So I hear that a certain amount of risk was part of how you grew up and you saw that that wasn't a frightening thing, but that was almost, did it feel like almost a belief in yourself, trust or faith in your ability?Â
Denise Kennedy
I think I saw the, the risk constantly with, uh, them always kind of.
Um, trying new things. Okay. So it wasn't just a risk in one area, it was always trying. So they would, uh, they loved to, uh, like create and build like a, a, a new home. And we're not talking massive big homes. We're just talking. We, we lived in a tiny, uh, little cow town in Ohio and, and so it was very. Uh, I, I, I think I probably, they would buy a home.
They would redo it, whether they built it or not. They would go in, they would redo it, and then they would sell it. So I probably live in my lifetime with them. I probably lived in 15 homes. I. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Just moving from place to place. So I have a, a funny story. When I bought my home, my first home, I called my mom and said, how, how do you clean drapes?
And she said, I don't know, honey. We've never lived anywhere long enough to, for me to clean drapes.
So, um, so they, that was part of what they were doing. And then my mother, um, opened, um, a, a, one of the only restaurants in our little town and, and they identified a particular place where they wanted it. And there was a big old, big old home on the corner where, and they actually, back then they moved, they picked up this house and moved it.
I have pictures. Of the house being moved down to, to, um, farmland farther down. And, and, and they built this restaurant and it was just, and we all worked there. So that's how I grew up, is working in a family business. And then she also had one of the only, uh, salons, she was a hairdresser, so she had one of the only salons and had a beautiful gift shop in there.
So she was just constantly, always. You know, into something.Â
Laura Rotter
That's so interesting. Thank you for sharing that, Denise. And it sounds like, I, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but that there wasn't a sense of wanting financially, right? Like you were not, as we said before we started, you were not in a big city or seeing a lot of ostentatious wealth.
Denise Kennedy
Exactly. And that's, and that's really a good point, Laura, because we, we didn't have a lot of wanting, uh, in our lives. We were working a lot. And I have to say that we were probably instilled with workaholism. I, I hate to say it, but Yep. Yes. Yeah. Um, and. Though they, um, we weren't also asking for things like, I, I wanna go to Europe and be an exchange student and stuff.
It just wasn't, it, it just wasn't part of our life to do things like that. Right. So, I mean, we just to get our first car or whatever, you know, I mean, they were pretty. Uh, you know,Â
and not very expensive. And, and, but we worked, we, I mean, you know, we had to make sure that, you know, we could afford what we wanted and so they, they definitely instilled in us hard work.
Laura Rotter
I'm hearing that. And was there a sense where, what role did education play in that?Â
Denise Kennedy
Interestingly enough that they kind of let us. Once we were out of high school, oh, and I have to tell this so, because they always wanted us to see the world, like, like experience things. And, and they encouraged us to get, um, get out of the, the little town environment to see the world.
So again, that entrepreneurialship of theirs was just really so when, uh. My brothers and sisters, we, um, uh, laugh because when we graduated high school, we all got luggage and it was packed.Â
Laura Rotter
How many were you? There were four of us. Wow. Nice size family, and. So how did that play out for you? Where did you go?
Okay.Â
Denise Kennedy
Yeah. And as far as the education, I, they really let us decide. They really wanted, if we chose to go to school, um, further education, then they just said, then just put your heart into it. Do do good, whatever you're gonna decide to do. And so that was really instilled in us. So my brother did become a doctor and he, um.
So he went very, and, and we all went to school. But when I went to school, I wasn't making great decisions. I wanted to get out and, and start living, and that's what I did. So I just started and I. I had very few jobs in the beginning. I had maybe a, a job here and there that was more like a nine to five type thing, but I quickly worked out of that and, and went into commission jobs because I was ready to, you know, really see what I could do.
And it would depend on what I could do to earn my yes.Â
Laura Rotter
You were. So what skills did you have? Obviously you were driven that you wanted, again, to test yourself, and as you shared with us, you grew up with a sense of work and you will achieve, but what other skills were you bringing to that? Because I always assume if you're in commission job, that that's a social skill and an ability to interact well with people.
Denise Kennedy
And that, that's probably been the common thread in my life is I love people and I, and so when I really turned everything more toward health, um, I, it's just my passion for people to, they can help themselves if, if we, if we do the right things, we, we can be healthy. And, and because the body, you know, God's made the body with the ability to heal and if we give it the right stuff.
So I'm, yeah, I'm just passionate about people. I love talking with people. Um, um, my, my other passion is education. I just love educating.Â
Laura Rotter
So Denise, what, what was the path? I don't know if you ultimately were drawn to health relatively recently or relatively early in your journey.Â
Denise Kennedy
I love your questions.Â
Um, I, um, it was very early.
Um, I was very, we raised a lot of our own food. You know, we had our restaurant, uh, that we've all worked in, but we, I mean, we could definitely run out to the garden and pull out a carrot andÂ
Oh, I know. Rush off the dirt and start eating it. I know. So it was just kind of instilled in us just that more natural lifestyle and.
Honestly, part of it was mom always taught us, you know, unless you're dying, you're working. So we, I know, I know there wasn't much, there was not many excuses. Um, so we didn't have time to be sick and, uh, and we had to. Yeah, yeah. There was no time. So. I, but then, you know, as I was moving more into adulthood then, um, I did have, once we were, uh, once I was married, I, um, I had all of my children at home.
I had home births just because that's, I, it, I was just very natural in my whole approach to, um,Â
life and health.Â
Laura Rotter
And so you say now, I mean obviously now you're working as a nutritionist, but when did that start?Â
Denise Kennedy
So that actually started, um, well years ago, but I actually went into a company and, uh, became a health educator before I went back to school.
That's what prompted me when I got into the health arena, which I was always kind of seeking that and open to that. And when I. Um, attained that position. Then I wanted to go back and get my credentials. So I went back to school then, and that was, um, about 25 years ago.Â
Laura Rotter
Mm. What were you doing?Â
What were you doing for that company?
Or what was, what did the company itself do? I'm sort of curious.Â
Denise Kennedy
Um, it, it was, um, all about teaching. Actually. It was. Focused on more church. We, we would, we were national, so we would go and speak at, at churches about how to be good stewards of our bodies.Â
Laura Rotter
Oh, wow.Â
Denise Kennedy
And so it was, yeah, it was just a really wonderful approach to taking care of ourselves.
And this is a gift, you know, our bodies are a gift and we need to take care of them, so. That's, and I was one of the educators, so I was the only female educator on top of it. So that was really fun. I got to do a lot of women's, um, events and, uh, di lots of different speaking events. I'd be a keynote speaker or something in, in the health arena,Â
Laura Rotter
And can I assume that speaking comes naturally to you? Like is that something you enjoyed or did you develop enjoyment of it over time?Â
Denise Kennedy
I do love speaking because it's part of the education area for me, and I have found that speaking like this, either to see you is much different than me talking to a video.
And I, so I have focused also besides just online, I focus on community events so that I can have a presence and, and speak personally to people. That's my, my one-on-one coaching is my, my passion with for people, because that's when I also see the most results with people when they have someone walking alongside them in the tough times, and then we get to better times together.
Laura Rotter
It's a beautiful sentiment, Denise. So before I go on to understand exactly now what it is that you're doing and how you do it, I'm curious. You did of course, name that you grew up very, as you define it, very healthy, right? You were eating natural foods. Was there any other event that took place that drew you into the work?
Um, or. That's the reason.Â
Denise Kennedy
No, you're you're looking at a person who was 60, at least 60 pounds overweight for much of my life. And, uh, so, wow. I know Laura, I was very, uh, perplexed by this because I knew I'm a nutritionist, I know what to eat, I teach people what to eat, and until I started really putting the mindset work into the eating ar arena.
And the health arena, that is when things started to change. So what's really funny is that didn't happen till about 10 years ago. I was when I was just, I was like 59, 60 and I really then sunk into, uh, the mindset part of why I was eating and I was using food. As a reward. I mean, I, I, at that point later in life, I was a single mother of four under five.
So I was, I would just, I know I would just, I would get to bed and I would just, I'd put the kids in bed and first of all I'd say, thank you, God, they're all alive. And then I. And, and that was my comfort and that was my joy, and that was my relationship, and that was my love. And that was, that was my everything.
So when I really started working, because you know how many people say, oh, now that I've turned 60, I just can't lose this weight. And that's when I lost my weight because it wasn't just about the food, it was about the reasons for the food, right?Â
Laura Rotter
And I just do have to share with someone who's done a lot of mindfulness work.
You know, the addiction, there are addictions that we know aren't good for us, right? If you said, I turned to, you know, a bottle of wine every night, or, um, other things that are clearly not good for our body, but we are addicted to busyness, we're addicted to food, there are other addictions that aren't so obvious that they're not good for us.
And so I'm, I'm so happy to hear you. Mention that you. Became aware and that's the first step that you were using food, even if it was healthy food or you know, in moderation, sugar or something. But just being aware how you were using it is the first step. How did you become aware? Were there other modalities that, um, I've, you've mentioned, God, you've mentioned church.
I'm curious what kind of role, even your faith. Played in, um, awareness or, yes.Â
Denise Kennedy
Yes. Um, thank you. Yes. Uh, faith, my, my faith ha has everything to do with my life and my outlook. I feel, I feel like I was also born in, in, with the way we were raised. I feel like I was always like very open to new. New thinking, new processes, new like little risking, understanding how things work.
So I. Was once I kind of got to the point where the children were old enough that I, because I wasn't eating well, I, I mean if you, if we wanna bust all the myths of a nutritionist, I mean, this is it. Because I, I wasn't always eating healthy. I mean they, uh, marketing does a lot to the brain and when their marketing.
Pop-Tarts that say real fruit. It's like, okay, kids, here's Pop-Tarts with real, you know, and we're, I mean, it, it's not even a food. And, and I'm feeding it to them thinking that it's going to be okay for them. And so. And once I really got into a place where I could, there was some, um, room and space where I could start thinking and saying, there's something not right here.
So that it just, I. I started seeking and I've definitely, through all of my past and lots of coaching, lots of therapy, I've had enough therapy for six people. So we, we, you know, it was just learning and I was very open to what's going on here. So it finally all connected. After years of struggling and not saying that I don't need to make a decision every day, I have to make a decision every day with food because food isn't like a, like a smoke.
It's like, you know, you don't have to live, you don't have to smoke to live, you have to eat to live. So it's very important that I make that decision that that's, uh, my health is really the most important. I need to feed my body what it can so that I can slow down the aging process. I can feel great and that it doesn't have to stop when we hit 50 and 60.
Laura Rotter
So please share Denise. So what were the changes that you started to make, uh, I guess a decade ago, other than slowing down and being aware of what you were eating? And that's a big one. Yes. I.Â
Denise Kennedy
Well under understanding and doing the work of why I was eating when I wasn't hungry. And there's this, uh, almost love hunger type of thing that I'm feeding with food and a stress, hunger that I'm feeding with food and.
So I, as I was just learning and, and I was reading and I was going to therapy and I was getting coaching and, and I really just started putting two and two together. And like with any addiction, I really had to decide there had to be a line in the sand and that's. Really what's the key thing is, is deciding once I, once I know better, I have to be able to do better because that's my choice.
Laura Rotter
And were there particular foods that you opted to stay away from, uh, particular foods that 'cause I, I'm hearing you and it does sound like a, it's a stru, there's. In other words, I guess when I'm thinking, when I try to change something, the first thing I do is become aware and I don't necessarily then demand of myself a change.
I say, okay, here's the awareness. And so you're making it sound simple and perhaps it was for you, like now you're aware, so you changed it, but did you replace it with other things like how. How, how fast was the shift and what other practices did you use to do it?Â
Denise Kennedy
Um. It was not a quick shift at all there.
There's a lot of struggling and back and forth, and that's why one of the reasons when I coach someone now, that's one of my favorite things is if you've started a diet two or three times a year, then food probably isn't the problem because you know, you know, you've already chosen the diet and if that's not working, then we need to look somewhere else.
So, um. So I feel like I would, my work that I did was a lot of assignments of reading and processing when, and I, and you do, you said a really, really important word there about replacement. We can't just stop something, you know, our brain is an activity. We're always, we're always thinking, moving, growing, or, or, or choosing not to, but we're so.
The natural thing that a, the brain's gonna do is be active and it likes the old ruts that we have. It not likes the familiar, that's how our brains work. So you have to replace that. Um, so the old behavior has to be replaced. So I would be writing down exactly what I'm going to eat.Â
Mm-hmm. And the timing.
And the more, and, and I and I do have a program that I, that I love that totally fed into this.Â
Fed into this. That's a funny word. Great.Â
Laura Rotter
I love that. It wasn't intentional.Â
Denise Kennedy
Um, it teaches how to, uh, just be very. Habit forming because with a habit we can be a lot more successful if we've formed a new habit.
And that that's just how, and it doesn't mean we don't have, uh, talking, you know, I hear my brain going, oh, but, but that looks really good. Um, how, but when, and, and, and just realizing when I hear my brain say, oh, that, that looks good. It's different when I'm, when I've got three meals, I'm not in those three times and I'm thinking that looks good.
That's, that immediately makes me aware that there's an emotional connection that I'm looking at, not, not any kind of physical need. So just the work of sitting down every day and writing out what I'm gonna eat, but also the way I'm gonna think. Is that food isn't my, you know, it isn't my my love it, it isn't my, um, answer to the stress that I'm going through.
It isn't the answer. So I have to say, you know, food is assessments for that, you know, for my body to be able to heal and do the right things, lose weight, have the energy I need, that kind of thing. So I have to. Replace that emotional connection with food, with a, but this is what I really need and, and that really, uh, you know, I learned a long time ago, uh, from a program that the first law of learning is repetition.
And I was repeating that whole thing of writing things down and studying and replacing the thoughts. That can't just happen once or in one counseling session or one, we, we just don't operate like that. It has to be a constant, and that's why when I'm coaching, I, I'm with someone, uh, daily, you know, because that's what we need sometimes.
We need to have that support and that's what I needed. Does that help? Did that answer the question?Â
Laura Rotter
Yes, it does. Thank you for sharing that and. I'm also, I'm hearing Denise, that part of it is naming why it's important to you to develop these new habits and leave the old habits behind, and so I. I'd love to hear you describe now more specifically how you work one-on-one and if, is that part of it having people name, you know, I want more energy or I wanna lose weight 'cause Right.
I, I, I find in all the work, even in, in the work I do with people around their money that, um, understanding why it's important to have clarity, why it's important to make changes under girds every. Big change we make in our lives. 'cause if we don't really buy into it, it's harder to do it.Â
Denise Kennedy
100% you, you really just said it in a nutshell.
It's really being very defined about what I want and I actually even. Took magazine pictures, which I don't even know if you can get magazines anymore, but back then I took, now you have to print something online, right? Yeah. Yes. So I actually took a, a magazine and I cut out pictures of these women that had beautiful bodies, you know, they had gowns on or whatever, and, and I cut pictures of my face out and I put it on those.
Little pictures that I, I printed out. I wanted to see myself like that. That's what I really want. And so to even visualize it was even more powerful for me. So that kind of thing, that deciding and or, and, and really knowing what you want because that's when you have this unstoppable desire to make it happen.
Laura Rotter
Yes. I. So it's, I, it says here that you've started building your business really relatively recently. What was that catalyst and, and what exactly ha is your business at this point?Â
Denise Kennedy
Okay, well, for the past 14 years I've worked, um, as a manufacturer's rep for supplement lines. So I was a nutritionist going to.
Um, all the health food stores in, in my territory there were 70. So I had a, a territory where I was going in and doing my passion, which is teaching and training. And, and this supplement would be for this type of symptom. This, this supplement would be, would really help someone with this, that kind of thing.
So I was always teaching and training so that after 14 years changed, uh, last October, so a year ago. And my coaching and my, uh, nutrition, my health coaching business was always kind of on the side, just very, because I had a full-time position. So I. Even though I was still, like I said, I was on commission and I, I made my own schedule and I knew where I needed to go and, um, and I just built beautiful relationships with, uh, my people in the stores.
It was, it was wonderful. So when that changed. I was kind of thrust into this, okay, this is, we gotta do this now. And, and so there was that change that I feel like we were very introduced to in our young lives with my parents. We were always kind of changing. If we weren't moving houses, we were trying, you know, we were in new bus, we were doing something new.
And so it's been. Very, uh, interesting to try to get to be everything. And there, you know, this solo entrepreneurship is really, um, a challenge.Â
Laura Rotter
Yes. And yeah. I would, I would like to say, um, and then I'll let you go on about exactly how your business works, that I think that it helps us stay young, Denise.
'cause we're learning new things and we're challenging ourselves. Um, uh, both of us before I hit record, we're talking about how we have assistance and certainly speaking for myself, um, learning to be a better delegator, uh, and. How exciting it is to do it at my age, um, and challenging myself. So solo entrepreneurship is certainly challenging.
Denise Kennedy
It is. Laura, I, and, and I do have, um, some assistance, but of course when it comes to like, you know, when it comes to the content and the. And, and the reaching out and the being there for people that, that nobody can do that. Exactly. And so there, there, there's a lot that falls on our plates and, and you're right, 100% that it keeps us young and vibrant because this, this is our passion.
This is where, this is to me, a, a, a God design in our lives. And when we follow that. That's where, and we keep, uh, creating. So I do things and then I evaluate, did it, did it work? Did it work the way I thought, where do I need to tweak that? You know? And that's what, isn't that what all the big guys like Ford and Thomas Edison and all the people did all those years ago where they would try something and it didn't work and it to try something and it didn't work.
And, and that's where the resilience. HA has to come. And I know that's it. It gets harder when you get older, but that's the other message I teach to fifties, sixties, and beyond that it's truly, you can't lose that zest for life. You've gotta have, you've gotta have a purpose and a passion. And it can't be just, you know, I'm, I'm gonna go, uh.
I'm gonna go golfing today again, I'm gonna go, you know, that, that's, those are great things, but there has to be something that just, just feeds your soul and that you, it just really makes you, and I do believe that giving, giving of service is critical. We have to feel like we're a value.Â
Laura Rotter
Certainly as we get older, I've learned not to de, I don't wanna use the word demand, but even expected of my 30 something children, you're in a different stage of life, as you said, when you decided to be someone who was always compensated on the basis of commission.
It's like testing yourself and how much can you achieve and that's appropriate when you're 30, but when you get older. That needs to be replaced with a sense of mission and a sense of being called to service, because otherwise it's hard to have the energy. And I, I love the word resilience. Perhaps it's an overused word, but it's such an important word.
I mean, life is, you know, what did they say? The one consistent thing in life is change. And so we need to develop resilience and as solopreneurs, um. Creativity is such an important part of that as you're naming. I still remember when I, when I started my practice and the covid years were soon after and I.
Walking with my husband. Right. I remember it was during Covid. 'cause who else had time to go for walks during the day? And I said, um, you know, I was offered, there aren't that many women in the financial services industry and someone was courting me to join his business. And I said, maybe I should do that.
There'd be more consistent income. And my husband said, I haven't seen you so creative ever. And so why leave the ability to create something that really has your own mark on it? So I say that to you, Denise. So I know in your work you've, you've talked about how important mindset is and helping people define their why and create new habits, and that at the beginning, you're certainly working almost on a daily basis.
So if I were to contact you. How, how, how do you start and, and what does the engagement look like?Â
Denise Kennedy
I have a pretty in-depth intake. Process. Um, and intake, intake forms and interviews, uh, of, of what exactly are you seeking? What, what is it that you, is at the top of the priority list to change? What is it that you want different?
And that guides me after reading what you know, both. Physical symptoms and emotional, um, state and, and even spiritual. Those kind of things all play into how I'm very individual in my approach. There's no, you know, you take this step then that leads to this step and this, I'm very individual and so I look at this, uh, what the, what the greatest want is, and I wanna be able to get you there.
I. So it's, uh, I, I really have a three month program of one-on-one training, uh, um, one-on-one coaching. And so we meet every week and there's weekly assignments, but more than that, we communicate by text or call every day, depending on what's available to someone every day. For three months because this is, this high touch is what people need when they're trying to develop new habits.
So you don't just get to go off and wonder and then next week come back and say, well, yeah, I didn't do very good. You know? No, we're, we're gonna work on this daily, because remember that repetition and that, uh, that bringing it to the surface every day is what we, we can't put this on the back burner at all.
Laura Rotter
Wow. It sounds like, um, a big investment of time both on your client's side, but on your cl your side as well. Um, it,Â
Denise Kennedy
It is and that's when I really, um, when I'm interviewing, I wanna know that you're all in. Because this isn't, this isn't gonna be, you know, I do try to make it simple. I have, um, what I call a, a simple program, making it simply possible.
So, because the simple is what people, 'cause people are very overwhelmed today. They're just all, everybody's exhausted and they're overwhelmed and they, and, but I don't use a bootcamp type of approach at all. We start out very simply because. Once we change one little habit, then you, you start believing in yourself.
We just have to change one little habit, and that's kind of the magic to saying, oh yeah. So that's why I work with people for three months because it takes at least 30 to 60 days to change a habit and to make a new habit. So that's why it can't be a one and done, and somebody does have to be ready to commit to the the energy and the time.
But again, we're only texting. Every day, or we're calling it's, it's quick, and then we meet once a week where we're talking even either if it's local, I meet in person, or where we can meet online, and then there's assignments.Â
Laura Rotter
And how do you then, how do people sort of maintain it, if you will? Is there a way that you can continue to work with people beyond the three months?
Denise Kennedy
Yes, yes. If they want to, uh, continue on, they say, oh yeah, there is so much progress being made here. I need, I want another three months, or I wanna go month to month. Or I can, they can come into the, our group, but I don't let anybody in a group until we've had at least our three months commitment time together, because that's where all the foundational work happens.
Laura Rotter
Yeah, that makes sense.Â
Denise Kennedy
So I don't, and, and I have an online course that that is great for somebody who doesn't, who who, who still is thinking they can do it on their own, which is fine. Um, and, and it's, uh, it's kind of like what I consider a, uh, a wellness 1 0 1, and it goes through, um, fi It's five weeks of training and, and, and a lot of great knowledge, but knowledge.
Is wonderful, but if you're not gonna do it, if you're not gonna take action on the new knowledge, you know, again, that's where coaching comes in.Â
Laura Rotter
It's so true. I, I know I read, I'm, I'm not gonna be able to quote the statistic, but, um, and I, I am guilty of it myself, of people who sign up for self-paced online courses and some very low percentage actually end up finishing it.
Because it's very hard to, like you said, we have so much coming at us constantly that to be disciplined enough, it goes back to really understanding your why and it's so important so that I've learned even about myself that if I feel like I'm committed to doing something, then. I'll pay the money to be coached on it and have a one-on-one relationship because I know myself and it's not gonna get done on itself.
Denise Kennedy
100%, Laura, I love that because I have a coach, I have, I have a trainer. I, I work, I work out with a trainer and, um, I have, uh, a business coach, uh, because these are the areas that I need help and support. And accountability. And that's what, when someone isn't living their best life and they don't like their body because of weight or because they're in pain, then that's all fixable.
Laura Rotter
So we can, you know, we,Â
we can do that. Yes. Um, so as we come towards the end of our conversation, Denise, I do like to ask how your definition of success and perhaps even financial success, you, um, mother raising four children on your own. So there must have been, um, financial concerns when you were younger, and how has that shifted over time?
Denise Kennedy
Um. It's funny because I actually, I still have that thing that even when I'm in uncertain times where even income is uncertain and it's when, isn't it uncertain? Even if you have a full-time job somewhere, there's no guarantees anywhere anymore and, and commissions were never, there's never a guarantee.
Okay. And, but I've never had this worry. For some reason, I, I just feel, you know, the the right thing I'm going to, I'm gonna work hard and the right thing's gonna happen. And, and I'll be able, it'll, it'll I'll give and I'll receive, you know, I just feel like that. So I can't ever say that I'm ever worried.
And I have four children of my own that are all, there isn't one of them. I was th thinking about this. There isn't one of them that has a nine to five. They're all very creative in their. Their businesses. It, it's, it's amazing to me. So I'm pretty sure that stopped, started with my, uh, grandpa and went to my mom.
I like it. Yeah. And, um, so success I think is the, is the true combination of. Health and passion and happiness and trying to really instill in other people that they can have this and, and the money will come. It's, uh, and it, and it always does, so I'm. I don't know that we were the best ever with budgeting, so I probably need to talk with you.
Um, yeah. Yeah. So anybody who needs budgeting experience and financial investment and financial, yeah. Laura. Yeah. So, so, um, but again. It's, uh, deciding what I want to do and that passion, the drive that to me is success that I haven't just laid down and said, well, now that I'm 70, I guess I can't do that anymore.
So, you know that that's just not gonna happen.Â
Laura Rotter
What a great message for all our listeners, Denise. I, and of course, resonates with me. I call my firm True Abundance Advisors because I believe that true abundance is not, do you know how many zeros are in your bank account? True abundance is exactly as you said.
Health, passion. You know, I have my values. I keep them up on my wall. Spirituality, family, meaningful work, play health. Mission, as you said. Um, and when you have those, that's true abundance and I, what I've heard as a thread throughout our conversation is again, this sense of trust, the sense that faith that I.
Whatever happens, you'll be okay. And I remember once describing this to my, a similar faith that I have to my mother-in-law who was like, uh, what does that mean? Everything will be okay. And I said, it doesn't mean that everything's gonna work out according to this list that I have, right?Â
Laura Rotter
I have no idea how things will work out, but I have faith.
That I have the resilience that, that however my life unfolds, it will be okay.Â
Denise Kennedy
Oh my gosh. And you know, that to me is the key thing where we're not holding on so tight to this. Thing we're after, because when we let, when we let freedom really happen, it may take, just like you're saying, it may take a different route to get there.
It may, it, it's not maybe gonna look exactly like what I'm planning, but I, but I will get there. It's just, it may not look exactly like what I'm thinking. So I feel like that. Leaves a lot of frustration and a out and a lot of disappointment out because I don't know what it looks like exactly. I just know where I'm headed.
Laura Rotter
So thank you for, again, for saying that really, I. Beautiful. Um, so as we're getting to our close, Denise, is there something you wanna make sure you mention to our listeners? And I do see that you have, um, several, um, free re resources that you offer.Â
Denise Kennedy
Yes, yes. Um, no. If anybody's interested, no. I mean, they can get me on my website, uh, they can contact us there. Um. That's total wellnessacademy.comÂ
Laura Rotter
And it'll be in the show notes.Â
Denise Kennedy
Yes. I'll, okay. But I do, I have a favorite saying, um, that I love and it's, it says there's no growing in the comfort zone and there's no comfort in the growing zone. And I love that because it really tells us that there, there just isn't any growth.
If we're all, everything's all comfortable and, and we aren't, aren't expanding and creating and growing. Then that's, you know, that's that comfort zone that we are holding onto so preciously, but there's no growing there. So I just love that, um, when I push myself out. Yep. It gets uncomfortable sometimes, but man, I, I don't wanna ever just, uh, keep the status quo.
Like I just to, to keep things. I, I wanna keep growing andÂ
helping.Â
Laura Rotter
And it's so clear from our conversation, Denise, that you will thank you so much for being my guest.Â
Denise Kennedy
Thank you Laura, so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for listening to Making Change with your Money certified financial planner, Laura Rodder specializes in helping people just like you organized, clarify, and invest their money.
Narrator
In order to support a life of purpose and meaning, go to www.trueabundanceadvisors.com/workbook. For a free resource to help you on your journey. Disclaimer, please remember that the information shared by this podcast does not constitute accounting, legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. It's for information purposes only.
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