Notes from Chris

Episode 842

We all want to be healthy, but it’s one of those things that’s often easier said than done. Healthy eating takes intentional effort. When you’re busy, cooking up a nutritional meal is not nearly as convenient as ordering fast food or grabbing something processed and pre-packaged.

Carleigh Bodrug, a Communications Officer for a Hospital Foundation in Ontario, Canada, knew this challenge well. She believed a plant-based, whole foods lifestyle would improve her health. Yet she struggled to stick to it.

It wasn’t until Carleigh tried meal prepping that she was able to accomplish her goals. If you’re not familiar with meal prepping, it’s all about preparing aspects of your meals in advance. Rather than deciding what’s for dinner at the last-minute and throwing something together, you create a plan for the week.

On weekends, or whenever you have more free time, you do your grocery shopping and initial prep all at once. This may include chopping vegetables, or cooking and freezing sauces. With these steps done, most of your meals for the week are ready to go and take very little time to assemble.

Carleigh had been writing about healthy eating on her blog, Plant You, for two years, so she was well-versed in making meals without oil, refined sugars, or animal products. She knew from experience that meal prep could really help her audience, so she decided to offer a weekly meal prep plan.

While Carleigh had already built up a network of 130,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, she had created all her blog and social media content for free. Her blog income had previously been limited to product sponsorships and was pretty sporadic. The meal prep service, which is essentially a membership program, gave her the chance to generate consistent, ongoing revenue.

So, just three months ago, the Plant Ahead Meal Prep Program took root. With this plan, Carleigh sends out a new vegan meal plan every single week, as well as a grocery shopping list and nutritional breakdown for each recipe.

She wanted to make sure the program was accessible, so she offers it for just $7.99 USD/month. Her startup costs included a website domain, hosting, a light for photography, and a couple of subscriptions. All of this came to approximately $600, which she quickly earned back in sales. She also spent several hundred dollars in advertising costs the first two months. She covered those costs easily as well, earning over $1,000 in profit in the first month and over $2,000 in months two and three.

The Plant Ahead Meal Prep Program has required a lot of hard work. Carleigh admits that she’s had to sacrifice a lot—from her social life to time planning her wedding—but the sacrifice has paid off in more ways than one.

She says: “I would not be giving up almost every single weekend and hours during my week nights for this if it wasn't something I love and am deeply passionate about. I think it would be impossible otherwise—and I certainly wouldn't have gotten to this point if it was just for the money.”

Fortunately, even though it’s not just for the money, the sacrifice is now paying out in money as well. With predictable monthly revenue now coming in, this program should continue to blossom into a business that supports her veggie-filled future.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Plant You: Vegetarians and vegans rejoice! Here's a meal prep plan that will allow you to maintain your busy lifestyle—head over to Carleigh's website to get your own meal plan!
• WordPress: Carleigh used WordPress to set up Plant You, and here you can learn how to install your own WordPress site in 5 minutes

SEE ALSO:

• Quick Research Leads to Meal Planning Subscription Service: Healthy meal planning can be rough. One man is on a mission to help people be more health-conscious with his subscription-based website selling meal prep recipes
• Crossfit Trainer Starts Meal Prep Service for Hungry Customers: A Crossfit trainer and her videographer partner create a healthy meal prep and delivery service, launching it with zero startup costs and growing to nearly $1m in 3 years
• Pre-Made Meals Bring In $5,500/Month After Layoff: After losing her job, this digital marketer turns to the kitchen, where she whips up pre-made meals and launches a successful crowdfunding campaign

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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