The Membership Business Helping Parents with Picky Eaters

Shelli Varela: Danielle Binns, welcome to the It’s a TRIBE Thing Podcast. How are you?

Danielle Binns: I’m so excited. Hi, Shelli. I’m great. How are you?

Shelli Varela: I’m good. I’m really stoked to be talking to you because I think the work that you do is profound in many, many ways. You know, you have a website and a membership site, all about helping families thrive. You’re a nutritionist and you help parents of picky eaters. As we’re getting started, would you be so kind as to share your story about who were you before you started your membership site and what led you to this point that we’re at right now?

Danielle Binns: Sure. Definitely. I was just a girl who had no idea what parenting was and other times I’m going to have five kids.

Shelli Varela: That could make by the way, “I’m just a girl who had no idea what parenting was.”

Danielle Binns: Yeah. Exactly. My next business. So, I’ve always had an interest in food. I’m Italian and I love to eat and I also love health and fitness and so on. So, while I was working in the corporate world, has worked for companies like Microsoft and Bell and had a tremendous experience there. But there was a bit of a void for me in the sense that I really needed that nutrition element. So, while I was working full time, when I come home, I’d sit in front of on my couch and I started writing a blog and it was called Me, Myself, and Food at the time. And it was my outlet for all things food and health. At the time, I also had a condition called PCOS so polycystic ovarian syndrome, and when I had gone to see my doctor, they had said it’s going to be tough to have a baby because my menstrual cycle is off and without getting into all the nitty-gritty, it was looking dismal. So, I thought, “This can’t be. I’m going to do something about this.” And as I was working on my blog, my husband who was my boyfriend at the time had said, “You know, Danielle, you love nutrition so much like why don’t you go to school and learn a few things so at least you’re doing that on the side?” 

So, while I was writing my blog and so on, I went to a school locally here in Toronto and I learned so much. It’s like drinking out of a fire hose but I loved it. And I while I was there, I actually did end up getting pregnant with my first daughter and I was celebrating. I couldn’t believe it. It’s great, life is going to be perfect from here on out, and pregnancy was really amazing. I felt great. You know, my colleagues were telling me I was glowing, I mean, all those things. And so, I thought, “I would love to be pregnant all the time. This is great.” But then nearing the end of our pregnancy, my midwife had expressed some concerns because the size of the baby didn’t seem as though she was growing. So, they had sent me in for some ultrasounds. I was going fairly regularly because she had dropped from the 20th percentile to the 10th and then a third and something was definitely up. So, while they were monitoring her growth, one appointment, I vividly remember them saying, “Okay, something’s up here. Let me just bring in the cardiologist.” I’m thinking, “Okay, what’s happening?” 

So, the cardiologist comes in who was lovely, but it’s never good to hear any bad news. And so, she actually said, “Okay, it looks like there was a hole in her heart,” and she handed me a piece of paper that said congenital heart disease and then she asked me to go to the desk and hand in this paper. I’m thinking, “Okay, what just happened?” You kind of feel like you gotten punched in the stomach because, again, pregnancy was perfect. I was just planning on expecting a perfect baby and all the things that cuddles and coos and all that good stuff. And it was far from that. So, what we were induced early because of just her lack of growth and so on and the danger her of her heart and they told me that she would need heart surgery by four months of age. She was born at 4 pounds-ish, 4.5 pounds and, gosh, he was so wee and I thought nursing was going to be easy breezy and it was not. It was actually one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. All three children actually have had a lactation consultant because it’s not as natural as they say it is but anyhow, especially with a child who has no interest in eating. And so, she wasn’t gaining weight and I kept saying to the doctor that, “Something’s not right here,” you know, mother’s instinct and they said, “You know what, let’s wait it out.” 

And so, I thought, “You know what, by the time she starts solids, things are going to be so much easier. She’s just not into nursing and not into the bottle. So, solids come around and same thing. She eats one blueberry and she’s done. Not interested in any foods, pushing things away, crying at the table. I dreaded every meal before it even started and then only to come out of the meal. No, I have to plan another one and wonder if she’s even going to eat. And so, by a year I really pushed the doctors and I said, “Okay, yeah. You know, something is up here.” And they actually thought that she was going to end up on a feeding tube because she was below the zero percentile so not even on like the 1 percentile so quickly. 100% of children were larger, both taller and weighed more than her. And I should mention during that year, she also did have that heart surgery at 8 pounds and she now has a pacemaker as well because there was some damage done to her heart while she was super small. So, we were at Sick Kids for a while. I know that all sounds like a bit dismal but we are in a much better place now. 

So, while she was struggling with eating, the doctors had said to me, you know, they were great, but the advice being a nutritionist, I was like, “Yeah. This doesn’t feel so good.” “So, just give her whipping cream. Put whipping cream in her mouth just like take her to McDonald’s. Yeah, give her French fries, ice creams, okay, like all that kind of stuff.” And I see a place for that but it should not be the source of nutrition for a child who’s underweight, not thriving. So, I ended up going to school again and I ended up studying and kind of digging into the research on underweight children and just picky eating and how children eat and how they’re built and why they eat the way they do. And it was so eye-opening, Shelli, I ended up putting my daughter on my own protocol, which I now call the Picky Eater Protocol. And this is actually a protocol that should be used for any child. It doesn’t matter ends up being for children who are currently picky but it’s a great – putting your child on some type of a plan is helpful just to even avoid the picky eating behaviors that tend to surface. So, we put her on this protocol and we started to see tremendous changes. She was eating without tears. She would come to the table happy. She was willing to try new food. She was gaining weight. 

And when we went to go see her endocrinologist, I remember sitting there in the office and they had said, “Okay.” I remember pulling out her notepad, the dietician, as well had said, “So, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing differently?” And she started to take notes and I thought, “Okay. There’s something here. I’m doing something differently than anyone else typically does when it comes to feeding kids and I need to share that.” So, on my blog and on my website, my mission was to support other parents who were struggling with feeding their family. And when people read my story, instead of getting help for themselves, they were asking me for support with how to help their child, how to raise a healthy eater and that’s kind of how I fell into this world of picky eating and family nutrition is giving parents the simple tools that they need. We tend to overcomplicate it. There’s a lot of Band-Aid solutions out there that work for a day and a lot of parents lose hope and just think that this is just the way it is. And I’m telling you, if it worked for my daughter, it can work for virtually any child. It’s just a matter of like being committed and being consistent in your approach. And so, yeah, so now I’ve actually I left the corporate world about when my second daughter was born and that was about four years ago and started my business once I had all these parents reaching out for consulting and now here I am four years later with a third child as well. Three girls. Lucky me.

Shelli Varela: This is an amazing story. So, I didn’t want to jump in while you were telling it because you were on such a beautiful roll, but there’s so many lessons and takeaways. First of all, thank you so much for listening to your heart and your intuition and doing what you knew to be true. You know, I’m always inspired by our community, those who have membership sites, those that are starting them. And your story is so remarkable because if you follow the route of your story back, it’s like you were born to do this. You had this interest in nutrition long before you ever had kids, long before you ever knew that this was going to become a problem, something you had to solve or, you know, ironically enough, create the remedy. That was the thing that potentially could have saved your daughter. Then it’s so important for anybody out there listening, in your story, you talk about your boyfriend at the time now husband saying, “Hey, well, you’ve always been so interested in nutrition. Why don’t you go back to nutrition like why don’t you go to nutrition school?” And if you consider the gravity of what a gift that was that you’re like, “You know what, here I am. I have this corporate job. I come home at the end of the day and I end up doing what I love on my own time,” when it was the very thing that not only created this incredible membership site you have, but it was the thing that remedied the problem you were having with your daughter. 

I wonder if you could speak to what that felt like following your heart and turning something that started as an idea or remedy for your daughter and then being aware that so many other people are asking you about that, what that was like to turn that into a business? And the reason I ask is right now listening, there are people who have an idea but think, “Oh, that’s not a thing. That’s just kind of something I’m super interested in.” So, I wonder if you could speak to how that transition was for you, creating a business.

Danielle Binns: Sure. You know, it’s funny, Shelli, because I thought, “What do I know about feeding kids and nutrition and so on?” And I have to give full credit to my husband because every once in a while he reminds me of how many lives I’ve changed and even back then, him seeing that passion and encouraging me to take that first step because had I not, who knows where I’d be now? But it was scary because all I knew was working for somebody else. And I was like, there’s no way. I remember in university I went to Laurier with Stu actually and I remember being in school and then asking us in doing a survey or doing one of those personality tests and I was not a leader like that was not in the cards for me. So, when people when they asked my friends and it was, “Oh my gosh, I do not want to work for anybody else. I want to be my own boss.” I was like, “No way in hell I want somebody to tell me what to do and I’ll do a damn good job of it.” So, even considering starting my own business was definitely not on the radar for me. It’s funny how like just baby steps, right? Just little things in your life, they all amount to something bigger. 

So, when I first did it, you know, it was just a blog. At that time, I was not thinking I’m going to start a business and I’m going to change, you know, work with thousands of families like it was just I’m going to do this for myself and hopefully other people really enjoy it and get a few recipes. And then next thing, school, and the next thing, sharing my story. It’s amazing how powerful stories are because purely just having my story on my website as a blog post was what people really connected with. And then it was one client, right, and then a few more clients and then I thought, “You know, I’m going to build a program because I can’t work with everybody.” So, then I did an online course. And so, it wasn’t like all of a sudden, I just went from this woman who was struggling with one child and kind of figured it out to having the business idea right now with memberships and online courses and products and so on. It was like one thing at a time. And so, I don’t know if that’s answering your question, but it feels so fulfilling to be able to – I would not have had this feeling. As much as I love my previous jobs, the fulfillment that I get like it fills my cup speaking with families every day. 

Just before I was jumped on this interview with you, I was looking at my membership program and parents posting and how their other child for the first time ever ate a piece of like meat, which is a big deal for them or had their first vegetable and it’s like, “Oh my gosh,” you kind of forget the impact that you’re having for other families or that I forget.

Shelli Varela: What was the way that you transitioned from a course to a membership site and how has that served your life and your business?

Danielle Binns: Actually, someone had mentioned Stu’s free course and, well, of course for the free challenge. And so, when I jumped into the course I thought, “I need to do something else in my business. Everything I do is very deep and detailed and I just wanted to give parents simple solutions”. So, I thought, “I’m going to try with this membership site thing.” And so, I went through his course, which was amazing. It’s one of the only courses I’ve actually completed. and I did the beta launch and that was an eye-opener to me to show me that, “Oh, my goodness, people actually do want this.” So, it was just kind of putting it out there and not making the decision before I knew what – so I actually didn’t even build the membership yet. I just wanted to see whether there was interest and there clearly was.

Shelli Varela: That’s, that’s amazing. So, I just want to say that again. You didn’t even build the membership. You test drove the concept of the membership. Your Community gave you incredible feedback and you said, “Okay, I’m going to build the thing they’re asking for.”

Danielle Binns: Exactly, yeah. I had 50 people. As soon as I sent that email within minutes, I remember the subject was big news. And I just said, “Here’s what I’m thinking. Here’s what the end result will be. If you’re interested in joining me, here is the link.” And then yep, I had about 20 within the first like 30 minutes. So, it was such a great feeling. Yeah, because I’m the type of person that has to have everything perfect before I launch it. So, it gave me freedom to realize, oh, my goodness, like, you don’t need to build things in order for them to come. You can just put the idea there and see whether it’s even viable.

Shelli Varela: I love the story so much. And going back to you taking this test in school that basically based on this, I’m going to be an employee, I’m not a leader. And for anybody else who has had similar because everybody has that story, right? They said, “Oh, I’m going to be an office worker.” “No, no, you just have to find your one true thing.” That’s what I really want to acknowledge you for because you know what you know when you know it and even though at the time it seems like, “Well, nutrition it’s this thing. I’m interested in… Yes, I’m going to write about it,” like look at you now and for everybody out there listening, the thing that’s so great about you, Danielle, is you paid attention to the things you love and you let them be okay. And I remember hearing Elizabeth Gilbert is a New York Times best-seller. 

Danielle Binns: Is she Eat, Pray, Love, right? 

Shelli Varela: Yes, she did Eat, Pray, Love. And she used to do this talk on passion because she’d known her entire life, she wanted to be a writer. So, she was doing this talk in Australia this particular day and she got an email afterwards from one of the people in the audience and said, “You know, really I came to see you, I love your work but I have to say I’ve never felt worse about myself than I have after listening to you because I wish I knew what my passion was, and I don’t.” So, to tie this back to you and you following your dream and what’s true for you and paying attention, what Elizabeth Gilbert said to this woman was that she would not ever give another talk on passion. And instead what she said, “If you don’t know what your passion is, instead, just follow what you’re curious about.” And then in front of that comes, you know, like, what do you want to feel? How do you want to feel? What do you want to do? And pay attention to the things that light you on fire just like you did because I can only imagine what the impact is that you’re truly creating. If you chase that ripple forward, you know, these kids have great nutrition. So, they’re thriving, so they’re thinking better so they’re learning better, so then what does that manifest later?

Danielle Binns: For sure. There has to be a love there for something and a lot of people I know even my own circle of friends, they are working and giving their time to another company that they’re actually not interested in and so I feel very lucky to have I say fallen in this but I guess I did take the baby steps to get there. So, for sure, if there’s interest in something for people to just start learning more about it or doing something with it because it all adds up and I think having such to pick herself as like running a company that’s surrounded by our passion, it feels so daunting but it actually is possible.

Shelli Varela: It’s possible. I heard one lady say one time it almost feels like cheating because like it should be harder than it is but I really love what I do so much. It’s not like work.

Danielle Binns: I know. It’s like those the Sunday night dreads. I’ve heard it but I used to have having to go into the office the next day, “Oh my gosh, I got to work. Ugh.”  The Monday blues like I never have that. I absolutely love Mondays.

Shelli Varela: That’s amazing. What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve received that has left an imprint in your heart or in your life?

Danielle Binns: Best piece of feedback from a client? Oh, goodness, you know, just seeing someone saying, “Thank you, Danielle. You’ve changed our lives,” like there’s nothing really more powerful than that. I just saw that comments today in my Raising Adventurous Eaters Club around like just the tools that they’ve been given and how thinking differently but how they feed their families has actually changed their lives, like that’s what I’m here to do and so it feels very good to hear that.

Shelli Varela: Stu always says, people come for the content, but they also stay for the community. There must be something super supportive when you’re at your wit’s end trying to get your child to eat and they’re not gaining weight and you’re tired and you’re frustrated. You’re spending all of your time thinking about food and preparing food that never gets eaten, I would imagine, particularly for your community, the support that they have in one another would be an incredible addition to what you offer.

Danielle Binns: It’s a big piece. Those that do the best and see the most progress and success and wins are those that are participating in the community because they get ideas from each other and they also realize they’re not alone. In parenting, you kind of feel like, “Oh my goodness, am I screwing up my kid? Is it just my kid that won’t touch a veggie or only bread and crackers at every meal?” And they’re, “Oh, my goodness, I’m not the only one.” And they do commiserate for each other and they support each other and say,” Oh, you know what, this worked for me.” And so, it’s not just me providing the tools to them. It’s also them supporting each other and they now have a buddy system that I’ve created. So, they’ve got mealtime pals and they connect every week. And so, it’s the same with the membership, right? So, it started off as something very simple and each month it kind of evolves as I see what people and so it’s becoming this beautiful space for people to really connect and be part of their lives versus just another thing they have to do.

Shelli Varela: Genius all of it. I’m so grateful for you, the work you’re doing, and for your story. If people are looking to connect with you online, what is the best way they can find you?

Danielle Binns: So, it would be DanielleBinns.com is my website and from there you can go to my blog and I’ve got a number of different ways I support families. And there’s actually a free challenge I do just a couple times a year. I’m just wrapping one up now and it’s incredibly powerful. We’re only on day two and it’s the change that families are seeing. It’s pretty tremendous. There’s a free challenge so they could also go to DanielleBinns.com/Challenge and if we’re not running currently, by the time this episode airs, then you can just sign up for the waitlist.

Shelli Varela: Great and that’s Binns with two Ns, B-I-N-N-S. 

Danielle Binns: Yes, thank you. I always forget that. So yeah, Danielle, B-I-N-N-S

Shelli Varela: Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, my friend. I super appreciate you.

Danielle Binns: Thank you so much, Shelli. It’s been fun.

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