Meet Jenn Trepeck | Health Coach, Podcaster, Business Advisor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenn Trepeck and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenn, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?

I used to strive for that balance between work and life. It was hard! I had my own business on the side, a full time job, family and trying to have some semblance of a social life was a lot. I always felt torn. No matter where I was, I felt like there were other things that I should be doing.

I’ve come to learn balance is a four letter word…as much of a curse word as others more commonly recognized. I now know balance doesn’t exist. I think we have been sold a bag of nonsense to think that balance is the goal.

Rather than balance, I now focus on presence. So wherever I am, being there. If I’m hanging out with my nephew, if I’m recording a podcast, if I’m working with my team, or working with my clients, that’s where I am. For me, this is way more helpful and way more powerful than the idea of balance or striving for this thing that truly doesn’t exist.

And in my work as a health coach, we talk about balance all the time because I think people can feel like they’re torn in a million directions! There’s life responsibilities, work responsibilities, personal responsibilities, our health, and all of the things we want to do. It’s like this giant Venn diagram and somewhere in the middle, we find ourselves pulled in every direction at the same time. One of the things I talk about and encourage my clients to do is, rather than thinking about our life as this Venn diagram, think about it as a single circle. So it’s not that the time we take for our fitness takes away from the time that could go to our kids, but that the time we take for our fitness makes us better when we show up for the time with our kids. Understanding that it can all fit together; it’s really a single circle. “Balance” can feel like being pulled in a million directions and trying to stand on that tightrope in the middle.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The overarching mission of everything I do in my business, and multiple ventures actually, is to change the state of healthcare—to help people reclaim control of their health. So in my practice as a health coach, in the work that I do in pain advocacy and education, and especially with my podcast, Salad with a Side of Fries, it’s all about education, empowerment and motivation to take our lives, our wellness and our nutrition to the next level. I really call the work I do with my clients and the podcast helping people learn the nutrition education we’re all supposed to know but no one ever taught us. It’s from that foundation of information that we can go out and live the rest of our lives and share our gifts with this world.

I thought about giving up so many times over the 12 years of building my business on the side. I would talk myself through this process every time. I would say to myself, “Okay, if I let go of my business, then I am saying yes to working for someone else for the rest of my life.” And in the roles that I had, working for others, they were all consuming and beyond stressful, requiring me to live my life based on what was happening in other people’s lives. So I would ask myself, “Am I willing to say yes to that forever?” The answer to that question was always “no.” So if I wasn’t willing to accept that, then I was always going to need something else. And if that something else needed to exist, then what was it going to be, if not what I was already working on? And so I would recommit and keep going. I’ve also heard it said that if you haven’t contemplated quitting, you’re not doing it right as an entrepreneur. So I also reminded myself that these were, as Grant Cardon says, great problems to have.
Admittedly, over the last three years of working for myself full time, giving up has never crossed my mind. I am living my dream, even on the most hectic or stressful day.

I think there are two most important factors in my success. One is integrity. I do what I say I’m going to do. I live my life aligned with the mission of my business, to change the state of healthcare and help people help themselves. I believe a major piece of this is showing up, doing what I say I’m going to do. It’s critical, in my experience, to be a person of your word.

The other factor is consistency. Whether it’s growing my business, or the work I do with my clients, or my podcast (Salad with a Side of Fries), everything is about consistency. And I wholeheartedly believe that is a tremendous factor in success. I’ve experienced it myself! We go farther faster when we choose a pace we can maintain, being consistently consistent. When we step on the gas to a pace we can’t sustain, we do it for as long we can, end up burned out and we stop. We do nothing ‘til we can recuperate and then muster the motivation again. That stop and start, the intensity, rather than consistency, can be a dream stealer. In business, in health, in life, what’s the pace that we could maintain forever?

Sure, these are two factors that set me apart. I think my mission also sets me apart. I look at everything I do as how to help others help themselves. It’s about THEM, not about me. My goal is for my clients to NOT need me and I’ve structured my business in a way that supports this. I think most people in my field sell longer programs or need their clients to be with them for years so they can make money. That’s not how I work.

I’m most proud of truly taking the leap from side-hustle to full-time, self-employment in 2019. And everything in my life has only flourished since then. There’s no going back for me. I was named one of Podcast Magazine’s 40 Under 40 this year, I was nominated for an International Women’s Podcast Award n the category of Visionary Leadership, I’m working with colleagues and the State of New York to write legislation expanding insurance coverage for a truly integrated approach to pain. I’m in awe of everything that’s happening right now. If you asked me in 2019 when I left my full-time job if it this is where I thought I’d be today, I would’ve said “no way.” Most of what I’m doing now wasn’t in my wildest imagination three years ago.

As an entrepreneur, people have told me, “it’s such a risk” or have called me a risk-taker. It’s funny. I think from the outside my choices appeared riskier than I ever realized them to be. I moved to New York after graduating from undergrad. Yet, I interned every summer in college in New York, so it didn’t feel as risky as maybe other people might see it. I built my business on the side for 12 years. So when I decided in 2019 not to get the next full-time job and to focus on my own business, (that’s when I launched the podcast), again, it wasn’t as risky as everybody else probably thought it was from the outside looking in. I spent 12 years setting myself up for that moment. Now when I think about risk, it’s all about throwing noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks; that’s really the experience of entrepreneurship. If something’s truly risky for you, it can read to the outside like desperation and I think there are few things less attractive or less powerful than desperation. So I look at risk now and say, you know, is it really risky or can I throw the noodle at the wall, see what happens, and just choose again? Because one of the things I’ve realized is that nothing is permanent unless I decide it is. So every choice I make, every risk I take, is really just there ‘til the next choice. And if I decide it’s not going to work or it’s not right, I just choose again.

Thinking about success, I really define success as living with choice and dignity. To choose how I spend my day, who I spend my time with, and what I work on. And I have to say, this definition has changed so much over the years. I used to think success was owning the airplane, owning the apartment in New York City, having the fancy title or career, the things we’re often taught success looks like. And really what I’ve come to learn is that success is a choice. How I spend my every day to be with whom I want to be, with working on the projects I want to work on, when I want to work with them, and to be able to choose the things that bring me joy. Success is freedom with time (and I suppose the money to do anything we want with that time).

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in New York City so I always tell people when they’re visiting, don’t schedule too much in a day. What tourists try to do in a day, I don’t do in weeks or months.

I’d say to visit in the Fall when the leaves are changing, the sun is out and it’s comfortable temperatures to walk around.
Spend an afternoon in Central Park.
Walk the Brooklyn Bridge and eat at Cicconi’s in Dumbo.
Enjoy a leisurely dinner at sunset at Grand Banks (be sure to get a table on the boat).
Skip the circle line tour for the Statue of Liberty and take the Staten Island ferry there and back…it passes the Statue of Liberty, it’s free and you can have a bite to eat at the pier in Staten Island.
Take an afternoon and evening to go to Industry City in Brooklyn; there are great shops, restaurants and often live music outside in the evenings.
Definitely go to a Broadway show one evening and eat at Anejo in Hell’s Kitchen.
For awesome sushi that’s different than you’re used to, go to Temakase in the East Village.
The Bronx zoo tags another borough for you.
And the Queens Botanical Garden gets you to another borough.
If it’s around Labor Day, definitely buy tickets to a day session of the US Open. Arrive a little early and plan to stay on the grounds even into the evening.
I could keep going but I think I filled more than a week!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I dedicate this shout-out to my mom. She is truly my biggest cheerleader, my best client, my confidant and advisor.

Website: asaladwithasideoffries.com

Instagram: @jenntrepeck & @saladwithasideoffriespod

Linkedin: @JenniferTrepeck

Twitter: @JennTrepeck

Facebook: @jenntrepeck

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpWoxiacNuGbyUtWPNYRnw

Other: Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6mtUfSykWtrePCk4iRzW0d