"Save $1K + PER YEAR" These FOOD HACKS Will SAVE Your BUDGET & YOUR HEALTH | Carleigh Bodrug

30:42And where does fiber come from? It's not in meat, it's not in cheese, it's in plants. So if you can start getting your digestive moving with plants, your skin, your weight, everything kind of follows. And I think it's the best thing people can do. What would be the series that you think you could do to honor your parents? Oh, probably veganizing recipes that I grew up eating, which really was the inspiration of my first book. I thought, what is the book that I wish I had when I went plant-based, which I had only been plant-based for a few years at that time. What's the book that I wish I had? So it was like, okay, I grew up eating my mom's pasta sauce.

31:25I love taco night, whichever else. Can we eat these things? Can we enjoy these things? Healthy, whole food, plant-based? And the answer is absolutely we can. And again, I think there's always room for people who eat animal products to have animal products in these recipes, I just think that it's great to crowd them with vegetables. Sure, sure, yeah. More veggies. More veggies. You can create a book or a series that's like, okay, here's a traditional meat-based recipe. Here, I'm going to make it plant-based. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting. It would be a great series. I was thinking also a series of cancer-kicking foods.

32:02I don't even know if that's even real, but it's like, what are the foods that prevent cancer? I've seen it before. I was once following this girl who was feeding her mom like a whole food plant-based diet who had cancer. And it was like a lot of anti-inflammatory foods, lots of like smoothies, broccoli sprouts. Do you sprout? I don't sprout, but I like broccoli sprouts. Yeah, sprouts are like a very powerful food. They say that like there's no one superfood because really it's your whole diet. But like I think sprouts are like pretty close to it. And doesn't Dr. Will say it's like you need like 30 different ingredients in your foods, like weekly or daily?

32:39I can't remember what it is. Yeah. So the American Gut Health Project determined that people who eat a diversity of plants over 30 per week have a healthier, more diverse gut microbiome than those who don't, which sounds super intimidating. Sounds like how do you eat 30 different plants? Yeah. So it sounds super intimidating, but it's not as bad as you think. So that includes like your grains, rice, whole grain pasta, nuts, seeds. So really like you can create a salad. I probably have some salads in this book or recipes, clean out the fridge recipes, great opportunity to get some plant diversity.

33:13And where you put a soup, you probably have 10 to 12 plants with spices in there. So it's, that's one meal. A spice is a plant too. Yes. He, I've talked to Will about this and he's like, yes, but like it, it counts. But like if you can get like an actual plant in there, it's more, it counts more. Yeah. It's like one and a half times. Yeah. That's interesting. Okay. So that's the next version for you. You see doing a series like that. Yeah, I could. I mean, I think I'm always, I'm always, right now I really love quickies. So I think everybody, it's kind of to your point earlier where you said, what about the mom who has three kids?

33:54Yes. And I don't even think it's a mom who just has three kids. I think all of us are short on time. So I'm like really into, I have this quickie series and I've only done eight to 10 episodes, maybe 10. And they're like 15 minute recipes, which I really think that you can create killer plant-based meals with like 15 minutes. So that's my main motivation now because I think everyone's short on time. And I'm going to keep going with scrappy cooking. I love it. It's crushing. I just love it. What's if you can only make one scrappy recipe from the book? Yeah. One treat and one like actual meal that's like hearty.

34:31Okay. So my hearty meal is lemon peel pesto. And so this is replacing basil in a vegan pesto recipe with lemon peels. So good. So you peel the lemon peels off of like a potato peeler to avoid the pith. And then like you juice a whole lemon. You add it to a blender with cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic, little bit of vegetable broth, blend it up. It makes like the creamy lemon Alfredo sauce. I don't know why I called it pesto. It was because it was based off of a vegan pesto recipe that I made. And you toss it with whatever pasta that you want. It's like next level delicious. This is great. Also clean out the fridge, amp up the veggies.

35:08It's great with cherry tomatoes, whole handful of spinach. Absolutely delicious. Chicken, if you eat meat, it would be good with. And then dessert. I have a great recipe for a aquafaba chocolate mousse. Do you know what aquafaba is? No idea. Okay. Aquafaba is liquid from a can of chickpeas and I eat a lot of can of chickpeas. The liquid from it? The liquid from it is like an elixir. It acts just like egg whites. So if you have a hand mixer and you beat it, it will actually foam up into a meringue. Yeah, so it will foam up into a meringue and then you add melted chocolate to it and a little maple syrup if you want, a little sea salt.

35:51It's like so good and so easy. It probably comes together in 15 minutes. Did you go to like culinary school or someone teach you how to cook? Or how did you become a, you know, a chef or a food content creator if you didn't have this experience or credentials or schooling that taught you how to do this? I have that gene that, and I think it was Marie Farleo, or you'll know it, where she says everything is figureoutable. I have that. So I saw people who were creating content about vegan food, and I was like, that is the coolest job in the world because it's so mission-based. and my friends from college are so shocked because I was a girl who came to college, loved to drink, had a full freezer full of tater tots, mini pizzas, loved meat.

36:43I have gone like fully opposite now and like I didn't cook at all. So I just saw it and I'm like, I think I can do this. Come on. So you never really cooked? No, no. Your mom or your dad never taught you? My dad was always like, I went over to my dad's place the other day and he was marinating potato peels in pickle brine. So like there's something there that definitely like... It's not like you did this as a kid and you were like kind of interest when you were a teenager and you were cooking in college. You were like Hot Pockets and... Yeah, yes. Tater tots. 100%. So I think it just came from this like seeing it and thinking.

37:22And then... So you thought it was cool? I thought it was so cool. Like, wow, what if I could do that? Yeah. What if you, like, I thought, oh my goodness, people are making a living sharing vegan food. Like, I was now vegan. I'm like, this is the dream. Like, I can't even believe people do this. So I thought maybe I can do it. Come on. How old were you? Probably about 24. So I had already, I had a normal career, pension. I worked now, I worked in radio, and then I had moved to like a regular job as marketing for a hospital foundation. so it was like kind of like wow yes radio then the hospital foundation and it was like writing letters for donations to get donations for the hospital fundraising and stuff and that's when i started and i was like kind of doing it nights and weekends where i would like create these little infographics and all of that so so you were originally just cooking for yourself yeah when did you start cooking for yourself honestly when i went vegan so when i went plant-based is when i started cooking for myself.

38:26How were you? I was around 22, 23. Okay. So a year later, you're like, well, maybe I'll start doing this online too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like learning how to cook for myself. Absolutely delusional. Yes. And, uh, it's funny because when I put out my first cookbook the week before and nearly had a nervous breakdown because I was like, and I had, I remember I went on line and spoke to a therapist cause I'm like, I am putting out a cookbook and everybody is going to know that I don't know how to cook. Really? Yeah. Like I'm like, this was a terrible idea. Like, what did I do? And then people loved it.

39:03And I think the reason being is that the recipes were so simple because they thought like it was practical. It wasn't a chef. It wasn't this complex like meal. It was quick, easy, plant-based, healthy meals that I was actually making. Sure. But I mean, you come from a small town in the middle of nowhere in Canada. You weren't a chef. You weren't trained, you know, in nutrition necessarily or cooking. You weren't trained in plant-based cooking, none of these things. How did you build confidence in yourself and overcome imposter syndrome to be able to put content out there and say, I'm going to get a book deal.

39:46I'm going to put it out there and it's going to hit the New York Times list the first time you put it out you know it was a lot of imposter syndrome but the phrase that comes to mind is have you heard that tiktok trend where it says but boys do it like it's like you i can like if i see somebody doing this why can they do it and i can't and i think anybody can apply that to their life like obviously i'm not out here and i'm like gonna go perform brain surgery we're cooking like it's home cooking and I saw people in a career trajectory where they didn't have cooking experience who had made who had been successful yeah so I thought if they can do it why can't I do it but there was still definitely and still is that like little voice where it's like everybody's gonna find out that you're like an imposter but like it's not like I'm on here I'm being like, I'm, you know, Martha Stewart.

40:42I, it's like, I don't know what culinary background Martha has, but I'm sure something, uh, I don't claim, I think my food is very much for, I don't think any chef would go on and think she's a chef. It's, it's for regular people. Everyday people. Everyday people. Just trying to eat better and use what they got in their fridge. Yeah. Not create the most extravagant meals. Exactly. And I think anybody could, I think anybody who sets their mind and is super passionate about something and has the skill set can apply kind of a system of short video content and make it successful. But you didn't have like the skills necessarily.

41:23I mean, you're only one or two years into developing skills. Yeah. Because you didn't cook before at all. I think it was more the broadcasting skills. So I went to school for broadcasting and I think more than the recipes in and of themselves. You understand content. I understood content. And marketing. And marketing. Yeah. And that's still, I love content and marketing, but I also love cooking. And I loved cooking at the time, and I think it's therapeutic for me. I always say this to people that we've gotten so far away from kind of that primal act of actually cooking dinner. like sitting down with your cutting board, chopping up vegetables, slicing your tofu, whatever you're making.

42:08And it's very mindful activity. And there's not a lot today. You've got to be present. You have to be present or you're going to cut your finger off like you got to be or you're following a recipe. And there's not a lot of things in today's world where you're fully present for. So how do you stay present for when you're also shooting content That I can't do. And you're performing and you're moving the camera and you're editing. So you're not present really to - No, that's where recipe testing comes in. So the recipe is tested before it's ever filmed. Then you film it. Then it's like a passive action because I'm following my own recipe that has been created.

42:45Wow. Yes. That's interesting. Yes. So a week before you launch your first book, you call therapists and say, yeah I'm afraid that everyone's gonna find out that I have no clue what I'm doing yeah and I got the book in the mail and I mean it's all infographics it's just like this one and I'm like this is either people are gonna love this or they're gonna think it looks like a kid's school project like I just didn't know and I had shot all the photos thank goodness I had a photographer for this one so I'm like I'm like looking at the photos which also no photography experience like a complete disillusion to the world.

43:20And I was just horrified. But people loved it. People love my first book. You were horrified putting it out. Did you just not think it looked good? Or were you not proud of it? Or you just think, I'm proud of it, but other people aren't going to like it? You're afraid of... I think it's just those backstage jitters where you're questioning everything that you did, you know? And really being like, did I hoodwink everybody into like giving me a book deal. Like, you know, like those huge doubts and, um, only really worked through it once the book was out and I was validated that people liked it. Like the survey session wasn't, I still was like up on that Tuesday when it came out with thinking, um, People are going to find out what are they saying?

44:08Yeah. What are they saying? Well, what are the reviews? Uh, and when you get a negative review or I guess a critical review, how do you take it? My first book, I was absolutely devastated when a negative review would come in. Yeah. It devastated me. And I would be like, I would try and get them taken down. Like I'd be like to my publisher, like, can you contact Amazon? This review like feels a little too personal. Like, or, you know, having put out a book, people will leave reviews if their book comes damaged. Meanwhile, it's not like it was you shipping out the book, like as something. And so I would get very upset.

44:43What was the critical, what were the words or the critiques that affected you the most about your work when you launched the book? People would call it like juvenile, which I think was one of the fears. And, but I mean, the book said ridiculously easy recipes. So I'm like. It should be. It should be. It should be basic. Yeah. But I think that was like hurtful where I'm like, or like she's just an influencer cook or whatever, which I am. I feel like people think the word influencer is so dirty. Like it has this dirty connotation. And I'm like, why though? Right. Since you weren't like culinary school trained and nutritionist and certified and all these different things.

45:27So people, I think people get frustrated when they are those things and they haven't had the success they want or the audience or the results they're looking for. They're like, I spent eight years of my life going to medical school or going to nutrition school, whatever it is. And I'm still don't feel like I'm getting the attention, the validation, the opportunities that I would like this person is. And all she did was just whip up some of these simple little recipes online and she got 5 million followers. Screw her. Yeah, I don't blame them. I would feel the same way. I know. I get it. I get it.

46:01And I don't know that I have an explanation for it. But now, I will say, now, like, this book, very different. When I got it in my hands, I was, like, so happy with it. Yes. Especially the recipes. I was just so happy with how everything turned out. And doing it while my mom was sick, my sister actually left her job and worked with me full time to develop the recipes. with this on this book and trust me I thought about hiring a ghostwriter when my mom my mom was diagnosed a week after I signed this deal so I was like can I even do this like you know in that moment you're just freaking out and I don't care what anybody says now I just feel like I'm so aligned in what I'm doing and I don't care like I just want people to eat more plants I just don't care.

46:55Like, what are you going to say? They're going to comment bacon on my Instagram post. Like, whatever. You comment bacon? No, always bacon, all caps. Bacon. Or they'll be like, I'm eating five times as much bacon to cancel out your plant-based recipe. And I'm like, you go. You eat that bacon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It just doesn't hit the same way. And I'm sure that's like just. it's a minority too of people like commenting and saying these negative reviews but it stands out sometimes it stands out sometimes but i think you get thousands of comments on your videos and i'm assuming 98 are like really inspiring positive and they i just tried this it's been so helpful yeah yeah i think it's like i heard advice from someone and who knows who it was but it was read five positive comments on your post before you ever respond to a negative one and it's so true.

47:48Like, why are we so drawn to like, get your back up and say like, why are you saying this to me? You got to think somebody who is commenting something negative on Instagram, on a post that has nothing to do with them is probably battling their own demons. Yeah. As one of the biggest food content creators in the world, what's your fear right now or insecurity insecurity or fear well there's it's twofold i'm very scared of climate change that's like my world fear and i worry that we're not making enough changes to our world to combat climate change that's my world fear that kind of like you think food is one of the the biggest cause it is it's uh food waste or oh so it's all so food is around the industry of food is around 28 of emissions 15 of which is um animal agriculture so like the a large chunk of it food waste in and of itself is eight percent and uh transportation is around 15 so when you look at food being close to 30 and then transportation being 15.

49:09I mean, I think sometimes we have the wrong focus. Wow. What's the big, is food the biggest factor? Yeah, the biggest, I think so. Don't quote me on that, but I think it's the largest piece of the pie there. And then transportation. But I mean, we can't deny like gas, like cars, trucks, airplanes, everything, like all, all of it. Shipping, all the shipping costs. All of it. Animal agriculture in particular is a huge drain because it requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions to produce a beef than it does per calorie of plant protein. Right. So it's just, it's a real drain.

49:50And so like, I'm very passionate about this. I don't want to get like too depressive, but climate change concerns me. So that's like a driver for what I do in terms of personal like work. I don't know. I, I feel like things present themselves where they should for what I want to do. Like I know when I finished my first book, I thought, what am I going to do. And then it was scrappy, just like really like came right in front of me. So I feel - And then you naturally created the book up based on that. Exactly. And now you're doing this quickie series. Yeah. You're like, okay, that'll naturally unfold.

50:25I hope so. So I think that, yeah, I'm not worried. I'm not worried because I, and I mean, if it all goes away, it all goes away. I feel good about what I, what I'm doing. If, you know, I don't want to put this out there necessarily, but if, you know, the algorithms change or your account gets taken down for whatever reason and you lose all your followers on social media and all your accounts go away how would that make you feel

50:54devastated clearly but also i just get back out there i'd start from ground zero and you think you could build it all again i i'm not saying i could build it all again i think i could build is like, I think I could get my message out there. Yeah. I think I could build something in what I'm doing. Right. Right. Maybe not all back within a month or two, but it's like, you could start building and creating content, innovate and persevere. It's just kind of your main thing. Yeah. I think I could scrap it out and make it happen. Quickly scrap it out and, you know, make it. Um, if you were starting today and you were looking to build a, a massive online following and you hadn't launched a single piece of content and you can only do one thing, if there was someone who was like, I've got an idea, I've got a passion, I've got to love, whether it's food, whether it's relationships or it's teaching something that they're passionate about playing music, what would be the thing that could help you go from zero to a million followers, do you think, the fastest way possible?

51:58Should people focus on multiple platforms at once, go all in on one platform, steal ideas from other people's content, do trends. What would be the thing that you would do if you're starting from scratch today? If it were me, and let's maybe use hockey as an example, I would look at the top 10 hockey content creators on social media. I would go through all of their videos and I would have a notepad beside me and I would look at what are their most viral videos? What have the most views? What have the most engagement? Then I would cross examine what it is that made that video successful. What is the length of it?

52:38Did they use a trending sound? Did they use like some sort of hook at the beginning? And I would do that for like the 10 most biggest accounts in your niche. And then I would brainstorm content from there. So you never want a copy, but I think to go in uneducated when it's all free resources makes no sense to me. So then I would start creating content. And personally, I would create under 30 second because I always create under 30 second. I think our time spans are short videos. Although there's some long form content that's doing really well on TikTok now. The cuss is like three to five minutes.

53:17Yeah. By the time this episode comes out, it could be different. But personally, I would start creating 30 second videos and I would look at, I would duplicate in my own way what has been most successful for these people. And I would use definitely trending music. And what I would do is film it off platform. So I'd probably use my iPhone. I still use an iPhone to film content. I switched to a camera for a bit. iPhone, in my opinion, performs better. Really? Yeah, I think so. Or maybe it's probably less an algorithm thing as it is like a visual thing because we all use iPhones. The experience of it.

53:53Yeah, the experience of it. So I'd use my iPhone and I'd film and I'd start cracking out some videos and I would film them off platform and I would distribute them on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Facebook reels. All shorts. All shorts. Because if you're creating a piece of content and you're spending maybe, I don't know, six hours creating it, whatever, you could create a killer piece of content in 20 seconds, but it could take you six hours. Why do you want to only post that on one platform? It's nonsensical. You might as well post it everywhere because all of these platforms that I just spoke about, including YouTube, are prioritizing short video content.

54:31So then I would start and then I would start churning out probably a video every day. And then I'd watch, sit and watch and see what ticks. And then when you find it, you then double down and start creating more and more content and I mean your first videos like if you've never created a video in your life it's probably going to be horrible maybe you'll be lucky and it's not maybe you'll be lucky and it's not but like if you go back on my feed and look at my first reels they are so cringeworthy it's not even funny they were just like blurry I have a tremor so like my hand shaking filming terrible terrible and uh the only thing that made it better was not like investing thousands of dollars in some course or anything like that.

55:13It was just doing a video every day, like get in it, in it, in it. Not worrying about, I need a better equipment or better lighting or better audio or a$2 ,000 camera. I was just like, let me get better at creating content first. Exactly. And I think that natural light is important. So that's one thing I would, one of the biggest, two things, one of the biggest tips, natural light. So if you can, if you're filming any type of content, if you can kind of position yourself either with a light or by a window so that the window is illuminating you i think nine times out of ten it's going to look way better does it do better based on the yeah oh i if i film canada is so brutal like the sun comes out so but i will sometimes it's got clouds a lot too right my filming days around sun because natural light pouring onto food there's you can't duplicate it i i've tried to duplicate it with lighting it's just it doesn't work it's absolutely it's like magical when you have that.

56:08So if you have natural light, yeah, it just makes it look like more desirable and poppy and beautiful. And like, if anybody goes to my profile now, you can see like some of the ones with natural light, they're just gorgeous. So that, and then the second thing is captions. I think captions are a missed opportunity. I see captions on video. I see so many people post videos without captions. And personally, like if I go to bed and I'm scrolling, which you shouldn't do. The caption catches you. Yeah, yeah, the caption catches you. I don't have my phone sound on. And I think like so many people probably listen without sound on on their videos.

56:44So you have to have captions. And I mean, there's apps now that will do that for you, like CapCut, Splice. You can even add Instagram captions. Yeah. So it doesn't have to look a certain way, but just have captions on there. I think so. You use captions on all your videos. Most of them, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, probably nine out of 10, I would say. Yeah, I think it's important because it, and I also think there's something about watching a short video and having text, even if you are listening to it. It's a more immersive experience. It helps you connect with it more. Yeah. I also think that there's something to be said about talking to camera.

57:19So I try to do that more now is like I'll have some things where I'm not necessarily doing just a voiceover where I'm saying things to camera. All my scrappy videos, I'm usually holding up something like beat tops and saying, stop throwing out your beat tops. And I think that connects you with your viewer. And I see a lot of food creators that don't have themselves in it. And I think they lose opportunity. That's a missed opportunity to me because a food video, there's millions. So who are you? Who is the person behind the food? Why should I follow you? What story do you have to tell, right? What would you say have been the keys to building personal brand for yourself?

58:01Is it being on video? Is it, you know, using a certain language? Like what are the keys to building personal brand as a creator? Yeah, I think definitely having yourself front and center is huge in having your face in your videos. And I can imagine you guys have experienced this too, but like my videos get taken all the time and reposted to other accounts, which whatever. But like, thank goodness they have my face in them because if they were just food, then there would be no credit, right? so I think having you visually there I always like I'm scrappy I'm promoting scrappy I'm not wearing a green jacket right now but it's got some green in it I'm like very like I go full in branding so I've been wearing green on all of my press all my videos and green green green I my colors are pink red green so like I think there's something to like dressing I thrift almost all of my clothes which I think uh yeah adds to your scrap yeah this jacket's thrifted and it does something that's important to me, the conversation about thrifting.

59:01But I think if you can tie whatever you're doing to an overall lifestyle, I think that helps support you as a personal brand, where it's not just the individualistic topic that you're talking about, but how that extends to other parts of your life, which plant-based eating and scrappiness and health is something I'm constantly thinking about and something I'm trying to exude in everything that I do. So it's a mindful part of your personality and you put out in your content as well. What else would you say supports your personal brand or that can support someone's personal brand? So the biggest advice I'd have actually to anybody who is starting from scratch, like starting this from ground zero, whatever you're doing is getting a blog, like a domain.

59:47So I play at you.com and we've had that from day one. And this, like it is to your point earlier, what happens if your Instagram gets taken away? Well, thank goodness I have a great blog traffic from search engine optimization and I have a great email list that I've been working on for years. That's great. It's really, really important that you build because at the end of the day, Instagram owes you nothing. TikTok owes you nothing. I think sometimes we start to think like, why did my video not perform well? What did Instagram do? They don't owe you anything. like you wake up and you do another video so i think it's it's like the having your own personal point of contact to these people who are following you and who are in your community is so important yeah bidding on email list yeah email list is huge huge wow when you start to monetize your personal brand and your content yeah because a lot of people are we're talking about this off camera a lot of people not a lot of people but some people figure out how to build audience through their content, but they don't understand how to monetize it.

1:00:53When did you start monetizing after you started being a creator? And what advice would you give to someone when they want to start monetizing their content? So really how I was able to leave my job in 2019, I had started a meal plan subscription and I called it plant ahead at the time. And it was for$7.99. Plant ahead. Plant ahead. So it was like, it was like a meal prep. Yeah. So I would send out a PDF and oh my goodness, I would be like cooking on Sunday and then heading to my nine to five on the Monday and putting these like PDFs together of these cell phone pictures of food I had made and meal prepped for the week.

1:01:30And they were all meal prep recipes that were plant-based. And I would send a shopping list and like four or five recipes and people would subscribe to this for$7.99 per month. How many followers did you have at that point when you launched that? I think 50 ,000, 50 ,000. So it was a good amount of size, but it wasn't millions yet. No, it wasn't millions, but I was so connected to my community. I would say like, yeah, people were really, and they needed it. Like I think I was living the life that I needed to support. So that resonates when you're actually in it, that resonates. Do you remember when you watched that first PDF, how much actually came in on that first day?

1:02:08Do you remember how much in sales it brought in? I don't remember, but I remember that I had said, I will leave my job when I reach 500 subscribers to the meal plan. And it happened quickly. And my parents, my parents were like, you sure you want to leave? Yeah. Yeah. So they thought it was going to take you like a year. Yeah, exactly. Like they were like, they had said, yeah, yeah, Carly. Like if you really like get to have 500 people paying you $7.99 per month, like leave your job. And then it happened like in two weeks and they were like, no, no, no, you can't do this. So I did do it. I did do it.

1:02:45But I, I came from a position of privilege because I had been working. I was always a little bit of a saver. And then at the time I, my boyfriend now husband was working like a government job. So he was like, I'll back you. Like if this doesn't work out, I've got you. And you can go back to your job. Yeah. Don't listen to mom and dad. You'll be fine. And I made the jump. Well, scary. I mean, it's not the craziest thing anybody's ever done, but I do want to, like, I always like to mention that this came with privilege because I think that I had enough of a, like a nest egg, which however much at the time, um, built up.

1:03:22And then my boyfriend was like, sure. Definitely supportive. We've got this, like we'll all pay the mortgage if like this doesn't work out, which then I left my job. And then I signed the book deal like a couple months later. And that was very serendipitous. Couple months later, you only had 15 ,000 followers. Yeah. So I signed the book deal and then had quickly, quickly grew to about$100 ,000. So it was like, it was all like happening. Once I was able to dedicate full time to content. Right. But what I'll say to people is, personally, I would not have been comfortable making that jump without that promise of income.

1:03:58So I think it's really important. Yeah, it's tough to... Yeah, I think it's really important. Like, it's okay. And I mean, everybody's in a different situation. But if you can spend your nights and weekends building up something where you know you have recurring income and you know you're going to be good, that makes that jump, it's going to be scary no matter what, but it makes it a lot easier for your mental health. Wow. Which is key. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, it's crazy to reflect back on because at the time, I really wouldn't anticipate what has gone on. So... What was the dream for you five years ago before you launched like your first PDF and your book deal?

1:04:38what was like i think i wanted to be like a vegan youtuber like i just wanted to cook in my kitchen and make probably long form content never the short video content just took off so like it hasn't happened i still want to do long form content it's like when we were talking earlier like you always want to do all this stuff but where do you find the time so i think i just wanted to like i wanted to be able to have you read the book the alchemist oh my favorite book really okay so I have a story about that book before I left my job I was very torn and my dad went to the why our local YMCA which is like a gym and picked up a book and he said he read the back of it and it was the alchemist and he said Carly I read the back of this book it was at like a free book stand and I think you you need to read it and I read it and that was really the push that I needed where the book talks so much about following your life's path.

1:05:34And I just felt this was what I needed to be doing. And that pushed me because I'm like, this is a sign, whatever, whatever way we want to take it. I don't know how much I believe in all of that, but it was weird and it came at the perfect time. I think the messages and the teachers and the people in our life do come at the perfect time when we're ready to make those leaps and whenever it might be in relationships or career or, you know. So do you feel like the universe like conspires? It's interesting. I just had this, um, neuroscientist recently that came on that was like, the universe doesn't care about you.

1:06:15It's neutral. It's like you setting the intention and setting your, your value system, your energy towards what you want is what will create it. And I guess the universe is neutral, but I believe the universe works in your favor when you work in your favor. When you are in alignment with your values, your vision, your relationships, and you honor your integrity with your word towards your values, and you move in accordance with the dreams and the desires that you have. I believe synchronicities come into your life. Signals, signs. I believe things open up. It doesn't mean it's always going to be easy and effortless, but I feel like people come into your life.

1:07:03You start paying attention to different things that will give you the right information, the right connections, the right door to start entering through. It's not all going to be handed to you, but you've got to take the actions towards the signals, the signs, and the synchronicities that are in front of you. But I think when you're in that alignment and you feel something and you think it and your heart is connected to it, that's when the universe opens up for you in a big way. So I agree with that. I love that. And I have another story to kind of go with that. Share it. So after I had left my job, I'm doing the plant-based thing.

1:07:37I had a call with Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, who I know, I don't think you've released the episode, but he's on your show. Yes. Very good friend of mine. And we were both kind of scrapping it on Instagram, like growing our platforms. And he said, are you writing a cookbook? And I said, no, like I don't really know how to cook, but I'm out here like showing my journey. Right. And he said, you should write a cookbook. Like I think that it would be a really good career move for you. And so you had like 50 ,000 like growing. And I thought, oh, that's an interesting idea. I had never thought about it before.

1:08:12Literally two days later, I look in my DMs and I was DMed by a literary agent about writing a cookbook. And I thought, isn't this weird? And she turned out to be, thank goodness, I'm not recommending that anybody open their DM and suddenly like blind faith work with someone, but she was amazing. Worked out. But I think that that is weird to me. Like the way things fell together is just weird. Isn't it the alchemist he talks about, like the universe conspires in your favor? Is that like his quote? Yeah. I don't know if that's his quote it could be but that book for anybody who I think is struggling with their life path and I really am a big believer that you don't necessarily have to do what you're passionate about for work this could just be your life value system and living in accordance with the like world you want to see that that book is yeah number one I love it yeah that's great is there anything else in your heart or mind that you think we should be talking about today I just think that if you if anybody takes anything away from this, I think there's two different people that are probably listening to this.

1:09:19Maybe some that are interested in plant based eating and some that are interested in business. But if you're somebody who's interested in plant-based eating, what I would challenge you to do is get in the kitchen. I think cooking is a lost art. I think that one of the greatest investments you can make in your health and your future, in your children's future, if you have children, is learning the skill of cooking. and nine times out of ten, cooking at home is healthier than restaurants and cooking with plants will make you fall in love with cooking because the stakes are so low. You don't have to worry about like salmonella from your chicken or over cooking your steak.

1:09:59Bright temperature. No, like you fix it. It's veggies. It's beautiful. It's fun. And that's what I'm all about. Like plant-based cooking is fun as heck. And I hope you come away listening to this. Maybe you're going to try a plant-based meal. Doesn't have to be mine. Go on Pinterest, whatever. Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. Okay, cool. The book is Plant U, Scrappy Cooking, 140-plus plant-based, zero-waste recipes that are good for you, your wallet, and the planet. It's a beautiful cookbook, so congrats on this. I'm excited to bring it back and share with my fiancée and have her dive into this because she's really into plant-based cooking.

1:10:37So I'm sure she'll want to try some stuff. Oh, I can't wait. With me. So we'll have to take a photo and send it to you when we start making some stuff here. I want to acknowledge you, Carly, before I ask you the final couple of questions for your relentlessness and your drive and your courage to be there for your mom and your dad when he was struggling as well, and also be there for yourself at the same time and for your purpose of this season of life to not abandon yourself fully only for, you know, your mom, but also to make it a both and, you know, say, I'm going to be there for, for as much time as I can.

1:11:19And I'm going to do what fills my soul as well and nourishes me and hopefully nourishes others as well. So I really acknowledge you for the journey over the last few years, because I can only imagine how challenging and painful it was to witness that and to experience it. And at the same time, you know, the beautiful things that come from pain and sadness and suffering as well. So I acknowledge you for your courage, for your heart, for your generosity, and for your desire to help others become healthier through your talents and your gifts. So I really acknowledge that in you. That was really, really nice.

1:11:57And I'm eternally grateful that you gave me a platform to talk about it. And I think it's so cool to be on this podcast because I'm a listener myself and I listened during like those grinding days for sure. So this is a very full circle and I just have so much gratitude that you're providing me with a platform to even talk about this stuff. Of course. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited to get this out there. Um, okay, Carly, I've got these couple of final questions before I ask them, people can follow you plant you.com. Y O U, they can go to at plant you on Instagram and all the places on social media.

1:12:29They can check out your content. It's really fun. It's inspiring. So check it out, get the book, um, subscribe to your newsletter, all the different things. This question I ask everyone at the end called the three truths. So imagine a hypothetical scenario. It's your last day on earth and you get to live as long as you want. You know, you don't live in a blue zone, but you act like it, right? So you get to live as long as you want. Uh, and you get to create everything you want to create, But for whatever reason, on the last day, you've got to take all your work with you. All your cookbooks, this content, any content you create, it's gone.

1:13:05We don't have access to your information anymore that you shared with the world. But you get to leave behind three lessons, three truths. And that's all we would have to be remembered by your content. What would you say are those three truths for you? Live in alignment with the world that you want to see. take care of your vessel on this earth because health is everything and have some fun don't take life too seriously live each day like i think all of us are work work work and it's important to have some fun too absolutely these are beautiful live in alignment take care of your vessel your health and have fun final question carly what's your definition of greatness oh i already stole it with the three values, but it really is like living in alignment with the world you want to see.

1:13:56And that can mean for you, what do I want to see for Carly 10 years down the road? What do I want to see for my children? And cross-examining that and making the steps to make that happen. I think that is greatness to me. And that can take on so many forms. It doesn't have to be financial. It doesn't have to be work. It's just life. That's beautiful, Carly. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links.

1:14:30And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.