The more I get to know different Primal Health Coaches, the more I’m amazed at how different their lives look. There’s Adan Rios, who you met back in February, a full-time employee for Virta Health—a company in Denver, Colorado dedicated to reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025. Then there’s entrepreneur Rachel Barber, who runs her health coaching business helping chronically ill women heal, and works 100% remotely from her RV.
Not only is Erin our Product Manager here at the Primal Health Coach Institute, she’s also owner of eat.simple, her successful health coaching practice that she operates out of her home in the Canadian Rockies. On top of that, Erin stays true to her roots by teaching group fitness classes at her local gym—something she’s been dedicated to for the past 25 years.
You might wonder how Erin fits this all into one day. She does it by following her philosophy of Hustle Just Enough—a motto (and one of her favorite hashtags) she lives by in order to avoid the burnout she faced in her former career working in the corporate world.
6:00 a.m.: The first thing Erin does is make a pot of green tea, which she admits to drinking gallons of. After that, it’s time to check email. Her inbox serves as a daily to-do list, so checking it and clearing out the junk at the beginning of the day helps Erin stay organized. She also spends a few minutes tidying up what she calls her “crab shell.” Erin is a Cancer (the crab of the Zodiac) and an introvert, so she requires an orderly, welcoming space to be her best self.
6:30 a.m.: Erin works full-time for the Primal Health Coach Institute, developing curriculum, supporting students, reviewing market trends in the health coaching space, and presenting at conferences like Paleo f(x)—in addition to about a million other things.
Some days, she’ll work for a couple of hours at home, or enjoy a more reliable WiFi connection at a coffee shop in the city; other days she’ll head to the gym to teach a morning fitness class, and hit the weight room before getting back to work.
10:30 a.m.: To avoid burnout, Erin takes lots of short breaks throughout the day. This may mean going outside to lie in the sun for 15-30 minutes, sipping green tea on the couch, washing dishes or putting away laundry (another perk of working from home), or throwing a ball for her dog. Erin also makes time to be with her horses, saying, “for me, it’s the most meditative and peaceful thing I can do to be present.”
1:00 p.m.: Breakfast isn’t until early to mid-afternoon. Erin’s a firm believer in the benefits of intermittent fasting, and typically fasts for 18-20 hours each day. When she does finally eat, it’s an experience, and it almost always involves beef and/or eggs. She says, “I like to open my day of eating with a beautiful, bountiful feast I can love, respect and admire,” a concept she tries to instill in her eat.simple clients. She adds, “rather than fearing food, feel lucky that you get to eat it!”
2:30 p.m.: Because of her busy schedule, Erin only takes on 6 to 8 clients at a time. Her company, eat.simple, focuses on helping men and women achieve effortless relationships with food, something she knows a lot about. Every week, Erin schedules one 30-minute coaching session via video conferencing with each of her clients. She spends even more time preparing for those calls, emailing her active client roster with weekly check-in info (which also includes her famous pep talks), and engaging with the eat.simple community Facebook group, where all of her current and past clients can ask her and each other questions.
5:30 p.m.: Of course, running a business involves working on the business too, so she makes posting on social media a priority every day. Erin gets 75% of her business from Instagram, sharing musings from throughout her day, plus occasional health and nutrition tips.
She knows sharing an authentic look at her day-to-day life connects her with her ideal audience. And the fact that she has nearly 11k followers on the ‘gram is proof of that. Erin knows it’s really easy to get addicted to social media too, so she limits her time to one hour per day, setting an alarm to remind her when her time’s up.
Erin also spends time on her weekly blog, and sends an email out to her subscribers about once a month, a lower frequency that goes against Best Practices but one she’s happy with, since as a consumer, she hates getting too many emails.
Her best advice when it comes to social content? “Don’t reinvent the wheel—use your content in multiple places!” Erin repurposes rants from the week or references previous blog posts on her social media and email marketing channels. And while the content varies, Erin always includes a call-to-action on her emails to learn more about her signature program—8 Weeks to Effortless.
7:00 p.m.: Over the years, Erin has naturally and organically moved into one-meal-a-day territory, but if she does have a second meal, it’s a simple protein and vegetable. Or, maybe a small charcuterie plate of olives, meat, cheese, nuts, berries, dark chocolate, and a glass or two of dry Italian red wine. She believes in “front-loading” her meals, with the bulk of her daily calories consumed in the early part of the day.
8:00 p.m.: Work days are typically about 14 hours long, but she loves it, and says it’s nothing compared to the grind of going into an office every day—sitting in traffic, making small talk with co-workers, endless unproductive meetings, and fluorescent lights. Not to mention the non-stop candy dishes and lunch room donuts.
8:30 p.m.: After work, it’s time for chores around her farm, a peaceful 15-acre lot in the Alberta, Canada foothills. Relaxing might include watching Netflix (with her blue blockers on, of course), reading, or soaking in her hot tub listening to the sounds of birds or neighboring coyotes.
10:00 p.m.: Sleep is non-negotiable for Erin, so at 10:00 p.m., it’s lights out. She says, “just as I love and respect amazing food, I feel the same way about sleep,” adding, “I think one of the reasons I sleep so well is because I’m finally living my true expression of self. It feels really good.”
Where You’ll Find Erin Next
Despite the fact that she works hard all day, nearly every day, Erin loves that she gets to take the reins of her career and keep her mental and spiritual health intact while simultaneously doing good for the world.
When she’s not nurturing students and grads at the Primal Health Coach Institute, working with her own clients at eat.simple, or leading group fitness classes at her local gym, you’ll find Erin co-hosting Health Coach Radio, a new podcast designed for health coaches, by health coaches. Together with her colleague, Laura Rupis, the duo record anywhere from one to three episodes every Friday, talking to experts like Ali Watts, Dr. William Davis, and our own Mark Sisson. If you haven’t caught one of their episodes yet, you can listen here.
