145: {Interview} The Power of Functional Medicine with Bridgitte Mallinson

In this engaging conversation, Bridgitte shares her journey from struggling with gut health issues to becoming a functional medicine dietitian and the founder of Gutpersonal. She discusses the importance of personalized health solutions, the challenges of entrepreneurship, and the significance of networking and marketing strategies in building her brand. Bridgitte emphasizes the connection between health and business success, advocating for women to prioritize their well-being to enhance their professional performance. The conversation concludes with insights on balancing family life and business responsibilities, along with the importance of taking actionable steps towards better health.

takeaways

• Bridgitte struggled with gut health issues for years.
• Functional medicine focuses on root causes of health issues.
• Gutpersonal was founded to help women with gut health.
• Bridgitte's experience as a supplement buyer informed her product development.
• Organic marketing has been more effective than paid ads for Gutpersonal.
• Networking has been crucial for business growth.
• Health directly impacts business performance.
• Personalized health solutions are essential for well-being.
• Balancing family and business requires support and presence.
• Micro edits in business can lead to significant improvements.

Connect further with Bridgitte HERE or follow her on IG @bridgittemallinson

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Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:01.322)
Welcome, Bridget.

Bridgitte (00:02.966)
I am so excited to be here and chat with you.

Caroline Pennington (00:06.376)
So I have been following you online for a while and then I had the pleasure of meeting you in person at a live event that we both spoke at in California. So you're the founder and CEO of Gutpersonal. Tell me all the things. Okay, I want to hear your why. I want to hear your story behind your products. Like ready, set, go.

Bridgitte (00:24.65)
Yeah, let's do this baby. Okay, so 12 years ago, I'm gonna take you back. 12 years ago, I was in school in undergrad to be a registered dietitian. And I was your IBS girlie, you I was bloated and constipated. But back then, no one talked about it. And it was widely normalized, you know, my mom had gut issues, my grandma had gut issues, my sister had gut issues. We were all just normalizing our issues.

and I'd go to the doctor and talk to them about it, no solutions. But then overnight, as I went to grad school, everything changed. It felt like overnight, I then had migraines and thyroid issues and weight gain, and the list goes on and on and on. And I would go, again, go to the doctor, and then I had to go to specialists. You know, the GI specialist just gave me medication. Migraine, spend a...

specialist, more medication. And by the time I was done with all those appointments, I was on five different medications and in school to be a health expert. It didn't make any sense. Like I was like, I'm eating well. I'm, you know, taking care of my body. I'm exercising. Why am I 22 years old and on so many different medications? And so it didn't make sense to me. I

went to find the solution and I found functional medicine, which really gets to the root cause of dysfunction. I then after seven years of school, went back to school for three more years to become a functional medicine dietitian. And kind of the rest is history. I did a poop test, healed myself, and then, you know, went into different businesses as an entrepreneur. And then in 2020 started my first business, which was all service-based.

dietitian coaching. And yeah, that's a little bit about why I started this and then what launched into Gutpersonal, which is our CPG and services company, and we help women fix their gut because I know how terrible it can be.

Caroline Pennington (02:41.056)
Okay, so let me back up because what you're talking about, a lot of people deal with those issues and you're right, like the quick fix is just like, okay, press easy and like just take a prescription. And it's like the effects of those prescriptions can have on your body are insane. Just like read the side effects labels that are like three pages long. How did you know like, okay, there has to be a better way.

Bridgitte (03:01.922)
Mm-hmm.

Bridgitte (03:06.91)
I grew up with a mother who always questioned the status quo. And so even when she was having thyroid issues, for example, she'd go into the doctor and she was on somewhat of a medication and they weren't really listening to her of how she was still feeling. She's like, I'm on medication and I still don't feel good. And so even though it was medication she was advocating for, I saw her advocate for her health.

She's like, yes, you have me on medication, but I still don't feel good. Give me a better solution here. So I saw that in my mom. And then I just knew intuitively, this didn't make sense. Why was my schooling failing me so bad? Why were doctors failing me so bad? I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I wasn't going to take this is the solution for the answer, because it's not the solution that I wanted, to be honest.

Caroline Pennington (04:02.292)
Mm-hmm. That's amazing. So you did the health coaching as a functional dietitian and then you launched your CPG product, Gut Personal, which is actual supplements that you take and you have now a extensive line of different products having to do with hormones, having to do with like you've got a green product, you've got a gut, like you've got all the things. So.

Bridgitte (04:23.982)
Caroline Pennington (04:27.67)
mean, how did you take an idea for a supplement for a problem that you specifically needed to actually creating an actual product?

Bridgitte (04:36.686)
Yes, so I was, my job before becoming an entrepreneur was for two and a half years, I was a supplement buyer at a holistic pharmacy. So I saw very uniquely what was going right in the supplement space. Companies I loved, they were doing third party testing, they were high quality, what the formulations were. And then I saw what was going wrong in the supplement space, which was

a lot of influencer brands that were crappy products, but that were marketed well. And so in this two and a half years of my role as a supplement buyer, you know, I'd go to all the conferences on supplements. was in my head saying, this is what's going well. Okay. That's what I might want to do at some point. And this is what's not going well in the supplement industry. And so I had started creating, formulating products in my brain.

And I was formulating truly a line. And so then when I had a conversation middle of 2021 with a mentor, a business mentor of mine who said, yeah, you're doing amazing things. I had just hit a million dollars in sales for my service-based company. She's like, yeah, you're doing amazing things, but what about that supplement company you always had in the back of your mind that you always wanted to start?

That was July, 2021. By August 1st, I had hired a full marketing agency for CBG. I had had my manufacturer, my contract manufacturer, and we launched by November 11th, 1111 of that year. So it was really quite fast to bring the product to market. Yes, like crazy fast.

Caroline Pennington (06:17.634)
Mm.

Caroline Pennington (06:22.762)
Yeah, that's really fast.

Yes.

Bridgitte (06:27.896)
But in those two and a half years, I had formulated this whole line. So when I was ready to go, it was action time. And I'm a very quick action taker in general.

Caroline Pennington (06:38.434)
Okay, so 2021, was it pre-pandemic or post-pandemic or mid-pandemic?

Bridgitte (06:43.53)
It was mid, it was still mid, yeah, 2021.

Caroline Pennington (06:46.452)
Okay. Wow. Okay. Cause I launched Childvino in the middle of pandemic and my lead up time to actually idea to conception or to actual product was about two and a half years.

Bridgitte (06:59.34)
Yeah, I think the supplement industry was booming and the manufacturers were ready for it. Yeah, and I had the connections already. I just had a friend actually come to me and say, hey, I want to start a supplement company. She has no idea what she's doing or where she's going. I had those connections already. that part was easy, to be honest, Caroline. It was the marketing that I was like, OK.

Caroline Pennington (07:06.4)
Yeah, that's awesome.

Caroline Pennington (07:27.188)
Yeah, I want to talk to you about the marketing because I'm fascinated with that face. So, okay, you've already got, you're already established as a functional dietitian with your Shepard Space Company. People know who you are. You're being hired to work with individuals, specifically women. And then you roll out the CPG line in addition to that as another business and stream of income.

Okay, let's talk about marketing. you, are you, in your experience, have you seen more results with organic marketing or paid marketing?

Bridgitte (07:58.796)
Yes, organic. And so we're almost four years in. We just started paid. here's the thing. I knew that I was building my network. When I launched as an entrepreneur in 2020, when I launched my first company, I was really good at investing, at getting in the room. I was your girl who was in two to three masterminds at once. I was at all the events. That's how we're even connected.

One of my best friends, Keisha, who I met at a mastermind, is pretty much who connected us. So I was really good at getting in the room. And why that was really helpful was when I went to launch my CPG line, I had like 100 besties who were like, yeah, I'll talk about it. And that launched our affiliate program. Yeah, right? So great.

Caroline Pennington (08:54.102)
Ooh, that's awesome. Brilliant.

Bridgitte (08:58.382)
I should do more of it now. our affiliate program has been 20 to 30 % of our sales. So we've done over a million dollars in affiliate marketing. it's been great.

Caroline Pennington (09:01.568)
you

Caroline Pennington (09:13.632)
That's amazing because you're online and you're on Amazon, correct? Yeah. Yeah. The paid ad game is expensive and no joke. I played that with children. We know, and I made the mistake of doing that early on because I was still have my corporate job. And so I literally blew through so much cash and I would run out. I don't have any more money. Spend your agency fees in your ads. Sorry.

Bridgitte (09:32.3)
Yes!

Bridgitte (09:36.782)
I mean, seriously. So the funny thing is, I fundraised from the beginning. So I was using all of my own money. I went through $100,000. then I was like, I had a mentor, Chris Harder, the time, was like, Miley, wife just fundraised $2 million from Female Angels. You should do it too. So I did it too. I raised $450,000. But there was something inside of me that was like, I don't understand ads, so I'm not going to do them.

Caroline Pennington (10:06.657)
Hmm.

Bridgitte (10:07.232)
I understood somewhat word of mouth, right? Affiliate marketing. And so I was like, we're going to do that and events. And so that's really for three years where we focused a lot. And then this year when we launched paid ads, mean, if I'm being honest, I still don't totally understand the game. We have an amazing agency we work with, but you know, we just started spending big bucks like last.

Caroline Pennington (10:14.913)
Mmm.

Bridgitte (10:35.422)
And it's scary because things fluctuate so much, you know? And I'm like, are you sure this return is returning? know, it's just attribution is a big question mark. So I mean, Godspeed on the paid ads game, but we're trying to figure it out.

Caroline Pennington (10:37.696)
Yeah.

Caroline Pennington (10:57.565)
Yeah, because I'm with you. I've had to do the pay dad games on both Amazon and Facebook and Instagram meta. And it's like, okay, where am I allocating my money? Like, what's my biggest return? Like, where's my margin? I get more direct to consumer obviously higher there than Amazon, they take a larger cut. So it's like, okay, but when you get on Amazon, people are willing to buy. So it's like, okay, there's this like whole game you have to play it to figure it out.

Bridgitte (11:06.947)
Yes.

Bridgitte (11:21.902)
I mean, that's, yeah, that's so smart. We launched an Amazon in 2023, and we've kind of spent the same amount every month. And that's honestly a big question mark. I think that's like, you know, I am a good entrepreneur because I stay curious. think like, I think that's one of my strong points, right? Like I'm continually curious about new marketing strategies. And I think...

That's what has kept us growing and consistent is that. So anyways, I love the school of hard knocks and just trying things out and saying, okay, if we spend 1000 more on Amazon, does it actually affect it or should we be spending that on metal?

Caroline Pennington (12:05.901)
And I'm am I getting that thousand dollars back and some talk about that too. Okay, I want to talk about one thing you just mentioned and you've been talking about is getting in the room because I talk about that literally all the time on the podcast and person and all the things like that's when things started really changing for me too. And yes, it costs time. Yes, it costs money, but it literally is so worth it every single time people

Bridgitte (12:09.408)
Yeah, hope so. Yeah, hope so.

Caroline Pennington (12:33.953)
And will say to me like, you pay for your friends. like, I don't pay for their friendship, but I pay to be close proximity to them or to meet them. Yeah.

Bridgitte (12:42.638)
That's a freaking Lutely. I think it is such, it's so important and I joke that I should be doing more of it because as I was newly postpartum last year and now I'm pregnant again with my second, it makes it a little bit harder to get in that physical room, Like I was in one mastermind. But when I was really growing my network, I mean, that's where all my investors came from. That's where a lot of my customers came from.

our affiliates, so it really is such a hack and, you know, heck yeah, I'll pay for them all day long.

Caroline Pennington (13:19.157)
Yeah, no, I'm with you a million percent. If you can, even if you can't afford it, figure out a way to afford it because it is literally so worth it. Okay, let's pivot real quick. Let's talk about the correlation between health and your business and why the two need to go together and do go together. And I'm talking about all of it, like overall health, your nutrition, your sleep, your exercise, like all of it.

Bridgitte (13:27.576)
Agreed.

Caroline Pennington (13:47.785)
Ready, set, go. I wanna hear your thoughts on all of those things.

Bridgitte (13:51.186)
Yes. my gosh. Well, I think there's something that's missing in the entrepreneurial space. And it's like only if you're a wellness girly, are you truly taking care of yourself. That's what I see at least from the outside. And what I know is taking that care of your health, not only for myself, I've seen it in my business when I've taken really great care of my health, my business is skyrocketing. I can think better. I have more energy. I'm not focused on feeling like crap and

when I see so many female entrepreneurs that are like missing that spot, whether they're grinding or whether they're just not focusing on it because maybe they never have, it's so important to say and honor and be self-aware that if you are having symptoms, if you're tired all the time, if you have brain fog, if you can't focus, if you're bloated, that's actually directly affecting your ability to perform at your job and make money for the business.

So you gotta focus on it. You absolutely have to.

Caroline Pennington (14:54.059)
So true. So what are some habits that you've prioritized that have helped with your health and helped with your energy and your success in your business?

Bridgitte (15:02.54)
I mean, a thousand percent taking supplements. Personalized supplements that work are the biggest hack of all time. And now I'm not talking about like taking the one size fits all on like a influencer supplement, right? It's like, what do you really need to focus on? If you are having trouble sleeping and you're not pooping in the morning, you better be taking magnesium because yeah.

Caroline Pennington (15:05.464)
Mm. Mm.

Caroline Pennington (15:28.243)
I was just thinking that.

Bridgitte (15:30.606)
because it's going to be such a health hack. Or if your gut's a mess and you're bloated all the time and I was just dealing with heartburn in my last meeting because I'm 36 weeks pregnant and that's what happens. So I put this in my water, our gut soother. So you just really have to get a little bit more personalized and really focus on what you need to focus on, not what everyone else is focused on.

Caroline Pennington (16:01.013)
How do you know where to start? say it wasn't a priority to you, but you know it needs to be a priority to you. Where do you say supplements, definitely baseline, like period, you need to be taking them. And everyone needs to different things. Everyone's body's different, know, like look into and do the research of what you need based on what symptoms you're having. But what else could be another pillar to supplements?

Bridgitte (16:23.918)
I mean, so honestly, like if you're listening to this and you're like, where do I start? Shoot us a DM. Like that's, it sounds so silly, but like we, I would love to guide you of where to start. Our team would love to guide you where to start. It doesn't mean it's got personal supplements. Sometimes we're like, oh, you need this, that, and the other, and this is what you need to look into. But to be honest, like,

If you go down the rabbit hole and start doing your own research, one, you're going to be overwhelmed, and two, you're not going to take action, know what to buy, or whatever. So that's what we do.

Caroline Pennington (17:02.153)
Yeah, I'm with you on the influencer wellness thing. Like you can take care of your body and you can take care of your mind and your business and not look like some fitness model. Like you don't have to like have all those things. like be intimidated by it or whatever. Just like do what's gonna be best for you and focus on that.

Bridgitte (17:20.268)
Yeah, and you know, I think also knowing where to start is like acknowledging what doesn't feel good. You know what I mean? If like you shouldn't be bloated after you eat, you shouldn't have stomach aches, you shouldn't have skin issues, you should feel energized, you shouldn't have brain fog, you know what I mean? So like go down that list and be like, wouldn't it be amazing if, I always love starting a sentence with that, business or health, wouldn't it be amazing if I didn't feel bloated after every meal?

Caroline Pennington (17:33.494)
Mm.

Bridgitte (17:49.57)
If you're saying that about something like a health symptom, start there. Wouldn't it be amazing if I could poop in the morning? OK, let's get you on some magnesium.

Caroline Pennington (18:00.917)
The number one question I get asked is, my hair real? And honestly, I'm going on this conversation. It's because of what I put in my body. And it's been a long time that I've like grown this long thick mane, but like the supplements are part of it. The nutrition, like what I consume, all of the things matter. And like you'll...

Bridgitte (18:04.91)
my god, I love that!

Bridgitte (18:13.666)
Yes!

Bridgitte (18:26.764)
Yes!

Caroline Pennington (18:29.695)
It'll all show like in your skin and your hair and your energy level and your clarity and your mindset. Like it all matters.

Bridgitte (18:37.429)
Absolutely, couldn't agree more.

Caroline Pennington (18:39.361)
Okay, so how do you do it all? mean, you're a business owner, own multiple businesses, you're now a mom, and you're about to be a mom of two now, you have a husband. Like, tell me about, how do you balance it?

Bridgitte (18:52.302)
I have a lot of support. I think that's important. Like we have a full-time nanny who is also a house manager. So I am not like bashful about asking for support. If I need the laundry done, vacuuming done, like all that house stuff, or if I need, you know, something for the business, I ask. So I have a lot of support. I think I'm also good at focusing and being present.

where my feet are. So if I'm on a business trip, I'm on a business trip. If I am mom on a Saturday, I'm mom on a Saturday. So I'm just present, and that makes me feel more successful at all of it. I think there are a lot of moms out there who feel like they're failing at everything because they're trying to be good at everything. I think the same can be said about business. I know we're not perfect.

in every way, shape, form. We'd be a $100 million company right now if we were. So that's why even I say to you, it's a question mark if I should spend on Amazon. So I'm pretty type B, and I think that helps in some areas with expectations and perfectionism and feeling successful.

Caroline Pennington (20:16.033)
Have you always been that way with being present?

Bridgitte (20:19.63)
Yes, I think so. But you know what? When I started my business, I'd say the first two years, I was working so much that I was very present on business. And at the time, my husband was a chef working in a restaurant. I could work seven days a week and no one was pestering me. You know? So now I have a lot more responsibilities and

Caroline Pennington (20:40.769)
Yeah.

Bridgitte (20:46.56)
you know, he's not in the restaurant industry and I have a daughter and I have, I make more time for friends and it's not the pandemic. So I think there was a time where the only presence I was was in my business and that didn't feel good.

Caroline Pennington (21:00.897)
Yeah. No, thank you for sharing that because I feel like I have a lot of conversations like that too. People are like, I just don't have time for, I whatever fill in the blank and I'm like, you make time for what you make time for.

Bridgitte (21:13.026)
Yeah, you prioritize it and yeah. And if you're not doing it, you're prioritizing something else mentally and you're not taking time for it, that's all on you. You know what I mean?

Caroline Pennington (21:24.065)
One million percent again for the people in the back

Bridgitte (21:28.908)
Yes!

Caroline Pennington (21:31.033)
Okay, so what is lighting you up with some of the clients that you're working with right now?

Bridgitte (21:36.501)
my gosh, on the business or health side of things?

Caroline Pennington (21:38.901)
We'll answer both, two answers.

Bridgitte (21:41.679)
Okay, so our clients on the health side of things, one, what's really lighting me up in what we're really scaling right now is our gut testing offer. So it's lighting me up because seeing so many women invest in actual answers and then seeing their reactions when they get their test results back, I'm not working with the clients anymore, but I get the screenshots from our functional medicine dietitian of

my God, I finally feel seen in my life. Like I can't believe I have answers. No one's been able to give me answers. So I'm really like what's lighting me up there is really just women investing in testing and just seeing all the results from that. And then on the business side of things, I work with businesses one-on-one. So right now in CPG and service, because I have both. Right now I'm working with a couple of practitioners like in the health space.

And just seeing small micro edits and how much it affects their business in a positive way and affects how they move in their day-to-day life, like the weight lifted from just a small idea I had. It's like, what if your referral program looked like this? We make a small edit and then it seems big results. I'm really big on the business side of things and in health and in my life of the micro edits.

Caroline Pennington (22:43.371)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Pennington (23:07.723)
Mm.

Bridgitte (23:08.45)
You know what I mean? I think a micro edit can mean like such great results. So I'm big into that.

Caroline Pennington (23:16.221)
I'm so glad you said that because, you probably have similar experience that I do with the conversations. Like people look at what is now and you're like, this was like 500,000 micro edits. What you're looking at right now and what you're seeing. And let's not forget about the beginning where it was like really messy and I had no clue what I was doing. And you probably feel this way now as the person I'm talking to, but

Bridgitte (23:30.231)
Yes.

Caroline Pennington (23:44.246)
those micro edits, I'm so glad you broke it down use that word because some people think a lot. has to be this like monumental event or this like magazine feature or like whatever and it's like no it was like the 21 articles I wrote before someone even noticed who Caroline was.

Bridgitte (24:01.962)
Exactly. my God. And the consistency in showing up, right? Like some people are like, I'm like so showing up on social and like nothing's happening. And it's like, I've been showing up on social for over five years. You know, almost every day I'm making a story and you know what I mean? So yeah.

Caroline Pennington (24:16.714)
Yeah.

Caroline Pennington (24:23.969)
Yeah, it's like people think like, they put one thing out there and then like, the New York Times is gonna come knocking at their door and it's like, no, that you it's like, you got to stay in it, you to stay consistent. And that's what changes the game.

Bridgitte (24:38.38)
Yes, and I think you have to be motivated by your why. You have to have that passion and that purpose for what you're doing or else, yeah, it's going to feel like a freaking grind and you're going to want to give up because business is not easy. Yeah. Yeah, real business is not easy. And I think, you know, you and I preach that, you know, there's a lot of people on social media. I use social media as an example because that's where, you know, a lot of my business connections are.

Caroline Pennington (24:51.201)
and then you'll burn out.

Bridgitte (25:08.184)
that are saying it's always easy and it's always in alignment. And that's not true. There can be things that are easy and in alignment, but like it's not always that way. And I think that narrative for women especially is so there and it's so rampant that like, no, some things are gonna be hard and that might mean you're headed in the right direction.

Caroline Pennington (25:33.171)
I think the hard is where the real growth happens.

Bridgitte (25:37.379)
Yeah. Yeah. Mic drop, Mic drop. Yeah. I love it so much. Connect with me on Insta. I'm Bridget Malanson on Insta. We're gut.personal on Insta. Yeah. And you can use code to get a discount if you want to try some of our supplements or our poop testing, which will give you answers of what's going on in your gut. And I would just urge everyone like,

Caroline Pennington (25:40.961)
On that note, how can our listeners find you?

Bridgitte (26:06.262)
you listen to this conversation, take action in one thing with your health or your wealth today.

Caroline Pennington (26:14.581)
Thanks, Bridget.

Bridgitte (26:15.992)
Thank you.