This week I’m happy to bring you a conversation with Chelsea Murn, a 28-year-old climber, health coach, and dog-mom from Spokane, Washington.
I don’t exactly remember how, but I stumbled on to Chelsea’s profile on social media (Instagram actually). Over the months I’ve noticed that she has a drive to be more than just a typical psyched climber. She’s working to build a career around her passions of nutrition and health. But Chelsea fully recognizes that doing so requires a careful balancing act with a properly paying day job and her own climbing performance objectives. Many of you out there are trying to navigate that balance.
I also couldn’t help but notice Chelsea’s occasional discussions of money online. As we’ll touch on below, Chelsea is living a life familiar to millions of young (and old) Americans, and she’s taking action to gain the upper hand:
“I graduated college like a lot of other kids — broke, in debt and without a general clue how to manage my finances.”
Chelsea Murn
So, enough from me — let’s have Chelsea do the talking:
Chelsea Murn: Background
Chelsea: I graduated from the University of Idaho in 2013 with two bachelors degrees in Political Science and Spanish. I am still fluent in Spanish but chose to pursue a career in the climbing and coaching world!
As a certified personal trainer and holistic health coach, I love educating myself and others on what I’ve learned. I want to be able to help others improve their lives.
Spending as much time as possible outside is very important to me, and I am always looking to get stronger and better at climbing! I run an online business, From the Mountains Wellness, where I help women elevate their approach to climbing through lifestyle and mindset changes so that they can send harder!
Basically, we go over everything from physical training, diet, habits and much more to figure out how to get you climbing at the next level!
On Getting Older
Chelsea: I am 28 years old and continue to get stronger and better with age. I always thought getting older would be such a negative but I’m really realizing that life just gets better with more experience under your belt!
*CC Note: I fully sympathize with this notion. There’s a strong tendency when we’re young to envision the world imploding by the time we’re 30. When it comes to interviews, I really enjoy hearing from folks who claim that life and climbing performance have only improved with time. Ask Mark Anderson and Chuck and Maggie Odette in particular. I’ve experienced the very same thing: increasing climbing performance and life satisfaction with time. I’m 34 years old and can’t wait to see what’s coming!
What’s in Spokane, Washington?
Chelsea: I live with my fiancé Brett in Spokane, Washington and absolutely love it here. There really is no place like the Pacific NW. I have lived in four other major cities and nothing compares to this part of the state.
I love having such easy access to world class sport climbing (with routes up to 5.14c) and amazing trail running. All of this is accessible for a quick session after work! A little bit further north we have some great limestone crags and potential for so much more. And then there is Leavenworth a couple hours away. It really doesn’t get much better for bouldering!
Proud Climbing Achievements
Chelsea: Oh this is a fun question! I never thought I would climb 5.13 and actually did so rather easily a few years back. Climbing this grade so easily really opened my eyes to what I am capable of.
This was a huge turning point in my climbing. I learned to never put limits on myself or others. Always try the route or boulder because you never know what might fit your style.
Building a Business Around What You Eat
CC: Tell us a bit about From the Mountains Wellness and how this venture came to be. What are your long-term goals with this project?
Chelsea: From the Mountains Wellness started as a blog. It was a way for me to share all the cool information I was learning while becoming certified as a health coach.
I have learned a ton in the last ~2 years and wanted a way to connect with others and share this information. As I started writing and blogging more I realized I wanted to dive a little further. Instead of solely relaying information I had learned I wanted to tailor this information to climbers and athletes.
In the past I shared a lot of recipes and general diet information. Moving forward though, I am more drawn to sports nutrition for the climber: food and diet information that support climbing specifically.
My long-term goals with my business is to take it full-time and have the ability to work when I want from where I want. I am also really excited about the idea of opening a physical location. This would be a dedicated climbing-training facility that also offers nutrition and lifestyle coaching.
Chelsea Murn on Today’s Diet Trends
CC: Regarding diet, what are your pet peeves about what people think they should or shouldn’t eat? Where are folks generally screwing up the most?
Chelsea: Okay, I LOVE this question. Right now I think my biggest “pet peeve” would be the obsession with low-carbohydrate or “ketogenic” diets.
As an athlete and climber I have done my fair share of research on the optimal fuel sources for sports performance. I would be hard-pressed to find any solid information supporting athletic improvements on a low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diet long-term (longer than a few months). Our bodies simply prefer to burn glucose (carbohydrates) for fuel.
Carbohydrates are essential in the production of most female hormones. To keep these hormones balanced, it is really important to eat quality sources of carbohydrates daily. When I say quality carbohydrates I mean skip the refined, wheat and gluten filled carbohydrate sources. Opt for whole-foods sources like sweet potatoes, plantains, cassava and even white rice.
When we give our bodies carbohydrates in the right forms at the right times of day, our bodies are able to thrive and perform well. If we are either flooding our system with junky foods or restricting our carbohydrate intake, our bodies will start to send us signals and create symptoms, letting us know something isn’t right. Carbohydrates and glucose can be extremely effective tools that we can use to improve athletic performance. You just need to know how to use these tools correctly.
Finding a Fit in a Day Job
CC: What is your current day job and why do you not see this path as your best option going forward?
Chelsea: I work at a natural foods store as their Vitamins Manager. I work to manage a team of people to help the store run efficiently while still being sales-minded.
As an Enneagram Type 8 and 4 Tendencies Rebel, I have always known that being my own boss is the best option I can give myself for a happy life. If you haven’t heard of these personality-typing tests, they are absolute game changers for getting to know yourself better.
Before taking either of these tests I would often become frustrated with my natural tendency to rebel or resist against authority. Now that I have become aware of this it is so much easier to deal with on a daily basis. I have an extremely strong desire to make a difference in the world. I know that running my own business will be one of the best ways to contribute my skill set to help others.
Striking the Work/Life Balance
Chelsea: I’m someone who highly values my time spent climbing, but I also want to pursue going full-time with my own business. I really try to strike a balance with my current full-time job. This is certainly not easy, and most days I feel exhausted at the end of the day.
My job requires a full 40 hours a week, every week! While I would absolutely LOVE to cut hours I am just not there quite yet. Cutting back hours at my full-time job is something I will be looking towards in the future as my business becomes larger.
I am also really fortunate to work with a team of people who are supportive of me and my goals outside of work.
Planning the Week
I also love to batch content. Each week is planned and I am very organized when it comes to what I want to get done each day. My full-time work schedule is set each week, so I always have the same time available to squeeze in some side work and training. I plan accordingly, leaving some wiggle room in case I just feel too drained from the day to put much energy into working on my business.
I recently hired a business coach to give me more direction on the concrete steps to move my business forward. This has been incredibly helpful in figuring out WHO I want to serve and HOW I want to serve them. Right now I am focusing on growing my social media presence and spend a small amount of time on that each day, as well as providing free content via my blog while I figure out EXACTLY what I want to provide for my clients 🙂
While I certainly have not perfected this balancing act, I try to prioritize daily the things that make me the happiest: climbing, spending time with my fiancé, dog and family. Then there’s my desire to move my business forward to create a better life.
These stories that we tell ourselves become our reality.
Building a Healthy Relationship with Money
Chelsea: I graduated college like a lot of other kids – broke, in debt and without a general clue how to manage my finances. This absolutely continued into my working years up until pretty recently when I got tired of my own B.S.
I decided to quit making excuses for not having any money.
When I got real with myself and my situation, it got a lot easier to see that I had a very fear-driven relationship with money. It had always been something that I earned, spent quickly and then was scarce until the next pay check came. After realizing this cycle, I am moving from a place of fear to a place of gratitude. Money can provide experiences.
I like to think of money more as a tool than a necessity these days. While I won’t claim to be an expert by any means on money or finances, I do think it is really important to start recognizing the stories you are telling yourself about money. I have certainly become more aware of saying “I can’t afford that” or “I’ll never have that much money.” These stories that we tell ourselves become our reality.
I am also learning that money is energy and often closely reflects our priorities. We spend money on what we personally find to be important.
What Gets Measured Gets Improved
It is much easier to manage what you measure. Think about it in terms of diet: it is revealing to see how many calories you are eating if you are logging everything into a calorie counting app. I take the same approach with finances. It makes it really difficult to deny where my money is going if I am monitoring my spending. I make notes of where I could be prioritizing other things and what is frivolous for me.
*CC Note: We agree! Take a look at our guide on tracking your spending.
Spending Reduction Examples
CC: I asked Chelsea to elaborate on a few ways she has changed her relationship with money. Specifically, I wanted to know what actions she is taking to increase savings.
- We recently sold our truck and purchased a much more fuel-efficient car. RIP rolling up to the crag and sleeping in the bed!
- We are prioritizing local climbing and training at home in our garage over trips that are a few hours away. My fiancé is a talented carpenter and built a really awesome campus board in our garage. Having the board allows us to train at home for free.
- I have a 401(k) through work, but since my current job is a means to an end, I don’t factor this into my savings very much. I save about 5% per paycheck. While it is nice knowing I do have some money out there, I am not relying on it too heavily.
*A little bit of unsolicited CC advice: If you are able, look to increase your 401(k) contribution. Even modest increases in contribution can, over time, make an incredible difference towards long-term wealth creation. This can all be done in the background while focusing on your new business. Finally, all contributions lower your tax obligation, so even more saving! Boom! Here’s more detail on that.
Adding Supplemental Income
Chelsea: I have an eBook on my website that has a TON of awesome information in it. I see health coaching clients and work with a few select brands for monetary compensation in exchange for recipe creation or promotion. I am currently working with a business coach to launch a program of my own to help even more climbers in the future! Coaches need coaches, too 🙂 Stay tuned for this program!
Merging Money?
CC: How do you work with your fiancé regarding finances? Have you merged your money, kept it separate, other?
Chelsea: My fiancé and I split finances from rent to bills and also take turns buying groceries. I tend to like to spend a little bit more money on quality groceries and specialty items, so I often buy these items for the household.
In the past, we merged our money. However, we recently found that keeping it separate allows us to be more generous and keep better track of where our money goes. I would say that this is always a work in progress. It’s been a long journey for the both of us.
When we first started dating neither of us had a very positive relationship with money. After having the difficult conversations that money can bring up, we have grown a lot and continue to try to find a balance.
You Don’t Have to Go Broke to Build a Business
There’s one final element I mentioned to Chelsea over email. It really doesn’t take thousands of dollars in loans and big up-front risk to start a business. Chelsea began From the Mountains Wellness as essentially a free blog. She’s built a following on social media (free), and only incurred costs for training and education (certified health coach, personal trainer, business coach).
Lots of folks out there see a business as a risky $100,000+ enterprise, requiring store-fronts, employees, materials, bills, etc. This need not be the case, and Chelsea helps to remind us what can be achieved with minimal up-front investment.
For more on this concept, I invite you to listen to a podcast interview with Alan Donegan on the ChooseFI podcast.
And more from Alan and his PopUp Business School is here.
Summary
That’s it for this week folks! I hope you can glean a little insight from Chelsea Murn, a driven young woman looking to find a life outside the conventional workplace confines. There are a lot of the typical elements I see from many of these interviews: drive, time management, grit, and good-ole’ fashioned action and work.
If you want to continue following Chelsea on her journey, I suggest you check her out on the following platforms:
Instagram: @ladybeta.coaching
Website: fromthemountainswellness.blog
Remember, the best laid plans mean nothing if you can’t take action today. Have questions? Need some feedback? Hit us up on the Contact page.
Thanks, see you guys next week.
Please note, all photos were supplied by Chelsea Murn and are credited to the photographers listed. Please reach out to Chelsea or the credited photographers for permission to republish.