Megan Barefoot - Mom -Entrepreneur- Nurtrionist- Bold Woman- Role Models

introduction: 0:08

You're listening to fascinating women with Mark Laurie. And now, Mark Laurie.

Mark Laurie: 0:15

Holder. One is thank you for joining us today on fascinating women. Usually, as I mentioned before, I am behind the camera photographing these Darlene woman and getting their expression through that. But we've discovered they have such amazing stories. For her, I thought you should hear some of their stories. And today I've got this, how to describe Megan she is a bundle of enthusiastic energy is just just a Go Go queen. She's amazing. always positive, always kind of flying around and into so much. So we're gonna kind of explore her story. So welcome, Megan barefoot.

Megan Barefoot: 0:49

Thanks, Mark. Thanks for having me here. today. I'm excited to speak and honored to be here as a fascinating woman. So

Mark Laurie: 1:00

great, well that would be a good start. What is the most spontaneous thing you've done?

Megan Barefoot: 1:08

Whoa, that's a hard one. Most spontaneous thing I've done. I would have to say, this sounds really corny and cheesy. But I would have to say it had was pursuing my husband. Because what happened when I met my husband was I was working in oil and gas. I was in an office. And my new engineer, came into my office and started talking to me introduce himself to me. And I had one of those weird moments. And you like I talk a lot, I talk and talk. And I'm pretty easy ASIC and passionate about what I do. So I talk a lot. I could not speak I was just he just started talking, he introduced himself. I was just staring and I was like, I just met the man I'm gonna marry. That was my, my, I just couldn't get that to stop going through my head. And the minute he left my office, I went into my best friend worked in the office next to me. And I went into her office and I just said, I just met the man I'm going to marry and she's lost her laughing. She's like, you're living with your boyfriend. And I was living with another guy. And I literally the most spontaneous thing I've ever done is I went home after work that day broke up with my boyfriend and started pursuing my my future husband.

Mark Laurie: 2:37

Wow, that's that's the thing that guys normally do.

Megan Barefoot: 2:40

Yeah, it wasweird. It was so weird. It was just like I knew. And it was I didn't know if he was married. I didn't know if he had a girlfriend. I didn't know anything. But I was like, if you can feel that strongly about someone who just walks into your office, then you're in the wrong relationship. You're going down the wrong path in your life. And so my whole life changed in that moment. And it was crazy, like crazy spontaneous.

Mark Laurie: 3:05

Was it like an emotional thing that happened that you've started just felt this or you saw something.

Megan Barefoot: 3:09

it was everything emotional, physical, like I was just like, what's happening? I couldn't talk. I was sweating. I literally just started trying to show up where he showed up and accidentally walking home at the same on the same path that he was walking because almost like I wasn't really sounds like I'm stalking him. I wasn't stalking him. I was just like, I come out of work and again in the elevator, and he'd be there. And then we'd ended up like walking in the same direction. And that was then we started talking and then we ended up getting, like officially getting together as you know, a couple during stampede of course. And so yeah, we just had our little anniversary.

Mark Laurie: 3:52

Oh, congratulations. I actually I can relate. I did the same thing. Jan. She had no idea I was infatuated with her and I would walk her to class across the other side of the campus to have to run back to where my class was, which is out the door and I'd save her desk by putting bought books there. And then she'd walk in I take them off the old she always had a seat never dawned on her. How come she always had a seat and they would overflow room so I can relate to it. That is that is really really wild. How old you were then can I ask?

Unknown: 4:18

Um, I must have been early to mid 20s at that point. Yeah. Probably about 24 - 25 I'd say yeah.

Mark Laurie: 4:28

And what have you kind of figured out that you're his person?

Unknown: 4:31

Um, I would say Well, during stampede. Yeah, I think we were just like friends and work friends and things like that and just happen to bumped into each other like walking home from work and things like that. But he totally thought I was living with my boyfriend. So he thought we were just friends. So it was like months later after we originally started like we had met and it was during sampling Either I was like, No, I don't have a boyfriend that we broke up. And so that was kind of when he was like,

Mark Laurie: 5:05

This changes everything.

Megan Barefoot: 5:09

Exactly. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 5:11

Oh, that is so cool. Who inspires you?

Megan Barefoot: 5:16

Oh so many people. So my number one inspiration in my life has been my grandma's soy and I just recently lost both of them in the last few years. And so I often tell people, I went back to nutrition school to learn to eat like my grandma. She was a cook everything from scratch, Grandma, grandma, right where she was in the kitchen all the time always had an apron on always, she lived off a farm fresh food all the time. She remember when she was getting older, and my aunt's brought her like those TV microwave dinners and was trying to convince her that this would be so much easier, she wouldn't have to cook for herself. And she looked at and she was like, this is not food. This is not food I cannot eat. Right. And so that was hugely inspirational for me when I started to really dive into nutrition and just realizing like, I have all the foundation here, I was raised this way. I just have to put it all together scientifically with what my grandma was already doing on a regular basis. And then my other grandma, my mom's mom, she's my takes no guff from anyone grandma. She does lived her her truth all the time. And she was a fancy lady hair makeup always a total opposite of my other grandma in a physical book perspective, like my other grandma was very natural, very off the farm hippie kind of grandma. And then my my mom's mom was fancy jewelry all the time rings on everything. Here. You never saw her unclogged, she was always photo ready, you know, she modeled and she she smoked a pack a day. And she said what was ever on whatever was on her mind all the time. And so both of them, I would have to say are my biggest inspiration in how I want to be as I age gracefully, and come in you were continuously coming into ourselves and becoming our true selves. And I just feel like they both nailed it. You know, I want to nail it. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 7:43

So you get amazing role models from that point of view?

Megan Barefoot: 7:47

Yeah, they're huge, huge inspiration in my life. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 7:52

Big catalyst. So besides the living your truth, what, what other types of things did you glean from them? Did you sit back and go, Oh, that's my personality. And that's how I see the world. That's how I approach the world.

Megan Barefoot: 8:06

Oh, well, my dad's mom, she approached the world from a non judgmental, very much accepting Big hugs, loving kiss, whatever, you know, whatever you need it. And she really taught me how to just show up for people. You don't have to solve their problems, you don't have to say a lot of things. You don't have to like, complain, I've never heard that woman complain in my whole entire life. She just did what she had to do. And she, and she was happy. And she was satisfied. And she, she was a very you know, calm and gentle soul. And then my other grandma, on the other hand, she complained about everything. And she always wanted better, she was always striving for more. And she was trying to push herself and push those around her. And she solved every problem and worked things out. And so that combination really showed me there's a time to push yourself and there's a time to reach your goals and pursue your dreams. And there's a time to just also how to interact with other people just let it happen. And sit back and just accept people and listen for people and that's those both of those things are very important in what I do with people in my career. And so, I sometimes have to be like, Okay, who which grandmas am I going to be today? You know, who needs what, what is my client need for me today? Do they need the push? Do they need the problem solver or do they need the someone who can just hold space, you know,

Mark Laurie: 9:53

Wow, that's impressive to imprints they're so diverse. It's such an amazing tool to play with. That's good. So let's just talk about your your arc. So you've been, what was your first job that you start off with? And how has that progressed to what you do now?

Megan Barefoot: 10:08

My first job, my very first job ever was, it works behind the counter at the movie theater selling popcorn and pop. Yeah. Then I moved on, and I worked at Montana's cook house and saloon, which was really fun, where I met some of my best friends. And, and then I moved, I went to university while I was at Montana's, and I moved out to Calgary, and I worked as a geologist for over 12 years in oil and gas. And that's where I met my husband. And when we had our for our first daughter, I decided to stay home, and just really enjoy her. I had that opportunity, I was blessed to be able to just kind of take a break from the working world and just be a mom, and just in, immerse myself in her and our family. And then we had our second daughter. And that's where things got a little more complicated, because the moment I gave her solid food, her little body stopped working. And yeah, so she got really backed up, nothing was moving through her system just stopped. It's like it didn't know how to process solid food. When I took her in and tried to get some support for this, from the doctors, they gave me a stool softener, which had no dosage Jane for little babies. And they only should work itself out. By the time she was six to eight years old. She was six months at the time, oh my gosh. And this was a huge had a huge effect on our family. It was really affecting our day to day life. It was she was crying, she was uncomfortable. You could tell she was in pain when she did have to have a bowel movements. And so I really took this opportunity while I was home, and the girls were there, they would go for a nap. And I would sit down at the computer and start doing research. And what I discovered was the microbiome, so we have little bitty baby bugs that live in our large intestine. And they help us with the digestion and processing of food and nutrients in our body. And at the time. There wasn't a lot of research in the medical community on this. So they tended to not not not believe it, but not use it in the practices because it wasn't medically sanctioned yet. So I started fermenting food, I started getting probiotics, I started working with my daughter's foods, my husband's mine, we tried to switch up our food, because nutrition, what moves through you. It's obviously what was affecting her right, what goes in has to come out and there's something wasn't going right on the inside. There's no magic window to open and door and say, oh, yeah, there's the problem. We just need to clear up that blockage there. Right. So in hindsight, I'm really surprised that they didn't do more testing on my daughter. They didn't like do any ultrasounds or just it seems weird. But in the end, the nutrition information, the research I did on the microbiome really started changing our lives. So my girls, even though they were never like wild and crazy kids, they were just so much more calm, and they were focused and people started to notice like my mom, she was like 1312 13 grandkids and she would come over and be like, girls are just so well behaved and so focused, and they're not louder. I'm running around and like I didn't think anything of it. I was like, well, they're there maybe it's just because they're girls, I don't know. And so but anyways, it I think you know, my husband, he lost 80 pounds, not at 60 pounds. And we didn't even really think he had to lose weight. Like we weren't really concerned that he was a bigger guy like I didn't even notice it really. I lost the baby weight which I was super excited about. And we just I had to make a decision like my girls were starting to get older. We're putting them into preschool and and my oldest was going into kindergarten and I was like, What am I going to do with my life? Am I going to go back to welding gas or am I going to try to stay home like what am I going to do? So I had lots of Heart to Heart conversations with my husband and I really wanted to pursue health coaching and consulting on nutrition because so many people were asking questions and loving what we're doing, and I just didn't feel qualified, I didn't feel like I had any kind of insurance or like, certifications behind me. So I found a couple programs that I was interested in. And one was the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York, it was an online program. And back then this was pre COVID. We had to really convince people this was legit, because online schooling online courses that was like, my man really is that what are you learning? How do you learn online? So I was worried about that. So I went and did some more research. And I found the Canadian School of Natural nutrition. And it is a very scientifically based school. So you do like biochemistry and chemistry and, you know, anatomy and physiology and things like that. Whereas the Institute of Integrative Nutrition was more about coaching and how to teach people and recognize how they can get change happening in their lives. So the two went together really, really well. And so I was very excited

Mark Laurie: 16:09

Hang on a sec so you're taking an online course and a physical course. Sorry, Karen, that Yeah, at the same time,

Megan Barefoot: 16:14

I know, your audience caught that. They were supposed to both be part time. So it was like, totally handle this. Yeah, it was one of the busiest year and a half of my life. It was crazy. I felt like I was literally just studying all the time. And I was neglecting everything else in my life. But I have a very supportive husband, he would like take the girls out on Saturdays and, and things like that. So I can do some homework and get my studies done and prepare for exams. And so yeah, it went really well. And I ended up with two certifications after that, but because of my, like total obsession with the gut, I went in with Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, who is the developer of gaps protocol, which is gut and psychology, physiology syndrome. And it really recognizes the connection between the gut and brain, and then the gut and your physiological issues that are happening in your body, and how to eat for that. So it's my little specialization is the gut and gut brain connection. And so I work with a lot of people with constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating, Crohn's Colitis, and then on top of that is the mental wellness side. So people with anxiety, low moods, just focus problems. And then all the way to ADHD add in bigger diagnosis is for mental wellness.

Mark Laurie: 17:47

Yeah. Wow, that is a lot. So just kind of go back to the start your story. How would your daughter turn out? In the end? How is she? I'm assuming, because he got the deals all worked out. Well, but just recap that she's alive.

Megan Barefoot: 18:02

We kept her alive. Yep, she's, she's doing fantastic. We do run into I mean, she's 12 Right? She's 20. So she goes to school. And like the last week of school was a perfect example of this. They bring in cookies and, and muffins and cupcakes and candy like popsicles and like, all the sugar and things that they were giving out on the last week of school, like, what what are you why are you doing that? But and she knows but I mean, come on, like when you're in a situation where everybody's having, you know, cupcakes on the last day of school. So we run into a few issues every once in a while here and there. Like, she knows she can't do fast food. So if anyone for example, my my parents or my in laws, they take the kids every once in a while and want to take them out for like, McDonald's or like fast food and my daughter will be like, I can't have that. Sorry. We're gonna have to go somewhere else. So my, my parents in laws are like, Are your kids just snobby? Or do they like no? Like, legitimate? Yeah. She's like that. It's just gonna go right through me Nana like, I can't have that. Yeah, yeah. So they know now and and she's, she's, you know, she's on top of it. She knows what foods she needs to avoid. And when, you know, there's a party or something like that. I'm one of those moms. That's, I'm not super strict, in the sense that no, you can't have anything but what I've really started to teach my kids is that there's staple foods that you must eat every day. And then there's treat foods and like I said earlier My kids and my husband right now are camping. Together, they're out in the wilderness camping. And I'm guarantee when when the cat's away, the mice will play. So this week will be an interesting week when they get back because I'm sure they're having a bunch of treats, because mom's not there to say, Do you think that's a good decision? That sort of thing? Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 20:23

We'll see. I love that. So much fun. Do you have any inspirational quotes that you hang on?

Megan Barefoot: 20:30

Though, my like, what I live by less food, be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. I truly believe mark that most people don't know how crappy they feel on a regular basis, and how much better they could feel with just some simple little nutritional changes. thing, it doesn't have to be big, like everyone thinks of nutrition changes as big SAD diet. So you have to change everything all at once. And that's really not how I recommend working with people, because then you don't know what's working and what's not working. Right. So I want people to start thinking about food as more like a fuel or a medicine rather than, like a comfort or joy. You know what I mean? We need to find joy and other places in our lives. And then one of the other things I always say, and everyone I work with, including my kids will recite this to you, I leave that you should be eating something green at every meal. And why because when you're green inside, you're clean inside, that's our detoxification system, right? Like, if you're not, if you're not drinking water and eating green things at every meal, you're gunking up inside your pipes get gummed up. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 21:45

Do you have any spiritual quotes or personal kind of quotes, business quotes, step outside of your realm of interest I know how hard that is

Megan Barefoot: 21:55

I'm not really quotes, but I do have kind of rules of the road that I kind of believe in when it comes to my business. And one of them like I've words that I kind of are kind of affirmation type words that I focus on in my business and in my life, and one of the biggest ones that's always come to me is authenticity. And I'm going to be authentic with you, I'm, I'm just me, I'm to that point in my life, where it's like, if you don't like me, I'm not for you. That's okay. But I am who I am, and I run my business the way I believe, will benefit the most people. So I really, I really believe in authenticity, I really believe that people need to be okay with investing in themselves. And putting the time and effort. We live in a society where that we we've been told that selfish, especially as moms, where it's, it's selfish to take care of yourself first. But I feel like for a lot of moms, we have to realize that if mom goes down, the whole family goes down. So you don't have to be okay with investing in yourself and taking care of yourself. Yeah. Yeah,

Mark Laurie: 23:16

I mean, when you're the aircraft, and this is like, like the final statement, when they the first thing they tell you is when the when the masks fall down, and the planes gonna crash, you're no good to anybody, like my cat, this lonely. You're no good to anyone, unless you look after yourself first. And then you can start saving other people. And that's, that's like a standard survival rule. If you're nearly dead, you know, but who knows how to find life balance, because it's hard having a business working out of your house, as I recall yours does. And separating the two of them so that you're, especially with what you're doing. So you do it is such a personal building block, but you still got to step out and say, Okay, here's business, here's free time. How do you find a way to find personal balance?

Megan Barefoot: 24:01

I'd have to have to admit, like, I'm not gonna lie, the first few years of in my business, there was no balance. It was like I described this to a lot of my students. So now I teach at the Canadian School of Natural nutrition, and one of my biggest passions now is getting more people out, doing what I do to help people. So I totally have a mindset of collaboration over competition between nutrition consultants, and really want more and more people out in the world, supporting people to get healthy. And when I work with nutrition consultants to get their businesses up and running. One of the things I tell them is like, starting a business is like having a new baby. And you got to feed it and you got to wash it and you got to like you got to change his diapers and move the poop out and you got to like keep feeding it again and you know, keep your eye on it. Because if you don't keep your eye on it, it's gonna run away or die. You know what I mean? Like? Yeah, so I would have to say the first few years of my business, there was not a lot of life balance. And in fact, my kids would be like, Oh, you have to go do more calls. Now you have to go, Oh, you're going back to work, you're going, Oh, you're going out tonight to do a talk like those kinds of things. And I get less and less of that kind of reaction from them, because they're more used to it. Now, you have to remember, too, that I was a stay at home mom, just thinking that for the first five years of my oldest daughter's lives, so she was very used to just having mom at her beck and call. And when all of a sudden, I was not able to do that. I mean, it's a lot easier during school year, because they're in school all day. So I work a lot of the time that they're in school, right. But I still do like, even last night, I did a free talk. And I had to basically not go camping with them last night in order to, for me to be able to do my job, right. And so they're a little bit more used to that now. But it's still hard at times, especially when you're pushing. So in September, for example, I'm pushing a whole bunch of different programs, I have a coach, the coach program, I have a group program coming out, I have a brand new, just it's called the no shoes Method program that we're putting together. And so I'm pushing all of these big things for September. And so right now is the time where I'm working diligently to get all of that put together. So yeah, it's, it's going to be interesting. I mean, there's periods definitely, like a good life balance, right. And I'm working on that more and more, but there is still definitely weeks or times where it's like it, there is no balance. I think that's the part and maybe you can even attest to this too. Like, I think it's part of just owning your business. When the business comes, you take the business, and then you enjoy the loaves as well. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 27:08

Yeah, it's, it's right. It's like a kid, it is a kid and you're growing it and nurturing it and you've got, you've got goals and intentions for it. The whole whole kind of Gambit that goes goes through all that kind of stuff. It's just kind of wild. What would be your perfect day?

Megan Barefoot: 27:29

What's that? Miss Congeniality, April 12, where it's not too hot, and it's not too cold. You wear a light sweater, that's my favorite line. So funny. The perfect day, my perfect day would be it's really funny, because when we're in school, we have this fundamentals textbook, it's like this thick. It's all like the Bible of nutrition. And the author of that book describes how we should be living, right. So you wake up in the morning, and you have a glass of water with lemon. And then you go for a walk on the beach, get your system moving, come back, have your breakfast, let that settle for a bit, do your work, do whatever you have to do for the morning. And then you have the sit down and you enjoy on your porch a beautiful lunch. And then, you know, in the afternoon, do some stretching and some yoga. And I think like that, right? Like he's talking about all the stuff and lives like that, like that is like the dream life. And he literally describes Mark no word of a lie, like going for a walk a couple times on the beach. Like he must have this beach home and he just can walk out onto the beach and go run and walk on the beach with his dog and connect with the earth and I'm like that sounds like euphoria. Like that would be an amazing day for me and just, you know having that connection with my food with the earth with like, and still having the ability to connect with my clients. That would be gorgeous. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 29:13

So what is your day when you just just imaginary day, you wake up your eyes open up you go, Okay, so I'm gonna live my perfect day. What would that be like?

Unknown: 29:25

That is, well, the way this man describes it. And that would be a perfect day in my mind. Like I'm like in heaven, and that would be gorgeous. But how I live my life right now. And the way I like really enjoy living is that I wake up with my kids, and we have time in the morning together. And then I come to my office and I get to support my clients in the morning and come upstairs and some in the winter and fall and stuff. I'll You know, in the morning, I'll get my kids off school and I have that time built into my business to actually get them to school, see them off, make sure they have a great start to their day, come home, see my clients, have some time for lunch and to get my work done, and then go pick my kids up. Spend some time with them in the evenings. And do I love working with people. So if I could do talks, and I could do group programs and get to work with groups of people, I'm an extroverted person, I like seeing I love talking, I love being with people and supporting them. So that would definitely take up most of my day. And then in the evenings just getting to be with my family. My biggest joy in my life is my family time. Like, I My daughters are 14 and 12. And I am literally sick of people telling me that this is all going to come to an end in the next few years, because they're going to get older, and they're not going to want to hang out with me. And that is like taking away my biggest joy. Right? So I'm trying to

Mark Laurie: 31:14

I wonder why people do that. Like,

Megan Barefoot: 31:16

I, I totally had this conversation with my husband just the other day, it was like, why would you say that? Like, why would you take someone's biggest joy and tell them? Oh, be ready, that's going away? Literally in the last six months, I've had at least four people tell me that when I'm describing, I'm excited. I'm like, Oh, we have this best day of my family time. And we go camping on the weekends, we go hiking, and I have great times with my kids. And oh, you know, that's all coming to an end. Right? What? Why would you say that? Yeah. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 31:54

A lot of women, so I've been had spent hours and hours with them. And I have found that it doesn't come to an end doesn't have to come to an end. Usually the women who are invested in the kids and give them values, those don't change. It's the ones who have been a bit relaxed on how they nurture their children to grow. Like they haven't been quite as on top of it as seeing how

Megan Barefoot: 32:19

you use that word nurture, because when my babies were babies, I, I really fostered and nurtured their relationship with each other. I didn't want kids who were going to be fighting at each other's throats all the time. So I'm really brave from the get go is one of my biggest focuses in helping them grow together was to foster that relationship between them to become friends. As opposed to frenemies, right, so many kids, I find they just fight with their siblings constantly. And, and we really tried to foster that. And so far, I mean, don't get me wrong, they have their fights, they their arguments are 12 and 14, they run into each other and definitely, but it's like they know how to resolve those arguments. They know how to like, get it, get it done, and then move on. And, and I definitely like a 14 My oldest, she definitely has the tween attitude, which sometimes my 11 year old going on 12 She's just about to turn 12 She doesn't really get yet she's like, what just happened? Like, why is she? Why did she say that? Like, so? So yeah, they're navigating that, but I agree with that, like, if you foster the relationships, and you nurture the relationships, and, and hopefully, I mean, I can't always work, I'm sure. But hopefully, that doesn't have to end, you know, when I do recognize like, my kids are gonna go off and become adults. And that's part of parenting, right? Is that you are, are they're coming to you for a certain period of time. And then they do need to go off and do their own thing. But I really still want to be part of their family, right and their families that they end up having. So, yeah,

Mark Laurie: 34:11

I've got so many clients, that's exactly what's happened. I have one just recently she just has her newborn child with me photographing her with her new child, sweetest girl ever. Her bond with her mom, when her mom came by to pick her up, put her doing something, and you can just tell the connection is there. And it's just impressive to see. And I find that synergy. So how what did you intentionally do to get that that's just a really intriguing thing. So how did you approach that intent? So you first you set the intention? This is what you want. So you envisioned that? Yeah, did you make that become a reality

Megan Barefoot: 34:44

just by fostering their little mini disagreements when so making sure that my oldest child felt very included when we had the second child and that she was also part of this kind of fan All right. So where it wasn't like No, no, I can't I can't talk to you right now I have to deal with the baby, right? And I feel like that builds resentment, too. I'd be like, Oh, I'm dealing with the baby, do you want to help me? You could be a good helper, you could, you know, you could help me figure this problem, go out and help calm her down and figure out what is she so my youngest also had what I call very strong toddler ease, where it was like you couldn't understand sometimes what she was asking for. So I would literally ask my two and a half year old three year old, like, what is your sister asking for? Like, I don't know. And she'd be like, Oh, she just wants a cookie mom. She does have to get that out of what she said, right? And not empowered her to be able to converse with her sister of everyone being frustrated. I'll be like, I would literally ask her and I'd be like, Do you know what your sister's asking for? If she just wants some strawberries, which we used to call strawberries? Which? Yeah, she just some strawberries mom, she'll be fine. Just get her some strawberries. I'm like, okay, she was fine. So empowered her. And then. And then there was times where like, my baby would be in the highchair. And I'm trying to feed her and she's having none of it. But then my toddler would come around the corner and play peekaboo with her. And then it was all of a sudden, so they were already playing before they can actually physically play together. And yeah, just getting them involved with being friends and teaching them how to be friends. That's one of my other superpowers is I have a really strong network of what I would call good quality girlfriends. And I feel like there's a way like, I don't think people these days actually know how to be friends. And so when I become your friend, I'm your friend for life. And I will literally say no, no friends don't do that. This is what friends do. I was like, I should run like little courses on how to be a friend. Because like, we just forget, like you're supposed to show up in that relationship the same way as you would show up in other relationships, right? And I've actually had people say to me, like from the outside, because I grew up in Southern Ontario and my friends will all I can call up my friends. And when my grandma's were still there, I'd be like, can you go drop off some flowers for my grandma? Or can you? And I just remember my answer and other people saying you must be a really good friend to have people that can that would just be willing to do that for you. And I said, No, no, you misunderstand. We are very good friends, I would do the exact same thing for my friends as they would do for me, right? Even though we're 3000 kilometers apart, we still foster that friendship. So I tried to make sure I had that with my girls. And we we fostered that friendship between them.

Mark Laurie: 37:51

That's amazing. So that's your superpower? Is that is really good. What trade

Megan Barefoot: 37:59

detriment to my business sometimes because my clients ended up becoming friends. And then it's like, oh, we just crossed a boundary there.

Mark Laurie: 38:06

Let's dig into that. Well, because that is hard. I find the same thing. I've got people It starts off a business like I make a living like I built every as you do, right? And you get people who are just your your your design is to bring a tribe that you want around you, right people you want to work with. I really I'm I'm lucky, I'm selfish, shall I bring it from my camera? I'm gonna spend a lot of time with them. I gotta like you, like if you're Prickly, I'm not interested in it spend the next 10 hours of my life, being that kind of world. Right? How do you navigate that where a person has become a friend in

Megan Barefoot: 38:39

10 hours? I'm thinking three to six months. So yeah, like, I'm the same way I offer free consultations. And people think, Oh, that's great. I can really get to know what you do before I have to commit to it. And I'm like, That's great for me too, because I really get to know you. And I asked hard questions. So let's talk about prickly like, am I asking you about bowel movements, and you know, skin conditions and headaches and things like that, like health concerns, but also physical things? And personal things? How do you react to that, and that free consultation, because if we're only digging deeper from here, and if you're willing and open, and you have a good sense of humor about talking about those things, or at least you know, sometimes it's not humor, sometimes it's very emotional. And you're willing to open up and show exactly how you truly feel, then I can work with you. You're if you're a good person, if you have a good attitude about it. The people I really watch out for are the people who have tried everything, nothing works and it's everyone else's fault.

Mark Laurie: 39:48

And their mission to prove that it's not going to work that they're that special.

Megan Barefoot: 39:52

Yeah, that's really hard for me. Yeah.

Mark Laurie: 39:55

And sometimes they're very good at sucking people in to help them to do Nothing. And we have afterwards. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. This is your your fault with it. That's cool. What trait Do you wish that you had?

Megan Barefoot: 40:11

That's a good one too. It sounds terrible. But sometimes I wish I could be a little more. I mean, at times, like, I wish I had like a quicker tongue, right? Because this comes from my own sisters, right from the get go is like, they could walk all over me and they could, you know, push buttons, and I'm not a good button pusher, like, I'm just not mean. And it's like, sometimes, you know, when people say something to you, and then like, you're laying in bed at night, you're like, oh, I should have said, This is what I'm gonna say. It really got there go, you know, kind of thing. Just don't have that sounds terrible. Who wants to be that way? But it's like, it depends thing, right? Like, I wish I was better at standing up for myself in certain situations, and really not getting like, taken in because I do really just want to help everyone. And so I have gotten better at like being able to say no, I don't think I'm the right person to work with you kind of thing. But I mean, I wish I was able to just think quicker when it comes to like, defending myself defending my business defending my family at times. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a walker right away. Like if, if, if things are heated and weird, I'm like, Okay, I just, I'm gonna go now. Like, I just, you know, I need to go now.

Mark Laurie: 41:36

That's a that's a power when I was growing up. One of the things my dad impressed upon me is that you want to organize your life in such a way, that you always have the choice of walking away, that if you're trying to sell something, and the guy that's trying to buy it is a jerk, you can walk away, it's not desperate, you're trying to buy something that guy's gonna sell to you is a jerk. You can go you know, I don't have to buy this from you. I can go elsewhere. And he says, if you can organize your life, as you're doing, then you can sit back and say, No, I don't need to debate you. It's not relevant. I'm just gonna leave now because there's no gain here. Yeah. And yeah, that was one of the my, I got a whole bunch of stuff. My dad, he was a very wise person, as I recall. That's awesome. That's awesome. What are you curious about right now? Not in the business side, just in the personal life side.

Megan Barefoot: 42:26

Oh, business and personal right now is longevity. I'm all about longevity right now. I want to live forever, Mark. So, but I don't want to live. Crappy. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to live in a nursing home stuck in a chair where I can do anything. I want to live till I'm like 100 used to be 110. And I was 120. But I want to live really well. Like I want to live on my own, I wouldn't be able to cook my own food. I want to be able to go for walks on the beach every morning, I want to, you know, I want to I want to have a blessed life. I want to see great grandchildren, I want to play with them. You know what I mean? Like, I definitely just I'm really focused on what can I do now. To live along and live? Well. That's my obsession. So I'm literally researching that that's like part of like the new programs and putting together I'm really focused on how to keep myself as healthy as possible to live as long as possible.

Mark Laurie: 43:33

I can help you with that.

Megan Barefoot: 43:34

You can do magic pill.

Mark Laurie: 43:37

I've gotten resources. Actually. There's a gentleman that ran strategic court coach, and very powerful program. And he this is going back a couple of decades now. And he had this he came to same conclusion decades ago, probably about maybe three, I'm showing my age here. And he discovered first one thing he discovered is everybody's got a death date. They'd often don't think about it, but But do they sit back and back to Brain oil. And also so the family dies when they're 82. And, and these types of things. And he brought a fact that the actuaries they actually die before most people who actually know what the numbers are going to be right. So we spent over a year resetting my death date. And that was an incredible process to go through it that he went through. But he has studied and has kept on studying, I'll get to more information on him because he's been doing that for decades as part of his course. And his goal is to live like He was to take advantage of watching where sciences is with the things where they're 3d printing organs and different things like that, that he's getting into cell chat with you later on. You'll enjoy.

Megan Barefoot: 44:46

It's amazing. Yeah, so I'm really like, focusing on all that research and there's a lot of new research coming out too, which is fascinating. I've done like you can learn a bunch of this stuff like I have a Science degree and I have done a lot of nutrition stuff and we learn a lot of that stuff. But there's so much more interesting things coming out in the last like, five to 10 years that it's hard to keep up with, like all the science and what's real and what's not real. So that's literally like my obsession right now. This what's there's like all this technology, right? But I'm I'm really focusing on the natural ways of doing it. Getting back to like eating food out of my garden, like my grandma used to, you know what I mean?

Mark Laurie: 45:39

The longer like Cadiz, what's country studied this the longest Russia, Romania, I had a one of my students, what has a mother has many companies was on beauty but but really deep beauty like your, you know, the skin and the lightness of it and, and things like not just like, let's make the skin look pretty. It was like, Okay, let's make the skin vibrant and healthy. And that's where most of the research was that they're like 300 years ahead, everybody else from when they started doing juicing,

Megan Barefoot: 46:08

because we are, there's a whole bunch of stuff coming out of Russia that we didn't even know what's happening because of the Cold War. So they were getting all of the research from North America, South America, Europe, all of the things but nothing was coming out of Russia. So a lot of things were kind of just putting on shelves, and they didn't really know. Nothing ever just just didn't come out, right. And now things are coming out that they've been studying. And they've been testing. Like, for example, adaptogenic herbs, the Russian athletes are fantastic athletes. We've known that for years. Why? Because they're using adaptogenic herbs. So there's a lot of really cool stuff in all of those little countries that literally just hadn't come out, you know what I mean? Like they just hadn't shared with the world. So it's interesting to see Romania on that list who have to check some of that stuff.

Mark Laurie: 47:05

He was he was the most fascinating person and wealthiest person I've ever met. He was having a conversation one time, I was amused, he was talking to me like I was an equal and there's no way we're equals. And he says, when the wall fell, I can with Easterlings throughout the the Cold War, because he recognized that the prices were depressed, but they're going to be as the rest West Germans coming out with Cruces. So I have to say about a couple apartment blocks. And I was thinking he was buying like, here's a part building like a part building. Now he was actually buying blocks of the city that had apartments on them. And then they got healthy, sell them. So it was really kind of well, this has been incredible. It's been twists and turns. Have you enjoyed yourself?

Megan Barefoot: 47:46

Absolutely. Yeah. This is great. Thank you for having me here today.

Mark Laurie: 47:50

Now, Megan, she's got some information on the downside. And the in the bio portion, she's got some links. She runs a thing called no shoes, nutrition. I just love the way it matches your name. So cool. It's been a it's a franchise thing now, isn't it that you're working? It's not just us, just us. Really powerful stuff. And so if you'd like to get the benefit of her knowledge and get got fixed in all sorts of bits and pieces, follow up on those links. But in the interim, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been really intriguing. Fascinating.

Megan Barefoot: 48:27

Yeah, it has been fun. And just for anyone who is interested in just curious we do offer free consultations, like I was saying, so reach out to know shoot nutrition on our website, and we'd be happy to just chat about what you have going on and what we can help you with.

Mark Laurie: 48:48

Thank you so much. We'll see you all next time with fascinating women.

Exit speaker: 48:53

This has been fascinating women with Mark Laurie. Join us on our website and subscribe at fascinating women dossier fascinating women has been sponsored by inner spirit photography of Calgary, Alberta and is produced in Calgary by Leigh Ellis and my office media.