Episode 698: Why “Failing” on Instagram Was the Best Thing for My Business With Eloïse Jennes

EBT698 – Eloïse Jennes

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Megan Porta  00:37

We’ve all experienced these times in our businesses where we feel like we’ve massively failed. Maybe it’s a project we started that didn’t turn out the way we wanted or hoped for, or maybe it’s getting hit by a Google Update. Whatever it is, we all feel like we’ve failed from time to time and we want to stop, throw in the towel and never return to our businesses. Sometimes the failures can seem really hard and disheartening. In this episode I hosted Elo Jennes from Cooking With Elo. She is an amazing blogger friend and I absolutely love her story because she talks about how a an experiment on Instagram kind of went south and didn’t turn out the way she wanted.

[00:01:26]   

During the experiment she really felt like it was a huge fail. But then after the experiment was done and she had some time to sort through things in her mind, she saw that the experiment, the failure quote quotes around that word, was actually a necessary lesson for her in her journey and got her to where she is today.

[00:01:48]   

And where is she today? She has so much clarity about her business. Her niche is totally refined. She has restructured her blog. She has content on her blog that makes sense to her. She’s able to deliver products and services to people that align with her passion. She has a solid foundation so she can do other projects such as being featured in magazines and on podcasts, et cetera.

[00:02:15]   

Her story is just through and through encouraging for everyone. I hope you listen to it and I hope you pull away massive inspiration. This is episode number 698. Enjoy.

[00:02:30] Sponsor   

Hey food Bloggers. We have something super exciting to share at Eat Blog Talk. The Eat Blog Talk Podcast is now on YouTube. You can watch full video interviews with incredible guests sharing game changing tips for your blogging journey. Subscribe now and don’t forget to share with your fellow food bloggers. Let’s grow together. Head to YouTube, search Eat Blog Talk and start watching today. 

[00:02:58]  

Elo is a plant based food blogger, meal prep expert and founder of Cooking with Elo where she helps stressed out professionals, overwhelmed parents and health conscious students make healthy plant based eating way more doable and way less chaotic. With her master’s in food innovation and obsessive love for systems checklists and pantry organization, Elo helps you feel confident in the kitchen, even with tofu and beans on the menu. So if you’ve ever wished someone would just tell you what to cook, how to prep it, and when to eat it it, she’s your girl.

[00:03:30]   

Hello. Welcome back to Eat Blog Talk. It’s been a while.

[00:03:33]  Eloise Jennes 

I know. Thank you for having me again.

[00:03:36]  Megan Porta 

I always love seeing you and chatting with you. So thank you for joining us today. We are going to talk about a big word right now in this episode and that is failure. Something a lot of people run from. But you took failure and you used it to guide you into a better direction for your business.We’re going to get into that, but before we do, do you have another fun fact to share with?

[00:04:01]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah. So I feel like my best fun fact was already shared in the last episode which was about my secret food blog. But another one is that I speak four languages so I live in Luxembourg, so I speak Luxembourgish. My parents are from Belgium, so I speak French. And then in school we learn German and English and I still use the four languages every single week in my business because I work mostly in English and then I have a business friends group that are based in Germany and then, you know, family is Luxembourgish and French.So that’s fun.

[00:04:33]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh. That is amazing. You’re so well rounded. So Luxembourgish is a language. I did not know that. So say many people. Don’t say a sentence in Luxembourgish.

[00:04:48]  Eloise Jennes 

That means I’m Elo and I’m a food blogger.

[00:04:50]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh. I love it. Oh yes. That’s so cool. That makes you extra cool, Elo. I mean you’re already super cool, but now cool points just went up.

[00:05:01]  Eloise Jennes 

Yay.

[00:05:03]  Megan Porta 

Okay, well, I would love to start, if you wouldn’t mind just telling us a little bit about your amazing blog, Cooking with Elo.

[00:05:10]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. Oh my gosh. I feel it has evolved so much over the years. So I started the food blog five years ago at the very beginning of 2020 and at the time it was gluten free, lactose free because I have been allergic to dairy my entire life and was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance when I was 16 and over the years it evolved into gluten free, plant based and now it is.

[00:05:37]   

You know, it changed very recently and now I’m doing plant based meal prep. Everything is still naturally gluten free, but since I’m not doing a lot of baking, there isn’t a huge emphasis on that.

[00:05:49]  Megan Porta 

Right. Yeah. And the evolution has just been natural for you. I love how it’s like, okay, this doesn’t make sense anymore. I’m moving into this and leaning into what your people need as well. Right. So you have to listen to them. Cool. And your website is just so beautiful. If you guys haven’t seen Elo’s website, please go look.It’s just clean and crisp and colorful and so beautiful.

[00:06:14]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. Completely redid it over the last few weeks. Like, it’s been live like this for just three weeks, I think.

[00:06:20]  Megan Porta 

Oh, my gosh. That’s so exciting. Isn’t it fun to get a refresh?

[00:06:25]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. So fun.

[00:06:26]  Megan Porta 

Goodness.

[00:06:27]  Eloise Jennes 

 But so much work.

[00:06:29]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Right. Oh, it is so pretty. Okay, so we’re going to talk through a story of yours where you just felt like you were working, working so much. I know you were trying to really make traction on Instagram, specifically. Do you just want to talk us through that story and kind of where you were at back then?

[00:06:50]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. So for those who don’t know, I did the 100 day recipe series or recipe challenge on Instagram. I feel like I really love the series as a user. I found it super engaging, super interesting knowing that a creator would provide something that I’m really interested in for 100 days straight. Because sometimes you follow a creator because of a certain format and then they stop doing the format or they don’t do it as often as you hope they would, and then, you know, it’s kind of disappointing.

[00:07:21]   

But when you know that a creator is really committing to doing something for 100 days straight, like, that feels so cool. And I also felt like rewarding the creator with a follow, of course. And so I feel like there have been a few food bloggers that were very successful with it. I’m thinking of Sarah Brown from the account, Sezi Brown, and then Liz Douglas from Glow Diaries, who, if I’m not mistaken, has been on the show too, right?

[00:07:46]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Yep.

[00:07:47]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. I loved her episode. And they have grown, like hundreds of thousands of followers, over 200,000. Like, it was absolutely crazy. And I think Liz has done a YouTube episode on her channel where she’s talking through the entire experience, which has been very different from mine. So if you’re interested in that, I feel like the listeners could totally go watch that video.

[00:08:10]   

But I found it very inspiring. Have been playing around with the idea of doing the series myself, especially because I had been hit by the helpful content update at the end of 2023. So I had lost like 75% of my traffic, as so many of us did. And to be fully transparent, I, you know, I had to take a break from the blog.

[00:08:31]   

I kind of ignored my blog for a few months. I had to take a step back and that series felt like, like a comeback, like really going all in again on the blog. So I was playing around with the idea and then I had an online friend of mine tell, like, really out of the blue, send me a DM and say, hey, hello, I feel like you should totally do this 100 day recipe challenge.

[00:08:54]   

I feel like you would have so much success with it. And that felt like such a sign to me because I was already playing around with the idea and then I thought, if she’s seeing it too, like maybe there is something to it. And so I think that day I decided I was going to do it.

[00:09:10]   

I was going to go all in. And that’s how it started.

[00:09:14]  Megan Porta 

Okay. And that was so a year ago. About a year ago, yes.

[00:09:19]  Eloise Jennes 

That was at, I think mid August. So I basically sat down on my balcony. I was outside. I started brainstorming. I tried to brainstorm 100 recipe ideas, came up with about 75. And I really tried to mix in some that were easier, you know, that required little recipe testing, like easy shootings, etc, with some recipes that were a little more elaborate, required more testing.

[00:09:46]   

And I tried to think of content buckets that I wanted to have on my blog and how I could fill those with the series. Because as I said, it was the goal was to grow on Instagram as I had seen these other creators do, but also get back into blogging after taking a time off.

[00:10:02]   

So really try to think about those buckets, try to do some keyword research as well, and then also look at the recipes that I already had on the blog that could fit the series and maybe decide on a few that could need an update. Which I did go and look back and I ended up posting 31 videos or recipes that were already existing.

[00:10:26]   

But Megan, you know me, I’m like a true type A person. And in true Elo fashion, I really had to, of course read through the entire blog post, redo the entire photos, and then redo the video. So of course that was still kind of a lot of work.

[00:10:42]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:10:43]  Eloise Jennes 

But I had my Excel sheet. I was ready to get started? Love an Excel sheet. And by the way, I use that Excel sheet to track my work the entire time. I don’t know if you know about this. I feel like I only recently learned to use this. But they have smart chips in Google Excel, like in Excel sheets, and it basically lets you track the progress of a project just like you can do in Asana or ClickUp.

[00:11:06]   

What? Yes. I love that because I have the app on my phone and then I have it on my computer and I was able to always like, whenever I had an idea come up, I could just add it into my Excel sheet. Or if I was, you know, as I was moving along, if I had shot the recipe, written the recipe, edited the photos, I could just like click that into those little smart chips.And that was so helpful.

[00:11:28]  Megan Porta 

Okay, that is a little piece of gold. Thank you. I just wrote it down. I’m going to look into that. Had no idea, of course. Leave it to Elo to know that. I mean, it doesn’t surprise me. Okay, so for these hundred days. So this was a hundred consecutive days. Okay. And it was solely on Instagram, but based on recipes from the blog.

[00:11:50]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah. So every day I was sharing a reel that had a Manychat automation to one of the recipes that was on the blog. So basically every day I was posting a reel, a blog post that had that many chat automation linking the two. And then I was sharing a newsletter two times a week on top of that.

[00:12:09]  Megan Porta 

Okay. So much work. How much were you working during this period?

[00:12:14]  Eloise Jennes 

So I was basically filming about three days a week and so video and photos. And then I was writing the blog post about three days a week. And then there was always the Sunday where I would catch up on any work that didn’t get done. And that was always more than I anticipated.

[00:12:30]   

You know, sometimes you test a recipe, you think you’re going to be fine with just testing it two times, but then it takes four times or five times. And those were the ones that you, you don’t necessarily plan in. So I was working seven days a week. I was working 14 to 15 hours a day, which is not a flex.

[00:12:50]   

Like, I hope everyone understands that this is really not a flex. It was. The thing is, I started, as I told you, I started the series mid August. I published the first blog post in reel on September 1st, and I had a two week holiday planned mid September. So even though I started with being three weeks ahead on my content, after my holiday, when I got back, I was only one week ahead for two and a half months.

[00:13:16]   

And that was kind of my mistake, you know, if I can call it that. That’s the thing I would do differently right now if I had to do it again is really be have more content planned ahead of time or have more of, you know, buffer recipes that are already like on the blog with good pictures, with good writing.

[00:13:34]   

Maybe even already have a video that I could reuse for those days where, you know, just you don’t feel like shooting or you’re running behind or you get sick, you know, all those things happen, as you said. So yeah, that was, it was a crazy time. But I knew it was limited in time.

[00:13:52]   

You know, I knew, I knew it was those two, three months. It did end up affecting me in January and February, but, but I knew, I knew it was limited.

[00:14:01]  Megan Porta 

Did you have burnout after?

[00:14:03]  Eloise Jennes 

Not burnout, but I ended up having a very bad gastritis in February and that was stress related for sure.

[00:14:11]  Megan Porta 

Oh, hello. I’m so sorry. Yeah, yeah, don’t discount that. I mean that your body knows when you’re doing too much and it will tell you. So that was your body telling you. Whoa, slow down.

[00:14:24]  Eloise Jennes 

I think I ignored the signs in January so that’s why it ended up happening in February.

[00:14:29]  Megan Porta 

But yeah, oh my gosh, I’m so sorry you went through that. So after the hundred days, what happened? What did you find in this whole experiment?

[00:14:38]  Eloise Jennes 

So I feel like what I was really hoping was to, you know, if we’re honest, was growing on social media and driving a little bit of traffic to the blog. Like, I’m not naive, I know people don’t want to leave the platform, but I was still hoping with the automations that people would end up on the blog for certain recipes and, and it was a complete flop, like nothing really happened.

[00:15:01]   

You know, you see those other creators grow hundreds of thousands of followers and I think I maybe grew like 600 followers with 700 within those 100 days. And that definitely felt like failure. Especially I remember around day 50, you know, you’ve been super consistent. You’ve been putting all that work in. You’ve been very hopeful this entire time.

[00:15:24]   

You’re like, okay, I’m only 20 days in 30 days and it’s only been a month. Like let’s keep going, let’s keep going. And then you’re, you’re at half time and that’s when you realize like, oh my gosh, this is really, it’s not going the way I was hoping it would go. And that was, that was a little disappointing.

[00:15:41]   

And then it. It was harder to keep on going after that. But I’m someone like, if I commit myself to doing something, I’m going to push through. So I did push through, but it. It did feel like failure a lot of the time. And I really started questioning myself and over analyzing my content, trying to find the things that were wrong with my videos that were wrong with my storytelling.

[00:16:06]   

Comparing what, what are other creators doing? Like, how can I be more like them? Which in. In, you know, is not the way to approach things, as I’ve learned right now. But that’s what I was doing at the time. And yeah, I. It was, it was.

[00:16:23]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s hard. Yeah. Especially after all of that work. And. Okay, first of all, going HCU stuff that you went through, having the break you needed, and then coming back feeling like, yes, I have a strategy, I know I’m. I’m gonna implement this new thing. And then having that feeling of I’ve been working so hard and now seeing that it wasn’t working the way you wanted it to, and then right away you were focusing on, what am I doing wrong?

[00:16:49]   

What are other people doing, looking at those things. So at what point did you maybe have a realization that you needed to rethink things?

[00:17:00]  Eloise Jennes 

I think it’s really been a few months after the end of the series. You know, having. Having that distance to the project and not being so emotionally tied to it, I. I realized that I was doing a good job. Like, if I’m being very objective, my videos were good, my. My visuals were good, my recipes were good, I was working on my storytelling.

[00:17:24]   

Like, this was not one of my strengths, but I was doing a very okay job. And I was, as I said before, over analyzing everything. And I feel like so many of us, you know, get trapped into that over analysis and, and cannot just see the good work that we’re already doing. And maybe it was bad timing because so many other creators were already doing the series and there’s always a little bit of luck that, you know, as part of those things.

[00:17:55]   

And yeah, now with the distance, as I mentioned, you know, to the project, I was really able to see that I was doing a good job, it was fine, and that it was probably just not meant to happen at the time. Like, it did not happen yet.

[00:18:12]  Megan Porta 

It’s not happened yet. I love that.

[00:18:14]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah, but, but it’s. It will come when timing is right. That’s what, that’s what I believe in.

[00:18:21]  Megan Porta 

And you. So you saw kind of the thing that you’re calling, like, oh, my gosh. This was a failure. And now you have a more positive spin and you’re seeing, like, how can you move forward past this? So where are you at right now?

[00:18:36]  Eloise Jennes 

I think just rephrasing the word failure and acknowledging that it was not failure. It was just an unmet expectation. I had that expectation of growing followers and growing on social media, and that expectation did not get met. But I did not fail. I posted, like 100 videos and 100 blog posts.

[00:18:58]  Megan Porta 

That was not a failure. No.

[00:18:59]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah. I pushed through and I did the thing and I worked on my blog, which was such a big goal of mine. I got back into blogging, and I made my blog better than it has ever been, basically. So I think just rephrasing that was already, like, such a big step for me personally.

[00:19:17]   

And I just want to encourage everyone out there, you know, that that is really. That feels like he or she is failing. Like, it’s not necessarily failure. It’s probably more disappointment. And success does not happen overnight. And sometimes it’s better if things take time because you have more time to experiment and you have more time to fail, quote, unquote, you know, but in front of, like, maybe 50 or 100 people and not in front of a massive audience.

[00:19:45]   

And so maybe it’s actually a gift, you know, and we should just, like, acknowledge that we are doing the best we can and just being consistent is already, like, such a big part and such a big win.

[00:19:57]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:19:58]  Eloise Jennes 

So I think. I think that’s where I am today and really just trying to stay positive. Be in the gain, as I learned from you, Megan.

[00:20:06]  Megan Porta 

Oh, yes.

[00:20:07]  Eloise Jennes 

The Gap in the Gain.

[00:20:08]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Oh, gosh, it’s such a good message. Yeah. Well, I just want to commend you for doing that because I think a lot of people would have seen what happened as, like, a big failure and run from it and just never looked back. But you took the time to evaluate and say, okay, this.

[00:20:27]   

I showed up, Dang it. Like, consistently. And I. You did such. I watched all of your stories. Elo. Or your reels, and they’re so good. I mean, you. You put so much quality effort into those, and you can see it. So that was not a fail. That was part of your growth, I think.

[00:20:46]   

And for you to be able to recognize so much. Yeah. And to. And to learn all the things you learned. So what are some of those things that you learned during that season?

[00:20:56]  Eloise Jennes 

I guess I think it were with skills like my filming. So I learned how to film, video, and shoot the step by step photo at the same time. That’s not something I was doing before and doing that for, you know, like three times a week for so many weeks now I can really set up my entire equipment in just five minutes.

[00:21:16]   

I know where the good lighting is, I know how to set up my artificial lights, etc, and that already is like such a big win. And it also saves you so much time when you can do video and photo at the same time. Then I learned so much about editing. I feel like I can edit within like a video within 15 to 20 minutes now just because I’ve done it so often.

[00:21:39]   

But I mean not, you know, like the huge edits with like text overlays, photo overlays and sound animations as we see nowadays. But it’s really like this super quick edits. I was actually, I was filming my video and then I was. So on the same day I was trying to take like five minutes and do a very rough edit of the thing I had just cut because otherwise you have so many little clips in your phone and you know, it feels like, it feels like so much work to get started.

[00:22:07]   

And now I already had like those, those mini videos that were already partly edited and then I just had to go in, finish the edits and that was super helpful. And it’s still the way I do it today.

[00:22:19]  Megan Porta 

That’s so smart. 

[00:22:22]  Sponsor

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[00:22:39]  Eloise Jennes 

Then I worked on my storytelling. I feel like that was the biggest challenge for me. It’s not really part of my personality. It’s something that I find very difficult but has become such a big part of what you have to do on social media. And so just working on that for 100 days straight and something that’s uncomfortable and that you don’t like doing is hard, but it’s also very, very fulfilling when you see the difference.

[00:23:09]   

Now I remember when I was doing my first voiceovers for the series, it felt like my voice always sounded different in every video, so there was no consistency. And now I go under my blanket on my couch to have the best possible sound. Apparently it makes the sound so much better. And.

[00:23:29]  Megan Porta 

Are you serious? Under a blanket? I have never heard that.

[00:23:32]  Eloise Jennes 

You have to try it.

[00:23:33]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh. Okay. Why have I never heard of this? It just makes it. What does it do to your voice?

[00:23:39]  Eloise Jennes 

It’s more like it. It blocks out any echo, etc. Like, it makes it sound proof, you know, like. Like in a sound studio kind of. Or what’s even better than that is going under a blanket in your car because your car is such a small space.

[00:23:55]  Megan Porta 

People are like, what is that lady doing in her car? That is so weird.

[00:23:59]  Eloise Jennes 

I had forgotten about that. But I was. So many times I was going into my car to record the voiceovers.

[00:24:06]  Megan Porta 

Gosh, you are committed. That is. Okay, I’m gonna try that next time. Going under a blanket.

[00:24:11]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. And then. And then you tell me. And then you tell me.

[00:24:13]  Megan Porta 

Yes, I will report back.

[00:24:15]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah, but now I’m under my blanket. And then, you know, I just. I almost, like, lay down on the couch. It’s more of like a relaxed position. It’s not. I’m just trying to be relaxed and not putting in as much effort. And then my voice just always sounds the same now. And that.

[00:24:31]   

That’s huge. Right. But I think what was so hard is that at the time during, while I was doing the series was that the voiceover part was always the last thing you had to do. So you had to put out the blog post to be able to do the many chat automation to put out the reel.

[00:24:48]   

And so, so often I ended up recording the voiceover like just 30 minutes before the reel was going live. And since it was the most challenging part, having the least amount of time for it was probably not the best idea, but it’s just the way that it ended up being. And that’s fine.

[00:25:08]   

As I said, like, I worked on it for 100 days straight. Like, I probably would never have done that if it wasn’t for that series. So.

[00:25:15]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:25:16]  Eloise Jennes 

That was. That was good.

[00:25:18]  Megan Porta 

So talk about your storytelling a little bit. So how do you. How do you tell your stories in your reels now versus then what? I mean, obviously you were talking about the consistency in your voice and all of that, but is there anything else that changed?

[00:25:33]  Eloise Jennes 

I think that’s something I’m currently trying to change. So I’ve also been a little less active on Instagram because of that. I’m trying to find my voice. What I have recently discovered through my business coaching is that I’m more of that teacher archetype. And I feel like that’s something that I really want to, you know, into my videos really come from that teacher voice and not that storyteller voice.

[00:26:02]   

I feel like that already makes such a big difference for me just in the way that I approach things. And because, you know, you don’t have, like a super fun story to tell for every single recipe. Like it’s not your grandma’s recipe or your sister’s recipe and you have a fun story to tell about it, at least I don’t.

[00:26:20]   

But if I can tell you why this little hack is going to make this recipe so much faster, or why I use frozen ingredients in this recipe instead of fresh, or why I use a certain tool, like there are so many little things that I can teach you through my videos. I think that’s what that’s really the way I’m going to move forward with.

[00:26:42]  Megan Porta 

Okay. And that’s something that obviously gets refined over time as you do it more. Like you did for 100 consecutive days and you’re continuing to do it. You just get the hang of it more. Right. So sometimes it takes that repetition.

[00:26:54]  Eloise Jennes 

Definitely.

[00:26:56]  Megan Porta 

And it’s not. Okay. So for you, it’s storytelling. For other people, this could be something entirely different. They could be working on completely different aspect of being on Instagram or a completely different platform. Right. So it could be photography or any skill that we need to develop to be better in our businesses.

[00:27:17]   

So for you, it’s this. For others. I mean, I think anyone can fill in the blank with something. So I just wanted to point that out so people weren’t like, well, my storytelling is good, so I don’t need to listen. No, like. Like you have something that you need to improve. So learn.

[00:27:35]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. And that repetition really helps you.

[00:27:37]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:27:38]  Eloise Jennes 

Improve those skills because it forces you to do it. And especially when you’ve committed to it publicly, you know. Yes, that’s a big thing, doing it for yourself. Because it’s so easy to say, oh my gosh, no, I’m too busy today, I’m going to do it tomorrow. And then you end up always pushing it back.

[00:27:55]   

I know, I’m that way. But when you’ve committed to something publicly and especially for. For such a long period of time, it really forces you to do it.

[00:28:05]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Right. No, that’s a good point. So how has this whole experience shaped your blog? Because I know you just did a refresh on your blog and you refined your niche too, so talk about that.

[00:28:17]  Eloise Jennes 

I think the fact that this series didn’t take off was kind of the best thing that could have happened, because imagine it would have taken off then. I would probably have focused so much of my time on. On growing or continuing to put out the content, et cetera. But since it did not happen, and as I said, I was overanalyzing everything, but it also made me look for ways that I could improve my content and improve my blog.

[00:28:44]   

And what I realized is that my niche was still not 100% me. And I feel like we always get told like we should niche down, we should be super, super specific. And I feel like for years I’ve been trying to find my niche. And what’s crazy to me when I look back is that it’s always been there. Like it’s been there for.

[00:29:07]  Megan Porta 

I just got goosebumps.

[00:29:08]  Eloise Jennes 

Ten, like a decade. Yeah. And I just could not see it. I have been meal prepping since I was in high school. Whenever I got diagnosed with the gluten intolerance because I had to, you know, bring lunches to school, there there was nothing I could eat at the cafeteria or at the school restaurant.

[00:29:25]   

And so I started bringing my lunches and that really evolved into an entire system when I went to university and then my master’s degree and then I ended up going the self employed route right after graduating. So I started freelancing and I thought I would have all the time in the world to cook fresh every day for lunch and dinner.

[00:29:46]   

Of course, like that did not happen. I was busier than ever, kind of. That really forced me to, you know, that, that skill that I had to really use it and to refine the system. And I realized that this was actually a gift that I had when I started talking to some of my friends because to me it had always been so intuitive.

[00:30:08]   

It has felt easy. As I said, I’m like super type A, super organized. So meal prepping was like, it felt, it felt easy to me. But then I started talking to some of my friends, especially as we all started working and you know, adult things and all the things they were telling me how like they were super overwhelmed with me, meal planning, meal prepping, how was how I was doing it, like which recipes were good for meal prep, et cetera.

[00:30:33]   

And then there was also this plant based aspect. I had started eating more and more plant based, like I’m not vegan, but I would say I eat about 80% plant based. And so bringing that into meal prep because I feel like it’s so easy to find like the chicken meal prep recipes and the meat meal prep recipes, but there were a lot less plant based alternatives.

[00:30:55]   

And so when I realized that, and then when I really looked at what worked on my account before the 100 Day Recipe series, it was those meal prep reels that I was doing and I had all the expertise and the more I was talking to people about it, the more I realized like how qualified I actually was because as I said to me, it was just like, like the most natural thing in the world.

[00:31:19]   

And so I started writing all those guides for my blog, like how to start meal prepping, how to meal prep for the week. Like my exact 8 step rundown. 15 tips I wish I had known before I started meal prepping. Best class meal prep containers, of course, like including all of the keywords, but really writing down everything I know about meal prepping.

[00:31:41]   

And then I deleted hundreds of recipes on my blog. Oh, that was so scary. I. And then what was even scarier was deleting my categories. I deleted about 80% of my categories to create new ones that, that really, that were, that fit that meal prep purpose. You know, it was not just dinners and appetizers and sides.

[00:32:04]   

Now it was breakfast meal prep and lunch meal prep and dinner meal prep and snack meal prep so that everything completely changed. But I feel like the blog is better than ever because of it. And I have these entire guides and supportive content that were not there before because, you know, it was so, so broad and now it feels so specific.

[00:32:26]   

And I, as I mentioned, I feel, I feel so passionate about it, but I also feel like I have so much to share and to teach, which brings me back to the teacher archetype.

[00:32:37]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. So it feels like you’ve just gained so much clarity about yourself and what you have to offer. And I literally got goosebumps through my body when you said it was there all along. Oh my gosh. Elo. That’s so crazy. Isn’t it funny how it can be so obvious once the realization comes to us.

[00:32:57]   

But prior to that it’s like, why didn’t I see it? It’s like an ingrained part of you. And meal prep is not something that a lot of people like or it doesn’t come intuitively for a lot of people, myself included. I need guidance and you are the guide.

[00:33:15]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah.

[00:33:15]  Megan Porta 

That’s crazy how it’s all come together.

[00:33:18]  Eloise Jennes 

I feel like now it’s really snowballed, like completely snowballed. It’s not just a blog anymore. It’s my entire business. I just started the second round of my meal prep group program. So it’s every. So it’s an online five week program where we meet live on Zoom every Sunday at 4pm and the participants get the recipes and the grocery list beforehand.

[00:33:44]   

Then we meet live on Zoom. I guide them through the entire session. You know, the work is basically done for them. They just have to show up. They just have to cook alongside me. And then when they close their laptop after two hours, their fridge is packed with food and you have. You have that mental load that is taken off your shoulders.

[00:34:01]   

You have someone that is guiding you, that’s motivating you, that’s keeping you accountable. I feel like accountability is such a big part when it comes to meal prepping, especially, as you said, when it’s not something that you like doing or that feels hard to you when you have someone or you have a date and a place that you need to show up to, it makes it so much easier.

[00:34:21]   

And yeah, so now it’s become a big part of my business. I’m currently working on even offline meal prep services for pregnant women to help them prep for postpartum.

[00:34:32]  Megan Porta 

Wow, that’s so cool.

[00:34:34]  Eloise Jennes 

I feel like I’ve really found my purpose in this. Like, my. Why? You know, it’s not just a niche. It’s really like I feel so much more fulfilled than when I was doing that 100 day recipe series. I feel like now I really know how I can help others and how I can teach others, and especially in times like pregnancy, you know, that are so transformational, just just being.

[00:34:57]   

Being there for these women and just contributing just a little bit, you know.

[00:35:01]  Megan Porta 

And that 100 days that at the time may have felt like a failure has led you here. And that, I think, is the whole theme of this episode is like, if you’re going through something that just feels like you’re stuck and that you’re failing, that you have to trust that there is a reason.

[00:35:17]   

And down the road, you’re going to look back on this time and see that it’s not a failure, that it’s leading you somewhere better, because it’s definitely done that for you. I almost feel emotional. Wow, I’m so happy for you. And I. I bet this has also just built kind of a foundation, like you said, for your entire business.

[00:35:34]   

But this also gives you opportunity to do other things and speak naturally about it. Like going on podcasts and, I don’t know, doing magazines. Yeah, magazines. Or exploring others. Yeah, right. Does everything feel just more natural and aligned now for you?

[00:35:54]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes. And I also feel so much prouder of my blog being able to send a pitch to a magazine and say, hey, would you like to feature these three recipes? Here’s my blog. You have all the info about me and it looks pretty and you can see that I know what I’m talking about.

[00:36:11]   

I feel so much prouder to share that with the world and to share that also with people in my field. Sometimes you just have networking opportunities and networking events and it just, I don’t know, I feel more like, like an expert in what I’m doing and not just a food blogger. I hope that makes sense.

[00:36:30]   

Like I don’t mean that in a negative way, but sometimes. Yeah, when, when you say food blogger creator, you know, it’s always like, ah.

[00:36:37]  Megan Porta 

It’s more than that. I mean we all know it’s so much more than the words. Food blogger.

[00:36:41]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes.

[00:36:42]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I know what you mean.

[00:36:43]  Eloise Jennes 

Now it’s meal prep coach, you know.

[00:36:45]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:36:45]  Eloise Jennes 

It’s not just food blogger. Yeah.

[00:36:47]  Megan Porta 

And so much. I mean even more than meal prep coach. You’re so much more than that. But yeah, you can embody all the things and you’re actually making a difference in the world. You know why? Your why?

[00:36:57]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah.

[00:36:58]  Megan Porta 

And then do you have products that you’re selling now or is that something you’re getting into?

[00:37:04]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah, I’m working on it. So I would love to do a, you know, self paced meal prep program where I have like modules telling you everything about meal prep, but then also guided meal prep sessions that would probably be one hour long and not two hour long. But really for those people that cannot join on Sundays that work shifts, that have kids that you know, for so many people Sunday is not the best day.

[00:37:29]   

So I feel like, or I had people tell me that they were very introverted and that a group setting was not what that what they were looking for, but they were still hoping to benefit from everything I have to teach. So that’s what I’m working on. Then I would also love to do a bundle.

[00:37:46]   

Now what I’m doing right now in those meal prep programs is I always share my recipes as a recipe card with step by step photos. Kind of like Hello Fresh style recipe card, if you know what I’m talking about. And I would love to do a bundle of those, you know, with like a breakfast meal prep bundle and then maybe like my best one pot meal prep recipes.

[00:38:08]   

I would love to do a freezer meal prep something. I don’t know what that format is going to be like. But right now the focus is also very much on the postpartum meal prep.

[00:38:19]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, and that is such a need too. I mean I feel like people, that’s a time in life when people generally feel depleted and stretched and not having the capacity to do like meals and meal prep is like out of their scope. So I think that is such a, not only a natural fit for you, but such a help in this world for something that’s really important.

[00:38:43]   

Okay, cool. I am so inspired by this. And then I was going to ask you if somebody you were talking to and they were kind of relaying a story, maybe it’s a story like where you were a year or two ago. Just like, I know there’s a purpose. I know I meant for something.

[00:38:58]   

I just don’t know what it is yet. What would your advice be to them?

[00:39:02]  Eloise Jennes 

I can only talk of, you know, like, how it was for me. But I always, like, deep down, I had that trust that it was going to work out. I knew it was going to take time, but, like, in my gut, I know that it’s going to work out and it’s going to be so much bigger and so much better than I can ever imagine.

[00:39:21]   

And I cannot necessarily explain where that trust into my project comes from, but it’s just there and just, you know, like, believing in it. And yeah, trusting is really about that trust. I think if you’re starting something like a food blog, some sort of project, especially if you’re doing that, like you have a job and you’re doing that on the side, it’s really because you’re super passionate about it and trusting that passion is enough and that even if it takes time, it’s going to work out.

[00:39:55]   

I think that is what has brought me to where I am today and always kept me going. Even though it felt like I was failing and it felt like it was super hard. Like, I’m not going to lie. In January, I did look up jobs and I was like, okay, it would be so much easier to go.Yeah, I don’t want to say go back to a 9 to 5, because I never had a 9 to 5. But, you know, sometimes it just feels easier, but you keep going anyway because you know that it’s going to happen.

[00:40:23]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. And I think most of us do have that gut feeling that there’s something more, there’s something we’re meant for. And this failure isn’t actually a failure. Just keep going. And that’s why we do keep going, because we’ve got that built in, like, navigational system telling us, don’t stop here, you’re meant for something more than this.And you did that. Elo.

[00:40:45]  Eloise Jennes 

So I feel like we’re always very impatient or it feels like, you know, everyone else on the Internet has that overnight success. And every time I see someone having, like an overnight success, they have been working on their food blogs or on their accounts for years and years and years. Like, like, maybe they had one series that really took off now, but there’s been so much work that has been put into that way before.

[00:41:12]   

So even though it feels like it happens super quickly for so many people, overnight success is just for, like, a very, very small minority. And for most of us, it just takes time. And as I said before, sometimes it’s. It’s better that it takes time because you can experiment and you can fail before it works.

[00:41:30]  Megan Porta 

And you have time to refine all those skills and become a better everything storyteller. Fill in the blank. And in retrospect, you can see that. You can see that you needed that time to refine and to grow and to become the person that you are now. So. Okay. Is there anything else you want to mention before we start saying goodbye about your amazing story?

[00:41:49]  Eloise Jennes 

I don’t think so.

[00:41:50]  Megan Porta 

Okay.

[00:41:51]  Eloise Jennes 

I mean, unless you have another question.

[00:41:53]  Megan Porta 

No, thank you for sharing it. I think this will be so inspiring because, as you know, this is a time when it’s been really hard for a lot of people, not just with Google and updates, but with all aspects of people’s businesses. A lot of people talk about wanting to give up and just throw in the towel, but if you have that ingrained passion that Elo was talking about that, you know, you need to keep going, I hope this is encouragement for you to do that because look what has happened.

[00:42:23]   

I feel like you’re just so free and light. Like, okay, I’ve figured out my purpose and here I am showing up for the world, which is amazing. Yes, thank you. Elo. Your story is so awesome, and as always, it’s great to see you and chat with you. Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

[00:42:43]  Eloise Jennes 

Yes, it’s the Diary of a CEO, the 33 Laws of Business and Life. Started reading it and on page 17, there was a quote I have not forgotten since I read it. And it, it says, if you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it.

And if you want to master something, teach it. And I feel like that really resonated with me because of all the things we’ve talked about. But it’s so true. When you want to master a certain topic, teaching it to other people and writing down everything you know about it and explaining it in 10 different ways and, you know, breaking it down even further and even further and even further until everyone understands it is really so powerful. Especially when you’re building a blog, you’re building a business. So I don’t know. That quote really resonated with me and I hope it resonates with others too.

[00:43:35]  Megan Porta 

I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that. We will put together another show notes page for you, Elo, and if you want to go peek at those, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/cookingwithelo2 tell people where they can find you. And I hope, hope you definitely go look at Elo’s blog. It’s so beautiful.

[00:43:54]  Eloise Jennes 

Yeah, so it’s Cooking with Elo on every platform. CookingWithElo.com is my blog. And yeah, even on Pinterest, I’m not on TikTok. I completely ignore that platform.

[00:44:05]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh, me too. I feel like we’re the only ones in the entire universe. I’m like, I. I have people all the time like, oh, did you see the new TikTok? And I’m like, I nope, I can’t. I do not have the bandwidth to go because I know it would eat up all of my time. So I just, I don’t go there same.

[00:44:23]  Eloise Jennes 

And I tried posting on multiple platforms and I’m just not able to do it. So I just don’t.

[00:44:29]  Megan Porta 

I hear you on that. Okay, we’re together solidarity on that one. Well, thanks again, Elo and thank you for listening food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

[00:44:41]  Megan Porta

If you enjoyed this topic, you’ll also love the episode I recommend in the show notes. Click on the episode description to find the link. Thank you and I will see you next time.