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Welcome to Make Your Passion Pay, hosted by LuAnn Buechler, a seasoned leader with a master’s degree in Hospitality Administration and a recipient of the TLC Award for Leadership. This podcast is designed for business owners who have left toxic environments to create their own thriving workplaces but find themselves struggling with team building and mindset. Join LuAnn as she shares insights and strategies to help you cultivate joy and a positive mindset in your business and personal life. Drawing from her experience working with renowned leaders like Dr. Ivan Misner, LuAnn guides you in building a supportive community and mastering the art of people management. Each episode offers practical advice and inspiring stories to empower you to transform your work environment into one that reflects your values and passions. Tune in to discover how to lead with joy, foster meaningful connections, and truly make your passion pay.
Hi everybody and welcome to the Make Your Passion Pay Podcast. I'm LuAnn, your host, and on the Make Your Passion Pay Podcast, we talk about the playbook, the six Cs to make your best in space and monetizing that which you love. That would be clarity, connection, community, collaboration, creativity, and commitment. And if you're a follower and a loyal listener, you know that we've come up with a lot more words that begin with C as we go through these conversations, and we have a lot of fun with it. So welcome. And today, I have a friend of mine and a part of my network, Teresa Firebaugh. Teresa is with TFire4GutHealth. Love her creative name of her business. She educates people on the importance of the microbiome inhabiting our gut and working with the digestive tract and all the areas of our health and well-being affected by the microbiome, which she still needs to educate me a lot, and she works with a company called Plexus that provides supplements and other things to support good gut health. Welcome to Teresa.
(00:06:39.959) tfire, Teresa: Hi there. LuAnn, how are you today?
(00:06:41.259) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Fantastic.
(00:06:42.959) tfire, Teresa: Thank you for having me on.
(00:06:45.059) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Well, I'm excited to have you here, right? Not always excited to talk about the gut, but I do know the importance of it. So I want to step back, though. I want you to share a little bit of your entrepreneurial journey because I believe you started in another field.
(00:07:05.259) tfire, Teresa: Well, I am a pharmacist and have been for over 30 years. I worked in retail pharmacy the majority of those years. Of course, my dissatisfaction with just adding more pills and not feeling I was actually helping people, and then my own health journey led me to gut health. It was gut health that turned the key for me and made all the different things I was doing for my wellness kind of fall into place and actually make me start feeling better. I just felt like I needed to share that with other people, that there are things besides prescription meds that can do so much for us and bring back our energy and our hope and our bodies working for us rather than feeling like they're working against us.
(00:07:54.959) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: So Teresa, what kind of thing trigger people to think, oh, I need some help with my gut biome? I mean, I don't think we're walking around thinking about that, but we certainly know
(00:08:10.559) tfire, Teresa: our
(00:08:10.759) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Pain points. So what are the pain points people like Lee have that trigger a need for what you've got to offer?
(00:08:17.759) tfire, Teresa: Well, the very obvious one is problems with their bowel movements, their bathroom habits. In that, believe me, people talk to their people, are very relaxed; other people, not in the pharmacy setting, are reluctant to talk about it, and yet it is one of the things that gives us a good indicator of where our digestive health might be. But the thing is, there's so many things that we wouldn't attribute to gut health that can be involved—pain points like mood, anxiety, skin conditions. I mean, some of the research out there actually shows that just about every chronic condition we have can be traced back.
(00:09:11.072) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: To Something in the gut. So interesting. Yeah. And so you indeed were dealing with
(00:09:20.772) tfire, Teresa: Some symptoms. You know, my main pain points that took me to the doctor were the
(00:09:28.772) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: sudden
(00:09:29.272) tfire, Teresa: Lack of sleep. First, sleepless nights that had gone from occasionally to several times a week. Kind of feeling like I was walking around in a brain fog all day, not really having clarity of thought, which given my work as a pharmacist, I thought, you know, it was kind of scary. And just the energy level. And I, of course, had gone to the doctor, like most people do, thinking western medicine was going to provide me the answer. And we tried all the sleeping pills and I got no relief. I felt no better. And I also suffered with atrial fibrillation for well over a decade and had several procedures for that. And I don't talk about that too much on my wellness journey and how that's affected my gut health. But even after all of those things, it's only been in the last year, after six months on gut health, that I've had zero instances of atrial fibrillation, and I attribute that to the gut health taking care of my underlying
(00:10:30.772) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: inflammation in my body. Oh, there's the word. there's the word, anytime you think of inflammation, which is
(00:10:41.172) tfire, Teresa: a part of almost
(00:10:42.672) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: All these conditions, right? That inflammation is coming because of poor gut health as well. So, yeah, make the connection right up the chain because I wouldn't have thought of poor sleep as a problem either. That would be
(00:11:00.372) tfire, Teresa: Solved by poor gut health. Well, you know, the thing is when you dive into gut health, you find out that our hormones are made and processed in our gut. Our feel-good hormones are processed in our gut and made by the bacteria, even this GLP-1 that everybody is so excited about, their skinny shots that come with many side effects. GLP-1 naturally is made in our gut. And so, when our digestive balance is off, all of the different hormones that are involved in all the body processes are off, and we end up with these symptoms. I think in pharmaceutical, the pharmaceutical kind of, you know, we find one spot where it's, oh, we recognize this does this, so how can we alter that? And yet, if we go further back and help balance the biome, we can even eliminate the need for some of the meds because we approach it from a much more
(00:12:04.572) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Natural approach. I love that. I love that you come with that pharmaceutical background and yet are trying to solve these situations with non-pharmaceutical solutions. It's wonderful. I love it so much. So your journey took you into your health situation and you were out searching for solutions and
(00:12:30.972) tfire, Teresa: That's when you found Plexus, right?
(00:12:34.072) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: It is indeed
(00:12:35.072) tfire, Teresa: social media. Did you tell me? I did, of all things. A woman who we'd become friends with on Facebook, like well, in its infancy when my children were young and now my youngest is 28 years old. So that tells you how long ago that was. But my kids would play with her kids when they went by their dad's house. And shortly after, being a look for a good probiotic to help my leaky gut that was diagnosed by a nurse practitioner. You know, she's trying to find a good probiotic and I was just like, you're a pharmacist. And I just, I used an expletive I won't repeat on the podcast. But I'm like, do you have a recommendation? Because there is nothing that is widely recommended. You know, people ask me all the time at the pharmacy counter. And so it started me on a journey of looking for a good probiotic. And I tried a couple of different ones that I thought would be quality products and you kind of go, well, I don't know. Is it helping me? Is it not? I really want it to. And then, I had just gotten back on Facebook after the 24th and this woman's host started coming up on my feed. And she was a hairdresser all her life, out these products that have helped her regain function in her hands after
(00:13:55.648) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: arthritis, kind of.
(00:13:56.948) tfire, Teresa: stole her ability. I reached out and the rest has become history. For me, it started me on a whole journey and wanting to share these products with other people and helping them find the resilience that our body, God so intricately
(00:14:14.348) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: designed our bodies to heal themselves. Yes, indeed he did. Love it. So, you kind of stumbled into
(00:14:23.548) tfire, Teresa: an entrepreneurial
(00:14:24.648) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Journey.
(00:14:26.348) tfire, Teresa: I did. I just, I felt like I just couldn't keep it to myself. And I'm not sure exactly how this is going to unfold and where it's going to take me, but I want to share with other people the
(00:14:39.848) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: health benefits of taking care of that biome. So as you speak, it occurs to me what's happened here is that you've uncovered an opportunity that allows you to really fulfill your passion of serving that
(00:15:00.348) tfire, Teresa: ultimate
(00:15:01.048) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: patient. Right? Absolutely. It was a frustration that I have heard in your voice before, just one pill after the other, and it's not really solving these people's problem. And now you're excited about sharing something that you have found that can help them. And it is that passion that drives us. And I love that you said that, right? Like, I can hardly not
(00:15:26.848) tfire, Teresa: share it. Because absolutely much for you, absolutely, and yet, you know, and this is where you've come in for me with your coaching services. You know, our mindset really determines everything we do. And I was so stuck in the frustration of retail pharmacy. And I decided to take your course. And doing the passion test with you and really defining my passions really helped me be able to say, these are my guiding principles and this is where I need to focus. I'm not at the point with my business that I can
(00:16:12.348) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: step away from
(00:16:13.048) tfire, Teresa: my pharmacy career. Yet not yet. I've been able to step away from retail and the frustration points I had there, you know, so I can continue to work part-time in long term care pharmacy so that my household can still run and we have an income. But I'm able to work on my entrepreneurial aspect and know where I'm headed and how I want to get there. And your services, LuAnn, have been
(00:16:44.948) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: helped make that so much clearer for me. Thank you so much. And when you say,
(00:16:50.248) tfire, Teresa: gave you confidence. Oh, absolute confidence and clarity and I actually have my cards here with my passions. I
(00:17:00.848) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: read them, probably once
(00:17:02.048) tfire, Teresa: every day. Just to make sure that I'm staying on track. And you know, the thing is, people think that when you set a course, it's ingrained in stone and yet, life is like a sailboat, right? When another wind blows, you have to readjust and you have to reevaluate. But having those main passions written down and knowing that those are my clarity, it helps me readjust my sail and evaluate if I'm headed in the right direction or not.
(00:17:36.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: with winds that are blowing in my life, right? Because they can so easily blow us off course. And oftentimes it's what I call shiny object syndrome. Going over here is going to be better or doing this is going to be better or what have you, right? So the passions really do give you direction. And like you said, she used our word clarity. That clarity leads to confidence, another word that starts with C, right? That is so important and being able to step out of the patterns that
(00:18:13.248) tfire, Teresa: are the comfort zone. There's a
(00:18:16.648) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: horrible word for seeing them. No, it totally is. I love to address it, right? Because that's often what's blocking people. Like, I've got a good job as a pharmacist, you know? But I've also disconnected with my values in doing some of that work and wanting to share the Plexus line of products. It's what really excites you and feels like you can really help people, which is super cool. And so I want you to notice though, my audience, that Teresa didn't quit her job the minute she figured this out. She figured out, okay, I still need to maintain financial stability in my household and I'm going to take action that's going to shift the work that I do and work on building my own business, where my heart really lies. And that may take some time. So these are not overnight get-rich-quick solutions. It's sort of like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, that I know where I'm going and so I can persevere through it, which in the language that everybody's talking about these days really is
(00:19:38.048) tfire, Teresa: Resilience. Well, and, you know, I
(00:19:43.048) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: I don't really feel like I'm
(00:19:43.848) tfire, Teresa: Persevering through anything. Hmm, because again, that mind shift of I'm working. My passions are guiding me, they're not being ignored anymore, they're not taking a back seat, and so the journey is really what all of life is about. You may have that light at the end of the tunnel or that goal, but if we're not enjoying the journey getting there,
(00:20:12.748) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Everything becomes a sticking point, right? And
(00:20:17.048) tfire, Teresa: That's when
(00:20:17.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: We feel stuck.
(00:20:19.848) tfire, Teresa: Yeah, it's yeah. And you know, the thing is that even with the wellness journey, you know, when I talk to my customers, it's like, or I'm not sure if I should call them customers, clients, or patients. But the people I work with that want to improve their health and their well-being, we all have mindsets, we all have things we've been taught that we need to evaluate and decide if they're serving us well. And so, the way different people come to those sticking points and how they work through them is very different. So I try to guide people with
(00:20:59.448) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: those things as well. Absolutely. And really, I write my title myself as a business coach, but I really am helping be a guide for people and sharing tools that they can use just like you're doing, right? And I too feel like I have to share this. I want people to live in joy. You want people to live healthy and feel good, which, if we're not whole and complete in ourselves and feeling good, then it affects
(00:21:31.248) tfire, Teresa: how we
(00:21:31.748) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: do our business.
(00:21:32.448) tfire, Teresa: We
(00:21:33.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: do life in general, right? And so we've got to put all the pieces together and Teresa offers something that truly complements being healthy in general, right? So we can do good work in the world. And that's all what we really want to do, right? Is serve others and
(00:21:54.348) tfire, Teresa: do good work in the world. And yet the world since the wanna take us away from that, it wants us to be convenient and quick and busy all the time. And sometimes stepping away from some of those things is what it takes to get the clarity. And
(00:22:10.748) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: that's what we're working with. You helped me do Absolutely well, thank you. Thank you for that testimony. If you will appreciate that. So I want to make a couple of points here for my listeners. Number one, you don't need to quit the job. You're currently in to start a business.
(00:22:30.948) tfire, Teresa: It's baby
(00:22:32.448) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Steps, right? Teresa, absolutely. And if you find something that fires you up, like a product that is serving you in your journey, it might be the very thing that you can get behind and build your own business from that fire, that passion for that particular situation. So seek out support for that. You know where to find me, luannb.com, and I do a free consultation so I can share with you more about the process that Teresa is referencing here and Teresa.
(00:23:11.248) tfire, Teresa: You building a team. My long-term goal is to build a team. I have several people in the pipeline that have had such good results with what they're doing that they do want to start sharing. And everybody approaches it a little bit differently. One of the things I'm doing, because community is really important and having support, I'm home. I host a once-a-month Plexus community get-together, and it allows anybody who's curious, using the product, selling the product, to get together and talk about the wins, the struggles, and kind of troubleshoot what we need to do in life and help each
(00:23:56.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Other, boost each other up. I love that you've added that community piece and not a Facebook
(00:24:03.948) tfire, Teresa: Community
(00:24:04.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: a face to
(00:24:05.948) tfire, Teresa: face-to-face.
(00:24:06.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: community. Where you're gathering in our community with the people that you're serving to share results. That's fantastic.
(00:24:16.548) tfire, Teresa: Teresa, when are those? Is it like the same Saturday, the third Saturday of every month? So we actually have one April 18th, and I didn't look at the date for May,
(00:24:27.348) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: but it is the third Saturday. Every month. Every month. Is this
(00:24:32.248) tfire, Teresa: A website? Um, the website, it's on my Facebook page. I posted it, and I do have a website that I'm working on. It should be, hopefully, up and running in the next week or two here so people
(00:24:45.548) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: can see that on my website soon as well. Awesome.
(00:24:49.048) tfire, Teresa: What's the URL to your website? It's going to be www dot tfire4guthealth dot com.
(00:24:56.948) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Guthealth.com, awesome. So likely when we release this podcast, that will all be live. We'll make sure that the link to your website and your Facebook page are in the show notes so people get to you easily. And where's the location? So we're in Rochester, Minnesota, so not everyone who's listening can get there, but for our Rochester listeners, where do you host your
(00:25:25.248) tfire, Teresa: third Saturday of the month gathering. We have been gathering at the Hy-Vee on Crossroads from 8:30 to 10 on that third Saturday in the morning, keeping it real simple: coffee, breakfast if they want to have their own breakfast. We didn't want to take up too much space at a restaurant that was waiting to turn tables, so it kind of worked out well for the
(00:25:49.848) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Hy-Vee. They've got a
(00:25:50.748) tfire, Teresa: Nice big
(00:25:52.948) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: Dining area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fantastic. Teresa, any other
(00:25:59.748) tfire, Teresa: Tips for our listeners. You know, the only thing I would say is that if you're using a probiotic, you should be able to tell that it's making a difference. If you're not seeing anything, it may well be you are just wasting your money. I would love to have a conversation. Information is free and readily available. And anything you might be suffering from, whether it be eczema, sleep, your bowel habits, if you Google gut health and inflammation, gut health and eczema, you will find an overabundance of information. And once you do that, if you have questions, reach out to me. I'd be happy to help you navigate.
(00:26:46.648) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: What might need to be done for you. I just thought of another person I need to connect you with around that skin conversation, and is it the gut health causing that for her? Teresa, I am so excited for your journey and to watch you grow and thrive in your own business, Defyer for Gut Health. Thanks for coming on today and sharing a little bit of
(00:27:11.948) tfire, Teresa: Your journey and your knowledge with my listeners. Thanks for having me, LuAnn. You've been a wonderful brand to get to know and
(00:27:19.948) LuAnn Buechler, Make Your Passion Pay Podcast: I appreciate everything you've done for me. Thanks so much. All right. That's it for today on Make Your Passion Pay. Everybody have a fabulous day.