Sector: Digital/Environmental
Website: https://katarzynarecko.com/
Kasia Rećko is a dietitian who specialises in balancing and promoting plant-based diets and helps women with hormonal problems.
For several years, a growing trend in switching to plant-based diets has been noticeable around the world. There are many factors that indicate that the future is plant-based. More and more people want to change their eating habits for health reasons, to improve the climate, for ethical reasons, or just out of curiosity, but do not know how to do it in a healthy and sensible way. Kasia, above all, encourages us to limit the consumption of meat by taking small steps, getting the body used to changes and learning how to balance plant meals. The activities are conducted mainly online and in digitised form, thanks to which the clients save time and the activities can be carried out on a larger scale.
Kasia also runs an online store where you can buy ready-made, simple menus that you can put into your diet on a trial basis. Importantly, meals are based on easily available products, so that people, even from smaller towns, can easily make changes to their diet. Menus and nutritional plans are also individually adapted to the needs of customers if necessary (for example, the need to eliminate certain products).
On her social media she also educates about the influence of diet on the planet. Soon, the activities will also include thematic webinars and a course on a plant-based diet.
Challenge overview
In March 2019, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in Poland, Kasia planned to submit an application for subsidy for stationary activities, but due to a random accident she was late with the delivery of documents. At that time, she had an almost signed contract for the rental of the office for activity, but the first restrictions and a lockdown were introduced, therefore the contract was never signed. Today, in retrospect, Kasia appreciates this course of events, because thanks to this she has avoided high costs of renting an office, as well as the need to suspend stationary operations during the pandemic. She decided to start her business online. In July 2019, she once again applied for a subsidy for operations – this time on the internet – and received funds for which she bought office equipment, a camera, software for editing, etc. The pandemic turned out to be more of a possibility than an obstacle at this stage.
After a few months, the epidemic turned into a pandemic and many industries were hit by the crisis. It was then that concerns arose that people might not have the money to pay for services such as a nutritionist, but it was enough not to give up hope and be flexible about the changing reality. Kasia also used this time for her own development as an entrepreneur and participated in business courses and training.
She also focused her messages on the current problems that her potential customers were struggling with at that time – how to take care of their health during a pandemic or how to, for example, improve the preparation of meals and prepare meal prep.
Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise
Kasia gained professional experience during her studies. She had many, different jobs that taught her a lot, but also made her believe that she would like to run her own business. She is an individualist who knows what she wants, likes to act in her own way, and at work as an independent entrepreneur she likes the fact that it requires constant motivation from her.
She was interested in the subject of nutrition as a teenager, so she chose dietetics as her field of study.
From the combination of these two things, her company was created.
Management structure and governance
The activity is conducted for profit. Kasia runs a sole proprietorship. Currently, in the company, she deals with everything herself, including devising strategies, concept of activities, acquiring customers, preparing menus and nutritional plans, running social media channels, dealing with accounting, etc. In the near future, she is considering employing a manager who would help her in her current administrative activities.
Principles of work, objectives and activities
Due to the fact that the activity is a one-man operation, the main goals are set on a regular basis in response to the needs of customers, the market and changing trends.
Sometimes Kasia uses the support of other entrepreneurs with whom she works in a coworking space – then they also exchange knowledge and experiences and jointly set, for example, 3-month goals.
Currently, Kasia plans to expand her activities with webinars, courses and establish interesting cooperation.
Target groups
The clients of the services are mainly women aged 25-40, rather residents of large cities, including Polish women living abroad, interested in a healthy lifestyle, ecology, and women with health problems, e.g. hormones. Due to the fact that most of the activities are conducted online and are digitised, clients save time and travel costs, for example, to travel to the office. In addition, Kasia also prepares plant diets for people with problems of the endocrine system and teaches how to regulate hormones in a plant-based diet, which is not yet a popular solution.
Innovation
Kasia’s actions are mainly aimed at people who want to limit meat, do not eat it anymore, have problems with balancing these diets or suffer from various diseases. In addition, she specialises in endocrine problems, fertility diet therapy and civilization diseases. On her social media she also educates about the influence of diet on the planet.
Kasia’s activity is not limited to a standard dietary clinic. She also wants to spread knowledge about the above-mentioned topics. In addition, it is important that people who slowly want to limit the consumption of meat in Kasia’s menus will not be shocked. For many people it is a difficult path and they are afraid of not having the necessary knowledge to do it – with Kasia’s help they can easily and slowly change their eating habits. It is important to encourage people to limit their meat consumption, but not impose it.
Key partners
Kasia’s key partner is the “Plant we eat” community. It is a group of experienced experts who have launched a social campaign of the same title, which aims to support food producers, retail chains and restaurant owners in introducing and promoting plant-based products and dishes. Kasia, as a dietitian and expert, cooperates with them by organising webinars or lectures live or online.
The second partner is VEGE Magazine – the first lifestyle monthly addressed to conscious and demanding people who care not only about themselves and their health, but also about positive relationships with other people and the quality of the whole world around them. It promotes a modern and ecological lifestyle – not only among people on a plant-based diet. Kasia wrote several articles for the magazine.
The remaining cooperation is determined on an ongoing basis depending on the current needs.
Impact and Evaluation
Kasia runs a sole proprietorship and the advantage of this is that she herself is in constant and direct contact with her clients. He also tries to collect their opinions on an ongoing basis, e.g. after purchasing a menu. Recently, she has also launched the option of issuing ratings on its website. In the future, Kasia plans to automate the evaluation process more.
In addition to professional help in changing eating habits, customers appreciate the health aspects and a holistic approach to their problems. All changes are introduced gradually, in an accessible way – the dishes from the menu are easy to prepare and tasty, and the proposals of product substitutes give a sense of freedom, despite the use of a diet.
An important aspect of promoting plant-based diets is also the positive impact on our environment and the planet.
Recommendations
If someone wants to work as a freelancer or entrepreneur, it is important to work out a working mode during the day. Do not overwhelm yourself with tasks, but act schematically in blocks. It is also worth making summaries of how many have been done weekly or monthly. Being your own boss is easy to fall into the trap of feeling guilty about not working enough. When making a summary, we are clear how much work we put into the development of the company on a given day, and what is still ahead of us. It is also worth making plans, even short-term ones, but thanks to this, in moments of doubt, we know what to do next.
Lessons Learned
An important lesson for the self-employed entrepreneur is the lesson of motivation and self-discipline. When it is difficult for us to motivate ourselves to work, it is worth approaching it as if we were working for someone full-time. Every day you have to get up and do some chores. It is worth creating some rituals and determining that we do at least 2-3 specific things every day. It can also be helpful to evaluate ourselves, checking and judging our effectiveness. On the other hand, remember to be understanding for yourself and take care of your good mood and well-being.
Running your own business is also easier when we have contact with other entrepreneurs, e.g. working in a coworking space, we can exchange experiences, challenges and motivate ourselves together. It is also worth investing in your development and using support programs for startups or novice entrepreneurs, thanks to which we will not only expand our business knowledge, but also meet other entrepreneurs, expand our network or, for example, find interesting partners for cooperation.
References
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.