Podcast Episode 7: Establishing Expertise with Books
with Kris Barrett
About Kris Barrett
Kris Barrett lives in Brisbane, Australia, and is an Integrative Nutrition Coach specialising in working with children with autism. She has written two books which have helped her build a successful business: ‘No Cows Today’ (a mother’s story, a son’s autism recovery) and ‘High Thrive Me! A 5 step guide to helping kids with autism live happier, healthier lives’.
Listen to the Episode with Kris
Episode Notes
- Two books written about autism have impacted Kris: ‘Unraveling The Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder’ by Karyn Seroussi, and another one Kris saw in a store with an author’s name similar to her own. Both inspired her to tell her own story as a mother of an autistic son.
- Kris works with families who have kids living with autism and ADHD, and helps them to change their diets, and to use natural remedies like food and plant-based essential oils, to actually improve things like mood and anxiety, and sleep, stress and digestion.
- Kris says that there is still a lot of resistance towards the work she does, and parents of autistic children have to go out on a limb to find an alternative practitioner. Their paediatrician has said to her, “Isn’t it good luck that your son has grown out of his autism?”
- After a corporate job at IBM before having her family, Kris has become an expert in her current field through necessity and gumption. She has gone on to study more within the field, as well as publishing her own books.
- Kris has studied in America, and then since has gathered several other qualifications in very specialised dietary protocols, which have come from trainers in the UK and also out of the US.
- Kris’s first book was called ‘No Cows Today’. You have to read the book to find out why it’s called that. That was my story and our son’s story, based on journals I had kept.
- Kris wrote another book a few years later, which was not quite so personal, and is almost the how-to. In this book, called ‘High Thrive Me’, there are five steps. A parent can pick up this book for $20, and follow those five steps to get the outcomes that I got with their son.
- Prior to writing the second book, Kris had written programs. But when she wrote the book she had to pull everything apart and put it back together. The writing was a much better process, because of the time and the energy that she put into making sure it all made sense. The process in the book now forms the basis of then ongoing coaching.
- Work with a publishing manager/guide. Don’t try (to do it yourself), keep to your expertise. Like your expertise is bringing our ideas to life. So if you wanted to do a book, I would say make it with your zone of genius, put your stuff into it, get it down on paper and then let the process happen by someone who does that as their zone of genius, to bring it to life for you. But I would say don’t hesitate. Having a book just gives you so much credibility.