The "New Way" of Doing Business...
If you’re feeling overwhelmed or like your practice is going nowhere fast, trust me, you aren’t alone, and it isn’t your fault. I’ve seen it happen over and over again firsthand.
For the past few years, I’ve been a group leader and business mentor for the hands-on, in-person Nutritional Therapy Practitioner training workshop weekends, as well as doing private business coaching, so I’ve had a chance to see a lot of people go through the journey of getting started as a newbie wellness professional.
And I see the same thing every time.
At the first workshop, the room is full of bright-eyed, hopeful students. They’re excited, energized and ready to change the world. You can feel the energy in the room.
But by the time the last workshop rolls around 6 months later, it’s a completely different vibe.
It’s almost like the energy and excitement has been sucked right out of the room. Almost all of the students are second-guessing themselves. They’re on the cusp of finishing their certification. The parachute is packed, they’re in the airplane and they’re ready to jump, but suddenly they’re walking themselves back. Waaaay back.
“I don’t really know enough.”
“I’m not sure I can actually turn this into a real business.”
“Maybe I should get another certification before I start working with clients.”
“I haven’t completely healed myself yet so how can I help other people?”
"I'm just not good at the business side of things."
Whoa, what happened in those 9 months?? They’ve learned a TON, so why are they suddenly so afraid to move forward?
Here’s the thing: It’s totally normal to have these doubts, to question your knowledge or your ability to do this work. We all have those moments of impostor syndrome (yep, even me, after helping thousands of people at this point).
Those uncomfortable feelings don’t go away, by the way. They're like the signposts on the road telling you that you're heading in the right direction because it's a little scary.
But what I started to see, over and over, is that while these amazing certification programs provide us with powerful, life-changing knowledge, they don’t necessarily teach the skills you need to run your business.
(That’s right, your business. Not a job. It’s a subtle shift in perspective, but a really important one. You're a CEO now, not an employee!)
Ok, back to the elephant in the room with the "old way of doing business" that most of us are taught as part of our certifications:
"The Old Way" is based on the old brick and mortar model of doing business.
You know, set up shop, print your business cards, and people will instantly start flocking to you and begging to book time with you. You'll easily create enough income in your practice with 1:1 client work to live happily ever after because everyone needs your help!
Except this "old way" of running a wellness business is a quick path to burnout and bankruptcy.
Why?
Because building your practice exclusively with hourly appointments for 1:1 clients means that your business growth is completely dependent on your time.
After all, there are only so many hours in a day that you can book clients and remain a sane and healthy person.
Even if you're lucky enough to fill all of those available hours (which would put you in the minority for sure!) you’ll quickly reach the point where you can’t serve any more clients and you can’t earn more money.
Take out your calculator and do some quick math on the number of hours you will be available to see clients each week, keeping in mind that you'll need time before each appointment to prepare, and multiply that by the amount you'd charge per hour.
That's how much you could make each week if you were booked solid.
Now multiply that amount by 4 to figure out your average monthly income and subtract the cost of your office rent and utilities each month to get an estimate of how much you would profit.
Are you comfortable with that number?
Whether or not that number is going to be enough to sustain your business (and I would bet it's not even close), let me ask you this:
What happens if you get sick? Or your kids get sick?
What happens when you go on vacation?
What happens if there's a family emergency and you can't take clients for a period of time?
The answer: You don't get paid. There is no income, but your expenses keep piling up.
If this is making you feel a little anxious about the future of your business, good. That's the point. We've all been taught a business model for how to build our practices that is based on what worked 20 years ago, but obviously things have changed.
Side note: If seeing 1:1 clients day in and day out was a sustainable and profitable business model for holistic wellness professionals, wouldn't most of our instructors be killing it in their own practices instead of teaching? Just saying.
What's so exciting is the world is changing, and it's never been easier to start and scale a thriving wellness biz that isn't dependent on hours-for-dollars. The "New Way" of doing business is here, and we're at the cutting edge, my friend!
There are new ways to serve your clients that will get them far better results than one on one appointments alone.
Ways that provide more flexibility and value for you and allow you to take a vacation, work from anywhere in the world you choose, or take a sick day without sacrificing your income.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
Hopefully you're yelling “HELL YES, let’s do this!” at your computer screen. (That's what I like to imagine as I write this...)
Or, you might be saying, “Well, Andrea, that sounds great, but I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’m a nutritionist, not a business person. Technology is so not my thing.”
And that’s okay and totally normal, too.
I want to invite you to accept and embrace that voice of uncertainty and doubt, of being stuck in overwhelm or not knowing where to start.
And decide to move forward with learning more about the "New Way" of doing business anyway. Yes, it can be a little scary and overwhelming, but you got into this field to make a huge impact, and you don’t have to do it alone.
In the next few pages, I’m going to walk with you through some of the basics, step by step.
Why? Because I know that it can be just a little bit scary to get started. But I also know that you, like so many of the other amazing practitioners I know, have some serious value to share with the world. Value in the form of knowledge that has the power to change lives.
And when you get the business basics down, you’ll be ready to focus on what you do best -- helping people. What are you waiting for? Let’s go!
