Ep 21 - How Rosie Sold Out Her Course Before She Even Created It (And How You Can Too)
Sep 09, 2024Have you ever thought about creating and launching an online course, but have been stuck with the fear of…
"What if no one buys it?"
Let me tell you, that’s one of the BIGGEST fears health professionals have when a new business idea – like a course – pops into their head.
What if you spend weeks – if not months – creating top quality content, recording videos, designing worksheets… only to launch it and hear nothing but crickets?
Can I let you in on THE secret that will save all that heartache (and embarrassment)?
I teach it to my clients, and it’s this:
Validate demand for your idea before you ever build a single module – because launching a course should never feel like a random gamble on the horses.
Let me tell you about my client Rosie Martin, a plant-based and vegan expert dietitian, who followed this approach to pre-sell her course before she even created it.
She secured 10 paying clients before a single module existed.
That gave her the glowing confidence, motivation, and financial security to get going!
What’s even better is that Rosie now has a structured, scalable income stream in her business…
Which allows her to step away from the exhausting cycle of 1:1 work.
And that’s something she NEVER thought was possible before she worked with me.
If you’re stuck trading time for money and dreaming of a more sustainable way to grow your business, this blog post is for you.
By the end of this post, you’ll be clear on:
- The exact steps I walked Rosie through to pre-sell her course
- Why validating your course idea first is non-negotiable
- The strategy I gave her to make launching simple and repeatable
- How you can do the same – even if you’ve never created a course before
I can’t wait to share this game-changing knowledge with you! Let’s get straight in…
Why Rosie Needed a Course (And Why 1:1 Work Wasn't Sustainable)
When Rosie came to me, she was on the edge of burnout.
She was balancing an NHS role with a growing freelance business, but like so many health professionals, she had hit a ceiling.
(Does that sound familiar?)
There was a limit to how many 1:1 clients she could see in a week (because she’s only one person!)
Her income was capped by the hours she could physically work
Even though she was passionate about her work, the time demands were unsustainable (and exhausting)
She wanted more freedom.
She craved the ability to make a bigger impact – without sacrificing her evenings and weekends.
And that’s where I stepped in.
From our first call, I KNEW that Rosie was sitting on an incredible opportunity – but she needed the right strategy to turn it into a reality. Here’s what we did:
Step 1: Market Research—Finding Out What People Actually Wanted
Like many of my clients, Rosie had several course ideas that were calling to her.
At first, she considered focusing on gut health. Then, she thought about creating a transition-to-veganism program.
But when you have lots of shiny ideas, where do you start?!
So instead of guessing (and hoping!) or going with what you want to teach, I walked Rosie through a structured market research process.
I wanted her to uncover:
- What her audience actually struggled with most (not just what she thought they needed!)
- The specific transformation they were looking for in their lives.
- Whether they would be willing to pay for her solution.
Through Instagram polls, surveys, and direct audience conversations, the answer became clear.
And it WASN’T what she thought! Because:
The real demand was NOT for plant-based nutrition.
Her audience was ACTUALLY struggling with managing their weight on a vegan diet.
They also didn’t just want knowledge – they wanted a structured plan, with support that they believed could actually work.
This was a game-changing moment for Rosie.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Rosie didn’t carry out this research?
She would have spent countless hours creating a course…that no one wanted to buy! Ouch.
And yet, that’s a mistake I see SO MANY health professionals make. They create the course that reflects their expertise and area of specialist interest – but they skip the market research step, and because of that, it doesn’t sell.
For Rosie, we now had evidence-based, data-driven confidence that her programme would sell, sell, sell!
Step 2: Pre-Selling the Course (Before It Was Even Built)
Once we validated the idea, I introduced Rosie to ANOTHER of my favourite strategies that changed everything:
Pre-selling the course before creating it
Yes, you read that right! We asked people to pay for it based on the idea alone.
This is another golden nugget that I teach ALL my clients because:
- It provides evidence of demand and we need this before you invest precious time and energy into building the course.
- It eliminates the risk of launching to silence (and zero sales!)
- It gives you cash upfront, which means you're being paid to create it (which feels so good!) and is very motivating and stops procrastination.
Rosie was hesitant with this concept at first. Like many people, she felt uncomfortable selling something that didn’t actually exist yet.
(Maybe you often feel like that too? As healthcare professionals, we’re not taught to be salespeople – especially when we haven’t yet made the thing!)
BUT I reassured her:
The goal wasn’t to have the course ready – it was to validate demand.
People weren’t just buying content—they were buying a transformation.
And if the worst happened and no-one bought, she could simply refund their money and walk away.
So, using my framework, Rosie sent out an email and posted on Instagram with THIS message:
"I’m launching a brand-new plant-based weight loss group program!
If you struggle with X, Y, and Z, this course is designed for you. The first 10 people to sign up will get it for half price in exchange for giving me feedback on the process."
(Obviously the X, Y and Z reflected her audience's biggest vegan weight-related struggles)
Within 24 hours, she had SOLD OUT all 10 spots.
Go Rosie! That moment changed everything for her.
She wasn’t just hoping her course would sell – she now had proof that it would.
And that gave her the drive and enthusiasm to build the course with confidence – knowing she had clients who were already committed to it.
What A Feeling!
Step 3: Creating & Launching the Course
Now that we had real paying clients, the next step was to build the course week by week while delivering value to her founding members.
I walked Rosie through:
- How to structure the course for maximum engagement (and happy clients)
- How to drip-feed content to avoid overwhelm (so those happy clients take action)
- How to use a live group element to create a supportive learning experience (that works)
Then, we focused on Rosie’s first full-price launch…
So that this fantastic course would become the gift that keeps on selling!
We followed the same strategy I teach in my Accelerate Mastermind, where we use:
- A pre-launch runway to warm up the audience
- A live masterclass to showcase her expertise and introduce the course
- A clear launch plan with email and social media promotion
- Bonuses and urgency to encourage people to take action
The result?
- 17 new clients enrolled in her first launch (yes, wow!)
- She repeated the process again and signed up 15 more clients
- She now has a scalable, repeatable system for selling her course multiple times each year
And Rosie can now work FEWER hours than before, and has STOPPED seeing 1:1 clients. What a dream!
Lessons You Can Apply in Your Own Business
If you’ve been thinking about launching a course, I’m excited for you!
Here’s what I would love you to take away from Rosie’s winning success:
Market research is non-negotiable. You cannot guess what people want, and people rarely buy what they need – you have to ask!
Pre-sell before you build. This is the lowest-risk way to launch. If no one buys, no problem! You’ve saved yourself months of wasted effort (and you can test another idea instead)
Keep your launch simple. You will need a sales page but it doesn’t need to be elaborate, and you do need an audience to sell to but it doesn't have to be a massive one, just an engaged one. Top that with a well-structured masterclass and email campaign and that is enough to get going. You can add the bells and whistles for launch 2, 3, 5, 10…
Courses don’t have to be perfect – just effective. Your audience wants results, from a credible professional who they can trust, not polished perfection!
Final Thoughts: Could You Pre-Sell Your Course?
Have you been waiting around for the ‘perfect time’ to kickstart your course idea?
Rosie’s journey is proof that the right time can be right now!
If you:
- Feel stuck in 1:1 work and want a more sustainable way to grow (to avoid that burnout)
- Have expertise but don’t know how to package it into a course (that will sell)
- Want to follow a proven strategy instead of guessing (and getting it wrong)
- Want to create and sell it quickly, instead of deliberating for months…Then my Accelerate Mastermind programme is going to be perfect for you!
Inside the supportive space that is Accelerate, I take health professionals like you through the exact steps Rosie followed to build, validate, and launch your scalable offers without the overwhelm and second guessing.
Grab The Master Plan!
Ready to build the business you’ve always dreamed of?
This step-by-step workbook will walk you through exactly what you need to focus on and when. You'll get my expert knowledge as a health business strategist.
This guide really is your master plan to business success! Grab your free copy, right here…https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan
Connect with me here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast
Episode transcription:
[00:00:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: I am so excited to introduce you to this week's guest, Rosie Martin, also known as Plant Dietitian Rosie on Instagram. Rosie worked with me last year, and when she came to me, she was on the verge of burnout from seeing one to one clients in her freelance business. She is. So extremely passionate about plant based and vegan nutrition, which we'll come across in the interview.
[00:00:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: And she really wanted to create a course in order to buy back some time in her life and recreate the work life balance that she'd lost. Rosie's story is such an inspirational one for anyone thinking of adding a course to their business. Especially the part about getting 10 signups before she'd even created it.
[00:00:47] Sarah Almond Bushell: So with that said, let's dive in.
[00:00:49] Sarah Almond Bushell: Welcome along. I am really excited to be chatting to Rosie today, who has a remarkable story about developing her online course. So welcome, Rosie.
[00:01:02] Sarah Almond Bushell: Thank you so much for coming today.
[00:01:04] Rosie Martin: Thank you so much, Sarah, for inviting me on. I'd be happy to share.
[00:01:07] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. It's, you've got such an amazing story, but before we dive into that, can you just give us a little
[00:01:12] Sarah Almond Bushell: bit of background on you?
[00:01:13] Sarah Almond Bushell: So what do you do? What does your business look like and how did it get to where it is today?
[00:01:18] Rosie Martin: Sure. As you said, I'm Rosie. I'm a plant based and vegan specialist dietitian. I Started out in the NHS back in 2017 is when I qualified and from then working on kind of Fan five on wards being vegan and not being fully satisfied with what I was doing.
[00:01:39] Rosie Martin: I've got to a point now where I also I still work in the NHS, but I work in a slightly different capacity in occupational health. So I work for NHS staff health and wellness, which I love. But then alongside that, I've built my business around plant based and vegan nutrition. So I do a lot of things within that.
[00:01:57] Rosie Martin: So there's the business side of things, but there's also the. consultancy side of things and then also I am on the British Dietetic Association's sustainable diets group as the research officer and I do some work that's voluntary for organisations such as Plant Based Health Professionals UK as well.
[00:02:16] Rosie Martin: So it's really quite a varied week for me but I absolutely love it.
[00:02:20] Sarah Almond Bushell: Awesome. And how many days a week are you working in your business?
[00:02:24] Rosie Martin: So I work on my business for two days of the working week, and then I'm still in the NHS on my three days at the moment.
[00:02:32] Rosie Martin: So that's the current situation. But at the moment, I'm still Doing some evenings and weekends depending on how it works. So I'm probably, I'll redress the balance probably at some point in the future.
[00:02:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's something that we all
[00:02:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: do,
[00:02:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: don't we?
[00:02:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: I remember when I first started my business in the online space, I was having to do some 5am starts, for a little while, just until I got to that point where I could reduce down my NHS time. Yeah. Brilliant.
[00:03:00] Rosie Martin: There are times definitely where you have to graft a little bit more and I definitely found that when I was because I started working privately quite soon on when I started in the NHS and so that was full time plus evenings and weekends.
[00:03:12] Rosie Martin: But I think one of the really important things to think about is what you want your life to look like and what spare time you want to have. And so that's something I've been working on this year quite successfully actually as well. So really important part of it.
[00:03:25] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. And for a lot of us, that is the main reason why we do decide to work for ourselves, isn't it?
[00:03:30] Sarah Almond Bushell: So it's really important to make that top of mind all the time. Yeah. Yeah. So in those two days a week that you've got working on your business, I'd love to know how your business makes its money. So the different income streams that you've got. So can you talk us through how you make your money in your business?
[00:03:47] Rosie Martin: Yeah, of course. So I started out more doing the one to one work with people. That's, I think, how a lot of people start out. I think that was Very good, because it established what I was doing, got me confident, much like my work in the NHS, it was really good experience. But I've moved more away from that more recently, and You Help Me Sarah, this last year, is moving towards more kind of group So at the moment, my main income stream will be the group programs that I run which is all around vegan and plant based nutrition and weight loss.
[00:04:21] Rosie Martin: And then in addition to that, there are several other income streams. So I do little things like sell meal plans on my website, but then also another significant part of it is doing sort of writing for companies and brands as well, which is not something I ever thought would happen, but it comes along and can be a really great opportunity to expose yourself to more people.
[00:04:44] Rosie Martin: And I'm very careful in my business. I only ever work with brands who really align with my values and my business beliefs as well. That has come in more recently, but it has been another really nice way to work as well.
[00:04:58] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, definitely. And it's a great way to share your message to new audiences as well, isn't it?
[00:05:03] Rosie Martin: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:04] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that often comes with visibility. So the more visible you are in your business and the more you're sharing your message, the more brands notice you and then come and ask you to do work for them as well.
[00:05:18] Rosie Martin: Yeah, I've Certainly noticed that. I think, it's nice when you're lesser known, sometimes you can get some free stuff and that's always a nice little bonus.
[00:05:26] Rosie Martin: But yeah, as you get more well known, you do get more opportunities for sure. So that really helps with your own business plus the opportunities you get from other businesses.
[00:05:34] Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. So let's dig into your group program. Tell us a little bit. Actually let's go right back to the beginning and tell us about when you decided that you wanted to add this into your business.
[00:05:46] Rosie Martin: Yeah. So I think I got to the point where I was seeing one to ones and as you know, I only had two days. I have only got two days. And so there was a real kind of limited. How many people I could see, but also in terms of the amount of money you can make. And I found one to ones. I love one to ones.
[00:06:05] Rosie Martin: I do them within the NHS. And I love chatting to people and getting to know them and their situation and supporting them. But I think it got to the point where, It's quite time and energy intensive and so you get to the end of the day and you're pretty exhausted from holding the space for many people through the day and then also you've got you know the write ups and the notes and the contact between time and so I just felt that there must be a sort of different way of working and I saw people doing things online and I thought there must be opportunities for me out there to do something a little bit different.
[00:06:34] Rosie Martin: There's not many people doing sort of the similar stuff that I'm doing, so I felt that there was just some untapped opportunity out there, which is when I went out and I discovered yourself, Sarah, and decided that would be a really good way to get someone else to look at the business, see what the opportunities were, and build something from there.
[00:06:52] Rosie Martin: Yeah, that's The group program was built out of me going out and asking people what they wanted. So my audience is all very, already very much interested in either plant based nutrition, or they want to go vegan, or they're already vegan. But we wanted to get to the crux of what did they want from me?
[00:07:11] Rosie Martin: Was it the information about going vegan or, that kind of stuff? Or was it actually a problem that they had they wanted solved? And when we went out and did that market research, the main thing that came back was that people wanted to manage their weight. And so I felt confident doing that because I do a lot of that within the NHS.
[00:07:26] Rosie Martin: And so because that came back, I thought there's the perfect opportunity to build this course to support people who wanted to manage their weight in a. Really nourishing way on a plant based diet. So we could build in all the things around supplements and certain nutrient considerations for vegan and plant based nutrition.
[00:07:43] Rosie Martin: And again, there wasn't anyone else doing it out there. So that's what I decided to do. And it's gone really well since then.
[00:07:50] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, brilliant. And I think this is just a fantastic example of how we as clinicians can have an idea of what we want to teach people and what we want to help people with, but actually that's not often what they want.
[00:08:06] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I remember at the start when you and I were working together and you were designing what your offers could look like At one point you were looking a bit at gut health and then there was another point where you were looking at potentially helping people become vegan and take that first step.
[00:08:21] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I remember saying to you, go and do some market research and find out. And actually I think we had maybe four or five conversations about, let's do a bit more market research and let's just test it a bit more. And, I think it, it was a bit of a surprise to you that actually it wasn't what you thought it was gonna be.
[00:08:37] Sarah Almond Bushell: It was people wanted help managing their weight.
[00:08:41] Rosie Martin: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So that's what I took on and that's what I ran with. And it's been, yeah, it's been great since then. So it's really been nice to, to support people with exactly what they wanted to support with and design things, because, I feel like.
[00:08:54] Rosie Martin: I, as dietitians, we really, once we've got, a good amount of experience, a good amount of training, all those sorts of things, we really can help people. And so that feeling that you can actually design something that will be successful for you as a business owner, but also successful for your clients and make them happier and live better lives is just, it's just seemed like a win.
[00:09:16] Rosie Martin: So that's what I do now. And I love that. doing that.
[00:09:19] Sarah Almond Bushell: Awesome. And has it brought you back that that energy that you felt like you were losing from having to see one to one clients and the time that it took? Has it, has that recovered?
[00:09:29] Rosie Martin: Definitely. So I think in the building of the program and in doing all of that, it's a big deal.
[00:09:36] Rosie Martin: Huge piece of work to put together an online course. And I remember you saying to me as well, that the actual marketing and launch of it was going to be the same amount of work as actually building the course. And I thought, Oh goodness. And it actually was, huge amount of work to, to market and get out there with all the email systems and everything that needs to be in place.
[00:09:54] Rosie Martin: And, that, that was a lot of work. And so it was, Time intensive. And it was but at the same time it was exciting because I knew I was building something that was going to be hopefully really successful. And I had an indication that it was going to be successful because I did some pre selling with it.
[00:10:09] Rosie Martin: And I think because I. Had done that when it came to the second launch and I'm going to be doing the third launch shortly, the time and energy is really much less. Although you've got to put in the work and you've got to make sure everything's ready to go and you're doing your marketing, you've got new things, the actual intensiveness of it is less.
[00:10:28] Rosie Martin: And so between those launches as well, it's given me that time to be able to work on projects that I may not have had time for before do more for the sustainable diets. Specialist group, because that's all voluntary. And also this year, take a little bit of time back for myself, before I would be thinking I had this mindset of Oh, I finished doing this thing at 2 PM, what can I do?
[00:10:49] Rosie Martin: I need to be productive. I need to do something. Whereas actually now it's thinking, okay, I finished at 2 PM. Great. This is the reason why I run a business because if I do, if I finish something and I've got free time, I can go and enjoy that. And I've learned to do that this year. So it's really it's such a lovely way of working now.
[00:11:03] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. I think you're spot on there. The creation itself, the launch itself, that is fairly labor intensive. And one of the things I find is after I've run a launch or a sales campaign is I often go on holiday the week after it's because I feel like I just need to go, Oh, and, recover a little bit, but then you're right.
[00:11:23] Sarah Almond Bushell: If you're doing launches three or even quarterly, three times a year, four times a year, you do have that gap in between where you do get to work on other things and. And then, you then ramp up to sell the next one. But I just want to dig into what you said there about pre selling, because this is something I think that, will really inspire a lot of people.
[00:11:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: So when you were at the point of putting together your course, but it wasn't quite ready yet, we talked about gauging interest really so that, you don't go spending loads of time and energy and effort creating slides and recording videos and making worksheets and things and putting it out there and not as many people buy as you want to buy.
[00:12:04] Sarah Almond Bushell: So talk us through what you did to validate your idea really.
[00:12:08] Rosie Martin: Yeah. So I remember I had started creating it and I was working hard on creating it and I think we had a one of our chats around about that time and you said, why don't Put it out there, sell it for, I think it was half price, get 10 slots, put it out there and see what the interest is.
[00:12:25] Rosie Martin: And I was quite nervous about that because I hadn't got a course, it wasn't finished, it wasn't complete, and I felt weird about selling something that wasn't there yet. But I did, as you said, and I went online and I sent out an email and I said, look, I've got 10 slots for this course that's not ready yet, but you can get it for half price.
[00:12:44] Rosie Martin: And in exchange, I'd love your feedback once you've gone through the course. And I think it was in, within 24 hours, all 10 spots had been sold. So I was, I absolutely knew I was onto something. It gave me such a drive and such an energy to complete it and to get it up and selling for full price.
[00:13:03] Rosie Martin: That, that was a real kind of turning point. And I think it was in the same week as I reached a milestone with my Instagram was a really fantastic week for my business.
[00:13:12] Sarah Almond Bushell: You did. I found I found a celebration post that we had in our little Facebook group where I was celebrating your win to everybody and you hit your 10k followers on Instagram at the same time.
[00:13:22] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah.
[00:13:22] Rosie Martin: Yeah. That was a good, that was a good week. And, we talk about these good weeks, but I think it's important to say that also, there are some really bad weeks too. So it's it's not all always good. So if you're having a struggle with something or something's going wrong, Those good weeks come.
[00:13:36] Rosie Martin: So it's, it is definitely a bit of a rollercoaster, but when you get those celebrations and those wins, they are, yeah, really fantastic and make it all worth it.
[00:13:44] Sarah Almond Bushell: Amazing. Amazing. And you're right, when you do sell out your course before it's even ready, you've pretty much got to finish it, haven't you?
[00:13:52] Sarah Almond Bushell: So it does give you a little bit of a fire up your backside, so to speak, in order to make sure that it happens. Definitely. And so what did the actual launch look like when you did your first launch? What did you do for that?
[00:14:06] Rosie Martin: So I launched with a webinar. I called it a masterclass, I think, cause webinar sounds a little bit more boring.
[00:14:12] Rosie Martin: So we did a masterclass and so it was, I followed some of your advice that you gave me, which was all around set talking about kind of some of the, Intrinsic and extrinsic limiting beliefs and those sorts of things and barriers that people will have and have a nice enticing title so you're just getting people along this kind of free hour long webinar which was a really good opportunity to show what I know, show how I can support people and play into those things that people are looking for and, give people some support, even if they don't sign up to the course, they'll still, see me and hopefully I've got something from it that actually means they'll continue to follow me and get some benefits from it.
[00:14:48] Rosie Martin: But then it also sees me as a person. Did the last bit of the webinar is that launch. So to say, look, this is what I do. This is what I've got available. If you want more, then come and sign up. And and adding in some little bonuses and those sorts of things, all those little tips and tricks that you gave me to sell.
[00:15:03] Rosie Martin: So I did that at the beginning of January, I think. And then we launched the first. Live launching course at the end of January, which ran until April time.
[00:15:15] Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. That's great. And so the course, we're calling it a course, but actually it's more like a group program, isn't it? What's, what does, what's the structure of it?
[00:15:23] Rosie Martin: Yeah, so it's a 12 week program, which is longer than I thought. I'd done a course before, but actually you've got to make sure that the course is going to give results. And so when we're looking at weight loss and the fact that, my course is very much not the weigh in every week, lose weight as fast as you can course, it's a course to help people understand the science behind weight loss, how it affects them and how to eat in a way that they can, nourish themselves into moving towards a weight that they would be happier with.
[00:15:52] Rosie Martin: So it's a little bit of an antidote to that. So we set it at 12 weeks because I thought that is the amount of time that people can start to see those results. And so it's a 12 week, Course the first six weeks is all kind of the education side of it. We call that, I think the growth phase, and then we've got the flourish phase, which is the second six weeks where it's more just about the support and the putting things into practice.
[00:16:12] Rosie Martin: And then within that, we've got videos mostly, we've got meal plans that are really optional for people to follow or not, or they can just take some of the, we've got recipe collections that they can just choose things from. So I've made it really so that people can. Follow it as much as they want to, but hopefully with some of the principles that they're following, they'll end up getting the results that they want as well.
[00:16:35] Rosie Martin: And we also talk a lot around mindset, and I think some of the outcomes from the course has been that people have been just changing their mindset around things like diet culture, being off and on diet, black and white, all of those sorts of things. It's moving people away from that and saying, look, it's okay to have a day where you're not going to eat perfectly.
[00:16:51] Rosie Martin: It's absolutely fine. It's how how you, what you do after that, that matters. So we use a lot of those kinds of techniques within it as well. And it's quite holistic. So we talk about physical activity and mindfulness. Mindfulness and community and all those sorts of things.
[00:17:04] Rosie Martin: And there's a community chat in there as well. They can link up with each other. So it's quite a holistic course, which is probably why it took so long to, to get together. But it seems to be getting the results that I was hoping for, which I'm delighted with.
[00:17:16] Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. And is it still a live round? So everyone starts at the same time on week one and works through together as a group?
[00:17:23] Rosie Martin: Exactly. Yeah. That's how it's worked this year. May change a little bit next year, but we'll see. We'll see. We'll see.
[00:17:30] Sarah Almond Bushell: So you've done two launches so far. You've got your third one coming up next month. Is that right? Yes, that's right. Yeah. Okay. Any more for this year?
[00:17:37] Rosie Martin: No, cause it's a three month course.
[00:17:39] Rosie Martin: It will finish in December.
[00:17:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: So then I want to be ready for January
[00:17:43] Rosie Martin: thinking about next year and how that's going to be structured.
[00:17:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: Awesome. Brilliant. That's so exciting. How many people have you had through so far?
[00:17:51] Rosie Martin: Oh, good question. Through the first course, I think there was the 10 people who signed up as early bird discounts.
[00:17:58] Rosie Martin: And then I had about 17, I think, so it was about 27, 28. In the end, and then this time through, I've had, I've got about 15, I think, on this course. So I'm really pleased to have been able to replicate the numbers, and then hopefully I'll be able to do that again.
[00:18:10] Sarah Almond Bushell: Do the same again. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:18:13] Sarah Almond Bushell: Amazing. This has been such an inspirational chat. Thank you so much for your time. Can I finish off with some quickfire questions for you, if that's all right?
[00:18:22] Rosie Martin: Absolutely, yeah.
[00:18:23] Sarah Almond Bushell: Brilliant. Best bit of your working day?
[00:18:26] Rosie Martin: The best bit of my working day, I would say now is being creative. I think within the NHS or within stuff I was doing before, I love the science, that's my basis, but I love the designing colours, my website, doing videos, doing some social media.
[00:18:44] Rosie Martin: I love that, getting into the flow and being creative with a real important message behind it. I love that bit.
[00:18:50] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, love that as well. It's such a I think it's, that's almost one of the definitions of freedom when you're, have worked for somebody else and you can now do that all for yourself.
[00:19:00] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's, yeah, brilliant.
[00:19:02] Rosie Martin: All the branding and everything. I just love doing all that. I'm quite a visual person,
[00:19:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: yeah, fab. Question two, why do you do what you do?
[00:19:10] Rosie Martin: So the reason I do what I do, there's a very, Deep and intrinsic motivation I have, and it goes far beyond the business that I have. So because I specialize in plant based and vegan nutrition, I have a real drive in the kind of area of sustainability and animal welfare.
[00:19:29] Rosie Martin: I used to be a zoologist, so this is actually my second career. Worked with animals quite closely and then human health as well. So those kind of three areas really play into my kind of motivations that really run deep.
[00:19:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah it's values, isn't it? It's your values.
[00:19:44] Rosie Martin: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:19:46] Sarah Almond Bushell: Question three, tech, love it or hate it?
[00:19:48] Rosie Martin: Both. So without tech, I wouldn't be able to do what I do now. So in 2020, I remember going to see, Clinic sites where I could set up a clinic in the town that I live, which would be a general clinic. When it was actually a couple of days into lockdown that I went to view them and said, I'll be back in a couple of weeks when this is all over.
[00:20:09] Rosie Martin: The first lockdown, obviously didn't realize what was going to happen, but that gave me the opportunity to go online. To really niche down, but open it up to anyone from pretty much anywhere. So love it from that point of view. And when it works, absolutely love it. But I think tech is the one reason why I've had days where I've been crying in my business, because when it goes wrong, it's. The most frustrating thing and the most time wasting thing, I think. So I've actually hired someone to come in and help me with some of the tech that issues that I've been having, which has just been absolute godsend.
[00:20:42] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's brilliant. It's, you're absolutely right.
[00:20:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: It's there. To allow us to have these freedom lifestyles and to do a lot of the work for us, if you know what you're doing with it. Yeah. Brilliant. Question four, how do you stay motivated?
[00:21:02] Rosie Martin: With motivation, I would say that it's I don't think you can be. 100 percent motivated every single day.
[00:21:08] Rosie Martin: I don't think anyone can jump out of bed every single day and love it. And I think that's important to say, because I have a lot of motivation. As I said, with, some of the things I'm motivated by with my values and the world I want to see, I'm hugely motivated, but there are some days where I wake up and I think, oh, But that's one of the nice things about running your own business is that, if you want to start at 10, you've got nothing at nine, you can, which is quite nice.
[00:21:29] Rosie Martin: But other than that, yeah, motivation, it comes and goes, but I stay motivated because of the probably the underlying reasons that I actually set up my business. It's goes over and above monetary and the lifestyle stuff.
[00:21:41] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, brilliant. I love that as well. And then final question for you is what's one thing that you know now that you wish you could tell your former self when just starting out in business?
[00:21:52] Rosie Martin: This is a really interesting question and I struggled to think of anything for this one because I, the thing that I would tell my younger self in business is don't be afraid because I think when I first started working out with the NHS with a couple of chefs who are from Ireland, they're quite big in Ireland, not so much known in the UK, but I started working with them and I was terrified that I would.
[00:22:18] Rosie Martin: Say something wrong, someone would pull me up, I'd get reported, my license would be taken away from me, and it really held me back a little bit, or maybe it didn't help me back, but it made me nervous about what I was doing and not maybe shout about it as much. And I think that it's important if you.
[00:22:33] Rosie Martin: Know that what you're doing is the right thing, you've got the science behind you, even if it's not particularly known about. If you're specializing in an area that maybe dietetics hasn't done so much work in or, you're pioneering in a different area, don't be afraid, do the research, make sure you're solid.
[00:22:51] Rosie Martin: Don't be afraid to go out there and talk about it. There are many different dieticians working in many different areas, and there are still areas that haven't been covered. So I think that's one of the things that I would say. But the reason I struggled to think of this is because I think everything that I went through, I had to go through to get where I am now, because you learn from it.
[00:23:07] Rosie Martin: So I almost don't think there's any shortcut for me to tell my younger self to do this, because. I needed that process. I needed that, with having a different career to start with. I'm so grateful that I had that. And I don't think I wish I'd gone into dietetics straight away at all, because it's given me so much.
[00:23:23] Rosie Martin: So I think every experience, whether it's good or bad, that you go through, it gives you something that moves you forward. So that, I think that's why I struggled to think of something.
[00:23:31] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah no I can agree with that. It's you learn along the journey, don't you? Yeah. Yeah. But what you said there about that fear thing, that is so common in dietitians who are, just starting out in their businesses.
[00:23:45] Sarah Almond Bushell: And I felt it as well. And I don't know what it is. I don't know whether it's the fact that we're, governed by law But for me, I had fear of the next paediatric dietician telling me I was wrong or I'd made a mistake. And, I had to have a word with myself and say, Sarah, you, I think at the time I'd had 20 years of experience.
[00:24:05] Sarah Almond Bushell: I knew what I was doing, but I still didn't feel confident at doing it. So yeah, I think it's a really common.
[00:24:11] Rosie Martin: It might be something within the fact that we are registered and licensed, we can go out there and say that we are licensed and it's almost like that's something that could be taken away from us if we're pulled up on the wrong thing.
[00:24:20] Rosie Martin: But I think that you have to think about who is out there talking about nutrition. Everyone and their son is out there talking about nutrition, and they're saying such crazy things out there that we need more dietitians. If we get a slight mistake, it doesn't, it's not a huge deal.
[00:24:36] Rosie Martin: It's about getting out there, getting our voices out there and don't be afraid to talk about, what you've learned and what you know.
[00:24:43] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, absolutely. And I think what you said earlier, just that the confidence comes with knowing your stuff, you're solid, you've done your research, you really know it.
[00:24:52] Sarah Almond Bushell: And if somebody really wants to ask, you can go and give them the reference.
[00:24:57] Rosie Martin: Yeah, absolutely. And also if someone pulls you up, it's a really good opportunity to go back and double check and say, no, I was right. Or actually, oh, there's a point I can, I can see that. But, it's all learning, and, as long as you're a good practitioner, you'll always be learning.
[00:25:11] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah. Amazing. Thank you so much for your time, Rosie. This episode has been really inspirational. Where can people find you?
[00:25:20] Rosie Martin: So my website is rosemarynutrition. co. uk. So I do a regular blog there. And online I'm Plant Dietitian Rosie. So do feel free to come and give me a follow and say hello.
[00:25:32] Sarah Almond Bushell: Yeah, that's the main places. Awesome. And I'll put those links in the show notes as well so people can click straight through. Great.
[00:25:38] Rosie Martin: Thank you so much.
[00:25:40] Sarah Almond Bushell: Thank you for coming.
[00:25:41] Rosie Martin: Thanks, Sarah.
[00:25:42] Rosie Martin: So I hope you've enjoyed this guest interview with a bit of a behind the scenes sneak peek of what it's like to work with me as your business coach. And if you like what you've been hearing so far and would like a bit more help from me in building your business, then my diary is open to you. Open to you for discovery calls.
[00:26:01] Rosie Martin: Just head over to https://sarahalmondbushell.Com where you can book a free Zoom call with me,
[00:26:08] Rosie Martin: join me next week, where I'm going to share with you how I use automation in my business to attract, engage, nurture, and convert browsers into buyers. That also delights my customers and my clients and actually allows me to go off and do other things. See you then.
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