Ep 69 - Summer Reset Series 4 - Starting Over? Here’s What I’d Do Differently as a Dietitian in Business

Episode Show Notes

You’re a qualified clinician with a whole lot of passion… but running a business? That part probably wasn’t in your training.

Whether you’re at the very beginning of your business journey or knee-deep in the “messy middle,” today’s post is your shortcut. Because if I had to start my online health business again — here’s exactly what I’d do differently.

No regrets, just hindsight — and a much clearer path to ease, income and impact.

1. Get Specific: One Audience, One Outcome

When I first brought my private practice online, I made a common mistake: I tried to help everyone.

I knew I wanted to serve parents - but that included everyone from mums weaning their babies, to dads managing teen athletes. So my content? All over the place. One blog post might be about fibre foods for constipation. The next? Egg-free party cakes. And the result? Confused clients. A foggy message. Zero momentum.

If you want to grow, specificity is your friend. The tighter your focus, the clearer your message - and the easier it is for people to know you’re the one who can help them.

Take one of my clients, Jane. She was a women's health dietitian with five offers ranging from PCOS nutrition to endometriosis and a burnt-out brain. We stripped everything back to one offer for one audience. She chose couples trying to conceive, and then went deeper into male fertility nutrition. Suddenly her content resonated because she could be relatable in her posts, her inbox filled up, and clients rolled in. Why? Because she spoke directly to the people she wanted to serve with specificity and relatability.

Journal it out:

• Who do I really want to help?
• What’s the clear result I want to be known for?
• If I only got paid after my client achieved the result they were looking for, what would I deliver?

This is step one in your Summer Reset Planner — use the “Clarity Reset” page to dig deeper.*

2. Show Up on One Platform (Consistently)

There's a myth that to have a successful online health business, you need to be everywhere. Instagram. Facebook. Pinterest. A blog. A podcast. YouTube. LinkedIn. (...And breathe.)

I tried that too. I even had a calendar reminder to “give value in Facebook groups” daily - even on weekends. The result? Exhaustion before I saw a return.

The truth is: consistency beats complexity. You don't need to be everywhere. Pick one platform. Show up there. Be consistent (not constant) so your audience come to learn what to expect. Do it well.

One of my clients, Sophie, was caught in the “post 3 reels a day” trap. She felt like she was doing everything right… but seeing no results. Once we pared her strategy down to Instagram + one email per week, things changed. Fast. She started booking clients through DMs, and (spoiler alert) she actually enjoyed showing up.

Ask yourself:

• Where does my audience hang out and where do I enjoy being?
• What media platform can I commit to showing up on just 3x per week for the next 6 weeks?
• How can I make it feel easier or even… fun?

This is the power of intentional visibility - and the page called “Visibility Reset” in your planner will walk you through it.

3. Create One Scalable Offer

Most dietitians start with one-to-ones. And that’s a solid place to begin. But you'll quickly get to a point where your calendar is full and your bank balance still isn’t where you want it to be… That's when you know it’s time to scale.

When I reached that point, I realised: I didn’t want to work more. I needed a new model. So I created an online course based on my most common client work - and finally saw the breathing room I’d craved.

You don’t need to leap straight into a big launch. Just notice what’s working in your 1:1 work and ask:

• Could I teach this in a small group?
• Could this become a short course or a recorded workshop?
• What format would feel doable to create - and valuable to my audience?

One of my clients, Rosie, sold out her 12-week vegan weight management program before she created a single slide. She started small, got results, and now runs a membership that brings in recurring income - without the burnout.

Turn to the “Offer Audit” section in your planner and look for those repeatable wins. That’s where your next offer lives.

Quick Recap: The 3 Shifts That Change Everything

If I had to start over, I’d skip the overwhelm and focus on:

1. One specific audience with one clear outcome
2. One platform, shown up on consistently (not constantly)
3. One offer that doesn’t rely on me being live to deliver it

These aren’t trendy hacks. They’re the quiet foundations of a business that works — for you and your clients.

Want Support as You Implement This?

The free Summer Reset Planner includes the clarity, visibility, and offer audit pages to help you put all of this into action.

Just carve out some time, make a cuppa, and go deeper. Your reset starts now.

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

Connect with me:

Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beyondtheclinicbusiness

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

Episode transcription:

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Beyond the Clinic. We are in week four of our summer reset series, and today's episode is a juicy one. The kind of conversation I wish someone would have had with me when I was just getting started.

Now this is week four of this summer reset series. And if you're just tuning in now, here's what we've covered so far. Episode 66 was part one, and that's where we kick things off with a compassionate mid-year check-in. No guilt, just grounded in reflection on where you are and what you need. Episode 67 was part two, where I walked you through how to clear away the business fog, a gentle but strategic look at what's no longer serving you and what to carry forward.

And in part three, that was episode 68, we mapped out a powerful but simple 60 minute planning ritual that I called the summer CEO date. It's a business reset to keep things moving when you have fewer hours so you don't end up feeling overwhelmed and burning out. So if any of those resonate, I highly recommend going back to catch up after this one. But before we dive into today's episode, a quick reminder.

If you haven't downloaded the Summer Reset Planner, pause this episode, scroll to the show notes and grab it. It's your companion for this series and today's episode We're going to talk about the three core things that I'd focus on if I had to start from scratch. And there's pages for this in your planner designed to help you reflect on each of these areas and shape them into an action plan that you'll actually want to follow.

All right, let's talk about starting over. Maybe you're at the very beginning of your business journey, or maybe you've been doing this for a little while and things feel messier than you expected. Like you've been duct taping strategies together, hopping from one idea to the next and secretly wondering if you're missing some secret blueprint that everyone else seems to have. If that's you, take a deep breath. You are not the first and you certainly will not be the last.

Today, I want to share exactly what I would do if I had to start over knowing what I know now as a clinical professional building health focused business. And it doesn't come from a place of regret because I've learned so many important lessons along the way. It comes from my desire to make this easier for you. So you can benefit from my hindsight and avoid making the mistakes that I did. Think of it as your shortcut, the lessons I learned the hard way. So you don't have to.

Okay, let's dive in.

Okay, number one, specificity first. So if I was starting over, the first thing I do is get super specific about helping just one group of people with just one outcome. Let me explain. Not being specific enough is one of the most common traps I see. And you know what? I fell into this trap myself.

When I first started in the online space back in 2017, I had so much passion and so many ideas. I wanted to help everyone. I had a private practice that I ran alongside my NHS job that had been going for about 15 years at that point. And in my clinics, I saw all kinds of pediatric dietetic clients, children with allergies, weaning babies, weight management, diabetes, fussy eating, constipation. It was a general pediatric clinic. And so my intention was to take this online.

So I knew my niche was parents. That was my one group of people. But you know what? It wasn't nearly specific enough. Some of those parents had babies. Others had teenagers. Some were struggling with infant colic and reflux and others were worried about the amount of Red Bull their teenagers were drinking.

And so my website content was a bit of a mashup of blog posts about tips for toddler diarrhea, egg-free cake recipes, how to create fun food Halloween party for primary school aged kids, and even talked about what to do with leftover Christmas dinner if you were weaning your baby. So my offers were also all over the place too.

And instead of feeling focused and confident, I felt totally scattered. I was forever looking for new ideas to write about or create courses on. And I was second guessing every decision I made wondering if it was this one that was going to be the right one. When you're trying to help everyone, you're actually talking to no one. It's like trying to tune a radio with a wobbly antenna. Your message comes through just really, really fuzzy. No one thinks it's for them. And so they scroll on by. But when you get more granular and more specific about who you help and how you help them achieve that one clear outcome, that signal sharpens.

So for example, one of my past Accelerate clients, let's call her Jane, she was a women's health dietitian. And when we first started working together, she had five different offers. She came to me because she was exhausted. No one was really engaging with her on social media except other healthcare professionals. None of her offers were converting and the only way she was making money was from Bupa and a consultant in her local hospital who passed on his private patient referrals.

So the first thing we did was simplify. She decided upon one audience, one group of people she was going to help. And it was couples trying to get pregnant and one outcome that she could help them with, optimizing their fertility through nutrition so they had increased chances of conceiving. Then we added specificity.

So instead of couples, she decided to focus on male fertility. So can you see now, instead of creating content that would appeal to both women and men, risking that if a man saw her post about women's fertility, he might scroll on by thinking, well, that's not for me, and vice versa. Now she only needed to create content that spoke directly to males. And that meant she could be relatable. She could talk about what men typically did in their day, their worries, their anxieties, their frustrations. did was made them feel seen and heard. And when her message got clear, so did her marketing. She stopped spinning, she started connecting, her email list grew, her one-to-one calendar filled, clients started referring other couples to her because her audience now got what she did and understood was in it for them.

So if you're nodding along here and thinking I've tried to be too many things to too many people then this is your opportunity to reset. So in your summer reset planner you'll find a page called the clarity reset. Use it to journal on who do you really want to help, what specific outcomes or results do I want to be known for, what stories, client wins or past experience reinforce that you can get people great results. Start there. You can always expand later, but clarity now saves you months and months and months of getting your business off the ground.

Okay, the second thing is pick just one platform and show up consistently. So if I had to start over, I wouldn't try to be everywhere. I'd pick one platform, one method of showing up and I would master it. So early in my business, I believed that visibility meant omnipresence. Now that is true, but really only for established businesses with big teams to support them and a nice healthy marketing budget. And that's not most of us, right?

So there I was, I was writing blog posts every single week. I was scheduling Instagram content every single day. I was dabbling a bit in YouTube. Please don't go there. It's very embarrassing. And I haven't taken down those videos for some reason. I was up in Facebook groups and offering helpful advice. I actually had a reoccurring calendar appointment in my diary to do this every single day, even on the weekends.

I ran my own Facebook group, so I was there as well. And I was also trying to stay consistent on Pinterest. The 283 tabs in my brain were always open. And the worst part, none of it felt fun. It was a necessary chore, and I was slowly heading towards burning out before I even found momentum. So here's what I know now. Consistency far outwins complexity.

I'm going to explain this through Sophie's story. So this is another one of my one-to-one clients, Sophie. She's a diabetes dietitian. And then she came to me feeling really frazzled. She'd heard from a business guru that she needed to post three reels a day to build a good Instagram following. She also needed to go live with a weekly tutorial to nurture that audience. And on top of that, it was a good idea to have a free Facebook group where she should give tips and advice and answer everyone's questions to showcase her expertise. And also she should be producing one type of long form content every single week and podcasts were crushing it at the moment. And she could share all about that podcast episode to her email list, not just once a week when the episode went live, but two more times to remind them to tune in in case they missed the first one. And of course, whilst delivering her clinical service.

She said, I know I'm doing everything right. I'm just missing the secret. Do you know what it is, Sarah? I asked her one powerful question. Where do you want to show up? Not just where's your audience? Although that does matter too, but where can you show up consistently without losing yourself? She chose Instagram and she committed to five posts per week, Monday to Friday, stories and DMs, and emailing her list just once a week. And that was it. So within a month, she said running her business began to feel easier. She enjoyed showing up and connecting with her audience and her people could feel that she'd started converting clients in the DMS. And later we went on to do all of this by automation, buying back so much of her time. So this is where I want to take you next in your summer reset planner.

Choose one core platform to focus on for the next six weeks and write it down. And commit to showing up consistently. Not constantly, consistently. If it's a social media platform, just be aware that the minimum number of posts per week to keep the algorithm alive and happy is three. Don't do less than that, otherwise you'll be trying to revive a dead Instagram account and that's another story. And track how this one platform's visibility plan feels.

Watch what happens when you stop scattering your energy and start building presence just in one place. And if you're still not sure where to start, then think about where do you like hanging out personally or where are you already comfortable? Where does your audience tend to engage with you the most? And what could you do regularly without it feeling like it's become a massive chore?

So remember you don't need to do it all. You just need to be findable and relatable. So your audience comes to learn when you're around. And when you add this to the specificity in step one, you'll become resonant. And that's what builds an engaged audience.

Okay, the third thing is to create one offer that scales. So this is what you sell. If I was starting over, I would design one offer that I can scale. Not on day one, of course, but far sooner than I did the first time around.

So as I told you, I had this established clinic where I leaned heavily on one-to-ones. They felt familiar, they felt safe, they were very easy to sell, but I was also at capacity. My diary was full but I wasn't making the income that I wanted and I was tired actually. There were days where I resented my calendar. I'd feel that Sunday night dread the day before a client. And this is my own business for goodness sake. I wasn't going to work for a boss. I'd stopped loving my one-to-one work. I'd had enough.

I wasn't making enough money and I hated the work. So what changed? Well, I created one scalable offer, a course actually, based on what I was already doing with some of those one-to-one clients. And it was scalable because if I sold one or if I sold a hundred, it didn't require any more of my time after it was made. So selling it, yeah, it was a bit messy at first. It wasn't perfect, but eventually I got it to work.

Scalable offers aren't just about making more money. They're about creating breathing room for you, giving you more flexibility, giving you options to do other things. So I've got another client example to share with you, Rosie. Now, Rosie has been on the podcast before, so you may already know her story. She's a vegan dietitian. She created a simple 12 week group program based on her most common client struggle, managing their weight on a vegan diet.

She pre-launched it to her warm audience and she sold out before she created a single asset. Suddenly she wasn't trading every hour for income. She stopped seeing her one-to-one clients. She had the breathing space back and the confidence to build a membership from there.

So in your summer reset planner is a page called Offer Audit. I want you to use it to reflect on what beneficial outcomes do I help my clients achieve over and over in my one-to-one work? And then ask yourself, could this become a group program or a short course or a membership or even a workshop that you can record once and sell? And what format would feel most easy for me to create and useful for my clients? So don't overthink it. Just start noticing the patterns. That's where your scalable offer is hiding. Okay.

Quick recap, if I was starting again, I'd focus on one specificity, one group of people with one outcome, two, visibility, one platform, consistency over complexity, and three, scalability, one offer that doesn't require me to be live every time I deliver it. These three foundations create the momentum without the overwhelm, the focus without the fog that comes.

And I know how tempting it is to try everything and say yes to every idea and chase every shiny new thing. But if you're feeling scattered right now, the answer isn't more. It's less, but better. And if you want to reflect deeper on today's episode, the Summer Reset Planner has everything you need. The journal prompts, the strategy pages, the weekly planning space. Print it out, grab a highlighter, make a cuppa, give yourself just one hour this week to sit with this episode and plan your own reset.

Now next week we're shifting gears a bit and we're going to look ahead to September. I'll walk you through how to prep for your most aligned autumn without slipping into overdrive. So until then, simplify, reflect and give yourself some credit. You are doing far better than you think. See you next week. Bye for now.