Ep 91 - Behind the Scenes of My Business Coaching: A Look Inside Accelerate

Episode Show Notes

Back in 2017, I knew how to run a private clinic. But when it came to building an online business - marketing, sales, pricing - I was at a loss. There was no one in the UK teaching health professionals how to do this, and trying to apply US-based advice felt… off.

So I went looking. I learnt SEO, marketing, funnels and online business strategy. I worked with incredible coaches, and was even mentored by Salome Shillack who ran ads for big names like Amy Porterfield. And what started as helping a few colleagues quickly turned into something more.

Accelerate was born to offer the kind of support I wish I’d had almost 10 years ago now - tailored, ethical, practical business coaching for health professionals who want to grow without losing their integrity (or their weekends).

What Makes My Business Coaching Different?

1. I Understand the Clinical World

I’m not just teaching business - I’ve lived the NHS life (all 22 years of it). I know the professional standards we’re held to, and the mindset shifts it takes to move from “I hope this is okay” to “this is a legitimate, valuable service.”

In Accelerate, we talk about real-life situations - from handling media requests to pricing with confidence - all through the lens of professionalism and ethics.

2. I Know What Works in the UK Market

In the US, people are used to paying for healthcare. Here, not so much. That changes how we position our offers, communicate value, and approach sales. 

I coach from experience - having built and sold offers to both UK and international audiences - and I’ll show you how to do the same, in a way that feels right for you.

3. We Tackle Mindset as Standard

Because even with the best strategy, it’s easy to stall when fear or self-doubt creeps in. I’m a certified life and mindset coach too, so when those wobbles come up - we handle them. 

Like the client who nearly scrapped her mid-tier offer in favour of VIP only. After a little mindset work, she decided to go for it - and signed three VIP clients in one week, turning January into her highest income month yet.

Inside the Accelerate Program

Let’s be clear - this isn’t a course where you binge videos and get left to figure it all out. Accelerate is a high-touch, strategy-led coaching experience designed to help you take consistent action, build real momentum, and make visible progress in your business.

Here’s what’s included:

• A full business audit (or foundational planning if you’re just starting out)
• A personalised 1:1 strategy session via Zoom (yours to keep)
• Access to my full teaching curriculum - more reference library than linear course
• Templates, cheat sheets, and done-for-you resources
• Twice-weekly live coaching calls so guaranteed time with me
• A private community (not on Facebook) for questions, support, celebtartions and accountability
• Optional one-to-one sessions and work reviews
• Bonus trainings throughout the year. So far we have planned:
• how to build your own AI marketing assistant, 
• how to have an AI photoshoot at a fraction of the cost of an in person one, and 
• ‘funnel fortnight’ a done-with-you, live funnel building sprint so you finish with an income generating machine in just 2 weeks.

Flexible Tiers for All Budgets

After reaching capacity last year, I introduced new tiers so more people could get the support they needed - without compromising on quality.

• Silver – Curriculum + community support for self-directed learners
• Gold – Additional live calls for regular coaching and feedback
• Platinum & VIP – Deeper, high-touch support (currently full)

No matter where you start, there’s a level of support that fits - and you’re never on your own.

What Kind of Results Can You Expect?

I won’t promise six figures in six months. That’s not my style (I know other people do!!).

But I will tell you what’s possible when you commit to the process and take aligned action:

• £10K months (yes, even in January)
• Replacing your salary and leaving the NHS for good
• Selling your offer with more ease - and at a higher price point
• Feeling confident, clear, and in control of your business
• Connecting with peers who just get it

“It Feels Like a Virtual Dietetic Department But Without The Boss”

That’s what one of my clients said - and I think it sums things up beautifully. Accelerate is about more than strategy. It’s about building a business in a supportive, intelligent, and energising space, with people who care.

You’ll also have access to Sarah AI - your virtual business coach, trained on all my methods. She’s there to answer those questions that would make you feel self conscious, generate new ideas, and help you move faster when you need a hand (or when your brain's just done for the day).

Could Accelerate Be Right for You?

If you’re tired of trying to piece it all together alone…

If you’re second-guessing every move or stuck in a cycle of undercharging and overdelivering…

If you want structure, support, and a plan that works for your life - Accelerate might be your next step.

Let’s have a chat.

👉 Click here to book a free 20-minute discovery call

Just a friendly conversation to explore what’s possible.

See you inside?

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:

Welcome, welcome, welcome along. I'm so pleased to have you here. So last week was a bit of a special week for me. I had a special birthday. I turned 50 and as a surprise gift, my husband booked a trip to Dubai for just under a week to stay in this beautiful spa hotel and get a bit of sunshine in January, which was just absolutely fantastic.

And the trip was for my sister and I while he stayed at home and looked after our daughter and walked the dog and drove my son back to university, and did the cooking and all of that, and you know what? I felt very blessed. I felt very much loved and a bit spoiled rotten.

And so if you're watching along, maybe you're watching on YouTube, you might notice I've got a few more freckles on my arms and on my face than I usually do. And that will be the Dubai sunshine, which was absolutely glorious. We got to spend about four to six hours a day lying around the pool, just absorbing the rays. It wasn't very hot. It was between 24, 25 degrees, but absolutely perfect, which suits me down to the ground because I'm very fair skinned.

So it meant that you could still do something. You could still move about, didn't feel too hot and exhausted and sweaty. It was just really relaxing, a really lovely break. And did I work? Well, yes, I did. I did work while I was out there. I must admit it wasn't a full on holiday. I still had clients to look after. And so I wanted to make sure that I was still around for them, but I didn't do any of my day to day stuff. didn't record any podcasts, for example. I didn't do any social media posts or any of the day-to-day stuff I would usually do.

Anyhow. Enough about me and my birthday surprise holiday. Let's get on with today's episode because today I want to take you behind the scenes of my business coaching. Today's episode is going to be a little bit different. I'm going to take you into Accelerate, which is the name of my business coaching program. And I want to start by saying this. This is by no means a sales pitch. I'm not looking to sell to you here. It's just a chance to get a really honest behind the scenes look at what actually happens if you were to work with me as your business coach. Because if you're listening to this, there's a good chance you've got questions like, well, what will business coaching actually get me? How much personal support will I receive? What kind of results can I really expect? And actually, how long is it going to take to get those results? And so I want to answer those questions really honestly for you today.

So in this episode, you're going to hear me talk about what my business coaching really looks like in practice, how personalized my support is and how involved I am in the day to day, as well as why I've built Accelerate the way that I have, especially as a UK based regulated healthcare professional.

Now, as I've said, my aim with this episode isn't to sell to you, it's to help you just understand what real business coaching looks like when it's designed for healthcare professionals. So you can decide what kind of support you actually need and what you shouldn't have to settle for. So are you ready for a real honest behind the scenes look inside my business coaching? All right, let's get into it, shall we?

Okay, first, before we get into the fun stuff, let me quickly fill you in on why I created my Accelerate Business Support Program in the first place. When I first started thinking about moving my traditional clinic business online back in 2017, I quickly realized that there was a problem. There was literally no one teaching business skills to dietitians in the UK.

I had the knowledge and I had the skills in paediatric nutrition. But when it came to marketing and selling and actually building an online health business, there was really no one who could help me who truly understood the health industry. And so I started looking overseas and that's when I found Erica Jolson, the unconventional RD. You may know about her already. And she was talking about blogging in a way that just made sense to me. And I jumped in head first.

I became one of the very first members of her SEO Made Simple course. It's a course that she's retired now. And honestly, that's when I got my love for digital marketing. That's when things really started to take off for me. So from there, I did courses. I worked with coaches. I got certified in different areas of digital marketing. And I even had the opportunity to work for the Facebook and Instagram ads manager for Amy Porterfield for a while.

I was learning the strategies, I was practicing the skills that I wished that I had had when I first started building my business. And as I grew, I started sharing that knowledge with my freelance dietitian colleagues. Initially, just for free, I was helping them figure out their websites and their marketing and their social media. And you know what? I loved it. And then one day my own business coach looked at me and she said, why don't you sell this as a service, Sarah?

And you know what, that was it. The seed was planted. Everything that I'd learned, everything I'd tested, everything I had used to grow my own business suddenly had a much, much bigger purpose, helping other health professionals just like me build businesses that work for them. And so that's how Accelerate was born out of a real gap in the market, out of my own experience of figuring things out the hard way and seeing the difference the right guidance can make. I knew that there were so many brilliant professionals out there who just needed the right support at the right time and in the right way. And that's what I wanted to give to them.

Okay, so before we dive into how my business coaching works, I want to give you a peek at what makes my approach so different from other business coaching programs. So first of all, I'm a UK registered dietitian and that really shapes everything I do. I understand the rules, our regulations, the ethical considerations, the values that we share that come with being a health professional. We often have conversations in our course about tricky situations.

Just the week before last, for example, a client was asked to comment on a new story by a journalist. And we worked through how she could respond without risking her professional reputation or actually the reputation of our professional body. Now that kind of guidance is really specific to health professionals. And it's something that most coaches, even dietician coaches from overseas simply cannot offer.

And secondly, I know what it's like to try and sell to a UK audience where people expect their healthcare to be free, versus a US audience where paying for a service is the norm. I've worked with both. So I understand the subtle differences in biopsychology, including the hesitations, the mindset, and the way people value our expertise differently. Following advice that works in the US without adapting it for the UK is a really common mistake that I see, and it's one that I help my clients to avoid.

And then the third difference is that mindset is woven into my business coaching program. I'm actually a certified life and mindset coach as well. So when doubts and fears or limiting beliefs come up, we just tackle them straight away. So earlier this month, for example, a client, I'm not going to say any names, was thinking about dropping her medium priced offer and only selling VIP. And she thought this would be too expensive for most people. And she was worried she'd get less clients. But she wanted to do this because she really truly valued her time.

And so after a few mindset focused questions, this was all in the space of maybe 10, 15 minutes and a shift in her perspective, she decided to go for it. And she signed three VIP clients within the next seven days. And actually she's just hit a 10K month in January when everyone is supposedly skint. Now that's the kind of breakthrough that you can expect when mindset coaching is just woven into the day-to-day business coaching that we do.

Okay. Now I want to give you a behind the scenes look at how Accelerate actually works. So first it's important to know that Accelerate is not just a course. In fact, it's far from it. You won't just be watching videos and left to your own devices. I know how frustrating it is to invest in something and then feel like you're on your own, or like the advice that you get doesn't quite fit your business.

So how does it work? Well, we start by looking at where you are now in your business, what's working, what's missing and where you want to go. If you've already got a business, I'll do a full business audit. And if you're starting from scratch, we just skip that bit and we go straight into planning the foundations. From there, we dive into a one-on-one strategy session where we design your personalized business plan.

It's on Zoom so you can record it. It's yours to keep forever. And it's all about giving you clarity and direction with your personal best next steps for you in your business. Now, once that's done and you've got a plan, you go off and you access the curriculum, which actually is more like a reference library than a course, because you only dip into the parts that you need when you need them. And honestly, everything you need to know to build a successful and profitable health business is inside this curriculum. We cover it all. So forming your offers, creating your signature methodology, sales, marketing strategies, pricing, planning, tech, right through to the important mindset work.

And it's not just theory. I give you fill in the blank templates and step-by-step cheat sheets so that you're always implementing. And this is really important so that you're moving forwards and you're making progress week by week by week. Most people, even with large audiences or existing businesses, still need to work on their strategic marketing foundations. And that really means understanding your client group. So not just by demographics or pain points and desires, but the psychographics, the things that drive them to buy, the words they use to talk about their struggles and the specific solutions that they are willing to pay for.

So you can ask questions as much as you want, whenever you want. There's a private community and no, it's not on Facebook to ask those questions in. Plus I host live calls twice a week where you can get my support face to face. And on top of that, there's the opportunity to submit your work for feedback and regular one-to-one sessions with me for those people who want more hands-on support. And then throughout the year, I also host extra live trainings on different topics. So we've got lots of really exciting trainings coming up, including a Create Your Personal AI Marketing Assistant later this month. We've got How to Create an AI Photoshoot. And we've also got Funnel Fortnite, where we are building an entire front-end funnel over two weeks.

We are literally doing it together. Okay, so that's how Accelerate works. Now I'm sure one question you might have is, what kind of results can I expect and how quickly can I expect to see those results? Now it's impossible for me to give you a straight answer to that one because everyone moves at their own pace. And also because some people have just one day a week to work on their business and others are full time.

And I'll be honest, it really frustrates me when other coaches promise a fully running business and high income within a set timeframe. That's just not fair to promise, especially because some niches just aren't profitable. So even with the best support and guidance, that niche is not going to make you money. By the way, that's the very first thing we do together is a profitability test. So you make sure that you're giving your time and your energy to a niche that can actually make money for you.

Now, I usually suggest a 12-month initial program to give you enough time to make real progress with the option to extend. However, there is a minimum term of six months for those who want less of a commitment, but you know what? Nearly everyone extends. Another question you might have is, is this only for people who've got a big budget to invest? Well, the short answer is no, absolutely not.

So up until the end of last year, there were just two ways to work with me. There was one-to-one coaching or group coaching. Both included access to the curriculum, the community and the live coaching calls. And honestly, that worked really well until I reached capacity. So by September, I had to start a waiting list for people hoping to start in January as I anticipated spaces to open up then, but they didn't because my current clients wanted to continue. And that's when I realized I needed a way to support more people without compromising the level of support that I provide to those already inside Accelerate. And so that's why I decided to develop Silver and Gold tiers.

So VIP, that's for my one-to-one clients, that still exists, there's no changes there, and I'm at capacity till the end of June. Platinum is for my existing clients and that's actually full as well. And then the new Silver and Gold tiers gave Accelerate a more budget-friendly option.

So Gold gives you access to the curriculum, the community and our twice weekly live calls, but it doesn't include the quarterly one-to-one sessions or work submission reviews. And that's because there's only one of me. So this lets me offer a lower price while still giving real time face-to-face support.

And then Silver is a lower cost entry point and that includes the curriculum and the community. So you can still ask questions and get guidance, but it doesn't include the live calls. And you know what? That's best for people who are happy to work in a self-paced, self-directed way, and then just ask questions as and when they arise.

And the idea behind these tiers is really simple. I wanted to make sure that anyone who wants business support can actually access it, no matter their budget. I've made it as inclusive and as flexible as possible because I know that not everyone is ready for a big investment upfront. And that's okay.

So before I wrap up today, I want to share a few things that people rave about here and love most about being inside Accelerate. So the first thing that comes up again and again is the level of support. I'm available every day. I'm there to answer your questions. I stay on the calls until every question is answered. And I even allow you to submit your work for review and get personalized feedback from me. So this level of support means that people can move forward much faster than they ever expected. Another thing clients often tell me is how much they've actually achieved during our time together.

A lot of them have worked with other business coaches before they've come to me and they felt like they didn't get very much done. But in Accelerate, it's all about implementation, not just learning what to do. I'm all about actually getting stuff done. And then of course there's the money wins. At least once a week, we have clients celebrating things like securing new clients, selling programs at new prices, hitting their highest earning months and quitting their NHS jobs.

And then of course, there's the support you get from each other because sometimes working from home as a freelance dietitian can feel isolating and lonely, but your colleagues are all in this together, all experts in their own clinical areas and all building businesses. Friendships are formed, collaborations are arranged, connection and accountability makes the community aspect much loved. I've even had someone say it was like a virtual dietetic department, but without the manager.

And I can't forget Sarah AI, my custom built private version of ChatGPT tailored for health professionals. Now she has become a real favourite in the community. Sarah AI knows my content strategies. She knows my sales processes and she knows the rules and values of health professional businesses. And she can help you write your emails. She can help you with social media content and so much more in minutes.

She's also perfect if you've got a question and you don't want to raise it in front of other people. So that is a little taster as to what you can expect from Accelerate. And I hope you've liked this behind the scenes look. I hope it's given you a clearer idea of what real business coaching looks like and what it's like to be part of Accelerate. If you've been thinking about signing up for business coaching or you're wondering what kind of support could actually help you make the progress that you want,

I'd love to have a chat with you and see how we can accelerate your results. So even if you're just a tiny bit interested, you're welcome to go and book a free discovery call with me today. So we can have a 20 minute chat about your business, about what's holding you back from getting where you need it to be and how I can help you personally. I'll pop the link in the show notes. There's absolutely no pressure. There's no obligation by having this chat. It's just for us to get to know each other a little bit better. And as I say, you'll find the link to book a call in the show notes. Bye for now.