What Order Should You Do Things to Grow Your Dietetic Business?

How do you grow a dietitian business in the right order?

If you want to know how to grow a dietitian business that brings in consistent clients, the order you do things in matters as much as the work itself. Market research comes before picking your niche and growing an audience, understanding where your ideal clients look for help comes before choosing your marketing, and building trust comes before asking anyone to book.

I was reminded of this only the other week, while building an IKEA coffee table. A few minutes in, I realised something wasn't right, went back to the instructions and found I'd put one of the pieces in the wrong place about three steps earlier. (There's a reason I usually leave flat-pack furniture to my husband. He has far more patience for it than I do.)

Business works in exactly the same way. Sometimes the problem isn't that you're doing the wrong things. It's that you're doing the right things in the wrong order.

Why isn't all your hard work bringing in consistent clients?

Dietitians who work incredibly hard for months, sometimes years, without consistent clients are usually treating every idea on their list as equally important. A good idea and the next thing your business needs are not the same thing, and when your time is limited you can't afford to spend six months on something your business isn't ready for yet.

I fell into this trap myself. When I started my nutrition business, I was still working for the NHS and had a young family, so spare time was in short supply. I'd listen to marketing podcasts while driving around the Sussex countryside, pulling over to scribble down anything useful.

Before long I had a notebook full of ideas. I remember looking at it and thinking, "I need more time. There's no way I'm going to be able to do all of this."

But time wasn't the real problem. Some of those ideas would matter later and some were just things I was interested in. I didn't need to do more. I needed to get much clearer about which things had to happen first.

Is being listed on a dietitian directory enough to get clients?

Being listed on a dietetic services directory gives people a place to book you, but it isn't a system for attracting clients. Before you say "here's how you can book me", people need a reason to stop and pay attention, a way to get to know and trust you, and then an easy next step to become a client.

Once you're listed, it feels like you're open for business. But if your whole plan is "I'll put my services on a directory and hope someone finds me", you're skipping straight to the booking stage before you've built any trust. The directory isn't the problem. The missing steps before it are.

How do you choose a niche as a dietitian that people will actually pay for?

To choose a niche that people will pay for, do your market research before you pick the niche and start growing an audience. You're looking for evidence of three things: people actively looking for help with the problem you solve, people already paying for support in this area, and other people successfully selling solutions to this group.

This is one I got wrong myself. When I started The Children's Nutritionist, I went into the baby weaning niche because it looked like a brilliant one to be in. There were lots of parents looking for help and plenty of questions about weaning. What I realised later was that I'd picked a niche where people weren't necessarily willing to pay for the kind of help I wanted to provide.

There are some simple ways to gather that evidence:

• Facebook groups where your ideal clients hang out. Look at the questions they ask, the problems they complain about and the things they want recommendations for.
• Reddit, where people are often really open about what they're struggling with.
• Amazon. Search for books on your topic. Are there many, and do they have lots of reviews? That's a clue people will spend money on solutions.

Once you've got that evidence, it makes sense to start creating content and building an audience.

What should you send your email list after someone downloads your freebie?

You've probably hear you should be building your email list and the best way to do that is to offer a freebie in exchange for their email list. After someone downloads your freebie, you do need to send them regular emails that nurture the relationship, such as a weekly email sharing useful advice, answering common questions, talking about mistakes people make, sharing your perspective or explaining how you help people get a particular result. Stories that help readers recognise themselves work especially well.

Nurture means warming people up once they've joined your list. Downloading a freebie doesn't mean someone is ready to become a client. They might have found your guide useful, but they don't know you from Adam yet.

Going straight from "here's your freebie" to "book a discovery call" is like proposing on the very first date. A little premature, right? Instead, you need a series of small touchpoints that move someone from "who is this person?" to "they really understand my problem", then "I like their approach", "I trust they know what they're talking about" and, eventually, "I think I'd like their help". That rarely happens from one freebie and one email.

How do you choose the right marketing strategy for your freelance dietitian business?

The right marketing strategy for a freelance dietitian's business starts with understanding how your ideal clients behave when they have the problem you solve. Before you choose any marketing channel, find out where they go, what they search for, which websites, podcasts and social media accounts they follow, and, most importantly, where they feel comfortable looking for help.

This one is sneaky, because you can be really clear on who you help and what your offer is, and still miss the mark completely.

Say you're a weight management dietitian planning talks at GP surgeries and networking somewhere like David Lloyd. On paper, that sounds sensible. But what if the people you want to reach feel embarrassed about being seen at the gym, or have had negative experiences talking to their GP about their weight? Then they're probably not hanging around in either place looking for someone like you. So rather than asking "where can I market my business?", start with your ideal client and where they actually go for help.

What should you do first to grow your dietitian business?

The first steps to grow your dietetic business are the foundations: market research, understanding your ideal client and building trust. If there's one thing I'd love you to take away, it's this: don't jump to step 12 before you've done step 2.

If you want more clients, don't try to sell before you've given people a reason to trust you.

If you want followers, don't start creating content before you've worked out your most profitable niche.

And if you want to launch an offer, don't build it before you know whether people will actually buy it.

The boring stuff at the beginning is what makes the exciting stuff work later on.

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Do you want to know the right steps, in the right order for building your successful nutrition business? Get your 22 point step-by-step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

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Episode transcription:

Sarah Almond Bushell: If you're working really hard in your dietetic business and wondering why all the hard work isn't translating into consistent clients. well, today's episode might just be where the penny drops because there's a very specific order to building a business that consistently brings in clients. And it might not be the order that you're following right now. This is one of those things that is so much easier to understand when you're on the other side and you've actually experienced what happens, you know, when you get the order wrong. Funnily enough, it happened to me only the other week, except I was trying to build a coffee table. This turned out to be a very good lesson in doing things in the wrong order. A few minutes into building, I realised "something's not right here". So I went back to the instructions and I realised I'd put one of the pieces in the wrong place about three steps earlier.

At that point, I was reminded why I usually leave IKEA projects to my husband. He has much more patience for this kind of thing than I do. But I'm not just telling you this to embarrass myself over my questionable assembly skills. It's actually a pretty good analogy for what happens in business a lot of the time. You can be working really hard and doing lots of things that seem productive. But if you've missed an important step earlier on, eventually, you're going to get to a point where nothing quite fits. And instead of going back to figure out what you've missed, you might be tempted just to keep trying to make it work. So you might try posting more content, getting more followers or creating another offer. But sometimes the problem isn't that you're doing the wrong things. It's that you're doing the right things just in the wrong order. And I think that's one of the biggest reasons dietitians can end up spending months or actually sometimes years working incredibly hard, but without getting the results that they're hoping for. So in this episode, I'm going to walk you through some of the most common out-of-order moves that I see dietitians making in their business. And for each one, we're going to look at what should have happened first, why that earlier step matters, and what you should be prioritising if your goal is to start bringing in more consistent clients.

So when you're building a business, there are always things that you could be doing. You could build a website, you could start a podcast, you could create a freebie and build an email list. You could create a course. You could create a low cost digital guide. You could run ads. You could work on your SEO. You could write your sales page for the 15th time. The list is endless. And I know this because I fell into this trap myself when I was building my nutrition business.

When I started, I was still working for the NHS. I had a young family. I didn't have loads of spare time to throw at my business, but I was determined to make it work. So I was constantly consuming information. I listened to marketing podcasts and business audio books and online courses, literally anything I could get my hands on. I'd listen while I was driving around the Sussex countryside. And if I heard something that sounded useful, I'd pull over and I'd write it down.

And before long, I had this enormous notebook full of ideas, full of offers, things that I wanted to change on my website, things I wanted to learn, digital products that I wanted to create, marketing strategies that I wanted to try. And the more I learned, the longer the list got. I remember looking at it and thinking, "I need more time. There's no way I'm going to be able to do all of this". But actually that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was that I was looking at everything on that list as if it was equally important. And you know what? It wasn't. Some of those things were going to matter eventually. Some of those things were going to be useful later. And some of them were simply things that I was interested in doing, but they weren't the next thing that I needed to do. And I think this is where so many dietitians get stuck because when you're building a business, it's very easy to confuse "this is a good idea" with "this is what I need to do next". And you know what? They're not the same thing. That was the lesson that I eventually had to learn myself. I didn't need to do more things. I just needed to get much clearer about which things needed to happen first. Because when your time is limited, you simply can't afford to spend six months working on something that your business isn't ready for yet. So.

Now let's dive into some of the most common out-of-order moves that I see dietitians making in their businesses. In other words, the things that you're spending time on that are either happening too early or before something important needs to happen first. The first one is getting yourself listed on a few directories and then waiting for the enquiries to come in.

Now I completely understand why this happens. When you're listed on directories, it feels like you're "open for business", but you need to give people a reason to stop and pay attention and then give them a way to get to know you and trust you. And then eventually take that next step to become a client. Because if your entire plan for getting clients is "I'll put my services on a directory and hope that someone will find me"... Then you don't really have a system for attracting clients.

You've got a place where people can book you. So just to be clear, being listed on a directory isn't the problem. The problem is that you're jumping straight into "here's how you can book me" before you've given people a reason to get to know and trust you. Now let's move on to the next out-of-order move and see if this is one you've fallen into in your own business, Picking your niche and growing a social media following before first making sure those are actually the right people to sell to. I see this one all the time. And actually this is something I got wrong myself when I first started out. I went into the baby weaning niche because I thought it was a really great niche to be in. There were loads of parents looking for help. There were questions around baby weaning and there was definitely a need for more information out there. But what I realised later was I picked a niche where people weren't necessarily willing to pay for that kind of help, the kind of help that I wanted to provide. So this is why market research needs to happen before you pick your niche and start growing your audience. There's lots of different ways that you can do market research, but essentially what you're looking for is evidence.

Evidence that people are actively looking for help with the problem that you can solve. Evidence that people are already paying for support in this area. And evidence that other people are successfully selling solutions to this particular group.

So, for example, you could go into Facebook groups where your ideal client hangs out and look at the kinds of questions that they're asking, the problems that they're complaining about and the things that they're looking for recommendations for.

You can do the same thing on places like Reddit, where people are often really open about what they're struggling with. You can even look at Amazon and search the books around your topic. Are there many of them? Do they have lots of reviews? That's another little clue that people are interested enough in this topic to spend some money on solutions. When you do this kind of research first, you're not just picking a niche because you think it sounds like a good idea. You're making a much more informed decision about who you want to attract and what you want to be known for and whether there's actually a market for the thing that you want to sell. And then once you've got your foundational information, that's when it makes sense to start doing those big jobs like creating content and building an audience.

Okay, now let's talk about another really common out-of-order mistake that I see dietitians making and see if this is something that you're doing already in your business too. It's creating a freebie and building an email list without thinking about what happens next. Now this one is slightly different from the other examples we've talked about because with those, the problem was doing something too early before another important step has happened. So for instance, jumping into deciding your niche and growing your audience, instead of doing the important market research, But this one's a bit different because you've actually done the first important bit. You've created a freebie and you've set up your email service provider and you've got people joining your list, which is all really, really great. But then you're likely missing something that needs to happen afterwards. So for instance, it might be that there's no real nurture process. And when I say nurture, what I mean is the process of warming people up once they've joined your list.

Downloading a freebie doesn't automatically mean someone is ready to become your client. They might have found your free guide useful, but they don't know you yet. They don't know you from Adam. And they might not even be completely convinced that they need support yet. So you need to give them a reason to keep hearing from you. So that might mean sending a regular weekly email where you share useful advice, you answer common questions, you talk about mistakes that people are making sharing your perspective on a topic or explaining how you help people get a particular result. It might mean sharing stories or examples that help them recognise themselves and the problems that you're talking about. But you can't just go from "here's your freebie" to "book a discovery call to learn about how I can help you". That's like proposing on the very first date. It's a little bit premature, right? Instead, you need to be creating a series of little touch points in between that helps someone move from "who is this person?" to "actually they really understand my problem" to "I like their approach" to "I trust they know what they're talking about" to eventually "I think I'd like their help" and that process doesn't happen from one freebie and one email. Your freebie gets someone onto your list then you need to nurture that relationship and build that trust.

Okay, so I've deliberately left this one until last because it's a bit of a sneaky one and that's deciding on your marketing strategy before you've actually worked out where your ideal client goes to look for help. You can have a really clear idea of who you want to work with, what you want to help them with and what your offer is, but then you can completely miss the mark when it comes to actually getting in front of them.

For example, let's say you're a weight management dietitian and you decide your marketing strategy is going to be doing talks at GP surgeries and networking somewhere like, I don't know, the David Lloyd. Now on paper, that sounds pretty sensible, right? But what if the people you're trying to reach feel embarrassed about being seen at the gym because they're worried that people are judging them? Or what if they've had negative experiences talking to their GP about their weight and they don't feel comfortable going back and asking for help?

If that's the case, they're probably not going to be hanging around in either of those places looking for someone like you.

This is why before you go ahead and jump into deciding which marketing channels and other avenues you're going to use to promote your business, you need to understand how your ideal clients actually behave when they have the problem you solve. Where do they go? What do they search for? What websites do they visit? What podcasts do they listen to? What social media accounts do they follow? And perhaps most importantly, where do they feel comfortable looking for help?

So remember, don't start with "where can I market my business?" Start with understanding your ideal client, who they are, what problems they have and where they actually go when they're looking for help.

Now, if there's one thing I want you to take away from this episode it's this. Don't jump into step 12 before you've done step two. And if you want more clients, don't jump straight into trying to sell before you've given people a reason to trust you. If you want followers, don't start creating content before you've worked out your most profitable niche. And if you want to launch an offer, don't build it before you know whether people will actually buy it. The boring stuff at the beginning is what makes the exciting stuff actually work later on. Now, before you go, if you want a bit more help knowing what steps to be taking and in what order to grow a successful private practice and get consistent clients, I've got something for you. It's my free Dietitian Business Master Plan. It's a 22 step roadmap that takes you through the key stages of building your business in the right order.

You can grab a free copy of the Master Plan right here.