Welcome to today's episode of Dietitian Boss. Today, I'm going to be discussing how you can maximize your earnings as a registered dietitian by creating online revenue streams. You might be familiar with the idea that, as a registered dietitian outside of the online space, you can maximize your earnings in a lot of different ways. Today's focus is going to be primarily on the online space, but I don't want to neglect that earning extra revenues in person is a fantastic way to sharpen your relationship-building skills, interpersonal skills, and even strengthen your mindset.
For me, when I was figuring out how to make more money as a dietitian without the online experience, I did consulting, which I believe is one of the easiest ways to make additional money. I did that through menu consulting. I also did that through speaking and teaching. Also, I was able to work overtime at one of my nine-to-five clinical jobs. So, there are a lot of things you can do, such as workshops in the community. And obviously, coaching is a very common one, right? Coaching and counseling to do one-on-ones or even groups with clients. You can do that in person.
That's a traditional model. So, you might be aware that those options are fantastic if you're wanting to earn additional money and even additional satisfaction because you enjoy working with people and you enjoy helping them and it makes you feel fulfilled. But in today's episode, I want to primarily talk about the online revenue streams arena, because it's still not tapped as much as it could be yet.
The benefits of doing online work as a dietitian are numerous, including location independence. When you're able to work online as a dietitian, you have more freedom and flexibility to live in other parts of the world. So, if you're doing coaching and consulting—the same thing you could do in person—but you're doing it online, that allows you to be mobile.
Let's say you and your family, or you independently, want to practice in other areas of the United States or the world. Now, you can have more flexibility. Of course, you have to check with scope of practice when it comes to licensure depending on the service that you're offering, and we'll talk about that in another episode. We've talked about that in some of our legal episodes, but just know that you do have options.
So, I want to dive in specifically about what that can look like when you’re considering how to make more money as a dietitian. You know that, in today's digital age, there are numerous opportunities to expand your reach and connect with clients through various online platforms. You hear me talking about social media a lot. You can do podcasting, YouTube, you can do webinars by yourself, or you can do what's called joint webinars and you can collaborate with somebody else. There are so many ways that you can connect with clients and potential clients (also known as your ideal clients) through online mediums.
In fact, you can have a larger reach through online, which is such an untapped option as a registered dietitian. It really helps us showcase how we are the experts as registered dietitians; it helps us achieve more things and feel really fulfilled as well. S,o let's dive into some of those ways that you can create online revenue streams as a registered dietitian.
Firstly, you can create an online course or an ebook, and I've dedicated an entire episode to talking about ebooks. And I know I have talked about online courses as well, so it's a great option to make an ebook or an online course. If you have a particular area of expertise, or maybe there's a certain specialty that you want to share with other people, you can also create a comprehensive course or ebook that covers your topic in-depth and sell it through various platforms. For example, you can sell it through a third-party platform like Teachable, or Kajabi, or you can house this on your own website like Squarespace or even WordPress.
So, there are going to be pros and cons of using different tech, which I can talk about in-depth in another episode by comparing and contrasting some of the online tools and software. If you're first starting out, I recommend that you keep it simple by selling through something like Teachable, Thinkific, or Kajabi. Kajabi is a little more on the expensive side. We use Kajabi and absolutely love it.
It is more of an investment because it's an all-in-one tool compared to other tools like Thinkific and Teachable. The benefit is that a lot of those tools are pretty user-friendly, and they've got a lot of stories online. You can use practice management software also, like Practice Better to also house courses and ebooks. And that can also be a great way to help expand your service and product offerings.
Especially if you're already servicing clients through your nutrition practice software, and if you use Practice Better, we have a code if you check out the show notes at Dietitianboss.com. From this episode, you can go ahead and use our code. We were an affiliate with Practice Better, and it's a great way for you to learn how to get more organized.
In terms of using software with your business, in addition to an online course or an ebook, you can also create a membership site. We have a membership here at Dietitian Boss called Dietitian Boss Library. And you might've noticed it's gone through a couple of name changes, but we've landed on Dietitian Boss Library, or just The Library.
And what that means is, you've created a community where you offer exclusive content, resources, and support to members who pay a monthly or yearly fee. And it's a great way to establish ongoing relationships with clients and provide them with ongoing value when you’re learning how to make more money as a dietitian. I'm a huge fan of memberships because you can help more people, and it's more accessible than, say, high-ticket coaching, meaning a coaching program that can cost thousands of dollars. Of course, I think high-ticket coaching is a great option to really go deep and service people, but you might not be able to help everybody due to that price point.
So, it's nice to have a variety of options like we do here a Dietitian Boss. We have our membership, and then within the membership you can buy a coaching a one-off coaching session with someone from our team. Soon, there will be an option for you to work with me as well. And then we do offer coaching, but we really focus on offering the membership so we can give people a sense of what that community looks like and give them access to my framework—my proprietary system—and show them what it's like to do it on your own. And then for those who really want more support, they can absolutely choose coaching.
So, that's a great model if you were looking at helping more people, but you will need more volume. That means you're going to need to have an audience focused on your email list, or, if you don't, you haven't yet tapped into the online space. You will need to have a network. That means you're going to need to know people and have people in your community who might be interested in what you're selling. And you're constantly promoting what you're doing and telling people that you have something, like a service or a product that you're looking to sell to somebody who needs help with a certain area that you might service.
Another offer that you can choose in the online space to earn additional revenues can be one-on-one coaching or consulting. Now, I think that this is one of the easiest to start with because there's less tech involved, and tech is hard unless you're a whiz, right? I’ve met two dietitians ever who are tech whizzes. Most of us prefer to focus on servicing the client and on making handouts, or really giving a great client experience, or behavior change modification, etc. We're going to prioritize that over tech. It doesn't mean you can't learn, but you might want to learn more slowly with the learning curve of working in the online space and all the nuances of marketing online. I think that offering coaching or consulting at first until you hit a benchmark is a great idea.
So, if you've already offered coaching or consulting in person, then it's also something you can easily transfer to the online space. You're offering the same thing, but you're just changing the medium, meaning that instead of the medium being a brick-and-mortar institution or an office or even a conference, now you're going to be delivering this service on the internet—perhaps through video conferencing, through your practice care, your nutrition practice software like Practice Better, or through Zoom if you use that video conference, or maybe Google Meet or Google Hangout if that's what you're using for your video conferencing service.
That can be an easier way for you to transition because, yes, it's not quite the same as in-person and you won't be able to necessarily connect to that same level, but it’s still delivering coaching or consulting in person and it is more accessible. Again, the keyword here is accessibility; you can help people without them having to commute, without them having to live close, etc., and it creates flexibility for both you and for the client. And that's really attractive.
So, you can also do that via email video conferencing, as I mentioned, and other online platforms as well. As I mentioned earlier, there are third-party platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Practice Better, and Kajabi, and you can also use something like your website. And then you can have some component of your website like WordPress or Squarespace where you're able to have videos and some type of communication medium to do the coaching and consulting for your clients. By offering these services, you can connect with clients all over the world, really, depending on similar limitations with scope of practice and MNT. And you're going to have to check legal for the services that you're offering, but you can provide some support and it might be personalized. It might not depending on how you've packaged your service offerings, and you can really help people reach their goals. And that's very satisfying.
Achieving that level of greatness as an online dietitian means that you have helped the community. You've built your online presence. You've effectively been able to find a way to sell to people on the internet and you found a way to change lives. Not only that, you've also been able to create extra income.
Whether you decide you want to pay off student loans like me, or maybe you decided that you wanted to take an extra vacation and you wanted to have a fund, or maybe you want to plan for retirement—whatever it might be for your incentive to make more money, it's really helpful to find something that you like doing that also serves other people. And that can be, as a recap, through providing coaching or consulting services online, creating a membership community, and/or creating a course or an ebook.
And now I’ve shared what those look like. I shared how you can tactically deliver those different products and services. And most importantly, I shared why: freedom, flexibility, and achievement. As dietitians, we love achieving things. We like getting our D credentials through passing any exam. We like completing our dietetic internship. We like completing our master's program. We like achieving certificates in something specialized, like pediatrics, weight management, or intuitive eating.
And I think what we forget about is achieving the business acumen that we need to effectively communicate and represent leadership in the field of dietetics. That's the gap here at Dietitian Boss: we feel we not only help you bridge the gap between what you're able to do as a clinician and improving your clinical skills, but we also help you with your business skills.
So, I'm excited that, in our membership with The Library, we are adding clinical components, adding discussion guests, and incorporating regular discussions about journal club and online research that has to do with intuitive eating and ethics and nutrition about private practice essentials forms. Paperwork's a tricky situation whether it's patients or clients. Even if you're a dietitian working in a clinical setting or your private practice, you're bound to come across a situation where you're going to have to deal with it, and it might be challenging. It could be that you're not sure how to chart it, or it could be that you're second-guessing your skills when you’re figuring out how to make more money as a dietitian.
And we help you with that, not only through our affordable membership but also through private coaching if you decide to pursue that route. We really look forward to seeing you inside of The Library, so go ahead and check out Dietitianboss.com. And I invite you to join The Library today! We'll see you next time.
