[00:00:00] If you're looking to grow your business as a registered dietitian, you've come to the right place. If you're not sure what to do or what steps to take next so that you can create flexibility and freedom in your life, then you're going to learn a lot from tuning into our podcast here at Dietitian Boss.
[00:00:16] I'm Libby Rothschild, the founder of Dietitian Boss, a fellow [00:00:20] registered dietitian and business owner. And in our podcast, I share the highs and the lows, and I talk all about how to grow your business. Get it started. And I interview our clients to date. We've had over 200 interviews from clients who share their journey on our podcast dietitian boss.
[00:00:36] Libby: One of the most popular topics is requested for the [00:00:40] podcast is how to scale your dietitian private practice to six figures. For some reason, this number has always been popular, meaning a hundred thousand dollars a year or more. And this seems to be a point where dietitians Aspire to work towards perhaps because we have to pay off student loans or for cost of living.
[00:00:58] Libby: This feels like a good [00:01:00] salary, but this is a pretty popular starting point. Now, whether you want to make 6 figures or 50, 000 dollars a year or more. You're going to learn about how you can create some systems in your business from today's episode that will help you learn how to set down foundations so that you can run a business that operates [00:01:20] without you needing to be so involved.
[00:01:21] Libby: And that really is what we represent here at Dietitian Boss, which is helping you prevent burnout by creating a business as Some legs to stand on. So let's talk about it. Scaling your private practice to six figures isn't just about getting more clients. And I know that's a popular misconception.
[00:01:38] Libby: Oh, I'll just make more money. [00:01:40] I'll just land more clients. But that's not true. Building a six figure business. Six figure private practice is about building a system. And really understanding mastering your mindset, there's a lot of things like understanding profit margins that we need to be aware of at this stage of business.
[00:01:57] Libby: It's also about creating multiple streams of [00:02:00] income, although not always. Necessary to create several at once thinking about having different streams of income can really help. And we'll talk about that. Also mindset systems and diversifying income are really core foundations that we talk about all the time here at Dietitian Boss.
[00:02:18] Libby: So these are some [00:02:20] themes that you'll hear throughout our podcast episodes on YouTube and our email marketing and even on social media like Instagram. So let's first start with developing scalable systems to manage your growth. Now, this is an area that I get a lot of resistance from our clients. It's been challenging for me too, because there's a lot of business operational foundations that you're going to have to be aware of [00:02:40] when you're developing scalable systems, right?
[00:02:42] Libby: So you might be wondering, well, what does that even mean? So systems are the backbone of any successful six figure practice. So systems means that you have a process away for the way that things are handled, and they're handled really regularly every time. [00:03:00] So if you set up systems to manage increased client loads from scheduling to client intake to communication, you're gonna have a much easier time getting to six figures and laying down those foundations.
[00:03:11] Libby: So let me give you some examples. Online scheduling is a system. So people reach out to you. You have them book an appointment and then they get on your schedule. [00:03:20] They want to reschedule them. They reschedule from the link that you've initially sent them and then that's going to help them figure it out or client intake.
[00:03:27] Libby: So if you. Take line intakes. What's the, what questions are you asking them? How does that workflow look? They fill out the intake form, you review it, and then you cancel the session. You keep the session. So what's that process look like? What are the questions [00:03:40] that you ask? How do you guide your sessions?
[00:03:41] Libby: How do you know when somebody can follow up with you or what package to sell, et cetera? And communication is important too. So that could do with boundaries. So if somebody's canceling before, they're not respecting a 24 hour cancellation policy, et cetera. So you have systems in place. Yes. to handle when these normal situations happen.[00:04:00]
[00:04:00] Libby: So you want to start by using some tools. So virtual tools are going to be really helpful, like scheduling software. So we're a big fan of practice better as an EMR. Although if you use another EMR, they all have scheduling capabilities, and then you can streamline your appointments and ensure efficient client management.
[00:04:16] Libby: One of the reasons that we like practice better is because when we're talking about [00:04:20] scalable systems. And creating multiple streams of income practice better has a feature where you can sell programs and eBooks and other things beyond just sessions. And that really can help you diversify your income.
[00:04:32] Libby: And so, if you're using an online appointment scheduling tool, which I. Definitely recommend like practice better, which is pretty affordable [00:04:40] that can help you have a system in place. So you're not manually making appointments and scheduling for clients. Although it's tempting do that, you're really having them take ownership and schedule that appointment and reschedule it from the online scheduler.
[00:04:52] Libby: And that can really help you when it comes to efficient client management. So if you're already doing that, then you're probably struggling with another issue, [00:05:00] which is respecting boundaries and that might happen more in certain seasons, like perhaps the end of the year when people are scheduling, but then they're canceling after your cancellation period and you have to either decide if you want to enforce your boundaries or not, or, you know, worse, you don't have any boundaries. So you definitely want to make sure that you have contracts and systems set up in place, and you're really clear with your [00:05:20] onboarding system of what people can expect.
[00:05:22] Libby: So some systems that have worked well with scaling would be using email marketing for client retention. So that means you're sending out regular emails to your email list to keep them top of mind, or you're automating follow up messages. So these are some great ways that you can lean into client communication.
[00:05:38] Libby: Another way [00:05:40] to support scaling would be diversifying your offers. So it's not just about one on one sessions and you probably know that, and you might not even like one on one sessions. A lot of clients we work with don't want to only do one on one sessions. So what that could look like is you.
[00:05:54] Libby: Become a group practice and you manage other clinicians under you that do one on one sessions. So [00:06:00] you're not the only one carrying the load. And at that point, you move from clinician to manager. You might still have some clients, but you're able to help scale your business by hiring dietitians to work with your clientele.
[00:06:09] Libby: Another option or an addition would be creating some digital products, and that can help you move away from strictly one on one model. So the importance of adding multiple revenue streams, [00:06:20] meaning you're not just seeing patients one on one, but you have other ways of collecting income and helping people like group coaching, online courses, digital products, eBooks, sponsorships, subscription models can really help you with diversifying.
[00:06:32] Libby: You will need to come up with systems for each thing you sell. And once you get the hang of it, you'll have a much easier time not having to [00:06:40] do so much manual work in the business, so launching a program or an online course based on your expertise is a really popular option and how we help clients as well.
[00:06:49] Libby: So, packaging your service, knowing what you can put into your service and then sell it online. There's a whole process for that gathering. Information and feedback, learning what people want, and [00:07:00] that can help you work with more clients without additional time commitment. The hardest part is not creating the product.
[00:07:05] Libby: That's the fun part. It's really aligning the product with what people want. So making sure that you're creating something that people need and then building the audience to make sure that you have people who are interested in purchasing that product. And then you always want to get feedback and improve it with time.
[00:07:19] Libby: [00:07:20] So a great way to scale would be to create a digital product and then once it gains popularity, you might be able to decrease more and more of your one on one work or you might be able to limit it, right? So you only do 20 percent of your time is spent on one on ones and then the other 30 percent is spent on some type of a group program or some type of a scalable offer.
[00:07:39] Libby: So you want [00:07:40] to master your mindset around pricing and sales, and this is actually the hardest part for a lot of us that go from growth mode, where we are growing and we're filling up our schedule to then figuring out how to scale, it's a whole different skill set. So what you need to do is know your worth and confidently price your services. So at some points [00:08:00] you're going to be increasing your price, perhaps due to supply and demand. So maybe you're getting more people who want to work with you and you've decided that you want to engage in an incremental price increase.
[00:08:09] Libby: So you're really going to need to dive into mindset shifts and learn about how you can embrace both of those. charging the rate that you've decided that you want to charge when you're moving towards six figures, because [00:08:20] if you do the math and you're offering 100 a session, you're gonna have to see if depending on how many hours per week you want to work, it's just not possible.
[00:08:27] Libby: Let's say you're doing 20 hours a week. It's going to be very challenging for you to reach six figures offering a hundred dollars per session per week versus if you were to double that and you might not get as many clients, but you don't need as many [00:08:40] clients. And so these are the shifts that our clientele dietitians have a hard time understanding is that when you increase your price, you don't need to make as many sales.
[00:08:48] Libby: But the sales that you do make are going to be at higher priced. And so that once you start to really embrace that and you're okay with having a lower percentage of people that work with you, it's called a [00:09:00] close rate. That mindset shift will help you move closer to the six figure. Point without burnout, right?
[00:09:05] Libby: So one of the main reasons we get the burnout is because we're charging so low and we're seeing more volume and we're focusing on a lot of one on ones, but we're not pricing ourselves accordingly. So you want to package your service or your products with higher value instead of hourly [00:09:20] rates.
[00:09:20] Libby: So that's why tiered packages and four different levels of client needs can be really helpful. So you might have a high tiered offer, and then you might have a lower tiered offer that will offer less time and energy from you, but it's priced accordingly. And so in order for you to know what price point works for your clientele, that's where you're going to have to test a few things.
[00:09:39] Libby: And I do [00:09:40] suggest that you test your price points when you are 20 clients or sessions per week. And that's something we can do if we work together is figure out what your current capacity is for your workload. Once you get to, let's say 60 or 80 percent of that capacity, that can signify that it's time to [00:10:00] increase your prices.
[00:10:01] Libby: And in terms of how do you know what to increase your prices and what to offer or how to package your services when you are increasing your prices, that's another great question that we can also dive in together if we work together. So I invite you to apply to work with us. Go over to dietitianboss.Com onto the coaching tab, and we can look at what would be like to work together. And if you're [00:10:20] not in a position to afford coaching, I definitely suggest you to join our membership where you can learn tips, tricks, and you do get access to me and my team in a group capacity. So the next tip for scaling your business to six figures as a dietitian would be focusing on client retention and follow up.
[00:10:36] Libby: So this is a lesson that I struggled with learning at first, how important it is to keep [00:10:40] your clients versus getting new ones. So that means client retention. If you can retain your clients, ideally 80 percent of your clients, then you're going to have a lower cost in your business. One of the highest costs in the business, time and energy and money is always focusing on getting new clients.
[00:10:56] Libby: So it's important to land new clients, but if you're. Always chasing your tail, [00:11:00] trying to get new clients because you can't keep existing clients. That's going to not only bring you out, but it's going to cost a lot of money and energy. So you want to think about what can you do to focus on customer service and a better business practices to retain your clients.
[00:11:12] Libby: So, getting new clients again is important, right? But keeping them and turning them into referral sources is really where you were going to [00:11:20] create a sustainable business model. You want your clients to be happy. So that's why you want to be getting what asked them what you can do better. And it might be that you're just accepting the wrong type of client.
[00:11:29] Libby: Maybe you need to qualify them better. And that means that you need to have conversations with them before they work with you or get more clear about who is a good fit. And you can only learn that [00:11:40] by taking some notes, making some mistakes, and then improving your processes because we're all a work in progress.
[00:11:46] Libby: So there are strategies for developing long term relationships with clients, and that can include regular check ins, regular newsletters. So you want to be Growing your email list and sending out regular emails and then offering ongoing support [00:12:00] programs for their level of where they're at right now can be really helpful.
[00:12:03] Libby: So that means you're assessing them and figuring out what do they need at this point in moment in time. So, setting up a referral program is also a good idea. So happy clients can refer to others in exchange for some type of incentive. That is 1 way to do it. What we do is for our membership, we have an affiliate program.
[00:12:18] Libby: So if somebody [00:12:20] recommends somebody, another member, we give an affiliate. So that might be something that you want to do for, let's say a digital product in terms of services that can look a little bit differently as well. You could also ask for a review and if they do give you a review that can help you building your brand, because good reviews can help build trust.
[00:12:36] Libby: I also want to share with you that client retention [00:12:40] is important and client retention can lead to referrals and that can help you increase your revenue without drastically increasing your workload again. The biggest issue for burnout is when you're constantly always trying to get 1020 new clients instead of, let's say five or seven new clients a month. So again, it has to do with [00:13:00] how many clients do you need? You have to know your numbers, how many sessions are you going to see per week of your current client load, how many of them continue with you and then find out why. And if you're noticing patterns, it could just be, you need to adjust your marketing or you need to be more clear about who you're willing to take on in your particular program.
[00:13:15] Libby: And so those are all normal adjustments to making business and the other idea would be to focus on [00:13:20] following up. So that means that you're constantly taking the temperature of your existing clientele and finding out what could you do better? How could you serve them better? What do they need? And if you find out and ask, you might learn that creating or adjusting an additional program, a line of service or product or just tweaking how you help [00:13:40] them can really benefit.
[00:13:41] Libby: Okay. So it's important to always be having conversations with them if they're willing. Now, not everybody is going to be willing to give you feedback, but at least you've done your due diligence and you've sent them a survey and you had a conversation with them. So 1 thing we've been doing for years is we have graduation calls with our clients.
[00:13:56] Libby: It's almost like a sales call. So you're having a conversation about their problems [00:14:00] and concerns, but it's wrapped up towards the end of their program. Ask them what do they need next? They either continue or they don't, but you find out what is it that they enjoyed. And we do a survey before that call to find out how are they happy?
[00:14:11] Libby: Are they satisfied? And then we tally up those numbers to see for client happiness, how we can improve and what patterns we're seeing. And that's helped us learn [00:14:20] how to better what's called, qualified people. So when people apply to work with us, we have a process where if they aren't ready yet, then we direct them to our membership and you can go ahead and apply on our website at dietitianboss.com and see if you might be a fit and we won't accept you if you are not ready and at the stage that we think you need to be for coaching relationship. So the [00:14:40] last tip would be to automate or outsource to free up your time. And the reason I put this at the end is because it's the hardest. A lot of us want to do things in our business because we think we can do it right.
[00:14:50] Libby: And a lot of us struggle with delegating myself included. It's been hard for me to learn how to let go of some things, even with a team. So automating would be a lot of [00:15:00] the software that you use and figuring out how to make it connect and making choices that can help free up your time. And the outsourcing would be identifying in your business when you do need a human and how that human might be able to help you with some of the tasks so that you can free up your time.
[00:15:14] Libby: Again, the idea is to be working less in your business by creating systems and making decisions that will [00:15:20] help you not have to always constantly either be emailing clients doing things manually or taking on more clients than you want. So, if you want to scale your business, you're going to have to step out of the day to day grind.
[00:15:34] Libby: So you're gonna have to take a look at how are you spending your time and energy? What percentage of your time is allocated towards [00:15:40] admin, towards FaceTime clients, et cetera, towards marketing. And then you want to redistribute that time and figure out what can you outsource or automate. And so we have the conversation.
[00:15:49] Libby: Every year in our business and we figure out, we plan on a quarterly basis what we can continue to automate and delegate or just drop, right? There's certain things that we pause or we just [00:16:00] don't do. So having that conversation with yourself regularly is helpful. So some of the tasks that can free up your time would be you might have somebody scheduling content for you on social media.
[00:16:11] Libby: You might decide you want to batch create content all at once. So there might be certain areas that you can evaluate in your business that will help if you are [00:16:20] to automate or outsource to free up your time. Bookkeeping and admin tasks can be outsourced. If not at first, eventually, and social media management can also be outsourced so that you can start focusing on high impact activities.
[00:16:32] Libby: Now, you might still want to be a part of social media, but maybe you're not a part of the entire process. So maybe you're not scheduling the content. You're not responding to comments and dms, but you are [00:16:40] going on social media and engaging in lives or stories or dms to some capacity. So again, there's some nuance to how you want to approach what you're involved in.
[00:16:48] Libby: But you want to take a look at your time and say, okay. For the time I have every week, and you first want to define how much time is that? Is that five hours, 10 hours, 20 hours? What percentage of that time is allocated towards what activity? For example, [00:17:00] admin, FaceTime with clients, marketing, right? And then there's other areas too, but you want to just have a rough idea.
[00:17:06] Libby: And so sometimes I'll have our clients document their time and then together we'll look at how they're allocating their time and find ways that we can help them with automating and outsourcing or even just dropping certain activities that aren't helping you [00:17:20] bringing revenue or making you happy at this point.
[00:17:22] Libby: So we went over some simple ways that you can scale. And I would say outsourcing would be the hardest. So the first idea is some systems. The tactical example I gave you would be to make sure you're using an online scheduler. There are more complex automations also with systems, but you want to have a way that you'd normally [00:17:40] handle.
[00:17:40] Libby: Ongoing workflows and tasks. Ideally, you also want to document that into what's called standard operating procedures. The 2nd point would be to diversify your offering so that you're not just focusing on 1 on 1 sessions that can include a program and ebook, or even hiring a coach under you and learning how to manage them.
[00:17:56] Libby: 3rd point would be mastering your mindset and understanding that When you do [00:18:00] increase your prices, you'll need less clients, but the clients that you do have at a higher price point will satisfy the need for you to constantly be chasing more clients that are lower paying. The 4th point would be to focus on client retention and follow up.
[00:18:13] Libby: So think about 80%. If you can retain 80 percent of your clients, that is a goal to work towards and you want to follow up with your [00:18:20] existing clients to find out how you can improve. What do they enjoy? What are the common things you're hearing so that you can improve your product, right? You're not goes for whatever you're selling.
[00:18:28] Libby: And the last point today was to automate and outsource to free up your time. That is the hardest. So we have some worksheets inside of our membership. And if you decide to coach with us, where we go over how you can lay out the tasks in [00:18:40] your business, categorize them, and then make decisions about when to automate and outsource and how to go about that so that you can start laying down those foundations to scale your business to six figures.
[00:18:50] Libby: I hope you found today's episode helpful and I encourage you to join our membership or apply for coaching. If you're looking for support from me and our team.
[00:18:58] Looking for support to grow your [00:19:00] dietitian business or even get started, I invite you to join the library, our monthly affordable membership that shows you exactly what to do every step of the way so that you can create the business of your dreams. Not sure if it's the right time, the membership gives you an option to.
[00:19:16] Go at your own pace. We have modules, a [00:19:20] roadmap to show you exactly what to do and monthly live calls, as well as new content that we release every single month based on requests inside of the library. We have four stages of business. So whether you come in getting started or you want to enter the membership and grow or scale your business, we have the appropriate resources for you.
[00:19:37] And our team, including myself available [00:19:40] to answer your questions, head on over to dietitianboss. com and check out the library today. We'd love to see you there.
