Beyond The Clinic

Starting a dietetic business does cost money, even if you're only seeing clients online from your spare bedroom, but the basics probably cost a lot less than you're bracing yourself for. 

In this episode, I'm walking you through three different levels of investment, from the basic tech that lets you take on your first client to the support that helps you grow faster. 

I'll even share exactly what I pay for things like my VA each month. And most importantly, the one question I now ask myself before I spend a penny on my business. 

What you'll learn: 

- The non-negotiables every dietitian needs to spend money on to run a business properly 

- The other business expenses I'd recommend as your business grows, and how much each one is likely to cost you 

- The money mistakes I see dietitians make when starting a business, and how to avoid them 

🌟 Not sure what your business needs to spend money on now and what can wait? My Master Plan walks you through the key steps of building a successful dietetic business in the order you need to take them. 

You can download it for FREE here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 🌟 

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If you've ever wondered how long it actually takes to build a successful dietetic business, and how much of your week it's going to consume, I'm giving you honest timelines in this episode. 

In this episode, I'm talking about how much time you realistically need to give your business each week, whether you're still in the NHS or fitting it around school runs, and what that time can actually produce. 

I'll be sharing what my own early days looked like (5am alarms, pitch black outside, and a very warm bed I didn't want to leave!)

I'll also be breaking down how soon you can expect to start getting paying clients and the one thing that will help you speed up this process. 

What you'll learn: 

- How many hours a week you need to build a profitable dietetic business 

- How long it realistically takes to get paying clients 

- What to do in the first four months of building your business 

- Why getting clients from directories and private healthcare platforms isn't the same as building your own business 

- How an email list helps dietitians get consistent clients faster

🌟 Not sure what to work on first in your dietitian business? My free Dietitian Business Master Plan is a 22-step roadmap that takes you through building your business in the right order. 

You can download it for FREE here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 🌟 

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If I could go back and give myself one piece of advice before building my children’s nutrition business, there’s one thing I’d tell myself to start doing from day one.

After nearly a decade of building online businesses, I’ve learnt a lot about where it is worth putting your time and energy - and, just as importantly, where it isn’t.

In this episode, I’m sharing the one thing I seriously underestimated in the early years of my business, what I wish I’d done sooner, and why I think this one thing can make such a difference when you’re building a business from the ground up.

What you'll learn: 

-  What I would prioritise if I were starting my nutrition business again today  

- The difference between an audience you own and one built on rented land

- The most valuable marketing asset you can build for your business 

🌟 Working hard in your business but not sure you're doing things in the right order? The Master Plan is my 22-step guide to building your health business in the right order, the same steps that helped me make £124,000 in two years. 

You can download it for FREE here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 🌟 

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If you're not getting consistent clients right now, you might be doing a lot of the right things, but in the wrong order. It's so important to get your foundations right first - including doing your market research and building trust with your audience before you ever ask anyone to book. 

I learnt this the hard way when I started The Children's Nutritionist, picking a baby weaning niche where parents weren't willing to pay for the help I wanted to give.

In this episode, I'm walking you through four of the most common out-of-order moves I see dietitians making, from getting listed on directories and waiting for enquiries, to building an email list with nothing in between the freebie and the discovery call. 

For each one, I'll explain what should have happened first and why that earlier step matters. And if you've got a notebook full of ideas that all feel equally urgent, I'll share how I learnt to tell the difference between "this is a good idea" and "this is what I need to do next". 

What you'll learn: 

- What order to do things in when you're building a private practice as a dietitian 

- Why being listed on dietitian directories isn't enough to bring in consistent clients 

- How to use Facebook groups, Reddit and Amazon book reviews to check whether people will pay for help in your niche 

- How to decide what to work on next when your list of business ideas feels endless 

Links: 

🌟 Not sure what to work on next to grow your private practice? My free Dietitian Business Master Plan is a 22-step roadmap that takes you through the key stages of building your business in the right order. 

You can download it for FREE here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 🌟 

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

Before you make another plan for Q4, do a year end business review. Look at what has actually made you money, brought in clients and moved your business forward, then use that evidence to choose no more than three priorities for the rest of the year.

In this episode, I’m showing you how I approach Q4 business planning by looking backwards before looking forwards. I’ll take you through nine questions covering your time, revenue, clients, marketing and results, so you can work out what’s worth continuing, what needs changing and what can wait until 2027.

I also share how I’ve used this approach in my own businesses. I once pre-sold my Fussy Eating Fixed programme before creating it, selling 18 places and bringing in just under £12,000 before spending November and December building it ready for January. More recently, this kind of review helped me turn down a well-paid brand opportunity because, despite looking brilliant on paper, it would have pulled me away from the work my business actually needed.

What you'll learn:

• How to do a year end business review before planning your next quarter

• What numbers to review before making Q4 business planning decisions

• How to identify which offers are actually generating the most revenue

• How to work out where your best clients and enquiries are coming from

• How to audit your calendar and identify activities that aren't moving your business forward

• Which email, website, social media and conversion metrics to review in your business

• How to plan Q4 when you realistically have fewer working weeks before Christmas than your calendar suggests

• How to use Q4 to test an offer and prepare your business for a January launch

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

Nearly Half of People Now Ask AI for Recommendations.

Press coverage helps AI recommend you because 84% of what AI tools cite comes from earned media, according to Muck Rack. And with 45% of consumers now asking AI for business recommendations, up from just 6% a year earlier (BrightLocal), being quoted in the press matters more than ever.

In this episode, I'm joined by award-winning PR consultant Jo Jessop Maloney, who helped get my old business, The Children's Nutritionist, into the Telegraph, HuffPost, the Mirror, the Independent and so many more publications.

I ask Jo why influencers so often get the quote instead of dietitians, and she walks us through reactive, trending and proactive PR, plus how to find your story when you're convinced you haven't got one. We also talk about what to do when the fear of what everyone will think feels louder than the opportunity.

What you'll learn:

- How press coverage helps ChatGPT and other AI tools recommend your business
- Why journalists often quote influencers instead of registered dietitians
- How to get featured in the press as a dietitian or health professional
- The difference between reactive, trending and proactive PR
- The importance of a media bio and content bank so you can answer journalist requests fast
- When a press release is worth writing, and when it isn't
- How to find your personal story angle without sharing more than you're comfortable with
- How to handle the fear of judgement from colleagues when you start doing PR

Resources mentioned:

- Muck Rack (2026). What Is AI Reading? (May 2026 edition). https://muckrack.com/blog/what-is-ai-reading-may-2026
- BrightLocal (2026). Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/
- Ep. 120 - How To Get ChatGPT to Recommend You: https://youtu.be/k4IIykp98Yo?si=4svn21VPdmATvEhK
- Ep. 121 - Why Has My Blog Traffic Dropped? AI Search Explained For Dietitians: https://youtu.be/IoulJMCLXlw?si=4tjQAH7qrj3ni672
- Jo on Instagram: @jojessopmaloney: https://www.instagram.com/jojessopmaloney/

Links:

If you'd like Jo in your corner, her PR Accelerator is a 10-week programme for women in business. Jo works alongside you on your media bio, proactive pitches and journalist requests matched to your niche. It's £900, or three payments of £333, and it runs again next year. Message Jo on Instagram to find out more: https://www.instagram.com/jojessopmaloney/

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If your dietetic business isn’t making enough money, the problem probably isn’t your offer. It’s more likely that potential clients are getting stuck somewhere in the journey between finding you and buying from you. To make more money as a dietitian, you need to work out where that drop-off is happening before you start changing everything.

In this episode, I walk you through the five stages I use to diagnose what’s really happening in a dietetic business: be found, be followed, be trusted, be chosen and be loved. I’ll show you how to spot the gaps between each stage, the numbers I use as reference points, and why looking at the data is so much more useful than guessing what needs fixing.

I also share the story of my paediatric dietitian client Laura, who created a 72-page children's nutrition guide and sold just six copies. The surprising part? Her marketing wasn’t actually the problem. We discovered that the product was simply too comprehensive for the specific problem her audience wanted solved.

I’ll also share what happened in my own nutrition business, where a free quiz brought 5,382 parents onto my mailing list and more than 300 people went on to buy a £9.99 portion size guide through an automated email sequence.

What you’ll learn

• Why your dietetic business might not be making money despite working hard and creating plenty of content
• How to identify where potential clients are dropping out of your customer journey
• What the five stages of a profitable dietitian customer journey are
• How to tell whether you have a “be found”, “be followed” or “be trusted” gap
• What email marketing can do to turn freebie subscribers into paying customers
• How to create a digital product that solves one specific problem rather than trying to teach everything
• What conversion numbers to look at when you want to make more money as a dietitian
• Why low-cost digital products can help people move towards your higher-value offers

Learn more about the 90-Day Sprint here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/90-day-sprint

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

Online courses often fail to deliver results because people don’t actually work through the material or implement what they’ve learned. In my own Fussy Eating Fix programme, 25% of people had never even started the programme, including one person who logged in 21 times without opening the first lesson.

In this episode, I’m taking you properly behind the scenes of my decision to close down The Children’s Nutritionist, the multi-six-figure nutrition business I’d spent nearly 20 years building. I’ll share what an Asana notification, some uncomfortable data in my Kajabi dashboard and my own experience as a mum taught me about offers, delivery and why people sometimes don’t get the results we know they’re capable of getting.

I’ll also explain the delivery model I now use inside my business coaching, and how you can create more structured accountability without going back to delivering everything one-to-one.

What you’ll learn:

• Why online courses fail even when the content itself is good
• How to use course engagement data to find out why people aren’t getting results
• How to improve online course completion without delivering everything one-to-one
• What a 25% non-start rate can reveal about your programme
• Why one client’s lack of results shouldn’t make you question your entire offer
• How structured accountability can help people implement what you teach
• How weekly content releases can make an online programme easier to complete
• How to create a scalable hybrid delivery model for your digital product

Want to build your own digital product?

My Idea to Income 90 Day Sprint helps you turn one proven idea into a digital product and simple sales system in 90 days, with weekly builds, accountability and live support.

Join the 90-Day Sprint here: www.sarahalmondbushell.com/90-day-sprint

Or message me on Instagram with the word “Sprint” and I’ll send you more details: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/?hl=en

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If you want to make more money as a freelance dietitian without filling your diary with more one-to-one appointments, passive income from a low-cost digital product could be the answer. I made a £9.99 digital guide that consistently brought in £400 to £800 a month, and 32% of my highest-paying clients had bought something low-cost from me first.

In this episode, I’m showing you how dietitians can turn their existing expertise into a digital product, then build a simple automated sales system that can sell it while you’re seeing clients, walking the dog or (ideally) having a bath without your phone glued to your hand.

I’ll walk you through the process I use in my own business, from finding a digital product idea people actually want to buy, to creating a free resource, building an email list and setting up automated emails that take someone from discovering you to becoming a customer.

I’ll also explain why your low-cost offer can be about much more than making a few extra pounds. Done well, it can create a new income stream, help fund your marketing and introduce potential clients to your expertise before they ever consider your premium services.

What you’ll learn:

• How dietitians can create passive income without adding more one-to-one appointments
• How to find digital product ideas your audience is already willing to pay for
• How to identify a specific problem that makes a good low-cost digital product
• How to build a simple sales funnel for a dietitian digital product
• How automated email sequences can sell your digital product while you’re working with clients
• How low-cost digital products can lead customers towards premium offers
• How to use AI to create marketing assets without becoming a tech expert
• How to build a new digital income stream in 90 days with focused time each week

Links mentioned in this episode:

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

90-Day Sprint: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/90-day-sprint

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery

If your blog traffic has dropped, it doesn’t necessarily mean your SEO is wrong or that your content isn’t good enough. Google search has changed, and AI is increasingly answering people’s questions without them ever clicking through to your website.

In this episode, I explain what’s happening to Google search, how AI is changing the way people find information, and what this means for your SEO as a dietitian or health professional. I also share what happened to the traffic and advertising income on my own children’s nutrition website, and the three practical things I’d focus on now rather than simply publishing more blogs.

I saw this shift first-hand. My children’s nutrition website once attracted around 150,000 visitors every month, with advertising income of around £2,000 to £4,000 a month. At its lowest point, traffic had fallen by around 100,000 visitors a month compared with its peak, and advertising income was closer to £400 a month.

What you'll learn

• Why your Google traffic can fall even when your blog content is still genuinely useful
• How AI Overviews are changing the way people use Google search
• Why people may be getting answers from AI without clicking through to your website
• How AI decides which paragraphs and information to use when answering health questions
• How to structure blog posts so Google and AI can understand your answers more easily
• Why answering one specific client question can be more valuable than writing another huge general blog
• How to check what Google and ChatGPT are showing for the questions your clients ask you most often
• Why your dietitian credentials and evidence-based approach can become an advantage in AI search

I'd love to hear from you, click the link to 'text' the show directly

Lets keep in touch!

Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

FREE Workbook - The Master Plan

Discover the 22 steps you need to take (in the right order) to build a successful business so you can earn enough to live the freedom lifestyle you dream of. https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan 

Work with me:

• Business Coaching: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/mastermind
• Sarah AI: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/offers/AYjozgYc/
• Book a discovery call: https://thechildrensnutritionist.as.me/discovery