Hello,
I’m Samantha Gemmell
When you hear practitioners talk about their clinic experience, you hear the highs and the success stories. I’d love to tell you that I graduated from my degree and built a successful nutrition practice within a year.
In fact, the opposite happened.
My first attempt at running a business was a complete disaster. In the first 3 months of my business, not only did I not turn a profit –
I haemorrhaged $10,000 of my own money.
How the hell did it all go so wrong?
I thought I was doing all the right things to build a business. Every single thing that I learned in my business management unit was ticked off:
The clinic location, the website, social media pages set up, shiny business cards with my name on them and a business plan based on my main clinic location
(complete with SWOT analysis and scoping out the ‘competition’)
Despite all of these steps, I wasn’t even close to hitting my clinic goals.
So what were the missing pieces to building a successful business?
It took me a few years to figure them out, but now I know there were 4 core areas that I completely overlooked.
#1 – I wasn’t connecting with my dream clients.
Deep down, I was afraid of not bringing in enough clients. Because I was trying to serve anyone who turned up, I was sharing a mish-mash of content and marketing.
This meant that no one was really seeing what I had to offer and thinking, 'Oh my gosh, this is exactly what I've been needing!'
#2 – I wasn’t getting in front of those dream clients
When I started, I did have a vague idea of my niche. But I wasn't getting in front of a decent amount of my ideal clients.
This was two-fold. Firstly, I wasn't really putting myself out there because I wasn't feeling confident about what I had to offer. But when I did market or create content, I wasn't actually sharing it places that are frequented by people in my ideal audience.
#3 – I wasn’t consistent with my marketing
My branding, marketing, content, topics and frequency was all over the place. Because of this, I never became known as that go-to person for my niche.
The lack of consistency also bled into my pricing. I would advertise one price, but then I'd discount for friends, referrals, first-time clients – you name it! This gave off the air that I wasn't confident – and that scared a lot of people off
#4 – I wasn’t actually making offers!
It might seem simple, but the main way to get clients is to actually put your services out there. I would happily write a blog post for my website. But when it came to a call to action to book with me, I choked.
Not only was I not sharing offers, I also wasn’t crafting offers tailored to my ideal clients. Collaborating and making a shiny detox program seemed like a great idea. But in reality, it was not addressing what my people needed from me.
Thankfully, I didn’t give up, and so my story continued. After discovering my natural knack for writing and marketing, I created a business serving practitioners.
By implementing the lessons I learned, I built my way up to a full-time income on part-time work hours. My schedule is typically booked out for 2-4 weeks in advance, and client enquiries land in my inbox every single week.
But I also designed my business to flex around my lifestyle. If I need to take a day or even a week off, it allows me to do just that.
I don’t want you to follow in my footsteps to failure! So let’s skip you ahead to the shiny success story.
You’ll find plenty of resources, blogs and more on my site to help you market yourself in a way that feels good for you. I also have a range of done-for-you and marketing support services designed for health practitioners.
Want to find out more about how I can support you as you build your dream clinic or business? Get in touch here.
Writing tips. Mindful marketing.
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