Liz Wolfe, NTP, author of the Wall Street Journal best seller Eat the Yolks, co-host of the award winning Balanced Bites Podcast, and creator of the online community Baby Making and Beyond, joined us on Facebook Live to share what she’s learned building her diverse, successful wellness business. As a preview for her Facebook Live, we asked her to write about a few of her favorite business tips that she’s learned along the way. You can find the full post on her website, realfoodliz.com, and for more business insight, check out her Business Success Workshop (co-hosted with Diane Sanfilippo) at our annual conference on March 1st!  

1) FOCUS ON THE “GIVE” INSTEAD OF THE “ASK.”

Many practitioners are so concerned about “getting clients” that they focus only on direct ways of advertising their paid services. But focusing only on booking paying clients neglects the fact that people need to trust your knowledge first! Ask yourself: what can I give that will enable people to see my expertise, trust my approach, and become motivated to become a client? When you provide value to others without expectation, it establishes trust – and it’s trust that attracts clients above all! BUT WAIT! Before you start giving away the farm, know that there’s a HUGE difference between giving and giving it all away. What you “give” should be general and it should be publicly available – think wellness tidbits on social media, or a 3-page general guide to shopping for healthy food. These are “gives” that display your expertise that your community can refer to consistently, and use again and again. This free content benefits potential clients and they’re business tools for you! “Giving it all away?” That’s anything you do that donates your time in an unreplicatable way to a person who has not yet committed to becoming a client – free initial consultations or discounts on your services. I don’t recommend these!

2) DON’T FORGET TO THINK DIGITAL.

Don’t be so consumed with booking 1:1 clients that you forget to think digital. Digital products – whether free (like the 3-page shopping guide I mentioned previously) or paid (like an online class) are “evergreen” – meaning, you can use and sell them again and again to service and attract clients. In our digital world, it’s digital content that attracts 1:1 clients! (We’ll talk a lot about exactly how to leverage digital in the pre-conference NTA workshop.)

3) COMMIT.

Here’s the number one problem I see new practitioners face: They don’t commit. The key to building a successful, sustainable, profitable business is as simple as that. Commit. Be consistent. Keep going. Keep sharing. That doesn’t mean dump hundreds of dollars in rent each month on an empty office. But you should make a schedule, and hold yourself accountable. If blogging is your thing, commit to posting on a regular schedule – your audience will begin to expect your regular content! Many practitioners experience imposter-complex after completing their certification and, real talk, it doesn’t go away! But rest assured you have SO MUCH to offer – the world needs more people like you! Don’t let your fear or comparison to stop you from getting started. And, remember – done is better than perfect. If you commit to showing up for your community you will improve your skill set (and confidence!), build rapport within your community and, over time, pull in those clients. Whether you’re weighing signing up for the next NTP or NTC program, or a recent graduate freaked out about how to make it all work – fear not. You got this! — If you enjoyed this post, we hope you’ll join Liz on Facebook Live this Friday and catch her pre-conference workshop. Liz and Diane Sanfilippo, her Balanced Bites co-host and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and The 21 Day Sugar Detox, will be presenting their Business Success pre-conference workshop at Live Nourished on March 1st. You can learn more and register here. Hope to see you there! Please note: If you’re attending the conference, but didn’t register for the Business Success Workshop, you can still do so by using the same link above.