#165: From Nothing To Full Practice: Janice Wisneski’s Success Story

Michelle Leotta:
Hello there, health coaches, you know what? We are a couple days late on our usual, Tuesday, Q and a, because we had so much going on for the past week inside of our group, we had our five day turn consultations into paying clients challenge. We have our fill your practice in the next 90 days webinars going on. I mean, it's been a lot.

Michelle Leotta:
So, for all of you that have participated awesome. We're so happy with all of the coaches. Who've gone through these five days with us. And, but, oh my goodness. Even by like day two, we had coaches going. I just used what I learned and I signed a new client. I just signed a new client today, you know, using this exact closing technique. So that was super exciting. If you missed any of that, including the webinar, you can still sign up. If you go to healthcoachpower.com/fillmypractice, the replay for that is going to be available until October 6th. So even if you weren't able to attend live, you can still go to that page and you'll get instant access to the replay. So again, that's healthcoachpower.com/fillmypractice.

Michelle Leotta:
But today I want to introduce you all to Janice was nasty, who has had some really cool success lately in her business of Janice. Thank you so much for taking time and joining us.

Janice Wisneski:
Thank you for having me, Michelle.

Michelle Leotta:
You have such a cool story. So, um, I mean, I'll just tell you what I like, what I think of when I think of Janice is someone who, first of all, you signed up for the spring fast track, you know, it's about six months ago or so. And you were somebody who just kind of quietly did everything, you know, you were at like, you know, you're not like a person who's loud about it, but then all of a sudden in the background you'd be like, oh yeah, I just signed some VIP clients. Oh yeah. I just did this other thing that I dreamed up. And it was a brilliant idea. So I just see you as a doer. Why don't you tell everyone a little bit about, um, where are you, where did you come from, Janice? How did you land in fast track and where were you when you decided to kind of kick your business into high gear?

Janice Wisneski:
Well, thank you for that introduction. That's fabulous. Um, so where was I? So I have spent the last 30 years as a frontline healthcare worker and it, towards the end of my career... I quit in August. So towards the end, I, I knew I couldn't do it anymore. It was just too much. So I had taken, um, health coaching course and, um, some other things, but it wasn't enough to get me started on my business. It was education and I understood the coaching part of it. But the business part of it was totally like off for me. I didn't get it. Um, I found your, I think I found you like on a Facebook feed or something, I signed up for a free course and I did the whole five day challenge thing. And I was like, oh, this girl is pretty good. You know, she seems to know what she's talking about. So I'll, I'll give it a shot. And, um, I took what you taught and I just ran with it. I'm not a person to sit and wait, I am 58 years old and I don't, I figure I don't have much time left, I gotta get going... Something. So, I just like go with it. And, um, everything that I learned, I just took and just put into practice. I didn't question it. I didn't wonder if it was going to work or not. I didn't stop myself from doing it. I just did it.

Michelle Leotta:
Like what you just said about, I didn't stop myself from doing it because whether we're learning from whatever source, right> Like even within... and you're a graduate from primal health coach Institute, right?

Janice Wisneski:
Yes I am. Yep. Okay.

Michelle Leotta:
And they, you know, every school teaches some degree of business and marketing, so, whatever we're learning from wherever we get it from, there's always that voice in our head. That's like, you can't do it. It's not going to work for you. And so I love how you just said, I just did it. And I didn't even question.

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. I figured if you did it and it, you know, or if you're teaching it, you did it and it worked for you. And so I'm kind of a copycat. So, if you did it, I'll just take what you did and I'll tweak it for myself and then I'll just do it. And I love to jump. I had an analogy cause we do like accountability, pods, you know, and all of the courses that I've been in, I've always had somebody who's been like, oh, let's hook up and you know, be an accountability partner. And so I'm always, usually the first one to leap, like to jump off the side of the cliff or whatever. So, it works!

Michelle Leotta:
Well, it has totally been working. So just to be clear, um, about like six to 12 months ago, where were you with your business at that point? Like what did it look like?

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. I had just graduated from primal health coach and I had taken an ACE certified personal trainer course as well, which I've never like personal trained, but I took it because I figured people were wanting to lose weight. Maybe they wanted to get in shape too. So I would have that as a side gig. Um, but I haven't used that. So it's just been health coaching. I wasn't like just fresh out of the course and had no business at all. I had no clients. I had really no understanding of how to set everything up. I had no website, um, nothing, no landing pages, no email list, nothing.

Michelle Leotta:
Wow. Okay. You are very, very new because I know we have a lot of new coaches out there and they're like, it feels so far to get from where I am today to where I want to be. And I know that you have so much more growth ahead of you in your business, but what have been some of the most successful activities that you've done in that past six months to a year?

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. So building my email list was first and, I used just some techniques that you gave. I got myself out there. I made sure that I was, um, putting up like freebies on my website and doing things like that. So I was able to build my email list. A few weeks ago, something very strange happened. I put myself out there because I had read an article in the newspaper about how... I'm a Keto Coach, so how keto wasn't good for you and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, there's another side to that story. So I called to get ahold of the reporter and left a message. And then the next time I called, I left a text I think, or an email or something. And finally I was this chick's not calling me back. So I went ahead and called the hot tip hotline and I left a message and they, they called me back. And so I ended up in a newspaper. I ended up Googled, uh, trending on Google, ended up in a Yahoo feed. My email list grew a ton from that. And so now I'm kind of trying to manage all of that. But yeah, my big thing is like, ask for what you want, believe that you can get it and go out and take some action to do it.

Michelle Leotta:
That was a perfect example of that. I mean, you could have reached out zero times. You could have reached out one time to the paper, but you were persistent about it and it has paid off so big. I mean, it was great when we, when we chatted, you know, a couple of weeks ago and you were just like, what do I do with all of these people that are now coming to my site and want it to be clients? Like, this is what we call a good problem to have. And I remember even before that happened, you know, when you ran your five day challenge or didn't you do like a 30 day?

Janice Wisneski:
I did. My very first thing I did was when I got out of school before I really knew what I was doing. I just called, I had some family members and I did like six of us. Um, we did 30 days, 30 day challenges. So I just throw them an email every day for 30 days, I meet with them once a week and they paid for that. And you know, at the end of the 30 days, they were better off. I was better off. I had some education, I had some information, so it worked out for everybody.

Michelle Leotta:
I love it. You come up with ideas and you just execute it. So let me ask you a question, because I think a lot of coaches get nervous. Like, oh, my friends and family won't be interested or, you know, it's not going to work out. What if, like, let's just say with that, you started to do the 30 day thing and your friends and family, all kind of poo-pooed on it. And nobody was really that into it. And it just didn't work. Like what would have happened if that was the result?

Janice Wisneski:
You know what, that's funny that you said that because I had a couple of them that kind of petered out at the end and I just kept doing it. I mean, I just kept showing up if there was no one there, I would have still shown up because for me it was the practice that I was getting, it was getting on camera. It was, I would, I was making up my own questions. Like I was like, Hey, I had this question come up. I still do that. So like, don't tell my secrets, but I'm like, maybe somebody asked me this question. And like, I would just answer it because it was something that I felt like people should know, or maybe, you know, I felt like people would have that question. And so that it was practice, it was practice, practice, practice, and that's all it was. I didn't really care if there was anybody there or not. I did it anyway.

Michelle Leotta:
Perfect. And that's a really good practical tip for everybody. Who's listening whenever you're doing any sort of live and you want questions from your audience, sometimes they're just not going to ask any questions because they're shy or whatever the reason is. So you always want to have some in the can that, you're going to say I got this question or this question comes up frequently and just answer it just like Janice did. So I love that tip for everyone. Good. Good. Okay. So that you've had this flood of interest in what you're doing and, um, PS also for any coaches, um, see something in the news that relates to your business. It's like, you wanna, you wanna ride that coattail of the other news stories? You know, so I remember like 10 years ago when January Jones was very big on mad men back then, right? January Jones ate her placenta when she gave birth. And it was like headlines everywhere. You know, that's a great time. Like I remember doing this myself to write a blog post on that topic. Like use those keywords, offer your story to the local paper because whatever's like big in the news. You can be part of that. Okay. So if that's what you did, now, you have a flood of interest in your coaching and what are you offering? What are you selling? Like what's gone on for you in the past couple of weeks.

Janice Wisneski:
Okay. Well, when the paper, when the newspaper article was going to come out, I had... she had emailed me, were ill and back and forth. And finally I sent her a bunch of questions answered and some pictures. And so I thought later on that day, I thought I should probably ask her when that's going to hit the paper, just so I kind of am prepared and she's, it was Wednesday. And she goes, oh, it's going to be in Friday. I was like, what, what? I have nothing. I had done that five day challenge previously, and I had recorded the segments that I did. And I already had handouts that I had used. So rinse and repeat that went up on my site on a site for courses. I just started a course site and I just loaded them all up in there.

Janice Wisneski:
And I was like, there was a course. So then I put it on my website. So somebody would have something to purchase if they came and wanted something immediately. I also set up the calendar I use Calendly. And so I set that up so that they would have somewhere to book themselves into a call. And, um, I made sure that my Google calendar was linked to that so that, you know, I had somewhere for them to go and like really that's all I had. Um, my private one-on-one coaching practice was pretty much nothing. So I had open spots and the way I filled that was that they had to go and fill out an application, which is what I learned from HPO. That was fabulous. And, um, and then they could go ahead and book a call. And from there we would have a one-on-one and I had several, I think I may have had like 15 or 20, um, one-on-one calls from that. Yeah.

Michelle Leotta:
Oh, that is tremendous. Okay. So I have a couple of questions. You mentioned that you took the five day challenge that you had done previously and were able to just real quick get that up in case people wanted to buy something. Was that the same five day challenge that we created inside of fast track?

Janice Wisneski:
Yes. It was the same five day challenge that we had there. So, mine was on, um, and I tweaked it a little bit. I had to add a couple of segments because I didn't have it completely like how I wanted it, but yeah, I mean, it was the same thing I had gone on. I had done a five day challenge. I think I might've had two people on that five day challenge that actually showed up and I had some that watched it on replay. But so when you see the number on the ticker on the top of your screen, say like two or three or something don't freak out because other people will watch it later. So I had done that. I had didn't have anybody sign up or buy anything from that five day challenge, but I had recorded all of those. And so I went through and just quick, edited them a little bit, cut out a few things on the end or the front and threw those up.

Michelle Leotta:
Oh, good. Cause I love doing that exercise with everybody and I feel like it's a good practice. Whether you have two people sign up or 10 people sign up or whatever it is, but then to hear that you were able to repurpose it. And I've heard of other of our members doing the same, like running the five day challenge over and over and over, and now they have like thousands of people signing up. And what you did was really smart too. The other thing I wanted to just ask you a little bit more about, as you mentioned, you had people who are interested in private coaching with you, fill out an application and then go, you know, go through the consultation, just like we teach inside of the program, but you had done this previously. I think you were one of our very first, fast trackers last spring to sign a new client this way. So how was it for you to use that format?

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah, my first client that I signed was actually, my son, my younger son, my youngest son, he's 31. He's so tiny. So young. He referred this woman to me and so that's kinda how I got into her space and I had interviewed her and done, um, the whole thing with her. And I, I was able to go through that coaching experience with her and I use that same form that you had like that we learned in HPU. And that was amazing to me that I actually had signed her. Cause I didn't expect to sign a client so soon and I really didn't have anything like set up. So I was like, well, I'll just do it as I go. And it worked out really well because I was able to model what she wanted. So it looked like I was serving like everything and I had, and she's like, oh my God, this is exactly what I wanted. This is exactly what I needed. How did you know? You know, this is perfect for me. Um, so that worked out really well. So

Michelle Leotta:
Would you say that you started before you were ready?

Janice Wisneski:
I absolutely did. And I encourage everybody to just go do it, you know, I mean, I figure life is not going to happen. It's life doesn't happen to you. It happens for you. So if something happens and if you think you're a failure at it, it's just a lesson learned, take that and work with it,

Michelle Leotta:
Mold it into the next thing. I love that we have so many coaches in our group who are like, well, I just need to get my forms all ready, or I just need to get set up with my bank account or I just need actually, I'm always like, you don't really actually have to do any of that. You know, you can do it as you go. And I like that even in terms of like how you're going to coach someone like the best way to figure it out is as you go.

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. It really S it answered a lot of questions for me because I was kind of confused as to how to the whole thing was going to play out. I've never done coaching like before, and I wasn't really sure if I was going to be serving the person that I was doing, if I was going to give them what they needed. Um, but what I found out was that every step that she took, I was only two steps ahead of her. Like I just had, it was like walking side by side with somebody and just answering their questions. And it worked out really well.

Michelle Leotta:
How valuable, I mean, when do you get that? As you know, from being in the healthcare industry, when do you get that from anyone else? Like only a health coach can do exactly what you just said. Like walk side-by-side with someone that's, that's a great image to have about how we want the relationship to be with our, our coaching clients. So, awesome. Um, so here's a question that I want to ask you in particular, because having gone through fast track, a lot of people will ask, like, how do we get personal attention within a group program? You know, if we have like X number of people sign up and I don't remember how many we had last time, maybe we had like 80, how on earth can Michelle give personal attention to everybody? But yet I feel like I have really gotten to know you and know your story. So how, how does that work? Like, what was your experience like being part of a group?

Janice Wisneski:
You know, what it was really... HPU was really very, it was eye opening to me because I had never really been in a group where I've had that much structure and comradery and the chat in the, you know, every time you're in, like you're on all the time. So, you know, basically we're doing like lives all the time, or you're doing the meetings all the time. And, um, the one-on-one stuff that you get, you don't think you're going to get, it's like paying for a personal coach when you're not paying for a personal coach. Cause they're so darn expensive. So they are, um, so, you know, just asking you a few questions on the Facebook group, and then the extra things on the end, inside the group inside HBO, you're always able to ask questions and get answers. And if there's something you need and you're like, oh, I forgot how to do that or whatever, you just go back to it. I still go back to it. I still go back in there and I check out things and I'm like, oh, how did she do that? Or, you know, what's a good way to serve that or whatever. Yeah, no. And then the Facebook group as well. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. There's a lot, a lot of value there. I mean, um, a lot of coaches feel they need a one-on-one coach when they're getting started and I actually recommend against it because a lot of what you need in the beginning, like you said, you keep going back to some of the lessons and tutorials, a lot of what we need all coaches need in the beginning are skills. Right. And, um, when I was doing one-on-one coaching, which I did for many years, you know, with other health coaches, helping them with their businesses, it was like, you know, we're talking and I'm like, okay, I want to describe to you how to set this up, click on that green button. Do you see a button on the top left of your screen? And I'm like, this is so stupid, right? Like I could just record this once.

Michelle Leotta:
And then like hundreds of coaches could watch it and it could be at a much, much more cost effective, you know, a way for people to get with their business. Um, so anyway, I, you know, we do try to blend the two, but I feel like you are a great example of a coach who signed up, showed up. You know, when you show up and you ask the questions, that's when you, like, you're going to get the support, you're going to get the attention. Um, so you did that. So now you have to tell us now that your practice is basically full because you just had this influx of new clients. What's next?

Janice Wisneski:
Okay.

Michelle Leotta:
Have you thought about it?

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. Actually, you know, it's funny that you said that I got a couple of things I got to tell you about, because first of all, I forgot about loom. You'd like you do the loom things to show people, you know, like the video stuff. That's like priceless.

Michelle Leotta:
Everybody. What that is. Cause it's a tool everyone can use. It's called Loom, L O O M and it's free. Um, anyway, I use it to record your screen, like while you're talking and your mouse is moving. So for anyone, whoever needs to explain anything to a client in that capacity, it's a really useful tool. But I use it a lot inside HPU because if like, let's say Janice has an opt-in page for her challenge and she shares it and I want to talk to her about it. I mean, I went to art school. So like I'm used to doing like critiques where we're pointing and we're talking and we're discussing while we're looking at something and I just use Loom and then I send a video. So that's what that is. But everybody can use that tool. It's great. Sorry to interrupt.

Janice Wisneski:
No, no, you're fine. You're fine. So where is my business going from here? You know, I have like high hopes and high expectations. I'm excited for it right now. My clients are getting really good results already where they're at. And then I have some new ones coming out as well. So it's really an exciting time, a busy time for me, but I really want to expand on it. So I'm looking at doing, um, an evergreen course. I want to do like another challenge and I want to have something up where I can do some group coaching. So I'm looking at filling a group coaching course where I'm doing something very similar to what you're doing. So I'm really just happy catting what you're doing. And um, that's like, that's my goal. I want to make a real impact. And I think in being able to do that, to touch as many lives as possible, I think group courses is going to be like my next big thing. Although, you know, the one-on-one is perfect because it's a, um, it's really good for learning. It's a really good learning experience.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. Right. So now you're kind of at that place where you can think about scaling.

Janice Wisneski:
Absolutely. That's a good word. That was the word I was looking for. Yeah. And you know what, really, honestly, I started my coaching practice and I think February or March is when I got my first, like on my website and actually put my name out there. I ordered business cards. Cause I was like, didn't know what the heck I was doing. Don't order business cards. You don't need them. They're sitting on my dresser.

Michelle Leotta:
So that's what they do. They sit right over here.

Janice Wisneski:
They don't go anywhere. Don't order business cards. But yeah, so I started like in March, I mean, so it hasn't even been a year. And I remember a few weeks before that article hit, I told my husband, I like was Crying in the kitchen. I'm like, I don't think I was meant to do this. I can't find it. I don't know what I'm doing. And he's like, you just started stop it.

Michelle Leotta:
It is a bit of a roller coaster, you know? And I have found that the more that w we like health coaches get, hang out together, the easier that roller coaster gets. Because like, when I started my business, I didn't really know anyone else that was doing what I was doing. And I felt very, very alone and I would be crying at the table or in the shower or whatever, just like, I'm never gonna make it. I'm never gonna have a business. And here I am, like, multi-six figures later to tell everyone that yes, you can, but you do need the right support. You know, like not... Your best friend, probably won't understand your sister may not understand, but other people in the industry, like we get exactly... We've been there, we've gone through it. And now Janice has been through it too. So now you can check out with Janice has going on and use it for some inspiration. Janice, where's the best place for everybody to find you in your work?

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah. So my website is healthcoachjanice.com. It's very simple, but it's got a lot of information on there. There's some freebies on there, some free resources. And then, you can check out kind of the way I do things and have things set up on a website

Michelle Leotta:
And know that it's not... it's probably, since this has all happened so quickly. And I'm not saying this with any negative connotation, it's probably not perfect. Would you agree with that?

Janice Wisneski:
It is not perfect.

Michelle Leotta:
It is not perfect. And that's okay. Like Janice is making money and her website is not perfect. And probably the way several things are. I know, because I know about my own website. You might look at it and go, oh, look, it's so shiny and perfect. It's not, lots of stuff is broken on the backend. We've got lots of things working on, but if you're making money, it kind of doesn't matter. So I want you guys to take that away. Janice has just done what she needed as she's needed it. Right. So it's going to be imperfect because it's kind of happening on the fly, but the proof is in the pudding or like the proof is in your bank account. It's a nice work.

Janice Wisneski:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You know, I did want to say one last thing I got to tell you for all the health coaches out there who are thinking about doing anything or, you know, considering doing HPU or whatever you can't... I just got to tell you from myself, you cannot do this alone. You cannot sit in an office and your room and your bedroom on your counter, wherever you're sitting and think that you can do this on your own. You can't, you have to have support. You just have to, I don't, I would not be here right now. If I did not have your support,

Michelle Leotta:
You continue to have my support girlfriends? So I'm going to see you grow and scale, and you're going to blow the doors off this place. I want to thank you so much for taking the time today, Janice. We love hearing your story.

Janice Wisneski:
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me Michelle,

Michelle Leotta:
Any time and for all of you out there thinking, man, I need to fill my practice like Janice. Remember you can catch the replay from this week's webinar at healthcoachpower.com/fillmypractice where I outline essentially exactly the way that I teach coaches to do this and the path that Janis followed in her own business. We'll be back next time. You guys. Thanks for listening, Janice. Thanks again for being here.

Janice Wisneski:
Thank you so much.

Michelle Leotta:
Take care everyone. Bye bye.