#246: How to Organize Your Health Coaching Business

Michelle:
Well, hello, there are health coaches as we're moving into the summer months. One thing that I always like to remind you guys about the summer is that you might feel a slowdown. Like that's really normal for there to be somewhat of a slower pace and a slower or maybe amount of interest from your clients over this summer because people are going on vacation. Our clients are going, we're going, everybody wants their ice cream and their barbecues. They're not so much interested in dialing in their nutrition in June, July, August. So if the summer is feeling slow or if it gets there for you, don't sound the alarms, don't throw up your hands and say, I give up. This health coaching thing is never going to work. It is totally normal. And if used wisely, the summer slowdown can actually move your business forward in new ways.
And one of those ways is getting yourself organized. Anybody need to get organized. If you're joining me live and you're in the comments, or if you're watching the replay later on Facebook, go ahead and tell me what's something in your business that you need to get organized, get figured out, make less of a mess of something. I probably have 100 examples and we'll talk a little bit more about that. So this is especially true if you're brand new to coaching because you want to get organized before you start working with clients. You don't want clients to walk into "Huh, I don't know what I'm doing." Or maybe you've been health coaching for a whole bunch of years and you've fallen into some bad habits. For example, sometimes, not all the time you guys, but every now and then I got to hop on a client call and I have to take notes and I'm like, "Aha!"
And I just grab a scrap of paper from wherever and I'm taking notes on the back of my kids' third grade homework assignment. This is not a great idea because then I have all these scraps of paper floating around everywhere and it's a little bit of a nightmare. Don't do that. Getting organized is going to help you get more out of your business. It's going to help you get out of that proverbial scraps of paper mess. And then you'll obviously be able to focus more on your clients and growing your business. So we want to clean up anything that's gotten messy, eliminate tedious admin tasks, anything that can be automated so you're not making mistakes and all that boring behind the scenes stuff that you got to do to keep your business moving in the long run. It's going to save you time and energy.
So what do you think if we use the summer to put some systems in place and they served you well for years and years to come, do we like this idea? Especially if you're finding the summer to be slow. Otherwise, I think it's a very good use of time. So today I'm going to share some ideas for my own business. I've also invited Regina and Elizabeth who I will introduce you to in just a moment. They are two health coaches from my current Fast Track group to talk about their new and growing businesses. And we're definitely going to be mentioning one tool that I want you to know about. It's called Practice Better. Here's why. Well, first of all, we all use it. So there's that. Second of all, practice better automates and organizes your client appointments, your client notes, your invoicing. You can even run online programs on the practice Better platform.
It does everything. It damn near provides childcare and I'm just kidding, but that is a joke for all of you Health Coach moms out there who will be working while the kids are home for this summer, like me. I feel you. The point is practice better handles a whole lot of the tedious work, all the stuff that we're up against as health coaches and provides an awesome experience for our clients. They even have an app. Clients love this. It's so easy for them. They can manage their appointments, they can access shared client notes, they can chat with you and it's all in one place, one secure platform. And I have a great gift for all my listeners. I'm excited about this. You can give Practice Better a try free for 14 days and get 30% off your first three months on any paid plan. And this is new for a limited time, I will send you a free Kitchen Cleanout program built right into the Practice Better platform so you can start earning with it right away to get all of these goodies.
Go to healthcoachpower.com/pb and you want to use promo code HCP30 at checkout. Come fall, you're going to have a much more efficient and streamlined health coaching business and more energy to work with clients and live your life too. So let's talk organizing. I want you to welcome Regina and Elizabeth to the show. I'm going to ask you guys to take yourselves off mute since you've been patiently waiting over here on Zoom with me. There you go. First of all, I'm wondering, is this the very first time for you appearing on a podcast? Either of you.
Speaker 2:
For me It is. Yes.
Michelle:
Yes. I'm seeing two heads bob. Okay, good. That's wonderful. This is such a safe place to start and we're very casual here. We also already know each other because you guys have been going through Fast Track. I already know a little bit about your businesses, but just for our listeners to get to know you, Regina, maybe you can go first and just tell us which Health Coach School did you graduate from and how long have you been coaching?
Regina:
I graduated from hci, I as a Health Health Coach Institute in 2017, but I recently started my own business about a year ago. I've also graduated from Functional Nutrition Alliance as a functional nutrition practitioner. So I combined the two skills. So I call myself Functional Nutrition coach.
Michelle:
All right. Thank you for being here. What about you, Elizabeth? What school and how long has it been?
Elizabeth:
I graduated from Functional Medicine Coaching Academy and I also, I'm a certified nutrition specialist, so that's primarily what I do. And I think it was 2021 that I graduated from the F M C A. Yeah.
Michelle:
Cool. So we have a range here and every school teaches things a little bit differently and some schools really help you set up your business and others don't do it at all. And we're all over the map. Health coaches come from so many different types of certification programs. So in terms of organizing our businesses, cause that's what we're here to talk about, I was thinking about this and I was thinking, okay, what I've needed to organize in my own business when I'm feeling all over the place, I either need first a system. So that's something that you can follow that you, it's laid out for you if you don't know what to do first, second or third, you need a system. So courses like Fast Track for example, they give you a system. It's like, do this first, now do this, now do this other thing.
It's map to Follow or for those of you who are thinking about creating an online course, but it sounds really good in your head, but you've absolutely no idea what steps to follow. And you feel like you're going in circles with the idea getting nowhere. You need a system. Our online courses for Health Coaches program is going to be available again soon. So that's what made me think about that. And that is a system to guide you through the process to build a profitable online course. And by the way, if anybody wants more information on either of those programs or systems, you can send me a DM over Instagram on at Health Coach Power Community, or you can just ping me in our Facebook group. So that's some examples of when you need a system. And sometimes in my career, I have absolutely needed that, where I'm just sort of chasing my tail, getting nowhere.
That's one kind of organizing. Now let's talk about organizing with tools. You need a tool or I've needed a tool when I keep losing track of things, I keep losing track of client appointments, that sort of thing. Or you feel like, gosh, I'm just wasting time figuring out the same mess over and over. Every time I have to send an invoice, I forget how to do it and I have to reteach myself how to send that invoice through PayPal and it's just such a waste of time. I was even thinking of those little square containers that help you organize your underwear drawer. I love those. That's an example of a simple tool that helps you make order out of the chaos, right? Google Calendar, that's a tool for managing time. I swear by time blocking my days. So if you're like, oh my gosh, it's the end of the day.
Where did all the time go try this? If I have three tasks to do, oh gosh, I wish I only had three tasks to do on any given day, but let's say I had three tasks to do. I visually block the time in my calendar. I color code that stuff. It is so helpful because then if something else comes up unexpectedly that has to do with work or even something that has to do with my kids, I can just see very plainly in front of me. It's like a game of Tetris that either I'm going to have to move a task to another day or outsource it or decide I'm not going to do it at all. Right? But this way, my day, as we all know, only has 24 hours and I try to keep the work hours to under eight, and this is the only way I have found to do that, to actually physically fill my day with these blocks of time that are fixed and I can move them or I can delete them, but I can't overlap them.
Cause it just can't happen like that. I'm only one person. I think it works so much better than a to-do list. So that's my tip for you guys. If you need help organizing your time during the day, try time blocking great tool that Google Calendar. And then another example of a tool would be Practice better because that's a tool to manage your whole practice. It says, put this here, put this here, hit this button. Boom. It all works together seamlessly. So Regina and Elizabeth, I'm curious, as I was just going through some of those examples, if anything came to mind that you might need to organize this summer in your business, either with a tool or a system, or maybe you're not sure which, and we can kind of help you figure it out. So Elizabeth, did anything come to mind for you?
Elizabeth:
Yeah, actually, I love that calendar idea that you just said, but taking things that I do with my clients over and over and kind of putting them into a program or a video or something that I can let them look at on their own. So taking one of the things that we take a lot of time to go through and off boarding them into something the client can do on their own time, which gives us more time during a session to focus on other things. So I was thinking make a program with or make a lot of programs with different topics that I would be able to just have them watch in between sessions.
Michelle:
Yeah, exactly. Because then you can use your coaching calls for coaching, for information transfer teaching. Yeah. Yeah. What's one of those topics that you're always telling your clients about? And you could probably just record once and be done with it.
Elizabeth:
Oh, I'm big on digestion. So it would definitely be something about "Chew your food better" or "the migrating motor complex" or something like that.
Michelle:
Right. I mean, in my own practice, I was always talking to clients about making sure their meals were revolved around a protein and fat and how protein and fat are metabolized differently in the body from, I have this whole spiel about macronutrients. So that's something like, I could talk about this in my sleep, but why waste time? I could just record it once. Love that idea. Here's a fun fact for everybody. Healthy Profit University actually started because I had been mentoring health coaches privately for so many years and I was so tired of repeating myself and being like, now we're going to set up your mailing list. Go here, click this button. And I'm like, I should just record this. And now we are many years later and it's become this whole full-blown, not just a course, but a whole bunch of courses and it started like this, but it's so true. It's a much more efficient way to share knowledge. All right. That's a great example. What about you, Regina? Anything that you need to organize in your business this summer?
Regina:
I feel like I'm a pen to paper person, so I'm constantly doing notes and instead of doing notes, I feel like there's got to be a way to be able to do it simpler Because I do paper and then I have to go and log it in. So I feel like there's got to be a way to not have to take that extra step somewhere. Does that make sense?
Michelle:
Yeah. So you're talking specifically when you're on a client call?
Regina:
Yes. Or when I'm with the client in person, I'm constantly paper and pen and then my day gets away from me and the end of the day I have to add all the notes in underneath the client notes because they have access to it to see their action steps or whatever we spoke about.
Michelle:
So you're talking about when you're putting them into Practice Better, then you can share those notes with the client. Correct. That's like another step for you to go through.
Regina:
Correct. Gotcha. So organizing my notes somehow, my papers eliminating that stuff would be nice.
Michelle:
I am such a pen and paper girl too. It's like my brain does not think and type, my brain thinks and writes.
Regina:
Right?
Michelle:
I know that.
Regina:
And it's like my own handwriting. Nobody could read what I wrote, but I know what I wrote.
Michelle:
Yeah. Well, here's an idea, and I don't know if this just solves it for you, or maybe it's just something to think about, but we talk about this concept a lot, make the clients take their own notes.
Regina:
I never thought about that.
Michelle:
Yeah, I mean it'd be a different way of doing what you do, but it puts the onus on them to really pay attention, be accountable, write down the things that are important, and then you can have them send you a summary at the end of what their big takeaways were and what they need to do and what they've decided their next steps are. And then you don't have to do a thing and it actually cements it more in their brain.
Regina:
I love that. Thank you. I would've never thought about that. It's like that makes total sense. It's a little homework assignment that they have to follow through, an action step.
Michelle:
That, I don't know if that is Lazy Health coach tip or Brilliant Health Coach tip, but after it's brilliant, after a bunch of years doing it, you're like, this is for the birds writing up these notes. Anyway, maybe then they give you the summary and you can just copy and paste it, boom, into your notes section on practice better. So there's a record of it online.
Regina:
Right. Oh, I love that. Thank you.
Michelle:
Good luck. Oh, I love when I actually just have a solution for you guys. Sometimes it's easier than others. So those are really great examples. And if we're looking ahead to the fall, so I know only a couple months from now and I'm, I'm always thinking about the fall because the fall is such an important time for health coaches. It's when people are back from their vacations and they're like, okay, now I'm ready to do the thing. Okay, now I have that back to school energy where I want to improve myself, et cetera, sharpen all the pencils. So I was wondering if you guys had thought that far in advance, and do you have any ideas or dreams or maybe real hard plans on the calendar for what you're going to do this fall? What about you, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth:
Well, I'd like to have my signature program all polished up and ready to go by the fall. So I've been kind of working on that.
Michelle:
And is that kind of go hand in hand with what we were just talking about, having those various videos done?
Elizabeth:
Yeah, it kind of would. Yeah. So it's just doing all that work of recording videos and making the pretty pictures and all that and putting a program together in practice better, which I love to do, but it takes so much time.
Michelle:
I got a solution, so I should have named this episode, Lazy Girls' Guide to Health Coaching or something like that. Not that we're lazy, but I mean, my goodness, there's just so many things to do when you're running your own business. And then of course if you're like me, I'm like, oh, I got to defrost the meat because I'm making dinner tonight. I'm got to get that in the crockpot. And I got to mean we're also have to get to yoga class, and that's really important that we also have time for our own self-care. Anyway, idea, just start working with your clients. And when something comes up on a call and you're about to launch into your whole spiel about macronutrients, I would do pause and say, I'm going to record something for you and you can listen to it tomorrow, or you can listen to it later this week. So you will preserve that time and then you will put yourself on the hook to get that video done and you can get it done.
For that client, as it becomes necessary, and then you have it forever. And of course you could always make it fancy or later, but people don't mind if you're a real human being talking to the camera. It have to be perfectly scripted all the time. So that to me would be the easiest way to take the project and spread it out so it's done as needed instead of blocking you.
Elizabeth:
Yeah, I like that because you've said a deadline for yourself, and once you tell the client, I'm going to send you something tomorrow, then you have to do it.
Michelle:
Yes, exactly. And if it's just for yourself, well now it's going to be a few months later and you still didn't. It will come out so much differently too if you're recording it like to a client, just don't say their name, just be like, "Want to share this information with you about such and such" and then do a spiel, and that's the end of it.
Elizabeth:
Yeah, that's a great tip.
Michelle:
And if you're ever like, oh, but I have to add graphics, oh, but the audio has to be perfect, but oh, but that, just know that we have 200 something episodes of this podcast. We were over 300,000 downloads. We got listeners around the world, and we don't edit this thing at all. Everything we do today, if we make a mistake, and I do, I flu my words, sometimes my earplug falls out of my ear, whatever, when my microphone isn't plugged in correctly. And we just publish it like that anyway. And business is doing just fine. So don't get hung up on the polishing.
Elizabeth:
Awesome, thank you.
Michelle:
All right, let's move on. A Lazy Girls' Guide to Health Coaching ... Regina, whatcha you doing in the fall?
Regina:
One of my goals is to create a workshop for the community, a stress management workshop at two local libraries. So that's something I've been planting a seed internally, but also kind of reaching out to local libraries, introducing myself. And one of the libraries, my local one, there's summer program is pretty booked, filled up. So they mentioned doing one in the fall. So that is what I would like to create a shift management workshop.
Michelle:
Okay, that's terrific. Now that's an example of having a system that can help you out because inside Fast Track, I just gave you guys those lessons at putting together a signature workshop so you can just follow it. Yeah, perfect timing for you. And have you thought about any venues that are not libraries?
Regina:
Actually, I was talking yoga, the yoga studios studio that I am, that I go to. I was talking to her, yeah. And that, yeah, yoga, I spoke to her and I spoke to Goshen Chambers, Goshen Library. What's crossed my mind so far?
Michelle:
Okay, good. So for anyone who's thinking, I want to create a workshop too, this is something that I teach inside my programs. And one of the things we talk about, which I'll share here also, is that you can, I mean, you can hold a workshop anywhere, and if you hold a workshop at a library, great. And you might sign a client or you might not, but you get the experience of holding a workshop. And that's really important in the beginning. But as you get that experience, you're going to realize that some audiences are positioned better than others to buy something from you. And people who go to the library typically go to get free things. That's like the mindset of a library goer. So I really like the idea of the yoga studio because people spend money to go to yoga class, or if you're going to hold it at some sort of spa or a gym or you're going to go into a corporate setting where people aren't fully entrenched in the idea of going to go get myself something for free. It might help you out in terms of selling something at the end, but go get the experience anywhere. I love that.
Regina:
Yeah, that was my first thought is just to get myself out there and then hopefully kind of branch out from there.
Michelle:
Awesome, awesome. I love when you guys are getting out in public. Aha. So whatever you're going to be doing through the summer, through the fall, I know you two are probably a little bit ahead of the game in some respects because you are already using practice better. It just kind of gives a leg up and the organization and the structure of your business. I'm wondering about how many clients, if any, you've already worked with using the platform and what features you've been relying on most. Let's start with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth:
I know how many, oh, I'm trying to think how many clients I've worked with. That's good.
Michelle:
Have you put more than three clients through something using Practice Better? Okay, good.
Elizabeth:
Oh, definitely. I've got 30 or 40 clients in my client list.
Michelle:
Amazing. Of course you do.
Elizabeth:
What was the second question?
Michelle:
Okay, so if you haven't taken any clients through, it'd be very hard to answer the question. But since you have 30 or 40 in your client list, what part of practice better do you find to be the most helpful? Cause they have so many different features.
Elizabeth:
Yeah. Oh, I love so many things about it because you can do everything in practice better. I mean, take the payments, upload documents, share things, all that stuff. But I think my favorite part of it is the programs. So being able to set up programs while I was talking about wanting to do more of it. But for example, I've set up onboarding and offboarding programs so that when I get a new client, I just say, Hey, I'm going to enroll you in this program. And it just walks them through all of the forms that they have to sign. It seems like there's a thousand things to do before that first appointment. I think that's my favorite part of it.
Michelle:
That's a very cool way to use it. So it's not even an online course or an online program where you're teaching something about health. You're just like, no, here's what you have to do before our first appointment. And it's just going to be step one, step two, step three, and it's all automated.
Elizabeth:
Yep. Each module says sign the client agreement, sign the HIPAA form. Yes, fill out the intake form, and you just work your way through the modules
Michelle:
So they're always so complete. That makes sense. I would never do that. I'm never that organized in my brain. But I'm glad that you shared that cause I think it's a really great suggestion. Awesome. And Regina, how have you been using Practice Better so far?
Regina:
Yes, I agree with Elizabeth. Onboarding is one of the best process. You just send them an email, you invite them to onboard and it takes them through the steps. But I also love the component of them having my clients having access to my calendar so they can schedule their next appointments when it's convenient for both of us. So it's not like after the appointment I have to sit and look through calendars and coordinate a time to meet next. They just hop on and pick a date and they'll see if I'm available according to their calendar. And that to me is a game it changer. I don't have to sit there and worry. They take care of it themselves and they once in a while send a reminder, Hey, we're due for a session. Then they automatically do it. So it just makes it simple that way.
Michelle:
Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. Yes, especially with the rescheduling. Ah yes. Sometimes people reschedule a lot and they can just do it and you don't even have to be involved.
Regina:
Yes. That awesome to me was a big thing.
Michelle:
Cool. Thank you guys for sharing that because when you're actually using the tool, when you're first getting set up, sometimes it's like, oh my gosh, how do I do this? But to know that it makes it so much easier on the other side, I think is helpful for everyone. So I want to thank you both so much for joining me today, Regina Elizabeth, sharing your stories, telling us about your plans. I loved you both, and I'll see you in our fast track meetings this week. And for all of our listeners, this episode is brought to you by, can you guess practice Better? I want you to try any practice better. Plan for free for 14 days at helpcoachpower.com/pb. You're going to save 30% off your first three months with Code HCP 30. And for a limited time, you'll also get a free Kitchen Cleanout program built into the Practice Better platform so you can start earning with it right away. Make sure to use this link though, it's health coach power.com/pb and I will see you all next week and I'll see you guys in our fast track meetings later on. Bye-bye everybody.
Regina:
Bye. Thank you.
Elizabeth:
Bye.