Most Dietitians Buy Support In The Wrong Order

One of the biggest mistakes dietitians make when growing their business is investing in support before identifying the actual problem they're trying to solve. When you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or behind, it's tempting to buy another course, join a membership, or hire a coach. But the most effective support isn't necessarily the most popular, it's the one that addresses your current bottleneck.

In this episode, Libby breaks down the three common types of business challenges dietitians face: information problems, implementation problems, and decision problems. She explains how different forms of support solve different issues and shares a simple framework to help you determine what kind of help you truly need before making your next investment.

If you've ever wondered whether you need a course, a membership, or a coach, this episode will help you make a more strategic decision and avoid spending money on support that doesn't move your business forward.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

Why buying support without identifying the problem often leads to frustration
The difference between information, implementation, and decision problems
When a course is the right investment
How memberships can help with consistency and execution
Why coaching is most valuable for personalized strategy and decision-making
The common cycle that keeps business owners buying support that doesn't work
A simple framework for choosing the right support at the right time

Connect with Libby:

Instagram: @libbyrothschild | @dietitianboss
YouTube: Dietitian Boss

Resources:

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Episode Transcript

Most Dietitians Buy Support In The Wrong Order
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[00:00:00]

One of the most common mistakes I see dietitians make is this: they buy support before they know what problem they're trying to solve, and it usually sounds "Should I join a membership? Should I hire a coach? Should I buy another course?" And honestly, most people are asking the wrong question because the question is not which support option is best.

The better question is, what is actually slowing me down right now? Because courses, memberships, and coaching solve different problems. So today, I wanna talk about why many dietitians buy support in the wrong order, how to identify what you actually need, and how I would think through this if I were starting over.

So firstly, like, why does this happen? When you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or behind, support feels like the solution, and sometimes it is. But what often happens is you buy the thing that sounds good, not the thing that [00:01:00] matches the actual bottleneck. For example, you buy coaching when you need information. You buy a course when you need accountability and join five memberships because everybody else is.

But the problem is that support does not, that sometimes that support doesn't match the problem, and that can become expensive frustration So the first step is I want you to ask what is actually slowing you down right now in your business. I think most problems fall into three buckets. The first bucket would be an information problem, and it sounds like this: I have no idea where to start.

It could be insurance basics, documentation, business setup, marketing fundamentals, learning a new skill like sales, marketing, content, pitching yourself, crafting your message. If this is you, then you probably need information. The second bucket would be implementation problems, and it sounds like I know what to do, but I keep getting stuck.

[00:02:00] So example could be inconsistent content, like you post, but then you take breaks. So then you post, but you're not doing it regularly, or you're not following through with things you need to push the needle forward. You're overwhelmed by too many tasks, and you're experiencing difficulty staying consistent.

And this is often where memberships become useful because the problem is not knowledge, it's really execution. The third bucket would be decision problems, and it sounds like this: I know the basics, but I don't know what applies to my situation. So that might be complicated business decisions, scaling decisions, pricing decisions about your offers, hiring decisions about expanding your business, and difficult strategic questions about the direction of your business.

And this is often where coaching can become really valuable because you need personalization. Now, the wrong order that I see is that this pattern. Step one, buy coaching [00:03:00] immediately. Step two, get overwhelmed. Step three, you realize basic systems are missing. Step four, buy more stuff. Instead, I would think information first, then implementation, then personalization.

So the shortcut question is, if you're unsure, ask yourself, "If someone gave me the answer today, could I actually implement it?" If the answer is no, then I still wouldn't do it. If the answer is, "Yeah, I just need some clarity," then maybe you do.

But what I would do if I were starting over is I would ask, "What is my biggest bottleneck right now?" And then I would ask, "Do I need information? Do I need implementation? Or do I need personalized decisions?" Then I would buy support last, not first. Now, the final thought I have here is you don't need every course, every membership.

You don't need to buy every coach, but you do need the support that matches your current bottleneck, right? Is it marketing? Is it [00:04:00] sales? Is it building a really strong brand? Is it clinical acumen? Because support works best when structure matches the problem that you're facing. So let's come up with some actions this week.

The first action is I want you to ask what's actually slowing you down this week, right now. And the second action is I want you to decide, is this information that you need, or implementation, or is it a decision problem? And then the third action would be I want you to choose support based on the bottleneck, not what everyone else is buying.

Most Dietitians Buy Support In The Wrong Order

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