About Gia Stewart Dietitian
Gia came to dietetics later in life off a background in the fitness industry. She was also a mum of 3 so whilst her three were all in high school, she was studying along side them.
She has a husband who is self employed and had seen first hand what comes with the role of entrepreneurship. Living in a very small country town, she knew she’d have to travel to work shall she be successful in any job applications she made.
She’s also a women who knows how to follow her heart.
Once she had that piece of paper in her hand, she was ready to take on the world as an Accredited Practising Dietitian. She applied for jobs, as we all do, but for some reason, looking over contracts and conditions that came with being employed, didn’t sit well with her. She’d thought about private practice, but had some hesitations. It wasn’t until she was offered a job that she knew would be just a job that she set her heart on private practice and from that moment onwards, she put her heart and soul into her business.
What was she going to do?
Having spoken to other private practice dietitians locally, Gia knew where the demand was in her nearest town. She’d been approached by other business owners and was confident that she could start and grow her nutrition practice, even when the world had gone online, she chose to do a bricks and mortar storefront with rooms for herself and a mini reception with a spare room for residual income shall she want to rent it out.
Was it risky?
Of course.
Did her risk pay off?
More than ever.
Let’s break down what she did.
Step 1: She hired a coach
Like everything, Gia could have Googled what to do, she could have asked others who she knew who were also in business, or she could hire a coach who could help her fast track. Guess which one she choose?
She used our Starting out in Private Practice Checklist to start ticking off all the things she needed to do from a practical point of view. Things like getting an ABN, registering her business name, looking at insurance and working out what kind of software she was going to use in her business along with all the processes and systems and policies that were going to be applicable to her clients.
Step 2. She branded herself
Before Gia could start making connections in the community, it was important to her that she had the appropriate branding set up for her business. This started with creating a logo which we developed into a style guide and then went beyond to business cards, window signage, business cards and letterheads. All pieces of her brand that were going to become some of her best marketing assets. Let’s take a look at what her finished logo and style looked like.
Step 3. She gave herself a home online
Gia was a one woman show so she wanted to be able to automate her processes as much as possible, and this started with having people be able to send her an enquiry from her website and giving it the capability of being able to link to her practice software so patients could automatically book in with her and it would, itself, send out appointment reminders and confirmations etc.
Here is quick snapshot of her website. You can also visit it here.
Hasn’t it come together beautifully?
Step 4. She made everyone she knew, and even lots of people she didn’t know, aware of her business.
Now let’s not forget Gia started her bricks and mortar store in the middle of a pandemic with no prior business knowledge or client base. She started from scratch here. So the first thing she did was let veryone she knew know about her business. She is well connected in the community and business space because of her previous career in the fitness industry, but also her husbands connections within the community with his business so she shared locally with all of her network that she was in business.
Secondly, she started connecting with medical professionals that she felt had an audience that she could help. She marketed herself to GP’s, specialists and allied health professionals specifically using our Marketing to GP’s toolkit.
Slowly, but gradually, the referrals starting coming in and now 1-2 years down the track, she is at capacity on a weekly basis, she has a wait list of clients wanting to see her and she has worked out that being a generalist is not the direction she wants to pursue for the rest of her career. After some further training, she has now decided to niche down into women’s fertility and is beginning to share that message and build her caseload of women she wants to work with. Despite me talking to her, as a business coach, about the importance of niching down, Gia wanted to experience working with lots of varied conditions to help her find her true passion, and that she did.
Here is what Gia had to say about working with us at The Ambitious Dietitian
