Coronavirus has had a huge impact on EVERY aspect of everyone’s life in the last 2-3years, business included.

Let’s look at what that means for business owners beyond the pandemic.

In all honesty though, it has been the push some people needed to live a more fulfilling life they were only dreaming of before. Here we look at how businesses have evolved since the pandemic.

Firstly, redundancy is never nice, especially if unplanned BUT for the people that lost their jobs, once over the initial shock of “what’s next”, not having work commitments has allowed dietitians to do some soul searching to discover what exactly it is they are passionate about. Some pursued jobs unrelated to dietetics, some went into unconventional dietetic jobs, some found other employed positions, and some started their own, often virtual practice.

Sometimes, we need to create space for the things we love and for many, without COVID, creating that space was just never possible.

I know many dietitians who are working in 9-5 jobs for other people and their job is leaving them deflated, questioning why they became a dietitian and often wondering what their purpose in life is, other than to pay the bills.

Within the dietetics field, there are people that fit into a few categories.

1. Those that had a current business and were already online
2. Those that had a current business but saw patients primarily face to face who may or may not have wanted to transition to online work.
3. Those that were yet to start their business for any number of reason but were wanting too.

The one thing that is certain though, no matter what you do as a dietitian is that the Pandemic has changed the way we DO business.

“I realised that virtual can be just as effective as f2f for clients. I’ve switched completely to virtual now unless a client insists to see me f2f (hasn’t happened yet” Dietitian Rania.

The world has gone online.

Dietitians aren’t paying rent in offices, they aren’t travelling all over doing home visits because everyone’s been in lockdown. So less overheads from things like rent and transport costs are helping dietitians become more profitable. As a follow on from less travel time and expenses, dietitians can actually see more people in the same period of time therefore their earning potential actually becomes greater.

“I started teaching cooking classes virtually and moved all my health coaching clients to virtual. It has been such a great change and is saving me so much gas from driving all over the place to see my health coaching clients” Dietitian Elena

I pose the question though, in a world where everyone and everything has gone online, who is going to be left when the Pandemic is over and people want to see dietitians in real life? Who will be there for them?????

It all seems well in theory though but how many dietitians AND clients are suffering from online fatigue?

Back to back clients, sitting in the same chair and room all day long, no co-workers to distract you and trying to homeschool in between it all is quite the challenge. People work online, do their admin online, complete their personal business online, educate online, shop online and now socialise online. Man, they even procrastinate online (hello Facebook scrolling). Digital fatigue is a real thing. It’s come to be referred to as “Zoom fatigue”. We struggle to focus and engage as our minds are in overdrive to process the intensity and loss of personal space. Showing up online constantly with no boundaries between work and home is hard. Often in times of stress, people tend to flouder. They hold on to what they have, their productivity isn’t as high and their coping mechanism for obstacles aren’t as great.

Learning to adapt has been of utmost importance in the ever-changing environment we have had these past 2 years. Some decisions were taken away from us, some choices we had/hadn’t considered before were being escalated. People had to make the decision if they were going online and in what kind of capacity that was going to be in and slowly but surely, there are dietitians all over the world embracing the new normal of virtual health trying to avoid digital fatigue.

“It help push me to let go of my fulltime job that was holding me back. When I was laid off in March. It gave me the time to actually dedicate to my biz. I grew a full-time thriving practice in 6 months and hired an assistant. After 9 months, I hired another RD. Don’t underestimate yourself.” Dietitian Chelsea

There is literally no better time than now to start the business you’ve been thinking about or pivot your current business model to something that capitalises on your strengths whilst maximising your billable hours without the burn out.

“I left a job I loved before covid and was really sad to be leaving but once covid hit I knew I had made the right decision. It has allowed me to create the program that has been floating in my mind for a long time and also have more time for my toddler. It’s been a significant learning curve but I’m so glad I did it” Dietitian Kelly

As The Ambitious Dietitian emerges from COVID and the past few years, we emerge with a stronger focus on combining learning, coaching, mentoring and done for you programs for dietitians getting ready to take the leap, dietitians in the early days of their business and dietitians who have tested the waters and want to dive all in.

We have an abundance of resources you can get your hands on, a blog that will support your journey, a community of other dietitians in business to network with in our Facebook group, regular trainings and workshops and for those who would like to work with us, you have the opportunity to work with us either 1:1 in our 6 month container Thrive or for those that specifically want a new or updated website and any design work. 

Please get in touch shall you feel we could support you in your journey as a dietitian entrepreneur.