How to make consistent monthly income as a nutritionist or health coach
Do you LOVE the idea of having consistent, recurring income you can count on every single month in your nutrition business... but it seems like the only way is through network marketing or product sales?
Or, even better, you are all-in on network marketing but it's not bringing in the consistent income every month that you thought it would?
Yep, I totally get it, and I’m right there with you, which is why I’m here to offer you another solution to the “I need to make some income I can actually count on!” problem we all face in our businesses.
In fact, I’m going to give you 3 simple suggestions for how you can create consistent income in your nutrition or wellness business right now without selling anyone else's products, whatsoever.
P.S. this is a guest post by Andrea Nordling, a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (i.e. Holistic Nutritionist), Wellness Business Coach, and Network Marketing Fangirl. Click here to find out more about Andrea's expertise.
I stumbled on these 3 suggestions pretty much by accident while I was building two network marketing organizations.
TWO? Yes, you read that correctly, and I really don’t recommend doing what I did. Let me tell you about a few of my mistakes early on in my online nutrition business so you don’t make the same ones.
Here’s the deal: I LOVE the idea of network marketing because it's always been really easy for me to recommend products that I use myself, so getting paid a commission for what comes very naturally to me has always just made sense.
That’s the best part of representing a product through direct sales, right? You can create unlimited income every month just by following a plug-and-play system. Easy peasy. The cheque is in the mail ;)
Or ... not quite.
I’m probably sounding like a real hypocrite right now because, truthfully, I currently have two successful network marketing businesses that run on autopilot every month because of the work I put in at the beginning, so believe me when I tell you I'm not throwin' any shade at direct sales.
It’s just that I know there is a much easier way for us, as wellness professionals, to leverage recurring revenue and have consistent income in our businesses.
Hence the 3 strategies I’m going to teach in a minute.
Before we dive into those, just take a little side-trip with me and let’s reflect on how much business and industry has changed over the last 5 years. It’s incredible.
These days, it seems like we are paying for everything on a subscription basis!
Go ahead and mentally tally up all the memberships and subscriptions you’re currently using.
Off the top of my head, I can think of about 5 different business memberships and softwares that I use and pay for on a monthly basis, including quite a few in my personal life such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, unlimited yoga at my favourite studio, extra photo storage in the cloud, Costco, monthly cooking subscription boxes for my kids, and even my razorblades.
Your list might include a gym membership, car wash membership, magazine subscriptions, apps and games, or pet grooming.
Memberships + subscriptions are EVERYWHERE around us because they are the absolute best business model.
Keep your customer happy and cater to the way they want to do business with you, and they keep paying over and over again.
Yep, pretty genius!
Fun fact: Blockbuster video went bankrupt but Netflix is one of the highest grossing companies in the world. Ponder that for a sec.
And now it's your turn to tap into that recurring revenue stream, my friend!
How I accidentally “tapped into” memberships in my nutrition business
When I graduated with my holistic nutrition certification in 2016, I knew I wanted to create online courses and work with clients online. We were in the process of an interstate move, and setting up a brick and mortar practice for 1:1 clients just wasn’t an option.
So my online business adventure began, and through the magic of Pinterest, I found Ashley’s BBB course, promptly enrolled, and put myself on the map with a DIY website and my first few online courses.
Everything I implemented over those first 2 years in my online business was through trial and error, but there were enough successes along the way that I had a healthy email list of almost 3000 people by the time I dipped my toe into the network marketing pond for the first time in 2017.
Why do I tell you this?
Because although I had success creating extra income with network marketing, I believe it was because I already had a very loyal and attentive audience to sell to right off the bat!
By that point, in early 2018, I had successfully introduced my audience to two different product lines that were very complementary to my message and to the goals and results they wanted to achieve in their health, so sales were good. Income was fairly consistent month to month.
The problem I was running into, however, was that I was trying to balance too many different products along with my online courses. The messaging was getting really muddy and it was getting much harder to get my emails and promotion right for so many different target markets looking to solve so many different problems.
Naturally, I went into “I’m going to fix this right now” mode and decided to combine ALL of my best courses, resources, classes and product information into one “hub” and sold it as an online membership.
I seriously had no idea what I was doing. I hadn’t even been part of an online membership at that point, so I had no idea how to do it. I just knew I was going to figure it out.
Luckily, the results of this little experiment were incredible!
Because my members were paying a recurring monthly fee for access to the membership, I got the consistent income I was always striving for every month, but didn't have to be in constant promotion mode all the time. As long as I kept providing value for my members, they kept paying.
No, I didn’t forget about the 3 strategies for generating consistent income in your biz. I’m getting there, I swear!
But first, I have to share part of an email I got from a new member that had just enrolled in the membership. She blew my mind with her perspective on Network Marketing, MLM’s, and her growth as a business woman. When Ashley asked me to share some tips with you I knew I had to include this email:
“I became pretty successful with network marketing earning anywhere between $50,000 and $90,000 in a year. I do love it and I want it to keep growing but I do feel like i want something separate ... that is just mine.
I am good at selling and messaging and posting on social media but it gets old sometimes and takes a lot of work at times. Last month I had 75 customers order from me ranging anywhere from maybe $70 to several hundred dollars in product. Average is $140 or so. But I only maybe make 34% of that.
I love our products but know they aren't the whole answer to what these women need and I want to help on a deeper level. So I have the trust factor with my current audience. If I can sell another company's product, why couldn't I sell my own and make 100% commission?”
Let me repeat that last part:
“If I can sell another company's product, why couldn't I sell my own and make 100% commission?”
Mic drop, right?
Why aren’t WE ALL pursuing a product of our own where we make 100% of the proceeds, have 100% control of the content, and can be 100% proud of the results our customers are experiencing?
Ok, enough of the lead up, I know you want to be part of the Recurring Revenue Revolution for yourself.
Here are 3 super strategic ways you can leverage the "membership model" in your wellness biz to get the benefits of consistent monthly income right now, no direct sales needed:
1. Turn your one-on-one “signature” program into a membership
I know that sometimes you need to focus on the low-hanging fruit and keep the cash coming in the door while you're working on that digital membership I’m going to mention next ...
Which is why packaging up your one-on-one services into a recurring subscription is such a bomb way to go!
Here's a few examples of what this can look like:
My friend Mary Claire, who is a massage therapist, offered her clients the option of continuing to book one-time massages for $80 OR setting up monthly auto-billing for one massage a month at $65 per massage.
Curious about what happened? She sold out her recurring packages in 1 day and now gets paid for 16 massages per month whether or not the client books them, and she knows exactly how much she's going to make in her massage practice without endlessly promoting herself, which has freed up her time to pursue other projects.
Genius.
Ok, I can't leave you hanging without a nutrition example:
A holistic nutritionist friend of mine ONLY sells her one-on-one services in 6 month packages at very premium pricing instead of one-time consultations. She prefers being paid in a lump sum at the beginning of their contract, but I would also recommend giving the option of monthly payments over the course of those 6 months.
[Note from Ashley: this is what I recommend as well. Click here for the step-by-step instructions on setting up your own 6-month signature nutrition program.]
Extra “Grandfathered Pricing” retention strategy: Raise your prices a bit every 6 months if that's the duration you're selling packages for, which will incentivize your clients to renew at their current rate instead of coming back later at the higher price!
The great thing about taking your one-on-one clients and structuring them as recurring payments is that you can start taking clients right now, and create a digital membership site as you go without the pressure of building out that site and the content beforehand.
Many of our members inside the Inner Circle choose to build their membership sites this way. Here’s how they do it:
Structure their one-on-one clients as recurring payments for “X” number of months.
Use those clients as a beta group for the content and resources they’ll be including in the membership.
Record the content as they teach it / deliver it each week to the one-on-one clients.
At the end of the packages, they invite those clients (who have had FABULOUS results so far because they are being so well supported) to continue their journey with ongoing support and deeper results inside the new membership.
See how magical that is? #instantmembership
2. Make a monthly membership as your introductory offer
Many of us just want to create that beautiful membership site right away, though. I totally get that, because it’s exactly what I did (don’t worry, I have easy video tutorials on how to set up the tech side of your membership in less than 30 minutes).
If that’s the case for you, you may want to position your membership as Step 1 for a new client.
Typically you will include the foundations inside your membership if it’s your introductory offer. That would include all the basics like hydration, inflammatory foods, sleep, and stress management for those of us who talk about nutrition.
You know, the topics you hear yourself talking about on repeat with every single person you meet.
The great thing about a monthly membership that teaches the foundations is you can funnel those members into your higher level offers and they will convert at a high percentage because they already know you, like you, trust you, and have experienced great results from your content.
Quick Revenue Tip: Although most entry-level memberships are sold at a relatively low monthly fee, I recommend giving a steep “annual rate” discount that your members can’t resist. That way you’ll get a cash injection up front and they will be sticking around for at least a year soaking up all your wisdom.
3. Make a monthly membership for continuing education
Now here’s where things get even juicier, if you ask me.
A “back-end membership” refers to a membership that is structured specifically to provide ongoing and continuing support, community, accountability and results for clients or students that have already completed a course, class, or program with you.
The actual content you provide is endlessly customizable, but ultimately it will depend on what you enjoy providing on an ongoing basis and what is going to keep your members moving forward and getting results. That’s the easy part, because your membership is a living and ever-evolving creature. You’ll tweak it as you go!
I don’t know about you, but I really hated the dreaded moment at the end of a 5-week Sugar Detox Class when my enthusiastic class participants wanted to know what was next and all I had to offer was a few books they could go read (online business FAIL right there!)
Oh how I wish I had known about the glory that is a back-end membership in those days, so I wasn’t just shipping them off to go fend for themselves. I should have been keeping those happy customers coming back for more month after month.
A back-end membership can be premium priced (my preference) or lower ticket, depending on what you offer and what your business goals are.
Don't worry I wouldn’t leave you hanging like this!
I have a totally free video training that goes into way more detail on how you can structure a membership in your existing wellness biz and start reaping the recurring revenue rewards.
You’ll learn:
How to create consistent $10k+ months: The EXACT 5-Step Method for creating a consistent revenue machine that doesn't require you to work crazy hours (and it's way easier than you think!)
Your #1 priority for fast profits: What to focus on first to get the biggest return on your time investment: Online courses? Membership Site? Premium 1:1 packages? Group Classes?
How to get more clients on autopilot: The #1 Secret to attracting your dream clients online without posting on social media. Yes, it's possible. ;)Exactly what new followers need to see and experience to become paying customers
What huge mistake to avoid: The REAL reason most wellness entrepreneurs will fail so you don't make the same mistake
How to set up a marketing funnel: That automates the sales in your biz so you actually have time and energy to devote to your clients instead of constantly promoting yourself.
So there you have it, a few suggestions on how you can start creating consistent monthly income in your wellness biz every month without product sales or network marketing.
Unless you’re already rocking your network marketing biz, in which case you are definitely going to want to add a paid membership component so you can have the best of both worlds!
I’m telling you, the opportunity to leverage a recurring membership or subscription in your business and reap the rewards of consistent income every month is yours for the taking, and the time has never been better.
For the exact steps on how you can incorporate a recurring membership right now, without adding more to your schedule or being a slave to social media, click here to watch my FREE Training and take some good notes!
About Andrea
After creating a profitable and impactful holistic nutrition practice 100% online with online courses and a membership site, I was approached by many of my fellow practitioners wondering what the secret was...
Turns out there are quite a few secrets to share, which is why BuildAProfitablePractice.com was born ;)
Now I'm on a mad mission to rescue my fellow wellness-preneurs from spinning your wheels in your biz by sharing my biggest breakthroughs and mistakes so you can skip the learning curve and turn your practice into a limitless income and impact machine online. I share it all in my Free Training “Create Consistent Income Without Adding More To Your Schedule or Sacrificing Your Own Health”, which will show you the exact steps to take to start your own membership right now.
