[INTERVIEW]
Ronda Nelson: Knowing who you want to serve is probably one of the hardest decisions that you’ll make in your practice. Unless, of course, you just woke up one morning and decided, like, I just automatically know I want to help moms with kids. I love that. I did the same thing. And we tend to help the people that are sort of in the stage of life we are — at least women do. You know, when we’re young and we’re raising kids and potty training, then we’re all in the throes of fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and raising kids and young school age. And so the stage that we’re in, we tend to gravitate that way. And so when my kids were young, I did the same thing. I did a lot of work with families and children and moms and helping them eat and I did all that. But then my kids got into middle school and they got into high school. And now I’m not in diapers and I’m not in all of that. And so I definitely could still help.
But now I was really more interested in that perimenopausal type age woman, or that 30-year-old who’s still trying to figure her life out with kids and busy. And then you get a little older and you get where I’m going with this. So who we talk to in our practice often changes based on what we’re interested in — the things that you’re naturally interested in. The problem that I see is that most practitioners don’t take the time to figure it out. And even more often, they’re too afraid to draw a line in the sand.
Just like the client I was just talking about — she just drew a line in the sand. I said to her, she was just starting her practice, brand new, just starting a wellness practice. She is a nurse practitioner. She decided that she didn’t want to be in that industry, in that field anymore, and she wanted to branch out on her own. She had an office, she has it furnished. And I said, what do you want to do? Who do you want to serve? It was the very first conversation that we had. And she kind of didn’t know. And we talked about it and fleshed it out. Well, who do you not want to serve? Like, that’s an important thing. Who is it that you go, no? For me, I do not like dealing with weight loss. I don’t know. I just don’t like it. But somebody else might love it. It’s just not my jam. I also don’t like dealing with cancer patients because it hits too close to home for me with my daughter. It makes me sad. I was walking through the airport the other day. There was a little girl, probably about the same age that my daughter was, maybe 10, 11, 12. And she was wearing all pink and she was completely bald. And as I’m walking through the airport, the tears were just welling up in my eyes because it just all comes back. So I am a no for that because my heart can’t do it. So sometimes knowing what you don’t want to do is as important — if not maybe more important — because it helps you get clarity about the problem you do want to solve, or the people you do want to help.
So back to this client. We talked about it, talked about it. She finally says, well, I think I really like menopause. Menopausal women. I said, great. And she’s of that age — see what I was saying? You just tend to gravitate to people that you know. I know myself. I’m in menopause. I understand it better than I did when I was in my 30s, that’s for sure. So that was the decision she made. She said, I want to work with menopause. And I said, okay, if that’s your person, then that’s what you specialize in. And you can charge your fees appropriate to your specialty. And so off she goes. She was happy. She goes, menopause, it is.
And a few weeks later, I spoke with her and she said, yep, that’s all I’m doing — menopause. I told my front desk person, turn away everyone that’s not menopause. I said, wait — whoa, whoa, whoa. She started laughing. She goes, wait, what? You told me menopause — I didn’t think she was gonna do that. But I was so proud of her for doing it. And she literally said no. If someone called and said, I need help with weight loss — she’s like, I’m not your person. We specialize in menopause. That’s all we do is menopause. Somebody else calls and they need help with hair loss? Sorry, that’s not us. Heavy bleeding? No, we just do menopause. Male health? Nope, just do menopause. Blood sugar? Nope, just do menopause. She literally drew — I mean, the hardest line in the sand I have ever seen anybody do so quickly. And within two months, she’s fully booked out. She’s hiring more practitioners to help her. She’s bringing blood labs into her practice because there’s nowhere close to do it. She is getting it done. And she does not have enough time in the day to see all these people. And it’s because she drew a line in the sand and she said, this is who I’m for. This is who I want to help. These are the people that I am passionate about and I’m really good at.
Now, from a business perspective — because you know that’s what I do. I help clinicians with the clinical side. I can help you with that, but I love helping with the business side. From a business perspective, just imagine this with me, if you would. If you’re listening and you’re like, she’s wrong. I’m gonna help everyone. Okay, fine. You do you — but look at your bank account and let me know how that’s working out for you. But just imagine this with me for a second. Just for a second. Let’s just play for a minute.
What if you had an email you were gonna write, and this email is gonna go out to your list of people? And it’s about — we’ll use menopause, for example, because this is what I’m talking about. It’s about menopause. And you’ve decided that you are going to talk about hot flashes and your three top herbs for helping with hot flashes, or the role of blood sugar in hot flashes. I just recently taught a menopause seminar, so it’s top of mind. So this is what she’s gonna write this email about. Now, on her list though, she’s been talking to — she has a list full of people that are raising kids. There’s some men on there. There’s a few teenagers on there. There’s some women who have kids out of school — they’re in high school — and they’re not in menopause, but they’re not in child-rearing either. So that email that she writes is gonna not land correctly with all of those people.
So what happens if you get an email in your inbox and it’s talking about toe fungus? I don’t know where that came out of my brain, but it just popped in. It’s talking about toe fungus and you’re like, from XYZ company, and you think, I don’t need this. I don’t have toe fungus. No one else I know has toe fungus. And besides, I know how to fix it if I did. So nope. What are you gonna do? You’re gonna unsubscribe. And I would too if I got an email about toe fungus. I’m like, I don’t have that, don’t need it, don’t care — unsubscribe. When the information that comes to you, whether it’s on social media or an email, when it comes to you and it’s not relevant for what your needs are, you’re gonna unsubscribe. We all do it.
So now for this practitioner, she’s building a list of menopausal women. And so when she sends out an email that talks about blood sugar and hot flashes, or it’s talking about hydration, or she’s talking about vaginal dryness — whatever it is — what percentage of her audience on her email list is going to want to lean in and learn more? One hundred percent. She has an audience that’s built for her message.
Versus — let’s put the shoe on the other foot. Let’s say she can’t decide who she wants to specialize in, so she’s been in practice for eight years and just has a hodgepodge of people come in for hormones, skin issues, constipation, bloating, allergies, whatever it is — a whole bunch of different problems. And she decides today, I am gonna specialize in menopause. So I’m gonna send an email out to my whole list and tell them about menopause and hot flashes. What’s gonna happen? All those people are gonna unsubscribe. Now, if she’s serious about specializing in menopause, fine — let them unsubscribe. It’s fine because they’re not your people.
But my point is this: when the message is clear and you’ve created an environment — a list of emails, people on your social media page — that want what you have and are interested in what you’re talking about, they won’t unsubscribe. They’re not going to go anywhere. They’ll be leaning in, like, whoo, what’s she gonna say today? I’m really fascinated by this. I wanna know, I wanna learn more. Or I’m going to share the email with someone. I’m going to share the post with someone. That’s what we want to do — create that kind of interest in the specialty we’re creating. But you have to create that audience.
So if you are listening and you’re like, well, that won’t work for me because I just want to serve everyone and I don’t want to isolate anyone, I don’t want to turn anyone away — how’d that work out for my client? Two months. And the word got out. Every perimenopause, menopause, postmenopausal woman she talked to — guess how many friends that lady knows who are going through the same thing? Now they’re telling all their friends to come see the menopause specialist. And that’s how she got booked out.
So what can you specialize in? And on that note — who’s gonna be able to charge more for their services? A specialist or a generalist? The specialist, of course. They’re going to charge more and they get more because they specialize in something really specific. And that’s what I want you to do. Decide who you’re for, decide what your niche is, decide that person or that condition. Maybe it’s women in perimenopause. I have lots of doctors in Clinical Business Academy, and that’s what they specialize in. And each one of them has a little bit of a different twist on it — and it’s fine. Everybody has their own flavor of salt in the soup, right? What’s salty to one person, what one approach is going to be right for someone, is going to be wrong for someone else. So it’s okay. You can add whatever your salt is, your flavoring. You can make it taste and feel, you can make the experience whatever you want. But you have to have a message that’s going to land. And if it doesn’t land, then people are just going to let it go in one ear and out the other. And you won’t be remarkable.
Because if you can’t solve my problem, then why am I talking to you? It’d be like this — I’m right in the middle of it right now. I’m actually car shopping. I need to buy a car. And I think I know what I’m looking for. I’m pretty sure I have a good idea. But then my sweet husband says, well, have you thought about this one? And I go — another trip to the car dealership. So I have to figure out what I want, and then I can go shop for the car. If I already know what my problem is — I need a specific car, this is the car I’m looking for — why would I go to someone who has a car lot over here on this side, and he’s got a little repair shop over here, and then he has a little fast food truck over in the other side of the parking lot? No, no, no, no, no. If I’m looking for a Toyota, where am I gonna go? I’m gonna go to the Toyota dealership. Or I’m gonna go to a place that has a lot of Toyotas and they know about Toyotas.
Same thing. You have to know who you want to serve. And then you can start saying no. Say no to the people. I know that’s hard. If we were talking in a coffee shop — don’t walk out now. I know that feels hard. But I’m telling you, the abundance and your satisfaction with what you do is so much better. You don’t have to know everything about everything. When you are a generalist, you have to know all the things. You have to know Hashimoto’s, you have to know all the things about the gut, you have to know all the things about neuroinflammation, about hemorrhoids and portal veins and liver detoxification, HRT — you have to know all the things about all the things. When you specialize in something, you’re just really good at one thing. And that’s what makes you really good at that one thing, because you are now a specialist.
So I would love to know in the comments — tell me. What is your specialty? I want to know where you’re from. Just tell me city, state, and your specialty. If you don’t know, say, I don’t know — but I’m thinking blank — and I will get back to you. I promise you, I will get back to you because I love the comments. Or you can email me. But I want to know. And I want to help you. The faster you draw your line in the sand and say, this is what I want to do, the faster your bank account reflects it, the faster you’re more satisfied with what you do, the less time it takes you — because now you’re efficient. Every patient is in some stage of menopause — peri, meno, or post. That’s it. That’s all we have to choose from. And each one of them has a little different framework, a little different kind of flow — a strategy for how to help them.
But that’s okay because now you’ve got it all mapped out. You’re expert at it. You know it. You can build everything in your business around supporting that person. And let’s just say that you are right now supporting moms and families. In five years, when your kids are in middle school or high school, you can change it. It’s totally fine. It’s not a problem because really all those patients are growing with you, remember? So if you’re focusing on families, their kids aren’t staying stagnant — they’re growing too, just like yours are. And so your practice, your patient base, kind of evolves with you. So it’s not like you have to close the door and say, well, I’m changing now, I’m gonna go do perimenopause — because those moms are growing too. They need just as much help.
[CLOSING]
Ronda Nelson: So I really would encourage you — give this some solid thought because it is possible. When you draw a line in the sand and say, this is who I’m for, this is who I’m going to serve, and all of your marketing is centered around that — now we’re getting somewhere. Now you can start to say, I’m so sorry, we don’t work with that. We only work with this. But let me make a referral to someone else. Now you look like a hero, and that person’s like, good to know — they’re a specialist. I’m telling you, it works every time.
So I hope this is helpful for you. Again, leave me a comment. I’d love to know where are you in the country, or in the world? And what’s your specialty? Just leave it in the comment below. And while you’re there, click the little subscribe button — it would be super great if you would. And then turn on those notifications. All right, friends. I’ll see you back next week.
[END]