Tips for Scaling Your 1:1 Practice Online with Alison Marras [Episode 105]

Molly: Hello and welcome back to the show. Um, we were a couple weeks back. Maybe it was probably who knows like months at this point I said on one of my intros that I had this epiphany that I was like, I really don't enjoy teaching online business. I really prefer teaching a couple things. One is like kind of just basic marketing foundation principles that transcend like everything.

And I also enjoy teaching like local marketing. So when it comes to Instagram and all that, like I really enjoy teaching like marketing to like a local community. Now I do still talk about online marketing and you know, I know there's a lot of people who want to You know, create a second, um, more online stream of income, or maybe you want to completely take your business online.

So I do definitely sprinkle some of that in, but it's just not my favorite thing to teach. So because of that, my, I have invited my guest Alison on today because this is what she does. So Alison Morris is the founder of Food by Mars. She is a holistic nutrition brand. You've probably either heard of her or seen her on Instagram.

And if you haven't already, I would definitely go follow her. But now she has branched, um, into also helping because she was able to scale her, like She's just like coaching courses, meal plans, mostly centered around people healing their gut, reducing food sensitivities through her own Hashimoto's diagnosis and healing process.

Yeah, so now she chooses other people to do the same thing, who want to take their Either like functional medicine, nutrition, health coach, whatever business online. So we get into a lot of like nuts and bolts today, so I think you're going to take away a lot from this episode and I hope you enjoy.

Hey, welcome to Holistic Marketing Simplified. This podcast boils down to the fact that we wholeheartedly believe that more humans need to know about holistic health solutions and you didn't go to school to learn how to be a. Full time content creator and show up on Instagram and do all of this marketing stuff all day, every day.

So let's come hang out while we chat all things, even your marketing. And my goal is that you shift your mindset around your marketing from a quote should to a, I get to more dream patients and clients. Yes, please.

Dawn: Hi, I'm Dawn Wiggins and I'm an integrative healer. And I listen to the holistic marketing, simplified podcast,

Molly: Alison.

I'm so excited to have you on the show today because. I literally just was telling you, what was it a couple of weeks ago on the intro? I was like, yeah, I'm just not interested in teaching online business, like the brick and mortar, like local stuff is really my, my love language. And that's why I was like, okay, I've got to have Alison on the show because she's spectacular at teaching the online component.

So tell us a little bit about what you do now and then we'll hear your backstory.

Alison: Yeah, I'd love to. So what I'm doing right now and what, well I've been doing this for about 10 years is Doing stuff online. It started like a labor of love, you know, a passion project, honestly, with food blogging. And that's really how it all started because I was a director in New York City for marketing.

So I was having clients like Nike and Staples and Johnson Johnson, like, and doing their email and their social media marketing. And so I've been in the online marketing space for a long time in many different ways. That was my whole previous life, I would say. And then I'm sure we all have our burnout story or our aha moment, you know, really pivotal turning point.

That I was just completely burning out. I was really sick. I was losing all my hair. TLDR Hashimoto's was the issue. Chronic gut issues and all the things. And I realized really quickly that no one was coming to save me. And I was going to have to figure this out essentially. And really look at my life and look at the things that have led up to this because I just, I did not, I was not going to take it laying down essentially.

And so I just remember I'd already started my food blog because I was already saying, okay, you know what? I need to eat healthier. Maybe all the takeout is not good. Um, I need to, you know, make some changes. And so I'd already started, you know, putzing around in the kitchen basically and wanting to share that and be creative, but then it really started turning into more of a mission where I was just like, okay, people cannot be treated this way in the healthcare system.

Chronic illness is like, just not being supported by Western medicine, autoimmune disease, gut issues, mystery symptoms, right? PCOS, all these things that I had been dealing with personally. And I was just feeling really lit up and fired up, honestly, about all of it. So I started going back to school for health coaching and became a nutritional therapy practitioner and you know, all the things and ultimately started evolving my brand with that to take clients on as a practitioner and a coach.

So what I've been doing for the past, since 2018 is really taking clients online. I moved my whole career online and became a coach and, and practitioner. And it's been so fruitful, so fulfilling because I love it and wake up every day. So eager. And so more recently within the past one or two years, I've been mentoring other health coaches and health practitioners that are doing things online.

So that's where, you know, our conversation can certainly kind of benefit from, hopefully.

Molly: Yes. I'm so excited about this. And so you and I met because we were both in Kate Kortzmeyer's, um, I always call it a mastermind, whoever, whatever program, whatever you want to call it. Okay. So there's so many places I want to take this conversation.

So I'm going to start, start first with, cause you're still, you still take on nutrition clients as well. Like you do. Yeah. So first off, our origin stories of how we came to be in this space are very similar. You took a slightly different path than I did as I seriously considered going back to school to do some type of So this was probably about, I don't know, eight or nine years ago.

And I feel like it's really before I knew that there was such thing as a health coach. I think had I known that that was a thing, I probably would have pursued it. But instead I was just looking like, what am I going to go back to school to be a PA or something? And then I'm going to have to take, I have a bachelor of arts, so I'm gonna have to take all these prerequisites.

I'm, you know, I've already paid off all my student loans. I have a newborn. I have a husband who's always deployed. Like, I'm like, am I really going to do that? And I was like, Ah, marketing what I'm already good at, what my background is in. Like, I'll just help the people who are already doing this market themselves better.

And that's your ripple effect. I love that. Oh, and I love it too. Cause it really grounds me in my, well, I know it's like such a cliche thing to say, like you're why? And I'm like, Oh, I'm like, but truly when you're having a day where you're like, Oh, I don't want to do this. And then I get a message that's like, Oh, someone, a new, new patient found me on Instagram.

It's like, Oh, cool. Okay. Like I'm having an effect on the world, like in a different way. So, so like I said, I just had to point out that our origin stories are so different on how, I mean, so similar on how it's like, we just got fed up and like you said, no one's coming to save you. It's like, it's, it's kind of like the moment you realize like your parents are real people.

You're like, Oh no.

Alison: And there was no handbook? Oh, we could have a whole separate conversation on parenting and what a dream. Yeah, but it's

Molly: just like, oh shoot, like my doctor actually doesn't think about me once I leave there. Oh, yeah. They really don't know.

Alison: Oh my goodness, yeah. The horror stories that I will continue to hear from people, and I'm sure so much of your audience can relate when a patient or client comes to them that it's just like, please help.

Nobody else is helping me. 100%.

Molly: So let me tell you a little bit about who you're speaking to. So I would say the vast majority of my audience are brick and mortar clinicians of some sort, whether they're seeing like patients, one on one, like functional medicine or chiropractors or acupuncturists who are.

There are a lot of people who are either considering adding something online or already got swept up in someone's course with promises of passive riches in the 2020 2021 boom. I cannot tell you how many people are like, I created a course and it doesn't sell or I created this thing and it doesn't, I'm like, well, yeah, you're seeing 200 patients a week.

Like I don't really know. So I kind of just want to like. I recently was at an event and heard a very, very, very well known online business speaker. And this person actually used to be a chiropractor and she was like, yeah, no one's teaching this secret funnel is what she said. And she's like, and it's, you just get the people in like this and then you send them through an automation.

And I'm like. That is the big,

it's not untrue, it's just very oversimplified. And I think business can eventually become more passive, right? And revenue can become more passive and more autopilot. But I think, like I said, I just want to like set the foundation first of like all of these people who feel like they're quote failing. I'm like, you're not, it's a lot of work.

And even, it's even different from when you started your online business. So what are you kind of seeing now as like, but kind of like a typical trajectory and what advice would you give to people who are already like, or are still like full time a mom and a clinic owner? And they're like, God, I really want to take like, I really want to stop trading time for dollars every day of my life.

Alison: I love it because this is still what online practitioners will go through because we all start out with one on one. And so that's where I started too. So even though I wasn't in person in a clinic, it was still very much trading time for money. And we do get to a point where it's like, well, obviously I can't grow this.

And I'm now at a point where I'm constantly repeating myself and I'm feeling really under it. And so there becomes this point where it's just like, okay, this person over here is promising the secret funnel or this magical magic pill, right? This is what we will even tell our own patients and clients not to go do with their health is like, don't go chasing magic pills.

Cause like, that's not really a thing. But then we'll find ourselves swept up in that on the business side, there's so much mirroring that I think happens in our professional development, same with our like health, you know, journey. So I think that immediately off the bat, it's like it was truly never passive, even in 2020 and 21, because I was for sure also kind of doing, you know, the course courses and all those things too.

And I think that it can be, when we look at it more so as an offer suite and not the thing that's gonna come move us to Bali so that we're sipping, I don't know, coconut drinks, and making money when we sleep, you know, like all these things that are like, told to us, again, it's not that it's impossible, it's not that it hasn't happened for people, it's just that we're talking about like, edge cases here, and we're also oftentimes talking about people that are selling money online.

They're selling this. They are selling this lifestyle. They're selling course creation or social media, you know, whatever. In my honest and professional and personal opinion, B2C is a different animal. And we just need to understand that. And it's not that there's not certain ways that we can adapt it. Um, I just think it's really important to understand that.

And I do think that it's great if you want to have a course. I have courses, workshops, meal plans. They are part of an offer suite. They can help people as, as some people will call it, like a taster menu of you, or maybe that's the complete thing that they needed. And that is wonderful. And so there can be more accessible, different options that you can provide.

And that's awesome. But where I have found a really great sweet spot, um, if we want to talk about going more online or having more in your offer suite to offer. And, and let's, let's be real for, for my local clinic owners out there. We're talking about making an international limitless impact now when you are on social media and you're selling an online.

program or product, we are now saying, Oh, you're no longer, you know, in the confines of your town or state, you can now have this limitless ripple effect. That is incredible too. Like I've had clients across the pond in Europe, in Australia, you know, Canada all over the place. And it's awesome because you're connecting with people all over the world that.

They don't maybe have that chiropractor in their town or naturopath or any of those things. It's not a thing there. And so they are looking online for these solutions and for people like you, you know, who are talking about these things that they're like, yes, like, how can I get help for that when that's just like not a thing by me.

So that is also the exciting thing of like, if you were to go from local to limitless, essentially. So I think what I'm trying to say here is something that I have found to be a real sweet spot for me, and I honestly started it in 2020, was a one on one group hybrid solution for people. Because, you know, my niche within health is autoimmune and chronic gut issues.

It's not, and, you know, it's great if your solution or your niche is weight loss and all that, but it's a little bit different in the sense that, like, there's no perfect before and after picture. And even with weight loss, there's obviously maintenance. Um, but it is a little bit more, we do want to be a little bit more handholding with our clients because we know that that's the support that they really need and that they aren't getting in so many other ways.

Even on the functional medicine side, there's still doctors are diagnostic. And so for me and for any health coaches that you might have listening, we are in the day to day. And so it really is just leaning into your superpower on you, you know, your zone of genius, like, where is it that you can help them in their journey?

And then how could that be done in a more remote? Online faction. And there's probably lots of ways, right? And that's why I do offer courses and meal plans and things like that too. So that is something that I have been able to grow a lot. That is, you know, where my sweet spot has been. And that has been really fulfilling as well because that's how they get the best results.

You know, they kind of, they have basically everything. They have our hive mind. In that program, and so that is something that I am a fan of. But to your point, it's like, absolutely. You can do a course. You can do programs that are more so like mine is evergreen, but meaning, you know, I'll enroll people anytime, but we can also do cohorts.

That's how I started where it was. quarterly or monthly or something like that. So if you feel passionate about taking people through a specific process, you can build a program around that. And maybe that's something that you do seasonally to start dipping your toe in, creating the thing. You know, and getting people results and then turning it into more of a machine.

So that's something that I really love for practitioners to be doing is, is finding their way more with that. And then you can break off other stuff into like, of course I want to teach them. So for me specifically, I want to teach them about food sensitivities or, you know, gut health specifically versus all the other ways that I could go with it.

And that could be a nice taster or specifically what that person needs.

Molly: Yeah, I love what you said there because that's actually some of the best advice I ever got. I learned from, do you know Sunny Lenarduzzi? Yeah, that's not, isn't she

Alison: like a

Molly: low ticket or

Alison: YouTube?

Molly: No, she's like a YouTube. YouTube. Yeah, I bought her program ages ago.

I didn't even get to the YouTube part really, which is so funny because The main thing I got from it was like the thought of trying to sit down and figure out modules and record a course was just like, no. And so when I started the hub, I delivered it live over six weeks as a live curriculum, because then you find this is what I always tell people.

I'm like, then you find the holes. You're like, oh, this is where people were understanding. This is where they needed more support. Oh, this lesson was way too long to pack into one thing. This should have been two lessons. And I don't think you get that without, like you said, delivering it live, and it is more work the first couple times.

Do you think something's got to give though? Like say it's this busy chiropractor seeing 200 patients a week. I mean, then they got to go home and be mom or whatever. Like maybe I'm just like, maybe it's just my limiting belief I have, but I think something's got to give. I think either you got to be able to invest in help of some, like a VA or someone to help you get this off the ground.

Or you've got to set aside, hey, there's gonna be four hours on Wednesday morning where I'm not seeing patients and I'm working on this thing.

Alison: And I mean, you tell me better too, because you know, In person clinicians more, but I would be curious if some of them could do an in person

Molly: program as their beta.

Okay, if everyone's listening, I did not tell her to say this. So, have you said that? Because that's

Alison: what I would do, for sure.

Molly: Okay. I'm so glad that I didn't want to like steer you. I didn't want to steer my guests. Like, here's what Molly thinks. And I want you to, I swear that was

Alison: Brett. Yeah. Just pull that out of nowhere.

Molly: I would like my guests to please agree with me. Um, that's what I tell all, all of my people. I'm like, yes, you do have this global impact now. Right. But starting with who you already have is. So much easier. Like, if you want to do a weight loss cohort, then promote it to your patients. And then you've got the real life.

Alison: Exactly. You've got the real life before and after the testimonials so that when you do bring it online, it's like, Oh, I already got all that. Exactly. My sales page is going to rock. My social proof. Yes. Exactly. I've got ads ready to go. I've got these videos. I've got videos. And. And what an even better way to your point of learning on the fly as you are building the thing because you're literally in person with these people.

I mean, that's gold. That's what people online don't yet even have.

Molly: And you could even have like, I think about my book club, for example, it's with my husband's cousins and they're only, they're about 35 minutes for me, but in traffic with what time book club starts, it can be an hour and a half. So a lot of times I'll join book club virtually, even though I'm local.

So it's like, it doesn't mean that they have to be, you know, you could always, that could always morph into something virtual if you're like, well, Hey, the whole reason I'm doing this is yeah, this is exactly what I teach people to. I'm like, start with people who already love you and trust you. Get the social proof then that gives you confidence to be like, wow, this thing has legs

Alison: like it's also here's the thing I think sometimes and if you're hearing this and even wondering I think sometimes people devalue Group programs because they think it's not going to sell as much or it's you know, whatever it is but I have truly found from doing years of just one on one and then I really, I had to pivot to this because I was like, that's it, every single discovery call that I get on from now on, I am not, I'm zipping my mouth on the one on one and I am just saying, okay, the way I work is, and I start describing what is my hybrid Group one on one because they still have their one, like we do their protocols and all these things, but then the actual coaching in between is in group program.

And what I have seen is that they get way better results being with like minded people that are working on the. I mean, think about it, right? That was how you and I met is in a mastermind. It is essentially a mastermind for your health because one of the biggest reasons clinicians will see their, their patients just not be compliant and health coaches will see like, why are they just backsliding into their old defaults?

It's like, well, because that's what people do, but people will do that less when they feel like they're part of a group that is accepting of their new eating patterns of their, you know, of what their interests are, which are health. And when you now have a new group, a new circle that you are accepted in, and everyone's doing the same thing, now you're working out together, and you're going out for, you know, smoothies after, and you're talking about the same stuff, and you feel like you can keep up with this.

And so I've even been able to foster that in an online way, but for my in person practitioners, think about how cool that could be, that you're literally connecting people with their neighbors. That they can go hang out with, that they can have accountability. You can really change their life in a bigger way by bringing it all together for them.

I would join that in a heartbeat. I'd be like, side me up! If you went to your chiropractor and they're like, Hey, love you, love our one on ones, but like, guess what I'm doing? I'm doing a spring detox. Want to come in? Heck yeah. Right. And we're going to

Molly: meet

Alison: in person.

Molly: Yeah. I would love that.

Alison: And then to your point, having the zoom option too.

Great. Yeah.

Molly: Yeah. Oh, I love that. Look at us masterminding over here. All right. Yeah. We're just making

Alison: everyone's program for that.

Molly: I know. Like I'm thinking about, I have some people who just have like, let's kind of pivot away from like the group program coaching. And I want to get your take on downloadable guides, eBooks, like that type of thing.

What are you seeing? Um, cause I also have a lot of clients who either have created like just like a little mini course or a downloadable guide, whatever you want to call it. What are you seeing kind of now in 2025? Are people doing those as free lead magnets? Are they doing like load ticket? I don't know.

Talk, talk me through what you're seeing.

Alison: I am seeing, and I think you and I connected especially over those two topics, like the whole passive income, you know, magic pill. And then also more recently than no, like trust you and me are like on the same freaking wavelength every time we post, but So where I want to go with this is no like and trust.

And I think that it's that that is like a one on one marketing principle, right? Like no matter how you're marketing, no matter who you are, the goal is like, how do we build this no like and trust factor? So when we know someone, if we're doing that online, or we're doing that as a part of an in person brick and mortar, obviously we need to be.

Connecting with people somehow and that is the point of social media so that's why obviously your hub is so important for this just Helping people get out of their own way to put themselves out there and we can use storytelling We can be as consistent as we want, whether that's once a week, twice a week, every day, whatever's going on.

And really showcase more of your expertise, like, I'm here, the light is on, and here's what I want to do. Um, and here's how I, you know, I, I help you, basically. Then we want the like factor, and that's really just showing more of your personality. So hopefully both of those things are happening together in the knowing like, and that that's just Right.

You're just sharing, for example, for me or for you, it might be like sharing about motherhood or this is the skincare that I'm using and it's non-toxic. Cool. You know, like just this, this likability, this relatability of like, oh yeah, there's a lot of practitioners out there, but she gets me. You know, that's like that, that magic sauce, right?

And then the trust factor. What I am seeing is that this. is outweighing everything. I mean, it was always very important, but I just think that over the past, especially five years of us being a little bit more secluded and more online, there has been an explosion, right? There's been an explosion of influencers and experts and course creators, and people have been burned.

People simply don't trust themselves to do it. And with health or Right? Like, that is actually the even bigger objection that you don't see easily. It seems like, oh, they don't trust me, and it's like, well, yeah, they don't know you that well yet. They trust you enough to get in the door or get on the call.

But ultimately, do they trust themselves to do this? Because they have a graveyard of freebies and courses sitting in their inbox that they really haven't completed, they haven't really looked at, or just didn't Right? It just didn't get them results. I think that it's trust. We need to look at it a little bit deeper.

And so it's trust in the sense of, yeah, they want to trust you as a likable person that they know that they think can get them results because you're sharing before and afters, you're sharing your story, you're, you know, you're, you're out there, but then how can we help them trust themselves to do it?

And there's a lot of ways that we can help people trust themselves. Some of it we can't touch. It's really, you know, it's obviously something that's on them, but I do think that freebies are still valuable. I just think it's not as. Simple as like, let me just throw something into chat GPT and Canva and like throw it out there and see what sticks because I think that there's just so much of that.

And if you were to have a freebie, I want it to kind of blow people's minds a little bit. And it's like, holy, this was for free. What is her paid stuff going to be? I think it's just. We, we need to figure out standing out and adapting in an oversaturated market when trust is low. That is our, that's our task right now.

Molly: Yeah. And when it comes to freebies, one, one mistake that I have historically always made is over delivering in. Not the way of like, oh, tell them the what, not the how, like not, that's not what I mean. I mean like giving way too much information to where they don't get a transformation because it's too much.

So I've really had to like, I think about, okay, all the freebies I have, like right now I have one that's like 101 Reels prompts. I'm like, who wants 101 freaking Reels prompts? Like, That's a lot, Molly, like, and I haven't changed it yet, so.

Alison: Being long winded is kind of this archetype, though, of the helper, because we just want to help

Molly: everything.

Like 101. And then there's like a plus sign on it because I couldn't stop at 101. And I'm like, Molly, this is not helping anyone. Like, this is just the people who come to you are already overwhelmed. Right? Like, yeah, let's just pick five and let's do like a step by step of how to make the five. Cause I even pulled my audience.

Cause my, even my OBM was like, well, how about we do 10? And so I pulled my audience and I was like, would you rather have five or 10 and everybody voted five. Well, like two people voted 10.

Alison: That's such great data. I love that. Because. I think all of us can relate as helpers and practitioners and all the things is like, we're a little too long winded.

We're a little bit over teaching. We're a little bit giving away everything. Let me teach you my 25,

Molly: 000

Alison: step process to simply cure you. But okay, but that's the word is simple. I have to always remember this too, whether I'm in a discovery call with a new client or I'm updating modules in my program or anything like that.

It's really like, look, I know that I could. Word vomit all over this person and that might scratch my ego, right? It should be like how much I know already. Yeah, I'm so smart. I'm a practitioner and that's cute, but that is literally not what's going to get anyone into action. It's going to keep them frozen.

It's going to keep them, you know, and absolutely have data to back things up and be able to ask questions and be approachable so that you can show off more of your knowledge and that you're the person to go to. But when you are trying to get someone in action, which I think for my doctors out there, you know, doctors are diagnostic and they are there to be the smarty pants and dig deeper and figure out what's going on with a person.

But there needs to be. I don't know that either this cutoff or you hiring out to bring in someone that can actually be a coach. And what do coaches do? They get their players playing on the field. They have to get them in action. They have to break it down in a way that it's like step one, step two, step three, go.

And that's where people, especially that are burned out maybe on the functional medicine will come to people like me. And they're like, yeah, I spent 10, 000 and I'm sicker than ever. Explain that. And it's like, yeah, you're just, you're frozen.

Molly: No, I got really, um, and if this triggers you as a functional medicine provider, then that's probably a good thing.

I got really burnt out on functional medicine and was like, what, this is no better than, this is no better than, cause now I've spent a thousand dollars on testing. I've got all these supplements and I've got no one to hold my hand. This isn't health. Like this isn't

Alison: it's just the pendulum swinging. So I re I really love when I see a practice that will hire a health coach or refer out.

Like I have plenty of functional doctors that will just refer to me. Cause they're like, Oh, my patient. Actually did all the stuff I asked them to do when Alison was holding their hand a little bit. So that is the idea. Just have a network at least so that your hard work, you know, is actually being appreciated and being put to work, you know?

Molly: Yeah. I mean, and like I said, I just wanna finish that thought and saying, I'm not saying all of that is invalid or shouldn't be done. Like I think there's a time and a place like when I was. For anyone who's been following along, I really struggled back in the fall of 2024, like so bad. That's a whole, I'm actually going to do a whole episode on it.

And I, I hired one of my clients and started working with her one on one again. And she, because she's actually a doctor of Chinese medicine, but she also practices functional medicine, which is what I love because what a beautiful. You know, TCN, it's like very more like, okay, you know, but she did. She was like, you're not on a basic B complex.

I'd like never taken a fish oil supplement in my life. Um, just all this, she's like, you just need some basic nutritional support. She's like, I'm not saying you'd have to be on all of these forever, but like you're in a hole right now. Let's get you out of the hole. And then we can, um, and literally on my last call, she's like, all right, let's look at your supplements again.

What can we take away? And I love that. She's like, let's stop taking this. That's, that's what we like

Alison: to do too, because it is, it's just not asking someone to spend 500 to a thousand dollars a month in supplements. Who's going to do that long term?

Molly: Yeah. And so, like I said, it was, it was a godsend, right?

It's like, it got me sleeping, got me pooping, got me like feeling way more myself. Yeah. So I'm not, I'm not invalidating those things. What I'm saying is exactly what you said. You've got to have a coach. So I'm actually in the process of, I haven't had a business coach in a while and I'm messaging with someone right now.

And I was like, my problem is Like I don't need someone's framework or someone's I I know what I want to do I just need the accountability to get me there and that's where you can be for these people you can be and and that might Not interest you in the slightest. Like I literally have one of my Instagram management clients She's she dabbled in health coaching and she's like, I don't want to tell people what to buy at the grocery store I don't want she's like I She found that she had a quite different niche, which I thought was really cool.

She's going to start doing like concierge. Say you're a C suite executive with Hashimoto's and you're like, where the hell do I start? Right. She's the person who like helps find. Okay, you're still gonna need an endocrinologist, but you're also gonna need this person like so instead of being the person making sense of it for them because that

Alison: is What is so taxing for people to is that they have to pull all this together?

So I love that.

Molly: Yeah, she's like I don't want to put people on protocol I don't want to be the one actually putting people on protocols But I want to be the concierge who's like Sherpa in like here go hire Alison Like find her, like for these people who are too busy to even do the research. And this is

Alison: where network comes in.

So yeah, it's like, if you are a functional doctor, you shouldn't be, you know, a health coach too, like that's, you know, now is where we're, we're trying to say offload things and stay in your zone of genius, but have that network and recognition to say, look, I will be here to diagnose and run these labs and run them like nobody else can, and give you these amazing protocols.

But how are we going to ensure compliance? That's something that I know what doctors always struggle with. So that is where it's like bring in a health coach or something like that. A nutritionist, some kind of practitioner that will then compliment that work. And this is where truly, if you were to say, okay, and how do I do this online?

This is where a course could support that too. I just find that. You know, of course, it's still not a person and of course, it's still not like, how do I ask you questions and that kind of thing. So that's where it's nice to have this little ecosystem. And if we can play the long game, you know, and start to, we're getting feedback.

We're creating these things on the fly. We're doing them in person. Like we're saying it's snowballs. You know, from there and you really figure out how you like to do this.

Molly: And another little like hybrid option, a friend of mine has a course, but then she has an upsell to add on coaching like one on one with her, which I think is so smart too, because there are people who are going to take the course, actually open it, actually implement it.

And everyone knows their own personality. I'm the type, I need the person like I need some, if they're like, have you looked at module one yet? I'm like, yeah, that's another option. If you already have created some type of. or already have created a guide or something, you could sell it as like an option to add on some support with you.

And it doesn't even have to be fancy. It could literally be like Voxer, like walkie talkie. I mean, obviously I don't know HIPAA, like whatever, like I'm not speaking to all

Alison: of them. Well, practice better is great for that too.

Molly: Oh yeah.

Alison: Practice better. That's because that's all HIPAA client and you can do walkie talkie on the

Molly: mobile app, which I love.

Yes. I do that with my, who I work with one on one and she goes, you're my first client to use voice. I was like, you probably wish I'd never figured this out. Yeah, I know. You're like, well, get

Alison: ready.

Molly: He's like, no, I love it. Cause I can hear your tone of voice. Like, do you sound stressed? Do you sound like, do you know?

It is.

Alison: I love it. It's great. Cause you know, there's a nuance.

Molly: Yes. Let's talk about support. I have, I think I've got four episodes at this point of the podcast where I've talked about outsourcing. I think there are just so many people who just try to do all of this themselves and it boggles my brain. Uh, so let's talk about if, if you were, let's say you were, someone came to work with you and you're like, Hey, they haven't even started an email list.

They haven't even done any of this. How would you kind of guide them into like getting support like a VA or maybe they need an OBM or people might not even know what that means. And if you don't, we'll put in the show notes, the episodes where I talk about that.

Alison: Yeah, I love it. To your point, it's like, we cannot take all of it on.

That's something that I did for way too long. Because it's just this idea. I'm like, well, I know how to do that. So I'll just do, I know how to do that. Especially me. It's like, I do, I, I can get in there. I can email list. Yeah, I know all about that. You know? So for me, it was very much just like, why would I, what?

I could just do that real quick. It's never real quick. I don't care how much you know. Yeah, it just isn't. It just, everything will take a little bit longer than you might imagine. So for me, where I have been able to, start with is a VA. Because especially in the beginning, I'm like, I don't, I'm not consistent about what I'm handing off.

It feels like a lot of pressure. Like, I don't know. So to have like someone in between like that OBM thing, I haven't even done yet. That is the goal for sure. But I would say starting with that and then for me, I've then I also have a coach that's in the program helping me so that I am really able to kind of oversee the strategy and it's like how many people are we enrolling and What's, you know, our lead flow and how am I getting leads and all these other things that I am able to look at that and also look at what processes or things need to be updated.

So, you know, you really need to promote yourself earlier than you think. It's just so funny to hear that come out of my mouth because I know that I'm the person that did not listen to that as early as I should have, but you will pay for that. You will pay for that, you know, in your time and energy and all the things.

And so if you want to give your best, To everyone, your team, you know, your practice, your clients, you are going to have to free up a little more space. So you're right. When, when, in the, in the beginning, even when you were just like, something does have to give here. I forget where I heard it. It was some business podcast, but the idea was like, you've got to, if you want your plant to grow, you need to put it in a bigger pot.

before it's right before it starts for any of my, you know, plant people out there. It's like before it starts cracking and then it's stunted and you know, or it starts dying truly because it just has nowhere else to go. So you do need to do it a little bit earlier than you feel comfortable. So that's where I would start.

A VA there's Upwork there's, you know, you can find people overseas. You can, you know, there's so many things that can be done with that, that I think initially is a great start so that it's affordable, it can be part time, it can be contract, um, it can be project based as well. So that's also really helpful where you're, if you're like, you know what, I know I want to do an online program.

Can I bring someone on to help me? That's really smart with practice better, or, you know, when you can like literally look by the app, like who is. in their zone of genius with that that can really just take that off my plate and manage me a little bit in terms of like what they need from me when things are due.

That's that was something also that was really helpful because I was similar to you. I was using Carchar. I still use it for other things, but I wanted to move my program on to practice better. So I found a practice better VA. She knew it way better than me. And she was managing, she was like, this is due, and this, and I'm like, yes, thank you.

Like, I

Molly: can't be bothered with this. No, if it were for this podcast, you know most podcasts only never make it past 20 episodes. It's because people try to do it on themselves. So I literally have, like, professional, I call them professional pesterers, who are like, Molly, your episode's due, or like, I'm charging you anyway, and you're not going to have an episode.

So you know what I mean? Or like, hey, this email's sitting in your inbox to promote the episode. Like, you know what I mean? It's just all this, this stuff that I would never, ever. And other people have different personality types than I do, right? Like there are people who are better at time management, more organized, not ADHD like I am.

But I still think that leads to. Um, even if you're the most organized person in the world, it still can lead to burnout. And so, yeah, like you said, you, there's a couple episodes where I've talked specifically about finding a VA, like you said, where to find them. Yeah. You can find all kinds of people to help you.

Alison: Or get your Gen Z nephew or niece on it. Like something, some, anything is better than nothing. I think I've really come to realize that we need help.

Molly: Yeah, you gotta have, you gotta have some help. And I think it, people think it's going to cost a lot more than it does. I'm not saying, I will say in some of these VA groups, I'm not really in them anymore, but it'd be like, we want someone to code our website and manage our socials and did it at a 5 an hour for, I'm just like, Oh my God, no.

Like

Alison: in those cases too, you're going to get what you pay for.

Molly: Yeah. But I think

Alison: it's so important to Even if you don't charge by the hour, give your hourly rate. Like what is your hourly rate? Probably 100, 150, 200. Like what is actually your hourly rate? And if you can at least pay less than that, you're winning because it's all about buying back your time.

You really, really do have to lean into that.

Molly: Yeah. I mean, hell, I'm always like, so my husband and I, what was this about probably six months ago? We hired out with somebody who comes to our house. Like, I guess it's like a house manager, like five hours a week. And at first he was so skeptical. He's like, I can do my own laundry.

I'm like, okay, you can. Well, how come you haven't been doing it? And then now that we've got her, he's like, we could never go back. Like there were a couple of weeks we had like snow days and terrible weather. And we're like, oh my gosh, have we become feral? Like we so used to having this help. And it's just, yeah, we're just not meant to do it all.

It's a whole nother conversation for another day. Okay. The last thing I want to touch on is before we, how people can work with you is, and I also want to say. A lot of what we talked about today has been more like functional medicine, nutritionist, but all of this applies to like, if you're more like spiritual subconscious work mindset, if like you're like a life type life coach, all this applies to you as well.

That to me is the piece that's always off, like often missing is like the mind body piece. I'm like, you can't just heal this with a stool test and some dysbiosis protocol. We got it. We got to go. Huge on that. We got to go to the

Alison: system. Exactly. Like all these things are so key, which I feel like a lot more people are waking up to, which is great.

Yeah.

Molly: But I didn't want y'all to feel left out if you're listening to this. This applies to you too.

Alison: Any practice. Yeah. Any health,

Molly: any wellness practitioner for sure. So I just want to talk about email because as being someone who focuses mostly on Instagram, I do teach email marketing as well. And I think what most people don't realize is still the majority of my income comes from my email list.

So I don't know if you kind of want to just kind of give like your, your thoughts on email and 2025. Oh girl,

Alison: that's where I started out. I worked at Experian Cheetah Mail for a very long time. That's where I managed, like, oh man. Does anyone remember Borders R. I. P.? So, oh my god, they were like, on par with Barnes Noble.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. See, you forgot about them. Um, anyway, I used to have their email campaign, which was nuts. Cause it was like, constant coupon, anyway. Email marketing is like, in my blood at this point. But, I would say The biggest draw with email is you own, that's your list. You own it, you are not on borrowed land like social media, look at the TikTok hysteria that, you know, happened, or anytime Instagram is down, or making updates, you know, it's like they can do whatever they want.

Ultimately, you are on their free app, and so, you know, that's part of it. The other kind of rub with it is We might be scrolling when we should be creating content. We might be getting distracted when we shouldn't be, right? Like this is kind of the trick with social media that I know I am constantly trying to find the balance and towing the line on.

Whereas email, it's like you can go in there, write, you know, share all these critical things, really nurture people in their inbox. It's one of the most and has always been personal things that someone's going to give you. I know it's not their social security number. It's not their credit card number, but people are not going to just whip out their email address for no reason and stay on your list, right?

We know maybe we'll have some of the freebie seekers that will unsubscribe after, but. Ultimately, to keep opening your emails to keep engaging, that's going to be your closest circle that you can go to and say, Hey, you know what? I'm thinking of doing this. I'm thinking of a spring detox or, you know, what?

Those are like your people. They really wanted you communicating and reaching out to them. Whereas like social media is still, yeah, you're on their feed, but maybe, you know, it's not as reach out and contact me kind of thing. As email is so that's where I think building a brand is really critical. It always has been think of any store that you sign up for their emails and you're opening and maybe you're using their coupons or you're following along with what they're doing or any other brands.

Like, why do you give out your email address? And I think that to kind of tie in what we were talking about with trust, I think that's another key thing. That's like another trust builder.

Molly: How are you? So I mostly build my list right now through freebies with Instagram. I'm used many chat, but if you were just thinking like bare bones, simple, how would you advise someone to like start and grow an email list today?

Well, first I want to say. Use your current patient database. If you already have a hundred percent, you already have a brick and mortar, but let's say you're completely pivoting and you're like, whatever, how would you start?

Alison: I mean, I think that we often forget that the newsletter is a freebie in itself.

So if you were to say, I have a Friday newsletter, I shared like something that I've done before and I should be more consistent. So I'm glad we're talking about this. But for example, sometimes I'm sending out like juicy newsletters. I'm sharing. what, you know, products I'm using. I'm sharing about a paleo Valley affiliate sale that I'm promoting.

I'm sharing whatever it is. Oh, I need to get on your list. Oh, you need to get on my list, babe. But like, for example, um, especially for like cold and flu season, I remember I shared my whole Amazon, like, shopping list for my kids, like all the homeopathy that I was using, all the nose spray, the throat spray, the this, the that.

And I was like, Hey, if you want to know what I'm using for my kids, like it's a huge list, I'm sending it in my newsletter. Or the one time that I made cottage cheese, ice cream tastes really good. I turned it into like a strawberry shortcake situation. And I'm like, if you want this recipe, I'm sending it in my newsletter on Friday.

And it's just these little like. Secret, you know, I'm sending this special thing. This is the freebie you are sitting down for an hour or whatever it is to sit down and write something of value. That's like a brand new freebie you're putting out every week or every month or whatever you're going to do, whatever your cadence is.

And so promote that, right? It doesn't have to be, Oh God, what freebie am I going to promote? Is it going to be 101 prompts? Is it going to be five, you know, like all these things. And it can be like, what I do for like my newsletter is like, three things. There's three sections.

Molly: I love that and I will say One thing I don't think works is, until you have established clout, like right now, who was it?

Was it like Boss Babe or something? They literally have a button that's like, sign up for our newsletter. But that's because they're an established brand. I don't think that any, just anyone can get away with that. I think you have to give a reason. Um, it doesn't have to be a freebie like you said, but it has to be like you, you gave like three examples.

You have to give people, you can't have a button on your link tree or now you don't even have to have a link tree anymore, which I love. That says sign up for our newsletter because there's no what's in it for me.

Alison: It could even be get my Friday favorites. Sign up. Like that's in a better way of saying it, it's still sign up for my newsletter.

Free,

Molly: free Hashimoto's tips to your inbox . Like, that's still something I'm gonna give,

Alison: because guys, me and Molly, did you know, whatever years ago that I started and it was a, it was a blog. It was like I send a recipe a week, you know, just like whatever it is that I'm sending. I'm going to shout about it from the rooftops.

Like if you don't believe in it, if you don't care about it, no one's going to sign up for it. It's really an energy thing at that point. And so it has to be like, no, I love my newsletter. I just spent an hour and a half putting it together. I'm so excited about it. This is what I'm, I'm sharing. And it's stuff that your patients or clients.

are already talking about asking for like, which shampoo do you use or which it can be where you're really building that knowing like that. I'm like, Hey, I'm in your inbox. I'm sending you exactly what I'm doing. Or just a heartfelt letter of like, here's what's going on in my life. Sometimes those do. The best where it's just like, here's a life update and you would think like, Oh, who cares about that?

But they do

Molly: you're talking about like the from the heart stuff There was actually someone I was following who is like big on like teaches like a lot of pr and connections and stuff And she literally just sent a whole newsletter that was so long that it had to have Like text attachments that was telling her whole story of her battle with being in an abusive relationship and had nothing to do with Her business, but she was just like hey like if this can help someone, you know, like, and I read the whole damn thing.

I mean, it was like pages long. If you're ever in a creative rut, I always love to get on Laura Belgray's list. I'll kind of hop on and off her list. Do you ever get on her, have you ever been on Talking Shrimp? All her emails are really storytelling based and they're always really funny. And so anytime I'm in a rut, I'll like hop on and off Laura Belgray's list.

So I love that because she sends a lot. She sends like three emails a week. And so sometimes I'm in a space where I'm like, all right, I don't need distraction. And then sometimes when I'm like, I need some creativity, I'll, I'll come on and off. Okay, Alison, how can people work with you? Even, they, two different ways.

You might need, you might want nutrition support. Oh my god, yeah, all the ways.

Alison: No, uh, so, well, my main account is Food by Mars. Um, so that is where my nutrition stuff all lives. So, of course, if you need nutrition support or you want to send some clients our way, functional doctors, naturopaths, all the, all you guys, I'm here for you.

And then if you're looking for mentorship on really getting online more with your business, with your practice, if you're looking at courses or, you know, more like programs and things like that, I've got you there too. You can reach out to me there or Alison Marras is my new business Instagram account.

And it's just been so much fun to come full circle on, I guess, the two sides of me with the marketing and the business and all that. And then actually doing it as an entrepreneur, because something that I love to do with my business mentees is really pull back the curtain on my business. What's going well for me now, right now?

Like, what am I doing? What am I seeing? Um, and supporting them and being able to just really be their authentic selves. Get their magnetic, you know, get the magnetic on and find their ideal clients and really make a splash online. So

Molly: you've got a large well established audience on your food by Mars. Do you feel like I go back and forth with this?

Is the Amazon affiliate program worth it?

Alison: You know, it depends if you're gonna go hard into it I think like have it set up because whenever I do share something that I'm buying on there or whatever It's like you might as well get paid for it, but I can't say that that's like a An income stream for me, by any means, but I've just never, I'm, that's not something that I've gone really big into either.

It's like, you see these Amazon affiliate accounts that it's like, they're showing you cleaning supplies and cleaning stuff. Like, oh my God, that's, that's something that I'll get like sucked into. And it's like, for them, it makes sense. They've got a million followers and that's all they're doing. And so it's like, obviously they're making money at it, but that is something that I will say is like, it's nice to have diversified income streams that have these.

Affiliate links and stuff like that, but keep it tight. Keep it to what you're really going to talk the most about. That's what I would.

Molly: I love it. Cause I was just thinking, I was like, there's like this one tripod. That's like 11. I'm like, if I said, how much would I make on that? Like 10 cents? Like, I don't know.

Alison: I mean like exactly. I'm just going to share the link. Exactly. It's so small. So it's like for you, I would say make a whole podcast. Or Instagram must haves list on Instagram, and then that's gotta be a part of, I mean, you know this, who teaches, but a part of your content strategy that's like, okay, once a week I'm gonna talk about this, or, or whatever it is, otherwise, forget it.

And you know, it's the same thing with your course, or your digital products, it's like, you can't just make it. And really think it's going to sit out there in the world and people will just buy it. You've got to sell it like anything else. So same for me. It's like my meal plans. Yeah. Once in a while. So even with like, I get a lot of traffic on my site cause it started as a food blog.

So I have a lot of SEO and authority. I'm not getting, like, meal plans, like, constantly, like, no, what's happening if I don't talk about them, nobody knows they're there. Even though they're crawling my website all the time for the free recipes, here and there I'll get a surprise purchase, for sure. But if I'm not talking about it, it's not gonna happen.

So that's the other thing with having, you might have a passive product. But you have to actively promote it. Yeah. I love that.

Molly: Well, we will link all of your stuff in the show notes and I knew I was going to love this episode. Cause I'm so excited. Me too. This was so fun. I'm excited. This was awesome.

Thank you for listening to Holistic Marketing Simplified and hey, you know how every podcaster at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast? Well, that's because it's super important. These podcasts take a lot of time and heart and effort to produce, to bring you free information.

So in order for me to be able to continue doing that, we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day. And To leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag at Molly A. Cahill, that's C A H I L L. I would greatly, greatly appreciate your support.

I know your time is valuable and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.