Hey there wellness entrepreneur!
Before we get to today’s blog, I want to remind you that I have a Black Friday Special going on. If you are a one-to-one client working with me in the months of January and February 2025, you are going to get access to the Instagram Messaging Makeover Clinic.
This is the clinic in eight weeks where you’re going to learn how to create content faster with more confidence instead of the doubts, the imposter syndrome, the overwhelm that you know will convert to growing your audience and not just any audience because you don’t want to just go viral. It’s an audience of wellness clients that are ready and eager and in fact have been looking for someone just like you and your reel or your content showed up in their feed and they’re excited, they hit follow and are ready to learn more from you and work with you.
So over the eight weeks, I’m going to teach you the strategy on how to do that as well as give you personalized feedback so you’ll be able to drop in reels and captions and get feedback from me and the community so by the end of the eight weeks, you have your own frameworks and protocols and know what hooks are and how to create a 10-second reel easily so you can again grow your audience of excited wellness clients so you can grow that six-figure and six-figure plus online wellness business.
So if you’re interested in one-to-one and getting that clinic for free, just book your FREE consult. Click this LINK to secure your spot working one-to-one with me.
You can also purchase this clinic as a standalone if you want to be part of the Instagram-focused program for two months, you want to hit it hard, go intensive, and grow that audience and build that six-figure online wellness program by having excited wellness clients. Head on over to this LINK to find out how to get it as a standalone.
All right. Let’s get to the blog!
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Hey there wellness entrepreneur. Welcome back!
Today, I’m honored to have on my client and special guest Dana Podell who is a pelvic health physical therapist and yoga therapist online and in-person. She’s going to tell you all about her entrepreneurial journey from just starting out in business because she just started her business a few months ago, to now having 12 patients and in just less than three months. So you’ll read all about her stories and the secrets that helped her to get there.
And I want to remind you because we are in Thanksgiving week that I do have a Black Friday special going on right now. You will get the Instagram Message Makeover Clinic. It’s eight weeks to messaging that magnetizes your ideal clients and catapults your online wellness program to six figures and beyond so you’ll know how to create content in less time that is more effective to growing an audience, that is not just any audience, it’s an audience of wellness clients that are excited and ready to buy for you.
So it’s eight weeks to doing just that so you can get that for FREE right now if you decide to become a one-to-one client with me in the Awaken Business Coaching Program and are working with me in the months of January and February in 2025 as well as you can purchase this program as a standalone. It will be starting in January 2025.
So let’s get to Dana’s story and know all the golden nuggets that she has to deliver today!
Alison: Hello there wellness entrepreneur. Welcome back! Today, I’m honored to have on my client Dana Podell. She is in the Chicago area. She is a pelvic health physical therapist and works online and she is a yoga therapist. Dana Welcome!
Dana: Hi. Thank you for having me. I’m so happy to be here!
Alison: Awesome. Yes. I’m so happy to have you!
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Question to Dana: Tell everyone a little bit about what you do and how you’re helping people these days.
Dana: Yeah! So like you said, I’m a pelvic health physical therapist and I also offer yoga therapy and I recently just opened up my own private practice in Evanston, which is right outside of Chicago and I work with people one-on-one for pelvic health PT and also yoga therapy and then I also offer group yoga classes. There are local studio and different workshops and also online.
Alison: You do a lot. It’s amazing! All right.
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Question to Dana: So you’re newer in your business journey. Tell everyone, when you started a business, what prompted you to start your business? Because there might be people listening that are in a burnout mill type healthcare setting or massage clinic or something like that. So what really inspired you to start your business and how did you get over any obstacles into like taking the leap of faith?
Dana: Kind of what you just said, I had reached the place of really severe burnout and it’s really interesting because now months later, I can look back and see that I was really burnt out. But in the process, I don’t think that’s what I would have said and it sure is, and I can now see that I just needed to find a way to have a schedule where I actually had time to take care of myself.
And working in a traditional physical therapy clinic, the expectation is that you’re seeing patients back-to-back and maybe you have a 30-minute lunch break and you might not even have time to go to the bathroom and that to me was just really not sustainable and I did it and it was a great way to learn and see a lot of patients in the beginning, but long-term, it was just taking a big toll on my health.
I had also worked for smaller private practices and even as a student, did my critical training in private practices. So I was always like interested in the business side of it and I kind of got to see it I was working for smaller businesses and then I thought, you know what, I can do this! Instead of someone else telling me my schedule, I would love to have full autonomy of my schedule and actually have the time to take care of myself.
Alison: Yes! And take care of your people the way you like, you really vision, because you have a lot of skills and training and sometimes our volume or at the length of time that we can spend with someone is dictated either by insurance or the clinic based upon their business model.
Dana: Yeah! Absolutely! And not all PTs or yoga therapists or even have a yoga background, which is completely okay, and I think everyone has their own specialty but that’s something I love and I’m so passionate about and I was even a yoga teacher before becoming a PT that it felt like it just had to be a part of my practice and it felt very restricting when I was in a clinic space where I couldn’t integrate it as much as I wanted to.
Alison: Yeah. And in fact, I remember when we first started, it was pretty segregated. In fact, our first work together was integrating the work together into a session of a package and saying instead of being like, oh they’re coming to me only for yoga or they’re coming to me only from PT.
Dana: Yeah, that was huge for me. And I’ve realized I can’t split my brain and ask all of the information I have is in my brain and I’m going to bring it into any session and I loved that. That was very pivotal from the beginning of like, yep, this is all the information I have and I’m going to bring it no matter what the session is called. Whether it’s physical therapy or yoga therapy.
Alison: Yeah! And it just simplifies everything because no matter where you show up, whether it’s a yoga class, a workshop out in the community and meeting people, a referral, all roads lead to the same package. It just is so much simpler.
And then when they’re in a session with you, you can determine how the tools you’re going to pull from your tool ballot at any moment, whether it’s rest, work, or some traditional PT strengthening or something there in the moment, you don’t have to say, “Oh, well, shoot. I can’t do yoga right now. That’s a different price point, a whole different other session, so can we reschedule that for tomorrow?”
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Dana: Yeah, exactly. And I also felt when I worked in a larger clinic, it’s like, “What is she doing just dreaming in the corner?” You know? A little bit of like, “That’s really not traditional! Why are they lifting weights?” But even though it’s so important and it’s a huge part especially of pelvic health. It’s a huge part of the healing process.
Alison: Yeah! And having your business just opens you up to that freedom. I remember one of the first things I did when I got my first business as a physical therapist by brick-and-mortar, I decorated it like a spa. I was like, I don’t want to be one of those noisy gyms. Like, that’s not soothing and nourishing for the nervous system. I want a calm, serene place where people come in and they can take a deep breath and, “I’m at Alison’s. I’m going to get some help now. I’m going to feel better.”
And some of my PT friends when they would come into the office be like, “Wow! This is like a spa. It doesn’t feel like a PT office.” I’m like, exactly! Right? So you can create it however you want!
But you’ve done a really great job with that and integrated your sessions very quickly and it’s such a common thing. I talked to so many people whether I’m communicating with them after a master class or they are a client and they come to me and they have all their certifications and all their skills all separated into different offers and it just makes it a more complex business for both you and your audience, the client, because they don’t know what to choose a lot of the time.
Dana: Yeah! That it’s really helped me and it put less pressure on me actually to be wearing my yoga hat or wearing my PT hat and now I can just have a really large hat with lots of skills and don’t have to be switching between these two different roles that I was trying to pray and it’s all just me and I can bring it into every session
Alison: Yeah! A hundred percent!
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Question to Dana: Let’s come back to that schedule because when we first started working together, your schedule actually was pretty busy with classes and workshops and now today we just talked about how you feel you’re working less, but you’re making more. So let’s talk about that.
Dana: Yeah! Initially when I first started, I was really active with my yoga classes and the workshops I was offering but I didn’t have as many one-on-one clients. That was the biggest change and I have found a way through like our sessions together and also a little bit of an error to make sure that I’m scheduling so that I have the time I need for self-care and I’m not burning out and one of the pieces of advice that you gave and I believe it was on one of your on-demand recordings was the scheduling of seeing a couple of patients maybe two patients and then taking a 30-minute break and then seeing two more instead of that back to back to back to back to back and then maybe the end of your day or a short break.
It’s changed everything for me to pace myself and it feels like now I’m not working as much because I think I just have more time to like really take care of myself in the middle of the day.
Alison: And also I remember too, you were teaching sometimes you had some really long days where you might have a client in the morning and then you were teaching yoga series at night with this huge gap in between so we also talked about staggering your days as well.
Dana: Yeah! And trying to find the balance of the scheduling between the one-on-ones and also the workshops because those what I’ve learned take a lot of time and a lot of energy and preparing for that and understanding, this is going to take time to market and that’s going to take time to plan the actual workshop and then the energy it takes to deliver it and then kind of like the wind down after.
Alison: Yep. That’s the process. Time for all of that. Especially because speaking from two kind of introverted people. It’s definitely the process.
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Question to Dana: You do teach a lot of classes and workshops and part of the process we’ve been working together has been both filling the workshops, making sure they’re filling and getting clients from your classes and workshops. So tell everyone a little bit about that process because it’s often an area where they get stuck.
Dana: So that’s been the biggest transformation for me. I think since starting with this coaching is that when I first decided to start my business. I had one one-on-one client and I had a lot of anxiety around that like, “Where are the people? How am I going to get clients?” And I remember it was probably our second session, you were like, “Well, what about the people in your yoga class?” And this light bulb went in my mind! I’m like, “Oh, yeah, they probably need to see someone.” I didn’t even think about it! It wasn’t a thought in my mind.
And we worked on together teaching the class in a way where I will share a client story, to put up the seat in the class and then after the class, if anyone comes up to me which was starting to happen, to schedule a discovery call at the time. But they came to me which was really transformative instead of, “Here’s my e-mail, contact me,” because oftentimes they would never really reach out to me and it was like, “Well what happened to this person? Do they still need to see me?” When I had them on the schedule or the call, I knew, “Okay I’m going to talk to them and then I can explain how I work,” and what’s the process from there.
Alison: Yeah! I love that! And again, it’s simple and now it’s repeatable and you’ve repeated it many times because now you have 12 clients a week. Is that right?
Dana: We have 12 to 13.
Alison: Yeah! Exactly! Which is amazing. That’s huge and in just less three months about, right?
Dana: Yep! About three months!
Alison: Amazing! That’s awesome!
Question to Dana: So tell us a little bit if you don’t mind sharing about your revenue where you started to and what your goals were and what you’ve achieved now, to just to give people some grounding reality numbers.
Dana: Yeah! Sure. So, I don’t know if I’m going to be a hundred percent accurate, but I’ll try to remember. I mean initially because I was just teaching the yoga classes and had a couple of workshops here and there, it was pretty low. It was like around a thousand dollars, I would say, and then after working together, I think for a month, I think my goal was $2,000 and I’m pretty sure I reached $4,000. It was like double. I was like, what? And then after that it’s kind of been like that. I haven’t been double but then I think my goal was maybe $5,000 and now it’s up to $7,000 so I’m hamster-packing my goal, but by much more than I ever thought I would and in such a short time. I mean, it’s really only been three months, almost three months. So it’s incredible to me.
Alison: Yeah! That’s amazing!
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Question to Dana: I think you really have to congratulate yourself because in the beginning a lot of entrepreneurs are like, “Okay I’m going to go it alone and try for a bit by myself.” But you recognize like, “Okay, I think I do need help.” You reached out to someone I think we communicated it a little bit on Instagram. We talked and ultimately you decided to work with me and when your revenue isn’t as high as you want where it is tight with what you’re investing in coaching and what you’re bringing in, it can be really scary. So what prompted you to take the step and do the business coaching?
Dana: Yeah! I mean looking back, when I first made this decision, it was a little bit out of to start my business. It was a little bit out of necessity because I was burnt out. I wasn’t feeling well. I thought, “Okay, I need to have more autonomy over my schedule.” But when I started the process of getting everything up and running for my business, I reached this point where I felt like I really just didn’t know what decisions to make and then that led to a lot of anxiety and I started to feel really anxious. Am I making the right decision? How am I going to find people? How is this going to work?
I also just recently moved back to the Chicago area. I grew up here, but I haven’t been here for a long time. So it was a little bit like starting new and it was a lot of just new happening at once. New business, just moving back, and I think I just realized, if I’m going to go through with this, I need some support and I remember saying to a good friend of mine, I’m like, “We’re not in therapy right now, every therapist needs a therapist, but I’m in therapy. I need something.” And I looked at coaching therapy for this new risk I was taking and so that it could help me be less anxious and that was the number one thing I noticed from our first couple of sessions. I just felt less anxious. It didn’t feel that all of the pressure was just on me. I felt like I had from what I could share it with which really helped me feel more confident and secure in my choices.
Alison: And you’ve really come into your own. You have the ability to take something and run with it. I remember for example early on when we were working together, you had a workshop and we were working on some messaging and like most and every physical therapist that comes into marketing, we always mark it from our PT brains at first until we know how to write the words that connect with our audience and kind of their words and we had one session on and I think I give you a little feedback on a flyer but that was it and then you sent me the flyer again to be reviewed and I was like or I saw in your e-mail and I was like, “Right on,” and that workshop sold out!
Dana: Yeah! That was a great one. That was for lower back health. That was a yoga for lower back. That was great and also it got me out of my habit because I had been writing some content or some time, before even I just had my own Instagram and did some of my own newsletters and it was so habitual I was just writing the same thing over and over again and through our conversation, “You’re like dry at this man!” I’m like, “Oh, that’s another way,” and yeah, it really helped for a lot!
Alison: Yeah! And also, speaking of schedule and timing, we’ve been working on reels. I think I remember you were saying like one reel took you 90 minutes and I was like, oh, no, no, no and we found out that actually that one reel which was amazing, so informative, could be cut into four reels!
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Dana: Actually, yeah, that’s something I’m still working on and I think a little bit of it is to be very honest, my perfectionist self which I’m trying to recognize and not have it be a roadblock to putting it content out there that was something we actually talked about in our session today of sharing it even if it’s not perfect because then you can reshape it and share it again later in a way that you maybe see is more helpful or beneficial.
Alison: Yeah! Later on, every time you put a piece of content out, then you’re going to get data and feedback on. You’re going to be like, “Oh that resonated! People liked it!” Or, “Oh, one might have fallen flat,” which happens to all of us, especially me now where I’m testing like a ton of content but it’s just remembering it’s not personal, it’s just often the messaging or sometimes especially with reels, like the visual was a little off or it was too long which is really common. It’s all these factors but you really don’t know until you put something out there to try and passed and get feedback on it so then that’ll inform future pieces of content.
Dana: Right. Yeah. I’m getting less nitpicky, I’ll say. In the past, because I had been creating reels before this process, I just, it would take me almost like a week to make a decision, am I going to post this because I wanted it to be the perfect way. Maybe it was prolonging it because I was doubting but now I’m just realizing, it’s kind of a trial and error and you have to be and learn as you go and you won’t know until you post.
Alison: Yeah, a hundred percent! And what you said is so relatable. I think we’re all there at sometimes doubting it, but I found a hundred percent as well is like at the time the effort to do the trial and error is really worth it when people start connecting or sending you messages and being like, thank you for posting that, I really needed to hear that today, that changed my perspective, I really need to work with you, and then you’re like, “Okay I’m on to something now.”
Dana: Yeah! And something we were talking about today also is just how it can, I saw it this way is, how you know and your Instagram audience kind of like teaching a yoga class where you’re giving out a message to a lot of people and some people might really resonate to and another people might not and that’s okay! Then people that resonate with it, they’re going to come to you, not everyone’s going to love your yoga class, but that’s okay because the people who do will keep coming!
Alison: Yeah! A hundred percent! Very well put! I love that and it is speaking and focusing on those people and anything that you do.
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Question to Dana: So tell us, as you’re building your clientele, what are you working on next do you think so right now?
Dana: I’m in the process of, I just put out my first promo for the holiday which is exciting! That’s going to be happening the first two weeks of December where I’m going to be having with any purchase of a package, you get a free 60-minute yoga flow and relaxation session. So I’m working on that right now.
I have another workshop coming up in November and then I’m in the process of branding for more workshops series in January, February time and then other than that, just keeping up with my regular schedule and giving the best care that I can because that’s really what’s most important to me.
Alison: Yeah! And I see you with all this getting a wait list really soon and then it’s on to the next phase whether that’s raise your price or bring in a group program of some point. That’s a little higher ticket than a workshop. There’s a lot of avenues that you can go now that you have consistent revenue coming in and a fully booked schedule and growing your audience on Instagram because then that also just gives you, when you have an audience and you’re continuously growing that audience and you’re seeing that you’re in demand and people want your work, you feel so much more confident and then you can have choices like, “Okay, well, maybe I’ll do this or I’ll do that,” and you get rolling! So you have a world of potential ahead of you!
Question to Dana: So what would you say to the entrepreneur that maybe feels stuck or is hesitant to ask for help or get help?
Dana: I think I would say that if you’re at a place in your business where your own sense of peace maybe it’s your mental health or your physical health is being affected by the way that you’re working or your stressed about your business and what really helped me was to view this coaching as from sort of like therapeutic support and just like you offer that to your clients in whatever capacity, you also need that and you’re going to get it from it. It’s going to help you in lots of ways and it’s going to help you shape your life so that you can sustain what you’re trying to grow.
Alison: Yeah! A hundred percent. I love that!
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Question to Dana: That deal of the free yoga therapy session is amazing. So if anyone is curious of trying yoga especially for someone that is so focused in pelvic health issues and women’s health, where can they find you?
Dana: So you can find me on Instagram. My Instagram is @danaPTyoga. And then my website which is danaPTyoga.com. That’s the best way to contact me! I also have a free discovery call at 30 minutes and we can talk. I can answer any of your questions or I can give you our information and I’m in Chicago in Evanston, but also starting online. That’s something new that I’m also getting up and running which is really exciting!
Alison: That is exciting! Especially because we didn’t touch on this, I’m going to cycle back there briefly, you did a big move! You moved from abroad, so you have friends abroad and maybe even family members over there? I’m not sure, but people you can help abroad and I remember talking, you’re like, “Well, the insurance is so different here,” but now you have so many ways to help them.
Dana: I know! I was just, because I just put out the promo today, I just got a message from someone who lives abroad and she’s like I wish we could work together. And I just said to her, “Well now I’m doing online session,” and oh it feels so good because I would love to work with her and help her.
Alison: I love that! So much potential.
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Question to Dana: Well any parting words of wisdom for everyone listening today?
Dana: I would say, if you are on the fence of getting a business coach and you’re looking for one, go for it. I think it’s so worth it especially if your health is being affected, you deserve it, and you will feel better. Signing up and doing it. I mean I wish I could go back a couple of months and tell myself that because I will be very transparent, I was nervous about signing on with the coach. I had never done it before and it is a big financial investment, but it is so worth it and I’m so happy I took the leap because I don’t think my business would have grown as fast as it has and I don’t know if I would have been as healthy in the process, which is really important and I really value that!
Alison: Yeah! A hundred percent and I want to say I still get nervous. In fact, I just re-enrolled with two of my masterminds just this month. Two in one month. I was nervous! I’m like, but now that I’m in it, I’m like, yeah, I’ve already gotten my money’s worth. I’m like, yes, here we go. So being nervous is normal and it’s an investment. So your brain has a right to be nervous truthfully!
Dana: Right! Exactly! But I think once you go for it and you’re in it, I’ve just had such a positive experience that now I don’t even think about that. It feels like forever ago. Like oh, yeah, I was nervous about it.
Alison: Yeah Amazing. I love that!
Question to Dana: And what kind of advice do you have for the people, the entrepreneurs that are teaching out in workshops in classes, but are afraid to feel like slimy or promotion or talk about client stories or their work in classes. What would you tell them because you are helping so many people now because you had the courage to do that and get over that hump.
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Dana: I would say people are looking for you. They really are and you might not even realize that I’m having people come up to me in my classes. I would never expect that person. I’m always saying like, oh this person’s going to reach out to me after class. It’s always the very unexpected person who ends up being a long-term client.
I have someone who’s now been with me all three months and it’s been wonderful and she’s doing so much better but if I didn’t share and if you don’t share your clients’ stories and you don’t make it known that you are a clinician in whatever form and that they can come see you after, they’re not going to know and then that’s just missed opportunity for them when they could be getting help or if they need.
Alison: Yeah! A hundred percent. I could not have said that better. Everyone needs to re-read that over and over again and share that with a friend that gets stuck. Yeah, nice job. Thank you for sharing that! You just help so many people right now. Well, thank you so much for your time and coming on today and sharing your journey and your wisdom.
Dana: Yeah! Thanks Alison! I have to say and this experience so far has been wonderful and I’m so grateful for you and I’m glad I took the leap. It was really worth it.
Alison: Yes! Me too. It’s been a pleasure to work with you!
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