Karen Przbylski, a licensed acupuncturist and online functional medicine practitioner specializing in perimenopause and GI issues, represents what’s possible when practitioners finally get the right guidance after trying multiple approaches that didn’t quite fit.
Her journey from working in a community acupuncture clinic through COVID disruption to building a thriving online practice with record-breaking revenue months—while working fewer hours and maintaining boundaries as a mom—offers critical lessons for wellness entrepreneurs stuck in shiny object syndrome.
Her Instagram is @perimenopausemadesimple, where she shares relatable content that now converts prospects into booked consultations within days rather than weeks.
The COVID Pivot That Changed Everything
COVID served as a pivotal moment. Karen had been working in a community acupuncture clinic when it closed, forcing reassessment of how to work with kids at home.
She’d previously had interest in functional medicine and decided: no better time to research and pursue it. After finding a program that worked, she became certified in functional medicine about six years ago—the catalyst for starting her own business.
Initially, she worked solely with digestive health issues, having personal history with digestive challenges. She believed she could help many people with similar conditions move through recovery step-by-step without guessing.
But about two years ago, a pattern emerged: her patient demographic was predominantly women ages 35-55, and their symptoms were associated with perimenopause. They weren’t able to connect the dots themselves.
So Karen shifted into the perimenopause space with a subspecialty in digestive health, helping women quiet all the noise. There’s overwhelming conflicting evidence online—nobody knows where to start or what to do.
Advice comes from every direction: eat more protein, but also fast. Take creatine. Build muscle. But the women she serves are overwhelmed, exhausted moms who are busy, don’t have time, and aren’t sure what will stick or work for them.
That’s the gap she now fills.
Many functional medicine practitioners successfully transition to online work, but without the right business structure and marketing strategy, they struggle to attract consistent clients. Learning how to position specialized wellness services so ideal clients understand the unique value is what separates practitioners who thrive from those who stay stuck.
Scattered, Overwhelmed, and Spinning Wheels
When Karen first decided to invest in business coaching, she was scattered, overwhelmed, all over the place, and providing way too much information too fast.
Classic shiny object syndrome consumed her thinking: Maybe I should try this. Maybe I should try that. Maybe I should expand my demographic. Maybe I should be doing YouTube videos. I know I should be on Instagram. I don’t like Instagram. It’s intimidating.
She’d worked with two other business coaches before and wasn’t any further along in her path. She was just more confused with more options. More options wasn’t what she needed.
She needed someone to step back, look at the big picture with her, sort through chaos, and decide what would actually work for her more efficiently while setting appropriate boundaries.
The connection that led to coaching came from an unusual source: 11 years earlier, she’d worked with Alison as a physical therapy patient. Back pain had severely limited her quality of life. That PT work was life-changing—transforming mobility and daily function.
When she discovered Alison now did business coaching, she thought: If she could have that profound an effect on one part of my life, maybe she can help with this part too.
Her only regret: not starting there in the first place. She could have been where she is now a year and a half earlier instead of working with other practitioners and programs, spinning wheels.
But here’s the reframe: It wasn’t time wasted. She came with many puzzle pieces—they just weren’t lining up to get desired results. The previous programs weren’t bad or wrong; they simply weren’t the right fit for her unique needs.
She needed to work one-on-one, not in a group. That was critically important for her learning style and business needs.
The previous investments were stepping stones. Now things just move faster with the right guidance.
Understanding when a program or coach is the right fit versus when you’re forcing something that doesn’t align with your learning style or business needs prevents years of spinning wheels. Finding the right coaching match accelerates growth exponentially.
The First Breakthrough: September’s Record Month
Karen started coaching in August. Within one month—September—she had her best revenue month ever.
The shift came from clarity and permission. Permission to not feel like she had to do it all. That helped her focus efforts, streamline processes, and get good at doing one thing well.
Since she had such aversion to social media, she started working on getting good at developing reels. Prior to coaching, creating two reels took about two hours.
Once she learned the framework, understood the algorithm, knew what hooks were and how to use different elements, it became easier. Actually became somewhat fun.
Getting into better systems and time-blocking her work schedule helped create boundaries, which increased confidence and efficiency.
The discovery calls she had in September—more than she’d ever had in a single month—came from organically attracting people. She attributes it to confidence gained through the coaching process.
September became her biggest revenue month. Though she felt she was working harder then too, because she was still learning new systems and approaches.
Then life happened. Just after Thanksgiving through the New Year, family needs required stepping back from the business.
Navigating Life While Building Business: The All-or-Nothing Trap
Here’s where coaching proved invaluable in a different way.
Karen has an all-or-nothing mentality. The coaching helped her work through: What’s the bare minimum needed to keep business going and stay consistent? How can you keep showing up while also tending to family needs?
This was critically important because it’s easy for mindset to backslide when life happens. It doesn’t mean everything’s over or that not giving 100% to one business area means it will fail.
Following that season, Karen came back in January fully recharged and ready. Discovery call after discovery call filled her calendar. She had her best revenue month ever, worked less, served fewer new patients, and still maintained boundaries—no nights or weekends.
It was amazing. Comparing January to September: the hours put in outside of patient one-to-one time were dramatically higher in September than January. The work became seamless and effortless.
Many wellness entrepreneurs struggle with all-or-nothing thinking that sabotages business growth during life challenges. Learning to maintain minimum viable consistency during difficult seasons prevents losing hard-won momentum while honoring real-life responsibilities.
What Actually Brought the Consultations
A lot of Karen’s traffic comes from Google and practitioner directories where she’s listed.
But here’s what she noticed from discovery calls: People were interested and intrigued by her website, but then they’d go to Instagram to see reels and information she was sharing. That’s what resonated with them and inspired booking calls.
And they weren’t booking two weeks out—they were booking next-day calls. She’d wake up to find new discovery calls scheduled.
This was a dramatic shift from the previous pattern: people booking two weeks out, then canceling. Now people book, stick to it, and arrive with decisions half-made before the call even starts.
It’s all repeatable now. Instagram following is growing, creating a snowball effect that feeds itself.
Initially, Karen didn’t believe she could get new traffic from social media. She hadn’t considered that people would find her website, then look at Instagram to see who she is, how she talks, how she presents information. That connection made them think: “This might be somebody I could work with.”
They see her as a real human being. Her content is relatable. Consultation structure was also refined to improve conversion.
The Consultation Transformation
Before coaching, Karen’s discovery calls felt all over the place. She had ideas and loose structure for how calls should go. Often they’d go off track.
The solution: devise a loose script to follow and bring conversations back to need-to-know information while thinking through the patient’s perspective.
What questions might they have? How to bring language out of practitioner mode into person-to-person conversation?
It’s very easy as a practitioner to speak like a practitioner to another practitioner. It’s different to speak on a level of understanding symptoms, how issues affect life, what life would look like without working on the problem—bringing it to conversational one-to-one level with relatable language.
Understanding how to conduct consultations that convert without feeling salesy is a skill most wellness practitioners never learn in clinical training. Mastering the consultation process transforms how practitioners enroll clients and how clients experience the decision to work together.
The Content Creation Breakthrough
Content creation shifted dramatically for Karen, particularly around authenticity.
What held her back before coaching: feeling like she couldn’t be her authentic, quirky, silly, goofy, Northeast, self-deprecating humor self. That’s who she is at the core.
She felt pressure to be very polished, play it safe, afraid to show too much personality for fear of not being taken seriously.
Trying to be the polished version felt like imposter syndrome. The question became: How to bridge the gap and communicate information to her audience in the most authentic way?
Learning how to create reels with B-roll (first, learning what B-roll even is) showing her silly self living life became the key. Before, she felt pressure to show all of her life. As a private person, she didn’t want that exposure.
The second insight: All content has a goal, and the goal isn’t self-serving—it’s so people she knows she can help can find her.
Gaining followers isn’t about numbers. It’s about approaching women in ways that show she can help them, building trust.
Once she started creating more frequently, reels came easily. She knows what to work on still, but she wants to keep working on reels because it’s something she enjoys. Once she perfects that, she’ll move into carousels and stories.
Reels used to take two hours. Now she can create one in 15 minutes in the car waiting for kids at pickup.
She enjoys it. Her kids have fun with it, taking videos when they’re out. They’re involved, and it’s become fun.
The mindset of “let me focus on one thing, get good at it, master it, then add another” demonstrates evolution from shiny object syndrome at the beginning of coaching.
This translates across every business aspect. She felt pressure to do everything and do it well, which led to doing very few things well while taking a long time.
Now she feels more efficient, calmer. Progress, not perfection. Even wanting to perfect reels, it’s really about the art of making a reel rather than the reel itself being perfect—a subtle but significant distinction.
Many wellness practitioners struggle with showing authentic personality online, fearing they won’t be taken seriously or will appear unprofessional. Learning to create content that’s both authentic and strategic builds the trust that converts followers into paying clients.
What’s Coming Next: Building Recurring Revenue
Karen’s focus for the year: dial in and hone her program. She likes what’s been designed together—structured in two phases—and is working on what comes next in the patient sequence.
The plan: create a membership. She’s excited about exploring what she can offer people who’ve completed their healing journey and are in maintenance mode or want to optimize health moving into their fifties.
Ideas include a membership where clients can continue keeping gains and maintaining momentum, paired with an online program for ongoing reference.
This creates stability and recurring revenue—financial foundation for the business.
Before, she hadn’t thought about next steps for clients basically done working with her. It’s easy to fall back into old habits and backslide. She wants them maintaining progress with support, whether working one-to-one monthly or accessing an online program for reference when needed.
It serves clients well AND serves the business well—a true win-win.
Wisdom for Stuck Entrepreneurs
For practitioners stuck in shiny object syndrome, struggling with content creation, or not getting consultations, Karen offers clear perspective:
It’s completely normal. You’re not alone.
As a solo entrepreneur, it’s easy to feel isolated and think being stuck equals failure. That’s absolutely not the case.
Sometimes stuck just means you’re at a point ready for something to change or add something new. It’s really hard to process that alone. You need someone to bounce ideas with, to provide support and outside opinion, to help navigate and get over the hump to the next level.
Don’t try doing it alone. Don’t be intimidated by tech or social media. Don’t worry about feeling salesy—you won’t lose integrity or prove you’re bad at business.
Being stuck doesn’t mean failure. You can grow and move forward—you just need to troubleshoot what’s happening. That mindset keeps you going instead of causing freeze.
The Boundary Breakthrough: Biggest Revenue Month While Working Less
As a busy mom and business owner trying to do it all, Karen’s boundary evolution created remarkable results.
The shift came from changing how she viewed her business. Comparison is the thief of joy—very true for her experience.
She knew her potential: capable of helping many women, very good at what she does. She felt like a bad businesswoman. That wasn’t true. She just needed guidance on setting things up properly and knowing where she was taking patients.
She knew the journey. There was a clear path forward. Very small tweaks streamlined that path and made it sustainable.
Having that efficiency, walking step-by-step, knowing the next step for each person, having all answers ready—huge transformation. She wasn’t spending time outside work trying to recreate something for every new patient.
She also learned who she’s capable of helping and who she’s not capable of helping—recognizing when to refer out and help someone find another practitioner better suited for them.
For example: she’s not a mold specialist or Lyme specialist. When someone in perimenopause thinks those might be factors or has been diagnosed, she helps them find the right practitioner.
This helps tremendously because clients need the right person. She needs to work with people she’s best suited to help. Not taking patients where she’s not an expert means not working overtime trying to figure out unfamiliar conditions.
Finding her lane and staying in that lane made her more efficient and a better seasoned practitioner in the perimenopause and IBS space. She spends less time outside work working.
That’s the goal: businesses shouldn’t take over lives. Business should be part of life, but practitioners need to live their lives and be present as moms, partners, human beings.
Karen wants to do both jobs well. She doesn’t find herself saying “Hold on, I need to put in an hour or two of work this weekend.” She’s just there, available. That’s been really nice.
She’s sleeping better. She’s connected with her kids more. Everything has improved.
Understanding how to build a practice that doesn’t consume your life while still growing revenue is possible but requires strategic choices most practitioners never learn to make. Creating sustainable boundaries that protect family time while building thriving practice is not only possible—it’s essential for longevity.
The “Salesy” Mindset That Was Actually Service
One additional boundary scenario emerged: when Karen started posting on Instagram in ways that really connected with people, community members she already knew started approaching her—moms from schools and sports.
Many were supportive, excited about her information. But there’s a fine line between supportive interest and seeking free advice.
Learning when to say: “That’s a great question. Why don’t we hop on a call really quick so I can learn a bit more of your history? I don’t want to give bad advice. Are you available Tuesday at 10:30?”—and booking right there.
Prior to coaching, Karen felt asking someone to get on a discovery call seemed salesy.
But the reframe: It reflects and honors respect for their pain points, really wanting to answer their question to the best of ability with knowledge of their problem and background. Being more service-minded rather than salesy—it’s really in their best interest.
So many practitioners face this exact scenario—at soccer matches, at the end of yoga classes, in grocery stores. People approach seeking help from someone they trust and know is an expert.
They’re not being manipulative; they’re genuinely seeking help. It’s up to practitioners to have a process that feels aligned, guiding people to the right place for proper help.
What gets in the way: the primal brain saying “that’s salesy” or “they’ll think I’m pushy or slimy.”
But here’s the service perspective: If someone comes to a call, they’re in a dedicated space—not a community setting where they might not feel safe discussing personal problems. At a soccer match or yoga class, they’re only giving part of the story because they don’t want to share publicly.
In a Zoom room or dedicated in-person space and time, they have permission to share the whole story. Then practitioners can best guide them to the most appropriate solution.
Coming from a mindset of helping and service rather than selling services—which never resonated with Karen—has been a real game changer.
The natural invitation: “I can help you. Let’s talk about this. Here’s a date and time, are you available?” It’s natural, effortless, and anyone can do it.
Final Wisdom: Start Somewhere, Find Support
Life as a mom is busy and confusing. Women are natural tenders and befrienders, so if you’re isolating, try being mindful of that. Find someone who can help work through whatever is holding you back from being your healthiest self.
It’s easy to focus on longevity, but longevity doesn’t mean healthy lifespan. Aging well means starting with health today because choices made today affect how you’ll feel in 10 years.
Just start somewhere. Find someone to work with. Start.
For practitioners in Karen’s position last August—scattered with shiny object syndrome, overwhelmed with all the options, working with coaches who provided more confusion rather than clarity:
Ask for help. Get help. Support is the number one thing that keeps you motivated and maintains momentum when you’re tired and can’t figure it out yourself.
Women need support and are so afraid to ask for it. You’ll expend more energy trying to do it yourself than you will finding a community that can work with you and for you.
The Results Worth Celebrating
Karen’s transformation in under six months created:
Tangible business results:
- Record revenue month in September (one month after starting coaching)
- Even bigger record revenue month in January
- Working fewer hours than September while earning more
- Maintaining boundaries: no nights or weekends
- More discovery calls than ever before
- Prospects booking next-day calls instead of two weeks out (and actually showing up)
- Instagram content creation time reduced from 2 hours to 15 minutes
- Growing Instagram following organically
- Clear, efficient patient journey and program structure
- Recurring revenue plan through membership development
Personal life improvements:
- Sleeping better
- More connected with kids
- Kids involved and having fun with content creation
- Weekends and evenings free for family
- Feeling calmer and more efficient
- No longer working overtime trying to figure out unfamiliar conditions
- Clear lane to stay in professionally
Mindset shifts:
- From scattered to focused
- From shiny object syndrome to mastering one thing at a time
- From “stuck equals failure” to “stuck means ready for growth”
- From “asking for help means I’m bad at business” to “asking for help is strategic”
- From “setting boundaries is selfish” to “boundaries create sustainability”
- From “being salesy” to “being of service”
- From imposter syndrome to authentic confidence
- From comparison trap to staying in her lane
At 66 years old with decades of experience, or at 36 just starting out—the principles are the same. With the right guidance, focus, and permission to not do it all, breakthrough months are possible while working less and living more.
Ready for Your Breakthrough?
If you’re a wellness practitioner stuck in shiny object syndrome, overwhelmed with too many options, working with the wrong coaching fit, or simply not seeing the revenue results you know are possible—you don’t need more information or more options.
You need someone to help you step back, see the big picture, sort through chaos, and identify what will actually work for your unique business and life.
Book a consultation to explore how strategic one-on-one coaching can help you create your own record revenue months while working fewer hours and finally feeling calm instead of scattered.
Your breakthrough month might be just one month away—just like Karen’s was.
Related Reading
- How to Overcome Shiny Object Syndrome in Your Wellness Business
- The Instagram Strategy That Converts Prospects in Days, Not Weeks
- Creating Boundaries That Protect Family Time While Growing Revenue
- From Service Mindset to Sales: Reframing Consultations for Wellness Practitioners
- Building Recurring Revenue Through Wellness Memberships
