In this episode of the Dietitian Success Podcast, I sit down with Kim Tirapelle, RD, CSSD, founder of Active Bariatric Nutrition, to talk about how she transformed her one-on-one private practice into a scalable group program — Bariatric Strong.
Kim has built an incredibly successful business by combining two highly specialized areas of expertise: bariatric nutrition and sports nutrition. In this conversation, she shares how she found her niche, grew her business through podcasting (her top referral source!), and launched her first group program designed to help post-bariatric clients build strength, muscle, and confidence.
Inside, we cover:
- How Kim combined bariatric and sports nutrition to create a truly unique niche
- The mindset shift that helped her stop doing one-off sessions and start selling high-value packages
- How podcasting became her #1 marketing channel (and why she doesn’t rely on Instagram reels)
- What it really looks like to build and launch your first group program from scratch
- Lessons learned from her first launch — including metrics, mindset, and what she’s changing next time
- How she’s using her data to prepare for future launches and build toward a membership model
Whether you’re thinking about launching your first program, scaling your private practice, or just want a behind-the-scenes look at how a fellow dietitian entrepreneur built something truly sustainable — this episode is a must-listen.
Links:
- Check out the *NEW* Entrepreneurship Tier of Dietitian Success Center https://www.dietitiansuccesscenter.com/entrepreneurshipfordietitians
- Follow Kim on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/activebariatric/
- Check out the Active Bariatric Nutrition Podcast: https://activebariatricnutrition.com/podcast/
- Follow @dietitiansuccesscenter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansuccesscenter/
- Connect with Krista, your host (@kristako.rd) on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristako.rd/
Transcript:
Hey there, and welcome to a new episode of the Dietician Success Podcast. As per usual, I’m your host Krista call. In today’s episode, I am sitting down with Kim Tirapelle of Active Bariatric Nutrition. Now, if this name sounds familiar, Kim has been on the podcast before to talk about marketing and podcasting.
But this time we’re diving into something different, how she actually transformed her, fully booked one-on-one practice into a scalable group program called Bariatric Strong. Now, can we just take a moment for that niche post bariatric clients who want to build strength and muscle. Okay, bariatrics layered with sports performance.
I love this so much because it’s so focused, it’s so differentiated, and overall it’s just such a smart evolution of Kim’s work. So. In this conversation, Kim shares what she sells now, why she chose such a specific niche. We talk a lot about podcasting and how it became her number one growth channel. And then we really dive deep into group programming.
So if you are somebody who has been interested in launching a group program. This episode is for you. We talk about pricing. We talk about launch metrics. We talk about lessons learned, things that work, things that didn’t work. It’s super transparent and you’re gonna walk away with a lot of practical action steps.
Now, Kim and I worked together one-on-one on her business last year, and if you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while. You know that over the years we have offered different forms of business mentorship, business coaching, a business tier of our membership of the Dietician Success Center membership, just depending on what we’re building at that time.
Now, I’m so excited to share that in March, 2026, so. Right now we are officially launching the Entrepreneurship Tier Inside Dietician Success Center. Now this really is our most refined and intentional business offering to date, so. Inside the entrepreneurship tier, you’re gonna receive a focused one-on-one strategy session with me, so it actually kicks off with a one-on-one coaching session with me personally.
Founder of Dietician Success Center, host of the Dietician Success Podcast. To map out your next two to three high impact action steps. So this is really intended to be that kickoff for you to start your full year of the entrepreneurship membership so that you feel like you have clarity and that you’re starting things off on the right foot, right?
A lot of times we find ourselves feeling. Stressed or spending a lot of time in analysis paralysis around, is this the right next step or is this the right first step? So whether you’re just starting your business or you’re in the growth phase of your business, this is that point. This is that coaching call that’s really gonna help to get you unstuck and help you move forward with clarity.
So then what happens after that kickoff call? Well, after that kickoff call you get. It full access to our entire entrepreneurship library, of course, content and templates, but then you also get access to what we call our on demand business coaching feature. Now, I’m obsessed with this feature. It’s so unique.
I’ve never seen anyone else offer it. And essentially how this works is you can actually submit a video or an audio question, business question to our team throughout the year. And you can receive personalized responses back from either myself, Olivia, Maria, depending on who is the most appropriate person to answer that question.
So again, if you are feeling stuck throughout the year. You can just pop in and you can ask your question and you can get a response within 48 hours. Um, so it’s really that way for you to be able to get coaching while you need it. In the past we’ve tried to offer, you know, things like, um, group coaching calls every week or every two weeks.
And what we’re finding is a lot of times people. Would not necessarily come to those calls because they would feel like they needed help with something at a different point in time during the week and you know, they got a solution to that or they just felt like they wanted more of an individualized approach.
So this is really our way to be able to offer that. So you can submit two of these on demand business coaching questions a week, which is pretty awesome. Uh, the other thing we’re adding is what we’re calling biweekly drop-in office hours. So this is where an expert in a different area of entrepreneurship comes in.
So whether that’s strategy, whether that’s Instagram, legal, bookkeeping, course creation, they come in for the full hour. Virtually, and you can pop in or you can come and watch the whole session. And it’s basically just an open q and a related to that topic so you can really get your questions answered by the people that know what they’re talking about.
Um, and by the way, if you’ve previously joined DSC at the business tier. If you have business access right now, you’re automatically gonna receive access to these office hours so long as you keep your membership active. So this is just a thank you for your long-term commitment to us. We really value our longstanding members.
We value all of our, our members, um, and we wanna continue building with you. So all of the information about the new entrepreneurship tier of the membership can be found, can be found linked in the description of this episode. Okay. With that, let’s dive into this episode with the amazing Kim Elli.
Kim, welcome to the podcast. It’s so good to see you. So good to see you. Thanks for having me. Of course. You have been on the podcast before. We talked about podcasting. I don’t even know how long ago it was probably more than a year ago. I don’t even remember. It was such a great episode. Yeah. Yeah. One or two years ago maybe.
Yeah. So we talked about marketing. We talked about how podcasting has been a big channel for you, so we’ll obviously get to that. For anybody who hasn’t listened to this episode or who, who didn’t listen to that episode isn’t familiar with your work. But first, maybe you can just give us a little Kohl’s notes of your background as a dietician and how you got to where you are today.
Sure. Yeah. So I’ve been a dietician for 18 years and um, my first position was clinical. Um, and I actually covered the bariatric floor where patients had surgeries and so I was the inpatient dietician that helped them when they were getting discharged with the education. And so that kind of started my, um, you know.
Understanding my, a little bit of my background in bariatrics, which is, is now my, been my business this whole time. Basically my, whole practice is around bariatrics. But throughout that time I also had an interest in sports nutrition because I was a collegiate athlete myself and. Being an athlete, I wanted to learn more about, you know, how to eat properly to fuel, you know, and be better as a soccer player.
And so as I worked in my clinical position, I also had volunteered initially at a division one university here where I live, , to work with the athletes. And eventually it became a consultant position. And I worked there for seven years working with, um, all the athletes here at Fresno State. So that was really exciting and fun.
And I did that kind of in my additional time after I would leave the hospital or even in before. Um, and so. What was great about it was, is I was getting a lot of clinical, you know, um, training because I was working on the inpatient side. Um, and then I also was able to do the sports nutrition side. And as my career kind of moved forward, I moved more into the outpatient side of bariatrics and I actually was in a position for the last.
10 years, working in an outpatient bariatric surgical center. And the biggest thing that I found was people had questions about, Hey, now that I’ve had surgery and I’ve lost all this weight, I would like to start lifting and gaining muscle. Or I would like to train for a marathon. And of course, when you’ve had bariatric surgery, you’ve had your stomach, you know, reduced in size, you know, obviously the surgery is limiting your overall intake.
And that is very hard for then someone that’s wanting to move more has specific training and fitness goals because you need more nutrition for that. So two was it about, oh gosh, three years ago now, in 2022, I decided to leave my clinical position and open up my private practice, which is called Active Bariatric Nutrition, where I work with, uh, clients who have training and fitness goals after bariatric surgery and wanna learn how to fuel.
For those, uh, particular goals. So it’s been great and you helped me get that all launched back in 2022. And it’s just been, it’s been great these last three years, kind of seeing the business change over time. And I’ve really enjoyed it. Awesome. Can you talk a little bit about your experience with choosing such a specific niche and whether that was challenging for you because it is so specific, it’s bariatric and then it’s sports layered on top of bariatric.
Yeah. So tell me a bit about that. Yeah. Well, you know, personally for me it was, it really was part of my passion areas, right? I had worked with bariatric patients throughout my career when I. I worked inpatient and outpatient. And so I had obviously a, a, you know, strong background in that. And then paired with the sports nutrition part, which again, was again a personal interest of mine.
Um, and what I found though was that there really was no, nobody out there to answer the questions that these folks had. And, there really isn’t a ton of research, unfortunately in this area, particularly on how to fuel someone that’s had bariatric surgery or that’s in a very low caloric environment.
And so I, I found that it was helpful for me because on. Honestly, it helped me to use the two areas of nutrition that I’m most comfortable with and have the most experience with. So combining those two areas and really just targeting in on those people helped me because I then I, I had all the resources made, right?
I, I didn’t have to, you know, try to answer 800 different topics and questions every single day, which I used to do when I was on the inpatient side. And, and for me, really dialing in and focusing on one particular area, as much as that might sound scary, like, oh my gosh, now I might have less people. It actually.
Drove more folks to me because I was the only person that did that particular area. So honestly, looking back, I, I’m really glad that I focused on just one area. It’s been much easier for me. Mm-hmm. And I think too, and this has been a, I feel like a less, I was just at a business workshop last week and they were talking about how you can only really be excellent at one thing and it really gives you permission to be.
Excellent at that specific thing and really own your space as like the go-to expert for that one thing. Go deeper on that one thing versus trying to compete with everyone else that is serving all of these different population groups. Right. No, I can’t agree with you more. And truthfully, as a dietician, I, I, I found that over the years of, you know, it was, it was, yes, I learned a lot.
I’m glad I had the experiences of, of treating patients with all wide variety of diagnoses. But once I focused in it, it really just allowed me then to learn more specifically about these particular patients and their, you know, struggles and obstacles. And it just allowed me to become better at it. So, I agree with you so much on what you had to say there.
Yeah. Okay. So you started with launching your practice as a one-on-one nutrition coaching practice. So tell me a bit about that. Let’s, well, for those who, obviously I know a little bit about this, but for those that are listening that aren’t familiar with the backstory, just tell us a little bit about how you structured the offer and what that looked like.
So when I first started, I, I kind of wanted to just, you know, roll into what I had been doing right, which was all one-on-one work. And, and I felt comfortable doing that. And I felt also because of the fact that when I worked in the clinic, it was always such a just in and out, in and out. And I, you know, see people for 15 minutes.
And the whole part of this in developing my business was so that I could work more closely and more over a long term with someone and to see them through their goals. Other than just, here’s your, you know, handout, see ya. Good luck with your life. Mm-hmm. So it really was about being able to work more one-on-one with folks to help them reach their goals and, and see them through that.
So, when you and I started working together, we talked about some different options as to, you know, package options. I didn’t wanna do one-off sessions where I just sold a session here or there and, and that was something that you really. Taught me too, which was, you know, you wanna work with folks, you want them to really value your offer and, and, and the services.
And so you wanna work with them over a longer period of time, and I can’t agree with you more. That was the best thing that I did, was offering two packages. I had, um, a 10 session, um, package, which we basically called a five month package. And then I had a three month package, which was six total sessions.
And so basically how we kind of structured it was. You know, for someone that needed more long term or they had maybe a larger goal, maybe someone was training for a marathon and we needed to work together over a longer period of time versus, you know, where we were gonna go through several cycles of their nutrition and we might have to change things, the longer and the bigger package allowed us to do that.
Versus the, the smaller package was maybe someone had a smaller goal or they just wanted to, you know, either relearn something or learn something that wasn’t. Going to be something that was gonna take a long time to implement. We had those, that smaller package as an option. Um, and so I just started with those two things and honestly, that was so much better for me, um, because again, I was learning the tech and how to run a business and so many other things.
The marketing and things that, you know, you just aren’t taught. Normally as a dietician when you, when you’ve worked on that clinical side. Um, and those two options, for me it was, it was just much easier I found for people. ’cause they just had one or two. That was it. Which one would you like? Yeah. And I did a discovery call, um, to learn more about them.
And then we talked through those options and they would pick and, and it was great. I, I’ve really enjoyed that. Um, in fact, I was getting so busy that I, I was, and we’ll talk about it, I decided to move into more of a group program because it was just a lot of people coming in, um, for those options. And what I think is so cool about that too is when you’re so clear on who your ideal client is, it becomes so much easier to create packages and offers that suit that exact person instead of trying to come up with like the thing that works for everyone.
’cause then when somebody gets on a call with you and they see, oh, this five month program was designed exactly for me training for my marathon, it’s like, whoa, this is so awesome. And that just becomes a really amazing selling feature. Yeah, and I should highlight, it was all, all of, I do all virtual, so it’s all one-on-one virtual.
Obviously this was after COVID, so that really allowed me to, you know, have, be able to target a lot of folks and, and do it all virtually in the comfort of their home. And so it just really opened the doors for me in terms of being able to, to get a lot of clients in. So let’s talk a little bit about marketing Yeah.
And what that has looked like for you. Tell me about it. Yeah. Okay. Well, so literally when we first started working together, I had very minimal training or, or understanding of what to do for marketing. And to top that off with the fact that I just am, I wasn’t very comfortable doing a lot of reels and videos and things like that.
It just, I, I felt like it wasn’t very authentic for me. I don’t mind talking. I really enjoy, um. Teaching and, and being in front of folks, but the reels and the things that, like on Instagram, if you were using that as kind of your main, um, you know, marketing thing, which I was, it wasn’t great for me. Um, and so something that I found really worked well for my, um, skills and, and things that I’m feel more comfortable at was a podcast.
And that has been my absolute most. You know, biggest driver of clientele. Um, it has been my podcast and I started that. So I opened my business in, uh, March of 2022 and October of 2022 was when I first started my podcast. And it has been great and it has really helped me to get out in front of way more people than I probably ever would have just been focusing on Instagram, for example.
Yeah. And you still have an Instagram presence? I do. And it’s grown quite organically, but how do you manage that in terms of content? Is it mostly just reposting podcast episodes on the, on the gram? Yeah. So what I do is I, I use, um, a Riverside, which allows me to take clips, video and audio clips of my podcast, and I post those, uh, clips of guests that I have or maybe, uh, you know, a part, something that I wanna share with folks.
Information that I thought was helpful on my Instagram, on my YouTube, um, on, you know, TikTok and I, and it’s been great because you’re kind of, you’re killing two birds with one stone. You don’t have to then go out and recreate something different. How, however, I do do from, I do stories from time to time, you know, Hey, let’s have an open conversation today.
Ask me something and, you know, or I’ll post some stories about, you know, uh, an important information that I wanna share. So it’s, I, I really don’t have some very diet. Filled in, um, strategy on Instagram. It’s more utilizing their podcast to help me with that. And then here and there I will post different things.
Mm-hmm. Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about the group program. So what was it that prompted you to want to start the group program? Yeah, so honestly when we first started, my old. Ultimate goal had always been to, to be able to expand and grow and, you know, scale, I guess you would say. Mm-hmm. Okay. And I do enjoy teaching.
I like, you know, working in that group setting. So also get that combined with the fact that, you know, I’m a mom of three kids and the one-on-ones were starting to really fill up my schedule to the point where I was, you know, getting a little bit overwhelmed, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. And it was to the point where, you know, where I was crossing over into where I.
Feeling like the reason that I left my clinical position was to open this so I could have more flexibility with my schedule and my kids. And I was getting right back to where I was, which was, you know, full schedules almost five days a week of clients. And I’m blessed for that, and I’m not, I’m, I’m excited for that.
That was wonderful. But I, I wanted to move more. To the group, because what I found and something that I learned from you was when you have folks that are going through a, because it’s such a specific niche, if they have a similar goal such as endurance training or I wanna gain muscle, you’re basically teaching similar nutritional concepts, right?
Mm-hmm. And so we could package that into a program where, you know, I did lessons, so basically I had a six week. Program modules where I had maybe anywhere from two to four or five lessons in a week. Um, and those were lasted about seven to 10 minutes each. And, um, I basically walk them through a pyramid of, of concepts in order to how to, you know, gain muscle after you’ve had bariatric surgery.
And so for me it’s been. Really a nice transition in that I’m targeting more people at one time and we’re still able to cover really important nutritional concepts. And of course, because we have the weekly live q and as, they can ask me individual questions. So if they have more individualized specific questions, I can do that for them as well.
But it’s really been a wonderful transition and I’m, I’m super excited about it and I wanna keep focusing on this for sure. Yeah, so we’ll get to the whole like launch process and, and results and all of that stuff. But tell me a little bit about your experience with the creation process of Bariatric Strong.
Like what were some of the biggest challenges that came up for you? Yeah. So as I mentioned, I, I’m not great at creating things. Um, and so as much as like, you know, as dieticians, the information’s up here, but it’s like, okay, how do we want to share that? How do we want it? Do we wanna create handouts? Do we wanna do videos?
You know, what’s that mode that you, you feel comfortable with in terms of, you know, spreading that information? And I’m not great at creating, you know, handouts and things like that. So that was a huge obstacle for me that really. Put it off for me for a while because I kept being like, it felt very overwhelming, you know?
Mm-hmm. I wanted to create this program, but how am I gonna, you know, summarize it in these handouts when I, I don’t feel comfortable doing that. So I actually did outsource. I have a virtual assistant that helps me with that, and that is her jam. Mm-hmm. And I’m like, okay, here’s the information. I would make the PowerPoints basically.
Um, and she made them look a lot nicer. I also, you know, would give her, um, information for handouts that I wanted. Her to create and she would create those for me. And then I would basically package those into the program, um, you know, for the final, uh, you know, product, so to speak. So that was the biggest obstacle, I would say.
And just the tech and in, um, not really being familiar. I use Kajabi, um, and really having to learn how to utilize the marketing piece, the emails, you know, the structure of that, and just learning all that and going through it. And I know you’ve said this, lots of time, you have to actually just do it.
Because as much as you kind of think about it, you overthink, overthink, I don’t know how to do this. You’re not gonna know it until you try it, right? Mm-hmm. And so things that I, I don’t think I ever would’ve thought I could do, I now am able to do because I just had to get in there and try it. And yeah.
You know, a lot of times I had to ask for help. Like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? But once I got in there and, and really started. You know, doing the things, it, it got a lot easier. Mm-hmm. And so the program is structured where, and you can tell me if I’m missing, fill in the blanks for me, but so people join, so it’s called Bariatric Strong.
It is really designed to pull people through this transformation of building strength, right post bariatric surgery. So it’s a six week long program. They join, they immediately get access to week one content, which is a video module, and some like additional handouts or whatever support. And there’s a community forum too, which is really cool.
So they immediately get access. They get access to week one, the community forum. It’s really exciting. And then you also do your weekly live q and a sessions as well. Correct. Yeah, that’s exactly, um, anything that I missed? No, um, nope. That was it. And then they get access to the community this first time around for six months.
Yeah. Just so that we could, for me it was, it’s, it’s about like, I wanna not only grow this community, but just learning from the folks that join the program, I’m, I, their feedback is very helpful for me. Mm-hmm. And making each program better. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the experience of running a group program for the first time.
Like what have been some of the unexpected unex unexpected things that have come out of it? Yeah. Well, something that you and I have talked about a lot of times is, you know, for someone that’s been used to one-on-one, right? So I am talking to these people, you know, I get to know them very well and, um, you know, we’re working through their very specific individual, you know, obstacles and, and needs and things like that in a group program, you know, because I have the community.
That’s been great. We had an introduction where I asked everyone in. Introduce themselves. So you do get to learn a little bit about folks, but something that has been a struggle for me is I’m so used to that one-on-one, lots of contact. You know, points a community is, is people can choose to participate as little or as much as they want.
So some. Something that I’ve had to really wrap my brain around is understanding that, you know, folks are all gaining something from the program. How they choose to move through the program is their choice. Um, and how much they wanna interact with me or not is also their choice. And so for me it’s been, you know, it makes me, sometimes I’m a little nervous, like, I’m like, oh, I haven’t heard from, you know, so many people.
I hope everything’s going okay. And something that you and I have gone back and forth on is understanding that, as you’ve told me, you know, they’re using the program the way that they are going to use it. And some people are not gonna interact and you’re gonna have super users, which I do. I have the folks that are in there, you know, every day and posting.
I have some that are more moderate, and then I have some that. I don’t think I’ve posted one single time. Mm-hmm. And so for me it’s been a really big learning curve on understanding that it’s still okay. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the wide range of usages of a, a program like this, it, it’s just, I didn’t know what to expect and I, I was a little surprised by there’s really super users and then there’s people that don’t communicate at all.
Yeah. And, you know, and so just understanding that that’s okay. That’s a big learning curve. And it’s funny ’cause you and I even talked about even you and I, right, when we join programs, I mean, I’m way more of a wallflower in a program. I love, love to just observe. I like to buy courses. For when I need them.
And I have them for reference in the future. But I’m not the person who’s like actively posting all the time. Yes. I’m just not that person. But I still love the program. Yes. And that’s what was so great you pointed out. ’cause you’re like, are you like that? And I’m like, I’m exactly like you. Yeah. And then I thought to myself, but then why are you worried that folks are Yeah.
You know, participating? It’s like, that’s okay. Yeah. You know? So. Yeah. Totally. That’s been the biggest thing I think. And, and just again, the tech, um, yeah. You know, uh, learning, you know. How to record a meetup, you know, and just all those little things that I, that again, first time through I was like, you know, the first week was gonna be my first trial of this, you know, I hope it works out.
Yeah. And it did, you know. Yeah. But, um, it’s just been a lot of, um, you know, just learning. Yeah. And, and that’s been, it’s been fun for me, honestly. That’s awesome. And so let’s talk a little bit about the launch process. So tell me about the launch process or tell the audience about the launch process and what we did there.
So, you know, after, so basically I did build the whole program out because I do drip out the content each week. So I had already. You know, created and recorded all of the modules and the lessons before I even, you know, was basically starting the program. So essentially about a month or so ahead of time, I, you know, I started posting messages, Hey, something big is coming.
And then I did say, Hey, I’m creating this, you know, six week program, bariatric strong. And all throughout the last, I would say six months before that, I was going into stories and asking questions of my audience to learn more about their pain points. What were the things that they really struggle with in terms of, Hey, I wanna gain muscle and strength after bariatric surgery.
What are those nutritional topics that I just, I’m not understanding or I need help with? And so I really posted that quite a bit in the six months prior, I would say. Um, and so again, about a month ahead of time I started. Announcing that, Hey, we’re doing this. I also started an email list, which hey is kind of a key thing that maybe we need to have a whole separate conversation on.
But I started kinda warming up the audience that I had. Um, I had been collecting emails on my website, but I really hadn’t been active in sending out messages to be quite frank. And so something that you were like, Hey, you need to, you know, maybe start introducing yourself again and make it more so it’s not just, oh, I’m launching this program and this is the first email you’ve ever received.
So. Because I have that podcast. I initially started in that, you know, month or two before I was gonna open up for registration, started sending out emails like, Hey, this is my podcast, you know, so that they understand that I am trying to help and this is something that you can learn about. And so I started warming ’em up that way.
And then basically in the weeks before, yeah, I just started increasing the frequency of the emails and the postings on. Um, you know, social media and, um, I basically opened up my registration. I had a wait list also that we were collecting names, so that was a separate email list that I had, um, to kind of drive interest in, in, you know, anticipation.
Mm-hmm. We had that wait list going. Um, and so I think that really was helpful because I had, I think, what did we have, like 76, 77 people, um, on the wait list. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that was exciting for me ’cause it showed me that, yeah, this, this was gonna be something that people were interested in. Yeah. Well, and I think that’s really the benefit in having a wait list is just for you as the person that’s running the program, to just be able to gauge interest and really get that reassurance that, yeah, this is resonating with people.
Right. Totally. Like it wasn’t that you were only. Allowing people who were on the wait list into the program. It wasn’t even like that. It was just that they would receive the information first and they had the first chance to register. But really it was just for you to be able to say, okay, yeah, this is resonating with people.
And it can kind of almost help you to, I mean, as you continue to launch, right, you can continue to see, or you can start to see trends in what percentage of your wait list actually. Converts, right? Because it’s not everyone, of course, no. Um, it’s a small percentage of those people even who say, yeah, I wanna join the wait list and, and actually will pull out their credit card and purchase.
But then you can start to see trends, right? If it’s X percent of your wait list, then next time you know that if you build your, your wait list to. This number of people, you know, you can kind of start predicting your launch results, which is, that’s when it gets really fun. Yeah. And that’s been really something fun mm-hmm.
For us talking about the next launch. Yeah. And I’ll add too, uh, something else that you advised me to do that I thought was helpful, and it was actually a really popular episode, was I did a podcast episode all about. Mm. Building and creating bariatric strong and kind of the behind the scenes kind of, um, you know, topic I guess you could say.
Yeah. Um, and that episode actually has done really well. I was surprised it that people would Yeah. Would pa I thought people would be like, oh, this is just some kind of mm-hmm. Promotional podcast episode. And honestly, I think folks are just interested in learning, like, why did you select these topics?
You know, what, um, are these the topics that I. I’m struggling with, you know? Mm-hmm. Are these the things that, you know, I actually feel like resonate with my journey, you know, after bariatric surgery and wanting to gain muscle. And so I, and also in the podcast I gave out, you know, some tips as well. So it wasn’t just all about promoting the, the strong, uh, the Bariatric Strong program, but that was really helpful and that I, I released that, I think it was, uh, about two weeks before my open cart day.
And, um, I think that was really helpful, um, to driving more folks to the wait list and then of course to registration. Yeah. Well, and I love that because again, it gives you, and I’m so glad it was so successful for you. ’cause that’s something I’ve used many times, a strategy I’ve used many times. And I think it just, one thing that I think I’ve, uh, one of the biggest things I feel like I’ve learned about just like sales and marketing is I feel like.
Of the information you put out there into the world about your program, people filter that and they digest probably an eighth of that information. You know? Right. When I’m having sales conversations with people and they ask me questions about DSC and it’s like. Oh, but that’s just on the sales page. Like there’s, you know, right.
That information is like right there in front of you. Right. The last questions of like, do you have this in the membership? It’s like, yeah, like we’ve said that many times, but it’s just such an important reminder that, you know, you have to. You have to give people information in so many different ways, through multiple touch points.
And I love a podcast episode because you can go deeper with it too, right? You’re not just telling people, Hey, this is what you’re gonna learn in this module. You can explain it and suddenly when you explain it, they’re like, oh, this would be really helpful for me. Right. Yes. So it’s just a different level of selling, which is awesome.
Yes. Yeah. And I, and I, I wanna also add this, something that, um, I also learned from you, which, which was when we created that sales page, we had the price of the program. Yeah. And. I was at first when we were talking about, I was kinda like, oh, should we put that out there, you know, beforehand. Yeah. And you were like, no, because then the people that have joined your wait list know what the price is.
Yeah. And those are folks that you know, now they’re, they’re already aware. It’s not like this spectacular, you know, open the doors and this is the price, you know? Yeah. And they’re like, whoa, you know, maybe they think it’s okay. Or maybe they’re like, no, that’s. Too much. I don’t know. Um, and so for me, that actually made me feel more good about the folks that were joining my wait list towards the end, because they had seen all the information and they knew the price.
And so I knew then that, you know, those folks were more, you know, possibly more likely to then join the program because they, they had the information. And now again, I did have to reiterate in that. And just like you said, we had a q and a section on there with yes, there was an installment option, you know, and people must have messaged me so many times on.
Mm-hmm. What’s the price, what’s is there installment units, you know, little things like that. And you just have to say it, you know? Yeah. Many times. And that’s okay. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I’m just such a proponent of pricing transparency, because I know for me as a buyer, and this is such a contentious issue in, you know, the business world and people have such different opinions on it, but I always just think about myself as a buyer.
Like if a price isn’t listed, I just don’t end up going to the next step. Like, I just don’t, because I’m like, ah. I make assumptions, right? I’m like, oh, it’s gonna be wildly high. Yes. Or whatever. Um, and I don’t like that. And I love having a, a list of leads that truly are, you know, ready to purchase. That just feels really good, right?
They have all the information that they need and that just feels good. I think as a business owner, it’s just a different, a different feeling, I think. Yeah. Um, so let’s talk about pricing and what you price the program at. Sure I priced it at 5 99 or they could do two monthly installment payments of 3 25.
So, um, it’s, it was a six week program and, and you and I kind of went back and forth on that. And again, just someone that was new to having a group program, I was nervous, you know, is this too much, you know, is, I don’t know, you know, because again. Having never run it. I just, I didn’t know if that was gonna feel, you know, too high for folks.
And, and honestly, when I looked around, ’cause we did do kind of some market research ahead of time to see, you know, what are other folks and, and programs kind of offering for this, for this duration and, and that it was actually not on the higher end, you know? Mm-hmm. As compared to a lot of the programs that I see out there by registered dieticians.
So I. I felt comfortable with it. Um, and, and honestly I got a lot of great feedback from folks and they were like, no, that’s a great, you know, that’s reasonable for the amount of time and the, uh, the amount of information and the, the resources and things you’re providing. Um, so it went, it went great. Yeah.
Well, and it’s just a starting point, right? To be able to continue to increase as the value of the program increases. And I think what’s so important to state here for anyone listening is that this was entirely cash based. People were not like, no. Part of this was going through insurance. Right, and so this is just proof to people who are listening and are thinking, you know, people don’t buy dietetic services unless they can get them covered by insurance.
That’s actually not true. People will pay out of pocket for something that is truly meeting their needs. Yeah. A hundred percent. My entire business is cash pay. I don’t accept insurance. Yes. So my entire business has been based on that. Um, yeah. And that’s because for one thing, you know, sports nutrition is not a, um, you know, reimbursable, uh, medical diagnosis.
There’s not a CCPT code for that. And you’re located in the states just for everyone. Yeah. And I’m in the us Yeah. So, um, you know, it, it, for me it was a natural thing and, and honestly I just didn’t wanna have to take on the billing side of that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, um, the program though, and, and I’ll just point this out in case anyone finds this interesting.
The majority of my, um, clients that, that did purchase the program paid in full. Um, I think I only had two that did the installment payment. After so many questions that I received on the installment payment, I only had two people pay that way. Yeah. That’s so interesting. Yeah. So it’s good to have as an option, but again, it’s just reinforcing the idea that if something is delivering on somebody, a desired transformation for somebody, um, it’s, they’ll pay out of pocket for it.
It’s like any other service. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about the launch results. So how many people did you end up getting in the first cohort? Yep. I had 15 people, so I had 15 people in the program. And you know, I’ll be honest, I, again, having not known, I thought I was, and, and naively, let me just say naively thought I’d get, you know, maybe I’ll get like third.
I mean, that would be great. You know, and I remember telling you that, like, I was like, I’m, I think I might get like 30 people. I mean, you know, I have 75 people on the wait list. I mean, I should be at least 30 to 40. Um, that’s not normally how that works, which again, had to live through. And to be honest with you, I’m actually glad I have the number that I have because going through it the first time and not really knowing how everything was.
It’s gonna work. I think I would’ve actually felt a lot more stressed because I would’ve thought, oh gosh, I have 30 or 40 or 50 people that are seeing, you know, an error or, you know, if something were to go wrong and mm-hmm. So honestly, the 15 has been great this first time, to tell you the truth. It’s been a perfect number for the community, um, and for the amount of, you know, just the questions or the things that the, the traffic that’s coming through is very manageable.
Um, and it’s really been a good start for me. Mm. Yeah, and I think, you know, that piece around it, it’s like whenever you start selling something new online, I think there’s always this period of like expectation adjustment that just has to happen for every single business owner, right? Of like, and hey, occasionally it may happen where things just like, you know, it blows your mind, the results blow your mind.
But in most cases. They don’t, and that’s just part of realistically running an online business. Right? Of course, on Instagram we always see all the, like we only see the examples of the results that blow your mind, but we don’t see the 99% of other cases where, um, you know, the results are just aligned with what the metrics tell us they should be.
And I think. What was so cool about your situation, and we had talked a little bit about this, was that given that you had only started your email marketing, like was it like two months before the program launched? Like, it was, was pretty, you know, it was a pretty tight timeline. Right? And even the launch was pretty tight.
We like kind of crunched everything into like a two month period. Um, yes. It wasn’t a super long runway for people to really. Know you and kind of understand what you do and what you offer. Um, we sort of went right into the pitch fairly, fairly quickly, right? We did. Um, so it was really cool to see like the results were awesome.
Given that, and given how small your email list was too, I think you had, when we went into the launcher email list was like. Was it like 600 people, maybe 600. 600 people. Six, yeah. Mm-hmm. 600 people. Um, and we typically expect one to 4% conversion rates on an offer. Um, and we even looked at the conversion rates for the wait list and they were quite a bit higher than industry standards.
So, you know, it was such a success. But I know it’s like when we don’t know those metrics and we don’t know the reality of online business and how hard it actually is to get people to buy something and to sell something. Yeah. I mean, there’s just an expectation adjustment that has to happen. It absolutely, I can’t reiterate that enough.
Yeah. Because again, I was, honestly, I remember the first few days you’re like, how are you feeling? Oh my gosh. You, because I got like seven or eight people in the first, like two days. Like, it was just like, boom, boom. And then, you know, my, my car, my open, whatever, I don’t think it’s called the open cart. I had it for a week.
Right. So I opened it and then I closed it on that following Monday and I was thinking I was gonna get seven or eight people a day. Yeah. Um, and so initially, so because I had.
That wait list, those folks got the email first with the, the LinkedIn. And so I did get, you know, a good amount of folks those first two days. But then it was just like one person. Mm-hmm. One person. One person. And I remember messaging you being like, oh my gosh, is this not good? Yeah. And you were like, this is awesome.
What are, what’s, yeah, this is really great. And I remember being like, I mean, I thought I was gonna get like 30 or 40. Yeah. You know, I. And it’s okay. And, and, and like I said, it’s, it’s really been great and, and something that we talked about kind of as we broke it down afterwards, which was yeah, the email marketing, I, I really didn’t have a strong strategy there.
Um, Instagram was really mostly about podcast episodes, so. Mm-hmm. You know, I think as I prepare for launching again in the fall, I have some better strategies to focus on this next time around. Yeah. Um, to help, you know, drive more folks in. Yeah. Totally. I know. I think that was what was so funny during that launch week is like I’m sitting here being like, oh my God, this is so awesome Kim.
And you’re sitting here being like, um, is it though? So there was just lots of back and forth conversations Yes. About just like, no, no. This is really great. Yes. This is really great. You should be super proud of yourself. Yeah. It was so funny. Yes. A hundred percent. Yeah. And what’s so cool too is like, yeah, and now we have so much data to be able to learn from and be able to incorporate into the next round, right?
Because it’s like, okay, every launch you do, then you have more opportunity to grow your email list more. And then it becomes again, like I said, really fun because. Suddenly when we know, okay, this was my, these were my conversion rates for the first round. Well then if I get X number of people, new people on my email list, well then again, we can start to predict your launch numbers, which be, which becomes so much more fun.
And then you can start to put things like, you know, Facebook ads and stuff behind this offer, knowing that you will probably get this sort of ROI from it. It’s just a really, it just becomes fun, you know? It becomes fun. We can start playing with the metrics a little bit. Yeah, and I’m, I’m excited. I think I am gonna try ads this time around as something that, you know, you and I’ll chat about as we get ready for the next one.
But, um, because it’s, it’s, I, you know, why not try it? Yeah. And again, I think because of the podcast, I, I do have a large, you know, I’m, I think I’m almost up to 75,000 downloads of all these episodes. I have 76 or 77, you know. Episodes already, but point is I’ve got, I I people, you know, folks know what I do.
And I think though, with the more targeted strategies that we’re gonna do, which is gonna be, you know, trying to drive more folks to the email list through my freebie and promoting that more, I had never even promoted that hardly. Mm-hmm. Prior to that. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. And so, um, folks literally would just come to my website organically and sign up for the newsletter that I wasn’t even doing.
Yeah. Which is embarrassing to say, but I’m gonna be honest about it. I really wasn’t utilizing the email, um, list. Uh, until about a month or two before I launched, so I’m really excited this time to see how that. Drives more folks. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that’s so common by the way, people, like I would say vast majority of dieticians that are listening to this would say the same thing where they started an email list.
And so they have all these people, they have these people kind of passively joining it, and then they’re like, yeah, I’ve never done anything with it. Like I’ve had that conversation so many times. So it’s very normal. Doesn’t mean you can’t reactivate it though. Right. Like it’s always, you can, you can reactivate it for sure.
Um, so what do you feel like is the, tell me a little bit more about the future plans for the program. Yeah, so I, I’m going to run it again in October. Um, and I have this community that I’ve been building. I mean, my, my ultimate goal would be, hopefully, eventually roll it into like a membership mm-hmm.
Where I then just keep folks in as maybe a, a, an annual cost, um, where I’m providing, you know, they’ll obviously have access to those modules and the. Versus, and then I, I, my goal would be, you know, to do, you know, whether it’s monthly q and as or I, I don’t know the frequency yet. Obviously that’s something I have to hash out, but that’s eventually where I would like to go.
And also I’m going to be launching in 2026, uh, bariatric endurance program. So that way I have folks, because I do have clients. That are more focused on muscle gaining. And I have folks that are training for different endurance events and the nutrition does have some variation there in terms of what you’re gonna recommend.
Um, so I am gonna build that out also, um, hopefully coming through this fall and then have that to be available, um, in the spring. And so then what I would like to do is maybe alternate my launches and do one bariatric strong and then one bariatric endurance. Mm-hmm. And then, like I said, eventually potentially rolling these folks into a membership type of a platform.
Yeah, and just to speak to why we didn’t do that originally, to start with a membership, we talked about how, and this is just a lesson for anybody who’s listening that’s thinking about this, is that. Really if your program has, is bringing people through a very specific transformation and there is a start and there is an end to that transformation.
Kinda everyone is going through the steps, you know, one piece at a time. It makes more sense as like a cohort based group program or online course, right? Because a membership is more so we’re coming in and we have access to all of this material that we can kind of just use whenever we need it, but it’s not necessarily so.
Um, programmed, right? There’s not necessarily a start and finish. If there was, then people would just leave the program. Once that finish was done right, they would leave the membership. Right. So it just makes more sense as a group program right now, but there’s a lot of ways that it can be then turned into a membership.
So that’ll be fun to kind of strategize and talk about that when the time comes. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and that, and I’ll just say this lastly, which is, you know, my biggest, uh, you know, fear in terms of the membership is just the, the producing resources and, and handouts. Yeah. And again, that’s not my strong suit, so that’s always been something that I felt like, you know, oh gosh, I’m gonna have to really gear up.
Mm-hmm. But I think there’s other things that have value, like when I already have a lot of these lessons thing, you know, recorded and, and created already the resources and then, you know, a lot of folks. It’s come and they wanna talk to you, you know? Mm-hmm. As a dietician, they wanna ask you questions. And so there’s a lot of value to that in building that community aspect.
So I don’t know exactly how it’ll look eventually if we’ll combine the programs together. I’m not sure. But yeah, I’m excited to, to try it out and see, see where it goes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, totally. Um, and if you were to look back on your business journey so far, oh, and I just wanna say too, you’ve gotten rid of one-on-one now.
No more one-on-one. Correct. It’s just group program now moving forward. Yes. So, yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. As of right now, I have put a hold on my one-on-ones just because, and I, I still have clients that I’m working with and I, and I’m mm-hmm. I’m, you know, uh, completing their programs. But yeah, moving forward, I think I’m just gonna focus on the group program.
Mm-hmm. Um, as I move forward. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, so if you look back on your business journey, what have been some of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned? I. Use your strong suit, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, use your personal skills. Okay. I, I, like the podcast was really the best thing that I ever did because it allowed me to talk at length on topics and folks could get to know me.
So then that drove folks into wanna work with me one-on-one. Um, and then obviously in promoting new programs, it’s a wonderful thing to have, but using your strengths. I’m not great at Instagram reels. Right. And so it’s, it’s just not something that I’ve. I want to go and, and create a video every day. It’s just not something that I’m with.
And so again, the podcast was something where I could use something that I already made in, in, you know, having it part of your, you know, marketing or, or have it, you know, so that you’re getting in front of folks’ faces every day on Instagram. So that’s been really great for me and in utilizing something that has multiple, uh, you know, strategies, multiple uses.
Mm-hmm. Um, and then.
I would just say something that you, you always don’t know until you try and, and before you kind of, I was very much a person as analysis paralysis and I just wouldn’t do it. Um, and instead it was like, look, it’s not gonna be perfect. You just have to try it. And that’s okay. And, and, and folks aren’t gonna be like, this is terrible if something, one thing goes wrong mm-hmm.
They still know that you’re, you’re putting out a product that. You know, that you’re doing your best with. Um, and honestly, I would not have learned all of these things. And my business is not now growing in the direction that I really want it to, which I’m excited about. It’s going in that direction, um, because I tried something new.
Mm-hmm. And I, I really had put it off for at least a year before I finally was like, Krista, we have to do this. I have to do this. And so it was scary, but um, you know, you just don’t know it, what you don’t know until you try it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I would say those things, um, are probably the biggest lessons I’ve learned.
That’s awesome. I love that. Such good, such good anecdotes of wisdom, um, for dieticians who are listening, who are feeling afraid of just getting started and it not being perfect and have sat on that program idea for such a long time. Right. I, yeah, it’s, it’s always gonna feel scary, but you should do it anyways.
Yeah. Yeah. And also reach out for help. Yeah. Like if you don’t know how to do something or Yep. As you always say, if it’s not in your zone of, you know, expertise. Yeah. Let someone help you. Yeah. You know, totally. I could never have done this without your help and without the help of my virtual assistant, like, there’s no way.
I just couldn’t have done it. I didn’t know how to do half of the things that you’ve helped me with. Um, and so that’s really been valuable for me and, and honestly worth the investment because I invested into my business by bringing on help that helped me to get to where I wanna be and, and then grow from there.
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of that. Where can the audience find out more about you? Sure. Um, well, you can go to my website, which is active bariatric nutrition.com. You can follow me on my social media pages. Um, I’m on Instagram active bariatric. I’m on Facebook and TikTok, and of course I have my podcast, which is the Active Bariatric Nutrition podcast.
And I now, I used to do ’em every single week. But again, in learning in my business, I realized that that wasn’t something I could sustain. So now I do pretty much. Two episodes a month and that’s been really, you know, something that I can sustain and, and I enjoy. So you can follow me there twice a month. I have those episodes dropped, so awesome.
It out. Awesome. And we have a lot of dieticians in our community who are in bariatrics, whether that be they work in community or outpatient or inpatient or whatever. So for those dieticians listening that you end up getting patients who are interested in the active side of their lives. Um, such a great resource.
The podcast is such a good resource to direct people to. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Awesome. Thanks Kim. It was so good to talk to you. I’m so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
