The Growth Show with Whitney Bateson

This week we're bringing back Episode 96, where Whitney shared the results of a survey she sent to her audience in January. About 60 practitioners answered questions about what stage of business they're in, what they're earning, how they feel about their websites, and the one thing holding them back. Four themes came up again and again: time, marketing know-how, confidence, and cash flow – and Whitney explains how they feed each other in a loop she's been stuck in herself. In a new intro and outro recorded from Merida, Mexico, she shares why 2026 was a different kind of hard, the three lessons that helped her get out from under her own marketing, and how the survey shaped the services her team launched this year. She also announces a four-part series coming to the podcast: Getting Found Online in the Age of AI.Takeaways:Most practitioners are missing a marketing system, whatever stage they're in. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they don't have a consistent marketing system, and that answer was spread fairly evenly across every business stage. More than half named getting consistent clients as their biggest challenge.The four barriers feed each other. Whitney describes a loop: limited time limits your marketing, limited marketing means fewer clients, that hits cash flow, and tight cash flow wears down the confidence and energy you need to market. Seeing it as a loop makes it easier to stop blaming yourself for any one piece.Low revenue is a problem to solve, and it says nothing about you as a practitioner. Of the people who shared their revenue, over half were making less than $25,000 a year. Whitney is clear that there's no judgment in that number. The question is what needs to happen to get it higher.You don't have to become a creator. Whitney's advice is to keep focusing on being a great clinician and coach, then fill in the gaps so the right people hear about you. In her words, you don't need to be a creator to be a really successful business owner.Three lessons for getting out of the overwhelm. Marketing needs a system so you can show up consistently. Put your time into marketing that gives a return, like email. And outsource some parts so the work actually gets done.Resources mentioned:Join the list for the Getting Found Online in the Age of AI series: https://whitneybateson.com/seo-seriesEp. 95, Whitney's look back at 2025 - https://whitneybateson.com/ep-95-recapping-a-tough-2025-and-looking-ahead-to-2026/Connect with Whitney:Follow Whitney on Instagram @whitneybatesonEmail: [email protected] & Review:If you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to follow and leave a review! Your support helps others discover the Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of what we post online is old news within a day or two, and then it's back to the hamster wheel. So Whitney brought Nadalie Bardo back to the podcast to talk about a platform that runs on a completely different timeline. Nadalie got 1 million views on Pinterest in her first month as a blogger, organically grew her email list to 24K subscribers, and has spent eight years teaching more than 10,000 blogs, brands, and businesses how to use Pinterest. In this conversation she explains why Pinterest is a search engine and not social media, why pins can keep sending people to your site long after you publish, and what to set up before you start so those clicks actually go somewhere. She also gets into content ideas for health and wellness practitioners, the easiest way to fit Pinterest into a workflow you already have, and why AI-generated pins are a bad bet. It's a great setup for the free Pinterest masterclass Whitney and Nadalie are hosting on October 20th.Takeaways:Pinterest is a search engine, not social media. Nadalie points out that you don't need to comment, follow people, or be "social" there, and pins carry a link that sends people straight to your site, with no "link in bio" or comment-to-get-it workarounds.Pins have a much longer shelf life. In Nadalie's experience, a pin doesn't peak until around two years after it's published, compared with the day or two an Instagram post gets. She saw this in her own business when she stopped publishing for over two years: her YouTube declined, but her Pinterest held for two years before it started to dip.Know where you're sending people before you start. Nadalie suggests making a quick list of what you can share (blog posts, lead magnets, a free consultation, testimonials) and checking that every link leads to a next step, like an opt-in or a booking link. As she says, clicks for the sake of clicks don't mean much.Repurpose what you already make. For health and wellness pros, Nadalie suggests turning newsletters into blog posts, pinning podcast episodes and YouTube videos, and repurposing short exercise videos or nutrition tips. Batch design pins in Canva with templates (1,000 x 1,500 pixels) and schedule them out.Skip the AI-generated pins. Nadalie notes that Pinterest is pushing back on AI-generated content, and both she and Whitney point out that real, original content is what will hold up in Pinterest, Google, and AI search over time.Connect with Nadalie:Website: https://yourpincoach.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourpincoachPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/yourpincoachTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yourpincoachYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourPinCoachResources mentioned:Free Pinterest Masterclass with Nadalie and Whitney, Tuesday, October 20th at 1 pm ET, with a workbook and live Q&A: yourpincoach.com/pinperfect/whitneyConnect with Whitney:Follow Whitney on Instagram @whitneybatesonEmail: [email protected] & Review:If you're enjoying the podcast, don't forget to follow and leave a review! Your support helps others discover the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're bringing back episode five, one of the most downloaded episodes of the show, originally recorded in April 2024. Whitney walks through the software she uses to save time and make money: her scheduler, CRM, accounting and forecasting tools, Zapier, cart system, project management, Canva, and time tracking. Along the way, she shares how she decides whether a tool is worth paying for, including a simple frequency test and the eliminate, automate, delegate order for any task you're ready to stop doing. Then she comes back with a new intro and outro covering what's changed in two years. That includes the software she once said she didn't need and now pays for, and the tools that have joined the stack since, like Claude, LastPass, and Google Workspace.Takeaways:Use the frequency test before you subscribe. Whitney's rule: if she won't use a tool more than three times a year, there's no point paying for it. Look for something you already own that can do the job, or pay month to month and pause it between uses.Eliminate, then automate, then delegate. When a task is eating your time, first ask whether it needs to exist at all. If it does, see if software can handle it. Only then hand it to a person.Don't skimp on a scheduler. A booking link for discovery calls is part of your sales process. It lets people move forward with you when they're ready, without the back-and-forth.Get clear on your numbers before buying fancy tools. Whitney forecast in Google Sheets for years before investing in a forecasting platform. Start simple so you're learning your numbers, not learning software.Track your time to check your pricing. Time tracking shows whether your prices cover the hours a service really takes, overhead included. If they don't, go back to eliminate, automate, or delegate.Resources MentionedScheduling: Acuity, CalendlyCRM and practice management: Dubsado, Practice BetterMoney: QuickBooks Online, Fathom, Google SheetsAutomation: ZapierSelling digital products: ThriveCart, Payhip, Gumroad, WooCommerceFunnels: Deadline Funnel, DiviProject management: WrikeDesign: Canva ProTime tracking: ClockifyAI: Claude, ChatGPTCourse and membership platforms: Kajabi, Thinkific, Teachable, Circle, Practice BetterTeam tools: LastPass, Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, AirtableConnect with Whitney:Follow Whitney on Instagram @whitneybatesonSubscribe & Review:If you’re enjoying the podcast, don’t forget to follow and leave a review! Your sup Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever been told you can't run Facebook or Instagram ads because you work in health, this episode is going to change how you think about that. Priscilla Zaehringer — who writes the ads, builds the graphics, and submits the campaigns for Whitney's done-for-you funnel clients — takes over the show to explain the one Meta policy that trips up practitioners most: personal attributes. The rule isn't that you can't talk about menopause or GLP-1s or anxiety. It's that a cold ad can't behave like it already knows something private about a stranger. Priscilla walks through two ads running right now for clients, shows the "easy" version she rejected in each case and why, and then gets into the part most people skip — that she can write compliant hooks because by the time she reaches the ad, she's been inside that practitioner's business for weeks.Takeaways:Recognition, not identification. Priscilla's framing for the whole episode: you want the right person to recognize herself in your ad, without the ad assigning her a condition, a diagnosis, or a medication. "A guide to nutrition during menopause" is about a topic; "Struggling with weight gain in menopause?" is about a person. Ban lists of forbidden words miss the point. Priscilla doesn't like the "words you can't use in Meta ads" lists that circulate, because the word isn't the problem - the context is. The same term is fine describing a topic and a problem when it's aimed at the reader. Move the question from what she has to what she's dealing with. Instead of naming the condition, Priscilla asks what situation the person is in, what she's trying to figure out, and what question the practitioner hears over and over. That's where "the plate that works on a low appetite" came from, in place of a line naming a medication and a side effect. Friction can do the work a callout would have done. "Add food, don't take away" stops the right reader because it contradicts what she's been told for decades — no diagnosis, no scale number, no doctor's orders, and she still recognizes herself. The hook is the last five percent. Priscilla writes the ad last - after the half-hour onboarding intake, the client's old blog posts and guest appearances, the lead magnet, and the emails. By then she isn't hunting for a line, because the line is already sitting in that pile and she just has to dig for it. Which is also why she doesn't think a list of approved phrases would help anyone.Resources MentionedWhitney's free live training, The List Building System That Brings in Clients While You're Off Social Media — Monday Sept 21 at 12pm ET / 9am PT, repeated Wednesday Sept 23 at 1pm ET / 10am PT: whitneybateson.com/trainingConnect with Priscilla:priscillazaehringer.comConnect with Whitney:Follow Whitney on Instagram @whitneybatesonSubscribe & Review:If you’re enjoying the podcast, don’t forget to follow and leave a review! Your support helps others discover the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one is a replay of Whitney's most recent free Open Coaching Call, and the questions were good enough that it earned its own episode. Nearly everyone who registered said the same thing when asked what they're working on — they want more visibility — so that's where most of the hour goes. Whitney is candid that her own social media does very little for her business, and walks through what she'd do instead: go into audiences other people have already built, reach out to local providers with an actual phone call rather than a brochure, run simple $5/day ads so you stay in front of people without posting, and use local SEO to catch the people who are already searching for a provider. Along the way she takes live questions on lead magnet automations and email platforms, the funnel pitfalls nobody talks about, whether a five-module course should be broken up and sold in pieces, how to move from ChatGPT to Claude without losing your context, and how to keep going when the motivation just isn't there.Takeaways:The most common funnel mistake is building it and then never driving traffic to it. A lead magnet linked in one spot on your website will not find people on its own. Whitney says the biggest pitfall she sees is treating the build as the finish line rather than the start. Borrowed audiences are the fastest route to visibility. Colleagues, bundles, a local doctor's office with a patient newsletter — these are people who have already built trust with your ideal client. Reaching out takes more research than writing a post, but the return per hour is far higher. With referral outreach, do all of it, and don't stop after one try. Whitney recommends email, mail and a phone call together, and reminds listeners that a non-response isn't a rejection: "silence doesn't mean no." Following up is doing the other practitioner a favor, not bothering them. $5/day ads keep you present on Facebook and Instagram without posting. Whitney frames this as the version of social media that runs whether you show up or not, and notes it doesn't replace networking and referrals... it just takes the manual posting off your plate. Local SEO usually pays back faster than broad SEO, because someone searching "dietitian near me" is close to booking, not fact-finding. That holds even for virtual practices - you can signal the states you're licensed in with a page for each service area. Content that's all tips and education trains people to collect advice. If nothing you publish speaks to someone who is getting ready to hire, they never get ready. Balance the educational content with posts and emails about what working with you is actually like.Resources MentionedFree training: The List Building System That Brings in Clients While You're Off Social Media — Monday, September 21 at 12pm ET and Wednesday, September 23 at 1pm ET — whitneybateson.com/trainingConnect with Whitney:Follow Whitney on Instagram @whitneybatesonSubscribe & Review:If you’re enjoying the podcast, don’t forget to follow and leave a review! Your support helps others discover the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.