Treat Your Business

137 Clinic Growth Without Burnout: Isi’s Transformation with Evolve

• Katie Bell / Isi Booker • Season 1 • Episode 137

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Welcome 👋
Welcome back to the Treat Your Business Podcast! I’m Katie Bell, and this is the place where clinic owners like you learn the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts needed to transform your clinic into a thriving business—one that gives you more time, more money, and more freedom. If you’re ready to step out of overwhelm and into confidence, you’re in the right place.

Episode Summary
Back in April, the Evolve 12-week programme launched for the very first time and sold out super fast. Why? Because so many brilliant health professionals feel stuck, underpaid, and overwhelmed. Today, I’m joined by the inspiring Isi Booker, a sports physiotherapist from North Wales, who shares her journey from burnout to breakthrough. If you’re earning under £5k a month, tired of the feast-and-famine cycle, and ready for a clear, proven path to get fully booked and properly paid, Isi’s story is for you.

Key Takeaways 📝

  • Mindset shifts are essential: Isi’s biggest breakthroughs came from changing her thinking around self-worth, pricing, and boundaries.
  • Packages aren’t salesy: Switching from single sessions to packages made a huge difference for Isi’s clients and her own business sustainability.
  • Support and community: Group coaching and peer accountability kept Isi focused, motivated, and helped her avoid burnout.
  • Real results: Isi’s revenue jumped from just over £3k to £4.3k a month, all while working fewer hours and feeling less stressed.
  • Boundaries and values: Saying no and getting clear on what matters most is key to building a business that works for you.

Resources & Links 🔗

Episode Sponsor

Sponsored by VBS Medical Ltd, exclusive distributor in the UK and Ireland of K-Laser Therapy & Indiba Radiofrequency Therapy. To learn more about K-Laser Therapy, visit: https://klaseruk.co.uk/why-klaser/To learn about Indiba Radiofrequency Therapy, visit: https://vbsmedical.com/product/indiba-radiofrequency/ Book your free trial at https://vbsmedical.com/contact/ – quote "THRIVE" to receive a free set of goggles or Indiba cream with your equipment purchase.

Thanks for listening!
If this episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review,

Treat Your Business podcast is proudly sponsored by MBST, the groundbreaking technology revolutionising recovery and rehabilitation. Offering a non-invasive, drug-free solution for musculoskeletal conditions and nerve injuries, MBST works at a cellular level to stimulate regeneration. Expand your services and deliver long-term patient improvements without increasing your workload.

Learn more at mbstmedical.co.uk. 

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Back in April, the Evolve 12 week program launched for the very first time and it sold out super fast. Why? Because there are a lot of brilliant health professionals out there. Those of you who listen to this podcast, who feel stuck, overwhelmed, underpaid, and this program finally gives you a proper plan.

[00:00:20] Katie Bell: The results from the first cohort have been nothing short of fantastic. If you are 12 months plus into your business, so we need you [00:00:30] to have an established business, it could be really small. That's absolutely fine, and you are earning less than. Four to 5,000 pounds of revenue in a month.

[00:00:41] Katie Bell: So this might be a job that you have alongside your NHS role. It could be a really super new business for you, and you're just making sort of 1, 2, 3 K a month. You are sick of that feast and famine cycle where some months are great and some months then drop off. And you are definitely gonna be listening to this [00:01:00] facing the summer, worrying about what your revenue and your income is gonna be.

[00:01:03] Katie Bell: And maybe you are ready for a clear. Proven path to get fully booked and properly paid Evolve is for you. Let me tell you why. It's a 12 week guided program. It's delivered online, so you can do it from the comfort of your own home, and it's for early stage clinic owners who want to grow consistently, and they want to do it without all the fluff, the guesswork, the pressure [00:01:30] to become a social media influencer and just try and keep up with the.

[00:01:34] Katie Bell: Endless to-do list where you feel like you're going around in a cycle, but not really making any progress. What makes this different? It's a mix of online learning to do at a time that suits you. And live group calls with expert coaches who've been there and done it and are still doing it in terms of running a very successful clinic.

[00:01:54] Katie Bell: It has implementation baked into the program. This is really [00:02:00] important that this is not gonna be a program that you sign up to that sits in your inbox. You've all got those. This is gonna make sure you take action with really clear help and actually get results super fast. Pippa, who is a clinic owner and Evolve grad said she wanted to jack everything in and cry in the corner, and I was doing everything and nothing was really working. Emma, a massage therapist, an Evolve graduate, she said, I didn't even wanna look at my diary because it was just too much. Inside evolve, you're gonna learn [00:02:30] how to attract clients without relying on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:02:34] Katie Bell: The exact systems that stop your diary from going quiet, you are going to get clarity on your numbers. That is going to blow your mind in that first one and two weeks. You are gonna change things in your business that will set you up for success for the rest of your business life. We're gonna teach you how to price and package confidently so you can get away from this single session mentality.

[00:02:58] Katie Bell: We're gonna teach you how to generate [00:03:00] leads through Google and referrals, and we're gonna give you a 90 day roadmap to get you out of your own way and into action. Now evolve is not for you if your brand's new to business than just starting out. I love you dearly, but that needs a whole different strategy.

[00:03:19] Katie Bell: You, it's not for you. If you're already consistently earning more than five K a month, we have an amazing program that will suit you even better. And it's not for you if you [00:03:30]want amazing results in your clinic by taking shortcuts and not actually having to do any of the work, if you're not willing to do what it takes

[00:03:36] Katie Bell: to get what you want, then you need to stop wanting to get, but Evolve is specifically direct the design for clinic owners in that really sticky early growth stage. A little bit, very overwhelmed where you are doing the work, but you're not seeing the return. The great news is if you're listening to this and you're still listening to this, then it's you.

[00:03:53] Katie Bell: Please join the wait list. Now it's a good idea to jump on our wait list because April sold out super fast. [00:04:00] You are on the wait list. You're gonna find out about this first. We have lots of people miss out. We've only got 20 seats available. I will not compromise on quality. You are getting a lot of support, one-to-one support within your coaching calls, and we need to make sure that we have capacity to deliver exceptional service to you.

[00:04:19] Katie Bell: And wait listers get exclusive early access to secure your seat. And a heap load bonuses thrown in there too? If it's not for you, all good. No offense taken. [00:04:30] Come back next week. Listen to the next episode of the podcast. That is all for me. John clinic owner and Evolve grad then went on to say for the first time, he has got proper systems in place and it's actually working, and Julie said, I blocked out time for myself and I'm sticking to it.

[00:04:45] Katie Bell: That has never happened before. Both of them are actually working less than they were, but making more money. Sounds great. Get yourself on the wait list.

[00:04:55] Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business Podcast [00:05:00] with Katie Bell. I'm Katie, and this is the place where clinic owners like you learn the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts needed to transform your clinic into a thriving business. One that gives you more time, more money, and more freedom. Born from a passion to challenge the idea that average is normal.

[00:05:18] Katie Bell: We empower clinic owners to create extraordinary businesses, incomes, and lives through our world class coaching programs. We help you step out of overwhelm and into confidence, turning your clinic [00:05:30] into a business that fuels your lifestyle, not drain it, it. So are you ready? Let's dive in.

[00:05:37] Katie Bell: Today's episode is sponsored by VBS Medical Limited. It's the exclusive distributor of K-Laser therapy and Indiba radio frequency therapy in the UK and Ireland. K-Laser and Indiba are non-invasive therapies that enhance and accelerate the healing process complementing standard of care. Broadening therapeutic opportunities, improving clinical outcomes, [00:06:00]generating new profit, and distinguishing your clinic from the competition.

[00:06:04] Katie Bell: K-Laser and Indiba have a medical device regulation approval, meaning they have scientific publications to validate their clinical applications in practice. To learn more, visit www.vbsmedical.com and book your free trial today.

[00:06:20] Katie Bell: Hi Isi, welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast. Thank you. Hi, I'm so excited to have you here, Isi, for so many reasons you have very [00:06:30] kindly offered to get out of your comfort zone and come on this podcast and speak about. The Evolve program and your experience, 'cause you are somebody that joined our Evolve program.

[00:06:39] Katie Bell: I've just gone through what, you've literally just finished week 12, last week and you are going to be joining us on the, in the next stages. Isi, first of all, thank you for being here. Would you kindly introduce yourself to all of our wonderful listeners? 

[00:06:52] Isi Booker: Yeah, certainly. Hi I'm Isi Booker.

[00:06:55] Isi Booker: I run a sports physiotherapy business based in North Wales. [00:07:00] And I treat mainly like outdoor sports people including people who work in the outdoors. So in North Wales there's quite a lot of mountain guides and outdoor instructors. And I also work with. Know, mountain bikers, runners kayakers, that kind of thing.

[00:07:14] Isi Booker: And I'm based in Platy Brennan, which is the National Outdoor Center. So I see a lot of kind of like very active people coming through and a lot of injured people too. I love. 

[00:07:24] Katie Bell: It's really neat, isn't it? Yeah. Really fun. This is who I work with. This is your great working.

[00:07:29] Katie Bell: [00:07:30] Tell, tell all of our listeners what was business and life like for you? We are talking literally 13 weeks ago. 'cause you've been on a 12 week quite intensive program with us. What, what was going on for you? 

[00:07:42] Isi Booker: So I had been running my business gradually transitioned into running my business completely on my own over about three years.

[00:07:52] Isi Booker: And over that time I also rebranded. So I started Pilates business and then changed it into [00:08:00] mainly physiotherapy, but also doing Pilates. So I changed my name, changed all my branding and I went, I had a period of time when I was just. Super busy, like moving into a new room where I am now.

[00:08:11] Isi Booker: I've been here a year. And just like getting all the basics in place for my business essentially. So I've been like about 18 months, I think, just me running the business on my own. I had coaching previously for a year when I first started. Just 'cause I, when I started, I didn't know anything about running a business.

[00:08:28] Isi Booker: I just knew how to be a [00:08:30] physio, absolutely nothing. Like I didn't even know that Google business existed or anything like that. I didn't even know it was a thing. Yeah, so that was good for like laying the foundations and then I thought actually there's just too much other stuff I need to do.

[00:08:43] Isi Booker: I don't really have space for the coaching right now, but I knew that at some point I wanted to start again with a coach because I just found it so helpful having that support. And it definitely made me get stuff done. It gave me a bit of an agenda and like things to aim for, so I was like, as soon as I'm [00:09:00] settled and I'm like.

[00:09:02] Isi Booker: Things were okay. Like I was growing, like my business was growing maybe quite, I would say quite slowly, but steadily. But I was a bit like I'm going to be about 80 by the time I'm making the amount of money that I want to make. And also I had this tendency to just try and do too much at once. And I think I learn, I realized that like I can really only focus on one big thing at a time.

[00:09:27] Isi Booker: Because it just takes so much time, especially [00:09:30] when you get busy with patients. And basically I just burned out like last year I just got, I think I was trying to figure something out on Google business and like all this, and that was just like taking up ridiculous amount of my time and really stressing me out.

[00:09:44] Isi Booker: And I was also, trying to win everything else. And I think the problem was just knowing what to focus on and maybe actually just focusing on the wrong thing. Maybe a bit of firefighting or just being like, oh, I should start an email campaign. And like doing one email. I think the last one I sent it was like in [00:10:00] October or something, or now I'm going to go do this.

[00:10:02] Isi Booker: And feeling like you want to do, all the stuff that needs doing, but you can't do it all at once. And then being like, oh. I'm just overwhelmed with stuff and I'd been listening to the podcast for quite a while. And over time I was like, okay, this person is like talking sense. Some of it I was a bit like, oh, I'm not sure about that.

[00:10:22] Isi Booker: But. I think the more I listened to you talking, I was like, okay, this person knows what they're talking about. You were pleased to [00:10:30] know. And I was like, okay. And then I was like, oh, I think I really want to join Activate, but actually my income is not like at that level yet. It's like too much of a leap for me.

[00:10:38] Isi Booker: And then you sent out some information about the Evolve program and I was like, okay this is like a reasonable risk for me to. And there's no, what am I going to lose if I try three months on this program? The worst outcome is they're probably going to break even. So yeah, and it, yeah, that's where I was at.

[00:10:57] Katie Bell: When you said you kind of knew that you needed [00:11:00] to, and this is the thing, isn't it? When we listen to podcasts and we read books and we do it we know all the stuff we need to be doing. It's that whole, I know what I know, I know what I don't know, but I don't know what I don't know yet.

[00:11:10] Katie Bell: And so we get lost in what do I need to do first? You are such a high achiever, Isi, and we can tell that from how you've been on the program, that we have a tendency to try and do everything, and then actually nothing really gets done to the level that we want it or we start a lot of stuff.

[00:11:28] Katie Bell: But like you've said, I send one [00:11:30] email in October. That's not going to cut it. But you then flip to another thing and in temporarily we think, great, I've done that. But we don't know if it's actually making any difference to your business in the long term. Yeah. So you were in that space of, you knew there was a lot that you needed to do, but you didn't know what order, what Yeah.

[00:11:48] Katie Bell: Prioritize. Yeah. 

[00:11:49] Isi Booker: Yeah. And I think you can get stuck in like the running of the business. Yeah. And actually you need to be. To grow, you have to focus on things that grow the business [00:12:00] and but it's so easy to get sucked into like other stuff that's like super time consuming. 

[00:12:04] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:12:05] Isi Booker: Because you're like, that also needs doing yeah. So 

[00:12:08] Katie Bell: originally you had been exploring this through the podcast. What I'm really curious to know what sort of things, when you first started listening to the podcast, were you like, oh, okay. I. I don't know if I understand this or I don't know if I'm on board with this or this is like a whole different way of thinking for me.

[00:12:25] Katie Bell: What were some of those things? Can you remember? 

[00:12:27] Isi Booker: Packages. 

[00:12:28] Katie Bell: Yeah. [00:12:30] I'll say that 

[00:12:31] Isi Booker: because I yeah, totally. And that's been like a massive thing, a massive shift for me and it's really transformed my business. Yeah. Honestly, I think I, and I often would listen to the podcast more than once 'cause there's quite a lot of information in there.

[00:12:45] Isi Booker: Super useful. But obviously overwhelming. 'cause I was like, I would make notes and I was like this is like the 50th thing of my to-do list that's on Katie's podcast. I was like, I think I just need her to tell me like what order to do these things in anyway. But

[00:12:58] Isi Booker: what were we saying? [00:13:00] Oh, the packages. Yeah, so the packages I think I probably still have a bit of that that feeling that you get from working in the NHS, that you should be giving everything for free and like a real vigilance around like being salesy and promoting yourself. 

[00:13:16] Katie Bell: Yeah, 

[00:13:16] Isi Booker: and I was like.

[00:13:18] Isi Booker: Packages. No. I can't envisage like how that's ever going to fit into my business and how the heck am I going to sell it to people? And it sounds super salesy and like unethical. And then I [00:13:30] actually gave it a go and. Everybody that I offered a package to wanted one. And I was just, and I was just like, that was what really?

[00:13:39] Isi Booker: Like when we were talk, 'cause on the program we were talking about like mindset shifts. Yeah. Yeah. And that was just like, whoa. That's just like a huge, it just made me realize that there's so much to do with our mindset that change, that can change. And it wasn't like, it didn't feel unethical. It didn't feel like I was like pushing things onto [00:14:00] people.

[00:14:01] Isi Booker: I was just like this is how many sessions I think you need. Would you like to work with me for three months? And they're like, yeah, great. And I was like, oh, okay. Alright, let's do that. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been, and it's made things, just much easier in terms of if you are not the one taking the money, your patients just turn up and you treat them and you just get to focus on the treatment.

[00:14:23] Isi Booker: It's just so much easier. And people have bought into your program and they're committed. They're not like going session to session [00:14:30] and they've got much more of an overview of like where they're heading with their treatment. They're not expected to get better within a week.

[00:14:37] Isi Booker: They've got 

[00:14:38] Katie Bell: skin in the game. They're like, I'm here for not just the one time fix, I'm here for the duration. The more invested in their rehab and you get to not focus on any of that and you just have to go. Now I can just focus on fully on delivering a great service being of really high value to you.

[00:14:56] Isi Booker: So that's definitely something that I was quite [00:15:00] skeptical about that like really, has really changed and there's been 

[00:15:04] Katie Bell: like 

[00:15:04] Isi Booker: a massive 

[00:15:04] Katie Bell: benefit. I love this. And and I'm really glad that you mentioned that, Isi, because so many people have that, most people we work with don't have packages in their business.

[00:15:13] Katie Bell: Or if they do, they, they are really small packages and they're not really that useful for the client. So I'm really glad that you've had that transformation as well. So we sent some information because we recognized as a company we work with. Clinic owners and at the activate level we position that [00:15:30] investment in a way that we need your income and your revenue to be at a certain level to come into that program.

[00:15:36] Katie Bell: And then there was lots of gorgeous, fabulous people like you that were like, I so want to be there. I'm really early in my journey and I'm not a new starter, but I'm in that kind of middle bit. So we developed the Evolve program, which was designed to work with you quite intensively over three months, a much lower investment cost.

[00:15:56] Katie Bell: So you can build that no interest factor. You could, as you said, [00:16:00] what have I got to lose here? So you've got the emails, obviously as you were on our

[00:16:05] Katie Bell: take was. About the Evolve program that really talked 

[00:16:11] Isi Booker: to you. Why did I sign up? 

[00:16:12] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:16:14] Isi Booker: I think I already knew that I wanted to work with you, but it just was more affordable and I was like, okay, this is a way of testing things out. Yeah. So if you're committing for a year, that's quite a long time and it's more money.

[00:16:27] Isi Booker: So I was like. This is a, I've got [00:16:30] nothing to lose here. Yeah. I definitely need some support. And this person sounds like they know what they're talking about let's just go for it. Yeah. Great. And I think the content, like when you send the email, I was like, yes, this is me.

[00:16:43] Isi Booker: All of these things are me. I just need more focus. I need some support. I need to be a bit more strategic. But I know that having a coach, 'cause I've had coaching before, I know that will help me focus and bring some clarity and stop me from trying to do 50 things at the same time. [00:17:00]

[00:17:00] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:17:00] Katie Bell: So you threw yourself into the Evolve program and what have you particularly enjoyed about it?

[00:17:05] Katie Bell: What has, what's worked really well for you? 

[00:17:08] Isi Booker: I would say what I enjoyed about it being with other people and being coached and like having that just, I just feel really like motivated. I was motivated before, but like it's just so great, like talking to other people who are in the same position.

[00:17:26] Isi Booker: Yeah. And giving each other like tips. That was great. Really [00:17:30] nice. Yeah. And we like messaging a little bit outside the group chat and called somebody the other day and I was like, oh, that's really nice. Yeah. And it's just really exciting to feel like you're moving forwards. I think that's just been like really fantastic.

[00:17:45] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:17:45] Isi Booker: I was already at the point where I was like, I'm going to stick with this business, but it definitely felt like I was really like grinding a bit and it still felt like really hard work. Yeah. But it's been nice to, it's just been really great to have the [00:18:00] momentum, 

[00:18:00] Katie Bell: yeah, and I guess the structure that we've put in place, so for our listeners who might resonate, resonate with your story, Isi, was the structure we put in place was we wanted to make it affordable as possible. So you've come into a kind of 12 week curriculum for want of a better word, that's really strip back lots of the complicated layers, but we've looked at your numbers.

[00:18:24] Katie Bell: And got very clear on those. We have really looked at your sales strategy [00:18:30] and taught you lots about the selling of, and the developing of packages. We've looked at some really easy quick wins for marketing, re-engaging, old clients and then. A layer that's ran throughout the whole of the 12 weeks has been the mindset work, which I think is often a shock to people because Isi, you are like me, you're a high achiever.

[00:18:51] Katie Bell: You want things done. Like now I'm impatient. I want to achieve everything in a minute. But we think that sometimes we can just do more to get where we want to [00:19:00] be. And a lot of what we've done in the program is really do some mindset shifts and and really give you that support. How has that worked for you?

[00:19:08] Isi Booker: Really good. Actually I knew that I wanted to work on my mindset, right? To the point where I was actually wondering whether to do this or get a mindset coach. Yeah. So it's actually, and I was like, oh, do you know what it sounds like they weave it into the program anyway.

[00:19:22] Isi Booker: Yeah. So you get both. Yeah. What was the question? How was it for me working on that? 

[00:19:28] Katie Bell: Yeah, it's great for you then. 'cause a lot of [00:19:30] people, I think is, it is really nice to hear that you were already aware that your, a lot of your beliefs or your, challenges were holding you back because generally they are, it's not our strategy, it's often our mindset behind all of it.

[00:19:42] Katie Bell: So you were already aware that needed work, but the benefit of the program is we've got both strategy and mindset together. Yeah. And by doing that, how quickly did you start to see changes in your business? 

[00:19:57] Isi Booker: It is hard. It's like hard to say, like how the [00:20:00] mindset impacted that. It definitely has.

[00:20:02] Isi Booker: I think it just like runs, it runs throughout everything. Yeah. And I think 'cause I had dabbled with packages previously. I knew that I was like. All right. My, that the only thing stopping me from doing that was my mindset and my thinking about what people expect, what they think of me, how I value my services, what, how I value my skills.

[00:20:28] Isi Booker: All of those things [00:20:30] like were impacting me, just giving people what they needed. Wow. I suppose it's the mindset stuff is just a gradual shift, isn't it? One of the things that we were given to work on quite early on was like just doing weekly reflections, so like reflecting on, I know things you've done well, things that went well in your business, gratitude, abundance, like

[00:20:52] Isi Booker: broadening your perspective, and recognizing what you have. 

[00:20:58] Katie Bell: Yeah, 

[00:20:59] Isi Booker: because we always, were [00:21:00] quite lack based thinking because we're, we have to be to survive. But it's also good to remember that side of things. Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:21:09] Katie Bell: Because when we're in a place of lack, that's what we're attract.

[00:21:12] Katie Bell: That's our energy, that's our vibrational level. That's what we're going to attract more of. We're going to attract more lack. Whereas when you shift into that abundance mindset and that confidence in reflecting, like you've said, Isi, on all the things you are doing that we never, ever focus on as business owners, we're always looking at the to-do list thinking.

[00:21:28] Katie Bell: Oh, so got all [00:21:30] this to do. I've still not managed to get that done. It can really then. How you're just showing up on a day to day basis. 

[00:21:38] Isi Booker: Yeah. I think that the whole manifesting thing sounds a bit woo. I think it's It is true. Yeah. It's really true. And it, I think it in, you don't want to take it personally and be like, oh, I've caused all these bad things to happen in my life.

[00:21:52] Isi Booker: But you the flip side of that is that if you can make good things happen and to be honest, like I couldn't have [00:22:00] imagined, the revenue that I've had in the last 30 days, I couldn't have imagined like making that much money and it, I'm not like a millionaire, but I was just like, all right, okay, now I know that my business can grow, but I can, it was just my thinking about it that was absolutely not in place.

[00:22:18] Katie Bell: Absolutely. 

[00:22:19] Katie Bell: You've taken massive action on the program, Isi, which is great, and you've just reflected on some of the things you've introduced. You've rather than dabbled at packages that's the structure is in your business [00:22:30] now. Yeah. While selling them much easier than you ever thought you would.

[00:22:33] Katie Bell: Yeah. You are much clearer on your numbers. You've got clear goals of where you want to go next. Your revenue has increased. Would you be happy to share with our listeners what that revenue change has been? You can give us a percentage. You can give us the number. Just to compete, people can get a flavor of what you are, how it's differed for you.

[00:22:50] Isi Booker: Yeah, so I would say without looking at my books, my revenue, I think like I had a couple of months last year [00:23:00] when I earned just over three grand revenue and then this month I did over four. Like my goal was to do 4K, and I think I've taken about 4,300. And that is just, and I'm actually doing less. I'm seeing less people.

[00:23:19] Isi Booker: Like when I was back when I was doing about 3000 pounds, a couple of months last year, I think I was like teaching classes elsewhere, teaching Pilates classes, [00:23:30] doing physio. Like I was doing so many different things, doing workshops, and I was just like worn out doing things all over the place. And now I'm just in clinic.

[00:23:39] Isi Booker: I'm prob No, I am, I probably am seeing more. I've got more appointments, I'm busier, but it doesn't feel as I'm doing as much simplified and it's really manageable, but I'm earning more money. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. Wow. And that's been quite it's been quite like transformative for my energy levels as well.

[00:23:57] Isi Booker: Like I feel, I think just, you need [00:24:00] to earn money to survive, don't you? And I just feel so much more relaxed. I'm not worried about money, which is great. 

[00:24:08] Katie Bell: Yeah. And that we can't take away how massive that is actually because running a business or all of the pressures, all of the risks are always on our shoulders.

[00:24:19] Katie Bell: And if nobody ever, if other people don't run a business, they don't get that. They truly don't get that. And especially when you are at your level of business as you where it is, all you. If you are not okay, the business doesn't make [00:24:30] any money. Yeah. So we have to protect you at all costs, and we have to put you right at the center of this business and make this business work for you, which sounds like in just 12 weeks, we've made some really key changes that you can now see.

[00:24:43] Katie Bell: You've got this unlimited, like it's limitless potential. 

[00:24:48] Isi Booker: Yeah, because you have to like, in case any of my patients are listening to that, I don't take home 4K. It's 

[00:24:55] Katie Bell: like you have 

[00:24:55] Isi Booker: business. If you do, Isi, you deserve it because [00:25:00] you are freaking brilliant at what you do. Thank you. But yeah, there's a lot of overheads involved in running a business.

[00:25:07] Katie Bell: You know what, one of the biggest things is that we have to get over is. I remember my mom saying this to me once and it was when I changed my car. And I upgraded my car and my mom said to me, and this is her wiring and her beliefs and the upbringing that I've had, she said, Katie, what will your [00:25:30] patients and your staff think about you if you turn up to work in that car?

[00:25:34] Katie Bell: And I was like, really excited about having this car. 'cause I've worked really hard for it. You done the same as you. I've put serious hours in, I've earned the stripes. I've been paid next to nothing for too long like you have done. It burst my balloon a little bit and I was like, oh I don't know.

[00:25:51] Katie Bell: Actually I don't, and then it made me question what will people think? And then one of my members staff said something like Katie, let me let me be frank with [00:26:00] you. I wouldn't want to work with you if you were driving a shit car. I went okay, why? And he went, because you're not running a great business.

[00:26:07] Katie Bell: You're not clearly not a successful, you don't have to drive a Lamborghini, but we want to look, we want to be inspired by you. And I was like, wow. I'm, we ha, we are so worried about what everybody else thinks about as Isi and actually for you. Like you deserve so much than a 

[00:26:24] Isi Booker: I. Having said that, I wasn't, I was like, oh, I'm really [00:26:30] embarrassed about saying that.

[00:26:30] Isi Booker: But then actually my take home pay last year was about like seven grand less than the starting wage for Band five in the NHS. So definitely, and I'm like way more experienced and et cetera.

[00:26:43] Katie Bell: Isi, I want you to be able to come onto the podcast in 12 months time and be really proud to say how much you earn because you deserve it, and that is the next level for you.

[00:26:54] Katie Bell: It's like this whole new level, new devil. As your income grows, it only grows to the [00:27:00] level that your self worth grows. So when we were in a position of oh 4K still feels really uncomfortable for me, we are going to stagnate at that level. So for anybody listening and. I'm not happy with their income. Or maybe as he, as you just said, when you look back and you think, I'm literally earning less than a Band five would be and I'm running my own business, I thought this was going to give me more.

[00:27:21] Katie Bell: The first place that I always say to look is in, in what's going on inside there. That means that our level of [00:27:30] self-worth is attracting that level of income. Yeah. So is it for people listening to this podcast who. Maybe I'm making like you were, two, 2K, three K, three and a half K, whatever it is.

[00:27:44] Katie Bell: But they feel like they're spinning all the plates. They're growing the business, but it's growing slowly. They don't know what to do in what order. They just feel generally overwhelmed and a bit burnt out by their business. What would your advice be to them? 

[00:27:57] Isi Booker: get some coaching. I think [00:28:00] I, I do know people who don't have coaches who run good businesses.

[00:28:05] Isi Booker: But I feel like even they could be moving ahead faster with some coaching. Because I think it's just super easy to get caught up in the weeds and like just get, you get caught up in like the day-to-day running of a business. 

[00:28:20] Katie Bell: Sure. 

[00:28:21] Isi Booker: And the other thing is you have to make bold choices. Like selling packages for me was like pretty scary because I had [00:28:30] this belief that people were going to be like.

[00:28:32] Isi Booker: No, they're just going to turn around and be like, no. How dare you try and sell that to me. Which obviously, was ridiculous, but that's what I was thinking. And so for me that felt like quite a scary thing to do, and it's hard to do that on your own. In fact, I don't think if I ever would've done that like on my own if no one had been like try this.

[00:28:51] Isi Booker: And then come and chat to me in five days and tell me how it went. That's the kind of like support that you get when you're having coaching. Yeah. And I think you need it if you're going to [00:29:00] make those kind of like bold moves, because a lot of them do feel quite bold. So I guess you have to take a leap of faith as well.

[00:29:09] Isi Booker: Like we, we were chatting in the group about there's a lady in the group who does an employed job and runs her own business. And I was in a similar position. I was like, oh, I don't really want to let go of that thing because it's giving me a constant income. But it got to the point where I was like, if I don't let go of the other stuff, I won't have time to grow my business.

[00:29:26] Isi Booker: It's just not going to happen. So I had to take a leap of faith [00:29:30] and I feel like there's been a lot of like mini leaps of faith. So I guess that's the big thing. And just remember that how you think things are is probably not how they are. Be sure of that. There's a lot of things that are not how you think they're Yeah.

[00:29:45] Katie Bell: But unless you are sharing that, unless you are pushed out your comfort zone, the easiest thing is to stay in what you know. Yeah. Because it feels comfortable, even though it's not making you the money that you want it to.

[00:29:56] Katie Bell: We've got to the end of our Evolve program. You have [00:30:00] seen some unbelievable, incredible changes and this really is just the start for you and you are going to move into our Activate program and join us in there.

[00:30:08] Katie Bell: Isi what is go, because I'm really like, I always like to give back and I want to make sure you get good value of coming onto something like this. And sometimes just being able to reflect on how far you've come is, yeah. Is a really thoughtful, yeah, a great thing. Makes us feel good. But what have you got going on in your head, Isi?

[00:30:26] Katie Bell: Is there any questions that you want to ask me that [00:30:30] you, that I can help you support you with as you transition into this new level? And the new devil is going to show up. Anything that you would love help with? 

[00:30:38] Isi Booker: I suppose the, one of the big things that's going through my mind is when I was really busy last year, I was quite burnt out and the Evolve program has been quite busy, so I'm quite concerned about not getting that balance right again. Yeah. And like my [00:31:00] temp, like you said, the temptation is to like just dive in and do everything. Yeah. And try and do it all and work on my days off and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. I think, so that's, yeah. How do I avoid burnout? And I think one of, one of the things I noticed about what I.

[00:31:19] Isi Booker: During the Evolve program, there was a couple of things I took on which were like extra to. What I was doing on Evolve. So part of me is oh [00:31:30] no, I'm going to have to be like so focused and that's going to be really hard. Yeah. And sacrifice a few things and say no to things. So Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I've just answered my own question a bit there.

[00:31:40] Isi Booker: I don't know. 

[00:31:40] Katie Bell: You absolutely have, but I think what's really important to know is that the way the Activate program is structured is like what you've just said, is what everybody struggles with. So there is not one person that I've ever coached in Activate that is not overwhelmed, not close to burnout, not close to [00:32:00] exhaustion, trying to do too many things.

[00:32:02] Katie Bell: In fact, in elevating Ascend, we all try and do too many things in our business, so we've had to work really hard on that structure. Support you in the right way. So some of the things that we do to make sure that you are not going to overcommit yourself is when you first join the program, you have a strategy call with us, and that's going to really map out your next 12 months.

[00:32:26] Katie Bell: Very clearly, what is it that you want to achieve? Now, if you came to that [00:32:30] strategy call with a bazillion goals, our job is to go, okay, they sound great, but you're not going to get all of those done. So what are the key things this business has to do for you in the next 12 months? And you might say, Isi, well, I need to take my income to 5K or six k.

[00:32:45] Katie Bell: I need to not work anymore hours, or I need to drop an evening. X, Y, Z. So they tend to be like the bigger picture things that we need this business to do for us. And then we disseminate that down for you and with you into, okay, so what's the [00:33:00] first quarter goal? What do we need to achieve in the next 90 days?

[00:33:05] Katie Bell: And then we go one step further because then we put you in a pod where you get to work with up to five other business owners and clinic owners who are in a similar position to you. Some are ahead of you, some might be slightly behind you, and you have a coach. And every 30 days we are resetting your 30 day plan.

[00:33:23] Katie Bell: And on that plan is one to three things, is a not four to seven, not seven to 12. So [00:33:30] our jobs as strategy coaches is to say to you. You can't do all that Isi. And all of those things that you've said there don't need to go in that order. 'cause if you fix that first, all of that would be taken care of. So we are constantly helping you really refine what it is you need to say yes to and what you need to say no to.

[00:33:51] Katie Bell: And then the next layer on top of that is every single week that you don't have a pod call, you have access to our coaches, our strategy coaches on q and As. [00:34:00] And so what we encourage you to do with those things is to come in and say so I've got this opportunity and I've just had this email and somebody wants to work with me in this way.

[00:34:09] Katie Bell: What do you think? And we work through that with you so that we empower you to say yes when it's right and no, when it's right. And we will encourage you to say no more than you say Yes. And that's quite scary when you are on your own. Because you, you need to say yes to everything. Yeah. To make more money.

[00:34:27] Katie Bell: And actually the power of saying [00:34:30] no is far greater in your business than it is in saying yes. So we add these support layers in is a, to make sure that. I'm not going to take it away. It is. It is a busy program. We've got lots of things going on 'cause we've got a lot of stuff we want to teach you. But I call it the best buffet in the world.

[00:34:47] Katie Bell: Like one of the kind of Friday brunches in Dubai level. Where there's like everything on offer. It's all there, but you don't have to eat it all at once. 

[00:34:57] Isi Booker: Yeah, makes sense. 

[00:34:57] Katie Bell: And our job is to be able to say to [00:35:00] you, yeah, there's all that stuff you can go and learn, but right now, Isi, this is the only thing I want you to focus on in this quarter.

[00:35:07] Katie Bell: And we've ran very successful businesses, all of us, and still do. And we've also coached a lot of clinic owners, so we know what order things need to come in, and we can really help you scrape through all those weeds and get clarity on what you need to focus on and feel good about saying no to stuff.

[00:35:22] Isi Booker: Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Thank you. 

[00:35:25] Katie Bell: You are so welcome. And the mindset work that you then still have every single [00:35:30] month with Philippa, who you have already met, and she's fabulous. A lot of what we work on there is the power of no is the self-worth, is the procrastination, is the overachieving and the people pleasing the overdelivering that we all do.

[00:35:44] Katie Bell: And it actually just creates a really complex business unnecessarily. So there's a lot of layers that you are going to get in this program. Even if you thought Evolve was great in terms of accountability and support, activate is a whole different level. 

[00:35:59] Isi Booker: [00:36:00] Sounds good. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

[00:36:03] Katie Bell: You get to a lot. There's no, does that kind of make you feel better, Isi, in terms of like, we're really keen on people not burning out. It's something we have to watch for all the time, so I'm constantly saying Isi, less is more. Less is more. You could do that, but you don't need to do that. What are you going to focus on instead?

[00:36:21] Katie Bell: You'll hear that a lot. Does that make you feel more reassured? Yeah. 

[00:36:25] Isi Booker: Yeah, it does. Because I think it's hard to say no to things on [00:36:30] your own. Oh 

[00:36:31] Katie Bell: it's impossible. Which is why your businesses at the level it is now are not even bigger. 'cause we've been saying yes to just the wrong things because we've got a belief system that means we have to say yes to things at the moment.

[00:36:46] Katie Bell: So all that needs to shift for you to be really strategic in your approach. Those business owners that are most successful are the ones that can. Not take an instant decision and step back and go, does this actually align with my bigger [00:37:00] picture? No, it doesn't. So even though it's really tempting, and even though it sounds great, I'm going to say no to it.

[00:37:05] Isi Booker: Yeah. I've realized that you just, you only have so much time and so much energy and there's very little that you can focus on extra to seeing patients. You have to be like really selective. 

[00:37:18] Katie Bell: Absolutely. And when you are at your level of business Isi you are the clinician and the business owner. You are wearing every hat.

[00:37:27] Katie Bell: And so your business would grow [00:37:30] exponentially if we just got rid of all of your clients and gave them to somebody else. We're not going to do that overnight, and you might not want to do that either, and that's absolutely okay. So the business has to be developed and aligned for where you are right now and what you would love to do in your business and what you don't love to do in your business.

[00:37:48] Katie Bell: And who knows, in five years time, you might be having a conversation with me, which is, I've got all these team members and I'm now only treating one day a week. Because without that, your business won't it, you'll just [00:38:00] stagnate. You'll just hit a ceiling every time. But we are there to support you with that.

[00:38:03] Katie Bell: I am so excited for you, Isi. 

[00:38:06] Isi Booker: Yeah, me too.

[00:38:07] Katie Bell: Is there anything else you would love to ask me? 

[00:38:09] Isi Booker: I think we'll probably cover this and activate, but one of the, one of the challenges I guess. That you have, if you are just working on your own is like when you are dealing with, I don't know, people that you rent rooms of or other businesses, that kind of thing.

[00:38:27] Isi Booker: You're basically just like advocating for yourself. [00:38:30] And I find that really hard because I'm like a therapist. I am kind and empathetic, people pleasing type of.

[00:38:37] Isi Booker: People who, they're not necessarily not bad people or nasty, but like they are, their job might be in HR or they might be whatever, how to communicate in a way that firmly sets your boundaries, but is also professional. I struggle. I wouldn't say I struggle with being professional, but do you know what I mean?

[00:38:59] Katie Bell: [00:39:00] Yeah, I totally know what you mean. So is this, when you've got like other people that might be doing things for you in the business that you are having to liaise with, or is this people that are. Like renting a room off you or 

[00:39:12] Isi Booker: If I gimme a, for example, me renting a room from somebody else okay.

[00:39:18] Isi Booker: Like negotiating things to do with my contract or yeah, them coming in the room and doing things, that kind of thing. Yeah, sure. Okay. 

[00:39:27] Katie Bell: It's hard. It's really hard isn't it? Because, [00:39:30] you have a way of, you have a way of working and running your business. And what we will get very clear on is your values.

[00:39:38] Katie Bell: You will hear me say this a bazillion times, and everybody comes and goes, oh, I don't want to talk about values in my business. It's so boring. And it's so done and it's overdone. But actually it's, it is. If you've not read the book, good To Great by Patrick Liam, Cheney, I think his name is. It's a fabulous book.

[00:39:57] Katie Bell: And he talks they did a massive study and they [00:40:00] looked at the, some of the most successful businesses and those that were most successful. The one key thing they all had in common is that they knew what their business values were. And what that means is, because they knew how they would show up.

[00:40:17] Katie Bell: They knew what their business and anybody that worked in their business or for their business or they were liaising with other people they also had to have commonality in the values that they owned and [00:40:30] shared.

[00:40:31] Katie Bell: Basically how they behave as a business, how everybody behaves within that business, and how they will negotiate, navigate and communicate with other businesses.

[00:40:42] Katie Bell: So what we will be clear about in Activate is what you stand for as a business owner, how you behave and what you expect of others, and what people can expect of you. And so when we then go into partnership or we have external people that we might be working with, [00:41:00] they have to have commonality in those values.

[00:41:03] Katie Bell: And if they don't. We're not going to work with them. We're not going to rent rooms off them, we're not going to get involved with them because they will just constantly butt heads because you do things in a completely different way. So a part of this is mindset. It's stepping up into no, this is how I expect my business.

[00:41:22] Katie Bell: To run. This is what you can expect of me. Being very clear about your values, your boundaries, your ways [00:41:30] of working, and being able to communicate that professionally to the other party. And then it's up to them. If they meet those and match those values and those boundaries and professionalism, then we work with them.

[00:41:42] Katie Bell: Now what can often happen, Isi, is as you step up into this next level and we get even more confident and we work on our self-worth and we work on like that, we deserve great people around us. You will start, you'll start to find there's lots of people in your network that stick out like a sore [00:42:00] thumb that you're like, oh, these are just not.

[00:42:03] Katie Bell: My people. These are not who I can work with long term. We see this all the time. And so as you develop and as you grow, there's going to be people around you that are just going to move away and change, and things are going to look different. And there's going to be people that stay with you because they're a really great match.

[00:42:19] Katie Bell: And that can be like if you work with a HR company, if you work with a marketing company, if you rent a space off somebody. So we'll be doing almost an audit of. [00:42:30]Things that you are tolerating in your business and things that are working for you and not working for you. And we will just through developing your confidence and your mindset and your beliefs, we'll deal with those one by one.

[00:42:43] Isi Booker: Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I hadn't really thought about that like that, but that makes a lot of sense. I think I inadvertently avoided some situations that didn't match. Yeah. My expectations or my comfort level not worked with certain [00:43:00] people or in certain places, for example yeah, 

[00:43:03] Katie Bell: that will be because you don't match values.

[00:43:05] Katie Bell: But you never looked at it in that way. 

[00:43:08] Isi Booker: Yeah. Yeah. I've never looked at it in that way, and I, but I think that it sounds like getting those values really clear just makes easier.

[00:43:16] Katie Bell: It's how you hire, it's how you fire, it's how you make all business decisions. It's from a place of does this align with our values or not? So in Thrive, we have very clear ones. In my clinic, we have very clear ones, [00:43:30] and so everybody that works for us has to align with those values internally or externally.

[00:43:34] Katie Bell: And if they don't, then we don't work together. 

[00:43:37] Isi Booker: I think I struggle with standing up for myself. 

[00:43:41] Katie Bell: Yeah. 

[00:43:41] Isi Booker: I often feel, I often, when I think about it, from a bird's eye view, I think if I had a business manager how would they be handling this situation? I was like, they'd be flipping, like laying the law down for me.

[00:43:54] Isi Booker: Yeah. But I struggle to do it for myself. Like I'll give you an example of like somebody [00:44:00] parked a skip in the disabled bay. That my patients use. And I was like I had to say something because I was like, my patient needs to park in that space. They can't walk an extra 200 meters to get 

[00:44:13] Katie Bell: there.

[00:44:14] Isi Booker: No.

[00:44:14] Isi Booker: And I felt like I was being a nuisance, but I was like, I think it's actually illegal to park in a disabled, to park a skip in a disabled bay. It's just but I still felt oh, I'm like really sticking my neck out here and making a load of fuss about this. 

[00:44:27] Katie Bell: So I literally could coach you on this all day, Isi, but [00:44:30] there, there is a big part of you that cares about what other people will think about you.

[00:44:35] Katie Bell: And this will have come from something that went on between the ages of naught and seven when you were growing up. Philippa will tell you this, and we take these beliefs that have been with us for a long time, that often were gifted from our parents and our grandparents, and seven generations back.

[00:44:51] Katie Bell: We take these into our adult life and this is what runs the show. And it's only when we stop and we really self-reflect and we go, why am I so bothered about telling [00:45:00]somebody they can't park a skip in the disabled bay? 'cause that's illegal, not right and not going to work for me. It usually comes back to because I'm so worried about what they will think of me.

[00:45:10] Katie Bell: And so as we go through the process of developing your business, the only way we will do that is by working on you. And we don't have to be Not a nice person when we're saying, can you please move the skip? Yeah. But we are not worried about and this is what [00:45:30] happens in businesses, people tolerate, they just accept things.

[00:45:35] Katie Bell: And it can be small things or it can be really big things. And my friends always laugh at me because I will go into a restaurant, Isi, and say, you're going to think I'm a knob when I say this. I have a real thing if you bring me a shit glass. It's not going to work for me because I'm just not enjoying the experience.

[00:45:52] Katie Bell: I don't enjoy the wine that it's that's then being poured. And I have worked on a lot of my self-development. And one of the things that I used to [00:46:00] tolerate is going into a restaurant, spending a lot of money and having a really average experience. And I don't have to be awkward about it.

[00:46:05] Katie Bell: But now I will say, there's fabulous wine glasses that you've got over there. Would you be able to bring me one of those? 'cause that would just really make me enjoy this wine even more. And they can't do enough for you when you say it in that way. I have a great time. They have served me really well.

[00:46:19] Katie Bell: I'm going to go back, but we're so worried about what other people will think about is that we just tolerate. And so what we are here to do with you Isi is. [00:46:30] Enable you to grow personally so that you stop tolerating things in your life and in your business that don't align with what your values are.

[00:46:39] Isi Booker: That makes a lot of sense. Looking forward to learning more. 

[00:46:43] Katie Bell: I'm so excited to take on this journey because we have literally just scratched the surface. But I think anybody listening to this, it's really important to understand you can have the best strategy in the world as a, we can teach you packages, we can teach you the sales strategy, we can teach you about marketing, but [00:47:00] underlying all of this is the roots.

[00:47:01] Katie Bell: It's about you, your development. Your belief system, your behaviors, therefore your actions, and that's a massive part of what we do with you. I think it feels 

[00:47:13] Isi Booker: really good to be like developing yourself as well. It just feels really great to be growing and learning stuff and becoming the business owner that you want to be.

[00:47:23] Isi Booker: Yeah. 

[00:47:25] Katie Bell: Isi, thank you so much for giving up some of your time. Oh, you're welcome. And [00:47:30] you've inspired, you've, you all, you've inspired me. I love doing these for this reason you've inspired a lot of listeners who maybe are feeling fearful, overwhelmed, exhausted burnout and just by listening to you and knowing it doesn't have to be this way is going to make people make some really great decisions in their life.

[00:47:45] Katie Bell: So thank you for, on behalf of all of them. 

[00:47:48] Isi Booker: Oh, you welcome. 

[00:47:50] Katie Bell: Can't wait to see you. 

[00:47:52] Isi Booker: Yeah I'm excited. Thank you so much, Katie. You are so welcome, Isi.

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