With health and wellness being the topic on everybody’s lips at the start of the New Year, this week award-winning Sheffield Wellness Entrepreneur, Katie Bell, from Sheffield, is celebrating sharing her knowledge to help others in the profession to grow their businesses in challenging times, with the launch of her new podcast ‘Treat Your Business’, which has entered the UK Fit-ness at Number 8 beating sporting giants Nike to the finish line.
Katie, 37, has helped over 10,000 people move better, feel better and live better… after establishing her first Physiotherapy and Wellness Clinic in Sheffield at the age of 28. Katie then went on to grow her clinic to multiple 7 figures and a team of 30+ experts. Katie continues to practice as a Physiotherapist and Pilates Instructor, but her focus this year is very much on sharing her knowledge and experience to help other health and wellness professionals and practice owners to realise their own goals, so they can run bigger, more profitable businesses and as an industry, they can impact people’s health and wellness on a much bigger scale.
Having overcome the challenges of both mindset and strategy, Katie experienced rapid growth in her business, once she committed to learning from others who had to tread her path and she is now passionate about being that leader who guides her peers to ensure they get more joy, and profits from their practices, which can often become “monsters they have created”.
In the first four episodes of her podcast, she covers the 4 key foundations that often businesses don’t have in place to help them grow and build businesses they actually love, rather than being stuck on the hamster wheel of being an underpaid overworked employee in their business as she helps others to move the dial from treating their business like a job to growing it as a business that really provides for them.
She said: “There is so much that you don’t know you don’t know as a new business owner – and this can leave us feeling overwhelmed and deflated when things are not quite working out as we envisaged, despite us working all hours God sends.
In the early days of my business, I was like a circus performer – I was the Physio, the Pilates instructor, the accountant, the marketeer, the cleaner and the receptionist but I was not doing all of these roles well – and I recognised very early on there was a lot I didn’t know. Only from there did I then discover all the stuff (of which there were lots!) that I didn’t even know I didn’t know! I decided to fast-track the process as I didn’t want to spend years fumbling around in the dark, and so found someone who had already walked my path, and I started my journey with a coach – who helped me to grow into a team of 18 within the first 2 years and turnover multiple 6 figures quickly.”
Katie now supports others through her consultancy business Thrive which she founded in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, to provide transformative business coaching for health and well-being business owners, such as; Therapists, Pilates instructors, clinic owners, many of whom were forced to move their businesses online, and now as we face the pressures of recession she’s stepping up once again to provide her support.
Thrive has rapidly grown into being the go-to team of experts for business owners in the health and wellness industry -but this growth has not come without sacrifice and Katie’s early days in business saw her feeling very alone, overwhelmed, and experiencing burnout.
Katie’s podcast ‘Treat Your Business’ is her way of sharing what she’s learnt over the last few years with health and wellness business owners across the UK and beyond, in the hope that she can support others in the industry to grow, through learning from her achievements, and mistakes, especially as they feel the additional pressure of the recession.
Katie said; “I am so excited to have launched this podcast, it’s been a long time in the making and I’m thrilled with how well it’s been received so far. Business owners and entrepreneurs in the health and wellness industry have really been through a challenging time with the pandemic, and now the economic challenges that we are all facing. Many are exhausted and feel wrung out. They are often time-poor. I have a deep understanding of what they are experiencing. It’s a lonely place running a business where not everyone can access the support they need. Launching, sustaining and growing a business is tough, especially when there is only your brain on it! This is why I wanted to create bite size podcasts for easy listening that will inspire, motivate, and support them.”
When Katie launched her first business in 2015, she was totally on her own and totally over-whelmed, she explains; “I have first-hand experience of growing a business alone, without any training, skills or knowledge. Qualifying from Sheffield Hallam University with a first-class honours degree in Physiotherapy I knew I was a great Physiotherapist and I had passion, drive and big plans, but wondered ‘where the heck do I start!’ I have been utterly burnout out and exhausted and can empathize with other business owners. Roll on eight years and I have grown the clinic to a team of 28 and made over £2.5 million pounds of sales. I now only work one day clinically and dedicate my time to supporting business owners who feel overwhelmed, lost, and exhausted and need help with their business strategy, financial forecasting, marketing, systems, and team management.”
Within the podcast, Katie shares tips and expertise on how to grow faster with clarity, confidence and certainty. Katie continues; “Many health and wellness entrepreneurs and business owners are confident and know that they are great at what they do, but struggle when it comes to running the business. Many went into it because they love to help people but can be gradually worn down with all the business admin, and marketing and often find their own boundaries are broken and they’re working all hours with little reward and revenue. I know how this feels and that is why I am passionate about making a change… “
Katie says that her whole life she has been waiting to feel confident before she does the next thing… but, she knew in order to massively grow, she need to take some calculated risks, and this is what she did when she took on premises on Ecclesall Road, into creating the vision of a Physio and Wellness centre for the community of Sheffield. And, within 2.5 years she needed bigger premises and so decided to take the downstairs and knock through more than doubling the square foot, meaning she needed to recruit more staff, gain more patients, buy more equipment and take on more risk! But it was always calculated and Katie says; “I am very proud of what I have achieved. We have received awards and have grown the clinic, whilst allowing me to step back clinically and launch Thrive. Within the first year, Thrive became a six-figure business, showing the need for what we had to offer. And into our third year, we are now ready to launch this podcast and hopefully a book later in the year.”
“My mission is to impact the health and wellness of our nation on a big scale and by supporting these business owners who are great at what they do, but lack the confidence and knowledge to make their business fly, we can make a greater impact on people’s health. I am excited to be in someone’s ears as they drive, walk the dog, or go for a run, and make them feel empowered and excited about the potential they have. They just need the push, encouragement and support.”
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Initial Podcast episodes are titled; ‘Who do you think you are?’, Start with Why’ and ‘People don’t buy what you think they buy’… throughout this series, Katie is joined by some notable guests, including; Michael Schumacher – an expert in the digital marketing industry for Physiotherapists, Philippa Aldridge – a business mindset coach and experts from Jane- a Canadian software company specialising in practice/clinic booking systems for health and wellness practitioners, who are sponsoring the podcast.
