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March 3, 2026 • 15 mins

Love giving your clients personalized plans but feel stuck trading time for money?

In this episode of Science of a Profitable Practice, we talk about why fully custom programs can quietly limit growth for nutritionists, health coaches, and wellness practitioners. What looks high-touch and premium on the surface often leads to time ceilings, inconsistent pricing, and mental overload behind the scenes.

You’ll learn why constant customization makes it harder to scale your practice and what to do instead.

This episode explores how to turn your one-on-one client work into a simple, repeatable framework. Instead of reinventing the plan for every person, you’ll hear how to build a clear path that most clients follow, while still leaving room for smart personalization where it actually matters.

We also cover:

  • The hidden costs of fully custom coaching or nutrition plans
  • How a staged framework makes your services easier to sell and deliver
  • Why structure improves both client results and business consistency
  • How to add flexibility without starting from scratch every time

If you’re a health or wellness professional who feels capped by your hours, this episode will help you rethink how your services are structured, so you can protect your time and create more predictable results.

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This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
For information about how to start your podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
Or e-mail mike@cardinalstudio.co

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Episode Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
If you're a nutritionist or a health coach
who creates a brand new plan forevery single client and you're
starting to realize that yourincome feels capped by how many
hours you work, this episode isfor you.
Because today we're going totalk about why customizing your
services may seem like a greatidea at first when you're
starting out, but it's actuallykeeping your business from
growing.

(00:20):
Stick with me because by the endof this episode, you're going to
understand why custom offersdon't scale and what to do
instead.
You build a program, you know ithelps people, but you're not
chasing the right place.
You're chasing bagging and justrunning.

(01:02):
And from a value standpoint,that does make sense.
You know, if you think about it,bodies are different, lifestyles
are different, and theirhistories are different.
So you customize everything inyour offer to fit the client.
Now, stay with me for a second.
Every intake that you do leadsto a brand new plan.
Every client gets a uniqueprotocol, and then every

(01:24):
recommendation is built fromscratch.
And on the surface, this lookslike really high quality work
because why wouldn't you want tocustomize every single service
that you have towards yourclient?
But here's the problem that noone really prepares you for.
Customization doesn't justaffect your clients, it actually
affects your business model muchmore.

(01:49):
So let's start with the mostobvious issue: time.
So when every client requires anew custom plan, your delivery
time is going to increase.
So when you have a service thatis 100% customized, eventually
what's going to happen is you'regoing to hit a ceiling on your
capacity to take on moreclients.
And then after you've reachedyour capacity, you're going to

(02:10):
start to realize that you don'thave many hours left in your day
to work on your business.
And you either are going toeventually burn out or have to
raise your prices even more,which we don't, that's not
always a good thing.
Now I want to layer in apsychology perspective here.
So when your business relies onconstant customization, so you

(02:30):
have a service, you named itwhatever it is, but then you
customize it to the person,their meal plans, their
workouts, everything is verycustom and there's not much left
for any kind of structure.
Your brain is always going to bein decision mode.
So you're making dozens,sometimes hundreds, of these

(02:51):
micro decisions every week.
And what this means is that whenyou're making those micro
decisions, you're thinking aboutwhat to include, what to adjust,
what to prioritize, what tochange based on how they're
progressing in your program.
And so it doesn't decisionfatigue of what you're feeling
when you're making all of thesemicro decisions, it doesn't just

(03:14):
affect clients, but it affectsyou as well.
And when your mental energy isconstantly spent building from
scratch, there's very littleleft for strategy, growth, and
long-term planning.
You're always going to be inthis in-the-work mode and never
working on the business.
Now, I also want to mention thatthere's also a consistency

(03:35):
problem that customizationcreates.
There is a time and place wherepractitioners need to be
customizing their programs.
If it's for a specific illnessor a condition that they're
trying to treat or they'retrying to diagnose, or they're
trying to create some type oftreatment plan, that's when I
agree with customizing yourprogram to fit what exactly they

(04:00):
need.
If your program or what you'reoffering is very specific.
But if it is just a program thatanyone really could do if they
want to improve their habits orthey want to, you know, create
consistency in their life, orthey want to be, you know,
creating meal plans and, youknow, they want to, you know,
feel better, feel more likethemselves, or, you know, so

(04:22):
those types of programs,customization can create more of
a headache than not.
And the whole problem withcustomization is that the client
experience for that program isgoing to be different.
And it becomes very difficultfor you to predict the outcome

(04:42):
for your program or service.
So you create the program.
Um, and then let's say if it's anutrition program, you want to
help people build better habits,you want people to eat healthier
and to feel good aboutthemselves, to work out.
Let's just say those are youroutcomes.
Um, but if every clientexperience is different, then

(05:05):
when you're trying to sell theprogram, you're not able to
really tell them what theoutcome is because it's
different for every singleclient that you created a custom
plan for.
Now, the other problem is whenyou create these custom plans
for every single client, youdon't know what results led to
which outcome.

(05:26):
So you want to have apredictable path in your
program.
So it's a structured path whereit's not just you create
something so customized that theresults are different for every
client, but that you can easilyidentify what results match to
what outcome.
And because nothing isstandardized with a custom plan,

(05:50):
there's no baseline.
So it makes it harder to improveyour programs, it makes it
harder to, you know, trainsupport staff, create group
offers, um, or even transitionto memberships and courses
because everybody is a littlebit different.
You have different results.
And so when you're creating yoursales page, for example, um,
everybody has different types ofresults.

(06:10):
So you're not really able topinpoint what makes your program
get the same results repeatedlyevery single time that is
reliable.
Now, I also want to mention aswell is that the issue I have
with customization is it createsthis thing called client
dependency.
So when results depend heavilyon personal adjustments or

(06:33):
interpretations, for example,clients learn, and this is like
often it's very unintentional,but it they learn that progress
comes from you and not thesystem that you create.
So it makes it harder for themto feel confident on their own
and harder for you to step backbecause they're relying on you
to give them exactly what theyneed.

(06:54):
So they're gonna actually beblaming you and not this, and
not this system, which uh andunintentionally is pretty bad.
Um now, from a businessperspective, that that's super
risky.
You don't want to be that.
You don't want them to beblaming you because you're
creating a custom plan for them.
And so if it's not working, whowho do you think they're gonna

(07:16):
turn to?
They're gonna be angry at you.
And so we don't want that.
Um and so here's theuncomfortable truth that I've
learned from working withhundreds of health coaches and
nutritionists here.
Okay.
Custom plans feel like they'rehigh touch, but they often come
from an expense of they don'tthey don't really have

(07:38):
predictable income and theythey're they don't have
repeatable delivery.
So, yes, you could have a customplan for each client, but then
your pricing changes based onwhat they need, what their
outcome is, what's included.
And so your income varies basedon the custom plan that you
create for them, which getsexhausting after a while because

(08:01):
you just want something that'srepeatable, that they go through
the steps, they get the result,it's repeats every single time,
and there's not muchflexibility.
It's they go through theprogram, they follow the
framework, et cetera.
Um, and it's a lot more reliableand less of a headache for you.
And so the problem is that manypractitioners they stay stuck at

(08:24):
the same revenue level foryears.
And it's not because they're notgood at what they do, they are,
but it's because their modelrequires them to reinvent the
wheel every single time forevery client.
So their pricing changes,depending on what they sign up
for, uh, their delivery timesincrease, um, they're always
adjusting or tweaking based forevery single client.

(08:47):
It becomes so complicated, andit doesn't have to be that way.
So, what is the alternative tothis?
So, this is the way I want youto think about it.
You're gonna have one coreframework for each service that
you offer.
So, when you move away fromcustom plans, what you're really
doing is you're gonna commit toone core framework.

(09:09):
That framework becomes thebackbone of your work.
So it's a structured processthat every client moves through,
regardless of their startingpoint.
So instead of rebuilding theplan from scratch every single
time, you're gonna guide peoplethrough the same stages in the
same order with the sameexpectations.
So, from a business standpoint,a core framework means that

(09:31):
you're no longer making thislike different decisions over
and over again.
You know what comes first, whatcomes next, and then what the
end goal of that service is.
So your energy is gonna shiftfrom creating from creating the
program to guiding.
So you spend less timereinventing, you spend and more
time refining what you alreadyhave.

(09:52):
Because that is what's going tolead to more of a scalable offer
where you can reach more people.
I also want to mention this alsocreates consistency in your
delivery as well.
So when every client movesthrough the same framework,
you're gonna start to seepatterns faster.
So, what works, what stalls,what where people need more
support and where they don't.

(10:13):
And so this allows you toimprove your service over time
instead of constantly justadjusting on the fly because
everyone is different, you'recreating custom plans, it
creates a lot more confusion.
And so you don't wanna beguessing what each client needs
from scratch.
You're gonna respond with aproven structure.
And so here it is.
Here's the next question you'regoing to ask me.

(10:35):
Well, where do I begin?
How do I create this coreframework?
And so I'm gonna give you tipson how to get started today.
You're gonna start by payingattention to what you already do
repeatedly for clients.
So almost every nutritionist orhealth coach already has a
framework.
They just haven't named it yetor put it into a structured

(10:56):
place or um a flow chart, for anexample.
So I want you to think aboutyour last 10 clients.
So even if you know their planslook different on paper, it
doesn't matter.
Um, the process you walk themthrough was probably very
similar to each other.
So write down last 10 clients,what does each plan entail?

(11:18):
And then look for patterns.
Were there any similaritieswithin the last 10 clients?
Did you assess the same things,address the same problems?
Did you address the same outcomeor get the same outcome for
three or four of those clients?
You want to start to identifythe patterns because the

(11:39):
sequence is going to be yourframework.
And so the simplest way to buildthis is to zoom out, and I want
you to identify three to fivestages every client moves
through when they're workingwith you.
So I'm not talking about tasks,I'm not talking about tools, but
stages.
Okay.
Three to five stages your clientmoves through when working with

(12:01):
you.
So for an example, for someonewho's a nutritionist, it could
be that they want to stabilizesymptoms first, then they want
to create a routine, then theybuild consistency, consistency,
and then they maintain progress.
So those stages become the coreelements of your service.
And then once you have thosestages, you decide what never

(12:24):
changes.
So what is that non-negotiablefocus in stage one?
What is the main goal of stagetwo?
This is kind of where structurecomes from.
So you're no longer asking, whatdoes this client need today?
You're going to ask, where arethey in the process?

And now here's the thing (12:40):
you can have a core framework with
flexible options, but you're notcreating 100% custom plans for
every single client that walksthrough your the door of your
business.
You're going to have the coreframework and then decide based
on the core framework if theyneed a little bit more
specialized support or maybeadditional calls, and they pay

(13:03):
for that in addition to whatthey're paying for with your
core framework.
And here's the one thing thatyou can do right now, today,
without redesigning your entirebusiness offer.
Okay.
You're going to open up a blankpage, and I want you to write
out the names of the last fiveclients you worked with.
Okay.
Write them down.
And under each name, you'regoing to write the first three

(13:25):
things you helped them with.
So that's easy.
And you're going to start to seethe same patterns appear.
You're going to circle whatrepeats.
That's your starting framework.
And so if you know that youroffers need that kind of
clarity, but you're not reallysure how to turn what you do
into a clear structuredframework.
This is exactly what I do insidemy offer rebuild.

(13:47):
So this isn't really aboutstarting over or scrapping your
work entirely.
None of that.
We're going to take what youalready do well and redesign it
into a clear, scalable offerthat supports your clients and
your business.
So we're going to look at yourdelivery bottle.
We're going to look at yourstructure, your decision points,
and we're going to look at youroffer more closely so that we

(14:10):
can take the customizing forevery client away and put more
of a core framework inside ofyour offer.
So if you want to stop feelingcapped by your time and start
building an offer that canactually grow with you, you can
learn more about the offerrebuild at yeslab.ca.
And I'll also link it in theshow notes as well.
If this conversation sparkssomething for you, stay with me.

(14:32):
This show is about helping youbuild a profitable practice that
doesn't rely on constant hustleor burnout.
And we're just getting startedthis season, and I'm so excited
for you to get the strategies tomake your practice way more
profitable.
See you there.
Thanks for tuning in to Scienceof a Profitable Practice.
If you're ready for more ways toattract the right clients, head

(14:54):
to guestlab.ca for moreresources to help you get
started.

SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by
Cardinal Studio.
For more information about howto start your own podcast,
please visitwww.cardinalstudio.co or email
Mike at mike atcardinalstudio.co.
You can also find the details inthe show notes.
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