This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
I always enjoy hearing from listeners who are starting their first ever side hustle who are just really kind of going for it. Maybe you've been listening for a while and for whatever reason you've just kind of been absorbing or you've been busy or been distracted or maybe there's been something you've wanted to start for a while but you've had some kind of hang up on it and I know that's that's pretty common. Like I in my own life have often thought about doing something and for whatever reason it just takes me a while to get going with it but the point is now you are going with it and that's the kind of group of people I'm talking about here the listeners who are taking action moving forward. So today's listener today's caller by the way I should say this is side hustle school. My name is Chris Guillebeau I have the privilege of bringing you this program every single day for more than 1,300 days and counting. Now today's listener calling in
in this situation of moving forward starting their project she is a medical professional by background and is starting a communications business on the side. So how can she find her first clients and stand out from larger organizations? That's what she's wondering about but she'll put it in more detailed in better words than those. So here is a message from our sponsor and then we'll hear directly from her how to launch a communications business for healthcare providers. Hi Chris my name is Devin from Cleveland Ohio and I've been listening to your show for about two years now.
I am part a part-time speech pathologist in a hospital and also a part-time stay-at-home mom. Last week I have officially started my side hustle called communications connected. It's a communication consulting business specifically focused on improving communication skills for busy healthcare providers press for time. I hope to maybe launch a course in the future but for now I'm just focusing on providing one-on-one or group coaching services. I have two questions.
First how do you suggest I market to get my first clients and then second there are large organizations who provide similar work as me how do I stand out amongst the big dogs? Thanks so much Chris I look forward to hearing from you. Hey Devin thank you so much for listening and congratulations. Last week you've officially started your side hustle that is very cool. Listeners I want to encourage you to check out Devin's website it is communicationsconnected.com so just two words all together communicationsconnected.com. I like that by the way I think
it's a little bit long as a name but it makes good sense in terms of what it's about so if you hear that you're like oh I remember that so good name. Now from the website because that's kind of what I wanted to focus on here you know Devin has this write-up research shows that effective communication training in the health care setting can drastically improve patient experience reduce medical errors and help to prevent provider burnout which is vastly important now more than ever yet communication skills training is often not a focus during medical training so I really liked that I thought that was very clear and showing you know what the benefit is what this is all about and with this kind of service business and this can apply to a lot of our listeners by the way it's not just about you know Devin situation with any kind of service business that's really targeting professionals getting that first client really is key so it's great that she's really giving that a lot of attention and my suggestion is okay think about in really clear specific terms who will pay for this service not just who is it for but who will pay for it and I think the best bet would be for an organization or hospital or company you know HMO etc to pay for it instead of the individuals instead of the medical professionals themselves therefore could it qualify for continuing education or something else that is reimbursable I think Devon is already thinking that way because she has a page for employers on the website so all good things now my suggestion is while that benefit statement is really good the next thing that needs to happen is a clear plan for the customer or a clear path for the customer or client and for that I think it might be helpful to just have a little bit more clarity on you know what do people actually get when they sign up for this service how much does it cost what is the process for you know the training how often does it take place you know etc all that kind of stuff just a little bit more detail there might be helpful if someone is kind of pre-sold with the benefit then it helps to kind of push them over a little bit and you know push them toward that commitment by saying okay I understand the need now now how is this going to actually solve this problem and my last encouragement is you know embrace this strength of being small don't don't try to serve everyone don't try to compete with those large organizations focus on other benefits something that you can do differently or better so I think Devon is off to a good start here at least in terms of the messaging and I hope it goes well so Devon feel free to let us know what happens along the way and listeners I'm cheering you on as well if you have a question if you have an update for us I mean I want to hear I want to share with our community come to site us all school comm slash questions we're gonna continue to feature them this is a major focus of my work these days just trying to support folks out there who are taking these steps and so if you are one of those people then I am excited I want to be here for you and if you want to be one of those people well great you know go and listen to some of the episodes in the archives check out my books or somebody else's books do whatever you need to do to be able to move forward a little bit so if that's my hope I'll stop now but much more is coming up tomorrow so be sure you're subscribed my name is Chris Guillebeau the program is side hustle school from the onward project
