“Dietitian Life 25.05.18 –
Travel, Bridal Expos and DAA Opportunities”
Perth life – shadowing, driving and meetings galore.
The week was also spent negotiating new clinics and hiring for our Albury Wodonga clinic, pulling together position descriptions for our dietitians and Tyson developing his marketing and social media strategies for each of the businesses.
Peta heads off to the Bridal Expo to represent the business as well as discussions around the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), emails, GP letters and resource reviews.
Dealing with staff who are sick and whether its due to stress or being in contact with sick clients or all of none of the above.
Opportunities come knocking from the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) – http://www.daa.asn.au
Total watch time: < 19 mins.
Full transcript:
Tyson: 0:09: Welcome to another episode of a Dietitian’s Life. I was in Perth for the last few days, just got back before. There was hail on the Harbour; that sucked. Hoping I get to play football tonight. My week was a lot of shadowing. A lot of shadowing, A lot of client calls and the alike. But it was good to catch up with everyone again.
Tyson: 0:45: On Monday I got back and signed three new agreements for different things and different clinics. Ones in WA and Brisbane and then we finalised the Aubury one this week as well. That one is done. We’re also interviewing for that position in Albury/Wodonga. Today is the last day for applications. If anyone doesn’t email us in the next three minutes, we will make a decision on those we have interviewed and they will start in two weeks.
Tyson: 1:45: On the flight, I wrote up a todo list. I had to write a position description. I hit up all the managers and admin about writing up all the position descriptions and trying to get a handle on what we’re doing. There’s a lot of overlap because we move so quickly and there’s so many different arms so we don’t always know who is responsible for things all the time or we might be doing other people’s work which means we’re doubling down and just wasting efficiency and effectiveness.
Tyson; 2:11: We applied for another award. We went to dinner meetings and other meetings for Melbourne. There were some updates on meetings and some shadowing. I was meant to meet with a guy from America on Zoom that I hit up but he bailed an hour before – the time difference sucked. He’s night and I’m morning so hopefully now that I’m in QLD we have two-hours leeway and we might be able to fit it. I can’t really tell you what it’s about until I have the meeting so I’ll just throw the fishing hook out there. That’s my week. I have a lot of strategy meetings going on tomorrow for marketing development and social media strategy on every platform on every website. That’s going to be an intense day but hopefully something good comes out of it. Weekends are for work.
Peta: 3:30: I’m going to a bridal expo this weekend with one of the dietitian that works here on the Sunny Coast. Hopefully I can plan my wedding while I’m there. Maybe I can crash a deal – I’ll give you free diet tips and you give me a free wedding. Always in for that strategy.
Peta: 4:13: My week has been good lots of moving parts. We lined up the deal for Aubury, so that’s great. Just negotiating the dimes and days for that. We’ve had two interviews this week as well. They’ve been good. It’s been nice to meet a few dietitians. I also started my mammoth task of contacting agencies for the NDAS – so everyone involved in from planned management to support coordination. Actually one of my clients is involved in the NDIS so we had a good chat about that today. Might catch up with them for a coffee. Always on the strategy
Peta: 5:03: I had a meeting with someone today with someone from Melbourne. We were talking about forming a partnership to benefit each other neutrally. We also organised two other meetings with other companies for my birthday which is good. That’s in two weeks’ time. What else have I been doing? So many emails to backlogs so I’m trying to play catch up this week. I’m trying to do a lot of resource evaluation. We have a lot of practitioners that develop new resources all the time. I’ve also done a lot of GP letters this week to review for practitioners. They’ve got a lot better, which is great. We did a PD last week and had lots of feedback on that from staff. They want some additional information – actually 5 people emailed me about that, so that’s cool. Lots of sickness this week. I’ve been sick, heaps of people in the company have been sick so it’s being a nightmare (something about dietitians and not taking care of themselves. You don’t know if its stress or the old ‘not selling your own advice’.) Obviously we are in the faces of people all the time so… it can also be people that are sick when you see them. The only reason I get sick though is because I’m inherently sleep deprived and that’s hard. Otherwise I wouldn’t normally get sick like this.
Peta: 7:15: It’s been really, really good. Clients have been great. Got a few new ones – got lots of rants on Instagram so if you haven’t been following, you need to.
Tyson: 7:29: I did some good stuff on Snap yesterday. Two key takehomes.
Peta: 7:30: We strategised in relation to some funding – we’re applying for some grants so we are coming up with some ideas on how that’s going to happen.
Tyson: 7:58: I’m going to Gold Coast on Monday, I thought it was Tuesday but it’s Monday. So I’m going to meet them. We’re talking about funding so I’ll do that on Sunday.
Peta: 8:07: And then my own personal business and life background so that’s always fun. Because I’m extremely behind on that. ANd I can feel it building up in me like this welling money pit so that will be my weekend. Keeping up with my invoicing and the like.
Tyson: 8:42: It’s kind of official – I got hit up by DA for their business symposium to be a keynote speaker. That’s pretty cool. It will be my first keynote speaking gig. They didn’t tell me what the topic was so if they say something clinical management of clients then I’ll just talk about you the whole time. An hour and a half of talking about you. That should be cool. That’s in October. I’ll send via Snap and other links once it is confirmed and dates and programme is confirmed. I don’t know it off the top of my head.
Peta: 9:45: We’ve had lots of good feedback about what we’re doing this week. And our practitioners have been giving amazing feedback. There’s also been move practitioner movement too. It’s been a busy week.
Tyson: 10:14: I’ll read out one of them for you, I won’t say who it is. But basically: Recently spent time in hospital and I was very unwell. Due to the nature and duration of my illness I was left malnourished. Lack of appetite was a concern and the thought or sight of food was an anathema for a many weeks. I was too weak and in a wheelchair. I was not able to function in any meaningful way. It was suggested to me that I needed a dietitian and I was referred to one of our practitioners. They visited me and assessed my options about my situation, personal preferences and lifestyle. I’m not the most compliant of people. I didn’t make his job any easier. I have never met such a dedicated and sensitive health professional. They are patient, informative and good mannered – all attributes that I hold dear. I am now attending hydro twice weekly, doing well for myself and well on the way to doing better than I have in recent years. I felt this person deserved recognition for the work they are doing, which is why I’m writing this comment.
Tyson: 11:35: It’s pretty extensive – it wasn’t just a casual thing. There was another one but I won’t read it. But similar things – struggling in life and needed weightloss and a mental health help. Helping people through PTSD and depression. Pretty good and we’re pretty proud.
Peta: 12:10: I went live today. If you didn’t see it, you should chase it up quickly. I got so much interaction.
Tyson: 12:46: Some of the key takehomes I got from the practitioners I was with this week were those I mentioned on Snapchat. One was that you need to make sure that you find the place to draw the line. That client feedback was a great example – even though you know they aren’t the most compliant client but if you’re there and you constantly keep going and trying, you know you’re having a positive effect on them. But if you know someone is constantly testing you and they’re saying ‘Oh yeah I could’ But they’re being a bit cheeky, then know where to draw the line. You want to achieve this goal so this is what you need to do. There’s no wiggle room with themselves at the end of the day. And you don’t have to be a dick or a bitch , but you do need to have that respect with that client. Because when you see clients all the time you develop a close relationship with them and you can have a bit of banter and keep it casual, but you need to keep the respect and remember it is a professional relationship at the end of the day. So being their friend is one thing – but getting results will make them love you far more. Just like that lady.
Peta: 14:08: And know your food. So if you don’t know what arrowroots (?) are, seriously, you’ve got problems.
Tyson: 14:15: The other thing was rice thins.They didn’t know it was such a thing. They thought it was referring to rice crackers but there’s rice thins as well. I did correct the crackers thing.
Tyson: 14:57: Knowing your food is really important. So going through your shopping aisle and looking at stuff you don’t usually eat, even if you pick it up. Just have it that one time.
Peta: 15:06: Tyson had a new food experience this week as well.
Tyson:15:08: I had kale for the first time. It was about a tablespoon. And I did know it was there. The ruffly leaves. I had seen it before I just never did it but I was on the road and didn’t’ have enough days to get my stuff that we usually do and it wasn’t going to be cost-effective so I saved some money and got the $5 meal. It was kind of the right size, I guess, I think i could have eaten more. It was probably the best sized portion for what it is though. I hate how the frozen veggies look in those things.
Peta: 16:06: I hate how they look when you reheat them. Disgusting. Not appealing. They look like a plastic bit of vegetable.
Peta: 16:21: But that’s important. If you’re going to recommend things to clients – and I recommended something to a client this week. You’ve ‘gotta know.
Tyson:16:35: And it’s about trying stuff that you don’t even like. Like I’ve tried so many foods I just hate, just so I know the difference between that and something else. And knowing the alternatives which is half the battle. Same for going to Maccas, or KFC or Pizza Hut – knowing those menus that you don’t go in there. Even if you hate it and despise it. If you’re one of those dietitians, you go there. I’d much rather walk into Maccas comfortably than going into a superfoods bar. The point is that you need to know your shit to inform people. It’s one thing to know clinical diagnosis and the management, but if you can’t relate it to real food – which is the only thing those clients know – you’re going to fail and not do very well. Or you could do exceptional.
Peta: 1741: I’ve been going and hitting up so many meetings. I had another meeting this week with a psychologist. He was really unusual. He was really flying our fly. I had a referral today. It starts with one (it will turn into 50). We’ve worked on that and hit up more again via email this week to follow up. To say ‘Hey we are here’ and remind them they have our cards. Sometimes it’s’ just they are busy and you’re not standing there all the time saying ‘Hey think about me’ so it does make a difference but to make that conversion you’ve ‘gotta keep banging the door.
Over to you…
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