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The Wellness Creator Podcast is your go-to source for expert insights and actionable tips in the evolving world of health, wellness, and spiritual-based business. Join us as we explore proven online growth strategies, chat about current trends, and interview fellow wellness creators who’ve managed to turn passion into profit by helping people live better, healthier lives.
Marvelous (00:00)
Welcome to the Wellness Creator Podcast. We're so happy to be back. It is now 2025 and you are listening to the first episode of the new year. Yes, excited to be doing this. And I think all the years we've done podcasting, one of our, the biggest topics, our biggest downloads, highest downloads are always the trends, like marketing trends in wellness. So here we go. That's what we're starting with. All right. So we're going to talk through a handful of things that we believe will be trending, not only based on our own kind of gut and intuitive sense, but also based on kind of reading what's on the internet and looking at what other folks are saying as well. And we'll just give you our hot takes on what we're seeing. But I definitely think that 2025 is going to be a transformative year in business because of the last trend we're gonna talk about. But let's go ahead and talk about the first one, which has been a trend for a while now for the last five years.
And that is the growth and expansion of the hybrid wellness business model? Yeah, I agree. It's been a trend for a while. I don't think it's going away. Of course, it kind of kicked off after the pandemic when everyone had to, was forced to jump online. Client students became used to or familiar with practicing with their teachers online and it just continues. So I think those wellness businesses that offer both, you know, have in-person and
the option to do something online if someone can't come in that one day, that's a very, very smart business model. Yeah. And I've seen a lot of trends in the last year or so too of a combination of longer term online programs that also have an in-person component. And I think that that's so special because that's how you and I met. We were in a six month online program that had an in-person component at the very end.
And I think that that is just, that is a trend that's here to stay. So obviously doing everything in person, I don't think we ever go back to a pre 2020 world. I think they're like for everything we're going to talk about today in this episode and everything we observe in reality, like that's just not the world anymore that we live in for better or worse. And so, but I do think that having in-person components to online offerings, whether you're like a fitness studio or
who does that that sort of work every single day in person with your clients, or whether you are primarily an online creator, who's primarily working with your clients and students online. think that having options for in-person gatherings, or an in-person component to your membership, or your teacher training program, or your, you know, group coaching program, whatever it may be, that is here to stay. And I think that's a really beautiful, special way for people to connect.
I think it's a good point. It's not just like offer classes online and offer classes in person. There's an option to like really create programs that are like, let's do this part online. Like a lot of coaches do this. So like, let's work through this for six months. And then as you said, like where we met, let's meet at six months, end of six months in person and do something really cool together. Yeah. So I think you can really start to.
to blend and make it really flexible and really interesting for your clients. And I also, maybe this is me personally, but I really want to like get out there in the world and do something in person. Like, you know, if I was working with someone and they offered like, let's do a day in Sedona, for example, then, you know, I'm like, yes, hell yes, let's go, let's go, let's go meet in person. yeah, I think it's, it's, it's an old trend, but it's continuing.
And I just think about it too, how important it is to, just, of course, strategically as a business owner, like one of the things that we're all concerned with is clients leaving or churn in our memberships and programs. And this is one of those ways that you reduce that pretty dramatically. So.
you get people to build relationships with each other, they're going to be much less likely to leave your online program, community, membership, mastermind, whatever it may be. Like it's just another way to deeply embed those community, relationships with each other. Yeah. And so I think that that's like kind of its own trend, which is like relationship building, which is kind of a trend for the ages. But that's something to keep in mind, like as an online business owner, it no longer works to sort of like
put things out in anonymity and people kind of consume them at their own free will and never interact with you or any of their other clients. that is a hard business model to make work as your primary source of income. Yeah, I know lots of people want that model because sometimes if you've been in the business for a while, any business, I don't really want to deal with the clients. But yeah, I do think that just the last couple of years, like people are really yearning for that.
personal connection and friendship and deeper relationship. Okay, let's do trend number two, personalized wellness experiences. What is that about? Yeah, so I love this trend also because it fits so well into Marvelous and what we conceived of our software as being from really the very beginning. But it's this idea that in wellness and health, there's not a one size fits all answer for everybody that you serve. And there is going to be a contingent
whether it's a small minority or majority of your clientele, depending on who you are and what you do, that really needs a personalized or craves a personalized experience or version just for them. And because of the advent of different kind of technology platforms, it's never been easier for you to offer that. So for example, the way that you would be able to do this on Marvelous really easily is to have something like a private coaching program product where everyone who purchases that product gets the same shared
curriculum, like it's your kind of core curriculum, but then they also get a private space where you can have your call recordings if you do one-on-one calls with just them, or you can put, you can also like add materials just for them. And I think that that's, I mean, that's a way to sort of elevate what you offer. You can charge more for that because of that personalization. And I just want to add one thing and it's going to touch on one of the other points we're going to talk about, which is that like,
People are collecting so much data about themselves, like Sandy, you and I are like big data people. I literally have my watch on one hand and my whoop, which I haven't even talked to you about. you have a whoop? I have a whoop now. my God. So I'm kind of the person with a wearable on each arm, and I'm not wearing my aura ring right now, but I could be. anyway, we're all kind of like this to some degree, and we all have data, whether it's just on our cell phone or whatever, from being in our purse or pocket.
that if you can start to incorporate ways of really evaluating someone's health and wellness metrics and incorporating that into your higher ticket offer, ooh, chef's kiss. You have such an advantage right now because people are craving that personalized experience. Yeah. The data is overwhelming and you don't know what to do with it. I'm obsessed with HRV and it's like, okay, well, how do I really get it up to 40 or 50 or whatever it is?
Yeah, I agree. And I'm also just signed up for personal training, like one on one. We've got these amazing young guys in their 20s, like kin grads that are helping me. And I don't, I wouldn't, I would never do it as a group class ever, ever. But the fact that they're like, know that I'm obsessed with HRV, they have my particular goals. And it's just, I don't know, it's part of like feeling really catered to and special and taken care of.
they're like, look at things. Like, just, I love it. I love it. It's been a long time since I've done something like that. So yeah. And I also think, you know, we used to coach on this a lot that like, if your revenue is not where you want it to be, like, maybe you have a membership and those are lower tiered pricing and it takes a while to get kind of get going with the membership. I think it's kind of smart to be, to have an offer of one-on-one work, like because of the things you just said, like,
Remember when you can charge more for it, right? So it's really gonna boost that revenue and then you're going to develop that strong relationship with that client. And of course they're gonna go into that membership because they love you, they know you, you know them. so business-wise, think unless you're making more than what you want, I kind of think if your work lends itself to that, I would have a one-on-one option.
So personalized wellness experiences, just trying to think. And I would niche this down. Like that's another point that we wrote in our notes. Like I would really lean into the fact that you work with postpartum moms in the like zero to six weeks after childbirth or whatever. Like lean into that and you provide that personalized experience for that thing or whatever it may be. And I just, think as a
health and wellness creator, you've such, it's almost kind of like, we could sit here and coach like any single one of you who came and said, this is what I do. Like we could give you five options for how to have like a personalized version of what you do that you could charge top dollar for. Yeah. You just don't want to say like, I'm a yoga coach or I'm a, please never say that. Like, no, no one's going to fitness instructor. And maybe that's actually what you do. Yeah. Fitness instructor. But if you are one on doing one on one, it's like,
40-year-old women who are, you know, like add all the details there. Then those specific people are gonna be like, oh my God, that's exactly who I am. Yeah, yeah. And not a health coach. Be a macro coach. Don't be a health coach. Okay, that's all I wanna say. You and I are gonna like harp on Neesheen in every episode until the end of time. Okay, what is the next one? Community-centered wellness. Yeah, so we already touched on this in the first.
wait, because this is, this is related to that. But like, I want to talk about this from the standpoint of Marvelous and why we've emphasized and built community into our product is because we knew that this has always been a trend in the industry. Having a strong sense of place and community is a big reason why people stay in a wellness experience, whether it's a gym, a yoga studio, a health coaching program, whatever it is.
that may not be the reason that they join. So leading with that as a selling point is not always our best thing, but it is often the reason that people stay. So if you are concerned about retention, wanting to build a membership, a loyal clientele base, like community is everything. And it's also something that can translate to a VIP or higher tiered product in the case of a small group experience, like a small group coaching program, a mastermind, something like that.
Obviously, we saw this trend a bazillion years ago when we built our platform and we added community in the second we technologically could. And the idea that you can have an online version of a community is such, again, a beautiful, powerful tool in your pocket. It functions like a Facebook group, but has a fully private customizable space that's beautiful and away from the chatter and noise of.
The metaverse. Yeah. And if you just think about your client, like in the old days when you would go somewhere to watch the videos on coaching or whatever in the membership, then they have to go over to Facebook to comment or do whatever daily activity is required of you. just was awful. It was an awful experience. So now with Marvelous, you can like watch the video and then just click into the community and join in in the conversation. And I do want to say, um, one of the newer features that just came out late last year is that you can do
before we had the community spaces always tied to a paid product. So if you joined a one-on-one or a coaching program or membership, you you could enter that space. But now the teachers on our platform can just create a community for free, right? They don't, it doesn't have to be anything paid. So if you want to gather your Instagram people, your Facebook group, because you don't want to go on meta anymore, you know, like it's, it's, it's a really nice, beautiful, quiet place.
And of course, all of your programs are there. All your paid offerings are right there for them to see. So that is new update. Yeah. So that's thinking about community as lead gen too, which I think you brought that up. And you absolutely should and can think about it like that. I hadn't even thought about that point when we were putting this podcast together. So it's both a retention tool and a very powerful lead gen tool.
if you're using it effectively, meaning if you're going in and nurturing and spending time in that free community, then it can be a really powerful way to invite people into your other offers. So yeah, I love that. And I would say at this point, you should have a really strong, compelling reason for not including one or two communities in your business as a wellness practitioner. Like you should think about seriously having a lead gen.
free community and you should seriously think about incorporating a community into at least one of your paid offerings. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, trend number four is sustainable and ethical wellness. And I mean, this is a trend that is like, thankfully here kind of in every space. And I think within the wellness community, one of the reasons why I think it's important to talk about this is I have seen a dramatic shift
in the last year or so in the wellness industry in particular around fast fashion and the idea of wearing non-toxic clothing. So I think that that applies also to our digital spaces, but just this idea of like being really mindful that a lot of people who are consumers of wellness, who are people who are spending money to live healthier lives, those people are increasingly concerned about toxins and ethics.
And so thinking about how can you bring those values into your brand if you aren't already? Do you donate a small portion of your profit to an organization that supports these things? Like how can you bring ethics and values really into your business? I mean, truthfully running an online business is by default.
a pretty sustainable operation, right? There's a small energy component, obviously, to anytime you plug something in and use the internet. But beyond that, you can run a really kind of low waste operation. And I think it's worth touting that if you share those values, it's worth promoting them and talking about them because you're going to draw people in, especially in 2025. Yeah. And I just think about the print waste. Remember in the old days, you'd have to like...
you might print a guide or a workbook, or then you have all these extras and then, and now it's like all digital downloads, which is obviously you can do that on Marvelous. And so it's just, that part makes me really happy. So yeah, yeah, totally. And for people who aren't familiar, cause we might have some newer listeners, my background is in environmental law. Like our company just going to toot our own horn here is our ethics and values are deeply rooted in sustainability. And so
That has always been something that we've brought to the table just because that's like who I am as a person. So I bring that as one of the co-founders, but we're starting to see this as a trend more broadly in the wellness industry, which is fantastic. Yeah, love it. Okay. Trend number five is mental health and resilience. Yes. So Sandy, I just think this is so important because there's been this kind of like trend.
towards meditation in our industry for a long time since the beginning, since we started our company. And I think that this is kind of like expanding even more, like beyond kind of just the traditional meditation. Like we are seeing people creating kind of like daily audios. Like we have a private podcasting feature now in Marvelous for those of you that aren't familiar, like podcasting and private podcasting. So you can create kind of
mental health, don't I don't know, resilience tools like mental health is kind of a loaded bag, like depending on your belief structure, but you can create these sort of like resilience tools really easily on the platform and incorporate them into your business, whether it's as like a free download as a as like a marketing situation, or it's what whether it's just a way for you to interact with your clients. And I think it's important, like we've seen a lot of
a lot more use of things like journaling and even prayer and like tarot card pulling, like these kinds of more spiritual or resilience focused activities in recent, in the recent last couple of years. think it's partly because of where the state of the world, where the world is at, but also just, I mean, that's just a trend that's obviously not going anywhere either.
And I think anybody doing anything in wellness is most likely affecting people's mental health, whether you say it that way or not. So I think one thing to consider is like, how can you sort of beef up your cough copy with that sort of flavor? You know, like, because there's so many kids with anxiety and mental health issues, the teens and well, everybody, it's not just younger people, but like,
Can you just like add that as one of the benefits to what you're offering? Can you just maybe play that up in a blog post or an email or something and talk about that? And you're doing it anyway, you may not call it out, but this trend is something people are looking for, I think. That's a great point, I think if you just look at what you do and how you help people as a wellness creator, then sit down and journal or use AI tools to think about what are the
what are the kind of mental health benefits of these activities? And think about the testimonials that you've gathered and what people have shared with you. You can anonymize it, of course, but just let yourself actually consider that. Because I'm even thinking, you and I are business coaches and founders of a tech company. And you and I both have heard from many, many of our clients over the years the benefit to their mental health from building a business in a soulful way, the way that we teach.
And I don't always remember that, that that's like the same as meditative journaling or, you know, like it doesn't always show up the way that we think. But if you think about when someone tells you, I have so much less stress because I can pay my mortgage easily now, like that is a mental health benefit. So think about those, maybe those like unusual or, know, like something that you normally wouldn't connect to mental health that you hear from your clients. And then think about creating content and talking more about that and putting that in your sales copy.
Yeah, absolutely. That's a a great point. Okay, the last trend, number six, is AI and automation for wellness business growth. Yeah, I mean, I would say 2025 is going to be the year of AI changing a lot of things about how we live our lives and run our businesses. And this, this is started a couple years ago, but it was really not.
You know, it was like not something that was having a huge impact on most people's lives and businesses until like the end of 2024, the second half of 2024. And now going into 2025, you cannot ignore the impact of AI. If you want to have a business, I think it would be a mistake. think maybe you can get away with it, but you're just like making your life a little bit harder. So even if you're just using it as a tool for yourself to sort of help you journal and plan and create your content strategy, oh my goodness, like
It is so helpful as a time saver and is a way for you to kind of scale the size of your business without having to hire people. that is as like it's kind of the creators are in such an incredible position. You and I talk about this so much, Sandy, like what a an incredible time to be a solopreneur or creator because geez, you can have an army of help for pennies.
really pennies, like a Chashit BT subscription is $20 or a cloud subscription. like, honestly, you can write your email so much faster. You can organize your like strategy so much faster. You can get business advice. The tools are obviously really much better if you're feeding your own resources into them and we can talk more about how to use AI. have a whole episode on how we're using AI and some simple ways that the listeners could. Yeah.
But I think beyond kind of like your own use of the tool as a business owner, I also want to talk about ways that you can think about using it for your clients. So here's, I'm just going to give an example, Sandy, and we will do a whole podcast on it. But if you have recordings, for example, of coaching calls, you can take a recording of a coaching call, get the transcript, upload it to one of these AI tools, ask it to pull out key themes.
help you write blog posts on that, help you write Instagram captions on that, help you write a sales page based on that one coaching conversation. There's just this, the sky is kind of the limit here. And I think we will do probably many episodes this year on how specifically and tactically to use these AI tools in your business. But just in this first...
2025 kind of trends episode, I just want to put it out there that I really think even if you have reservations, please this year be open to the possibility of how these tools could be helpful for you your clients. Yeah. And I want to emphasize to your clients because I do think that there's lots of negative connotation around AI, but I also, some of the stuff that we've implemented has been better for our clients, like way better for our clients. And even yesterday I was responding to someone, I didn't...
really know how to phrase something was kind of awkward and I couldn't give her what she wanted. And was like, and I just popped over to one of the AI tools and it was like, and it just rewrote it for me. And like this very professional way that I don't think I would have been able to come up with. Like I gave it all the details and it just like formulated this like beautiful response. Cause I said, make it kind, make it caring, make it positive and boom. And I was like that I couldn't write that. So yeah, so there's lots of things.
Yeah, there's so much here and I think we should do a other. I will do a lot. I'm sure we're going to do something on well on our on our platform to do a class on it at some point when we get back into doing those kinds of things. But yeah, I just I just want to say like be open. Certainly there are huge apocalyptic implications of AGI like there's there like real things to be concerned with.
But the truth is it's here. It's like just accepting reality at this point. And so you might as well use it in a responsible way. And I will say that as an existing kind of online creator, especially if you have content that you've been making for years, you have such an advantage because the way AI really shines, these AI tools, are when you pour your previous work into them. And this tool can synthesize years of work and help you
build from that. so I just want to say it's not like, go to this tool and let it plagiarize the internet and make things out of nothing. Like, that's really not great. And the outcomes aren't very good from that. But if you're feeding your own knowledge and expertise in, which if you are a creator, you've made a lot of things in the world, whether they're blog posts or podcast episodes or TikToks or whatever, like, or courses or membership classes or whatever.
You feed those things into an AI and then that is what you interact with and create with from there. So just wanted to put that out there. It's best used with your own brain. You train it to be you is what you're saying. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. So obviously there's a lots of ideas and lots of things we want to talk about there, but let's just recap this. the six trends again, where the hybrid wellness model, creating personalized wellness experiences.
Having community-centered wellness, sustainable and ethical practices built into your business, mental health and resilience, and using AI and automation for your growth. Yeah. Yes. So I would just think about those trends as we head into the year. Be thinking about creating content around these trends, because again, we want you to be doing work and market in your marketing that's relevant to what people are interested in. Of course, always focus on your expertise and your zone of genius.
But see how your zone of genius and your expertise lends itself to trends. Because I'm sure if you put these six things down on a piece of paper and then you look at what it is that you do in the world, you can start to see where those things intersect. And that is a very powerful, magical place to make your content from. I love it. Thanks, Jenny. Thanks for listening. And if you want to check out Marvelous, you can head over to heymarvelous.com. Thanks, Sandy. We will see you next time.