Welcome to Pursuing Private Practice
Our Mission
Pursuing Private Practice is on a mission to empower non-diet dietitians to start, grow, and scale a business rooted in a weight-inclusive philosophy. Our goal is to amplify the common mission among non-diet dietitians that dietitians can empower clients feel fabulous about food. Pursuing Private Practice supports dietitians to create impactful offers for their clients, generate consistent revenue in business, and to prioritize self-care as a business owner.
We know so many dietitians want to build a business, but it’s very normal for dietitians to feel lost in the business world. Pursuing Private Practice takes dietitians through the process of business development, step by step, to ensure they feel confident throughout the journey.
Dietitians get results with excellent business education, supervision for challenging topics, and community for inspiration from fellow non-diet colleagues. No matter what stage of business a dietitian is in, Pursuing Private Practice will provide support to build a business that makes a difference in this world.
Our Values
Here at Pursuing Private Practice, we value hard work AND self-care. We fight diet culture, but also have to fight against hustle culture. Our dietitians believe in these 3 main values, and we honor them for ourselves as well:
Purpose
Passion
Protection
Any business is built to solve a problem for an ideal customer. We believe our mission makes a difference in the world, and we empower dietitians to solve the many challenges that come up when building a business. We respect continuous growth within our community. As we learn more and receive feedback, we reserve the right to improve our programs depending on the needs of the market.
We teach dietitians to create a business aligned with their passion and to work within their strengths. This creates work centered around a person’s “zone of genius” and we strive for team members to role model working in this way.
Boundaries are vital in business. When our needs are met, we do our best work to meet individual and team goals. We value work/life satisfaction to authentically live life to the fullest. When we aren’t taking care of ourselves, our work suffers. We believe in honest communication, direct feedback, and the right to make changes to reflect new boundaries.
We also believe in inclusivity. We strive to honor all dietitians of different backgrounds, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, culture, gender, size, sexual orientation, and ability. We value lived experience as much as traditional education.
Pursuing Private Practice offers two resources for dietitians who are pursuing private practice.
Beginner Basics is a course on exactly how to START a private practice.
For business owners looking to grow, Dietitian Business School is a membership for other dietitians to EXPAND their business.
About Jennifer McGurk
In 2015, after just coming back from maternity leave, I knew I was ready to push myself out of my comfort zone. I wasn’t “ready” to start working with other dietitians, but I was passionate about taking everything I had learned in starting my own practice, Eat With Knowledge, and use my experience to support other dietitians.
Thank goodness I started before I was “ready.” By listening to my gut and doing what I knew I was meant to do, Pursuing Private Practice was born. What started out as a side hustle and a “passion project,” eventually grew into a full company, with courses and programs for dietitians.
I’ve taken my 14 years of experience as a dietitian and 10 year journey as a dietitian business owner and bundled it up to help YOU be the dietitian you were meant to be. I want to save you from doing things the long way, the hard way, the more expensive way. Every mistake I’ve made has been a learning experience for YOU.
I’ll give you the advice you need to work hard, challenge yourself, and take up space in the business world to be the business owner you want to be. But I fully believe in self-care and NOT hustle culture. We do things your way, on your terms. There’s no magic in building a business. It’s making one good decision after another (and learning lessons from the “not so good” ones) and surrounding yourself with a supportive community cheering you on. And I’m going to get you there.
I’ve built a business from the ground up so I know the feeling of overwhelm and excitement at the same time. I also know what really matters in business: the balance between hard work and taking care of yourself along the way. BOTH are important in growing a business that will support you as a business owner.
I’ve worked hard to not only grow a private practice, I’ve brought on other dietitians to my group private practice. I love creating jobs that support the philosophy “feel fabulous about food!” I’ve spoken at conferences, created an online course, run a group coaching program, and have created a successful membership program “Dietitian Business School”, which is the main offer from Pursuing Private Practice. I’m a proud CEO, leading an incredible team that supports me in leading the company and who also support all of the dietitians we serve. I’m so proud that together, we’re impacting the world with our mission.
I’d be honored if you chose to build your practice with Pursuing Private Practice.
When we work together, you’ll be an empowered dietitian business owner, confident in your skills and doing impactful work that you’re proud of.
I have a tradition to open up a fancy bottle of wine or champagne to celebrate wins in business. I celebrated finding office space in July 2011 and seeing my first client in September 2011 (yes, almost 2 months after finding office space…. YOU will get your first client faster than me!). These corks are from those bottles!!
Celebrate the wins!
Meet the Team!
Elyssa Toomey, Director of Nutrition
I'm a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT). I combine medical nutrition therapy with advanced training in eating disorders, intuitive eating, yoga, mindfulness and somatic healing. I love helping clients heal their relationship with food and body and am so honored to provide supervision to the dietitians at Eat With Knowledge and in Pursuing Private Practice.
Annie Davis, Admin Assistant
I'm a Certified Medical Assistant-turned-Virtual Assistant. I consider myself to be an organized creative, I love helping female entrepreneurs organize the backend of their business so they can stay working in their zone of genius.
I’m an anti-diet dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor by day and a website designer by night! I love helping weight-inclusive businesses with their website and branding designs so that they can showcase their unique approach to health. When I’m not cooking for my family or working with clients, you can find me curled up with a good sci-fi book (and probably my dog Oliver and a kitty named Finnick!)
Check out our Pursuing Private Practice programs to see if we're a match for you!
