"I thought I was going to d*e on live TV" | The dark side of building a personal brand with Anisha Joshi, Osteo Allies

TW: Themes of panic attacks and anxiety disorders discussed Book Stephanie Melodia, international keynote speaker, to speak at your next event: https://www.stephaniemelodia.com/keynote-speaker-hacking-luck

Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia is the best business podcast for curious entrepreneurs featured in the UK's Top 20 charts for business shows.

Hosted by Stephanie Melodia, Strategy & Tragedy features candid interviews with entrepreneurs who have scaled - and failed - their businesses - sharing their lessons in entrepreneurship along the way. From Simon Squibb of 'What's Your Dream?' Internet fame to Lottie Whyte of Sunday Times Top 100 Fastest-Growing company, MyoMaster. From exited founders like Nick-Telson Sillett to subject matter experts like Alex Merry in the public speaking arena and Matt Lerner, the GOAT of Growth.

This is one of the best podcasts to listen to if you're looking for educational and inspirational content on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, YouTube or watch the clips on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts

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In this week's episode, Stephanie Melodia interviews Anisha Joshi, an award-winning osteopath, public speaker, author of Heal Your Back, and entrepreneur who has scaled a multi-clinic healthcare business. Featured in the likes of ITV’s This Morning, Anisha has treated elite athletes, celebrities and even royalty.

Watch on YouTube via the link below or keep reading for the transcript, where Steph and Anisha discuss:

• The cost of building a personal brand in 2026, including online trolls, industry backlash, panic attacks, imposter syndrome, and anxiety disorders

• Goal-setting, manifesting (does it work?) and how Anisha landed multiple appearances on mainstream TV

• Practical advice on leveraging social media as an entrepreneur without overwhelm

• Valuable lessons from costly mistakes (including not scaling too quickly)

• And more.

SM: I mentioned in your intro you've been on the likes of ITV this morning. That's mainstream, top tier when you're on TV, that's incredible - but, of course, there is a dark side to having a big personal brand. So tell us about some of the experiences you've had. I know you've been trolled. I know that you've had some panic attacks. These nerves have got the better of you. So this kind of open up the behind the scenes, the reality of being in the wings behind, you know, these big experiences.

AJ: Yeah. So I there was a point where I genuinely thought that I I on live TV. And let me give you some background first. But, essentially, it was my dream or, like, I guess the North Star, was to, I guess, be an expert on This Morning. I feel like it's, you know, it's like the thing, like you say, right? If there's any kind of TV show you wanna be on, it's like you might as well go for the biggest. I think it's 1,800,000 live viewers. So, yeah, I had dreamt about this moment for a really long time, manifested it, and changed all my passwords to this morning, and tried everything to get on the show. And it's really interesting because, initially, the reason I wanted to go on it was because I wanted to take over the world and and see shed loads of patients and make them better, and have a busy business. And then it became more than became about the fact that not many people know what osteopaths do. And I was like, you know, I should do this just to represent the profession. And then one day, there was an osteopath on this morning. But I looked into it and I was like, okay.

So there's a lot of white men that are sort of There's a lot of them around. But they, you know, when it came to things like musculoskeletal representation, a lot of it seemed to be that. And I and then it became more about representing something even bigger, being a female, being a person of color. So, it took me I think eight years. Wow, interesting.

Of wanting it. And I finally got the opportunity, which as always, as people say, divine timing. I had someone come into the clinic who was a producer and it all just married up and two weeks later it's like boom, dream country. Amazing. But I guess the dark side is after that first time, I had quite a lot of trolling from others in the musculoskeletal profession.

And I was not expecting it, obviously, at all. Nothing can prepare you for, you know and and the reality is is you go through, oh, go on a show like that, and you already are a little bit like, do I deserve to be here? You know? There is a bit of imposter syndrome. Can I just ask at this point in the story, were you at all bracing yourself for any sort of backlash or trolling, or were you just kind of, like, rabbit in the headlights, my dream of eight years is finally coming true?

What was your headspace like at this moment? Yeah. It was literally like, oh my goodness, like manifesting words. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. You know? And this is my dream. Yeah. And it was like, yeah, like I went into that moment.

Like I was mentally preparing for like weeks beforehand, didn't tell anyone other than my immediate family. So what happened, what was the backlash? Backlash? It was just kind of like, you don't know what you're talking about, you're wrong, or I wouldn't have said that, I would have said this. Did you say anything particularly controversial?

I don't think so, but it's like anything. Right? You know, one hairdresser will cut your hair one way and the other one will do it another way. Everyone's got an opinion. Exactly the day the person still gets a haircut and they walk out happy.

So is there, is it really bad that as long as the person that walks out feels better, it's anyway, it's always like confirmation, isn't it? It's like, oh, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, you know, or maybe, you know, because the reality is is I feel like everyone has an element of imposter syndrome. Yeah, for sure. Otherwise, you're just a dickhead. Right.

You know what I mean? It just like, so with that in mind, it was, it was like, oh, it's confirmation that I I don't deserve to be here and I don't know what I'm talking about. And I think it, yeah, it really affected me and more than I realized. So what happened was the second time, so it went really well. They were super impressed.

And I think my first show, I was with Eamon and Ruth back in the day, and they asked for me to come back, like, I think, so three weeks later, they asked me to come back on again Amazing. Which was so cool. They couldn't believe it was my first time on TV Wow. Which is great. Second time, I I think I just got in my head about all the comments and you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what you're talking about, all these things.

And, essentially, what happened was I was being counted in, to go live and I stuck attack. And I didn't know what was happening because I've never had one before. So I was just like, what is happening? I felt like I was gonna die. I can't breathe. My whole body was violently shaking, freezing cold, thought I was gonna throw up on live TV, and... it was really traumatic. SM: Also, could I just say how amazing would that have been? Because you would have gone viral in an instant. Could you imagine, like, projecting on, like, over people's granola

AJ: Oh my god.

SM: On, like, this morning. Yeah. Silver lining. So, like, you could be, like, 10 times more famous if that had happened. I'm being silly because it's with you, but, of course, in the moment, you're like, oh my god. Like, that would be the most horrendous thing to happen. Right?

AJ: Yeah. Of course. And so it was, yeah, and like there was nothing I could do, right? So they're literally like 10, 9... and I'm going, like, you're gonna die and they're like the producers behind the camera, like doing the count and whatever and he's going, are you okay, Are you okay? And I was going, mhmm, mhmm.

Because also what's going through my mind is, what's happening? Am I dying? Also, if I this up, am I gonna be able to come back again? You know, they're gonna be like yeah. It's like, you can get caught, you know, in an instance.

So it was luckily, I only in that moment needed to say two lines or something, control, two, like a phone in. And so I managed to get the two lines out and luckily stopped shaking Yeah. And just get the two lines out. Yeah. And I did that by literally in my head, I was getting an issue, you're fine, and you just get the two lines out.

And then if you do throw up everywhere, it's fine. Like, or whatever, just get the two lines out. And so that's kind of but I was fine. Nothing happened. Yeah.

SM: And that's the hardest, isn't it? So what I can definitely speak to is speaking on stage, which we both have in common, which we'll talk about as well in a sec, but that buildup I mean, research has actually shown that 99% of Americans would literally rather die than do public speaking, which is, like, understandable. Right? Like, it is very nerve wracking. Even if you've done it a few times, even if, like us, we enjoy it. We love to do it. But that build up, when you're in the wings, and especially the countdown as well, like, you're gonna come out, and it's just that build up to getting out. And then once you get out, once you get those first few lines out, you're like, right, okay, we've, like, ripped off the plaster, and then you start to find your flow.

But what I definitely need to commend you on, I've never done, is going on live TV. The stakes of that are another level, so I wanna give you flowers and pat you on the back for that because it's one thing going out, well, doing a podcast, speaking on stage, but to be on live TV.

AJ: It's definitely an experience, yeah. And I mean, you know, the whole panic attack thing was it was, yeah, not fun. It was really traumatic. I ended up with, like, PTSD from it because, obviously, when I was experiencing fight or flight. I was stuck to having no choice but to be there and deliver what I needed to deliver. I can't go out and have get some air or breathe into a bag or whatever it was. And I think that was that ended up I thought it was a one-off, turns out it then ended up happening all the time. So I started to get panic attacks regularly even in normal, like, tubes. Suddenly, like, the doors would shut and I'd suddenly be like, oh my, you know, and I'd need to get, like, try and get off the tube. And while I'm working, just even whilst going to sleep, I'd be, like, falling asleep and I'd suddenly go into a full blown Wow. Panic attack. I'm so sorry to hear that. So how many roughly would you say that you've had since that first panic attack on live TV?

Probably, say, I don't know, between 10 and 15. Yeah. I wonder whether because you had such peep that moment and it happened to you, a, for the first time, so you got no idea what's happening. Touchwood, thankfully, I've only experienced it once, so at first, last, only time. But, again, because that was my first, this is how I can relate to what you're saying.

Like, you don't know what's happening. You've never had a panic attack before, and it actually isn't what the word sounds like. You're not running around panicking. You're lit your body is you feel like you're gonna die. Like, literally, that's what that's what it is.

So not only are you having this horrible experience, but you're having it in this environment. I wonder whether, psychologically, now, it's kind of almost opened the floodgates to anything, not anything, but, like, these other instances triggering you to have it again. Yeah. I mean, I think, essentially, yeah. It was like, yeah, it was like an opening Yeah.

I think. And How are you managing it now then? Well, I mean, so this was a while ago. Good. You know, this was probably the first time I went on the show was must have been about four years ago.

Yeah. Okay. So since then, when it eased off. Well, when it started happening more regularly and, like, in normal situations, I literally was like, right. Emergency kind of, like, I need therapy now.

Like, I what do I need to do? Because this morning wanted me back, thankfully. I was like I was like, oh my god. I've messed it up, like, forever. Like, I'm like this, like, you know, like, and I was just like, oh, they're gonna be like, who be like anyway, they wanted me back and I was like, no.

I kept saying no. And I was like, there's only so many no's that they're gonna accept before they go. Stop asking. Yeah. Stop asking.

Yeah. And but I was just like, I am not ready. And so I had, like, really intensive therapy, like, two, three a week. What type of therapy? Psychotherapy.

Oh, interesting. And, like, the lady I still see, is she Amazing. As in, like, CBT. Uh-huh. She's like a doctor.

Yeah. Amazing. Psychotherapy, so she's, like, got all the skills. Yeah. And I think she basically used a combination of, like, you know, the whole reframing and and coping mechanisms.

So about six months after that happened, I was like, it got to a point where I got another opportunity to go on, and I was like, it's like that thing, isn't it, of, like, getting back in a car after you have a car accident? Yeah. I have to do it. And it was the scariest thing Wow. Like, putting myself back in that situation.

Was it even worse this third time around because of what you'd been through the second time? Well, I think as in, yeah, the fear and the nerves were just through the roof. Yeah. Because I had to do a lot of mental preparation. Wow.

Like, every day, I was, like, visualizing, meditating, like, visualizing it going well. Yeah. Getting comfortable with the idea. Like, putting myself on the sofa and, like, the feeling my heart rate go up and and what to tell myself. And, you know, it was a real like, people just don't even realize that.

And for six minutes of live TV, I I I spent two weeks trying to calm my heart rate down. Yeah. I totally believe you. Yeah. And then yeah.

Like, I survived it. I didn't, you know, I'm here today. Thank you. Spoiler alert. And, yeah, like, it it went really well, and it was like, okay.

I can do this again. And I did it multiple times after that. But, What a journey. Yeah. Like, every time I after that moment, I did shit myself every time.

Like, is it gonna happen again? Is it gonna happen again? For anyone who hasn't been on stage or live TV, myself included in that, or or any of these other situations, when you're sat back as an audience member or indeed even a podcast listener right now, it's near impossible to overstate the nerves and the conscious effort you have to make to be good in that scenario. It's junk we do take these things for granted. We take it for granted.

Oh, just, like, tune into a podcast. Oh, just switch on, like, like, this morning over my breakfast. I'm at a conference, so let's just go to this stage and see. And it's day and night. It's worlds apart when you're just, kinda, set, like I know it sounds obvious, right?

But when you're passively consuming something as a follower, as a listener, as an audience member versus being the one and you're like, to your point, you're like, six minutes on live TV, no biggie, onto the next one, onto the next one. This is a daily thing that these guys, but for you, this has actually been a deeply traumatic experience. It's actually been a deeply transformational, like, journey for you. Like, you've had therapy, you've, like, had to build your resilience, thicken up your skin Mhmm. Understandably.

Right? But I think it's really easy to dismiss that Yeah. Or to not even register what what people go through on the other side. Yeah. Yeah.

I think I definitely have a better appreciation Yeah. For sure. Of what it takes to do that. Yeah. I'm glad that you still did it.

You put yourself out there. From a business perspective, what did that do? How did that impact your business? Because your main business, OsteoAllies, as we mentioned before, you treat athletes, celebrities, royalty. That's your main kind of business.

Right? So how did that impact your company? Well, from from my perspective, it it's instant credibility. So from a personal brand perspective, I truly believe pulled by people, especially when it comes to, like, service professionals. And I think where I was putting content out there and things like that, it was nice to showcase, I guess, a bit of my personality on live TV.

In terms of, like, say revenue, I'll be honest, like, it did almost nothing to the revenue. A lot of people would think in fact, I thought I was like, guys, get your phones out. Right. Like like, preem, like, you know, the phone's gonna be ringing off the hook. Yeah.

Reality no one in London watches this morning, understandably, you know, daytime TV. But in terms of your credibility Yeah. Massive. Did that translate to anything financial for you? Like, were you able to raise your prices because you've got this next level of kudos now?

Exactly. Yeah. So things like it definitely led to opportunities kinda also down the line. You know, being able to say that you have been on this morning, it I mean, you know, I do get patience from it still, you know, and people travel quite far, which is crazy to me, to be honest, because I'm like, you you know, they just instantly think you're the best in the world, and it's like, actually, no. I just speak well on campus.

Out there. Yeah. Yeah. But at the same time, yeah, it's it led to opportunities like, being able to be an author and, you know, getting, you know, maybe a few more followers on Instagram and, brands taking you more seriously, therefore more likely to kinda partner with you because you're instantly more credible. Yeah.

So Interesting. It's the compounding effect that it has with these other things. So I guess, like, it's opened up these other doors to have other, like, revenue streams. So with the book, for for example, say congrats on that, published by Penguin. That's amazing.

What do you think mattered the most the publishers to get the deal? Was it the fact that going on live TV got you a bigger social media following and they looked at that follower account? Was it purely the fact you've been on this morning, or is it just not that cut and dry? I would say it's probably all of those things. It's, you know, it's I got approached by an agent on Instagram saying Amazing.

You know, I like your content and stuff. I think that you could you should write sort of thing. And I was just like, oh, okay. You know, let's see what happens then and then it took me like over a year to like submit a book proposal just because I didn't know what to do. As in I was like, I don't I don't know what how to write a book proposal, so I just didn't do it.

And and then this agent kept coming back to me going, so, do you wanna write this book proposal? Anyway, cut a long story short, it went well. Something I wanna connect the dots on is you mentioned we rewind, I don't know, ten minutes ago, you mentioned one of my favorite words. I don't know if you've seen those viral reels with people's pets. I know you've got a puppy as well, where people say, like, book's favorite words and film them.

They'll be like, oh, should we go to the park? Should we go walkies? And they see their, like, ears pricked up. So my version of that was manifesting. It was like, oh, it's one of my favorite words.

And I'm super leaning into it as well, and I'm going, like, even deeper. I'm already a big, like, visualization kinda girl and everything, and I'm owning it. So what I'm connecting the dots on is you manifested ITVs this morning, which honestly is just, like, it speaks to, a, the power of the clarity of the specific goal, because I don't think enough people stop and take the time to think about what they actually want and be specific about certain goals. I think it's easy to be like, I wanna make a lot a lot of money. I wanna be a famous public speaker, whatever, but, like, you need to drill it down and be, like, I want to be interviewed on this morning about my profession.

Right? So you've got that clarity of the goal and then you've got everything else that kind of, you know, the effort that you put into it, the step the moves that you're making to, like, make that happen. So you've got that on one side of the fence, and then up on is the book deal sounds like that kind of landed in your lap a little bit. Right? Did so you didn't manifest the book deal?

I actually did. Okay. So I'm thinking back to in COVID. I basically had a whiteboard and I had a list, and it was, like, my goals, right, or, like, what to manifest. And so number one was speak on this morning.

Number two was, be an author. Number three, get married. Still waiting. It takes time to him. Divine timing.

Divine timing. But so it was actually on that list as well. Saying. Because, again, I did I thought being an author again, it adds credibility. Right?

And it is something I've always I've always liked the the thought of being able for for someone, say, in Spain who has back pain to be able to read my burn and and get better from it. And, you know, it's really amazing to think that I'm helping people that can't necessarily afford to see an osteopath or a physio or whatever. Yeah. Amazing. So I'd always liked the thought of that.

So, yeah, it was actually kind of in it was in there. That is interesting because I think the way you initially told the story was like, oh, yeah, and then it kinda led to this and that. What were the steps that you took to make it happen, or were you just kinda focused on the top goal with this morning and then everything else fell into place? Or I wanna just kinda, like, your own manifesting strategy here a little bit. What steps did you take to make these things happen?

Well, so with the with both things, do you mean? So with this morning, it was I was trying to reach out to people on LinkedIn, messaging them, my bio. I got a PR company at one point, and I was like, the the ultimate goal is this morning. And they were just like, yeah, you and everyone else. And and yeah, so it was like, I think I sent in a video pitch.

Nice. Like, just I, that's, and then I kind of was like, I think I went through three PR companies Wow. With that as the number one goal. And, yeah, so that was the the the this morning thing. And, ultimately, what do you think succeeded then in getting you on this morning?

Seeing that you went through three different PR agencies because this isn't saying much about them, is it? Oh, well, yeah. I think there's I think for things like TV and what I learned from the producers, that I'm now friends with is, like, that they aren't fans of PR companies. Like, they're just annoying Yeah. To them.

Apparently doesn't work. You could be the best PR agency. Right? But you're just immediately gonna be dismissed. Yeah.

But it was I think where the PR companies put my profile in front, like, I guess, in a pile Mhmm. Of lots of other profiles, it just so happened that this one producer saw my face and saw my profile and what and actually, she said to me, I thought she looks different to other Great. Musculoskeletal people that we typically have go on TV. And then she booked in for an appointment with me, and, like, I guess, I don't know, to see what I'm like. Incredible.

And, yeah, she she really liked me. We got on well. I didn't know she was a producer, and that's it literally just happened like that. Yeah. So in terms of what worked, I would say, I think it was probably, I guess, PR getting your name in the hat.

But, really, I think what ultimately worked was my Instagram profile and personal brand building as well because she did mention that her and another senior producer had been following me for two years on Instagram. So I had because this was eight years in the making. Yeah. So I think I was on their radar Yeah. Before it came right.

That's really interesting. And you've just got no idea who's lurking, who's following Mhmm. Especially if, like, you don't have that specific name in mind. It's another follower to add to the account. So let's talk about your Instagram, your personal brand, because I wanna sort of take it down maybe a rung or two for people who are like, okay, something like this morning or going live TV is still a few steps away from me.

So kind of rewinding on you saying, like, this social media presence helped. It was part of, like, the steps, the rungs on the ladder here. I first of all, like, did you were you very intentional about building your personal brand to build your business, or was it just something that you were just kind of naturally into and having fun with? I was really intentional about it. I actually didn't wanna do it.

You know, at the time, I was a young business owner, and I was already pretty busy with patients. Yeah. But I kept getting you know how they say that, like, a message will keep coming to you if you do it? And I just kept getting the same message from patients in London and a few celeb clients. They were like, you know, you should really do this on social media.

And I'm like, what do you mean do this? And they were like, you know, you should just post and because you're quite funny and relatable. And I just didn't get it. I kept going, no. I don't have time.

Like, really? You know? I I actually didn't get Instagram. Initially, I was just like, this is stupid. Why would you just I don't understand why you would just post a picture and, like, I just did not get anyway, I then I think one day I was like, okay fine, so I made my profile public instead of private and I think I posted a few things and I got some patients through the door quite quickly and I was like, obviously, ding, like, oh, okay.

This shit works. And so I was like, oh, let me do a bit more, do a bit more. And but I still wasn't necessarily it wasn't about following. It was very much about getting booked as I was trying to grow my London clinic. And then I had some like, a patient came in, and he said to me, look.

I helped grow this person's Instagram account, and you've got shed loads of potential to to really grow, but you're just not posting enough, you know, and things like that. And I was going, you know anyway, cut long story short, he was like, like, give me three months or something and like a free each month and I'll help you. So he helped me for a bit and then I got so intentional about it just because I was still shit at prioritizing it because you do, right? When you're owning a business as well, you're being pulled in so many different directions. Right.

So in the end, I actually made my audience, like, made myself accountable to my audience, and I actually said, okay. Hi, guys. I've decided, like, because overnight on a random day, I was like, I've decided that I'm gonna post every single morning on my stories a tip for you guys. I don't know if you remember or if we hung out there but basically I used to do like an osteo tip every morning. And so I did, That was like this.

I had to do it every single day without fail.

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Strategy & Tragedy: CEO Stories with Steph Melodia is the best podcast for curious entrepreneurs and ambitious founders. Learn from those a few steps ahead of you in these candid interviews of the highs and lows of scaling and failing business.

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About Stephanie Melodia:

As ex-CEO of an award-winning marketing agency, Stephanie now hosts Strategy & Tragedy, advises MBA students with Oneday, coaches founders 1:1, and travels the world as an international keynote speaker on her signature subject of ‘Hacking Luck.’

She has delivered impactful sessions for household brand names including Qatar Airways, Soho House, WeTransfer, LinkedIn, Xero, Harvey Nash Group, Web Summit, and more - leaving audiences feeling inspired, motivated, and energised.

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