How I Went From 6 Shifts a Week to None in 12 Months (And Built a Better Practice in the Process)
I remember the exact moment I realised my business was a cage. I was lecturing 75 patients a week on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, while my own was falling apart. I was working six shifts, staying late for admin, and spending my weekends worrying about clinic finances. My successful practice was costing me my life.
I knew something had to change. I had a dream to study for a master's degree in classical singing, but it felt impossible. How could I run a thriving clinic and pursue a full-time passion?
Twelve months later, I was enrolled in that master's programme. For the two years that followed, I didn't treat a single patient, yet my clinic was more profitable than ever, and I eventually sold it for a life-changing sum.
This wasn't an accident. It was the result of a deliberate, two-part transformation.
Part 1: The Mindset Shift (The Real Work)
Before any practical steps, the real change had to happen between my ears. The strategies are simple; it's the mindset that's hard. I had to accept three truths:
My Business Must Serve My Life, Not the Other Way Around. This was the most important domino. I had to give myself permission to put my own dream first. I realised my business's highest purpose wasn't just to treat patients, but to provide me with the freedom to live the life I truly wanted.
Guilt is a Useless Indulgence. I felt immense guilt about stepping back from patient care. I worried about what my patients and my team would think. I had to reframe my value. My new job wasn't to be the best hands-on practitioner; it was to be the visionary CEO who created an exceptional centre of excellence for everyone. My value multiplied when I stepped away from the treatment table.
It Is Possible. The biggest obstacle is the quiet, limiting belief that this kind of freedom isn't possible for you. I had to stop seeing my situation as unique and start looking for the universal principles of business that could set me free.
Part 2: The Practical Steps (The 'How')
Once the mindset was right, the actions became clear and logical. This wasn't about complex business wizardry; it was about a few key, strategic levers.
I Hired My Replacement (And Trusted Them): The first step was to hire talented associates who could take over my patient load. But I didn't just hire them; I trained them in our clinic's philosophy, gave them clear performance metrics (like Patient Visit Average - PVA), and showed them how their success would directly impact their own income. Then, I had to do the hardest part: get out of their way and trust them to do a great job.
I Focused on Clinic-Wide Growth: Instead of my personal PVA being the focus, we shifted to increasing the entire clinic's PVA and attracting more new patients through systematised marketing. My CEO time was spent refining our patient journey and our follow-up processes, which benefited the whole team and made the business more robust.
I Built Systems for Everything: From a non-negotiable cancellation policy to a digital "playbook" of training videos for the front desk, I documented and automated everything I could. This removed me as the bottleneck and allowed the clinic to run smoothly whether I was there or not.
Your Dreams Don't Have to Wait
The journey from six shifts to zero wasn't easy, but it proved to me that it is possible to build a practice that gives you true freedom. Your business should be the vehicle that drives you toward your dreams, not the cage that holds you back from them.
You just have to give yourself permission to take the wheel.
