21 May Start to Finish: How Ultra Successful Practice Owners Structure their Day
A lot of things have changed since I started my practice.
At the beginning, I thought the key to being a super successful practice owner was simply to “do more.”
So I did.
I worked long hours.
I saw a ton of patients.
I thought the longer I stayed at work and the more patients I squeezed into my schedule, the more successful I’d be — both for my practice and my patients.
But after a few years of working around the clock, I had a lightbulb moment.
Working in my business instead of on my business wasn’t doing any good — not for me, not for my practice, and not for my patients.
If I really wanted to take things to the next level — and help more patients in the process — I needed to make a mindset shift.
I needed to start thinking like a leader. A visionary. A CEO.
And once I did that?
That’s when my practice took off.
A lot of practitioners out there have the same mindset that I did at the beginning — that the only way to build a successful practice and help as many people as possible is to work themselves to the bone.
To never take a day off. To work long hours at the office. To squeeze as many patients into their schedule as possible.
But working that way? It’s not sustainable.
It’s a quick ticket to overwhelm and burnout — which won’t do you or your patients any good.
I have good news for you, though.
Building an ultra successful practice and providing the highest level of care for your patients doesn’t have to be hard.
You can have a thriving practice and serve your patients without sacrificing all your time and energy.
All you need is the right structure, framework, and processes — the right systems.
And once you have those in place, building a million-dollar practice — without working a million hours a week — suddenly seems more attainable than ever.
But what, exactly, does that look like?
Kicking Off the Day (The Right Way)
The way you start your morning sets the tone for the rest of the day.
When you start your morning with intention and purpose, you go through the rest of your day with intention and purpose.
And that’s why a morning routine is so important.
Most practice owners don’t have a morning routine. They start their day from a reactive place; they check their email, see what people need of them, and start reacting to whatever is calling out for their attention.
But there’s the thing — there’s always going to be something that “needs” your attention.
And if you spend your day reacting to those things, you’re never going to accomplish the things YOU want to get done — the things that are really going to help you grow your practice and better serve your patients.
So instead of starting your morning from a reactive place, start it from a purposeful place.
Instead of checking your email, do something that’s going to get you into the right headspace to make an impact during your day.
Go to the gym.
Write in a journal.
Meditate.
Me personally? I listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
Whatever it is that feels right for you, take the first few minutes of your day to do something for yourself. Carving out that time to do something that makes you feel positive, calm, and centered will help you be more present for your practice and your patients.
Then, once you get to work, take a few minutes to review your goals with your team — both your daily goals and your more long-term goals.
This is a non-negotiable that has completely changed the way my team functions; by taking a few minutes to review goals you make sure everyone is on the same page, knows what you’re trying to accomplish (both from a short-term and a long-term perspective), and has a concrete plan for how to make it happen.
Once your team is in the right place, it’s time to get to work.
For most people — including myself — those few hours in the morning are the most productive of the day. So I don’t waste time on low-priority tasks.
I spend those precious, productive hours in the morning focused on the tasks that have the most value — the tasks that are going to really make an impact on growth.
Typically, that might include a few hours of seeing patients — but only if you want to, not because you have to.
It's time to systematize your business in a way that allows you to be fully present for your patients and grow your practice at the same time.
Making Moves in the Afternoon
After lunch (and if you’re not taking lunch, let me be the first to say — give yourself a break!), it’s time to make moves in the afternoon.
The afternoon is the perfect time to work ON your business (instead of in it). The afternoon is a great time to work on the things that are really going to have an impact on the growth of your practice.
This involves things like working on a marketing campaign, training your admin staff on better patient management, and working one-on-one with your practice manager or other high-level management to make sure you have the systems and processes in place in your process to continue to grow.
The systems and processes piece? That’s especially important.
If you want to grow a million-dollar practice, you need to have systems and processes in place in your business that allow it to run like a well-oiled machine.
Taking care of patients, submitting paperwork, and scheduling follow-up care – all of these things should be automatic.
And the best test for checking to see if you’ve got the right systems in place?
Remove yourself from the equation.
What would happen if you completely removed yourself from your business? Would your team know what to do? Would they have the systems and processes in place to continue growing your practice — or does everything fall apart when you’re not there?
If you can’t completely remove yourself from the equation, you’re never going to build a million-dollar practice — and you’re never going to have the kind of work/life balance you deserve.
These kinds of tasks — establishing strong systems and processes, making sure everyone on the team knows what to do, and consistently automating tasks within their practice — are the kinds of tasks most practice owners don’t make the time for.
But these are the tasks that are crucial to building a million-dollar practice and providing your patients with the highest level of care. And if that’s what you want to build, you need to make the time.
After-Hours Are for Life — Not Work
When most practice owners think of the evening hours, they think of more work.
Trying to squeeze in more patients, filling out endless paperwork, taking work home.
But it doesn’t have to be that way!
When you have the right systems in place — the systems that allow you to build a million-dollar practice — your evenings become yours again.
You can take the time to pick your kids up from school.
To enjoy dinner with your family.
To leave work at a reasonable hour and spend the evening doing things you enjoy.
With the right systems, frameworks, and processes, you can leave work at work — and when you leave your practice, you can enjoy your life.
This is SO important, because not only does having a better work/life balance make life better for you, but it also allows you to be better for your patients.
When you have the evenings to rest and recharge, you can go back to work in the morning refreshed and fully present.
You can give your patients the time, energy, and attention they deserve because you’re not exhausted, overwhelmed, or burned out.
Taking the evenings to live your life — instead of dedicating it to your work — isn’t just a gift for yourself. It’s a gift for your patients — and it’s absolutely critical if you want to build a million-dollar practice.
Wrapping Things Up
If you’re thinking, “Wow… my day is nowhere near looking like that,” I totally get it.
Like I said, when I was first starting out, I thought the only way to get my practice to that level was work, work, and more work.
But as I’ve built my practice, I’ve realized that the key to building an ultra successful practice and helping more patients doesn't mean working harder.
It’s working smarter.
It’s establishing the right systems. It’s putting the processes in place to make sure your practice can run without you. It’s making the shift from working in your business (and trying to manage a million tasks every day) to working on your business as a leader and CEO (and delegating tasks to your team). It’s freeing up your time and energy so you can be fully present for your patients — and fully present for your life.
If you need some more tips on systematizing your business and joining the league of ultra successful practice owners you should check out my mini training on how to do exactly that!
