In all business, not just private practice, opportunities and decisions are endless.
• “Yes, we’ll take that insurance”
• “Yes, let’s hire anyone we can find.”
• “Yes, let’s start a new service or sell that new product.”
• “Yes, let’s try Facebook ads, Google Ads, billboards…do it all”
• “Yes, let’s subscribe to that new Emastermind group.”
• “Yes, let’s take every and any referral we can get.”
• “Yes, let’s try AI.”
Individually… these all look like positives for the business right? More revenue…More growth…More exposure….More services… But growth needs strategy and that isn’t built on individual positives.
It’s built on alignment with the mission and vision of the business and in line with your core values. Without this clarity of who you are becoming as a practice then every “yes” feels important. Then every opportunity feels like you need to take it on, and if you don’t you will have FOMO.
Then slowly and invisibly you wake up inside a business that is hurting.
A vague, unidentifiable, sludgy, strategic mess.
You are confused…your team is confused.
Your brand is diluted.
Your KPIs are off.
Your energy is gone.
There is dissonance within the business
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Every time you say YES to something… you are saying no to something else. No to the version of your practice that could have been exceptional if you gave it the patience it deserved. or No to the alignment you are trying to create.
Leadership isn’t about YESSING any and all ideas that “could work”… It’s about protecting the future you’re trying to build and YESSING ideas that are aligned and that will work.
We all know private practice doesn’t struggle because owners don’t work hard.
Shit, they are usually working way too hard.
It struggles because they haven’t decided, clearly and unapologetically, who they are and what they are building. There is no foundation, no backbone, no direction.
If you don’t define your path, the market will define it for you… and trust me… YOU DO NOT WANT THAT!
The magic of leadership is recognizing the power of “NO” and the opportunity cost is for a “YES.”
So as opportunities and choices are crossing your desk:
Take a breath, remember your mission and vision, assess without bias, and weigh out the YES and the NO and the benefits and drawbacks of each.
