The Move from Solo to Group Practice: The Benefits of Expanding Your Practice

Unleash the leader in you and discover the remarkable transformation from solo to group practice! It's a journey that brings challenges and rewards, requiring a shift from managing everyday tasks to steering the practice's overall direction. We explore the reality of this leadership evolution, offering valuable insights to help you navigate this transition. 

From flexibility to fostering innovation, the shift to group practice is loaded with benefits. We unfold how this transition can help you grow both personally and professionally, building resilience and widening your reach to clients. So, brace yourselves for an episode that promises to redefine your practice and propel you towards growth and success!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

If you are considering moving from solo to group practice. Here is what having a group practice can open doors to. Running a practice goes beyond the routine of appointments and daily operations. It's about fostering growth, both for yourself and your organization, and there is so much transitioning that will happen going from solo to a group practice. So many wonderful opportunities and lots of learning moments, lots of tough moments, lots of things you did not consider and you can do. You can do, but it is not for the faint of heart, but it is also so wonderful, I should say, and and it is also so wonderful and we're going to talk about that today and what moving from a solo to a group practice can do. Moving from a solo practitioner to a visionary leader can lead to transformative shifts that benefit your practice in various ways. We're going to explore the values of being able to grow and how it can positively impact your practice, your practitioners and you and your goals. One thing that you experience, and that I have experienced day in and day out since making the decision to move into group practice ownership, moving from solo to hiring my first team member was this role metamorphosis I personally, professionally, from what I do every day. It was just a metamorphosis of my role. So the owner's role metamorphosis is very, very real and very, very wonderful in so many ways. Tough and wonderful, I'm going to notice. I say tough and wonderful for all of these wonderful things that group practices opens the doors to, and it's and right and that's just how it is. But one of the most significant values of growth is the transformation of your role as an owner.

Speaker 1: 2:15

As you transition from a practitioner to a leader, you take on a whole bunch of other hats Strategic positioning, strategic operations, leadership, mentorship, understanding systems, understanding management, understanding growth, how to grow. Instead of being deeply involved in those day-to-day tasks, you steer the practices overarching direction. You become well, there's a lot more responsibility, there's a lot more to learn, there's a lot more to do and you're taking the visionary perspective. You are working. You move to working on the business rather than in the business, which is a huge metaphor, metamorphosis, a huge shift. This shift allows you to focus on the bigger picture, the long-term goals, ultimately, of course, benefiting the practices, sustainability and success. And where it's going, you move to working on rather than in, and that's a huge responsibility. But it's also so wonderful for the practice, because the practice deserves that attention. It deserves that. That's where you need to be as the leader. That is one thing that happens. One very, very large thing that happens when you do open up those doors to growing a group practice, your role changes.

Speaker 1: 3:45

I'm going to just talk about the day-to-day a little bit. When shifting from a solo practitioner into a group practice owner, the days have shifted over the last several years From seeing clients to seeing less clients, to mentorship, to RDS and supervision to not supervising and having someone in the practice take over that leadership role. So I can move into the bigger picture assisting in ability, systems, efficiency, effectiveness, more services we can provide, helping support the dieticians more the growth, the sustainability, the financial sustainability and all that there is to it, and also being creative. With other goals I have as well. In other areas of the practice. My role looks completely different from when it started as a solo practitioner. If this were jobs I applied to and were hired from, they would be completely different positions From the start to the finish, not finish. I am far from finishing, so much to do and learn and grow in. But from where I started six years ago to where I am now true metamorphosis of the leader I am, the decisions I'm making, the day-to-day, the doors that have opened, really the practice and what it looks like now very, very, very different.

Speaker 1: 5:18

So what is another door that group practice opens? Well, it fosters innovation and future prospects. So growth in your group practice enables you to be able to have this habitat of innovation in your practice Because, by expanding your team and collaborating with diverse professionals with different experiences, with different lived experiences, with different perspectives, you can position your practice to adapt and evolve to more clients needs, to more services, to be better, to do better. This innovation not only keeps your services as top, top quality and relevant, but also opens up to a lot of different prospects and ideas that come from the team. And as the industry changes and client demands evolve, your practice can proactively address these shifts and ensuring its continued success and ensuring that it can meet the needs of your client base.

Speaker 1: 6:28

With this, I'm going to add this other piece to the prior point I just made, and this is shared knowledge reservoir. So you're opening up not only this innovation to change and expand, but also you're opening up this opportunity to just have more knowledge and shared knowledge. Growing your practice means tapping into that shared knowledge and your team members bring with them collective wisdom, insights and collaborative, collaborative troubleshooting capabilities. And the shared knowledge pool is going to lead to optimal outcomes, diverse perspective and experiences, to well rounded solutions for your clients and for your team. It promotes this learning culture, this collective learning culture of growth, of peer learning, of mentorship. It fosters professional growth amongst team members, personal growth. Ensuring that everyone continues to learn, develop their skills, feel heard In this collective learning environment not only benefits individuals right at the practice but elevates the overall experience of your clients as well.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Another thing that group practice can open the door to is more resilience with your practice. As you grow, you become stronger and there's ups and downs, right, but you can become stronger to ensure more sustainability, a wider reach right, you can. Your clients can access a network of different professionals okay, and you can meet those needs more. It strengthens the client trust and your loyalty when you're able to continue to serve them. When like, for example, if someone is on maternity leave, you can cover, you can. You have a team with other professionals who can cover that client. Continue to provide that support. So it's resilience in with what your clients see, in what your team members see, because the more you grow, the more sustainable your practice can be, the more the safer the positions are that those team members have right. So the more that if you're impacted right, you did more that as a leader. If you're impacted by something personally, if you have a practice that is growing, you have put these things into place to take care of the practice when you're away, to not interrupt the everyday operations of the practice. So resiliency is definitely something you see over time.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Another item that another thing that I have absolutely felt is freedom with my day-to-day tasks, liberating me to be able to take my time where the things I need to work on and where I need to be right. By growing, by growing into group practice and by growing into a strong group practice, I'm able to be where I need to be in the practice, which is working on the practice for the betterment of my clients and for the clinicians. So I can focus on strategic planning and also personal pursuits beyond the work. Right, once you continue to grow and get yourself out of the day-to-day tasks, you may have more free time. That frees up to be able to not be working maybe 40 to 60 hours, but maybe you are working on the strategic planning and personal I'm sorry, the strategic planning of the practice for 25 hours and some weeks open up 10 to 15 hours to work on other pursuits that may be important to you, whether that is spending more time with your children or it is starting on a new business venture, okay. So building and growing, while not at first.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Eventually, the goal and what it allows you to do is to be able to delegate and have more liberated time to take that step towards achieving better work-life balance, avoiding burnout, doing other things you wanna do and having that freedom and flexibility. Now, we all know that when you're growing a group practice, sometimes that's absolutely not possible to have that liberated time. You are the least liberated because there's lots to do, there's lots to take care of and there's things that demand your attention that you have to be on top of right. But the more you grow, the stronger you become, the more you learn. The longer you're in it, staying dedicated and getting up when you fall down or there's something that's hard right, the closer you are to being at a place where you can practice what you preach right and have that work-life balance that your clinicians may have and avoid burnout while it looks like how you want it to look, having that liberated time and choosing what you want to do with it okay, and what you need to do with it better.

Speaker 1: 11:34

The next thing it opens is leadership cultivation growth as a leader you are. This is absolutely like a choice you do not have. If you want to have a successful practice, if you want to, if your values is to be a good leader right, you need to do a lot of personal as well as professional work to really hone in on your leadership skills, understand the barriers, understand the fears and grow in that vulnerability, grow in that learning, grow in that just pursuit of being a better leader. And this cultivation of leadership doesn't only benefit your practice, but also leads to positive transformations in yourself as well Super, super hard and super super great personally and professionally. And your guidance and your mentorship it can really either inspire growth in professional development or it can hinder it and be a huge barrier. So your guidance and mentorship is something that opens up when you decide to grow and it's also, I would say, maybe the most important thing, most important item of responsibility, right? So if you want to be a leader, then group practice will absolutely give you that opportunity that you have to take on. You have to take on. That's not an option.

Speaker 1: 13:11

The next thing that group practice ownership does is, as mentioned it does create a more flexible, more flexibility in not all the time, but you can absolutely get to a place and be in this place where you can achieve growth and it can open up to a more work-life balance, because you are out of the day-to-day tasks and maybe have worked on delegating and maybe are now working on the specific things where you need to be, and maybe that is for 20 hours a week rather than 50 or 60 or 40 where you have been in the past. This takes time, this takes effort, it takes dedication, it takes hours, it takes hard work, but shared responsibilities has the potential for making more flexible your schedule, more flexible, and you can find equilibrium between your different professional pursuits or your professional life and your personal life, whatever is your goal, okay. So a wonderful thing that opens up and this flexibility opens up and a whole other door, which is that creativity Creativity as a synergistic group with a larger team harnessing that collective creativity, but also your creativity yourself. It opens up more opportunity and time for you to be creative in other endeavors, in endeavors in your group practice, but also in maybe other endeavors you may have that you just didn't have the time to put into place. So we're going to talk about synergistic creativity first, which is, with a larger team. It means you can innovate services and ideas by tapping into the creativity of all of your team members, proactively addressing evolving client needs, industry trends, breakthroughs, all of that Right, so that can really help your just the success of your company.

Speaker 1: 15:16

When you open up to a group practice and have this synergistic vibe and ability and additionally, separately, just creatively, it does allow you to have more time for that potentially Right. So right now, as I am moving into my sixth or seventh year of owning a group practice, I have had time on and off to really really dive into my creative tasks, or for 20 hours a week and maybe five some other weeks, and maybe I don't have time at all some other weeks due to what the practice allows. But it has absolutely allowed and I can see in the future it absolutely allowing for me to be able to harness my creativity in growing my group practice, in doing more for my clients, in an ability to maybe start a non-profit to support our clients, and it's just an ability to do so much in my group practice but also to do some creative projects on the side that I am passionate about. The other thing is you can and this is something that I value so much, I'm so grateful for is that you can create this professional, safe content place for your providers so you are able to provide this position that you wish was something that you were able to have maybe in the past. Right, your growing practice can and can allow you the opportunity to help other professionals in and to provide the opportunity to work in a space that aligns with their values and that feels good, that can, that's supportive, that helps them to focus on their personal life as well and have that work-life balance, but while also helping them grow as a professional right, so you can create this professional haven for your providers. So being able to give positions, to offer positions and grow in that together has been something I'm truly grateful for that a group practice can open the doors to.

Speaker 1: 17:29

There is so much and this is not an all inclusive list, but there's so much that moving from solo to group practice can do from your time to your creative endeavors, to the growth of your practice, to providing more inclusive care, to providing a safe haven for to, you know, growth as a team, to equitable employment opportunities, to becoming a leader, to the growth personally, to the success of your practice, to be able to continue to help clients, for the resiliency there are. I can name the benefits for days, and it does not mean it's easy by any means. I don't know you wouldn't equate that to easy. These are all really, really hard things, but I would say they're absolutely worth it if you are up for that challenge and if that's something that that is. That sounds like something that you really desire and value.

Speaker 1: 18:34

So, if it is something you are considering, if you're considering moving from solo to group practice and you've listened to these benefits that are so not all inclusive, barely scratching the surface, just something that I've experienced and wanted to share, if you are considering it, I want you to listen to the episode, episode that I'm not sure what it's going to be, what it's going to be titled, but it's about really unveiling your why and accessing your motivations for group practice ownership and why you want to do it, because it's really important to explore your values of growth. Why do you want to grow and understand your motivations, understand the considerations, understanding what that transition will look like, what your new business life will look like if you do that, and what you're going to experience. And because it is so tough even though there's countless benefits because it is so tough, you really want to know what you're getting into and understand and have that right motivation that be in that grounded place, be in your values so that when the tough gets going because it absolutely will this was meant for you, which will help you to have that resiliency to continue to keep going, to build it in a wonderful way and to be in the place that you wanted to be. And in order to do that, you have to know your motivations, you have to assess your why, you have to know your intentions and you want to know what you're getting into and be educated and aware as you move into the process. So if, through listening to this episode, you are considering moving into a group practice and it's something you want to explore, first of all heck, yeah, that is awesome, that is exciting. I'm so excited for you and also let's move forward then, first and foremost, by asking why assessing your motivations for building from a solo into a group practice.

Speaker 1: 20:34

So I will see you on that next episode. I'm so happy to be here to support you. I hope this has been helpful. If this has been helpful, please consider leaving a review. It really helps us to get to more people and to support more clinicians. So I will see you next time. Have a great rest of your day.