Time Off Isn't Time Off If Every Decision Still Runs Through You – A Special SNACK Episode, EP 287

Tracy Cherpeski 10/7/26 Tracy Cherpeski 10/7/26

Don’t Wait, But Don’t Rush: A Year-End Order of Operations for Practice Owners, EP 286

Exhausted practice owners tend to wait for the holiday break to plan next year, or rush a purchase just to feel like they moved something. Both come from the same place, and both cost more than they seem to. In this solo episode, Tracy Cherpeski shares a year-end order of operations built on one idea: don’t wait, but don’t rush.

Most healthcare practice owners reach October already counting down to the holiday break. Then the break arrives, the energy is gone, and next year’s planning turns into a list in a notes app and a hope that 2027 is easier. In this solo episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski offers a better approach to year-end planning for practice owners: don’t wait, but don’t rush.

Tracy walks through a five-step order of operations you can start in November. Know your numbers, diagnose whether you have a people, systems, or tool problem, clean up the process before you automate it, choose your tools and partners with a clear head, and give time back to your team and to yourself. She also draws on three guest conversations coming up this month, with Aaron Westphal, Jeremy Hummer, and Ginger Hilton.

If you run a private practice and want to plan for the year ahead without burning out, this episode shows how to build a small plan that actually happens. You will also hear a client story about what changes when a practice leader makes room for planning first.

Key Takeaways

Waiting and rushing come from the same place. Both are responses to exhaustion. One says you don’t have it in you to decide, and the other says decide just to be done. The useful work lives in the middle.

Year-end planning has an order. Numbers first, then diagnosis, then process cleanup, then the tool or partner, then giving time back to your team and yourself.

Name the real problem before you buy anything. People, systems, and tool problems feel the same from the inside, and most owners jump to the tool because it is the one you can buy.

Space comes first, then rhythm. A client who once held a single planning meeting a year now runs weekly touch-bases and quarterly planning sessions, after she cleared real time and brain space.

Make the plan smaller than you think it should be. Protect two or three short blocks in November, decide what can wait until January, and put a date on it.

Q&A

How can a practice owner plan for next year when they are exhausted?

Tracy says planning slips at year-end because a depleted brain reaches for relief, not strategy, so the fix is to design around that. Schedule two or three short, protected blocks in November or early December and use them only for your numbers and your diagnosis. Then decide what you will not decide until January, put a date on it, and keep the plan smaller than you think it should be.

Which numbers should a healthcare practice owner review before the end of the year?

Pick three to five numbers and look at them in November, not January. Tracy’s examples include denial rate, days of cash on hand, turnover, and whether credentialing delays are costing the practice money. At this stage the goal is to turn the lights on, not to fix anything yet.

Should I buy new software or make a hire before year-end?

Not until you know whether you have a people, systems, or tool problem. Tracy explains that automating a broken process makes it faster and bigger, and adding staff to an undocumented workflow multiplies the problem. Her test: can you describe the process on one page? If not, that is the work. Once the picture is clear, waiting has a cost too, so look for a partner who asks what you want to accomplish before pitching anything.

What is the Bottleneck Diagnostic?

It is a tool Tracy generally reserves for intensive clients and Thriving Practice Community members, and she introduces it at the Community of Practice Gathering on Tuesday, November 10. It lines up with the numbers and diagnosis steps from this episode and helps an owner see where they, as a primary clinician, may be the bottleneck to practice growth.

Episode Highlights

Why end-of-year exhaustion derails next year’s planning, and why it is structural rather than a character flaw

The two Q4 temptations: waiting and rushing

Step one: pick three to five numbers and look at them in November

Step two: sort out people, systems, and tool problems

Step three: clean up the process before you automate or hire

Step four: choose a tool or partner once you can act on a clear picture

Step five: give time back to your team and to yourself

A client story: from one annual team meeting to weekly touch-bases and quarterly planning

Three small moves for owners who have nothing left

A look at the November Community of Practice and MasterMind gatherings

What is coming this month: Aaron Westphal (EP 288), Jeremy Hummer (EP 289), Ginger Hilton (EP 291), and two SNACK episodes

November Gatherings

Community of Practice Gathering: Tuesday, November 10, 2026, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern. A structured 90 minutes with questions submitted in advance (or asked in the moment), hot seat coaching, and conversation with fellow practice owners. The Bottleneck Diagnostic is introduced at this gathering. Click to register.

MasterMind Gathering: Friday, November 20, 2026, 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Eastern. A popcorn-style conversation with no presentation and no advance questions, led by Tracy. It is a good place to ask about Thriving Practice Community programming and get a feel for how the community works. Click to register.

Memorable Quotes

“That isn’t a plan. That’s hope wearing a planner.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“Rushing feels like action, and when you’re tired, action feels like relief.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“When you’re depleted, your brain reaches for relief, not strategy.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“If the real problem is people or systems, a tool just becomes an expensive way to avoid it.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“A small plan that happens beats a big one that never gets started.” — Tracy Cherpeski

Tracy’s message comes back to a simple idea. You do not need a perfect plan for 2027. You need a smaller one that actually happens. Look at your numbers, name the real problem, clean up what is messy, choose your tools and partners with a clear head, and give the time back. If you know a practice owner who is already running on fumes, share this episode with them, and watch for Aaron Westphal, Jeremy Hummer, and Ginger Hilton in the weeks ahead. Find the November gathering details above and explore more resources for building a practice that thrives at thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/30/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/30/26

Some People Own a Business. Some People Own a Job. Featuring Mike Milligan, EP 285

What's the most important financial document a practice owner will ever have? It's not a mutual fund, a will, or a trust — according to this episode's guest, it's a written financial plan. Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Mike Milligan, founder of One Oak Financial, a B Corp certified firm that works with high-income earners, especially physicians and practice owners.

Most healthcare practice owners can tell you exactly how their patient scheduling works. Far fewer can tell you exactly how their money works. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Mike Milligan, founder of One Oak Financial, about what actually separates a thriving medical or dental practice from one that's just barely surviving — and it's rarely about revenue alone.

Mike built One Oak Financial as a B Corp certified firm after spending his early career on Wall Street, where he watched profit consistently win out over people. Today his firm focuses on high-income earners, especially physicians and practice owners, helping them build written financial plans instead of reacting to market headlines or copying whatever their neighbor in the medical complex is doing.

This conversation is a practical one for anyone thinking about time management for healthcare practice owners, reducing taxes for physicians, or building a genuinely profitable medical practice without burning out in the process. Mike's central message: money is oxygen for a practice, but purpose is still the heartbeat — and you need a real plan to hold both at once.

Key Takeaways

There's a real difference between thriving and surviving. Thriving practice owners run their business like a CEO. Surviving owners are doing everything themselves, often heading toward burnout.

Some people own a business. Some people own a job. The difference comes down to systems, delegation, and who's really in the driver's seat.

A written financial plan is the most important financial document a practice owner can have — more important than any single investment, will, or trust.

Taxes may be the biggest expense a practice owner never addresses. Without a proactive conversation with a licensed professional, owners can give away 4–8% of their income every year.

Money scripts and behavioral patterns often drive financial decisions more than logic does — which is why good financial planning often looks a lot like coaching.

Q&A

What's the real difference between a thriving practice and one that's just surviving?

According to Mike, a thriving practice owner leads like a CEO — directing the business rather than doing every task themselves. A surviving owner is stretched across every role, which is where burnout tends to creep in. He's seen both states in his own business and says the shift usually comes down to systems and the willingness to let go of tasks that don't require the owner's specific expertise.

How much money might practice owners be losing by not addressing taxes?

Mike says practice owners who aren't having regular, proactive conversations with a licensed professional about reducing taxes can be giving away 4–8% of their total income every year — money that could otherwise go toward growth, retirement, or the life they're actually working for.

Why does Mike say a financial plan matters more than any specific investment?

A written plan, Mike explains, gives practice owners a way to make decisions in advance instead of reacting emotionally when the market gets volatile or a family member asks to “invest” in something. Once the plan reflects a person's real goals and values, the plan makes the decision — not fear, and not whoever's asking.

Why do so many practice owners struggle with the business side, even years in?

Mike points out that many practice owners started as clinicians, not operators, and only discover the gaps in their business education years into ownership — things like how to negotiate a lease, structure payroll, or understand the full range of taxes a business actually owes. He speaks from experience, having made many of those mistakes himself when he started his first company.

Episode Highlights

Mike's path from twelve years on Wall Street to founding a B Corp certified financial firm

What “impact over profit” actually means while still pursuing Inc. 5000 growth

The real difference between a thriving practice and a surviving one

Why “some people own a business and some people own a job”

How money scripts and behavioral patterns shape financial decision-making

Why a written financial plan beats any single investment, will, or trust

What practice owners are really losing by avoiding the tax conversation

Mike's advice for staying grounded amid market fear and headlines

Where to find Mike's book and how the Thriving Practice Community fits into this conversation

Memorable Quotes

"A thriving practice just doesn't work in the practice. They really lead it like a CEO." — Mike Milligan

"Some people own a business, and some people own a job." — Mike Milligan

"The financial plan is the most important financial document you can ever have. It's not a mutual fund. It's not an ETF. It's not even a will or trust. It's the financial plan." — Mike Milligan

"Taxes are the biggest expense you ever have in your life." — Mike Milligan

"Money is oxygen — it's what allows you to continue to expand a practice and help more people. But purpose is the heartbeat of a business." — Mike Milligan

Mike Milligan's biggest message for practice owners is a simple one: get the plan. Not another product, not another headline-driven decision — a written financial plan that reflects your actual goals, so the plan can make the hard calls instead of you making them under pressure. If this conversation moved you the way it moved Tracy, share it with a colleague who's still avoiding that money conversation. Visit mikemilligan.com to learn more about Mike's work and explore thrivingpracticecommunity.com for resources to help you build a practice that truly thrives.

Guest Bio:

Mike Milligan is the founder of 1.oak Financial, a virtual financial planning firm built around one idea: "Be One of a Kind." A Certified Financial Planner with over 30 years of academic and professional experience, Mike has been featured on CNBC, Fox, ABC, and NBC. He is an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University, host of The One of a Kind Financial Show Daily and the Ideas by Mike podcast, and author of The One of a Kind Financial Plan and Retirement Déjà Vu. Mike lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with his wife and three dachshunds.

Find Mike:

1.Oak Website: https://1oakfinancial.com/

Mike Milligan Website: https://mikemilligan.com/

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/25/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/25/26

Is Your Practice Really HIPAA Compliant? A Real Talk – a Special SNACK Episode, EP 284

In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta turns the mic on Tracy Cherpeski for an unscripted conversation about the compliance question providers ask quietly after everything else has been covered: how do I actually know if I'm in compliance?

Ninety-eight percent of small healthcare practices believe they're HIPAA compliant. Far fewer actually are — and that gap tends to sit quietly until an audit, a complaint, or a data breach forces it open.

In this SNACK episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Miranda Dorta turns the mic on Tracy Cherpeski for an unscripted conversation about the compliance question providers ask quietly, long after everything else has been covered: How do I actually know if I'm in compliance?

This isn't a deep technical breakdown of HIPAA rules — it's a real talk about why so many independent practice owners wait until something goes wrong to ask about compliance, where the most common blind spots hide, and a simple, low-cost first step any practice can take today.

Key Takeaways

“No news is good news” is a risky mindset. Many providers assume they're covered simply because nothing has gone wrong yet — not because they've verified it.

Patient communications are a common blind spot. Providers are most likely to assume they're covered here when they haven't actually confirmed it.

The stakes are real. A breach can mean a lawsuit, reputational damage, or in a worst-case scenario, the practice itself.

Don't wait for the audit. Regular self-audits — not reactive fixes — are the better bet, especially for smaller-scale practices.

You don't need to overspend to get started. A simple system (like Google Alerts for regulatory changes) or one consultation with a specialist can be enough to close the gap.

Q&A

How do I know if my practice is actually HIPAA compliant?

Tracy says this is the question she hears most often, quietly, after everything else has been discussed. Her answer: if you're not sure, “get sure” — start by identifying where not knowing carries the highest risk.

Why do so many practice owners wait until something goes wrong to look into compliance?

Tracy points to a “no news is good news” mindset — providers assume that because nothing bad has happened, they must be covered, rather than actively verifying it.

Where do practices most often assume they're covered but aren't?

Patient communications, according to Tracy — an area that's easy to overlook until it becomes a problem.

What's a low-cost first step for a provider who's worried about compliance?

Setting up something as simple as Google Alerts to track regulatory changes in their state. If that raises real concerns, the next step is talking to a compliance professional directly.

Episode Highlights

The compliance question Tracy hears most often — and why providers ask it quietly

Why “no news is good news” isn't actually a compliance strategy

The real financial and legal risk of getting compliance wrong

Reference to a prior episode on proactive self-audits (guest name pending verification)

When to DIY compliance tracking vs. bring in a specialist

Payer agreements named as another high-risk blind spot

A simple, low-cost way to start closing the gap today

Memorable Quotes

“We're doing everything we can, or we're trying to stay on top of things... so it must be no news is good news.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“It's really important to be sure. Better safe than sorry.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“It's not like you have to pour your life savings into having a consultation with somebody who can give you some insights.” — Tracy Cherpeski

“If you don't know what to do with it, that's a whole nother area.” — Tracy Cherpeski

You don't have to wait for an audit, a complaint, or a breach to find out where you stand. A quick self-check — or one conversation with the right professional — can close the gap between thinking you're compliant and knowing you are. If this hit close to home, visit practicesuccess.co to schedule a consultation, or thrivingpracticecommunity.com to learn more about the community.

Miranda’s Bio:

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/25/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/25/26

The Wheels Fall Off at Every Stage: Lessons From Scaling to 24 Practices Featuring Dr. Corey Malnikof, EP 283

What does it actually take to go from one practice to 24? In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Corey Malnikof, founder of Palmer Care Group, about the real story behind growing a multi-location healthcare practice — including the month he nearly lost everything before finding the systems that changed his trajectory.

For practice owners considering a second location, Corey offers a refreshingly clear-eyed test: is your first practice profitable enough to cover an entire year of expenses for the next one? His answer pushes back on the common path many practice owners take — from one location to two to three to none — and gets at the heart of sustainable practice growth.

Whether you're weighing your first expansion or you're already managing multiple locations and feeling the strain, this conversation offers grounded, tested guidance on systems, delegation, and building a team you can trust to run things without you standing over their shoulder.

Key Takeaways

Test your first practice before you expand. Your first practice needs to be able to cover a second location's expenses for a full year before you open it.

Growth isn't linear. Corey describes distinct stages of growth where "the wheels fall off," each requiring new infrastructure before the next stage becomes possible.

Document everything, even imperfectly. A rough three-ring binder of procedures beats no documentation at all — you can refine it as you go.

Delegation is a skill you build in stages. Letting go of control — especially hiring — was the hardest part of scaling for Corey, but necessary to grow beyond what one person can do.

Coaching provides focus. Outside coaching and mentorship were constants throughout Corey's growth, helping him focus on the few priorities that actually move the business forward.

Q&A

How do I know if I'm ready to open a second practice location?

Corey's test is financial: your first practice needs to be strong enough to cover all of a second location's expenses for an entire year. If it can't, he doesn't recommend opening a second location yet, because too many things can go wrong in the early months — from staffing gaps to software hiccups — and a thin first practice can't absorb the hit.

Why do so many practice owners fail after opening additional locations?

Corey points out that the common path is one practice to two to three to none. Owners often expand while "free flowing" — riding early success without a strong financial cushion or documented systems — and end up pulling resources from the first practice to prop up the second, weakening both.

What should I document before I try to scale?

Every process in the practice, written down somewhere — even imperfectly. Corey suggests starting with a simple list of everything that needs a procedure, then writing rough notes for each one in a three-ring binder or with the help of an AI tool. The goal isn't polish at first; it's getting it out of your head and onto paper.

How do I know when to start letting go of control in my practice?

Corey watches for repetition: if he's doing the same task on a daily basis, that's his signal to replace himself in that role. He's clear that you should learn how to do everything in your practice first — but once you know it, holding on too tightly becomes the ceiling on growth, not the safeguard for it.

Episode Highlights

Corey's rough first 30 days in business and how he rebuilt from nearly nothing

Modeling his early systems after Nordstrom, Amazon, Ritz-Carlton, and Starbucks

The stages of growth where "the wheels fall off" and what changes at each one

Building a C-suite — hiring a COO, CFO, and HR support to scale past ten clinics

Why Palmer Care Group intentionally paused expansion at 24 locations

The hardest responsibility Corey has ever had to hand off as a founder

How Corey uses AI tools to support recruiting, training, and daily decisions

His advice for practice owners who feel maxed out but still want to grow

Memorable Quotes

"Your first practice has to be so good, so awesome that it could financially cover your second practice, all of its expenses, for an entire year." — Corey Malnikof

"We gotta subtract before we multiply." — Tracy Cherpeski

"When you decide to hand something off... watch the process. And when it doesn't go right — which it won't — you just correct it." — Corey Malnikof

"It's very hard to see from an outside in as yourself." — Corey Malnikof

"I truly believe my entire career has just been that I've been with the right coaches, consultants and people... They built me." — Corey Malnikof

Corey Malnikof's journey from nearly nothing in the bank to 24 practice locations shows what's possible when practice owners commit to systems, mentorship, and the discipline to pause before scaling further. If you're weighing whether you're ready for a second location — or a fifth — his test is worth sitting with: can your current practice carry the next one for a year? If this episode gave you something to think about, share it with a colleague who's considering growth, and explore thrivingpracticecommunity.com for more resources to help you build a practice that truly thrives.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Corey Malnikof is the CEO of Palmercare Group, a healthcare organization operating 24 chiropractic clinics across the United States. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and leader known for building high- performing teams, scalable systems, and world-class patient experiences.

Corey’s work goes beyond chiropractic—he helps business owners and leaders understand that real growth comes from who you are, not just what you do. Through his leadership, speaking, and content, he teaches how identity, culture, and intentional systems drive sustainable success.

Corey is the author of “The 4 Dollar Sandwich” and has been featured on major stages and platforms, including appearances with Brian Tracy and speaking engagements for Parker University, Life University, the FBI, Keller Williams, and the American Chiropractic Association.

Find Corey:

Websites: CoreyMalnikof.com, PalmerCareGroup.com

Instagram: @coreymalnikof, @PalmerCareGroup

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/16/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/16/26

Brand Before You Market: What Independent Practices Get Backward About Growth Featuring Ashley Gay, EP 282

What if your biggest marketing problem isn't actually a marketing problem? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Ashley Gay — founder of Digital Ash Agency and a fierce champion of the independent practitioner — to talk about why branding is the foundation every growth strategy has to be built on.

What if your biggest marketing problem isn't actually a marketing problem? In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Ashley Gay — founder of Digital Ash Agency and a fierce champion of the independent practitioner — to explore why branding is the foundation that every growth strategy has to be built on. For healthcare practice owners wondering why their practice seems to be hitting a ceiling despite doing everything right, this conversation is a must-listen.

Ashley brings a perspective that's both professional and deeply personal. As the spouse of a surgeon, she watched the burnout and disillusionment that can come when physicians work incredibly hard but haven't built the infrastructure to support sustainable growth. Her mission now is to help independent practitioners build their dream practices the right way — with a brand foundation that supports everything from patient acquisition and online scheduling to staff culture and talent retention.

Whether you're a practice owner rethinking how to attract the right patients and team members, a clinician wrestling with how to compete in a convenience-driven world, or someone who's been told you need more marketing when what you might actually need is an audit — this episode will give you a fresh, practical lens for evaluating where you are and where you want to go.

Key Takeaways

Branding comes before marketing — and it's not your logo.

Your brand is shaped by every patient touchpoint, from online scheduling to parking to how the phone is answered. Being intentional about those touchpoints is how you build a practice people rave about.

Convenience is your biggest competitor. Patients choose doctors the same way they choose anything else — who's easiest to reach, schedule, and access wins.

Before spending on marketing, audit what you already have. Removing internal friction often matters more than adding new campaigns.

Branding isn't just a patient acquisition strategy — it's a talent acquisition strategy. Younger practitioners can spot an outdated, undefined practice from a mile away.

Q&A

What's the difference between branding and marketing for a medical practice?

Branding is what your practice is associated with — the feelings, impressions, and experiences patients have at every touchpoint before, during, and after they see you. Marketing is the outward promotion you layer on top of that. Ashley's core principle: unless your brand is clear and intentional, your marketing dollars won't stick. Build the foundation first.

Why do growing practices suddenly hit a ceiling?

Often it's not a marketing problem — it's an internal one. Ashley describes practices that have grown through sheer demand but haven't audited their patient experience, defined their culture, or standardized how their team operates. When a practice can't handle rapid influx — or can't attract the talent they need to scale — more marketing just amplifies the cracks. The fix is usually an operational and brand audit before turning the growth dial up.

How does branding affect hiring and staff retention for independent practices?

Significantly. Ashley makes the case that your brand isn't just patient-facing — it's what potential team members see when they evaluate whether to join your practice. A website that looks dated, a culture that isn't defined on paper, or expectations that are never communicated all signal to new talent that this may not be a great place to build a career. Defining who you are and how you operate — explicitly — is what attracts people who stay for 15 years.

Is online scheduling really that important for practice growth?

Ashley puts it simply: the person who can schedule online at 9pm in their pajamas wins. Patients don't choose doctors by diving into clinical reviews — they choose based on convenience, accessibility, and who makes it easiest to get in the door. If your practice requires a phone call during business hours to make an appointment, you're already losing patients to competitors who don't.

Episode Highlights

Ashley's origin story: from branding professional to champion of the independent practitioner — and what watching her husband's medical journey taught her about the gap between clinical excellence and business sustainability

Why branding and marketing are not the same thing — and why getting them out of order creates expensive problems

The patient-centered business universe: what it actually means to put patients at the center of your operations (not just your care model)

The talent acquisition blind spot: why your brand is what recruits your next great hire — or repels them

Slow down to speed up: the audit-first approach to sustainable practice growth

Convenience as your real competitor — and the operational moves that make your practice easy to choose

Why it's okay to not want to grow: a refreshing reframe on what a thriving practice actually looks like

The Part 2 preview: hiring structures, ownership models, and building a practice that attracts and retains top talent

Memorable Quotes

"We can go fishing for patients all day, but I don't know if you can cook that fish." — Ashley Gay

"Your brand is how someone feels when they interact with your office. Not just you — your office." — Ashley Gay

"Unless you're deliberate about the practice you want to have, it doesn't happen by accident." — Ashley Gay

"It's okay to not want to grow. Are you happy where you are now? Are you making enough money? Then who cares?" — Ashley Gay

"You can almost always spot it if you do an audit." — Tracy Cherpeski

Ashley Gay reminds us that the most powerful growth strategy for an independent practice isn't a bigger ad budget — it's a clearer sense of who you are, what you stand for, and how every person who touches your practice experiences it. For practice owners who feel the tension between wanting to grow and not having the foundation to support it, this episode is both a reality check and a road map. If this conversation moved you, share it with a colleague who's ready to build something that lasts. Visit digitalashagency.com to connect with Ashley, find her on Instagram and TikTok at MD.BrandPro, and explore thrivingpracticecommunity.com for more resources to help you build a practice that truly thrives.

Guest Bio:

Ashley Gay is the founder of Digital Ash Agency, a boutique marketing firm that works exclusively with physician-owned private practices. After 25 years in branding and design, she put that experience to work launching her husband's oculofacial plastic surgery practice — building it from scratch under an 18-month noncompete, with $1 million in billables and 261 referring physicians in year one. That experience became the playbook her agency now runs for independent MDs and DOs across the country, covering branding, websites, local SEO, content, and patient acquisition systems. Ashley is a member of the National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants and writes and speaks on what it actually takes to build a thriving practice outside of corporate medicine.

Find Ashley:

Website: digitalashagency.com

Instagram: @MD.Brand.Pro

Facebook: DigitalAshAgency

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/11/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/11/26

Nobody Wants to Be the Bad Guy: What No-Shows Really Cost Your Practice – A Special SNACK Episode, EP 281

Every independent practice has a cancellation policy. The question is whether it lives anywhere besides the new-patient paperwork. In this SNACK episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Miranda Dorta turns the mic on Tracy Cherpeski to talk about what no-shows really cost a practice, and why the gap between the policy on paper and the policy in practice is usually a systems problem, not a patient problem.

Tracy walks through the true cost of a single missed appointment (it is a lot more than the lost visit), why practice owners and front desk teams get squeamish about enforcing their own rules, and how automation can take the uncomfortable conversation off a human's plate entirely. If you are a practice owner trying to run a profitable medical practice without burning out your team, this is a short, practical conversation about one of the most fixable drains on your schedule.

It is also a conversation about trust. As Tracy explains, clear guardrails that are communicated well and applied consistently make patients trust a practice more, not less. And the practice owner who holds the line stops feeling like the bad guy and starts feeling like a leader.

Key Takeaways

A no-show costs more than the visit. Add up the prep time, the chart review, the room, the schedule slot, and everyone from the front desk to the clinical team who got ready for a patient who never arrived.

A "soft" policy is no policy. Asking for 24 hours' notice as a courtesy is not the same as a written policy with a clear consequence that patients know about.

Nobody wants to be the bad guy. That hesitation is human, and it also chips away at an owner's confidence in the vision they set for their practice.

Let the system be the enforcer. Automated reminders and fee notifications go out on time, every time, and no staff member has to make the awkward call.

Online scheduling is the single highest-impact booking change. Patients book when it is convenient for them, which is often after hours.

Q&A

What does a no-show actually cost a medical practice?

The obvious cost is the revenue from that slot. The hidden cost is the work that went into it: scheduling, allocating the room and resources, morning huddle prep, and clinical chart review. When a patient does not show, that time and capacity is gone, and the slot usually cannot be refilled on short notice.

What is the difference between a soft cancellation policy and an enforced one?

A soft policy is a courtesy request, like "please give us 24 hours' notice," with no defined consequence. An enforced policy is in writing, clearly communicated to patients, tied to a specific fee, and ideally automated in the practice management system so it applies consistently without depending on someone remembering to act.

How do you introduce a stricter cancellation policy without damaging patient trust?

Communicate it in writing, more than once. Announce the change, then keep it visible as a standing note in ongoing patient communications. Tracy points out that many practices have a large patient list and only email when something is urgent. Regular communication builds the habit of patients actually opening what you send, which makes policy changes land smoothly.

What role does technology play in reducing no-shows?

Once the workflow is clear and free of duplicate steps, automation handles the parts humans dread: reminder texts, fee notices triggered when a patient is not logged as checked in, and waitlist backfills. The message becomes the enforcer, consistency goes up, and the front desk is freed to do the work that actually needs a person.

Episode Highlights

The full cost of a single no-show, from the front desk to the clinical team

Why Tracy does not quote an "average" no-show number, and what actually drives the variance between practices

Soft courtesy requests versus written, enforced policies with a clear fee

The one-time waiver: building reasonable flexibility into a non-negotiable

Why practice owners and front desk staff avoid enforcing the policy, and what that costs their confidence

How consistent enforcement improves patient trust rather than eroding it

Communicating a policy change to existing patients without friction

Get the workflow right first, then automate: reminders, fee triggers, and waitlists

The booking system change with the biggest payoff: online scheduling, or a call center for populations who will not use it

Memorable Quotes

"Nobody wants to look a patient in the face and tell them that we're going to charge you for this." — Tracy Cherpeski

"Boundaries are meant to be non-negotiables, with some flexibility baked in. Because sometimes life lifes." — Tracy Cherpeski

"It actually improves trust in the practice, even if it kind of stinks to cough up 25 bucks for a no-show." — Tracy Cherpeski

"The email gets to be the bad guy. The text gets to be the bad guy. Your EHR is the enforcer." — Tracy Cherpeski

"We love humans. We're not trying to work humans out of their jobs. We want to automate the mundane things and the things that require accuracy." — Tracy Cherpeski

No-shows are not a mystery, and they are not a character flaw in your patients. They are the predictable result of a policy that exists on paper and nowhere else. Put it in writing, communicate it more than once, let your systems carry the enforcement, and make it as easy as possible for patients to book and reschedule on their own time. If you would like help closing the gap between what your practice says and what it does, visit practicesuccess.co to schedule a consultation with Tracy, or learn more about the community at thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

Resource Mentioned: AI & Automations for the Smart Practice Roundtable – Request the Replay and Accompanying Resource Guide

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Tracy’s Bio:

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/9/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/9/26

Building a Private Practice You Actually Want: Psychiatry, Aesthetics & Longevity Featuring Dr. Daniela Rizzo, EP 280

When you've spent two decades in hospital systems—working psychiatric emergencies, inpatient wards, managing overwhelming patient loads—you think you know what burnout looks like. You don't know what real sustainability looks like until you build it yourself. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Dr. Daniela Rizzo, a psychiatrist who left the hospital model during COVID and built a thriving private practice that runs on her terms: fewer patients, deeper relationships, and time to actually practice medicine the way she wanted to.

For healthcare practice owners wrestling with time management and practice growth, Daniela's story offers both practical roadmap and permission. She didn't have a guide when she started; she had to learn the hard way—navigating legal structures, entity types, licensing requirements, and all the business fundamentals that no medical school teaches. Now she's created that guide for the next generation of clinicians. In this episode, you'll hear how she combined psychiatry with aesthetics and longevity medicine, why vision comes before everything else, and how trust in the patient experience is your most powerful marketing asset.

Whether you're considering starting a practice, scaling an existing one, or simply rethinking what thriving actually means for your work, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on building a sustainable healthcare business.

Key Takeaways

Vision must come before structure. Daniela spent time defining her ideal schedule, patient load, and care model before she started building the business—this clarity became her north star through challenges.

You don't need to reinvent healthcare to innovate your practice. Adding complementary services (like aesthetics to psychiatry, or longevity medicine across specialties) allows you to serve patient needs they'd otherwise meet elsewhere.

Extended intakes and diagnostic depth build trust and reduce downstream problems. Daniela's 60–90 minute intakes with 20 diagnostic scales in advance means she truly knows her patient before treatment begins.

Business skills are learnable—and separate from clinical skills. Taking your diagnostic mindset and applying it to operations (asking when problems started, what patterns you notice) transfers well; everything else requires mentorship or guidance.

Burnout often signals misalignment, not failure. Daniela's burnout wasn't because she was a bad doctor; it was because the hospital model didn't match her vision for her life and practice.

Q&A

How do you decide what services to add to a psychiatry practice?

Start with your patient population and their needs. Daniela noticed her patients often asked about aesthetics or longevity approaches, so rather than having them seek care elsewhere, she got trained and brought these services in-house. The key is training yourself properly (she got board certified in procedural medicine) and only adding services that align with your patient community and your energy.

What should a new practice owner prioritize first?

Vision, then structure, then visibility. Define what kind of life and practice you want (how many days, what patient population, how much time per appointment). Then handle the legal and financial setup with a trusted accountant and attorney. Only after that foundation is solid should you focus on marketing and visibility.

How do you balance running a practice with writing and continuing education?

By being intentional about time blocking. Daniela wrote The Longevity Kitchen while running her practice by protecting specific time for that project. The key is knowing what matters most to you and building your schedule around those priorities—not fitting priorities into whatever time remains.

How does AI actually help in private practice operations?

Smart implementation of AI on the administrative side—like an AI receptionist triaging calls and booking appointments—removes low-value tasks from humans so they can focus on high-value work. Daniela's AI receptionist answers insurance questions and routes interested callers to her for follow-up, while her human receptionist focuses on the in-person experience. This is enhancement, not replacement.

Episode Highlights

Daniela's journey: from Brazil, through hospital burnout, to building a thriving NYC practice

The COVID pivot: how the psychiatric ward becoming a COVID ward was the tipping point

The practice-building pyramid: vision → structure → legal setup → visibility

Why "pick a niche" matters more than listing every condition you treat

The combination model: psychiatry + aesthetics + longevity medicine

Why extended intakes (60–90 minutes) change everything about patient trust and outcomes

The spa-like clinical environment: small details that make patients feel special

Automation that works: AI receptionists as operational leverage, not replacement

Writing a guide for residents: giving back after the struggle of figuring it out alone

The Longevity Kitchen: why food is the first prescription

Memorable Quotes

"I have a vision. What vision do you have? Make the schedule that you want. How many days am I going to work? How many hours am I going to spend with the patient?" — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

"You have to think like a business person. Have a vision, have a purpose, and have the entrepreneurial mindset." — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

"Before I see the patient, I send them about 20 diagnostic scales because I want to know about you before we sit down, and then I'm really going to dive into your life." — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

"Food is the first prescription. You know, change your lifestyle." — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

"I asked, do you want still water or sparkling water? Would you like an espresso? Little things like that make a huge difference. They feel special." — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

"You have to be persistent. Follow the tools, follow the steps, but have a vision, have a purpose, and think like a business person." — Dr. Daniela Rizzo

Dr. Daniela Rizzo's journey reminds us that burnout doesn't mean you're in the wrong profession—it often means you're in the wrong structure. She did the hard work of building something different, and in the process, she discovered what thriving actually feels like: working fewer hours, knowing patients deeply, and having time for the things that matter outside of medicine. For practice owners feeling the weight of time management challenges or wondering if private practice is really possible, this conversation is proof that it is. Visit the Thriving Practice Community to find more resources on building and scaling practices sustainably.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Daniela T. Rizzo is a board-certified psychiatrist and longevity medicine specialist based in Manhattan, with a simple but powerful belief: medicine shouldn't begin when you become sick. After two decades working in hospital psychiatry, she witnessed the limitations of reactive care—patients showing up only after something had already gone wrong. That experience drove her to advanced training in longevity and preventive medicine, and to build a practice that looks beyond symptoms.

Today, Dr. Rizzo combines board-certified psychiatry with functional and anti-aging medicine, helping patients understand their individual health risks and optimize their performance now—not later. She brings precision diagnostics, personalized nutrition guidance, and preventive strategies to help ambitious, health-conscious patients age with intention.

Credentials & Affiliations:

Board-Certified Psychiatrist (ABPN)

A4M Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Metabolic, and Functional Medicine

Affiliated with Mount Sinai Health System

American Psychiatric Association Member

Founder, Medical Spa & Aesthetic Practice

Based in: Manhattan, New York

Find Dr. Rizzo:

Thriving Practice Book: https://www.thethrivingpracticebookmd.com

Dr. Rizzo’s Practice Website: https://www.drdanielarizzomd.com

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Tracy Cherpeski 9/2/26 Tracy Cherpeski 9/2/26

Crush Q4 Smarter: The Pre-Purchase Inspection for 2027, EP 279

Everyone says "finish strong in Q4." Yes, we want that for you. But what if the practice owners actually crushing their fourth quarter are not the ones panicking into September? What if they are the ones who did something counterintuitive in August?

Everyone says it: "Finish strong in Q4. Make it count. Sprint to the finish." And there is truth to that. You want your fourth quarter to matter. But here is what Tracy Cherpeski discovered this summer in conversations with advisors, strategists, and experts who work directly with practice owners: the ones who actually crush their Q4 are not the ones who panic-sprint into September. They are the ones who did something counterintuitive in August.

They slowed down. They looked at their foundation. They got clear on what is actually solid before they moved. Which sounds backwards when the clock is ticking, but that is exactly why it works. Q4 is not where you build foundation. Q4 is where you leverage it. For practice owners wrestling with burnout prevention, sustainable practice growth, and leadership clarity going into 2027, this episode offers a practical reframe: crush Q4 smarter, not harder.

In this solo episode, Tracy walks through the pre-purchase inspection framework and applies it to your practice. What layers need to be solid? Vision. Systems. Financial clarity. And how do you actually use Q4 to leverage those, instead of just surviving it?

Key Takeaways

The energy you bring into Q4 sets the tone for everything that follows. If you are burned out in September, your team feels it, your patients feel it, and burnout becomes your default.

Slowing down in August to audit your foundation is not lost time—it is the fastest way to actually crush Q4. Clarity creates momentum; panic creates chaos.

You can have the best vision and the tightest systems, but if you do not know your financial numbers, you are still guessing. All three layers matter before you move forward.

Vision and purpose serve as your decision filter for Q4. When opportunities or challenges arise, you have criteria to say yes or no, instead of reacting and adding things that do not fit.

Q&A

Why do practice owners burn out in Q4?

Most start September exhausted and thinking they need to move faster. But when you are already running on fumes, every decision gets made from scarcity and panic. By October, staff is checked out, decision quality tanks, and the cycle perpetuates. The burnout is not inevitable—it is the result of not doing the foundation audit in August.

What is the pre-purchase inspection framework?

Before you buy a house, you inspect the foundation, the roof, the systems. You want to know what you are working with. Tracy applies this to your practice. Before you build anything in Q4, you audit three things: your vision (is it still true?), your systems (do they support that vision?), and your financial clarity (do you know your actual numbers and what they mean?). You are not building from scratch—you are checking what is there and reinforcing what is cracked.

How does this connect to sustainable practice growth?

Practices that actually thrive are not the ones that spike in Q4 and crash in January. They are the ones that build on a solid foundation. If your foundation is clear—you know your vision, your systems work, your numbers make sense—then Q4 becomes momentum-building instead of crisis management. Sustainable growth means growing from something, not despite something.

Episode Highlights

Why everyone's Q4 urgency advice is backwards

The pre-purchase inspection metaphor applied to your practice

How slowing down in August actually speeds up Q4

The three layers of foundation: vision, systems, financial clarity

Why your vision is not motivational—it is your decision filter

What to audit before September if you want to crush Q4

The difference between thriving in Q4 and surviving it

Memorable Quotes

"Q4 is not where you build foundation. Q4 is where you leverage it."

— Tracy Cherpeski

"Slowing down enough to do that does not mean you are not going to crush Q4. It means you are going to crush it smarter."

— Tracy Cherpeski

"You can have the best vision and the tightest systems, and if you do not know your actual numbers, you are still guessing."

— Tracy Cherpeski

"When you know what you are working with, when you have that clarity, Q4 stops being something you survive. It becomes something you build."

— Tracy Cherpeski

"That clarity is what saves you from Q4 burnout. It keeps you moving toward something instead of just moving."

— Tracy Cherpeski

Q4 does not have to be a sprint that leaves you burned out on January 1st. The practice owners who actually crush their fourth quarter are not the ones who ignore foundation—they are the ones who audit it first. Whether it is your vision, your systems, or your financial clarity, take an hour this week and look at one layer. Just one. Because that clarity is what separates thriving from surviving. Share this with a colleague who needs permission to slow down before speeding up. You will find all the resources and links in the show notes at thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/28/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/28/26

Stop, Hand Off, or Automate: The Framework Practice Owners Actually Need – A Special SNACK Episode, EP 278

Physicians work nearly 58 hours a week, but only 27 involve actual patient care. The rest? Administrative tasks that do not align with why they went into medicine. For practice owners, this burden is yours to own, often by accident. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta and Tracy Cherpeski break down the admin burden, explore the difference between moral distress and moral injury, and share the framework that works: stop, hand off to a person, or automate.

Physicians work nearly 58 hours a week, but only about 27 of those hours involve actual patient care. The rest? Documentation, administrative tasks, and systems management that have nothing to do with why anyone went into medicine in the first place. For practice owners, this burden lands differently than for employed physicians. When you own the system, the admin work becomes your responsibility, often by accident. And when a highly-paid clinician spends hours on tasks that could be delegated, stopped, or automated, it is not a productivity gap. It is a values conflict.

In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta and Tracy Cherpeski break down the admin burden that practice owners absorb and, more importantly, what to do about it. They explore the real difference between moral distress (frustration at the system) and moral injury (the deeper disillusionment that creeps into burnout). And they share a framework that actually works: stop, hand off to a person, or automate. Most practice owners get the second bucket wrong, and it costs them both time and money.

If you are a practice owner caught between knowing you should not be doing administrative work and feeling like you are the only one who can do it right, this conversation is for you.

Key Takeaways

The admin burden problem is a values conflict, not a productivity gap. When practice owners recognize that certain tasks do not align with their clinical role or their values, the reframing shifts from "I am inefficient" to "this is not mine to do."

Moral injury lurks beneath burnout. The frustration of spending 12+ years in training only to spend half your week on documentation and admin tasks is not just annoying, it is a deep, corroding sense of betrayal that feeds burnout.

Delegation is the most common failure point. Solo practitioners especially struggle with handing work off because they just know how to do it faster. But that habit costs them time, sanity, and the ability to scale.

Not every task can be automated. Before buying a tool, identify what is actually broken: Is it a tool problem, a process problem, or a people problem? The wrong diagnosis here amplifies the original pain.

Automation takes time and buy-in. If you implement a tool without team alignment and realistic expectations (90 days to 6 months for larger systems), you are setting yourself up to blame the tool instead of examining the actual problem.

Q&A

What is the difference between moral distress and moral injury for practice owners?What is the difference between moral distress and moral injury for practice owners?

Moral distress is the immediate frustration: this is heavy, and something needs to change. It is the signal that your current situation is not working. Moral injury goes deeper. It is the sense of incredulity and disillusionment that creeps in when you realize you spent 12+ years in training only to spend half your week on documentation. Over time, this frustration calcifies into the burnout symptoms many practice owners recognize.

How do practice owners distinguish between tasks they should delegate and tasks that genuinely need their attention?How do practice owners distinguish between tasks they should delegate and tasks that genuinely need their attention?

Start by asking: How do I want my patients to experience my practice? What is most important about their journey from the moment they schedule to when they leave and refer others? Then map every recurring task into one of three buckets: stop, hand off to a person, or automate. The mistake many practice owners make is thinking like a control freak when really they are operating on habit. But there is a difference between a task that is hard to let go of and one that genuinely requires your clinical judgment or human voice.

What happens when practice owners buy a tool before naming the actual problem?What happens when practice owners buy a tool before naming the actual problem?

They make the problem grow faster. Tools amplify whatever system is already in place, good or bad. If you have not taken time to understand whether you are facing a tool problem, a process problem, or a people problem, the tool will accelerate your existing dysfunction. Before any new software, ask: Do I have the right process in place? Do I have the right people? Do I have team buy-in? Am I prepared to tolerate 90 days to 6 months of learning before this tool is functional? If the answer to any of those is no, the tool is not your solution.

Episode Highlights

The admin burden: why 31 hours a week of physician time goes to non-clinical work

How a values conflict shows up differently than a productivity problem

The psychology of I am just faster at this, and why that thinking traps solo practitioners

The three-bucket framework: stop, hand off, or automate (and why delegation is where most owners fail)

How to tell the difference between a task that is hard to delegate and one that needs your hands

Thinking like a hospitality professional: designing the full patient experience from scheduling to referral

The three questions every practice owner must ask before buying a new tool

Why automation requires patience: 90 days minimum before you see real results

Sometimes the answer is not a tool, it is another human (the virtual medical assistant option)

Memorable Quotes

There is a real misconception about being a control freak. I do not think it is all of what it is. I think there is an element of control. I do not think it is an ego thing. I think it is a needs-must thing. And then it just becomes habit. - Tracy Cherpeski

You need to ask three questions: Is this a tool problem, a process problem, or a people problem? - Tracy Cherpeski

If you have not named the actual problem, a tool will make it grow faster. - Tracy Cherpeski

Sometimes the answer is not automation at all, it is another human. - Miranda Dorta

Leaning back, pausing, and asking for support: that is how you take ownership without blame. - Tracy Cherpeski

The admin burden is not inevitable. It is a choice, one that most practice owners make by default, not by design. But once you name it for what it is, a values conflict, not a productivity problem, you have options. You can stop certain tasks entirely. You can hand them off to a person (and yes, hiring sometimes makes more sense than automating). Or you can automate what is truly automatable. The key is naming the real problem before you try to solve it. If you are ready to reclaim those admin hours and build a practice that actually aligns with why you went into healthcare, share this episode with a colleague. Visit practicesuccess.co to learn more about coaching and practice optimization, or explore thrivingpracticecommunity.com for resources on building a thriving, sustainable practice.

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/26/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/26/26

The Hidden Cost of Chaos: How One Question Can Fix Your Healthcare Operations Featuring Srikar (Sam) Yeruva, EP 277

Sam Yeruva, founder of PYCUBE, Inc., spent decades as a data center architect before stepping into healthcare. What he discovered was striking: hospitals and health systems look like five-star hotels on the surface but operate like disconnected departments held together by duct tape. His solution isn't flashy technology—it's connecting the data you're already collecting so you can actually see what's broken, where it's broken, and how to fix it.

Your healthcare practice feels organized. Your team is skilled. Your systems exist. But somewhere between the billing department, the lab, the clinical floor, and the vendors, something breaks. Samples disappear. Orders get lost. Your best clinicians spend time hunting for things instead of treating patients. This episode explores why—and reveals how operational intelligence is changing healthcare from the inside out.

For practice owners wrestling with how to scale sustainably, how to keep clinicians at bedside instead of doing admin work, and how to build a solid foundation before growing, this conversation is essential. Because operational efficiency isn't just about cost—it's about capacity, and capacity is what allows you to serve more patients without burning out.

Key Takeaways

• Operational intelligence means connecting data across your entire workflow so you can see bottlenecks, waste, and inefficiency in real time. You can't improve what you don't track.

• Healthcare is a service industry like any other repair shop. The "repair" requires purchasing, coordination, and dozens of moving parts. When departments don't communicate, patients feel the chaos—even if they can't pinpoint why.

• The four pillars of any workflow are people, process, tools, and training. If all four are aligned, workflow happens. If one breaks, everything else strains.

• AI is an assistant, not a replacement for clinical judgment. Use it for predictable tasks (billing, transcription, process support) while keeping human judgment for diagnosis and complex decisions.

• Practical expansion beats idealized solutions. Build a solid foundation, find inefficiencies, subtract before you multiply. Strategic focus on one question at a time is more effective than trying to solve everything at once.

Q&A

What is operational intelligence?

Operational intelligence connects data from across your workflows—where patients move, how samples flow, what you're purchasing, who's doing what work—so you can see the full picture instead of isolated department views. It reveals hidden waste, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement that HR systems, finance systems, and EMRs alone can't show you.

Why do healthcare systems struggle with efficiency even when they're well-funded?

Healthcare systems have many moving parts: clinicians, support staff, vendors, labs, pharmacies, couriers. Each department has its own systems and priorities. When they don't communicate smoothly, time is lost—nurses spend 15% of their time looking for assets; samples sit in loading docks; billing takes months to process. Operational intelligence maps these workflows so the breakpoints become visible.

How does this apply to independent healthcare practices?

For smaller practices, the chaos is often hidden in billing, purchasing decisions, and patient experience bottlenecks. Start with one strategic question—like "How can I serve more patients per day?"—and use operational intelligence tools to track progress. Build your foundation with clear processes and good data before trying to scale to multiple locations.

How should we think about AI in healthcare?

AI is a powerful assistant for predictable, data-heavy work (billing, transcription, sample tracking). It's not ready to replace clinical judgment. The real opportunity is agentic AI—multiple AI agents working in sequence to handle complex workflows while human clinicians remain the decision-makers.

Episode Highlights

• Sam's origin story: data center architect to healthcare operational specialist

• The "repair shop" metaphor for healthcare systems

• A heartbreaking story: biopsies lost in a loading dock for 10 days

• The three-pronged answer: why AI adoption is exploding now

• How AI works as assistant, not replacement, in healthcare workflows

• The four pillars: people, process, tools, training

• Why clinicians want to spend 99% of their time at bedside, not hunting for assets

• Practical vs. idealized solutions: why foundation matters before scaling

• Sam's one-liner: "Respect the problem"

• The power of one strategic question and the discipline to stick with it

Memorable Quotes

"Hospital is nothing but a repair shop. You go in sick, hopefully the doctor fixes you and sends you back." — Sam Yeruva

"You can't improve anything that you don't track. When you don't track, you're blind sometimes." — Sam Yeruva

"Three months to a half day—that's what operational intelligence and workflow automation can do." — Sam Yeruva

"If you ask any clinician where they want to spend their time, 99% of them say bedside." — Sam Yeruva

"Respect the problem. Don't blame the problem, but start respecting it. That's where you get depth." — Sam Yeruva

Operational intelligence sounds technical, but at its heart, it's about visibility. You can't fix what you can't see. For practice owners who feel the tension between what systems demand and what patients actually need, this episode offers both a diagnostic framework and practical next steps. Start with one question. Respect the problem deeply enough to understand it. Build your foundation before you scale. Find the time your clinicians are losing to chaos and give it back to bedside care. If this conversation resonated with you, share it with a colleague facing similar operational challenges. You can connect with Sam on LinkedIn (search Srikar Yeruva or Sam Yeruva) and explore PYCUBE, Inc.'s resources to learn more. For more on building sustainable, scalable healthcare practices, visit thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

Guest Bio:

Srikar "Sam" Yeruva is the Founder & CEO of Pycube, Inc., transforming how hospitals operate behind the scenes. With a background in electrical and computer engineering and executive training from Harvard Business School, Sam spent his early career designing mission-critical systems for organizations like Delta Air Lines and Dell EMC. Motivated by a personal experience where critical biopsy samples were lost for 10 days, he launched Pycube to bring true operational intelligence to healthcare—helping hospitals track assets, specimens, equipment, and supplies in real time. Pycube has been recognized twice on the Inc. 5000 list and featured on ABC7 News for its impact on reducing burnout and improving patient care.

Find Sam:

Website: PyCube.com

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/19/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/19/26

[REPLAY] From Pajama Charting to Month-Long Vacations: Practice Management Software That Actually Understands Healthcare Featuring Damien Adler, EP 276

What if the biggest threat to your practice is not a lack of patients, but administrative burden? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Damien Adler, a psychologist and co-founder of Zanda Health, who solved this problem by building systems instead of hiring more staff. For 14 years, Damien ran his psychology practice while creating the infrastructure that would eventually become Zanda Health. He automated scheduling, invoicing, documentation, and patient communication - so thoroughly that he and his wife could take month-long vacations to Europe while the practice ran itself. In this episode, Damien breaks down the three admin tasks that drain the most time and energy from healthcare practices, why automation actually frees your brain to think and lead, and how to incorporate AI safely without compromising patient privacy. You'll also hear about the hospitality mindset that transforms patient experience, why your brain works on open loops even when you're resting, and exactly where to start if you're overwhelmed by the idea of automating your practice.

What if the biggest threat to your practice is not a lack of patients, but the administrative burden eating your evenings and weekends? In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Damien Adler, a psychologist and co-founder of Zanda Health, who learned this lesson the hard way. After running his own thriving psychology practice into the ground with admin work, Damien built systems. He automated. He engineered the practice so it could run without him. Then he took month-long vacations to Europe while his practice kept humming along. This conversation is essential listening for any healthcare practice owner drowning in scheduling chaos, invoicing headaches, and documentation overload.

Damien's story is not unique - it's the story of nearly every solo or small-group practice owner who's charted in pajamas or worked weekends to keep up. But his solution is. Rather than accepting administrative burden as the cost of doing business, he did something about it. What emerged is a practitioner-led approach to practice management software that prioritizes practitioner wellbeing, patient experience, and sustainable business practices. For practice owners struggling with burnout, staff turnover, or the feeling that you're working harder than ever but seeing no growth, this episode offers both a framework and hope.

Whether you're a solo practitioner overwhelmed by manual scheduling, a small practice owner watching admin consume your team's clinical time, or a healthcare leader asking how to build systems that actually work, this conversation reveals why automation is not about being lazy - it's about being strategic. It's about reclaiming your time, reclaiming your energy, and reclaiming the reason you started your practice in the first place.

Key Takeaways

The system runs the practice - not your memory, late nights, or survival mode.

Your brain is a problem-solving machine. Open loops - undocumented sessions, unpaid invoices, scheduling gaps - drain your mental energy subconsciously, even when you're trying to rest.

The top three admin pain points are scheduling/patient management, invoicing and financial management, and documentation/communication. Solving these frees up the most time and energy.

Automation is not about becoming less human. It's about freeing your brain so you can actually think, lead, and rest.

Small touches - fresh flowers, beverage preferences on file, proper parking directions - matter more to patient experience than clinical excellence alone. But you only have bandwidth for these when you're not drowning in admin.

AI can be integrated thoughtfully: data protection first, policies before code, separate environments protecting patient data from commercial platforms.

Q&A

What are the biggest admin tasks draining time and energy from healthcare practices?

The top three are scheduling and ensuring patients actually show up, invoicing and financial management (critical for cash flow), and documentation and communication. These vary slightly by practice type, but addressing these three creates the biggest time and energy return.

How does automation reduce practitioner burnout?

When systems handle repetitive tasks, your brain stops holding open loops about things that still need to be done. Instead of subconsciously working on documentation or invoicing even during rest, your brain relaxes. This frees mental bandwidth for actual thinking, strategic leadership, and recovery - allowing you to work less and accomplish more.

How did Damien scale his practice while maintaining work-life balance?

By building systems first, not people. Rather than hiring staff to handle admin, Damien automated the admin itself. This meant the practice could grow without proportional administrative burden. His team spent time with patients, not drowning in paperwork. Eventually, the practice ran so smoothly he and his wife could take month-long vacations annually while the practice maintained revenue and patient care quality.

What's the role of AI in practice management, and how do you protect patient privacy?

AI can transcribe sessions, write clinical notes, and summarize patient history - reclaiming significant clinician time. The key is architecture: rather than sending patient data to external AI platforms, systems should run AI models in isolated environments with no feedback to the AI company. Patient data stays encrypted within your practice management system, not in the cloud with third parties.

Episode Highlights

Damien's burnout story: charting in pajamas, weekends consumed by invoicing and scheduling, everything done manually; The turning point: deciding to build systems instead of hiring more staff; Scaling the practice for 14 years while maintaining sustainability and team satisfaction; How month-long vacations in Europe became possible because the system ran the practice; The hospitality mindset: why small touches (fresh flowers, beverage preferences, parking tips) matter more than clinical excellence alone; Patient surveys reveal the truth: people care about atmosphere and feeling known, not technical clinical details; Building a practice that attracts and retains great practitioners through low-admin environments; How to incorporate AI safely: data protection officer first, policies before code; AI features that save real time: automatic transcription, note-writing, session summaries, patient history snapshots; The real lesson: pick one friction point and fix it this week. Don't overwhelm yourself trying to solve everything at once.

Memorable Quotes

"The system runs the practice. Not Damien. Not his memory. Not his late nights. The system." - Damien Adler

"Your brain is a problem-solving machine. The more open loops you have - undocumented sessions, unpaid invoices, scheduling gaps - the more your brain works on those things subconsciously, all the time." - Damien Adler

"Automation is not about becoming less human. It's about freeing your brain so that you can actually think, you can actually lead, and you can actually rest." - Damien Adler

"We used to go to Europe for a month every year for many years whilst running the practice. And the practice ran just as well without us there." - Damien Adler

"The best practitioners like to stay in environments where they don't have to do a lot of administration, where all of those things are happening automatically." - Damien Adler

Damien Adler built Zanda Health because he refused to accept that administrative burden was the price of running a practice. For healthcare practice owners tired of charting in pajamas, working weekends, or sacrificing family time, this episode is permission and a practical roadmap. The system does not have to be you. If you're ready to explore how practice automation can reclaim your time, energy, and passion for patient care, start small - pick one friction point and fix it this week. Visit zandahealth.com to learn more about Zanda, download their free resource "The Nine Secrets of Successful Health Practices," and explore whether their platform is right for your practice.

To request the replay of the Roundtable: AI & Automations for the Smart Practice, click here.

Resource Mentioned: “The 9 Secrets of Successful Health Practices” http://zandahealth.com/ThrivingPracticePod

Guest Bio:

Damien Adler is a registered psychologist, practice owner, and co-founder of Zanda, an all-in-one practice management platform used by thousands of health practices across Australia, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, the US, and beyond. He spent 15 years building and running Mind Life Clinic, a large private psychology practice in Central Victoria — so he knows firsthand how administrative complexity can quietly compete with a clinician's original purpose.

That experience led him and his brother Paul to co-found Zanda (formerly Power Diary), now one of the most widely used practice management systems in the Allied Health space. Damien brings both the clinician's perspective and the operator's eye to conversations about sustainable practice-building, smart systems, and using technology in ways that actually serve practitioners and their clients.

Find Damien:

Website: ZandaHealth.com

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/14/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/14/26

From Idea to Live: How to Plan an Event Your Practice Actually Enjoys, a special SNACK Episode, EP 275

Launching an event or retreat for your practice can feel daunting—from the first spark of an idea all the way through registration going live. In this SNACK episode, Tracy Cherpeski and Miranda Dorta turn the mic around and walk through the entire event-planning process, revealing what systems they built, what they reuse versus rebuild, and the critical mistakes that taught them how to do it better.

If you are mapping out your first event or retreat—or refining your approach to hosting—this conversation cuts through the noise. Tracy and Miranda share their operational flow, how they use data to decide whether an event idea is worth pursuing, and the specific systems that prevent small details from falling through the cracks. Most importantly, they will show you where practice owners typically get stuck and how to avoid the chaos that can derail even the best intentions.

Whether you are planning your first roundtable, masterclass, or retreat, the principles they share here will save you time, reduce stress, and help you show up fully present for your attendees.

Key Takeaways

• Planning comes before execution. Spend time anticipating contingencies and mapping out every task before you launch. This "slow down to speed up" philosophy applies to events, new services, systems implementation, and everything else in your practice.

• Use data to decide which events are worth your time. Track which LinkedIn posts get engagement, monitor email open rates and click-through rates, take field notes on the topics people bring up repeatedly, and look for patterns. This is how you decide whether to host a masterclass or a roundtable.

• Templatize your operational flow and creative assets. If something works well the first time, you can duplicate it. Develop templates for your artwork, social media posts, and—most importantly—your task management so the same operational flow scales across multiple events.

• Keep everything in one project management system. Avoid exporting to spreadsheets and importing into separate tools—information gets lost in translation. Find a system that works for your team (Tracy and Miranda use Notion) and keep all tasks, reminders, and communication centralized.

• The most common mistake is rushing forward without pausing first. Most operational misses happen when entrepreneurs dive in excited and skip the setup phase. Taking a moment to verify everything is in working order before launch prevents costly scrambles later.

Q&A

How much time should you spend planning an event versus promoting it?

Tracy and Miranda typically allocate 8–10 weeks for planning and another 3 weeks for promotion. The planning phase is where the real work happens—anticipating what could go wrong, mapping out every task, and setting up systems that prevent details from slipping through the cracks. This ratio protects your ability to actually enjoy the event when it is live.

What should you do immediately when you notice something feels off during event planning?

Stop and check your checklist. If emails are not where they should be, if social media posts have disappeared, or if a task got buried, it is a sign your system has a gap. Rather than powering through the chaos, pause and identify what got missed so you can recover quickly and correct it for next time.

How do you choose between a masterclass format and a roundtable discussion?

Let your data guide you. Look at which topics your audience engages with most—both in organic content and in private conversations. If you are seeing consistent interest in a topic where you are the expert, a masterclass with interactive elements works well. If the value is in bringing together multiple perspectives and peer learning, a roundtable is the right call.

Episode Highlights

• From the first spark to registration live: what happens at each stage of event planning

• How to templatize operational flows, creative assets, and social media posts

• Using data to decide whether an event is a "yes" or a "maybe"

• The CSV export-import mistake that taught them a hard lesson (and how they are fixing it)

• Why project management tools like Notion beat spreadsheets for team coordination

• The postmortem process: how they forensically review each event to improve the next one

• The "pause before running" principle that prevents 90 percent of their operational mishaps

• Building systems that allow you to be fully present at your own event

Memorable Quotes

"The planning is where you anticipate as much as you can possibly anticipate and plan for as many contingencies as you can." — Tracy Cherpeski

"It is the slow down to speed up philosophy applied across the board." — Tracy Cherpeski

"I personally will not remember unless there is a reminder in front of my face. Notion, we can tag ourselves and put reminders in it." — Miranda Dorta

"Don't just put on your shoes and start running. You put on your shoes, you do some calisthenics, you warm up, and then you walk a bit before you run." — Tracy Cherpeski

"When push comes to shove or you are coming to crunch time, the likelihood that important but maybe seemingly small details go begging is real." — Tracy Cherpeski

Hosting an event does not have to be chaotic. What Tracy and Miranda demonstrate in this episode is that the difference between a stressed, scrambling experience and a present, enjoyable one comes down to systems. When you plan before you launch, use data to guide your decisions, templatize what works, and keep everything in one place, you reclaim the space to actually connect with your attendees and enjoy the fruit of your labor. If you are planning your first event for your practice or refining your approach to the ones you are already hosting, apply one system from this conversation and watch how it changes your experience. For more resources on running a thriving practice, visit thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/12/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/12/26

Stop Overpaying Taxes: A Tax Strategist Reveals the Strategies Doctors Are Missing Featuring Rachel Michaelov, EP 274

Here's a question that might make you uncomfortable: How much of your hard-earned income are you handing to the IRS every quarter? For many healthcare practice owners—doctors, dentists, psychiatrists—the answer is: too much. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Rachel Michaelov, an Enrolled Agent and tax strategist who works exclusively with high-earning healthcare professionals. Together, they unpack why so many brilliant, busy practice owners are overpaying their taxes blindly, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Rachel is the founder of Empire Tax Advisors and Practice Wealth Partners, firms that serve doctors, dentists, and healthcare providers nationwide. She's licensed by the IRS and holds credentials in all 50 states. But here's what makes her different from your typical CPA: she doesn't just file your returns after the year is over. She works with you proactively throughout the year to implement strategies that legally reduce your tax liability—strategies many practice owners have never even heard of.

If you're a practice owner who feels like financial stress is stealing your time, your peace of mind, and your ability to reward your team—this conversation is essential. Because the money you save in taxes isn't just a number on a spreadsheet. It's time with your family. It's the ability to build real wealth. It's the freedom to work less and serve your patients better. Let's talk about how to make that real.

Key Takeaways

• Most healthcare providers are working with CPAs, not tax strategists. A CPA often handles bookkeeping, payroll, and tax prep. A tax strategist works proactively throughout the year to implement strategies that reduce your liability before you owe it.

• Entity selection mistakes are expensive. Many practice owners end up as sole proprietors or single-member LLCs instead of S-corps, which means they pay 15.3% more in payroll taxes and face higher audit risk.

• Reasonable compensation is misunderstood. Doctors paying themselves $60,000–$70,000 a year while making $1+ million in revenue aren't protecting themselves; they're setting themselves up for audit and overpaying in taxes.

• Cost segregation and R&D credits are real strategies available right now. Most doctors have never heard of them. A cost seg study on a $1 million building can give you a $400,000 deduction with zero additional tax liability.

• Fragmented service providers cost you money and stress. When your bookkeeper, payroll processor, and CPA don't communicate, you end up with wrong numbers, wrong liability projections, and wrong strategies.

Q&A

**What's the difference between a CPA and a tax strategist?** A CPA (or dental/medical CPA) is typically reactive. They wait until year-end, gather your information, and file your return. They tell you how much you owe. A tax strategist is proactive. They review your numbers throughout the year, project your liability, and implement strategies during the year to reduce that liability before it comes due. The best situation is having someone who does both: tax strategy AND tax preparation under one roof.

**Why do so many doctors overpay in taxes even though they have a CPA?** Most CPAs are trained in bookkeeping, payroll, and return prep. They aren't trained in advanced tax strategies like cost segregation, R&D credits, accountable plans, and strategic entity selection. It's not that they're bad CPAs—it's that they specialize in a different area. The problem is that doctors often assume their CPA is handling strategy, when they're really only handling the basics. Ask your CPA directly: "Are you going to present me with specific strategies to reduce my liability?" If they don't have a clear answer, it's time to find someone who does.

**What are the three biggest tax mistakes Rachel sees practice owners making?** First: Payroll mistakes, especially reasonable compensation. Doctors often guess at their own salary or let a payroll provider decide, resulting in either overpayment through excess W-2 wages or underpayment that triggers audit risk. Second: Wrong entity selection. Many practice owners end up as sole proprietors or single-member LLCs, paying 15.3% more in self-employment taxes and facing higher audit risk. Third: Fragmented services. When your bookkeeping, payroll, and tax strategy are handled by different people who don't talk to each other, information gets lost, numbers are wrong, and strategies can't be properly implemented.

**What is cost segregation, and why haven't I heard of it?** Cost segregation is a strategy used when you buy or build a property (like your practice building). Normally, commercial buildings depreciate over 39 years. But with a cost seg study, you can accelerate certain components of that depreciation into 5 and 7 years instead. On a $1 million building, this might give you a $400,000 deduction in year one—with zero additional cost. Most doctors haven't heard of it because many CPAs don't specialize in it. It requires working with a specialist, but the payoff is significant.

Episode Highlights

• Rachel's origin story: why she specializes in healthcare professionals and why she's passionate about this work

• The real-life example: A doctor with a $1.2 million tax liability who walked away with a $24,000 refund

• Why doctors are "slaves to their job" even though they started a practice for freedom

• The hidden cost of overpaying taxes: time with family, inability to reward your team, delayed retirement

• Rachel's personal story: her father and why she's so emotionally invested in helping doctors

• Three common myths: "Successful people just pay taxes," "You can't reduce taxes if you're a W-2 employee," "If my CPA hasn't mentioned it, it must not be available"

• The framework: How to interview a tax strategist and ask the right questions

• The mindset shift: From passive ("tell me what I owe") to active ("show me my options")

Memorable Quotes

"That's reactive. And that's how people stay poor."—Rachel Michaelov

"You have a CPA all year round. How do you have a $500,000 tax liability? How does that make sense?"—Rachel Michaelov

"Don't be afraid of your CPAs. Ask questions. Where are my numbers? Can we get on a Zoom? Can you show me QuickBooks live?"—Rachel Michaelov

"I could save a client $200k in taxes in my sleep."—Rachel Michaelov

"Saving taxes is easy. You just need to go to the right specialist, and they can help you."—Rachel Michaelov

"If you're overpaying in taxes by $300,000 or $500,000 a year, what happens in retirement?"—Rachel Michaelov

"You don't have to overpay in taxes. You don't have to be reactive. And you don't have to do it alone."—Tracy Cherpeski

Rachel Michaelov doesn't believe in accepting overpayment as the cost of success. She believes that high-earning healthcare professionals deserve to keep more of what they earn, to have more time with their families, and to have the financial freedom to run their practices the way they want to. For practice owners who are tired of writing big tax checks every quarter and wondering "is there a better way?"—the answer is yes. The question isn't whether you can reduce your taxes legally. The question is whether you're willing to be proactive instead of reactive. If you're ready to find out, head to cfocall.com and schedule a consultation. Whether you work with Rachel's team or not, the conversation alone might change the way you think about your money. And that's worth the call.

Guest Bio:

Rachel Michaelov is an Enrolled Agent and founder of Empire Tax Advisors and Practice Wealth Partners, where she specializes in proactive tax strategy for healthcare professionals. With over a decade of experience—including years managing a team of accountants at a prominent CPA firm—Rachel has developed deep expertise in helping doctors, dentists, and practice owners legally reduce their tax burden through advanced strategies like cost segregation and R&D credits. As an NTPI Fellow, she's mastered IRS correspondence and complex tax scenarios. Rachel is licensed to practice before the IRS in all 50 states. Outside work, she's devoted to her family and draws inspiration from helping high-earning professionals reclaim their time and financial freedom.

Find Rachel:

Website: https://www.practicewealthpartnersco.com/

Instagram: @practicewealthpartnersinc

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Tracy Cherpeski 8/5/26 Tracy Cherpeski 8/5/26

Infrastructure for Readiness: The Missing Foundation of Sustainable Practice Growth, EP 273

In this episode, Tracy walks through what "infrastructure for readiness" actually means, why bottlenecks are diagnostic, not failures, and how thinking strategically about systems, delegation, and decision-making can transform a practice from overwhelmed to sustainable. For practice owners wrestling with how to grow without burning out, how to delegate without losing control, or how to implement new tools (like AI and automation) without creating more chaos—this episode offers both the philosophy and the practical framework to think differently about building your practice.

What if the thing blocking your practice growth isn't ambition, intelligence, or work ethic—but infrastructure? Tracy Cherpeski attended the American Association of Medical Society Executives conference and returned with a crystallized insight: sustainable growth in independent healthcare practices depends entirely on the deliberate, measurable foundation you build before (and while) you scale. In this episode, Tracy walks through what "infrastructure for readiness" actually means, why bottlenecks are diagnostic, not failures, and how thinking strategically about systems, delegation, and decision-making can transform a practice from overwhelmed to sustainable. For practice owners wrestling with how to grow without burning out, how to delegate without losing control, or how to implement new tools (like AI and automation) without creating more chaos—this episode offers both the philosophy and the practical framework to think differently about building your practice.

Key Takeaways

Infrastructure is foundational to sustainable growth. Readiness isn't about having all the answers—it's about having the right foundation so that when things change, you don't crumble. Without it, growth becomes exhaustion.

Bottlenecks are diagnostic tools, not character flaws. Every practice has friction points—delegation, systems clarity, financial literacy, communication, or leadership capacity. Identifying where you're actually blocked is the first step to building deliberately.

AI and automation are infrastructure, not strategy. If you don't know what you're trying to solve for, automation just makes you faster at doing the wrong things. Tools become leverage only when they sit on top of solid foundations.

Message discipline and shared values unlock possibility. The Georgia physicians story shows what's possible when people across disagreement find common ground and build power together—same principle applies to your practice and your team.

Readiness is a choice, not a destination. You don't need everything perfect. You need to be willing to look at where you're blocked, and then deliberately build the infrastructure to move through it.

Q&A

What does Tracy mean by "infrastructure for readiness"? Infrastructure for readiness is the deliberate, thoughtful, measurable foundation that lets you grow alongside your practice instead of becoming a prisoner to it. It includes your systems, your team's clarity, your decision-making frameworks, your communication patterns, and your own leadership capacity—the things that actually enable sustainable growth.

How do you identify what infrastructure your practice actually needs? Tracy introduces the Bottleneck Diagnostic—a framework for identifying the specific friction points blocking your growth. It might be delegation, systems clarity, financial literacy, communication culture, or your own capacity. Once you see where you're blocked, you can make a deliberate choice about what to build next.

Why is AI and automation considered infrastructure, not strategy? Without the foundations to support it—mapped workflows, clarity on who decides what and why, understanding of what you're trying to solve—automation just makes you faster at doing the wrong things. Tools become real leverage only when they sit on top of solid systems and decision-making clarity.

How does this apply to burnout prevention? Burnout often isn't about working harder; it's about working on top of nothing. When you lack the infrastructure to delegate effectively, have unclear systems, or haven't defined decision-making frameworks, you end up prisoner to your practice. Building infrastructure is actually how you create breathing room and sustainability.

Episode Highlights

Tracy's AAMSE moment: What a room full of medical society leaders taught her about infrastructure

The succession planning insight: It's not about replacing yourself—it's about sustainability

The Georgia physicians story: How shared values enable people to work across disagreement

The three conversations that were actually one: Bench strength, ethics, and coalition-building all point to the same foundation

Why 'methodical' isn't the same as 'strategic about sequence'—and why asking people to hold too many balls in the air at once isn't progress

The Bottleneck Diagnostic: How to identify the specific friction points blocking your growth

AI and automation as infrastructure: Why having tools without foundations just makes you faster at the wrong things

The August 18th roundtable: AI, Automation, and the Smart Practice

Memorable Quotes

"You don't struggle because you're lazy or incompetent. You struggle because you tried to build something sustainable on top of nothing." — Tracy Cherpeski

"Infrastructure. Not in the boring, checkbox sense. I mean the deliberate, thoughtful, measurable kind of infrastructure that lets you actually grow alongside your practice instead of becoming a prisoner to it." — Tracy Cherpeski

"Readiness isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the right foundation so that when things change — and they will

"If you don't know what you're trying to solve for, if you haven't mapped your workflows, if you don't have clarity on who makes decisions and why — then AI is just going to make you faster at doing the wrong things."

"You don't have to have everything figured out. You have to be willing to look at where you're actually blocked, and then build the infrastructure to move through it." — Tracy Cherpeski

The difference between a practice that exhausts you and a practice that sustains you often comes down to one thing: infrastructure. Tracy's insight from AAMSE isn't about adding more to your to-do list—it's about being strategic about what you build so that growth becomes possible, not just harder. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a colleague who's feeling the weight of growth without the foundation. And if you're ready to get clear on your specific bottlenecks, mark August 18th for our roundtable on AI, Automation, and the Smart Practice. Visit thrivingpracticecommunity.com for registration, resources, and episodes that help you build the practice you actually want to run.

Join us August 18, 2026 (or request the replay after): AI, Automations & The Smart Practice: A Private Roundtable

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Tracy Cherpeski 7/29/26 Tracy Cherpeski 7/29/26

Before You Buy AI: The Smarter Way to Cut Admin Burden and Grow Your Practice Featuring Clark Van Oyen, EP 272

How much of your team's day disappears into phone calls, faxes, and data entry? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Clark Van Oyen, founder of Cortico Health — a company that has helped nearly 10,000 healthcare professionals reduce administrative burden through smart automation and better workflow design.

How much of your team's day disappears into phone calls, faxes, and data entry? If you're like most practice owners, the honest answer is: more than you'd like to admit. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Clark Van Oyen, founder of Cortico Health — a company that has helped nearly 10,000 healthcare professionals reduce administrative burden through smart automation and better workflow design.

Clark's path into healthcare began with a single pediatric clinic buried under 800 phone calls a day. He built them an online booking system, brought those calls down to nearly zero, and discovered a problem shared by practices everywhere. His company's mission today: isolate, understand, and eliminate anything that pulls healthcare professionals away from patient care.

Whether you're exploring medical practice automation for the first time, trying to run a successful medical practice without burning out your team, or wondering whether AI is worth the hype, this conversation offers a clear-eyed, outcomes-first framework for deciding what your practice actually needs.

Key Takeaways

Booking is the single biggest time drain. Roughly 40 percent of clinical support staff time goes to scheduling — far more than billing, reminders, or fax management — which makes online self-booking the highest-impact fix for most practices.

Admin burden has a visible side and an invisible side. Pain points are only the part you notice; a time-and-motion review of where hours actually go reveals the burden your team has stopped seeing.

AI is a tool, not a strategy. Voice AI phone systems fully resolve only about half of patient calls, while online booking can approach 90 to 100 percent. Use AI only where it's genuinely the best tool for the job.

Hold vendors accountable for outcomes, not methods. Define the result you want — more booked appointments at lower cost, fewer phone calls — and measure whether your vendor actually delivers it.

Your website is your practice's front door. Mobile-friendly design, posted patient handouts, and a clear path to online booking cost little and quietly remove entire categories of phone calls.

Q&A

How much time do physicians spend on administrative tasks?

Clark cites an average of about 11 hours per week per physician from the Canadian Medical Association — and notes that between after-hours paperwork and the hidden work of delegating, admin can consume a large share of a clinician's working life, especially in the U.S., where billing complexity multiplies the load.

What is the biggest source of admin burden in a medical practice?

Scheduling. About 40 percent of all support staff time goes to booking patients by phone, based on Cortico Health's studies across its customer base. Billing, reminders, fax management, patient inquiries, and follow-ups each account for roughly 10 percent.

Should my practice use AI to answer the phones?

Not necessarily. Current voice AI systems fully contain only about 50 to 60 percent of patient calls — the rest still escalate to your staff. Online booking, by contrast, can handle 90 to 100 percent of scheduling without a phone call at all, which is why Clark recommends starting there.

How can I reduce admin burden without buying new software?

Start with your website. Make sure it works on a smartphone — where roughly 80 percent of patients visit from — post your patient handouts, and point visitors clearly to online booking if you offer it. These basics eliminate whole categories of routine calls at essentially no cost.

Episode Highlights

Clark's origin story: a Harvard-trained clinic founder, 12 doctors, and 800 phone calls a day

From one clinic's proprietary tool to nearly 10,000 healthcare professionals served

Visible versus invisible admin burden — and why pain points don't tell the whole story

Slicing staff admin into buckets: booking, billing, reminders, faxes, inquiries, and follow-ups

Tracy's client story: the orthodontic practice whose automations made daily huddles possible — and kept staff for five years on average

The clinic that grew from 12 to 22 physicians in 18 months after moving booking online

IVR containment: the metric that exposes the limits of AI phone systems

Where AI genuinely earns its keep: fax parsing and clinician-side tasks like chart prep

The path toward near-zero admin overhead — and the vision of a clinician fully present with every patient

Clark's parting advice: your website is the mouth of the funnel

Memorable Quotes

“Our mission is to isolate, understand and eliminate anything that's taking healthcare professionals away from helping patients.” — Clark Van Oyen

“How do you ever carve out space to be proactive in a medical practice? It's the most chaotic business on the planet.” — Clark Van Oyen

“Hold your vendors accountable for outcomes, not for their methods.” — Clark Van Oyen

“AI should be used if and only if it's the best tool for the job, for every little point in the workflow.” — Clark Van Oyen

“Ideally a clinician just shows up and spends all their time fully present with their patient, and everything else is taken care of.” — Clark Van Oyen

Clark Van Oyen offers a refreshing counterweight to the AI hype cycle: technology should serve outcomes, and outcomes should be measured. For practice owners who feel buried under phone calls and paperwork, the way forward isn't the flashiest tool — it's an honest assessment of where the time is going, a fix for the biggest lever first, and vendors who own results alongside you. If this conversation resonated, share it with a colleague who's still charting in their pajamas.

Want to keep the conversation going? Join us for a free AI roundtable featuring Dr. Sarah Baldwin, a physician who has used automation to reshape her own practice. We'll talk through how to decide which tools actually earn a place in your practice — and which ones don't. Save your spot on August 18, 2026, Register here at PracticeSuccess.co/SmartPractice

Guest Bio:

Clark Van Oyen grew up on a farm in British Columbia, spending his childhood writing code — a combination he credits with making him both resourceful and methodical. After studying physics at UBC and building a career in tech, his connection to healthcare through his wife and colleagues opened his eyes to an industry running on software 20 years out of date — costing providers time, causing frustration, and worst of all, harming health outcomes. Then a clinic owner buried under 800 phone calls a day asked him a simple question: why can't patients just book online? Clark built the answer, watched the calls all but disappear, and Cortico was born. Today the platform serves 400+ clinics across Canada, the U.S., and beyond, automating up to 84% of repetitive administrative tasks with one mission: isolate, understand, and eliminate anything that pulls healthcare professionals away from patient care.

Find Clark:

Website: Cortico.Health

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The Alchemy of Change: What Burnout Is Really Telling You About Your Practice, EP 260

Miranda Dorta 7/24/26 Miranda Dorta 7/24/26

Why Practice Growth Isn't a Straight Line (And What To Do When It Cycles Back) - A Special SNACK Episode, EP 271

You survive a hard season of practice ownership and assume smooth waters are ahead. Then a new stage of growth arrives — a bigger team, a new location, more patients — and suddenly you're right back in the messy middle. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta turns the tables on Tracy Cherpeski to ask why practice growth cycles instead of moving in a straight line.

Every practice owner has been there: you push through a brutal season, finally catch your breath, and assume the hard part is behind you. Then a new stage of practice growth arrives — a bigger team, a second location, a jump in patient volume — and suddenly you're back in the messy middle, wondering what you did wrong. In this SNACK episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Operations Manager Miranda Dorta turns the tables on Tracy Cherpeski to unpack why growth isn't a straight line, and what that means for healthcare practice owners trying to build a sustainable practice without burning out.

This conversation builds on Tracy's solo episode, “The Alchemy of Change” (EP260), where she introduced a three-stage framework for understanding why the hardest seasons of practice ownership real growth in progress, not failure. Here, Miranda pushes Tracy further: how do you tell the difference between cycling back through a hard season and actually losing ground? Why does every new chapter of practice growth seem to restart the whole process? And what does it look like to make peace with a cycle that may never fully end?

Tracy answers with real client stories — including a solo practice that grew into a two-location group with a full clinical and admin team — plus a personal story about getting knocked around by ocean waves that turned into an unexpectedly useful metaphor for resistance versus surrender. If you're a healthcare practice owner in the middle of a hard season and wondering if you're doing something wrong, this episode is your reminder: you're not failing, you're cycling.

Key Takeaways

Growth is not a straight line. The two-steps-forward-one-step-back pattern practice owners experience isn't a sign of doing it wrong — it's the normal shape of the “messy middle.”

Repeating patterns are information, not regression. When a hard season resurfaces, the useful question is “what am I learning right now?” rather than treating it as a step backward.

New growth exposes old gaps. Adding a bigger team, a new location, or more patient volume will reveal any process, structure, or expectation that wasn't fully built out the first time.

Structure beats “we're all adults here.” Clear expectations and documented processes matter more as a practice scales — informal culture that worked with a small team often breaks down with a bigger one.

Expecting the cycle reduces its impact. Practice owners who anticipate that hard seasons will recur are less likely to be thrown off guard by the next one, even if they can't predict exactly what it will look like.

Q&A

Why does growth in a healthcare practice rarely feel like a straight line?

Tracy explains that practice owners are often sold an unrealistic picture of success as a clean, linear climb. In reality, growth looks more like a tangled ball of yarn: two steps forward, one step back, with a “messy middle” that can feel brutal and endless while it's happening — much like the transition phase of childbirth, or the itch of a wound that's almost, but not quite, finished healing.

What's the difference between cycling back through a hard season and actually losing ground?

According to Tracy, cycling back usually means there's unfinished business — a pattern repeating because there's still something to learn from it. The useful move is to ask, “what am I learning right now?” instead of treating a dip as failure. A single hard moment isn't a regression; a sustained downward trend in the numbers is the real signal to address.

Why does hiring a bigger team or opening a new location restart the hard parts of practice ownership?

Any unhandled issue or undocumented process gets magnified by growth. Tracy shares the story of a solo neuropsych practice that grew over 20 years into a two-location group with 10–11 doctors, techs, and admin staff — where the informal “we're all adults here” culture that worked at a small scale stopped working entirely. The fix wasn't a full overhaul, just a pause to identify what structure and expectations were actually needed.

How can practice owners make peace with cycles that may never fully end?

Tracy points to the pace of change in healthcare — regulatory shifts and fast-moving technology — as a reason to expect ongoing cycles rather than resist them. Her framework: acknowledge the reality, ask “now what?”, and build the systems, people, and support that let the practice adjust without a full pivot every time.

Episode Highlights

Why “success is a straight line” is a myth, and what practice growth actually looks like on the ground

The messy middle as a transition, and the childbirth metaphor Tracy uses to describe it

How to tell if you're cycling back through old patterns versus actually regressing

A real client story: growing from a solo neuropsych practice to a two-location, 20+-person team

The ocean-wave metaphor: what resisting change costs versus what surrender makes possible

Why healthcare's pace of regulatory and technological change means the cycle may never fully stop

How to prepare for the next cycle without bracing against it

Memorable Quotes

"Whatever you expand in your practice will also expand your problems." — Tracy Cherpeski

"We're all adults here is good, but that's not actual guidance." — Tracy Cherpeski

"If you resist, it's going to hurt. It actually hurts." — Tracy Cherpeski

"It's kind of like it is what it is. Now what?" — Tracy Cherpeski

"What am I learning right now?" — Tracy Cherpeski

Growth won't ever hand you a permanently smooth season — but knowing that the messy middle can resurface doesn't have to knock you off balance. If you're in the middle of a hard season right now, remember Tracy's reframe: it's not regression, it's information. To go deeper on the three-stage framework behind this conversation, listen to EP260, The Alchemy of Change. And if you're ready to build a practice that can handle its own growth, visit practicesuccess.co.

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Tracy Cherpeski 7/22/26 Tracy Cherpeski 7/22/26

Don’t Wait for the Audit: Three Compliance Gaps Hiding in Your Practice Featuring Dr. Natasha Guess, EP 270

What if the biggest risk in your practice is the one sitting quietly in a policy binder you haven’t opened in two years? In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski talks with Dr. Natasha Guess, founder of Guess Compliance Consulting, about why healthcare compliance is an operational system — not a legal checkbox.

What does it actually take to run a successful medical practice that can withstand an audit, a breach, or a surprise records request? For most independent practice owners, compliance lives in a binder — a set of policies downloaded years ago, signed, and never opened again. In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Dr. Natasha Guess, a healthcare compliance consultant who believes compliance belongs in your daily operations, not your filing cabinet.

Natasha is the founder of Guess Compliance Consulting, serving small and mid-sized healthcare practices across the U.S. and Canada. Born and raised in Guyana, South America, she witnessed preventable illness and loss in a country without strong healthcare structure — an experience that led her to fall in love with the rules and regulations that protect patients. Today she helps practice owners navigate HIPAA, CMS, Medicare and Medicaid requirements, state regulations, and vendor relationships without the fear-based messaging that dominates the compliance world.

If you’re a practice owner focused on practice growth, profitability, and building a private practice without burnout, this conversation reframes compliance as something that protects all three — because a practice that collapses under an OCR investigation isn’t thriving, no matter how full the schedule is.

Key Takeaways

Compliance is an operational system, not a legal checkbox. A policy document means little if your team doesn’t know who to report a breach to, how to report it, and what happens next.

Three gaps show up in nearly every practice: not knowing where your gaps are (and assuming silence means safety), outdated template policies that describe a practice that no longer exists, and no ongoing system to stay compliant as you grow.

Your vendors are your responsibility. Business Associate Agreements matter — and many owners have never read theirs, or never received one at all. Regulators hold the covered entity accountable.

Growth creates new compliance gaps. Adding providers, staff, or technology — or moving a team member into a new role without retraining — changes your risk profile, often invisibly.

Don’t wait for an audit. The practices that hold up best are the ones with systems already in place. Waiting until something happens is when you have the fewest options.

Q&A

What are the most common compliance gaps in small medical practices?

Natasha consistently sees three, regardless of specialty: owners who don’t know where their gaps are and assume everything is fine because nothing has gone wrong yet; outdated template policies downloaded at startup and never updated; and the absence of any ongoing system that keeps compliance current as the practice grows and changes.

What is a Business Associate Agreement, and why does it matter?

A BAA defines who is responsible for what between your practice and third-party vendors that touch patient information — EHRs, schedulers, AI-enabled tools. If something goes wrong, OCR and OIG hold the covered entity (your practice) accountable, so you need to know what your agreements actually say. Natasha recommends reviewing vendor agreements quarterly.

Do small practices really get audited or investigated?

Yes — small and mid-sized practices are not exempt from enforcement, and in some ways they’re more vulnerable because they lack the resources of large systems. A common trigger is patient records access: if a busy practice misses the required response window, a single patient complaint to the Office for Civil Rights can open an investigation.

What’s one compliance step a practice owner can take this week?

Reach out to your vendors, request your Business Associate Agreements, and read them. Know what your vendor is responsible for and what falls to you — and repeat that review quarterly, since vendors change and services get added.

Episode Highlights

Natasha’s path from Guyana, South America to healthcare compliance — and why patient protection is at the heart of her work

The difference between having a policy and having a workflow: her breach-reporting example

Why OCR enforcement should be on every small practice’s radar — without leading from fear

Patient records access requests: the quiet trigger behind many investigations

Vendor management in the age of AI: BAAs, responsibility allocation, and reading the contract

The three compliance gaps Natasha finds in nearly every practice

How growth creates new exposure: new providers, new roles, and retraining

Inside Natasha’s compliance risk diagnosis process

Her new service line for Canadian practices — and why province-by-province rules add complexity

Why hhs.gov — not an AI chatbot — should be your primary source for HIPAA guidance

Memorable Quotes

"While I work with providers and it’s about protecting their business, it’s really about protecting the patients that trust them." — Dr. Natasha Guess

"The gap between where you are and where you need to be never closes on its own — and it doesn’t get smaller with time." — Dr. Natasha Guess

"You really cannot fix what you don’t know or what you haven’t named yet." — Dr. Natasha Guess

"Every time they grow without updating their compliance structure, they’re creating new gaps — and a lot of times they don’t even realize it." — Dr. Natasha Guess

"Winging it is not a very good business plan." — Tracy Cherpeski

Dr. Natasha Guess offers a rare thing in the compliance world: reassurance backed by rigor. Her message to practice owners is simple — do not wait. Start with an honest assessment, name your gaps, and you’ll find that closing them is far less overwhelming than living with the unknown. Begin this week by pulling your Business Associate Agreements and reading them. Then explore Natasha’s free consultation, HIPAA template kit, and free compliance assessment (linked below), and visit thrivingpracticecommunity.com for more resources to help you build a practice that’s not just busy, but protected and thriving.

Resource Mentioned:

Practice Risk Check

Compliance Assessment

Guest Bio:

Dr. Natasha Guess is the founder of Guess Compliance Consulting LLC, where she helps small and midsize healthcare practices build compliance programs that work in the real world — not just on paper. Born and raised in Guyana, South America, Natasha saw firsthand what happens when healthcare structure is missing, an experience that shaped her decade-plus career in regulatory compliance. Today she specializes in HIPAA privacy and security, vendor and Business Associate oversight, and audit readiness, translating complex regulations into clear operational systems. She's known for a practical, non-fear-based approach that lets practice owners meet regulatory expectations while staying focused on patient care.

Find Dr. Natasha:

Website: GuessComplianceConsultingllc.com

YouTube @GuessComplianceConsulting

Podcast: Guess What? Compliance Can Be Simple! Apple Podcasts

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Tracy Cherpeski 7/15/26 Tracy Cherpeski 7/15/26

30 Seconds to Connect: What Healthcare Practices Get Wrong About Patient Communication Featuring Danny Bobrow, EP 269

What’s the single most costly communication breakdown in your practice? Chances are it’s happening before a patient ever walks through your door.

In this episode, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Danny Bobrow, a healthcare marketing consultant who has spent more than 35 years helping dental and medical practices grow — not just by generating leads, but by helping teams turn those leads into loyal, kept appointments.

What if the single biggest obstacle to your practice’s growth isn’t your clinical skills, your location, or even your marketing budget — it’s what happens during the first 30 seconds of a phone call? In this episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski sits down with Danny Bobrow, a healthcare marketing consultant with more than 35 years of experience helping dental and medical practices grow. Danny’s work doesn’t stop at generating leads — it picks up right where most marketing efforts leave off: at the point of first contact.

Danny is the creator of the Persuasion Blueprint, a communication coaching framework built around three core principles: caring, connection, and collaboration. After years of tracking what he calls “missed moments” — the small communication breakdowns that quietly cost practices new patients every day — he developed a systematic approach to closing the gap between how caring a team intends to be and how caring they’re actually perceived to be. For independent practice owners focused on patient retention, front-office communication, and sustainable practice growth, this episode is both practical and genuinely eye-opening.

Whether you’re a private practice owner working to strengthen your team’s patient communication skills, a clinician-turned-CEO still figuring out the business side, or someone building a profitable healthcare practice without burning out your staff, Danny’s framework is a strong place to start.

Key Takeaways

The “care gap” costs practices real money. The difference between your team’s intention to be caring and how they’re actually perceived by patients is where missed moments — and missed revenue — live.

The first 30 seconds of a phone call can make or break a patient relationship. Patients scan for caring before competence, and how your front desk answers sets the tone for everything that follows.

Persuasion isn’t manipulation — it’s the most honest form of communication. Danny reframes persuasion as empowering people to make decisions that are genuinely in their best interest, not coercing them.

Enthusiasm is a tool, not an opener. Using enthusiasm responsively — building from what matters to the patient — is far more effective than leading with it before you know what they need.

Clinical training doesn’t include business communication. Medical and dental schools train clinicians, not entrepreneurs. That gap in patient communication and team leadership is exactly what the Persuasion Blueprint addresses.

Q&A

What are “missed moments” and how do they affect practice revenue?

A missed moment is any communication breakdown that prevents a prospective patient from converting into a kept appointment. Danny explains that practices often track their marketing leads without measuring how effectively their team handles those leads. When front-desk staff fail to demonstrate caring quickly — or prioritize efficiency over connection — potential patients disengage before they ever schedule.

What is the Persuasion Blueprint?

The Persuasion Blueprint is Danny’s communication coaching framework built around three Cs: caring, connection, and collaboration. The approach teaches teams to demonstrate caring first, build genuine connection with the patient, and then move toward aligned action where the patient feels like a partner in their own care — not a transaction to be processed.

How do practice owners improve front-desk communication without making staff feel criticized?

Danny recommends starting with the complimentary Persuasion Scorecard to establish a baseline, then framing coaching as an investment in the team’s success — not a critique. He also emphasizes that practice owners need to lead by example, modeling what relational communication looks like before expecting it from their teams.

Why do some teams resist improving their communication skills?

Many team members welcome AI-assisted phone answering because they’re uncomfortable with patient calls. But Danny points out that discomfort is a signal, not a solution. With the right coaching, most people discover that relational communication actually reduces friction — making their job easier and their results measurably better.

Episode Highlights

Danny’s origin story: family ties to dentistry and 35+ years in healthcare marketing

The attract, convert, deliver framework for sustainable private practice growth

“Missed moments” explained: what they are, why they’re hard to measure, and what they actually cost

The care gap: why good intentions don’t automatically translate into perceived caring

The First Four Minutes — and why phone calls can compress that window to 30 seconds

Why Danny says enthusiasm should be responsive, not introductory — the “building a fire” metaphor

The three Cs: caring, connection, and collaboration as a sequence, not a checklist

What mountaineering and adventure racing taught Danny about team dynamics and patient persistence

Viktor Frankl’s distinction between toxic positivity and tragic optimism, and why it matters for practice leadership

Listening as a skill: the habits that undermine it and how to build it deliberately

The one mindset shift listeners can implement immediately

Memorable Quotes

“Getting the phone to ring or getting people to your website is necessary but not sufficient. You’ve got to connect with the prospective patient to convert them into a solid kept appointment.”

— Danny Bobrow

“On the telephone, it can be closer to 30 seconds — because people are scanning for caring. They want to know that the person at the other end of the phone is not just competent, but concerned.”

— Danny Bobrow

“People don’t care about your vision until they know that you care about theirs.”

— Danny Bobrow

“If you want to be interesting, be interested.”

— Danny Bobrow

“View your connection with everyone as relational as opposed to transactional. The money will follow.”

— Danny Bobrow

Danny Bobrow is proof that the most sophisticated marketing strategy in the world can’t outpace a missed connection at the front desk. For practice owners who want to attract more patients, retain the ones they have, and build a team culture that reflects the care they deliver clinically, this conversation is a strong place to start. Visit dannybobrow.com to access the complimentary Persuasion Scorecard and request a complimentary strategy call — he’ll even send you the Persuasion Blueprint primer in advance. And for community, resources, and support in building a practice that genuinely thrives, explore thrivingpracticecommunity.com.

Guest Bio:

Danny Bobrow is the creator of the Persuasion Blueprint, a communication framework he developed after decades running a marketing consultancy for dental and healthcare practices. An ultra-endurance mountaineer who has climbed 20 of the world's highest peaks, Danny draws on lessons in reading subtle signals under pressure to help practice teams turn first impressions into lasting patient loyalty and referrals.

Find Danny:

Websites: DannyBobrow.com AmericanDentalMarketing.com

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Tracy Cherpeski 7/10/26 Tracy Cherpeski 7/10/26

Two Websites, One Brand: What Our Site Merger Taught Us – A Special Snack Episode, EP 268

What happens when a growing practice launches a second website to give a new offering room to breathe? In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta turns the mic around on host Tracy Cherpeski to unpack why they built the Thriving Practice Community its own separate website, why it didn't perform the way they hoped, and why they recently merged everything back into one unified brand.

What happens when a growing practice launches a second website to give a new offering room to breathe? In this SNACK episode of The Thriving Practice Podcast, Miranda Dorta turns the mic around on host Tracy Cherpeski to unpack why they built the Thriving Practice Community its own separate website, why it didn't perform the way they hoped, and why they recently merged everything back into one unified brand. For healthcare practice owners weighing whether to split a program, service line, or community into its own site, this candid conversation is a real-time case study in brand identity and website strategy for independent practices.

Tracy and Miranda walk through the original thinking behind giving the Thriving Practice Community its own front door, what the analytics actually showed once the site was live, and the moment Tracy realized that trying to keep her personal body of work separate from the community she built was working against her instead of for her.

Whether you're a practice owner debating a second website for a new program, wondering if your current site setup is sending mixed signals to visitors, or simply curious how two seasoned entrepreneurs test and course-correct a business decision, this episode offers a transparent look at what didn't work, why, and what Tracy and Miranda are doing instead.

Key Takeaways

Multiple websites can dilute brand clarity instead of protecting it. Splitting a new offering into its own site felt strategic on paper, but it created a "wait, what is this?" moment for visitors instead of building trust.

Data drives the decision, not guesswork. Tracy and Miranda tracked analytics for months before concluding that a standalone site for the community wasn't generating meaningful organic traffic or conversions.

Separate isn't always safer. Tracy initially wanted distance between her personal brand and the community, but came to see the community as an extension of her own body of work rather than something that needed its own identity.

A single scrolling landing page is a tough way to build SEO. A standalone site without a fuller content structure struggled to rank or generate organic visits.

Give a change roughly eight weeks before judging it. Tracy and Miranda's rule of thumb is to test one variable at a time and hold for about eight weeks before deciding whether it worked.

Q&A

Should I build a separate website for a new program or offering?

Not necessarily. Tracy and Miranda found that a standalone website for the Thriving Practice Community created confusion rather than clarity, since visitors weren't sure how it related to Tracy's main brand and business.

How do you know when two websites are hurting your brand instead of helping it?

Watch the data, not just the design. For Tracy and Miranda, the tell was consistently weak organic traffic and slow conversions on the standalone site, even after testing several changes.

What does it cost a business when people can't tell how the pieces fit together?

Mostly slower, harder-to-track progress. When visitors are confused about how two offerings relate, interested people pause instead of taking the next step, even when they like what they see.

How long should you test a website or marketing change before deciding it isn't working?

Tracy and Miranda's rule of thumb is about eight weeks per change, testing one variable at a time so they can actually tell what moved the needle before pulling a different lever.

Episode Highlights

Why the Thriving Practice Community originally got its own website and URL

The moment Tracy realized separating herself from the community wasn't protecting either brand

What the site analytics revealed after months of running a standalone community website

Why a single scrolling landing page is a hard way to build SEO and organic traffic

The eight-week testing rule Tracy and Miranda use before pulling a new lever

What practice owners should ask themselves before splitting a brand across multiple sites

Memorable Quotes

"I really need to embrace what I have built and what we have built around the body of work that I've created over all these years." — Tracy Cherpeski

"Trying to keep them separate is actually not on brand for us, which I think that was the biggest takeaway for me." — Tracy Cherpeski

"A scrolling one page doesn't perform very well for SEO and AIO." — Tracy Cherpeski

"Slow down, take your time, consult with people who get it." — Tracy Cherpeski

If you've ever wondered whether a new offering in your practice deserves its own website, or if your current setup might be quietly confusing the people you're trying to reach, this conversation is worth the listen. Tracy and Miranda's biggest lesson: don't be afraid to test, track, and change course when the data tells you something different than your instinct did. Visit practicesuccess.co/community to learn more about the Thriving Practice Community, or practicesuccess.co to schedule a consultation with Tracy.

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