If you opened your practice to help people heal but find yourself spending most of your day checking, correcting, and redoing your team’s work, you’re not alone—and you don’t have a team problem. In this episode of the Thriving Practice Podcast, Tracy Cherpeski digs into a challenge that almost every healthcare practice owner faces: the gap between clinical excellence and effective leadership. The very instincts that make you an incredible clinician—precision, thoroughness, catching every error before it becomes a problem—can quietly undermine your effectiveness as a leader of people. 

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If you’re a healthcare practice owner who’s ever been told to “just pick up the phone and start calling,” this episode is for you. Cold calling has been a go-to tactic for decades, but for independent practice owners trying to build trust-based patient relationships, it can do more harm than good. 

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Marketing your healthcare practice doesn't require expensive campaigns or overwhelming social media strategies. In this episode, Kurt Hoffmann, founder of Abra Marketing, explains why consistent, authentic marketing is part of your mission as a healthcare provider—and how to make it manageable when you're already stretched thin. 

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In this episode, Tracy breaks down her recent "Future-Proofing Healthcare Leadership in 2026" roundtable featuring Marc Chow (CEO of Santa Clara County Medical Association), Aaron Gold (strategic CFO), and Stephen Fogg (healthcare marketing strategist and AI innovation specialist). Despite approaching practice management from completely different angles - policy, finance, and innovation - all three experts confirmed the same fundamental truth about how to actually move forward when the ground keeps shifting. 

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Running a profitable medical practice requires more than clinical excellence—it demands financial clarity that most healthcare providers were never trained to achieve. Many practice owners find themselves caught in a frustrating paradox: their accountant tells them they're profitable, yet their bank account tells a different story. Cash flow problems persist, credit card debt grows, and the question "am I actually making money?" remains unanswered. 

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More than half of healthcare practice owners report burnout, and the traditional response—working harder, seeing more patients, adding more services—keeps them trapped in a cycle that never delivers the freedom they imagined. In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta interviews Tracy about the 10x practice owner mindset and why sustainable practice growth requires subtraction, not addition. 

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Dr. Kenneth Pierce shares how virtual specialist consultations improve veterinary practice management, patient outcomes, and prevent burnout for practice owners. 

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Dr. Shelina Jaffer's burnout didn't announce itself with fanfare. Like so many physicians managing demanding practices, she normalized the warning signs—gastritis, reflux, exhaustion—until her body forced a reckoning with late-onset asthma and a moment of emotional darkness she couldn't explain away. Her story is textbook physician burnout, yet her response was anything but typical. Instead of simply stepping away from a toxic role, Shelina embarked on a three-year journey of self-discovery that led to the creation of Haven Within, a program helping healthcare professionals reconnect with their inner wisdom before burnout takes hold. 

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What happens when you put Tracy in the interview seat? In this SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta interviews Tracy about her recent speaking tour across California, where she taught burnout prevention for healthcare providers and earned CME credits for the first time. Tracy spoke with the Santa Clara County Medical Association and Fresno Madera Medical Society—and what she learned from those 200+ healthcare providers is shaping how she thinks about systemic challenges, workplace power, and what practice owners really need. 

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If you're a healthcare practice owner who made New Year's resolutions this January, only to watch them crumble by February, you're not alone—and more importantly, you're not failing. After nearly 16 years of coaching highly credentialed business owners, Tracy Cherpeski has seen the same pattern play out repeatedly: resolutions fail not because practice owners lack discipline, but because resolutions themselves are fundamentally flawed for creating sustainable change in demanding healthcare practices. 

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This episode offers a different approach to closing out 2025 and setting up 2026. Instead of bigger resolutions that fail by mid-February, we're exploring sustainable systems that actually work for busy practice owners. Tracy reflects on meaningful wins from 2025, addresses the reality of seasonal stress in healthcare practices, and shares why most January goals fail—along with practical frameworks for building practices that don't require constant heroic effort. 

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In this unscripted SNACK episode, Miranda Dorta sits down with Tracy to explore one of the most counterintuitive challenges in healthcare practice management: why growing your practice revenue doesn'tautomatically mean growing your profit or your freedom. Many independent practice owners find themselves busier than ever, but when they look at what they're actually taking home, the numbers tell a different story. 

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In this episode, Dr. Meg Bouvier shares the real story behind NIH's current budget and offers practical strategies for adapting grant applications in today's political climate. From reframing research language to understanding what really matters to funders, she provides a roadmap for researchers who want to continue their important work despite uncertainty. We also explore how she built a successful grant consulting business by assembling the right team—a lesson that applies whether you're running a research program or building a medical practice. 

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In this SNACK episode, Tracy and Miranda connect the dots between what's driving physicians out of employed settings and what that means for practice owners who are thinking about hiring, expanding, or bringing on partners. This conversation goes beyond basic recruitment strategies—it's about positioning your practice as an attractive alternative for talented physicians who are fed up with being commodified by large systems. 

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In this episode, we explore what it really means to build a brand that reflects who you are, not who you think you should be. Gina shares how her background in art and fashion influences her surgical approach, why listening to patients is her competitive advantage, and how she's structured her practice to stay lean and profitable without sacrificing quality of care. Whether you're considering practice ownership or looking to refine your current operations, Gina's insights on branding, patient expectations, and business delegation offer a refreshing perspective on building a profitable medical practice without burnout. 

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Burnout prevention advice rarely works for practice owners because it ignores the structural realities of running a healthcare business. Generic wellness tips like "set better boundaries" or "take more vacations" fall flat when you're responsible for payroll, team development, and practice sustainability. In this episode, Tracy breaks down why traditional burnout prevention fails and shares three strategic pillars that actually address the root causes of depletion for independent practice owners. 

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Practice ownership comes with a unique paradox: the autonomy you fought for also means carrying the full weight of clinical work, business management, and leadership. In this episode, Tracy breaks down the World Health Organization's three-phase burnout framework and reveals why nearly half of all physicians are experiencing burnout symptoms—and what makes practice owner burnout distinctly different and dangerous. 

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In this candid snack episode, Tracy sits in the interview seat as Miranda explores the practical reality of AI for private practices. Following Tracy's conversation with David Herman about AI in dental marketing, this episode addresses what practice owners are really asking about AI implementation, where these tools genuinely help, and the critical questions to ask before investing time and resources. Tracy shares insights from a recent burnout workshop with Silicon Valley physicians and offers a framework for thinking strategically about technology that supports—rather than replaces—human connection in healthcare. 

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Discover why waiting for legal emergencies costs more, how financial modeling removes fear from reimbursement cuts, and what time blocking can do for practice owners juggling patient care and business management. Sarah Covington brings healthcare law expertise and practical guidance for building thriving independent practices.

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Financial planning expert Anjali Jariwala joins Tracy to discuss the unique financial challenges physician practice owners face and why comprehensive planning requires both personal wealth management and business strategy. With her background in tax and financial planning plus personal ties to the physician community, Anjali offers insider perspective on navigating the complex transition from residency to high earnings, building sustainable businesses, and creating alignment between personal values and professional goals. 

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