The Physician Business Podcast

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Self-care. For years, I rolled my eyes at the whole concept. Between climbing the corporate ladder with three kids under five and a long list of responsibilities, self-care felt indulgent, surface-level, and honestly… kind of annoying.

In this episode, I break down why self-care felt so difficult for so long, how advertising and unrealistic expectations completely missed the point, and the definition that finally made it click for me. (Spoiler: it has nothing to do with bubble baths or luxury spa days.)

I also share a recent client conversation that shows why self-care and self-concept matter more than we think, especially when goals start to get bigger.

References

The 90 Day Clinic Launch Blueprint teaches the financial, marketing, and operational essentials to get your practice up and running in just 90 days. Get on the waitlist here.

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Intro: Why self-care always felt difficult and irritating to me

[02:30] My self-care struggle: Gen X conditioning, superficial marketing, gendered expectations, and managing three young children

[07:00] What self-care actually means: Building capacity through awareness, energy management, and self-kindness

[11:13] When it clicked: Reframing self-care as personal agency and capacity

[12:30] Client example: Why self-concept matters when setting bigger revenue goals

[15:10] Reflection: Trusting yourself with awareness, energy, and compassion

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

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“The level that I want to help people will never work in this system.”

That one sentence captures what so many physicians feel but struggle to say out loud. You love your patients… but the system isn’t built to support the care you want to give, or the life you want to live.

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Matthea Rentea, a longtime client and one of my favorite success stories. Five years ago, with a patient panel topping 3,500 and no signs of relief from corporate medicine, she knew something had to change.

Together, we unpack how she strategically exited her corporate medicine job, built a fully booked telehealth clinic in just two years, and mastered marketing by leading with service. We talk about the moment she realized her revenue had already surpassed her goals, why she shifted to a membership-only model, and her advice for physicians who feel overwhelmed by starting their own practice.

Tune in for an honest look at the decisions, mindset shifts, and systems that made her success sustainable, not just profitable.

References

Connect with Dr. Matthea Rentea:

Website

Programs

Instagram

TikTok

The Obesity Guide Podcast

The 90 Day Clinic Launch Blueprint teaches the financial, marketing, and operational essentials to get your practice up and running in just 90 days. Get on the waitlist here.

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[01:47] Dr. Rentea's Journey: From corporate medicine burnout to building a thriving telehealth obesity clinic.

[07:53] Strategic Clinic Decisions: How to choose your model, pricing, and services based on patient needs.

[11:20] Data Over Drama: Using feedback loops and real numbers to guide business decisions.

[16:25] Leaving Side Work: When to drop extra income and trust your clinic's growth trajectory.

[25:20] Marketing That Works: Serving patients first, promoting second

[35:43] The Power of Membership: Creating better patient outcomes with long-term relationship models.

[42:47] Advice for New Founders: Start sooner, build your dream team, and get help before you're desperate.

[45:44] What's Next: Dr. Rentea’s upcoming programs for patients and physicians including group coaching and social media training.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

You can't "committee-approve" your way into a clinic launch. But if you're coming from corporate medicine, that's exactly what your brain wants to do: over-plan, over-perfect, and overthink every detail until nothing ships.

Enter the Lean Startup approach. It started in Silicon Valley, but it works just as well for physicians building a clinic.

In this episode, I break down five core Lean Startup principles (from Eric Ries) and show you how to use them to get your practice out of your head and into the real world. You'll learn why your first version doesn't need to be perfect, how to figure out what patients actually want (and will pay for), and why small experiments beat massive business plans every single time.

References

The 90 Day Clinic Launch Blueprint teaches the financial, marketing, and operational essentials to get your practice up and running in just 90 days. Get on the waitlist here.

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] What Is Lean Startup: Eric Ries's framework adapted for physician entrepreneurs.

[02:00] Management Over Planning: Why experimentation beats rigid business plans.

[05:17] Validated Learning: Testing pricing assumptions with real patient behavior.

[07:37] Build, Measure, Learn: Rapid iteration cycles to improve and grow faster.

[09:38] Metrics That Matter: Patient conversion over social media vanity metrics.

[12:49] Pivot or Persevere: Using data to decide your next strategic move.

[14:00] The Four-Step Process: Hypotheses, MVPs, measurement, and decision-making.

[18:14] Why This Works: Reduces waste, fights perfectionism, focuses on patient value.

[21:10] 90-Day Clinic Launch Blueprint: Amanda's new mini-course for launching without panic or debt.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

Hitting that point in your clinic where the waiting list is growing, your schedule is bursting, and you’re thinking, “If I just hire one more person, everything will feel easier”?

But here’s the catch: growth doesn’t always equal profit. In fact, hiring out of sheer overwhelm (rather than actual numbers), can pull your clinic further away from financial stability.

That’s why understanding one simple metric can change everything: your contribution margin. (Don’t worry, it’s less scary than it sounds!) In this episode, we’ll walk through how to calculate your estimated revenue per visit, the difference between variable and fixed costs, and how the contribution margin affects your break-even point. By the end, you’ll feel a whole lot clearer about whether hiring truly moves you forward… or just adds to the chaos.

References

The 90 Day Clinic Launch Blueprint teaches the financial, marketing, and operational essentials to get your practice up and running in just 90 days. Get on the waitlist here.

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Don't Hire Too Early: Why overwhelm isn't a good reason to add staff and the importance of data-driven hiring decisions.

[02:02] What Is Contribution Margin: The financial metric that reveals how much each patient visit contributes to covering fixed costs and profit.

[03:40] How to Calculate Contribution Margin: Breaking down revenue per visit, identifying variable costs in your P&L, and running the actual numbers.

[10:49] Understanding Your Break-Even Point: How fixed costs impact profitability and when your practice shifts from covering overhead to generating profit.

[12:28] Using Contribution Margin for Hiring: How to evaluate whether adding staff makes financial sense for your practice.

[13:37] 90-Day Clinic Launch Blueprint: Amanda’s launching a new practical mini-course covering key financial metrics, marketing, and operations for new practices.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

You left corporate medicine dreaming of autonomy and balance. But once you open your doors, the reality hits hard: Where are all the patients? Why isn’t anyone finding you? And how is marketing suddenly the most overwhelming part of running a practice?

Here’s the part nobody tells you before you go solo: Your full corporate schedule wasn’t automatic. It was the result of massive marketing investments you never noticed. Now, you’re expected to rebuild that engine from scratch… while battling fears of being judged, getting “too busy” again, and trying to unlearn years of insurance-driven assumptions about what patients will or won’t pay for.

In this episode, I unpack the key marketing assumptions holding new clinic owners back, and the shifts that help you build visibility without burning out.

References

EP. 15: Get Out of Your Patients' Wallets: How to Price with Confidence

Interested in my new course for physicians? Join the waitlist here

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Corporate Marketing Behind the Scenes: What physicians don't realize about the massive marketing investments that filled their patient panels.

[04:44] The Fear of Being Too Busy: Why physicians leaving burnout worry marketing will recreate the chaos they escaped.

[06:40] Breaking the Insurance Mindset: Moving past assumptions that patients won't pay out-of-pocket.

[07:58] Friends Won't Fill Your Schedule: The truth about physician referrals and tuning out peer judgment.

[09:53] Don't Wait for Perfect: Why you should start marketing long before your clinic is ready to launch.

[12:25]  The Prevention Messaging Problem: Why talking about preventative care overwhelms patients instead of motivating them.

[15:33] Stories Beat Education: Using storytelling instead of dry medical education to engage patients.

[16:21] Marketing as Community Building: Reframing marketing as authentic connection, not sales.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

If you’re a clinic owner, few decisions feel as high-stakes as hiring your first team member or deciding who’s ready for more responsibility. Even if you haven’t made those moves yet, the worries are building: What if I pick the wrong person? What if they can’t actually do the job? What if a promotion backfires?

These concerns are common, and they usually stem from one core mistake: confusing potential with performance.

It’s easy to be swayed by enthusiasm, “good vibes”, or loyalty. It’s just as easy to feel pressured into giving someone a promotion they’re not ready for. But those choices can create more problems than they solve.

In this episode, I break down a simple, reliable framework: Hire for potential, promote for performance. You’ll learn the three qualities that truly predict success, the interview questions that flag issues early, and how to make strategic staffing decisions that strengthen your clinic instead of destabilizing it.

References

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Hire for Potential, Promote for Performance: Introduction to a key talent management framework for clinic owners.

[01:40] Hiring for Potential: Evaluating character, core competencies, and transferable skills during the interview process.

[04:54] Interview Questions That Reveal Potential: Using behavioral questions to assess growth mindset, problem-solving, and self-awareness.

[12:47] Promote for Performance: Why promotions must start with business need, not just reward for good work.

[15:50] Layering in Responsibilities: Preparing employees for promotion by giving them stretch assignments before the title change.

[19:53] Common Promotion Mistakes: Avoiding the pitfalls of promoting too early, using promotions purely as retention tools, and grade inflation.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

Ever notice how the moment you decide to pursue something meaningful, your brain suddenly launches a full-scale protest? You set a goal… and fear, frustration, or anger appears uninvited, announcing, “We live here now.”

Yep, that’s resistance. And it has a talent for turning simple tasks (like plugging in a podcast microphone…) into what feels like a NASA-level engineering challenge. But resistance isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes it’s your subconscious waving a flag saying, “Slow down and look closer,” or “This matters more than you realize.”

In this episode, I unpack the three common forms of resistance I see in my physician CEO clients and how to transform these uncomfortable emotional signals from barriers into strategic insights. Because when we try to ignore them, they only tend to get louder…

References

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Three Types of Resistance: Understanding resistance as useful information from your subconscious.

[01:36] Resistance to Risk: How fear asks you to slow down and evaluate if something is truly safe.

[04:00] Resistance to Growth: Frustration and irritability often signal you're on the edge of a business breakthrough.

[07:44] Resistance to Injustice: Anger can tell you when a boundary has been crossed or a value has been violated.

[10:27] Responding to Resistance: Paying attention to the type of resistance and choosing your response intentionally.

[11:20] Journaling Practice: Simple questions to dialogue with your emotions and get comfortable with uncomfortable feelings.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

You became a physician to help people… not to spend your nights wrestling with spreadsheets, writing social media captions, or fighting the nagging fear that you’re “doing it wrong.” Yet here you are: a physician entrepreneur, suddenly responsible for running a business no one ever trained you for.

You’re juggling a dozen roles outside your comfort zone: sales, bookkeeping, marketing, HR, operations, strategy… the list keeps growing. And on the hardest days, it’s enough to make you question whether leaving that “safe” corporate job was the right move after all.

There’s a whole closet of hats that nobody warned you about. And instead of trying to wear them all at once (which, let’s be honest, looks ridiculous), the real skill is knowing which hat belongs on your head right now. In this episode, I’ll explore the seven hats every physician entrepreneur needs, and how to swap them on and off without losing your mind!

References

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] Why showing up in multiple roles as a physician entrepreneur can feel overwhelming and de-energizing.

[03:02] The Subject Matter Expert Hat: Your clinical identity and the core of why patients seek your care.

[05:30] The Sales and Relationship Building Hat: Reframing networking as patient service, not "gross" sales.

[07:35] The Bookkeeper/Bean Counter Hat: Moving past "I'm bad at math" to understanding business finances.

[10:49] The Creative Hat: Designing your ideal business model and connecting authentically with patients.

[16:57] The Administration Hat: Learning tedious tasks yourself enables better delegation later.

[19:42] The People Manager Hat: Performance management and setting clear expectations for staff.

[23:02] The CEO Hat: Setting vision, ensuring compliance, and making evidence-based decisions.

[25:06] Switching Hats Strategically: Choosing the right role for each business situation.

[27:05] Learning and Delegating Over Time: Why mastering skills first makes outsourcing more effective.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

You have a brilliant idea for your business, but the moment you're ready to act, perfectionism slams on the brakes. Suddenly you're second-guessing everything, talking yourself out of action, and watching imposter syndrome take over.

If you're a physician building a business, you're learning something new every single day. And that discomfort can trigger old patterns: the need to get it "right," to avoid mistakes, and to seek external validation. But the reality is that perfectionism doesn’t keep you safe… it keeps you standing still.

In this episode, I break down two powerful frameworks that will help you reframe perfectionism once and for all. You’ll learn how mindfulness and imperfection go hand in hand, why discomfort is a natural part of growth, and how your childhood definition of “perfect” may be holding you back from your full potential.

References

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[00:50] When Perfectionism Blocks Progress: How the desire for perfection prevents entrepreneurs from taking action and making CEO-level decisions.

[02:40] Imperfectly Mindful or Perfectly Mindless: Dr. Ellen Langer's perspective on the connection between perfection and mindless living.

[05:23] The Four Stages of Competence: Why discomfort during learning is normal and actually indicates you're making progress.

[10:20] Your Childhood Definition of Perfect: How childhood perfectionism is often rooted in staying safe rather than achieving success.

[13:02] Why Perfectionism Sabotages Your Business: How seeking perfection creates false security and leads to focusing on other people's opinions.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.

**Send us a Text Message! Please include your name and email so we can answer you! Please note, this does not subscribe you to our email list, it's just to answer if you have a questions for us.**

Let’s be honest… pricing in healthcare is a mess. Between insurance negotiations, opaque billing systems, and decades of corporate conditioning, it’s no wonder so many physicians feel lost when it comes to setting their own prices.

If you’re transitioning out of corporate medicine to start your own clinic, chances are you’ve wrestled with this question: How much should I charge? Maybe you’re afraid of overcharging patients. Maybe you’re angry after years of being underpaid and undervalued. Or maybe you just have no idea what “fair” even looks like outside the insurance machine.

Pricing isn’t just about numbers, it’s about mindset. Most physicians don’t realize how much their old environment has shaped the way they think about money, worth, and value. In this episode, I'll unpack why pricing feels so emotionally charged, how to stop focusing on your patients’ wallets, and what it really means to price your services with confidence and clarity.

References

Episode 14. When “Patient Access” Becomes a Trap: The Hidden Guilt of Leaving Corporate Medicine

Download my free guide 6 Steps to Opening a Clinic here!

Book a free discovery call today

Audio Stamps

[02:00] The Physician's Dilemma: How healthcare pricing lacks transparency and why physicians feel trapped between what patients expect to pay and what insurance actually reimburses.

[03:00] Pattern #1 - Fear of Overcharging: Why worrying about charging "too much" can lead to underdelivering care.

[06:00] Cost vs. Price vs. Value: Understanding the differences between these three key terms for pricing decisions.

[09:00] Pattern #2 - Overinflating Prices: How past resentment and competitor comparisons create problematic pricing strategies.

[11:00] The Resentment Trap: Why pricing based on past underpayment creates short-term satisfaction but long-term problems.

[12:00] The Market Rate Mistake: How focusing on competitor pricing keeps you out of your own business.

[14:00] The Strategic Advantage: Why starting with lower prices makes it easier to raise them and improves sales psychology.

To work with Amanda Sabicer or find out more, check out her website at www.amandasabicer.com.