138 Are You the Fox or the Hedgehog?

🎙️ The Hedgehog Concept: Finding Your Clinic’s One Big Thing

Welcome back to the Treat Your Business podcast! I’m Katie Bell, physio, clinic owner, and founder of Thrive. If you’re feeling pulled in a million directions, constantly chasing shiny objects, and struggling to focus your energy, this episode is for you.

Today, I’m diving into a powerful concept that’s changed the way I think about strategy: the Hedgehog Concept from Jim Collins’ legendary book, Good to Great. This isn’t my own strategy, but it’s one I truly believe can transform how you approach your clinic and your business.

🦔 Are You a Hedgehog or a Fox?
The fox knows many things, darting about with endless strategies, but the hedgehog knows one big thing and does it brilliantly. In business, it’s easy to be the fox - adding services, following the latest fads, and trying to be everything to everyone. But real success comes when you simplify, focus, and build your business around your one big thing.

🔍 The Three Circles of the Hedgehog Concept:

1. What are you deeply passionate about?
   What truly lights you up in clinic life? Is it helping women regain confidence post-birth, supporting chronic pain patients to reclaim their lives, or coaching your team to excellence?
2. What can you be the best in the world at?
   You can’t be the best at everything, but you can carve out a niche where you consistently deliver exceptional results.
3. What drives your economic engine?
   Which service or offer is most profitable and scalable for your clinic? Sometimes passion and skill don’t align with profit, but when all three circles overlap, that’s where your true momentum lives.

💡 My Challenge to You:
Block out 30 minutes, either for yourself or with your team, and reflect on these three circles. Draw your Venn diagram and find your centre. That’s your hedgehog. Build your business around it, refine it, and let it guide your decisions. Remember: the most successful clinic owners aren’t those doing the most, but those doing the right things for the right people in the right way.

If this episode resonated, please share it with another clinic owner who’s ready to find their focus and build a business that truly thrives. And don’t forget to subscribe to our new YouTube channel for more bite-sized insights and video content!

Episode Sponsor:

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Introduction
• 3:01 Real-Life Example: Tom’s Wine Tasting Event
• 5:31 Jim Collins and ‘Good to Great’
• 7:35 The Hedgehog vs. The Fox Parable
• 10:16 Focus vs. Complexity: Clinic Owners’ Dilemma
• 12:34 The Three Circles of the Hedgehog Concept
• 14:48 Real Clinic Example: Women’s Health Service
• 17:25 What Drives Your Economic Engine?
• 19:17 Crafting Your Clinic’s Hedgehog Statement
• 21:16 Strategy: Breaking Down Your Year

Transcript

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Welcome back to the Treat Your Business podcast, the show for clinic owners who are ready to stop playing small, break through all of this crazy noise that's out there and build a business that really serves their life, not the other way round. For those of you who don't know me, a huge welcome. My name is Katie Bell.

[00:00:16] Katie Bell: I'm your host, a physio, a clinic owner, and the founder of Thrive, and today I talk to powerful concept. Has changed the way that I think about strategy, and I really believe it could do the [00:00:30] same for you in your clinic. And this is not my strategy. It's not my concept. It's something that I have read in a book and I wanted to share it with you.

[00:00:38] Katie Bell: And it's called The Hedgehog Concept from Jim Collins', legendary book. Good to great. It's really relevant. If you are feeling pulled in a million directions in your clinic, you feel like you're trying to do everything. You're constantly chasing the next shiny object. And with the work that we do with hun over [00:01:00] hundreds of clinic owners now this is the, one of the biggest things that people struggle to get their head around is the constant pull and the constant.

[00:01:10] Katie Bell: Dilution that they've got going on in their company and the constant distraction that they've got going on. I had a great conversation with my brother on the phone. He is also an entrepreneur. He owns a, he's in the drinks industry. And Tom is a typical visionary as well, but he really sits more of a vision, even more in a vision receipt than I do in that [00:01:30] he.

[00:01:31] Katie Bell: He has zero in execution, like absolutely nothing. So he's, I always feel constantly chasing the next shiny object. And he's super busy. They're a big seven figure business. And he said to me, I said, what are you doing tonight, Tom? He said, oh, I'm hosting this kind of wine tasting event. And I was like, oh, great.

[00:01:51] Katie Bell: He said, yeah, it's for our community. We're doing it on Zoom. And I was like, brilliant. How many people have you got going to it? He's we usually do it for 20 people or something, [00:02:00] but there's just six tonight. And I was like, alright. How much do they pay for that? He it's 20 quid. They get six wines.

[00:02:06] Katie Bell: It sounds like an absolute deal. And they get six wines. we go through them, we try them, we do, you know, all the notes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it allows them to explore whether, all our wines that we are offering and whether they want to purchase them. So I said, and why are you running that?

[00:02:21] Katie Bell: And he was like, yeah, I don't know. It's just one, it's just another one of those things that you do, isn't it? And this is exactly the example that is really [00:02:30] useful, relevant to what I'm going to be talking about in, we're going to learn what the hedgehog concept is. We're going to learn how it applies to you as clinic owners.

[00:02:38] Katie Bell: We're going to learn how to figure out your clinic's hedgehog so you can stop doing more and start doing what actually moves the needle. And this is the thing that I was saying to my brother. I was like, you are a seven figure business with a massive community, that is not enough impact for you to be wasting your time on for six people.

[00:02:55] Katie Bell: Like you need to be doing that for 600 people at your size of business. And I was like, what [00:03:00] difference does it make to your revenue? And what measurables have you got on these events and dah. You can imagine our conversations. They're wild. So without further ado, let's dive into this week's episode

[00:03:11] Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business Podcast with Katie Bell. I'm Katie, and this is the place where clinic owners like you learn the strategies, tools, and mindset shifts needed to transform your clinic into a thriving business. One that gives you more time, more money, and more freedom. [00:03:30] Born from a passion to challenge the idea that average is normal.

[00:03:34] Katie Bell: We empower clinic owners to create extraordinary businesses, incomes, and lives through our world class coaching programs. We help you step out of overwhelm and into confidence, turning your clinic into a business that fuels your lifestyle, not drain it, it. So are you ready? Let's dive in.

[00:03:53] Katie Bell: Today's episode is sponsored by VBS Medical Limited. It's the exclusive distributor of [00:04:00] K-Laser therapy and Indiba radio frequency therapy in the UK and Ireland. K-Laser and Indiba are non-invasive therapies that enhance and accelerate the healing process complementing standard of care. Broadening therapeutic opportunities, improving clinical outcomes, generating new profit, and distinguishing your clinic from the competition.

[00:04:20] Katie Bell: K-Laser and Indiba have a medical device regulation approval, meaning they have scientific publications to validate their clinical applications in practice. [00:04:30] To learn more, visit www.vbsmedical.com and book your free trial today.

[00:04:36] Katie Bell: Now, Jim Collins.

[00:04:39] Katie Bell: Wrote a book. If you have never read it, if any of you're watching me on YouTube. I'm going to share the book on screen now. It's a bright red book. It's called Good To Great. And I'm just going to read you a little bit from it. So if you are watching on YouTube, I apologize for looking down at the desk.

[00:04:54] Katie Bell: But basically 1996, Jim Collins and his research team set out to answer one [00:05:00] very simple question, can a good company become a great company? And if so, how? Most great companies grew up with superb parents, founders like George Merck, David Packard, Walt Disney, who instilled the seeds of greatness really early on.

[00:05:16] Katie Bell: But what about the vast majority of companies that kind of wake up partway through life and realise that they're good, but they're not great. So with 21 Research Associates working in [00:05:30] groups of four to six at a time, over a period of nearly five years, the study that they did involved a wide range of both qualitative and quantitative analysis and examined.

[00:05:40] Katie Bell: 1,435 Fortune 500 companies. They collected thousands of articles, conducted interviews with their key execs. They analysed internal strategy documents and external analyst reports. They ran financial metrics. They examined executive compensation. They compared patterns of [00:06:00] management turnover. Calculated effects of acquisitions, and they basically synthesized all of these results to identify the drivers of good to great transformations.

[00:06:11] Katie Bell: And they found that the key concepts that permitted these good to great companies were. Some very specific concepts. He talks a lot about values in his book, and he also [00:06:30] talks about the hedgehog concept. Now, chapter five is the Hedgehog Concept in Good to Great. And I'm going to I'm going to start by reading this little story time with kb.

[00:06:40] Katie Bell: I'm going to read you about the hedgehog concept. So are you a hedgehog or are you a fox? This famous essay was from Isaiah Berlin, and he divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes based upon an ancient Greek parable. The fox knows many things, but the [00:07:00] hedgehog knows one big thing. The fox is a cutting creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for sneak attacks Up on the hedgehog, day in and day out, the fox circles round the hedgehog's den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce, fast, sleek, beautiful fleet of foot, and crafty.

[00:07:22] Katie Bell: The fox. Looks like the sure winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdy creature looking like a genetic mixup between [00:07:30] a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home. The fox waits in cutting silence. At the juncture in the trail, the hedgehog minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox.

[00:07:46] Katie Bell: Aha, I've got you now thinks the fox, he leaps out, bounding across the ground. Lightning fast, the little hedgehog sensing danger, looks up and thinks, ah. Here we go again. Will he ever learn? [00:08:00] Rolling up into a perfect little ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes pointing outward in all directions.

[00:08:08] Katie Bell: The fox bounding towards his prey, sees the hedgehog defense, and calls off the attack. Retreating back to the forest, fox begins to calculate a new line of attack each day. Some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins.

[00:08:27] Katie Bell: Berlin extrapolated from [00:08:30] this very little parable to divide people into two basic groups. The foxes and the hedgehogs. Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all of its complexity. They are scattered, diffused, moving on many levels. Says Berlin never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision.

[00:08:53] Katie Bell: Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a [00:09:00] basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn't matter how complex the world, a hedgehog, reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple. Indeed, almost simplistic hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.

[00:09:21] Katie Bell: You want to know what separates those who make the biggest impact from all the others who are just smart. They're hedgehogs. [00:09:30] So Colin used this concept to describe how. Great companies, and I would argue great clinics don't try to be all things to all people. They find their one thing, they go deep on it, and they build their entire business around it.

[00:09:48] Katie Bell: And if you think about your own clinic journey, how many times have you played the Fox? How many times have you added a new service because someone down the road [00:10:00] did. We see this a lot in brilliant established physio clinics deciding that because everybody else is doing, they're going to add Pilates to their list of services.

[00:10:10] Katie Bell: 'cause they've got a room that's big enough or we see people adding new tech and new equipment. Brilliant can create a brilliant return on investment, but they are not thinking strategically. And they're not thinking in their headshot concept. When was the last [00:10:30] time that you like signed up for the next marketing fad or the next thing that everybody's talking about online?

[00:10:36] Katie Bell: When was the last time you said yes to every patient type, even if they weren't a great fit? And when was the last time that you tried to be everything for everyone and basically ended up being completely exhausted? Very average. So what, instead if we all acted like the hedgehog, so here's where it gets Juicy Collins [00:11:00] breaks the hedgehog concept down into three kind of intersecting circles. Basically, he says. When you find the sweet spot, the center, you've got your one big thing. So those three circles are what are you deeply passionate about?

[00:11:15] Katie Bell: What drives your economic engine and what can you be the best in the world at? So let's pick these. Three ideas, these three [00:11:30] kind of big questions apart through the lens of a clinic owner. So circle one, what are you deeply passionate about? What gets you outta bed in the morning?

[00:11:39] Katie Bell: And I'm not talking like a general passion, like I help people feel better. I mean like the specific emotional fire in your belly. Seeing the woman regain confidence post-birth, is it helping that patient that's had chronic pain for years reclaim their lives because they can actually walk [00:12:00] to their local pub and meet their friends?

[00:12:02] Katie Bell: Is it coaching your team to become really exceptional practitioners practitioner? Because when you build your business around what genuinely lights you up, you show up really differently. Your patients feel it, your team feels it, and you're less likely to burn out. So ask yourself this, what part of clinic life could I talk all day about without getting bored?

[00:12:28] Katie Bell: That's clue number one to [00:12:30] your hedgehog. And I think sometimes it's easy. Or easier to decide what we are not that passionate about. So really thinking of, and we've been having lots of these conversations real recently in my clinic because we are a multidisciplinary service. So therefore, we could argue that we are a bit like a fox and we need to be more like a hedgehog.

[00:12:54] Katie Bell: And one of the things as I delve deeply into our women's health service is. [00:13:00] That my clinical lead like we, we really have no love for mummy ROT's and and this, there's nothing wrong with the mummy ROT's fabulous fabulous way of supporting postnatal women. But what we find and it is that.

[00:13:16] Katie Bell: The type of patient that sometimes well seems to attract mummy ROT we find more difficult to bring into programs of treatment. We find it more difficult to work with them in an ongoing way. And so we have a very [00:13:30] big patient churn. And actually it's not that we don't like really helping them, but we just like helping.

[00:13:37] Katie Bell: The lady who was struggling with pelvic pain more my clinical lead, like really specialises in endometriosis and menopausal pelvic health issues. So we were like, so why are we offering it and why are we still doing mummy and me classes when really nobody in the team is like that, passionate about it Doesn't really light [00:14:00] them up.

[00:14:01] Katie Bell: But because we think we need to be everything to everybody in that service, we are being very much like Fox. So think of it in that way, if you can't think what you absolutely love, think about the things that you don't love about your business, and could you get even more specific with who it is that you work with, what it is that you treat, and who it is that you help.

[00:14:21] Katie Bell: So circle number two is what can you be the best in the world at? [00:14:30]Because you can't be the best in the world at everything, but you can carve out a niche where you are known for excellence. That is exactly what I've just been talking about there. Maybe it's postnatal recovery, maybe it's working with endometriosis patients.

[00:14:47] Katie Bell: Maybe it is rehab for runners. Maybe it's reformer Pilates for the over 45's. This isn't about ego, it's about focus. [00:15:00] And this reminds me of one of our clients on program at the moment who has been battling with really leaning into what she loves to do, which is more of a coaching, more of a kind of holistic way of working with patients who are in chronic pain who have maybe gone through cancer, breast cancer.

[00:15:16] Katie Bell: have had significant, trauma for want of a better word, and medical problems where they've come through them, but they are feeling lost, they're feeling overwhelmed. They're not back to their normal self. They've not got the energy and the, the kind of [00:15:30] pizazz that they want in life.

[00:15:32] Katie Bell: And she has been through this herself. She really wants to focus on this, but she cannot drop the osteopathy clients. And this is really where your brain works so hard because your identity is I'm an osteopath so I should be able to treat everybody in everything. And actually the clearer that you get on who it is that you wanna work with,

[00:15:53] Katie Bell: the better results that you are going to get, the more specific you can be in terms of how you deliver your treatments [00:16:00] to them, the better outcomes they're going to get. So great clinics don't dilute their impact by trying to offer everything. So often, but they double down on the service that they can deliver, exceptionally again and again.

[00:16:15] Katie Bell: So my question here is, what do you constantly get results in like better than anybody else in your area? And remember best doesn't have to mean national. It can just mean best in your postcode, best in your city, best in your niche. [00:16:30] And then the third circle is what drives your economic engine. So this is one most clinic owners forget, but it's really critical.

[00:16:38] Katie Bell: What's the one thing in your clinic that makes the most money sustainably? And sometimes what you are passionate about and great at isn't profitable. And sometimes the profitable thing isn't what you love or do best. But when all three of these circles align, boom, that's where momentum really lives. [00:17:00] So for example, you might love running Pilates classes, but if they're priced too low or they're half empty, then they're not your hedgehog.

[00:17:09] Katie Bell: Maybe the one-to-one MSK sessions drives most of your revenue, but you hate delivering them, and you can't scale that model. So that's not your hedgehog. So what's the one service or offer? That's most profitable and scalable 'cause that's the final piece of the puzzle. Now it might [00:17:30] be that one-to-one MSK sessions is not scalable with just you on your own and that you would have to make some significant changes to your infrastructure for it to be your hedgehog.

[00:17:40] Katie Bell: So it very much depends on where you are in business right now and where you want to be. If you are trying to chase a million different packages, a million different client types, a million different service offerings. If you are trying to grow equally a Pilates business and a women's health business and an MSK business, [00:18:00] you are just going to run out steam.

[00:18:02] Katie Bell: So once you've reflected on those three circles, passion, best at profit driver, look for the overlap because that's your hedgehog. It's not a service list, it's not a job title, it's not a buzzword, but it's this kind of like strategic lens that you can run your business through and it might look like.

[00:18:22] Katie Bell: We help women in Sheffield rebuild strength, confidence, and pelvic health after pregnancy through world class physio, and tailored to reform Pilates programs. [00:18:30] Or we are the go-to clinic for runners in London who want to go faster, stay injury free and train smarter without relying on generic rehab plans.

[00:18:39] Katie Bell: And from there, every decision then becomes much clearer who it is that we're marketing to, what services you stop offering, what kind of team you hire. What partnerships you pursue. And so the hedgehog concept really simplifies your business and that clarity creates that [00:19:00] confidence. But there's a trap here.

[00:19:04] Katie Bell: Let me give you a little warning, because most clinic owners say to me, but I really like the variety, Katie, if we. Won't we lose business? What if we lose business, if we niche down too much? And the truth, when you try to appeal to everyone, you literally appeal to nobody. So focusing doesn't mean you can't evolve.

[00:19:23] Katie Bell: It doesn't. It means you build depth before chasing breadth, that [00:19:30] whole saying of an inch wide and a mile deep, rather than a mile wide and an inch deep. Depth is what turns clinics from good to great. So stop playing the fox, stop dabbling in 10 things and become the hedgehog, the master of one big thing.

[00:19:53] Katie Bell: And I would really encourage you if you are a sole trader, a new [00:20:00]business, a small business. Then you are going to have to stay being the hedgehog in one thing and really leverage that before you start adding complexity to your business. If you are already a multiple six figure business with many things happening, then when it comes to your marketing, be the hedgehog.

[00:20:21] Katie Bell: When it comes to your strategy, think about how you break your year down, your annual goal into quarters, and what can happen when, if you're [00:20:30] trying to be the fox and do 10 things at once, it's never ever going to work. So your challenge should you wish to accept. Funnily enough, I've just been on a walk.

[00:20:41] Katie Bell: Oh no. Is that mission impossible or is it James Bond? I've just been on a walk this morning with my friend early. We'd go really early in the morning and we went to along the edge where the train comes off in the latest mission. Impossible. Not the latest, the one that's not just the one that's released, the one before where the train runs off [00:21:00] and Tom Cruise is on the top of it isn't near and whatever.

[00:21:02] Katie Bell: So your challenge should you wish to accept is to block out 30 minutes. Reflect on the three circles or like your next strategy day or your next team day. What do we love? What are we world class at? What drives profit? And then draw your Venn diagram. That's what it's called. Draw your Venn diagram.

[00:21:23] Katie Bell: Find that center 'cause that's the hedgehog. Stick with it. Refine it. Build your business around it. The most [00:21:30] successful clinic owners aren't the ones doing the most shock horror. They're the ones doing the right things. For the right people in the right way. Thank you for listening to the Treat Your Business podcast.

[00:21:43] Katie Bell: If this episode resonated with you, I would really love for you to share it with another clinic owner who's ready to find their focus and build a business that truly thrives and. If you didn't know, we now have a very fancy YouTube channel where you can see [00:22:00] this, the video footage. You can see lots of broken down, little snippets of this podcast, little bite-sized parts for you to listen to.

[00:22:07] Katie Bell: And I would love you to subscribe to the channel so you get all of the updates as they are released. Until next time, stay focused. Stay fierce and stay the hedgehog.

[00:22:17]