The Private Practice Success Podcast

47. No Time, No Cash Flow: The Excuses Blocking your Success

• Gerda Muller • Episode 47

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In episode 47, Gerda gets real about the most common excuses that hold group practice owners back from the business growth and freedom they truly deserve. 

Drawing on years of candid conversations with fellow allied health business owners, she unpacks not only the surface-level reasons like “no time” and “no cash flow” but also digs deeper into the underlying barriers blocking success.

With her trademark blend of empathy and tough love, Gerda challenges you to reflect on what’s really stopping you from investing in your business and yourself. 

Whether you’re stuck at a plateau, overwhelmed by your to-do list, or secretly doubting your own success, this episode will help you break through the noise and take your next bold step forward.

In this Episode, you will learn (among others):

  • Why “no time” and “no money” are rarely the true reasons practice owners stay stuck and what’s really going on beneath the surface.
  • The hidden impact of ego, shame, and imposter syndrome on your decision-making and business growth.
  • How to move past excuses, embrace support, and create a practice (and a life) that aligns with your values and vision.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Allied health group practice owners who know they want more but keep hitting invisible barriers.
  • Leaders ready to get brutally honest about what’s holding them back from finally saying yes to the support they need.
  • Anyone craving more freedom, impact, and joy in their business journey.

Tune in for a refreshingly honest conversation and walk away ready to say goodbye to excuses and hello to the next level of your success.

Want Gerda's Help with your Business?

Gerda helps allied health group practice owners go from overwhelmed, overworked, and underpaid to fully empowered and financially thriving. If this is you, then make today the day you reach out. Complete this super short Triage Form here bit.ly/triageformpps and Gerda will personally reach out to you. 

Here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about :)

Connect with Private Practice Success & Gerda here:

 Well, hello there brilliant private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast and this is episode number 47.

Today we're going to be talking about: No Time, No Cash Flow, and a few other excuses that I'm guessing are currently blocking you from achieving the success that you, not only desire, but absolutely deserve. And how do I know this? Because every week I'm in the very, very honoured and privileged position to speak to group private practice owners from around Australia. These are practice owners who reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, Gerda, I've got these challenges in my business, and I wanted to see whether you can help.’

I want you to rest assured if you've ever reached out to me or considered reaching out to me, whether that is via my triage form that you complete, maybe via email, maybe via direct message on social media - please know that I am the one - my eyes personally, that sees your messages. I'm also the one that responds to your messages and or emails or to the triage form that you send through.

You won't be speaking to somebody on ‘my team’, you speak to Gerda me? Yes. I do have two fabulous VAs who do have access to my inbox and to my DMs. But if they were the ones replying to you from my profile, they will always say, ‘Hey, it's Kelley here’, or, ‘Hey, it's Gia here Gerda’s VA’, so that you will be fully aware who you are talking to. That level of transparency within the online coaching industry is really important to me.

So needless to say, there's a lot of synchronisation, I don't know how to say that word, communication that happens between me and a lot of you as private practice owners. That being said, I also do Clarity Calls for people that do want to talk to me face to face. I offer that because I know that particularly the psychologists amongst us, we are very risk adverse and we want to know who we're dealing with, right? We want to connect face to face with somebody who we might want to let in underneath the hood of our business. So I do offer those opportunities as well.  Needless to say, I do hear from a lot of group private practice owners across the allied health industry on a very, very regular basis, which I just love.

That being said, from all those people that I talk to, I would probably say that only 1 out of 10 of those people will actually take the leap and say yes to business coaching with myself. And I'll add that in with myself because I don't know if they go elsewhere, right? But these are my numbers. So I would interact with at least nine people who would say no to business coaching with me to talk about needing to be okay with freaking rejection. Oh, my poor self-esteem. Don't worry, this is not about me. I'm perfectly okay. And you know what? It is perfectly okay to say no. I'm all about being assertive. I'm sharing with you guys this transparency because I want you to be able to also recognise that at all levels of business we need to be able to deal with rejection, but we also want to understand where people are coming from, right?

I love it when people actually tell me why they say no, because it gives me a better understanding of where they are at. And yes, you know, out of those nine people that say no, a lot of them actually never reply back to me, so I do get ghosted a lot as well. and that's okay too. I know that it can be hard saying no, and when people say no, it's not really about me, generally, it's not about me at all, it's about them, which is fine. And maybe sometimes it is about me. Maybe they just hate my South African accent. Maybe I'm too pushy. Maybe they think Gerda  just thinks she knows it all. I don't know. Everybody isn’t going to like me. I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea. 

But if I don't hear back from people, or if I do and it's a no, 9 out of 10 people say no to business coaching with myself. I am very thankful for people that actually tell me no and not ghost me,  and actually tell me why they are saying no, it's really helpful. I want to share those reasons with you today. The majority of people, when they say no to business coaching, they would say one of two things normally.

No Time for Business Coaching...?

The first reason people tell me that they can't engage with business coaching, is that they just don't have the time to actually implement the stuff that they're going to be learning, because they already have this humongous list of other things that they need to do. They tell me that they really want to prioritise business coaching. They want to get the utmost value out of it, and then they tell me that they will do it when they have time. They will do it once they have reduced their clinical caseload, or once they've opened up more time in their calendar to focus on business coaching,  

I don't know about you, but if you've been in business for more than five minutes, you will know that you will never have the time until you make the time. And can I just remind you that you are the business owner, and I find that business owners set so many constraints on themselves when it comes to their freaking time and diary. Please be reminded that you are the business owner. You can now at the drop of a hat, delete everything out of your diary. Everything. You've got the right to do that. 

Never forget who's the one putting constraints on yourself - it is you. And I know you're going, oh, but what is the team going to say? The team's going to see that you are a leader, that you are putting the business where it should be. Because when you look after the business, you are looking after the team, and the team can then look after the clients. 

My apologies. I'm going to get off my soapbox now. But you know what? Sometimes it really frustrates me when business owners forget that they are the business owner. And I'm not saying act like an asshole, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that as a business owner, you need to lead and make difficult decisions, and it starts with difficult decisions around you yourself, and this is what this episode is about - looking at our own excuses, which is blocking us from growing the business, that we know we want and that we know we deserve.

No Money for Business Coaching...?

The other reason that people often give me for saying no to business coaching is that ‘Gerda, I would love to do it. I can see the value, but I just don't have the cash flow. The money just isn’t there’. Which is probably the reason why they need to be in business coaching in the first instance, because good business coaching is going to help you improve your cash flow. But no time and no cash flow, AKA, no money to pay for it are those top surface level reasons that people give themselves, and then also give to me as to why they can't say yes to business coaching, and instead, they say no to coaching and also therefore no, to achieving that success that they really want.

And when people say no to me, I always say ‘I totally understand’. Because I do understand, and also because I don't like pressure sales tactics, which probably comes back to bite me. So a lot of business coaches in the allied health space - just business coaching in general - will 9 out of 10 times require a potential business coaching client to meet with them on a Zoom call. Now, those calls are called various different things in the industry, right? It's called discovery calls, it's called strategy calls, it's called power calls, it's called audits, or let's make a plan for your business. But the essence of those calls is really a sales call, right? It is about going, what are the issues that you're dealing with? This is the solution that we have, and seeing whether there's a match. 

And there's nothing wrong with doing sales calls, if it is done in an ethical manner, in a no pressure manner. And if you've been on one of those, I am pretty sure you would've experienced the pressure ones and the non-pressure ones. And me, myself, as I said earlier, I do offer what I like to refer to as clarity calls, and I call it a clarity call because the purpose of that call is for me to get clarity as to whether I'm the right person to help you. And it's for you to get clarity as to whether I'm the right person to help you. But at the end of the day, it's about seeing if we're going to work together and hopefully at the end of the call you can then make that decision that is right for you.

But what I prefer and like to do when people reach out to me and say, ‘Hey Gerda, I've heard you've got this thing called the Private Practice Success Academy. What is it all about? Or, Hey, Gerda, I've been listening to your podcast and I would love to find out more about business coaching with you’. I generally ask them to do my triage form in the first instance, because that really asks all those initial questions that will give me a very easy way to go - Is this somebody that I can help? Yes or no? And sometimes if I'm not too sure, I'll ask more questions. 

If I know based on those answers that yeah, this person will be a great fit for The Academy, I will send them the information, including the financial investment to engage in that coaching.  So a lot of other people in this space won't do that until they've actually jumped onto a sales call with you, and that is because they don't want you to make a decision based on the financial investment. Which I totally get as well, because that essentially means that you are deciding based on price instead of based on value. It is much easier to help you to understand the value of the business coaching by getting you onto a sales call. Okay, so now I'm just sharing with you the dynamics behind the online business coaching world. And I agree with it. I totally get it. 

By jumping onto a sales call with somebody, it means that you get to create that connection with them, there's a bit more know, like and trust factor. And then when you start to talk about the money, you are already hopefully at the end of that call you are sold on the idea that this person can actually help you. And then it's easier to say yes. So again, probably shooting myself in the foot, but I do like to be transparent. I also know that I offer great value for money, and I would rather somebody go through all that information and if they still have questions, let's then jump onto a clarity call at that point. If  you're going, yeah, maybe I've still got some uncertainty, let's talk it through. I'm happy to do that as well.

Sometimes I do think that maybe I should be doing better sales calls, because when I'm selling you on the concept of getting business coaching for you and your business, what I really am doing is advocating for you - and advocating for your business. So I am most certainly not criticizing people AKA other business coaches,  that require you to hop on a call before they'll work with you, okay? And I'm not criticizing them for following an actual sales script to get you to say yes to working with them. And I'm pretty sure that as a result, because they do that, their conversion rates, for lack of a better word, is not 1 out of 10 like mine. Theirs is probably more like 5 out of 10, probably even 8 out of 10.

And that is because they do follow a set sales process, that I should probably be following as well. But it's like I'm at this point in time where I really enjoy working with people that are ready to jump in, even though they feel scared, even though they feel uncertain. Because for me, those are people that really want it. And I love that level of drive because that's what I've got and they remind me of me. And this is an ongoing internal struggle for me. The psychologist in me also said, No Gerda, but you should be advocating more for people. So maybe you need to do that sales call, maybe if you follow a proper sales script, like a real business coach, maybe you'll get more people to say yes.

But it's like, I don't like doing sales calls, I don't like pressure sales. I look at those scripts and I go, oh, this is so cringe. I can't do it, so I won't. That's just how I'm put together, right. That being said, if I had to jump on 30 sales calls a week, geez, that would be like prison for me. And I have chosen to run a very lean business. Private Practice Success Australia is a very lean organisation. I can't really call it an organisation. It's like too big a word for what we've got. Especially when compared to other business coaching organisations in this space. There's a lot of others that have multiple, multiple coaches, multiple, multiple marketing people, multiple salespeople, managers and people within their team. They are huge compared to Private Practice Success. 

But I've made a conscious decision that I do not want PPS to be like that. I made a conscious decision. I also made a conscious decision that my practice, The Psych Professionals, is going to be a self-running practice. That is what I have created, and I created that on the back of an initial five to eight years of it being a freaking jail for me, of 24/7 working in and on that business. And I've been able to grow it and develop it, to a place where I now only need to spend 45 minutes a week speaking to the person that runs the business on the ground. So I basically act as a business consultant to the person running my practice. So I have what is a true self-running practice. 

So when I did that, which allowed me to then have the time and energy to grow the business coaching business called Private Practice Success or PPS for short. I promised myself that I was not going to step back into that prison of 24/7 thinking and working on this new business. Freedom is a really important value of mine, freedom of choice, freedom of time, and also financial freedom. And therefore, I made that conscious decision that PPS is going to be a lean business. And yes, we grew very quickly in PPS, and I know I'm going on a bit of a tangent here and showing a bit of my own business insights, but maybe some of you will enjoy this insight. 

So PPS is a seven figure business, but it is a seven figure business with a really lean team. But what that also means is that there's not going to be a lot of growth from here. And I'm very aware of how business works, and I know that this business is at that place where if I want to double the revenue within PPS, then I'm probably going to have to hire more team members. And I don't know whether I want to do that at this point in time. I'm really enjoying the way that it runs. I'm enjoying the freedom that comes with having a lean business, whilst also having a self-running practice. It's like I'm really content and I'm really happy with where I'm at and my driving force in business has always been - how can I help more people in better and more effective ways. It’s  why I started my practice. It's why I went from solo practice to a group private practice. It's why I then started a second group private practice and it's then why I started Private Practice Success Australia, so now if I can help more of you guys as private practice owners - you get to help more people in your business, and that is my ripple effect that I have as a helping professional. 

And I really love that and I'm so content with what it is that I get to do. Yes, I so wish that more than 1 out of 10 people would say yes to business coaching, because I know it's changed my life, but it is what it is. So anyway, I get to speak to a lot of people. And I don't have a lot of people that say yes to working with me. But the ones that do are an amazing, fabulous, aligned fit to working with me.

So that is what I would refer to as the surface level reasons - ‘no time to properly do this Gerda, and no money to afford it, Gerda’. And that's the reasons - surface level, as I said, that people give me, and also give themselves as to why they can't engage in business coaching. But I want us to take a moment to just step below these surface reasons. And unfortunately, when your business coach is also a psychologist, this is what you need to do.

As always, I try to link this back to what's happening for you at your practice. If you think about conversions at your front desk, how often do people give you the actual real reasons for why they aren't booking in?  Because everything I share with you here, also applies to your business at your front desk, and you converting enquiries into actual clients.  There's always surface level reasons, reasons why people don't engage, and then there's the real reasons why people don't engage. And sometimes yes, sometimes it is just the surface level stuff.  Maybe people just don't have the money to come in and see the psychologist at your practice or to pay for OT or to pay for a speech therapy or a dietician appointment. You know, so when people are really struggling and they say that they're really depressed, so much so that they can't do what they need to do to get back into work, but they also can't pay for their sessions - while paying for their sessions can help them get back to work, right? It's going to help them. 

So how do we navigate that initial gap in order to help them implement the strategies to deal with their depression, for example, so that they can take the actions that's going to help get them back into work. So in that situation, it's really about going - How do I help this client to get back into work so that they can pay for ongoing sessions.  And it's the same if somebody tells me yeah, Gerda, I can see the value in business coaching, but I just don't have the cash flow. It's like, I just can't pay my bills. I'm not even paying myself. Well then what I tell them is, ‘Well, if cashflow is your number one challenge when you come into the PPS Academy, the first thing that we are going to do with you is we are going to implement the 30K extraction, so that we can extract $30,000 out of your business. Now, you might not think that that is possible, but I know it is.

And guess what I know as well, because I see it in our members time and time again. Not only do we get 30K, some members extract 130K. Some members extract. 230K. I am being extremely, extremely conservative when I say 30K, because I love to under promise, and over deliver. But that is what we make our priority so that after four weeks you can go - Wow, can't believe that just happened. I make that the goal. Because I want the outcomes, the result of The Academy to pay for the investment into The Academy. And no, The Academy isn't 30K, right? It's not even close to that, but that's what we do. How do we help clients to overcome those initial barriers?

So needless to say, it is really important to look at what those underlying reasons are. And if you are one of those people that has been tossing up, to-ing and fro-ing, do I, don't I? - Whether it's with me or any other business coach for that matter, then this is the episode for you. I really want you to reflect on this because saying yes to business coaching freaking changed my life - and I'm not exaggerating when I say that.

It changed my life. Not only my business life, but also the life of my family. And I want that for you, because it is within your grasp. It's not easy. I'm not going to lie to you. It's hard. It does take sacrifice. And there aren't any shortcuts, but you can fast track it. But it starts with saying yes to this anyway, if that is, you keep listening.

So what then is the real reason, the - not surface - the real reason that people say no to business coaching? Why do people choose to pay money towards the school of not knowing? Why do people choose to pay stupid tax?  And that's not my term.  I'm not sure if you've heard about Dave Ramsey. He is this very well-known financial guru back in the US and he calls it stupid tax. I don't know about you, but I've paid so much freaking stupid tax in my life, it's just not possible. And I want you to not pay stupid tax, okay? 

So I'm going to share with you three under the surface reasons why I suspect people, and maybe even you, are continuing to say no to getting the help that you need and deserve and therefore aren't growing your business in the way that you want.

The Ego

The first one is the ego. And  please know that I am not trying to insult you here, but maybe your ego is holding you back, because I know for certain that my ego held me back, and it held me back for the first four years of my business. My ego stopped me from saying yes to business support. And maybe in my defence, I will say that initially I didn't even know that things like business coaches existed at that point in time. 

But also, if I'm honest with myself, even if I knew they existed, even if I knew that they were available to me, I probably wouldn't have said yes. I would've just continued to pay money to the school of not knowing. Because I thought to myself, well, I completed a master's degree. I'm a pretty clever cookie, I can do this. I can research. I studied back in South Africa and we had to do a research report, a pretty large one as part of my undergraduate degree, I had to do an honours thesis and I had to do a freaking thick, like as thick as a Bible type master's thesis, I still have it here in my home office. I'm extremely proud of that thesis. So there is nothing I cannot research. I can do this, because I'm not lazy and I was willing, and I did put in the time to find the information that I needed. 

But the thing is this, when you don't know what you don't know, even if you think you know, you're stuffed. You just don’t know it until it's too late. And when you are persistent, when you are determined, when you have a stack of grit and perseverance like I've got, you don't give up. You just keep going and going. And you keep fighting and fighting and you're very proud of the fact that you can do that, but you will stay stuck. You will stay stuck.

Fast forward to now these days, not only do we as business owners have access to so much choice, when it comes to business coaching, we also have chat, GPT. And I suspect a lot of people are thinking, I can just ask chat, GPT, how to run my business, how to solve my cashflow issues, right? They should be able to give me all the information I need.

The thing is this, if you don't know what questions to ask, chat GPT can't help you if you've not taken weeks and weeks to train it up, it can't help you. And has chat GPT or any other AI program for that matter, ever run an allied health private practice in your neck of the woods? I don't think so. And has chat GPT ever had to consider the vulnerable population group we serve within Allied Health. I don't think so. And is chat GPT the one that's going to have to report to APRHA when you break very strict regulations that you're not meant to break? I don't think so. Research and AI can only take you so far, and if you are happy to go only so far, then just rely on that - but it will keep you stuck. Because again, if you don't know what you don't know, you don't know.

So please don't be the Gerda of 2007 to the end of 2011. Because that was the Gerda whose ego - and some amazing characteristics of perseverance, determination, and hard work - held me back. Ah, if I could just go back I would've said yes to business coaching on day one of opening the freaking practice doors, because it would have saved me so much emotional pain and it would've saved me so much money. But hindsight is 2020, and all I can do is share with you my experience, and you can take it or you can leave it. Well, that's what I tell my kids, and 9 out of 10 times they leave it and they learn the hard way. Please do not be like my kids. Alright, that was number one, the fabulous ego,

When you have already achieved Success

The number two under the surface reason is that you are already successful. Hmm, how annoying is that? That is so annoying. And again, I've been there, done that. It's also why it took me four years because my business got freaking successful quickly. I started as a solo practice owner, and you might not believe this, but when I started The Psych Professionals as a solo practice owner, that was my dream and my vision was to be a solo practice owner. And you might think, well, Gerda, you called it The Psych Professionals. Surely you thought that you're going to have a group practice? No. The only reason why I came up with that name, because I went, nobody's going to know how to say my name, and it's like a foreign name because my name is actually not pronounced, Gerda. It's pronounced a different way, but that's my name, and I knew I'm going to have to be Gerda. I even considered a name change right before I started the practice where I went, no, Gerda, it's who I am. I'm not changing my freaking name, but let's make it easy for people to remember who I am, and that's why I came up with The Psych Professionals.

And professionals, you know, being professional is a really important value for me, and the name just came to me one day whilst driving the car. It just popped into my head and I went, that's it. That's what it's going to be. But my goal was to be a solo practice owner, and I wanted to be that for the rest of my life - believe it or not. But six months in, I was fully booked. I was fielding daily calls, one after the other of people wanting to bring their kids in for sessions, and I'm not a child psychologist, and I went, there's so much need in the community. I just can't sit on my hands. I need to do something. And that is when I moved from a one room practice to a three-room practice, like literally overnight, I filled those rooms up so frequently quickly, and then in 2011, I started my second practice.

So in terms of a timeline, solar practice started 2007. In 2008 I started the three-room practice, which was in the suburb of Cornubia. I filled those three rooms up. Then I went, okay, what do I do now? And then I went, okay, let's implement a two-shift model, which meant that even though we had three rooms, we were able to serve the client numbers of a six-room practice. So the practice was running from 8:00 AM in the morning to 9:00 PM at night, Monday to Friday, and we were able to book 12 clients a day. So it was running amazingly.  And then I went, okay, well. If there's more clients that we can't service, what do I do now? And that is when in 2011 we started the second location, which was then in Capalaba, and that was a four-room practice, and we also did the two-shift model there. 

And if you think of what I've just described to you, looking from the outside, that sounds like it was an amazing success -  and it was, the growth was awesome. But when you are only looking from the outside in, you don't know what's happening on the inside. And I want you to think about this, when you look at other people in Facebook groups, other people that have practices in your local neck of the woods, or when you look on social media and people are, you know, advertising and doing all these posts, and you look at them and you go, oh, are they so successful, there must be something wrong with me. Or, why is it so hard for me? Why am I struggling? 

Well, please remember, you can't judge a book by its cover - because my book cover looked freaking awesome. But when you looked on the inside, everything was just like duct taped together, and I had to work incredibly hard to keep everything running. And I'm not saying don't work hard. You have to work hard. I'm very proud of how hard I worked and the fact that I am a hard worker, but not to the point of burnout.  It's just not worth it. And you also want to enjoy what you are doing, and I just realised that I can't have a business that is so reliant on me.

Yes, we had a team, there were admin and the clinicians saw the clients. But in order for all of that to happen, everything was on my shoulders. And that is a lot of pressure, especially when you're still a mom to three young kids. It's a lot of pressure. I just had to admit that I've done everything that I can and. The point came where I had to admit that I can either continue in this cycle. I can continue doing what I've always done. I can continue to hope that it will get better. I can continue to hope that I'm not going to burn out - or I can get some external eyes onto my business - because far out there must obviously be some stuff here that I cannot see, so I need to swallow that ego, I  need to swallow my pride and I need to let somebody in. 

And you know what, again, if I think of this in clinical terms, this is why people also need to go for therapy more often. I always say that you do not need to have a diagnosable mental health concern to go and see a psychologist. I can take any person off the street, put them in a session with a psychologist, and they can attend at least six sessions and they will find benefit and value from each and every session. Because somebody else that doesn't know you from a bar of soap that is not in your world, that is not in your life can see things that you cannot see. And that's one of the main reasons why people say no to business coaching, because they think they can see it all, when in actual fact you can't. 

Even if you are successful, and this is sometimes where that ego does come into play as I said. It's like, well, how can I go and tell a business coach that I'm struggling when I'm making seven figures in revenue - I can't do that, I'm going to look like a fool. How can I tell a business coach that I'm struggling when I'm already paying myself $150,000 in salary and I'm still struggling? Or on the other hand, how can I tell a business coach that my seven-figure practice can't even pay me 10K in salary and I'm the freaking business owner, this is so freaking embarrassing. I'm so ashamed, because I know there's something not right. And then that ego stops you. And maybe it's not ego, maybe it is shame. Shame that you know what, I 'm a clever person, I should be able to do this better. I'm so freaking hardworking, I should be able to do this better. Shame that I'm this person that got a master's degree, and look, I cannot cut it in the world of business. What does that say about me? 

Shame is a very powerful emotion that can hold you back so badly. And it's a strong emotion and it will hold you back. It's not helpful. And then before you know it, it's been another 12 months. And when you look again, it's been another 12 months and you are still where you were 24 months ago. And it's like your little boat is just going from side to side, just like we're just hovering here, we are not growing, and I don’t know what else to do. And you're probably telling yourself, maybe it just needs time. And you go, oh, it's because of all these other variables in the marketplace, in the industry, in the political sphere that's causing all of this. Maybe I just need to go back to the tools. And then you start to do things that actually take you freaking backwards. It is not worth it. And I know it's hard to smash through the shame, but you will thank yourself if you can allow yourself to do it.

Imposter Syndrome

The third reason why people say no to business coaching - the real reason, the below the surface reason - is that old chestnut that most of us actually know pretty well, and that is called imposter syndrome. The Oxford Dictionary defines imposter syndrome as the persistent inability to believe that one success is deserved, or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills.

Let that sink in for a minute. Imposter syndrome is when you've actually reached a level of success, but it's like you can't believe that this is real. It's like, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, or this is not going to last. I'm not even going to really try. Like, why, why invest in business coaching, because this is not going to last. This is just a fluke. And what if I invest in business coaching and I just stuff it all up, because I've just pretended my way to this point. And what if people actually see what is really going on? And those are really scary thoughts to have, and a lot of these thoughts aren't consciously in your head, a lot of this is unconsciously happening, but it's impacting your behaviours. It's impacting what you say yes to and what you say no to. 

Another side of imposter syndrome that I often see is when people feel that they're not good enough yet for business coaching. It's like, no, I've just started, or, or I'm just a small fry, I’ve only got one or two team members. I'm not good enough. I'm not there yet where I deserve to have the support of a business coach, or I'm not to this point where I deserve to invest into myself as a business owner where I deserve to be in a program like the Private Practice Success Academy, where there's other people that I think and I'm predicting are doing really well.

Like, I'm going to go in there and they're all going to be doing so much better than me. I'm not ready for that yet, and I'm just going to look like an idiot. When in actual fact, people are in those programs because they're struggling, because they want more, and they've probably been exactly where you are at, right now, but we think that if we go into something like that, we are going to be judged.

So I don't want to do anything like the PPS Academy. I'd rather do, and a lot of people want to do one-on-one business coaching, because they don't want to be in a situation like that. It's like I want to be private, I want to privately talk about my challenges. But you know how empowering it is to be in a program like The Academy and see that other people are struggling with the exact frequency of things that you are struggling with. It's like thank fuck, it's not me, It's not me. Other people are having these exact same problems, and then it's like, okay, cool bananas. Now tell me how did you fix it? What did you do? What advice do you have for me? 

Do you know how liberating it is to be in an environment where there's other practice owners that get it - that get you, and who are generous with their cheerleading for you, it's amazing. It's also partly why I don't mind, you know, the PPS Academy not being as big and as large as other similar programs, because I do get to really cultivate that culture. That culture that says we are not here to compete with one another, we are here to uplift one another. We are not here to judge one another, even if it's just happening silently, we are here to uplift one another. 

And when we uplift fellow business owners, and therefore fellow businesses in the allied health space, we are uplifting allied health. And when we do that, we are uplifting the health, and very importantly, the mental health of our communities. And I don't know about you, but that thought just gives me the chills. because that is ultimately what we are doing. The vehicle through which we are doing it is our business. So we do have that responsibility to go, even though my ego is playing havoc with me here, or even though shame is playing havoc with me, even though. Imposter syndrome is playing havoc on my insides - I am going to risk it. I am going to risk saying yes - first and foremost for me as the business owner to get the help that I need and deserve - so that I can help my team, and so they can help the clients even better. And I know that it's freaking hard saying yes to that, I know that. Which is why when you come and work with me in the Private Practice Success Academy, we've got a 30 day love it or leave it guarantee so you can jump in and be a fully-fledged member for 30 days and you can within 30 days go, this is not what I thought it's going to be like. and we can part as friends no questions asked. I would love to get your feedback if you're happy to give it, but you don't have to, no questions asked, you can hop out.

Again, because I want to make sure that you know that this is the right place and the right community, and the right program for you to be a part of. And touch wood, nobody has ever left The Academy in those 30 days. Please don't try and be an overachiever and I'll be that one that leaves in 30 days, okay. But touch wood, The Academy has now existed since 2020, nobody has ever left The Academy in those 30 days. It's because my triage form, make sure that I ask the right questions to see whether it's the right fit for you. It's why when we jump on a clarity call, that is why I call it a clarity call, because it's for me to be 100% clear and confident that I can help you fix the challenges that you are experiencing in your individual business. 

And that I am 100% clear and confident that I can help you achieve the dream and the vision that you have for your business. And guess what? If I think that I can't do it, I'm going to point you in the right direction. I at least, two to three times a week send people to Dr. Tess Crawley. So Tess is amazing in supporting, especially solo practice owners. She's got this amazing program called Solo Superstars. I'm constantly telling solo practitioners, that's who you need to reach out to, okay? Because I work with group practice owners. Or a solo practice owner that's going, Gerda, I want to pull the trigger on expanding, and I want to do things right, right from the start. I most certainly work with those solo practice owners, 

But if you want to build a solo practice and that's your jam, that's what your vision is, then I will send you to Tess, because she's the right person to help you. So I really pay attention to can I help this person, yes or no? And you know, I'm here to help you because you're struggling. You shouldn't be perfect coming into business coaching. That being said, even if your business is really, really successful, I can bet my bottom dollar, I can still help you elevate at least a couple more notches from where you are right now.

So it costs you nothing but five minutes to go through the triage form, and let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. That five minutes could be the thing that changes your life. Much easier than buying a frequent lottery ticket, your probability of success is much better, by completing a five-minute triage form than relying on a lotto tickets. And yes, I also buy lotto tickets, but I look at it as donating to somebody else's win. 

Anyway, I think we're going to leave it there. I know that this was a bit of a confronting episode, and I've probably shared way too much and I've probably been way too much in your face. But I'm going to risk the biscuit with this episode, and I'm definitely going to publish it because this is me advocating for you. And now the ball's in your court. It's up to you. 

Thank you so very much for tuning in, and as always, remember that I am here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about.  😊

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Gerda Muller

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