The Private Practice Success Podcast

48. 3 Actions to Transform your Practice before Year's End

• Gerda Muller • Episode 48

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In episode 48, Gerda delivers a motivating call to action for private practice owners who want to finish the year strong - no matter how challenging 2025 has felt thus far. 

Gerda reminds you that the last stretch of the year is where real transformation happens and shares three practical, high-impact strategies to help you regain momentum, boost your cash flow, and set your business up for a powerful start to the new year.

With her signature blend of empathy and accountability, Gerda encourages you to move beyond ‘waiting for January’ and take ownership of your role as a business leader - without burning out or losing sight of what matters most.

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

  • How to unlock quick wins that spark motivation, energise your team, and inject much-needed cash flow into your practice before the year ends.
  • Why ‘spring cleaning’ your business foundations (from unfinished projects to messy processes) can free up energy, restore control, and set you up for lasting success.
  • The importance of reconnecting with your team and clients now, so you avoid last-minute resignations, strengthen your culture, and finish the year on a high.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Allied health practice owners who refuse to coast to the finish line and want to make the most of the next 90 days.
  • Leaders ready to take small, strategic actions that lead to big results for their team, their clients, and their bottom line.
  • Anyone looking for practical inspiration to transform their practice (and themselves) before the calendar flips to 2026.

Tune in for a powerful pep talk and actionable strategies you can implement this week, so you can build a practice you truly can’t stop smiling about :)

>> REGISTER for the 2026 Blueprint Planning Session HERE <<


Connect with Private Practice Success & Gerda here:

Well, hello there amazing private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast, and this is episode number 48.

Today we are going to talk about: Three Actions to Transform Your Practice Before The End of This Calendar Year. 

I want to start by asking you this question: Have you ever watched a complete marathon from start to finish? The easiest way of course to do this is, to just sit in your lounge room watching it on tv. Back in South Africa when I was a teenager and young adult, I clearly remember watching the Comrades Marathon. This was a once a year event, and it's actually really well known in the running community across the world. People would fly in from everywhere to come and run the Comrades. And for us South Africans, half the country was either in it, running it and the other half - like me - were sitting in our lounge rooms watching it from start to finish during the course of a full day. It was really a bit of an event back in the day because it was big.  

I've got so many memories of watching the Comrades right at the start, early in the morning. People would be lining up and it would still be half dark and there would be all this excitement. The energy is high and everybody's buzzing. And then the gun goes off and they start this huge, I guess for them, adventure - for us watching, we are looking and it looks like torture - but everybody's so excited when they get started, and then they start running and running and running. 

Midway through, people really seem to be in a rhythm. And you know, for us non-runners, it's just amazing when you look at it. They are just running and it's one step in front of the other, and there's this runner's rhythm that kicks in, and some even hit what's referred to as that runner's high, because they get so much endorphins from it. Then they keep going and they keep going, and then finally they start to enter that last stretch - that final push. And in the Comrades, there's this big hill that they need to do just before the end.

And they go into those final few kilometres - and that is when things get really tough - their muscles are aching, their energy is almost non-existent by now, and everything in their body is most probably screaming stop! Please stop! You’re done, we can't go on anymore! And yet this is the magic that happens in that they just keep going. And because they do, that is often where people achieve their personal best, and they have that huge sense of pride and accomplishment and achievement, because they've done this really big thing. 

I want you to think of your business in exactly the same way, okay. We are now in the beginning of the month of October, the year is not over yet, but this is our final stretch. I'm pretty sure you could agree with me that 2025 has been feeling like a freaking marathon, right? And every year we start the year energised and buzzing with excitement. This year is going to be different! And it's like, oh golly, not again, it’s so hard! 

But October - as you enter this final quarter of this calendar year - this is the most important part of the year, the most important one. I speak to so many practice owners and for a lot of people, this is when they give up. This is where they are really tempted to just coast, just ride it out and go, you know, it's been so much harder, this year has not lived up to my expectations, so I'm just going to ride it out and I'm just going to reset in January and try again. 

But here's the truth - if you do that, you are missing out on a golden opportunity because there's still three freaking months left in this year - three months, that's 90 days. You cannot give up on 90 days in your business. And guess what happens if you, as the business owner, as the leader of your team are going to give up, what do you think your team's going to do? They're going to give up. So it's really upon you to self-reflect on what is happening for you this time of year.

I'm not saying push yourself to the brink of burnout, that's not what I'm saying here, I'm not an advocate for burnout. But I most certainly am an advocate for recognising your role in the business. As the business owner and as the leader, it is your job not to give up on your business, on your team, and on your clients. It's not your job to cruise until the end of the year. It is your job to do what needs to get done to get to the freaking finish line. And if you do, you're going to thank yourself for it. Your team's going to be grateful for it, and freaking hell, your clients are going to be grateful for it.  

But this is your responsibility. You've got ownership as the business owner to get through the next three months. And it doesn't have to be as hard as your brain is potentially telling you it needs to be. And that is where today's podcast episode comes in. 

I'm going to share with you three practical strategies that I recommend you consider, and even if you just do the one that you can use to squeeze as much juice out of the remainder of this calendar year.  But as always, remember this, you can be listening to this podcast episode and you can go, Oh, that's a great strategy Gerda, I'm going to do that. But if you don't do it, it's not going to make a difference, okay? So I also want you to commit to yourself that if you are going to continue listening to this episode and you're going to go, Oh yeah, I can do that -  that you actually do it, and also think about what needs to happen for you to take action on it. 

Because here's the thing, strategies on their own don't work. It's not about knowing what to do. I mean, that's a good first step, right? But it's actually implementing it. And when you have somebody walk alongside you as you do it, that's where I come in - that's where any private practice business coach and mentor comes in. So I'm going to walk with you through three strategies today. Let's dive in.

Focus on Quick Wins

Strategy number one is to focus on quick wins. That is the first thing I need you to look at and here's why this matters: when you get a quick win under your belt - it doesn't just help your bank account - it shifts your mindset, because it's proved to yourself that yes, change is possible, even when you are tired and that energy is contagious.When you get a quick win, you feel it. Your team feels it. You get that spark of motivation back - which means that your team gets their spark of motivation back because energy is contagious, as I just said. Your team will see that things are moving in the right direction, and when this happens, your clients feel it too. Because when your team is energised - whether that is reception answering the phone, or the clinician sitting in session with them -  that flows into that quality of customer service, that quality of clinical client care that is being provided. It creates momentum, and momentum is everything. 

I know sometimes this can feel like a very intangible thing, but trust me, that energy that comes from getting some quick wins might feel intangible, but it becomes tangible in terms of outcomes and results freaking quickly. The beauty of momentum is that it compounds. So getting some quick wins under your belt will get you out of this cycle, out of this mindset of I'm just going to wait until January - and it replaces it with, hang on, I can actually do this. Hang on, that was actually not as hard as I thought it's going to be. And when I do the right things at the right time, it's actually not exhausting. It's actually not as tiring and as overwhelming as I thought it was going to be.

One of the easiest and most motivating quick wins that you can get as a practice owner, is to get a cash injection into your business. Because I can tell you firsthand from experience that there is nothing more freaking depressing than looking at your business bank account and thinking, where the hell is all the money? - because we are seeing all these clients in the diary, but that freaking balance is as low as it can be, and it's just not growing. It's like money comes in, money goes out, money comes in, money goes out. It is extremely depressing, okay? So when you can implement a strategy that gets you a quick win in the cashflow department, it's going to immediately lift the way you feel, lift those emotions and then lift that mindset as well. 

Which is why when practice owners come in and work with me, my Academy, one of the first things I do with them is our $30K extraction.  This is where I give them one of four strategies - depending on the size of their business, depending on the issue they have -  it might just be one of four strategies that we implement to extract $30,000 from their business. That is $30k hiding in plain sight, which they often can't see because they're just too close to their business. That could be a variety of things, it's normally one of four things. And if it's not number one, we go to number two. If it's not number two, we go to three and four. But at the end of that, that's the minimum that we extract from businesses that go through that process. 

Now, imagine what you can do with the extra $30,000 in your bank account to see you through the end of the year. That could cover that holiday pay. It could give you that breathing room.  It could even pay for your investment in your business coaching, right? So that you are not left to do business alone, because why do you want to? It is already so freaking isolating being a business owner. Why would you want to do it alone? Or just have people that's not running a business try and help and support you when they don't have a freaking clue? 

So here's my question to you today: What is a quick win that you can achieve in your business this week, this month, that's going to make all the difference to your momentum over the course of the next three months.

Clean up your Foundations

Strategy number two is to clean up your foundations. Because here's the truth, sometimes it's not about adding more, it's about clearing away the clutter that's weighing you down. And let's just be honest here - for nine out of ten of us, what is our go-to? What is our default? It's adding more, ah, shiny objects here on the left. Shiny object here on the right. Oh my goodness, another shiny object over here behind me. Oh no another one here in front. And then when you hear about what other people are doing, oh my goodness, I should be doing all of those things, right? No. Maybe at some point? Maybe at some point when it's right for you and your business, and knowing the difference is so important. Knowing what is the right thing at the right time - that is actually the secret ingredient here. 

But coming back to strategy for really getting through the next three months, my best recommendation is not about adding more now, now it is about clearing away the clutter. So think of it like spring cleaning your business, okay. Spring has already started, we are in October now. If you've not started your spring cleaning for your business, now is the time. So ask yourself, what are those half done projects that still need to be completed? Between me and you, some half done projects actually tell you that it was never a priority.

Because guess what? If it was a priority, you would've completed it. Or maybe you're going, no, no, no this is really something, and maybe there's been all these unexpected fires really, that we need to stop from happening - and as a result of that, I couldn't finish it. So it's really about going, is this something that I'm just going to scrap even if it's half done, or is this something that I'm going to complete now?  What are those messy processes that's still hanging around that need to be tied it up, because these are the things that's draining your energy, it's those open tabs. Are you one of those people with like 345,000 open tabs on your desktop, and maybe you've got a similar number of open tabs in your brain? This is us closing those tabs, because every open tab drains energy.

This could be stuff like, finally tidying up your billing processes so money doesn't slip through the cracks. Maybe it is reviewing your cancellation policy or just making sure that it's actually being enforced, that people are actually sticking to it. Maybe it's clearing old files. I know a lot of you still have paper files lying around somewhere. Maybe it's streamlining a specific administrative process. Maybe it's cancelling a platform or subscription that you've been trialing since January and you've not done anything with it. Okay. These might seem like little things, remember we just spoke about quick wins, right? But these little cleanups create space in your head, in your mind. And when you have that space, it gives you back control. And you know how frigging good control feels. Take it from me, recovering control freak, and also a recovering perfectionist for that matter.

And that means that you get to walk into the new year without dragging all of that stuff with you. Because guess what? That's freaking exhausting, And that's what you're choosing to do. If you don't clean up your foundations, that is what you're choosing to do. But I know how we are. It's like, no, I need to do all of these things. I'm just rushing to the next goalpost, rushing to the next goalpost. I know that getting to the goalpost feels good, but you know what? You are never going to feel content when you get there if you've not cleaned up this other stuff. 

So spring cleaning your business is incredibly important. So ask yourself this: What's that one messy or unfinished thing that you can clean up right now that will instantly free up your energy and your head space? That's the thing that you want to focus on.

Reconnect with your Team and Clients

Strategy Number three is to reconnect with your team and clients. This third strategy is one that often gets overlooked. This is what I have noticed over many, many years of working with private practice owners - the end of the year is often when clinicians start looking around for other jobs. They're tired, they're reflecting on where they're at - and if they're feeling disconnected, underappreciated -  whether these things are true or not, right? But that's how they're feeling. 

This is when you as the practice owner get those surprise resignation letters on the 24th of December, five minutes before the end of year's shutdown commences. And what happens? It wrecks complete havoc with your Christmas and New Year's holidays when you are made to be having quality time with your family.

Yes, people do this all the time. They resign in the last week of December, and we ask ourselves; how can they be so inconsiderate? And I don't know what the answer to that is. I always try and have empathy for where our clinicians are coming from. But you know what? We as practice owners need to - now in October - go, what do I need to do to make sure this doesn't happen? It doesn't mean it's not going to happen, but I want to make sure, always that as the business owner, I've done what I can do to manage these things. There's a lot of freaking variables outside of my control as a business owner, but if somebody's going to resign the last week of December, I want to feel good about the fact that I've done what I can to make sure that they've felt reconnected, valued, and appreciated within the business - so that if they leave, I know it's not about me and it's not about my business. It's about them, and that's okay too. 

Let's be proactive here instead of being reactive, and this is where this strategy comes in. It is your responsibility to take the time now to reengage and reconnect with your team. This is an activity that's going to really strengthen the culture within your practice because it's going to make your people feel seen, valued, and therefore motivated to stick around into the new year.

And I'm not saying run around like a chook without a head trying to now organise a team day or a culture day, or you know, a fancy get together, that's not what I'm saying. Do not overcomplicate this. This could be as simple as just a heartfelt conversation, a small gesture of appreciation, a quick check in of how they are doing, right? A quick, “Hey, I've noticed that you've done this. Thank you”. It doesn't have to take a lot of money. It doesn't have to take a lot of time - it just has to be freaking genuine, that's all. 

I actually did something similar with a small OT practice that I worked with last year, and what we did is the practice owner had a 15 minute check-in with all clinicians on a weekly basis during November and December. Checking in and seeing how they were, because we identified patterns and themes from the previous year. So we went, what can we do this year to make a difference, to really help clinicians through the end of the year - within the scope of a lot of specific variables that were impacting that business. And it was a 15 minute check-in. It was actually 10 minutes with a five minute window in case there was additional stuff. So it was really a 10 minute check-in, but it was 15 minutes carved out of the diary of the practice owner during the course of November and December, and it absolutely elevated the vibe and the energy in that business, and the peace of mind it gave the practice owner for doing that and being really confident that I've taken the steps to ensure that my team gets through the end of year. And do you think they had any resignations? None. They had no resignations. The practice owner and the entire team ended the year on a high, and they all went and had an amazing end of year holiday and came back energised and inspired to start the year together - and you can have that too. 

So here's my question to you: What's one thing that you at your practice, given your size, your team can do to show your team that you truly value them? And of course, this also holds true for your clients, because this is a really hectic time of year for your clients, okay? If you are seeing people that have got kids that are parents, okay, it's a very stressful time of year for parents. What can you do to reconnect with the clients within your business to make sure that they feel valued, that they feel seen, that they feel appreciated? Really think about that. 

But you know what the beauty is, that if you reconnect with your team, guess what they're going to do: They're going to be better energised and motivated to really, truly be there and reconnect with clients and be really present in sessions. Be energized - and I don't want to say inspired to do all the paperwork because let's face it, paperwork isn't inspiring - but not to be so burned out that they do a bad job of their paperwork, or they do it half-heartedly and that the quality's not there. They're going to be able to maintain the quality that is expected of them when it comes to the communication and the paperwork side of the work that we do - and that benefits the clients, and ultimately all of that benefits the business, right? So this is an incredibly important thing for you to do over the next three months.

So that is my three strategies that I recommend you action in order to finish this calendar year on a high. But there's a very important consideration that I want to leave you with today, and that is this - you can have all the strategies in the world, but if you don't act on them, nothing changes. And the reason why so many practice owners do not act on these, is not because you're lazy, it's not because you're unmotivated, it's not because you don't want to, it's because it's hard. It's hard to do all of these things alone when it's just you and that voice in your head telling you that you're not good enough, telling you that you're not meant to be a business owner, telling you that you don't have time. Telling you all the things it's telling you.

Our little voices in our heads can be so freaking annoying, they can be so freaking critical. And yes, at times they can be helpful, but a lot of times they are not helpful, let's just be honest about that. And when you then also stretch them, you've got family parenting responsibilities, you might even be juggling clinical work, team leadership, your own admin. At the end of the freaking day, you're exhausted. Just like our clients need to reach out for help when they are struggling, we need to do the same. I don't know why we've got these separate rules for ourselves - this is for other people. We're all about encouraging in our community, family, friends, and people to reach out and say, yes to support, but yet we won't. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. I need to be able to do this by myself. No, you don't need to. You can choose to, but remember, it's a choice. If you want to choose to do it by yourself, go ahead. But that's your choice, and own that choice. Just like you can own the choice to go, you know what? There's no judgment when I say I need help. It's actually freaking courageous. It's actually freaking brave. It's actually a very selfless thing to do, to ask for and accept help because when I do that and I put my own oxygen mask on first, I can help my team better, I can help my clients better.And that's why having a business coach and a mentor like myself makes all the difference, okay. 

I'm here to give you a plan. I am here to share with you all the resources that I've already developed so you do not have to reinvent the wheel. I'm here to hold you lovingly accountable, and I'm here to help you actually implement it.  And when you have that, you know what happens with overwhelm? It slowly starts to dissipate, and clarity comes back. And suddenly your practice starts to look and feel like that business you've always dreamed of when you first opened it, a self-running practice that you genuinely can't stop smiling about.  

So this is my invitation to you today, and it's very simple. Don't let the rest of 2025 just slip away. In the show notes of this episode, you'll find a link to my triage form. It takes literally three minutes to complete. When you send it in and you submit it, I personally go through every response myself, and I'll get back to you with my thoughts on what your next step could look like. Think of it as just a first small little action towards finishing your year as strong as you possibly can so that you can start next year even stronger.

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

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Gerda Muller

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