The Private Practice Success Podcast

50. The 3 Hardest Things I've Ever had to Do in my Private Practice

• Gerda Muller • Episode 50

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In Episode 50, Gerda shares a raw and honest account of the three hardest things she’s ever had to do as a private practice owner. 

From firing her accountant and performance managing a ‘trusted’ team member, to letting go of a contractor who was damaging her brand, Gerda shares the behind-the-scenes decisions that shaped her business and herself as a leader. You’ll hear the real stories, the real emotions, and the important lessons learned from navigating these pivotal moments. 

Whether you’re facing a tough call in your own business or just need reassurance that you’re not alone, this episode is packed with practical wisdom, encouragement, and the reminder that doing the hard things is what makes you a true leader.

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

  • Why having the right accountant is non-negotiable as you scale and how to know when it’s time to make a change.
  • What can go wrong when you blindly trust team members without the necessary accountability. 
  • The importance of protecting your brand (and your culture) by making tough calls, and how these decisions can open up new opportunities for growth.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Private practice owners facing difficult decisions, team challenges, or moments of self-doubt.
  • Leaders who want to build a values-driven business, even when it means making uncomfortable choices.
  • Anyone needing a dose of courage, clarity, and real talk from someone who’s walked the path.

Tune in for an empowering, behind-the-scenes conversation and walk away ready to tackle your own hard things, as you build a practice you can’t stop smiling about.

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


Connect with Private Practice Success & Gerda here:

Well, hello there awesome private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast, and this is episode number - wait for it - 50! Yes, today we are doing episode 50, so happy 50th podcast episode birthday to me and to you!

Today we've got a very interesting conversation, and I've called it: The Three Hardest Things I Have Ever Had to do in my Private Practice.

Now, first I must admit, I hate the fact that I'm using the word things. When I sat down and went, Hmm, what I'm going to talk to my private practice owner community about today, this obviously is what popped into my head, and I don't know when to use the word things. I went, oh, I don't like the word things, it doesn't sound very professional, but it's like, it's the most accurate description of what I want to talk about. 

But you know why?  Because when I use the word things, my brain immediately thinks of The Cat in the Hat. I don't know about you, but when my kids were younger, I probably watched the Cat in the Hat movie like 20 million times with them. And I'm actually not somebody that loves kids’ movies. I know some people love it. I actually don't like it. But this is the one that I have sat through millions of times. Well, that's what it feels like and I'll probably be happy to sit down today and watch it. Yeah, so when I hear the word things, I think thing one and think two. If you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. 

So anyway, we are going to talk about the three hardest things I have ever had to do in my private practice. And guess what? Worst of all - I did all of these three things in the space of two months. I definitely don't recommend it. How crazy is that?

All right, so for context, why did I do this? So I'm going to just take you back a bit so that you can understand why I did these three things, and why I did all of it in the space of two months. It might actually have been a shorter time period, but it was definitely no longer than two months. 

I'm going to take you back to 2012. Now, this is many years ago now, but you know what, for me, in my body and in my memory, it feels like - not yesterday, but like just last year. It feels very recent. That is probably because of all the emotions attached to that period of time in my life. As well as all the emotions attached to having to make these decisions, and then, even more importantly, having to action it - because that was the hardest part of it. 

It was January, 2012 and I had just come back from annual shutdown, and I remember sitting in the office at my then practice, which was in a suburb called Cornubia. I had opened up my bank account on my laptop, and I was in Westpac and I was just looking at the numbers in there and I was going, I don't know why there's no money in the bank account.

Because for us, and at my practice always, December is probably our busiest, most hectic month of the year, so we don't have a revenue problem. But I was sitting there and I was going, ‘There's no money in the bank account, and I don't understand why?’ 

I had at that time a three-room practice, every room had clinicians in it, and we were fully booked. Those were the days where we had huge wait lists as well. So it just did not make sense. There should have been money in the bank. It was really my rock bottom moment where I realised that Gerda, you've been running this practice now for five years. I started the solo practice in 2007, became a group practice in 2008. So it was four years of having a group practice. 

And the year before, I even opened up a second location, right? So I had a lot of success in the first three years. It was easy starting the practice. It was easy building it up. I had so much fun. So by now, I had two group practices. This second group practice was a four-room practice, had clinicians, had clients. It’s like - ‘Why is there no money to pay the bills? I don't understand it.’ 

So that was my rock bottom moment where I just had to admit to myself that there's something I'm not seeing. There's something here going on and I don't know what it is, so I need some fresh eyes on it.  And then you do what you do, you start procrastinating, you go into your inbox, and I was going through the emails because it was just away for two weeks on annual shutdown - going, let's clear up the inbox seeing that I don't know what the answer is here - because I thought I was doing everything that I needed to do.

And there was this email from a fellow business owner. She actually had a small business in HR, and she said, “Hey, Gerda, I'm attending this planning day that's happening later in January and I thought you might be interested to go as well.” And I went, ‘Oh, let's check this out.’ It was an annual planning day that was being run at the end of January by a business coach. And I thought, ‘Ah, I'm not sure whether this is really suitable for my business because we're allied health - and I thought we were different. 

I thought, I might reach out to this guy and just have a chat with him. Anyway, I sent him an email. Long story short, we hopped on the phone, had a chat. I was like, I was still not convinced, but then he offered me two tickets for the price of one. Like, I like a good deal and I know a good deal when I see it, right? So I went, oh, awesome. I'm coming because now I've got two tickets for the price of one. 

So I took myself and my then practice manager, and we attended this day at the beautiful Sirromet Winery. If you are from that neck of the woods, you will know Sirromet Winery still exists to this day, it's a beautiful location. And we were there in the venue, it's called the cellar door for the day - and I just loved it. I was in this room with a bunch of other business owners. I was the only allied health business owner in the room. But I just loved, you know, sitting in that space of planning out my business for the next 12 months.

But that still didn't solve my cashflow problem. I still didn't have the answer to that. Yes, I was able to plan out -  this is what I would love to achieve over the next 12 months. But you can't really achieve your goals if you don't have freaking money, because most things in business, when you want to expand and grow, it requires a capital injection nine out of 10 times. 

So I still had this cashflow problem and this business coach was a really good business coach and he knows business, so he also reached out obviously to everybody afterwards. And again, long story short, I agreed to meet with him and we discussed doing some business coaching.

I remember he actually came to see me in my Capalaba practice that day. I can still see the two of us sitting in one of the consulting rooms, and on the little coffee table there was the contract which I signed. So I signed up for three months of business coaching with Nathan. And back then it was a lot of money for somebody that had cashflow difficulties, it was $2,200 including GST per month, and it was a three-month minimum commitment, which I committed to because I knew one month wouldn't be enough, two months would be almost there. Three months - yeah - I would know after three months whether this is working or not. 

So anyway, we signed the contract and we got straight into it - straight into it. I told him about my cashflow difficulties and based on the outcome of that conversation, these are the three things he told me I would need to do. It was really hard hearing about these three things, and I'm going to share those three things with you right now.

Number 1: Fired my Accountant

The very first thing Nathan told me that I would need to do would be to fire my accountant.

The reason for this, which I did not know or understand at the time, was that my accountant was only being a compliance accountant. Now compliance is a really important part of the role that the accountant plays within your business.

We all need to be compliant with ATO rules and regulations. But ticking the boxes, crossing your t's and dotting the i's, that's only part of what an accountant needs to do for you. The accountant's role is much bigger than that. Now you might go, why not just have the conversation with your accountant? Because I want to make sure that you don't hear me saying, just fire your accountant. Okay. We always want to have conversations. 

But in this instance, I had been with this accountant for a full five years, not once during that period that they ever tried to be more than just a compliance accountant to me. The right accountant needs to be on your side every step of the way. The right accountant needs to see the vision for your business. The right accountant needs to be proactive and say, “Hey, I see this is happening in your business, let's talk about it.” The right accountant needs to go, “Hey, things haven't really progressed, or, we are noticing that, this is happening with your cash flow, let's deal with this.”  Okay? 

He just went, you know, it's been five years, they've not noticed anything. We are going to move. And I went, “Okay, do I really have to?” You know why? Because I knew these accountants really well, and I'm a very loyal person, very loyal person. It's like they've never made mistakes that I was aware of. Why should I fire them? They've always done their job. 

Yes, but they've only provided a basic level of service. And when you have a business turning over seven figures. Or even when that is what you want, when that's your vision, you need more than just that. A compliance accountant is okay if you are a sole trader, for example. And when I started working with them, I was a sole trader.  Really, honestly, looking back now, I was thinking - you really want more than that, but at the bare minimum, that is what you need. Right. And you'll probably be okay as a sole trader having a compliance accountant. But if you want to scale a group private practice, you're going to need more than that.

You just are going to. So you want an accountant that, yes, they've got the compliance down pat, but they can see the vision for your business. They are on your side, they're in your corner, and they want you to scale and grow your practice. And this was a really difficult decision for me, as I said, because I'm a very loyal person.

These accountants were also fellow South Africans. They were in the same friendship circles as us. Their kids went to the same school as my kids, and they lived down the road from me. So when I took the kids on a walk to the park, I had to go past their house, and they were in the garden and we would always stop and say hello and have a bit of a chat.

So this was not an easy decision to make, but I made it. I just went, you know what? I'm paying this bloke, this business coach, good money, I'm going to take his advice. Because why pay him and not take the advice and obviously what I've been doing hasn't been working. Yes, I've got success.  Yes, the revenue is there. But it only takes you so far. This is not a proper business, so I'm going to have to do the hard things. So I did fire them. And I got myself a new accountant and I've now been with that accounting firm ever since.

Again, I'm a very loyal person, very loyal. Loyalty is a really important value for me. But I also am with a fabulous accountant. An accountant, what I refer to as the three-scenario accountant. And if you are interested to hear more about what a three-scenario accountant is, I would encourage you to go and listen to episode number 4 of the podcast where I talk about that. 

So that is incredibly important. You need to have the right accountant in your corner, it makes the world of difference. I will tell you, I pay good money for my accountant, but it's all about return on investment. That's what business is all about. You need to be willing to invest money, but you also need to ensure that you get a return. And if that's happening. Yeah, everybody wins. 

So that was the first thing I did. I had to change accountants and I did it, and I have never looked back.

Number 2: Performance Managed my Practice Manager

The second thing Nathan told me to do, and by the way, this actually just gets harder and harder. Thing two was much harder than thing one. And thing three was much harder than thing two. So we are building up to a crescendo here.

The second thing Nathan said I would need to do is to performance manage my practice manager. Yes, the same practice manager that went with me to the planning day with him in January. So why did I have to do this? Well, first thing I'll say is after five years I had never performance managed anyone. Maybe that tells you something as well, right? 

I must admit that I had really, really great people. I had a contractor model at that point in time, and even back then, you didn't really performance manage contractors because they were contractors, right?  But I had always had employees. My very first two clinicians were actually employees back in 2008. I had employees until 2009, and then I moved to a contractor only model after that - for various reasons, and today I am, I've got a hybrid model. But I've never really -  even when I initially had employees - had to performance manage them. Maybe it's because I didn't know I should. Maybe they were just awesome. But in this instance, that was not the case.

Because - as I said in the start, the reason for starting my relationship with this business coach was because of cashflow difficulty - so obviously that's the first stuff we look at, right? And we did a bit of a deep dive into what was happening with the accounts. Turns out, the reason why there was no money in the bank was because there were $40,000 worth of invoices that were never sent off to third parties. 

Now, back in those days, we did a lot of third-party work within what was then referred to as the Better Outcomes in Mental Health funding program. It still exists today. Today, that program and those funding happens through the primary healthcare networks. But back in those days we did a lot of that work. So people would come in this were generally people with financial constraints, and we would get paid by the funding body. 

In my defense, I would ask the practice manager, “Hey, have you sent out the better outcomes invoices?” And she would say, yes. But guess what? It would not have been done. And I just trusted that this person was telling me the truth, right? I trust people. I take people by their word, which was a really big lesson in retrospect. So, needless to say, that was something that I had to address. So I wrote up my very, very fast formal letter of warning, and I called her in for a meeting.

I was so freaking nervous, so anxious about it, but I did it. You know, you need to do the difficult things when you're a leader and when you're a business owner. So I called her in for the meeting - she was not happy with me. It did not go well. She basically stood up, walked out, slammed the door, went to the front office in reception - luckily I was clever enough and I did it when there were no clients. We have always tried to encourage our team to have lunchtime together, which meant there was that opportunity to have that conversation during those hours. And luckily there were no clients, but she was like at the front desk.

I remember Lisa, one of the psychologists, came out of her consulting room because of the ruckus she was making, because she was packing her bag, throwing things. And I didn't follow her out. I could hear everything and then I waited in my consulting room, I reopened the door just so I could hear what was going on. And then she walked back to me and she threw the front door key at me and she left. She says she basically quit on the spot. 

Needless to say that resulted in her putting in a fair work case. Which was my very first fair work case. And you might go, oh Gerda, I don't want that to happen to me. But you know what? These things are all learnings. All learnings. I went through the fair work process and you know, it all worked out in the end. The one thing I can tell you about the fair work process is it is very stressful, but you need to trust the process - as long as you stick to the facts, and you know that you have done nothing wrong, you will be perfectly fine. It's just annoying that it takes time. It's annoying that it is drawn out. And it's annoying that even when people put in frivolous claims and vexatious claims in some instances, that you still need to go through it. 

But again, you need to trust the facts, the truth and the process and you will be okay. And we got through it. And I've never looked back. It wasn't easy. It was freaking hard. But again, it was the best thing I could have done. I fixed the $40,000 invoice problem we had, and I hired myself a new practice manager, and I'm so glad I did it. This is the thing with these hard things, right? Once you've gone through it and you've done it, you always, always, not once has this not happened -  but I've always looked back and gone, why did I not do this sooner? Why?

Number 3: Fired a Contractor

The third thing I had to do was also the hardest one. And that is that Nathan told me I had to fire one of my contractors. This was incredibly hard for me to hear. 

Now the reason why was because this person's dropout rates were incredibly high. When I actually looked at the numbers, I noted that it was excessive and way more than everybody else's. So the research tells us that on average about 27% of clients will drop out of therapy between session one, two, and three. And I'm talking about psychology here. I don't have stats for other disciplines.

But this is in the psychology world, so 27%, and this is for any possible reason - any reason from this person - just had a simple issue we had to work on and within two sessions we were done. Two, they hated my guts and we didn't click, or they moved away. Doesn't matter what the reason is, it's contained within that 27%. So I just went, okay, ballpark 30, and if it's above 30%, it's a problem.

Houston, in this scenario, we had a huge problem, okay, so I was aware of that. But I thought, well, I don't know if that's the reason to fire this person. The other reason also was their reports were shit, the quality of their reports. I mean, their reports were very timely - they would have a client, do you know, six sessions (because some of their clients did get to six sessions), let's say six sessions a day - and by the end of the day, the report went out - but it was shit, it was so bad. 

So needless to say, the reputation of the business was being damaged, because my practice is called the psych professionals, and if you can't engage clients and if you can't write a good quality GP letter or GP report, that's not very professional, right? And Nathan said, “Gerda, the reality is that your reputation is being negatively impacted by the work that this contractor is doing.”

And when he says, my reputation's not Gerda's reputation, although it did feel like that at the time, but it's the reputation of the business, because one of the big things you need to do when you have a group practice is you need to move the branding away from you as the practice owner towards the business. That's a really important pivot that you need to make, and I had been working on that, but I had to realise that this person was harming the brand. That is really what was happening here. 

I was very reluctant to fire this person because it was a male psychologist back then. He was the only male at the practice and male psychologists were very scarce. Like today, for example, we have a very even balance between males and females at my practice. Because I never, ever wanted to be in that scenario again where it's like we've got only one male and sometimes it's really important to have a male psychologist, right, because that's a better fit for the clients and I wanted to be able to have that at the practice. 

And the other part that made it hard was that it's like, I don't want to fire someone. They've got a family. They have bills to pay. I don't want to be responsible for them not being able to pay their bills. And this was a really difficult decision that I had to make.

I clearly remember sitting in a consult with Nathan on a Thursday morning, nine o'clock, and I was in tears. I was ugly freaking crying in front of this man that I had not known for very long, when he told me that I would need to fire this person - just the reality of it, because he told me it previously. But this was the day where it really sunk in that I, I'm going to have to do it. You can only resist it for a bit because Nathan was very persuasive and convincing, and he was just like, this is what needs to happen. Okay. It just is what it is. You can't get out of this. You need to do it. 

I actually appreciate the fact that he pushed me. And sometimes I know for me, I need to be pushed over the brink in order for me to realise that something needs to happen. The same with that I first had to reach a moment of rock bottom in my business before I said, yes, I'll sign on the dotted line and commit to business coaching. Because I am a fighter. I am very resourceful as an individual. I don't give up. My first instinct is always to fight, not to run, that's just who I am. 

But that also came back to bite me in my business because like, if you are happy to just keep fighting, you don't put your hand up for help. Right? But anyway, I did and I also went again. I've said yes to this process and I need to trust the business coaching process. So I had my ugly cry and my tears, and I was so scared of what I expected was going to be a confrontational meeting with this person. Because, like most psychologists, I actually don't like confrontation. I would try to avoid it as much as possible. 

And I had the conversation and it actually went much better than I thought and kudos to that person, he actually handled it incredibly well. I went into the meeting and it was a contractor, so you don't performance manage contractors. I literally just went in and I said that, you know, I'm going to be terminating the agreement as per the clauses in the agreement. So when you have a contractor agreement, the contractor can give notice, and you as the business can give notice. So I basically just gave notice, we discussed the notice period and we discussed what would happen during the conclusion process. 

And it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. Afterwards, you know what? Like I said earlier, it was one of the best things I could have done. What I would also say is what I've come to learn over the years is that when you've got to make a difficult decision like that - that contractor, he was actually okay. He then went out and started his own practice. So that door opened up for him to be able to do that. We lost touch after that, but he was okay. And he learned a lot from my practice in the time that he was there, which allowed him to open up his own practice. 

I was perfectly fine with that, and that then opened up a space within my practice for a new clinician to come in, and that's when I hired an amazing clinician. She was so awesome. Her dropout rates were very, very low. Her engagement rates and retention rates for clients were amazing. So it's like, “Oh, I should have done that like six, 12 months ago.” But you don't know what you don't know. And sometimes doing the hard things is hard. It's why it's called doing the hard things. It is incredibly difficult. By terminating that agreement, I learned that I could do the hard things.

When we started talking today, I said that these are the three hardest things I've ever had to do in my practice. And you know why it was the hardest? Because first and foremost, it involves people. For me, any decision that I make, any action that I take that impacts the people in my business is incredibly difficult for me to do.

And the second reason why it was the hardest thing I had to do, was because it was the first time I ever had to do it. And when you think about it, by then, I was in business for five years. And this was the first time in five years I actually fired a business that I was working with - the accountant. First time in five years, I actually performance managed someone. And first time in five years, I actually fired a contractor. 

Now you might think, oh, how? How does that make sense? It's because I was avoiding doing the hard things. When a hard thing had to happen, I just tried to problem solve it in another way by being resourceful in other ways.

Since then, I have done all three of those things’ multiple times over, and I can tell you every time I do it, it becomes easier and easier and easier. Certain things will never be easy. Firing somebody will never be easy in my books. Even performance managing somebody is still a tad bit uncomfortable.

But I've come to realize that doing these things, and doing it early is in the best interest of myself and my business, but also of that person. By avoiding conflict and avoiding tough conversations, it's not helpful to anyone. It's not. Having those conversations is actually helpful to the other person, and I would encourage you to do it sooner rather than later.

What I also learned is that doing the hard things is what is required of you when you are a business owner. You don't become a leader by doing easy things. Leaders, honestly, get formed during challenges. It is during times of challenge and during times of doing hard things that you get moulded as a leader. That you also get to lead, because your team is looking at you to lead.

Whether they are doing that consciously or unconsciously? . And people notice when you are making the hard decisions. Over the years, when I have, for example, let people go, my team would come back to me afterwards and go, are we just waiting for you to do that Gerda? I'm so glad you did because this and that was happening behind the scenes. And then I go, oh my goodness. 

Making the hard decisions is what helps you build a great team culture. A great culture within your business. Culture is not all about hugs and cuddles and social events, that's just the surface level culture stuff. Culture is you leading. Culture is what your team does when you're not there because they know who you are as a leader. Culture is having a value aligned business. Culture is stepping up and doing the hard things. 

And if you don't want to do the hard things, you probably shouldn't be a business owner because business is inherently hard. But I also want you to reframe it as that is a challenge. And you know what? Achievement and reaching certain milestones, feel so much better, and is way more satisfying when it's been a bit of a process to get there. Yes, I love it when things come easy, but when things take hard work, I just feel so much more proud of myself at the end of the day.

Doing hard things will also empower you. It'll empower you with the knowing that you can do it. It gives you confidence. And when you do the hard things, it also forces the people - maybe on the other side of that hard thing - to look at themselves, to reflect and maybe do hard things for themselves as well. And a lot of times that is when they also step up and they do things, it's going to change the trajectory of their world, of their life, of their business.

Yes, hard things are scary. But what I also know is that it would've been much harder for me to do these three hard things, if I didn't have my business coach by my side holding my hand every step of the way. To this day, I am still incredibly grateful for having had somebody that was really honest with me, and said that this is not working and this is what you need to do. I know that he didn't force me to do any of these things.

Yes, he was pretty clear about it. Pretty clear. But I know that he had the best interest of myself and my business at heart, and I trusted that that was the case. Nathan and I ended up working together for four years, and he always told me that I was one of his best clients. He said that, you know, he works with a lot of business owners and he said a lot of times the biggest thing that he had to do was to convince people to do the hard things.

And a lot of times people will make excuses or go, ‘No, I can't do it because of A, B, and C.’ Whereas I might have had resistance, but I always did it, and he got me over the line much faster. And it's because I've always gone that I will recognise when I'm not the expert in something. My ego isn’t that big, that I think I know everything. And if I'm going to engage any business to work with me, I want them to share their expertise with me. I want them to tell me what they think I should do. If you were in my shoes, what should I do? I could never work with a business coach that asks me, ‘What do you think you should do, Gerda?’

Unfortunately, that is often the approach that gets taken by business coaches who have never run a real business before, that don't know what it's like to be a business owner, particularly an allied health business owner in the current market. So yes, business coaching has a place, but honestly, any person can do a quick course in how to do business coaching and call themselves a business coach.

It is much harder to sit in a space of consulting. My experience of business coaching has always been No, please tell me, I want to know from you, what would you do if you were in my shoes?  If you were in this scenario, what would you do? I want to know exactly step by step, and that's what I've always asked of my business coaches.

And it's not really business coaching then, right? If you think about the difference between coaching, mentoring, and consulting, that is actually consulting - this is what I think you need to do. And as a client, I prefer to get business consulting because I want to know it's straight, and when I work with people in my Academy or my Founders Club, I love to do consulting because I want to be honest and upfront and like, this is what I think you need. But if you only want me to do coaching or you only want me to do mentoring with you, I'm very happy to do that as well.

But my point is this, if I'm going to ask somebody to consult with me AKA, tell me what they would do if they were in my shoes, I'm going to trust that information, otherwise, why work with them? Why pay somebody $2,200 a month, which was back in freaking 2012? That was a lot of money back then, why pay that if I'm not going to follow their advice. It doesn't mean I don't shift things and adjust it slightly. And I had to do a lot of adjustment because we are allied health, especially when it came to marketing and that type of stuff later on when we spoke about those subjects. But I took the advice and it has stood me in great stead over the years. 

So anyway, that's a bit of an insight into the three hardest things that I have had to do in my business, and I am very grateful that I took those action steps. So know that whatever the hard things are that you might need to do in your business today, this week, this month, or this year, that I know that you can do it. And I would encourage you to take the first step towards getting it done. Because it's worth it. 

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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