The Private Practice Success Podcast

58. Busting the 10 Biggest Myths about Group Private Practice - PART 2

• Gerda Muller • Episode 58

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In Episode 58, Gerda continues busting the 10 Biggest Myths about group private practice.

If Part 1 in Episode 57 stirred something for you, then get ready because these next five myths go even deeper. This episode is less about spreadsheets and structures, and a lot more about identity, confidence, leadership, and the permission you give yourself (or don’t give yourself) to build a group practice that actually works.

Gerda unpacks the beliefs that keep capable clinicians playing small, choosing “safe” options that quietly cap their growth, and hesitating because of fear, imposter syndrome, or the judgment of others. And she replaces those myths with what she knows to be true from years of running two group practices and mentoring hundreds of group practice owners.

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

  • The belief that keeps smart clinicians “waiting until they’re ready” and what actually creates readiness.
  • The popular model choice that feels safer at the start but which can quietly limit stability and growth later.
  • Why “staff drama” isn’t usually about staff and what changes when leadership gets clearer and more consistent.
  • The personality story that stops a lot of capable owners before they even start (even though it’s not a real barrier).
  • The unspoken judgment that makes people shrink their vision and how to lead anyway, without apologising.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Clinicians thinking about starting a group practice but are feeling held back by self-doubt or fear.
  • Group practice owners who want to grow sustainably, but feel stuck in comfort-based decisions.

Tune in for an honest, empowering conversation that will challenge outdated beliefs and help you step into the next level of leadership so you can build a practice you can’t stop smiling about.

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 fabulous private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast, and this is episode number 58. Today I'm going to continue Busting the 10 Biggest Myths about Group Private Practice. 

In episode 57, I spoke to you about the first five myths. Yes, the goal was initially to cover all 10 in one episode, but you know me, I like to talk about allied health private practice, so it went a bit longer than expected. So I went, hang on, let's do part one and part two, so you are now listening to part two. And if you've listened to part one, you will know that when I covered the first five myths around group private practice, those were myths around money,  risk, burnout and control. Now, that is four things I mentioned, but two myths were around money and the others were about risk, burnout, and control. 

Now, if part one stirred something for you - maybe some discomfort, maybe some relief, maybe a quiet oh shit, that's me moment. Then get ready, because I think part two is going to allow you to go even deeper, because the next five myths are less about spreadsheets and structures, and it's a lot more about identity, your confidence, your ability to lead and permission for self around group practice ownership. So let's get straight into it. I am sharing these in no particular order, it's not about which one is more important or more prevalent than the other. We are just going one at a time as I had them dotted down on my original list. 

Myth 6: You must be Good at Business Before you Start and Grow a Group Private Practice

This is the belief that sometimes it doesn't show up consciously, but it's there, and this is this myth and belief that you need to be good at business before you can even think about growing a group private practice. Before you can even think about starting and growing a group private practice, and this myth is everywhere. You know how you can identify it. It sounds like this - I'm just a clinician. I'm not very business-minded. Who am I to lead a team, and tell people what to do? I should probably do another course first so that I can have more skills and knowledge. Or I'll wait until I feel more confident. And this golden oldie, I need to get all my ducks in a row first so that I can be fully ready. And maybe you can guess this, but underneath all of that self-talk is that old, faithful: imposter syndrome. You know that quiet, persistent little voice that says, who do you think you are to do this?  But this is what I know, and I'm going to say this really clearly and I want you to hear this. 

You do not become good at business, before you start or before you grow. You become good at running this amazing practice of yours, because you started, and because you are growing it.  To be clear, leadership skills and management skills and business skills for that matter, are not prerequisites for starting your group private practice, they are the byproducts. I don’t know about you, but I didn't, and I think nobody wakes up one day suddenly ready to lead people, to manage conflicts, to make hard decisions, or hold all the risk and responsibility that we need to hold this group practice, as business owners. But the ability to do that -  that is forged in the doing. And there's another layer here that doesn't get talked about enough. I think we all know about fear of failure, but very often what slips, especially female business owners up, is a fear of success. Because if this actually works, what does that mean? Who do I become then? What will be expected of me? How will this change my role in my family? How will this impact my time to give my energy to my family? Will I still be needed in the same way? Will people still relate to me like they do now or will they relate to me differently? 

There's a lot of fear around actually being successful, which is why that other old chestnut often pops up and we self-sabotage.Let's be honest, we do it all the freaking time, and it's because of these fears. Because at the core of it, when you are growing and starting a group practice requires growth, growing a group practice requires growth, it asks more of you emotionally, psychologically, and relationally than just doing what you've always done, and that can feel pretty scary. But on the other hand, by staying small in order to avoid that growth, or to avoid the fear of failure, or to avoid success, that doesn't keep you safe. It just keeps you freaking stuck. So the myth might be that you need to be good at business and you need to get all your business ducks in a row before you can start or grow a group private practice. But in actual fact, all it requires, at its core, is a willingness to start and to grow into the leader that your business requires you to be. And I know that you can do it. You need to believe that. And you are welcome to borrow some of my conviction, and my belief in you because I know you can.

Myth #7: Independent Contracting is an Easier & Less Risky Model than Employees  

Myth number seven, particularly occurs within the minds and the decision-making processes of solo practice owners that are getting ready to take the leap into group practice ownership. This myth is this belief that the independent contracting model feels easier and less risky, and therefore this must be the right model for you. I want to start off debunking this myth by saying that yes, independent contracting actually does feel easier, especially at that stage of your business, at the beginning. Because it feels lighter, it feels more flexible and it feels like less responsibility, right? You don't have to learn the entire health professionals and support services award. You don't need to have a full-time contract, part-time contract and casual contract. You only need one independent contracting agreement. You don't have to do the level and depth of onboarding, for example. You don't have to hold your clinician's hand every step of the way, so it does feel much easier, right, lighter. As I said, in many cases, particularly in that early stage of group practice, it is.  But where the issue around this myth comes in is that easier doesn't automatically mean that it's the right model for your practice. And it most certainly doesn't always mean that it's the right model for your practice in the long term.

What I often see is practice owners choosing the independent contracting model, not because it best serves their vision for their business. But because it feels safer emotionally and also intellectually. It is a model that due to what it is, it's a model that creates more distance, okay. Yes, there were the earlier years prior to the 2024 changes in contracting where people treated their contractors like they were part of the team, and I already warned about it then - because they're not part of your team, okay? They're an independent contractor; they're like a business associate. So contracting does create a bit more distance. Which also means that it often reduces the need for those harder conversations. It also softens that sense of responsibility for this other person. Because if you have an employee, there's a lot more responsibility that you hold as the business owner. It therefore allows the owner also to stay closer to ‘clinician’ rather than stepping into a ‘leader.’ It's like, no, I just want to, you know, work together in the same location with other people, that they do their thing, I do my thing, and therefore it feels like less responsibility again. And I want to be clear here, there's nothing wrong with choosing the independent contracting model, when you choose it intentionally because it aligns with the vision that you have for your business, but that's often not why people choose it. 

The issue is when this decision is driven by a fear of leadership, a lack of confidence in managing people, discomfort with the level of responsibility that you take on when you've got employees, or just the avoidance of what feels like a very complex model when you step into an employment model for the very first time - because what feels easier in that short term can quietly cap the stability within your business.  Contractors often come and go because they're going for the next person that's going to pay them more money. It impacts your culture within your business, availability, continuity of care, long-term scalability, so contractors can be a fantastic model, and I, for one, had a contracting model for many, many years. It was my main model, it hasn't been for probably the last four or five years, but I still have independent contractors. I have a hybrid model within my business. So I have a core group of employees, I see them like Planet Earth. And then I have the contractors who's like the satellites around planet Earth that are there, and we send them clients when the core team of the employees are fully booked.

So contractors can be great when that model is chosen deliberately, designed properly, and aligned with the stage, and therefore the strategy that you currently are implementing within your business.  But if the reason you are choosing contractors is simply because they feel easier and less risky, that's not the right strategy. That is a comfort based, fear-based decision. And comfort, I think, you know, this rarely builds the kind of practice that you want. I'm guessing the type of business and practice, therefore, that you want is one that is stable, one that is sustainable, one that can be values aligned, and not dependent on you holding everything together. So the right model isn't necessarily the one that feels easier or safer. It's the one that's going to support the business, and you as the leader to achieve the vision you had for the business when you first started. That dream that you have for what it is that you are creating, and therefore the impact that you want. And you want to know what that ultimate goal is so that you can ensure that your business, and your model therefore grows into achieving that.  

To recap, the myth is that independent contracting as a model might feel easier and less risky, and therefore it must be the right model. When the fact is that the right model is determined - yes, sometimes by your stage of business for you right then - but ultimately it is determined by the vision for what it is that you want to create. And I, for one, will encourage you to start as you plan to continue. Of course, these decisions are always individual, okay? I do not engage in cookie cutter business coaching and consulting with the people that I work with. And therefore, I know that there will be individual differences with regards to your choice of business model. But we want to start as we plan to continue, but that means you need to know what it is that you are here to create.

Myth #8:  Managing Staff is a Nightmare 

Myth number eight, and this myth says that managing staff is a nightmare. Now, you might be hearing me say that and going, ‘Yes, it is Gerda, because I am in the midst of a staff and or HR nightmare right now.’ And if that is you, I totally understand. Been there, done that. You might be thinking, Gerda, I don't think this one is a myth. And you know, to some extent I agree with you. Because I think if you were to go to any business owner, we are talking small to medium sized business owners right now, just randomly in the street, and you were to ask them what is your top challenge within your business. That thing that keeps you up at night, that stops you from freaking sleeping. Or you wake up at 3:00 AM and that's the first thing you think of. It's probably going to be one of two things. It's either going to be staff, HR, managing people, or it's going to be cash flow. It's one of the two. 

Business owners generally feel better equipped to deal with cash flow, it's like, I just need more revenue and I need to cut expenses. Which is way easier in everybody's minds to do than having to manage a tricky team member, or a tricky HR situation. I often have people telling me that I never want staff, because I've maybe been in a work situation previously where managing staff was a nightmare. Or they might share with me and say, I'm in these Facebook groups, Gerda and people are sharing all the staff nightmares that they need to deal with, and I don't want to have to deal with that. I just want to avoid it at all costs.  I hear you. Managing staff and general HR is exhausting, okay. But here's the reframe: it's not the staff that's the nightmare. Sorry to say this. The nightmare is when you, as the business owner - who's meant to be the leader - aren’t setting clear expectations. That's a nightmare to me as your team member. If I don't know what you want from me, I'm going to be confused and uncertain, and I'm just going to be, you know, worried all the time. Am I meeting expectations? Yes or no? The nightmare is when you, as the business owner, avoid conversations with me as a team member. Because if you don't tell me what I'm doing wrong, I can't fix that. 

The nightmare is inconsistent leadership. If you say yes in this scenario to me, but no to the other person, and vice versa, and it's like, I've got whiplash. I don't know what's happening here? That's the nightmare. The nightmare is when there's a lack of boundaries. When I don't know, is this a line or what's the structure around, around this thing? And that's on you as the business owner. The nightmare is when you are just hoping that problems within your team are going to resolve themselves with time and with hope and optimism - and that rarely happens. So that is the nightmare when it comes to staff. So it's not really a people or a staff or a team problem. This is a confidence and a skill problem. So generally, what I see is that there's a very big confidence and skill gap when it comes to practice owners managing and leading their team. I would say the gap is generally bigger on the confidence side, then it is on the skill side. Because as health professionals particularly, my discipline psychologists, they've got a lot of amazing communication skills. And a lot, if not, most of what you need to do as a leader and a manager for that matter, is embedded within how you communicate. So I know you've got those skills, but it's about allowing yourself to actually implement and apply it when you are the leader in that role. And that is a confidence gap that is there. 

But the wonderful part is that skills can be learned, and confidence can be built. So when you learn and give yourself the permission to step into confidence so that you can set clear expectations, give honest kind feedback, address issues early, and hold boundaries without guilt - that is when managing your staff and your team stops being a nightmare, because now it becomes contained, very professional and even predictable. No more emotional whiplash because you don't know what's going to happen when. If you knew how to do this and you actually did it, managing staff would no longer be a nightmare. Because the fact of the matter is that managing a team and staff can actually be one of the biggest pleasures within your business. It's never going to be all smooth sailing, because we are humans. Your team are humans; you are a human. There are going to be times when there's not going to be a fit, and that is perfectly okay. You just need to have confidence and use the skills and manage that situation, and I know you can do it.  

Myth #9: Group Practice Ownership is Only for Extroverts

Myth number nine is the belief that group practice ownership is only for extroverts or people, people. I really want to bust this one properly, because some of the best group practice owners that I know aren't extroverts. You know what they are? They are thoughtful, reflective, systems orientated, values driven, quietly, decisive people. Some people might refer to them as introverts. Guess what? I'm an introvert. I still can't believe that I'm talking to you on a freaking podcast. That's not what introverts do, but it's because you're not here in the room with me whilst I'm recording it, that's why I can do it. It is much harder for me to walk into a room in front of lots of people and talk on a stage. But even still, because I know these people listening to it, it's still scary and freaks me out when I think about it too much, I think I need to stop. But introverts can be group practice owners. Because leadership is not about being loud. It is not about charisma. Although you might think it might be easier, that's not what it is about. It's not about being on. You know, like switched on all the time. 

True leadership and, and I know because I've been in this game for a very long time now, and I've seen it not only in my own life, but in the many group practice owners that I've got the privilege of supporting, leadership in group private practice is about clarity, knowing where you're going with this business, the vision, the mission, the values, the impact you are here to create. It's about consistency, it's about follow through, and it's about being emotionally regulated as the leader.  Introverted leaders often excel here because they do think deeply, they listen well, and they lead intentionally. Now, I'm not saying extroverts can't be amazing practice owners, of course they can, of course. And we know that introversion and extroversion happen on a continuum. But this myth is often held by the introverts among us. Where they go, I can't be a group practice owner because I'm not an extrovert. I'm not a people person, and this just isn’t true. So if you've ever had the thought that I'm not enough of a people person to do this thing called group private practice, please know this: group practice doesn't need more noise. What it needs is clear grounded leadership, and if you know that that is what you can bring to the table, then group practice ownership most certainly is for you.

Myth #10: Group Practice Ownership is all about Ego, Money & Status

Myth number 10, says that if you've got a group practice, then you are all about ego, money and status.  I've seen this play out quite a lot of times. I'll start off by saying that in Australia, being a business owner is actually really common. It was one of the first things that I noted when we migrated from South Africa to Australia. So back in South Africa, the done thing is you're an employee, you've got a nine to five job and you work for somebody else for your entire life. It would be very rare that somebody would start their own business. Like in my world, I didn't know any people that owned their own businesses back in South Africa. Not like family or friends, right? Yes, you meet people because they are a business owner that you're dealing with, but within the circles that I lived in, that wasn't the done thing. And then you come to Australia and every second person has their own business, and you would speak to the other parents at school, pick up and drop off, and you know, you start talking, what do you do? And most of them own their own businesses, maybe the husband is a tradie, the wife does the admin, or it's a wife that is an accountant and her husband also does something in the business-like bookkeeping or whatever. But it's very common for people to be especially involved in small to medium sized family businesses.

Within the Allied Health private practice industry, most of us have got small to medium sized family businesses. So I know a lot of practices where both the husband and the wife are part of the business. I would say to a lesser extent than what I've seen in other industries, but it still happens. I think the reason for this is that, especially within the mental health psychology part of the industry, we are still very much female dominated, and a lot of us, they start group practices and our male partners and spouses might have their own businesses or do their own jobs, right. And again, I'm generalising here. But what I wanted to acknowledge is that business ownership is actually very common in Australia, and people support one another in going out and starting a business.  But I find that if you do too well in your business, that's when tall poppy syndrome kicks in, just to you know, bring you back to earth so that your head doesn't grow too big, so it can just deflate that ego that you are developing just a tad little bit. So it can be really challenging to grow a really successful, relatively large group private practice, when very often people look at that as reflective of ego, money and status. Very often this is not coming from within our industry. This is often coming from outside our industry. But at times it does come from within our own industry.  

I've been on the receiving end of that. I will never forget when I started, back in 2014/2015, I started talking about business as a psychologist, it's when I started to run half day workshops in my weekend, master classes on Private Practice Success. The amount of criticism I received was immense. I knew I was going to get criticism, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. People were telling me that I'm all about the money, and how dare I speak about private practice owners making profit. This is not who we are. This is not what we do, we are not about the money. The amount of messages and emails and threats that I got was just crazy. And you know, I didn't talk about it at that point in time. I just went, yeah, okay, well, I'm still doing it. Because I had come off the back of a number of years of really having to work so freaking hard to build my practices. I had made every mistake in the book. I had cried so many tears. I had to learn the hard way of how to run a sustainable, profitable, and I will very importantly and loudly add, values-based, impact driven psychology group private practice - that I know for sure makes a difference in the lives of people each and every day - still to this day. I knew that. 

I knew that it doesn't have to be this or that, it can be AND. That yes, we can help people and impact lives AND we can still be okay financially as helping professionals AND we can still make enough money to pay our team well. We can have the impact AND have a great business. It was hard for a lot of people in the industry to hear it. So that was my experience there, but I've spoken to a lot of practice owners who, a similar experience. Where people have gone, why are you posting all this stuff on social media about what you're doing? How dare you say that? How dare you talk about mental health in that way? And it takes a lot of courage to do that. When I see people speak up loudly and proudly about the impact that they're having with their business, I know that they are probably copping some flack at some level potentially. I do think our industry has come a long way, and I do think our community is coming a long way, but it's so important. Copping that flack, I'm happy to do it because I know at the end of the day, it reduces the stigma around mental health for when we do it at the practice. But it also reduces the stigma for me as a business consultant around having a profitable practice that helps people with their mental health. It's like, it's okay, you know? Heart surgeons. neurosurgeons, they all still charge money. Are they not allowed to make money?  And I'm not saying we should charge what they charge, we should just charge what we should charge for our industry and for the work that we do, for the skills and the experience and the training that we've put into it. That is okay. 

So, coming back to group practice ownership, often when somebody starts to build that group practice, the narrative at times becomes, “They think they're better than us solo  practice owners, or they think they're better than me as a clinician that's working at Queensland Health, and they're all about the money, that's why they're doing it. They've got a big ego. Who do they think they are to do this?’ What could happen, and this is the risk, why I want to raise this, is that if you internalise any of those messaging, and you know what, that messaging can come from one person in your life. But if this is an important person, like a significant other, a best friend, a sibling - that one person could lead to you shrinking who you are as a human in what you're doing. It can cause you to hesitate, or to downplay the vision that you have, the impact that you want to have in this world. When in reality, when I deal with group practice owners, I can tell you for certain, that the reason why they went into group practice ownership is not about ego money or status, it's about increasing client access. It's about creating a fantastic workplace for clinicians. It's about supporting, teaching, training, mentoring, and coaching clinicians. It's about bettering the mental health system. That's why they go into it, because they want to impact this industry we all love so much. 

So if you know in your heart that what you want is to be a group practice owner, choosing not to take that step, because you're afraid of potential judgment that isn't humility. That really is self-abandonment.  I want to make it clear to you, that when you avoid starting or growing your group private practice because you are trying to stay palatable for those around you, that is what keeps our industry under-resourced and overstretched, because you've got something amazing to give our industry. All you need to do is say yes to starting and building your very own level five, and even beyond into a self-running private practice. 

That my friend was, and it's got everything to do with fear, conditioning, and outdated beliefs. If any of these myths felt uncomfortably familiar, I want you to know this - you are not broken, you are not incapable, and you most certainly aren't running behind. You are just standing at the edge of your next level of leadership, and you are the one who gets to choose whether you step forward or whether you stay with what feels familiar.  Whatever you choose is perfectly okay, but it is your choice. And if the choice is to start or grow that group practice then you know where to find me. Because as always, I'm right here willing, ready, and able to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about. :-)

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Gerda Muller

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