Early in my career, I saw my identity as a clinician and my identity as a business owner as two separate things—almost in opposition to each other. As a doctor of Oriental Medicine, my focus was on the art of healing, on the whole person approach to patient care. The business side felt like a necessary evil, something you had to do to keep the lights on.
But what I’ve learned over the years is that to truly succeed in realigning medicine, you can’t separate those identities. You have to learn to embody both the healer and the CEO. Your business isn’t something separate from your practice; it’s the very structure that allows your healing to be sustainable and impactful.
Here’s how I learned to reconcile these two parts of my professional life.
The Mindset Shift: Your Business is a Tool for Healing
The first step is a fundamental mindset shift. Stop thinking of your practice as a business and start thinking of it as a purpose-driven endeavor. Your financial success is not a sign of greed; it’s a direct reflection of your ability to reach more people and provide a higher quality of care. A well-run, profitable practice allows you to invest in better equipment, hire a great team, and, most importantly, have the freedom to practice medicine in a way that is in congruence with your values.
Your business savvy isn’t a distraction from your mission; it’s a critical tool for achieving it.
The Pragmatic Application: Simplifying the Complex
My career path has been a continuous process of learning and refinement, and a lot of that has been about simplifying the complex. Here’s what I focus on to embody both roles:
- Define Your Mission: Your clinic’s mission should be a clear extension of your clinical philosophy. For me, that’s integrative pain management. This clarity guides every business decision, from the services you offer to the patients you target. When you’re clear on your mission, every business action feels purposeful, not just transactional.
- Structure for Sustainability: Think like a CEO and build systems that work for you. This means creating a clear patient journey, from the first contact to the follow-up, that is efficient and feels good to the patient. It also means establishing clear financial boundaries and services that reflect the value, not just the time, of your expertise.
- Embrace Your Personal Sovereignty: As the owner, you are the final authority. You get to decide how you spend your time, who you work with, and what kind of practice you build. This is where the healer and the CEO merge. The CEO side creates the structure that allows the healer side to thrive, freeing you from burnout and allowing you to do the work you love without compromising your personal well-being.
Your professional life doesn’t have to be a battle between these two identities. When you integrate them, you stop just practicing medicine and start realigning medicine, one patient and one business decision at a time.
