87 | Taking the Longview of Your Private Practice

Annie - Well. Hey there. Leah.

Leah - Hi, Annie. How are you?

Annie - I'm great. How are you?

Leah - Doing pretty good. Excited to talk about another topic where we can say don't do what we did. Like, I feel like that's the theme of the podcast. So often it's like, learn from our lessons learned. Let us share what we figured out. It's nice to pass it on, right? We want to help everyone else not have to go through the trials and tribulations.

Annie - I mean, when we both first started, we just didn't have anything like this.

Leah - So there was like so little guidance, so little.

Annie - It was guessing.

Leah - Totally. I just had this, like an imaginary picture in my head of what I thought all this was going to be and just played that out in the hopes that maybe it would work out and stumbled and climb some mountains along the way. And I think this topic that we're talking about today, about kind of taking the long view of your private practice, whether you're starting or been in it for a while, is such an important thing to remember. And something that, like, I'm now with many years behind me, like, try to think about that. And the beginning of a year is a time that we're thinking about things like this. We're thinking about our future. We might be making plans or. Figuring out our goals and these kinds of things. So it's a nice time to come back around and remind ourselves that, like, hey, taking this longer view, kind of really contemplating where you're at, where you want to be and how your private practice is serving you, or maybe not serving you or serving your clients, or maybe not serving your clients.

Annie - And tying that into your values, like we talked about last month at our deeper dive with Joy McTavish. And we're having our deeper dive this month is into planning. And we've got Teniece Horge, who's an IBCLC with a master's in business administration. That is an MBA. Yes, she's going to bring the MBA brain to our IBCLC private practices. And we don't want this to be like it's not okay. We're going to map out your three step action plan to achieve your XYZ goals. It's really more than just like charts and lists and blocking things off and productivity. She's really all about setting your vision. So hopefully we'll be tying our values into our vision and really thinking about where we are trying to go and why we're trying to go there, which are not things that I was thinking about back in 2011 when I got my letter in the mail, like, congrats, you passed.

Leah - Yep. Exactly. I mean, I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I'm gonna go see, like literally anyone who's who will see me at any hour of any day. I'll take any phone call. I was just so I mean, and great. It was so exciting to be so on fire about something and so excited about it, so passionate about something in your life. It feels like I was just oozing out of my skin with excitement, which was fantastic. But it also just contributes to overall long term. Just really contemplating, like, how do I want to run a private practice? I think I was just so excited. I was like, well, fix it all that. Like, I got all my business stuff set up. I knew I had done that right, but it was like, okay, past all that. Like, I don't really, I just want, I just want to go do this. I didn't really contemplate, like, what do I want a private practice to be, to, to look like long term, like beyond this moment where I have this client in front of me, like, what am I actually creating? It's kind of like I was the wild artist who just comes up to a canvas and has no plan. I'm just like splashing paint everywhere. I'm like, it'll be something, I promise. And then carefully sketched out artist who's like, this is what I'm drawing and painting today. I was like, I was totally just throwing things everywhere and hoping something would stick in a good pattern.

Annie - Exactly. I was the same. I was like, well, I'm just gonna be a lactation consultant, right? Like what?

Leah - What else is there? And what do you have to contemplate?

Annie - Exactly? Like, it's not that deep. It's just my scope of practice and all of that, blah, blah, blah. But
it's also then I got into like, I don't know, this was in like the like 2000 and like a late like 20 tens or whatever, where all of a sudden everything was about like, okay, you're going to do marketing and you're going to like find your ideal client avatar. And I did some business trainings about that. And I was like, okay, like maybe I should be trying to specialize. Like, what does my practice want to specialize in? Well, yeah. Which is not one of special. Yeah. It's not twins. I was like, that was all I ever came up with is like, I know for sure I don't want to be the twins specialist. And I had seen like, not everybody has their passions. And if like, there are people out there that are super passionate about their niche and they want to do that, but I never felt like I and this might be my resistance to being boxed in. And also like it's all too interesting, like I want to do it all and even twins, because every time, like I'm like, oh, it's twins. And then I meet them and I'm like, they're so cute. And this is so hard. And they're handle this, I can handle this. But I got kind of in my head about like to really like to define what I do. And then I tried, but then I was like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this. So I'm just going to keep going back to what I was doing before. Right? And now I feel like I was joking to my friend who's a childbirth educator. I was like, I think my ideal client avatar is someone who lives in my service area and has insurance that I'm in network with.

Leah - That seems simple.

Annie - I can't really think of parameters that I would want to put on it. Like I'm not looking for a vibe. I'm not looking for a style.

Leah - I don't know. I remember trying to do those avatars. Like, where does your client shop and like, what magazines do they read? And I'm like, is anybody reading magazines? I remember going through these worksheets and being like, is this really necessary to be able to do lactation work? It just didn't fit. I agree with you. And I think service area and and how your clientele, like if you are in network or not or those kind of things are probably some of the most important pieces of our ideal clientele. But having that awareness and I guess for good or bad, we got to go through that process, both of us, because I know what classes you took, and I took some of the same ones and going through it and like recognizing how much of the stuff that's out there doesn't fit for a lactation in work. We kind of run this, you know? Yeah, we're healthcare, but we also have this other kind of like intimate piece that's so different than all other or a lot of other types of healthcare, I guess where we're with people for a lot longer, kind of building these relationships in a slightly different way, but not like, hey, we're going to be working with you for the next 30 years or something, you know? So it's a really unique and unique thing. And I think it was helpful to have that awareness build of like, hey, none of this really fits our needs around how we should be marketing and how we should be serving and how we should be planning or building our business. And I think that's where so much you and I have come together. And like said, hey, none of this stuff out there really fits us. Let's try to start building in information and getting people who can help us figure out how to make these different business planning decisions, or just business decisions, or business ideas come together in a way that really fits our industry and fits what we do. But this long view, to me, kind of feels like taking a step back and and trying to understand what you envision or need or want, like truly can maintain as well in a business, because I think that's some of what happened to me as I set the standards of like, I was just going to be so all in, which was so fun and wonderful until it wasn't because I couldn't manage it all, you know? And then that for a lot of people contributes to burnout and feels a little bit like you can't pull back from it because it's, that's what you set the standard, as you know. And that was a big learning curve. And I think if I could go back, I wish I had maybe some mentors who could tell me how it really is out in the real world. We weren't blessed with that. But then to also just really contemplate what I, what I could manage long term. And once all the new fiery excitement. Came down a little bit and I was really in the groove of it and the just day to day of it. What did I want that to really look like? And maybe that's something you can't truly plan for. But with people ahead of you telling you, hey, you should think about this, I think it would have been easier to contemplate.

Annie - And something like you and I have talked about a lot is like we have revisited this many times, is like burnout and what that looks like and how that shows up. And I think something that is a long view that you can't take at the beginning because you don't know what's coming, but the longer you do it, the more you realize that you do go through phases and spells where you're like, I can't do this. Like, this job is hard. I don't want this job anymore, I just can't. I have nothing left to give. Being able to recognize that that is not necessary. I mean, maybe for some people it is existential and you do want to go get another job. And if that's you, like, please don't keep doing a job that is making you miserable. If you have some other job that you can do and get, and that would make you really happy. Like private practice isn't for everybody. It's okay to want to have a job you don't. You can do lactation in so many different ways. It doesn't have to be as a private practice owner, but also recognizing that if I feel like that today, there's a reason I need to really look at why that is and I have to do something about it, I can't just sit with it. And for me, how that has looked has been planning just time away from clients and like holding to it, whether it's planning a vacation or even the hardest one was just recently over this recent holiday, I decided to take the holiday week off and then also the first week of the new year, which is the first week my kids are back in school. So I'm like, I'm going to take this week off because my kids are back in school. I'm going to treat it as a staycation week. And then what happened was I was telling my clients, I'm like, I'm going to be gone for two weeks. Kara will be covering for me, so you'll be okay. And then they would say, where are you going? And the first one that asked me that, I said, oh, I'm just staying here. And I was like, don't tell them that, because now they know. Like now I have to be like, oh, but I'm busy every day. Like I'm like. Or she said it was actually, she said, where are you going? Anywhere fun. I said, just my bed. And I was like, that did not sound like someone who's unavailable to provide you with clinical care or support while I'm in my bed. But it was the truth. Like, in retrospect, I'm like, I don't need to tell them that I'm taking a staycation, but I want to take a staycation. And then for some reason, this was an I have never had this happen before. So like, you can take the long view and then have things that you're completely unprepared for. Like we're used to a certain regular volume of new client inquiries, like it's just pretty steady. Like typically most of them come in on Wednesday, the second most come in on Monday. People tend to wait until like Monday at 11 to reach out. And it's usually like a nice balance of like we book a lot of them, we turn some away. It all just kind of flows. And Kara and I manage it ourselves and it's fine. Neither one of us looked at our spruce for a week, and we had an auto responder on saying we're not around, so the last time I looked at it was December 23rd, 22nd, and then on January 2nd we came back. So there were ten days. We didn't look at it on January between January 2nd and January 5th. That Friday we dealt with 65 appointment requests, most of which came in between January 2nd and January 5th. Like there were maybe 20 that came in over that holiday that we like, got back to. And then it was so I did spend my entire staycation, like while.

Leah - You were in bed.

Annie - Feeling while I was in bed dealing with these appointment requests. And it was really hard. It was. And then I felt guilty. I'm like, I'm taking I could see them, but I just kept saying, but you're not like, what are you going to say yes to this person? If you say yes to one person? I have to now fill my entire week, right? Like right. I just can't do it.

Leah - So, like, you can't see all of them.

Annie - I don't know what happens. You don't know what was going.

Leah - On like a baby boom, I guess.

Annie - Yeah, I guess so. Like, I've never seen anything like this. Like it's. That's pretty. January is usually slow. It's not, not slow. Yeah. It's good.

Leah - It's true. I think in the past January's been slower for us as well. It'll be interesting to see what all the stats play out like if the year went wonky for you guys. But it is interesting because no matter how much planning you do or how well you think you've prepared for this and that, since you've taken this long view life keeps on laughing and likes to throw us all kinds of roadblocks and kinks in our plans. So I do think no matter how much planning or contemplation you have, you always need to keep in the back. Your mind. A bit of flexibility, a bit of adaptability. I think that's a real important part of being a private practice owner, especially in lactation. And then just being a human is this awareness that like, there's so many things that are going to come along that are never you could have never imagined in all of your wildest imagination, you probably would have never come up with that situation for you guys. And same, I mean, good for good or bad, there's going to be so many things that are going to come your way that you might never have imagined. And I think it's important to remember that you can be flexible and adaptable, and that's a really great quality to keep in mind, as even if you have a lot of planning, a lot of long view, kind of thinking about what you're creating, but to remember that a key piece of kind of making it through as a private practice owner is adaptability and flexibility and just being willing to kind of move with the tides of the ocean that we're all sitting on top of, because there really will be these giant waves, and there will be where all of the water's taken out from under you, and you're certain that your business is crashing down. I can remember so many times that Andy and I have called each other like, I'm pretty sure this is the end of my business, so we might have to cancel the podcast soon because, like, maybe we have no request or something's happened and we're like, this is it. I'm just letting like, this is going to be the end. So start planning and then the tides will turn and we'll be back afloat. But that is something I think has helped, because I hope that in my mind, I feel like maybe I'm a person that can adapt. I don't like it. I thrash and fight against it at times. But in the end, I do think that's a really important quality and something to keep in mind that we're all going through that. So even if you put down your best plans and like, just know they might not always go as planned.

Annie - That's why I like thinking about like, thinking about planning is not so much about like, okay, I want to hit this benchmark on this day or make whatever it is, like, quantify things I have been thinking a lot lately about, like, what is the next phase for my private practice? Like I got an office two years ago. I now have an employee who's doing clinical work with clients, and we've been working really well together. And it's I really love that thinking about, do I want to take someone else on? What would that look like? How does that work where it's not like taking away from although, I mean, after last week, I was like, I need to hire ten people, but like, no, don't hire. I am not going to be reactive because that's ridiculous. I would not have enough business to support ten people, but do I have enough business to support a third person? I don't know, and it's something where I'm really thinking about, like, I have great people that come into my life like that do intern with us, do ours with us, or even just come and spend the day with us and not thinking like, oh, I want you in my world, I should make a job for you. Do I have a job that I want to offer? What does that look like? How does that work? When is the right timing for that? It's not just because I met somebody that I love. Yeah. And then also, like, what is the future for the office and do I want to right now I'm in there three days a week. Do I want to eventually be in there five days a week? Um, and stop doing home visits altogether? That is something where I'm leaning more and more towards that, just because I'm like, that scale is heavy and I hate driving and I really like my office is really cozy and I can get massages down the hall, like that's it.

Leah - That would be really tempting if I could schedule a weekly. BI weekly? I mean, let's just get a lot of massages. If it was right there, that would be so nice. I know I don't think I can ever give up home visits. I really enjoy them. But also it sounds so weird. But now I've got my car time like so utilized with my podcast and my audiobooks. Like it's a lot of me time. I'm like, I don't know if I'll ever be able to give that up. It's so nice to have that time. But yeah, I mean, I think that's a great way to look at it is not so much of those metrics and like hitting your goals and data, which for some people that's really where their drive comes from, you know. And if that's you, I think that's awesome. But also knowing that you can have that same like planning and visionary aspects to what you're doing as a private practice owner without locking yourself in, especially if you know yourself to feel like, well, if you didn't hit those metrics, if you didn't get that goal landed, is that just going to make you feel worse? Whereas if you could think about these are the things on the horizon, and I need to contemplate them and keep them in mind as I'm moving through this season of my business and, and kind of letting it unfold, but also with some, some kind of awareness that it's unfolding in that in a direction that you actually want it to go, you know. So I think that's a great, great way to look at planning. And I can't wait till our planning deeper dive, because I want to talk about all these things and kind of see, like what ideas and tips that she has, because it's something that now I just recognize is so valuable and. And necessary. But also, like you said, it sometimes feels like any other people that aren't aware of lactation land. I feel like sometimes they just don't get how we work. And I need people who get how we work. And that's why I love our deeper dives in our podcast, because we just get the people who get how we work, and we get to just fill our heads with those people instead of all the crazy stuff you and I had to dig through. And yeah, trying to contemplate where our clients are shopping and what kind of clothes they wear. Yeah.

Annie - What magazines they read that I. Oh, is that always stands out to me as my favorite.

Leah - Like, oh, it's like I literally have no idea nor do I care. Oh my gosh.

Annie - Although this is very specific to New York City. So anybody who is listening who's from New York City and maybe there's other cities where this is true too, but there's a book and it's on my bookshelf back here called The Power Broker, and it's about Robert Moses, and it's a book that is about New York City that I would, I want to say three quarters of the homes that I go into, someone owns that book, but I only personally know three people, one of them being my husband who's actually read this book. But we all know about it. It's like it comes with it. Like you're in New York for a certain amount of time. You get your copy of The Power Broker to not read.

Leah- It's just like a part of the symbol in your house that says like, yes. So if I go into somebody's house and they have that, I'm going to know, like, did you leave from New York? I'll be able to, like, figure them out. Okay. I'm going to keep this in mind and maybe.

Annie - I'll read it this year. I really do want to read it. I hear it's great.

Leah - It looks big.

Annie - It is. It is very big.

Leah - Well, it's been really fun chatting today. And thanks for going through the trenches with me and alongside me so that we could get to the other side and know some of this wisdom that's come from all those crazy classes that we took together.

Annie - This was really fun. I love thinking about this stuff and have a chance to, like, be serious about what I need to be doing in terms of thinking about my private practice. And also, I don't know, I like to laugh at my younger self who like, oh, you sweet thing, you didn't know thing.

Leah - It was so cute. You were just so excited. I know I could just feel that, like just raw excitement and energy. And it's sometimes it's really great fun to go back and like, just tap into that a little bit and be like, that was such a neat time. But also like so much wisdom came out of all that.

Annie - And we also still have that person with us. Absolutely. And that's what I know. I'm coming out. Coming back from burnout is I start to I feel that again. It's like, oh, but this job is great and I'm helping babies.

Leah - Every deeper dive we have I because everybody shows up and we get to talk. Like I always leave with that little fire, like revved up a little bit more because I'm just like the energy so good. But it also just recognizing this community and all the people that are together on this journey and the people starting now and the people who've been in it a long time and how we're all just like trying to support each other. And I love it so much. I do too.

Annie - Well, it was fun and I can't wait to see at the deeper dive. And thanks everybody for listening and we hope you'll join us this month.

Leah - Take care. Bye.

Annie - Take care. Bye.