Most podiatry clinic owners start their business with one simple goal:

“Get more patients.”

It sounds reasonable. You want a full diary, a steady income, and a podiatry clinic that feels “busy.” But there’s a hidden problem with this approach: there’s no real destination. No clear picture of what “success” actually looks like for you.

So you work harder. You add more patients. You add more hours. Maybe you even add more staff or another room. And one day you realise:

• You’re busier than ever

• You’re not as happy as you thought you’d be

• And you’re not sure you even want the podiatry clinic you’ve built

This is the core question behind today’s topic: The Big Myth That A Smaller Podiatry Clinic Means Less Risk

The answer isn’t just about revenue, staff numbers, or square footage. It’s about designing a podiatry clinic that fits the life you actually want, instead of drifting into something that looks “successful” from the outside but doesn’t feel right on the inside.

Watch the full episode on YouTube

The Problem: Building Without a Vision

Most clinic owners never sit down and define the end goal. They start with:

• “I just want to replace my salary.”

• “I just want to be fully booked.”

• “I just want to stop worrying about money.”

Those are understandable starting points, but they’re not a vision. They don’t answer questions like:

• How much do I actually want to earn per month?

• How many hours per week do I want to work?

• Do I want to be hands-on with patients, or mostly in an owner/CEO role?

• Do I want one great podiatry clinic, or multiple locations?

• What kind of team do I want around me?

Because those questions never get answered, the business grows by accident, not by design. You say yes to whatever comes along:

• Yes to more hours

• Yes to more patients

• Yes to more services

• Yes to more responsibility

And then you wake up one day with a clinic that looks “big” on paper, but doesn’t match the life you wanted.

Start With the End in Mind

If you were treating a patient, you wouldn’t just say, “Let’s see what happens.” You’d start with a clear outcome:

• Reduce pain

• Improve function

• Get them back to a specific activity

You’d design a treatment plan around that outcome.

Your podiatry clinic is no different. You need to start with the end in mind.

Ask yourself:

1. Income:

   • How much do I want to take home each month?

   • What level of profit does the clinic need to support that?

2. Time:

   • How many hours per week do I want to work?

   • How many of those hours do I want to be in the treatment room?

3. Role:

   • Do I want to be the main clinician?

   • Or do I want to move towards leading a team and running the business?

4. Structure:

   • One high-performing podiatry clinic, or multiple locations?

   • Small, tight team or larger team with more layers?

When you ask, “How big should my clinic be?” what you’re really asking is:

“What kind of life do I want this podiatry clinic to fund?”

Once you’re clear on that, you can work backwards and build a plan.

The Destination Myth: “I’ll Be Happy When…”

Many clinic owners fall into the “I’ll be happy when…” trap:

• “I’ll be happy when I hit $X per month.”

• “I’ll be happy when I open a second clinic.”

• “I’ll be happy when I have a full team.”

The assumption is that reaching a certain milestone will change how you feel about yourself and your life.

But what usually happens?

• You hit the revenue goal… and immediately set a higher one.

• You open the second clinic… and now you have double the stress.

• You build the team… and now you’re dealing with management, HR, and leadership challenges.

You reach the destination and realise you feel more or less the same inside. Maybe even more overwhelmed.

The truth is:

• Goals don’t automatically change who you are.

• Revenue doesn’t fix mindset, confidence, or self-worth.

• More clinics and more staff don’t guarantee more happiness.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have goals. It means you need to see them for what they are: useful targets, not magic solutions.

Enjoying the Journey While Still Hitting Your Goals

If the destination won’t magically fix everything, what should you focus on?

You focus on the journey and who you become while building the clinic.

That means:

• Celebrating small wins:

  • Improving your rebooking rate

  • Hiring a great team member

  • Implementing a new system that saves you time

• Tracking progress, not just outcomes:

  • Systems built

  • Skills developed

  • Leadership improvements

• Designing a podiatry clinic you actually enjoy running:

  • The kind of patients you see

  • The types of treatments you offer

  • The culture inside the clinic

You can still aim for strong revenue and profit. You can still set ambitious goals. But you stop expecting the goal to change how you feel overnight. Instead, you use the process of building the clinic to grow as a person and as a leader.

Working on Yourself and Your Mindset

Your clinic will only grow to the level of your mindset.

If you think small, you’ll build small.
If you think in chaos, your clinic will feel chaotic.

So as you grow the business, you also have to grow yourself.

Key areas to work on:

1. Leadership

   • Moving from “I do everything” to “I lead a team.”

   • Delegating tasks instead of hoarding them.

   • Communicating clearly and setting expectations.

2. Money Mindset

   • Being comfortable charging properly for your services.

   • Understanding profit is not greed; it’s what keeps the clinic alive.

   • Letting go of guilt around earning well.

3. Boundaries

   • Saying no to the wrong patients.

   • Saying no to hours that burn you out.

   • Saying no to services that don’t fit your model.

When you work on your mindset alongside your metrics, you build a podiatry clinic that is not just bigger, but healthier — for you and your team.

The Myth: “If I Stay Small, I’m Safe”

A lot of clinic owners believe:

“If I keep the clinic small, I’m avoiding risk.”

On the surface, it sounds sensible. Fewer staff, fewer rooms, fewer overheads. But small does not automatically mean safe.

In fact, a very small clinic can be more risky:

• Key-person risk:
  If you’re the only clinician and you get sick or injured, revenue can drop to zero overnight.

• Concentrated risk:
  One referral source, one treatment room, one key staff member — if any of those fail, the impact is huge.

• External pressures:
  Rent increases, inflation, or a change in local competition can hit a tiny podiatry clinic much harder.

Now, to be clear:
It is absolutely fine to choose to run a small clinic. A small, high-profit, well-designed podiatry clinic can be a fantastic business.

But there’s a big difference between:

• Beingsmall by design(because it fits your life and goals), and

• Beingsmall by fear(because you’re trying to avoid all risk).

Small is not a shield. It’s just one possible structure. It still comes with its own set of risks.

Life Is Risky Either Way

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: there is no risk-free option.

Compare the risks:

As a Business Owner

• You face:

  • Cash flow ups and downs

  • Hiring and team issues

  • Marketing performance

  • Reputation management

But you also have:

• Control over pricing and positioning

• Control over your schedule (once you build the systems)

• The ability to grow, adapt, and create new opportunities

As an Employee

You might feel safer, but you still face risk:

• One income source (your employer)

• Risk of redundancy or restructuring

• Limited control over hours, workload, and clinic direction

• Dependence on someone else’s decisions

So whether you’re a clinic owner or an employee, you are still playing the game of risk. The difference is:

• As an owner, you choose your model and your strategy.

• As an employee, someone else chooses for you.

You Can’t Avoid Risk, But You Can Manage It

If you can’t eliminate risk, what can you do?

You can manage and mitigate it, and you can accept that it’s part of the game.

A. Manage / Mitigate Risk

You reduce risk by building a more resilient clinic:

• Multiple lead sources (e.g. Google Ads, Meta Ads, SEO, database reactivation)

• Systems and processes so the clinic isn’t dependent on you doing everything

• A trained team who can deliver consistent care

• Financial buffers and sensible cost control

• Clear marketing and patient journey systems

This doesn’t remove risk, but it makes your podiatry clinic more robust.

B. Accept Risk as Part of Business

At some point, you have to say:

“I’m willing to take these risks in exchange for the life and business I want.”

That acceptance doesn’t mean you’re reckless. It means you stop pretending there’s a completely safe option. You stop beating yourself up for feeling fear. Fear is normal. You just don’t let it drive every decision.

So… How Big Should Your Clinic Be?

There is no universal “right size” for a podiatry clinic.

The right size is the one that:

• Funds the life you want

• Gives you the role you want (clinician, owner, or a mix)

• Doesn’t trap you in a diary you secretly resent

• Feels intentional, not accidental

For some owners, that might be:

• One high-profit podiatry clinic with a small, strong team

• A model where you work fewer clinical hours and more on the business

• A lean setup with excellent systems and premium positioning

For others, it might be:

• Multiple locations

• A larger team and a more scaled operation

• A role that is mostly leadership and strategy

The key is that you choose. You design it. You start with the end in mind, instead of drifting into whatever happens.

Listen to the audio episode here