Practice growth depends on putting the right structural elements in place at the right time. Internal procedures, hiring, training, marketing, and many other elements come into play. In addition, aligning each function with the others is part of the challenge for the practice owner and the practice team. But your patient has their challenge as well. Their success depends on how well you lay out, and then help them follow, a structured pathway to their health goals.

Over the years, I have worked with many talented, intelligent, and dedicated doctors—both men and women who were compassionate and effective with their patients. However, not all of them were successful in business. The reason was that they lacked organization—and organizational discipline. That is to say, they lacked the business structure that would support a strong practice function.