By Robin Stewart and Rich Hoffmann, MindBody Talent
You probably started your own practice because you had an area of expertise and an entrepreneurial spirit. You probably did not start your own practice with any expertise in staffing, HR, or hiring.
Don’t worry, you’re far from alone.
At MindBody Talent, we work with medical professionals like you every day. Many come to us for their first hire because they’re overworked and need help ASAP. Others may come to us because they’ve had some bad hiring luck and want to get it right this time.
Our experiences over the years have shown us that, even though no two practices are the same, practice owners and founders often run into three major problems that can lead to bad hires, as well as a lot of wasted time and money. But overcoming these barriers can be easier than you think!
Today, we’re going to explore those problems and what you can do to overcome them.
By the time many clinic owners start looking to hire, they’ve already hit a breaking point. Their existing team is overworked, patient waitlists are growing, and they’re losing opportunities to serve their community. This often leads to panic-based hiring, where the urgent need to fill a role overshadows the critical importance of hiring the right person for long-term success.
For example, the intake form on our website asks new clients about their hiring timeline. The options range from ‘A few months’ to ‘ASAP’ to ‘Yesterday—Hair on Fire!’
And most of the time, clinic owners check ‘Hair on Fire.’ They’re at a tipping point. Their existing clinicians are overwhelmed. They’re losing patients who don’t want to sit on a waitlist. And they’re realizing that the lack of a hiring plan is limiting their growth and patient care.”
But panic hiring is a costly mistake. Studies show that a bad hire can cost a company:
The real issue isn’t just filling a position—it’s hiring the right person at the right time to support scalable growth.
In a perfect world, every practice would have a proactive hiring strategy—one that aligns with business growth milestones and practice expansion goals. But in reality, most clinic owners don’t have a structured hiring plan in place—some don’t even have a business plan at all.
That’s where MindBody Talent comes in. Our Talent Acquisition Services (TAS) go beyond just filling vacancies. We take a strategic and consultative approach to ensure every hire aligns with the practice’s long-term success.
But hiring alone isn’t enough. This is why we also offer Talent Performance Services (TPS)—helping practices build the business infrastructure, marketing strategies, and operational efficiencies needed to scale successfully.
Strategic hiring starts with asking the right questions. A client may come to us saying, “We need another MD. Right now!” But before we jump into recruitment, we ask:
Because sometimes, hiring another doctor isn’t the right answer. The real issue might be inefficiencies in admin tasks, patient flow, or marketing strategy—which could be solved by hiring an operations manager, a patient care coordinator, or even implementing automation before adding another physician.
The practices that scale successfully don’t just hire reactively, they hire strategically with a plan in place for onboarding, retention, and long-term growth.
The relentless drive that helped you launch and grow your functional medicine practice is an incredible asset. It’s what got you through the long hours, the financial risks, and the challenges of building something from the ground up.
But that same Founder’s Mentality can also become your biggest obstacle to scaling.
Many clinic owners struggle to delegate and let go, convinced that no one else can do things as well as they can. This results in them taking on too much, handling everything from patient care to operations, hiring, marketing, and even administrative tasks… Until they eventually hit a wall.
This is a major barrier to scaling in functional medicine. If the clinic owner is the bottleneck, growth slows, patient care suffers, and burnout becomes inevitable. Scaling requires shifting from “being the business” to “building the business”.
The first step to overcoming Founder’s Syndrome is recognizing that your most valuable asset is your time. Every hour spent on administrative tasks, operations, or even hiring without a clear plan is an hour not spent growing your practice or seeing patients—where your expertise makes the biggest impact.
To successfully scale your clinic without burning out, consider these key strategies:
The most successful functional medicine clinics aren’t just growing by adding more patients or providers—they’re scaling smartly by optimizing operations, hiring strategically, and designing a sustainable model for long-term success.
If you’re finding yourself stretched too thin, it might be time to step back and assess where you can delegate, systematize, and hire more effectively.
In medicine, credentials and certifications matter. But when it comes to hiring non-clinical roles or even clinicians in a specialized setting like functional medicine, an over-reliance on resumes and past experience can be a major growth blocker.
It’s easy to assume that your ideal hire needs years of direct experience in functional medicine, especially for roles like office management, front desk, or patient coordination. But this mindset can significantly shrink your talent pool and cause you to overlook candidates who bring the right skills, mindset, and adaptability.
If you’re struggling to fill a role, ask yourself: Are you looking for a person, or are you looking for a resume?
Many of the most impactful hires in a growing practice come from non-traditional backgrounds—people who have the skills and temperament to thrive in a fast-paced, patient-centered environment, even if they haven’t worked in functional medicine before.
Identifying the right non-traditional candidates takes more than just scanning resumes. It requires deep market knowledge, advanced sourcing strategies, and a proactive approach to talent acquisition.
This is why leading clinics invest in specialized hiring support to ensure they’re reaching the best candidates—not just the ones who apply. At MindBody Talent, we make extensive investments in:
If you broaden your perspective beyond traditional hiring patterns, you may find that your best hires come from unexpected places. Rather than filtering candidates only by industry experience, focus on the skills and qualities that truly matter for success in the role.
Consider:
One of the best examples we’ve seen of this came from a clinic struggling to find the right front desk staff. Their general manager was frustrated and approached us, saying, "We can’t keep good people at the front desk."
Instead of continuing to hire from the usual candidate pool, they considered a completely different skill set—and ended up hiring a 911 operator who had spent 12 years handling high-stakes, high-pressure situations.
She transformed the entire clinic. Her ability to stay calm under pressure, multitask, and manage difficult conversations made her a perfect fit, even though she had never worked in healthcare before.
The takeaway? If you broaden your perspective beyond traditional hiring patterns, you may find that your best hires come from unexpected places.
We can help!
MindBody Talent is laser-focused on recruiting healthcare professionals in the fields of Functional, Integrative, and Personalized Medicine.
Practice-by-practice, clinician-by-clinician, MindBody Talent is transforming health care in collaboration with phenomenal practices and skilled practitioners nationwide.
Tens of thousands of patients have already benefited from these collaborations. Let’s impact yours.
We provide a do-it-all EHR, practice management, and patient portal solution that helps you slash the time spent on administrative tasks, freeing up your time to work ON your business instead of being trapped by tasks IN your business.
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