Philippa Kennealy MD MPH CPCC PCC

Physicians are smart, well-trained professionals who are not in the habit of asking for help. They're accustomed to being viewed as the problem-solvers, rather than the seekers of advice or assistance. So why would they consider physician coaching? Here are more than a few good reasons.

It's time to shine a spotlight on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and look at what these new entities might mean for your physician career. I sense the foundations of medical practice as we know it has begun to shift, and the field is wide open for physicians with a creative, entrepreneurial or leadership drive.

In the fourth in a series on medical practice management, I look at how you can grow your business by educating yourself on who are patients are, where they're likely to come from, what types of health plans they're enrolled in and how to cater your practice to attract more business from the biggest employers in your area.

Physician marketing sucks! At least, that's what my clients and other physicians tell me repeatedly. I take that to mean one of two things: Either having to market as a physician business owner is a very distasteful activity, or the marketing skills of a physician business owners are severely lacking. Or both. The secret ingredient of successful marketing is education -- educating yourself and educating the right prospective clients or patients. And physicians are natural educators.

I had the privilege of receiving a galley copy of "The Color of Atmosphere: One Doctor's Journey In and Out of Medicine" prior to publication and had originally planned to "skim read" the chapters and write a review. Instead, from the first chapter, I was hooked. To all tired and frustrated physicians struggling to make sense of your life and work, I recommend this book. It will let you know that you are not alone, and validate your disillusioned observations about the problems within the U.S. healthcare system.

In keeping with our theme of enhancements to your medical practice, it's time to talk people. Your people! You may be the smartest doctor in the city, or have the best bedside manner, but all your efforts to build a great medical practice will flop in the face of an uncaring or rude staff.

From time to time, I experience a deep hankering in my heart. Sometimes it is a yearning for Africa, sometimes I long for a simpler life; most often it's an almost nameless desire to be living a life "on fire with purpose." As a physician business coach, I can only hope to create a ripple effect through my clients, as they increase their contributions to their communities, and sometimes the world.

Part-maverick, part-unconventional, part-smart business owner Sir Richard Branson has business lessons to share in spades. Since I recently read his third autobiographical book "Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur," I wanted to pass on some lessons for physician business owners that I learned from the book.

Last week, I began a two-part analysis with "10 questions to answer about your medical practice," as a business. Now let's focus on your medical-practice governance -- the setting of policy and strategy for a group practice -- which is boring, but essential to clarify. Here are some excellent tools that can help.

Through this short series I've called, "10 Questions to Take the Pulse of Your Medical Practice" and see if I can get you enthused about what you have already accomplished, and still plan to do, with your medical practice. I invite you to reflect on your responses, either alone or with your partners, as a way to revisit your work as a physician and your medical practice in the freshest way.

I love discovering entrepreneurial physicians who are doing something different, and having fun with their efforts. Author of the blog "ZDoggMD: Slightly Funnier Than Placebo," Zubin Damania MD is a rapper-hospitalist in Northern California with roots in music and stand-up comedy. In the mood for a chuckle? Check out his latest video.

At some stage in its "business life cycle," every medical practice or physician-owned business starts to spin its wheels, either because the patients or clients are showing dissatisfaction, or there's way too much business and things are bogging down. Here's how get back on track.

I'm a huge proponent for executing a consistent marketing plan, but I've been a poor example recently! So now I'm recommitting myself to one part of my marketing plan that has proved to be extremely effective for my business over the past four to five years: Blogging.

Once in a while, I receive an email from a colleague that is such a gem that I am compelled to share it with you, with the permission of the email's author. In this case, it's a physician business owner who found success in his business by way of the most critical element to consistent growth: Embrace marketing.

A reader recently reached out to me for help in finding quality, on-site managerial help, after dealing with a couple of duds. Hiring the right people for your medical practice or physician business is critical to success, and also one of the most difficult things to do. Here are nine tips for getting your hiring right.

To my chagrin, I realized I dropped the ball completing my article series based on Bill Murphy Jr.'s "The Intelligent Entrepreneur" (subtitled "How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship"). Time to get back to business! Rule No. 4 reminds us that our success depends on other people -- you can't do it alone.

Medical practices are facing momentous decisions -- to join the en masse migration to become part of larger groups or corporate entities, or to remain a stand-alone small businesses. For those who choose to "fly solo," the only way you'll succeed is through intentional planning and mastering the skill of medical-practice marketing.

Like most growing businesses, mine reached a breaking point -- it was becoming a pain in the neck! I recognized the need to add support, and so a few weeks ago I added an online business manager. Here are the secrets I've learned from reaching this critical juncture in the growth of my entrepreneurial physician business.

The Entrepreneurial MD's December newsletter is out, and in it I tackle the issue of physicians creativity. I address what it means to "let go," because it is only by the inner act of letting go that one can truly engage in the outer act of creating. So here's your challenge for 2011: Figure out what you need to let go ... and then do it.

Physicians in solo or small practices face a major fork in the road: Either you will seek a "Sugar Daddy" to buy or take over your practice, or you will go it alone and eschew any payment other than cash or plastic. This has the makings of a Morton's fork dilemma for those who just want to be left alone to practice medicine.

Take a minute today and scan your life -- all of it. Your work, your family, your friends, your home, yourself. What do you see there that you are deeply grateful for? I reflected on my life and realized I have so much to appreciate. While I'll keep the really personal stuff to myself, may I share with you why I am so thankful to be an entrepreneurial physician?

The "danger zone" for physician burnout looms when work begins to become overwhelming, menial, tedious, exhausting, boring and/or highly supervised. I look at the issue of career burnout, and offer three essential "dos" and "don'ts" to help you find happiness on the job.

A quick search of studies on physician job satisfaction came up with very little research covering U.S. docs. Maybe there's much less physician job dissatisfaction here than the blogs, the media and my selective conversations with doctors would lead us to believe. Or perhaps, no one but we physicians care.

One of the biggest mistakes a new physician entrepreneur makes is to get all gung-ho about an idea for a service or gizmo. The more you fall in love with your own business idea, the greater your challenge will be to succeed. Instead, increase your odds of success by focusing on finding a problem that demands solving, and then try to solve it.

In an earlier blog I promised to flesh out, in five parts, the 10 rules of successful entrepreneurship from the book, "The Intelligent Entrepreneur" by Bill Murphy Jr. I've changed my mind a little -- I'm going to devote one post to each rule, as there is such good, juicy stuff to share.

Any medical practice without a website in the 21st century is like a rotary-phone clunker in the era of sleek smartphones. Without a website for your practice, you're leaving money on the table and serving fewer patients than you could be if you were doing it right. Here's how.

Bill Murphy Jr.'s new book, "The Intelligent Entrepreneur," details the experiences -- warts and all -- of three Harvard Business School grads who went on to become successful entrepreneurs. The underlying lesson of this book is encouraging for aspiring physician business owners: Entrepreneurship can be learned.

Up until now, we've been saying, "If you don't have a website, your business or practice doesn't really exist." The new mantra is going to be, "If you don't have a Facebook Page, your business or practice doesn't really exist."

A terrific little animated video from the Kaiser Family Foundation explains in layman's terms just what's in store for Americans under Healthcare Reform. The video also doesn't shy away from highlighting the vociferous opinions of the naysayers and yaysayers.

What does it take to go from a doctor in a full-time medical practice to a physician in a non-clinical role? Focusing on your "disruptive skills," or distinctive innate talents, can help guide your career choice and ease the transition.