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Would you buy a healthcare practice if you weren’t a clinician, had no business experience and lived more than 1,000 miles away?
That’s exactly what Gwen Claussen did.
Gwen’s connection to pediatric occupational and speech therapy began when her premature son struggled with significant developmental and health challenges. After occupational therapy helped change the trajectory of his life, Gwen eventually began working at the clinic that had helped her family.
Years later, when the owner wanted to retire, Gwen made an unlikely decision:
She bought the practice herself.
She wasn’t an occupational therapist. She wasn’t a speech therapist. She didn’t have a background in business. And when she took ownership, she was living in Georgia while the practice was in Michigan.
Since then, Gwen has grown the team from roughly 9 employees to around 37, nearly quadrupled revenue and opened a second location.
In this episode of the Financial Beast Podcast, Gwen explains how she figured it out.
You’ll discover:
- Why Gwen bought a healthcare practice without being a clinician
- The deeply personal experience that introduced her to occupational therapy
- How she ran a Michigan practice while living more than 1,000 miles away
- Why building the right team made remote ownership possible
- What terrified her immediately after signing the purchase paperwork
- Why her first financial priority was making sure she could always cover payroll
- How she learned business ownership from scratch
- Why she became a student of other successful therapy practice owners
- How the business grew from roughly 9 employees to around 37
- How she nearly quadrupled revenue
- How she opened a second location using the practice’s cash flow
- Why she’s changing the way she thinks about productivity and leadership
- How keeping cash available gave her the ability to move faster
- Why she’s learning to build personal wealth outside the practice
- How she thinks about eventually transitioning the business to someone else
Gwen’s story demonstrates that successful practice ownership isn’t always about starting with all the right credentials or knowing exactly what you’re doing.
Sometimes it’s about being willing to learn what you don’t know, surround yourself with the right people, take calculated risks and keep adapting as the business grows.
🎙️ Subscribe to the Financial Beast Podcast for financial strategies, practice growth insights, exit planning and personal wealth-building strategies designed specifically for healthcare practice owners.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Buying a Healthcare Practice With No Experience
03:30 How Occupational Therapy Changed Her Family
05:21 Why She Bought the Practice
06:19 Learning Business Ownership From Scratch
07:12 Running a Practice From 1,000 Miles Away
08:16 The Fear of Making Payroll
10:09 Growing From 9 to 37 Employees
11:32 Learning How to Scale a Therapy Practice
13:36 Leadership Lessons From Practice Ownership
16:01 Nearly 4Xing Revenue and Opening Location #2
18:09 How Her Relationship With Money Changed
22:52 Why Cash Gives Practice Owners More Options
24:42 Making Better Financial Decisions
27:10 Reinventing Yourself as an Entrepreneur
29:22 Planning the Future Exit
32:09 Why Entrepreneurs Have to Keep Trying
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