Stop Building Someone Else's Practice.
Start Building Yours.
A proven framework for physicians and providers ready to leave institutional employment — and build a thriving, independent practice on their own terms.
The Institution Was Never Designed to Serve You
"The system optimizes for throughput. You optimized for patients. That's the conflict — and it doesn't go away."
Physicians trained for years to master medicine — not to navigate RVU targets, productivity dashboards, and C-suite mandates. Yet that's the daily reality for the majority of providers employed by health systems today.
Independent practice is not a retreat from medicine. It's a return to the reason most physicians entered medicine in the first place: to practice on their own terms, build lasting relationships with patients, and control the ceiling on what they earn.
StartMyPractice was built by a physician who has opened five practices across family medicine, urgent care, and functional medicine — and documented every decision, mistake, and breakthrough along the way.
What's driving physicians out
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Shrinking autonomy More oversight, more documentation, less time actually with patients.
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Compensation ceiling No matter how hard you work, the ceiling is set by someone else's spreadsheet.
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Burnout without recourse The system's answer to burnout is usually another productivity initiative.
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Non-compete constraints Even leaving feels risky when your employment agreement was written by their attorneys.
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No blueprint to follow Medical school teaches medicine. Nobody teaches you how to run a business.
From Institution to Independence
A 12-module framework covering everything from the initial decision to launch day — legal structure, licensing, patient acquisition, operations, and building revenue that doesn't require you to see more patients.
- Should you make the leap?
- Choosing your patient base
- Site selection & market fit
- Legal structure & licensing
- Insurance & credentialing
- Practice operations setup
- Revenue beyond time-for-money
- Hiring your first team
- Marketing that actually works
- Avoiding the 10 worst mistakes
- Concierge & hybrid models
- Long-term growth planning
Be First to Know When Enrollment Opens
Join the waitlist and receive a free preview module — plus early-bird pricing when the course launches. No spam, ever.
A Complete Blueprint, Not a Series of Tips
Each module builds on the last — from deciding if private practice is right for you all the way through long-term sustainability.
The Great Decision
Assess your readiness honestly. Understand the financial, personal, and professional factors before committing — with a decision framework you can actually use.
Defining Your Patient
Who do you want to serve? Specialty focus, patient demographics, and practice philosophy — choosing your niche is the single highest-leverage decision you'll make.
Location & Market Analysis
Site selection, competition mapping, demographic research, and lease negotiation basics. Where you plant your flag shapes everything that follows.
Legal Structure & Licensing
Entity selection (LLC, PC, PLLC), state licensing, DEA registration, CLIA certification, and the sequence that minimizes costly delays.
Insurance & Credentialing
Payer credentialing timelines, negotiating fee schedules, malpractice coverage, and the decision to go direct-pay or hybrid — with real numbers.
Practice Operations
EHR selection, billing setup, scheduling systems, compliance basics, and building workflows that support growth instead of creating bottlenecks.
Revenue Beyond Time
Concierge models, ancillary services, digital products, group programs, and consulting — building income that doesn't require adding appointments.
Hiring & Team Building
Your first hire, onboarding, compensation structures, and creating a team culture that reduces your involvement instead of increasing it.
Marketing That Works
Referral networks, community presence, digital presence, and patient retention — without a large budget or becoming a full-time content creator.
Built by Someone Who Has Actually Done It
Stephen Smith has spent more than two decades studying, building, and teaching the operational side of independent medical practice. Over that time, he has opened five practices — spanning urgent care, family medicine, and functional medicine — navigating every layer of complexity that comes with building a physician-owned business from the ground up.
His focus is on the systems and frameworks that make practices viable long-term: how to structure a business so it doesn't collapse when the physician steps away, how to build revenue that isn't purely dependent on patient volume, and how to design an environment where physicians can actually practice the medicine they were trained for.
StartMyPractice distills that experience into a practical, step-by-step framework — built for the physician who is serious about independence, and who wants a real roadmap rather than generic business advice.
The People Behind the Work
