The Life of a Practice Manager

02/02/2026

This morning I pulled into the practice car park…

Turned the engine off.

Looked at the building.

And genuinely thought:

“What if I just… don’t?”

Like not sick.
Not annual leave.
Not dramatic.

Just quietly reverse the car
and disappear into the sunrise like a retired cowboy.

No staff dramas.
No doctor “quick chats.”
No patients yelling about fees.
No compliance emails.
No 47 unread “URGENT” messages that are absolutely not urgent.

Just me.
Driving off.
Starting a new life somewhere as a barista with zero responsibility.

Because tell me why being a Practice Manager feels like:

• therapist
• accountant
• HR
• IT
• complaint department
• punching bag
• and emotional support human

All before 9:12am.

And somehow…

When anything goes wrong?

“Where’s the PM?”

Oh I don’t know ….. probably under the desk questioning her life choices.

Some days the burnout hits so hard you don’t need a holiday.

You need a personality transplant and a small island.

But here’s the toxic trait…

We still walk in.

Unlock the doors.
Smile at everyone.
Fix everything.
Save the day.

Like absolute clowns with leadership skills

Because apparently we care too much.

So if you’ve ever sat in your car thinking:

“If I drive away right now they’ll figure it out… right??”

Congratulations.

You’re a real Practice Manager.

Drop a 🚗 if you’ve had a “drive away and start a new life” moment this year.

Misery loves company 😂

Join us ⬇️

https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

A supportive space for practice managers and healthcare leaders to get tools, clarity, confidence, and real-world support.

30/01/2026

I don’t care what the research says.
Healthcare people know.

Full moon = chaos.

Every. Single. Time.

More walk-ins.
More “urgent” scripts at 4:59pm.
More patients crying at the desk.
More doctors running late.
More staff snapping.
More “the system just crashed” energy.

And somehow…

• 3 staff call in sick
• Medicare rejects everything
• The printer dies
• And someone wants FIVE referrals for the same issue

All before lunch.

Science says there’s “no correlation.”

Cool.

Explain why every Practice Manager in Australia quietly checks the moon calendar when the day goes feral.

We don’t need astrology.

We have lived experience.

If you work in healthcare and today feels cursed…

Just look up 🌕

It’s probably glowing at you.

Tell me I’m wrong.

27/01/2026

If Practice Managers vanished for 48 hours, most clinics wouldn’t just struggle. They’d descend into absolute chaos.

No Medicare claims.
No rosters.
No idea who’s working.
No idea how much money is coming in.
No idea why the internet is down.
No idea why everyone is angry.

Just vibes. And panic. And doctors asking,
“Can you just fix it?”

We are:

• The human firewall
• The emotional punching bag
• The walking policy manual
• The crisis containment unit
• The reason the doors are still open

We stop:
• Staff wars
• Doctor wars
• Patient wars
• And occasionally actual legal disasters

And yet somehow we’re still:
“Just admin.”
“Overhead.”
“Not clinical.”

Let’s be honest:

A scary number of practices are one Practice Manager resignation away from absolute operational collapse.

👀 Your turn:

👉 What’s the ONE thing that would immediately catch fire if you took a week off?

And if you’re a PM who’s tired of holding everything together alone…

👉 Come join us inside the Life of a Practice Manager Skool community.
Real PMs. Real systems. Real talk. No corporate fluff.

https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

A supportive space for practice managers and healthcare leaders to get tools, clarity, confidence, and real-world support.

25/01/2026

In 36 hours, I’m posting one of the wildest PM Real Stories yet.

The kind of staff member who:
• plays everyone against each other
• poisons the culture
• steals money
• and somehow keeps management on their side

This story nearly destroyed a whole practice.

And yes — it’s 100% real.

🔥 Full story drops in Skool.

If you’re not in there, you won’t see it:

👉 https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

21/01/2026

Some days in general practice don’t end when you go home.

Some days in practice management don’t just exhaust you.
They sit in your chest.
They follow you home.
They steal your sleep.

You carry:
• patients
• staff
• doctors
• complaints
• systems
• pressure
• responsibility
• and everyone else’s emotions

And no one teaches you what to do with that load.

So I built something different inside The Life of a Practice Manager.

Not a course.
Not theory.
A real support space for when the day is too heavy.

Inside the new “Before You Burn Out” section you’ll find things like:

🫁 3-Minute Reset Between Appointments
🧠 How to Discharge a Bad Interaction
📱 The Bad Day Protocol
🪑 Grounding After Conflict or Aggression
🛑 How to Stop Taking Work Home in Your Head

This is nervous-system first aid for Practice Managers.

If you’ve ever:
• cried in your car
• gone home exhausted but wired
• felt emotionally full but still had to keep going
• or thought “I can’t keep doing this forever like this”

This space is for you.

Join us today!

https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

20/01/2026

Real PM Stories — #2

Thrown Under the Bus

(Shared anonymously, posted with permission)

I knew something was wrong the moment I walked into the meeting room.

No small talk. No “how’s your morning?” No eye contact. The room felt rehearsed.

They started with words like culture, alignment, communication. Long sentences that meant nothing and everything at the same time.

Then someone said:

“There have been some concerns raised by staff.”

My stomach dropped.

For more Real PM Stories (and the full versions), join us here:
https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

This is where Practice Managers share the stories we don’t usually say out loud.

A supportive space for practice managers and healthcare leaders to get tools, clarity, confidence, and real-world support.

13/01/2026

I genuinely love my job.

I love healthcare.
I love my team.
I love the patients.
I love building something that matters.

But some days… the hardest part is simply keeping a smile on your face.

Not because you don’t care.
Not because you’re ungrateful.
Not because you want to be anywhere else.

But because being a Practice Manager means you carry everyone else’s weight before you’re allowed to feel your own.

You hold the calm when things are falling apart.
You absorb frustration that isn’t personal.
You protect your staff.
You support your doctors.
You solve problems no one ever sees.
You make tough calls.
You keep the wheels turning.

And then you straighten your shoulders… and smile.

Some days it’s easy.
Some days it takes everything you’ve got.

Loving what you do doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy.
It just means you care enough to keep showing up anyway.

If you’re a Practice Manager and today felt a bit harder than usual
you’re not weak.
You’re human.
And you’re doing important work.

👉 Join our growing Practice Manager community — workbooks, templates, real support, and real conversations:
https://www.skool.com/the-life-of-a-practice-manager-8877/about?ref=6723555814e8454cb3453fbcfbd1bd8a

👉 Follow me for more real stories, practical tools, and behind-the-scenes life in general practice.

You don’t have to carry it alone.

A supportive space for practice managers and healthcare leaders to get tools, clarity, confidence, and real-world support.

02/01/2026

Practice Managers — this one’s for you 👇

If you’re the person holding the clinic together…
Answering everything. Fixing everything. Managing everyone.
While still being expected to lead, comply, support, and stay calm…

I’ve built something for you.

✨ The Life of a Practice Manager — on Skool ✨
A dedicated community created by a Practice Manager, for Practice Managers.

Here’s what you’ll get inside:

❤️ Practical training for real general practice life — operations, HR, billing, compliance, leadership
❤️ Templates & tools you can actually use (not theory, not fluff)
❤️ Weekly guidance & discussions on the issues that land on your desk every day
❤️ Peer support from people who truly get the pressure of this role
❤️ Real talk — boundaries, burnout, systems, confidence, and control

🔥 Ask questions
🔥 Learn from real scenarios
🔥 Stop Googling and second-guessing
🔥 Feel supported, not isolated

This is for Practice Managers who want clarity, confidence, and control — not chaos.

👉 Join us here:

A supportive space for practice managers and healthcare leaders to get tools, clarity, confidence, and real-world support.

27/12/2025

This might be hard to hear but some Practice Managers need it said.

You are a Practice Manager.
Not a punching bag.
Not an emotional dumping ground.
Not the person who sacrifices their health to keep everyone else comfortable.

Yes — you care.
Yes — you love your job.
Yes — you’re committed, loyal, and you show up every single day.

But when your role starts making you anxious, exhausted, sick, or broken…
That’s not dedication.
That’s burnout wearing a “strong work ethic” mask.

Caring too much does not make you a better Practice Manager.
It just makes you easier to exploit.

Boundaries are not selfish.
Boundaries are survival.

You can still care deeply.
You can still do your job brilliantly.
But if you don’t protect yourself no one else will.

And guess who gets hurt in the end?

You.

Let this be the year Practice Managers stop bleeding for roles that would replace them in a heartbeat.

Care.
Lead.
But stop destroying yourself in the process.

23/12/2025

🎄 To Every Practice Manager Reading This 🎄

If this year stretched you in ways you didn’t expect.
If you carried the weight quietly.
If you held everyone else together while feeling like you were unravelling yourself…
This is for you.

You showed up when it was hard.
You stayed calm in chaos.
You solved problems no one saw.
You carried practices, people, systems, emotions often without thanks.

And even when you were exhausted…
you still cared.

This Christmas, I hope you give yourself permission to rest without guilt.
To laugh.
To cry.
To switch off.
To be present.
To remember that you are more than your role.

The practice will wait.
January will come.
But you matter now.

Thank you for the messages.
Thank you for the support.
Thank you for the honesty, the vulnerability, the community.
Thank you for showing up here and for each other.

Wishing every single one of you a beautiful Christmas, a peaceful break, and a New Year filled with boundaries, strength, and moments just for you.

You are seen.
You are valued.
You are never alone.

🎄 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 🎄
From the bottom of my heart 🤍






✨

11/12/2025

General Practice doesn’t run on Medicare rebates… it runs on Practice Managers.

There, I said it.
And the PMs reading this know exactly what I mean.

Because while the world thinks we “book appointments and answer phones”… we’re actually:
🫣putting out fires nobody else even saw
🫣protecting our doctors from burnout
🫣holding the business together with systems, spreadsheets and sheer emotional stamina
🫣training, mentoring, correcting, guiding
🫣making sure the lights stay on, the bills get paid, the audits get passed, and the complaints get handled
🫣and still smiling at the front desk like everything is fine 💀✨

Some days you’re HR.
Some days you’re IT.
Some days you’re finance, crisis negotiator, counsellor, cleaner, mathematician, receptionist, strategist…
And sometimes, all before 10am.

Here’s the twist:

Most of what Practice Managers do is invisible.
But the impact? Massive.
Clinics don’t thrive without a strong PM. Full stop.

If you’re a Practice Manager reading this:

You are not “just admin”.
You are not “replaceable”.
You are the engine, the backbone, the quiet leader making healthcare work.

And in 2026, I want to see more PMs:
💪 paid properly
💪 respected publicly
💪 trained, supported and valued like the leaders they are.

If you agree drop a 💪 in the comments.
Let’s make this message impossible to ignore.