EP. 310 You Are the Asset: Why Practice Owners Can’t Skip This

I talk to women running hands-on practices every day, and I keep seeing how much their ability to work, lead clients, and sustain their businesses depends on how they feel. For many women in their 40s and beyond, changes in energy, focus, stress tolerance, sleep, and metabolism can easily get blamed on having a busy life or running a demanding practice.

That’s one reason I wanted to have Emily Sadri on the podcast. Emily is a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner, certified nurse midwife, and founder of Aurelia Health, where she works with women navigating perimenopause and menopause. She explained that hormonal changes can begin affecting multiple systems in the body even while a woman is still having a regular cycle.

For a practice owner, I think this conversation goes beyond hormones. If you run a hands-on business, you are the asset. I know how much I can get done on a day when I feel good and how different that same workload feels when I don’t. We can work on our business skills, systems, and plans, but we also need to pay attention to the person responsible for carrying all of them out.

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Why Do Practice Owners Need to Think of Themselves as an Asset?

Practice owners need to think of themselves as an asset because their ability to function directly affects their capacity to run the business and serve their clients.

I know this from looking at my own workdays. There are days when I feel good and I’m amazed by how much I can get done. Then there are days when the same work feels much harder. If I’m not functioning well, there are things in the business that don’t get done and people I may not have the same capacity to help.

Emily pointed out that many women are building businesses during the same stage of life when their hormones may be changing significantly. We can work on our business skills, systems, technology, and everything else that supports the practice, but we can’t leave ourselves out of that equation. When you’re the person running the practice, taking care of your ability to function is part of taking care of the business.

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Could Hormonal Changes Be Affecting How You Run Your Practice?

Hormonal changes can affect how you run your practice because perimenopause may show up through changes in metabolism, sleep, mood, stress tolerance, and cognition before you notice changes in your menstrual cycle.

Emily explained that some of the early signs she sees include increased belly fat, changes in how the body responds to diet and exercise, anxiety, insomnia, reduced stress tolerance, and difficulty focusing or multitasking. Those symptoms can be easy to explain away. You run a business. You have a family. You’re busy. Of course you’re tired or having a harder time handling everything you used to handle.

One point Emily emphasized is that having a regular period doesn’t necessarily mean your hormones haven’t started changing. She explained that hormone patterns can change during perimenopause even when someone continues bleeding on a predictable schedule. That’s why I want practice owners to consider what else could be happening when their ability to work and manage their business starts feeling different.

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Why Does Emily Take a “Hormones First” Approach?

Emily takes a “hormones first” approach because she believes women’s health in perimenopause cannot be fully understood without considering how changing hormone patterns affect multiple systems in the body.

Emily came to this approach through her work as a midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner. After starting her own practice, she began working primarily with women in their 40s and found that some of the functional and integrative medicine approaches she had learned were falling short. She started looking more closely at hormone patterns, testing, and the changes her patients were experiencing during perimenopause.

What she found changed how she approached care. Rather than looking at metabolism, cognition, mood, bone health, and other concerns as completely separate issues, Emily looks at how hormones may be connected to the larger picture. Her goal is not simply to address individual symptoms. She wants to understand what is happening across the body so women have more information about what they’re experiencing and can make informed decisions about their care.

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What Does Better Health Support Look Like for a Busy Practice Owner?

Better health support gives a busy practice owner a clear plan and an ongoing relationship with providers who understand the broader picture of her health.

One thing Emily said that stood out to me was that the most important aspect of care is the relationship. In her practice, that means longer visits, comprehensive lab testing, and ongoing access to a care team rather than looking at one symptom at a time. Her approach considers hormones alongside areas such as thyroid function, metabolism, micronutrients, nutrition, and other factors that may be affecting how a woman feels.

As a business owner, I can appreciate the value of having someone help you understand the whole picture. I can see places in my own healthcare where I’m piecing things together myself, even though I have a practitioner I trust. When you already spend your days taking care of clients and making decisions for your business, having a provider who knows your history and can help you understand the next steps can remove some of that work from your plate.

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What Changes When You Start Treating Yourself Like the Asset?

Treating yourself like the asset changes how you think about your health because supporting your ability to function becomes part of supporting the business you’re building.

Emily and I talked about how easy it is to focus on everything outside of ourselves. We can improve our business skills, systems, technology, and processes, but the person responsible for using all of those things still matters. Emily sees many women building businesses in midlife while also experiencing changes in stress tolerance, cognition, metabolism, sleep, and other areas that can affect their daily capacity.

I don’t believe building a successful practice and making more money has to come at the expense of your health. If you’re the person serving clients, making decisions, and running the business, your health deserves your attention too. You can invest in the skills that help you build a fully booked practice while also getting the support you need to take care of the person who is building it.

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Connect with Emily Sadri

Emily Sadri is a Board Certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Certified Nurse Midwife, and hormone expert who founded Aurelia Health, a modern concierge telehealth company that serves women navigating perimenopause and menopause. Emily’s areas of expertise include metabolic health, precision hormone care, and longevity medicine. She resides in the Midwest with her husband, four children, and two dogs.

Aurelia Health: aureliahealth.com
Emily Sadri: emilysadri.com
Instagram: @EmilySadri_NP

Special Offer: Use code HAMMELL100 to save $100 off an initial visit with Aurelia Health.

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Ready to Get Fully Booked?

The Get Fully Booked Challenge is coming November 9th through the 13th, and we’re spending five days working on how you run your hands-on business.

I’ll walk you through a clear path toward keeping your calendar booked, leading your clients with confidence, and making real money doing the work you love. If you’re building a practice, close to starting one, or already booked and ready to build something stronger, this challenge is for you.

Block off November 9th through the 13th on your calendar and make sure you’re on my email list at https://themfrcoach.com/mailing-list  so you’ll be the first to know when it’s time to grab your seat.

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