About this episode
This one is chaos, honesty and a masterclass in how a small clinic becomes a serious force. Emily from LR Podiatry joins Michael for a conversation that swings from musical theatre to burnout to rebuilding a clinic from the ground up. If you’ve ever felt like you’re winging it, drowning, or one bad month away from packing it in, this episode will hit home.
Emily talks openly about walking away from London, moving home, joining her mum’s tiny single-chair practice, and the moment everything fell apart after a website disaster that killed their new-patient flow. Then she explains exactly how they rebuilt LR Podiatry into one of the strongest, most loved clinics in the region.
It’s real. It’s funny. It’s vulnerable. And it’s full of practical lessons clinic owners need to hear.
Show Notes
Emily breaks down:
• Leaving a music career and starting again at 25
• Joining her mum’s tiny podiatry practice and turning it into a thriving city-centre clinic
• How a bad website rebuild wrecked their traffic and almost broke the business
• Why she was in tears on her first call with HMDG
• What changed in the first 3 months that reversed everything
Michael digs into mindset, decision-making, and what actually moves the needle in small clinics:
• The danger of “speculate to accumulate” hiring
• How losing your Google rankings destroys a clinic overnight
• Why personality and brand values matter more than any marketing tactic
• Why family-run clinics often outperform bigger ones
• Where guilt shows up in clinical practice and how to manage it
They go deep on culture and values:
• “Reassuringly informal”: how LR Podiatry build safety and warmth
• Treating patients as family without burning out
• Why no job in the clinic is too small
• Working with parents without losing your sanity
The conversation also covers:
• Community marketing: building real relationships with climbing gyms, Pilates studios, run shops
• How one talk from Jonathan Shearer changed their growth trajectory
• Why TikTok beats Instagram for clinic discovery
• How LR Podiatry built a social presence that actually works
• Why only 5 percent of their patients come from social media and why that’s still a win
Plus:
• The future of AI for small clinics
• Why face-to-face care will never be replaced
• What Emily wishes she’d done earlier
• The real reason clinicians struggle to say no
What You’ll Learn
• How to rebuild a clinic when everything collapses at once
• Why your website can make or break your income
• How to use community partnerships to drive consistent referrals
• What authenticity actually looks like in a healthcare business
• How to manage guilt, boundaries and emotional labour
• Why TikTok is the most underused resource in MSK
• How to grow without losing your humanity
Who This Episode is For
• Clinic owners in crisis
• Pods, physios and chiros who feel isolated
• Small clinics who want to grow without becoming corporate
• Anyone scared to niche or show personality online
• Practitioners trying to build confidence and brand identity
Guest Details
Guest: Emily
Clinic: LR Podiatry
Team: Family-run: Emily, mum Louise, dad Paul
Location: Sheffield City Centre
Specialities: Skin, nail, MSK, gait analysis, gait & motion
