If you’re a group practice owner, I’m willing to bet you’ve said it—or at least thought it: “my business is my baby.” And I understand why. You’ve poured time, energy, and heart into building a practice that reflects your values, supports your team, and serves your clients.

But here’s the thing: calling your business your baby can actually hold you back. It creates an emotional attachment that clouds your judgment, stifles growth, and leads to unnecessary stress. For group practice owners who want to grow a thriving, sustainable practice, this mindset can be dangerous.

A Baby Needs to Be Served. Your Business Needs to Serve You

Group Practice Owner Calling Their Business a Baby

Think about what a baby requires: constant attention, care, and adaptation. Babies dictate schedules. You feed them when they’re hungry, comfort them when they cry, and adjust your entire day around their needs.

Your business? It should work the opposite way. Your business exists to serve you—your goals, your vision, and your life. Treating it like a baby flips the relationship: suddenly, you’re in service to the business, reacting to daily crises instead of guiding its growth with purpose.

This mindset can make every setback feel personal. A therapist leaves, and it feels like rejection. A revenue dip? That’s a failure of your leadership. A marketing initiative fails? You wonder if you’re not good enough.

Entrepreneur Marang Marekimane explains that calling your business your baby often creates “overprotective energy” that suffocates growth and innovation^1. Emotional attachment leads to stress, poor decision-making, and micromanagement—all of which prevent a group practice from scaling successfully.

How Emotional Attachment Affects Group Practice Owners

When you see your business as a baby, every challenge feels deeply personal. For group practice owners, this often looks like:

Micromanaging therapists or staff. Because you feel the need to “hold their hand,” your team’s creativity and ownership are stifled.
Avoiding difficult conversations. You postpone tough discussions about performance, boundaries, or alignment with company values because it feels emotionally risky.
Burnout. Constantly serving the business leaves no room for strategy, reflection, or self-care.

Gino Wickman, author of Traction, stresses that emotional attachment keeps your business dependent on you^2. If your practice cannot function independently, it will never reach its full potential, and you will remain trapped in the day-to-day operations.

The “Baby” Mindset Blocks Growth

Stop being the bottleneck and lead your team

Seeing your business as a baby doesn’t just affect your emotional well-being—it actively limits your business growth. Here’s how:

You become the bottleneck. Everything must go through you, which slows decision-making and prevents your team from stepping into leadership roles.
Accountability suffers. When emotionally attached, you may avoid firing a therapist who isn’t a good fit or ignore critical performance issues.
Necessary evolution stalls. You resist changes that feel uncomfortable, like adjusting strategy, managing expenses, or pivoting services.
Exiting becomes impossible. Emotional attachment makes selling or transitioning your practice feel like losing a child rather than a strategic business move.

If your practice is your baby, it will likely never grow up. You’ll remain the sole life force keeping it alive, instead of cultivating a self-sustaining, thriving business.

Shifting Your Mindset: Treat Your Business as an Asset

So, what’s the alternative? Stop mothering your business and start leading it. See your business as an asset—a living entity that you’ve created, nurtured, and now guide strategically.

This shift transforms how you interact with your business:

Strategic oversight. You step back and make data-driven decisions that benefit long-term growth.
Detachment becomes possible. Delegating tasks, hiring new team members, or even selling the practice doesn’t feel threatening.
Empowered teams. When your team is trusted to make decisions and take ownership, your practice can innovate and scale.

Think of it like teaching a child life skills. Your job is to equip your business with systems, people, and processes so it can operate independently. You’re no longer a parent constantly on call—you’re a CEO guiding growth.

Real-Life Group Practice Scenarios

Imagine a therapist leaves your practice. If your business is your baby, you might spiral into feelings of rejection or doubt. But if you see your business as an asset, you ask practical questions: How do I fill this role efficiently? How can I prevent this in the future? How does this affect our growth strategy?

Or consider a new program that doesn’t succeed. Instead of taking it personally, you assess the data, review what worked, and pivot. The focus shifts from emotional reaction to strategic leadership.

These scenarios are everyday realities for Canadian group practice owners, and they highlight why adopting a business mindset—rather than a parental one—is essential for sustainable growth.

Actionable Steps to Stop Treating Your Business Like a Baby

Define your leadership role. Focus on vision, strategy, and growth. Delegate operational tasks to your team.
Invest in your team. Provide training, mentorship, and clear expectations so they can take ownership of their work.
Use metrics and KPIs. Track performance and let objective data guide decisions rather than emotions.
Plan for the future. Create succession plans, document processes, and structure the practice to operate without your constant involvement.

By taking these steps, you shift from being a caretaker to a strategic leader—someone who sets direction, empowers the team, and positions the practice for long-term success.

The Benefits of This Mindset Shift

When you stop treating your business like a baby, you gain:

Freedom and flexibility. You reclaim your time and energy for strategic thinking, creativity, and personal life.
Better decision-making. Data-driven choices replace emotional reactions.
Team growth and innovation. When your staff feels empowered, the practice benefits from their creativity and leadership.
Sustainable practice growth. Your business can scale beyond your personal capacity.

Your business is a tool—a powerful, living asset. When you treat it strategically rather than emotionally, you give yourself the freedom to grow as a leader and build a practice that truly serves you.

Final Thoughts

Your business is not your baby. It’s a creation, yes, but it exists to serve your goals, not dictate your life. By shifting your mindset from caretaker to CEO, you can:

Reduce stress and burnout
Lead with clarity and confidence
Empower your team to thrive
Build a group practice that can succeed with or without you

Step into your leadership role fully. Let go of the “baby” mindset. Equip your business to stand on its own. And watch both your practice—and yourself—grow into something truly remarkable.

Footnotes / References:

Marang Marekimane, Why You Should Stop Calling Your Business “Your Baby” (July 2024).
Gino Wickman, Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business.
Kareen, Please Please Please Stop Calling Your Business Your Baby (July 2024).

Why You Should Stop Calling Your Business “Your Baby”