# How Smart Practices Grow During Uncertain Times — Catherine Maley, MBA (Ep. 350)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/beauty-and-the-biz-581032/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/beauty-and-the-biz-581032/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350.md
Podcast: [Beauty and the Biz](https://stenobird.com/podcast/beauty-and-the-biz-581032)
Published: 2026-02-20T06:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.catherinemaley.com/podcast/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350/
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catherinemaley/How_Smart_Practices_Grow_During_Uncertain_Times__Catherine_Maley_MBA_Ep._350.mp3?dest-id=1247585
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/beauty-and-the-biz-581032/episodes/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350
Duration seconds: 841

## Resource

📅 Schedule Your Practice Growth Strategy Review ⚙️ Restart your practice in 7 days ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Catherine Maley, MBA, with nearly 30 years in helping cosmetic surgeons and their staff, explains how smart practices grow during uncertain times. Hello, and welcome to "Beauty and the Biz," where we'll discuss the business and marketing side of plastic surgery. As always, I'm your host, Catherine Maley, author of "Your Aesthetic Practice – What Your Patients Are Saying." and consultant to plastic surgeons, helping them get more patients and more profits. How Smart Practices Grow During Uncertain Times Currently, something subtle is happening in aesthetic practices. Specifically, it isn't dramatic. Instead, it is quieter than that. Increasingly, consultations are taking longer. Meanwhile, patients are asking more questions. Consequently, decisions are slowing down. Similarly, negotiations are becoming sharper. Even so, affluent patients — those who clearly have the money — are hesitating. Importantly, this hesitation isn't about affordability. Rather, uncertainty delays commitment. Unfortunately, this is where many practices make a mistake. Typically, when they sense hesitation, they tighten operations. For example, they cut marketing. Additionally, they freeze hiring. Likewise, they reduce training. Eventually, they negotiate fees. As a result, profit margins erode. In reality, expense cutting doesn't create growth. Instead, it usually slows decline. By contrast, resilient practices take a different approach. Rather than asking, "Where can we cut?" they ask, "Where are we underperforming?" Often, the answers are operational. For instance, missed calls reduce opportunity. Similarly, lost consult conversions weaken revenue. Likewise, weak follow-up limits growth. Additionally, dorm…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/beauty-and-the-biz-581032/episodes/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/beauty-and-the-biz-581032/how-smart-practices-grow-during-uncertain-times-catherine-maley-mba-ep-350.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.