Amanda Tracy

Dr. Amanda Tracy has enjoyed being a licensed Naturopathic Doctor (ND) since 2005. She helped build an award-winning wellness center in Massachusetts and in 2021, took the opportunity to relocate to Northern California wine country and transition her practice online.

She loves helping patients with various health challenges however, her unique knowledge and passion flourishes working with women who feel their bodies are in chaos because of hormone imbalances, sleep issues, stress or anxiety. Her current practice is focused in these areas, guiding women over 40 to navigate hormone changes with ease to fully enjoy how they look and feel – in both her one-on-one sessions and group programs. Her SOLVE Your Perimenopause Puzzle™ program teaches women to recognize the symptoms of hormonal changes, how to balance hormones naturally before and after menopause and how to thrive with more energy, deeper sleep and a kickass good mood.

Learn more about Dr. Tracy’s practice at www.dramandatracy.com

What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?

I prefer to begin my day with a 10 minute meditation and writing in my Gratitude Journal after breakfast and before engaging in any texts, emails or meetings. After a few hours of work, I take a break from technology for a few hours for exercise (walking or yoga), a homemade made plant based lunch and reading a book (an actual book printed on paper) with a cup of tea in my backyard. This mid-day break helps me reset and renew my energy so that I can provide the best service to my patients later in the day.

Clustering patient consultations and meeting together is a way that I enhance productivity as well. I live in California and work with women across all time zones and I have found offering consultation hours earlier in the mornings and mid-afternoon to early evening in my time zone works best for patients on both coasts. Because I work from home, my hours after work that in years past were filled with commuting, are now filled with floating in my pool or preparing a healthy dinner.

All that being said, the most important thing I do to make my day productive is to get 7-8 hours of sleep the night before. If that doesn’t happen, my productivity, along with my mood and attitude, plummet immediately.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I’m a visual thinker and my ideas spring to life using guided meditation, vision boards and mind maps before they evolve into an action plan.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Minimal Mondays is a trend that at first sounds counterintuitive to self-driven business owners but adopting this trend in the past 2 years has actually improved my productivity, revenue and mental health at the same time. Minimal Mondays also allow for more “play” over the weekend – getting home late on a Sunday from a beach day, dance classes or a wine tasting no longer has the effect of making me feel like I’m starting my Mondays behind eight ball.

In years past, Mondays would be the day of the week overbooked with patient consults and an inbox full of emails and tasks. Monday was the most requested patient appointment day but when the time came around, it was the day with the most last minute rescheduling requests, cancellations and no shows.

I put Minimal Mondays into practice by reserving Mondays for networking, collaboration and outreach and reserving other days of the week for seeing patients. This allows me to have time on Monday mornings for starting the week with focus, revising my plan for the week (adapting to the patients’ rescheduling that have happened over the weekend) and self care.

What is one habit that helps you be productive?

To ensure consistent productivity without over-working or stressing out, I am a big fan of time-blocking and having a theme for each day of the week. Even though I check in with patient messages each day, I reserve Tuesdays and Thursdays for patient consultations, reviewing lab results and matters directly related to patient care. I do most of my networking and outreach on Mondays and Fridays; business administrative and financial tasks on Fridays; professional development and preparing for speaking engagements on Wednesdays.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Have more fun in college. Looking back, I had more fun in my teen years than college years. I went to a great school and made the best friends but I could have avoided a lot of stress and drama if I just chilled out more. It’s one of the few times in your life that you have a lot of free time and I spent too much of it in a lab, studying or working.

Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you.

Broccoli and kale taste sweet. I know most people think of kale as bitter and broccoli as tasteless and while I love the bitterness of kale, I think it also has a sweetness and broccoli is one of the sweetest veggies next to peas and carrots…maybe I’ve been “off sugar” too long!

What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?

Drink a glass of warm lemon water each morning – it’s the perfect way to start hydrating, stimulate digestion and elimination and keep your skin looking fresh.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I recenter myself and clear my mind of clutter by walking in nature. My most treasured walks are by the seashore, the combination of the sound of waves crashing, the ions from the ocean and being able to look out far into the horizon feed my body, mind and soul.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?

Collaborate with others inside and outside of your industry to broaden the reach of your message and expose you to new ideas and problems you can solve. Some of my most cherished business builders have been courses or classes I collaborated on with other doctors, retreats that I have co-hosted with other wellness professionals and workshops I have led at corporations outside of the wellness industry (engineering and aerospace firms, law firms, grocery chains and fashion designers). Having the opportunity to speak to a wider audience outside of your ideal clients and hearing their questions helps you evolve and create your next product.

What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?

The first launch of my group perimenopause course did not go as well as I hoped. I was offering the group experience as a lower cost option to the work I do with patients 1:1 and I was perceiving the advantage of the group to be the cost savings for the individual. Instead of abandoning the group model altogether and adding more 1:1 spots in my schedule, I sought the coaching and advice of my accountability partners, coaches and past clients.
I learned that the group program is much more successful when I launch it to women that are self motivated about their health and do not need as much of my involvement as my 1:1 clients but do need a clear action plan designed for them by an expert and desire a community for support and comradery. The perimenopausal and menopausal years can be a lonely phase of life and having a like minded community of women going through the same situation is empowering.

What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?

This is morbid but I would love to have an Obituary App. I don’t spend time on social media and it would be nice to be notified when people need support after losing a loved one.
I’ve lived and worked many places and know people all over the US, as well as had thousands of patients over the years. A place that centralized obituaries and you could set up alerts for when specific names, towns, corporations, school alumni, etc. come up would be essential for any business owner with a large customer base that wants to support their customers on a personal level.

What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

Practice Better is integral to my day-to-day practice and my ability to grow the business. It securely houses everything I need to serve my patients efficiently and provides easy access to myself for my patients from scheduling and payments to patient charts, lab results and HIPAA-compliant chat messaging and video sessions. It also gives me an opportunity to grow my business by hosting group sessions and online group and DIY programs for my patients.

What is the best $100 you recently spent?

This week I bought a new Red Sox shirt and as a member of Red Sox Nation living in California, it’s the best feeling to be looking forward to catching a game next month even if it’s not at Fenway. Plus, just the idea of being able to attend a Wednesday day game would have been impossible years ago but with my new business model I have created in the past year it’s not only possible but I’ll be able to fully enjoy my time outside the office stress free.

Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?

I’m late to this party but I’ve been enjoying the Mel Robbins podcast in 2023. For me, the past few years have been all about balance in many areas of my life. Her podcast is the right mix of practical life advice, business tips, manifestation and intuition guiding that a “half-woo” person like me appreciates. For those of you unfamiliar with “half-woo”, it’s an individual with equal knowledge of and faith in antibiotics and crystals or financial budget planning and money manifestation.

What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?

Succession. I grew up in a family with multiple small businesses so anything that explores family dynamics and business strategy is very relatable to the life I know. Although, I am grateful that my family does not resemble the Roy’s in any way – we are more like the Bluths of Arrested Development!

Key learnings:

• Strive for balance within each area of your life instead of balancing one area with the other
• Have more fun while achieving your goals
• Collaboration is the way to growth