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The Real Cost of “Playing It Safe” in Private Practice — Ramsen Azizi, MD (Ep. 344)

Beauty and the Biz

Release Date: 01/09/2026

The Real Cost of “Playing It Safe” in Private Practice — Ramsen Azizi, MD (Ep. 344) show art The Real Cost of “Playing It Safe” in Private Practice — Ramsen Azizi, MD (Ep. 344)

Beauty and the Biz

📅 ⚙️ ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Ramsen Azizi, MD, of Chicago, Illinois, explains the real cost of “playing it safe” in a private cosmetic surgery practice. Indeed, 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...

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Ramsen Azizi, MD, of Chicago, Illinois, explains the real cost of “playing it safe” in a private cosmetic surgery practice.

Indeed, 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.

The Real Cost of “Playing It Safe” in Private Practice

Lessons from building a practice with no safety net

In “The Real Cost of ‘Playing It Safe’ in Private Practice” podcast, I sit down with Dr. Ramsen Azizi. Specifically, he is a board-certified plastic surgeon and the founder of RAM Plastic Surgery in Chicago.

Before entering medicine, Dr. Azizi spent more than two decades as a professional music producer. As a result, that creative and independent background shaped how he approached private practice. From the beginning, it influenced how he made decisions and assessed risk.

As a result, this episode explores a side of private practice growth most surgeons are not prepared for. More importantly, it focuses on the real trade-offs between safety and autonomy.

Specifically in this conversation, you’ll learn:

  • Why starting private practice immediately forced better decisions
  • How keeping overhead painfully low early on created long-term freedom
  • What surgeons underestimate about building their own surgical facility
  • Why control of your OR, schedule, and environment changes everything

Throughout “The Real Cost of ‘Playing It Safe’ in Private Practice,” Dr. Azizi shares candid lessons from taking financial risk. Additionally, he discusses navigating volatile growth cycles. Ultimately, he explains why he chose autonomy over perceived security.

Importantly, this is not a “do this one tactic” episode.

Instead, it offers a grounded look at what it takes to build something durable. More broadly, it shows why private practice success is less about perfection and more about resilience.

If you’ve ever thought, “There has to be a better way than this,” this episode will challenge how you think about control. At the same time, it may change how you view risk and long-term freedom.

P.S. January is the best time to get an objective second set of eyes on how your practice is really operating.Especially then, this matters before habits harden and the year fills up.

If you want clarity on where structure, conversion, or accountability could improve results, you can request a Practice Growth Strategy Review here:

Practice growth strategy review

Enjoy!

Catherine Maley, MBA

Practice Growth Resources:

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Catherine Maley, MBA:

Everybody that’s going to wrap it up for us today on Beauty and the Biz.

If you have any questions or feedback for me, you can go ahead and leave them at my website at www.CatherineMaley.com, or you can certainly DM me on Instagram @CatherineMaleyMBA.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode on Beauty and the Biz, please head over to Apple Podcasts and give me a review and subscribe to Beauty and the Biz so, you don’t miss any episodes. And of course, please share this with your staff and colleagues.

And we will talk to you again soon. Take care.

"The fastest way to success is to model other successful surgeons who have what you want, but you can only see their results, not the path they took to get there.

So, you continue to jump from one thing to another, hoping to find something that will work for you too, but it rarely does. So, try this shortcut instead. It’s guaranteed to move you forward. I compiled my intellectual property to grow cosmetic revenues, everything I’ve gleaned over the years into one playbook of the most successful practices and what they do to win.

Go to www.CosmeticPracticeVault.com and let’s grow your cosmetic revenue."

 

Visit Dr. Azizi's website

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