Welcome to episode 119 of the "Therapy for Your Money" podcast! Host Julie Herres dives into effective ways to boost income in a group practice without solely relying on marketing efforts. Her guest, Nicole McCance, a former psychologist and founder of a thriving group practice, shares invaluable insights drawn from her journey of scaling her practice and transitioning into coaching. McCance emphasizes the importance of tapping into your existing client base and optimizing internal processes.

To learn more about McCance's coaching program and insights, listeners can access her "Expand Your Practice Starter Kit" and explore her podcast, "The Business Savvy Therapist."

Episode Highlights

• Don’t forget about your current clients. There are clients who may want to increase the frequency of their sessions and the duration. They get to their goals faster and you get to grow your practice. It's a win-win. 
• Increase the scheduled sessions. Reduce the empty calendar effect by getting clients into your schedule for four sessions. 
• Get everyone on board. Use meetings, check-ins, and your training manual to communicate your systems and to help your staff understand how they are a benefit to them. People like what is consistent and predictable.
• Get an admin. They are the best thing that will ever happen to you. Change your question from “How am I going to get this done” to “Who is the best person to get this done?” 
• Lean on online booking: You will save admin time by encouraging people to schedule online. 
• Reduce your no-shows: Have a system to follow up with your no-shows. People are scheduled for a reason. They want the help and you want your practice to grow.
• Market to the clients who already know you: Use email marketing to communicate with the clients who already know you. Give them value and a reason to keep you front of mind when they need support.
• Reduce the “sales cycle:” Reduce the time between the initial call and the first free consult. Nicole Suggests 4 days between the first call and the first contact with a therapist.     

LINKS & RESOURCES

GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com

Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com

Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com

Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy

The Business Savvy Therapist - www.mccancemethod.com/podcast-library

Free Gift from Nicole - Expand Your Practice Starter Kit

Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio

Having a contingency plan for your business may have never crossed your mind before... but it's more important to have than you may think! Julie's sitting down with the master of planning herself, Mary Beth Simón, to talk about what you need a contingency plan for and what items you should include in yours.

Mary Beth guides business owners to create contingency plans that prepare them and their teams for extended vacations or the unexpected, so the business can continue to run successfully in their absence. She founded Niche Partnership Consulting after seeing the turmoil that a lack of contingency planning can cause when a dear friend developed terminal cancer. Mary Beth is a national conference speaker, continuous learner and loves helping business owners find peace of mind since retiring from a 30+ year career at Vanguard. In her free time, she's active in her local business community and loves being mom to her rescue dogs.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• What can hold a practice owner back when planning for the unexpected?
  • Emotions can sometimes get in the way of looking at the bigger picture of why you're preparing for the unexpected
  • It's very common to feel overwhelmed when tackling a contingency plan
• Why have a contingency plan in place?
  • If you have any goals for the business to continue beyond your participation, it's important to put certain preparations in place to ensure the next owner will have a path to follow to keep the business successful
  • If you don't plan on the business continuing without you, it's important to have a plan to either sell or close out the business
• What are some items included in a business contingency plan?
  • Updated business bank account and credit card statements
  • Written narrative for how the owner manages the bank accounts/credit cards for the business
  • Business Associate Agreements
  • Incorporation documents, licenses, certifications, real estate documents, and investment documents
  • Inventory of memberships, subscriptions, and softwares utilized by the business
  • Online password management system
  • Business continuance playbook - identifies owner's responsibilities for daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly operations (SOPs)

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy
Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
FREE Online Course for Business Owner SOPs

Today, we're getting personal! It can be difficult finding a healthy balance between being a business owner, a parent or spouse, and your own independent person. Julie's chatting with us about how she manages to head her team at GreenOak, prepare for the future of her kiddos and spouse, and take care of herself in between!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Emergency Fund
  • Keep your business and personal emergency fund separate
  • Ideally, you want to have about 2 months of expenses set aside in your business emergency fund
  • Having about 4-6 months of expenses set aside in a personal fund is very realistic, especially if you have children
• Budget
  • Keep your business and personal budget separate
  • Review your budget often to make sure you're staying on track
  • Start preparing your budget sooner rather than later
• Key Person/Man Life Insurance
  • The purpose of this type of insurance is to protect your business in case of death
  • The goal of this insurance is to keep your business running and take care of your employees, or to keep the business running successfully long enough to sell it
• Long Term Disability Insurance
  • While the business might be able to continue to support you in cases of long-term disability, it can be a risk (and a burden) on the business

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy

At Therapy For Your Money, we strongly believe in practice owners tracking their metrics in order to understand how well their business is performing. Julie is joined by an exciting, new guest, Brent Stutzman! Brent is sharing the key metrics he likes to track in his client's private practices, and why tracking these specifically are so important.

Brent Stutzman is the owner of Brand Your Practice, Inc. and a certified Storybrand Guide. After helping his wife launch her practice in 2016, he saw a need to help other therapists launch, market, and grow their practices. Since then he’s launched and scaled over 12 private practices across the country leveraging hi private practice accelerator framework. He’s excited about the public launch of TheraSaaS- a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based tool to help therapy practices capture, nurture, and convert new client leads. He lives in Chicagoland with his wife of 19 years, and their 3 beautiful children.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• What can tracking metrics in a dashboard do for your private practice?
  • Identify underperforming areas
  • Help you make data driven decisions on where to allocate resources
  • Assess the overall health and performance of the business
• Marketing Metrics
  • How many leads or appointment requests are you getting per week/month/etc.?
  • Where are those leads in the pipeline to becoming a client?
  • How many new leads are scheduling an appointment and turning into a client?
• Financial Metrics
  • Revenue/Expenses/Profit
  • Cash Flow
  • Profit Margin
  • Profit Per Location
  • Profit Per Clinician
  • Monthly Revenue per Clinician
  • Monthly Profit per Clinician
  • Average Revenue per Session
• Operational Metrics
  • Number of appointments being scheduled per week
  • Number of paid appointments per week
  • Completion of clinical notes
  • Number of missed/cancelled appointments
  • Number of clients who have closed/terminated per week

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy
Brent Stutzman - www.BrandYourPractice.com
Brent's Private Practice Startup Checklist

While setting your fees may seem like an impossible and emotional feat, today's guest takes the task and turns it into a formula you definitely want to try! Julie's chatting with Erin Gibb, a jack of all trades in the therapy world, about how setting your fees needs to start with you in mind first.

Erin Gibb is a therapist, clinical supervisor, group practice owner, Therapist Fulfillment coach, podcast host, and early adopted of the weird and wonderful that accelerates expansion. She created Therapist Expanded after years of mentoring clinicians and seeing how deeply the industry conditioning of self-sacrifice, over-responsibility, and liability fear goes, and how courageously living from the source of our dreams and desires incites mental health revolution. As a Therapist Fulfillment Coach, she offers experimental containers designed to unearth and clarify your deepest dreams, visions, and strategies, so you can live life truly fulfilled.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• How do you recommend a therapist initially set their fees?
  • Setting a "thrive fee" is the goal - what you actually need to make in order to thrive
  • Once you have a "thrive fee", you can work backwards within your marketing to make adjustments as needed
• Setting your fee doesn't just include day-to-day expenses
  • It's important to take in to account other expenses like taxes, savings, emergencies, etc. and build that into your fee as well
  • This is when it's important to collaborate with an accountant or tax professional

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy
Erin Gibb - www.TherapistExpanded.com

We're starting an exciting new series today, our Live Stream Launch Party Series! On May 2nd, 2023, Julie released her book, Profit First for Therapists. We threw a huge online launch party with GreenOak Accounting team members, real practice owners who tell their stories in the book, and the original creator of Profit First, Mike Michalowicz to celebrate this exciting event. We wanted to share the stories told during our launch event with our podcast listeners so you could be part of the celebration with us!

On today's episode, we're joined by three wonderful members of the GreenOak Accounting team - Kelly Jewell, Carolyn Chrestman, and Misstie Pollard. They share their experiences helping clients implement the Profit First methodology into their practices, and some tried and true tricks of the trade to get started!

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy

Choosing an accountant that best fits the needs of your practice can seem intimidating but today's episode will put your mind at ease! Julie's chatting with Linzy Bonham, the genius behind Money Nuts & Bolts, to discuss what kind of questions you should ask a new accountant, how to figure out your accounting needs, and how to manage your expectations of an accountants scope.

Linzy Bonham is a private practice therapist turned money coach who helps private practice owners and health professionals feel calm and in control of their finances through her coaching at Money Nuts & Bolts and her podcast Money Skills for Therapists. It all started when she saw her extremely skilled colleagues struggle with the money side of business. Some had even left private practice, or were avoiding starting one, because the financial side was too stressful. So, Linzy decided to help therapists and health professionals develop peace of mind about their money. Since so many were never taught these skills, she focuses on the "how" of making the business side of private practice doable, and even super satisfying.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Tip #1: Ask a lot of questions!
  • There are no right/wrong answers. The questions should be based entirely on what specifically you need for your business.
  • Examples: What is the best way to contact you? What kind of a response time can I expect? What is your process for XYZ? What are the services you offer? Do you specialize in any services/industries?
• Tip #2: Work with someone who has a compatible style with you
  • If you're interested in learning about the financial side of your business, make sure to collaborate with an accountant who likes and is willing to teach
  • Ensure you are compatible with softwares, communication, and amount of support you may need
• Tip #3: Your financial professional is not your employee
  • Your accountant won't have all the daily, nitty-gritty details of your business, so make sure to set realistic expectations for what your accountant can provide for you
• Make sure to listen to the episode to get the full list of tips and hear the entire discussion on picking the best accounting from Julie and Linzy!

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy
Linzy Bonham - www.MoneyNutsAndBolts.com
The Secret to Getting Unstuck in Your Finances

Welcome back to Therapy For Your Money Season 4!

When we say that every practice deserves to be profitable... we mean it! Through working with hundreds of clients, we understand that discussing finances in the therapy industry can cause a lot of guilt and anxiety. We're here to dispel those feelings and build your practice into your dream business.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• We believe that therapists and private practice owners have an ethical responsibility to be profitable
  • Taking care of your practice financially allows you to grow our business, confidently support yourself and your clinicians, and help your community
• The business side of a private practice may not come naturally to you, and that's okay!
  • We recommend all practice begin using the Profit First methodology to ensure you are generating profit from the very start of your business
• Finish of 2023 strong
  • Make profitability a priority in your business for the next half of 2023 because you deserve it
  • If you don't currently use the Profit First methodology, check out Julie's book Profit First for Therapists and our new Profit First Academy to get started!

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy

We wanted to give you a little update this summer and chat about some subjects that have been brought up with our GreenOak Accounting clients! Julie's chatting with one of our fantastic accounting managers, Jacquie Kiefer, about what her clients have been asking at the end of their second quarters and how to knock out the rest of the year. The summer slow seasons and attending conferences are just a couple of the great topics we're covering today!

Jacquie Kiefer is an Accounting Manager at GreenOak Accounting. She is passionate about helping her clients see the big picture and how their companies are progressing.  She lives in the details of each client's day-to-day business, and prides herself in helping them achieve their goals! Originally from Colorado, she now calls Florida home, spending most of her free time adventuring with her boyfriend and their five dogs, fishing, hunting, and enjoying the outdoors.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Topic 1: Anxiety & Burnout
  • We understand that people in the therapy industry feel very burnt out right now due to client and clinician retention and affording the maintenance of a practice during the slow season.
• Topic 2: Preparing for the Summer Slow-Down
  • We have recently been able to return to "pre-COVID" way of predicting the trends. As we enter the slower summer season, we recommend that all of our clients set aside anything extra in order to be best prepared.
• Topic 3: Retreats and Travel!
  • It is time to take a break while also taking advantage of awesome conferences and retreats offered in the industry! When you take time to travel to a conference, you're giving yourself a break from the day-to-day grind while also networking and learning for your business. Conferences and retreats are also a great way to get your creative juices flowing!

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com

Have no fear... We are here to break the cycle of negative discussions that surround making money in the therapy industry! The work that therapists and private practice owners do is so important, and it is one of our missions to ensure all therapy industry professionals are compensated for the incredible work they do. Today, Julie is joined by Katie Read to chat about breaking the chain of negative talk surrounding money in the therapy world.

Katie takes lessons from her nearly-20 successful years in the field to help clinicians grow...then OUTgrow...their practices. Immediately upon licensure, Katie was made Director of a large Transitional Aged Youth program in Oakland, CA. Later, she was recruited to Direct one of Sacramento’s largest Wraparound Programs, and from there she moved into the role of Director of Clinical Supervision, personally supervising 40+ interns towards licensure. Concurrently, Katie had private practices in multiple cities, taught graduate psychology students, and wrote and created therapist training materials. She is the creator of The Clinician to Coach® Academy, The Clini-Coach® Certification, and the Six-Figure Flagship® Program. Katie helps other helping professionals step into their biggest lives…so they can serve in the biggest ways. 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• The first step is to stop selling yourself short!
  • When you set your fees, be intentional with the pricing - you want to aim to be accessible, yet competitive in your area
  • We understand it may be necessary to slide your scale at times, but don't immediately turn to selling your services short
  • If you greatly reduce your prices, you might be unintentionally branding yourself as "cheap" and devaluing your skills, and this could lead to losing out on potential clients
• How do you make the shift into placing a higher monetary value on your services?
  • Expand your view for what could be possible for you to no longer live in financial fear! Set some realistic financial goals, create a plan, and envision what your life could look like if you started working on those goals today
  • Increasing your prices can be uncomfortable at first, but if you keep envisioning what your life will be like in the future, it can make it easier to take those actionable steps

LINKS & RESOURCES
GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
Katie Read - www.KatieRead.com
Traction by Gino Wickman