WP 26 | Profit First for Christian Counselors with Julie Herres
The Wise Practice Podcast recently featured Julie Herres, an expert on using Profit First for private practices, in a conversation with Whitney Owens, a group practice owner, and faith-based practice consultant. They discussed how Christian therapists can use Profit First to grow their businesses while still maintaining their faith.
What is Profit First for Therapists?
Julie explained the Profit First system, a cash flow management tool that essentially reverses the accounting equation. The equation is now income minus profit equals expenses, which helps to be intentional about having a profitable practice. Whitney shared her positive experience with Great Oak Accounting and the Profit First system, and they dived into what Profit First is and how it can benefit private practice owners. They also touched on how Christian therapists can incorporate this system into their practices.
Using Profit First for Therapists is a Mindset Shift
Julie stated using Profit First for Therapists is partly a mindset shift and it is possible to carve out profit from the very beginning. Making small incremental changes is more impactful than making big shifts that feel almost impossible, and it's important to remember that one step, whether it's one more dollar in profit or two, is crucial.
“It’s not going from a thousand dollars to $500 in spending, that is such a big shift that it feels almost impossible. It’s really easy to give up, but when you’re just making those small incremental changes, like let’s go to $990, 980, and slowly kind of chip away at it, it’s so much easier to maintain.”
A Profitable Therapist Means a Business that is Open and Available to Help the Community
The conversation emphasized the importance of profit for businesses in the mental health industry, as well as the guilt and stigma around making money in the mental health industry. The hosts explained that profit is necessary to take care of oneself, reward hard work, and further the impact of one's practice. They also discussed the need for therapists to address their own relationship with money to show up with integrity for their clients. The conversation emphasized the importance of letting go of guilt around making money and managing finances well in order to sustain the practice and provide quality care.
“Profit is not a dirty word. Profit is simply the reward for serving people well.”
The Benefit of Having a Profitable Business
In a Profit First Therapy Office, the business takes care of the owner. The conversation also discussed the importance of business owners taking care of themselves in order to be better therapists and bosses. The conversation then shifted to the use of profit first for business owners, which involves earmarking funds for an owner's pay account, tax account, and profit account. The profit account can be used to reward the business owner with something fun or extravagant, which can contribute to their overall happiness and well-being.
The speakers shared personal stories about the importance of enjoying life and taking time for oneself, which can ultimately make one a better therapist. They also discussed customizing accounts within the Profit First system based on individual needs, such as creating accounts for travel expenses or rent. By having specific accounts for different expenses, individuals can better manage their finances and make decisions based on the balance in each account.
Profit First for Therapist Book Release
A highlight of the episode is the upcoming release of the book Profit First for Therapists on May 2nd, and the ongoing pre-sale bonuses available for the readers. The discussion also highlighted an interactive tool available on Profitfirstotherapist.com that helps calculate the size of the business needed based on personal needs and expected revenue. The tool provides information on the number of sessions and clinicians required for the business.
“Profit is not a bad thing. Profit is a sign that we’re doing good work.”
The conversation concluded with the speakers discussing the ease of setting up Profit First accounts and how quick and easy it is to do transfers. The book Profit First for Therapists was highlighted as having something for every therapist at any stage of their practice, including a chapter on scaling and compensating employees.
Overall, the conversation emphasized the importance of managing finances well in order to sustain a practice and provide quality care. The hosts encouraged Christian therapists to incorporate the Profit First system into their practices and let go of guilt around making money. They also highlighted the importance of taking care of oneself as a business owner in order to be a better therapist and serve clients well.
Links and Resources
Free interactive tool to reverse engineer you practice
Private Practice Elevation - Elevate your web page
-
WP 26 | Profit First for Christian Counselors with Julie Herres
===
Whitney Owens: Welcome to the Wise Practice podcast. I'm so excited that you're here to hang out with me and my good friend Julie Airs. She is fantastic and always has a wealth of information and helps us in our wealth. So looking forward to my interview with
Julie Herres: her today, we're gonna specifically talk
Whitney Owens: about. Christian therapists in using Profit First, like this idea I think of profit kind of makes people sometimes turn their noses.
Like, what does it mean to have profit and also have faith and also grow your business? And Julie is an expert on how we can use Profit First,
Julie Herres: specifically for private practices. So we're gonna talk about how to do that with a
Whitney Owens: faith-based component. But let me tell you a little bit about Julie before we jump in the episode.
She's an accountant and owner of Green Oak account. The firm provides accounting, bookkeeping, tax, and C F O advisory services for private practice owners throughout the United States. Their mission is for every practice owner to be profitable. Julie and her team have worked with hundreds of private practice owners so that they're uniquely positioned to be trusted advisors to clients.
She's the author of the upcoming book, profit First for Therapist, and also Host Therapy for Your Money podcast, where she talks all about money and finance and private practice. Julie, thanks for
coming
Julie Herres: on the show. Thanks for having me, Whitney. I'm excited to be here. Yes. And I
Whitney Owens: was so excited to read your bio because your
Julie Herres: book is like a week away, so, so, so close.
Yes, there's still time to pre-order and get all the goodies, uh, but we're really, really close to release date.
Whitney Owens: Yes, and I'll just say I'm excited cuz I do make an appearance in the book so people can come to the summit and get both of our
Julie Herres: autograph. Yes, you have. I think you might have two, two different spots in the book.
Um, so I interviewed you, thank you for your participation. Yeah. That was the, it's exciting that you're good to see a lot of familiar faces, um, or read a lot of familiar, familiar names in the book. Uh, a lot of, a lot of great people participated.
Whitney Owens: Yes, definitely. Well, not only has Green Oak accounting been helpful in my own business and in my own growth, um, but also the Profit First system.
And so I'm looking forward to us jumping into that today and then specifically talking about what does it look like for Christian counselors and is it any different and how do we manage that? So as we start getting into the episode, first, can you share what is profit first? If anyone doesn't know what
Julie Herres: that.
So Profit First is a, uh, cashflow management tool that essentially reverses the accounting equation. So if you've ever looked at a profit and loss or income statement, which Whitney, I know that you have, uh, the accounting equation, there is income minus expenses equals profit. Profit is what's left at the end after you've paid everything else.
So in the profit for system, we reverse that equation. And so the equation is now income minus profit equals expenses. Because when we carve out profit from the very beginning, that's going to give us, uh, a little bit less as far as expenses, but we can usually make that work when you know what you have available, you can make that work.
So we're essentially carving out profit. At the very beginning to be really intentional about having a, a profitable practice and within mental health, that's u usually doable within the first month or two of um, of practice. Right. Other than that, that initial investment, it is possible to carve out profit from the very, very beginning.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. And so I love that you just said that because even I was just talking to another practice owner in a consult and was like, I have nothing. I have no extra. And how do you. Help people who maybe are listening, thinking, Julie, that sounds great, but I really don't have anything extra to put in profit.
Julie Herres: Yeah. I think that, uh, it, it's partly a mindset shift, right? Because if we, if we just look at simple numbers. If you have a thousand dollars coming into your practice, can you carve out 1% of that, right? $10 if you operate on a thousand dollars. Can you operate on $990? Yeah. There's a really good chance that you can, right?
So when we look at it that way of like, it's not just, um, it, it's the small incremental changes in the end that are the most impactful. So it's not going from a thousand dollars to. $500 in spending, right? That is such a big shift that it feels almost impossible. It's really easy to give up, but when you're just making those small incremental changes, like let's go to $990, 980, and like slowly kind of tightening the belt, that does work in the end because you're going to get creative and find ways to, to make that work.
Yeah, I think
Whitney Owens: that's so important. I remember training for my first half marathon. I was actually living out in Colorado at the time. And, um, good friends with Don Gabriel, you know, who has the Faith Pages podcast. And um, she's also a runner. And what she said to me was, when I run, all I have to do is one more step.
Right. It's like with our money, we wanna be done with the marathon and have all the money and have all the profit, when really it's one step. So if that's one more dollar in profit or $2 in profit, like that one step is so
Julie Herres: important. Yeah. And, and, um, if I may, I kind of wanted to share one of the stories from the book.
Um, if this is the story of Layla who came to us, uh, years, years ago to my, my accounting firm and said, you know, I've got a chip on my shoulder about profit first. Uh, because she, what she thought. From the title is that Profit First was going to ask her to put profit over people, and she felt like that was incredibly selfish, right?
So just from the title, she said like, oh, this is not for me. I want help with managing my money, but like this is not my thing. The truth is that could not be. Farther from the truth, right? Just because you are carving out some profit, that does not mean that you have to choose profit over people. Um, and so Layla did eventually read Profit First, that we did help her, help her implement it, and that shift meant.
She was now able to take care of herself, take care of her family. That meant she was able to give more. She was able to open up sliding scale spots. Uh, she was able to donate in her personal life on the things that that mattered, uh, that mattered to her. Um, and so we kind of, we reversed that narrative by just the small little mindset shifts that go with that.
But that was. Profit over people could not be farther from the truth when it comes to, uh, the profit first cashflow management. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well,
Whitney Owens: you know, in consulting business owners we're always talking about what's your value? What are your morals? What are the things that are important, and how can those implement in your business?
Right? And so just hearing you share some of this, these are definitely concepts that all therapists have. We're all very giving and loving and these things, but kinda what we were talking about before we got on air, we tend to find in the kind of Christian faith-based community sometimes. Element of maybe giving too much like to their own detriment, if that's safe to say.
And so as I'm kind of hearing you say this, I'm hearing all the principles of a Christian
Julie Herres: practice. Right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I, I think for, for Layla specifically, like as we started to make changes in her practice, one thing she realized is that if I am, if I have a profitable practice, I can take really good care of my clinicians, right?
That furthers my impact. I can hire more clinicians that furthers my impact in the community, right? So it's not about being selfish. It's actually, I would say, selfish to, to. Put yourself in a position where you can take care of the people who really matter in your, in your business, including you, right?
Like, if you're not okay, and you have to close the practice because you're, you can't, uh, make a living that, uh, reduces your reach, that doesn't help your community. It doesn't help your, um, you know, the causes that are, are important to you. It doesn't help your clients. So there's a, there's a, um, a side of it that is the opposite of selfish.
Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Right. I mean, for me, having profit in my business lets me do God's work in the world, you know? And if I don't have that, like I, I feel called to this work, this clinical work I do, and, and called to the therapist that I'm serving. And I wouldn't be able to do that. I mean, just the other day a church reached out and was like, Hey, do you have some therapists that can come and do some training on parenting and marriage and stuff?
And it's like, well, if I didn't have a profitable business where I could hire clinicians, I wouldn't have anyone
Julie Herres: available to do that. Yeah, that's a, that's a really good point. Um, and I think there's also a side to addressing your own relationship with money, um, that can help you. Um, You know, show up with integrity for your clients too, right?
Like a lot of times I think clients are coming, or again, I'm not a therapist, but like, this is what we hear from our clients. Like clients are coming to their therapist with money, baggage, and money issues. And so when the, the therapists or the, the practice owners are doing their own work alongside, like they tend to be able to, to show up with integrity there, um, mm-hmm.
And maybe not have all the answers, but like they're also working on that. Mm-hmm. Most definitely.
Whitney Owens: And it's
Julie Herres: something that we have to work on all the time. Yeah. Like it's
Whitney Owens: constantly coming up for us. Um, no matter what the size of your business, no matter if you're at the beginning or your years in, like it's money, mindset is always something you have to go back to.
And I think it's so easy for us to get fixated on how much everyone else is making or what people are buying or what people have, and then we start to find our own identity and all those things when those things really don't
Julie Herres: matter. Yeah, and I, I find that there's a lot of, of, uh, guilt around money and, and making a profit or having a profitable practice in this industry specifically.
And I find that indu interesting that. If you look at a spinal surgeon, right, they don't feel guilty about charging you a really, really high dollar amount because they know they're the best. They're going to take care of you. They're going to fix you up and send you on your way, right? They don't have a sliding scale.
They won't discount their rates just because you say you can't afford it, right? Like they, they just simply won't. So I find it interesting that in the mental health industry specifically, like. Therapists are so quick to do that. Right. So quick to, oh, let me discount, oh, let me, let me see what I can do.
Right? Like, it's their responsibility to, to, um, carry that burden when it really isn't. Um, so part of what I feel like my life's mission is like, I want every practice to be profitable. I really think that is. Uh, achievable, but we have to let go of that guilt around making money. And like you went to school, you paid a whole lot of money to get this degree.
Like you deserve to get paid. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about that. Yes. I can't remember why I
Whitney Owens: was researching this, but I was looking at the amount of money that therapists make, and I, you probably already know this, but for people who get master's degrees, therapists are in the bottom 10 of payments.
Make, I'm not saying this very well, but we make the least amount of money for people who have a master's degree, like the top 10 professions of least amount with a master's degree. And that's like so disheartening. And then even as things continue, especially with managed care and changes that are happening, it's only getting harder,
Julie Herres: harder to make money,
Whitney Owens: you know, as a therapist.
And so what you're saying, like it's even more important that we're managing our money well because we are having to work really hard for
Julie Herres: it. Yeah. And. It's also very difficult work, right? To be able to come back to it day after day, month, year. Like it, it, there's a burden there, um, that I'm so grateful that you guys take, right?
Um, but there has to be some kind of benefit or some kind of upside to be able to continue to show up for that, where there has to be enough room so that you can also take care of yourself. Um, I don't think, you know, that's unreasonable at. Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'd love to talk a little bit more about profit, like you kind of gave the equation there, but like why is it important really for businesses to have profit?
Can I just have my business and make sure that I'm meeting my expenses and move forward? Like why is profit
Julie Herres: important? So the way we define profit in in profit first is your reward for being a business owner, right? So it's not just your owners' pay, it's not the dollar amount that you take home to take care of your, your personal expenses.
There should be something as, uh, as small as it might be, right? And we, we usually start at 1% of profit. To reward you for being a shareholder of the business, because inherently being a business owner is hard. There's, there's some risk involved as well, right? You're the one carrying the, uh, a lot of the mental load.
Um, sometimes the financial load where there's a lot of different, um, pieces that just. Ultimately fall on you, right? If a clinician leaves, like you still have to make rent, like you have to make the expenses, you have to figure it all out. Um, if there's a client issue, there's a good chance, like you're, you're the one.
So there has to be some kind of financial benefit for that. Just like if you owned. Uh, if you own stock, right, you're going to get a dividend on a regular basis as long as it's, uh, you know, dividend stock. But you're going to get, they're gonna send you a little check. Sometimes it's a couple, couple pennies, 78 cents, a couple dollars, right?
Depending on how much you own. But like, you're going to get some kind of benefit. For making that investment. So ultimately that's what we're looking for in Profit First. We're looking for the business to take care of you absolutely right with your, uh, what we call an owner's pay account. We're also looking for the business to take care of you with a tax account.
So making sure we're earmarking some funds for tax so that you don't ha that doesn't have to come out of your personal cash flow. But we're also earmarking money for profit, uh, so that you can have a reward. And so within. Profit first. Then at the end of each quarter, you're going to distribute part of that money to yourself to do something fun.
Um, and so we encourage our clients to do something, something like truly fun that you wouldn't otherwise do. Like, um, Buy a hot tub or go on a really nice meal with your family, go on a trip that you otherwise wouldn't have got gone on. Right? It doesn't have to be, it could be something as as big or as small as your profit allows, but you should be rewarded for all that work, and it's then something that you can really look forward to and enjoy, but something that maybe your family can even participate in too.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and
Whitney Owens: I love that we're talking about this. It's, it's profit and yeah, it's like we're doing something that might seem extravagant, you know, in my air quotes. But the truth is like we're really using it to take care of ourselves. And like even when I started back up in therapy a few years ago, my therapist kept being like, Whitney, go buy yourself a latte.
Go buy a new dress. Like, and I'm like, no, no, no. Like I can't use my money that way. And she's like, why not? Like, you need to enjoy your life. Like I was so work focused. I wasn't making space to enjoy my life or not wanting to spend money to enjoy my life, which really I'm now learning. This is what makes me a good therapist because I'm happi.
Then there's something really to be said for that. Like I was feeling so burnt out the past few weeks, like November, December. Of course we're recording here in January, um, and I went to a spa like a few weekends ago. I love it for like six hours and I've never been in a spa that long before. Never done something like that.
I actually went out of town for two nights alone and then did the spy experience while I was there and I was on my mastermind call last week and they were. How are you feeling? Cuz they knew I'd been down lately and I was like, I actually feel a lot better,
Julie Herres: but I don't know why.
Whitney Owens: And your eyes, that was it.
It was your eyes. Like, did you not just say that you went away alone for two nights? Like you needed that. And you know, if I didn't have a profitable business, I wouldn't be able to take care of myself like that. And now I'm a better therapist and a better boss for it. And my, my employees are definitely
Julie Herres: glad.
Right, and, and I, I kind of attribute that to, it's a little bit like being on an airplane, right? You've got the, uh, you have to put your oxygen mask on first. That's what the, the attendance will tell you. Like if you're traveling with a child, you have to put yours on first because you can't, can't help anyone if you're passed out, right?
So, like in business, you, as the business owner, you have to put your oxygen mask on first. Like you have to be okay for everyone else to be okay. And, and that that's a good thing. Ultimately, everyone, everyone benefits. A hundred percent.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. And so do you have anything else there that you're thinking about specifically for faith-based practice owners
Julie Herres: using Profit First?
So I, uh, I wanted to share another story. Um, we had, uh, a client several years ago that came to us, like very profitable business, but always in a cash flow crunch. There was always a problem with money and she wasn't sure what was going on. So we dug in, we looked at the, at the books, um, and this particular practice owner was tithing directly from her, from her business bank account.
Um, and so to, you know, in most cases, I would recommend. To, to do that from a, from a personal account, but like it helped us uncover a little bit of what was going on. So it turns out every week, um, when this, this practice owner was going to church, she would think like, what's the, what's the absolute, what's the most I can give today?
And that's the dollar amount that she would give. So she would look at her bank account and think like, oh, I think I can give this much. Oh, may, well, there's still money left in the account. Maybe I can give a little bit more. Right. So she was giving. To the point of putting her business at significant risk.
Like there was a real risk for this business going under because she was consistently bouncing payments, uh, for rent, for, uh, software. Like payments just weren't always, um, going through. So then on top of that, you had insufficient fund fees and all kinds of other things. But so when we got to the crux of it, she would say like, If there's more money left in the account, I just feel so bad of not giving it.
I have such a good life, like I want to give as much as I can. And so one of the ways we helped her get on the, on the back, on the right path for her. Business is, we opened up a tithe account. And so within Profit First, we typically are going to start with six foundational accounts. That's going to be an income account, an operating expenses account.
There's going to be tax owners pay, uh, profit, and I've forgotten one. And payroll. And payroll. I think that, I think I, that was six. So typically we're going to start with those six accounts, but then. We can also add accounts as necessary, right? If it's something is going to be helpful, we're going to add another account.
So in her case, we added a type account and we allocated a percentage of her income to that account so that it would, every time she made a transfer, there's money going into that account. And then every week she could just look at what is the balance in this account. I can give everything up to that dollar amount, no more, no less.
So she could, so, so she could stop feeling guilty because at that point she knew she was giving the most that she absolutely could while also making sure that her business and herself were okay. Um, and so that was a huge game changer, right? So in the end, there wasn't a significant decrease in her, in her giving, but it just allowed her to have so much.
Clarity and peace of mind around that giving. Um, so that she could feel really comfortable that like, this is everything I can do and I should feel good about giving this much. Hmm. Thank
Whitney Owens: you for sharing that story. It's perfect. And uh, also the idea that she now can serve her clients better. Because her business is gonna
Julie Herres: make it.
And guess what? Her business has grown since then. Right? Not surprising. Like when you get your financials in order, like that typically tends to happen where you're like, okay, maybe I can tackle this other thing. The business has grown. There's more going to that account she can give even more today because she got her financial ducks in a row.
Like that's just such a, a, a beautiful way. But this is not atypical of profit first, like getting. Your, your finances in order does tend to bring abundance in general. Oh, yes.
Whitney Owens: I love that. Um, and so when you created the timing account, I'm curious, so did, was she tithing off of the total revenue for the practice or was she tithing off of her
Julie Herres: income?
So she was pre, she was tithing based on the gross income of the practice at that point. And so typically I do recommend to tithe based on your take home pay, right? If you're doing that on the personal side, like you would look at how much am I actually getting paid? Because some of the, some of the funds in the business are going to be used for reinvestment, for growth, for expansion.
So in most cases, uh, what I've seen Christian counselors, Um, is tied based on your take home, right? Mm-hmm. That, that makes a lot of sense. So it doesn't put the business at risk, but like, because we were integrating that into her profit first, it was actually based on gross, but it wasn't actually 10% because there we were accounting for, you know, expenses and all the other things in the business.
So it was a, uh, smaller than 10%, but we were calculating based on gross in this specific case. Right, right. Yeah.
Whitney Owens: And the idea of 10% I think is, I mean, I think it's like a good goal, but it's not necessarily, it's not like the Bible said, you have to give 10% always. You know, like a tab is a gift that we give back to God.
Right? Yeah. Um, but I, I love how you, you incorporated that and now her business can function under the values that she feels are important and doing more good work
Julie Herres: in the world. Yeah. And I, I always feel like. 1% is better than 0%. Right? And then you can keep going up. But like, when it comes to profit, when it comes to tithing, like something is always better than nothing.
Um mm-hmm. And so you have to start somewhere. And if you're just, uh, earmarking a little piece for, uh, for profit, for tithing, like I, I think starting. Small tends to be more, um, sustainable in the long run. It's a little bit like going on a diet, right? Like if you go on this really, really restrictive diet, it's hard to fall, it's hard to stick, stick to.
Um, but the same thing applies for money. Like if you're just doing a little bit at a time, it just tends to, uh, be more su successful and sustainable in the long.
Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Definitely, definitely. It's, it's knowing where your money's going and being in control and knowledgeable of that. Um, just for what it's worth with the tithing in case like another perspective, I, um, I do do the tithing off of what I make, you know, not off of the business.
Um, but then with the business, we have found other things to give our money to. Contributions or sponsorships that we do for organizations. And I do that as a business. So it's just if I do have extra and I have it available, like my income account is high. You know, sometimes we get ex, sorry, I didn't say that right.
It's my expense account that's high. You know, I have more in there than what I'm spending. And if I see that, I'm like, oh well. I have an opportunity, I write it off as an expense and I do something charitable as an organization, and then that kind of helps me as far as my own values and what I'm doing with the, with the company.
Julie Herres: Yeah, that's a great idea. But I, I think the, um, The important piece here is like your, your operating expenses account is telling you something, right? That balance is going up and you're like, oh, I don't need all of this. So, so that's your account telling you like, Hey, it's okay to go spend. Um, and in some cases the account is going to say, Hey, not today.
Right? This is not the right time for this. Uh, but I think that's part of the beauty of profit first. It really is not trying to change your habits, it's just levering leveraging them. And so you're naturally going to look at. Bank account, right? That's kind of what all humans do, including me. I'll, I'll include myself in that.
Like, that's just how we make a lot of decisions. It's just you're looking at the balance and then you, your brain thinks like, okay, I'm rich. We can, we can spend money or like, oh crap, what's going on? Right? It's usually one, one of those or something in between. Um, and so that is, is your decision making mechanism.
You don't have to look at one big bank account with all the money in it. Everything is in intermingled where you're like, well, How much is for tax? Like how much do I actually have available? How much is for payroll next week? How much is for rents the week after that? Like, you don't have to do all that math in your head.
Your account tells you what's actually going on. Mm-hmm.
Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, um, another friend of ours, Ernesto, you know, talks about how he has an account just for. You know, I think he calls it trips and sneakers or something like that. And so just as you're talking about you created this account for tithing, I think this idea of intentionality that we can create accounts for whatever it is that we feel like we wanna save for.
And this year, 2023 is like the year of trips, right? And so saving for, for traveling within our profit for system. That's what I think is so great is Profit First gives us this, um, You know, these set of rules to follow, but we can also have a little like fluidity and flexibility based on what our business seeds, and that's what Green Oak really helps
Julie Herres: people do as well.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I think, if I'm remembering correctly, uh, Ernesto's account is like Vegas and shoes, although now that he moved to Vegas, I don't know if it's still called Vegas and shoes, right? It was for traveling to to Vegas. It may have, may have changed names, but like yeah, you can absolutely customize.
The system forever. Anything you need. Um, one of our mutual friends, uh, Jessica Tapa has. A rent account. Uh, and it's not because rent is that high, it's just her landlord never cashes the rent checks. So it, she was, she would look at her operating expenses account and think, do I actually have this much or did he just forget to cash like one, two or three rent checks?
And so that was stressing her out. She just created a rent account, so now she knows at some point you will cash the checks, the money is going to be in there, but her operating expenses is actually what she has. Like, I think that's genius, right? Like you can create an account for whatever is going to be helpful for you ultimately.
Yeah. I
Whitney Owens: actually didn't know that story, so you just taught me something.
Julie Herres: Move it into the book too. Yeah. Yes,
Whitney Owens: yes. All right,
Julie Herres: so let's talk
Whitney Owens: about the book. Um, you're doing pre-sale right now, but it's gonna be
Julie Herres: released very soon. Yes. So the book will be available, uh, on May 2nd. So if you pre-order today, you still have the chance to get lots of great, uh, pre-sale bonuses.
So we have bonuses for buying 1, 1, 3 or six, uh, copies where you can get early access to some of our tools. You can get, uh, an entry to win, uh, into a raffle to win a, uh, profit first. Strategy session with me. Um, you can also, depending on how many you buy, get access to our profit first, uh, online course.
There's a lot of different, uh, great bonuses available there. Uh, and then on May 2nd it will be out. So you can order it on Amazon or wherever you like to buy books and, uh, get it within a couple days. Yes,
Whitney Owens: yes. And then Julie does have a great resource that she's gonna give the audience today. Can you talk about the interactive tool for reverse
Julie Herres: engineering your.
Yes. So this is a tool that's straight from the book. Um, so if you go to profit first therapists.com/faith, you can get our free calculator to reverse engineer your practice to your life. Um, so I find that this calculator can be helpful if you feel like you're trying to, to jam a square peg into a round hole.
This helps you calculate, you know, based on your personal needs, based on the money that you're expecting your business to generate from you. What size does your business actually need to be? Like, what do you, what are the number of sessions that you need? How many clinicians are you going to need? You can get all that information from, uh, from that calculator.
Uh, it's a Google sheet, so I encourage you to go get that. Um, if you're interested. Wonderful.
Whitney Owens: And, and just as a side note here, when I heard about Profit First, I was like, oh, that sounds great, but boy, that's way too much work. I think this is actually in the book now that I'm saying it, but you know, when I started working with Green Oak and they were like, okay, let's get our, let's get our accounts.
Cause I actually didn't have the accounts. I was just like doing it on a spreadsheet all within my account. But I needed the accounts. And so when I went to the bank and started 'em, I was shocked how easy it was and walked away like, why didn't I do this years ago? You. So just to say like, this Profit First is so fantastic and everyone can get it done.
And then this book is gonna specifically speak to therapists, which I
Julie Herres: think is so important. Yeah. And I really tried to, to think of. Uh, therapists at any stage when I wrote it. So there's something for solo therapists, something for people who are thinking about starting a practice. There's a, a whole chapter on scaling.
There's a chapter on compensating your employees. Like there's really something for everyone, um, in this book. But we need, I have a question for you. Um, now you've been doing ther Profit first, now for over a year, two years maybe. How long does it take? How long does it take you every time you do transfers?
Like how long does it take that process take? Oh, uh, five minutes. Okay. Yeah. So it's not a lot of maintenance, right? Like once you're in, it's really just five to, I, I, I usually say 15 I round up, but like, it really is not a whole lot of time. Like once you're past the initial setup.
Whitney Owens: Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
And then if you have an accountant that understands profit first, which you know, is what I have, so it's like I don't have to really do anything. Yeah. They just send me a spreadsheet and I can see everything on it. I confirm it and then I move all the money. It's
Julie Herres: great. Well there is to it. Easy peasy.
Yeah, that's right. That's right. Well great. Well,
Whitney Owens: um, speaking of a year of trips, um, Julie's gonna be doing lots of fun stuff in 2023 if you wanna connect with her in person. Yeah. Um, we're actually
Julie Herres: both gonna
Whitney Owens: be at meet you in Kentucky, which is gonna be in May. Um, I think I have that information actually on my website as well said whitney owens.com if you wanna go look at that event.
Um, and then we're both gonna be in London,
Julie Herres: correct? Yes, I will be there.
Whitney Owens: So that's with Ernesto and Cal Academy. And then the Wise Practice Summit is gonna be in October here in Savannah. And Green Oak Accounting is a sponsor at that event. So I'm very honored to have you coming here to Savannah. Um, so to get information about coming to the Wise Practice Summit, you can head to whitney owens.com and purchase your ticket.
Um, but yeah, lots of fun events going on. Anything I missed Time from
Julie Herres: Sierra? That's exciting. I know, I know. Anything I missed that you're doing that you wanna let people know? Um, I think that's it for what is currently scheduled. We may be adding a few other other things as well. Yes. Wonderful. Well, Julie, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.
My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Podcast Production and Show Notes by James Marland
