Financial Control

Where the Heck Does the Money Go?

Your practice may be busy.

Your clinicians are treating kiddos. Families need care. The schedule may even be full.

But insurance reimbursements keep dropping while payroll, rent, benefits, software and just about everything else keep going up.

Money may be coming in, but that doesn’t mean the practice is profitable.

And it certainly doesn’t mean you’re getting paid.

Some owners pay themselves less than they’d make working for someone else. Some take whatever happens to be left. And some don’t pay themselves at all.

Meanwhile, they’re carrying the responsibility for the entire company.

Financial Control helps you understand what it truly costs to run your practice, where money is being lost and what needs to change so the company can become—and remain—profitable.

Not profitable by accident or divine intervention.

Profitable because you know how to make it happen.

Who Financial Control Is For

This program may be for you if:

You’re working harder but making less
Reimbursements are dropping while expenses keep climbing
Money is coming in, but the practice isn’t profitable
You’re taking whatever is left over instead of paying yourself a real salary
You’re not paying yourself at all
Payroll and operating costs feel out of control
Taxes keep catching you off guard
You don’t have any reserves, or if you do, they are meager
You know income is slipping through the cracks
Your leadership team spends money without understanding the bigger picture
The practice has profitable months, but you don’t know why

Basically, if you’re paying whatever pops up, taking care of everyone else first and hoping there’s something left for you, we need to talk.

Stop Spending First and Planning Later

Payroll is due.

The rent went up.

Your health insurance renewal just came in—and yikes.

Then a therapist leaves, and now you’ve got recruiting costs, temporary coverage and overtime to deal with.

When every expense feels urgent, it’s easy to keep paying whatever lands in front of you and hope there’s enough left for taxes, reserves and your own salary.

That’s not financial planning. That’s letting the bills decide where the money goes.

Pay Yourself

You built your practice to help children and families.

Wonderful.

But the practice also needs to pay its bills, support your staff, prepare for taxes, build reserves and create enough profit to stay healthy.

And yes, it should pay you too.

Not someday.

Not only when there’s extra money.

And not after everyone else has already taken their share.

Financial Control helps you stop wondering where the money went and start making deliberate decisions about where it should go.

A Full Schedule Doesn’t Guarantee a Profit

A practice can be busy, bring in a lot of income and still lose money.

Especially when reimbursements are shrinking and the cost of providing care keeps rising.

Financial Control helps you figure out what it really costs to deliver your services, how much income the practice needs and what has to happen for the company to make a healthy profit.

Because revenue is what comes in.

Profit is what’s left after the company pays its bills.

And your salary shouldn’t depend on whether there happens to be anything left over.

You built this practice to help children and families.

That doesn’t mean you should work your tail off for free.

Find the Money Slipping Through the Cracks

When margins are already tight, lost income hurts even more. It shows up in:

Open spots that never get filled
Cancellations and no-shows
Missed authorizations
Referrals that never make it onto the schedule
Services that aren’t fully billed
Copays and balances that aren’t collected
Payroll that’s too high for the amount of work being produced
Services that cost more to provide than they bring in

One little leak may not look like much.

Add a few of them together every week, and suddenly you’re putting in more work without seeing more money.

You’ll learn how to find those leaks, understand why they’re happening and put a plan in place to fix them.

No more knowing you’re short and having no idea why.

Build a Budget You’ll Actually Use

A budget shouldn’t be something you create once, admire for five minutes and never look at again.

It should help you run the practice.

You’ll build a realistic budget based on what it truly costs to operate the company, pay your team—including yourself—fund your obligations and grow responsibly.

You’ll also put a process in place for requesting and approving purchases.

That means people don’t just spend money because they want something.

They’ll need to show why it’s needed, what it’ll cost and whether the practice can afford it.

Crazy concept, right?

Plan the Income Before You Need It

Payroll’s coming.

Rent is due.

Taxes are looming.

And the insurance companies aren’t exactly calling to offer you more money.

Financial Control teaches you to work backward.

How much income does the practice need to produce?

Where’s that income going to come from?

What specific actions need to happen to make it happen?

That may mean filling open appointments, following up on referrals, improving collections, increasing productivity, controlling expenses or taking a hard look at services that aren’t financially viable.

You’re no longer waiting to see what comes in.

You’re creating a plan for what needs to come in—and what needs to be left when the month is over.

Build a Reserve That Lets You Breathe

A reserve isn’t money you save someday if there happens to be something left.

It’s part of running a responsible company.

One practice owner had practically her entire team walk out.

She still had a huge rent payment. Children still needed care. The doors still had to stay open.

What saved her was the financial system she already had in place.

She had reserves.

She could bring in temporary help, pay her bills and rebuild.

You can’t prevent every disaster.

But you can make sure one disaster doesn’t wipe out everything you worked so hard to build.

Your Leadership Team Needs to Understand Your Finances, Too

You shouldn’t be the only person lying awake at night worrying about whether the practice can make payroll.

Your leaders make decisions every day that affect staffing, scheduling, productivity, purchases and income.

They need to understand that.

Financial Control teaches your leadership team how to participate in financial planning, request money properly and take responsibility for the financial health of their areas.

You’ll also learn how to run financial planning meetings so decisions are based on facts and priorities.

Not who asked first.

Not who complained the loudest.

And not who gave you the saddest face.

What You’ll Put in Place

By the end of Financial Control, you’ll have:

A realistic operating budget
A process for approving expenses
A plan for producing the income the practice needs
A way to find and recover lost income
Better control of payroll and operating costs
A consistently funded reserve account
A plan for paying yourself properly
Clear financial responsibility for your leaders
Financial planning meetings that actually accomplish something
A plan for profitable, controlled growth

Most importantly, you’ll understand how to create profit.

Because being busy isn’t the same as being profitable—and crossing your fingers isn’t a financial system.

How Financial Control Works

Financial Control includes three days of one-on-one training followed by weekly accountability calls from your accountability partner.

The program is customized to your practice, your numbers, your expenses and your goals. This isn’t generic financial advice.

The accountability sessions help you put the system in place, keep it going and handle problems as they come up.