Full Transcript for Why Increasing Sales Doesn't Always Work

some cash in the business. 00:05:13.419 --> 00:05:15.899 This is once again is a band-aid fix. 00:05:15.979 --> 00:05:23.259 And so skipping your paycheck, not only in the mindset of prioritizing yourself, it's going against that. 00:05:23.339 --> 00:05:24.699 That you need to take care of yourself. 00:05:24.859 --> 00:05:26.939 It's the whole oxygen mask on the airplane, right? 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:29.579 You put yours on first before you help somebody else. 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:35.180 If you're not taking care of yourself, your business is not gonna be able to serve as many people as it can. 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:39.979 It's not gonna be around very long if you're skipping your own paycheck and you're burning yourself out. 00:05:40.139 --> 00:05:43.659 So sacrificing your paycheck is a temporary fix. 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:55.579 It's gonna get you by, it's going to help you get through maybe this payroll period, but then the problem is still there, and you're gonna circle back to it in a few weeks or next month, and the same thing is gonna be present there. 00:05:55.659 --> 00:06:00.379 Or maybe you have a good month, and so you get through that, and then the following month it's back down, right? 00:06:00.459 --> 00:06:05.979 So it's this survival game of being reactive, reacting to how are we doing? 00:06:06.139 --> 00:06:08.699 Oops, I'm gonna sacrifice my own paycheck. 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:11.419 That is one of the most common mistakes we see. 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:20.539 It's one of the most number one things when I ask people uh on every consultation when I meet a business owner or a practice owner, it's uh, how much are you paying yourself? 00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:22.939 Uh, is it enough to cover your expenses? 00:06:23.099 --> 00:06:26.060 And are you paying yourself consistently and regularly? 00:06:26.219 --> 00:06:28.459 Meaning, have you do you skip a paycheck? 00:06:28.539 --> 00:06:32.060 Does it fluctuate based on what you're earning or how much money is in the bank? 00:06:32.299 --> 00:06:36.219 Is it you're just pulling out money whenever you need, regardless of what day of the week it is? 00:06:36.299 --> 00:06:38.459 So there's multiple withdrawals throughout the month. 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:47.099 Going through those, it's really, really important that you pay yourself the same amount on the same rhythm, and it's consistent and reliable. 00:06:47.259 --> 00:06:50.779 Just like if you were working for somebody else, you would expect the same thing. 00:06:50.859 --> 00:07:01.019 You would expect on payday your paycheck to be in your account, and you would expect it to be on the same day and of the exact amount that you were expecting it to be. 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:04.139 And so you should expect that from your own practice as well. 00:07:04.539 --> 00:07:09.819 The third thing that we can try or that we fall into the trap of is borrowing, getting into debt. 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:14.219 When money's tight, we tap into a line of credit, we rack up the credit card. 00:07:14.459 --> 00:07:17.180 There's a number of ways this presents itself. 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:20.539 And just like the paycheck thing, it's typically reactive. 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:24.379 Rarely do people go out and open a credit card to just run up the balance, right? 00:07:24.459 --> 00:07:34.459 It the idea is I'm gonna use this to plug the hole, uh, to pay this invoice, and then you know, next week when that insurance reimbursement comes in, I'll pay off the credit card balance. 00:07:34.699 --> 00:07:41.419 All good intentions, and then slowly that debt creeps up, or slowly that line of credit balance just creeps up and creeps up. 00:07:41.579 --> 00:07:44.459 So borrowing is just plugging the hole again. 00:07:44.539 --> 00:07:45.819 It's a band-aid fix. 00:07:46.060 --> 00:08:03.819 We it doesn't offer long-term solutions, so it can get you through and get you through as long as it can until those credit cards are tapped out and until that line of credit is maxed out, and then you're back where you were, but actually in a worse position because now you are net negative when it comes to how much cash you have. 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.459 You don't have you know a few thousand sitting in the bank. 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:13.659 You might have a few thousand sitting in the bank and then negative over here in your debt, and so you're in a worse position than you were before. 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:18.459 And that's just because we're band-aiding uh something that is that needs stitches, right? 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:23.979 It's continuing to just lose blood, getting all grossome over here. 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:25.419 It's it's October when I'm recording this. 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:26.060 It's the Halloween. 00:08:26.299 --> 00:08:29.419 So if you stick a band-aid on it, it's not gonna heal, right? 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:37.580 It's gonna continue to be a problem, and eventually you're gonna reach a point where it's do or die, you gotta you gotta address the real core issue. 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:42.460 So borrowing rarely ever is the solution. 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:50.220 Typically, when I say when it comes to debt, and while I say most of the time, avoid it at all costs as much as you possibly can. 00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:52.139 Not having any debt is ideal. 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:55.740 The best lens to look at it through is proactive versus reactive. 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:59.419 Am I going into this at a time where it's not fear-based? 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:08.139 It's I'm not borrowing because I'm afraid of not making payroll or I'm afraid of not being able to pay my rent. 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:21.899 Uh, or am I proactively borrowing money to purchase a piece of equipment that I've done research on and made sure that there's uh an actual route to ROI on that? 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:23.819 Um, those are two different approaches. 00:09:23.899 --> 00:09:40.059 I'm not even

saying that borrowing money to rent a piece of equipment is what I would recommend, but the perspective is two different things: reacting and just throwing things on a credit card or tapping into a line of credit because you're stressed out, versus proactive where you've put a lot of thought into it. 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:49.740 Maybe uh you've used that piece of equipment in your practice for a few months, uh, saw the viability of it before deciding to invest in it and borrow to buy it. 00:09:49.980 --> 00:09:54.620 Different approaches, going at it with eyes open versus just reacting to what's happening. 00:09:55.340 --> 00:10:01.980 These among many other things we do, but these are the three most common ways that we try and solve financial problems. 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:06.699 We try to increase revenue, and that that's always the funniest one because it's like that seems so obvious. 00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:10.299 Yes, increase revenue, but that's the number one thing we try to do. 00:10:10.460 --> 00:10:12.779 We sacrifice our paycheck, we borrow money. 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:18.620 This all seems obvious, and they're all not wrong solutions. 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:21.740 They can get you through, they can solve today's problem. 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:26.059 But what's the real core problem behind all of this? 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:33.500 There's a book called What's Your Problem by Thomas Waddell Weddelsborg, and he talks about this the elevator problem. 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:50.539 So, what happens in this analogy is there's a big office building, and the landlord of the building is getting constant complaints from the tenants and the different businesses that the elevators are too slow, that they say it takes way too long to get from their floor to the bottom, and vice versa. 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:56.779 So immediately they they get their board together and they start trying to approach this problem and come up with solutions. 00:10:56.939 --> 00:11:11.340 And some of the most obvious ones are well, let's get a mechanic out here to uh try and speed it up, whether that is improve the motors, whether that is to improve uh the cables or the different uh pieces and components of the elevator to make it go faster, right? 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:12.860 They said it's too slow. 00:11:13.100 --> 00:11:15.100 How can we make it go faster? 00:11:15.419 --> 00:11:20.220 Then one person decides, let's let's change our perspective of this. 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:24.139 The problem they're stating is the elevators are too slow. 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:27.340 But what's the problem deeper than that? 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:28.620 What's what's behind that? 00:11:28.860 --> 00:11:32.139 And that's they don't like waiting for the elevator, right? 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:39.340 It's not necessarily that they're so slow, yes, that's a that's how it's surfacing, but behind that is they don't like to wait for it. 00:11:39.579 --> 00:11:53.340 So what they did is instead of before hiring somebody to come out and just overhaul the whole elevator system, which would have shut it down for weeks and caused even more pain points in the short term, they did one small simple tweak. 00:11:53.419 --> 00:11:57.259 And that is on every floor next to the elevator doors, they put up a mirror. 00:11:57.659 --> 00:12:10.059 And magically, people stopped complaining about the elevators, and that's because it gave them something to do, something that fascinates them more than anything else, and that is to just look at themselves in a mirror. 00:12:10.299 --> 00:12:15.980 Funny enough, setting them outside of every single elevator, people would just look at themselves in the mirror. 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:20.779 It gave them something to preoccupy their mind, and it didn't feel like they were waiting as long. 00:12:20.939 --> 00:12:22.939 And so the complaint stopped. 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:27.659 Mirrors at every floor is a lot cheaper than overhauling the entire elevator system. 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:33.659 And they still solved the problem of people were now not worried about waiting anymore. 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:36.379 They didn't feel like they were too slow because it was gone. 00:12:36.539 --> 00:12:37.659 They they had solved it. 00:12:37.819 --> 00:12:42.059 And so I want us to approach this differently with your finances in the same way. 00:12:42.699 --> 00:12:45.259 You're facing a cash flow crunch, right? 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:49.340 As simple as the money in our bank account is too low. 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:53.500 So, what is the real problem behind that? 00:12:53.980 --> 00:13:14.220 Well, it could be a number of things, but what we've found is that the real issue is most of us try and overcomplicate this whole money management thing, that we think it needs to be more complicated than it is, much like the board trying to uh approach the problem by overhauling the whole system. 00:13:14.539 --> 00:13:20.539 That's how we're approaching this money thing is we think it needs to be complicated when in reality it doesn't. 00:13:20.860 --> 00:13:27.740 It shouldn't be this thing that goes way over our heads, it shouldn't require an accounting degree just to run the finances in your practice. 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:29.579 I say that time and time again. 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:34.699 We should not need to be accountants in order to be a successful practice owner. 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:36.460 And yet that's what it feels like. 00:13:36.699 --> 00:13:50.699 And when you talk to any gurus or accountants or CPAs, they tell you, you know, the importance of cash flow and the importance of EBITDA and having uh a strong bottom line and all these things that probably go over most people's heads. 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.419 And that's because you are good at what you do. 00:13:53.659 --> 00:13:59.500 You are a fantastic therapist, you're a fantastic physical therapist, you're fantastic at your craft.

00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:04.460 And the my managing the money side is a part that maybe no one has ever taught you. 00:14:04.699 --> 00:14:15.259 And so our default is to solve it by doing those obvious things of increase the revenue, sacrifice our paychecks, borrow money. 00:14:15.419 --> 00:14:20.460 How can we the bank account is low, how can I get some more cash into that bank account? 00:14:20.620 --> 00:14:23.980 Or how can I prevent myself from taking more cash out of that bank account? 00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:32.299 So let's address the real problem, and it's that you don't have a simple money system, and that's okay. 00:14:32.379 --> 00:14:35.019 And that's something to lean on. 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:48.860 You don't have a a strategy plan, you don't have a system in your practice that will make sure you always have the cash, that will make sure that you're always paid, that will make sure all these things are happening when they're supposed to happen. 00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:53.259 Most practices we found have an accounting system of some kind. 00:14:53.500 --> 00:14:58.620 This is with your bookkeeping, whether you track it in QuickBooks or whether you track it on a spreadsheet. 00:14:58.699 --> 00:15:03.819 This is just your your track record of what you spent in your practice, how much you earned in your practice. 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:04.939 And it's on a sheet. 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:10.299 You can print the documents, the accounting documents, look at your profit loss statement to see how you stand. 00:15:10.539 --> 00:15:12.620 All of those are a rearview mirror look. 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:16.939 What most practices don't have is what I was just talking about is that money management system. 00:15:17.100 --> 00:15:20.779 It's this system that is baked into your business so you know where you stand today. 00:15:20.939 --> 00:15:27.419 You can make money decisions for today and this week and this month, that you always have a pulse on where the finances are. 00:15:27.579 --> 00:15:28.699 It's your windshield. 00:15:28.779 --> 00:15:34.139 It's it's you looking in real time of where your practice is and where it's going up ahead. 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:39.259 So money management system is the core problem, and that's what we need to fix. 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:47.419 Now, we're big believers in the profit first system being your money management system, and that is having multiple bank accounts for each line item. 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:50.220 It's just like the envelope system, but for your for your business. 00:15:50.299 --> 00:16:02.220 It's having instead of physical paper envelopes like maybe your your parents or your grandparents used, where they wrote on payday, they wrote, you know, groceries or restaurants or whatever on each envelope and then put cash inside of them. 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:05.259 We do that with your business and we open multiple checking accounts. 00:16:05.419 --> 00:16:07.980 We have one for profit, so we

prioritize profit. 00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:10.860 Cash goes into that account, earmarked for profit. 00:16:10.939 --> 00:16:13.340 We have one for owner's pay, and that's your paycheck. 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:16.059 So that will prevent you from sacrificing your paycheck. 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:21.659 We have one for operating expenses, we have one for payroll to pay your team, and we have one for taxes. 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:31.100 Having different buckets, different accounts to divide your money into when it comes in will make sure that you have a clear, actionable plan. 00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:38.220 It'll make sure that when you go to pay an invoice, you're not pulling from your salary or your paycheck to do it. 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:45.500 You are now earmarking money just for your paycheck, you're earmarking money just for running those operating expenses. 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:52.379 Now, circling back to making more money and increasing revenue, like I said, that's not a bad thing. 00:16:52.460 --> 00:16:58.620 And a lot of times, well, number one, that's of course what we're trying to do in most cases as you grow practice is increase revenue, right? 00:16:58.699 --> 00:17:02.699 You you want to make more sales if you want to grow and hire more people, et cetera, et cetera. 00:17:02.939 --> 00:17:05.900 But doing that alone is where the problem happens. 00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:14.140 When you have a money management system and you have your money organized in that way where you can keep a pulse on it, then you're ready to increase revenue. 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:15.740 Then you're ready to manage it. 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:20.620 And as you're increasing revenue, you're earmarking more money towards each category. 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:29.900 You're able to give yourself pay raises, you're able to build up cash reserves and savings because you have these different buckets, these different envelopes, bank accounts that money is going into. 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:39.500 And the only way to use money that you've earmarked for profit on an invoice is if you intentionally proactively move money out of that account. 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:41.259 It's not going to just disappear. 00:17:41.340 --> 00:17:48.220 Versus now, when you have one checking account, you go to pay invoices, you run payroll, and then all of a sudden you're like, why don't I ever have any money left over? 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:54.700 It's because you're spending your profit, you're spending your paycheck because it's all lumped in one and we can't see it happening. 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.099 So this is going to provide that clarity. 00:17:57.259 --> 00:18:04.220 The real problem is that we don't have a simple system that we believe it has to be complicated, and in reality it doesn't. 00:18:04.379 --> 00:18:11.339 You know, a lot of CPAs who have never heard of profit first will hear it and be like, that just all these bank accounts, that sounds crazy. 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.740 Why would that doesn't make any sense? 00:18:13.980 --> 00:18:17.420 But it's it's leveraging us, it's leveraging our behavior. 00:18:17.579 --> 00:18:44.859 It's what's the alternative to continue trying to use spreadsheets and to continue trying to take uh the industry jargon that doesn't make sense to us and trying to use, force ourselves to use something that just doesn't resonate and isn't getting us results, or to try something different that is simple, easy to understand, that at any moment we can pull up in our phone and look at our banking app and see where do I stand in operating expenses, where do I stand in owners' pay, et cetera, all the accounts. 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:47.259 At any given moment, you know exactly where you are. 00:18:47.339 --> 00:18:49.819 And that's what a money management system does. 00:18:50.059 --> 00:18:55.180 Now, all of this uh is walk through in my upcoming book, Profit First for Physical Therapists. 00:18:55.339 --> 00:19:08.539 I highly recommend if you're a PT practice owner, um, SLP, OTs, if you're in any kind of adjacent industry, even my mental health therapists, um, this book will speak to your practices and how to implement this system. 00:19:08.619 --> 00:19:10.779 It's gonna walk you through the entire process. 00:19:11.019 --> 00:19:13.740 I try and make it fun, as fun as I can when it comes to money. 00:19:13.819 --> 00:19:19.579 So if you go to pf4pt.com, you will find uh a place to join the wait list. 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:21.980 Like I said, as of release, we're on a wait list. 00:19:22.139 --> 00:19:29.019 In the next six weeks or so, we should have pre-orders open and ready to go, and we'll be releasing in early 2027. 00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:32.700 So go put your name on that list so that we can make sure you get a copy. 00:19:32.779 --> 00:19:39.420 And then, of course, we'll give you some good freebies and and uh just things you can start using now to make some headway in your practice. 00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:45.180 And then my mental health therapist, like I said, the book will you could read it, implement it in your practice as well. 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:50.539 There is a book already by Julie Harris called Profit First for Therapists, and so I recommend that as well. 00:19:50.619 --> 00:19:51.579 It's already out there. 00:19:51.660 --> 00:19:55.980 So if you're in the mental health space, go get that book, check it out, because it is it's great. 00:19:56.059 --> 00:20:01.980 And it's gonna take this core concept and customize it just for your industries. 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:08.779 All right, you're not broken, you're not, there's nothing wrong with you if you're struggling with the finances and you're not alone. 00:20:08.940 --> 00:20:14.059 All you need is a simple money management system, and you will find the solution to the real problem. 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:18.059 Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business Podcast. 00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:23.099 Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a practice owner that you may know. 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:32.059 If your practice needs help getting organized with its finances or just growing your practice, head to therapybusinesspod.com to learn how we can help.