When we launched A SMART PRACTICE earlier this year, our goal was simple: To provide engaging content to help practicians build their practices. We are six months in and have published over 50 articles by almost a dozen contributors and engaged our readers with bi-monthly newsletters. This week we launched a new feature of our site: Private […]
image courtesy of www.gotcredit.com From a practice management standpoint, this might be the single most important habit to setup: Develop on a budget. Income will be variable, and to keep money from sinking your business (or credit), you need a plan. Regardless if you practice a budget in your personal life (and I think you […]
Last Friday I gave a presentation to a group of therapists eager to start or grow their private practice. Over the course of our time together, several questions were asked that I think would be helpful to post here: Q: Do I need a business license to open up a private practice? A: I’m not […]
Recently, I sat down with my new bookkeeper for 2 hours and found myself exerting my brain and focus in ways that I can only describe as excruciating. It reminded me of when I sat in Greek class in graduate school. Not only was she using terms that I wasn’t exactly sure I understood, there […]
The IRS will be expecting a check from you on the 15th, unless this is your first year in business. Regardless of how much (or little) you have to pay the IRS, setup a reminder to write this check at least 3 days before it’s due. Here are some previous articles we’ve written about quarterly […]
For the self-employed, private practicians, tax day happens every quarter. Tomorrow, September 15th, is the due date for your estimated taxes to be paid. Here are a few suggestions and reminders to help you with your tax needs. Download the 1040-ES Form from the IRS. Make sure your payment is postmarked by 9/15/15 If you began […]
Today marks the 60th published article here at A SMART PRACTICE. When we launched in January of this year, we weren’t exactly sure how everything was going to shake out. Looking back over the past 6 months, and 60 articles, there’s been a lot of great content, resources, and community development here. Our goal here is to […]
With the implementation of the Affordability Care Act, also comes the hope that electronic record keeping (electronic medical records – EMR or electronic health records – EHR) might create a system that saves money and provides better client care. The economic savings and ease of these systems are hotly debated and the ease of use […]
I’m probably a bit on the odd side, but I really like numbers. For one, numbers do not lie. There is so much ambiguity in our work as a counselor, coach, or consultant that numbers can be a welcomed relief of solid ground. The unfortunate part of this is most graduate schools don’t really train […]
“Caleb, I know you have a business to run, and I know you probably just thought it was a credit card, but when you charged my card, you charged my debit card and wiped out our funds for the rest of the month.” My heart sank. I realized that I had caused my client a difficult hardship. […]
No shows are part of the business. Sometimes these no-shows don’t ever come back and pay. One way to mitigate that is to follow Caleb’s advice and take a credit card number to reserve each session. Another option is to save $5 from every session you complete, put it in a cash lockbox (I use this […]
In the past 5-7 years the range of payment options for counselors has had a significant expansion. This is primarily linked to the smartphone and the capabilities it possesses in business functions. If you’re not accepting credit card payments, you might be missing out on potential clients. But, what to do about the fee the […]
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “if something can go wrong, it will.” It’s a hard mantra to live by because it requires that we live with both our present and future needs in mind. This is a topic we often address with our clients, but can so easily forget to practice them in our […]
In just a few days on January 15th, a date all of us self-employed folks dread, our Quarterly tax payment is due the IRS. What I’ve come to appreciate about these quarterly payments is that I’m not writing a check to the IRS for my entire tax liability. Instead, I’m just writing a quarter of it. It’s like the old […]
It’s pretty overwhelming to consider getting a business started from the ground floor. There are so many different issues to attend to, and generally speaking, we therapists are better with people than we are with numbers. Banking is a pretty simple concept that we are all familiar with, but I don’t see many therapists who […]
