WP138 | Leading Your Practice in an Uncertain Economy with David W. Frank, CFP®
In this episode, we’re diving into the real talk around money, mindset, and what to do when the economy feels like it’s doing cartwheels.
David breaks it down in a way that’s refreshingly honest, surprisingly comforting, and—yes—a little funny too (because what’s financial stress without a tiny dose of humor?).
Whether you're feeling that dip in client inquiries, wondering if a recession is lurking around the corner, or just trying to figure out how to build a cushion that helps you sleep at night, this conversation is going to give you solid ground to stand on.
So pour your coffee, take a breath, and let’s talk about what we can control—because David’s got some seriously grounding advice you won’t want to miss.
Yes, the Economy Is Weird. No, You Don’t Need to Panic.
David starts with the obvious truth: private practice finances are complicated. You're not just budgeting for your groceries and your kid’s soccer cleats—you’re also managing a whole dang business. Which means the economy? Yeah, it matters. But here's the kicker:
“There will be a recession. We just don’t know when.”
Cheery, right? But seriously, David’s not being doom-and-gloom. He’s just being honest. The economy has seasons. Ups, downs, and sideways days. That’s just how it rolls. And trying to predict exactly when it’ll dip? That’s a fool’s game. Instead, he says: zoom out. Focus on what you can actually control.
Control What You Can: Attention + Action
This is classic David—no fluff, just good sense:
“We can only really control two things: what we’re paying attention to and what actions we’re taking.”
So instead of spiraling about GDP charts or the whispers about value-based care, come back to your practice. Are inquiries down? Okay. That’s data. That’s feedback. Now what can you do?
Here’s where he drops a few ideas like hot pancakes on a Sunday morning:
Build stronger referral networks (hello, local churches and community orgs).
Try different marketing approaches—workshops, social media tweaks, that email newsletter you’ve been “meaning” to start.
Experiment. Test. Iterate.
Remember: You don’t have to control the outcome—you just need to take action.
Mindset, But Make It Practical
Sure, mindset matters. But David’s not here for fluffy mantras and manifesting your dream caseload. He’s here to talk real-deal financial resilience.
And that means liquidity. (Don’t worry, we’ll explain.)
Liquidity = cash you can actually get to when the going gets rough. And no, it’s not your retirement account. That’s for Future You. Present You? You need an emergency fund. Think:
3 to 6 months of personal expenses (in something boring but stable, like a savings account).
If you own a practice? Add a month of payroll (excluding yourself if your personal fund is solid), plus 1–2 months of operating expenses.
That way, when Change Healthcare implodes (remember that disaster?), you’ve got a cushion. No scrambling. Just breathing room.
Lines of Credit: Not Just for Big Box Stores
David’s also a fan of having a line of credit—just in case. Especially for group practice owners.
Think of it like that spare tire in your trunk. You hope you never have to use it, but wow, is it nice to know it’s there when you’re stuck on the side of the road (or when insurance payments are mysteriously delayed for weeks).
A Little Faith Goes a Long Way
At the end of the day, David’s message is kind of a balm for the anxiety-ridden, spreadsheet-fatigued practice owner:
“So much is outside of our control, but still... things tend to work out.”
This isn’t toxic positivity. It’s not “don’t worry, be happy.” It’s “prepare well, act smart, and trust that you’re doing the right things even when the numbers wobble.”
You’re not alone. The economy might be a mess, inquiries might be quieter than usual, and your coffee might be cold again. But you’ve got this. Build your financial buffer. Stay adaptable. And don’t forget—people still need your help. Probably now more than ever.
So take a breath, refill your coffee, and get back to doing what you do best.
(And maybe check that emergency fund. Just sayin’.)
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: If you've been thinking about outsourcing your SEO or social media, there's never been a better time at Simplified SEO Consulting. They're launching a brand new social media management package in the month of June, designed specifically for therapists. Unlike other agencies, their entire team has mental health backgrounds, so they understand our unique field and our clients.
To celebrate this launch, they're offering 10% off select clients, a savings of $480. Plus they have flexible pricing to meet your needs. Ready to free up your time and let the experts handle your social media. Go ahead and get started today. Simplified seo consulting.com. Hi, I'm Whitney Owens. I'm a group practice owner and faith-based practice consultant and I'm here to tell you that you can have it all.
Wanna grow your practice, wanna grow your faith? Wanna enjoy your life outside of work, you've come to the right place. Each week on the Wise Practice Podcast, I will give you the action steps to have a successful faith-based practice while also having a good time. Now let's get started.
[00:01:08] Jingle: Wish gross you practice.
She don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and the Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:01:26] Whitney Owens: Hello there and welcome back to The Wise Practice Podcast. I'm your host Whitney Owens, and I'm excited for today's episode with David Frank, who's a financial planner.
And he and I discuss the economic challenges going on, how this can impact who we are and the way that we run our practices. So really happy about sharing that with you today. But I'm excited to also kick things off by sharing something really important for Christian practice owners who wanna grow their business and grow their faith.
So for a while now, the Wise Practice Membership Community, it's been a space for faith-based practice owners to connect, learn, and thrive. But until recently, I only had the doors open certain times of the year, usually twice a year. I. But now I'm changing that model because I want you to be able to be involved as much as you want.
And so instead of only opening the doors twice a year, I'm gonna have open enrollment throughout the year. This allows you to join. Doesn't put a limit in. Mostly it allows me to not throw marketing at you all the time because no one wants that. So what exactly is the Wise Practice Membership Community?
It's a supportive online space for Christian practice owners who are ready to lead their practices with a sense of purpose. So whether you're just getting started in your practice, you're wanting to scale up to a group practice, we have some people in there that. Haven't even gotten their business license, but they know they're gonna start a private practice to people who've been doing it for years and have growing, thriving group practices.
This is a place for everyone to find real connection, spiritual growth, and practice resources. All in one spot. So within the community, you get access to monthly live teachings led by me and the other wise practice consultants. By the way, these are recorded so you can watch them afterwards. Live q and A Sessions, templates that you can use in your practice.
So for group practice centers, that means policies that you can use that have created, if you're looking to hire. I have things on hiring and letters that you can use for offers. And for other practice owners, I've got marketing materials, intake documents, all the resources that you can need in running your practice.
I have exclusive interviews and conversations surrounding faith-based marketing, team management, money mindset, and more. You'll be surrounded with like-minded business owners who get what it's like to lead a private practice honoring our values as faith-based practice owners. It is incredible when we can all get together and run our business, connect with one another, and all have a similar faith.
This is more than just a group. It is a gathering for growth, accountability, and encouragement. And speaking of accountability, twice a month we have accountability groups. So think about these as small groups at your church almost. It's an accountability group for your practice. So you're meeting with your peers in a similar phase of practice and growing your businesses together.
So if you're looking for a place to connect with Christian practice owners around the country. Ask questions, get clearer guidance, grow your practice with intention and faith. I want you to head over to the Wise Practice Community to the website wise practice consulting.com. You'll see the community is an option.
You can go ahead and join today. Now that it's not open just twice a year, but on a consistent basis, it's a subscription. If you get into it and it's not for you, I don't want people in there. If they don't feel like it's for you, you just send us an email, let us know if it's not working for you, but I think it will.
So for only right now, $89 a month. You can get all those resources. So I'm looking forward to seeing you in that community, and if you have questions, reach out to me. It is one of my favorite things that I do is being a part of the membership community. Oh. And you get exclusive deals on mastermind groups, the summit, and other services that we offer.
And services from the companies that I partner with. So it's really a win-win situation. Alright, so that's about the membership community. Hope you'll check that out and join. And we're gonna jump into the episode with David Frank, where we're gonna talk about the economy and how this is impacting your practice.
I.
Today on the Wise Practice Podcast, I have my dear friend David Frank. He is a financial planner dedicated to helping therapists feel organized and confident in their financial decisions. Dave's mission is to reduce financial stress and enable quicker, more confident decision making. Thanks for coming on the show.
[00:06:01] David Frank: Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Yeah, always enjoy. Always enjoy our conversations.
[00:06:06] Whitney Owens: Likewise, and we've had so many great conversations about retirement planning, financial planning for private practice owners. So I encourage people, you can find previous episodes and Dave's spoken to the membership community and at the summit, and again this year because you just got so much to offer and get.
So anyway, we've had lots of great conversations on some of those topics that people are really interested in exploring those more. But today we're gonna really look at. The financial climate and how is that impacting our practices? What kind of things should we do differently? How should we be thinking about that?
So this is like a good conversation, a scary conversation, an empowering conversation. So I'm really glad to be talking to you about this.
[00:06:51] David Frank: Yeah, yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited to talk about this stuff. I. I find it really interesting. It's, it's fascinating. It's the intersection of, you know, everyone's behavior out there.
Like, you know, not just your listeners, but it's just, you know, the, the, the economy in general and the uncertainty around the current economy and whether there's a recession that's gonna happen. It's just all a collection of our individual behaviors, which is, I think, an interesting way to, to think about it and frame some of this.
[00:07:19] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Alright. Well I'm not sure the best place to start as far as kind of where, where is the economy and the finances, but you're the finance guy, so I'm ready.
[00:07:28] David Frank: Yeah, yeah. Happy to take it away. So I, I think you know when, and, and I say this all the time and it won't come as I. You know, a, a news flash to anyone, but when you are a therapist in private practice, there is a lot of complexity in the financial world to manage.
So not only do you have to manage your personal finances like everyone else, oh by the way, you have this whole business, this whole practice to manage and both. Areas, our personal finances and practice finances, both are gonna be impacted by what's happening in what we like to call the broader economy.
What's going on in Yeah, what's going on with, you know, GDP and growth and, and all that. Is there a recession that's gonna happen and if so, what should we do to prepare for it? So, I think you know it, this is late spring. I guess mid spring 2025. Even as I think back over the last handful of years, I feel like there's been a pretty consistent drumbeat about a recession potentially being on the horizon and what can we potentially do, or should we be freaking out?
How do you manage your practice in response to that? And I think what's interesting is, what I always wanna say to that is that there is a hundred percent. A recession is gonna happen. Like it, it is on the horizon. I have absolutely no idea when that's gonna happen, but sooner or later there will be a recession.
There's just always gonna be ups and downs in the economy, and I think, as you know, we were talking before we hit record. You are seeing in the folks you're talking to. I'm seeing as well that referrals and inquiries are, are generally down in private practices across the board, whether you're private pay or insurance based.
That's pretty, that's pretty common. And I think that may very well be a reflection of the overall economic climate and the fact that a lot of people are feeling some degree of uncertainty and, um, are just a little bit anxious about what, what the future's gonna hold. So I think. We can talk a little bit about that.
I think most of this is not to minimize the real, you know, burdens and uncertainties of, of the burden of managing through uncertain economic times. But I think the reality is things are always uncertain. The future is always unknown. They're just different points in time where that uncertainty feels a lot more clear, a lot more in our face, so to speak.
Mm-hmm. And I think when we're in those environments. It really becomes sort of a, an issue of not just an issue of mindset management, but that's a, that's a part of it. But what I always like to say, people tell people or just reflect on, is that no matter what's happening in the world, I. We can only really control two things, and that's what we're paying attention to and what actions we're taking.
So regardless of what's happening in the environment we're surrounded in and influenced by, you know what, what can we do? What actions can we take today?
[00:10:34] Whitney Owens: Yeah, I have no idea what those are. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I like what you're saying. There will always be uncertainty. I think I just was meeting with my marketing specialist yesterday talking about what do we wanna put on social media in the next week or two?
And I was like, change? I said, change is inevitable. Yeah. It's like freak out about change. I don't want change. Instead just embrace the fact that things are gonna change. It's gonna be okay. You know? Look, there's gonna be highs and lows in the economy. This is what the economy does. We don't know if the highs and lows are coming, but they're coming and.
I guess there's a part of me that's like, how much do we allow our actions and behaviors to revolve around that and not totally. And if we become too fixated on it, it creates an unhealthy dynamic for us, for the people we're around for our practice. Yeah.
[00:11:31] David Frank: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think that's really well said is because it, we, we, of course, we, we want to be generally informed about what's happening, but the way I think about it is, you know, whether we're coming up with an investment plan for your retirement accounts, or whether we're thinking about a marketing plan for your practice.
I think the question is always the same to, to me fundamentally anyway, it's just how are we gonna build a plan here that is going to be able to weather the economics, the economic up and downs, the, the different seasons of the economy or the stock market as, as the case might be. So I think there, the question really is, so, okay, you know, if you're seeing a downturn in, in quarrels or referrals to your practice, what can you you do about that, you know.
There. There are always levers. There's always things you can do. You can, you know, you could build a relationship with your local churches. You can search out other referral partners, you can run different types of marketing events. There's always different things that you can potentially be doing, and.
You know that not necessarily, you can't control the outcome of, of any of those things. I think so much of it is just sort of experimenting and seeing, okay, what really works with the population that I'm trying to serve. Mm-hmm. And as you said, the, it's such a cliche, but cliches exist for a reason, right?
Like the only, the only, oh shoot. Now I can't even think of the cliche. What is it around change? The only constant is change, right? Like that's, that's the only thing that we can guarantee. And no matter. I think that is such a great thing to remind ourselves because there's always anxiety or change is always sort of on the horizon.
And I, and I feel like I've been hearing that a lot lately about what's happening in the, the market, what's happening in, in the mental health care field and what's gonna happen with insurance reimbursements and the, the, the movement towards. Value-based care. And you know, there's all these different things that might happen.
And to me it's just like, well, yeah, things are, things are changing. Mm-hmm. And they'll just continue to do that.
[00:13:39] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so maybe some of this is how do we go back to our foundation?
[00:13:45] David Frank: I think so, yeah.
[00:13:46] Whitney Owens: The things that we depend on, and I think for private practice, going back to what's your mission, what are your values?
And focusing on that instead of all the change.
[00:13:57] David Frank: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like it's, it's really easy to get distracted by all the things that are going on, but I really like that idea of like always coming back to fundamentals of what am I really doing here? What do I really offer the folks that I work with, and how can I, how can I cut through the noise that they too are experiencing?
Right? The folks that you wanna work with, you know, they're living through the same sort of politically and economically uncertain times that, that we all are as well, so. You might want to be changing your marketing message a a little bit depending on what's happening. But at the end of the day, you know, how do you really, yeah.
How do you, how do you really help? And, and I think you were mentioning it earlier that, you know, referrals can be down, inquiries can be down, but at the end of the day, like we're. You know, I say we, I'm not a therapist myself actually, but you all are out there to, to help people and people are always gonna need the help.
So it's about figuring out how can we, how do we meet folks where they are today?
[00:15:00] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Before we jumped on, I was downstairs with my intake coordinator discussing just less calls just for the month of May, even though April was our best month. So I like look at that and I'm like, this is interesting.
But you know, I, I hear her being scared, concerned. You know, I, I don't think she was trying to alarm me or anything, but, you know, people are worried about the economic climate. And I sat there and I thought, I hear that. Should I be concerned? And then I, and I wanna make some changes, but at the same time, I looked back on my practice and I was like, I've done this for 10 years.
And guess what? There've been a lot of months, weeks where referrals go down. Mm-hmm. There've been a lot of months, weeks that referrals go up, and so not freaking out and making all these big changes based on something. Mm-hmm. That I can't really control. And unfortunately I see a lot of therapists do that.
They start pulling out of programs because I can't afford this program anymore. Well, that program might actually be helping you get more clients or being a better leader and so, yeah. Supporting their money. And then it kind of exasperates the problem when I'm sitting here thinking, okay, yeah, we're down.
It's okay. We're gonna come back up. We're gonna keep doing the things. I'm gonna keep investing in the practice because when we come back up, we're gonna come back up. Great. You know? Because I didn't stop, right?
[00:16:22] David Frank: I
[00:16:22] Whitney Owens: didn't stop my coaching. I didn't stop these things. And then really just kind of trusting that like, Hey, the past tells me this.
I can trust that it's gonna continue to be this way.
[00:16:33] David Frank: I think so, I think a couple of the points that you hit on, these are really solid principles for so many elements of life. So many elements of financial life. I. I specifically think about, you know, investing as well as practice management. The two themes that I heard you kind of mentioning are just sort of like that longer term focus of, of looking back over a long-term as opposed to just what's been happening in the last couple of days, weeks, or even months.
But when you zoom out and really look at the long term trends. You can say, oh yeah, you know, I've, I've managed through this. The industry has managed through this. Many, many practices have successfully navigated through all kinds of different types of economic climates. So, mm-hmm. What can I do to prepare myself so like that long term focus and not getting too lost in, in the short term news cycle and noise about what's been happening recently, and then.
Just having faith that, that this stuff is, is gonna work out because there's, because there's so much we can't control. Virtually everything is outside of our control, but still things kind of tend to, to to work Okay. And, and come together in the end. And I think when I. We think a little bit more narrow or specifically about the financial side of things.
One area that I always encourage people to really focus on, and I think this is an area that folks sometimes overlook, is just really focusing on building a base of, of liquidity. And that's really important for everyone. It's especially important for those of us that are self-employed or have our own businesses.
And what I mean by liquidity is having a solid, you know. Base of finances, of cash that you have ready access to. So that means an emergency fund, which is, you know, rule of thumb, three to six months worth of living expenses, just in a boring old banking account. It can be a high yield savings account, it can be a low yield savings account.
I don't, I don't really care. The point of that fund is not to grow, it's just to be stable and not to decline in value if and when the stock market. Takes a, takes a big decline. So having an emergency fund, and then sometimes even beyond that, you might want to have more than just three to six months worth of living expenses in cash or readily available to you.
And in many cases, I say have at least a year's worth of, and I'm talking about personal kind of living expenses. That doesn't need to all be sitting in a boring old bank account that isn't gonna grow. Some of that can also be invested in things like the stock market. We might want to make it a little bit more conservatively invested so it doesn't experience quite as many highs and lows as, as maybe longer term investments like those investments for your retirement due.
But nonetheless, I, I always encourage folks, it is okay not to max out your retirement plan contributions every year. Because as great as retirement accounts are and all the benefits that they offer, that money is kind of out of your reach once it goes into that account, at least you know until you're retired.
And so putting all money in places like retirement accounts where you can't have access to it, that can create some stress. And when you don't have enough money to fall back on when your private practice earnings may be declined for a period of time, that makes it a lot more difficult to have. To keep the faith to have a long-term perspective, and that's, that's that stress, that results, and that can lead to.
Slightly panic decision making where you're, you know, going in one direction and then something changes and no, ah, now I'm gonna go in this other direction. And I think it's that not only is that just exhausting, but it's usually counterproductive. So I think that's my, my number one path or principle just in, in managing finances in general, is, is really to have focus on, on building up that emergency fund or building up that base of liquidity so that you can fall back on it when, when you need it.
[00:20:29] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So I'm curious as a, as a group practice owner, do you have a recommendation of how much money we should have saved in our practice, just in case as a group owner?
[00:20:40] David Frank: Yeah, so there's, there's rule rules of thumb. You know, I generally say the, the default sort of guidance that I go into it with. Then we often modify this, but I say, let's look at what your payroll looks like.
Let's exclude you provided you've got an adequate personal emergency fund. As the practice owner, we can exclude your compensation, but everyone else, let's have at least a month's worth of payroll sitting in an emergency fund. Then maybe one to two months of operating expenses. So non-payroll type expenses.
So that's, that's the, that's the ideal. I would say most folks aren't there in the beginning. And you can also, you, it depends on your compensation model as well. You know, if you have a, if you're paying your clinicians on a salary model, you wanna have a little bit more cushion than, than if you're following a different compensation model.
But that's a general guideline. In terms of cash. And I also encourage folks if they think they won't be too tempted to spend it, to have a line of credit or at least explore having a line of credit, especially for group practice owners. You know, just, just in case. Just to, just to have it there. If you, you know, if something, like when change healthcare happened the other year, you know, and insurance-based practices really solved Oh yeah.
You know, that was, that was a nightmare. But if you had an emergency fund in your practice. And if you had a supplemental line of credit, I don't know that it didn't make the experience fun or or easy per se, but it made it a bit less stressful.
[00:22:10] Whitney Owens: Totally, totally. I mean, I guess one thing I've thought about is if my therapists aren't seeing clients, they don't get paid.
Well, so I've been kinda like, well, if they're seeing clients that we're making revenue so I could cover payroll, I've always kind of thought maybe I should have like three months to cover everything besides payroll except for my salaried people.
[00:22:31] David Frank: Right. Yeah. I, I I think that is true sort of in, in a lot of cases that, yeah, you know, if money, if, if money is not coming in.
And, and that's why it really, you have to really pay attention to the nuances of your practice because Uhhuh, you know, when, if you're an insurance based practice, you know, I definitely had some clients who were like, well, if my. If my therapists aren't seeing folks like I don't have to pay them, and then changed healthcare happened and the client and the therapist still needed to get paid, but the money wasn't coming in the door.
So that created, you know, an issue. If you're a private pray pack, private, easy for me to sit. Private pay practice, obviously that dynamic is, is a little bit different and so it's. It's tough. I mean, a three months, three months worth of operating expenses. That's a, that's a nice target. That's in my mind is, is a lot of cushion.
It's, and it can be difficult to, to save that much up, you know, that's, that's a lot of money.
[00:23:28] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely. You're talking about going back and remembering, Hey, I've been through this stuff. I mean, when COVID happened, that was really scary. Right. Yeah, I had a group practice, I can't remember exactly. I wanna go with five or six therapists.
So we weren't huge. It wasn't a ton of money. I was so glad I had a savings account. I didn't have a ton built. I had some that I could at least breathe a little and say, I, I was able to say to all my team members, Hey y'all, this is, this is gonna be something. And if y'all need some financial help, come to me.
Like I want to, I want to help you guys. I care about y'all and we're gonna get through this. I think we had one new client scheduled in a six week period when it happened. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, it was scary. And, and I'm sure a lot of people, private pay was not something they were wanting to do, you know? Right.
[00:24:16] David Frank: Yeah.
[00:24:16] Whitney Owens: At that point in time. But I was really glad that I had that emergency fund, and I can look back and say, you know what? We made it through that.
[00:24:24] David Frank: Yeah. I, I think, yeah, I mean that's really, you know, COVID was hardly a, a good experience and, and very tragic in a lot of ways, of course. And. That was only five years ago.
And man, I mean the world just got turned upside down, basically stopped and, and somehow we made it, made it through all of that. So just, you know, pausing to reflect on that crazy amount of uncertainty that, that we managed through is also, I. I mean, it helps, you know, us re it helps remind ourselves of how much resilience and capability we have in the face of all type of, of uncertainty and adversity.
[00:24:59] Whitney Owens: Yeah. And I think for me it also reminds me that not to get too attached to money. Yeah. You know, I think as business owners, especially running bigger businesses, that's so on the front of our mind all the time is money. But the truth is like. It can be gone in a second and you can't really control it. I mean, you can and you can't.
I think about hurricanes too. I'm in Savannah. Sure. Right. And you know, you, you always are so diligent about checking on me when a hurricane comes through. But yeah, like that's scary to be like, oh my gosh, here's this house I just did this renovation on and it might be gone next week. You know it.
Absolutely. And I, and I mean, you know,
[00:25:36] David Frank: there's. You know, there's, there's so many spiritual teachings on non-attachment, right? Like, and I, I think that everything, gosh, I remember, I, I have a, a friend and she's a business owner as well. She's an architect and, you know, and, and she was, I. I can't remember. We were having a conversation just about the uncertainty of running your own business and knowing, as you said, things can be great today and horrendous tomorrow.
And you know, we don't control that. We can influence things. I had a coach once who always talked about trying to maximize or increase the amount of luck surface area that we have. So that's about taking the actions that expose us to be there, to benefit from, from luck when it happens, but also just acknowledging the fact that so much of it is just.
Things outside of our, our control. But anyway, she and I were, were talking and I just said, I made some comment about, I'm like, everything is, you know, everything isn't permanent. And she's like, oh, that's kind of bleak. And I was like, it isn't really though, like, it, it, it's really just, that's the, the truth.
And it's, we create suffering for ourselves when we overly attach to how things are because everything will change.
[00:26:46] Whitney Owens: I love it. It's awful, but I love it. We create suffering for ourselves. We're doing it to ourselves. Yeah. And even as you were talking, I was thinking, yeah, when we have non-attachment, we're actually creating freedom.
[00:27:00] David Frank: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:27:03] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:27:04] David Frank: Have you, have you heard of the, the guy Dan Harris? I don't think so. So he was, he was like a, a TV news guy. I think he worked for A, B, C or something like that for a long time on like the national desk or something. And he wrote a book called 10% Happier and What, 10% Happier, I think I've got that title right.
But the whole idea around that is, is that he. You know, suffered through his life in different ways. And then he finally, after a fair amount of resistance, got into the practice of mindfulness of meditation. And this was before it was as commonly accepted as it is today or just as as known as it is today.
And people would always kind of ask him, why are you doing that? That's so weird. And he is like, you know what? Because it makes me 10% happier. And I thought that was just such a, a nice framing to it. But he was talking about, you know, his struggle of balance. You know, how do you balance sort of equanimity and ambition?
And his solution that he came up with was non-attachment to the outcome. Mm-hmm. And I just thought that was a really beautiful way to put it, and such a great way to navigate. So many parts of life, but yes, you know, practice management and personal finances, it applies there as well because again, we, we do the things like we can follow our own ambition and be really excited about building a big business or creating wealth for ourselves and just know that we're gonna do all the right things or we can, we can, we're not, no one's gonna do all the right things, but we can do the best we can to make the right decisions.
And then we just kind of have to let the rest go. 'cause that's, you know, that's, that's not in our hands, that's in God's hands. It's in the universe's hands, however you want to think about it. But that's not really, you know, we can kind of keep our side of the street clean, so to speak, but then we just have to let the world do what the world does.
[00:28:56] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well I did just look it up. It is 10% happier.
[00:29:00] David Frank: Okay, perfect. Yeah.
[00:29:02] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I was also reflecting on when things are slower, you know, less clients, less things, asking God like, is this a moment to do something different? Mm-hmm. Like allowing it to be an opportunity to change the way you do something or to bring something new in.
Or maybe it's a time to explore something different. And I think like there's a reason that we slow down. Yeah. And these are gifts. Instead of thinking it as a bad thing, think, what kind of gift can I get in this moment? Because I can think of so many people that started something amazing by slowing down or they wrote a book or whatever the case may be.
Yeah.
[00:29:43] David Frank: Absolutely. God, I think that's a, that's such, I think that is such an important point. And, and yeah, just like that our experience, like, you know, we all wanna be happy and calm and, and in a good place and it's just not reality, right? Like, we're just not gonna be in that place a hundred percent of the time.
It's unrealistic. And so, you know, it's just a couple weeks ago that I was kind of feeling run down and, and sick and, and kind of frustrated in a lot of ways. And like, I just wasn't happy with. Somehow some things were going, and, you know, my reaction to those, those periods of my life is typically follows a similar pattern, which is I kind of am grumpy about it, then I resist.
Then I try to like brute force my way through it and just like get back to like the happy place. But when I'm, you know, being a little bit more levelheaded, sometimes I just stop and it's just like, huh, okay. I feel like, what am I feeling? It's not good, but like really examining that and being like, what are, what are these emotions and feelings like they are giving me information.
Yes, it is incumbent on me. Then to kind of take that moment, take the opportunity, recognize them for the gifts that they truly are. Mm-hmm. They might be gifts that I'd rather return, but I can't, so I can accept them and just be like, what is. You know, what is, what am I being told? What information am I being given?
What am I inviting? What am I being invited to step into or do somewhat differently?
[00:31:10] Whitney Owens: I love it. Totally. And when and when things slow down for me and my practice, that's usually a time where I'm like, great, now I can invest in some things that I haven't had time and energy to invest in.
[00:31:21] David Frank: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
I'm like, what a, what a great opportunity. But again, like you really need the, you need faith. To just like know that okay, like things are slowing down right now That happens. How can I, yeah. What, how can I take advantage of this situation? How can I take advantage of how things are?
[00:31:40] Whitney Owens: Yeah, yeah. Good. Looking back at had Yeah.
Had done that more.
[00:31:46] David Frank: Yeah. You, you know, and, and again, like no one's gonna do any of this stuff perfectly. I'm just, I'm reminded of a, a story I heard there's a big influencer in the financial planning space and he, this is, you know, he was relating this story years and years ago. He was just starting to build out a team for his brand and, you know, it felt like a huge risk 'cause he was spending money on these people.
And he was finally starting to rely on an office manager or something like that. And then this person just decided to quit and just left one day. And he was working with his business coach at that time. And what she said to him was, how can we make this the best possible thing that could have happened?
And at first he was like, that is an offensive question. Like I, you know, it's just like, how, how, how could this possibly be a good thing? And she's like, I don't know, but it can be. That's the challenge for you to try to figure out how is this the best thing that could have happened and how do we take advantage of this opportunity?
'cause yeah, it, it, maybe it's a problem, maybe it's an opportunity. A lot of it depends on how you look at things.
[00:32:51] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So looking at what's going on in our economy, how can these be opportunities to bring changes to change the way we are about money, about life, you know, instead of getting so attached to it and.
You know, what are the other things that we can be changing within the way we do our work?
[00:33:11] David Frank: Yeah. And, and I don't think there's a lot of universal answers to that. I, you know, it really is more of a, a reflective exercise of really thinking about, okay, well what, what can I do? What can I do about this situation?
What's bothering me? Like, what's really bothering me? And sometimes talking with a therapist, doing some journaling or just really writing about it and really kind of getting to, I. You know, the getting underneath the surface of things, like what's the real challenge here for you? What's really bothering you about this situation?
And sometimes, you know, a lot of times when I talk to people and I'm, this is probably not necessarily an entirely representative sample because I'm a finance guy and people come to talk to me about finances, but sometimes they're like, oh, I just need a little bit more financial stability. A little bit more financial cushion in my life to feel solid when I hit some of these bumps in life.
And it's like, okay, cool. That sounds like a good first thing to, to focus on, which as I already mentioned, you know, oftentimes we come back to great, we need more liquidity. We need a bigger buffer in your life.
[00:34:15] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well I like coming to you about money, but I like coming to you about life, like even what we're talking about now and that's what I really appreciate about you is.
It's not just about here are the finance, it's, it's about understanding the world, understanding who we are and how we interact with our money. And so those deeper things that I think therapists really want to be talking about and focusing on, like what we're doing today. I think that's what makes you stand out for a financial planner, for therapists.
[00:34:43] David Frank: Well, thanks. Yeah, and, and I think it, it is so important. Like it's, it's, it's never about the money. Money is just a tool that we can use to do certain things in our life, but it's not gonna fix us. It's not gonna solve all the problems. It solves some problems. Sure. Like, but there, you know, it's, it's sort of base level hierarchy of needs solutions.
Yeah. Not, you know, the self-actualization type of stuff. So it's, it's, it's about defining our relationship with money and what money means to us and, and all that stuff. 'cause at the end of the day, you know, it's just, we're all just human beings. Being perfectly imperfect and doing the best we can.
Navigating this crazy world, navigating our crazy internal world with all these crazy feelings and emotions and thoughts that we have. Definitely. Yeah,
[00:35:30] Whitney Owens: definitely. Well, great. Well talk a little bit about your services, what you do for therapist. In case someone's listening, they're like, I really wanna dive into my money stuff.
[00:35:39] David Frank: Yeah, absolutely. So the, the best place to, to find me is my website. It's turning point hq.com. So hq, like the abbreviation for headquarters. And I am a holistic or comprehensive financial planner. I work with therapists. My, my whole jam is helping you explore your money story a little bit and then creating a financial plan that really serves you.
And what I mean by serves you is that it helps support you leading the life that you want to lead. And that includes how you show up, show up in your personal life. It also really includes how you show up in your professional life and how your practice fits into your life. So that is the, the other way I think that I distinguish myself from the vast majority of financial advisors or professionals out there is that the practice side really is a fundamental part of, of what I help folks navigate through and plan for.
Because you know when, when you're running your own practice that that is a huge part of your life and your financial plan. So incorporating that is really, really essential.
[00:36:37] Whitney Owens: Yeah, definitely. Well, you not only are gonna be sponsoring the summit, you'll have a table there for people to come talk to you about financial planning.
Yeah. Retirements, all the good stuff. But you're also speaking at the Wise Practice Summit, and so can you talk a little bit about, you're gonna talk about retirement plans made simple.
[00:36:52] David Frank: Yeah, we're gonna talk about retirement plans and kind of a little bit of, of investing in general, and I think we're gonna make it a little bit of a workshop.
So we're gonna, we're gonna just help people think through, alright, what is my financial life look like today? And I think, I haven't finalized it all, but I think we're gonna, we're gonna maybe use a software that I actually use with my own financial planning clients to begin to organize your personal finances, just to help give you a better picture of where you're at, including how that all important liquidity piece of your financial situation looks.
And then figure out, okay, given where you are, given what your practice looks like, what is the right retirement plan for you? How can you be setting yourself up for long-term financial success?
[00:37:32] Whitney Owens: I love it. I love it. Yeah. Actually this year we're gonna be focusing a lot more on the kind of workshop piece of the educational piece, but like let's get our hands messy in our practice and let's figure these things out.
Yeah. With your guide right here, you know, to help you with that. So I'm looking forward to that presentation. It's gonna be excellent. So if you are interested in learning more about the Wise Practice Summit, you can go to wise practice consulting.com. And it's right there in the menu. Make sure you grab your ticket.
It's the exclusive conference for faith-based practice owners to talk mostly about business and faith. You know, there aren't a lot of conferences out there that talk about that from the business perspective. There's a lot of conferences for Christian counselors, but this one we're talking about business too.
So I'm, I'm looking forward to being with everybody in Greenville, South Carolina this October.
[00:38:17] David Frank: I'm so pumped. I'm so pumped. What a beautiful setting as well, so, oh
[00:38:21] Whitney Owens: yeah, yeah. Well the hotel is like right there on the river and October will be the perfect time when the leaves are changing, so it'll be weather and
[00:38:28] David Frank: I'm so, yeah.
That'll be amazing.
[00:38:31] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well thank you so much for the time on your podcast today and just for me personally reminding myself of the things that are important right now during these times, and it's really good to talk to you.
[00:38:43] Jingle: So click on follow and leave the review and keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:39:02] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Site Craft Podcast network. A collaboration of independent podcasters focused on helping people live more meaningful and productive lives. To learn more about the other amazing podcasts in the network, head on over to site craft network.com.
The Wise Practice Podcast represents the opinions of Whitney Owens and her guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only, and the content should not be taken as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult an attorney.
