WP140 | Run Profitable and Give Generously with Nate Hendrikse
Are you a faith-based practice owner who wants to run a profitable business and make a radical difference in the lives of your team and community?
Then this episode is a must-listen. Whitney Owens sits down with faith-forward accountant Nate Hendrikse to talk about how Christian business owners can approach money differently—without sacrificing strategy or sustainability.
You’ll hear powerful ideas like creating a giving account, using profit to bless your team in surprising ways (yes, even covering unexpected expenses!), and how to shift your mindset from scarcity to sacred purpose. Nate shares real stories and practical tips that will have you rethinking what it means to steward your business with Kingdom values.
Whether you're struggling with money stress, figuring out how to reward your team, or wondering how to live out your faith through your business—this episode will inspire you, challenge you, and give you concrete steps to live generously and lead with love.
Tune in now—you don’t want to miss this one.
First up: Yes, You Can Love Jesus and Run a Profitable Business
Nate gets it. As a faith-based practice owner, you might wrestle with questions like, “Should I be making this much money?” or “Am I giving enough?” or the dreaded, “Is it unspiritual to care about profit?” And his answer?
Nope. Not at all.
In fact, Nate flips the script: You need profit if you want to be generous. Think about it—if your business isn’t financially healthy, it won’t be around to do any good. No therapy sessions. No jobs for your team. No donations to your church or the local food bank. Nothing.
So before we start handing out checks to charities or launching radical acts of generosity, let’s get that bottom line solid. Because, as Nate says, “Run a profitable business so you can run a generous business.”
Sacred Work Isn’t Just on Sundays
Here's something Nate said that might just tattoo itself on your heart a little: All work can be sacred. Yes, even payroll. Even spreadsheets. Even washing the dang dishes (shoutout to the monk who turned dishwashing into an act of worship—what a legend).
There’s no divide between “secular work” and “sacred work.” If you’re logging in at 8 a.m. to support your clients, build your team, and run your business with integrity and heart—that’s sacred. That’s ministry. That’s showing up for the world in a meaningful way.
So, yeah, you’re not just “doing business.” You’re being a light in your community. A tiny dot on the map that radiates good.
Guilt, Meet Intentionality
Look, money is emotional. Therapists know this better than anyone. And Nate isn’t here to dismiss the complexity of it. Especially for those of us raised to believe wealth is suspect or generosity must always come at a personal cost.
But what if we reframe it?
What if, instead of guilt, we leaned into intention?
Nate encourages practice owners to think, “What has God given me through this business? And how can I use it differently—on purpose?” This doesn’t mean throwing all your profits at the next GoFundMe. It means starting somewhere, maybe even with something as simple as opening a “Giving Account.”
A Giving Account? Tell Me More…
Here’s a simple and beautiful concept: Take 1% of all your business revenue (not profit—revenue) and set it aside in a separate account earmarked for generosity. That’s it. Nothing fancy.
You don’t even need to know yet what the money will go toward. But as it builds, it becomes a little fund for good—ready to respond when someone in your church is struggling, when a local nonprofit needs support, or when a team member hits a rough patch.
Over time, that 1% becomes a vehicle for spontaneous, powerful generosity.
Want to Love Your Team Like Jesus Would?
Another idea that gives us all the warm fuzzies: a team care account.
Same principle—set aside a small percentage of revenue each month. Then, when life happens (and it will), your business can step in with radical kindness. A broken fridge? Covered. Surprise medical bills? Handled. Unexpected joy or grief? You’ve got the means to show up with real, tangible support.
Imagine the culture that creates. Imagine your employees telling their families, “You’ll never believe what my boss just did.” That’s the kind of workplace that doesn’t just talk about values—it lives them.
Final Word from Nate (and It’s a Good One)
Being profitable isn’t something to be embarrassed about. It's a responsibility. Because profit creates possibilities. Possibility for generosity, for stability, for blessing others in ways we couldn’t dream of as solo givers.
So the next time you run payroll or glance at your growing bank account and feel a twinge of guilt, remember Nate’s words:
“Small businesses are engines for good. And when they’re faith-based, that engine runs even stronger.”
Your practice? It’s not just a job. It’s a calling. And profit? That’s just the fuel that helps you go the distance.
Show Sponsor Arc Integrated
This episode is sponsored by Arc Integrated — a company that has truly transformed the way I lead. I’ve personally worked with Arc Integrated, and Michael was my business coach. He helped me restructure my leadership approach, delegate more effectively, and create systems that gave me fewer headaches and more time to focus on what matters. As a result, our team just had our best month yet — and I can confidently say that stepping into real leadership made it happen.
Arc Integrated specializes in helping leaders navigate change with confidence. Through personalized coaching, leadership training, and strategic planning, they help reduce stress, enhance communication, and build emotional intelligence within teams.
Visit arcintegrated.com/coaching to schedule your free leadership consultation. You’ll walk away with tangible strategies to drive the success of your practice.
Nate Hendrikse’s Resources
Discovery Call (1 free month of our services if you sign up for a discovery call using the code WISE)
Links and Resources
Looking for support and connection: Join the Wise Practice Community
Learn More about Wise Practice Consulting
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: This episode is sponsored by Arc Integrated, a company that has truly transformed the way I lead. I've personally worked with Arc Integrated and Michael was my business coach. He helped me restructure my leadership approach, delegate more efficiently, and create systems that gave me fewer headaches and more time to focus on what matters.
As a result, my team just had our best month ever, and I can confidently say that stepping into real leadership made it happen. ARC integrated specializes in helping leaders navigate change with confidence Through personalized coaching, leadership training, and strategic planning, they help reduce stress.
Enhance communication and build emotional intelligence within teams. Visit arc integrated.com/coaching. Schedule your free leadership consultation. You will walk away with tangible strategies to drive the success of your practice. 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.
[00:01:20] Jingle: Wish grows you a practice.
She don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owen and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:01:38] Whitney Owens: Hey friends, it's Whitney here. So glad you're hanging out with me today on The Wise Practice Podcast as I was considering some ways to help you out. I know it is the summer, and so I wanted to chat for a few minutes.
About ways to increase your caseload. My hope is that things are running well and people are knocking on your door, but the truth is sometimes we experience a little bit of a slump this time of year. So I have a few tips I'm gonna give you before we get into the episode. Today we are gonna be chatting with Nate Hendricks, who owns Navigator Bookkeeping.
Got great information for you. I love when I can bring people who have not only great business acumen and content, but also integrating the faith component that we're looking for. And so today we're gonna talk about the idea of being generous in our business and what does that look like with our money, but also with our term and our energy.
But before we get into the meat of the episode, let's talk a few minutes about waste improve. Your caseload right now. Couple of quick wins for you to be considering. So number one, make sure that you define your niche very clearly and that you're sharing it everywhere. So faith-based doesn't have to be vague.
It can mean a lot of different things. You could be more on the side of integrating your faith in all the things that you do in your business and all the clients that you work with to the other side, that maybe it's not something that you're talking about a lot, but it's an important part of your life and in the way that you choose to run your business, whichever.
Part you fall on. I want you to be specific about who you help and how you help. You can find that niche and speak it clearly, faith-based or any other type of niche that you do. If you work with anxious young adults, maybe ministry couples, burnout moms, I want you to say it clearly. This helps the right people find you.
So go to your psychology today, your website, your email signature, your social media. Make sure that everything speaks clearly to your niche. Just the other day I was looking at my social media and the bio that goes along with it and I was like, wow, I wrote that a long time ago. I need to update that to be a little bit more clear on who I serve.
I would encourage you to go and look at these things. Make sure you're clearly saying who it is that you speak to, 'cause that can change over time. Plus websites, psychology Today, they love when you do updates 'cause they see that you're actively involved in the process. Number two, build relationships with your local churches.
Y'all. Don't just drop your cards off. Don't just drop a gift off, but actually build a relationship. Reach out to pastors and ministry leaders. Say, how can I support you? Take 'em to coffee, take 'em to lunch. Offer to speak at a women's group. Lead a monthly or annual q and a night at your church, maybe on mental health or something within your niche.
Churches wanna refer to therapists. They wanna refer to people that understand their values, people they can trust. Make sure they know who you are. Number three, make your intake process seamless. If people are confused, waiting too long for a response from you, or you're not picking up the phone when they call, they will move on.
Make sure your website's easy to navigate. You have a clear call to action. Your contact form is short. Or you're telling them to call and you make that super easy for them to do. Maybe you even add a floating button to your website. So when people on their phone, they just can click the buttons, they can call easily aim to respond to them either in real time or definitely within 24 business hours.
First impressions are important. Number four, share valuable content reflecting your skills and your faith. This could be blog posts, Instagram reels, short videos on topics such as how to pray when you have anxiety. How to set boundaries as a Christian, how to care for other people, but also care for yourself.
When potential clients see your face, hear your voice, they're gonna feel more connected and more likely to reach out. And the last one here is pray. Pray for clients. We serve God who cares about the work we do, so ask 'em to guide the right people of your practice. I can't tell you how many times I've sat with a client, I'm sure you have too, that I was like, wow, God really directed this person to my office to work with me.
Such an amazing thing. So pray that God will bring those people. Pray that your marketing strategies are working. Ask 'em to show you who you need to reach out to and how you need to communicate your message to the world. I can remember so many times as a solo practice owner early in my career, sitting at my desk looking out the window at the beautiful oak trees in Savannah and saying, God, I need clients to call and schedule now.
I need to be able to pay my bills and I want to serve people. God would always bring people when I would pray just at the right moment, so trust him in that process. I hope these tips are helpful for you. Just find at least one of them. I know there's so many things that you need to do with your time and energy, but just making one change can make a big difference.
Alright, well let's jump into this episode. We're gonna talk about how to run a profitable private practice that gives generously with Nate Hendricks.
Today on the Wise Practice Podcast, I have Nate Hendricks, who is the founder of Navigator Bookkeeping, a firm that partners with mental health practices to help them uncover and understand their financial stories. He works closely with group practice owners to build therapy compensation models that are both fair and financially stable.
As a certified Profit First professional, he's passionate about helping businesses become profitable in a way that's generous and community minded, not profit hungry, outside of work. He's a husband and father of three and believes that business should support a meaningful life, not consume it. Thanks for coming on the show, Nate.
[00:07:36] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. Thanks Whitney. I'm glad to be here.
[00:07:38] Whitney Owens: Yeah, well, we, we've had the pleasure of seeing each other several times in person and most recently, like a week ago. So, yeah, I, I just love being able to get together with people in person, even though these conversations are great, there's something really special about that in-person experience.
[00:07:54] Nate Hendrikse: Oh man. So true. I mean, I do all of my work over Zoom and in virtual, so whenever I get to see people in person in real life, I just get so excited. It's so fun and it's, it's hilarious too because you only get to see the top quarter of a person on Zoom. So when you see people in real life, you're like, wow, you're so tall.
You know, like it's, it's just fun, fun conversations, fun to see people and their mannerisms and all that outside of Zoom. So, totally agree. It was great to see you last week and yeah, looking forward to October and hanging out again.
[00:08:22] Whitney Owens: That's right. Well thank you for that and we're, I'm excited about this conversation.
'cause like I said, I've had a lot of people come on the podcast that have financial savvy and I've had some conversations about faith-based. But like really having an accountant, someone really who understands the books, understands the things to talk about it from a faith-based perspective is a really special thing to have on the show.
[00:08:42] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a fun topic because, you know, obviously not all the clients we work with are faith-based, but when they are, it's really fun to kind of open up that side of things, right. With the finances and be like, Hey, this is a, a really cool opportunity where you can, I. Think through how to use your money that the business is generating in an intentional way that's gonna hopefully provide some really great things.
And also it can turn into a little bit of an act of worship as well. So yeah, it's, it's an exciting, exciting topic that I don't get to talk about all the time. So excited to talk about it here today.
[00:09:12] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, great. Well, let's kind of start there, like what are some different ways that you think Christian practice owners maybe think differently about their money or use their money than what you see with in any practice owner?
[00:09:25] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I mean, it's a great question and I think every practice owner, faith-based or not, is gonna think about money really differently, right? Money is that interesting topic. I mean, you know this as a therapist, I'm sure, where there's a lot of emotional baggage tied to it, right? So just because you're a faith-based practice owner, that's not gonna change.
Maybe, maybe it's accelerated because of that. 'cause now maybe you have some sort of like guilt, like, I should be giving more money away or, or something like that. So it's an interesting topic because. There can be, I think, a lot of complication with it as far as how we feel about money and, and what we do with our money.
And I always say to practice owners, you know, from our perspective, we're not gonna judge how you're using your money. We just wanna help you think through how to do it intentionally. And I think that's kind of an important thing to think about as a faith-based entrepreneur is if you're wanting to be more intentional with your money.
If you're wanting to think about how can this be an act of worship? I don't think it's something where. You want to all of a sudden go and just start contributing huge amounts to, you know, a church or to charity. I think it's just something to start thinking intentionally about as far as like, what has God really given me as a business owner here?
What are the resources that I have and how can I start to use them in a way that's maybe different from mainstream culture? Right. Different from how other practices are using their money. So yeah, I have a couple ideas I can share as far as some things to think through, but I think the important thing to, to realize is.
It's a gift that we have. Entrepreneurship, it's a, it's a difficult gift, but it's a gift and it can be really a vehicle for a lot of good, I mean, I think about all the number one, just all the practices that there are in the country, but then you think about all the faith-based practice and each of those is like a little bit of, a little dot on a map that can do good in that community that they're in.
Right? So if you, as a practice owner, start thinking intentionally about, about the finances that you have, the money that you have and you know, where could this do some good? I think it's just fun to think like there's, there's a lot of. A lot of good that can happen. I think small businesses are really an, an engine of good in their communities, whether they're faith-based or not.
So when they're faith-based, I think that just exponentially increases even more.
[00:11:25] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, I'm gonna take it back just a little before we kind of start talking about some of that good stuff. I, I wanna go back to what you said about just kind of the different ways we think about money. I think a lot of faith-based practice owners feel guilt.
You know, guilt about, and I think a lot of people can feel guilt about how much money they make. Yeah. Or faith-based practice owners. We get this idea that this is our calling, this is our mission. How can we be charging clients this amount of money? What if they can't afford it? We're hurting them. And so curious if you have some thoughts about that to kind of help with that mindset.
Mm-hmm. I felt that way when I first started.
[00:12:02] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. Right. No, that's, that's super valid. I think that the thing that I come back to with that is if your business is not financially healthy, it's not gonna be in the community very long to do that. Good. To provide that great therapy or even to employ your team and provide great jobs to, to other people in the community.
So financial health, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of guilt that that owners can feel when they're seeing that bottom line growing. They're like, oh, we're pretty profitable. And there can be guilt that comes from that, but my pushback always is. If you aren't financially healthy and that bottom line is negative or break even, you know, you're, you don't have much profit.
Your business just won't be around very long. And then think about the good that is not happening because of that. Mm-hmm. The therapy sessions that are not happening, the paychecks that are not going out to families in the area, the benefits that are not being paid out. So again, it comes back to me for me, that small businesses are engines for good, both in the service they're providing, especially with with practices, but also in the employment that's been provided.
I mean, if you ever think about if you have employees, like what that means to the family. That paycheck is going towards, right? Mm-hmm. That's paying the bills, that's buying the kids clothes, that's, you know, going on vacation, whatever that is. So it's pretty fun. When we think about that, payroll sometimes feels like that anchor that's really weighing us down.
It's like, oh, I gotta run payroll again. If you start to think about, man, there's a lot of good that, that God can do through your business, through those paychecks, through those therapy therapy sessions. It's not gonna take away that sting completely of maybe run payroll, but it, it hopefully can help with maybe that guilt that you could feel about, yeah.
Maybe a session rate or a profit amount or something like that.
[00:13:34] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Gosh, I remember working at a psychiatric hospital trying to work on my hours towards license, and all I wanted to do was profit practice and then someone took a chance and hired me and I was so grateful to be able to do this work.
And so when I think about my employees, I think that too. I think. You know, I'm giving them a space, an opportunity to do this sacred work that we get to do with clients mm-hmm. In a, in an atmosphere that we encourage their faith-based backgrounds, you know, as therapists and clients. Mm-hmm. So you're absolutely right.
We're paying them and we're also giving them the opportunity to do God's work.
[00:14:12] Nate Hendrikse: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, a hundred percent. And I love that you said sacred work. It's a term that I think is really cool. There's, there's books on that. I'm not gonna pretend like I'm a scholar there, but I love the idea that there's, there's not a separation between secular work and sacred work.
You know, it's not like I. I log in in the morning and now I'm doing my secular work from eight to five, and then I log off and then I'm going back to sacred work. That's right. Right. All that we do can be and should be sacred work and, and we're all learning how to do that, right. There's, there's very few people who do this consistently or, or all through the day, but something, you know, I want to get better at for sure, and I think many others do too, but.
I think viewing it that way, right, that the work that we're doing is and can be glorifying to God. That there's, there's good that's coming from that is just really a huge mindset shift because it, it helps, number one, realize that every act that you're doing can be worship. But number two, like you said, of of the good that's coming from that work, you know, even if it feels.
Menial, like running payroll. You know, we talked about the cadets from that. Obviously with therapists, that's an even easier connection. It's like you're doing real tangible work, sacred work, good work for the people that you're serving. So I love that idea. There's, there's a great book kind of on sacred work and, and the main example is a monk in his job, day in and day out was washing dishes.
He turned it into something of an act of worship where he was, he was worshiping God through washing dishes day after day after day for his entire, his entire career, his entire life as a monk. And it's like, man, if we can turn washing dishes into sacred work, I think we can turn pretty much everything else into that as well.
[00:15:42] Whitney Owens: Look at this. I have the book right here.
[00:15:44] Nate Hendrikse: Yep, that's it. Practice
[00:15:46] Whitney Owens: of the Presence of God, brother Lawrence. Exactly. It's like
[00:15:48] Nate Hendrikse: Brother Lawrence. Yep.
[00:15:49] Whitney Owens: And also I'm a huge John Wesley fan and his wife would talk about raising the children, how it was sacred work, how she would care for them. Exactly what you're saying.
All the things that we do. Even running payroll.
[00:16:03] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So it's a great, it's a great mindset shift just to bring back like. You know, this is meaningful. It, it, it is good and it can be an act of worship, however meaningless it may feel in the second, whether that's checking email or, you know, whatever that is.
So yeah. Great stuff. Exactly.
[00:16:20] Whitney Owens: Definitely. So, so let's kind of go to this idea. You were kind of talking about profit. I think a lot of people would be like, profit, like you shouldn't have extra money. That's wrong. There are people that need money, right? Mm-hmm. And so what are you doing? So what do, what are your kind of thoughts about that?
[00:16:35] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah, if I had to distill that down to a phrase, I would say I. Run a profitable bus business so that you can run a generous business if you are not running a profitable business. Kinda like we were saying before, your business has no ability to be generous, to give back in any way. So profit is is necessary just from a a dollars and cents perspective.
You don't have profit, you're not gonna have cash in your account to do anything. That's gonna be above and beyond what your team expects, what the community expects, anything like that. So. Profit is, can feel complicated from a faith background, but I think if we view it from kind of an intentional and planning point of view, it can really turn into a really a, a cool vehicle for a lot of good.
So, one kind of small way you could do that is, you know, this is kind of a, a little bit of a profit first Methodology. Methodology, which we won't get into too much, but profit first from a baseline is setting aside a percentage of revenue for different accounts. So if we set aside a percentage of our revenue into some sort of giving account or charitable account, it's a great way for the business to kind of be forced into, into giving, right?
So setting up an account and saying, okay, we're gonna put 1% of all of our revenue that comes in into this giving account and just doing that on autopilot month after month, that is gonna build up really quick. 'cause we're doing 1% of revenue, right? Just all the money coming in. And what that does is, is it allows you as a business owner to then have this account that can be used for.
Any sort of charitable giving, right? Whether that's for your church, an organization, your community, just someone in your community who had something happen that needs some funding. Your business can then come in and be really, really generous. And this is where I love small businesses because small businesses bring in a lot of revenue.
They don't always bring in a lot of profit, but most businesses can pretty easily scale and bring in a lot of revenue. And if you're setting aside a percentage of revenue into a giving account, it's gonna give you a potentially large account that you can then be charitable with. So I love that idea because it, it just, it just gives you that flexibility where you're just kinda saving it.
You don't know what it's necessarily for, and then you can kind of just go with what comes up. You know, whether that's, maybe you're brain about it saying, Hey, God, I want this to be used for something. Or maybe you're just kind of keeping your eyes open, but you can then use that fund to. Really be a force for good in your community.
And again, if you're not profitable, if you're not growing and bringing in more, more revenue, that's not possible. So again, that profit, that revenue in some ways is the lifeblood of charitable giving, right? If we don't have that, we can't charitably give, or at least not as generously as we maybe could before.
So I really love that. It's easy, it's simple, and it gives the, the business owner a really flexible and easy way to, to give back.
[00:19:10] Whitney Owens: I love that. I, I wrote it down here. Uh, run a profitable business so you can run a generous business. Mm-hmm. I think it's such a good mindset for that. When I was thinking about kind of how do I do that, you know, in my business.
Another thing that, that I kind of do, it's kind of in the same vein, a little different, but just supporting organizations through my business. So like we mm-hmm. Support an organization called Cure. It's children that have childhood cancer and it helps raise funds to care for them. So like I do, I give part of my money, or we go to the fundraiser dinner, we do a sponsorship table, you know, as a business that I have that extra, those extra funds that can do that.
And then the idea of a sliding scale. It's like, that's kind of a way that I use my profits to help meet the needs of people who can't afford to come in.
[00:19:58] Nate Hendrikse: A hundred percent. Yeah, no, for sure. And and again, the cool thing about this is, is these are ways that you can be living generously and giving back to the people around you that you maybe could not do if you do not have a business.
Right. And I think that's the beauty of it is, is. We do a little bit as well as a business where we, we do this, we do this with a giving account, but it's allowed us to sponsor, like you said, sponsor organizations, give to events that I wouldn't have been able to do individually. You know, if I didn't have the business, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
And now because of the business is here, we can be really generous. And it's, it's only because we're, we're in some ways forcing the business to be generous. You know, it's, it's in some ways the same as tithing, right? Of, of we're putting money aside. Of, of all the revenues coming into the business, we're just putting money aside and then we're using that and it's providing the, the opportunity for charitable giving that I couldn't have, couldn't have done if I didn't have the business.
Right. So that's, that's always my pushback, you know, with that initial question of should we be profitable? Should we feel guilt about profit? I'd say no. It only, it gives us more vehicles to be generous, if anything. So we should push towards profitability, we should push towards profitable health so that we can be extremely generous and be intentional in that.
So that's, that's why I love that so much.
[00:21:09] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I've always heard a profitable business isn't gonna be a business much longer. Right. And so when I think about that, I think, gosh, I'm providing a really important service to my community and so I better make sure I'm making profit so I can keep providing that service and keep employing these people.
'cause that's the good thing I'm doing. Mm-hmm.
[00:21:29] Nate Hendrikse: Right. Right. And I mean, employing your team is, is another, I think, really cool way that faith-based owners can kind of think through how they're, may be a little bit different from, from the rest of, of small businesses or, or of culture to, to kind of stick with the account idea.
You know, one option is you could open an account for your team specifically. And this, this account could be used for kind of out of the blue bonuses, gifts, or if someone on your team has something happen to them, right? As your team grows, there's gonna be more things that happen that stink, right? Like medical emergencies, house emergencies, kid emergencies, whatever that is.
If we have an account that we build up over time and the business contributes to each month. That gives us this fun to support our team, right, in ways that are really radical ways that you do not see in normal businesses, right? So, I've heard stories from businesses where, you know, an employee's refrigerator broke and they're like, uh, they come into the office, they're like, oh man, you know, my refrigerator broke.
I'm gonna have to find, you know, $700 to go, go get a new one, and. This check just shows up at their door set for $700 for a refrigerator right from the business, or you know, Hey my kid, I can't believe this happened. Like my kid had this medical emergency. Now we have all these medical bills. Those medical bills are now covered.
Now it, it is. It's not something that's regular, it's something that's happening here, there. But I think having that to contribute and support your team in really radical different ways is really a huge way for faith-based owners to show. Hey, we're operating on a little bit of a different wavelength over here.
We're operating from a different set of values than maybe other practices and showing, you know, the love of God to, to your team, whether they know what your belief structure is or not, right? So I think that's another really great way. I think, again, that can be as simple as saying, let's set aside 1%, a half percent, 2% into this account per month, and just.
See where it goes. And then we have this fund so that as things are happening, we just have our eyes open, our ears open. If our team needs something, someone's really going through a tough time. We have this fund that we can then contribute to them for. So again, if you don't have profit, that's not possible.
But as that profit comes in, where instead of just kind of hoarding it, right, we're being being intentional with it, we're using it for something and we're ready to, you know, care for our team, care for the community in really radical, unexpected ways. And I think that's such a cool way to show. Your values as a faith-based practice and a faith-based business.
[00:23:52] Whitney Owens: So me and my Enneagram oneness
[00:23:56] Nate Hendrikse: is
[00:23:57] Whitney Owens: curious. I can, I can use my money to do things like that. Like setting on a, you mean
[00:24:02] Nate Hendrikse: from like a, from like a legal or an accounting perspective?
[00:24:05] Whitney Owens: Yeah,
[00:24:06] Nate Hendrikse: yeah, yeah. And. That's a great question. You know, the first part we were talking about, like if you're, if you're creating a giving account and then you're giving that to churches or organizations, that's obviously deductible.
That's all pretty straightforward. The second example I'm talking about, you know, those things would probably still need to be run through payroll, or you're taking that money as a draw and then just giving it personally to someone, right? Yeah. So we're not in, we're not gonna be, it's not gonna be as tax advantageous, but that's also.
Obviously not always the thing that's, that's first priority. So I think there's possibilities where, where, yeah, you still run that through payroll. Maybe it's still something that's deductible for the business, but other times maybe it's just, Hey, I'm just gonna draw this money out and then give it personally and not really worry about the deduction side.
But I mean, it's, it's, it's a balance there, right? Obviously we, we still want to get deductions for the business, everything like that. So. You gotta be a little bit careful. That's a great question, Whitney. 'cause you don't wanna be like writing people checks and then saying, oh, I don't really know what this is.
Is this terrible giving? Is this, you know, and your bookkeeper's like, what's happening here? So definitely, definitely a good question to be thinking about of how do we structure this? How do we make sure that we're doing this in a way that is legal and hopefully deductible? And if not, you know, do it in a way that the record keeping all all makes sense as well.
[00:25:18] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well I love those ideas. I was thinking about taking my team to do fun things. Mm-hmm. Right. Like that's, I guess as we're having this conversation, like we're doing, gonna do a, oh goodness, I'm like drawing a blank. Oh, the escape Room. I think
[00:25:34] Nate Hendrikse: we were talking about that last week. Yeah.
[00:25:35] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So we're gonna be doing the escape room in a few weeks.
I'm looking forward to that. Or I. You know, it might be I take somebody to dinner or I walk a, there's a coffee shop right down the street, so if I go get coffee, anyone in the office is welcome to come get coffee on the dime. You know, and so it's, yeah, they're a little bit smaller things than a refrigerator, but it's kind of what you're saying.
It's the same concept, a
[00:25:55] Nate Hendrikse: hundred percent t
[00:25:56] Whitney Owens: with our giving to one another. To show our love for one another in Christ, you know?
[00:26:00] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And, and it also opens up that opportunity for you to connect really deeply with your staff too, right? If you're, if you're saying, Hey, let's go get coffee.
That's creating that opportunity for you to connect with them, support them. So I love that. And, and that is something that is deductible, right? You're going through the business, you're doing meals or team events. And it's, it's allowing you to be really generous to your team, like you said, even if it's not an emergency or something that they have to have right now, you're really showing your love for them and your support for them and saying, Hey, we really appreciate all the work that you do for the business.
We know it's a lot of time. We know it's a lot of effort, and this is a small thing we can do to really support you and make sure that your time here, the business is really, really special and really supported. So, yeah, I, I love those examples, Whitney. That's that's great. And I think as owners. The more we can do those little things for the team, that goes a really long ways.
It's easy, easy to be like, oh, my process is going smoothly. My team's really working well, but I love what you're thinking about. Can I do those, those team get togethers, that little coffee trip, that little snack in the afternoon to really make them be appreciated and, and help them feel that level a little bit.
[00:27:04] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, well now I'm gonna ask you a question.
[00:27:07] Nate Hendrikse: Sure.
[00:27:08] Whitney Owens: I was thinking about, about this. I have an intern. She's done awesome. Like, and I don't pay my interns. I could, we could have a whole podcast episode about why I don't, but this time I was like, I. I think I wanna do something for her, not just, here's your books.
We always give the lum book, gift of therapy or Letters to a Young Therapist. I love those books for graduates when I hire them on, but I was thinking, okay, she doesn't technically start until mid May, but I'm thinking about running maybe a bonus payroll for her to cover some of the sessions prior to that.
To just say, Hey, like we see that you took on a lot of extra clients when some things happened in the practice beyond what you had to as an intern. Mm-hmm. And we appreciate that. But yeah. Is that, I guess that's something I can do.
[00:27:53] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. I mean, I, I, I will be the first to say, I don't know. I know with, with some license types and things, there's like very specific rules with paying interns, so I don't wanna wait to that 'cause I don't know offhand, especially like state to state.
Sometimes there's differences, but I. As far as I know, yeah. I think that'd be super, super doable. I know oftentimes it's, yeah, it's not expected for interns to, to receive payment, but I don't see a reason unless there's a legal one to, to do that. And I I love that it's unexpected too, right? It, it's so much more special when it's something like, Hey, we just want you to know that we really appreciate you, and I'm sure they know like your faith background, so they know where it's coming.
A little bit of like, Hey, like you said. We know that, that what we have is from God and this is, this is us giving a little bit of that to you to hopefully invest in you and, and see the good that you can do in the future too.
[00:28:37] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, do you have any other ideas over there that we haven't covered yet?
[00:28:42] Nate Hendrikse: You know, those, those are the two, two big ones. Because I think if you do those two, not that those are, you know, both essential or anything like that, but I think if you're doing those too, it's really just gonna change your mindset. On the money and the practice. I know that for me in the business there's times where, you know, cash flow is, is changing or different for whatever reason, whether we're growing or hiring.
And I get that kind of stress about money. I mean, you would think maybe I don't get stress about money when I talk to other people about their finance all the time. But it happens. It for sure happens. But having a giving account actually is really helpful for me. 'cause it's, it, it's a great reminder of like, hey, this is, this is not my own.
If this business. Falls apart tomorrow. Would I be disappointed? Yeah. But like, it, it's, what I have is from God and if it, if it falls apart, God will provide and I can, you know, go and find and find something else and do something else. So it's just a great reminder to like come back to what's true at the end of the day and not get so wrapped up in the dollars and cents.
So I think having an account like this is great for the good that it does. Great in giving back to the community, to our team, but I think it also brings us back to that kind of sacred work mindset. A little bit of like, Hey, this business is not the end all be all, which for us entrepreneurs, it's easy to get into that mindset, right, of like the business is everything.
The business is the most important. This is like, no, it's not. It's really not. It's a great thing. It's a good thing, but it's not the most important by, by far. So I think just having some sort of intentional rhythm where you're, you're setting money aside, you're giving money out, you're remembering and, and being reminded that this money is not your own goes a really long ways mindset wise.
And I think that helps us also stay away from a little bit of the mindset of, of being profit hungry, which is, you know, just the culture of, of business is profits, profits, profits. Right. That's just. Naturally how business and investment works. So as, as faith-based practice owners and business owners, I think if we have some sort of intentional rhythm of giving and setting money aside, caring for our team, it really keeps us, I think, in a place of, of viewing money differently.
And again, coming back to that place of let's, let's run a profitable business so that we can be really generous and, and do a lot of really good sacred work in our communities.
[00:30:55] Whitney Owens: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's so important. I was kind of thinking through this whole mindset part and practice owners. I had someone I spoke to, even yesterday, we were talking about investment investing money and just the difficulty with that.
But it's kinda what you're saying. It's like, it's not really my money anyway. Mm-hmm. And so coming back to, okay, God, is this something you want me to invest in? Because it could be, this is the thing I need to put my money in so that my practice makes it to this place that can do more good. You know, unfortunately people hold so tight to it 'cause they're so stressed.
I, I totally believe everybody's stressed when they talk to you about money. 'cause as a consultant, I hear it all the time. But if we are, if we're holding it so tight, we don't invest it. We don't grow things, we don't work together. We don't give, like, it's, it's like this whole thing. And when we learn to let go, let go, let go.
If it's investing in a charitable act or you know, someone to do my bookkeeping so that I can make more money, you know, and all these things. I think that's important too because those are the things that are gonna grow us as people grow. Mm-hmm. Our business, and be able to serve more.
[00:32:00] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah, right. No, a hundred percent.
And you know the other thing I was thinking about too, not to get too specific into this, but I know we've talked pay structures and compensation before and how to set that up. And I sometimes see practice owners, especially faith-based practice owners who wanna pay their therapists. I. Really, really well, like really generously, which is great.
Like there's a great mindset behind that, but I think that's almost going about this in the wrong way because you then get to a point where you're paying your team so well that there's no cash leftover for anything else. Where the business is now not financially healthy. There's definitely no money left over to give, to kind of do those radical acts of giving or support for your team.
If you're paying someone at such a high rate that there's no money left over, you're actually, I think, hurting this purpose a little bit. Like, yes, that paycheck's really good for that one person, but you're not gonna be able to grow and support more people in the future, employ more and give out more paychecks to others in the community.
You're not gonna be able to support those churches, community organizations, so. Just a, just a gentle pushback from me there. When people say, I wanna be really generous to my team, I'm like, great, I am with you. Let's do that. But I actually wouldn't necessarily do that through your pay structure. I would do that through this that maybe happened here or there, out of that giving funder that employee fund.
I do it out of team events. I do it out of supporting them in other things, supporting organizations. So I think the desire for generosity as a business owner, as a practice owner is really great. And I think that's something we all should be pushing towards. I don't think when you're thinking about your therapist composition, that's the place you necessarily wanna do, that you wanna pay.
Well, of course you wanna pay a livable wage in, in a competitive wage, but I think if we think about our generosity through methods outside of the pay structures, that actually allows us to do a lot more, grow, a lot more support, a lot more people, and, and at the end of the day. Do a lot more good and hopefully, you know, show, show God's love to more people than if we're, you know, just paying three, three therapists super well, you know, for example or something like that.
So,
[00:33:57] Whitney Owens: yeah. Yeah. And the idea that generosity is more than just the money we give, it's our time. It's our prayers, it's our leadership. Like you can create so much in your practice and give to your team in lots of ways. You know, most therapists didn't go into this because they wanted to have a lot of money.
There's a lot of fields. They could have gotten paid a lot more. Right. So we need to also think about other ways that we can give.
[00:34:18] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah, for sure. No, I, and I think it's a lot of ways to give back as far as, you know, speaking, training. Yeah. Community outreach. I mean, you guys as therapists all are, have so many incredible skill sets that are so transferrable to the community, right.
As far as helping people work through the things that they need to work through. So like you said, giving back time, trainings to community groups, to schools, whatever that is. Churches, you know, think you're totally right. There's a lot of value there that you could give back and. Again, if your business isn't financially healthy, you're not gonna have the time to go do that.
So it keeps coming back to that business needs to be financially healthy, to give you the time and the finances to really push into that generosity in different ways, which is cool. It feels, it feels a little countercultural or, or counter, maybe faith-based thinking, but I think it really does make sense when you're kind of thinking through how do we, how do we do the most good that we can?
[00:35:07] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, I am sitting here looking at your sheet that you filled out for coming on the podcast, and you have a generous offer I know for a one month of free services.
[00:35:19] Nate Hendrikse: Yeah. Yep. That's a generous
[00:35:21] Whitney Owens: offer.
[00:35:24] Nate Hendrikse: I, I, I love giving out a free month. It's fun. It just, there's a fun feeling about it. I don't know.
But yeah, we're, we're happy to give out a free month. If, if anyone listening does wanna learn more about working with us, they can sign up for a discovery call. Just note that you heard about us from this podcast, and we'll give out a free month of services if, if we desire to work together. So, yeah, we're happy to do that.
[00:35:45] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. Well, Nate, could you talk a little bit about your services in case somebody doesn't know about navigators?
[00:35:53] Nate Hendrikse: Sure, yeah. Yeah. So we work with private practices on the financial side, and our goal with every practice owner is that they have confidence in their financial story. Meaning that they know what has been happening in the last couple months, what are the trends that are getting their practice to where they are right now, where are they right now as far as the numbers go, and then what are the action items they need to be working on to get the practice to where they want to go.
So we pretty much talk with practice owners day in and day about day out, about pay structures, cash flow. Setting aside money for taxes, paying themselves, and as well as bookkeeping and QuickBooks. Of course, that's, that's the base work that we do. But our goal is just to give as much value as possible to practice owners.
And I feel really strongly about that. I feel really strongly that I want to give value, not just for the people that are paying me, but for anyone that comes across us. So. Anyone listening to this, anyone you know in your community, Whitney, who has questions, they're maybe running into a roadblock on QuickBooks or with their pay structure.
Just shoot me an email. And I, I say that all the time on podcasts and things like this, but I do genuinely mean that I'm really happy to help if, if there's something that's kind of really giving you a headache and, you know, we can talk through email, figure something out. But yeah, our goal is just to give immense value to as many practice owners as possible, create more profitable private practices so they can do more good.
Just like we've been talking about here. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I'm excited to, to speak at the, the summit in OC in October as well. I'm gonna be talking with Cindy Isaac, who's a amazing practice owner, and we're gonna be talking a little bit about this, our, our topics, aligning your business, finances and your practices to your core values.
So really thinking how do we, how do we do exactly what we're talking about here? We're gonna get really into the weeds as far as. How do we set these accounts up? We're gonna hear from, from Cindy and how she does that as a practice owner. So you're gonna get kind of that therapist view as well, which I think is super valuable.
So yeah, really looking forward to that. And I just really appreciate being part of this, this community. When we were at the summit last year, my wife was along with me and she just said, man, Nate, these, these are my people. These are the people I wanna be connected with. I think that's so true. It's such a great community.
So like I said, if you have, you know, QuickBooks bookkeeping compensation questions, reach out. I'm happy to provide value and, and help out in whatever way I can.
[00:37:57] Whitney Owens: Thank you. Well, it's, it's an honor to know you and work with you and when I get to partner with organizations, not only are doing good work, but also faith-based work, that's a real great thing to be able to have that connection together.
Yes. So you're gonna be speaking and then you will also have a table at the event. So if you are able to make it to the Wise Practice Summit, we'd love to see you. And then Nate will be there to answer all your questions. So make sure to stop by his table when you're there.
[00:38:28] Jingle: So click on follow and leave a review. I keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owen and The Wise Practice Podcast, Whitney Owens and Wise Practice Podcast.
[00:38:44] Whitney Owens: And 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.
