WP 61 | Why You Should Lose the Money Battle
Building a successful private practice can be an arduous journey. As clinicians, we face numerous challenges around the topic of money. In this episode we will delve into the stories shared by Whitney Owens, exploring her struggles and the valuable lessons she learned along the way. These stories shed light on the transformative power of money and the importance of letting go.
Fear and Faith
Whitney Owens shares her personal experiences of taking calculated risks and making strategic investments in her private practice. She relates her fear of stepping out and her belief that God was walking with her. One remarkable story centers around her decision to sign a lease on a building when she had no clients. The financial responsibility was daunting, but she trusted God and took the leap of faith. This initial investment laid the foundation for her practice and set the stage for future growth.
Freedom and Control
“The things we hold onto control us.” Whitney candidly discusses one significant lesson was the importance of letting go. Money is often viewed as a means of control, and holding onto it tightly can hinder both personal and professional growth. By relinquishing her grasp on money, Whitney found freedom and embraced the idea that her business was not built solely by her but rather through the collaboration between her and God. She emphasizes the need to humbly recognize that clients coming into the practice are not hers, but rather individuals whom God has entrusted to her care.
Profit and Purpose:
Addressing the tension between profit and purpose, Whitney emphasizes the role of profit in advancing God's work. While profit is necessary for sustaining and expanding a practice, it is crucial to maintain a balanced perspective. Money should be viewed as a tool to accomplish God's work, not an end in itself. Whitney's journeys from financial struggles to success taught her the importance of finding a middle ground. Profit is necessary, but it should never impede one's ability to prioritize the well-being of clients or the greater good.
Investing in People:
Whitney does not see financial gains as building a kingdom on earth but as a way of investing in God’s kingdom. Matthew 6, 19 through 21. “Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” Whitney reflects on the transformative power of investing in people rather than solely focusing on the financial aspect. She shares stories of hiring employees and investing in business coaching and mentorship. These investments not only benefited her practice but also fostered an environment of growth and fulfillment for her team. Whitney challenges readers to consider how investing in others can lead to immeasurable rewards, kingdom growth, and fulfillment in their practices.
Conclusion:
Whitney Owens' heartfelt stories and personal experiences offer valuable insights into the transformative power of money in building a thriving private practice. Through her trials and triumphs, she learned the importance of taking calculated risks, letting go of financial control, and investing in people and opportunities all while trusting that God is with her. As clinicians, we must strike a balance between profit and purpose, recognizing that money is a tool to support and advance God's work. By embracing these lessons, we can build successful practices that not only benefit ourselves but also make a meaningful impact on the lives of our clients. Let go of your fears, invest wisely, and watch your practice flourish.
“How can we give so that we are not controlled by our money? But we can see that God is using it to do something even greater. I want to end here with a quote by John Wesley John Wesley says, make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. I think it's a great motto for us in our practice.”
Show Sponsor
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Links and Resources
Learn More about Whitney Owens Consulting
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Check the podcasts on the PsychCraft Network: PsychCraftnetwork.com
Podcast Production and Show Notes by Course Creation Studio.
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WP 61 | Losing the Money Battle ===
[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: building a private practice can be challenging, trying to grow your caseload, attracting your niche client, managing the business side of it all, navigating insurance. And managing paperwork and billing, these all can take a significant amount of time. That's in addition to delivering great quality care.
[00:00:22] Whitney Owens: That's why Alma gives clinicians the tools they need to build a thriving private practice. When you join their insurance program, you get credentialed within 45 days and access to enhanced reimbursement rates with major payers. They handle all the paperwork from eligibility checks to claim submissions and guarantee payment within two weeks of each appointment.
[00:00:42] Whitney Owens: addition to their insurance program, Alma offers time saving tools and administrative support so you can spend less time on paperwork and more time delivering the great care to your clients. To learn more about building a thriving private pay practice with Alma, head to helloalma. com slash wise practice.
[00:01:02] Whitney Owens: That's hello. A L M a. com slash wise practice.
[00:01:27] Whitney Owens: Hello, hello, friends, welcome back to the last practice podcast. You were in episode number 61, and we're going to be talking about such a lovely topic today, money, but. I'm doing a series this month on things I've learned in 2023. So these are some important things that God has been teaching me, continues to teach me, has taught me, and y'all don't have it all figured out.
[00:01:52] Whitney Owens: But I'm going to share with you what God has brought to mind, and we're all going to find God through all this. So we're going to talk about money today. And guess what? Jesus talks a ton about money in the Bible. So oftentimes it's a topic. We don't want to talk about. It's stressful. It's difficult. We all have money mindset issues as therapists, but these are things that we need to be talking about more.
[00:02:17] Whitney Owens: Right? I remember in my coaching, I learned from my coach. He was like, why are you not talking about these things more that are bothering you? Like, why are you not addressing these more? If it's something. That's a problem. You need to be talking about it more, not less. Oh, duh. So y'all money mindset stuff.
[00:02:35] Whitney Owens: We need to be talking about this. More. So we're going to talk about it today. I'm going to share with you some experiences I have had some mindset things. I'm also going to read you some Bible verses and talk about what the Bible has to say about it and would love any feedback that you have. If you hear this podcast episode and something sticks out to you, something you want to change about your practice, shoot me an email.
[00:02:57] Whitney Owens: I love hearing feedback from you guys. Whitney at Whitney Owens. So if you didn't listen to the first few episodes in December, I encourage you to go back and listen to those shows where I talk about other things that I've learned over the past year. And uh, today we're going to stick to money. So we're going to start with Bible verse, cause that sounds like a really good way to start a podcast episode.
[00:03:19] Whitney Owens: Mark 10 now, I'm going to go through several passages today. So there might be a little delay as I pull each one up. So just bear with me on those, but, uh, we're going to start out with this one. Mark 10 verse 17. And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:03:42] Whitney Owens: Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know, the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept from my youth. And Jesus looking at him.
[00:04:04] Whitney Owens: Loved him and said to him, you lack one thing. Go sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Disheartened by what he was saying. He went away ful and had gr 'cause he had great possessions. Now this podcast is about business and faith. I am not here to tell you that you need to give away all your money and not take care of yourself.
[00:04:40] Whitney Owens: I don't think that's the case. I want you to first hear from me that money is a tool to do God's work in the kingdom. Money is a tool in your business to help your business move forward because your business is God's work in the world. So when I think about my practice, we help clients find healing.
[00:05:03] Whitney Owens: That sounds like a good God thing, right? I employ therapists to love their jobs and to enjoy their work in their life. Right. So we are doing good work in the world and I believe all good work is God's work in the world because God is good to do that work. I need profit in my business. I can't just coast by I can't make ends meet every time that we run payroll and be nervous.
[00:05:30] Whitney Owens: I need a little extra and I need profit to make the ability to do other things to move forward like opportunities that God might put before me. So I am not here to say that you shouldn't have profit in your business and that you shouldn't make wise financial decisions. Because you definitely should and you need to be looking at your numbers at least every other week and know what's going on in your business.
[00:05:51] Whitney Owens: That's the stewardship part, right? But also we've got to find a way to let go of money. Yes. Letting go the things that we hold on to tenderly and tightly or however, we do it tightly are the things that control us. Right? This could be beyond money. It could be relationships in our lives. It could actually be our.
[00:06:18] Whitney Owens: Occupation that we hold on to highly or to our business or our church. Our identity, there's so many things that we hold too tightly to, and I think money is a big one that we don't even realize that we're holding tight to. So how do you allow yourself to lose control of something that you're holding on too tightly to?
[00:06:38] Whitney Owens: Well, you're a therapist, you know, you need to do the opposite. You need to let go. I think about, um, acceptance and commitment therapy. I always love the analogy with a tug of war going on. So you're on one side pulling the rope. And money's on the other side, pulling the rope and you're going back and forth.
[00:06:56] Whitney Owens: You hate it. You love it. You hate it. You love it. You need it. Let it go. Blah, blah, blah, blah. You're stressed out and you're constantly in a tug of war with money. So how do you win? You don't pull harder. You let go. Right. You let go and you no longer have a battle, right? Money is a gift from God. It's not yours.
[00:07:17] Whitney Owens: Anyway. None of this is yours. We're all just dust falling away. So the clients that come into your business, those are God's clients that he's bringing into your business. Not yours. So why do you hold so tightly to them? Why do we hold so tightly to the dollars that come into our bank account that God gave us anyway?
[00:07:35] Whitney Owens: Right. There's all these fears. And, and we won't go into all of that, but I know that, you know, what your money mindset stuff is your childhood wounds that come from money or times that you couldn't make ends meet. And there are genuinely situations where people cannot make ends meet. Okay. That's probably not many of you at this moment, but that is out there.
[00:07:57] Whitney Owens: There are definitely people in that situation and I'm not speaking to that because I think that's a totally different situation. In fact, as Christians, we really should be helping those situations. So, actually, when I was, I'm going to share some personal stories with you today. When I was, let's see, after graduate school, actually, um, I was, I was working at a psychiatric hospital y'all.
[00:08:19] Whitney Owens: And my husband was in seminary and it was really hard to make ends meet. On one salary, we were living in Colorado. And at that time in my life, we went to a food pantry. I remember it being icy and snowy and having the carts rolled out by the people that worked at the church. To put food in our car, we laugh about it now, because they always would bring the same food every time.
[00:08:42] Whitney Owens: So we'd always get, like, a whole chicken. Y'all there's only so many things you can cook with a whole chicken. Like, you just got to keep trying to be creative and we would get ground beef. And so we had so much shepherd's pie, love some shepherd's pie because we get that and we would get mashed potatoes or potatoes and we'd mash them in green beans.
[00:08:59] Whitney Owens: So we ate a lot of shepherd's pie. So all that to say is, I get it. I've been there even when I was a therapist. With a master's degree still struggling. Right. But those times in my life helped my marriage get on a good path for us to see that money was not what we were living for, right? We, we never had money at the beginning.
[00:09:22] Whitney Owens: I mean, I remember a friend of mine inviting me out to Chick fil A and I couldn't go because I couldn't afford it. There's so many times. That I couldn't do things that I wanted to do, I was working at a paper store, a card paper store. I think I made 8 bucks an hour. I was in graduate school, paying for school as I went and my husband worked at Starbucks.
[00:09:44] Whitney Owens: We were living in Atlanta at the time. His car did not have heat and he was a shift manager at a new store. So they had. Extended hours as they're trying to figure out what hours and my husband would drive in the car at 4 30 in the morning in January in Atlanta for 30 minutes with no heat to get to work in the morning and I think he made, I don't know, 8 or 9 bucks an hour.
[00:10:07] Whitney Owens: It was crazy. So all that to say is we all have to go back to those humble beginnings and be grateful that God taught us. We cannot hold on the money, but sadly money is the root of all evil. And as we continue to grow, it's so easy to go back and hold it again. It's so easy to talk about here's where my practice is.
[00:10:26] Whitney Owens: Cause here's how much money I make, or here's the trip I'm able to take because I have all this money. We have got to let go of money, but sadly what I see on the other side. Is people who are holding so tightly to their money that they don't take risks in their business. They don't do the things they need to do to grow.
[00:10:49] Whitney Owens: And a lot of times that's the very thing that's going to do God's work in the world. Now, I'm not saying that anytime you have an opportunity, you need to take it because that's not what I'm saying. What I want you to do though, is to really think and pray about the ways that God might want you to invest your money.
[00:11:05] Whitney Owens: God knows what your needs are and when you need them. I think about when I first started my practice. I was so scared about getting clients and I would sit at my desk and I'd look out at the beautiful oak trees and be thinking, Lord, I need a new client. You know, that I need the new client. I need it financially.
[00:11:25] Whitney Owens: It just seemed like every time I prayed, God brought that client that I needed. It was this beautiful way that God used my business and money and my humility and my need to help me become more like Christ and to help me. Humble myself truly and know that God built this business and along the way, I have to remember that because now we get calls every day for, you know, new appointments and the business is growing and I have to go back and go, you know what?
[00:11:51] Whitney Owens: It wasn't always like that. And you know what? It could be gone in a second. This is not something that I built. It's something that God built. So this money is not mine. It's God's. So, this story here in Mark, a couple of things that I love about this is Jesus looks at him, he loved him, and then he said to him, ghost fill all you have and give to the poor.
[00:12:21] Whitney Owens: You will have treasure in heaven. Come follow me. So, he wants this man to let go of his possessions that he can follow Christ. That does not mean you need to sell your house tomorrow and, you know, go live in a tent in the desert. I mean, if God's calling you to that, maybe you do need to, but it's very unlikely.
[00:12:40] Whitney Owens: I don't think that's what this is about. It's about his heart. Jesus was not about the rules and regulations so much as he was about the soul condition and what's going on with people. This man, it says he was disheartened by the saying it was sorrowful. So his heart was sad. Because he had possessions and he didn't want to give them up.
[00:13:00] Whitney Owens: So his possessions were the very thing that was keeping him from following Christ. Do we allow our money and our possessions to keep us from following Christ?
[00:13:14] Whitney Owens: Um, I have noticed in my business that every time God calls me to invest, that is when he grows things. Right, and it is always scary. Always. I kind of think of it as a little bit like a stair step. Like, I have to. Make this calculated risk and I invest in sometimes the money goes down a little or something might decrease for it to later increase.
[00:13:47] Whitney Owens: So think of it kind of like a line going up, it dips down a little, goes up, but even more and dips down a little and goes up, but ultimately you're at a higher place than you were. That's kind of what it's like as I invest in my business and then God takes it to the next level. So I wanted to share some more experiences about this in my life.
[00:14:06] Whitney Owens: I remember when I moved to Savannah, my husband got a job at a church. This was actually 10 years ago and I couldn't find a job and I really wanted to do therapy. I love being a therapist and it was amazing how many people were turning me away. Even the psychiatric hospital that I'd worked at the sister facility was here and they turned me away.
[00:14:26] Whitney Owens: I was like, what? I already know everything. Like, this is crazy. And then I connected with someone in town and we opened a private practice together, but we had to sign a lease on a building. I was so scared. I was so scared. I think we pay, I guess, 900 a month on that space. We still do. And, um, yes, we're very fortunate for that.
[00:14:51] Whitney Owens: So I guess I was paying like 450 actually might've been a little less, but I think he's increased the price once, but I was paying something around 400 a month. And that felt like the big money at the time, because I didn't have any clients, I didn't have any, I was scared. But I did it. I signed the lease.
[00:15:09] Whitney Owens: I remember my friend came to visit me. She helped me make the decision. I had to remember everything that God was telling me and I signed that lease. Still in that space to today. And years later, the practice was growing. I couldn't keep up with the intakes. I couldn't, I had a sticky note by my desk at all times with my wait list on it.
[00:15:29] Whitney Owens: And I was like, how am I going to manage, I can't do all this. And after multiple confirmations from the Lord. I really felt like he was telling me to join a mastermind group. That mastermind group was like 500 a month. Wow. As a solo practice center, that was a huge, huge investment. I was scared out of my mind.
[00:15:52] Whitney Owens: Of course, I needed God to give me like seven confirmations before I was going to invest that money. I remember standing in my kitchen, talking to my husband, saying, should I do it? Should I do it? And he was like, you got to do it. You know, you need to do it. And I hit that money and I made that payment and I was in that group for two years.
[00:16:10] Whitney Owens: That group was game changer for me and my business and I would not be where I am today without it. I think that's just an example of a lot of times I hear people say they want to be where I am in private practice. They want to have a group practice like mine and I'm like, thank you. And I'm really grateful and really God built this and he has challenged me to make these investments and to take these risks along the way.
[00:16:34] Whitney Owens: Right? So it's not easy. You got to work hard and I'm showing you the backside of that, that I had to make that investment in my mastermind group. And then I took it to the next level. I remember when I hired my 1st therapist, I actually did contractors to start out. I've now switched and I was very scared about hiring somebody.
[00:16:55] Whitney Owens: You know, how am I going to get them clients? How am I going to grow their caseload? They're depending on me for the finances, but I did it. I knew that God was calling me to start a group practice again, confirmation after confirmation. And so I made that leap, and then I had 2 therapists had some money coming in, but I was overwhelmed with the calls.
[00:17:16] Whitney Owens: So I needed to hire an admin, y'all an admin doesn't see clients. They don't bring income in, which by the way, that's not fully true. They bring in a lot of money because they actually answered the phone. But at the time, that's what I was thinking. And I know that's what a lot of you think about admins.
[00:17:31] Whitney Owens: And then I talked to my attorney and he was like, you've got to make this admin a W 2. You're giving her direct, um, feedback and telling her what to do and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, Oh my gosh, a W 2 that's freaking scary taxes. What? But I did it. Oh, and she was so lovely game changer for my life and my practice.
[00:17:53] Whitney Owens: I had her for two and a half years. That was Christina. She was lovely. And again, got more clients scheduled with more therapists. The business kept growing. Money kept growing. And then I saw the W2 was working in my 1099 model was not going the way I wanted to for the culture of my business. So I made a transition to W2 hires.
[00:18:15] Whitney Owens: Again, scary, right? Now I've got to pay these people their taxes, all their supplies, and what if they don't make money and all those questions, but I made that investment and took it to the next level. And now I have what, 14, 15 W2 therapists at the practice. And that, that therapist that I hired that day, my first W2 hire is still with me.
[00:18:41] Whitney Owens: She's so, so wonderful. And as the business has grown, I've had to really work on my leadership skills. I didn't learn a lot about leadership in graduate school, so I made another big financial investment, thousands of dollars into business coaching. This was a couple of years ago. And I look back on that and it was what made things change.
[00:19:05] Whitney Owens: That was when I got great policies in place. That's when I increased in my ability to communicate, I was able to build a wonderful team and move forward as a leader. And so some of those investments have been in people, in programs, in staff. But those things are important to grow attending in person events.
[00:19:28] Whitney Owens: That is where I've made some of my best relationships where I've gotten some of the best ideas for my business and investing in those financially because you got to pay for traveling and your ticket and all that. And I know it seems like a lot, but there's no price tag you can put on these relationships or the growth of your business.
[00:19:46] Whitney Owens: I mean, I guess you kind of can, but it's been helpful. So I would say, think about as you go into 2024, some live events that you might want to invest in. And of course, I'm going to tell you to come to the summit in 2024. Um, so I'm looking forward to that, but speaking of summits, that has been another one for this year.
[00:20:07] Whitney Owens: What a financial investment. I guess it was really in 2022 that I had to put the money down on a hotel or the 2023 wise practice summit. And I'll tell you that is. Very scary, we're talking about, we're talking about a lot of money. Okay, guys, 20, 30, 40, 000 dollars just depends on hotel and numbers and stuff.
[00:20:31] Whitney Owens: So, I put money down just trusting God. I knew God wanted me to do it. And he did. And I'll let you know, you don't make a lot of money off of this stuff, these conferences, summits, that's not where it's at. So if you're looking to make money, don't host an event like that. But it's something that I knew God wanted me to do.
[00:20:52] Whitney Owens: And I saw relationships made. I saw people change their practice, come up with new ideas and have community like they haven't ever had as a private practice owner. It was so beautiful. So then before that summit ended, so a couple of weeks before. I went on ahead and paid a down payment on the next one.
[00:21:12] Whitney Owens: Okay. Now I'm not going to tell you to make decisions like this all the time, but I definitely put it on my credit card. Now I could have paid it off if I had to, but I knew God was going to take care of it. So I put the money down and I trusted the process. And then at the end of the 2023 summit, I sold tickets to the next one.
[00:21:32] Whitney Owens: I needed half the people at that event to purchase a ticket to pay for the next deposit to cover that deposit. 60 percent purchased a ticket for the next event within two days of that event ending. So I had the deposit plus some, which is great because we have to make another deposit in March. All that to say is.
[00:21:55] Whitney Owens: Those are the things that have taken my business to the next level. These are also the things that have taken my faith to the next level. God uses our business to transform us, to make us more like him. And I have had to have greater faith through this journey. I even was talking to my therapist this past week about it and said, Yeah, I just love my business.
[00:22:19] Whitney Owens: Because it is something I do with God. It's my journey with God and it's so fun. It's so fun. And he grows me so much through that process. So you want to make sure that you're thinking about how God is a part of your business. Another passage that I wanted to share with you is from Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse one.
[00:22:46] Whitney Owens: Cast your bread upon the waters for you will find it after many days. That's lovely, isn't it? So this is saying that invest, put your money out there for you will find it after many days. It will come back to you. It will come back to you and you will learn not to hold so fast to money. Money will not control you when you learn to let go of it.
[00:23:16] Whitney Owens: The things that we think about, the things we hold onto are the things that are controlling us. And so I want you to practice. Letting go of your money now. Don't just throw it all away. We're not just casting it out, but we're doing it strategically and thoughtfully and in prayer. And in those moments, we cast it upon the waters, trusting that God will take it and use it to grow something even greater than what we could do ourselves.
[00:23:45] Whitney Owens: So, the point is to let go, because that's when you will find that it won't control you anymore. I have found lately in talking to business owners, and it kind of breaks my heart people saying, I just can't afford things. I just can't do things. I know that I need to do this, but I'm scared and I can't. And look, I hear you, I think I just told you about 10 different times where I said the same thing.
[00:24:14] Whitney Owens: You've got to let go and trust, right? Because sometimes the very things you need to invest in are the very things that are going to solve problems in your business. 1 of the things that a lot of people have told me about. Is losing employees. And that stinks. I know that we really love and invest in our team.
[00:24:33] Whitney Owens: So people don't want to invest in their own business coaching. Because they're losing employees, they feel like they don't have the money. It's kind of the opposite though. Right? You need to invest in some business coaching. So that, you know, how to better care for your employees. So, you know, what are the reasons that they're leaving or it's just going to continue and you're going to continue to hire and let go higher and they go, but you want to make those policies and procedures.
[00:25:00] Whitney Owens: So that's just 1 example to share with you about ways that you want to make sure you're investing that you're getting what you need. Right and you're making it a better place to work and a better place to be.
[00:25:14] Whitney Owens: Matthew 6, 19 through 21. Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also.
[00:25:38] Whitney Owens: So where is your heart today? What are you focusing on? How are you letting go of your money? And how are you focusing on God in the ways that he might want you to invest it? I encourage you today at some point to quiet your heart and mind and ask yourself how you feel about money. Ask God to change your mindset about it and look for opportunities to do the opposite of what you want to do, which is to give.
[00:26:10] Whitney Owens: Right. We want to hold on to things. How can we give so that we are not controlled by our money? But that we can see that God is using it to do something even greater. I want to end here on a quote by John Wesley John Wesley says, make all you can, save all you can and give all you can. I think it's a great motto for us in our practice.
[00:26:41] Whitney Owens: I want you to work hard. I want you to make money 'cause that is a way that God is gonna bless the world. I want you to save it. 'cause there are gonna be things in the future that God calls you to invest in or opportunities to give and you wanna be able to do that and then to give all you can, pay attention and give what you can to others.
[00:27:08] Whitney Owens: Knowing that you're casting your, casting your bread upon the waters and it will come back to you. Thank you again for spending this time with me. And I want to remind you, if God is moving your heart, I want to hear about it. I want to know about it. I don't have it all together. God is continuing to teach and mold me in this very topic that I'm sharing today.
[00:27:31] Whitney Owens: And I appreciate you listening with me and being with me.
[00:27:54] Whitney Owens: Special thanks to Marty Altman for the music in this podcast. The Wise Practice Podcast is part of the Sitecraft 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 sitecraftnetwork.
[00:28:13] Whitney Owens: 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.
