WP125 | The Right Financial Investments at the Right Time with Linzy Bonham
As a therapist and business owner, you’re constantly faced with investment decisions—office space, staff, marketing, professional development. With so many choices, how do you know where to put your money right now?
In this episode, Linzy Bonham, a financial expert for therapists, breaks down the strategic spending mindset—helping you avoid the trap of throwing money at every new trend. She shares how to identify the most impactful investment for your business today, recognize the emotional triggers behind financial decisions, and stop spending on things just because you feel like you "should."
Feeling pressure to be everywhere—Instagram, SEO, networking events? Wondering if that big purchase will actually move the needle? Before you pull out your wallet, pause and listen to this episode—because the right investment at the right time can make all the difference.
The Right Investment at the Right Time
As therapists and business owners, we are constantly faced with decisions about where to invest our money. Whether it's renting office space, hiring staff, marketing, or professional development, the options are endless. But with so many possibilities, how do you decide what is the right investment at the right time?
One of the biggest pitfalls in business is feeling pressured to invest in everything all at once. Linzy, an expert in financial decision-making for therapists, emphasizes the importance of strategic spending. She encourages business owners to ask themselves: What is the actual thing that will make a difference in my business right now? Sometimes, an investment is right, but the timing is off. Other times, it's simply not the right fit for your business at all.
Rather than jumping into every marketing trend or business opportunity, it’s essential to slow down and assess:
What is my most pressing challenge?
What investment will provide the best return right now?
Am I spending time and money on something because I feel like I ‘should’ rather than because it’s truly beneficial?
Avoiding the ‘Have-To’ Mentality
Many therapists feel pressure to follow what others are doing. For instance, some might believe they have to be active on Instagram because they see other businesses thriving on social media. However, not every marketing strategy works for every business. As Linzy shares from her experience, her consulting business thrives on Instagram, but her group practice sees the best results from organic SEO. Recognizing where your clients actually come from and doubling down on those strategies can save time and money.
The takeaway? If something isn’t working for your business, give yourself permission to stop doing it. Instead of spreading yourself thin on multiple platforms, focus on what actually drives growth.
Understanding the Emotional Triggers Behind Financial Decisions
Before making a financial decision, Linzy suggests identifying the emotions at play. Are you making an investment out of:
Fear of missing out (FOMO)?
A sense of not being “good enough” unless you take another course or get more training?
Anxiety about falling behind?
Being aware of these emotional triggers helps you make financial decisions from a place of strategy rather than stress.
Recognizing Marketing Tactics
As business owners, we are both consumers and marketers. Many sales strategies rely on creating urgency and scarcity—limited-time offers, countdowns, and exclusivity. While these techniques can be effective, it’s important to step back and ask, Do I really need this right now, or am I being swept up in the sales pitch?
The Bottom Line
Smart financial decisions come from careful evaluation. Instead of trying to do everything at once, take the time to assess your business’s current needs, cut out unnecessary spending, and focus on high-impact investments. By slowing down, identifying emotional triggers, and recognizing effective strategies, therapists can make financial choices that truly support the growth of their practice.
By adopting a thoughtful approach to spending, you ensure that your business remains financially healthy while making meaningful progress toward your goals.
Linzy Bonham’s Resources
Freebie: Right Thing, Right Time Tool
Links and Resources
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens: 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. Want to grow your practice? Want to grow your faith? Want to 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.
[00:00:29] Jingle: Where she grows your practice, she don't play. She does business with a twist of faith. It's Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice
[00:00:44] Whitney Owens: Podcast.
Welcome to the Wise Practice Podcast. This episode is so good. I just got done interviewing Linzy Bonham and I actually didn't know her at all. But had heard her name and seen some of her stuff. I was like, she sounds legit. I got to get her on the show. And I did. And it was so worth it. In fact, a lot of times if you're a podcaster, you know how this works.
We send some topics out in advance and the person looks at and makes a decision on what topic. And I just threw one at her. I was like, I actually just want to talk about how to make the best decisions financially as a group, as a practice owner, because. That is what we all want to know, right? And she killed it.
And she has this great tool that's going to be in the show notes. I'm not going to tell you what it is yet because I want you to listen to the interview, but it really walks you through how to make that financial decision. So what I love about podcasting is these amazing people I get to meet and interview and learn from it.
I am personally learning every interview, something amazing. And she taught me a lot today. And then we get to the end of the interview and I found out that she's going to be at the ACA conference this year. Oh, I'm so excited. So I actually get to meet her in person. She's going to have a booth there. So if you are by chance going, first of all, if you're going, find me.
I'm speaking. I'll be doing two different talks on one's going to be on using faith as a resource in therapy. And the other is going to be on running a private pay practice in an insurance based world. So I am thrilled. This has been a bucket list item of mine for a very long time to speak at this event.
So I'm really looking forward to it. So if you're there, I would love to meet you in person, hang out, get coffee, whatever. And if you're listening to this episode, email me and let me know if you're going to be there. That'd be really cool. It's just in a couple of weeks down in Orlando. It's the last week in March, but this all to say Conferences are so great, because you can really meet some neat people, get a lot of different resources in your practice.
You just never know where relationships are going to take you. I look forward to the people I'm going to meet at that conference, because they're probably going to come on my podcast, we're going to connect more. And so, if you are looking for an in person event, Please come to the last practice summit. I am thrilled.
It's at this point, we're at like the halfway point to getting there and I really do plan all year for this event. It is a faith based Practice Owners Conference, there's not another one out there. There are a lot of faith based conferences for counseling, but this one specifically is for your business.
And I have lots of different sponsors there, speakers there, and this year we're going to be a lot more interactive in nature, really helping you get those tools that you need to run your practice. But the thing people tell me, The thing that they find to be the most beneficial about the WISe Practice Summit is the connections that they make.
It's encouraging, it's helpful, and you grow through the process and you make some amazing friends. You know, people that you can call up when bad stuff happens in your practice or people that you could share your wins with. It's so fantastic. So to get more information about it, wisepracticeconsulting.
com, I have a page there about the summit. It's October 9th through the 11th. Early bird pricing will end on April 1st. Make sure to get your ticket before then, and it is limited in nature. We talk on the episode about how limit, when we say something's limited, it's like a scarcity thing, and I guess it kind of is, but actually, I'm telling you because If you want to go, I don't really, I really don't want you to miss your seat.
I really don't like turning people away from things because I've run out of space. So it is limited to 120. So if you're wanting to come to Greenville this year, I would love to have you. We'll be at the Grand Bohemian Hotel there. So if you have questions, or if you're listening, and you're someone who might want to sponsor the summit over half the tables, I have already been secured, but if you are interested in a table at the summit, shoot me an email.
Whitney at WisePracticeConsulting. com. We'd love to jump on a call and talk about it. All right. So we're going to get into this episode and we're going to talk about how do we best know how to use our money in our private practice.
Today on the last practice podcast, I have Linzy Bonham she is a private practice therapist turned money coach and helps private practice owners and health professionals feel calm and in control of their finances through her coaching at Money, Nuts and Bolts and her podcast, Money Skills for Therapists.
It all started when she saw her extremely skilled colleagues struggle with money side of business. Someone even left private practice. And we're avoiding starting one because of the financial side being too stressful. So she's decided to help therapists and health professionals develop peace of mind about money.
Since so many were never taught these skills, she focuses on the how of making the business side of private practice doable and even super satisfying. I'm so glad that you're here on the show with us today.
[00:06:03] Linzy Bonham: Thank you so much for inviting me on Whitney.
[00:06:06] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Well, I'd love to just get to know you, introduce you to the audience a little bit, and then we're going to really jump into this idea of how do I actually spend my money on what works because this is such a hot topic for all of us.
But can you share a little bit about yourself, background, you're a therapist. Where are you located? Love to know.
[00:06:24] Linzy Bonham: So I'm located in Guelph, Ontario. So I'm a Canadian who mostly works with Americans. So 90 percent of the folks I work with are American. There's lots of you folks more than us. So I'm kind of like a, an international business consultant at this point, but I am a Canadian social worker by training.
I was a complex trauma. Therapist. So my focus was developmental trauma. I did work with dissociation, BID. So really like heavy, heavy, profound work, like very deeply meaningful work, but very demanding work. And then I noticed that the money side of practice. You know, as I mentioned there, that folks like hated it.
And I was like, you hate it? It's like the best part. It's so interesting. It's so fun. And so that's always an opportunity, right? In business when you notice that you really enjoy something that other people struggle with. So that's when I started building these pieces on the side and eventually I've stopped doing trauma therapy altogether and I do this work full time.
So I full time support therapists and health practitioners with their business finances.
[00:07:22] Whitney Owens: Awesome. Do you miss the therapy side or are you, you're just out of it? You
[00:07:26] Linzy Bonham: know, it's funny you say that. I received an email last night from an old client of mine who I stopped working with two and a half years ago.
Just out of the blue. My private practice email is still set up but I don't, just to receive kind of these random messages. Yeah. And I miss her so much. Reading her message, I was like, oh, and she wrote a little message just like, you know, updating me on what's happening and her health and then saying, you know, just so you know, I've never found somebody as good as you and I miss you.
And if you ever went back into practice, I'd be first in line. It had three exclamation marks at the end. And I thought, oh. And I miss her specifically, like I miss the folks who I develop beautiful relationships with, but the work that I do now feels so deeply impactful and so powerful in this different space that I occupy that not a lot of folks can help folks in.
And so I've also simultaneously been feeling this immense gratitude over the last couple weeks, really noticing how much I love my students and the therapists that I work with and having these like beautiful coaching conversations. So, I feel like in a way I miss my therapy clients, but the work that I do now is just as meaningful, but not as draining.
Right? It's not, it's not as emotionally demanding as that work was. So it's, I found a sweet spot now being a parent of a young child. This is a really great fit for me at this point in my career.
[00:08:41] Whitney Owens: Beautiful. I really liked what you said. You noticed that you had a gift and a passion for something that most people don't.
Yes. And I just think that's. It's important for us to think about when we're trying to figure out, where do I fit? Where do I go? And, and the fact that you said, you know, you can do this special work and help therapists. So you're actually having greater impact.
Yes.
[00:09:01] Whitney Owens: You're helping the therapists to help the clients and keeping these businesses open.
[00:09:04] Linzy Bonham: Precisely. You know, the folks that I work with are so talented and they're so specialized. Like they're doing things that I wouldn't be able to do, right? Like they're serving clients in a way that I could never have served clients. They have specialties that I didn't have. And so when therapists are well, right?
Like when we are. financially well, when we're in alignment, when we're getting enough rest, when we have joy in our life, our impact multiplies. So yeah, I do feel like I have this beautiful kind of multiplier role now, where the more that I can help therapists be well, they're each helping dozens of people to be well.
So there's this real ripple effect.
[00:09:36] Whitney Owens: Hmm, I feel that with you, because I remember the same thing trying to decide if I was going to do consulting or not. I was running away from it. And then I just had that image of something falling in the water and it rippling out. Like that's the impact we get to have.
What a gift.
[00:09:49] Linzy Bonham: It is an immense gift. It's an immense gift. And I've just been feeling an immense amount of gratitude, especially lately. Something I don't know what's happening, but I'm loving it. Just feeling this deep gratitude for the work I do and the life it lets me have and my family. And yeah, it feels like an immense privilege to be able to do this work.
[00:10:06] Whitney Owens: It's beautiful. Well, we could sit and talk about how great things are, but let's talk about, I'm like sitting in the moment of gratitude and it's beautiful. Yeah. Okay. So we're going to jump in the, the meat here. Cause I bet you got some good stuff to say. So yes. Therapists who are wondering how do I best spend my money?
There are so many options out there, but it could come to rent, to hiring, to charging, to marketing. Oh my gosh. Yes.
[00:10:34] Linzy Bonham: Where do we start? Endless choices. So. This is something that I do say to, you know, the folks that I work with is, is we always have endless opportunities to spend money in our business at any given moment, you could probably spend money on 12 different things that all would have some function and seem like a good idea for some reason, but rarely are 12 things actually the right thing to do at one time.
So we really have to Sit and think about what is the right thing right now, right? I'm a believer in this phrase, the right thing at the right time, right? And sometimes something is the right thing, but it's the wrong time. Sometimes it's the wrong thing, right? And it's just not for you at all. Unless we let ourselves really focus on, okay, what is the actual thing that's gonna make a difference in my business now?
Yes, maybe it'd be nice to get my Instagram game going, but is that actually gonna solve whatever problem is most pressing right now, right? When we let ourself think strategically in our businesses, it starts to become a lot clearer what the next step is, because you'll get to take many steps. You'll get to invest in many things over time, but really thinking about what is the challenge that's in my way now and what are the effective solutions that I can find that are the right thing at the right time for me to solve that problem?
Because when we solve problems in our business, those problems literally financially pay us back, right? There's many things in life that we might invest in that don't have financial payback in our businesses, though, because they are. Revenue generating machines. They're the thing that pay us and take care of our family.
Mm-hmm . There is literal financial return that we get when we make the right investments.
[00:12:04] Whitney Owens: You saw me laughing when you said Instagram. . . I did, I did . I'm curious. What is that? Well, it's funny because I, well, I love Instagram for the consulting business. I, I think making reels and all that stuff is just fun.
Yeah. But for my, for my group practice, literally yesterday, this came to me and I just wrote my newsletter. Today, that's going to come out next week about I realize I'm spending all this time on social media. It's not serving me. And it's like, I feel this, you know, we feel this half to, I think, especially therapists, we're real followers.
Okay, what is everyone telling me? I have to do in my business or what is someone down the road doing? That's working. So I got to do that. And I got to do all the things. And I finally was like. What the heck? How do we have to do this? And it was this freedom experience I had. Like, we don't get clients from Instagram or from Facebook.
Now I do for the consulting business, but not for the group practice. They all come from organic SEO, honestly. So I was like, I'm gonna quit all that and just really go hard on the SEO even more because that's what's working and so many of us in our common energy on stuff that's not working
[00:13:11] Linzy Bonham: precisely.
Yes. Yeah. And it is really again, taking the time to stop and identify. Is this actually something that's having an impact? Would it have an impact? Does this make sense for my business? So, for instance, for me, I have social media for this business, for Money, Nuts, and Bolts, which is my brand. And I hate social media.
I'm a sensitive person. I find it really overwhelming. Like, I find it really It never makes me feel better about myself or the world, you know, even after just a couple, like, little scrolls. And so it's like, if this is something that I find is not a positive force in my life, a lot of folks who therefore love me, also it's not necessarily a positive force in their life, but I love podcasting.
Right? Like my podcast, like, we've made it into the top 2 percent of podcasts in the world. Like, it's just like, I have so much energy and love for podcasting and the kind of conversations that we're having right now, which are like depthful and organic and folks will tune in and it's more intimate. You listen while you're making dinner.
And it's like, you're kind of sitting in on this, this beautiful, thoughtful conversation. That is where I really thrive. And I find my students who ended up being the best fit for me. They're podcast listeners, right? They might also see me on Instagram sometimes, but it's the folks who come through who are like, I've listened to all your podcast episodes.
That are my dream students, because they've also like already filtered through 150 hours of my voice. They know if they like me or not. They've really done their homework to decide that they really want to work with me. And those are the folks that, you know, end up being excellent, excellent fits for our business anyways.
So that's also something that we thought about is like, What marketing actually generates the folks who end up being the best fit who we like really can help and who really thrive because what we offer is what they need. And it's not actually always folks who come through some other channels that are like faster channels.
My folks are slow processors, slow thinkers, so slow channels actually work well for them. This is good.
[00:15:01] Whitney Owens: And I, I really, you've got a way of talking. No wonder everybody's listening to your show. The way you described making dinner and the intimacy and the slowness that, that, Ooh, I love it. It's like soaking in, you know, all that goodie, good stuff.
[00:15:15] Linzy Bonham: Yes, yes. I just recently learned that social or podcasts are what they call a companion media because you take, take it with you places. So rarely do people actually stop and sit and just listen to a podcast, but you take it with you as you're doing your life, which is like inviting it into your world.
So there is this, this inherent intimacy to podcasts, which, which I love, like that's, that's what I'm looking for when I want to, you know, put something into my brain.
[00:15:39] Whitney Owens: Totally. We could go on such a tangent about podcasting.
Yes, we could,
[00:15:42] Whitney Owens: we could, we could. All right, so I, so I love this idea. So the slowing down and really thinking about what's, what's working, what's not, I, I really resonated with you saying that because that's how it felt yesterday when I was like, I'm just so doing all the things I haven't slowed down enough.
And I've been a lot of people. Can resonate with that concept, and when I finally slowed down and really thought through, I was like, what am I doing? It was like a realization.
That's it. That's
[00:16:08] Whitney Owens: it.
[00:16:09] Linzy Bonham: Well, and what I find too is a lot of therapists, at least the ones in my world, we're very high functioning people.
We can do a lot, but that doesn't mean we should do a lot, right? And so sometimes too, I think, because we can, we can do Instagram and send some, like, newsletters that maybe we write after our kid goes to bed, and we can do this, and we can be extra good bosses, and we can We give so much of ourselves, but it doesn't mean that everything that we're doing is, is actually having a real impact, that it's really worth our energy, right, so we still have to stop and be discerning about, does it make sense to do this?
Is this the right thing for me? Just because I can do it doesn't mean that I should do it. And I think that brings us back to, you know, we were talking about this right thing, right time idea. I'd love to kind of walk through a little bit what this looks like, because this is a process that I have laid out, and it's a process that I, Developed for one of my masterminds that I taught a few years ago called Money Boss.
I had, I think, six or eight, like, wonderful women in that mastermind. And I developed this tool for them because I kept getting this question of like, How do you know when you're supposed to invest? Like, how do I know that this is a good use of my money? And what I see with therapists is one of the extremes.
Either they invest in everything. It's like every shiny objects that come through their inbox, they're like, Oh, I just got this course. And then I got this and I got this. And I'm like, when are you going to do that? You're not three people. So either we tend to overcommit, pure excitement, usually. and kind of want to do everything, or we have a really hard time committing to anything.
We're like, well, I don't want to spend money. Like what if it's wrong money? What if I make a wrong decision? Like what if I don't make the money back? You know, we get kind of paralyzed. So the first thing that I encourage folks to do when you do slow down in a decision is identify like, what are the emotions that are there for you with this particular?
thing. Is it a compare and despair? Do you think you need to have a good Instagram because your friend has a good Instagram but she's actually like an extrovert who loves being online all the time and you would rather like read a book and drink tea? You know, so is it compare and despair? Is it anxiety?
Is it fear of missing out? Like, what is that for you? Because once we also start to develop more awareness of like, what are our go to kind of like, defensive or anxious emotions that we have? Like, some people are very vulnerable to fear of missing out. They don't want to miss out. There's something cool happening, like, what if they don't go?
They don't go to this conference, like, what if it doesn't happen again? Or like, other people are going, so even though it's a lot of money, maybe they should go. You know, there's a lot of that, like, thinking about. What you're missing. You don't want to be left behind. For some other people, there's like a not good enough.
So they're constantly trying to get more clinical trainings. More this, more that, more that. When we're like, really, they should probably slow down and implement. But there's this constant not good enough that's driving them. When we slow down and start to identify the stories and the emotions, we can start to like, Recognize, you know, old friends, where it's like, Oh, hello, old friend, old friend, not good enough.
Okay, so you're a big part of this decision. It doesn't mean that you might not decide to invest in that thing, but it helps you slow down and really decide. Okay, if I put aside the not good enough. Is this still a good investment? Right? Like, does this make sense? So once we like work through the emotions, the next thing is to identify what marketing tactics are being used.
I use marketing in my business. I'm sure you do in yours too, Whitney. We have to use some marketing strategies to sell. But as a consumer, when we can be, have literacy around marketing, we can just see, oh, okay, I see. They're using urgency. They're using, like, they're telling me I have to sign up now.
They're using scarcity. They're saying there's only 10 spots. Right? Okay. So I'm noticing urgency. I'm noticing scarcity. Okay, they're using like some like, Silver bullet kind of stuff. Like, this is gonna change your whole life. Everything will be better from like your marriage to your toenails. Like, you know, okay, so I see that they're doing some silver bullet.
Again, once we just start to notice those things, we can just slow down a little of like, okay, they're using urgency, but like, if I think about it, there's gonna, this conference will happen again next year. Even if I don't sign up this year, it's going to happen again. Again, we're just letting ourselves slow down and make space from it.
And then I encourage like, then if you get to the point where you're like, okay, this still feels like a good decision. Then we can start thinking about the financials of it and whether it's a worthwhile financial decision for you. But if you're walking through it and you realize, like, oh, not only is this driven by anxiety and fear, my kid is actually having some, like, medical issues and I'm already, you know, like, stretched as thin as can be.
This isn't the right time for it, right? So it's like, the right thing? The right time. Is this the right time? Do you actually have bandwidth? Can you take this on? Have you already signed up for four clinical trainings this year? Then it's probably not time to get like trained in a whole new modality.
Again, we're just slowing down to make a grounded decision rather than an emotional decision around an investment.
[00:20:28] Whitney Owens: This is great. I can think of so many examples. Yeah, personally and with people. Absolutely. I mean, you know, this the talking about the narratives that we tell ourselves, you know, I'm a huge Enneagram lover.
I need to do mine. Everybody keeps talking about it. I don't know. I don't know what number I am.
[00:20:45] Whitney Owens: Well, we at the end, we could talk about it. But I am an Enneagram one. So I'm a perfectionist. And I noticed when I was realizing this thing about the social media, I was like, Oh, my God. Oh, I'm a consultant and a perfectionist.
I feel like everything has to be done. Right. Right. So, so if I'm going to run a practice, I have to do every component. Right. Well, that wasn't, that's not serving me. And it's actually wearing me out where I actually am not doing anything to my fullest capacity.
[00:21:15] Linzy Bonham: Yes.
[00:21:16] Whitney Owens: Yes. And I was like, thank God. Yes.
[00:21:20] Linzy Bonham: Yes, absolutely.
And, and I think We can all get carried away, right, in whatever that thing is for us. And there's just so much pressure, too, around business and, and I think as women in business, too, like doing it all and we're supposed to be great parents and great community members and doing all the things and have the perfect image, like it's, it's easy for high achievers to get pulled in to trying to do all of the things.
[00:21:44] Whitney Owens: Mm hmm. Yeah, and I was talking to a group practice center. She just hired her second therapist. It was really exciting and she was like, I'm thinking about getting EMDR trained, da, da, da, da, da, but I'm not really sure and I don't have this group practice. How many clients am I really gonna see? And I was like, Exactly.
Yeah.
[00:22:01] Whitney Owens: Good
[00:22:02] Linzy Bonham: question.
[00:22:02] Whitney Owens: Like, you become something different, and so it's really thinking through, this investment might not be what I need right now, right? Yes. Yes. But here's another thought, and you might have some, you might have this on your list. The idea of, I said to her, but do you actually want to do it?
Like if you have the money, great, and if you actually think it's fun, and you want to enjoy something, there's nothing wrong with that.
[00:22:26] Linzy Bonham: Yeah. Yeah. Is it, is it something that is? It is. authentic to what you want? Or is it like a should that you should get EMDR trained? Because
[00:22:34] Whitney Owens: XYZ.
[00:22:36] Linzy Bonham: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because it's only when we give ourself that clearance that like, yes, okay, maybe it's not the most logical, but I would love to do EMDR training.
I've loved it as a client. I would love to have my toolbox. It would be energizing and life affirming for me to do this training. That's where. We can move on to looking at the actual return on investment, right? Cause this is how I always think about money. Whitney is it like emotions first stories, first numbers later, right?
So once we give ourselves the clearance of like, yeah, this is the right thing for the right time for me, I've always struggled with. I don't know, putting myself out there. I've always struggled with being seen and here's this consultant who can help me with exactly that and help me like work through my fear of being seen and like, she's an amazing fit for me and I feel energetically really aligned and values aligned.
Once all those kinds of things fit, then you can look at some math. So it's like, okay, so if I work with this person and she helps me really like get those speaking engagements that I'm looking for or start to get out in the community more. And if that means I can build my caseload by X amount of clients or I can build my clinician's caseloads by X amount of clients.
What would be the return on that? Right, if I'm putting in 3, 000 What is the potential return I'm going to get in three months, six months, a year? And even if I get like partial results, right, like some, some programs promise the world, right? They're like, you'll make a bazillion dollars. Most of us don't make a bazillion dollars.
That's fine. But even if I got like okay results, what would the financial result be? And then you have a very simple equation of return on investment. If I put in 3, 000 and over the next six months, I can see that, you know, if it helps each of my clinicians who work for me get two more clients, it's going to bring another.
6, 000 of profit in the next six months. That's a two times return, right? I put in three, I get six. That's a two times return on investment. That's pretty decent, right? If I think about a year when those clients continue on or there's even more impact, and now we've got, you know, an extra. 10, 000 in the practice.
Now I'm at like three and change for return on investment, right? So that that's where we can like settle into the math to think like, okay, now financially does this make sense? And like between the balance of the emotions and the financial, the actual like rational piece, then you have like a balanced wise mind decision around money.
Yes.
[00:24:49] Whitney Owens: I think some of the struggle is at least what I hear from people is like. The unknowing of the return on the investment, right? Yes. Like, if I put this into Google Ads, Yes. Am I actually going to get back? I don't know. Or if I do SEO, or if I hire a consultant, how do I know I'm going to get it? Yes.
[00:25:09] Linzy Bonham: Yeah, and something that I think about for that is, You do need to be able to trust yourself to follow through or manage that investment as you need to, right? So if I'm doing a course myself, I need to know that I'm in a place where I can actually do the course. If I sign up for a course and I don't do it, I'm definitely not going to get the results.
But if I look to sign up for a course and I'm like, yes, I'm very committed to this. I will fit this into my schedule. I might work on it a Saturday morning if I fall behind. Like I'm really committed to getting this. Then I know that I'm willing to kind of like put in the work to get the results. When we hire somebody else, it's a little trickier because sometimes we're like trusting them to, you know, do what they say they're going to do.
And sometimes with marketing, that's what we're doing, right? Like we're paying somebody for SEO. They say that they're going to do these things and have these results. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. It's a little bit more out of our control. But what we can control is communicating and managing our relationship with that person.
To say, after two weeks, hey, I'm noticing this. Can we have a meeting to talk about it? You know, like, okay, are these results typical? What should I expect to see? What do you need from me to make this work? Again, we can still control our half, which is like showing up and being present with that investment, to do the most that we can to make the investment successful.
If we ignore it, and are like, that doesn't seem to be working, But I feel kind of awkward and I don't want to call them out and maybe it'll work in a month. That's where we can get into trouble with an investment not paying off and the person's like, Oh, I don't know. I thought you didn't care. Like, you know, we need to really still show up in our power, even if not all of it is in our control.
[00:26:37] Whitney Owens: Mm hmm. Yes. I love how you identified this important element of talking to the person about it. Yes. You know, and I, I did that recently, something I'd spent some money on and I said, Hey, I see this and I want you to know that I've spent more than what I've gotten out of this so far. And I'm thinking about turning back and he was like, Oh, well we can do this, this and this.
I was like, okay, I'll give it until this date. And then if I don't see it, that's when I'm going to cut off. You know? Mm
[00:27:03] Linzy Bonham: hmm. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You're communicating clearly. You're setting boundaries. Right? So that, you know, they know that you're a client who actually. It needs attention. They can't aglow. Um, and I see this too a lot because mostly I, I support folks directly in the financial space.
I see this a lot with like bookkeepers or accountants where we're used to kind of like deferring to them of like, Oh, I don't know. Like I called them. They didn't call me back. Like, like there's, there's kind of this power thing that happens kind of like your accountant is like your dad, who's kind of neglecting you.
And then maybe that's fine. I don't know. But yeah, again, showing up in our power and saying like, Hey, I was told that I'm going to get my financial statements all updated by the 15th. I'm not seeing that. What's happening? Do you need something from me? You know, I've noticed this happen two months in a row.
You're not delivering on what you promised me. Bookkeepers are used to being ignored. They're kind of like dentists. Like, they do something that nobody really likes. Um, so they're used to their clients kind of ignoring them, which means that they're used to sometimes not having to deliver on the promise because the client doesn't really care.
If you're a client who cares, you need to let them know that you're a client who cares. Right? And you are looking for this information, and you're looking for these results, or you're expecting to get your phone calls returned, and that, you know, gives them the chance to step up. But if you don't communicate it, they don't even know that they're being expected to step up, and then you're both, like, you're not going to be happy with the relationship.
They're going to be fine, but you're not going to be satisfied, and you're not going to be getting your money's worth.
[00:28:22] Whitney Owens: Definitely. And even as you kind of went from your power to your CPA, I think a lot of people like defer to them to make the financial decisions when really the practice owners have a lot more power than they realize and know a lot more than they realize.
Yeah. Your accountant doesn't always know what's best for your business. They aren't the private practice owner and the private practice, y'all, it's unique.
[00:28:44] Linzy Bonham: It is. It is. Yeah. And this is something that I teach, especially my group practice owners is we talk about financial leadership and you can delegate financial tasks.
You can have somebody do your monthly bookkeeping. That's not going to be a great use of your time once you get to a certain stage in your practice, but you can not delegate financial leadership, right? At the end of the day, you are the financial leader of your business, unless you've actually gotten to the point where you have.
A CFO on board that you're paying 150, 000 a year to, like, really be, like, directing the ship, which most of us don't get there. It's you. That's your hat, right? And so part of it is, like, learning how to do those things, learning how to look at the information and understand it and make strategic decisions.
But nobody else can do that for you, right? Your accountant and bookkeeper actually can't do that for you because they don't understand therapy. Like you said, like, we live in a very special or we work in a very specialized space. We have a specific business model and you're always going to be. The best person to make financial decisions for your business, even if it means you have to learn some things.
It's still your business. It's your heart and soul. Nobody else can do that for you.
[00:29:43] Whitney Owens: I totally agree. The more my practice grows, the more I feel like all I do is sit and make financial decisions.
[00:29:49] Linzy Bonham: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, and I had it said once by a mentor of mine that the CEO's job is to make sure you don't run out of money.
That's a good. And the more, the more folks that you have on your team kind of taking care of these other pieces, the more that's just your job. You're like, okay, like I was just looking at mine this morning. I'm like, okay, what are we going to do for sales in the next year? So we all get paid. I got to make sure we don't run our money.
Nobody else is able to do that in my business. That's my, that's my job. Exactly.
[00:30:15] Whitney Owens: Exactly. So this tool that we've been talking about, have we finished all the steps?
I think so. Yes. Okay. This is
[00:30:22] Whitney Owens: great. Yeah. Yes. I love that. I love that. And so we are going to have in the show notes, if you're looking to get that freebie to kind of walk through that process of knowing the right time for your investments, we'll have that in the show notes.
[00:30:35] Linzy Bonham: Beautiful. Yes. Yeah. And it walks you right through. You can fill it out, fill in all the feelings, words, and then fill in the numbers. If you actually get to stage two and you decide, yeah, this is worthwhile, then it helps you work with the numbers.
[00:30:45] Whitney Owens: Oh, great. I love that. All right. So if somebody is listening and they're thinking, I love this, promote yourself, tell us how to listen to your podcast, where to find you, how to work with you.
[00:30:57] Linzy Bonham: So my podcast is money skills for therapists. So you can subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. I feel like we're, we're obligated to say that as podcast podcasters, and then you can find me at money, nuts and bolts. com. That's the name of my business. And on my website there, you will. I have Money Skills for Therapists, which is for solo practice owners.
And you can learn there how to get into that course. And then I have Money Skills for Group Practice Owners, which is teaching financial leadership skills for folks who already have a group practice. And you can read about that there. So moneynutsandbolts. com
[00:31:29] Whitney Owens: Wonderful. Well, I just subscribed to your show and I'm looking forward to listening.
Wow. Thank you. I would like to tell you why I made dinner, but it'll be when my husband's making dinner.
[00:31:37] Linzy Bonham: That's that's how it works in my house too.
[00:31:40] Whitney Owens: That's a good way for it to work. Yeah. Oh, this has been so lovely. Is there anything else that we didn't hit on that you want to make sure to mention today?
[00:31:47] Linzy Bonham: I think we did it. I think we did it. Thank you so much, Whitney.
[00:31:50] Whitney Owens: Awesome. Well, this has been a pleasure. Thank you, everyone, for listening. And yeah. Till next time. So
[00:31:58] Jingle: click on, follow, and leave a review. And keep on loving this work we do with Whitney Owens and the Wise Practice Podcast. Whitney Owens and the Wise
[00:32:12] Whitney Owens: Practice Podcast.
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.
