Remember we talked about blogging and how important it is?  Guest blogging can also help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aka how potential clients find you. I asked in my email series a month ago for therapists who wanted to give guess blogging a whir. I am excited today to share one such guest blog written by  Carol Adkisson, LMFT, a local colleague and smart business women. She is sharing her story of walking through fear with finances at the beginning of her career as a single mom with three children. This is really an inspiring story you must read.

How to manage your finances while starting a Private Practice and raising three children.

By Carol Adkisson, LMFT

Thank you, Sherry, for the opportunity to guest blog on your website.  I have to admit I had a bit of writer’s block on the subject matter for this post, and then it came to me.

Managing the finances of both a Private Practice and a Non-Profit 501c3 Group Practice while being a single mom of three children was no easy feat.  In fact, two of my children are special needs and required a great deal of my time and care when they were younger. The interesting thing for me was that 

 

managing my finances was more effortless than people imagine it should have been. 

 

Many clinicians questioned me, “How are you managing this?”, “How are you successful?”  The truth is that when asked these questions, I couldn’t really answer them.  I would say I accomplished this by the seat of my pants.  However, in reality, it was intuitive for me to create a financial plan for my businesses that would not impact my home finances.

 

I started my first business very young; I never actually realized until the last few years that I have had an entrepreneurial spirit all my life.  As an intern, I convinced my supervisor to open a practice, so I could work under her supervision.  I moved on from there to licensure and two weeks later open my own practice.  I hear about entrepreneurs getting business loans all the time.  That thought didn’t even cross my mind.  I have always diligently maintained savings, knowing that as the head of a household I would always need Plan B in case the car required repairs, or I couldn’t work.

Savings is important

I used Plan B, i.e. my savings as a means of starting my businesses.  I signed a lease for an office, that was a scary time, would they approve me?  Did I have what it would take to be a success?  I paid for my first and last and security deposit with my savings.  Then I made a decision to pay myself a small salary.  $1500.00 was my salary that first year.  I did have child support to supplement my income and I knew that I could live on a small amount of money, as I had a good financial plan, learned through many financial experts, including Crown Financial, Dave Ramsey, and also Debtor’s Anonymous.  I made more than $1500 the first month of my practice, which left me with a surplus.  At the end of the month, I transferred to my $1500 to my personal account, that was my first salary.

 

Expansion

You can imagine what happened from there on.  I began to build up a nest egg for my business.  I used my nest egg to pay my expenses, new supplies, rent and furniture and the nest egg continued to grow.  I eventually raised my salary to $1750 and considered expansion as a possibility.  Two years later I made the decision to move to a three-office suite. Again, I had that feeling of fear, could I afford this rent, could I be a success with a group practice, could I maintain a balance of work and home life.  By that time I was working three days a week in my office.  I decided being available to my children the other four days was a wise choice.

 

I raised my salary to $2500 and started my group practice. 

 

Again, using this technique, I paid for expenses from my private practice as I launched my non-profit.  Now one year later that company is doing good, which is great for the first year of any company and is continuing to grow with two therapists and support staff including a Spanish interpreter, a virtual assistant, a business coach, a part-time receptionist and a social marketing specialist.  I have further plans to expand on the horizon and due to my diligence in saving the funds are available to move above and beyond where our businesses currently are.

My children, all three of them are in college now.  I have more freed up time to work, however, I still work three days a week in my business office, and I now have a beautiful home office as a sanctuary.  Many people would have thought this was impossible to do as a mom of three children.  Now I create videos my hashtag is “#If I can do it you can do it.”  I truly believe that.  My story is just that, my story, your story can include success in business without financial debt.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Adkisson is an author, speaker, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is the owner of a private practice, founder and CEO of a group non-profit, The Trauma and Healing Foundation. Carol specializes in anxiety, depression, trauma, couples therapy, ADHD, substance issues, weight loss & bariatric surgery, and 12 step recovery.  Carol’s practice is located in Fontana, California

 

 

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