Joe Sanok 00:00:00  You're someone with a vision for your practice, for your side hustle, and for your personal journey. But when it comes to establishing your path and how to get to where you want to be with your practice, things get a little messy. You're also someone who'd prefer to go in person instead of to groups and listening to everyone else's story. To me, it sounds like you could benefit from one on one consulting with our experienced practice of the practice consultants from 595 a month and up, you can work with a consultant that will give you more direction and practical, tried and tested tips matched to you and your goals. For more information, visit practice of the practice. Com forward slash apply. Again, that's practice of the practice. Com forward slash apply. This is the practice of the practice podcast with Joe Sarna session number 135. Welcome to the practice of the Practice Podcast. I'm Joe Stanek, your host, and I am so excited that you are hanging out with me today. Today we are giving you behind the scenes in regards to our membership communities.

Joe Sanok 00:01:16  And so a lot of our consultants are doing teachings every single week. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we have live teachings going on in our membership. So we wanted to give you a little behind the scenes. So we're going to be hearing from Nicole Ball talking about what to do when referrals are slow, our basics with Andrew, client retention with Ashley, scaling with Nicole Ball, choosing the right project management systems and all sorts of other things over the coming weeks. I can't wait to dig into this with you. If you want help from one of our consultants, please head on over to practice of the practice. Com forward slash apply. I'll chat with you for 30 minutes to determine if one of our membership communities or consulting might be right for you. Now let's get started with this episode.

Ashley Mielke 00:02:01  Hello, hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. And I'm glad that you were all able to get into this room. Hello, Ingrid. Are you new here? I am. Welcome to group practice, boss.

Ashley Mielke 00:02:15  Thank you. So I'm one of the consultants that works for pop and have the pleasure of facilitating some of the group practice boss meetings and webinars. There's just. Yeah, it's a beautiful community here. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and your practice? And what brings you here?

Speaker 3 00:02:34  Yes, yes. Thank you. So I, have been following you for probably five years since I started, solo, and it has been really helpful, so I figured this is a time to join. I started, as an independent, therapist, so alone, and I added therapists one by one. And now I have a group practice of ten and one administrator. And it's it's been working really well. But I, I think I'm getting stuck in, in things like I need to hear from other group practices and what are they doing and how to implement better things and maybe, implement different services. And so I can only get so much from the podcast and all that. So I, that's, the reason I'm here.

Speaker 3 00:03:29  we're based in Maryland. work with maybe half of our clients are from the VA. So we get VA referrals and the other half does come from insurance or word of mouth. I haven't done marketing really, for these years. in in we are probably, I want to say, 90% pool. with all my therapist, I'm not seeing clients as much anymore. And I do have a, supervisor. Clinical director.

Ashley Mielke 00:04:07  Amazing. Wow. Well, congratulations on your growth. And we are so happy to have you here. Ingrid, you're going to learn so much and just be surrounded by other people, like minded people like you. Some who are behind you, some who are ahead of you. I think that's what's so powerful about this community is we learn, no matter where we are, in our journey of growth and group practice, we are here to support each other and learn and encourage each other. So really happy to have you here with me here. And, Liz, are you new here as well?

Speaker 3 00:04:40  I am new.

Ashley Mielke 00:04:41  Well, welcome to group practice, boss. I'm actually one of the consultants that works for pop, and, this is a really fun community, and these live webinars are wonderful. So happy to have you here. Tell us a little bit about your practice.

Speaker 4 00:04:55  yeah. So I think, I decided in January of this year to go into group practice. rebranded everything. currently we have, I'm still seeing clients, and we have one other licensed therapist, three provisionally licensed therapists to student interns and one part time admin assistant. and we have, one location. we have some online therapists and then one location in Virginia Beach that we're, always trying, like, trying to continue to grow. And then we are in the process of setting up a second office in, Fairfax, Virginia. we're private pay with a structure to be an EFT training clinic, for for people who are at various levels of learning EFT. but, I have been in a different group coaching program. since January. so now I'm kind of like dip dipping in to this one to see what else I can can learn that might be helpful to everything that I've already learned.

Ashley Mielke 00:06:14  Wow. You've had tremendous growth. Just wait. I'm getting a message from Karen. One second. Oh, okay. No problem. Karen. Thanks for reaching out. Okay. it sounds like you've had tremendous growth, Liz, since January, which is amazing and fast.

Speaker 4 00:06:34  maybe a little too fast, but, yeah, it's.

Ashley Mielke 00:06:37  Sometimes it's like this runaway train and it just gets away. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I really feel like that. It's such a privilege when we have this level of problems that we have to sort through in our practice and our business. So we're just so glad to have you here and excited to learn from you and welcome. Yeah.

Speaker 4 00:06:57  Thank you.

Ashley Mielke 00:06:58  Yeah. And welcome back to all the familiar faces. It's so nice to see you all. And to those who are going to be watching the playback. So happy that you'll be jumping into this meeting as well. So before we get started. So for our newbies, something I like to do at the beginning of each meeting is to have a win that we share with the group.

Ashley Mielke 00:07:18  So if you could all just pop in the chat, a recent win in your business, the win might be hey, I showed up. I'm a member of group practice boss. It could be some exciting thing happening. It could be a very small shift in your business. Just something that we can acknowledge today and celebrate with you. So if you're not sure, in the right hand corner, there's a little chat bubble. You can click that and then you can write your chat. And the chat will pop open for you so you can see what others are writing. Yay! Sabrina, our second intern is doing her first intake today. Oh my gosh, what an exciting time for your intern! I remember my very first client from when I started seeing clients as an intern in 2012. No 2010 I still remember my first ever session. Christina. We hired two more clinicians. I lost it, and we are October's Business of the month for our town. Christina. Congratulations. That is the coolest thing.

Ashley Mielke 00:08:21  And hired two more people. Amazing. I know that finding qualified professionals has been an ongoing theme and struggle for many of us, so I'm so happy to hear that, Christina. And maybe you can shed some light later about where you found these clinicians. Okay, Esther just says two wins. I don't see anything else after that. Rachel, I got several referrals from current clients. Always feels good. Amazing. You're doing such impactful work. Rachel. Heidi. Ohio. Heidi, says a win is that I am happy to have a new clinician join me about two weeks ago. This increases our team to seven. So proud of you. I'm thinking I can't see everyone on the screen. Yes that's right, Heidi is hiding on my other screen. There we go. Ingrid, file the boy filling. I do not know what that means.

Speaker 3 00:09:12  So for is that new filing that we had to do having an LLC. And it's getting everybody like, like a lot of people don't know about it.

Speaker 3 00:09:21  And it's, it's a new thing that started everybody who is creating an LLC from now on, they had to do it. But if you created it before January of this year, you have until the end of the year to file. And I don't know, but the government is threatening to like $500 a day if you don't file. And and everybody who has an LLC has to do it. So I have a couple of losses and I keep putting that off and I file it and it only takes like five minutes actually to do it. It's not complicated.

Ashley Mielke 00:09:55  Okay, good.

Speaker 3 00:09:57  That's my mind now.

Ashley Mielke 00:09:58  Good. It feels so good to just check the things off the list. Liz says I set two boundaries this week, one to address employees behavior and second, to tell someone we wouldn't be hiring them. Good for you, Liz. Thank you for sharing. Those can be very challenging conversations, Michelle says. Our clinicians are full and we are ready to hire another Michelle. That is amazing how exciting.

Ashley Mielke 00:10:20  Feels like there's like a momentum that happens. It's like we hire and then things just kind of it just creates and we have this abundance. That's so exciting. Esther. Number one, my latest new hire is seeing more clients and I am that is amazing. And number two, she's also now independently licensed. How exciting. Thank you for sharing. It sounds like there's been some growth. There's a theme of growth that I'm hearing today, which is an awesome way to even start this new membership of group practice boss and really great energy. And today, I feel like this conversation is very aligned in terms of our financial and money mindset, which can be a really I know we talked about this a couple of weeks ago. For those of you that attended, you can go back and watch the video talking about money, our relationship to money, and our belief system and how this is actually very, very important, very important for not only our personal growth but our business growth. And something I have shared with you before is our business growth follows our personal growth.

Ashley Mielke 00:11:23  If we if we just can. I ask everyone to mute themselves as well. So I'm not getting any feedback while I'm sharing, just background noises and such. we really have to understand the money and finances in our business, and we have to develop a healthy, positive relationship with money, or this will become a theme that shows up repeatedly in your life and in your business. If not now, some point down the road. So I'm going to share my screen with you and we will jump right in to some conversation, some questions that I have for you before we even get started. And this is a vulnerable conversation, so I really do appreciate those of you that are going to be willing to share and talk about this. because it's not always easy. So before we get started, I thought we could do a little bit of conversation here. When you think of money, what comes to mind? And you can put this right in the chat if you'd like. If you're comfortable even sharing a little bit, that's great.

Ashley Mielke 00:12:34  When you think about money, what comes to mind? Liz says, I think there isn't enough. Thank you for your honesty. What else? Fears. I'm not having enough to take care of my responsibilities at home or work. Yes. Thank you. Heidi. Thank you for your honesty. Christina. Something I want more of. Yes, yes, it's a tool. It's renewable, I love that. Rachel. Honestly, it feels like there is never enough. And that money is something other people have. Thank you. Rachel, I so can relate to that. And it's interesting because whether you are paying yourself $5,000 a month, $10,000 a month, $20,000 a month, say net personal pay or your company is grossing over $1 million? If that is a belief that we have, we're always going to have that belief. I know I struggle with that, even though my company was grossing almost almost 2 million a year gross revenue. That feeling of there isn't enough. And that scarcity mindset. Esther, you need to avoid it 100%.

Ashley Mielke 00:13:37  I relate to that. And Ingrid says, how much is enough? Thank you so much for your honesty. The next question is how do you feel about money? I mean, even when we say the word money, it can make us just like shiver, right? Or we have like a pit in our stomach, especially if it's something that we feel there's a theme of scarcity in our life. I don't have enough or it seems to disappear. We think about a lot of those beliefs or feelings also will drive our behavior with that money, whether we're overspending or we're really hoarding and we're not spending enough overwhelmed, I'm going to have to do more. Thank you Liz. I learned to feel comfortable about it, but it is still something we don't talk about. Yes, absolutely. Which is interesting. I feel like this is a conversation we should we should be having with our friends and our family. Like, how do you manage money in your life, right? How do you use money? How do you save? How do you like celebrate the money that you make.

Ashley Mielke 00:14:36  But we just it's like this taboo topic of conversation, Rachel says. I think they somehow teach you in social work school that we don't deserve profit. Yes, we're going to be talking about that today as well. Thank you. Rachel, very common theme in the service industry. And again, here's some other personal reflection. You don't have to write this in the in the chat, but if you do we appreciate it. How would you describe your relationship with money? Maybe it's complicated. Maybe it's it's a great relationship. It's comfortable. It feels easy. maybe it feels scary and uncomfortable. As I shared a couple of weeks ago, being transparent with you all, learning that profit first model, really learning to, value myself in my business and paying myself what I believe I deserve, which is something I've struggled with, really that sense of kind of martyrdom in my in my company over the years, believing that other people deserved it more than me. My therapists, my clients. So getting familiar with my relationship with money, looking at numbers, understanding them, seeing the value of money in my life is a relationship right now that's sort of ongoing at this present moment.

Ashley Mielke 00:15:52  Liz says it's improving, but on shaky ground. Thank you. Ingrid says good relationship with money. Comfortable. Amazing. And here's my last question. What do you think about people who have a lot of money? So maybe it's it could be a celebrity. It could be the successful business owner that lives in your town that you know of, and you know that they've got tons of they've got a great high net worth, and they drive. Maybe they drive a Ferrari or something. I'm going like extreme here. And they have, you know, a multi-million dollar home. What do you think about that person? Are there feelings of resentment or jealousy that come up? Are you happy for this person. Do you say wow, good for them. They deserve that. We have to get honest with ourselves because this is going to be information for you, data for you around your relationship with money and how money shows up in your life. If we feel resentful about people who have a lot of it.

Ashley Mielke 00:16:54  Do you think we're going to become that person who has a lot of it? thank you Sabrina. Must be nice. Oh, how nice, how nice for you. I so relate to that feeling, too. Rachel says if we're talking about Jeff Bezos rich, I'm grossed out. But for local wealthy people, I envy it and feel they have figured it out and I haven't. Thank you for your honesty, Rachel, and I'm curious, saying I feel grossed out about how rich Jeff Bezos is and what is kind of coming up for you. I know this isn't a group therapy session, but really just write. Really. Just like, what? Where is that coming from?

Speaker 5 00:17:32  I think just that it's like there's so much more than one person could consume that there's good that could be done with that money. I mean, maybe that is the social worker part of me. There's just so much that could be done and there isn't. You know, it's hoarding. At a certain point, I saw like a cartoon where it showed political cartoon, where it showed somebody with like 12 umbrellas stacked up, and then somebody was getting wet next to them.

Speaker 5 00:17:56  And it's like, you don't need 12, you know, that kind of that kind of mindset.

Ashley Mielke 00:18:02  Thank you. I really appreciate you sharing. And Elizabeth says, will I exploit others if I make a lot of money? Thank you. I think you probably speak on behalf of many, many therapists, whether we're counselors, psychologists, social workers in the in business of what? Like how do we use money in our business and what does money represent in our business if we're in the service, in the service of helping other people, which can be very complicated because there's conflicting values, right? That we have to kind of wrestle with to find a place that's comfortable for us. This is so good. Thank you so much for your honesty. So now moving to the next one. Your relationship with money shapes your future. It's often those early life experiences that shape our views on money. And I know I'm speaking to the choir here when it comes to other belief systems, right. Whether it's a belief in our self-worth and our confidence, it's, how how we show up in relationships.

Ashley Mielke 00:19:07  so much of our belief system, we know is really formed in childhood, in those formative years, and how we see our parents deal with money, whether it's the success money or an abundance or it's a scarcity, we don't have enough. And maybe you grew up in a situation where you didn't have a lot of money growing up. I know for me, my parents divorced when I was six. My mom was a single mom. She was 20 years old and she had me. She had no career. She worked at, you know, a local department store and had to put herself through school. And we lived on what we call welfare or like, family assistance. in like in those early years when I was like 7 to 10 years old, where we had to rely on government assistance to get by. So, so much of those early years for me was were watching my moms struggle financially and seeing what she had to go through to, like, buy me new clothes and make sure we had enough food and things to get by.

Ashley Mielke 00:20:09  And there weren't things like vacations or doing all the things that I wanted to do, or things that I saw my friends doing. And I think for me, a lot of my sort of limiting beliefs around money coming into adulthood, how to manage money, save what money represented even in my business, showed up some of that scarcity mindset or like I shared a couple weeks ago, I know how to make a dollar and spend it, but not how to plan and be really responsible with it. That's something that's a journey I'm on right now as well, is how do I actually measure and manage it in a much more responsible, long term way, and not just sort of living in the moment, which is what I saw my dad do, right? My dad was an alcoholic drug addict. He was homeless half the time. He would make money and spend it and he would sabotage his life and then rebuild it. So this is the belief system and the experiences that I come from as a child.

Ashley Mielke 00:21:09  And now I'm just supposed to what? Know what to do and figure out how to be a responsible adult? that's just me being totally transparent with you all about, like, my own journey from childhood till today and learning, more of that abundance mindset and that responsibility with money and managing it well, as opposed to just kind of spending it all the unconscious money beliefs can manifest in our business and our life decisions. Like I said, our personal life growth, our business growth will follow a personal growth. So we really do have to look at this. If it's not now, it's going to be at some point in your future. If you're already there and you're looking at just improving it that much more awesome, right? We're all on a different journey in our relationship with money. So my question for you is, and again, this is more of a personal reflection. What early experiences have shaped your current relationship with money? You know, childhood experiences maybe where you saw your parents struggle or maybe your parents went through bankruptcy, or maybe you went through bankruptcy, or you saw someone close to you go through something really difficult.

Ashley Mielke 00:22:23  You did learn that you know how to manage money was a value in your family, and you were taught from a young age how to save and put money away and that kind of thing. How did those experiences shape your current relationship with money, and how might these beliefs influence your decisions in your life and business? So something for you to think about money as a tool and think it was Sabrina that said this on that first question. Money as a tool for growth and impact, not just survival. Right. Will I have enough? Will I get enough? I've got to work harder now to make more. Really learning to see money as a tool. Money is a resource to enhance our lives and business quality. I mean, the reality is, if we want to live a great quality of life, we do need money to do that, right? Whether it's buying really healthy, nourishing food, Taking a vacation, wearing nice clothing, having a nice, comfortable vehicle to drive, having a beautiful home.

Ashley Mielke 00:23:29  Right. Living in a great community, in, paying for trainings and self-care and wanting to do things for us, going on retreats, the same thing for our business. So it's it's a tool for also reinvesting into your staff, into your training, into your services, into the quality of the work that you're going to put out into the world. It takes money to write and publish a book. It takes money to hire a consultant or a coach for whatever it is. Maybe it's for your business, maybe it's for success and mindset. Maybe it's for learning how to be a a better public speaker. Whatever it is that you want to do to reinvest in yourself, your staff, your business is going to require money. Money is a tool for creating massive impact in the service. It should say service of others. We need that money to get the training, to get the experience, to pay for advertising, to get in front of people, right, to hire high quality staff and to pay them well.

Ashley Mielke 00:24:38  Long term vision growth oriented thinking transforms financial decisions. So we I don't know if we're always growth oriented or we're always fix oriented, but we tend to be one or the other. So this is a great kind of reflection for you to think about, right? Are you more fixed minded in your thinking? Are you more growth oriented, right, and more willing to when the future of your life in your business, growth oriented? Am I willing to invest and take risks? Am I willing to look at these things in my life and and work on changing them and evolving them? Or my more of a fixed mindset like this is the way it is. This is what I can expect. I don't see the value of investing. Kind of saying more stuck. Here's another reflection question. How would your decision making change if you saw money as a resource for growth and impact, rather than just a means of survival? Would you move into that bigger office space so you can grow your team? Would you invest in that marketing company to increase visibility? Would you make that next higher, knowing that there's going to be an abundance of clients coming in and things are going to be continued to go and everything is going to work out because things always work out for me.

Ashley Mielke 00:26:02  Do we think about, okay, if I take these calculated risks, the hundreds of lives that will be impacted, the more people I'll be able to serve if I make this decision?

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Ashley Mielke 00:27:30  Unpacking some of these limiting beliefs. Now this is a great again for our reflection. It can also feel uncomfortable. We know as therapists when we do this kind of work with our clients, it can break up a lot of stuff, and it's not intended to create any feelings of shame or anything like that. This is an opportunity to really look at and do a little deep dive on ourselves around what are the limiting beliefs that I may have around money. You may identify with all or some or none of the examples that I have here. So I want you to think about for yourself. What are some limiting beliefs you have about money? I have some common ones here. I don't deserve wealth or to make a lot of money. I think it was Rachel that said like it's something that other people have. Someone said that in the chat or other people have it, and I just haven't figured out how to get that. or, you know, and I think what goes along with that, that I've, I have felt is, yeah, those people have figured it out and those people are different than me, right.

Ashley Mielke 00:28:38  Whereas someone might say the same thing about me and the growth that I've had. Right. So it's like someone who has a net, maybe they, their company grosses $10 million a year and they think that isn't enough. The person who grosses 100 million in their company, something is special or unique about them. But when it comes down to it, you talk to any coach, business coach, people who have made it. It all all comes back to their belief system and their mindset around money and their disability. Another one helping others shouldn't be about making money. Many of you have mentioned this. I think we all felt this in this in the service industry, in the helping profession, that we don't go into this field to get rich. We go into this field to help people. So there's the conflicting values that if I do make this about money or if money is a priority, what does that say about me as a clinician? I'm taking advantage if I charge too much, right? This is something I've seen, even in my own group practice, where therapists struggle to even charge our clients the full the going rate because there's something that they feel bad about.

Ashley Mielke 00:29:52  So they offer a sliding scale, and most of their clients are on a sliding scale and it's like, okay, but where is that coming from that you don't deserve to make that and for them to pay that right. And what does that mean? You're taking advantage of them? I'm not worth more than the going rate. So this is a struggle for increasing rates, right? Charging maybe a premium rate or specialty rate or something that's above what is considered sort of standard. wealth and profit are selfish or wrong in this field. So again, it's this idea that it is wrong. There's a lot of shame if I were to get wealthy and profit when I'm working in the service of others, these beliefs are often rooted in fear, guilt, or shame. And it's these beliefs that limit our earning potential and the actual impact that you can make, that we can make. If this is what we believe to be true in our businesses. So my reflection question is what limiting beliefs about money are holding you back from taking your practice to the next level and or paying yourself what you deserve? So I'm going to stop it here for a moment so I can see everyone.

Ashley Mielke 00:31:05  It's a lot to digest. I'm just popping into the chat here. Liz says I'll be judged and won't belong with my family or community, including therapist communities, if I make too much money or I'm too successful. How many of you can relate to that? Like, I don't, I just and if we go back to like our brains job to survive, we're like animals. Like I need to be a part of the pack. I need to belong. And so for me to belong, I have to look like, sound like, be like everyone in the group. Does that make sense? So I can only make a certain amount of money. I can only live in a certain house. I can only drive a certain car. I can only present myself a certain way alone. Because if I don't, then I will die. If I'm not a part of the group, I will die. So we are more concerned, I think, at like a cellular level, to belong to a group, whether it's like therapists in my community Or families in my community that if I step out of that, if I'm different, if I have more, I'm going to be shunned and rejected from the group.

Ashley Mielke 00:32:16  And when we are elevating standards in our life, whether it's how I eat, my exercise, my self-discipline, my commitment to my business, my goals for my business, my financial goals for my personal net worth, it's going to require you to step outside of the group. You're going to do things differently than most people are going to do, right? You might be getting up at 430 in the morning to do some deep, creative work to grow your business. You might be working seven days a week. Hello, seven days a week right here for the last 11 years. Because there's always something that I can be doing, and adding value to my clients and to my business. Right? Might only be two hours a day, every morning, on the weekends, but I'm still working. So this is where it's like that. Stretching and growing, whether it's money or some other aspect of your life. We have to see that and who we surround ourselves with. Like it's amazing. We're all here together, growing and being surrounded by people who are like minded.

Ashley Mielke 00:33:27  We are a reflection of our environment and the people we spend time with. Right? They say we are the reflection of the five people we spend the most time with. Or I've heard it this way, which really kind of hit me in the gut, is show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Yeah, something for us all to think about. And it doesn't mean we're. We're not judging. We are not saying, oh, I can't hang out with my best friend from high school anymore. It's not that. It's just taking that 30,000 foot view on my life to say, am I surrounded by the people that share the same values of me that are going the same direction as me, that one of the things that you're saying really strikes a chord because, the truth is, there are therapists out there who do look down on therapists who are motivated to make a good income and build a beautiful, thriving business. There are actually people out there. And so that's why these types of.

Speaker 3 00:34:26  Communities are.

Ashley Mielke 00:34:27  Important, so that you can really like, not.

Speaker 4 00:34:29  Just learn.

Ashley Mielke 00:34:30  Which is really helpful, but also talk to other people who are like, yeah, no, I actually agree with you. There is something.

Speaker 3 00:34:36  Valuable here.

Ashley Mielke 00:34:37  Worth pursuing. We don't have to.

Speaker 3 00:34:39  Squeak by.

Ashley Mielke 00:34:40  And make pennies. just because some of the other therapists down the hall think that's the way to go. So I think that's important. Thank you. Michelle, it is so important. And we have to also like quiet those voices of other people, right. That the haters or the people who are judging us or it's like when you put a, you put, lobsters Stirs in a boiling pot and they're trying to crawl out, and the other ones just grab them and pull them back so no one can escape. It's that sort of feeling, right? We have to really break out of the that need for the approval of other people in our, our communities, whether it's like friends or family or people in the industry.

Ashley Mielke 00:35:25  Would anyone like to share, like what's coming up for you when you think about, oh gosh, I just had an About a belief system that I've had, or here's kind of how I've made decisions in my life or business based on maybe some unconscious beliefs I wasn't really thinking about or aware of. No pressure to share, but I am opening up the floor.

Speaker 6 00:35:49  I'm not sure if this is answering your question, but just this past few weeks, I've been faced with, two clients that I have been working with for a long time who have recently actually there's three, but one of them that is doing this is fine with paying me out of pocket, but Medicaid has come into the picture with them. and if Medicaid has never been something I've ever done because I've never, like, needed to, and it's been an interesting struggle within me to stick with that boundary of not getting a medicaid number, because I've never had one. And I'm like, and, and I don't really need one. and just getting that pushback from, from certain people within this team of people that are working with the same person of like, why would you not get a medicaid number? Why wouldn't you want to get one so that you can help more people? and those kind of things, and me feeling guilty for the fact that I had set that boundary and really making myself like Esther, stick to your boundary.

Speaker 6 00:36:52  There's a reason why you said it like, years ago. You don't need to do it like there are other people who can do it, but it's it's we're sitting here talking to this. It kind of lines with that piece of me sticking to what I've been doing for a long time, but those voices of other people coming in and giving me guilt for not going that direction with my practice.

Ashley Mielke 00:37:14  Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Esther. It's such a reflection of how they see their value. Right? It's like, I would never do that. So you shouldn't do that, right? They're not valuing whatever it is. The service, the. That's like. It's so amazing how intricate these belief systems are and how we can so easily project those onto other people.

Speaker 6 00:37:36  Yeah. And I and I've often educated them in this process to have realizing listen like I don't mind doing like pro bono stuff and helping you out during this time. Like it's not necessary that I'm leaving you high and dry. And I'm reminding myself that because I run my business a certain way, I have room in my budget To do some stuff like this and not worry about a medicaid number and billing and going and doing all that kind of stuff, but I can still help them.

Speaker 6 00:38:04  This isn't necessarily that I'm like being cold hearted and like not wanting to, but I gotta remind myself that I can still do stuff.

Ashley Mielke 00:38:13  Yes, absolutely. And good for you for sticking to your standards and your boundaries. It's hard. Yeah, it's really hard. Especially when someone is very open about why wouldn't you do this? Thank you for sharing. Would anyone else like to share?

Speaker 4 00:38:30  I think what's coming up.

Speaker 7 00:38:31  For me is just like, and I've worked a.

Speaker 4 00:38:34  Lot on money mindset, but like.

Speaker 7 00:38:35  I was just like, geez, like, you know, as you're talking like through the slides, I was like, I've got a lot I've got a lot more to go for sure on it. And, you know, like, this is our first year of having the practice and just, you know, there's so much, shame, I guess, of, like, you know, like people expecting it to fail. and then also like, if it succeeds. Like there's also going to be shame there too.

Speaker 7 00:38:57  so like, either way, like there's going to be shame. so I mean, kind of along the lines like, screw it, why don't I just try to make money in the process if I'm going to be shamed either way? and then also like with just, like coming from, like a very much a scarcity mindset my entire life and, kind of like, in the spa, like, it doesn't really feel like it's okay to have money like it, and like, I can't, I can't picture it happening. And, we're not really taking much of a salary right now, even though our money is increased. just to kind of, like, store some in the bank, you know, just in case. Right now. but it's hard to ever feel like, you know, we're going to get to that spot, or like that. Do I deserve this kind of thing? So it's a lot of just kind of thinking through all that.

Ashley Mielke 00:39:45  Yeah. Thank you. Christina. I really appreciate you sharing.

Ashley Mielke 00:39:49  And I really resonated with a lot of what you shared, too. So thank you. Anyone else resonate with what Christina is saying? Like we have all these goals, but really, how do I how do I actually feel about these? So I really believe in the possibilities for my business. Like I it's like I think I know where I'd like to go, but do I really believe in that possibility? Well, I have enough. And do I have what it takes to get there? And I think probably most people live with a scarcity mindset. I think most people have an unhealthy relationship with money in some way. Like it's kind of complicated. I personally have only met a few people who just get it right, and they they've had to work through their stuff as well. And if we aren't taught these things in our families of origin, I mean, we're not taught these things in school, which they really should. How else are we supposed to know? Like we're just intuitively supposed to know? No.

Ashley Mielke 00:40:52  As I shared with the prophet, first, I do recommend the book Prophet First as a starting point, and it's a very personable, vulnerable look at people just like us who have struggled, who have also been successful. And by really understanding and learning to manage money. And our emotional relationship with money can be really powerful for our success moving forward. And that's why I'm so excited to talk about these things, because I am learning also as I'm teaching. Okay, so let's go back to the PowerPoint here. Yes. Thank you. Rachel says it's making me realize that my parents were always grumpy when doing bills, and we would stay in our room and avoid them. I think that actually had a big impact, that it's a dark subject. Thank you Rachel. So I appreciate your openness about this. Totally, totally right. Getting the bills in the mail is always a stressful Full time. Gotta pay the bills or spending on whatever, you know, extracurriculars or trying to save. yeah. One thing I remember as you say that Rachel is my dad because my parents divorced, had to pay child support to my mom every month, and he used to say to me as a small child, how selfish my mom was that he had to pay her child support to help take care of me.

Ashley Mielke 00:42:15  So that was something that was a belief that I internalized, like, wow, my mom is so selfish because he had to pay her to take care of me, and so I didn't deserve that. I didn't didn't deserve to have money to take care of. So I can't remember someone said something. And that feeling of like, there can be a scarcity and you either hoard and you hold on to all your money or you spend it all. It's going to have some impact on behavior. For me, it's like when I make money, I spend it like love to spend it and then don't know where it goes. And it's like, how did I what where all my money go? But again, it's like not being mindful and responsible. And so then I get rid of it all and then I don't have any left. I've spent it and it's just this cyclical thing. And so that's the new relationship I have now is managing and being responsible and actually looking at numbers, not just like, oh, we want to do new photography in the business that's been cost $8,000.

Ashley Mielke 00:43:14  Who cares? Here's $8,000. Oh, videography for another 5000. Sweet. Let's you know and just throwing it around. So do not do that. We want to be responsible with our money okay. Next slide here. So as I just said beliefs drive our financial behavior. There is a connection between our belief and our action. So either going to hesitate on investing in the growth of our business or charging what were worth. Or you know, you might just be getting rid of it and spending it all and having all these outrageous expenses that you actually don't need to be successful in your business. So shifting these beliefs can create healthier financial behaviors. So another question in what ways do your current beliefs about money affect how you manage finances in your practice and in your life? Okay, it might just be one small shift can make the biggest difference. And now moving on to some more positive things here. Kind of looking at mindset as a foundation for financial success. and we're going to do a mindset reflection.

Ashley Mielke 00:44:24  So I want to cruise through this so we can get to that reflection part. And you can always watch the playback on this after as well. Or take a picture of the screen so you can do a deeper reflection later on. You've probably heard these kinds of sayings before. What you think about you bring about. Your thoughts are powerful and shape the reality you experience when you focus on abundance, growth and possibilities, you start to see opportunities for financial success where others might not. Conversely, negative thinking such as fear or scarcity can close off those same opportunities. This is one thing my spiritual director always says to me what you pay attention to pays you sort of the same thing, right? What do you pay attention to in your life and in your business? That's where all of your energy is going to go and results will follow. So in the business context, focusing on key financial metrics, right. Measuring and managing money, strategic growth, providing you will see an increase in financial rewards. It's a reminder to be intentional about what you're focusing on.

Ashley Mielke 00:45:30  What gets measured gets managed right. So looking at your numbers every day, looking at how much cash you have in the bank account, if you're doing profit first you do your allotments into the other accounts twice a month. Paying yourself profits first. Next slide. Here you get what you believe you deserve, not what you want. You get what you believe you deserve. So you might say, I want, a $10 million company. I want a $100 million company. I want to pay myself a $500,000 salary a year. But it doesn't matter what you want if you don't believe it. Your financial success is limited by not what you wish for, but by what you believe you are worthy of. If you don't believe you deserve higher earnings or financial abundance, it will be difficult to achieve them. Shifting this belief can lead to greater financial outcomes. This is where like doing some good work with your therapist would be really awesome. Like maybe doing some eMDR, which I think I'm going to do because I just had that thought.

Ashley Mielke 00:46:34  Doing some deep core belief work around money could be so healing. And I love this one. You get what you're willing to tolerate. I heard this from my business coach. You get in life what you're willing to tolerate. If you like. Look at your base income right now, and you don't have to ask us. I'm just asking you to reflect on this. What do you pay yourself right now? A month? Is it 5000? Is it 10,000? Is it 20,000? And if that's a baseline for you and you've learned to live within that, it may not be comfortable. It might be frustrating because you don't have any extras left over whatever it is that is going to be the minimum that you're willing to tolerate. If it's 10,000, it's going to be 10,000, right? if you want to get to 20,000 a month, there's going to have to be some shifting in the belief system. In the business context, if you tolerate under charging, overworking or financial stress, you will continue to experience these conditions.

Ashley Mielke 00:47:34  But as Esther was, we were saying with boundaries. But when you raise your standards, set boundaries and demand more for your time and expertise. You can create space for greater financial success. So here's a deep dive reflection for you. How are your current thoughts, beliefs, and tolerances shaping the financial outcomes in your practice in your life? Where might you need to raise your standards or shift your focus to create more abundance? And now lastly, your mindset reflection. Here's an exercise that I really want you to spend some time thinking about. Do you know where you want to go financially? If you don't, you have no reference point, so it is important here on your financial goals. This could be in your business okay. This could also be what your personal income you want it to be. So what is your financial goal 612 months from now. So it might be in 6 or 12 months. I want my business to grow 50,000 a month, right? Or maybe it's 30,000 a month, or maybe it's 80,000 a month, depending on where you are.

Ashley Mielke 00:48:39  12 to 18 months. Where is it? 18 to 24 months. And do that for the next five years. What personal income would you like to make? So if you could have an ideal number like, okay, here's what I'd like to make personally and it doesn't mean it's going to happen next year. Maybe it's five years from now. What is that number? And the best way to figure that out is to write everything down that you want, everything that you want to experience, everything you want to do and what it will cost you. So how much is your house? What vehicle do you have? Maybe you have multiple vehicles. Do you have any, fun toys like a boat or a whatever? Quad, I don't know. and then how many vacations are you going to be traveling? What other things will you be investing in each month, or do you want to retire your spouse? What would that cost? Do you want to have private memberships at a special golf club? Get very clear on everything you want and what it will cost.

Ashley Mielke 00:49:39  Then you will be able to determine, okay, if it's going to cost me monthly to have that lifestyle, what is the personal like revenue that I want? So maybe you're like, yeah, my ideal lifestyle is, you know, 50,000 a month net pay. Like that's what I want to live off to save money and to give back. Maybe you want to start a nonprofit, or you want to donate to charity or your church. You want to put your current children or future children and, you know, special sports or whatever. Then to figure out what your business needs to make, you just do this quick calculation. Take your personal income divided by 0.7 divided by 0.7 equals your business gross revenue that 0.7 and 0.7 is is a calculation based on 30% operating costs and 30% taxes. So you can always adjust it as well for your particular business. But it's a basic thing. So if you want to make, 50,000 a month personal revenue. Then your monthly revenue is going to probably have to be something like, I don't know, 75,000, say for for business revenue or hire.

Ashley Mielke 00:50:50  It depends. Again. And then you can look at where you need to get your business to pay yourself what you want personally. Okay. So it's a fun exercise. And then you can look at this every single day. Here's what I'm working toward personally and business wise. Do you have a burning desire to succeed? This is so important if we want to accomplish our goals. Are you committed to the long game? Business is not a sprint, it's a marathon. You're going to be doing this forever in some capacity. Does your business serve you or are you serving it right again? Like, we don't want to be martyrs in our business. The business is here to serve us, and we are the ones taking risk by having a group practice, and we deserve to be compensated for that and to have high standards, high expectations and strong boundaries. Do you put away profits for future planning? How are you sort of rewarding yourself for taking the risk of having a business? Do you have the courage to push through fear and take calculated risks? Write that growth oriented thinking.

Ashley Mielke 00:51:58  Do you take extreme ownership of your life and business outcomes? This is so important when it comes to money or anything else. We are responsible for the outcomes of our of our life. Open yourself and your potential. If not, this is so important to work on we. I think we're all a work in progress. I'm certainly working on this myself, really believing in our capacities and those goals that we have in that vision for our future. Are you surrounding yourself with people in environments that reflect where you want to go? That would be this community and other communities maybe in with other people that are from different industries, maybe some masterminds. And are you expressing gratitude for your successes today? Are you acknowledging the gifts that you have in your life today because that is, you know, so important as well? And are we generous with our gifts and talents? Right? Are we giving where we can and serving in the best way we can? And we can do that without, compromising our pay? And lastly, for money mantras.

Ashley Mielke 00:53:02  Something else for you to do write down three money mantras that you can repeat daily, and maybe you already have some to create an empowered and abundant money mindset. And here are a few. I'm worthy of financial abundance and success. Money flows to me easily and effortlessly. I use money as a tool for growth, freedom and impact. Money is a byproduct of the impact I am making and love that one. Money is a byproduct of the impact I'm making. So the more money I make, the bigger the impact I'm having. I manage my money with confidence and clarity. Or you might say, like one of mine is like, I am responsible with money and I'm open to receiving unlimited wealth and opportunities. You don't have to necessarily believe these right away. But the point is, if we repeat them daily and they become a part of our thinking, that this will become a part of a new belief system, an adaptive belief system about money. So that is your call to action today that you're going to do this mindset, reflection, your future.

Ashley Mielke 00:54:16  You're going to calculate your personal income, figure out what your business needs to grow, and get really clear on some of those limiting beliefs. We want to replace those with more adaptive beliefs. Some money mantras and really start to kind of dig deep into some of the limitations or barriers that are getting in the way of the goals that you have for your personal life and for your business. Right on time today. we do have a minute left. If there's anything that's coming up, question a comment, please. Put put in the chat. Your takeaway from today, something that you are going to walk away with. You're going to integrate, you're going to reflect on so that you can be accountable to you to heal your relationship with money and accomplish the goals that you have in your heart and that you deserve. Thank you. Heidi. Yes. Love that Christina. Thank you. You can read along in the chat. Definitely got some work around our belief systems for sure. Thank you Rachel. Good.

Ashley Mielke 00:55:25  I'm glad you have some more focus on this work, and it's an ongoing journey, right? I don't think we ever arrive, but it is something for us to continually work on, especially as we hit new levels in our business. And thank you so much. There's only a few of us. Thank you so much for today and for joining, and I look forward to seeing you all very soon. Thank you. Bye for now.

Joe Sanok 00:55:56  Well, thank you so much for listening to the practice of the Practice podcast today. These trainings are available in our membership communities. Now we're going to be opening up our membership communities more than just when we're opening Level Up week. So if there's one that you are interested in, I would love for you to head on over to practice of the practice. Com forward slash membership where there's more details and you can get notifications when those open up. So if you are in solo practice just getting going, if you are building and sustaining a sustainable solo practice next level practices for you.

Joe Sanok 00:56:27  If you are looking to launch a group practice, group practice launch is for you and group practice boss is for all those group practice bosses out there. Today's episode is the receptionist for iPad, which helps you tackle some of those pre appointment apprehension. The receptionist for iPad is an easy to use digital client checking system. Think about when you go to maybe your doctor's office. Now you check in on an iPad. Same sort of idea. You can get a free trial over at the receptionist. Com forward slash practice again. That's the receptionist. Com forward slash practice. Special thanks to the band. Silence is sexy for that intro music, and this podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter cover. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the producers, the publishers or guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical or other professional information. If you want a professional, you should find one.