Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast. I’m your host Kayla Das.

In today’s episode, Jon Morrison, consultant at Get Clear Consulting, will share how to build a business framework that sets your practice up for the best year yet.

Hi John, welcome back to the show as we just had you here about two weeks ago to discuss website design and now, we are so lucky to have you here again to chat about setting up business frameworks.

Jon: Awesome. Thanks Kayla. Great to be back. It’s an important topic. I mean, anyone that’s been in business for longer than two days knows that running a successful business, you need a lot of different tools. And so, I’m happy to come back and thanks for inviting me back. So, let’s talk.

Introduction

Kayla: It’s great to have you here. So just in case any listeners have not heard your introduction when you were here last, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you’re from?

Jon: Yeah, I’m from Abbotsford, British Columbia, over here on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. I’m still the same person, still just as passionate about helping clinic owners excel in business. When they do, I think everything’s better. They can help more people. They can hire more people. Their lifestyle improves. They take better vacations because of it. They can be more generous with their resources and fight with their spouse less, right? Like how many spouses are bickering because money is just so tight.

And so, if you can figure out a way to untighten money so that it actually flows freely through a well-run practice, I just think things are so much better. So, I cannot run people’s clinics for them. But I do want to be able to let them know about every tool and opportunity that’s out there to help them flourish. So last time we talked about the tool of having an outstanding website, and we talked about how Clinic Sites was a great way to do that.

And today we’re talking about having a overall framework for your business where your website will sit in one of those components, but overall, kind of a system to run your practice. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Having a Clear Business Framework

Kayla: Amazing. So why is it important to have a clear business framework when running a private practice?

Jon: Well, I think many of us know, especially if we recall back to our early days before we had any kind of knowledge about what it was like to run a practice. It wasn’t maybe not long ago for some, but maybe a long time for some, but it was chaos, right? I remember in the early days of running my marketing agency. Somebody be like, “Hey, can you help me with my website?” I’ll be sure. “Can you help me run my social media?” Yeah, sure. “Can you pay me for it?” Sure. “Can you help me with a video?” Sure. ” Jon, can you help me hide a body now?” Well, I got some questions, but sure, right? You’re just doing everything all the time and you have a different business all the time. You’re at the mercy of your hunches or an idea and no one can really follow you. I mean, even like a friends and a spouse trying to figure out, “Okay, what do you do again? How do you help people?” Your team is like scared of every conference you go to on the weekend, because it’s a brand-new practice the next Monday. And that’s just the problem with not having a plan and a clear framework to help you. You’re just running around working too much. There’s no structure, no team can follow you. And you can’t scale it. So as a result, less people get helped.

And even your cash flow, right? Like how do you manage cash? Have you ever tried to run a practice without cash? Unless you have a plan for cash flow, then money just comes and it goes. And sometimes there’s not enough there to even to pay yourself. And so, Kayla, that’s my story without a framework. I just was leading a random business. And then with one, you can actually be a lot more structured and systematic and as a result successful.

Kayla: I agree, and I’ve heard people use kind of the analogy of a house. If you don’t have the foundation. The foundation is the most important part of a house, even though we don’t see it, it is hidden, it’s probably not the most prettiest, it’s not the most talked about. But you can’t have anything else if you don’t have that framework.

And I would say when I first started both my private practice and my business coaching, I probably didn’t have as much of a foundation that I would have liked to have. And it was exactly what you said. It was like chaos. It was like, I’m doing this, I’m doing that. I’m doing this, I’m doing that. And although sometimes it’s nice to have a little bit of variety. It’s not always nice to not really know where you’re going and why you’re doing what you’re doing. So having this framework can really help you know what you’re going to do, where you’re going to go, and also who you’re serving.

And I know when we talk about ideal clients here on the podcast, sometimes therapists are like, “Oh, you know, I don’t want to work with one specific client or another.” but when someone asks you, what do you do? If you can’t answer that, that probably means you need a framework.

Jon: 100%. Yeah, we need a lot of things. And I think maybe that’s the difficult part is it’s easier just to ignore it, put your head in the sand and pretend like you, you don’t need it. I just want to help people. But unless you can say what those people are, then it’s really hard to build a business around that, around random, right? So.

Kayla: Well, those people don’t know who they are. So how are they supposed to reach out if you don’t know who they are?

Jon: Yeah. And how are people even supposed to refer you, right? Like, “Oh, I have this friend, Jon. You should work with him.” “What does he do?” “Well, he does a little everything.” Okay. So do you want me to hire him because he’s going to solve a problem for me, or is it just a charity case for your friend, Jon, who seems to need some help that will do anything for anyone. So, it actually helps you get better referrals to when you have a clear vision and ideal client and you know your mission and how you’re going to help them.

How to Set Up a Business Framework

Kayla: Exactly. So, when you think of business frameworks, what are the most important areas to focus on so that listeners can set their private practice up for success this year?

Jon: Yeah, I mean, there’s lots of frameworks out there, Kayla, as you know. And there’s just so many, so many. But I need a simple one because I’m a simple person and I need simple. And when I’m moving fast my brain needs ideas that it can claw and say, okay, because I understand this, I can now understand this concept.

And I’ve flown in many airplanes before, and so I understand how an airplane kind of works, and maybe the intricacies in the engineering. I don’t really understand, but I know that an airplane needs to have certain elements, right? It has to have a cockpit. So, you have to have people in there that are leading this thing. You need to have an engine to. Make sure it gets there. You need to have wings to kind of hold it up in place. You need to have a body to hold whatever you’re carrying. And, the body of the plane, that’s really what’s going, right? You don’t just have a cockpit that’s traveling. You have a body of a plane that’s getting there. And then fuel to get it go. So, I can kind of get that and that’s why I really loved what this one guy named Don Miller, who I’ve been working with closely for years. We talked a little bit about his book, building a story brand two weeks ago, when we talked about the patient centric words on your website. Which was great.

And then you realize that it’s not just that, but there’s also other elements that go into a business than just your marketing. And that’s where Don’s work in terms of this airplane analogy, this framework that he uses. So, his example that I’ve really gravitated towards and I’ve used it for myself. And I help my clients with when they have questions, it is that the mission and vision of your business is kind of like the cockpit, right? Can you clearly articulate. Imagine your pilot getting up there on the thing and saying, you know, we’re not really sure where we’re going to go today. We’re just going to kind of drift around and just see where the winds take us. It’s like, no, no, no, you guys need to be figuring out, put the destination in mind and let us know how long it’s going to take to get there. Because we need to know, right? Your customers, your friends, your family, you and your teammates, you all need to know where this thing is going, right? It makes things so much clearer.  

And then you want to know how you’re going to get there, right? So, you need to have an engine going. And that’s the product. So, everybody sells some kind of product. It may be a service. It may be products off the shelf and in your clinic. But you’re selling something that’s helping you get there. And then you’re going to have to market it and you’re going to have to sell it. And we don’t really like those things. We just want to help people. But the truth is, people need to know about you. If you just did something in the corner of your home, in the basement, and you didn’t tell anybody, it’s going to be really tough to build a successful business without wings, marketing and sales. Those are your two wings that are going to keep you up.

And then, yeah, I understand the body of the plane is the body of your business, which would be your overhead and operations. This is how you get things done. What’s your process of when someone first walks in the door, they first make that booking until all of a sudden when they’re totally done and totally happy. Can you map all the steps out so that you can do it over again and over again and over again? Can you build a team around it? Can you train people? In your way of doing things and that’s like the body of the plane.

And finally, the thing I love about the airplane analogy is that you need fuel to run a plane and you need cash to run a business. And so, if you have a system of managing your cash so it can accommodate for the ups and downs of a market, of customer behavior, the ins and outs of an annual cycle, of how things work. And that accommodates for things like vacation and profits for you. Believe it or not, you should have a profitable business. You’re not running a charity, unless you are running a charity, but most people are not running a charity. And so, they need to have a system for how to manage cashflow. And just like any car or plane needs fuel to run, our businesses need cash to run as well.

Importance of a Clear Mission and Vision

Kayla: I love it. So, I want us to dig a little bit more into the mission and the vision, because I know when we think of any organization, you can go on people’s websites, and they say, this is my mission, this is my vision. But when you look at say, therapists and coaches, we have to don’t really think about that, or at least don’t put it on our website. I haven’t seen a whole lot of websites that actually include that. So why is it important to have a clear mission and vision? And really, I guess, what is it?

Jon: Yeah, you need to have some kind of a target on the wall. We’re not just aimlessly going through every day– we are like vision seeking people, right? We need to have visions. We want to know where’s this going. If I get into a vehicle, I imagine you just got into your vehicle and just sat there and we’re going to see where it goes. No, you get into a vehicle cause you want to go somewhere. It just feels like a waste of time to be somewhere and there’s no purpose to it. We are people who love purpose. We are drawn to purpose. We love purpose. And so, we want to be a part of that.

So, here’s the thing about vision and mission is that we need to know who we are and where we’re going. And I think of like axe throwing. Okay. So, this is just maybe an example that I had, it seems like axe throwing is all of a sudden become a thing. I don’t know about you Kayla, if you’ve tried it. But maybe some people have tried it, but it seems like axe throwing has become the up-and-coming thing. Imagine if axe throwing was just literally throw an axe, right? You could just throw it anywhere, throw it on the ceiling, throw it on the ground, throw it anywhere on a wall. That’s just not, like, going to catch on. What really, we want to do is, when people are throwing axes, is they want to hit a bullseye. They want to hit the middle as best they can. And how do you know that you’re hitting a middle? Because there is a target there. And I think it’s the same with our businesses, whether or not you’re a coach or a consultant or you are a therapist or any kind of clinic that you own, it’s nice to know that we want to help a certain amount of people by this time. And then we can just tell if we’re getting there, right? There’s some kind of target. We don’t know if the pandemic’s going to hit, we don’t know what’s going to happen with the landlord. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the market. But we’re going to certainly try to at least do something so that we can evaluate it. Are we actually helping the kind of people? that we want to help. Are we getting there? Are we making money? And these are just important conversations to have in business, okay? Because at the end of the day, we are business people. If you have a business, you need to be thinking like a business person because a business without cash or without progress is not a business for very long.

Kayla: I think that’s also something that helps keep you going, right? Your mission and your vision is why you do what you do. And I also talk a lot about values here on the podcast as well because I personally come from an ACT approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approach, and it really talks a lot about values. And going back to what I mentioned earlier, when I first started, especially like my business coaching, I knew I wanted to help people with businesses. I really did not know where I was going to go, what I was going to do. But when I really sat down to think about why I do what I do and what my mission is, my mission is to deconstruct how we look at and run private practices so that we can increase profitability. Because I find that, at least in the therapy world, it’s like we’re told we have to be in this box of how we run a private practice. And I’ve never ascribed to that. I’ve never believed in that. I mean, I believe that if that’s what you want, if that is what your goal is, if that’s what your vision is, that is it. But you don’t have to do it that way if that doesn’t fit with who you are.

So, my vision, and that’s actually where the Designer Practice Podcast came from, is that my vision is that all therapists and coaches design the private practices that they love and want to work in. That it’s something that fits them, that it’s designed for them. And whether it’s within the traditional one to one model, whether it’s something different or whether it’s a mixture of all of it. But it’s really building that business. And the reason I’m sharing that is because that is what grounds me every day. That is what makes me keep going every day. If I ever forget why I’m doing what I’m doing, or I’m like, I got to record another podcast episode. Although that never happens. I do enjoy my podcasts. But if that ever happened. I have my mission and vision and that grounds me beyond just the profits. Even though profits are good and we want to have profits and that’s a part of it. But it’s why I do what I do.

Jon: Yeah, I love it. And I’m so glad you’re clear on that. And I wonder would others be clear. But then the next thing, Kayla, like you, with a growing practice, a growing family and everything, like at some point, you want to know that there’s some consistency in there so that you know, there’s certain things you can depend on. And there’s so much chaos in this world, so much chaos in our own lives, even between our ears. It’s nice to know there’s some black and white stability, and that’s what I think having a plan does, is at least it gives you some guardrails to keep you from random chaos. And I think it’s the same with anyone who has clients it’s nice to know that if I look three years down the road, there’s going to be some dependency that I can have, or some consistency, or maybe I should say.

And that’s what having a plan does, that’s what a framework will do for you is it just at least says, we’re going to have some cash in the bank. We’re going to have some vision. We’re going to know who we’re going after. And we’re not just going to hope that things work out next week as they did this week. And that’s why I really like business coaching and frameworks that coaches can get their business around.

Why Business Principles are not Taught During Clinical Trainings

Kayla: I agree 100%. So, knowing how important and beneficial having a business framework can be, why do you think that therapists and coaches are not taught business principles like during clinical trainings? I know you don’t have the exact answer, but–?

Jon: Well, it’s something I’ve thought about a ton because remember I was doing websites too, right? And I’m like thinking, why are we not learning about marketing. Like, I talked about how I was working really closely for years with just chiropractors. Like, why are Chiropractor schools not teaching about websites? And you know, I was actually at a conference, one of the bigger national conferences last year and I got a chance to talk to a president of a school and I was like, “I’ve got this axe to grind here and I’ll talk about axes. I guess it’s common theme here I’ve got this extra guy with what you guys are doing. Why are you not teaching them about marketing?” And he goes, “Jon, look, we have so many, like the human body is so complex. We have so many things we need to teach them about. We just can’t teach them about everything.” So, this is his words, he says, “we help chiropractors pass exams, not run businesses. They can learn how to run a business anywhere. But when they’re here with us, we have a very clear mission is to teach them how to be the best possible clinician they can be.” And I thought, okay, fine. I fold that. I’m not going to worry too much about that.

Then we will have to set up business training for clinicians then because they’re expecting it. Schools are expecting clinicians to get it elsewhere. And the truth is, if you are the best clinician, you can still fail. If you don’t have patience, if you have disorderly books, if you have no vision, if you can’t build a team. You can still run that thing into the ground, even if you’re the best possible person with your hands, if you’re not doing something with your mind, or your other skills that are important to run a business these days. Then you’re going to be in big trouble, and that, to me, was a huge flag to say, “Okay, I got to stop blaming these schools and training institutions because that’s not even what they’re trying to do.

So, we have to support clinic owners by giving them skills, by giving them podcasts like yourself. By giving them frameworks that they can then use to make things simple. By giving them website tools like what we’re offering at clinic sites. And so the responsibility then gets passed from the school to the actual clinic owner themselves. They need to be the ones to take responsibility for their own growth. Just like they did when they first signed up for their own clinical training. They took the responsibility to say, “If I want to be this kind of person, if I want to be a counselor, a therapist, if I want to be a clinician of some kind, I need to get the training. And now, if I want to run a business, a successful business, I need to get the training for that as well.”

Kayla: I agree 100%. Going back to what you said, I think why schools and clinical trainings don’t necessarily have business training is, again, going back to mission and vision, many of the programs, and I’m thinking more like mental health therapist specifically, is many therapists go into public sector or non for profit or work for other people, not necessarily business. So going off of what you said, it’s that, if we want to be that business person, whether it’s even opening a non for profit, that’s still a business, whether you’re making a profit or not, you’re getting money from somewhere. And you still need to have that business background. So, depending on your aspirations, it’s finding those resources, right? Finding those trainings, whether it’s through business coaching, whether it’s through a mastermind program, whether it’s through podcasts, like the Designer Practice Podcast. It’s finding those resources because many of our trainings, their mission or their vision or their mandate is not necessarily to teach us about business, but teach us about the clinical requirements we need.

Would it be nice if they offered a little bit of business? I would be the first to say yes. I would actually love to teach that. If any university is listening and they want someone to teach business, I would love to be that person for you. But in saying that, it’s not their mission or their mandate. So, it’s up to us to find those resources that we need.

Jon: Yeah, Kayla, I just want to address something quickly. There might be a mindset barrier. I’m just always sensitive to this, that people when they think it’s either clinical or business. And to me, unless you’re working for someone else, right? And if you’re working for someone else, even then though, if you’re an independent contractor, you’re still running a business. It’s you incorporated, right? And you need to run yourself like a business. But there’s this dichotomy that says, I can either be a good clinician or I can be great in business, but it’s very tough to be both. And it is tough to be both, but it’s not like one is like the angel and the other one is like the little devil on your shoulder, right?

We think that the clinic side is really good and it’s helping people and the business side is like, whoa, now we’re getting caught up in big tech and technology and business is evil. Where I just don’t have that dichotomy in my mind. I think if you have the appropriate view of business, which is you have two people looking at each other. One has a problem, one has a solution, and they exchange the solution, you get the solution if you have the problem, and the person with the solution gets some money. And they both say thank you at the end. I had a problem, you solved it for me, thank you. The other person says I had a solution, you compensated for it, because you valued it, thank you. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, wow, this is actually helping each other. We’re not getting involved in some deep, dark, bad thing, right? I need bread. I have money. You make bread. I give you money. We all are thankful. You fed your family with the money I gave you. And you fed my family with the bread you gave me. I don’t think business is as evil as we make it out to be. And I think a lot of clinicians have to get over the fact that if they are learning how to do business well with excellence, they’re actually doing the world a great service because if you help one person or you help 10 people. And if you help 10 people because you have a great business framework and you’re good in business and you are doing the things that you’re learning on this podcast, then you’re actually doing better. You’re actually helping the world more by helping 10 people than helping this, that one person.

Kayla: Thank you so much for saying that and I agree 100%. You know when it comes to mindset, sometimes, and I want to say this is sometimes societal in our programs and I know, depending on which training or which type of therapist you are, you may come from a different philosophy but I know at least in say the social work realm. I’ve spoken to many social workers who graduate from their programs and they worry about going into business because they feel like they’re either a sellout or the C word, a capitalist, if they end up going into private practice. And that’s just not the case. And just like you said, you are serving people, whether you’re in a non for profit, whether you’re in public sector, whether you’re in the private sector, you are serving people so that you can help them. If I asked 100 social workers or mental health therapists, I would say 99 to 100 of them will say that they came into private practice to help people. And you are still helping people, whether you get your paycheck from the government, whether you get your paycheck from a donor, or whether you get your paycheck from a client, you are still serving and doing really great work and you are not a sellout and you are not a capitalist.

Jon: I agree. 100%. Yep. Capitalism happens to be the system that we are working in, and if you want to thrive in this environment. If you want to create an amazing practice that helps a lot of people, then you have to play by the capitalist game. And I think it’s the best game in town because I’ve seen the alternative and we have enough historical examples of the fact that it just doesn’t work. As a diehard capitalist, the one that believes that capitalism actually is the best system that we have, even though people are broken and greed is abundant, it’s better than any alternative that we’ve got. And so we have to work within that system and it just so happens you can thrive and you can help a lot of people in that system, so.

Additional Insights

Kayla: Do you have any additional advice or insights for therapists and coaches for setting up their private practices for the best year yet?

Jon: Yeah. Because this will be early in the year, depending on when you listen to your podcast, people might be listening to it later. But as we start January, January is a great opportunity to just resettle, reset. And figure out who it is that you want to be, where are you going to go with it, what’s going to drive you, and how are you going to manage, your practice?

So, I would just say this, I mean, I love the theme that we’re going on, is sharpen your axe. Sharpen your axe. Abraham Lincoln was first quoted as saying, give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I’ll spend the first four sharpening my axe. Because if you sharpen your axe, then you’re going to be a lot more efficient. And so how does one sharpen their proverbial business axe? I would say what we’re talking about today, get a framework, get a guide to help you. And so, find some help, if clinical stuff is your thing and business is weak. That’s the good news is there’s lots of people who love helping clinic owners with their business. And so, find one out there. See if they have a road map or you can just find a road map that works but there is a path to success that others have walked along and you can just follow their path. So, it’s well worn, you’re not going into a road less traveled here. There are people like you who have done amazing stuff. And so, you just want to follow their crumb trail there. Get a coach, maybe, you need to hire a coach this year. Listen to Kayla, listen to the podcast, just make it a priority that you’re going to get better this year. And if you get better, if you become more valuable, then your practice will become more valuable. It’ll be more valuable to your community and people will respond in kind by compensating you accordingly.

And today, we’re offering this great program to work through the six parts of the business framework, mission and vision products, marketing, sales, overhead operations and cash flow. Even though it sounds a little business-y, I guarantee you that if I was to spend an hour with you, you would need all those things this year. You need to have a clear mission and vision. You need to offer something, some kind of service or product that people need today. And then you need to talk about it with your marketing and your sales and then your overhead and operations, how you get things done from start to finish. And then the cashflow and making sure that you always have enough cash to both pay yourself well, to pay your team and to prepare for a rainy day. And so I would say you need to have all those things and that’s exciting for you. And it’s exciting for those who you’re going to help because you got really organized this year, your best year yet.

Small Business Flight School

Kayla: So, let’s talk about the program. So, I know you run a program helping small businesses such as private practice and clinic owners with growth. Can you share a little bit about what it is and how it can help listeners?

Jon: Yeah. So, Kayla, my program is actually Don’s program that I just love it. I took it myself, Don Miller. He runs a program called Small Business Flight School. And so, I took it and I’m like, this is exactly what everyone needs. So, I’m an affiliate of that in full disclosure. And the good news is that, we’re offering this program this year. You can do it in six months, or you can do it even in six weeks.

But Don’s program, I love it so much. I’m actually willing to help people work through it a little bit. So, I’ll give you a free coaching session. And then if we don’t get enough there, I’m still going to give you another one even as well. So, the program itself, Small Business Flight School goes for $2,500, and that’s in US dollars. Okay, so 2, 500 US dollars. And if you take that program, I mean, imagine like what it could unlock this year. That’s like a couple of new clients. If you can get a couple of new clients because you took this program, you’ll pay the thing off.

But the resource, what it does for you inside of your heart. And the systems that you set up are going to save you so much money and make you so much more money that it’s going to be a no brainer in my mind. And then plus you get coaching with me just to make sure you do it. So yeah, small business flight school, Don Miller is the host. Business Made Simple is the company name. And if you use our link that I’m going to be there to make sure you get this done. So, my job is to massage it and to make sure everyone gets it in their practice, in their community. But it’s Don and his team that actually teach through the framework, the material, and all the little worksheets to do. It’s all through Business Made Simple.

Kayla: Amazing. And just for listeners to know, the bonus coaching session is for Designer Practice Podcast listeners only. Am I right in saying that?

Jon: That’s right. Yep. It’s an offer just for them. And it’s just something that I can do to help.

Kayla: Yeah. So, if you are interested in signing up for Don Miller’s business program, Flight School, that John is an affiliate for, please check out kayladas.com/flightschool.

That’s kayladas.com/flightschool.

Or you can simply scroll down to the show notes and click on the link.

Also, don’t forget to inform Jon that you have found the program through the Designer Practice Podcast or myself so that you can receive your free coaching session bonus.

Conclusion

Jon, thank you so much for joining us again here today on the podcast and giving us some great tips and strategies to start the year off right in our private practices.

Jon: So great to be here, Kayla. Thanks so much for having me. I look forward to hearing some amazing success stories of people that were not only inspired to get a framework, but then took action and actually chose this one. There’s many out there, but this one is great. I’ve done it myself. And I think every listener will appreciate it. And I’m happy to make sure that they do by offering that free coaching. So, you won’t get the free coaching unless you tell me, and you won’t tell me unless you sign up. So go for it.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s episode, and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now!

Credits & Disclaimers

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