Making 2024 Your Best Year Yet - Podcast Takeover with Julie Herres STP 53
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[00:00:00] James Marland: Welcome to the show where we encourage you to take intentional steps towards sustainable growth. This is your host James Marland. This is a special episode. It's a podcast takeover episode. My friend, Julie Harris from green Oak accounting. And therapy for your money podcast. And also the author of profit first for therapists is going to be, I'm going to play her episode.
[00:00:34] James Marland: She's going to talk about goals and setting goals and looking back about what you've achieved and then looking forward. And she's going to talk about making 2020 for your best year yet. She's also gonna stay to the end. She's going to tell you about a learning event that she's going to host. That's going to help you achieve your goals.
[00:00:52] James Marland: So make sure you listen to that. There's also going to be links in the show notes. So make sure you visit those show notes. Also at the end of the episode, after Julie's little takeover, I'm going to share my. My worksheet. I have a worksheet that I do every year that helps me stay on track.
[00:01:08] James Marland: I'll explain how it works. And you can pick that up by subscribing to the newsletter, or just go into the the blog page for this episode. So without further ado, let's get into the podcast takeover making 2020 for your best year yet with Julie Harris. Profit first for therapists and therapy for your money.
[00:01:39] Julie Herres: Hi there, and welcome to Therapy
[00:01:41] Julie Herres: for Your Money. I'm your host, Julie Harris, and today I want to talk about how to make 2024 your best year yet. This episode is airing close to the end of December, and this is the time of year where the whole accounting industry starts to really shift our focus, and actually we have for the last several weeks, towards the new year.
[00:02:01] Julie Herres: We've already started planning for the new year. And that's a really exciting time of year for me. I really love the thought of a blank slate and being able to make your business into whatever you would like to do in the next year. Because by this time, of year, whatever you've accomplished so far, there's only so much that you can do to change it at this point, right?
[00:02:23] Julie Herres: Even if you hire a couple of therapists right this moment, which is a little bit unlikely right before the holidays, there's only so much you can move the needle, but you've got all the opportunity in the world for next year. So perhaps you're getting ready to slow down a little bit during the holidays and spend some time with family.
[00:02:41] Julie Herres: But I really like this time of year for self reflection as well. If you're able to take a couple of hours or even just an hour and sit on your own, maybe go for a nice long walk and really reflect on All the amazing things that you have accomplished this year. I find that's a great exercise in gratitude because as entrepreneurs, we often forget all the things that we've done.
[00:03:06] Julie Herres: The year ends up so jam packed with different accomplishments. It's easier to forget the things that happened in March. So item number one, as far as prepping for success next year is really taking stock of what are the. Amazing things that you did this year and listing those out. And then I'd also love for you to take a moment to think of what would be aligned with your personal goals for next year.
[00:03:32] Julie Herres: And what I mean by that is. Sometimes there's just a number goal that can be just a number that we throw out in the air. For example, I'd like to have a million dollar practice, a 5 million practice, whatever that number may be to you. And those numbers can be really helpful. They can be really anchoring when it comes to setting your goals.
[00:03:53] Julie Herres: But I also want you to think about if that number is in line with your personal goals. Cause if what's actually really important to you is increasing your take home pay, you may be able to do that without increasing the overall revenue of your business, or if your goal is to work less hours, maybe.
[00:04:13] Julie Herres: Going for a big, hairy, audacious financial goal isn't what's going to help serve you. So I would love for you to think about what is truly important to you. What are the things that you actually want to accomplish? And then set business financial goals that are in line with those personal goals as well.
[00:04:31] Julie Herres: And when it comes to goals, there's not a right or wrong answer. It can be whatever you'd like it to be. I had lots of clients this year who were in a stabilization year where they actually didn't want to grow. They just wanted to stabilize their systems, stabilize their team, and intentionally stay exactly where they were so that they would be better positioned to continue to expand in future years.
[00:04:56] Julie Herres: And I think that's a really worthwhile goal as well. It was in line with what they wanted for themselves, and now they're positioned to really put the pedal to the metal going forward. And as you take time to set these goals, I'd love for you to also take a moment to reflect on them and really sit with them to make sure that they are aligned with what you truly want.
[00:05:18] Julie Herres: I love the power of setting goals when it comes to actually accomplishing them. I'm a fan personally of. Reaching big or high, because even if you reach for a really large goal and you fall a little bit short of it, you're still likely to have a bigger impact or get closer than if you had just a goal that you knew was so achievable, you don't really even try.
[00:05:44] Julie Herres: If the goal is a big one, you're going to have to put in some effort. I'm currently reading the book 10X is Better Than 2X. This is By one of my favorite author duos, Ben Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, who also wrote Who Not How. And although I'm not done with the book yet, my takeaway so far is that going for a 10x goal really forces you to rethink.
[00:06:11] Julie Herres: everything in a way that going for a 2x goal does not. How I would translate that to one of my clients or for a therapy practice is going for a goal that is just a little bit beyond where you are, allows you to keep doing everything just about the same. And if that's something that you are comfortable with, I think that's great.
[00:06:29] Julie Herres: But if you really want to go big, going for that 10x goal forces you to think through. What are all the things that must be true for this to happen? So for example, how does my role need to shift for this to be possible? What systematic things need to change in the business for this 10 X goal to be possible?
[00:06:49] Julie Herres: And it really forces you to rethink almost everything in the business, which I think can be a great exercise because we can sometimes get stuck in the this is how it's done, or this is how we've always done it. RUT and there comes a point in business where that may or may not actually be helpful.
[00:07:05] Julie Herres: So as you can see, I'm a fan of little goals, medium goals, big goals. I think they're all valid, but once you've decided on what makes sense for you, I love personally having my goals written up on the wall and exercise I do at the end of every year, I have these big giant post it note pads. You could also just put a note card on your desk, but it has my goals for the upcoming year.
[00:07:28] Julie Herres: It has some ongoing goals, some personal goals, and some business goals as well. And then. Every morning it's something that I look at as I sit at my desk and I find it really helpful to just consistently have that. It's written down. It's right in front of me. My kids walk in and this post it is in my home office and my kids will walk in and ask me about the goal and ask how things are going.
[00:07:52] Julie Herres: And it's really neat to have that constantly top of mind. One of the things that was on my list for this year was the profit first for therapist book launch. And so that's one thing that I got to check off the list. I had on my list as well, book two speaking gigs for the year, and I actually booked way more than that.
[00:08:11] Julie Herres: So that was really exciting. Another thing that I got to cross off the list. And there's other things that, that also have happened and there's things that I'm just falling a little bit short of, but man, did I get really close and that's really exciting. So they're going on the list again for next year.
[00:08:28] Julie Herres: So I'm okay with the fact that I didn't quite get there, but I was really on top of it and I really tried. And next year is going to be the year. So after the goals go up on the wall for me, then my financial brain has to make a plan for them. So some of these business goals are financial, and that is where I really get to work, break out the Excel spreadsheet or Google sheet.
[00:08:57] Julie Herres: And work on, okay, if this is going to be the goal, how are we going to accomplish this? And I am a big fan of SMART goals. So SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. That means these are things that I can tell, have I accomplished it? Yes or no. It's not a subjective thing like.
[00:09:22] Julie Herres: Be healthier. That's not a goal that is going to work for me. If my goal is exercise three days a week, that's specific, that's measurable, that's achievable, it's relevant, and it's time bound, right? Every, every week I have to work out a. Three times a week. And maybe my goal should be even more specific, like at least 30 minutes, three times a week.
[00:09:45] Julie Herres: So for your practice, that could look like, I want to grow my practice by 100 sessions per month, every month through the end of the year. That means that between January and December, you need to add 100 new sessions each month. So 100 sessions in January, 200 sessions in February, 300 sessions in March etc.
[00:10:11] Julie Herres: That is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound. Then you can get to work on figuring out what things need to be true for that to be possible. So you can't just say, I want this, and then it's going to happen. What are the things that you're going to need to do for that? You're probably going to need to hire for those things to be possible.
[00:10:29] Julie Herres: So you can then reverse engineer. How many people are you going to need on your team for these things to be possible? You may know your conversion rates. If you have a 50 percent conversion rate, you know that to, to schedule a hundred. New clients, you may need 200 calls to be coming in and truly, if you want a hundred new sessions, you may not need a hundred clients, but you see where I'm going here, where that may mean you need.
[00:10:56] Julie Herres: 30 new clients on average. And that means you need at least 60 phone calls for that to be possible. And your conversion rate may be higher or lower depending on your specific situation, but you can do the math there and say, okay, if I need 60 calls per month for that to happen plus you need to probably account for all of the clients who are exiting your practice, right?
[00:11:17] Julie Herres: Depending on how. How long a client stays with you, that you're going to have a number there. So you can then look at what do I need to. Change when it comes to my advertising or marketing, what dials can I turn to make those things possible? So you can work your way through so that you can have a smart goal and then be certain if you accomplish it or not.
[00:11:40] Julie Herres: When you do this with your goals, the really great thing is that at the end of each month, you can look back at the numbers and see, did I reach it? Did I not? You have a yes or no answer, and then you can course correct. There's no need to beat yourself up if you didn't make it, but you can see, do I need to adjust my goal?
[00:11:59] Julie Herres: Are there things that I can do to catch up? What things are going to move us in the right direction? But also when decisions come to you or when opportunities come to you in your practice, you can go back to your goal and say, is this aligned with. What we want to achieve, or is it going to make our goals even harder to achieve and then make decisions based on that.
[00:12:24] Julie Herres: So maybe in that moment, if you have really aggressive growth goals in your practice, maybe you're not starting a whole separate business for coaching or courses, because that might take you away from your goal, even though it's something that is great. And you might want to do later down the line if it's not in your in line with your goal, you have a clear yes or no answer there as well.
[00:12:46] Julie Herres: I want to tell you about a brand new event that I am hosting in January. It is the Make 2024 Your Best Year Yet Workshop. It is a one time workshop. I have never hosted anything like this yet and I am so excited for this brand new content that we have coming out. It is a one time event. It's completely free and you get to work on your business alongside me for 90 minutes.
[00:13:11] Julie Herres: We get to think about your goals, talk through your financial goals, and then make a plan for you to accomplish those. Whatever your revenue goals are, we're going to find a way. To make that happen, where you're going to see, is this reasonable? Is this something I can do? Is it a little bit too aggressive?
[00:13:30] Julie Herres: What things need to be true for me to be able to achieve my goal of either a specific revenue or a specific take home pay in your practice? So we will go through the goal setting process. Then we will build your plan to make all of that happen. And you will leave the workshop with an actionable list of things that you need to do in order to make 2024 your best year yet.
[00:13:55] Julie Herres: If you'd like to find out more information about the workshop, you can go to greenoakeccounting. com slash workshop. We'll also post the link to the workshop. In the show notes, but I am just so pumped about this event because I have not done anything like it. I have not seen anything like it in the industry as well.
[00:14:16] Julie Herres: And I know that with clear actionable goals, you also can reach all of your financial dreams in your practice. So I'm excited for you to join me. I look forward to working on your goals together and for you to put together an action plan to make 2024 your best year yet. Take care, everyone.
[00:14:35] James Marland: Okay thank you, Julie. I did sign up for the webinar. I am looking forward to setting some financial goals and just some regular goals for 20. 2024. I wanted to go through the handout. You can get this handout in the show notes on the blog page. Or sign up for the newsletter. But It's called a, your journey log book. Like I take the. View that you're on a journey.
[00:15:11] James Marland: You're at a destination. You have a vision of where you want to go. This handout comes from several years of reading and work and trial and error. One of the. Seminole books. I think that has influenced me is Donald Miller's book here on a mission where it tells you, you are the hero of your story.
[00:15:31] James Marland: The hero takes action. There's a bystanders and villains and somebody to fight for and sorry to fight against and just like a system of doing things. Over and over again, to help you achieve your goals. Turning dreams to done with action is the subtitle and. I have the first three pages are just laying out your story.
[00:15:55] James Marland: What do you want to do? Or what do you want to be in 10 years, five years in one year, the questions are very similar, but it's aspirational. So you're writing down what you want to have happen, not what you think is going to happen. So you can dream with these things. This is all guided by like your, some of your life, vision, mission values.
[00:16:16] James Marland: This worksheet doesn't help you establish. Publish those, but if you already have them set up, where you want to go, this can help you achieve them. oNe of the things at the bottom is a. Two things that I really like is two things that I'm going to do daily. And two things that I'm going to stop doing, but I changed that two things I'm going to stop doing to. Two guardrails.
[00:16:38] James Marland: I'm going to put in my life. Because. There are things in our life that aren't necessarily wrong or bad, but if we do them, it gets us closer and closer to danger. Just like a guard rail keeps you from going off the edge of a cliff. It might damage you. It might prevent you from, it might restrict your freedom, but it is keeping you on track.
[00:16:59] James Marland: I really like the the view of guardrails. This is from a sermon Frye, Andy Stanley. I believe he's a preacher in Georgia, but I just really love that illustration of guardrails. You're putting yourself you're saying no to yourself and giving yourself limits and Yeah.
[00:17:18] James Marland: So that's a 10 year and then you have your five-year story and then your one-year story. The next is for people who want to do a business plan, it's your quarterly plan. So it has a hypothesis. If I did all these things, what is going to happen in my life for business, you have three objectives. I try not to have more than three fact.
[00:17:40] James Marland: I read this book. The one thing I think it's called the one thing where they just say, have one main objective for the year. And do that one thing and do it over and over again. Or not over and over again, but once you complete that one thing, it's going to make a lot of other things in your life better.
[00:17:55] James Marland: So that's the the quarterly plan has objectives and the key results is basically.
[00:18:02] James Marland: These things. Have to get done for the objective to be completed. So for example if I was, if my.
[00:18:12] James Marland: I'm going to use a household example of my example was to wash the laundry. A key result. Would be, I have to bring the laundry down. I have to put the laundry in. I have to load the machine and done for you might be dried and folded and put away. And then. I doing all those things mean I have finished the laundry.
[00:18:34] James Marland: So a key result is something that you have to have done. For the objective to be completed. tHen we move into monthly plan. Taking your quarterly goals and. What are the three objectives for the month? You have three key results for those things, or four key results, trying to keep it short for the monthly plan. And if you don't know how to break an objective into parts, I have a little sheet on breaking your objectives into key results and action steps. Then we have the daily planner.
[00:19:05] James Marland: This is something you're going to have to print out several times. Daily. You're going to print it out daily. On the daily planner, it talks about what are your key metrics? What is the key results, one or two results or the day? What are your appointments? What did you a little sentence journaling about what you did yesterday, what you're enjoying for today, and then. if You could do today differently.
[00:19:27] James Marland: So your pre-planning, if you could think about what you would have done differently, what would you do? And then you just do that. So if you're tempted to. Skip out on family time. And one of your key goals is like family time, but you. Constantly are working late.
[00:19:46] James Marland: You can say what I would do differently, what I would do differently is I would stop at five or four 30 and make sure I was home in time for dinner. And that way you're, pre-programming your brain to accomplish our goals. And of course this came from that hero on a mission book by Donald Miller. Just an amazing book about getting things done.
[00:20:06] James Marland: And then there's one more. There's an alternate monthly planner. If you didn't like the first one, I have two monthly planners. So that's it. That's what I do. There's one other thing that I do the the eulogy I wrote out a eulogy that, that comes from. Several books the seven habits of highly effective people. Mike McCollough has had a book that toilet paper entrepreneur, and he had some. aN exercise to that.
[00:20:31] James Marland: And I, and then the Donald Miller book here on a mission, ask you to write out, what's really important to you when all is said and done. What do you want people to say about you that you've done, then you use that as your vision and mission and values. So I would definitely check those out.
[00:20:47] James Marland: So this is a, this is what I've been using for the last couple of years. It's really helped me. It's kept me on track. I getting more done. Is it perfect. Not no. It's not perfect, but I think Any system, the perfect system is the system you use, If you're not using any system, then. This is probably a little better than what you're not using. And take it and use it in. I and use what you feel is good, but the big takeaway is set some goals for yourself, what are you going to try to accomplish in 2024?
[00:21:21] James Marland: If you want to share those with me, I'd love to. Be hear about what people are working on in 2024. It can help me maybe produce some content for that. And just thank you so much. So as I wrap up. This the year as I wrap up. This episode, thank you so much for being a listener. Thanks so much for your support, your likes, your shares, the reviews.
[00:21:44] James Marland: I got a couple of new reviews that I'm going to have to Read. iN the show. Thank you so much for that. And yeah, set some goals make 2020 for your best year yet. Make sure you sign up for Julie's learning event. And. I can't wait to see what is going to happen next. This is James violin for the scaling therapy practice.
[00:22:05] James Marland: We'll see you next time. Thank you so much for joining us on the scaling therapy practice. The suggestions and guidance disgusted. This show are for information and educational purposes only, and they're not intended as a substitute for consultation with a professional. If you need professional support, please seek one in the area that you need it. Like a lawyer accountant therapist. The show is not intended to replace those professionals in your life.
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