Latest / The Chiro Money Show / 025 | The One Role Every Practice Owner Can't Delegate w/ April Stroink
Transcript
- Chris: Welcome back to the Chiro Money Show, where we help chiropractors make better financial decisions so they can build stability and a lifestyle that they love. We're your hosts Chris Scheele and Scott Campbell of Align Wealth. Welcome back. Alright, April Stroink, welcome to the Chiro Money Show. We're excited to have you as a guest today. April Stroink: Thank you, Chris. Chris: Really curious, so obviously you and Scott go back, you got a bit of history. Fill us in on your ⁓ origin story of how you came to do ⁓ you do today. Scott: How we doing today? Chris: Doing good man, it's a sunny day, can't complain. ⁓ Scott: Yeah. Yeah, gorgeous. We need to get out for a run here right away. Yeah. The running. Yeah, that's right. It's time to get outside. It's time to get outside a lot more. We've been missing some of that for sure. Had a really great guest on on the show today had an awesome conversation with our guest, April Stroink. So April, she's a certified CFO, and advisor for small business owners. April Stroink: Okay, well, I've been in financial services since 1999, so 27 years now. And I was classically trained, if you will, as an advisor, getting people to retirement and building their safety net. And one of things that I found is we would put these beautiful plans together for people. And then, you you get a call six, seven months later of, oh, I'm going to have to reduce my PAC or I'm going to have to Chris: Yeah. We're gonna have some time for that. It's supposed to warm up. Yep. Yep. Scott: Based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, what makes April I think such a great fit for coming on the show is that she spent a lot of her career working specifically with health and wellness practitioners, much like a lot of her listeners I'm sure who are incredible at what they do in practice, but never really got the true roadmap for the financial side of running a practice. personally known April for five, six, seven years now. I first connected with her when I first started learning about Profit First and that system. April Stroink: stop my pack and why? Like we put this gorgeous plan together for you and it all made sense on paper. What's going on? ⁓ And realize, you know, we weren't trained ⁓ on behavioral side ⁓ or cashflow side ⁓ of, this makes sense on paper, but we're taking the human element out of it and people spend behaviorally, not rationally. And so what they told us they're spending or what they are have been money left over, what have you, is not the actual fact. Because we all have cognitive biases when it comes to our money. And so in 2017, really shifted my practice to studying behavioral finance. And at the time, my husband and I owned a retail business together and we had sold that and I can talk about that origin of my story as well. And came across this book called Profit First. And I was like, oh my goodness, like this. Scott: We've talked about that on previous shows for sure. We're gonna touch on it in today's conversation as well. yeah, such an awesome conversation with April. Chris: Yeah, it was really great. We, I know we were both looking forward to this one and yeah, we, we kind of didn't like really get into the nuts and bolts of profit first, but there's that underlying element and like all that we discussed is like systems and structure and profit first. I really liked ⁓ how April coined this term, the chief financial wellness officer and, how says that like, April Stroink: is Mike in my living room, does he know my story? And really started to put in practice in the retail business it started to work. ⁓ then, like I said, when we sold everything off and I went back into practice, I'm I want to do things differently. I want to work with business owners and I want to concentrate on the cashflow side of things versus the investment, retirement, insurance side of things. So totally switched my practice. Chris: every practice owner needs to be their own chief financial wellness officer for their, for their, their practice. Right. So we, she shared a bit more about that. And then also we had a really good conversation about kind of building your team and what you should be, how you should go about building your, financial wellness team as a practice owner. Yeah. Scott: Yeah. Let's dive into the episode. ⁓ Here's our conversation with April Chris: Here we go. ⁓ April Stroink: from commission-based to planning-based and working in this case, multidisciplinary clinics and really again building cashflow systems for them. So that's what I've been doing since 2017. Chris: Cool. Can you tell us a bit about the retail business? Like here you are as a financial advisor, you have that experience and education training and you're also running a retail business, but I'm guessing that quite go as smoothly or it wasn't going as smoothly. You didn't maybe have the systems ⁓ cashflow plan in place in that business. Can you share a bit about that? April Stroink: Yeah, so as you know, in our industry, there's this thing called OBAs. because ⁓ which are outside business activities, and because I was a 50 50 shareholder of the businesses, I had to be a silent partner for the first 13 years because I wasn't able to hold my license ⁓ be an active partner in the business because of the OBAs. as know, We are a very regulated industry, which I think is really important, which really drives me crazy when you see somebody get on TikTok or Instagram or something else that doesn't have the credentials that we have and isn't regulated like we are giving advice, financial advice that of course impacts people's money in their lives. for the first, that's another tangent, but like for those first 13 years, I was a silent partner. And then my husband came home one day. And he was kind of bitching and complaining about, you know, small business and Nova Scotia and regulations and everything else. And I said, either do something about it or we're not in this conversation anymore. Not thinking he put his name on the ballot, which he did. And so he ran for provincial politics and he was successful, which meant that he couldn't be part of the business anymore. So I had to take over the family business, which means I had to sell my practice. Scott: Hmm, interesting. April Stroink: So here I am, not really being fully versed in the business. I mean, I don't even like to shop and here I am running for retail locations and online business and a consultancy. I started to really peel back the layer and classically, we had put our trust in a bookkeeper who I'm just gonna say had grossly misrepresented her of running ⁓ a multi ⁓ And so when I started to really do a deep dive, I found out that we had decisions around growth for books that weren't accurate. ⁓ as I went in every day, peel back another layer, it became very apparent that we were in trouble. so immediately off some of the businesses, to shutter, pull a runner in the middle of the night and others. I'm not proud of that, but we had to do that. really started to look at the balance sheet and really work on the balance sheet, ⁓ up to the point that we were able to sell it. And so in 2017, we had off everything. You know, we, we, ⁓ we chased line revenue. So top line revenue. But what we didn't factor in, and which I think you'll see with the chiropractors that you work with and the multidisciplinary clinics that I work with, know, they think adding more associates, adding locations is going to solve their cashflow problems. And what it does is it just exasperates them. And that be our story too. Yeah, we moved from, you know, a million in sales to 2 million in sales, but our expenses tripled. And we were stretched because now we were having to manage multiple locations. In some case, one of those locations was 45 minutes away. And it was a house of cards and we didn't have the proper structure in place, we didn't have ⁓ we thought, I call your wealth care team. So we thought we had our wealth care team in place. And in the trusted bookkeeper. wasn't the case. I do have to say my accountant was excellent. They worked in an advisory role. You know, I say that they saved my life. Honestly, he had his suspicions in regards to the books and I sat down and had lunch with him and I listened to that. And, and then, yeah, we sold everything off. And like I said, I just, I remember going into we owned the building. I remember putting my hand on the building and saying, you know, when I get out of this, it's going to be my mission to ⁓ others not the same mistakes. And I was really attracted to Mike McCallewitz's mission of ending entrepreneurial poverty. ⁓ Because think so many entrepreneurs, you know, they get into ⁓ business all the right reasons. And then, but they, aren't business owners and they really aren't versed in the financial side of their business. And what happens is, you know, they start. Chris: you April Stroink: taking a second mortgage out on their home or depleting all of their retirement savings in hopes that they're going to get that return back from their practice or their business. And it's very rare that you do. Chris: Yeah, that's too common, right? Yeah. April Stroink: Mm hmm. Yeah. And that was the thing too. You know, when I started to speak to my peers and what have you, what I realized was there's a lot of businesses out there that were like ours at their bookkeeper. You know, is not a regulated profession in this country. ⁓ so basically you can take a QuickBooks course, call yourself a QuickBooks pro advisor and now hang out your shingle as a bookkeeper and not to diss the profession. However, I've seen a lot ⁓ A lot of businesses get themselves into trouble because they don't have the right people and the right systems in place when it comes to their finances. Scott: Touching on that topic of bookkeeping, we've seen a lot of that too. We've seen great bookkeeping and then we've seen bookkeeping that's just ⁓ not allowing the practice owner to understand where they're They don't understand their numbers. Even if they pulled out their profit and loss account and their statements, not understanding it because it's not correct doesn't do them any favors in terms of making... April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Scott: smart decisions about how to move forward with their business. I'd love to hear your kind of thought process on, I think you've talked a lot about how you need to be what you've coined chief wellness officer ⁓ of practice. Tell us more about that because I know a lot of that's tied to understanding your numbers and reviewing your financial statements. I'd love to go there with you and get your thoughts on that. April Stroink: Exactly. Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, I mean, as the business owner, the proverbial box stops with you. If CRA is going to audit you, ⁓ they're not coming after your bookkeeper. They're not coming after your accountant. It's you as the business owner. And I find a lot of practitioners because ⁓ don't see themselves as truly as business owners because they've had ⁓ education on that in during their school schooling. You know, they think that if they hire a bookkeeper or they hire a accountant that they can just wash their hands of it and that side of their business is done. And it's not until all of a sudden cashflow becomes a problem or their taxes are due and the money is not there and they start to pay attention and they don't even know really where to turn. So I have a course called Wealthcare 101 where I teach practitioners the basics of business finance, but to let them know that they can't advocate this to anybody else. They have to have their pulse on it, they should really just go work for somebody else, honestly, if they don't want to look at that side of their business. So, know, the Chief Financial Wellness Officer, it really comes again from the play that I work with healthcare professionals, but it's the same as your health, right? We have to advocate for our health. If we don't advocate for our health, who's going to? And so we also have to advocate for our wealth. And, you know, institutions out there that profit from our ignorance when it comes to our health. And the same is true for our wealth as well. And, you know, if you are a Chiro or you are a naturopathic doctor or an RMT or a physio, you know, or a medical doctor, the banks are willing to give you a lot of money. but they don't give you the education to go with it. And all of a sudden, you know, there's a lot of harm that comes with that. So, but it's up to you. Like, you know, I don't blame my bookkeeper for what happened. I'm disappointed and deeply hurt, but we weren't paying attention. And we gave the keys to the kingdom basically over to this person. And so shame on us. And so again, it's like, our health. can't just, you know, take that magic pill or what have you. have to exercise. We have to eat healthy. We have to have people on our well, on our health team. It's the same with our wealth as well. So, you know, you as a business owner, you can't pass this on to anybody else. It's you. Chris: you make such a great point. the, like what said that, you know, if you, if you aren't willing to put the energy and effort in to understand your numbers, then you should probably just go work for somebody else. And there's nothing wrong with that explicitly. You can be a great associate at a different practice on a different clinic. Like there's lots of options out there. And yeah, like you said, also as well, April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Chris: I would say everybody we've come across is in business, in practice for the right reason. They love what they do. They love helping people restore their health and live a healthy, active lifestyle. That's the great part about it. The unfortunate part is they haven't had the training and running the business and they might not even have the desire to be the business owner. They just want to help people be healthy. April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Scott: Yeah, and they've been told that create more wealth. It's better in the long run if they just run the business themselves versus maybe starting out as an associate or being a career associate for that matter. ⁓ Chris: Yeah, which is not always true, right? April Stroink: Mm hmm. You know, no, and then, know, you do the math and you realize the owner is still practicing. And in addition to practicing, they're also running the clinic, they're not getting paid to run the clinic. And a lot of times they're, their fees are going into running the clinic, and they're worse off than what they were before. And so ⁓ don't think there's Yeah, same thing as being a career associate, I You know, and it's hard, right? Because to charge for health is hard. I'm not denying that, you know. ⁓ However, know, financial well-being is one of the four pillars to good overall health. And so doctors telling others, you know, exercise, take care of your mental health, take care of your spiritual health. But a lot of times what we know to be true is that if you're financially unhealthy, it manifests itself in your body. It manifests itself in stress. And so, you know, their patients could be coming to see them because the underlying issue is actually money related. And then you have a doctor who's stressed about money, who's trying to help a patient. And so it's just this, you know, it's this continuous. roundabout and what we need to do is what I always say is sunlight's the best disinfectant. So let's bring it all out into the open. Let's see how much you owe. Let's see what your margins are. You know, I just recently did that with a multidisciplinary practice and what we found was their AR was, you know, they had aged AR of almost six months and they had already paid the doctors on their associate doctors on money they hadn't yet collected. I'm like, this is, you know, this is why. But again, it's like, you know, if you don't have the financial statements from your bookkeeper, what I call they're the labs, right? Just like you would run blood work or just like you would do diagnostics so that you can understand what's going on. That's what your labs are. But if you that's what your financial statements are for you, the health of your business. But if you can't you can't rely on that information because you don't think it is correct. Good luck trying to pinpoint where the problem is and then developing a treatment plan in regards to that. So it all comes down to again, who's on your team, the accuracy of the data. Thank goodness a lot of clinics run an EMR and I really like Jane and you can get that really great reporting off of Jane as well. yeah, they've Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: It is essential. just think it's kind of, you know, ironic that you're in a healthcare profession, but you're ignoring one of the pillars, which is your financial wellbeing. Chris: Yeah. You mentioned team. Tell us from your perspective, how should a practitioner go about building their financial wellness team and what should they be looking for when they're doing that? April Stroink: Well, your first hire to your team is going to be a bookkeeper and are essential member of your team because they the bookkeeper records the day to day transactions that are happening inside of the clinic. And so they're, you know, they're the one that has the raw data that needs to be input. So you've got to be really conscious of who you're interviewing and or hiring. And so I have interviewed questions for doctors that they can use when hiring a bookkeeper. You also have to understand you get what you pay for, right? It's one of those classic things where, I'm going to skip out on my bookkeeper and I'm like, do not do that. Like they're an essential part of your team and actually they'll save you money for your accountant if your bookkeeping is done really clean. So your first hire is going to be your bookkeeper and you should really vet them. And one of the things that I would say is a litmus test is, you know, asking them questions like, are you going to help me build out my chart of accounts? Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: Are you going to reconcile my accounts on a monthly basis? You know, how much interaction are we going to have? And oftentimes what I see is the bookkeeper, the tail's wagging the dog that comes to the doctor and says, yeah, I'm going to, I am going to do a stand, like not going to ask you about what it is that you want to see in your practice, but I'm going to build out the chart of accounts. Or I only reconcile every three months, every quarter, or I use, you know, waves or some other program that we know is not going to be helpful for a doctor. So the doctor really has to know what it is that they want to be measuring. ⁓ And then and then and only then seek out the bookkeeper that can do those duties for them. And again, you can't skimp out like you should be looking at someone who's ⁓ dollars an hour for bookkeeping, thirty five to fifty dollars an hour for a public bookkeeper. ⁓ think that's really important. Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: Your second hire is going to be the CPA or maybe an injunction with, especially if they're an IPC. And so that CPA or the accountant, they're the ones that take the data from the bookkeeper and then turn that into reports that the doctor then can use and have those conversations with. So many times I see a doctor get into a relationship with an accountant that's purely transactional. They only see them at tax time. Scott: Mm-hmm. Yep. April Stroink: And the whole purpose is to save as much tax as they possibly can, which is at the detriment to the doctor, especially if they're looking to grow and expand their practice. Because now you've just written off everything you can to make your taxes as low as possible. You take that to the bank and the bank's like, you're not making any money. You're not bankable. We're not going to fund your growth and your expansion. So you have to have that advisory relationship with ⁓ your accountant. And I always say, Use an accountant that knows chiropractic businesses. Use an accountant that knows naturopathic medicine. Use somebody that is working in that niche because you don't have to explain the business to them. They have five other clients that has a similar business and they can come to you and work with you in that advisory capacity. Also, when your wealth care team needs to be a lawyer, not that you need to have somebody on retention, but you know, there's a lot of contracts in medicine and so, and there's a lot of structure. Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: And so having somebody that you know, like a trust, your banker, I just got off the call with a banker that I'm going to work with on referral basis because you know, doctor needs a good banker. And then of course, you as financial advisors or me as you know, money coach or fractional CFO is somebody that can bring all these pieces together. But at the ⁓ of the hierarchy is the doctor or the business owner. They are the chief financial wellness officer. Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: and they are the ones that are directing everybody on the wealth care team. And just like in medicine, if your team is working together, you will be healthier. So your team should all be interconnected or what I call that our retail business, you know, my board, my board of advisors, these are the people that I came to and I had them all sit at the table together so that they're working in my best interest to move the practice forward. Chris: ⁓ Can you a bit more about accountants and advisory work versus ⁓ tax filing April Stroink: Well, if accountants like to do advisory roles, I wouldn't have a job because what I find is that they are transactional. It just seems to be the nature of the profession for whatever reason. I mean, they're leaving a lot of money and relationships on the table. But what we see is a lot of times that they only see them at tax time and that's the only time that you have. I think as well, like a lot of doctors are Scott: Hahaha April Stroink: hesitant to talk to their accountant because they feel every time I pick up the phone to call my accountant, it costs me money. So therefore I'm not going to do that. But a good accounting firm is going to have somebody that's on a junior level as well that can field those questions for you. Or maybe you're on a retainer package or so that you don't feel that hesitancy to contact your accountant. But working with accountant that wants to work in advisory capacity with the doctor in the clinic is so very important. I myself personally, I don't love having my bookkeeper working with my as an employee of my accountant. I have the two completely separate because I want to have that unbiased reset of eyes on my books. So I look at my books, my bookkeeper looks at my books, my accountant looks at my books all independently of each other. That's my personal preference. But You know, as a fractional CFO, I really work as the liaison between the business owner and the accountant and the bookkeeper. And, know, I need to be on the same page as the accountant as far as structure of the business is concerned, because our client is the doctor and their financial well-being is what we're looking for. So you really do want to seek out an accountant who's going to be more in that advisory versus transactional role. Chris: We've noticed the same thing. There's not a lot of advisory work being done from CPAs we've noticed with our clients and that's where people like you or us come in and often fill that need for some advisory and collaboration and kind of spearhead starting those conversations with the CPAs that they have not had yet. ⁓ April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Mm-hmm. Scott: That's probably, you've probably seen this too, April, with healthcare professionals. Oftentimes, like what they're best at doing is being a practitioner and doing that work. But if they can put that true hat on of, I'm the chief financial wellness officer of my business. I need the right people. I need the right team that I can then trust and not only trust, but collaborate with and be advised and have that advisory collaborative relationship. That's where you're going to see the results. April Stroink: Right. Scott: that's where you're going to see your financial well-being improve. And ideally like stress levels come down so that when you're, you know, for a chiropractor, when they're at the table with their patient, they're thinking about the patient, not like the dollars in the back of the head. Like, am I going to, you know, what's overhead going to be this month? Do I have enough volume this week? Like that kind of removes that from their, there's their, their thinking and their space so they can focus on what they do best. April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And again, like when people come through my Wealthcare 101 course, I the goal of this is not to turn you into being your own bookkeeper. The goal of this is not for you to be your accountant. But the goal of this is to have that foundation so that you know the questions to ask ⁓ that you're curious in asking those questions. ⁓ so much shame for business owners to think I should know this stuff and so I'm not going to ask the question because I don't want to look foolish. But you you can't have a CPA come into a chiropractor clinic and do the work of a doctor. Why would the doctor ever think that they should know, you know, the ins and outs of accounting or bookkeeping in their field? So yeah, they should hire out for these. But again, they need to be having that basic so that they can at least ask those curious questions that they need answered. And on the flip side of things, their accountant or the bookkeeper should be able to explain things in, you know, playing everyday language to the doctor so that the doctor understands. I always find that's a litmus test too. If somebody can't explain it to you in like grade four language so that you can understand, it's not the person that you want on your team. Chris: sure. Scott: We see that all the time, April, especially with accountants. I'm not trying to disparage accountants. A lot of do fantastic work, but oftentimes, for myself, I feel like I'm well-versed ⁓ my background in finance, even going to see my own accountant sometimes. It's like, you're not making this simple enough. ⁓ April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Scott: bring this down a notch to allow me to understand. When I think about a healthcare professional, it's probably even more so like, need this broken down so I understand it clearly. if someone's gonna go through my profit and loss statement or my balance sheet, tell me so I can understand and actually then take that information and go apply it. April Stroink: I mean, I had been in finance for 14 years when my bookkeeper totally, the books were a mess, right? And so I can't even imagine if somebody who hadn't been in finance trying to unravel that would be what it would be like. Chris: Yeah, for sure. think, I mean, you've kind of alluded to this, but when I think of hiring the right. team members, your accountant or your bookkeeper. It's like, do they, and your financial planner or coach or what have you, do they have the heart of a teacher? are they willing to answer all those questions? Do they, ⁓ do they provide an open space where, where those questions are welcomed and accepted and there's no dumb question that you could ever ask. that's what you really want, not the people that are just going to breeze over your questions and not validate you and give you that April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. Chris: time and space that you deserve. April Stroink: find in my tenure on this earth as well, if someone can't explain it to me, means usually they don't understand it themselves. ⁓ which again is for me a red flag. Chris: Hm. Scott: I'd love to go back to a comment that you made earlier that you've seen firsthand around chasing top line revenue then stepping and really thinking more about the systems that you need to implement that again work with your natural human behaviors around managing money on a month-to-month basis. Can you speak more to that ⁓ and you do for your clients and your background with ProfitFirst and now into the CFO project. April Stroink: Well, I think, you know, it's like they talk in profit first when Mike talks about axioms, right? So axioms are beliefs that prior generations believed to be true. So future and present generations believe that as well. And one of those in the world is sales minus expenses equals profit. And so it's all about sales, sales, sales. You know, if I just see 20 more clients, all patients, ⁓ all my my financial problems will be gone. And then all of a sudden, you know, they increase from 20 hours to 40 hours. I don't know any doctor that does that, but let's say they do. And all of a sudden they see I'm burning out and it's not yielding me anything more. And so a of times what I find is, you know, there's three reasons why you have, that's why I really get my doctors to look at their gross profit and their gross profit margins because you you've got to have enough gross profit in order to run your operations. And what happens is they take the top line revenue and put it all into operations and then, ⁓ whoops, I got to go back and pay the associate doctor. So it's not about increasing that revenue. It's about increasing the, the, the margins. And so usually comes down to three things. Number one, the price is not correct. And I'll get to that in a second. Number two, their, you know, their associates, maybe they're paying them too high of a split. Or number three, they just don't have a viable practice or they don't have a viable product or service. And no matter how much money you pour into that bucket, you've got a hole at the bottom that as soon as you pour more into it, it's going right out the bottom. And what happens is the business owner then just becomes burnt out. And that's when things really start to unravel. So we need to take a look at What is it that you're selling? What is the product? What is the service? What is your price strategy? So many times I hear the doctor say, well, I'm going to base that on what the chiropractor is doing down the street. Well, you have no sweet clue what that practice is like. It could be bleeding money and all that you're doing is just doing the same. Or, you know, I've had doctors say, well, I can't change my splits with my associates because they'll just leave and they'll go down the street. Let them go. Because every time they make a sale, you're losing money. ⁓ Or you're bringing in a product or service, maybe they also have an in-house dispensary or they're running an IV suite, and they don't run the math on it. And it's actually not a viable product, but they can't see that because it's all lumped into one revenue line and something else could be masking it. So it's not about Scott: you April Stroink: Don't get me wrong, you need sales. It's the oxygen of the business. We all need sales and cash coming in. But up from that, we need profit. And so if you're not profit into everything that you sell, you're going to eventually run into a cashflow problem. So we need to flip that switch of what ⁓ profitability. And it's very hard in healthcare as well for ⁓ to wrap their head around that it has to be it's a business that has to make money. you know, if not here as a non for profit, so that other doctors can come and leave and have a good time and then leave at the end of the day, and the business owners stuck with everything, like, it has to be profitable. And so then they start to look at, okay, well, maybe I'll run courses, or maybe I'll do group programming, or maybe I'll do this, and maybe I'll do that. Chris: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: they also don't take a look at, again, is this going to be profitable? Is that what you need to be doing? Because all I find is that you're adding more hours in. So really taking a look at gross profit first. And then ⁓ I benchmarks of what those percentages should be. And then from there, taking a look at the next driver, which is around profitability of what are your operating expenses. And, there is such a draw for health professionals to have beautiful offices that, you know, look pretty and, you know, yeah, but my patient comes in and they're super relaxed or, you know, we have this or we went out and bought the best table or what have you. And like, you can't afford that. Like I don't buy into the adage of fake it before you make it. I've rarely seen that work. And so again, like if you you flip the switch, you make do with what you have with your expenses. So then you can become more profitable. And, know, it's profit. Profit first is not profit before people. It's not profit before planet. It's not about being greedy. What I say to my doctors is that if you are not profitable, you're not going to be in business. And if you're not in business, you're not going to be able to serve your community. You're not going to able to serve your patients. And if not you, then who? Chris: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: So it's really about kicking this, you know, just changing that narrative of top line sales, top line sales, top line sales, another sale, another patient will solve all my cashflow problems. It just, like you said, kicks it down the road. It'll eventually be a problem that they can't ignore. It's kind of like in health, right? Like right now, I'm sitting with this probably a hairline fracture on my foot, but I want to go snowboarding. So therefore I'm not going to go see the doctor and I'm going to keep playing pickleball and I'm going to keep complaining about it. Chris: Mm-hmm. Scott: Mm-hmm. Chris: . April Stroink: When really, if I just went and got the foot fixed and got off of it for a few weeks, to do these things in the future. But, you know, our own enemies of that as well. Like stop, evaluate. let's extract this and start to take a look at where are we bleeding and we need to stop it. Scott: ⁓ April Stroink: and also like what I say is, know, there's the under ⁓ this, symptoms are for the underlying problems. Like with a practice that we were just working with, what we found out was, ⁓ they're having a cashflow problem. took a look and they weren't charging no shows, but paying with the doctors. So, you know, ⁓ and us, we could be like, that's pretty simple, but it wasn't because they weren't taking the time to, or they didn't even know how to extract those numbers to take a look. Scott: ⁓ Yeah. Chris: Simple. April Stroink: And then when we were able to show in Jane how you can find this out and they're like, oh my Lord, we've been not, we've not been getting credit cards. And you can do that rate in Jane with a first patient. So the first patient doesn't get a credit card in. So now we can go back and say, that's an SOP for the front desk of any time a new patient doesn't matter if they're calling from the car, call back with your credit card and then we'll get you in. Right. That's the SOP. And then no doctor gets paid if somebody doesn't show up. Chris: Thank you. April Stroink: But which again, we can all sit here and go simple, but if you're not taking the time or you don't have that data to support it, ⁓ it's not as simple. Scott: Yeah. Chris: You Yeah. I wanted to ask a bit of a practical question on maybe like multidisciplinary practices or practices that have multiple service offerings or products in their, in their practice. Do you recommend that they in their bookkeeping structure that in a way that it's separated? it's not all flowing into top line revenue and then just distributed from there? how would you go about looking at that from a high level? April Stroink: Absolutely. I listened to a podcast a while ago, and it was Bill Gates, and I know that we're not supposed to, we're supposed to be canceling him right now. But ⁓ he had said, the interview asked him, you know, it seems like you have the Midas touch. Everything that you do is just profitable. You know, how do you do it in your philanthropy, your, you know, at Microsoft, what have you, everything you do. And he said, it's very simple. I boil it down to cost per unit. Chris: Bye. Scott: You April Stroink: And if the cost per unit, if I can't make margin off of it, I don't do it. So yes, I have that philosophy of everything that you're selling in the clinic needs to have its own chart of account. And that chart of account on the sales side also has to have the corresponding cost of goods chart of account so that we can take a look at the margin of each of these to see which are. the margin builders and which are the margin detractors. And then from there as well, we can also see what are the loss leaders, right? So if you're a naturopathic clinic and you're running labs, you have to run labs in order to see what's happening so you can build out a treatment plan. But your regulatory body doesn't allow you to profit on labs. So, you know, you have a margin neutral product, But we know that it's supporting, you know, $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 in naturopathic services because you have that lab running. But what I often see as well is like if someone has an in-host dispensary and they've got six doctors and they're in-host dispensary and this actually happened, I'm like, this is making zero sense. You've got six doctors, you've had X amount of first time visits and your dispensary is like two or $300 a month. Your doctors are not using your dispensary. They're selling somewhere else. And sure enough, we found that they each had their own full script and the owner was wild about that, right? As she should be. And so if you don't have the data, like I was saying about the no-shows not being charged and the doctor being paid, you don't have the data broken down, Chris. Like there's zero way that you can measure what is actually possible inside of the clinic. Scott: I would love to talk about margin of safety with you, April. I think you're really big on building margin of safeties in the systems and the way you think about someone's cash flow, reserves and not only that, but probably insurance and breathing room just to make sure that you're not running so tight. How do you think about margin of safety when it comes to working with clients? April Stroink: Margin of safety seems to be my mantra for 2026. and I think of what everything that's going on in the world right now, it should be everybody's mantra for 2026. Margin of safety changes ⁓ ⁓ from being a problem to being a panic in his absence. So You know, I started my career in 1999 and somewhere along the way. So it was this whole, don't need an emergency fund, just use your line of credit. That's what a line of credit is for. That is not what a line of credit is for. And yes, you know, money has been cheap. And so instead of saving what people were doing, we're relying on cheap money. And we saw that come to roost in 2022, 2023, when interest rates went through the roof and people couldn't you know, afford it. So a margin of safety is very base level. And of course, margin of safety, as you know, is a personal investment term, but I think it also can carry over to a business is, know, inside of your practice, you need to have that cushion. And I also recommend for all of my doctors to get a line of credit as well. But having that cushion, because let's face it, they're in an industry that if they're not seeing a patient, they're not getting paid. So what happens when your kid's sick and you have to take time off? Or what happens when you're sick and you have to take time off? Or Christmas or spouse gets sick or what have you. Like these things happen. Bumps in the road happen in life. We can't avoid them. But a margin of safety makes it smoother. So ⁓ what I love about the Profit First system is because when you put money into the profit account, half of it is for a margin of safety for the business. The other half, of course, comes to paying the doctor for taking the risk of owning ⁓ practice. But building up that margin of safety is really important. three to six months of practice expenses, if you can have that, great. I mean, that takes time. But the cheapest way that we know to do this is, most inexpensive way that we know how to do this, build its margin of safety is through insurance. And so many times a doctor looks at insurance as a liability when really insurance should be looked at for an asset. Because something happens, Scott: Yeah. April Stroink: That's when the insurance policy steps in. That's obviously the nature of insurance. But so many times, you know, I've seen things that have happened that, my gosh, if you had insurance, this wouldn't be a panic situation. This would be a problem. And, you know, this happened in this happened in my life of last year at the end of 2024. The wastewater pipe broke in our house. And eight days before Christmas, we had wastewater coming in because they're building a hospital across the street from us and they broke our pipe when they dug up the street. But, there was nothing more comforting than calling my broker and saying, this is happening. He said, April, you have the best water coverage that you can possibly have. We got you. There was like that was just such a good feeling. Now my coverage was $50,000 and it was a $73,000 bill. So I had to come up with $23,000. I have an emergency fund to do that. That's the margin of safety. Then flash forward to February, 2025, my husband was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and we have critical illness policy and the critical illness policy paid out, which gave us a second opinion. have an endocrinologist privately now in Toronto that works with his team here in Halifax. Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: We've been able to get second opinion and on top of that, let me step away from my practice to be with him. He's also self employed, allowed him to step away from his practice for us to be together. We've gone to Brazil, we've moved down to the country, all kinds of things because of that margin of safety. And so You know, I had a doctor today in my Wealth Care 101 class say, you know, I'm 30 years old, I'm not married yet, I'm just starting out my practice, why would I ever need insurance? And I'm like, because life is going to happen. is going to happen to you. And you're never as young as you are at 30 and you're never as healthy as you are. we have to build these margins of safety, especially as business owners, because guess what? Nobody's coming to save us. You know, when COVID happened, it was the first time I felt like I was collectively in this place together and the government did step up for his business owners, for us as business owners. We can debate that, but Scott: Mm-hmm. April Stroink: didn't have that in other times of dips inside of my business. Like ⁓ need to provide yourself with that margin of safety before you buy a new system your business or a new chiropractic table or whatever it is. Like you've to think about margins of safety because there will be bumps in the road. And hey, I get it when you get out of school and been in school forever and they have student debt. Scott: Yeah. you April Stroink: high student debt, like there's that knee-jerk reaction to reward yourself. I totally get that and I've been there but like it comes back to you know the wealthy barber of paying yourself first and having that margin of safety in place and then with what's left over have a good time. Chris: sure. Yeah I'd love to talk to that 30 year old doctor about his earning potential over the course of his career. Her, pardon me, she might be able to earn five to ten million dollars over the course of the next 30 years of her career. If you owned a five million dollar house would you not pay to insure it? Of course you would. April Stroink: Sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Chris: And so that's a big risk when you're not ensuring your future potential earnings with a professional level ⁓ contract. April Stroink: Mm hmm. Yep. Absolutely. But you also got to remember where you're at 24 and 30 as well. Like it's that hole of foreseeing into the future. And I guess now where I'm on the other end of it, where, you know, I'm using that margin of safety, just trying to, you know, preach to that is the margin, having a margin of safety is so, so very important, especially for small business owners. Scott: Mm-hmm. Chris: Yeah, cool. Well, a couple last questions before we wrap up. Obviously you work with different healthcare professionals, some of them chiropractors. If we have a, you know, four of our chiropractors that are listening now, you know, and then maybe they've been putting off looking into their numbers or avoiding some of this hard stuff. What is the one thing you would want them to take action with or advise them to start with? Maybe the sunshine. April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's right. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Just get your out of the ground. I truly believe ⁓ is open up a savings account, label it, margin of safety, and start putting 1 % of your revenue into that account. Do it for three months. And if you have to pull it out, you know you have a cash flow problem happening inside of your business. And it's really great litmus test. Just open that account and start funneling 1 % in there. Chris: great. Scott: Such a great habit to build off of. And I'm with you April, I think the mantra of margin of safety is a pretty good one to bring into the year of 2026. With everything going on in the world, for sure. Not with insurance, with cashflow, with buffers, with the right systems, with the right team. They're all connected. Yeah. April Stroink: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Chris: Cool. Okay, last question for you is where is the best place for people to find you and learn more about your work and what you do? April Stroink: Well, I mean, I'm in all of the regular places, although I'm finding getting less and less on social media for my own mental health. So over on LinkedIn is where I'm most active as far as social is concerned. And it's actually just my name, April Stroink. you can also find me on the World Wide Web with our business is the Money Fix Institute. Or also you can look at my website over on April Stroink as well. And as I said, we offer one-on-one services, we also, we have Wealthcare 101 that was designed for health and wellness professionals, which then moves into profit and practice, which is again, once you have that foundation of then really analyzing those numbers. So yeah, happy to talk to whomever. Scott: Wonderful. Well, we really appreciate you being here. This is a great conversation. I think it's been really valuable and interesting for us, I'm sure for our listeners as well. April Stroink: Awesome. Well, again, thanks for having me. Scott: Thanks April, thanks for being