Latest / ABA Business Leaders / The Cost of Saving Money in Your ABA Business

Transcript

The Cost of Saving Money in Your ABA Business · ABA Business Leaders

• speaker-0: There is a cost to not spending money. speaker-1: There were there was technology there available, but we had decided to not pay for that yet. Digging through filing cabinets and photocopying, you know, data and session notes and compiling everything. We had very important V C BAs doing like clerical kind of menial work. speaker-0: I know that a lot of yours in this very particular bit right why can't people just do what I told them to do? Welcome to ABA Business Leaders, brought to you by 3Pie Squares, where we discuss topics on how to create and grow an ethical and sustainable ABA practice. speaker-1: Whether you're starting, scaling, or thinking about selling your business, we're here to share insights, stories, and strategies to help you on the journey. speaker-0: We owned a successful ABA practice for over ten years. speaker-1: And now we help other ABA business owners do the same without all the chaos. speaker-0: Stick around, you're in the right place. speaker-1: Welcome to AVA Business Leaders Podcast brought to you by 3Pi Squared. I'm April. And today we're gonna talk about speaker-0: I'm Steven. The cost of saving money. speaker-1: The cost of saving money. I love it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys ready? You ready to go? This is ⁓ this is a big one. Steven has been kind of contemplating and thinking through tinkering. Tinkering. Because this is this is something that you like you you pride yourself in your you call it, you call yourself cheap. But We we yes we try to make dress it up and make it sound a little better, right? You're frugal, you're you're you're you're safe with your money, you're cautious with your money, you work hard for your money and you don't want to s spend more than you have to spend. And you wanna try to do things as with spending as minimal amount as possible so that you do have that money to do other things too. speaker-0: As cheaply as possible. speaker-1: So some of you guys may relate to to that mindset of money. and even if in your everyday life you never related to that, now you found your found yourself in the position where you're starting a company or you're growing a company and you're like, Wow, yeah, you're right. Yep, that's my mindset now too. Right. So yeah. So speaker-0: I mean, if we want to go into a therapy session, I assume this comes from childhood, right? Like we look I I I'm not gonna get into much of it, but like we were dirt poor, right? Like ⁓ yeah, so we were ⁓ welfare, ⁓ like, you know, living in welfare housing. My mom didn't work, my dad was sick, so I assume that it comes from that scarcity, right? And so now I built up this little I don't know, this pile of of twigs and I don't want to give ⁓ away. You know? ⁓ yeah, I gotta squirrel it away. Yeah, yeah. Can't I can't lose any of ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. To the to my detriment, right? speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, your squirrel. Right. speaker-0: I need more. Yeah. Yeah. So again, we could get into the to the weeds on on my issues. But yeah. So like that that is something. But it like again, you know, it's it's kind of like that if I don't do it, no one will do it, right? Or it won't be done as well as if I do it. There is some underlying truth to that. And you can use that to like say, then I have to do everything myself, right? That's not healthy, right? Same with this, right? Like I have to spend my money wisely and efficiently so that my company can stay financially viable. That there is truth to that, but it can also be to your detriment, right? Like therefore I always have to, you know, find the cheapest product or do it myself or, you know, find a workaround. speaker-1: Right, because a lot of t let's be real, right? Sometimes, especially in those starting up phases, we really do have to do the best we can with making the penny go as far as it possibly can. And a lot of times that means we're doing it. Yes. Just like, you know, because we we we a lot of times we're not coming into this be with the funds to delegate off the bat. Now I do believe that this is part of the business process. planning, you do need to have a plan for how you are going to these monies to pay for these things. As I say often, things like training that aren't billable. There's a whole slew of things with an ABA company that aren't billable. And we all I think we all know at this point that the the billables are are like that money's not just free flowing in e even after you've done the work, right? So There is a point of sometimes you do have to start out with doing the best that you can with what you've got. But I think the it's important to be intentional to not stay stuck in that that place, right? ⁓ because sometimes you might save five dollars a month, but to what expense, right? Like how many hours of your time you're like, ⁓ well, this thing is almost perfect. This this service or this product or whatever is almost what I need, but or this one's really great. But if I got this one that's almost great, that's like five dollars less a month, and then there's these missing pieces that I'll just do myself. Really seriously, how many hours is it gonna take of your time to do those things? speaker-0: And maybe it's not five dollars, maybe it's five hundred dollars. But there there's like sure, sure. Like but but you know, like there there is that like w the cost benefit analysis, right? So like how when does something when when does it make it worth it? I I think that for a lot of business owners they don't take into consideration their own time and sanity. ⁓ and and stress level into the equation when they're looking at the cost benefit analysis. And again, the like an example of this was like again, super cheap, Steven, ⁓ like when we were first started, like I was looking for free services because, you know, free is great. ⁓ it's better. ⁓ that that was how I looked at this. And so we had you know, very cheap email, HIPAA compliant email. We had a ⁓ different system for messaging ⁓ free OMD is fine. then we had a different system for our backup storage, you know, and we were doing, you know, session notes in paper or Excel, right? And so like all of these systems were ⁓ calendar was something else because it was free. Right. So everything was its own little system. I piecemealed it together to kind of make it work, but it never really worked. And the amount of time that like our admin team, myself, you, our and our staff spent making this work was way more expensive than than not, right? And like we probably had seven, eight different systems. At some point and like I I like the thing for me is somebody quit. That was like the final strawberry and then I couldn't remember where do I like how how do I get the to remove the access, right? Like which apps I can't even remember which apps to to remove and but and it like it was just ⁓ is too much. So ⁓ then we finally made a switch to Microsoft and like it was just So easy, right? And all of that headache and admin burden was just gone. It was just poof. And so yeah, like I managed to put this thing together for maybe seven dollars, eight dollars a user, right? Versus Microsoft, whereas I don't know, it's twenty, twenty-five, some somewhere around there. So yeah, I saved like ⁓ I don't know, twenty bucks, twenty-ish, eighteen dollars per person, right? ⁓ but like A month you times that by fifty, right? So so you know, ⁓ and then but how many hours of lost time just and even if like let's say we we managed to get a couple more billables, great. ⁓ but just the amount of time that it took to ⁓ and and and frustration that that we lost for this to save a few dollars. It just wasn't worth it. It just it just wasn't worth it. So like that is a great exa i in my opinion, a great example of how I would do things. You know, and then even with Three Pi Squared, right, with this podcast. ⁓ I tried to do it for free for years and it was like I don't know how many podcasts that we try to record that like poofed and vanished and they they were just they didn't record because the software bro broke, like it it just quit in the middle of it and we couldn't save the recording, right? And then we went to Riverside and like it's just been so smooth and easy, right? ⁓ and so those are those are my examples. speaker-1: Yeah, and I I think it's important here too not to get caught up into like the actual systems like like Microsoft or Google or Right. It doesn't like it doesn't matter here. It's like finding the the part that works for you that has all of the pieces that yes, you are gonna have to invest a little bit more money into it. ⁓ but speaker-0: Yeah. So and you know, some s some simple systems may work for you and that's fine, but like the odd the it's you know, very similar to a practice management software, right? Like i if we can find something that does everything that we need it to do and it's a little bit more expensive, it's probably going to save you in the end, right? Especially if you're going, you know, if it's Excel right now. Like that that is not like you are not saving money. You are just going to have a higher ⁓ recoupment. That that's that's all this is so like with a practice management software, you're gonna have all of your session notes. They're not gonna be able to submit a claim without a session note being completed, right? For most practice man I hope the practice manager doesn't allow for that, right? So all of those basic things need to be in there. Many of them now have AI session note reviewers so that they can ⁓ make sure that the the session narrative is meets the requirements of of funders and you know having those things in place are going to prevent these recruitment audits. And you know, we've had customers that five hundred thousand dollar recruitment audit, right? And and ⁓ not to say that it's going to prevent the accusation, but you'll have the evidence where you can defend yourself and you know provide provide the information that is needed to fight this so you don't have to pay that. Right. speaker-1: And not only that though, like I'm looking back, I mean this is I'm I'm I'm remembering way back, right? from the beginning when we did do paper, ⁓ pen ⁓ data and timesheets and and I'm looking way back to some of our very first ⁓ recruitment audits and we still were able to find the evidence to back up that we did provide the services that we said we did. and use that opportunity to realize how we need to make our systems better and our notes better. However, the not hours, not days, the weeks of multiple employees. Like we like we had BCBAs that were with like multiple B C BAs for days over weeks of time. that we were going through the paper filing cabinets. And maybe this part of this is just the fact that if that's just a time frame it was. Like w this was like right at the cusp of everything going more to more technology and things. However, there were there was technology there available, but we had decided to not pay for that yet, right? or try to make our own systems, like you said. But that that were digging through filing cabinets and photocopying know, data and session notes and compiling everything. ⁓ now I'm sure that if I if, you know, a company today that gets a recruitment audit who has a practice management software, there's still some time involved. Of course. And you have to go through and you check and it's a is an annoyance. But probably ours with less with with less staff across the board. So like we like we lost so many billables we didn't pay out in the recruitment 'cause we were able to to to provide what we needed. But so much time, so much billables. We had very important B C B A's doing like very like clerical kind of menial work because they were the ones who like they knew their stuff, right? So anyways, so e even even that just looking at like the stress and the manpower that speaker-0: Justify them, yeah. speaker-1: And we didn't have we were real we were learning then that we didn't have systems in place to be able to know how to a you know, access things as quickly as we needed to and and and so all of that, right? ⁓ but it does it does take it I mean it it costs money. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And so like now, you know, people a lot more people have practice management than not, I assume. So like, ⁓ I have practice management. ⁓ so like I and I have Google or I have Microsoft. So what what are you even talking about at this point? So those are like the bare minimums, right? Now we still need the foundation of the company. And I think that this is where many people kind of just skip to to the end, right? So that like, okay. Fine, I'm going to start seeing clients. I'm going to start hiring staff. And so I'll go to ADP and I'll get a a simple employee handbook for like some office, you know, or a secretary and and not ⁓ knock ADP. They they have great things and great great things that you can ⁓ do there. But like this is a generic, you know, non clinical employee handbook. I'm gonna get that. And then maybe I'll throw a financial responsibility agreement together, using ChatGPT and speaker-1: Even even before AI, just like doing some Google like grabbing some free printables or, you know, a couple dollars, you know, to print something off from s someone else's made. Or and then now with AI, well why I'll just run it. I'll why do I need it, you know? speaker-0: Circles and And so like this is the this is a huge cost. There is so ⁓ much risk involved in ABA, right? Like I think we can all agree that there's ⁓ a lot of of ⁓ companies out there that we would not want our own children ⁓ getting services from. And you know, there's a there is a lot of unethical behavior going on. And so as we're seeing across states now. Medicaid, you know, the state Medicaid that they're saying, ⁓ look at all the big bad ABA companies. I mean, there is some truth to it. again, as I've said on ⁓ numerous like there are other things to be attacking than than you know services for ⁓ children, right? But hey, you know, the government has decided that this is worth worth looking at and and that's fine. ⁓ so But like there are there are huge issues here and and so you need to have these systems in place so that you can scale it, you can follow regulations, you can follow privacy laws, and then again we're going back to you know, if if we just have our employee handbook and we just have our client handbook and then things happen, right? Like some crazy thing happens, and now we're we're building these policies on the fly, right? We're winging it. Or we say, ⁓ actually we're gonna handle it this way and then, you know, another B C B A that works for your company handles it differently or, you know, and so nothing is being done like with any standard. speaker-1: Yeah, and I think it's important to look at the systems across your company because any time that you have these standalone and that's what happens, right? When you're when you're piecemealing this, when you're just doing one thing at a time, just because it comes up and you have to deal with it, then you have these kind of standalone like but they're not really standalone, like these one off like these these disjointed yes. I think's what I'm trying to say. Yeah. pieces ⁓ that don't really fit together and may even start to cancel each other out. speaker-0: Yes. Right. Yeah. Or it goes like John handles this, not a specific role. It's just John does that. Well, okay. What about this other thing that's very similar? Well, Debbie takes care of that, right? And now maybe Debbie thinks this is her part and John's well, ⁓ I don't know. I do the like and then we're we're either doubling the work or there's no communication because it's just obvious that this is how it gets done, right? And so no like we're all kind of paddling in different directions. Does that make sense? ⁓ so the like that's what happens. I hear it all the time is like why doesn't my staff just do what I tell them to do, right? Well, maybe because there isn't that there there isn't any clarity in the systems that you have and the expectation while you ⁓ maybe assume or a think it's in place. If you hear that more than once a week, right like Something is wrong, right? There is something wrong in your system. So we had Becca Marie on talking about very similar things, right? Where, you know, the systems are are kind of not being built correctly, I guess. And maybe I want to put words in her mouth, but like that that's, you know, something that we have to look at. It's not like a human issue for a lot of these things. It's a system issue. speaker-1: Yeah, well and also ⁓ Brian Silbow, he's he's been on, he's coming on again talking about the systems and how can we how can we ⁓ control for quality and and ⁓ plan for, you know, do all the things quality within the systems and and I think it is super important because as we're in a growing changing field and you know, myself right now am feeling the burnout. I really am. I reached out to Mallory and Jen who are on our team and they're like, Hey, how's it going? 'Cause I guess they like they they said something 'cause it just had like a low energy week, right? And I said, I am burnt out from all things ABA. And they both laughed. And they're like, Girl, you eat, sleep, breathe, drink ABA. Yes, I'm sure, right? and ⁓ s shout out to them. They sent me a Tim Hortons. speaker-0: Tim Hore, nice job. speaker-1: Look at you guys go. but I say that to say, but this is like this this burnout. I think I'm feeling a lot of energy from the field right now. There's us the there's there's always there's this it it's just it's a growing, changing, you know, landscape. And and it's just at this point it's like, ⁓ it's feeling heavy. Right. And and I think there's been a lot of conversations where it's like, ⁓ this is feeling really heavy. But also we're engaging in a lot of conversations like this one where we're all pulling together and working together and saying, Okay, how what is the shift here? How can I take res h me, myself, be responsible and and what's my role in this and how can we work together in all blah blah blah, right? All the things, right? And and I promise this this makes sense to this podcast topic. I I'll bring it back down. But I I think if we do kind of take a step back and say, okay looking at the systems and yeah, maybe maybe we can't make big change out in the ABA space, but we can make small change within our ABA space, within our community, within our our little company, right? Or big whatever company. ⁓ and and that does that makes the little little small steps, little small change can really add up, right? And so I think that part of this conversation about I mean money's real like money is hard, especially these days. Things are more expensive. It costs more money to live. It costs more money to to, you know, places to to live to to feed yourself, to feed your family. ⁓ you know, there's there's funding decreases. There's all of these gaps and you're really trying to provide for your team. All right. And I get this. ⁓ and so you're like, ⁓ we'll cut we'll cut this, we'll cut that. I mean, because you do have to make choices. But I guess it's like, what choices do you make? Where where do you where do you how do you decide that? And so trying to bring this all together here, I promise I I've got it like in my mind this makes sense. So hopefully it's landing to someone out there who's listening. But If we if we are like looking at our systems and building our systems and making our system show up clear and kind like Renee Brown says. If we if we're if we're giving that feedback and that ⁓ communication along the way, ⁓ then then that that's that's a huge step, right? I don't know. And and so but to do that, like so what I'm saying, I guess, is looking at okay, well, putting money into developing our systems may be worth it in the long run even more so than some staff incentives right now. They're going to have that structure and that understanding and that that safety within their work environment because if you know what's expected of you speaker-0: Yeah, I I I agree with that. speaker-1: And you can show up to work most days i with with knowing the expectation and knowing that you're gonna get that receive that feedback and that communication and that you're gonna be valued and if if you are making mistakes, someone's gonna tell you. Right. Right? Because I think that's a part of it too. It's like you just go along like all the systems are broken and you're cutting costs here and there and And you're just going along and you're like thinking, Okay, well I I guess I'm doing a good job. No one said otherwise, so I'm just gonna keep going. Right. And and then and then you get that feedback and you're like, ⁓ you're on an action plan or you're written up or whatever, however you say you're in your company or you just sit down and say, Hey, I really need to talk to you about your performance, right? It w we we've this is not okay for us. And then you're like, ⁓ well, I've been just going along thinking everything's great 'cause then was totally any different. So these are all the pieces that ⁓ that that that can be very important to systems. And then also like that building the foundation before you grow. And so maybe it's about making those choices of how you spend your money and what you spend your money on to build that firm foundation before and that's funny. ⁓ before that's what our child's favorite song right now. He's playing on the piano firm foundation. but before you start hiring more pe bringing more people in to make the more money, like you s you have to get that from foundations set first before you start bringing in more. Because part of that's like being able to train, like to provide training for your staff. If if you have a whole lot more staff to bring in more billables, great. But if then you don't have the time or the money to train them, then things yes, I'm going off the rails. I'll I'll I'll back off. Back up a little. I'm I'm not like following our little and I know this isn't exactly where we intended to go with this conversation, but we hoped that we hope to have many of these conversations ⁓ i because this is this is really showing up a lot, right? This speaker-0: Doesn't matter, Doesn't matter. I I I just think like there's a consistent theme here, right? And and the theme is, well, you know, I'm I'm too small to have, you know, X, Y, Z. Maybe I'll get to that later, and the later never happens, or it's really hard to bring it in later. And so having these things in place so that you can scale this. And it g and it kind of goes back to a previous podcast when we talked about selling, right? Like if If you have any intention, even if it's just the tiniest little inkling that, yeah, maybe someday I'm gonna actually sell this. you have to work yourself out of a job. And so you working sixty hours a week to save, you know, a thousand dollars a month, it's not worth it, right? It isn't worth it in long term. It it isn't w worth it short term, really. Like again, I got you know, maybe year one, we're working a lot because we're building this thing. But you know, once year one is over, we we have to have systems in place like, okay, we have this amount of revenue, this are profitability, this is our quality measure. Now we can scale, right? Now we can hire. Now we can ⁓ speaker-1: You know, we we say that a lot that, yeah, you're one's like insane. And it is, but does it ha does it have to be to that level, right? Like if you did come into starting up a year or two later, like if you decide, okay, I want to start a company and then you spend a year or two saving money or contacting, you know, like getting financing or and and you come into this like i if you sit with your vision for a little bit longer. I don't know. I mean, if you sat with your vision for a little bit longer and kinda had more of an idea of what you wanted that first year to even look like. Is there a way to to tackle that in in a less chaotic way, in a more structured way? In a I mean yeah, I mean you you may still be working long hours. I don't know. Is that is that a given? speaker-0: Yeah, I I don't think so. Like i I I this kinda like ⁓ riding a bike, right? Like so you're gonna have to put a lot of effort in that first, you know, period of time and and no, I think you have to fall off the bike. I I think you have to fall off the bike. I I don't think that there's any choice. There are gonna be some people that just get on a bike and they peddle and it's great, right? and and some people can immediately ⁓ switch from ⁓ what are those training wheels? Training wheels to bike. In my opinion, training wheels are not helpful, right? But maybe they are. I I don't know the science behind it, but like at some point you got to take the training wheels off and you're probably gonna fall off the bike, right? You're you're not gonna be balancing because you never had to learn how to balance before. And so oopsie, right? And so I think part of it is the pain of making a mistake. So I'm not gonna make that mistake again. And I think you can read all the books, you can plan all all of these things out, and there are gonna still be some of those hidden things that you're like, Ooh man, I didn't think about that. Okay. speaker-1: Right, right. But I think that that they're gonna be I think they're gonna be potentially less and ⁓ maybe a little less painful if if you go into it with some planning and some understanding. Maybe this is just me as a plan. speaker-0: Yeah, and I think talking. And I'm a doer, right? And so like we have very opposite opinions on this, I think. And so there is a level of plan like okay. Should you quit your job tomorrow and say, I'm gonna start an ABA practice, that wouldn't be a great idea. But should you spend two years planning this out? I don't think it you need to spend two years planning this out either, right? There there's kind of like a happy medium where, you know, I've kind of You know, listen to listen to a hundred of our podcasts. You're probably in a good position, right? You probably know, okay, wow, these are some crazy things that I didn't think about, right? And and so you'll you'll so you have some ideas. speaker-1: Can plan. You can at least like have some idea what or or like we talk about like how to what to do if you don't have a policy in place, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. speaker-0: Or like what do you need in place before you see your first client or you hire your first staff or you know, like so the these things can be helpful. Like we lived it for twelve years and we've talked to so many owners, right? That we we we've heard ⁓ or or lived it so many times. And so that goes back to this, right? Is there is a cost in not spending money. ⁓ and that may be your sanity, right? It may and and so like I've said this ⁓ many times, but it's like building the airplane on the runway. It it's not a good idea, right? So that's the don't don't be like Steven and just do ⁓ why not? Right. But at the same time, you know, we have to test the plane eventually, right? We have to know if it's flight worthy. The only way we're gonna know. Is if we take off, right, and see what happens. E eventually that's the only way. speaker-1: Okay, or or or how about this? How about this? Because I know you're a fan of analogy. And I say that sarcastically. In our personal life, I'll be trying to explain something to him and I'm like using analogy and he's getting so lost and com he was like, What? And then I'm pretty sure I switched my analogy several times and then I make it even more confusing. Like, can you just tell me? Can you just give me the information without like all of this? So, but it's it's kind of like going on a hike, right? Like going you're like, All right. I'm gonna go walk through the woods. There's no path, there's no right guide, there's no map, and then like you're you're gonna I mean, I would assume, unless sure like a really good Eagle Scout or something, I would assume that there would be some level of pain and mistake in that yeah in in in that journey versus if you, you know, at least had a path to follow. Of course. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ and then of course depending on like the terrain that you know like having that guide to show up there with you to like help you because we we have a trip coming up this summer and you know it's a new area. There's there's some potential more rugged hikes that we could take. And and I'm like, do we do we do a guided hike? Is this a thing? Do I mean we have to be with people if we do that? But you know, or do we just maybe go in in somewhere in between, right? And do okay, let's at least just go on a on a well walked path that you know, that there is a path there. Many people have walked this path. We know this path is safe but still has some pretty views. And maybe another day we'll go adventuring through the open forest with no path. I don't know speaker-0: I mean if you want to add to this analogy though, like there is also like the the actual human that's going on this journey is their endurance, their resilience, their their persistence, right? Like so someone's going to make it with the guide, right? And some people aren't. Just they're just n like, dude, this is not for me. I don't see the benefit of this. I don't see the value in this. I'm not doing this. And so like there is that level too, right? And so like And and if you just like it's it's going to make it easier to have the guide, right? You could do it yourself, right? But you may trip and you may get, you know, bang your knee and there's nobody there to help you, right? And you're kind of all by yourself. Or you could have the guide walking you through the path and maybe it's a little bit more expensive, but we avoided those pitfalls, right? We didn't eat the poisonous berries because we were we didn't plan enough to bring a backpack with with supplies. Do you know what I mean? Does that make sense? So yeah, I I I think that speaker-1: You brought it back to the money because that's where I was hoping to land. Because it is. It's like it's like, okay, we can go on a a walk ⁓ through the path, but how long is this like even like my planner brain is like, well, how long is this path? Like, are we gonna walk the path the whole way through? Are we gonna pick a point to turn around and backtrack back? Do we need water? Do we need snacks? I mean, we if you have kids with you, you always need snacks. But do you need do I need what do I need to wear? You know, do I need hiking boots or can I wear flip flops? Is that a gravel path? Is it like you know, like this my brain's like so imagine my brain can definitely and I'm sure there's many brains out there like mine, that then it gets to a point where I'm like I I can't I don't I can't even make a choice I can't make a decision. Well and for our trip this summer it's like this kayaking thing. We can go out kayaking near whales and dolphins and speaker-0: It's paralysis. speaker-1: Icebergs. I don't know. And and and so and then I'm like, okay, do we just want to rent a kayak and go out kayaking? No, no, I don't think so at this first this first stage because I see a whale coming out of the water with his tail and flipping us all. But d do I want to to get a one-on-one like person to just take us on these very specific ⁓ guided kayak of where we can go back and see these like hidden waterfalls. Well that sounds really cool. But guess what? That's gonna be like very expensive and almost as much as like the travel getting to the location. Whereas, okay, guess what? There's also another option where there's like this this guide and it's like a group and you stay in like this safe cove area. And I'm like, okay, that sounds that sounds better. But I needed that like I I my brain needed needed help moving from that, okay, paralysis. ⁓ I c there's too many what ifs, there's too many things to plan for, there's too many things I don't know that I what I don't know. There's all of this. I can't just d go down this path by myself because it's just too much. But then this other path on the other end is just way too expensive. And and so it's like at least I can like okay, how can I get get keep going like forward? speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. speaker-1: And actually make it on a path to go see these cool things. It's like, okay, where's that middle ground? What are you laughing at? speaker-0: I just ⁓ are we talking about ABA or are we talking about our trip? I I don't know. I just Yes. No I I guess speaker-1: I think we can relate it. It's the same thing. When we started our when we started our company. Yes. I'm like, I've always wanted to open a clinic. I had it what what I thought that was gonna look like was very different than what we actually did, but I was thinking more like a preschool kind of thing. But it's still whatever. It it works. But but and we're on our walk and I'm like, I'm having a really hard time trying to find a place that I enjoy working at here. And and you were like, Let's start our own company and I'm like, ⁓ okay. And then my brain goes into planning mode. Mm-hmm. I probably would have not opened our company for two or three years, maybe never. speaker-0: Yeah, probably never. Yeah. Probably ne probably never. speaker-1: And you were like, All right, tomorrow, why don't you why don't we see we do know of some kids in this neighborhood. Why don't you ask them if they need help? And I was like, What? So yeah, I I think there's like some there's some middle ground there. speaker-0: And I think that we can balance each other out, right? So not everybody has that. And and so, you know, that's why we created 3Pi Squared is to help you all ⁓ you know navigate this. But ⁓ like the the biggest thing, whether you go with us or not, just know that just because you decided to avoid spending money on systems or you know, I'm I'll get that accountant later. Or I'll worry about an attorney later, or I'll I'll worry about HIPAA later, or I'll you know what, I'm gonna let everybody use their own devices and and we're gonna use the parents, ⁓ Wi-Fi. And, you know, we'll do that because we're small, right? We're not corporate. We like so, you know, I I often hear, well, we don't need ⁓ like continuous improvement policies or we don't really need to follow OSHA because we're we're small. I don't want it to be corporate. I don't want it To be like stuffy business. I need it, you know, to be like a family. And I I understand and I and can appreciate all of those things, but without these systems in place, you are going to be suffering because of the underlying truth that I started with is that no one else can do this but you. Right. And so you are determining the rules of the game, right? You are making the board and the pieces. And how they can move. And so if you say, hey, Donnie is the only piece that can do this because we have nothing in place and it's all in his head, that is like a recipe for disaster. And so, like, that's where it goes back to if we don't build the foundation of this company with systems and processes and standard operating procedures that almost anybody could come in and do it. Because again, You need to work yourself out of a job, right? At the like if you're wanting to sell this, if you're wanting to even just transition to like, you know, where I'm only gonna work five, ten hours a a week and I'm just gonna monitor and and but I'm not I don't want a fifty hour a week work week anymore, right? I have fa I have aging parents, ⁓ I I have, you know, children, I I have a sick relative or who you know, you never speaker-1: Go find whales. speaker-0: Yeah, the a for any reason, right? It doesn't have to be just ⁓ I'm retiring and or right, like but for whatever you need this thing to work on your own and you know without those systems. So if you've s you know, hey, I saved four thousand dollars because I didn't put this implement this thing in place, that let's times that by a hundred, right? By the end of that company, maybe even a thousand, right? Of how much wasted. money or risk that you have added to this practice. No, we haven't talked about it. Because the inconsistency of systems, if like, hey, Debbie does it this way, I'm gonna go talk to Debbie because Mark, when he he tell he he get he's like, you know, awful. I hate having to tell this to Mark. And so everybody's doing it differently because nothing is in place. And then you go back to that piece of speaker-1: We haven't even talked about terminal. speaker-0: How do you hold anyone accountable or have them hold them to an expectation when there is no expectation? And again, like that's that's just chaos. speaker-1: And that's where it gets very personal. Yes. And it it does become about the people, the individuals versus the system. And so like it's so important for for each person within the system to have a level of responsibility, have a level of agency, have a le you know, like to be able to show up as like a a working adult with like value bringing value to the team, the whatever level that they you know. It it like but but if it's all about the each individual then like it gets messy fast 'cause we're human and I don't know if you guys know but there's some level of drama that's part of that. But if it's if it's built in within the system i in a way in the right way for your company, there again, it doesn't have to be a cookie cutter system. Every system doesn't have to be exactly the same. There's all different kinds of models out there. Make your own. Figure out your own. I mean, you don't have to do like the the traditional two tier ⁓ you know, model. ⁓ a lot more a lot ⁓ more companies now are doing, you know, parent directed, parent led, you know, parent supported services or, you know, there's all there's all you may have a completely new novel idea that you want to bring to the field and try out within your business. And that's that's amazing. But it needs it needs to be you need to build a system to have those parts within the system. Yeah. The system itself is is is critical, ⁓ because then that does allow you to be able to, you know. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean I here here's an analogy that ⁓ most people probably listening to this will be able to is a treatment plan, right? Like if you did not have a treatment plan with goals and and like w what what is it, under targets and like and and you weren't collecting data and you haven't and then you had five different yeah, you had five different people going out to that house, what do you think would happen, right? speaker-1: ⁓ Right. Any kind of IOA and like checking to make sure we're all even look like checking for the or the the same on the same page, looking for the same things. ⁓ and you just went to hang out to go play with the kid and Johnny thinks, ⁓ I need to work on him asking for things and the other kids like, ⁓ the other text like, ⁓ I'm gonna do play skills today. You know, like we're just kinda like just kinda showing up and then Johnny's like the the BCA comes in and says, Hey Johnny, ⁓ you have you're not working on any of the play skills? ⁓ no, Susie's got that. She does a play skill. speaker-0: Yeah, she doesn't I don't do that. I don't know how to do that. Yeah. So like that that's kind of the level like you have to look at it like that as an organization, right? And again, well, had we provided, you know, the materials that they could use, so and and okay, we provided the materials, but they're not using them consistently, right? So now we have to provide the training, right? So you you have to speaker-1: Well you have to evaluate like the skill levels too and like meeting people where they're at as far as like w what skill sets are there, what are what skill sets are missing. speaker-0: There's no expectation in the You don't even know what skills are there or not there, right? And so that is the be like and I I know that a lot of yourself because I in this very predicament right ⁓ predicament of like, why can't people just do what I tell them to do, right? Because the system does not allow for that. They are putting out fires, they are dealing with the grind, and they have no speaker-1: You're not even gonna know. speaker-0: visibility. And so what systems allow for is that visibility, that understanding, that expectation, so that they can say, hey, I see that you're expecting me to do this, but I can't because of A, B, C. Right. And so without that, there there's n you're not getting out of this, right? You you have to put these things in place. And some of the time the the system is not going to ⁓ work as intended. Great. It's not working. Now we know, ⁓ we can't do it this way. We have to try something different or we have to add training to make it successful. But until those things are in place, ⁓ it it's it's it's a risk to turnover. It's a risk to your your just li life in general outside of it. And it's a risk like recoupment audits, ⁓ you know, breaches employment regulate like it it's just so I highly recommend that as you're building this company that you are building that foundation and I would I would I would ask of you to maybe just open the purse strings just the tiniest a little bit and and you will see the benefits of it right ⁓ the sooner you do it the more the investment will pay off speaker-1: Well and I think those of you who are in a growing we're in a stage right now where you're growing, you may be feeling that, right? Of wow, I'm really gonna have to make some investments here. And there it's potentially gonna feel pretty ⁓ pretty scary. Yeah. Or, you know, I and I don't have any data to back this up. I don't know that this is true, that if you earlier in the game you make a smaller investment. Is it gonna take you farther? Maybe. ⁓ sometimes it just feels like a bigger and bigger investment like i if you hop into it at the growth stage, but maybe still you would save money in the long run. I'm not sure that that's that's you know, I don't know where that lands, but I I do feel like that it's those of you guys who are starting out, who are thinking about starting, who are in that first year or two But then I also feel like it's very true to in a s once you get to a certain level of growth, but a lot of times it's because, ⁓ wow, we didn't have those systems and we have that foundation and now I can't micromanage this anymore. Yes. And things are falling apart. Yes. You know, we don't have a system. We just have a bunch of people working together. speaker-0: Yes. Yeah. I mean it it's like everybody's in the boat and you know, some people are rowing, you know, crazily and other people are and everybody's arguing over which way we're even supposed to be going. Right. And so like that that's I mean, that's just not a good system to have. If you find yourself in that system, it's okay, right? ⁓ many people have been there, including us. You're not alone. Yeah. Like and speaker-1: This is not meant to shame. speaker-0: I think that that is, you know, I was talking to someone yesterday and like we went through some the some some major issues. Hey, you've acknowledged that these things exist. Great job, because many people don't and they just like You know, they put their head in the sand and just ⁓ like like everything is great, everything's fun. ⁓ that that's not ideal. So i if you have the awareness that you are in the system and you want to be out of it, it is doable to change. I I know it is. We we witness it every day. So, you know, reach out. We'd love to have a conversation. ⁓ but ⁓ there is a cost to not spending money ⁓ or you know, there is a cost to saving your money. ⁓ it it is it's very important that you have things in place that ⁓ that are necessary to scale this business. And and you want to provide quality services, you have to be able to have systems in place so that you can manage your time efficiently. ⁓ I I don't know how else to say it. So speaker-1: Well, to me that sounds like a good stopping point. Sir. ⁓ Yeah, so so to speaker-0: We have our buck. Mm-hmm. And I think ⁓ the the journal that goes with the book ⁓ is available on Amazon. You can get a paperback or a hard cover of it. speaker-1: It's designed to kinda help you to work through the book. speaker-0: Yeah, so like it make it easier. and so I I you know, I would love it if you guys ⁓ bought that. ⁓ that'd be great. ⁓ but you can also reach out, we have our free Discord group, you know, for ABA business owners ⁓ that are going through very similar things. speaker-1: Yeah, so there there's a ⁓ link in the show notes and you just ⁓ click on that link and follow the directions and then you'll get an invite to join Discord and we meet monthly to talk and then we have conversations going on the threads like throughout the month. speaker-0: And it is business owners only, so there's no like advertising. There's no like ⁓ tech maybe in here or B C B A. speaker-1: Owners and decision makers and leaders, right? ⁓ but this particular group it is it's very we keep it very we we monitor very closely. ⁓ and ⁓ we've been we've been getting a lot of feedback that it's a it's a great space where people feel safe to come together and share and support each other. ⁓ we also have started a book club within within that space too. So it's a really cool place. So check it out in the show notes. ⁓ go check out Steven's book and the companion journal to that. And yeah, and then we hope to see you back here in the next week. speaker-0: Toodles. speaker-1: Thanks for joining us on ABA Business Leaders. speaker-0: We provide mentorship, courses, handbooks, billing support, credentialing, HIPAA support, web design, and more. Everything you need to build an ethical and sustainable ABA practice. speaker-1: You can find all of our resources at threepiesquare.com. speaker-0: Don't forget to subscribe and share this podcast with other ABA business owners. speaker-1: We'll see you next time and remember, you don't have to build your practice alone.