Why Caputre Profits is perfect for healing practitioners (and traditional Accounting isn't)

You have likely heard of a Profit & Loss (P&L) statement, also known as an Income Statement. Maybe your accountant has reviewed one with you, or more likely, sent you one as part of a financial package without explanation.

Accountants are great with numbers, but they aren’t necessarily great at communicating what the numbers mean.

While I don’t like the exclusionary nature of accounting jargon, if you’re in business, you need to know certain terms. P&L/Profit & Loss/Income Statement (used interchangeably) is one of those terms.

The P&L is one part of your financial landscape. This report determines if your business is operating with a Profit (you’re making money - amazing!) or a Loss (you’re losing money and need to make some changes).

Now don’t freak out, but I am going to give you the traditional accounting formula that determines your Profit or Loss.

Income

- Expenses

= Profit / (Loss)

If you take all the money you made, subtract all of your expenses required to run your business, then you’re left with your profit. If you spend more than you make, you’re running your business at a loss. That’s pretty simple, right. Money comes in, money goes out and hopefully more money is coming in than going out so you have a profitable business.

There are a few problems with this formula for those in the healing realm.

• Profit (or Loss) is the result, not the focus.
• This calculation leaves you reacting to a situation well after the fact, rather than proactively creating your business as you want it.
• This model prioritizes business expenses before your profitability.
• And let me acknowledge the cold nature of numbers on a page when you know that money is energy and tied to your sense of worthiness and abundance.

If you want a profitable business, then you need to focus on profits first.

You know well enough that where focus goes, energy flows. So what if we focus on our profits, not as a result, but as a main character?

By focusing our energy on Profit, we can change the traditional formula above to:

Income

- Profit

= Expenses

This is exactly what Profit First does. When we focus on how much profit we want from our business to support our success (in the way that we each define success), we achieve a few things.

1. We guarantee profitability over financial losses by making incremental shifts in how we operate
2. We keep our energy focussed on what it is we want
3. This formula gives us a clear target of the maximum that our expenses need to be
4. It is proactive and easy to tweak immediately.

We all deserve financial stability and your healing practice is no different. Focusing on profits doesn’t make you less spiritual or effective in your work. Just the opposite. Creating a business that is strategic and sustainable allows you to provide a more balanced, impactful offering that honours your gifts and service to the world.

Thank you for doing what you do. Thank you for prioritizing your profits and the financial wellness of your business. And thank you for indulging me and learning a bit of jargon along the way.