Worried About Not Making Payroll Keeping You Up at Night?
You know that sick feeling when you're lying in bed at 2 AM, calculator app open on your phone, running the numbers for the third time hoping they magically changed? You're looking at payroll due in five days and your bank account balance, and the math just isn't mathing.
Maybe you're praying for a few more cash patients to walk through the door. Maybe you're wondering if you should skip paying yourself again just to cover your team. Maybe you're questioning if you're even cut out for this whole business owner thing.
I've been there. And it's absolutely gut-wrenching.
My Reality Check
In 2023, I was running two offices and hemorrhaging money. My second location was in a nosedive, and I was constantly putting my own money into the business just to keep the doors open. I had team members depending on me, and I was terrified we were going to go bankrupt.
There were months where I didn't pay myself at all because payroll had to come first. I was working full-time hours but taking home part-time pay, all while trying to keep my team from knowing how bad things really were. The stress was giving me migraines, affecting my home life, and triggering generational trauma from my parents' bankruptcy when I was young.
The breaking point came when I realized I was leading from a place of people-pleasing instead of protecting the company. I was so afraid of letting people down that I nearly let the whole business go under.
Here's What Actually Works
First, get brutally honest about your numbers. I know it's scary, but you need to know exactly what it costs to run your practice every month. When I finally did my real overhead calculation, I discovered it was costing me $40 per patient visit just to keep the lights on and pay everyone (including myself a living wage).
If you're seeing 1,000 patient visits a month and your overhead is $40,000, you need to charge at least $40 per visit to break even. Not $35. Not $38. Forty dollars minimum, or you're literally paying people to come see you.
Second, build a 3-month expense cushion. I learned this the hard way. One unexpected equipment repair or slow month shouldn't put payroll at risk. Take that $40 break-even number and add 30% profit margin. So $40 becomes $52 per visit. That extra $12 per patient creates your safety net.
Third, make the hard decisions before you're forced to. I should have addressed the performance issues at my second office months earlier instead of hoping things would magically improve. Sometimes protecting your business means having difficult conversations or making changes that feel uncomfortable.
How I Help Practitioners Worldwide
Look, you didn't go to school to be broke. You studied for years to help people heal, not to lose sleep over payroll anxiety.
I help chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists get crystal clear on their real practice costs, audit where their money is actually going, and create systems that prevent these 2 AM panic sessions. My 90-Day Profit Clarity Program takes you from financial chaos to sleeping soundly knowing your practice is profitable and sustainable.
We start with organizing your expenses using categories that actually make sense for wellness practices (not generic business advice), then we audit your practice costs to find where you're bleeding money, and create cash flow strategies that work for your specific situation. I check in with you throughout the entire 90 days because this stuff is too important to figure out alone.
Ready to stop the payroll panic? Grab my free budget spreadsheet [Budget Sheet] to start getting clear on your real numbers, or book a call to talk about the 90-Day Program [Chaos to Profit in 90 Days].
Because your bank account should reflect the lives you're changing, not keep you up at night.
