The Doctor Who Built Her Year Around Her Life, Not Her P&L

Most owners build next year's plan the same way. Take last year, add a bump, hope it's enough. Dr. Lauren did it backward this year, on purpose, and it changed what she built.

She's a composite - stitched together from the owners I work with, numbers rounded, details blended. But every step of this is one I've watched happen.

She Started With the Life, Not the Practice

Most plans start with the practice. Hers started with her life.

Before she touched a single practice number, she priced out the life she wanted. The household. Two kids she wants to put through college. A couple of real trips a year. Enough set aside to take her foot off the gas in her fifties. That gave her a number with something underneath it, instead of a round figure that sounded nice. That's where the month started, and it's the step almost everyone skips.

She Turned It Into a Real Target

Then she ran it down. The life she wanted meant the practice needed to collect about $1.2 million a year.

She didn't leave it there as a number too big to act on. She divided it into days and patients. Four clinical days a week, a little over 180 days a year, came to about $6,500 a day. At her average of $500 a patient, that was 14 patients a day. The goal finally had a target attached to it, not "make $1.2 million," but "see 14 patients a day, four days a week." That she could look at.

She Checked It Against Reality, at 80%

Here's where a lot of plans fall apart, and hers didn't.

She asked the honest question: could she hit 14 a day? On a perfect week, running flat out, maybe. But she'd stopped planning to 100%. She plans to 80% now, so the plan has room for a sick day, a slow week, and a little upside. At 80%, her current setup came up just short of 14.

So she didn't grind harder. She looked at what she already owned. She'd been under-capturing in the optical and leaving chair time open she never filled. She worked those first, the cheapest growth there is, before spending a dime on more. Growth from strength, not strain.

She Acted Before the Year Turned

And she didn't sit on any of it until January.

In November she locked the plan, ran her year-end moves with her advisor, and set her schedule and systems so that on January 1 she was executing, not still deciding. By the time most owners were writing resolutions, she was already in motion.

What She Built

Walk through what she has now. A number that means something, because it's tied to the life she wants. A plan to reach it at a sane 80%, with room to breathe and room to grow. Momentum from the first week of the year instead of a slow January spent figuring things out.

Notice what she didn't chase. A bigger number for the sake of a bigger number. She built the practice to fund a specific life, in the right order. Life first. Then the math. Then an honest look at capacity. Then action, before the window closed.

That's planning with purpose. Not hoping the practice throws off enough to live on. Deciding the life, and building the practice to pay for it.

The year is almost here. You still have time to do this the way Dr. Lauren did. Backward, on purpose, starting now.

Want to Plan Yours This Way?

If you want to build next year around the life you want instead of last year plus a bump, that's the work we do together. Click here to Book Your Financial Clarity Call and we'll start with your life and work back to the practice.

To your abundant practice,

Eric Levenhagen, CPA CTS

Eric Levenhagen, CPA CTS, is the only financial consultant who helps private practice optometrists improve the financial health of their practice with a simple process called Financial Harmony, designed to reduce their taxes and increase their after-tax profits so they can reach their personal goals faster.

ProWise Tax & Accounting LLC Disclaimer: This blog is intended for educational purposes and provides general information about tax, accounting, and small business topics. The owner described is a composite created for illustration and is not a specific client; figures are rounded and illustrative. This is not professional advice, and using this blog does not create a client/CPA relationship between you and ProWise Tax & Accounting, LLC dba ProWise Financial Consulting, or its owners and employees. Blog posts are based on tax rules in effect at the time they are written, and older posts are not always updated for changes. Tax rules change frequently. Always check with your CPA or accountant regarding the most current rules and how they apply to your specific situation.