Season 2 Episode 25 | Reina Lombardi | End of Year Review

Hey there, creatives. Thanks so much for your continued

listenership of the Creative Psychotherapist podcast. I'm your host, Raina Lombardi, and this is going

to be the last podcast released in 2023. In 2024, we've got big things planned. We are switching

to live stream format. If you have been reading our newsletters, we made that announcement.

So we'll be switching to that mid-January. So instead of getting a new episode Wednesday

morning, the recording will actually occur at two o'clock on Wednesday afternoons,

and it will be available live stream from YouTube and from our Facebook page.

And then that recording will be uploaded into our podcasting platform and will be available wherever

you listen. I am not sure in terms of like timing of that yet. We still have to figure that out as we

get started, but likely by the next day, by that Thursday morning, it'll be available on audio.

And I'm really excited to do this as part of my big picture plan for 2024 and growing in 2024

and stretching in 2024. And I, I've been putting off being visible on video for a long time. It took me

really long time just to feel comfortable with my voice on audio and sharing the podcast. And now it's

time for another stretch. It's time to push myself out there a little bit more. I've done a little bit

with video on social media over the years, but not a tremendous amount. 

And I, I just feel like I'm ready to do it. And a big reason is because I was evaluating my schedule a couple months back. And what I realized was I was trying to pack so many things into my schedule. And I didn't have like enough

time to do it all. And one of the things that really took up a wide range of time each week was just

making chunks of time available in my schedule for people to book recordings. And I realized this is

no longer working for me. It is frustrating. It feels overwhelming. Sometimes I'll

I'll reserve time in my schedule for podcast recordings. But then I need to book other stuff. And

then I'm having to like manage all of these different calendars. And I felt like there had to be

a simpler way. There had to be a more efficient way. And live streaming where the show is

created and put out there at the same time each week made a lot more sense to me. 

And felt a lot more doable than the way I've been doing things the past few years. So it was kind of the reason I needed like that feels more uncomfortable continuing to deal with the scheduling feels more uncomfortable

than going on video and live streaming on video. So I'm going to do it. And in today's episode I'm

going to be talking with you a little bit about kind of my end of the year processes and how I am

engaging in an evaluation and review. But also making time to really sit down and plan and envision

what it is that I want in 2024 and beyond really. You know I'm always thinking about

further down the road not just next year. But how does what I'm doing this year and next year

contribute to greater growth in the future towards what it is that I'm trying to realize. 

So the first thing that I want to do I haven't started yet is to do a comprehensive review

in my business. And one of the things we'll be looking at the financial stuff right and that includes

what are the expenses that I have for programs that I'm using that may be duplicative or

there may be a more affordable option out there or maybe I'm using two services that could be

reduced and integrated into one whole you know single piece of software. The cool thing about

technology is that it keeps getting better and better and so services that I was looking for early on

when I first started that didn't exist or maybe were really expensive now exist and they're

integrated into something else that works really well with the business and they're more affordable.

So the benefit of doing that each year is you can really you know learn to manage your

your finances in a way that's effective and healthy right. Why put out more than what is necessary

when there are other options it might be a little bit of a pain to do the evaluation

and the time to get it switched over but it's it's worth it. I've done that for my phone system.

I've done that for my EHR system last year. Is it last year in 2022? I think so. I think it was in 2022.

We switched to a program called Jane app. It's a Canadian-based EHR and I will say that it is incredibly

robust. It is a little bit complicated and it's complicated because it can do so many different things.

It's wonderful if you own a group practice and it's very affordable in comparison to other

applications on the market and it integrates so many things that one would need. I know I

I'm really loving the program and probably the best feature is their live customer service.

They're a Canadian-based company and they have live phone support which is huge and it could be

really frustrating in the past dealing with certain platforms where they don't have live customer

support and you were dealing with a chat feature or going back and forth via customer support via email.

Jane offers live phone-based customer support. You can do email and chat too but I find that they're

really nice and really helpful. If you're growing your group and you're looking for a more affordable

way or more affordable option, I would definitely check them out. Looking at expenses, that's the first

part of the financial. The second part of the financial is really calculating the numbers for expenses

and projected expenses for 2024. I know in 2023 my expenses went up and I think overall probably

everybody's expenses went up because cost of living has gone up and so I really need to spend time

doing a new fee calculation for my practice and that includes all of the things that we offer,

services, products and therapy. 

So completing that and then once that's done figuring out okay,

when am I going to implement the change in fees and what are the things I need to do to prepare for

that? Well, obviously I'm going to need to change all of the paperwork as it pertains to expenses

in my EHR. I have to make updates to the good faith estimate agreements and of course send out a

letter to all of the clients saying hey on this state we will be raising our fees,

want to give them enough time to also make any changes that they might need to to budget for that.

And if it's not in their budget to be able to respond and we can have a conversation and create a

plan of what we'll need to do to take care of that, whether that is making some kind of an adjustment

or referring out to somebody else. So reviewing and preparing, right, reviewing and preparing

financial wise, the other thing that I want to review and prepare for has to do with

evaluation of strategy. How can I look at where I invested time, energy and money in order to

bring or drive business to the practice? What worked? What didn't work? And how can I make changes?

Is there something that I have not considered or haven't been using that I could be using that

would make things more effective? And so really looking at that, looking at running a report

from my EHR on where our referrals are coming from, right? And really looking at that information,

okay, is it, you know, people, is it Google? Is it, you know, psychology today, word of mouth,

where's this information? Where, how are they finding out about us? How are they getting in our

inbox or on the phone with the office? So evaluating that and putting together a plan for next year,

I have a 2023 strategic plan that I developed and one of the things that I'm going to do is review that

and see, okay, based on those goals, what's good, what's better, what's best? 

Did I meet any of the best goals? Did I meet any of the better goals? Did I meet any of the good goals? If you haven't used a good, better best model of goal setting, it's just breaking it up into a tiered model, right?

Of like, this is what I would be good, but you know, here's what I'm really shooting for over here.

And I think it can kind of take some of the pain or disappointment away if you're, you only

sat one goal and then maybe it was a big lofty goal and you didn't come close to it. If you have

it structured as a good, better best goal, then you know, it doesn't, maybe it doesn't hit so hard.

So I want to evaluate that. What did I follow through on with those goals and

how successful was I in achieving them or did they just kind of fall off my radar because I

got so busy with other things and I will say that yes, some stuff definitely got in the way of

achieving some of those goals for 2023. The move really took a lot of time, energy and money out of

me moving my office into a bigger location even though it was only two buildings down. It still was a

huge undertaking. So it's okay. I know that when I look over the stuff, if I didn't get there,

I still have more time to get there, right? You know, just because we set out our intentions for the year,

we may not reach them, but it doesn't mean that we can't reach them in the following year or the year

after that. I always try to look at things of like the work that I'm doing, the investments that I'm

making in my time and energy in terms of marketing the practice, that's there for the long haul. 

It's a long-term commitment. So even if I don't reap something in the immediate time, I know that

in the long-term that it's going to be there, right? But that's about holding that big vision for

yourself and not losing sight of it, even in spite of shortcomings, right? But one of the things we

might evaluate are, okay, where are those shortcomings and what can I do differently? Or what can I

can let go of that's no longer effective anymore? I think that's an important part of understanding

marketing strategy, particularly as it pertains to advertisement and online stuff. Some things that

used to work many years ago no longer work. 

So we have to be flexible in how we respond and doing a yearly audit or evaluation of what the health and wealth of your business is can help you to make changes and become flexible and how you respond to what's going on in your

business. And then finally, the last thing that I want to do is to really get clear

on my creative vision for what I'm developing both with the show, with Creative Clinicians Corner,

but also with Florida Art Therapy Services. And I'm going to do that both in my creative process and

creating a vision board. I'm going to be doing that in two weeks, spending an afternoon working on that.

And then in addition to the creative part, I want to do some writing around it. 

So what does it look like? What does it feel like? And I'm doing some writing around it and really exploring like,

where are my limiting beliefs about bringing that stuff to life and making sure that I have a plan

to attend to those that, okay, I need to be consciously attending to some of that unconscious

programming that causes me to slow down and get stuck. And I want to make sure that I'm attending to

that so that I can reach my big lofty goals, my best goals, if you will. And so that is my plan for

2023, 2024, kind of end of the year planning. 

Oh, I didn't say tax stuff, but yeah, tax stuff too, obviously. And I hope that as you round out your year, that you go through and carve out time for yourself to really evaluate and give yourself a round of applause, what are you doing? Well, what did you do that scared you? Right? What are some of the things that you've been able to

accomplish that perhaps you didn't think that you could really celebrate those wins and evaluate,

all right, so I have the wins and hear some things that I would like to do a little bit differently

and hopes that they may translate into a win in 2024. 

So I hope that you're able to make that time for yourself. And if you are a therapist that's looking to grow and develop your private practice in 2024 and want to be part of a group of like-minded individuals that are doing the same,

that are challenging themselves that are pushing past their fear barriers and doing things that

scare them and taking action in their business. Consider joining the mastermind group that will be

starting in February of 2024. It'll run February to July. And we meet on Monday afternoons at one

o'clock. So if that sounds like something that you would be interested in, please reach out. 

You can schedule a 20-minute consultation with me to discuss your goals and whether or not this might

be a good fit for you. And even if you participate and you realize, you know what, I actually don't

want to do this. It's actually more than what I want to give at this time of my life. That's a

valuable investment to gain that clarity. I know one of our participants this year that happened. She

had started building and then realized, you know what, I have other priorities and goals that

really need my attention at this time and that if I tried to really put everything into creating

a practice, I wouldn't have time for these other things. So that's okay too. 

And if you're ready to stretch and grow, there's room for that as well. Anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful

rest of 2023 and I look forward to speaking with you again in 2024. If you know of anyone or perhaps

even yourself, that would make a great guest in 2024. Please have them reach out to us on our website

CreativeCliniciansCorner.com. There's a link there that you know, you can submit to be a guest on

the podcast. You just scroll over to the cast and from the drop down menu, there's a be on the podcast

link and you can submit your submission there. And yeah, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season

and happy new year as we roll into 2024 and I will talk to you again soon.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Creative Psychotherapist. If you like what you heard,

please rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. For show notes,

downloads and additional resources head over to the website at www.createofclinicianscorner.com