My in office reviewer has advised me that I must start this off by informing you that I am not reviewing a new Spike Lee movie. The title instead is directed at all of us in private practice who can surely relate to the tale about to unfold.While there is much to be loved about opening a private practice there are many down sides as well, snow days being a BIG one this time of year depending on where you live. As for me, I live in New England and my office is on the side of South Mountain. South Mountain is not the world’s largest mountain and likely is little more than a foot note in any mountain guide for Connecticut but it is large enough to spread fear in some of my clients even in good weather. Add snow, ice or a mixture and South Mountain resembles more of a Luge track than a public road and results in many weather related cancellations. Unlike our salaried brethren, we private practice folks often are paid from the sessions we actually provide and not by the time we spend in our offices, so when we have massive call outs it provides massive income losses but usually no decline in office expenses (and as an example: having to recently pay to have snow removed from the office roof due to warning to do so in the state due to collapse danger, heavy snow fall can actually increase costs). Therapists can charge for no shows but unless you love the idea of being sued for liability resulting from a client getting in an accident in order to avoid one of your fees, a bad weather exemption from no show fees is a must. This year has been killer when it comes to snow cancellations. I sit here writing in what I think is the 2nd or third Tuesday storm that we have had in the last month. Some of my clients have not seen me in as long due to snow cancellations (and that week that I was closed due to falling on the ice at work and tearing my knee up pretty badly. My “safe sport” knee brace has been with me ever since and due to its black color my more fashion conscious clients have advised me that it goes with everything). As private practice folks can attest, missed sessions equals lost revenue which leads to some fear at bill paying time. My office staff has the weird idea that they should be paid for work they perform. I know right? The nerve they must have to think that they will get paid JUST because they are at work performing their jobs to the best of their abilities even though there are no clients to be found. They are right of course because this is not their private practice, it is mine and as such they must be paid even if I am not. Private practices like our big agency brethren need to make sure that they keep a “rainy day” fund to help offset emergency situations because there will be days and possibly weeks that the income will not cover the actual costs and while we do not like to think of what we do as a business, this is the time to think like one. Private practice or not we must fight the urge to pay ourselves the maximum dollar amount possible and instead keep a small comfort cushion in an account to help offset situations such as massive snow days. The amount we set aside depends greatly on our income and expenses. For a small place like mine I try to set aside 3-6 thousand dollars but larger practices or practices with higher overhead should adjust accordingly. Consulting with a CPA or other financial consultant would do wonders here. If like me you own the building (however modest) that the office is in, the amount saved should be adjusted to consider furnace and AC repairs, roof snow removal or repair, minor repairs and upgrades etc. As an individual in private practice we should also have a personal comfort cushion for weeks such as we in New England are experiencing now. This may mean not having the deluxe cell phone, NFL cable bundle or fancy cars that some of our clients may enjoy and instead putting that money aside so that in weeks where a 5 day paycheck becomes a 2 day one, our mortgage, car payments, child’s college tuition and our own student loans debts can be paid. Like we tell our client’s time and time again, good planning and preparation can prevent or greatly reduce the impact of sudden or unexpected crisis. So while we may go without our normal paychecks on certain weeks, with planning we can avoid the Snow Money Blues.
Warren Corson III (Doc Warren) is a counselor and the clinical & executive director of a community counseling agency in central CT (www.docwarren.org).