The RDtoCEO Podcast
Dive into The RDtoCEO Podcast, hosted by Registered Dietitian and CEO, Eva Haldis, where she shares her journey in entrepreneurship, with discussions on the basics on building a private practice and becoming a confident CEO. The RDtoCEO Podcast is your go-to resource for mastering the art of transitioning from a dietitian to a successful CEO.
The RDtoCEO Podcast
Private Practice Realities: The Struggles I'm Feeling Currently
Experiencing a "meh" phase where everything seems tough and uncertain? You're not alone! Join us in this episode of RDtoCEO as I candidly share my current struggles, from the pressure of constant decision-making to the emotional toll of balancing work and life as a parent and business owner. This isn't about offering textbook advice but about validating those raw, unfiltered feelings that entrepreneurs often face. By revealing the behind-the-scenes details of my life, I hope to provide a sense of solidarity and comfort to fellow entrepreneurs navigating similar storms!
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*Please note that while we strive to provide valuable insights, our podcast is not a replacement for personalized legal or financial counsel. We strongly advise consulting with qualified professionals for specific advice tailored to your individual circumstances.*
Welcome to the RD to CEO podcast. I'm your host, eva Haldis, registered dietitian who one day found herself a whole CEO of a business. Join me as we navigate the world of entrepreneurship so you can go from being an RD who sees clients in private practice to a confident CEO growing the practice of your dreams. Hi everyone, Welcome back to another episode of the RD to CEO podcast. Happy Wednesday when you may be listening to this, or happy whatever day of the week it is that you are listening to this. It is actually not even a Wednesday when I'm recording this episode, but nonetheless, happy RD to CEO listening day. I'm happy to be back recording another episode.
Speaker 1:I had other episode ideas in mind for this week to record and to post that were more like tangible, you know, things like concrete advice kind of things. And I have some others that are a little bit more on, like feelings and resiliency in business and things like that. But really wasn't feeling. It wasn't feeling like authentic, because I think I'm in one of those like low, kind of like meh feeling stages right now, and I've talked about this before on the podcast. Sometimes this is just like where things are out in the time of the month for me and right now where it is, it's in the time where I feel like everything sucks and is doomed and I don't know what I'm doing with my like kind of moods when it comes to business, and so I felt like posting an episode of really talking about anything that was from like a this is what you need to do, you know, way just didn't feel. Yeah, it didn't feel authentic to how I'm actually feeling. And when I set out to do this podcast one, I wanted to do it and do it consistently and do it because I enjoyed it and it was a space that I could come to and talk about business stuff that excited me. And I think right now I'm just not feeling that way and there's probably a little bit of a pressure on me that I've put on myself to post these podcasts. What I was going to do is like what to do when you don't feel like showing up, and so I was going to make an episode about that. But then I was like, well, if I was in the mood that I'm in now and I listened to an episode that was like here's the things you need to do, they might be helpful, but it would probably also just be really helpful for me to hear from another business owner in a similar space as me talking about the shit that sucks and feeling validated by that. So I hope that's what this episode can be for you.
Speaker 1:I also find and nobody might find this interesting at all, but I personally like learning about other people's lives and just knowing details of what's happening for them, like seeing, like what's actually going on, just like the pretty shiny stuff you see on Instagram. So I find that stuff interesting. Like I always want to know about people's lives. I think I'm just like a little nosy. Like I was driving in this neighborhood today, my son and I were driving home from the zoo and I got kind of like lost and I drove by this really big house and this guy was outside of it putting sneakers on and I was just like so intrigued I'm like what is this person's life? What do they do with their life? I want to know everything about their life for no reason, just like a random person that I saw and I personally love that. So if you're a person that also just likes to know what's going on with people's lives, this episode will be probably perfect for you and slightly chaotic, which is also part of my personality at times. So today's episode is really going to be on just the things that I'm struggling with in business right now and how I'm feeling, and it's going to be more of just a brain dump, I think, of the things that have been building for me as a business owner, especially this summer. So I hope you find that helpful validating, especially if it's something that you're also going through.
Speaker 1:I think one of my most popular episodes, which is the episodes that I have on money and money transparency, are the most popular because they kind of one is just like about like what to expect. But I think the other one is just popular because it's like I go through my actual numbers and I think it's helpful to hear like oh, it's not all like rainbows and sunshine for everybody. Like I feel like a lot of people don't talk about, maybe, the hard parts of business life. Like I feel like that with motherhood sometimes too. Like I feel like I'm the friend in my friend group that like talks about motherhood in kind of a way. That's like this is the parts of it that suck, because we do see some of that online but we also see it in other ways. That's like you're supposed to love every second of everything, and I think probably the same with business. Like you should. Just you know this is like the dream and you should just love every second of it. Or you know, whatever it may be, and it's hard sometimes, and sometimes you just don't, sometimes you just don't want to do it, sometimes it just feels like really like you start to get burned out, honestly. Anyway, I think that's just how I'm feeling.
Speaker 1:So that's going to be the episode today. We're going to talk about how I'm feeling and then we will round out the episode at the end with I will give maybe a little advice with a question that came in from a listener for our August Q&A advice column. So I'll be doing one more question because this will be, I think, there's one more Wednesday in August. So I do have one more question actually, which is perfect, so a perfect amount of questions that needed for the month. But if you still have questions after that, I'd love to still answer them. I think what I'll do is either like, maybe once a month I'll do some of the questions I've been getting, or, if they come through, maybe I'll just add it into an episode.
Speaker 1:So if you have questions, please feel free. Or looking for some general advice, please feel free to reach me. You can contact me on my website, wwwrdtoseocom. You can also reach me on Instagram at rdtoseo or at EvaHaldis underscore RD. Also, if you're interested in being a guest on the podcast, I'm offering two ways of kind of having people reach out for that. And on the website of wwwrd2ceocom there is a tab on our menu about being a guest and I have just some questions in there If people are interested in one, just being a guest on a topic that they have some expertise in or just really wanna talk about or maybe have an offering in. And the other one is on a complimentary business coaching call with me that will be recorded for the podcast where we can tackle something that has been on your mind. So if you're looking for some maybe advice from a business coach, but maybe it's not within your budget, that might be a fun opportunity to talk with me about what's going on in your business, but it would obviously be for the podcast. So if that is something that interests you, go ahead and hop onto the website and fill out the form. All right, so I think that is enough of an intro, as always. You know the spiel make sure you're following along, liking and subscribing.
Speaker 1:Let's get to the episode and let me just catch you up on how I'm feeling. I've talked about this, you know, many times on the podcast and I think I've talked about this many times on the podcast and I think I've added catch-ups and check-ins throughout the summer in particular. But I really feel like more than usual. I'm feeling so all over the place in life in general and I feel like I'm having a hard time just like being present. I think this is like one of those things that people hear when they become parents. A lot is like you, especially probably for moms, where we feel this pressure to like do all the things, but it's like you can never. You always feel like you're not giving your all or doing your best at anything. You're like doing a mediocre job at everything. So like whether it's like, or there's like one part of your life that you're sort of shining in and the other parts feel like they're falling apart.
Speaker 1:That's like very much been the journey for me, I think, since, especially becoming a parent, but especially with, like business owning, I think there's times when like that's really my on the forefront of my mind and that's like the thing I'm going for. And then, you know, my friendships maybe not that they like suffer, but I think I'm just not as active friend who's, like you know, checking in and doing all those things and feeling social, I think I. And then I'm, like you know, when I'm like all in with my son and then on the business, and then maybe my relationship struggles because of that, because I can't be present in all these areas of my life. And I think one of the hardest parts of being a business owner, and especially when you're a group practice, it's like everything's on you and you have to make so many decisions all the time. And as a parent, especially as someone who, like me, is the default parent, which is, like you know, the parent that makes all the decisions around things that it sometimes just feels truly overwhelming and truly exhausting and by the end of the day you just want to like be left alone and not talk to anybody, just like decompress. And then you wake up and do it all over again and like most of the time and I will say this let me just give this disclaimer, and I think I said this in the intro when it's like, depending on my cycle, the way that I feel about things shifts a lot.
Speaker 1:So I'm currently in the part of my cycle where I feel like everything sucks and in two weeks I'm going to be like being a business owner is the best thing ever. And I still feel that way, don't get me wrong. But I also feel like things are just feeling like a little bit of a struggle lately and, yeah, one of the things I think makes me feel that way is just feeling being pulled in a ton of directions, having to make decisions constantly and feeling all undisorganized with my schedule. So one of the things that I really struggle with always is one organization, but like also just boundaries, I think, with my own schedule and this is something that I've worked with my own business coach on. I work on this with my coaching clients is just how hard it is to constantly be task switching. So I'm never, you know, ideally what would be the best case scenario is like Mondays are my admin email catch up days right. Tuesday is like a coaching clients day. Wednesday is my you know nutrition client day. Thursday is like my team meeting day. Friday is my like networking day, like that would be ideal right is like my team meeting day. Friday is my like networking day, like that would be ideal right At that schedule.
Speaker 1:But I have such a hard time keeping those boundaries because, one, my time is limited. Like I've said this before a million times in this podcast, but I don't always have a lot of hours in the day during the week because of my son's school schedule. So if, like, my availability is limited and somebody's, like you know, I'm much more flexible with my schedule, I'll put people all over the place. Every working day that I have I have different meetings. I'm constantly going from taking my son in the morning, come home I have 45 minutes, then my first meeting is at 10, and then I do that and then I always try to. You know, then I'll fit in my own stuff, like you know, the therapy appointment, and then it's like then I'm hopping to doing a supervision call with a dietitian and then I'm like, okay, I have like an hour left.
Speaker 1:I'm like, let me catch up on like the Slack messages from the team or emails I'm getting about things and the next thing I know my day's over and so I'm just never able to just have like stretches of time to actually do certain things, and I find, too, something that I sometimes do when I do have stretches of time is that I'll fill them with other stuff, so I'll be like, oh, like stuff that I just want to do for myself, like go get my nails done, or you know, I'm I'm just bad with like the boundaries of my schedule and I think if I could, I think if there's one thing I want to really work on in the next quarter is maybe figuring out a schedule that's going to be consistent for things that are, like I said, like Mondays are just like admin days and try not to do meetings and two days are this day, so that I don't do that. And I've spoken on this, I think on the last episode that my son has always been. So my son's now in childcare from school, in camp preschool Monday, wednesday, friday, and then Thursdays he's with my mom, and this fall, in literally two weeks, he's going to be starting his preschool Monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday. So for the first time, I'll have first of all childcare every day and Tuesdays are not going to open up as a work day, and I've already had to like mentally remind myself, like give yourself a minute to not overbook Tuesdays because this is like always a thing right, like I feel like I never have time, so I'm like, keep Tuesdays open for right now. Maybe do something for yourself in the morning and then spend those next couple hours just like working on whatever you want to work on, but like trying not to put meetings on there. And already last week I was like talking to somebody about possibly adding our meeting that we do weekly on Tuesdays and I'm like, eva, don't, don't, do it just yet.
Speaker 1:But that's something that I just really struggle with is just yeah, the boundaries are on my schedule and because and I've said this before this is like one of the perks of being a group practice owner and being a mom with limited hours is that sometimes I can work at night. But that also means that sometimes I'm working at night and like right now it's 9.30 PM and I'm working on this podcast, which is sort of more of like a passion project for me, but it's something that I obviously hope to do more with as far as like business coaching. So I think, just yeah, there's a lot of things, that one of the main things that are hard for me is the boundaries of my schedule, but it just makes me feel so all over the place, so it's like it's not even working. But I just every week it's like I'm just going at it and doing it again and it's like, oh well, here we are again, all over the frigging place. So that's certainly been contributing to some of my just general feelings of like everything sucks.
Speaker 1:The other thing is and ironically this was like the episode that I posted last week was on the summer slowdown and just like the low. You know, clients, that it tends to be a time where things are just a little bit slower in our schedules, where clients are just canceling more often or just people are vacation and also increase tend to slow down a little bit in the summer, but generally they haven't been too bad. But I will say August it's ironic that I posted this episode last week and got like quickly humbled to realize that like August has been our slowest month that we've had in I want to say like two years, which I don't know. And I actually somebody I saw posted on one of the Facebook groups today about it asking like does anybody else feel like this is a particularly slow month? And most people that commented said yes, but it has been so slow and even though in my literal last episode, where I talk about this and when this usually happens, I usually am very like zen about it I'm like this is what we're going to do, and I still am that way, I'm still, you know, I have things in place to market more and to do some other things to sort of get our names out there again.
Speaker 1:But it's hard to just not have those moments of panic where you're like, oh my God, we're never going to get a client again, are we? This is never going to happen, especially with, like every day that passes that another client doesn't reach out. You're like what is happening? And then, like today, we got finally a new client reach out and I swear it's like the biggest exhale that you can feel of like, oh my God, okay, it's not all doomed. Like I was even like is there something wrong with our system? Like are people not able to submit the forms? To like schedule discovery calls? Like what is happening. So it felt really like such relief today when we had to finally a new client reach out.
Speaker 1:But that has certainly contributed to me feeling like oh gosh, so not only am I all over the place, but then things slow down and then I'm like, oh my God, now I have to do things to pick things back up, which normally I'm able to sort of get myself up and going, but I think because I have more consistent things scheduled now, week to week, than I did before. So of course it feels like I'm like being stretched even more thin because it's like the time I have is even less than it was before, just from other meetings and things like that. So I think one of the other things that I struggle with is just the parenting life. As I'm recording this podcast, my husband just texted me he's in the middle of doing bedtime and we're having a hard time lately with our son in bedtime. He just doesn't want to go to sleep Any parents out there with four-year-olds, he just has so much fun. He just wants to be up and playing and doing all the things.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, I got distracted and had to pause recording and now I don't even remember what I was saying anymore. And I think that's also just in coming back to the topic of the episode of just making me feel like the task switching of, like I'm on and I'm off, I'm on and I'm off, and yeah, of course, that just feels overwhelming, and I think what I was talking about was the summer slowdown. So I'm going to come back to just feeling overwhelmed by there being low inquiries in general, and it's impossible to just not also feel stressed about that constantly. I was looking in the dietitians in private practice Facebook group today and somebody had posted a funny thing that was like the perks of being a business owner and it was like a pie chart and it was three different colors and then the key had like three different colors that were not on the pie chart. That said like more money, less stress and something else. I forgot what it was. If I can find it, I'll post it in the show notes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I think sometimes like there's just there's so many parts of being a business owner that I absolutely love and also it would be nice, I think, sometimes to just not have the stress of, you know, like having to motivate yourself to do something, to do everything right To do, to move things forward, and still like be able to show up and do your job and like you know, it's going to be okay. The nice thing is and I will say like this is not all going to be just like an episode about like wow, this all sucks is that when you put in the work right, like after a few years, like it's been you know five years for me now even though I'm feeling this way, like my business is fine, like we're not, nothing is happening Right. Like I was literally at the zoo with my son today and I checked my email while we were like sitting having a snack and just saw like invoice confirmation like coming through and like it's fine, the money's still coming in. Like we still have clients. It's actually a good time for things to slow down, but it still sometimes just feels like, you know, it would be nice to not, to not worry about it so much, but then I would lose out on all the amazing benefits that I have, like the freedom, the flexibility, being able to do the work I want to do, getting to like work with my amazing team that I love working with.
Speaker 1:So obviously there's so many wonderful parts of being a business owner, but, yeah, there's just parts of it that are also hard and challenging and I think it can very easily sometimes become like all encompassing and I think that's sort of just how things have over the summer, just like slowly been building and I think what really like it comes down to is I think I'm just kind of starting to feel a little burnt out no-transcript that I need to like do because I can't stop thinking about them. I wish I could turn that part of my brain off a little bit more and I think I don't want being a business owner to be my whole personality, but it's like 95% of my personality happened. Okay that I want to say it's like 50% of my personality. The part of my personality is being a mom, and that's okay, I think. But it is just on my mind all the time and it's impossible to not just feel like burnt out.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, it's also like a cycle. So the issues that I experienced, or like the challenges that we experienced as business owners, especially in private practice, are kind of the same right. So like we have slow months, we work on marketing, we work on networking, things pick up, then it's just busy, so then it just feels overwhelming, and then I have to hire and that's overwhelming with credentialing and all that process, and then it's like literally the same cycle over and over again and I think sometimes it just gets to the point where you're like, oh my God, can I get off this ride of just like having a more consistent system in place and I think that's sort of where I'm at with my business now too is like I'm ready for this next stage where things just feel more streamlined in the business. I want to be putting out less fires because I think I know my team doesn't need me for things Like I was a way they, you know, obviously I'm like an important part of our team and I own the business and I'm like the person that's like the let's put it like, we'll say like it has like the vision. But there's a lot of things that like I'm not needed all the time but I'm just so in it. It's hard to sort of step back and I'm ready to sort of get to this next place where I can focus on other things and not do the things that feel like bog me down and are taking away time for me, like doing the things that do feel productive, that do help us grow our team and grow our revenue and allow my team to have more, you know, a better pay, more benefits, all those things. That's really what I want too. And, yeah, I think that's like just, I think, wearing all the hats. Five years in, even though I've, you know I was. I have a lot of stuff that I've like taken off of my plate and our admin, nicole, has been amazing to help me with a lot of that stuff. She's also starting her internship next week and we have another awesome, amazing admin starting, so it's all going to be good, but it still feels like I'm wearing a lot of hats all the time. So I'm excited for the sort of next transition in the business and in the practice.
Speaker 1:Where I can, I just want to sort of create something that feels more, more like streamlined in the, in the sense of and it's kind of how it is now right Like I talk a lot about using my inquiry tracking sheets. You know, when I, when I was talking about like the summer slowdown, the last episode, I referenced my inquiry tracking sheet because it really helps me to see, like what is the actual information, what is the actual data Like, how many people are we actually having like new inquiries coming from? You know our referral sources are. It gives me information that I can use. So I know that Google has like been more and more a way that clients find us. So that is something that I need to do more with to continue to get more people to us right like and I have that data to support that. So I think it's like using the data appropriately is so helpful for me, but I also want to figure out a way to make things just like happen a little bit more consistently, because I think that would be really nice too, just to have a little bit more consistency with it. And honestly, I'm saying this because we're having a soul month and it's a time of the month for me where I'm like everything sucks. But we've honestly been pretty consistent over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:I think it's just I haven't been as strategic with the way that I've been building my business, and I think I try to really stress that too. A lot in these episodes is like a lot of the stuff that I know now I didn't know, and I didn't know a year ago, I didn't know two years ago, I certainly didn't know it five years ago when I was first starting, and I'm just kind of learning as I'm going, and so I've done a lot of things in that way. I've done a lot of things impulsively and I want to start doing things more strategically in the sense of, like I've said this before like March is always our busiest month. That means I want to hire somebody in January so that by March they're ready to start seeing clients when we become our busiest. And so it's just.
Speaker 1:I think I have a lot of stuff in my head of like what that might look like, and I just feel, per all the other stuff that I've mentioned in this episode so far, just overwhelmed at like how do I, even where do I begin? What do I? How do I get all this out of my head and onto having an actual plan in place? And I think, once you know everybody's like all these like sort of transitions in our practice are no longer in transition, so like our new admin is up and running and like knows what they're doing, and then one of our dietitian who I've had on the team for almost two years, like she's coming back from maternity leave. That'll be really nice to have her back, you know having that consistency again in some schedules and clients and things like that. So I think I feel like next quarter, the last quarter of the year, is going to feel a lot better and I'm sort of like anxiously awaiting getting there, because I think and once again it's just like also end of summer, like everything, just sort of like wrapping up and changing.
Speaker 1:I feel like when I'm in this place where I feel like I don't know what I'm doing and I feel like I'm flailing, it's hard to go into like a new season almost of what this business could look like. But I think the whole point of it is that I know it's going to change and it's going to be fine and it's going to feel better and it's going to feel like this is the thing I want to do and I love being able to do what I do for work. And also, like these times it's like just really hard to sometimes feel that way, right, and like I'm just being transparent about that experience that it's hard. It's hard and I think you know, for my personal life just to get a little bit more personal you know my son is four and my husband and I've talked about having another child and it's been something that's been hasn't happened yet We'll just put it that way and that's something that's always just this thing that feels like.
Speaker 1:It's like how am I going to if we have another? What's? How am I going to? How am I going to do what I'm doing now with like less time, even more less time, once I have a newborn and you know, I had a baby during COVID, which I feel like is still a little bit. I'm still processing what that was like and what it would possibly be like and how it would possibly be different if I had another baby. The possibility of maybe not having another child is, of course, lingers there too, but I think that's been I mean I've, since I've had my business coach, I mean Hannah, and I'm working together for a long time. Another child has always been on like the if, if I get pregnant, you know how is. How is this all gonna look? And obviously hasn't happened yet. Has of this recording?
Speaker 1:And yeah, it's sort of weird to always be planning this like big want to do all these things with your business when, like, there's this big part of your personal life that you're just sort of not sure what's happening and how that's what's that going to be like? And as somebody who likes to well, I love to be impulsive I also really like to have a plan at times too. So not being able to have that does feel really hard too of just not knowing should I be taking on all this stuff when, potentially, we have another child's coming along the way at some point in the next year or two? I don't know. So I think that's also just been really hard for me to sort of feel like I can go and truthfully, as of today being my last, I said to my son today's our last mommy baby day, because he calls himself baby. It's not his last mommy baby day, obviously every day is, but it's our last day. That's just me and him consistently during the week, because next week is his week off from camp before pre-K starts and my husband and I are going to be doing stuff together with him on on the day. That's usually my day with him.
Speaker 1:So I'm also sort of like entering this new era for myself of being in practice as a group practice owner and being a parent where I am gonna have basically five days a week to work for the first time ever, and that's like five. I'm adding like five and a half six more hours to my schedule, which is a lot of time when you don't have a lot of it, and so that also feels kind of hard because I'm like, oh God, what am I going to do with this time and, like, am I going to use it properly? No-transcript. But yeah, there's just a lot changing in my life and also not changing and like not knowing how to plan for that from a business perspective can feel chaotic. And the good news is I also know that next week I might feel a lot different and next week or two weeks from now, I might have a better plan, and I think that's really like the next sort of thing.
Speaker 1:The next chapter of this for me is going to be like what do I actually want my business to be now that I've gotten to like this point, like where do I want this to go and do I want it to stay like this? Like, can I be okay with things just staying as they are? You know, spoiler alert no, I can never just be present and content. I need things to keep me going, and I think that's the dopamine rush that I'm always seeking with my ADHD is like what's the next thing that's going to keep me excited and keep me entertained? And, of course, adding on, you know, having a podcast and do business coaching and kind of this next part of my new sort of venture into business coaching too, while also still growing my group practice.
Speaker 1:I think, in summary, really, what I want to say is there are times in business where we just feel like, yeah, we don't want to, we don't want to do it, we don't want to show up, and I think that's the same thing with, like working for somebody else, right. Like there's some times when you know you get really excited about work and going into work, and then there's other times where things just feel like kind of like meh, and I think schedule changes and team transitions and all that stuff is just going to, you know, obviously going to contribute to that. And so I know that it's a temporary feeling. I've been here before and I know that once our inquiries pick back up, it's going to be like that slow build that's going to help me feel like, okay, we got this, this is good, we're going, we're doing it, everything's fine, it's not all going to crumble.
Speaker 1:But of course, in the moment sometimes it does feel like it's all going to crumble, and then it's like then what am I going to do with my life? I don't know. But if there is one thing that I know as entrepreneurs, we figure it out, we take risks and we pivot. We will pivot if that needs to happen, and I'm definitely not anywhere near that right now. I think I'm just once again having a moment, having a day, having a month summery feeling as we're coming to the end of summer, but I hope hearing that it's not all rainbows and sunshines here always feels helpful to hear, because it is certainly the experience I know for a lot of business coaches and I think sometimes even just like hearing from you know, my Hannah, who, if you listen to her podcast she's going on a sabbatical and even hearing from her like she's been saying how she just feels, like she's been like go, go, go working, and I remember being like, but don't you love that?
Speaker 1:And then it's like, oh no, you're a human being like the rest of us, of course we all, yes, like love all this shit. And also it becomes a lot sometimes and it's like there's so much more in life than just doing our jobs. And yeah, you know, like I was saying, I feel like it's become 50% of my personality of like what am I doing with work? And the other 50% is like as a mom, it can just get burnt out central sometimes, when all you're thinking about is the things you have to do, instead of just being able to just like relax and be present. And so, with that energy, I think what I'm going to, what I'm hoping to do, is next week I do have some work stuff scheduled, but it's my son's kind of week off between camp and pre-K starting, and I think my goal is and this is my accountability that I'm going to try to hold to is to keep my Tuesday days open and to figure out what it is that's going to help me sort of get more grounded in what I want to do. Because I think when you sit down and you're like what do I want to do with my life, or what do I want to kind of do next, what's the goal that I have for this week or this month? Well, my mind like blank, because I feel like so many things are constantly like jumping around that it's almost hard to like reach. So then just everything is like a blur and just feels like nothingness. So I think that's what's going to be.
Speaker 1:My goal is to like get those Tuesday days to like feel organized, or just to feel like planning days of like what is it that I want to do with this and how do I want my life to build around that and not just like my life to happen while I'm working? And I think the the big sign of that is talking to my therapist about this and her saying you know, have you taken like a day off or like a day to yourself? And I was like, if I have a day to myself, I want to work. That's like what's a day off for me is being able to work. So I don't know. I'm going to stew on what that means about so many things and I'm going to leave you with that, too, to think about.
Speaker 1:How do you feel like your life fits in with your work and your business and is your business becoming all encompassing? Because I think there's a point that we all get where it's like, okay, I need to stop thinking about work all the damn time and just be with my kid or be with myself and not also be thinking about work if I'm not doing anything. So that is what's been happening and what I've been struggling with, and just the overwhelm of it all. So I hope this was like I said. I've probably said this a million times too so far, but I hope this feels validating. I would actually love to hear from you if it was so. If you're listening and you were like, yes, feeling all those things, I would love to hear from you. So please message me in whatever way feels comfortable if you feel this way too, because I would love to hear that. Thank you for listening. Also, I feel like I just spent 30 minutes talking to well, I'm talking to myself, really, but just kind of like externalizing all the things that I've been feeling. So thank you for also taking the time to listen and be here, and so, like I said, I want this podcast to be something that's like here's tangible things that can help your business that I was looking for when I was building mine and as I continue to build mine. But I also think it's helpful to hear the reality of what being an entrepreneur is like sometimes, and so this is one of the realities. Sometimes things just feel tough. So that's where I'm at, but I know in two weeks I'll be like boom, boom, boom, making all these decisions and having all these fun ideas. So look forward to updating you all with that when the time comes. So I'm going to wrap up this portion of the episode. Thank you, guys for listening to me kind of talk about all my feels.
Speaker 1:And now it's time for our listener question. Today's question comes from a message I got on Instagram. Thank you for this listener for sending over this question. The question says Hi Eva, I'm curious how you handle late cancellations and fees. I know I need to hold my boundaries, but I also worry about upsetting people. Thanks in advance. Okay, this has been a journey for my team and I Thanks in advance. Okay, this has been a journey for my team and I and I think when it was just me as a solo clinician I don't think I actually had a policy at all, but a couple of months in I think, I created one. That was, I think, I charged $50 late fee and it was for 24 hour notice.
Speaker 1:And then, when it was just me, I was not consistent with it. I was like the first one. I always have waived, but I was like sometimes it was like you know what this kind of works in my schedule anyway, or like other things came up where they were just like having a really hard time and I was just I was not great about doing it and I honestly often did not charge it because once again, it was just me and so that was when I first started. So I totally get the feeling of not upsetting clients and being afraid to do it, but what ends up happening then is that people continue to do it and take advantage of it. I remember being in college my first therapist that I saw for a very long time. I felt really canceled on her all the time, which now in retrospect I feel so bad about. But also like she never charged me any kind of late fee, like I feel like if she did, I would totally not have done it, and sometimes it was just like I don't really feel like it.
Speaker 1:But I think a lot of times, like with therapy or even our appointments, like with clients, like sometimes people just don't feel like doing it or they're like I'm fine, and that actually one is hard because you're obviously expecting that time. That time could have been done, something else could have been scheduled at that time, another client could have been scheduled at that time. So it's obviously there's that part and I do think ultimately it can really impact retention with clients because they're kind of like I don't really need it. Then another week goes by, another week goes by and they're like I'm good, whereas when we see people really consistently and we sort of have that ongoing rapport building, it helps things really stay consistent. I find when we do actually see people consistently, they're not canceling all the time, and so, anyways, I think ultimately over time, what I was finding was, by not holding onto those boundaries one, I was losing money, but two people were just doing it willy-nilly all the time, and so once I started growing my team, I had to really be much more strict with it and, sort of like, have a policy in place. And even that was really an evolution for us with my team, because, same thing, I think a lot of us who go into, like the helping field right, we're probably a little bit of people pleasers too. So it was a lot of times that they were like, are you sure it's okay to charge this person? I'm like, yes, it's okay to charge this person If you're in group practice.
Speaker 1:The way that I also handle this with my clinicians is that if we charge a late fee, then they also get paid for that time If we don't charge a late fee. They created a standard operating procedure around this. Now we have it that clients have 48 hours they have to give us at least 48 hours notice to reschedule, or if they're canceling and if not, they're actually being charged a full session rate. So they're going to be charged the full out-of-pocket rate, which is 135 at our practice currently. We almost always waive the first one. I mean I feel like it's just the kind thing to do, because it happens. I try to give people like the benefit of the doubt and also it just keeps it consistent. So we let the first one go and we charge from that point on, because then it's consistent.
Speaker 1:Then there's not like any of those variables of like well, in what circumstance? I mean there's always going to be those circumstances and we have that written out in our policy as well that there are certain circumstances that are up to our discretion and those are like extreme cases of like hospitalization or an emergency. Really, that is like something you can't like prevent. Now, if it's a person that's constantly late, canceling, and then they have an emergency after emergency, that's something that we'd have a conversation with them about. But nonetheless, it's really important to hold those boundaries and we have found that people are canceling less and the other thing is people used to be able to press a button to reschedule or cancel and that was just causing them to happen all the time, whereas now they have to actually email us directly in order to cancel or reschedule, because then it's always that one step.
Speaker 1:Because, by the way, I've been there, there's been times where I'm like, oh, I have this appointment I don't want to go to, I'm just going to cancel it. And I'm like, oh, there's a late fee, okay, I'll go. Or oh, I can't cancel it online, I have to call them. No, I'll just go, so that I just I hear the challenge that there is with holding those boundaries, but it's vital to hold those boundaries because your time is also valuable and should be respected. But I also think we can be human about it and let people have the pass when they, you know, if they have their first first like cancellation, we let that, you know, that first one go and then from that point on, we do charge our full session fee. So I hope that's helpful.
Speaker 1:I hope that answered your question and if there's any other clarity you're needing, just let me know. So that is our episode for today Lots of feelings, talk, lots of where things are at for me mentally, and I'm also like excited to kind of shift out of this mode that I've been in lately, or the way that I've been feeling lately about my business, and I know once the fall season starts I'll be sort of in that mode much, much more so. So I know it's on the horizon. I just have to sort of be patient through the lull of it all and get through that part. So thank you again for listening. Thank you for everyone who's sent in a question so far. We have one more question next week, but if there's any other questions in the future for advice, things like that, feel free to keep reaching out and I will share them on the podcast as well. I think that is all the things that I have to say.
Speaker 1:Make sure that you are subscribing where you're getting your podcasts. If you are interested in being a guest on the podcast, please go to the website wwwrd2ceocom to fill out a form, whether that's a podcast episode that's going to be on something that you have specialty in or expertise in, or if you are interested in doing a complimentary business coaching call. Looking forward to doing some of those episodes soon. Thank you all so much, for I hope everyone has a wonderful remainder of their week and I will talk to you next time. Bye, thanks for listening to the RD to CEO podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for any resources mentioned or find more at wwwrdtoceocom. Never miss an episode by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. See you next time.
