... HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRIVATE PRACTICEJULY 2016

NDIS: I’VE SEEN THE FUTURE What does the future hold for the NDIS?p.10

FINANCIAL FLUENCYCore financial words you need to know p.8

BUSINESS PLAN

BOOTCAMPReady, set, WRITE!

p.4

PAEDS BIZ

AN INTRODUCTION TO

CATHYLOVE

Occupational Therapist

Coach

Speaker

Author

For first time readers a quick intro, I am Cathy Love an Occupational Therapist, Coach, Author and Speaker. I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting and I work with parents and disability service providers to achieve brilliant outcomes for children with special needs. I provide a range of services:

• Family Service Coaching for parents to help them manage their child’s team and services• Clinical supervision to individuals and allied health professional teams• Service delivery consultation to disability service providers• Private practice coaching to business owners

More to be read about all that over on my website www.nacre.com.au

Each month I write up news, useful information and pearls of wisdom for those working with children and families in the disability sector. Given that it is a rapidly changing landscape and one that is increasingly privatised there is typically lots of news to be shared.

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Welcome.

Welcome everybody to the July 2016 edition of Paeds Biz. Our production team has grown to include a copy writer and a graphic designer with the monthly projects overseen by my fabulous Virtual Assistant. Quite a virtual global production across several countries and time zones. Love it.

July rings in the new financial year. This edition has a financial focus and includes tips for managing the billable hours challenge, NDIS national roll out, profitability and business planning. For many, this side of private practice is uncomfortable and unfathomable. Time to lean in, skill up and commit to financial fluency for your business. We also take a moment to reflect and capture the life and times and most importantly the successes of the past financial year.

Roland Naufal from Disability Services Consulting shares his latest blog on the NDIS national rollout hitting the ground July 1st.

There are some new events coming up including Business Plan Bootcamp and Paediatric Private Practice Coaching programs.

I have been busy writing, writing, writing and watching MasterChef. I have welcomed several new private practice coaching clients into the program. Incredible to hear their stories and harness their energy for building stronger businesses. We sure have change happening across these sessions. Exciting. There is a whisper that I will be spending time in Cambodia later in the year coaching fellow business women. Hugely excited about this invitation.

For those who take advantage of the school holiday to down tools and chill, enjoy these precious days with friends and family. For others working through, I am with you. There is always so much good stuff to do.

Happy July reading.

Cathy Cathy LoveDirector of Nacre Consulting

CONTENTS02 Introduction Meet Cathy Love

04Business Plan BootcampRegister today

05Paeds Biz Forum ReviewA day of management mojo

06COVER FEATURE: June 30, End of one financial year, Start of another

07Tips for Managing Billable HoursTogether we unpack the challenges

08Financial FluencyLearn the language of finance

10COVER FEATURE: NDIS - I’ve seen the FutureGuest Writer - Roland Naufal from Disability Services Consulting

Becoming Chief, How to Lead your Child’s Special Needs Tribe

12Notice Board

13Paeds Biz Success ProgramRead more about our twenty week program

14The Wrap

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PAEDS BIZ FORUM REVIEW

A Day of Inspiration, Networking and Business Know-How for Paediatric Private Practice Owners

What a day. We all learnt so much, doubled our management mojo and left with heavy To Do Lists but a positive vibe with which to Get Stuff Done. Thank you for your glowing feedback on the day and the follow up conversations. To date business plans have been written, websites re-written, book keepers engaged, blogs written, newsletters started, dinner meetings with referrers and more.

“All the speakers were clear communicators who were in tune with the needs of small business owners”

The day started with a legal check-up about business structure, contracts and intellectual property.

“I particularly enjoyed the practicality of the course”

Next an update on Awards, FairWork, employees, con-tractors and the urgent need to understand and manage bullying, safety and performance management.

“The fast pace was fabulous”

Website and social media must haves followed with James making it all so clear and doable. How to lay out your web pages, website and social media connections, getting your page found.

“Great that it was all targeted specifically at allied health”

I spoke about whipping your marketing plans into shape and hopefully enticed people to explore content marketing. After lunch we were energised by the need for exceptional customer service. To wrap up the day I spoke about the need for business plans and management of people, profit, products, profile and promotion.

“I particularly enjoyed the variety of presenters”

Yes there were requests, loud requests for future Forum’s and business events.

No I wasn’t joking about a Paeds Biz retreat.

Stay tuned.

June 30END OF ONE FINANCIAL YEAR, START OF ANOTHERIn the dash across the finish line we don’t always stop and reflect on the business and clinical distance we have covered in the previous twelve months. The blog of a trusted business mentor called me on this, as a result I now pause and ponder.

All it takes is 52 calendar swipes, journal page flipping, pen and paper, and in my case a bag of chocolatey treats. I have one central calendar that holds it all and I journal most weeks. It’s truly fascinating to review the weeks, reminisce, cringe and acknowledge the truth that we work hard, really hard.

Successes come in all sizes and is defined by you. Starting at a fabulous new school, delivering an in service to GP’s or educators, presenting at / attending a conference, implementing practice management software, travel, home renovations, new clinic rooms, new team mates, your admin angel starting. You will be delighted with how many there are.

The average number of referrals per month, the best month for income, the total number of families you served, or the number of products you sold in the year.

Hmm some of these are measurables…Good systems provide this data with only a few clicks. The list of wins continues.

Negotiating an overdraft, putting your fees up, starting your monthly newsletter on mailchimp, getting your NDIS game on, starting or growing your social media presence or paying cash for a shiny new laptop. People you have met, conversations that have burned memories, ideas you have had, content you have seen and heard. What has changed your thinking, words, behaviour and impact on the universe. Hunt out and claim, loud and proud your private practice successes for the 2015-2016 year.

Now write them down. All of them. On a beautiful piece of paper. Frame it, file it, gaze at it.

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What have been yourPaeds Biz highlights?

What are you most proud of?

How will this motivate you forthe coming financial year?

What value is there in this reflective process becoming a

monthly habit?

June 30END OF ONE FINANCIAL YEAR, START OF ANOTHER

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Billable hours is easily defined as the number of hours per day a therapist is expected to be delivering billable services.

Core to this discussion is the employee v’s contractor debate. When you engage employees you have to manage billable hours, when you have contractors you don’t. Simple. For employed therapists it’s critical to have the definition of billable hours and daily or weekly target written in the contract and position description. This sets clear expectations from the start. And from the start the expected billable hour target needs to be steadily worked towards by the therapists and the manager.

If it can be measured it can be managed. Therapists and owners need a simple way of measuring their billable hours. Some practices state that therapists generate ‘x’ hours of billable time per day, others aim for ‘x’ % billable hours across a week. Counting billable hours per day and tallying up at the end of the week is pretty doable from online calendars. This needs to be mapped across a month, printed off and stored in the therapists HR file.

Yes you may have to speak to your therapists about upping their billable hours. Be like a boss.

TIPS FOR MANAGINGBILLABLE HOURS

How clearly do you communicate your billable hours expectations?

What does the billable hour profile look like across your team?

How could you manage it better?

During my private practice coaching conversations I am often asked to help with this issue. Together we unpack the challenges and build unique solutions for the owner. Let’s take a look at the moving parts.

Performance management helps therapists hit their targets. The tendency is for managers to provide clinical supervision, focusing on tricky kids and technical therapy skills. This conversation needs to diversify. Stakeholder management, customer service, policy and procedures, time management and all other aspects of the therapists position description need to be listed, discussed, managed and recorded. Your business success depends on so much more than clinical experience and skill. Increasingly, employed therapists work towards KPI’s including minimum billable hour expectations.

Stack the deck. Help therapists hit their billable hours targets by ensuring a steady flow of new and returning clients and by having uber efficient admin systems. If therapists have time on their hands train them up to be powerful marketing agents, meeting and greeting future referrers, hand delivering promotional materials, running free screenings and generally spreading the word a strategic way. You don’t want therapists locked down in clunky admin systems. Review and adjust your support systems constantly. And no surprises when I say practice management software is critical for all private practices.

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FINANCIALFLUENCYThe world of finance has its own language. As business owners we need to understand these words, and I mean really understand them so that we can best manage legally compliant, powerful and profitable businesses. Here are some of the core financial words.

Revenue The income generated from sale of goods or services, or any other use of capital or assets, associated with the main operations of an organisation before any costs or expenses are deducted.

Expenses Money spent or cost incurred in an organisation’s efforts to generate revenue, representing the cost of doing business.

Income The flow of cash or cash equivalents received from work (wage or salary), capital (interest or profit), or land (rent).

Gross income The amount by which sales revenue exceeds production costs (cost of sales)

P&L (Profit & Loss Statement)One of the three primary financial statements used to assess a company’s performance and financial position (the two others being the balance sheet and the cash flow statement)

Chart of accounts A listing of the accounts available in the accounting system in which to record entries.

Balance sheet A condensed statement that shows the financial position of an entity on a specified date, usually the last day of an accounting period.

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Whilst I can’t provide financial advice I can urge you to befriend a patient accountant who specialises in small business. Ask questions until you understand, for me it took years.

Work together to set up systems to get your expenses loaded into a software system such as MYOB or Xero. Meet once per month to discuss your P&L - critical for financial learning. Profit and success are so much more than what is sitting in your bank account.

Budget An estimate of costs, revenues, and resources over a specified period, reflecting a reading of future financial conditions and goals. One of the most important administrative tools.

Net income The total revenue in an accounting period minus all expenses during the same period.

Trading whilst insolvent Not being able to pay debts as and when they fall due.

Debtors A person or entity that owes money.

Creditors A person or company to whom money is owing.

Overhead costs All costs on the income statement except for direct labour, direct materials, and direct expenses.

GST A broad-based tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia.

Profit A financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something.

BAS (Business Activity Statement) A tax reporting requirement for businesses issued by us on either a monthly or quarterly basis.

What’s your financialfluency self-rating out of 5?

What more can you be doing?How profitable is you private

practice?

How could a private practice coach help you with all this?

I’ve seen the future This statement has two famous and very different endings. Applied to the NDIS, which would you choose?

and it works. Lincoln Steffans 1936brother: it is murder. Leonard Cohen 1992

July 1st sees NDIS live and national. When I look into that future I see a bit of murder and mayhem, like the death of a lot of middle management and the fatal wounding of some non-profits. And then again, I see a future that works better for many NDIS participants and hands on staff. We have now done so much consulting in the NDIS that I reckon I’ve seen the future, and…

Planning Gets BetterJust like in the trial sites (but with a much greater degree of difficulty)… participant planning in the early days of the full roll out will be mayhem. ‘My First Plan’ has come out of left field and it appears this mechanism to simplify planning will at least temporarily dash a lot of initial hopes for the NDIS really making a difference in peoples’ lives. And the new non-profit LAC players doing the planning will have real problems processing the thousands of new applicants; the grief will often outweigh the joy for both participants and planners. It certainly won’t be pretty for a while, although it will get better as the new planners learn their jobs and the sheer pressure of numbers eases (that’s years, not months).

Clients are also CustomersYep it will happen. Although we see a lot of client

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GUEST WRITER - ROLAND NAUFAL

FROM THE BLOG DESK OF ROLAND NAUFALA BRIDGED VERSION OF HIS JUNE 30 2016 BLOG

stickiness in these early days of the NDIS, in the future people will vote with their individualised funded feet. Participant controlled social media such as the NDIS Grassroots Facebook site will be the great un-sticker; showing people where they can do better and how to go about it. Grassroots will be replicated in many different formats and mediums; the more successful ones will be less aggressive and more user friendly in every sense. While participants in urban areas will have real choice and control, those in rural and remote areas, Indigenouscommunities and CALD groups will struggle, unless the ILC get serious and rapidly rethinks.

Serious New ShortcomingsMy biggest worry in the NDIS future is the many people with disability at the margins, those not eligible to become participants (the estimate is up to 900,000 people). The ILC program is meant to cover them and state governments were also meant to continue supports. Neither looks like it is going to do the job properly. What is going to happen to people who only need a little support to carry on or vital programs where funding cannot be individualised? The NDIA will have to pay if the 900,000 start crashing through to become NDIS participants because they didn’t get the preventative support they needed. The NDIA and state governments need to find some better ILC-type answers now and not wait for the planning chaos to subside.

Another very significant shortcoming is the area of mental health in the NDIS. This can only be described as a mess: the assessment criteria and process fit so poorly for people with mental health challenges, and I have real concerns about the adequacy of the NDIS to adapt quickly enough to ensure quality of outcomes.

RIP Bureaucratic ManagementThe NDIS margins are so thin, organisations cannot afford much management and emerging software will replace many of the functions anyway. Gone will be the days when middle managers focused on delivering communications and paperwork up and down the chain. Coaching style senior managers will replace the command and control ‘C level’ dinosaurs. What the bosses want will be much less important and the ‘troops’ will have much more decision making power in the future.

Autonomous Frontline StaffIt’s a self managed teams kind of future. If you haven’t heard us bang on about the new cost cutting, client and staff empowering team models, it’s time to get with the program. Both overseas and here we are seeing teams operating at the neighbourhood level; employing people with lived experience and highly qualified staff. They are

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paying higher wages with extremely low management ratios and delivering better outcomes. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that future?

No More OfficesLots of people think I am a hermit or a nutcase because I think we waste a lot of money on offices. But watch that (office) space, change is gonna happen. People are going to master the office-less organisation by using great software and diverting the building cost savings into processes for building great teams. We need to get much smarter about how we support team collaboration and our work is in the community, so why do we need to congregate in expensive purpose built bricks and mortar. Won’t someone please listen?

Some Not for Profits DeadAll of my career before consulting was in non-profits yet I am still amazed when some of them tell us they know they are not competitive and that their corporate service charges are way too high. The amazing bit is that many are not doing enough about it; definitely rabbit in the headlights behaviour. “Wait and see” is not a strategy, it is an epitaph. Some will end up roadkill while there also seem to be a significant number on the “death by a thousand cuts” trajectory. Ouch. Too many organisations are doing too little, too late, to survive in the NDIS.

Winners and LosersYou may call me naïve, you may think I’m cynical (somehow, I get accused of both) but I have seen the future, it’s a world of dramatic, constant and often exciting change. Like always, there are winners and losers but it looks to me like some of the winners this time might be the underdogs, people with disability (but mostly those that are urban dwelling NDIS participants) and the great hands on staff that work with them.Which ending would you choose?

About Roland NaufalRoland is one of Australia’s most knowledgeable disability professionals and has spent the last two years working on the design of the NDIS, leading the NDIS Community Engagement Project for the National Disability & Carer Alliance. Roland is a

Founding Director Of Disability Service Consulting. http://disabilityservicesconsulting.com.au/

As a parent of a child with special needs there is always a lot going on. Parents may feel overwhelmed by child development experts, therapy, appointments and complex systems. This leaves parents tired, overwhelmed and feeling guilty that they should be able to do it all for their child.

Becoming Chief is book written for parents and service providers. It is written to help parents find their way, gather their support tribe, set goals and manage their child’s team and program. All the tough topics are covered, wonderful real life stories told and mountains of parent wisdom shared. It is easy to read, practical and energising.

Becoming Chief is written by Cathy Love, Occupational Therapist, Coach, Speaker and Author. She writes to her passion of helping parents feel strong, informed and organised so that they can powerfully advocate for their child.

Her book has been reviewed by Source Kids Magazine, Amaze, USA’s Autism Parenting Magazine and other publications.

Available now from the websiteE-book available to purchase here

NOTICEBOARD

Jotform

Well this has been a whole lot of new learning for us. Jotform has thousands of templates that you can use to customise ANY sort of business form that you may need. A service agreement, questionnaire, event registration, pretty much anything you may need. You build the form you need then send a link to the person. Voila. Jotform also integrates with many other applications such as Mailchimp and PayPal. Very versatile, generous free start up packages, secure and cloud based. http://www.jotform.com/

Ezidebit

Ezidebit is an Australian company that provides an interface between small businesses and customers. It helps businesses get paid on time, easily and securely.

Read more on their website: https://ezionline.ezidebit.com.au

Book: “The Personal MBA, Master the Art of Business” Author: Josh Kaufman #1 Best Seller. A world class business education in a single volume. Learn the universal principles behind every successful business, then use these ideas to make more money, get more done and have more fun in your life and work. https://personalmba.com/

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Care Navigator

Care Navigator is another website that helps participants and carers connect with NDIA providers in their area. Whilst their listings are currently limited I am sure they will grow. As with similar sites basic business and contact details are provided. The process of

adding your own business profile appears quick and easy. Like Clickability, Care Navigator includes a 5 star rating for service providers. http://www.carenavigator.com.au/

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Over and out from me for July. My uninterrupted focus for coming days is my new website, lots of content and images to finalise. Its looking a bit fab. The Podcast Plans are slowly ticking along, I am also developing new coaching programs and planning events, you will all be invited.

Please come and follow us on social media, lots of daily happenings on Facebook and Linked In. Pinterest and Instagram are also looking hot.

An arms out wide thank you to my incredible VA Emma. We live in different cities, speak once per week, connect daily but best of all, a couple of weeks ago, we met and had a luxurious four hour lunch together. Lucky.

Term 3 approaches so we know the pace will pick up. Take a breath and a break if you can during the holidays. Stay well and warm, have you had your flu shot?

August edition will feature innovation and product development. Let’s get thinking about how we can deliver services differently and more cost effectively.

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As many of you know I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting. A cool business with an unusual name. Nacre is the natural process of a little seed, held in an oyster shell whist it grows, layer by layer, into a brilliant unique pearl. This process takes time, special conditions and forces of nature. And so it is true for ourselves and for the children and families we serve.

More about my clinical supervision, parent coaching, teaching and private practicing coaching services on my (soon to be facelifted) website: www.nacre.com.au

If you are curious about my specialist private practice coaching services you are most welcome to get in touch, find out more and experience a 30 minute complimentary session: cathy@nacre.com.au

Next month’s edition will include:

Innovation

Product Development

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