As a business owner, if you’re baffled by the world of bookkeeping, then today’s show will be helpful to you. Maybe you’re a solo practitioner considering starting a group practice, or perhaps you want to learn more about efficient financial systems and processes. Join us! Our Featured GuestMichael Spencer Michael Spencer has an interesting career background as a CPA who became a licensed clinician in private practice. Recently, she started a bookkeeping practice to serve helpers and healers in the healthcare profession. Michael has a gentle presence that brings comfort and safety, and she brings a unique perspective as a therapist with an accounting background. http://www.mspencerbooks.com/ (Website) You’ll Learn:

●     How Michael transitioned from being a CPA to becoming a LPC, then went on to coaching before starting a bookkeeping business on the side ●     What’s involved in bookkeeping, which means tracking and recording all the financial transactions in a business ●     How to understand your “numbers” and what they mean for your business ●     Three financial tips in considering starting a group practice: ●     Take an honest but gentle assessment of your current bookkeeping system, relationship with finances, and business goals. ●    Have a bookkeeping system and some sort of payroll system or service. ●     Create monthly or weekly bookkeeping rituals to stay up-to-date and reliable. ●     Why bookkeeping will become overwhelming and challenging if you try to “do it all” when you don’t enjoy it ●     The importance of realizing where our strengths and weaknesses are found as business owners ●     The need to develop and expand our business that meets needs and serves the world PODCAST SPONSOR

Hushmail: Hushmail is a secure, HIPAA-compliant way to communicate with clients via email and to fill out clinical forms like intake packets securely. Please visit https://sellingthecouch.com/hushmail (sellingthecouch.com/hushmail) and let them know that Mel sent you =). TRANSCRIPTMelvin: Hey, Michael, welcome back to Selling the Couch. Michael: Oh, thank you so much, Melvin. It's great to be here. Melvin: I'm just one grateful for our friendship and two just for the privilege and honor to be able to see the ways that you have both grown as a person and as a business owner. You and I have gotten to know each other through the health casters community, and then through our mastermind community as well. And so I'm just so grateful for you. Michael: Yeah, thank you. And I'm really grateful for you, too. You've been a real constant over the past couple years as I've gone through all sorts of different changes professionally, so I really appreciate you. Melvin: You're so welcome. For folks that don't know you, you are a therapist, but you had a career prior to that. What was that career? Michael: Yeah. So right out of college, I was in accounting and auditing. I was a certified public accountant. My license is currently on inactive status. But I did hold that license from 2001 to 2008; and I did auditing of nonprofit organizations and governments, as well as some small business bookkeeping. Melvin: Nice. And then what happened in 2008? Michael: I guess it was a little bit earlier than that my license was still active and in 2006, 2007, I was just kind of becoming unfulfilled with that work. It wasn't really speaking to my soul and so I decided to go back to school for my Master's in mental health counseling. And I pursued that career, I loved that career, I was a licensed professional counselor and that license right now is also an on inactive status. And so I'm not currently practicing in the field. And what happened there was I was doing a lot of...