Money Management in Business: 3 Money Skills Every Private Practice Dietitian Should Have
Wondering how to manage your finances as a business owner?
Learning effective money management is an essential part of any successful business, particularly for private practice dietitians who don’t have business training.
In today’s blog, we’re going to dive into the emotional aspects of our relationships with money, how money acts as a boundary in your business, and how finances are different for each stage of business.
Struggling with paying yourself as a business owner? Read our blog: Paying Yourself as a Business Owner
Why Money Management is Important
Many private practice dietitians don’t have business and financial training. Dietetic education typically focuses on clinical skills and nutritional science, leaving out business skills and private practice completely. It’s often implied “you don’t get into this field to make money”.
This gap in knowledge can make managing the financial aspects of a private practice particularly challenging.
But for many professionals, the potential financial benefits of private practice are one of the many reasons we choose to start a business. At Pursuing Private Practice, we want you to feel confident with money management in business.
It is possible and essential for private practice dietitians to develop strong financial management skills.
Understand Your Relationship with Money
Money isn’t just about numbers and data. It’s about the emotional relationship we have with it.
Money is a means of exchange that’s deeply interconnected with how we live our life and is an unavoidable part of being a member of society.
It’s crucial to understand your relationship with money, including the emotions, stories, baggage, shame, and trauma associated with money.
By exploring your personal emotional relationship with money, you can begin to develop a more positive, connected approach to managing your finances and achieving your goals.
Stages of Business
Another important skill is understanding that different stages of business have different financial needs and complexities.
Starting a solo practice requires investing in yourself without having made any money yet. In this stage of business, it’s important that you build a strong foundation for money management, understanding revenue, expenses, taxes, paying yourself as a business owner, cash flow, and profit.
We have an entire section on money in Business School, complete with a finance tool specifically for beginners in business.
As your practice grows, you will make more money! With this added money, you might choose to pay yourself more, and/or invest in business upgrades. You might move to a more sophisticated financial software (like Quickbooks), or hire a team member.
As you expand your business, you might decide to hire an associate. Learn more about how to do this in our free workshop on hiring your next team member!
Understanding your financial needs and changes through the different stages of business can help you create a thriving practice that reaches your financial goals.
Money as a Boundary
Money serves as a boundary in professional relationships, including raising rates and making changes to your service offerings.
Understanding your boundaries and making changes to them is vital for maintaining a healthy therapeutic relationship.
Boundaries can shift as you move through different chapters of your career. It’s essential to adapt to these changes and own the phase you’re in. Some examples may include enforcing a cancellation fee with clients, raising rates every year as a policy, giving raises to team members when promoted (and not automatically), and offering an upsell to a business offer. Every business will have different boundaries!
3 Money Skills Every Private Practice Dietitian Should Have: The Takeaway
Money can be hard to talk about. As dietitians, it’s important that we start talking about it more, and come together to help raise our average salaries and make an impact on the financial compensation dietitians receive.
- Understand Your Emotional Relationship with Money: Recognize how your emotions and past experiences with money influence your financial decisions.
- Adapt to Different Stages of Business: Implement appropriate financial strategies for each phase of your practice to ensure sustainable growth.
- Set and Maintain Financial Boundaries: Clearly define and enforce your financial boundaries to maintain professional integrity and reach your goals.
By mastering these money management skills, you can build a financially stable and successful private practice that aligns with your values and supports your professional and personal goals.
Want to work with me to build your private practice?
Business School is a comprehensive 6-month program designed to guide you through every stage of building a private practice: getting set up, seeing your first clients, growing until you’re fully booked, hiring a team, expanding your offers—and even learning how to coast when needed. Inside, you’ll follow a step-by-step curriculum with the flexibility to choose the path that fits your current stage of business and life. You’ll get access to advanced toolkits, templates, and systems for business topics like marketing and finances, but also for counseling skills and client support. Beyond the curriculum, you’re supported by personalized 1:1 coaching, weekly office hours, and monthly themes that address the real challenges of private practice. The program keeps you moving forward with built-in accountability that builds resilience and confidence so you feel like a legit business owner. Learn more and apply here!
