Episode 137: Accomplish Your Dreams with Profit First with Jeff McMenamy

Her name, Dr. Sabrina Starling. Question is, are you using her services? You know, she's my personal business psychologist. She's the author of how to hire the best, and she's doing something special for you today. She's running a masterclass called quickly double your profit with top performing employees. And you can do exactly that if you take one step, send a text, the word employees to 44222. That's employees to 44222. And you will be in Dr. Street, Brina Starling's master class.

The master at the end there today.

Now I'm all embarrassed.

We have a guest grunter today.

Guess who?

But I can only play it once. It's Sammy Hagar from a Van Halen song.

Ready? Oh, there it is.

Oh, that wasn't loud enough. Hold on, let me reward. This is important, people.

All right, Staging.

Here we go.

Yes. All right. Well, this is the profit first podcast, and I want to HEAR Jeff and Dr. Sabrina grunt us.

Grunt us in. Get fired up.

And what episode is this?

Mike 137. Go.

Ow.

Yes. Yes.

Bark like a dog.

There you go. Yes, Jeff. That's how you start a show.

That's how you start a show. Welcome, everyone. We're so happy that you're here. I hope you didn't just, like, lean on your phone and butt dial your way into this episode. My name's Chris Curran. I'm the founder of fractal recording and pause your life.

And I'm Mike Michalowicz, the author of profit first, which is in every single bookstore on this planet Today.

Today.

Pick it up. I don't care if you're at an airport. I don't care if you're on a space capsule going to Mars. The book is there. Pick it up. Mostly author of Surge and some other books, too. And you are listening to the profit first podcast, the show where we explore all elements of profitability. And sometimes, like today, we bring in a guest who is living. Profit first will share their own success or trauma. Word. Word. We're doing today.

That's right. This is. This is. It's got to be the most practical show in podcasting on the Internet in the world. I mean, what other show every single week explains to you how to be more profitable?

Sounds like your stomach turned.

I can't get over it.

Yeah, someone fell off their chair. That's how. That's how profound this. That's how profound the show is, Chris. So, Chris, I want to ask what you're up to, but before we do that, we have to ask Christina what she's up to. She all po'd last episode. She's like, you never asked me anything.

I'm a co host, damn it.

I'm a co host of the Tatar.

Where's my agent?

I know. What have you been up to, Christina?

I've been doing some major hiking, even in the cold weather, which I hate. But Alex and I live right on a ski mountain, and every day he takes our dog up to the top of the mountain. He was like, hey, why don't you come with us? I was so freaking out of breath. But it was so nice to watch my dog, like, literally run. He's getting, like, ass muscles now.

My dog. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Yeah, it's fun.

That's awesome. And congratulations on your dog.

Great.

Thank you.

And a great way to enjoy the cold weather.

It really is. When you get out, it's fun. It's. It's definitely kicking my butt into shape, for sure.

Do you ski in that mountain, too?

I mean, you know, I've never been a huge skier, which is unfortunate, especially because Alex works for the company, so we can go for free, but.

Really?

Yeah.

Can you get.

I probably should.

Can you get free tickets for college?

I mean, I can try and see what I can.

Maybe you can work. Chris, what you been up to, brother?

Oh, man. Just enjoying the winter, just like Christina. And I'm happy because I've taken a few months off, and now my foot is feeling a little better, my back's feeling better. Like, what happened was I didn't work out for a while, and then I pulled my back, and, you know, I'm not that old, but I can see how when you get older, like, you have to pretty much work out just so you don't get injured.

So important.

Jeff, you were so. Anyway.

And also.

Keep going.

Chris.

Sorry.

I've been spending a lot of time at the website profitfirstpodcast.com, which I didn't mention, which you can find all our previous episodes if you want to binge listen like a maniac. Go walk down the streets of your city. Go hike on a ski mountain, Watch your dog's ass muscles grow. Just binge. Listen to our show. It's Profit first podcast dot com, and we're available anywhere you hear a podcast and. Mike, what have you been up to.

My dude, I misspelled my own name.

Oh, God.

Listen, I was. I start yelling at Christina. I'm trying to log into a website, and you have to use your. Your email, which is mikemcalow.com. i'm typing it in. I'm like, christina, I can't log in. And I start going like, this is such a good sign. I was spelling my own name with a tz. It's a cz. I was actually spelling my name incorrectly. Twister.

Right there.

I know. Fat dad. That's why they call me the Fat Daddy. Fatback. That's right. All right, Chris, before we kick into the show and bring on our wonderful guest, Jeff, and Dr. Sabrina Starling is actually here herself, too. We do have a little game for you. So Christina and I, separately, we're gonna hum a song to you because you know. You know your music inside and out. I'm gonna pull one from the archives. Oh, and I want to see if you can guess this song. Okay? Okay. Do do, do do, do, do, do. Can you guess that song? Oh, it's an ACDC archive.

Wow.

No, I just.

Sin. Yeah, that's. That was Sin City by acdc.

You were like, he's totally gonna get.

Nailed it. I should have gone. Darn.

I have a. I had a pleasant flashback to Beavis and Butthead. Really? Thank you.

Oh. All right, Christine, you give him a song. We got one more shot.

There's so many choices. What won't Chris know?

I'm going to try and just give him anything. Give me Happy Birthday. I'll feel myself. You can't even do freaking Happy Birthday.

I'm going to go, like, old school. Like 1900s.

Okay. Oh, 1900s. I think it's the scene from Young Frankenstein when. When he cut. When Frankenstein. You know what I'm saying? What do you think I suck?

I don't know. And I got mesmerized because your voice is so sweet.

Oh, thank you.

Jeez.

I was gonna.

No.

How much is that doggy in the window? No.

What was it?

No, I.

All right.

No, because I'm happy. Eyes on the sparrow.

I think Sin City was. I think my Sin City rendition was a little bit better. Where's my agent?

Can we take my. Please take me to therapy now.

I need help talking about therapy. Chris, our sponsors need to go into therapy themselves. They're still with us after all these years. It's unbelievable. Question is, who are they? Of course, who? No one really knows. No one knows. I don't know. They're phantoms. I want to thank Fundera Fund Box. Nextiva.

Oh, yes.

Oh, receipt.

Bank. Oh. 0Dad. Pause your life for hosting the show and Dr. Sabrina Starling, too. But we'll give you full details on them in just a Little bit for now. Oh, we have one more thing we want to share. Christine, give us any updates from our listeners.

I have a shout out. This goes to Scotty Rowell. He is the owner of Teller Productions, is a small production company specializing in puppetry for. In theater for toddlers. And he said that he was done with his career.

Done.

Then Mike's innovative works came along showing that even super niche fields can be profitable. Basing every contract around one of the only finances formulas that artists are taught, which is income equals labor minus materials. Everything for him was break even if that. So he was looking to develop a better situation and a better solution, found profit first found our podcast and he said it's now his contracts are more accurate, sustainable and far more profitable than ever. So he just has a tremendous thank you to us and our team. So. You're welcome, Scotty. I'm glad that things turned around for you.

Congratulations. And we got a clip, an audio clip from his last puppet show he did with these. Really? Yeah. This was in front of the toddlers. There was about 20 children about the age and changed age, like 7, 8 years old. And one of the puppets looks at the kids and does this. Shut up. And that's not very nice. He never. Yeah, he never got another show again. It was a train wreck.

So sorry, Scotty.

Jeff, you know, why don't we put in the notes. I got to ask people. The pronunciation of the last name Jeff. Do I pronounce Your last name? McNamany. McManamy.

McMenamy.

McManamy.

I win.

McMenamy. McMenamy. Okay.

Or Mc.

Oh, I gotcha. No, that's a good one. That's a good one. I'm sure you never heard that before. So all that stuff will be cut out of the show. No, it won't.

There's a movie, actually. Sleeping with McMenamy.

Yes. That's a good one. That's a good one. You know, Burger king is the McMenamy. Of McDonald's. Oh, man.

Oh, my God.

All that stuff. None of that stuff will be in, so you don't worry about that. His name is Jeff McMenamy and he is the CEO of a private practice physical and occupational therapy company called Teton Therapy. He's got clinics all over Wyoming. Name? Christina. Name two major cities in Wyoming.

I have no idea.

Come on.

I don't know.

Cheyenne. Cheyenne?

Yes.

Jackson. Yes. No, he's not there. He's not there. That is a major one. Riverton, Sheridan. And you probably haven't heard of Lander. He's also in Lander, he. He discovered the pumpkin plan and profit first. And under the tutelage of Dr. Sabrina Starling used both the systems to grow his business and the successes he. He has experienced even surprises him to this day. So we'll ask him about it. And his business coach herself is here. Dr. Sabrina Starling. Welcome, both of you to the show. Welcome.

Thank you.

Good to be here. So the crowd loves you. Oh, go ahead.

I'm waving.

Just tell them to shut up, Jeff. Tell them.

Oh, yeah, tell them to shut up. Yeah, say it.

Oh, shut up.

Gotta say shut up.

There you go.

See, that's it.

The cloud is like the word of God. Jeff, what surprised you about profit first? The success?

Well, my wife has been doing most of it because she's a finance manager. And every time I need something, I go, gosh, we got to spend a lot of money. And she's like, all right. At first it used to be like, well, give me a few months and I'll get the money together and then we can do it. And now she's like, yeah, we got the money, we got the money. We got the money. And so that just surprises me. I'm like, how do we have the money? How does that happen, you know? And she's like, this thing is working. Unbelievable. Now she is an accountant, and so to her, it's just. It's second nature. But it's all brand new to her as well. But it amazes me that we can pay cash for everything. And whenever I need big ticket items, she's like, yep, we got the cash. How do you have the cash? Well, I have it in an account. Very cool.

So what was it like prior to Profit first when you needed to get that big ticket item?

I didn't get it.

That's good.

Maybe that's why. Maybe that's why we are so profitable. She's like, no, you don't get it.

Okay, so you weren't taking out loans.

I should butt in. I have to share. I think there was some angst that went along with the not getting it, if I remember correctly.

Just a little bit.

Just a little.

So. So did you ever take out loans or. I mean, you're an. You're a therapist. I mean, you need to have this equipment for physical and occupational therapy.

Yeah, we haven't.

We haven't taken out a loan. I. In show prep. I think it was the last loan we've ever taken out is like 2011. We've been. But we haven't had this much cash available. To actually do things to grow the business and to enhance the, the personnel and to improve the grounds and things like that and start new clinics. So it's kind of just a fun game right now.

So tell me about the implementation. So you and your wife decided to implement profit first, but how did you go about doing it?

At first it was just getting the concept of taking the, you know, taking out, planning your profits before instead of what's left over is your profits. And that made sense to me. Plan your profits. And then my wife, I said, I really want to do this. What do you think? And she goes, absolutely. We both hate debt. And so that was our main goal, was just, let's get completely out of debt. And what would it look like to not have any debt and to be able to not just be debt free, but actually have cash to do what you want to do. And so she read the book. Then she said, you know what, I really think we should invest in some services with Sabrina. Because she said, I can read the book and it makes sense to me, but I need more help on the specifics of implementing this. And that's where I need Sabrina's help. And so that's how we got started with it.

Okay, so you said you wanted to. You have a hatred for debt. What does that come from? Because a lot of people say, you know, it takes money to make money run off the credit cards. But it sounds like your philosophy is a little different. What brought around that philosophy of hating debt?

It wasn't so much hating debt is. It was. I don't know if Sabrina asked the question once or how I came to this, but it was, I think it was. Sabrina asked the question of what would it feel like to be debt free? And that was to actually sit down and to go through what would that feel like? And identifying with those feelings. And all of a sudden you start thinking differently, you start seeing things differently. And so it became very real to me that debt free is a lot less stressful and a lot more freedom. And so that's where it came from. And then what it did is it turned into hating debt.

Oh, I got you. Hey, doc, why would you start that question your feelings, I mean, it's so therapist of you, but why would you start with that?

It is, it's a very therapeutic, like, question. So to get in touch with what would it really feel like? Because so when we have debt, we're just not used to thinking about, wow, what would it feel like? And most of us go into business and become entrepreneurs because we want that freedom and when we have debt, we feel freedom. So I wanted to move Jeff into a space of, you know, let's feel what that freedom could really be. And we're much more motivated once we've felt something.

And Jeff, what did it mean to you? Just so I can kind of get a sense for this, what was the feelings around being debt free, having the cash, you need it then it took.

Less stress off of worrying about employees and worrying about income and bills to debt ratio and those things it gave me, it seemed more like a choice of we can do this or we don't have to do this. So the debt free first of all was personal debt, just getting the house paid off and all of those things so that I could also start acquiring some, you know, some savings for retirement and so forth. And instead of just focusing on chipping away at debt, I wanted to chip away at gaining wealth and security. And I think security for me is probably the biggest thing with being debt free.

And so now tell us how practically this works. You call your wife and say, hey, can I get something? It sounds like there might be a little bit more to it. How's the practical implementation of profit first going?

Well, I can give you one example. That was a stressor as we had a leaky building, we're looking at a new roof and it's like, oh my gosh, this is a 5,700 square foot building and that's a lot of money. And I want to do it with cash I don't want to take out now. Most people would say, well just borrow it. It's on your building. The building makes money. And I'm like, I don't want to borrow it. So I brought the problem up to my wife and she's like, alright, we'll just plan for it. How long can you put off that leaky roof? And I said, well, I can keep carrying down five gallon buckets for another six months. And she's like, I'll have the money in six months. Yeah. And then the parking lot was about $58,000. We need to reinvest in our parking lot. And she's like, I don't have the money right now. And I go, when could you have it? She goes, by fall, I can have it. I'm like, all right, we can deal with it by fall. I can deal with that parking lot. And boom, she's got the cash. Tell the contractor, let's get it done.

Does she set up a new account called like the roof account or something? And Then she starts funneling money to that. Or how does she. How does she execute on that?

You know, Sabrina might know more specifically on that. She may do a specific account, or she'll look at pulling it out of one of the other growth fund accounts or maintenance. She has created maintenance accounts that she just feels like there's a rainy day maintenance that might be done. So she may say, well, we've got this much in that maintenance account. Do you want to use some of that, or do you want me to just find it specifically for that purpose? So it's one of those two scenarios, or both combined.

If I remember correctly, we carved out a portion of operating expenses and dedicated it to maintenance. But I don't know, Jeff, if she's doing separate accounts, like for the parking lot and the roof from the maintenance account, or if it's just one maintenance account that she's watching the. The cash in to make these decisions right now.

It's one. Because of learning from those two experiences. Now it's just one account. Just put it in there.

Okay, but. So what I'm hearing is you see a problem and then you say, okay, we have. Your wife is saying, do we have time or not? If you have time, she'll then start funneling money into an account specifically for that purpose. So I have a question around that, but in regards to the impact it has on you. But before that, what if it's something that's immediate? What if a car crashed into one of your buildings and damaged the building? What do you do in that circumstance?

Let's see.

Here's the answer.

We did have. We did have somebody crash into the sign.

Oh, did you really?

Okay, so how'd you handle sign apart? And it actually stayed, you know, ratchets strapped together for, like, three months. And I didn't like it. But I'll tell you, you wouldn't believe the. You know, you make lemonade out of lemons. And how many people recognized our sign?

Wow. Really? So everyone started saying it. That is funny.

Stand out.

That is funny. So it sounds like you. I talk about a principle in the book called the Just One More Day Principle, where we look at something, there's a sense that it's something we need to address now, but we can afford more time. Is that how you're addressing a lot of these challenges of looking at something and saying, how long can I stretch this before I must do the replacement?

Absolutely. If, you know. Because if you don't have that mindset, you know, how many therapists come to me and Go. We need this new piece of equipment. We need another high, low table. We need another bike. We need this. We were all full today. And I'm like, well, you're not going to get it today. Let's plan for it. Tell me an alternative. Give me another solution that can get you by for a couple months to get that, to get that, that thing funded for. Even if I have the funding, I'm still going to run them through that process and make them think and problem solve. So there's no immediates here. It just. There's not.

What about the impact though? So your wife starts. Who's your account starts funneling this money for these different purposes. That money's gotta come from somewhere. So is that coming out of your pocket? Are you taking home less salary? How are you affording to do these things?

I have no idea where that money comes from.

She's breaking legs.

What intention when you. I don't know. I've got a spiritual sense that when you are responsible with something, you just get more of it. But some of the, you know, just to give you an example, last year I said, honey, can you print me out the profit loss statement? And we made. We only had a 6.6 increase in our total revenue, but guess what? Our net income was a 40% increase. How does that happen?

Wow, that's unbelievable.

I was shocked when I read it. I'm like, how does that happen, honey? I don't. I don't get it.

Did you just call me honey? I don't know. I don't know, Jeff. I don't know how it does happen. So, yeah, so that's unbelievable. But did you, you, did you feel an impact? Did your lifestyle have to ratchet back? Did you go on a skip, a vacation?

Well, I can tell you this. We. We gave more money away than we ever have personally. We bought a new Zamboni for the hockey association.

Oh my. A new Zamboni.

Now there was some matching funding there, but we said, do whatever it takes to get this Zamboni and we're gonna make it happen. Whether we have to earmark. I said, let's earmark cash for five years. Whatever we have to do, honey, let's do this. And I just called you honey again.

I kind of like it. I'm used to it.

And she goes, no, wait, wait.

But next time you call me honey. Where it is it? Here we go. Okay, now we're ready.

Here we go.

Okay, so keep going. So you bought a Zamboni, honey. What else did you do?

Yeah, so, oh boy. Now we are wanted at all the PR events, the fundraising events, because we, we get so giving in the giving spirit. Now that does come with wine with my wife. If you got one of those paddles in your hands, you just give my wife wine. And that paddle will be coming up all the time.

Oh, really? Some cash?

Yes, yes. But on top of that, personally, we, we actually built a huge garage with living quarters up at our mountain property. And I've always wanted a garage. And I'm like, I'm not going to take out a loan to do this. And my wife said, we got the money, so let's, let's build what we want up there so we can store things and have guest sleeping quarters. So we did that with cash. So no, we have not suffered. And that's the part that surprises me the most. I go, how does this keep happening? Where is this coming from? And you know, well, I got a.

Question for you, sweetheart. We're on those terms. Now you said you had this prophet of, you know, a 40% increase is that the profit was used to get that garage or is this on top of that? Is there even cash left over?

Oh, there's. She's got, I call it her, her mason jars buried all over the place. Because she uses separate banks and separate accounts, she doesn't put anything in one place. So she makes it very difficult to access something that's key. And so as far as. Gosh, I asked her what are the. So most of the stuff has been coming out of the profit account, which you build up that profit account and then at the end of each quarter you get to take half of it. So that's a constant building account. Right. Because you're only taking half of it and then it builds up and you only get half of it. So it's not like you're draining the jar or you know.

Right, right.

It's. It keeps growing. That jar does. So what we've done with that profit account is we haven't needed it, needed it in the fact of personal, our personal life. So, you know, that was one way we did the garage. But we've decided to sometimes invest in that profit account with, with a more money making venture like Sheridan. So we opened up that clinic with cash, didn't borrow anything, and we actually financed one of the other owners. We're financing her shares in that company. So it's like, well, rather than just we don't need to do anything. We don't. And I think that's also living within your means. And we've been very fortunate to plan for paying our kids through, you know, getting them through college. And my daughter came out debt free, so she's graduated, she's off payroll. So that's like a raise when you get a kid out of college and they're paying things themselves. Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Where's the hallelujah?

Oh, my God. Exactly. I am slacking. I am slacking. Let me ask you this. What a feeling question. A Dr. Starling feeling question, Jeff, is when you see that garage that you've built, how do you feel about your business every time you see that? Well.

I always look at. I try to instill this with the employees, and it'll make sense is that we work to live, not live to work. And so that's how I look at that, is that allows me to live a more fulfilling life, the kind of life I want to live. And that's what my business has been provided me.

And do you have a great sense of pride in your business that it's. That it's supporting you in living your life fulfilled?

Yeah, absolutely. And it's now to the point where probably my staff is driving the business more than I am. They're young, they're energetic, worked hard on changing over, a different culture in here. So they usually set the goals higher than I might. I might settle for less because I don't need that much. I don't need a lot of money and so forth. So I get my thrills out of seeing them succeed. So when I say, hey, what's our growth? What do we want to do this quarter? Set goals? They set it way higher than I do. And then I just get out of the way.

Hey, Dr. Starling, Jeff is a rock star, profit firster. What do you attribute it to?

His wife.

He's doing awesome.

Well done.

It really is about living within your means. And I have a little funny story. And I hope Mick Jeff's wife is okay with me telling this, but I think it really speaks to something important we have to pay attention to when we succeed. Succeed with profit first. So we used to both live in the same little town in Wyoming, in Riverton. And one Friday night, I was shopping in Walmart and I was in the liquor section, and Mick Jeff's wife, bumps into me and we start chatting, and all of a sudden she says, you know, we need to schedule a call with you because we have all this money and we don't know what to do with it.

And I said, for God's sake, not in the liquor.

§ Friday night we might get jumped.

In the parking lot.

Ye as she's buying, she's buying her $3 bottle of wine.

Three bucks or two buck chuck. That's funny.

Profit first, lifestyle all the way. Live within the means. But anyway, it's that idea that all of a sudden there's more money available and we need to plan for what to do with it rather than just start blowing through it because that is the temptation. And Mick and Jeff have both been very good when that money is showing up in their profit account. We get on calls and we talk about, okay, what, what are the wise things to do with this money that's there.

How do we, Dr. Starling, how do we go about setting these milestones? As Jeff was recounting his story, you know, there's that leaky roof and he says, here's the problem. But he doesn't say, I'm go fix the roof today. He says, I'm bringing buckets for the next six months. Do you have any advice or suggestions for folks listening in who they have a need or want, but to kind of defer it until it's the right time where you can really afford it?

Well, so it's the difference between what's a real emergency and what's not an emergency. And when I used to do therapy with severely mentally ill people, I would talk to them about is this a big C crisis or a little C crisis? The big C crisis is where someone is bleeding out and it's a real emergency. And just like Jeff with the sign that was moderate sea crisis, but it was not an actual emergency that requires going out that day and getting your sign repaired or purchasing a new sign, you can get by with it. So you have to really, when there are needs and wants in the business, identify what's a real need. And is it an urgent crisis, emergency, need, or is it something that can wait? Most things that happen in our businesses can wait.

Now, Jeff, I got the big question for you. I hear it over and over. If you take your profit first, you're preventing growth. You can't grow quickly. What's been your experience about around growth and profitability?

Well, the first clinic we opened was a challenge. It took a lot of effort and I did have to finance some of that. And then in the last two years, we opened up Cheyenne in the fall of 2015 and we did that without any financing. I think it's a 3,500 square foot building, fully, you know, put all the equipment in, everything we needed without taking out a loan. And that was less painful. It was, it was easier to get that up and going. Very, that was profitable in four months. And then the Sheridan Clinic that we just opened this fall in September, I stepped in that building. When we looked at it, when it was brand new construction and it was waiting to be leased, the next time I stepped into that building was the ribbon cutting. And I had never been there. I did very little. And so it was like, wow, that was like effortless. And that's what surprised me. I'm like, I didn't feel like I did anything. And I'm walking into this clinic now, that one's already profitable. It's not making big profits, but it's, it's not going further into debt. We also did that all on cash. So to answer your question, it's just, it's just having really big effects with what feels like very little effort.

So does that correlate to. If you grow your profit, you are still growing quickly, as quickly as you want, or has it slowed down your growth rate, ambitions?

Well, I think it sped it up.

Nice, nice. Definitely slow that button today. Interesting. And why would taking. You got a 44% increase in profit, you're able to get your garage set up the way you have always envisioned and your business is growing faster. In traditional thinking, that doesn't compute. Why, what do you, how does that work? That's a tough question.

I know, but I don't know. And that's what, when I, when I said that, it surprises me. It really does surprise me. I don't know how that, how that works. I, it's just, I think it's intention. You're just, you're, you have finance, you have money and you have intention for it. And so things line up better and quicker and faster. I have invested a lot of training in my staff, so I think that has a lot to do with it, their motivation. But you also have to look at. I'm not just an owner, I'm not the only owner here because what I'm doing is I'm promoting my employees and they're becoming owners. So they have that drive that I had when I was an owner. It's not a one man show. So they're having the opportunity to, to take that desire and drive and passion and channel that to make things more profitable and to grow those other practices.

Dr. Stalling, I'd love to get your insights. What do you think? How can a business like Jeff's, any business, take more profit, be more profitable and still facilitate faster, healthy growth?

Well, I've worked with Jeff, I think since about 2008. It's, you know, off and on for a long time. And so I've really seen his business evolve. And Jeff is an excellent coach and he has always believed in the potential of others. So one of the things, one of his learning points has been investing in the development of the right people. And he's done a very good job in recent years of getting the right people on board and not keeping the wrong people around and being very choosy about who he invests in. And I think that piece contributes a lot to his growth. And so I remember when he moved from his very small clinic into a much larger building and that was a huge step for him. It took a lot of courage, was scary. I remember him taking out that loan. I remember Jeff feeling responsible for you guys taking out that loan because you'd come to a teleseminar where I'd asked a question that triggered you to go ahead and move forward. And I remember kind of going, oh my gosh, I hope this works because they're taking on huge debt. It took a long time to get that clinic up and going. But his growth curve, it's exponentially accelerated with profit first added into the mix. Because we didn't know about profit first back then. I wish we would have. Mike, what took you so long? I know the world.

I was spending time with my sweetheart, Jeff, building a garage, honeymoon, oh my gosh.

But I think adding that piece to all the other pieces that he had already put in place to grow his business has really helped him take off with his clinics and have the success that he's having.

That's fascinating. It's such a wonderful story to hear. We gotta go.

I'd like to add to that as well, Mike. If you look at the pumpkin plan, right, what I used to do is I used to go, I'm in a rural area, I can't specialize in just hand therapy or just backs or just shoulders. I need to do it all. I need to be a one stop shop. And that was a huge, huge mistake. When I looked at the pumpkin plan. And so in looking at the pumpkin plan I went, I can't pick an ideal client because I've got patients that are really ideal, but I don't get much money out of them or it's a real headache to get the money. And what I had to discover it is what are the third party payers that are. The pumpkin plan, such as Medicare, takes a lot of red tape. It takes a Lot of people behind the scenes, a lot of regulations, a lot of that for a little bit of money, right? So I started looking at the pumpkin plan not as the individual client, but the actual insurance companies or the third party payers. And I looked at who are the easiest to work with, who pay the greatest rates and who have the least regulations. And so that was huge. And putting all my efforts because it's hard to find therapists out here. Very, very hard. And so I was like, I need to really maximize this pumpkin plan in my business.

I love it. What a unique approach to specialize that way. Jeff and Dr. Sudarling, we got to get going. Jeff, for the folks listening in that may need some therapy right now, occupational therapy. Where can they go to learn more about your services and your firm?

Boy, you would have to put me on the spot. You'd have to just Google Teton therapy. I don't even know the name of our website. I have a PR marketing person who handles all of that. But just Google Teton Therapy in Riverton, Wyoming.

When you don't even know your own website, you are living the life. The life. Dude, that's awesome.

He's achieved it.

Yeah. Well, thank you, Jeff. I appreciate it. Dr. Starling, we'll give you a little shout out any final details you want to share for our audience where they can find out about you.

Yes, certainly. So you heard Jeff talk about the difficulty of recruiting in rural areas. And that's what I really like to help business owners with, is creating highly profitable, great places to work. And that includes attracting top performing employees. So if you want to find out about that masterclass, how to quickly double your profit with top performing employees, just text the word employees with an S to 442-224-4222.

Awesome. Dr. Starling, thank you. And Jeff, thank you so much.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you. Thank you. Everyone say thank you. Everyone say thank you together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So in a second we're gonna recap what we learned from today's episode. And. And I can see from Christina's notes over there, she took a lot of notes. I did. So we'll share that well. And I have some other little surprises too. But first I want to thank our corporate partners, the folks that make this show a reality. So Chris, I'll read them off.

Hey, as you. As you mentioned them, I'm gonna, I'm gonna play a little rhythm groove with my shaker here.

Oh, there you guys. Fundera, how we Love you. You are awesome. And Fundbox, you're great also, but you're not fundera, you're Fundbox. And you pronounce your name differently. Next Diva. Nextiva are. Oh, nice. Nextiva, the voice over IP phone system that we love and receipt bank. You can scan in your receipts now instead of sticking them in your shoebox. And zero cloud accounting software for you. And the final but not last, but last but not least is pause your life. Thank you. That was great.

That was beautiful.

That was fun. Really fun for no one. It's funny they say, you know, they say in the podcasting world you gotta be careful about losing listeners. Yeah, for our podcast, we gotta be careful about our listeners committing suicide. Harry, Terry, this guy Michalowicz is killing me.

We have to have a disclaimer saying, put your shotguns away.

Exactly. Michalowitz is about to sing and I spit on the microphone. He's about to sing. Please play shotguns and sharp eyes. Objects away quickly.

Five point seatbelt.

Yeah. Oh, my God. Sharpen your batteries and charge your axes. Christina. Christina, what'd you learn from today's episode?

Oh, hold on. I got lost in my notes here. Oh. When you're responsible for something, you seem to just get more of it, which. That. I don't know why that kind of blew my mind, but I was like, oh, that's revelation. I think Jeff is brilliant because, you know, the. The more responsibility you take on, especially when it comes to whether it's personal finances or business finances, the more you just get it, you know?

Yep, yep. No, that was a killer line. That was the line of the century. I'll tell you my insights. I heard that crisis can be a big C or a little C. It's a great way of measuring it. Right? There's something that has to happen immediately. Live within your means. He was explaining that throughout. I love that he used the just one more day approach. Meaning, you know, the roof is leaking, but we can get by. Another day, another day. And he allowed himself to build that cash reserve. And of course, they. When you are responsible for something, you get more of. It was really cool. Oh, and the last thing was. He said the. The last thing. He says, chip away at. At gaining wealth ever since. They gotta chip away at your debt. He said, why don't you chip away at gaining wealth? Both, I thought, was just a cool shift in perspective.

Wait, did you mention the have really big effects with little effort?

No.

Did you mention that? I wish that was big.

Did you mention it?

No, I just did that was pretty awesome.

Okay, so we're gonna wrap things up because Chris is just like, I'm done. I'm out of here.

Bye.

I will want to just remind you, Dr. Sabrina Starling, she ain't no joke. She is a therapist and you can hear she uses things like, what would it feel like to be debt free? She's the business psychologist that changed all of my business endeavors and she could do the same for you. So definitely check her out. I want to thank everyone for joining this episode. Remember, remember, if you're enjoying listening to the show, why don't you share with the world? Simply leave us a rating and a review on one of the pod stitchers. Itunes, podcatcher, stitcher radio, Google Play. Leave a post on profit first podcast. I check that out all the time. I'll be responding to your questions, comments, or hey, why don't you email. Hey, why don't you email us, Christina Mikemicalitz. That's with a K or Mike mikemicalitz.com and come on the show. We'd love to hear your profit first success story. Yes, one last thing before we wrap things up for the day. I do want to tell you this. There's a site you need to market. It's called Profit first professionals dot com. If you want to drive profitability. Remember Mussolini did that? He did that. If you want to drive profitability in your business, go to Proffers Professionals.com. that's what Jeff McMenamy, McEnemy McNelumy made. It's like Mike McAllister, McMenamy, McMenamy, Mcmenamy. That's what Jeff Mcmenamy did. Yeah, he went and he found Dr. Strong and help us do this because you can try going it alone. Now. Jeff's in a good position. His wife. His wife is helping out. But still, they wanted the accountability and the specific tweaks and adjustments that a professional can make. That's what Dr. Sabrina Starling does. That's what profit first professionals do. Want to grow profit in your business? Real simple. Go to profit first professionals.com right now. My itunes, my watch, my iwatches went off, off and said, hey, you did it. You've been standing for an hour. Because I was pounding the table like this. That's so funny. I thought I was standing up. Go to propfirstprofessionals.com. click on the find button. We'll hook you up with a profit first professional that will help grow your business. And oh, and be sure to join us next week because Robert Hartline is coming on. All right, we'll see you guys later.

Thanks.

That's right.

Don't, don't, don't, don't.