The Practice of Therapy

Gabe Nelson
All right, sounds great. Okay. Hey, this is Gabe Nelson. I am excited to be on the practice of therapy podcast today and we are going to be talking about preparing for emergencies and specifically, if something comes up with a health event that causes you to not be able to stay in your practice, so give it a listen.

Gordon Brewer
Well, hello, everyone and welcome again to the podcast and I'm so excited for you all to get to hear from Gabe Nelson. Gabe was a person I met at the podcast movement conference back in. Oh, when was it gaming up to August? I guess? I'm losing first week of August. Yes. Yeah. first week of August. Gabe, welcome. Glad you're here.

Gabe Nelson
Thank you. I'm excited to be on Gordon. That was my first trip to Nashville. And, man, I had a great time. I love her even. I even got told to go down to tootsies. Oh, wow. It's called Cece, and my friend and I walked into tootsies. I think it was 815. And we walked out at 12:15am. And man, did we have a great time?

Gordon Brewer
Oh, yeah, it's Yeah. Sometimes folks around here here in East Tennessee, we kind of refer to Nashville as Nash, Nash Vegas or something like that. So it's a fun, fun place. But well, Gabe is, is I start with everyone on the podcast. Why don't you tell folks a little bit about your story. And, as I like to say how you've landed where you've landed?

Gabe Nelson
Well, like you said, We met at podcast movement, I started a podcast called solopreneur. Money, April 15, of 2020. So right in the middle of the pandemic. And the reason I did is because I had all kinds of extra time, because I wasn't following my daughters all over the country with soccer Danson and my one that's in college. And that's how we ended up meeting. But to back up a little bit more. I'm a practicing financial advisor. I own a company called Gabe Nelson financial Incorporated, I think the marketing people for for that tremendously creative. But I'm an independent financial advisor, I specialize in helping solopreneurs master their finances so they can create the life that they want. And that encompasses all kinds of stuff with financial planning and financial advice that we'll get into a couple of those things in a bit. But I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I've been married for 26 years to my wife, Melissa, we've got three daughters. 21 year old 17, soon to be 18 and a 15 year old so I got senior senior sophomore. And it's it's been really a great, a great life so far. So I really can't complain. Yeah,

Gordon Brewer
that's, I was reminiscing the other morning, just about with kind of the football season starting back up, my daughter was in the band. And so it's an exciting time. Yeah, that's great. That's great. So, you know, one of the things that when, after David gave, and Matt that I started, you know, kind of looking at his stuff and listening to some of his podcast episodes, and that sort of thing. And one of the things that is a topic that I've never really broached much here on this on this podcast, although I've, I've hit around it, because people hear from me all the time, you know, the importance of knowing your numbers and understanding the financial side of running a business and running a practice, and it's nothing. And those that kind of information is nothing that we as mental health providers in this particular niche, really cover in graduate school or any of our training. And so it's really important to learn that, particularly, you know, as we all know, it's a, you know, running a practice is running a business. But one of the things that's been on my radar screen here lately, and I've shared with some of the list listeners that my wife is disabled, and we've had, we've had, she's had some pretty significant health issues here lately. And we're kind of going through this transitional period, but the importance of having kind of a backup plan, but also, if God forbid something were to happen to me, what would happen to my practice? What would happen to just our financial situation? And I know that Gabe, you had an episode about that. And I'd love for you to tell again, the story that you did in that particular episode on your podcast, but maybe just talk some more about that. Oh, definitely. Yeah, that was a long introduction to that. I'm sorry.

Gabe Nelson
It's all good. Yeah, it's all good. Well, really what we're talking about is we're talking about preparing for emergencies or preparing for the worst thing that could possibly happen. And so what I'm going to do is is I'll talk about some of the things and then I'll bring that story and and and the story was of story of Lloyd and Elaine And so I'll hold on that just a little bit. But the idea of protecting yourself from emergencies, as a, as a practicing therapist, whether you're running a group practice or whether you're running a solo practice, there are certain things that you need to start thinking about and putting into place, like making sure that you've got an adequate amount of emergency reserves set aside, I mean, do you have three months, six months, 12 months of reserves set aside so that if something does happen to your practice, and you're not able to keep working or seeing your clients, I mean, the pandemic was a fantastic test run for a lot of people. But the beautiful thing about your guys's business in my business is, you can still take care of your clients virtually, you can still do a lot of, of your practice, through through telemedicine, where most of my clients now are starting to like be willing to visit via zoom, they're like, we really don't need to come see you now we're, we're able to do it like this. And so the first thing that I would tell people in order to prepare yourself for those, what I would call those emergencies in those setbacks is start thinking about setting aside a certain amount of money in your practice, for the emergency reserves, whether it's going to be three months, whether it's gonna be six months, or 12 months. And when I tell my clients that are what I would call solopreneurs, which would be you know, really focused on your solo practitioners is get six to 12 months set aside so that if something happens, you are going to be okay for a while. Because the big thing is, is as a solo practitioner, that business checkbook is kind of like your personal checkbook, you shouldn't have it that way. But a lot of people have a tendency to go, my business is doing well. So I'm going to be okay on the personal side. So make sure you start thinking about that. So that's step one. Step number two would be to then start making sure that you've got some adequate insurance in place to protect you from those types of things that could happen. Now, no one ever likes to talk about insurance. I mean, no one's talking about life insurance, they don't like to talk about disability insurance. And they don't even like to talk about, you know, wills and trusts and things like that. But these are all of the things that you need to start thinking about when you are an adult business person, and you're running a practice. And so, you know, the first thing that I would say is make sure that you've got an adequate amount of life insurance in place you had said, You know, I in in that introduction is that your wife is disabled, and you're wondering, okay, what's going to happen if something happens to me. And so that being said, the first thing is, that we're going to worry about is alright, well, what if you get hit by a bus, alright, and there's things that you need to have in place to make sure that if you did get hit by a bus, what is in place, so the first thing I would say is you need to make sure you've got an adequate amount of life insurance in place. So I would say five to 10 times, I'm a huge fan of just straight Term Life Insurance, keep it simple, get as much coverage as you can, for the least amount of cover, least amount of price, so five to 10 times your annual income. Or if you want to get really technical sit down and think about, alright, how much money is it going to take to make sure that my wife is going to be okay, or my family, whatever your situation is, and make sure they're going to be okay, for X number of years that things are taken care of. So that would be the step one that I would do. A lot of us have life insurance. Very few have the adequate amount. So that would be the first thing I would say you get hit by a bus. But then there's this other thing called a business that you have. Alright, so whether you're a solo practitioner, or whether you are a,

a group practitioner, what is going to happen to your business, in the event that you do get hit by a bus? Do you have another therapist in place that is set or a firm that is set and ready to buy your practice from you so that you can realize all of those years of hard work you put together to benefit your family. And so the investment advisory world over the last 10 years has really gotten big into that because they realize the amount of trust and the relationships that we build with our clients as financial advisors, they started coming back to us saying you have to have a succession agreement in place. And so here a few years ago, I went and found another firm in my town that is 10 times the size of my firm. So I knew they would have no problem writing a check to my wife, Melissa, if something ever happened to me, and I created a succession agreement with them, and it just gives them the first option to buy my practice from my spouse and my family in the event that I become disabled or I die. Right. And so that's that's a piece of protection that most solopreneurs Don't think about. Then that brings us to the what I would call just some some business owner protection. I mean what if you have a fire you know, the the tragic events that have been going on down in the With the the hurricane that came through, right? I mean, what if your practice was flooded? I mean, do you have some of those protections in place that would at least give you some replacement of income, or at least replace the computers that you've been using and the software, not the software, but the, the furniture, things like that. And then it comes down to the other one. And the other one that was the story, the story of Lloyd and Elaine is making sure that you've got some adequate disability income insurance in place to protect you, in the event that you're no longer able to practice because of a major health event. Right. And that leads me to my story. So So the story is this. It's Friday afternoon, I'm just starting to get cooking supper. And about five o'clock, I get a and by the way, I'm one of these weird guys that absolutely loves to cook. So I cook all the meals in our house. I'm like the cook. And so at 435 o'clock every day, I walk upstairs, My office is in my house, I start cooking supper. And we're going along and I get a phone call. And we'll just call the phone call. We'll call them Lloyd in the lane. And that's my fictitious characters from my, the name changes I made from my podcast. And Lloyd calls me and I could just tell this one this guy never calls me on a Friday afternoon. And every time he calls me, he's jovial. He's kind of having fun. I mean, we just have a great relationship. And the first words out of out of his mouth are Elaine's got cancer. Like, whoa, it was just a gut punch. Right? So I walked out of my kitchen into my four season room, and I'm like, Okay, well Tell me more. And he says, well, it's this kind of cancer. And he says, Look it up. He said, Google it. And he said it more like this. Elaine's got cancer. It's not good. Google it. And so I said, Well, I'm on the phone, he helped me understand. He says, well, let's put it this way. He goes, I think she's going to eat, she's gonna lose her arm. Because it's in her arm. She's probably going to have to lose her arm. I don't know what's going to happen. Are we going to be okay.

Well, coincidentally, we had just had our review meeting about two, three weeks prior, I knew they were going to be okay. And I just basically said to him, I said, Well, here's the deal, I know you're gonna be okay. Tomorrow morning, I'll go out into my office, I'll pull up your your files, I'll look back over my notes, I'll give you a quick phone call, just to let you know, and I basically did that I call them the next morning, I said, Hey, by the way, you guys are going to be just fine. Regardless if your lane doesn't make it, which is not really fun to talk about. But if he doesn't make it, I know you're gonna be okay. But if in fact, she does lose her arm, you guys have a fantastic disability income policy in place. And I and I didn't sell her the disability income policy, I have helped my clients get disability income insurance over the years, they actually had it before they came to me is their advisor. And I said, keep that thing in place. Don't ever mess with it. It's a great policy. So basically, they now had the peace of mind that they were going to be okay. And so two, three weeks go by and I get another phone call. And they're like, we're going to Mayo Clinic. No Mayo Clinic. Anybody in the country knows about Mayo Clinic. It is where, you know, when either a you really want that second opinion, or B, you don't like the first answer, so you're going to get another one. So they go to Mayo Clinic. And they have a visit at the Mayo Clinic. And they do confirm that they think she's probably going to lose her arm. And so they call me on their way home. And we're on the telephone and they're very, very concerned. They're worried that she's gonna lose her arm. She's gonna be alive. The phone call went like this. Well, we know this, Elaine is going to be alive. But she's gonna lose her arm. Like, okay, well, I know the disability income policy is going to kick in. So your income is going to be fine. They're like, how do we even go about doing this? So don't worry. I said, I've got the contract. I will call the insurance company. I will get you to an attorney. We'll get everything dialed in that needs to be done. See what what I haven't told you yet though. She's in the medical profession. She has to use both arms on a daily basis, right to do what she does. So she would be disabled, she would not be able to use it. And so when I told him, I said, Don't worry, just I'll call the insurance company. We'll get the ball rolling. It's gonna be gonna be fine on that. Just focus on your health. And so they just had this kind of like this peace of mind come through on that car ride like, okay, we know you're going to take care of this. We got this taken care of we'll move forward. So a few more weeks go by, and then I'll finish the story. A few more weeks go by and one of their friends from their community was just not happy about the fact that they weren't, she was going to have her arm amputated to, to basically stay alive. And she's like, you know what? We're a pretty, you know, well off family, let's go find you another second opinion. So they literally went and hopped on an airplane. And they went to St. Louis and found a doctor who had already been dealing with this with other patients. And they did a treatment protocol that actually allowed her to a save her arm, be get back to work, see stay alive, which she was just absolutely thrilled with. Yeah, and so the the happy ending is she's back at work. She's doing great. She's in remission, everything is fine, constant, you know, constant worry that it's going to come back. But the idea that they had that protection in place, they had adequate life insurance in place so that if she did pass away as a result of this, his family, him and his family was going to be fine. Right? Right had she did need to lose her arm, her income was going to continue, she was going to be fine. And the neatest thing about this is, and I say this in the podcast, Elaine's spirit was, alright, when I get this thing done. I'm going to I'm either going into management, I'm going to go teach, I'm going to go do something, this isn't going to break me. And that was that was probably my favorite part of the whole story was right. She's like, this isn't gonna break me.

Gordon Brewer
Yeah, I love that story. And gabes podcast, by the way, is the solopreneur podcast. And so I would commend that to everyone to listen to that, because he's got some other great, you know, stories and that sort of thing. You know, one of the things I'd like to share as well, in just thinking about not only disability insurance, which, you know, for, you know, again, it's just, it's a coincidence, because I hadn't met Gabe, before I did this, but I recently added disability insurance to, for my practice, and, and part of it was just knowing what I had experienced with my wife, she had been in, she had been in similar she was in banking, and trust was a trust officer for banks and that sort of thing. And so we kind of knew, and the other thing I'd put out there for folks gave is particularly for if the younger you are, the sooner it is to start with this as a long term care policy. That is something that has been a lifesaver for my wife in terms of her care she requires, you know, we have an independent, two independent caregivers that come in and help her. And fortunately, we had the foresight to buy a long term care policy that covers that. And so, you know, if you think about what it would cost to have somebody come in and help in the home and that kind of thing, it's it's pretty, it can be pretty devastating if you're not prepared. So the sooner the better. With all of this is what I would say. So I love that story guide. Thanks for that. So so to switch gears a little bit, you're, you're getting ready to have a book to come out. And so I'd love for you to tell folks a lot about that.

Gabe Nelson
Yeah, I have a book. And that book is going to be launched and available January 11 22. So I'm a little early on it. But the book is called the solopreneurs money Manifesto. And it is really a how to guide on how to master your finances and create the life that you want. And so the book is all about pretty much everything that I've done for the last 26 years as an advisor and helping people. It's stories, intertwined in with teaching you how to take the concepts that I work with my clients every day, and basically say, all right, what kind of life do you really want to live? And we have an exercise in there called a life we'll for you to analyze, and I even put my own life wheel in there for you to analyze your life, like not just the money, but your life. Like are you being a good parent? Are you being a good spouse? Are you living where you want to live? Are you doing the things you want to do with your life. And the whole idea is to get an understanding of what you really want your life to be. And then and then teach you how to have your money support that life and then for all of you solopreneurs and even the group practitioners how to have that business support your life rather than the life supporting your business because we all we all want to have a great life.

Gordon Brewer
Right? I love that and I can't wait for that book to come out because that is you're kind of on my bandwagon with all of that. But one of the things that people hear from me all the time is you've got to start with why? and really understand, you know, you're, you're absolutely right, you're your business. And so should support your lifestyle. And what you want for yourself in your life, not the other way around. Because that's where people get burned out, they get get in, in the ditches, so to speak, with their business and what their practices is, because they're doing all this stuff, but it's not really what they wanted. It doesn't fit their lifestyle.

Gabe Nelson
Yes, yeah. And that's what the book is, is, is written to do. And it's really just a nice little simple how to guide, it's not overly technical. I leave that for when we actually help people is to get in technical. What I've learned over the, like I said, the 26 years I've been doing this, the more simple we can make it, the easier it is for you to put into place and to take the ball and run.

Gordon Brewer
Right, right, or gay, but I love this. And I know we could have probably a day long conversation about all of this stuff. But I want to be respectful of your time. tell folks how they can get in touch with you. And by the way, another plug for Gabe here, he's got some great resources sources on his website, but tell folks how they can get in touch with you.

Gabe Nelson
The best thing is, if you want to hear my podcast, it is solopreneur money is what the podcast is called you can get anywhere in your podcasts, the best way to find me is go to my website, Gabe Nelson financial calm if you hit Ford slash resources, it's where all of the the tools that I've created and checklists of everything from, you know how to how to determine the value of your time to hiring people, to even a nice little checklist I created that if you're really thinking about bringing your spouse into your business, or vice versa, how to make sure it's really going to work and how it's going to be right. I got a fun story to tell on on another day. If you ever have me back on the podcast, I'll tell you that story of how that checklist came about. That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. But, yeah, Gabe Nelson financial comm you can find me on LinkedIn, Gabe Nelson. And I also have a little bit of a presence on Instagram as well. But the best thing is just go to my website, Gabe Nelson financial calm or my podcast because then you just get to hear the stories you're going to learn while you're listening. And that is solopreneur money.

Gordon Brewer
Awesome. Awesome. And we'll have links of course in the show notes on the show summary for everyone and Gabe, I can I can tell you already we're going to have you back. So I'm looking forward to another conversation just about these these important topics and just helping people be prepared and and also just enjoy what they're doing. So and do do meaningful work. So nightscape

Gabe Nelson
thanks a lot Gordon. I appreciate you having me on.