I'm embarrassed to show anyone my books. What will you think of me?
Honestly, I think it took something to ask the question. Close to half the people who reach out to me open with some version of an apology before they ever tell me what they need. If you were worried you would be the only one showing up with a mess, you are not.
Before I did this work, I was a licensed nurse for more than 15 years, most of it in mental health. I sat with people on some of the hardest days of their lives, and they trusted me with things far heavier than a year of uncategorized bank transactions. Nobody got a lecture from me then, and nobody gets one now. Books that got away from you are a much smaller confession than the ones my patients used to make.
Here is what I am actually looking at when I open your file. Which bank and card accounts are connected. How far back the last real reconciliation goes. Whether practice spending and personal spending got tangled together. Where the gaps are and how wide they are. That is a diagnostic, the same way taking vitals was a diagnostic. It tells me what the work will involve and roughly how long it will take. The state of the books is a starting point, and it is never a verdict on you.
It also helps to say the obvious thing out loud. Private practice bookkeeping is a skill nobody covered in your graduate program. You trained to help people, and then somewhere along the way you also became a business owner with a bank account, a payment processor, a stack of software subscriptions, and maybe staff. Falling behind is one of the most predictable things that happens to a practice owner who is busy seeing clients. Falling behind is common. Staying behind is the part that is optional.
So bring me whatever exists. Statements you have not opened, a QuickBooks file you stopped logging into, a folder of receipts, or nothing organized at all. Catch-up bookkeeping gets scoped and priced after I look at the real situation, so neither of us is guessing. Once you are current, monthly bookkeeping keeps it that way, and I will go over current pricing with you when we talk.
If the only thing standing between you and current books is the thought of someone seeing them, book a consultation with me. You will get plain answers and no judgment, and we can start from wherever things actually are.
Helping the People Who Help Others
Let's Start With
a Short Conversation
Tell me where your books stand right now, even if the honest answer is that nobody has looked at them in a year. I'll ask a few questions and give you a clear idea of how I can help.
More Questions
What do you deliberately not do?
Four things stay outside my scope. Tax return preparation, insurance billing and credentialing, payroll system setup, and clinical or legal advice. Naming those lines up front means everything inside them gets my full attention.
Read answerCan you run payroll for my group practice?
Yes, as long as your payroll system is already up and running. Aretha processes payroll every pay period and makes sure it posts correctly in your books. She does not handle initial payroll system setup, so a brand new practice would establish that first with its provider.
Read answerWhat does it actually cost to run a therapy practice?
Established solo practices commonly run somewhere between $1,500 and $5,000 a month in overhead, and lean virtual practices often come in well under that. Those figures move around and are worth verifying. The number that matters most is your own, and your books can tell you exactly what it is.
Read answerWhat does monthly bookkeeping actually do for a private practice?
Monthly bookkeeping keeps your books current, keeps your financials tax-ready, and gives you a clear view of how the practice is doing. Each month transactions get categorized, accounts get reconciled to the bank, and you get a short set of reports you can read between sessions.
Read answerHow much does bookkeeping cost for a private practice?
Full-service monthly bookkeeping for a private practice starts at $165 a month. Add-ons like payroll processing, bill payment, invoicing, and 1099s each have their own starting price, and catch-up or clean-up work gets quoted once I see what you have.
Read answerDoes keeping my office make financial sense versus staying telehealth?
This is arithmetic your books can settle. Add up the true all-in monthly cost of the office, divide it by the sessions you actually held in that room, and compare that to what the in-person work brings in.
Read answer
