#46: 3 WAYS DEBT IS HURTING YOUR CHIROPRACTIC BUSINESS

Debt is sneaky. It creeps up and suddenly, you’re working hard but feeling stuck, with nothing to show for it. In this episode, I’m breaking down the three major ways debt is holding you back in your chiropractic business and life—plus what you can do about it.

I’ve been there. My husband and I clawed our way out of over $100K in debt, and I know firsthand how suffocating it can feel. But it doesn’t have to control your future. I’ll help you shift your mindset, get clear on your numbers, and take action so you can move from survival mode to real growth.

🎧 Mentioned in This Episode:
Episode #26: How to Ditch Debt and Grow Your Business with Cash

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Transcript

Hey there my chiropractic friend. Welcome back to Financially Adjusted. I am Leslie Roth your host. And I created this podcast to provide business financial education that actually makes sense so you can gain control and confidence with your money and focus on running a thriving practice without the financial headaches.

Today is a short and sweet episode and I'm getting right to the point.

My goal is to drive you toward really considering the effects of debt in your business and in your life.

I know all too well what debt can do to you and how it can affect your life in a negative way. My hubby and I have been down that road and scratched and clawed our way out of over $100k in debt. And it's suffocating and it can squash your spirit. Especially when you run a business that's growing and you feel like you have nothing to show for it because you're giving all of your profits away to pay off debt I don't want that for you.

After this episode you'll hopefully have a mindset shift when it comes to debt and be more aware of the many negative effects it can have in your life. My hope is that you come away from this not feeling too deflated or beating yourself up but focused on solutions.

It's great to be aware of your situation and know that you want to change it but beating yourself up and staying stuck in a shame spiral will never serve you so let's just focus on awareness and solutions.

Debt is so sneaky, and it can creep up on you so quickly and easily if you're not paying attention. Let's get into three major ways that it could be holding you back. And again, this is for awareness so if you're not already realizing this, I can point out some red flags in your behavior when it comes to debt.

Alright, so the first major way that debt could be holding you back is that it robs you of your cash flow. Here's the deal - every dollar you're spending towards debt payments is a dollar you can't use to grow your practice. Plain and simple.

If you want to take extra distributions home from your business because you have some personal goals to use it for, you may be stuck. Not having this as an option because you have debt payments due in your business and there's not enough left over to take what you need personally.

If you need to hire, let's say a chiropractic assistant to offload some of the work on your plate and…get more streamlined in your business. This might not be realistic because you might not have the margin to pay them. You get the idea right?

When debt takes up too much of your monthly expenses it limits your ability to reinvest in the things that actually grow your business. Instead of working for your future you're working to keep up with those payments. A way to know if this is you is to ask yourself If debt payments are making it hard to cover your day-to-day expenses or investing growth or pay yourself more.

Are you pausing reinvestment in your business because too much of your cash is tied up paying debt payments? It's time to focus on paying down that debt!

Alright, the second way that debt could be holding you back. It increases stress and decision fatigue.

If we're being honest, debt isn't just a financial issue. It's a mental load that you take on every day. When you're constantly worried about making payments and being trapped in debt and the opportunity cost that that creates, this is increasing stress and anxiety that bleeds into everything.

You might feel pressure to take on more patients than you can handle and work more days than you want. You might rush into bad business to decisions just to cover expenses. You might struggle to enjoy work because financial anxiety is always in the background.

Or you might be forced to miss out on amazing educational opportunities, travel opportunities, and vacations because you can't stop working to because you don't want to miss out on that revenue, so you just keep plugging away when you really need to take that time to rest.

This means you don't get that needed downtime and that rejuvenation in your spirit. Ask yourself if you're losing sleep over money or constantly worrying about cash flow or being trapped by debt. If so, it's time to reassess and form a plan to get free of debt. You are absolutely capable of doing this.

The third way that debt holds you back in your life and in your business is it keeps you stuck in survival mode and it hinders your growth. The harsh truth is that when you're buried in debt, you're working for the past not the future. Your revenue should be going toward growth, stability, and yes paying yourself what you deserve. 

But when a big chunk of your income is tied up in loan repayments, you're stuck in a survival mode cycle instead of a thriving and growth mode. And the more debt you take on, the longer you stay stuck in this survival mode and this cycle of just getting by. And it becomes harder to break free from that cycle the bigger your debt gets.

So, what's the solution?

Start tracking debts strategically.

I want you to check out episode number twenty-six after this episode's over. How to ditch debt and grow your business with cash. I did a deep dive into how to go about tackling debt and I gave tactics for growing with cash. This can be incredibly helpful. Because that puts you into strategic thinking on how you can cover all your expenses those long term equipment expenses and things that you need that you can be proactive about instead of relying on debt.

So, it kind of flips your mental switch and I hope you do that in the episode and think of strategic ways to tackle debt and to also grow your business with cash so you can head in the right direction with paying off your debt by doing three things. 

First, knowing your numbers. How much you owe, who do you owe it to, and what is your interest rate? Just being aware and knowing all of the facts.

Second action step - create a realistic debt payoff plan. Use the snowball or the avalanche method. And I talked about that in episode twenty-six. So, for sure go listen to that so you can get a better idea of what would work for you, and I will link that in the show notes.

The third action step that you can take is to cut unnecessary expenses. Free up cash flow as much as possible. Your expenses are now all ‘need to have’ expenses, not ‘nice to have’ expenses if you're in debt payoff mode. Debt does not have to control your business and your life forever. The sooner you take action, the sooner you can shift from just getting by and covering payments to building some real financial success. And getting into growth mode in your business and cash flowing things.

And if you need support and community along the way, join my free Facebook group. You can ask questions there any time or just reach out for moral support.

You can also DM me on Facebook or reach out at support@financiallyadjusted.com if you're feeling more like you just want to speak with somebody privately.

I am here to cheer you on and guide you along the way. You are not in this alone, my friend.

That is it for today. So, this was definitely a short and sweet one. I just wanted to bring awareness to what your situation is around debt, give you some things to think about and pay attention to in your business. 

And most of all, I want to give you hope. You are absolutely able to get out of a debt situation that's suffocating you or making you feel like you're just so limited in the way that you can grow in the way that you can live your life.

You don't have to be stuck in that cycle. It's not the end of the world. If you have debt, I usually just say, you know keep that at about fifteen percent of what your annual revenue is. Ideally, you don't want to be in any debt because the more that you make, the more you're keeping in your business and in your own pocket.

But if you are in debt, it's not the end of the world.

Just monitor what your level of debt is. If it has gotten out of control to the point where it's like past that fifteen percent of your annual revenue and you're just struggling to pay it off to get ahead, you need to really consider some of these action steps that I mentioned and really consider why path you want to take to pay that off and then to get to a point where you can grow your business with cash.

If you found this helpful, do me a favor and share it with a chiropractic friend and give it a five star review. That'll help me reach lots of other awesome chiropractors like you who need support and help when it comes to running the financial side of their business.

So, until next week remember that action brings clarity, and imperfect action is better than none at all.

Have a wonderful day my friend!