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Therapy For Your Money
Welcome to Therapy for your Money, a podcast about all things money and finance for private practice owners! If you are ready to feel confident and in-control of your financial life, then you are in the right spot. Therapy for our Money is hosted by Julie Herres, the CEO and Founder of GreenOak Accounting. She and her firm specialize in working with private practice owners across the United States, and have assisted hundreds of private practices with increasing their financial stability and profitability. She is on a mission to share her best practices she's learned along the way through her successful career as an accountant, discusses financial topics with a wide variety of guests, and help her listeners make data driven decisions to help their businesses.
Therapy For Your Money
Episode 206: How Much Is Too Much? The Rent Equation That Can Make or Break Your Profit
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The Rent Equation That Can Make or Break Your Profit
Rent usually isn’t your biggest expense — payroll almost always takes that spot. But rent is one of the biggest long-term commitments you’ll ever make in your practice.
When you sign a 5- or 10-year lease, that decision follows you.
And I’ve seen it go both ways.
I’ve seen beautiful spaces help practices grow efficiently and profitably. And I’ve seen gorgeous offices turn into financial anchors that are almost impossible to escape.
In this episode, I’m walking you through the simple math that determines whether your space supports your profit… or slowly squeezes it.
Because every practice deserves to be profitable — and the math has to math.
In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
1️⃣ The ideal percentage your rent should fall within
(And why 3–10% of gross income is your guardrail.)
2️⃣ How to reverse engineer your space before you sign the lease
We break down real examples so you can calculate exactly how many sessions your space needs to generate.
3️⃣ Why utilization matters more than square footage
Just because you’re open 40 hours doesn’t mean you can only schedule 40 hours — and that mindset shift can completely change your profitability.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to fall in love with a space.
It smells good. It looks beautiful. You can picture your dream practice there.
But this is business.
Before you sign anything, run the math. Reverse engineer it. Stress test it at 85% utilization. Ask yourself what happens if hiring takes longer than expected.
Your space should support your profit — not strangle it.
Ready to Run the Numbers?
If you want to walk through the calculations step-by-step, I’ve written a detailed blog post that breaks everything down:
👉 Read the full blog here: https://www.greenoakaccounting.com/post/maximizing-your-space-how-to-make-physical-therapy-clinic-real-estate-work-for-your-bottom-line
Do the math before you sign.
Your future self — and your profit margin — will thank you.
And remember… every practice deserves to be profitable.
Links and Resources
- Money for Therapists Practice Startup - https://www.greenoakaccounting.com/startup
- GreenOak Accounting - www.GreenOakAccounting.com
- Therapy For Your Money Podcast - www.TherapyForYourMoney.com
- Profit First for Therapists - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com
- Profit First Academy - www.ProfitFirstForTherapists.com/Academy
- Podcast Production, Audio Mixing, and YouTube Video Production by James Marland