Eric Levenhagen - ProWise Financial Coaching

Quick one for practice owners who just made a quarterly tax payment.

You sent the IRS a check on the 15th. Do you know if it was the right amount? Most owners don't, and it's an easy thing to get wrong in either direction.

There's a "safe harbor" that keeps you from owing a penalty - for most owners, paying in 110% of last year's tax across the four quarters. But safe from the penalty isn't the same as paid the right amount. Have a big year and you'll still owe in April. Have a down year and you've handed the IRS extra cash that could have been working in your practice.
The good news: right now, with three quarters of real numbers, is the best time all year to check and true up your final payment. This week's post walks through exactly how.

Link's in the comments if you want the full breakdown.

A quick reframe that saves practice owners a lot of stress every April.
When a tax bill blindsides you, it's easy to blame the bill. Too high. Unfair. But the tax was going to be whatever it was going to be. What hurt was finding out too late to change it.

By the time your return is done in the spring, the year is closed. Your entity, your retirement contributions, how you paid your family, when you bought equipment, all of those levers are already behind you. Catch your number back in the summer, and they're still live. That's the whole game.

A shocking tax bill isn't a tax problem. It's a timing problem. This week's post shows you how to fix the timing: https://prowisefinancial.com/post/how-to-avoid-a-shocking-tax-bill-before-its-too-late

Want to know your number while you can still act on it? Click here to book a 30-minute Financial Clarity Call: https://prowisefinancial.com/claritycall

Last summer, a practice owner took her first two-week vacation in nine years, and didn't check the bank account once. (She's a composite of the owners I work with, but the story is real.)

A year earlier it would have been impossible. She worked five clinical days a week and felt every day off in the deposits. The practice didn't run. She did.

What changed wasn't working harder. She built a few simple money systems: the cash learned to sort itself, her own pay went on autopilot, and someone besides her could see the numbers and handle the routine calls. She also got a clean enough look at the books to see that her associate was profitable, so she wasn't the only one carrying the load.
She cut a clinical day, took the trip, and the practice paid her the whole time she was gone.

This week's post tells the whole story: https://prowisefinancial.com/post/she-took-a-2-week-vacation-the-practice-ran-fine

Want that for yourself? Click here to book a 30-minute Financial Clarity Call: https://prowisefinancial.com/claritycall

Here's a question that tells you a lot about your practice: could you take a real week off without your phone blowing up?

For most owners, the honest answer is no. And it usually isn't the team's fault. It's the money. Every dollar still runs through you, so the day you leave, the place stalls.

This week's post is about the three systems that change that. The cash learns to sort itself. Your own pay runs on autopilot. And someone besides you can see the numbers and handle the routine calls. Put those in place and stepping back stops being wishful thinking.

Read it here: https://prowisefinancial.com/post/you-cant-step-back-until-the-money-can-run-without-you

Want help building them? Click here to book a 30-minute Financial Clarity Call: https://prowisefinancial.com/claritycall

Be honest. Which stage are you in right now?

There’s a predictable pattern to how practice owners respond to financial pressure. Stage one is shock, where you freeze. Stage two is desperation, where you overreact and cut or spend wildly. Stage three is evaluation, where you finally pause and look at the numbers. Stage four is deliberate action, calm and strategic. Stage five is surge, where you come out stronger than you went in.

The expensive decisions get made in stage two. The wealth-building decisions get made in stage four. Most of the work isn’t avoiding pressure. It’s shortening the time between desperation and deliberate action.

Part 4 of the cash flow visibility series is the closer. It brings the whole system together and gives you a three-question filter for any big decision.

https://prowisefinancial.com/post/make-decisions-on-purpose-a-calm-framework-for-cutting-holding-and-investing

For every independent practice owner who has quietly skipped their own paycheck to make the numbers work this month:

When margins tighten, most owners cut things in this order. Their own pay first. Then profit. Then tax savings. And only as a last resort, operating expenses.

The person carrying all the risk gets paid last. The vendor contracts and software subscriptions get cut last, if at all.

Cutting your own draw feels responsible. It feels like leadership. So owners absorb the shortfall month after month and call it sacrifice. But it isn’t sacrifice. It’s a slow erosion of the one person the practice can’t replace. And it’s one of the most common reasons private practice owners burn out.

Part 3 of my cash flow visibility series is about flipping that order, and what it really means when a practice can’t pay its owner a fair wage.

https://prowisefinancial.com/post/specialty-optometrist-practice-9402-3749-8839

A conversation I’ve been having a lot lately with independent optometry owners:

Patients are still showing up. Exam volume is mostly holding. But the optical side feels softer. People are choosing single vision over progressives. They’re saying “I’ll wait” on the second pair. Frame costs are creeping up. And somehow, even with the schedule full, the bank account isn’t reflecting the work.

If any of that sounds familiar, here’s the reframe.

Lower revenue isn’t the real problem. The deeper issue is that when collections were growing, cash flow leaks got covered up by the next deposit. Nobody noticed. When collections flatten or dip, those same leaks show up immediately in the bank balance.

Good news: leaks can be found. And once you can see them, you can stop guessing and start making real decisions.

Just published Part 1 of a 4-part series on cash flow visibility. Two diagnostic moves to surface where your cash is actually going. Worth ten minutes if your numbers haven’t been telling you a clear story.

https://prowisefinancial.com/post/specialty-optometrist-practice-9402

Most optometrists I talk to already have the numbers.

Profit and loss statements.
Reports from their system.
Data from every direction.

But when it comes time to make a decision… they still hesitate.
Should I hire an associate?
Is now the right time to invest in new equipment?
Can I afford to work fewer days?

The problem isn’t a lack of information.
It’s that the numbers aren’t giving you clear direction.

I wrote a short piece on why this is happening and what to do about it.

👉 https://prowisefinancial.com/post/specialty-optometrist-practice-9402-8944

If your practice feels “fine” but not fully under control, this will hit close to home.

If tax day knocked the wind out of you this year, read this.

Most independent optometrists I talk to aren’t bad with money.

They’re just operating on one painful belief that creates chaos every April:

“The money in my account is mine until the government takes it.”

That single belief is why tax day feels like a surprise attack.

The fix isn’t a better spreadsheet or a smarter deduction.
It’s a simple system of financial habits that most of my successful clients are already running.

I broke it down in a new blog post, including the 3 moves that turn April 15th from a panic day into a quiet formality.

👉 Read it here: https://prowisefinancial.com/post/specialty-optometrist-practice