November 5, 2025 • 12 mins
We lay out a simple, repeatable plan to fund holiday bonuses without wrecking cash flow, balancing fairness, morale, and sustainability. From tiered vs equal payouts to profit-sharing, we show how to set expectations and build a dedicated bonus fund that survives a slow December.
Meet with one of our coaches
*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
As the holidays approach, you are likely
(00:02):
thinking about how to compensateyour team, give them a nice
end-of-the-ariday bonus of somekind.
Yet I know for a lot of peoplethis is a stressful process
because you're trying to figureout what I can actually afford
to do in a way that's going tomake them feel valued and that's
actually going to be somethingthat is helpful to them and is
an amount that you thinkreflects what their value is to
(00:23):
you and the company.
I'm going to guide you throughhow to come up with this
process, this structure, andthen how can you save and create
a system in a way that you havethe money already set aside and
it's no longer a stress or astrain on your business.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of DAC Financial Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
(00:44):
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
Usually as we step into thefourth quarter of the year,
conversations start coming upwith our clients regarding
(01:07):
bonuses for their team.
In fact, a lot of times when weare onboarding a new client,
we're going through goals, oneof the things they really want
to have in place is a bonusstructure, a bonus system for
their employees so that they canregularly reward them for the
growth of the business and bringthem in on that.
The holidays is one of thebiggest.
(01:27):
I mean, it's almost like gottento a point where it's expected
from team members that they'regoing to receive some kind of
bonus.
And if they don't, or if it'ssmaller than what they got last
year, there's resentment,there's frustration, and it can
really hurt morale.
Whether that's right or wrong,that's kind of the reality we
live in.
And so having a system, having aplan in place to do this is
really, really important.
(01:48):
Now, before I dig into that,first of all, I just want to say
thank you for being a listener.
If this is your first time here,I really recommend or I ask that
you subscribe to our podcast.
I think this is something you'llfind really valuable in growing
your practice.
And for those who are regularlisteners, it genuinely means a
ton to me and my team that youare just tuning in and following
(02:09):
along and utilizing what we'retalking about.
The messages I receive fromlisteners, the people who have
ended up becoming clients ofours as a result of this podcast
is just been amazing to see thechanges that are happening for
those who are able to implementit on their own or for those who
actually need some extra help.
If you can help us, the onething we can ask, we ask for in
return is if you don't mindsubscribing, leaving a review,
(02:31):
sharing how much you enjoy theshow.
That's gonna help us get infront of more practice owners
and help give this podcast morelikes.
We can in turn help more peoplefeel more financially stable and
more in control of theirfinances.
So thanks again for being alistener.
Now let's dig into the holidaybudget for bonuses.
How can we set up a bonusstructure?
(02:52):
So there's a few key steps Iwant to talk to you about, and
I'm gonna approach this as herewe are, it's coming up.
So again, when I'm recordingthis, it's the beginning of Q4.
So I'm recording this in earlyOctober.
So we are thinking throughcoming up here in about two
months is when those bonuseswould go out.
So we have to start going atthis process really
(03:14):
systematically, and I would saystarting big picture and then
bringing it down into a smallactionable plan.
So the first thing I want tostart with is just we got to
decide how much we think eachemployee should get.
Now, you can work this wayinstead of coming up with I need
this much money to divide out, Iprefer to go about it as how
much would I like to give eachperson?
(03:37):
How much do I think would bewould be a welcome surprise?
How much do I think would showthem what their value is?
Now I know they're allinvaluable and they all deserve
way, way more than what we wouldprobably be able to afford to
give them.
But in general, what do I thinkwould be a really well-received
reflection of the value theybring to the company?
(03:59):
So going through, now there's acouple ways to do this.
The you can either make it atiered process.
So if you want certain people inyour company to get more than
others, if you want uh maybeyour therapist, your full-time
therapist to get a higher bonusthan maybe your part-time
therapist or maybe your admin,it's okay to do that.
(04:19):
If you have certain people whoare licensed of a certain at a
certain point, or those whogenerate the most revenue or see
the most clients, there's a lotof different ways to go about
it.
And every practice owner isdifferent when it comes to this.
So there's not necessarily aright or wrong.
You could do that, you could doit based on just an even split
that everybody in our companygets a bonus of X dollars.
So go sit down and figure outthat's probably step one is do I
(04:43):
want to give everybody the sameamount?
Do I feel like there's differentlevels and kind of chunk those
out?
So decide how do I want to breakthose apart.
So again, some common ones arefull-time therapists, part-time
therapists, and then admin.
So those three groups, how muchwould full-time get, how much
would part-time, how much wouldthe admin get?
Another one we've seen is basedon how edu how much education
(05:06):
they have in the sense oflicenses and what services they
provide.
So if you feel like they aremore valuable in that sense,
then you could put those.
Maybe they get more than thenext tier, maybe they get more
than the ones who are who arestill working on getting their
license.
All those elements come intoplay.
So decide how you want to breakthat apart.
If you are overwhelmed by theprocess already, then that's
(05:28):
where I would say maybe justdoing an even split is
completely fine.
We want to keep in mind that weare setting a baseline.
Now, the it should be understoodand maybe articulated in team
meeting that you know what theyreceived last year is never a
litmus test for what they'regonna receive this year.
And so as we are paying thisout, letting people know that,
(05:50):
but also keeping in mind that ifI'm gonna maybe you feel you've
felt guilty for not giving a bigenough bonus over the past year.
So you're like, I'm gonna givethem a huge bonus this year to
make up for that.
We had a good year, and I justwant to do that.
That's setting the new line inthe sand for them of what to
expect next year.
And so keeping all those piecesin mind of what's sustainable,
what is a sustainable bonusstructure, an amount that I can
(06:13):
give them that I know next yearI should be able to do the same
thing, and the next year Ishould be able to do the same
thing.
That's what we want to do.
Now, when it comes to if youfeel like you want to really
reward them more on the timeswhere things are good, that's
where a recurring or a regularprofit sharing would be really
beneficial.
This is utilizing your profitbank account.
So if you're putting money intoa separate account, nickname
(06:35):
profit, at the end of everyquarter, sharing some of that
with your team.
They know that fluctuates.
I do this with my team.
My team knows it's gonnafluctuate.
They pretty well know whenthings are tight, when business
is down, and then when we aredoing really, really well.
So they know that it's gonna beup and down.
There's gonna be times wherethat bonus is gonna be less.
There's gonna be times whereit's a lot more.
(06:57):
There is not necessarily thisthing that they're anchoring
into or expecting it to be.
And if it's less, then they'refrustrated, disappointed, or
feeling like I'm cheap.
At least I hope they don't thinkthat.
It's based on our company'sprofit.
If the company was profitable,they get a piece of that pie.
If it wasn't as profitable, theyget a smaller piece of that pie.
(07:17):
A holiday bonus is gonna be alot different.
This is gonna, again, beexpected.
Sometimes families even put thisinto their holiday shopping
budget.
So they already have that intheir brain of I'm gonna be
receiving a$500 bonus from myemployer.
So they're already putting thatin their head.
And then if in turn you comeback and it's$250, that's where
sometimes morale can go down.
(07:38):
It's not owed to them, but atthe same time, we want to we
want them to be happy.
We want this bonus to be wellreceived and not something
that's a negative experience.
So really outlining that.
So sit down, list out your teammembers.
If you're not gonna do a an evensplit across, making sure
everyone gets the same amount,list out your team members and
decide how much do I want togive them, and then write that
(08:00):
total down.
And that's gonna be our targetgoal.
So, depending on when you'relistening to this, you might
have plenty of time to save forit.
So, and really the amount oftime you need to save is gonna
drastically lean on how much youneed and how big your practice
is.
So, let's just say you decide Ineed$5,000 to pay out my team's
(08:22):
bonuses.
Then what we want to do is wewant to just open up an extra a
little account called holidaybonuses and figure out do I want
to set 1%, do I want to set achunk of cash over there ever
every month, every couple weeks?
That we're just gonna slowlyfill that fund up so that way
it's there come December 1st.
That's our target goal isDecember 1st.
We can pay out bonuses for thatfirst payroll of December.
(08:46):
So, really thinking through whatdoes that number need to be, and
then saving systematically forit, even maybe even year-round.
You could start January puttingone percent into that account,
and then if you hit 5,000, youcan stop putting money into it.
It's already funded, it's readyto go.
And if you get to August andyou're realizing we're not gonna
we're not close to hitting the5,000 in there, then maybe you
(09:09):
up it to two, three percent justto get you there faster.
So setting that goal and thensystematically saving money over
to the side.
So again, we have that account.
Now, another way to go about itis I was talking about the
profit sharing with your profitaccount.
Some people elect to use theirprofit in that fourth quarter to
then pay out, help pay outbonuses or help fill in gaps if
(09:32):
they don't have enough in theirexpenses or in that other
account.
So you can utilize your profitin a profit sharing way for
that.
The only time it doesn't work isif you're paying in profit
sharing throughout the year,then you know it's kind of a
here's your profit share slashChristmas bonus.
That said, you don't have togive them more on top.
And so that's going to theprofit sharing piece.
If you're sharing profit everyquarter, that doesn't mean you
(09:53):
have to give a Christmas bonus.
You can profit the profit sharecould be their end of year
bonus.
Or if you do, it can be a lotless because they're receiving
bonuses throughout the year.
And so you can really, insteadof saying I think they deserve
$500, maybe it's one or twohundred dollars, just a little
extra cash for them to spend onholiday shopping, but knowing
(10:15):
that they're also getting theirprofit distribution and all
those pieces.
So all these can come intofactor.
So not to overcomplicate it, butthat's why I mean, if you're
wanting to do the profitsharing, you can incorporate it
that way.
If profit sharing is just beyondwhat you're wanting to even try
and do right now, then havingthat account, saving for it,
being ready to then pay outthose bonuses is going to be
(10:36):
huge.
I know and I acknowledge thatthe holidays, December can be a
month where revenue's down.
It's a stressful time.
That's why this whole bonusthing at Christmas time at the
holidays is stressful forbusiness owners because you
know, okay, I got team memberswho are probably going to be out
this month.
I've got uh clients who areprobably gonna be canceling or
(10:56):
rescheduling on us this monthbecause of the holidays, because
of uh sicknesses as we have thatcold weather hitting.
So it can be stressful to thinkabout this while also trying to
muster up cash to pay out yourteam members those bonuses.
Having that account set up,ready to go, so that when the
stress comes of maybe a downmonth, you already have the
(11:17):
money there.
It's not going to be a factorinto your operating expenses
because it's set aside, it'sready to go, you can pay it out
without it playing into thestress.
That's a great system for asimplified system for paying out
your bonuses.
Now, if you need help coming upwith this, we are always here to
help you.
Click a link in our show noteswhere you can talk to one of our
(11:38):
coaches, but compensate youremployees.
Don't feel obligated.
So if you're listening to thishere in October, November, if
it's too late for you, give whatyou can.
And it's okay if you have toforego the bonuses, but
communicating it if you've donethem in the past, communicating
is going to be key because justknowing your employees are
likely counting on it is super,super important.
(11:59):
But setting up this system fornext year, if it's too late now,
looking ahead to next year.
But I would say even if you'relistening to this in November,
you still have 30 days.
So see what you can set asideover the next 30 days, see what
you can cut, what you canreduce, what you can trim, what
you can pull maybe from theprofit account if you need to,
to help at least give somethingto show your appreciation to
your team this year.
(12:21):
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
practice owner that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with its
finances or just growing yourpractice, head to
therapybusinesspod dot com tolearn how we can help.
As the holidays approach, you are likely
(00:02):
thinking about how to compensateyour team, give them a nice
end-of-the-ariday bonus of somekind.
Yet I know for a lot of peoplethis is a stressful process
because you're trying to figureout what I can actually afford
to do in a way that's going tomake them feel valued and that's
actually going to be somethingthat is helpful to them and is
an amount that you thinkreflects what their value is to
(00:23):
you and the company.
I'm going to guide you throughhow to come up with this
process, this structure, andthen how can you save and create
a system in a way that you havethe money already set aside and
it's no longer a stress or astrain on your business.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of DAC Financial Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
(00:44):
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
Usually as we step into thefourth quarter of the year,
conversations start coming upwith our clients regarding
(01:07):
bonuses for their team.
In fact, a lot of times when weare onboarding a new client,
we're going through goals, oneof the things they really want
to have in place is a bonusstructure, a bonus system for
their employees so that they canregularly reward them for the
growth of the business and bringthem in on that.
The holidays is one of thebiggest.
(01:27):
I mean, it's almost like gottento a point where it's expected
from team members that they'regoing to receive some kind of
bonus.
And if they don't, or if it'ssmaller than what they got last
year, there's resentment,there's frustration, and it can
really hurt morale.
Whether that's right or wrong,that's kind of the reality we
live in.
And so having a system, having aplan in place to do this is
really, really important.
(01:48):
Now, before I dig into that,first of all, I just want to say
thank you for being a listener.
If this is your first time here,I really recommend or I ask that
you subscribe to our podcast.
I think this is something you'llfind really valuable in growing
your practice.
And for those who are regularlisteners, it genuinely means a
ton to me and my team that youare just tuning in and following
(02:09):
along and utilizing what we'retalking about.
The messages I receive fromlisteners, the people who have
ended up becoming clients ofours as a result of this podcast
is just been amazing to see thechanges that are happening for
those who are able to implementit on their own or for those who
actually need some extra help.
If you can help us, the onething we can ask, we ask for in
return is if you don't mindsubscribing, leaving a review,
(02:31):
sharing how much you enjoy theshow.
That's gonna help us get infront of more practice owners
and help give this podcast morelikes.
We can in turn help more peoplefeel more financially stable and
more in control of theirfinances.
So thanks again for being alistener.
Now let's dig into the holidaybudget for bonuses.
How can we set up a bonusstructure?
(02:52):
So there's a few key steps Iwant to talk to you about, and
I'm gonna approach this as herewe are, it's coming up.
So again, when I'm recordingthis, it's the beginning of Q4.
So I'm recording this in earlyOctober.
So we are thinking throughcoming up here in about two
months is when those bonuseswould go out.
So we have to start going atthis process really
(03:14):
systematically, and I would saystarting big picture and then
bringing it down into a smallactionable plan.
So the first thing I want tostart with is just we got to
decide how much we think eachemployee should get.
Now, you can work this wayinstead of coming up with I need
this much money to divide out, Iprefer to go about it as how
much would I like to give eachperson?
(03:37):
How much do I think would bewould be a welcome surprise?
How much do I think would showthem what their value is?
Now I know they're allinvaluable and they all deserve
way, way more than what we wouldprobably be able to afford to
give them.
But in general, what do I thinkwould be a really well-received
reflection of the value theybring to the company?
(03:59):
So going through, now there's acouple ways to do this.
The you can either make it atiered process.
So if you want certain people inyour company to get more than
others, if you want uh maybeyour therapist, your full-time
therapist to get a higher bonusthan maybe your part-time
therapist or maybe your admin,it's okay to do that.
(04:19):
If you have certain people whoare licensed of a certain at a
certain point, or those whogenerate the most revenue or see
the most clients, there's a lotof different ways to go about
it.
And every practice owner isdifferent when it comes to this.
So there's not necessarily aright or wrong.
You could do that, you could doit based on just an even split
that everybody in our companygets a bonus of X dollars.
So go sit down and figure outthat's probably step one is do I
(04:43):
want to give everybody the sameamount?
Do I feel like there's differentlevels and kind of chunk those
out?
So decide how do I want to breakthose apart.
So again, some common ones arefull-time therapists, part-time
therapists, and then admin.
So those three groups, how muchwould full-time get, how much
would part-time, how much wouldthe admin get?
Another one we've seen is basedon how edu how much education
(05:06):
they have in the sense oflicenses and what services they
provide.
So if you feel like they aremore valuable in that sense,
then you could put those.
Maybe they get more than thenext tier, maybe they get more
than the ones who are who arestill working on getting their
license.
All those elements come intoplay.
So decide how you want to breakthat apart.
If you are overwhelmed by theprocess already, then that's
(05:28):
where I would say maybe justdoing an even split is
completely fine.
We want to keep in mind that weare setting a baseline.
Now, the it should be understoodand maybe articulated in team
meeting that you know what theyreceived last year is never a
litmus test for what they'regonna receive this year.
And so as we are paying thisout, letting people know that,
(05:50):
but also keeping in mind that ifI'm gonna maybe you feel you've
felt guilty for not giving a bigenough bonus over the past year.
So you're like, I'm gonna givethem a huge bonus this year to
make up for that.
We had a good year, and I justwant to do that.
That's setting the new line inthe sand for them of what to
expect next year.
And so keeping all those piecesin mind of what's sustainable,
what is a sustainable bonusstructure, an amount that I can
(06:13):
give them that I know next yearI should be able to do the same
thing, and the next year Ishould be able to do the same
thing.
That's what we want to do.
Now, when it comes to if youfeel like you want to really
reward them more on the timeswhere things are good, that's
where a recurring or a regularprofit sharing would be really
beneficial.
This is utilizing your profitbank account.
So if you're putting money intoa separate account, nickname
(06:35):
profit, at the end of everyquarter, sharing some of that
with your team.
They know that fluctuates.
I do this with my team.
My team knows it's gonnafluctuate.
They pretty well know whenthings are tight, when business
is down, and then when we aredoing really, really well.
So they know that it's gonna beup and down.
There's gonna be times wherethat bonus is gonna be less.
There's gonna be times whereit's a lot more.
(06:57):
There is not necessarily thisthing that they're anchoring
into or expecting it to be.
And if it's less, then they'refrustrated, disappointed, or
feeling like I'm cheap.
At least I hope they don't thinkthat.
It's based on our company'sprofit.
If the company was profitable,they get a piece of that pie.
If it wasn't as profitable, theyget a smaller piece of that pie.
(07:17):
A holiday bonus is gonna be alot different.
This is gonna, again, beexpected.
Sometimes families even put thisinto their holiday shopping
budget.
So they already have that intheir brain of I'm gonna be
receiving a$500 bonus from myemployer.
So they're already putting thatin their head.
And then if in turn you comeback and it's$250, that's where
sometimes morale can go down.
(07:38):
It's not owed to them, but atthe same time, we want to we
want them to be happy.
We want this bonus to be wellreceived and not something
that's a negative experience.
So really outlining that.
So sit down, list out your teammembers.
If you're not gonna do a an evensplit across, making sure
everyone gets the same amount,list out your team members and
decide how much do I want togive them, and then write that
(08:00):
total down.
And that's gonna be our targetgoal.
So, depending on when you'relistening to this, you might
have plenty of time to save forit.
So, and really the amount oftime you need to save is gonna
drastically lean on how much youneed and how big your practice
is.
So, let's just say you decide Ineed$5,000 to pay out my team's
(08:22):
bonuses.
Then what we want to do is wewant to just open up an extra a
little account called holidaybonuses and figure out do I want
to set 1%, do I want to set achunk of cash over there ever
every month, every couple weeks?
That we're just gonna slowlyfill that fund up so that way
it's there come December 1st.
That's our target goal isDecember 1st.
We can pay out bonuses for thatfirst payroll of December.
(08:46):
So, really thinking through whatdoes that number need to be, and
then saving systematically forit, even maybe even year-round.
You could start January puttingone percent into that account,
and then if you hit 5,000, youcan stop putting money into it.
It's already funded, it's readyto go.
And if you get to August andyou're realizing we're not gonna
we're not close to hitting the5,000 in there, then maybe you
(09:09):
up it to two, three percent justto get you there faster.
So setting that goal and thensystematically saving money over
to the side.
So again, we have that account.
Now, another way to go about itis I was talking about the
profit sharing with your profitaccount.
Some people elect to use theirprofit in that fourth quarter to
then pay out, help pay outbonuses or help fill in gaps if
(09:32):
they don't have enough in theirexpenses or in that other
account.
So you can utilize your profitin a profit sharing way for
that.
The only time it doesn't work isif you're paying in profit
sharing throughout the year,then you know it's kind of a
here's your profit share slashChristmas bonus.
That said, you don't have togive them more on top.
And so that's going to theprofit sharing piece.
If you're sharing profit everyquarter, that doesn't mean you
(09:53):
have to give a Christmas bonus.
You can profit the profit sharecould be their end of year
bonus.
Or if you do, it can be a lotless because they're receiving
bonuses throughout the year.
And so you can really, insteadof saying I think they deserve
$500, maybe it's one or twohundred dollars, just a little
extra cash for them to spend onholiday shopping, but knowing
(10:15):
that they're also getting theirprofit distribution and all
those pieces.
So all these can come intofactor.
So not to overcomplicate it, butthat's why I mean, if you're
wanting to do the profitsharing, you can incorporate it
that way.
If profit sharing is just beyondwhat you're wanting to even try
and do right now, then havingthat account, saving for it,
being ready to then pay outthose bonuses is going to be
(10:36):
huge.
I know and I acknowledge thatthe holidays, December can be a
month where revenue's down.
It's a stressful time.
That's why this whole bonusthing at Christmas time at the
holidays is stressful forbusiness owners because you
know, okay, I got team memberswho are probably going to be out
this month.
I've got uh clients who areprobably gonna be canceling or
(10:56):
rescheduling on us this monthbecause of the holidays, because
of uh sicknesses as we have thatcold weather hitting.
So it can be stressful to thinkabout this while also trying to
muster up cash to pay out yourteam members those bonuses.
Having that account set up,ready to go, so that when the
stress comes of maybe a downmonth, you already have the
(11:17):
money there.
It's not going to be a factorinto your operating expenses
because it's set aside, it'sready to go, you can pay it out
without it playing into thestress.
That's a great system for asimplified system for paying out
your bonuses.
Now, if you need help coming upwith this, we are always here to
help you.
Click a link in our show noteswhere you can talk to one of our
(11:38):
coaches, but compensate youremployees.
Don't feel obligated.
So if you're listening to thishere in October, November, if
it's too late for you, give whatyou can.
And it's okay if you have toforego the bonuses, but
communicating it if you've donethem in the past, communicating
is going to be key because justknowing your employees are
likely counting on it is super,super important.
(11:59):
But setting up this system fornext year, if it's too late now,
looking ahead to next year.
But I would say even if you'relistening to this in November,
you still have 30 days.
So see what you can set asideover the next 30 days, see what
you can cut, what you canreduce, what you can trim, what
you can pull maybe from theprofit account if you need to,
to help at least give somethingto show your appreciation to
your team this year.
(12:21):
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
practice owner that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with its
finances or just growing yourpractice, head to
therapybusinesspod dot com tolearn how we can help.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.