Tax season was just about the last thing Dr. Audra Horney had to worry about. 

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As a full-time therapist at a group practice, her finances were simple and she had time to spare to pull together her numbers at tax season every year.

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But when she transitioned from full-time contract work to running her own practice and growing a social media presence as a therapist for men, that started to change. Suddenly, her business finances became much more complicated—and DIY solutions weren’t cutting it. 

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As tax time drew near, entrepreneurial enthusiasm turned to deadline dread. Here’s how Dr. Audra came to solve the problem with Heard, and the lessons she learned along the way.

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The simple life

Immediately after completing her Ph.D in Counselling Psychology at the University of Oregon, Dr. Audra started working as a full-time contractor for a group practice. 

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Soon, business was booming. And handling business admin was a breeze.

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“My finances were super simple,” Dr. Audra said. “I really didn’t have to think about bookkeeping, to be honest.”

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Dr. Audra’s business expenses were minimal, and she only had one source of income: her therapy clients. 

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Tax season was easy. Dr. Audra worked with a CPA recommended by a friend to complete her business and family tax returns.

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“I would literally block off half a day, and just pull together everything I thought my CPA might need,” Dr. Audra said. “I really did not think about my finances until January of every year.”

Going solo

After seven years working for the group practice, Dr. Audra decided it was time to set out on her own.

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“I felt like I had hit my stride working with a group practice. I was doing great clinical work,” she said. 

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“And then, at the start of January 2023, I just felt like it was a lot of rinse and repeat: show up, see my clients, go home.”

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Dr. Audra launched her own therapist Instagram that month, and started networking with other therapists who had started their own practices.

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“I realized I was taking on more leadership positions within the group practice,” she said. “I was making a lot of money under somebody else’s name, for somebody else, and I was helping strengthen a business and a brand that was not mine.”

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She was encouraged by the fact that there were so many options available for outsourcing admin tasks. “There are EHRs for therapists, there are bookkeepers and accountants for therapists, there are virtual assistants for therapists,” she said. “There are systems out there that help make the transition that much easier.”

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Bumps on the road

Once she decided to make the move to a solo therapy practice, things moved quickly for Dr. Audra.

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“By the middle of last year I was starting to take private practice clients on my own. And then by the end of last year I had fully transitioned out of the group practice and was fully on my own,” she explained. 

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She invested time into building her social media presence. Soon, new income streams—consulting, coaching, and brand partnerships—opened up. 

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By now, Dr. Audra had outsourced some of her day-to-day tasks to apps and online services. She was using an EHR for managing clients and billing them, and had hired a virtual assistant.

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But with these new tools—plus a new office—came a raft of new expenses she needed to track.

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“All of a sudden, I actually have monthly expenses,” she said, “and the revenue that I was generating is coming from different sources.”

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“So, very quickly I went from seven years where I didn’t even have to think about my finances to, all of a sudden, every month it looks different.”

Slow going with QuickBooks

Dr. Audra had no system in place for tracking all of her finances. And with tax season on the horizon—her first tax season as a self-employed therapist running her own practice—she knew she needed to find a solution ASAP.

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So she did what many therapists do when they launch their own practices: She signed up for QuickBooks.

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True to its name, QuickBooks was a quick solution—on the surface, at least—to Dr. Audra’s problems. In theory, it gave her all the tools she needed to track her expenses and income and produce financial information she could use to file her taxes.

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One small problem: she never used it.

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“It felt overwhelming,” she said. “I felt inundated with options, and it just felt like this was way above my pay grade.”

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“And this was the entry-level, practically free QuickBooks,” she added. “And I was feeling paralyzed by it.”

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By this point, Dr. Audra had set up her own on-the-fly Excel spreadsheet to track her finances. But it barely managed to keep her daily transactions organized, let alone produce the financial statements she would need to file her taxes.

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It wasn’t pretty.

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“I don’t want to show people the Excel spreadsheet that I used in the beginning, and the things I had kind of cobbled together,” she admitted. 

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The emotional factor

For Dr. Audra, the outcome of her failed experiment with Quickbooks was a lot of stress, and even shame, when it came to the financial side of her business. 

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From the outside, her new practice was a runaway success. But below the surface, her finances were a mess, and a constant emotional drain.

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Dr. Audra was quick to note that many other self-employed therapists faced similar problems.

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“Therapists are very good at our craft,” she said, “but we are not trained for any of the business part of it—even though we are business owners.

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“And I think we really focus on our therapy work, but then the actual business pieces of it are kind of Googled or DIYed, and not something we’re necessarily proud of.”

Facing the facts

Dr. Audra said she reached a “tipping point.”

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“It just quickly escalated,” she said. She said she realized there was no way she was going to catch up on her bookkeeping with QuickBooks.

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Earlier, Dr. Audra had been hesitant about hiring outside help when it came to her finances. After all, she’d spent seven years as a clinical therapist without paying for a bookkeeper, and only seeing her accountant once a year.

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But facts were facts: her situation would not be improved by procrastination.

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“I’m a huge proponent of working in my zone of genius, and then outsourcing where I’m not,” she said. “Because I know then I can save time, energy, and resources beyond the money I might be spending to outsource.”

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After all, every hour she spent fiddling with spreadsheets and tracking down information was time Dr. Audra could invest in growing her business, building relationships, and helping clients. 

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All she needed now was a solution that worked—and fast.

Tax season with Heard

Through her relationships with other therapists, Dr. Audra learned about Heard. As a one-stop solution for bookkeeping, accounting, and taxes, it sounded like the perfect fit.

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She hurried to sign up before the fourth-quarter estimated tax deadline. That guaranteed Heard would be able to estimate her tax payments for her before the end of year, so she could pay accurately and on time and avoid IRS penalties. 

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Getting up and running with Heard was a breeze, Dr. Audra said. And since Heard would handle her tax filing for her, she no longer needed to hire a CPA at the end of the year.

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Time, Dr. Audra said, is her most valuable resource. Now that Heard was shouldering the tax season burden, she suddenly had more of it.

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“Not having to put time towards things like financial tasks opens up new opportunities,” she said. “I can create content for social media, or I can do a podcast interview. I can explore a different lane because Heard has freed up that piece of the pie.”

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She added that there was also an emotional payoff to using Heard.

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“It feels like it legitimizes my business, and me as a business owner,” Dr. Audra said. “I just feel more confident in that role.”

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Looking ahead

With a guaranteed stress-free tax season, and without day-to-day financial tasks weighing on her mind, Dr. Audra has been able to devote more time to her professional passion: helping men make progress in therapy.

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“I had the really great problem of having more inquiries for therapy than I had spots to see clients in,” she said, “so I started a directory of therapists for men.”

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She said the directory already includes more than 150 member therapists in the USA, Canada, and worldwide who help men address mental health issues, and that the list of members is growing.

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Joining the directory is currently free of charge. Dr. Audra encourages therapists to join regardless of whether they have a core specialization helping male clients—it’s enough that they “want to create an inclusive therapy experience for men.”  

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With Heard handling her financial admin, Dr. Audra said, she looks forward to devoting more time to her clients and supporting men's mental health through TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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Want to hear more stories—and actionable advice—from therapists running their own practices? Tune into the Heard Business School Podcast.

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This post is to be used for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, business, or tax advice. Each person should consult their own attorney, business advisor, or tax advisor with respect to matters referenced in this post.

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Dr. Audra Horney (she/her) is a licensed psychologist and therapist for men with a private practice, Modern Therapy AZ, in Phoenix, AZ.

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Dr. Audra is specialized in men's mental health and works with adult men who are seeking therapy for the first time, or courageously returning to therapy after prior negative experiences. Dr Audra's practice is built on the feminist value that everyone is entitled to inclusive mental health care. She is committed to normalizing and destigmatizing the therapeutic experience for men in therapy.‍

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‍In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Audra has developed a strong social media presence (@dr.audra.horney on both Instagram and TikTok). She is passionate about building an online community where men's mental health is recognized and validated. Dr. Audra hopes to empower other therapists to build inclusive mental health practices that support men. Join her directory of therapists for men here!

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