Reading Rainbow on Amazon, A Nugget For Your Clinic & Are You Paying Yourself Enough?

If you didn’t grow up in the 80’s or early 90’s, you’ve never heard of Reading Rainbow. But trust me, it was straight up gold.

Reading Rainbow was a fantastic children’s television show on PBS, and it was one of the top three children’s tv shows for years (along with Mr. Rogers & Sesame Street).

Each episode revolved around a children’s book and explored the book’s main topics through a variety of related real world ideas and experiences (like bowling!).

The highlight of every show (besides Levar Burton, the show’s adorable host) was their book recommendations. I remember writing them down and taking them to the library as a kid.

Amazon Prime is now streaming two of the later seasons for free. The original recordings are a bit rough around the edges, but the stories and messaging stand the test of time. And you can still find those books in your local library.

This is a fantastic educational resource for kids who are still spending lots of time at home.

“The infinitely configurable play couch made up of four foam pieces: base, cushion, and two triangle pillows.” This couch is a genius piece of therapy equipment.

You can stack the pillows in infinite ways, and they are cheap enough ($229 + shipping, $99 for extra covers) that you can buy more than one for your clinic space.

They come in tons of colors and they are MACHINE WASHABLE. These are perfect for the home and the clinic.

The only drawback is that they are very popular and currently out of stock until the end of April.

If you run a private practice, you know how tempting it is to pay yourself nearly nothing and then take cash from your profits at the end of the year. It makes you feel so much more profitable, but that is purely psychological.

If you have a goal of growing your practice so that you don’t have to do all of the work, or if you want to sell your practice in the future, it’s important to take a hard look at your salary. Paying yourself too little could sabotage your ability to grow.

Joshua Schultz published an eye-opening article about this topic and he makes some compelling points:

• If you aren’t paying yourself a market rate salary, your financial statements may show an inflated view of how the business is doing.`
• If you want to hire someone to take over your day to day responsibilities, you will likely have to pay them what you are paying yourself. If you are taking a below-market salary, you won’t be able to afford to hire anyone.
• Taking a salary that is far below market rate for your job may raise red flags with the IRS.

You can dive deeper here.