From Wall Street to White Coats - How Stan Sukhinin Became a Fractional CFO for Doctors

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This is the Beyond the Story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Rusk Yeah. It's great to have you here as well. I know that, uh, we connected out there on the internet. So, uh, good to have you on the show and, um, excited to tell your story. Speaking of stories, that's exactly what we do on this podcast is, uh, tell people's story of how they started doing exactly what they're doing today. But I always like for context purposes to back up to the beginning of the story, uh, So our business can better understand exactly where this all started. Now, the beginning of the story is different for everybody. So you define where that starting point as, but bring us back to the beginning that Yeah. The story starts in, uh, when I was in school. So I was a really big fan of the soccer and, uh, I was like 15 years old.

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And then a friend of mine brought this, uh, business magazine, And I just like accidentally start reading this and I realized, oh, there are so many rich people and they're doing these things like what is called business and they're selling businesses for millions of dollars. And I was so fascinated by these stories that I'm reading. I said, okay, I really want to do this. And then I just realized, so like, I think it's come up very, very quickly. Uh, I love numbers. And, uh, I said like, I want to be around businesses. I want to learn about businesses.

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And I said like, okay, uh, I will work. Uh, I was very specific time. I said like, I will work in a, in a corporate lending department at any bank. Uh, and I will work inside the bank and I will learn about money and like how banks works. And, and I will, I will also understand the businesses because I will speak with business owners and we'll see like firsthand what's happening in their business, especially in terms of numbers. And, uh, and that's actually what I did. So the first job I was a credit analyst, a junior credit analyst at a small small original, uh, band and, uh, and then it's kind of grow from, from, from this, uh, from, from Yeah, now, now I find out that, uh, so there was a story. I kind of like had this really fast career. I was in a corporate lending. Then I did investment banking and then I, I used to run quite a big mezzanine financing show. And, uh, Then I had this dream that I want to set up a hedge fund. It was kind of like a long, long dream to manage money, invest them. And with this topic, I'm originally from Ruskia, Moscow, so I moved to New York with my family to set up my own hedge fund. and uh it was like first time when i when i had no full-time job it just wasn't just just on my own and and it didn't work out so uh when i when i launched it like uh i had a partner we couldn't get like enough as an under management and it was it was kind of like a struggle and then i realized that i don't really want to run a hedge fund anymore because it's kind of it's not really for society it's kind of net positive i mean it's not in net positive just that there is a certain aspects of net positive but it's like you don't really change change people's lives. And, and, and at the same time, I started getting, because for me, kind of like financials, companies, financials, business financials, it's super simple. I don't know, like, I still don't really understand why people struggling with this. It's, it's really simple. It's nothing, it's not like a rocket science, but yeah, I've seen these stories when entrepreneurs, business owners, they working like more than 10 years for like uh in business but like what's they doing they just digging like a big financial hole every year so like and then they're not really realizing it and there was one story that completely shocked me like i've never heard it there was one gentleman and he said like can you help me with financials and he said that he's two weeks away from declaring personal bankruptcy And, uh, he has been working in consumer good business for 15 years. And, and because he didn't really have any financials, he didn't understand his margins. He's basically, he was selling, uh, like, I don't know, and break even, or even loss-making, uh, his inventory most of the time. And, and because he didn't track it, he was seeing any, and the revenue was growing. So he thought, as like a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners think that the main problem is capital. He thought like he needs more capital, needs more money in the business because it's growing.

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Right. And so he basically lived on it for 15 years and end up in a million of losses and he just couldn't find any way other than declare bankruptcy. So I thought, okay, it's just like, I can help people like that. And, uh, since then I said like, okay, my mission just to help. Entrepreneurs never be out of the game because of their financial mismanagement. So they can lose the competition, they can lose their business because they're not competitive enough, and I think it's a good thing, but they shouldn't be out of the business because Yeah. So you said that you didn't like working in hedge funds.

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I don't even, I mean, I know what a hedge fund is, but I could, I can only imagine that it's, you know, not, not exhilarating work to get done.

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Was that, was that a contributing factor? You decided you didn't want to. Do Yeah. Yeah. I realized there's several factors. First of all, it's, it's a really hard business. Like for the last 10, 15 years, it's kind of like these ETFs and passive investments when you just buy an index and it's just like a completely kind of crude out the, the, the active management. And another thing I just realized, like there's a statistic that, hedge fund managers, uh, on average, like 90, 95% of them losing to S&P 500. So there's no really, you don't create anything, anything good. So like it's for normal people, even not even for, for normal people, even for institutional investors, it doesn't make any sense to invest in most of the hedge funds in most of the strategists. And I, when I realized it, it was like, okay, I don't really want to spend my life on something that I probably will never beat like this S&P 500 like statistics is just like the the chances that you will beat S&P 500 on a regular basis for like uh several decades it's like almost very close to the like to be a professional athlete it's kind of it's kind of the same odds and I like no like I I can I can fool myself but I don't want I want to be honest with myself and I say So what exactly are you doing today? Present day? Are you, are you living that out exactly Yeah. Yeah. I'm providing fractional CFO service for clinic owners, outpatient clinic owners, because they struggling the most. I think among like any kind of business is what I realized that clinic owners are really, because they also work themselves. like they also provide service for the patients because like those clinics run by doctors most of the time. And they really work long, long hours. And, uh, and I know like a lot of business owners work long hours, but like they need to provide these clients. Right. And then on top of that, they have another complexity.

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They have these insurance and the insurance try, try to find any excuse not to pay enough and delay the payments. And, and I just like, I kind of sympathize with the doctors and, and you know, that healthcare sector is not the most efficient one. And, uh, I kind of like, I really want to make a change or at least help doctors like to run a profitable, profitable Right. Got it. So your niche is medical clinics. Yes.

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Yeah, the fractional CFO arena is really starting to expand. We've got a couple of clients here at the Podcast Launch Lab that are fractional CFOs. Actually, oddly enough, one of them's in Austin. Yeah.

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So that's becoming more of a, because you can go in and you can pay a fractional CFO. excuse me, hire a CFO and pay him a couple hundred grand a year, or you can bring in a fractional and pay a fraction of that. They're going to probably do an even better job because you're not their only client. Um, and you know, that, that whole fractional space I think is specifically within the financial space. I think you guys were really the trailblazers for the fractional positions. I know there's, fractional CMOs and other positions out there. But as far as the biggest need and then the biggest ability to actually produce results comes down to the bottom line money. Right. So, um, I've seen that continue to, to, to grow. So how long have you been doing the fractional CFO Like three, four years, like a really full time, two Cool. And what would you say the, what's the best part about the job Yeah. And just like, I see that you can improve the lives of like particular people or just like a really kind of explain them, like what's, what's the part here. And, and I just, I want to like to cautious these, uh, Like if you go and speak with any CPAs and accountants and bookkeepers, they start providing like a fraction of CFOs. But if you look at the team, they usually don't have anyone with the financial background and strategic background. Like I just like cautious people that like, if you really want to hire a fraction of CFO, you need to look on strategic side because it's a strategic role. And another, like the biggest difference between accountant and bookkeeper and a proper CFO is that they will speak to you on the same level. And sometimes they, they should say no to you. It's like, it's the biggest, it's the biggest value. It's not like cashflow analysis, budget, all these Excel's. It's like, it's all, it's all important, but the most important things is to explain you where you're wrong. and deliver this message in a proper way that you get it.

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So it's kind of like the hardest. And like those bookkeepers, they are just accountants. They are not wired to do this at Okay, cool, cool. So we're winding down the, that's crazy, Q4 is here, 2025, time flies when you're having fun, right?

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So what are you excited about as we Yeah, I'm personally excited. I developed another offer for Cleaning Corners and I see more opportunities how we can help and I'm excited to speak with the Cleaning Corners and have a really good conversation.

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Cool. Yeah. I mean, helping people, uh, improve their business overall doing work. That's, that's, uh, that's fulfilling is very, very important, right? I mean, you, you learned that already. You learned that hedge funds weren't your jam, but creating something Yeah, yeah, just like, you know, sitting in front of your monitor and like selling and buying things just like it doesn't create any difference for people. It's just like it.

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And when I do work right now, it just, yeah, just I see it's kind of like, yeah, it really, it really affects a lot of Well, Stan, been good to meet you and better understand exactly, you know, what you do and how you serve people. The listeners out there, if you own a medical facility and you're looking to figure out your finances, cause you know, it can be better. Be sure to hit up Stan. We'll put all of his contact information for LinkedIn in the show notes of this episode. That's the description for those of you wondering what the hell a show note is, but Stan, any final thoughts for our listeners on why they may want to think about a fractional CFO for Yeah, it's just like, uh, there's a few symptoms. If you don't review your books that you account to prepare and you already over 1 million of revenue, probably you need to get someone on your team or just at least like a speaker. And then like, if you, if your best method to manage your financial, just logging in your bank account and check if it's higher or lower, it's also a symptom probably at least like, So then just schedule one or two strategic sessions with anyone. Like I know I provided it for free. A lot of fraction of C4 provide them for free. Just like get some, some kind of like a alternative view, how you should manage financial. It's, it's going to be like open-minded for you. Trust It really, yeah, it really, really is. It's very, it's humbling to say the least humbling, sobering, shocking D all the above. Right. Yeah. Hey, Stan, thanks again for being on the show. I appreciate you, man. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Sebastian. You got it. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show.

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