P103.13 - Designated Admin Time |
In general, you should not be doing your major admin work daily. You should be focusing on sales and operations daily, with a minimum amount of daily admin to set you up for a regular routine. Then block out time one or two times a week for admin work.
Doing this requires "batching work" as opposed to sequentially processing work. Some folks who like to work hard and work a lot have problems putting off or staging something they can do immediately. The mentality needed for admin work is often more left brained and more detailed or just different from that employed during sales and operations. If you try to flip flop hats too much, you'll never find that feeling of flow that makes things enjoyable, and you'll make more mistakes across the board.
Doing this requires "batching work" as opposed to sequentially processing work. Some folks who like to work hard and work a lot have problems putting off or staging something they can do immediately. The mentality needed for admin work is often more left brained and more detailed or just different from that employed during sales and operations. If you try to flip flop hats too much, you'll never find that feeling of flow that makes things enjoyable, and you'll make more mistakes across the board.
Create a Routine - Make a List of Todos At Admin Time
Make an idiot proof list of todos for Admin Time. As your business grows this list may grow. While the list below looks long, and while it initially took the Acupuncturist who uses this a while to get comfy with it, he now flys through this. Pilots in airplanes use checklists before each flight. That is the closest analogy for this type of system.
======== Wednesday - Admin Day ========
Empty In Box
Scan Tower
Check Online Banking
-- check cash flow
compare vs bills
-- Check accounting Master
Checking- entering statement info 1x/month
CC-- entering statement into 1x/month
-- Make Transfers
CC--make payments 1x/month or more
Checking--Owner Draw 1x/month
Copy Checks from EOB's
Prepare deposit
-- Check wallet and to go for checks
-- grab items from cash box
--copy checks for insurance billing payments
-- replenish cash box (par)
-- Prepare deposit worksheet (cash and checks)
--fill out deposit slip
--put deposit in envelope
--put in bag to go to bank
Pay Bills
Filing "To Be Filed"
Finish Sales Report and print
Input Ins. claims into OA (New Patients last)
Prepare EOB's Circle "Billed/Discount/Paid"
Input EOB Payments. and customer pmts into OA
Input EOB related to PMTs and apply customer pmts
Input EOBs without payments
Check for Repairable claims
File Ins. paperwork
Deal with Insurance Problems
Deal with "Needs Attn"
Review and dispose of "To Be Read"
Check reparable claims from last week
Clean up Office Surfaces
Housecleaning
======== Wednesday - Admin Day ========
Empty In Box
Scan Tower
Check Online Banking
-- check cash flow
compare vs bills
-- Check accounting Master
Checking- entering statement info 1x/month
CC-- entering statement into 1x/month
-- Make Transfers
CC--make payments 1x/month or more
Checking--Owner Draw 1x/month
Copy Checks from EOB's
Prepare deposit
-- Check wallet and to go for checks
-- grab items from cash box
--copy checks for insurance billing payments
-- replenish cash box (par)
-- Prepare deposit worksheet (cash and checks)
--fill out deposit slip
--put deposit in envelope
--put in bag to go to bank
Pay Bills
Filing "To Be Filed"
Finish Sales Report and print
Input Ins. claims into OA (New Patients last)
Prepare EOB's Circle "Billed/Discount/Paid"
Input EOB Payments. and customer pmts into OA
Input EOB related to PMTs and apply customer pmts
Input EOBs without payments
Check for Repairable claims
File Ins. paperwork
Deal with Insurance Problems
Deal with "Needs Attn"
Review and dispose of "To Be Read"
Check reparable claims from last week
Clean up Office Surfaces
Housecleaning
You need to do most of this work...
While in theory an administrative assistant could be hired to do this, this keeps a solo-preneur or small business person connected to his/her business in ways that you can NOT imagine if you have not done it.
Doing your own admin work gives both connection and confidence related to business that is hard to replace. If after doing this for a while you find someone to assist you to shorten your time, that's great, just don't let them dramatically change your processes without following the changes they are making.
You will be the only person who can rescue you if you hire help and they mess up and/or disappear. They need to be working in your world, not the reverse.
Doing your own admin work gives both connection and confidence related to business that is hard to replace. If after doing this for a while you find someone to assist you to shorten your time, that's great, just don't let them dramatically change your processes without following the changes they are making.
You will be the only person who can rescue you if you hire help and they mess up and/or disappear. They need to be working in your world, not the reverse.