4 Signs It's Time to Hire By Julie Herres of Green Oak Accounting
Tell me if this sounds like you:
You're crazy overwhelmed and working all hours of the day.
You procrastinate tasks because you're "too busy" (but really, you just don't want to).
You have a waitlist.
You could work more revenue-generating hours, if only you had more time.
Sound familiar?
Then it’s time to hire.
If there are tasks on your daily/weekly/monthly to-do list that you simply don't enjoy, why not play to your strengths and work in the areas you shine? It’s more fun that way, and even better–you stop losing billable hours each week on tasks that you shouldn’t be doing.
So those long overdue to-do list items? Are you really avoiding them because you’re busy or because it’s something you really don’t like to do?
It’s OK not to enjoy doing something and it’s OK to let someone else do it! You could continue to procrastinate them, or you could go ahead and outsource a chunk of those duties to someone else. Imagine if you had an answering service, a virtual assistant, a billing service or a bookkeeper/accountant. If that would free up time for you to make more money doing what you love, it’s a no-brainer. The reality is, when you ask “when is it time to hire someone", it's too late! Get hiring.
What do you need first?
The best way to know where to free up more time is to track how you spend your time for 1 solid week. It might seem tedious, but it will give you insight on where your time is slipping away. Don’t be afraid to be detailed, either.
Spent 10 minutes answering emails between clients? Write it down. Checked your voicemails at 8pm? Write it down.
This data will enlighten you about where you are spending your time and can help you be a more efficient clinician.
If your practice has grown enough to hire a clinician, that's great news! A word of caution: One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes a newer practice makes is paying their first clinician hire too much.
How does it happen? It makes sense! When you're hiring 1 person, chances are your overhead isn't going up significantly. The hire won’t require extra space, phone lines, or admin staff, and you can cobble together Google Calendar and whatever software you might need. You tell yourself that they'll take your overflow, but they'll also help with filling up their schedule so there won't really be additional marketing costs. You may even be a little desperate to hire someone.
So…you offer them too much. Everything goes as planned for a while, but once you add 2, 3, 10 more clinicians, it's no longer sustainable. Now you need space, an administrative team, new systems, and you don't have the overhead to do it.
There is so much to consider when hiring a new employee, but you don’t have to do it alone. Reach out to an accountant or a trusted advisor to ensure that you are headed in the right direction. If you don't have one yet, GreekOak Accounting loves messy books and specializes in helping therapy private practices reach their financial goals. Visit us here: www.greenoakaccounting.com
