DECREASE YOUR STRESS - DELEGATE
Feeling overworked? This month I’ve heard more than one self-employed psychologist say they’re feeling stressed out by all
the things they need to do. If that’s the case for you, start by looking at the big picture. Are the tasks that are
making you feel stressed ongoing or likely to occur again? Or are they something that can be solved by a couple of hectic
days and a family sized block of chocolate? If it’s likely to continue, or recur, you need to think about things long term and how
you can delegate – that is get someone else to do some of your work - so that you are not going to be so busy anymore. Yep,
it’s that simple. As a self-employed psychologist, there are three areas of your business you can delegate:
- general administration,
- appointments with clients
- accounting and finance.
General administration duties like booking appointments, cancellations, following up clients and chasing payments can
easily be outsourced. You can employ an admin person part-time or use an outsourcing company. Recently, I’ve started to see a
lot of people using virtual admin staff.
Look at it this way, if you’re seeing a client, around 20 or 30 minutes of the time you spend with the client will pay for one hour of the
time of your admin staff (depending on fees and wages). Both you and your admin person can do what you’re good at and feel job satisfaction.
Appointments with clients can be delegated.
You must be wondering – how can I possibly delegate that?!
Well, if you have a waiting list of at least four weeks, and I know for some psychologists, it can be four months or more, it might be
worthwhile employing another psychologist and delegating some of the appointments to them.
It may seem extreme but think about it in the long term.
Is a long wait for an assessment in the best interests of your clients? Do you see your number of clients changing significantly to a
more manageable number in the next year or so? Or do you see your client numbers continuing to grow?
Accounting and finance tasks can also be delegated. To save costs, I know a lot of psychologists do their own
bookkeeping and tax returns and, to be fair, most of them do a good job of it. However, I’m not sure if they all enjoy doing it.
In the interests of focusing your time on the tasks that bring the most benefit to your business, consider delegating your bookkeeping.
This is what a bookkeeper can do for you:
- Process invoices, receipts, payments, and other financial transactions.
- Process and maintain your payroll system.
- Reconcile bank accounts.
- Prepare reconciliation reports.
- Manage your accounts receivable and accounts payable.
- Prepare your monthly or quarterly BAS statements.
Besides preparing and lodging your tax return, your accountant can also offer advice on tax and tax planning and
can help with decisions about your business – what business structure to use, whether you have the means to expand your business or take on
employees etc. In addition, they can also analyse and interpret your business numbers and offer advice and solutions.
The thing is, delegation is easy in theory but in practice it’s hard.
As a self-employed psychologist you may feel that it’s your responsibility to do everything yourself and know each and every aspect of your
business inside out.
Take a bit of time out and think about your capacity - timewise and mentally - and not just now, but in the long term. Think about
what tasks you can delegate to people who specialize in those areas freeing you up so that you can focus on what you do best -
psychology.
With a strong team, you can accomplish so much more.
|
