We have all seen the funny memes about 2020 with a happy couple strolling on a beautiful beach looking perfect with the caption “2020 planning”. The next photo has the same couple looking disheveled and dirty in their underwear and bathrobes, with their kids at the computers in the background lay across their chairs looking defeated, and the caption reads “2020 reality”. This year has been quite tough with parents working from home, kids remotely attending school, many businesses shuttering for months at a time or going completely out of business, mask-wearing and social distancing becoming the buzz words, and the endless count of deaths and positive tests for COVID continuously being updated for every state in the union. It seems like the misery will not stop, and ever one has lost patience. Despite how uncomfortable 2020 has become, the new year of 2021 will, unfortunately, inherit many of the same problems we are dealing with now.
Many of you have heard me talk in the past about business planning and how important it is. A plan for 2021 is a must. Looking back on 2020 had we known what was coming, we could have planned for it; however, 2020 is the year of the unexpected.
Do not kick 2020 to the curb; there are important lessons to learn,
Lesson 1: Technology. It looks like we will be doing telehealth for a while so prepare. Is your bandwidth strong enough, or do you still see the dreaded, “internet is unstable”? Did you start using technology that wasn’t HIAAP compliant? Is your computer in good operating order with both speakers and microphones properly working? Do you need a bigger screen or lighting so clients can see you? What about antivirus protection? Is your software up to date? Are there other programs you want or need that could make your life easier or help you automate your systems? Still not using some form of an electronic medical record? Now is the time to plan to review, and implement. Do you have an IT person or know who you would call if you had a problem? Is part of your budget allocated to technology? Telehealth will remain a good percentage of our caseload for 2021.
Lesson 2: Review 2020. What worked during this year and what didn’t. Look at each month and analyze what was the big problem for that month. As I look at my year briefly, January was rechecking insurance benefits. February was growth in the business and the need to add another therapist or two. March was THE COVID SHUTDOWN and the move to at home work. We needed to get everyone on a stable connection and telehealth platform, pronto. Do this for every month, review, identify the problems, solutions used, and if there might be better ones. Ask yourself, is this a seasonal concern or a pandemic concern, and what do you learn from this?
Pull out that business plan; how many of those items did you do? I had a new school counseling program set up, and we started on March 4, 2020. We saw only six teens before the shutdown. We are again working on being available next January online and possibly in person if the school reopens.
Lesson 3: Money. How did you do on this one in March 2020? Did you have reserves to carry you through? Was that rainy-day fund enough? Do you have a line of credit just in case? What was your profit? Yes, even in COVID times, you can make a profit! Are you tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPI)? If you need more information on this, check out this blog.
Maybe for you 2021 is the time to put forth some effort into bookkeeping, reviewing the balance sheet, and the profit/ loss statements monthly. The COVID effect stressed the need to have resources at the ready, say 3 to 6 months of operating cash. This is one where your gut and personal feelings come into play. I tend to go slightly higher for those “just in case times.”
Lesson 4: Growth. Did you have any during this year? Did you want to expand your practice? Are you thinking of adding a few critical personal to your practice, maybe a bookkeeper, accountant, phone scheduler, or a VA? Now is the time to plan for that. What was your profit goal? Are you close? I met mine on September 1 this year despite the pandemic. Do you or you or your employee want a raise; or do you want to add benefits of some kind to your practice? Now let’s look at debt. How much do you have? Don’t have any? Fantastic! But what if you are so worried about owing others you do nothing; then you don’t grow. It is okay to have some “good debt.” Many of us have rent & utilities monthly; that is an example of good debt. I know therapists are giving up their offices now as COVID rages on. That is great as there will most likely be cheaper rents once COVID is over. I have chosen to keep my offices as we are using them a little bit and I still have a contract in place. When we negotiated our rent, we pushed and pushed until we liked the amount of rent. My rent is low even by COVID standards, to try to break my contract is not worth the expense. We need to plan growth on what we know today and what we “think” a logical path going into the 2nd quarter of 2021 will look like.
Maybe you haven’t even started your private practice yet. Perhaps now is a perfect time. We know that access to mental health providers is at an all-time high. The barriers to entry are as low as ever. No office fees or utilities, just invest in a great internet connection and electronic medical record. You will need a website with excellent SEO, a social media plan, credentialing if you are taking insurance, write a few blogs to your future clients, or even record a video. Share what you know and be authentically you, and you will attract clients. Tell everyone you know you are now taking new clients and build that practice even without giving up the day job.
Lesson 5: Check back on your progress. When I worked for an agency I always hated our yearly planning meetings, we would have to create goals and would have meeting after meeting to define our unit goals, our program goals, and how many families we were going to see in the upcoming year. We would create satisfaction surveys, a timeline for items to be accomplished and we would also need to come up with a long term and short term goals for ourselves for the next year. We spent hours on each part of this process and then…nothing would happen.
We would do this year after year and come up with lofty goals, but nobody ever reported back as to how we did. In fact, we rarely received any feedback at all from those planning sessions. Nobody ever seemed to keep track of progress and thus we were always changing things depending on the crisis at hand. This was not a great way to lead and certainly did not bolster staff morale.
Review where you started monthly at the very least, how well did you do? What problems came up? Where were you short? Maybe you did better than your goal, and the goals could move up. Also, review quarterly, at 6 months, and 1 year. Learn from your history, find the business break-even point how many sessions do you need to have before you start making money? What was working well? What can you automate to save your time? Are your forms updated with the current legal requirements? Have you reviewed them at all?
I know this blog is longer than most, but I feel it is essential information to have. If you need help reviewing your business or creating your goals for your business or you feel stuck, let’s talk and get you headed in the right direction. Having a plan is so important; it helps you get through the storms.
To calendar, a consultation, click here, and let’s get you ready for 2021 COVID or not.