Is that term an anomaly? A rarity? An oxymoron? Or reality in the modern world? Even thought we work as hands-on therapists with real humans, we still have to engage with the online world. I was at a presentation by MarTech North East a few weeks ago, and it really gave me food for thought about how my therapy business could be more efficient, and I could be more productive (and less frustrated with admin) if I embraced technology. I trained as a typist (way back when typewriters were a thing) so my one skill is speed on the keyboard using all my fingers, although I make more mistakes now than when I trained.
As a self-employed therapist I do use technology but only sparingly, I think it is time to embrace my inner geek and join the technological highway. The tech I do use really makes me more efficient, so I have some suggestions to make us all not just techy therapists, but efficient and productive therapists. Let’s see if we can’t make admin easier and automate some of the work to free up our hands for the important work of being a therapist.
· Accounting - I am ahead of the game here as I have used Sage Accounting for many years (having been shamed into doing it). It is so much easier and means I always balance, my bank acc highly recommended for ease of use and competitive pricing.
· Project management tracking – the current top choices appear to be Asana for detailed work or Trello for simple smaller projects. You do of course have it free with Excel which you may already have but don’t use utilise fully. If you already have Microsoft 365 then you automatically get Micrsoft Planner, Google and Teams included for managing projects and contacts. Why pay more if you don’t need it?
· Time management – time has moved on from the old ‘time and motion studies’ and they too can be automatedfor monitoring where staff spend the majority of their time. Programmes such as Toggl or Harvest track time spent on work and projects and offer reporting. This will help you to streamline resources better and ultimately increase productivity and therefore profit.
· Client turnover – Excel can build databases and Microsoft List can look at the movement of clients in and out of your business to help assess your client base and plan future marketing strategies. Programmes such as Mailchimp and MailerLite build databases for email or other promotional activities offering lots of options to segregate or email on a regular basis.
· Contracts – Bold Sign and Docusign are free to use for any employee or client contracts. The free version is limited but can be used for smaller businesses. Again Microsoft 365 includes eSignature as part of the package.
· Marketing – Hubspot keeps all your branding, sales and marketing in one place and on point for a consistent message.
· Graphics – rather than spending money on stock photos or always trying to generate your own, programmes such as Canva or Adobe Suite are very user friendly and offer some services free of charge for you to test how you like it.
· Instagram – direct links on Instagram can be automated using Many Chat. Information and products can be sent directly or email addresses taken with full GDPR compliance.
I appreciate that using some of these tools will come with a financial cost. What you have to balance is, are you better off working as a therapist earning your hourly rate and paying the monthly fee; or taking time away from earning to do the work manually?