Do you want SO BAD to have a thriving, fully booked practice but you feel like you never have any damn time to work on the “business side”?
Well…do you ever have a chunk of time between appointments that you fill with aimless Instagram scrolling, chatting with colleagues or unconscious amazon shopping (I know, those 1-click purchases make it WAY too easy)? #letsbehonest
Because that time…even if it’s only 5-10 minutes can turn into uber productive business development sessions so you can do something useful…something that might actually help you fill those gaps with more bookings.
Often when we feel we “have no time” it’s less about being short on time and more about KNOWING what to do to make the most of it
So, I’m giving you 5 ways you can use those tiny, little, seemingly useless chunks of time in your day to actually get shit done and move your practice forward
I think you’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish when you know WHAT you should be working on.
1. REVIEW ANALYTICS
If you have any online presence or are taking any actions online, chances are you have analytics being tracked.
The point of this data is to help you improve what you’re already doing by capitalizing on elements that are working and changing those that are not. But you actually have to check that data from time to time to see how you’re doing
I suggest blocking out 30 minutes or so every month or so to check all your analytics across platforms but if you only have 5-10 minutes you can jump into 1-2 platforms and see how things are going for you.
Analytics you can be checking regularly: Google Analytics (for your website) | social media insights (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube) | Mailchimp (if you use email) | Clinic Management Software to check out your new bookings, new booking rates, re-book rates, cancellations etc.
2. ENGAGE
Yes, sometimes jumping onto Instagram in between patients is actually a productive use of your time.
Ideally you have your regular content already batched and pre-scheduled for the month (see how to do that here) BUT you also want to regularly engage with your online communities to build that relationship, with short live videos, Instagram stories, jumping into any Facebook groups or commenting/answering questions on your posts.
This should be done once a day anyway if you have regular engagement and can be done in 5-15 minutes…perfect for that little bit of time you never even realized you had!
3. BUILD REFERRALS
Building up a steady flow of referral business is key to the longevity of your practice (and you not having to work so hard). But most practitioners only ever get a fraction of the referrals they should because they don’t have a system in place to get them.
A referral system takes consistency but it is SUPER easy to do and can be done quickly.
You can grab my exact email templates and step-by-step strategy for reaching out and connecting with your network to start building referrals in 30-60 minutes a week (or break it up in 5-15 minute increments)
4. CREATE CONTENT
Most people who are out there looking for a practitioner need 6-8 touch points with “you” (whether that’s seeing your website, social media, a workshop you did, an article you wrote, getting a referral etc) before they feel ready to book in.
They need to get to know you a little bit, like what you’re about and trust that you’re the right practitioner for them.
One of the best ways to build that know-like-trust factor AND get those touch points in is by putting out valuable content that’s interesting and related to your ideal clients’ needs.
Most people think that creating content has to be this long, laborious process but it really doesn’t have to be. You don’t need to create novels of content (people prefer shorter anyway). And actually, giving yourself a shorter amount of time (say 30-60 minutes between patients/clients) can spawn massive amounts of productivity.
So if you have a block of time (I’d say no less than 20 minutes) see what you can create in the way of an email to your list, a post, article or video for online or something you might be creating for print.
5. BRAINSTORM
Sometimes you’re just not in the headspace to get into a new project or task, and that’s totally fine. We don’t need to be in uber productive mode all.the.time.
I personally love small bits of time for brainstorming, scheduling and my absolute favourite…list making. While you may not be actually accomplishing anything concrete, you’re setting yourself up to productively complete tasks in the future (which is still productive in my books)
If you only have a couple minutes, use that time to make an itemized list of projects or tasks you need to do AND block out a time in your calendar to actually do those items so they actually get done.
OR take a few minutes to journal or brainstorm ideas for content you want to create, questions your patients/clients have been asking you, or larger projects you want to do this month.