Executing Your Business like Executing Your Super Bowl Party

SOPs for Your Therapy Business

Just like there are standard operating procedures for planning a super bowl party that must be followed in a particular order for ultimate success, there are SOPs for your therapy business. 

If you recently threw a super bowl party, you probably first set a date (easy considering it was likely on the day of the super bowl), then planned an invite list, decided on a location and a start time, and sent the invites out. After the invitations were sent, you probably planned the food and drinks and any games or decorations. On the day of, you followed a procedure for setting up, having fun, and lastly cleaning up. 

You might not have written down the standard operating procedures for planning and throwing your super bowl party, but there can be a lot of benefits to establishing and recording SOPs for your business.

Let's be real here — people aren’t mind readers and they don’t walk into situations knowing how everything is expected to go. Having clear and established SOPs allows everyone to be on the same page, giving you as the business owner more freedom. 

SOPs can be created for several aspects of your business including how to schedule a client, when and how often to communicate with you, what to do when there is an emergency call and expectations for how service should be delivered.

Here 4 tips for creating SOPs for your therapy business:

1.) Record what you do each day

Establishing SOPs can feel like yet another boring task to complete but it can be easy and oh so worth it. Start by recording what you do each day. You could turn on a screen-recording app and talk through what you normally do and share it with your assistant. You can take some quick notes while you are completing tasks and fine-tune them in a word document later. While these things might take a little time in the beginning, they will ultimately save you time in the future as fewer mistakes will be made. 

2.) Make sure they are easy to follow and thorough

Don’t hesitate to overly simplify or be thorough. As mentioned above, no one is a mind reader. Making step-by-step lists that are easy to follow will streamline processes and make mistakes less common.

3.) Make sure everyone has a clear understanding

The established SOPs can be distributed and signed off on by all new and existing team members, including virtual assistants. They can be updated as needed and should be verbally explained at the first presentation to ensure any questions are addressed. 

4.) Enjoy the freedom

Owning your own business is a lot of work, especially when you want to make sure everything meets your expectations and is done correctly. Once you have established your SOPs and shared them with team members, you can relax and delegate tasks and feel comfortable knowing they will get done properly. 

Trying to do it all as a business owner means you will spend a lot more time working than enjoying life. Hiring scheduling, social media, or billing assistants and providing clear SOPs will free up time and give you the rewarding ownership experience you desire.