Alicia Kollmar MS, OTR/L
Next Level Mentor
alicia.kollmar@gmail.com
The first article in this series focused on the common pitfall of signing up for too many courses, regardless of whether we have the time to actually watch them. This article focuses on a similar pitfall, paying for things that take our time and money when they may not provide the best value for our situation. This pitfall is “Shiny Object Syndrome.”
What Is “Shiny Object Syndrome”?
As action takers we often use apps to improve our workflow or save time. There are so many of them! Choosing your electronic medical record (EMR), calendars, payment processors, teletherapy platforms, productivity software/apps, online schedulers, e-sign software, phone service, email marketing, etc. can be overwhelming, but also exciting for some of us. As we search the many apps out there, some of us fall prey to Shiny Object Syndrome, the “condition” in which we sign up or purchase something because we think it looks cool. Sometimes we are also persuaded by a good sales pitch.
Unfortunately, this can cause us to spend money that we could be putting to better use, including paying ourselves. It can also cause us to waste time researching how to set it up and actually setting it up.
How to Say “No”
To help you avoid Shiny Object Syndrome, here are some things to consider before signing up for a new app, whether it’s free or costs money.
1. Will this save me time?
As I transitioned one employee to full time and hired another full time employee it became clear that Google Sheets was not going to work anymore for their time sheets. It would be too difficult to monitor whether they were going to go into overtime. It was my goal to find a timesheet app that did more than track their time. I wanted one that would also track mileage and was easy for them to use with an app. While I couldn’t find one that I thought would work well for both of those things, I found one that helped me track the time they spent at each site so I could more easily track my school profits. This would keep me from having to enter everything into a spreadsheet for each site each month. Still a win!
2. Will this save me money?
If you are just starting out it may be better to stick with Google Workspace for documentation rather than go with a fancy EMR while you only have a few clients.
3. Will this require a lot of time to learn? Will I have to teach others on my team how to use it?
I signed up for a flow chart app that looked pretty cool. I thought I would use it to help create clear processes for onboarding and discharging new clients. The app took time to learn and I found myself getting frustrated because it wasn’t very intuitive, especially when I wanted to make changes. I don’t have much patience for watching tutorial videos since they often don’t move at a pace I find helpful. Instead, it ultimately made more sense for me to write it out and have an employee skilled in Canva make a flow chart there. I could have done that from the beginning and saved time.
4. Can this do more than one thing for me?
This is big. Minimize the number of apps you have to manage. Can your EMR send intake documents, bill insurance, and process payments, for instance?
5. Can I add users to this app?
If you are giving staff access to the app, will it cost more money? Does it allow users to be added without having to share (compromise) your password? Consider your possible growth as you decide.
6. Is this HIPAA-compliant?
Most of us are going to think about this, but sometimes it can be easy to forget when we get excited about something new. For instance, I love Trello and use it for a lot of things, but it’s not a place where I can store client names or any other private information even though I would love to.
Profit First!
Shiny Object Syndrome can cause us to waste time and money. Every cent you pay to an app is a cent you aren’t paying yourself. Make sure you are choosing things that help you save time, improve your workflow, and don’t take too much of your profit.
