# Small business admin time audit: two-week worksheet

From flo.space (https://flo.space/blog/reduce-admin-work-small-business).
Free to use and adapt. Print it, or copy the table into a spreadsheet.

## How to run the audit

1. For TEN working days, log every admin task that takes 5+ minutes, when
   you do it. Log in the moment (30 seconds each); end-of-day memory
   reconstructions undercount by half.
2. Admin = work about the work: invoicing, chasing, replying, confirming,
   updating records, scheduling, filing. Not the product or service itself.
3. After two weeks, total the minutes per task type and fill the decision
   columns.

## The log

| Date | Task (specific) | Minutes | Tools touched | Interrupted what? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
(add rows as needed)

## The rollup (after two weeks)

| Task type | Total min / 2 wks | Times done | Judgment needed? (Y/N) | Leaves the building? (Y/N) | Decision (see below) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Drafting invoices | 190 | 16 | Y (amounts) | Y | AI with review |
| e.g. Payment chasing | 120 | 11 | Y (tone/timing) | Y | AI with review |
| e.g. Order status replies | 95 | 22 | N (lookup) | Y | AI with review |
| e.g. Internal reports | 60 | 2 | N | N | Automate fully |
| e.g. Filing receipts | 40 | 9 | N | N | Delegate or automate |

## The five decisions, in the order to try them

1. ELIMINATE: Would anything break if this stopped? Try stopping the
   report nobody reads for two weeks before optimizing it.
2. TEMPLATE: Same words each time? A saved reply or document template
   removes the composition without any software project.
3. DELEGATE: Judgment needed, but not YOUR judgment? Document it once,
   hand it to a team member or a bookkeeper/VA.
4. AUTOMATE FULLY: No judgment, doesn't leave the building, reversible?
   Recurring invoices, syncs, internal alerts. Set and forget.
5. AI WITH REVIEW: Judgment needed AND it leaves the building (customer
   reads it / money moves)? Let AI draft it, keep the approval. This is
   the column where most of the hours usually are.

## Red flags to look for in your own data

- A task done daily that a template would kill in an afternoon.
- "Quick" 5-minute tasks appearing 20+ times (they are a big block wearing
  camouflage, and the interruption cost is worse than the minutes).
- Anything you do at night or weekends: that is the admin actually taxing
  the business owner, whatever the minutes say.
- Chasing tasks (payments, replies, documents): highest minutes-to-value
  ratio, and the most automatable drafting on the list.