Find the work that keeps coming back to you—and build a better way to handle it.
If you stepped away for three working days, what would stop moving? This workbook helps you choose one recurring problem, understand its cost, and design a process your team can follow.
You can work through the exercises without taking the assessment. The assessment can help you decide where to focus. No email required.
Watch the 10% Focus master course for clarity before you build your Blueprint. Pause whenever you need to, then use the exercises below to apply what you learn to one recurring process in your business.
Use the player’s captions, playback speed, and fullscreen controls where available. YouTube hosts this video; your workbook answers are not shared with the player. You can also go straight to the workbook without watching.
A constraint is the point where work repeatedly slows down or stops. Compare recurring problems using weekly owner and team time. Weekly owner hours = occurrences × owner minutes ÷ 60. Weekly team hours = occurrences × team minutes ÷ 60. These are different measures, not cash savings. Business impact and risk may matter more than the largest time burden.
Before you automate a task, check whether it needs to exist. Keep, remove, combine, or simplify each step. Customer form → handwritten note → spreadsheet → CRM → message to owner might become customer form → CRM record → coordinator notification, if the tools support that connection. Keep required checks and professional oversight.
“Follow up” is not a complete instruction. Define the trigger, responsible role, required information, action, deadline, completion condition, exception, and backup. A new estimate might trigger an office coordinator to send an approved follow-up, record the response, and refer pricing disputes to a responsible person.
Remove work that no longer serves a useful purpose. Delegate clear work to a trained person. Automate predictable rules, such as appointment reminders. Use AI with review to summarize, organize, or draft information. Unusual complaints need a responsible person. Clinical decisions belong to qualified professionals. Hiring decisions require accountable human review. Start with the tools you already use.
Weekly net hours recovered = [tasks × (current minutes − expected minutes) − maintenance minutes] ÷ 60. Average monthly hours = weekly hours × 52 ÷ 12. Time available for other work is not automatically payroll savings. Contribution margin is what remains after the variable costs of delivering additional work. Revenue is not profit.
Monthly benefit B = expenses reduced S + additional revenue R × margin m ÷ 100. Monthly net benefit N = B − recurring cost C. Year-one benefit = (12 − delay d) × B. Year-one cost T = implementation I + 12 × C. Year-one net value = year-one benefit − T. ROI = year-one net value ÷ T × 100 when T is positive. Payback from project start = d + (I + d × C) ÷ N when N is positive. Recurring costs begin immediately. Full constant benefits begin after the delay. Taxes, financing, and gradual ramp-up are excluded.
A contractor sends 40 estimates per month. Current accepted estimates: 10. Illustrative improved accepted estimates: 12. Additional wins: 2. Average job revenue: $1,500. Contribution margin: 35%. Additional revenue: 2 × $1,500 = $3,000. Additional contribution profit: $3,000 × 35% = $1,050. Monthly software and support: $250. Monthly net benefit: $1,050 − $250 = $800. One-time implementation: $2,400. Simple payback after full benefits begin: $2,400 ÷ $800 = 3 months. Two extra jobs are an assumption to test. These figures are not service prices.
30 caregiver applications weekly × 8 minutes = 240 current minutes. 30 × 2 minutes = 60 expected minutes. Weekly checks and maintenance: 30 minutes. Net capacity recovered: 240 − 60 − 30 = 150 minutes, or 2.5 hours weekly. Average monthly capacity: 2.5 × 52 ÷ 12 ≈ 10.8 hours. These are hours available for other work, not automatically payroll savings or proof that more caregivers will start.
60 invoices monthly × 6 minutes = 360 current minutes. 60 × 2 minutes = 120 expected minutes. Monthly review: 30 minutes. Net capacity: 360 − 120 − 30 = 210 minutes, or 3.5 hours. At an assumed labor value of $30/hour, capacity value = 3.5 × $30 = $105/month. With $120/month software, time capacity alone does not establish a positive cash return. Measure other benefits separately. Time saved becomes cash savings only when an actual expense is reduced or avoided.
Choose comparable baseline and review periods. Record requests entering the process, completed requests, average completion time, owner time, errors, and operating cost. Completion rate = completed requests ÷ requests entering × 100, when requests entering is greater than zero. If workload changes, compare rates and time per task—not just totals. Do not calculate percentage improvement from a zero or unavailable baseline.
A main measure could be fewer owner minutes per inquiry. A quality measure could be no increase in incorrect information or missed handoffs. Seven days is a starting plan for a manageable process. Complex implementations can take longer.
For each day, name the responsible role, set an intended completion date, and record notes. This is a starting plan, not a promise that a complex implementation can be completed in seven days.