212. Baking it Down - Admin Hours

Send us a text

⏰ 1-Hr Admin Tasks - Setting up time blocks for tasks.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 212 - Admin Hour, we break down four different "admin hour" frameworks you could spend each week pluggin' away at to be a better baking business.

"Admin Hours" are groupings of tasks that take up an hour spent on one specific aspect of your business - social media, bake prep, customer management, and inbox management - the four frameworks we cover this week. 

By spending a dedicated few hours a week on these "admin hour" tasks, you'll save yourself a future headache, streamline your workflow, and become a competitive baker in your space (as well as stress less as you forget fewer orders and run out of fewer cookie tags ya already sold).

🕰️ 1. Social Hour

Staying consistent on social media will be a great foundational strategy. But to be consistent, we must make time to create content. Here's a social media "admin hour" framework you can build from:

• ⏰ 20 Mins - Schedule this week's posts (3x/wk minimum)
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Reply to comments
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Comment on posts in a few local groups
• ⏰ 30 Mins - Make a Reel (film / edit / voiceover / post)

You can add multiple "social hours" to your week depending on how aggressive your social media marketing focus is. And these hours can ebb and flow throughout your cookier calendar year as needed (for example, when you're fully booked, drop down to 1 hour, when the upcoming month looks light for orders, add in a few more social hours).

🕰️ 2. Inbox Hour

If you've not tasted of the sweet nectar that is inbox zero, you're missing out. Walking up to an inbox only full of actionable emails you got in the last few days is a breath of email-fresh air. Once you reach the coveted "Inbox Zero," your inbox-power-hour will look something like this:

• ⏰ 20 Mins - Reply to all emails / Ping follow-up emails
• ⏰ 10 Mins - File emails away to reach Inbox Zero  again
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Transpose orders / tasks to Google Calendar
• ⏰ 10 Mins - CRM - Follow up with orders placed this time last year

Getting an inbox hour on your weekly task list puts you in control of your calendar (rather than the stress of being a slave to a calendar missing your dentist appointments and that one order you forgot to write down).

🕰️ 3. Admin tasks

Likely the one you don't wanna do but are forced to do, running a business requires admin tasks. Here's how we'd break up that hour spent "behind the scenes" of your bakery biz:

• ⏰ 10 Mins - QuickBooks Bookkeeping Update
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Adding new leads to CRM
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Inbox Zero
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Inventory Check
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Weekly Meeting (Asana)
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Plan Out Week

So again - your admin tasks may take longer than this - and that's absolutely fine. The goal is to consistently show up for at least an hour for these recurring tasks, turning you into a consistent working powerhouse.

🕰️ 4. Baking Prep

Baking preparations for the week can streamline your baking workflow because you're not stuck running to the cutter corner for every order. I prefer to do this stuff on Mondays and capitalize on the time saving all week. Whichever days you choose for your admin hours is up to you, but sprinkling in a baking power hour is a must for a ballin' baker.

• ⏰ 10 Mins - Wash Baking Mat and other supplies
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Wipe down Surfaces / Disinfect 
• ⏰ 20 Mins - Collect Cutters for the Week
• ⏰ 10 Mins - Dough Ready / Dough Day Planned
• ⏰ 10