DiscoverSchools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast253. Stop the Hidden Drain: Admin & Tech Systems That Protect Your Profit
253. Stop the Hidden Drain: Admin & Tech Systems That Protect Your Profit

253. Stop the Hidden Drain: Admin & Tech Systems That Protect Your Profit

Update: 2025-09-22
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Description

Admin & Tech isn’t flashy like enrollment or emotional like staff culture—but it’s one of the biggest hidden profit drains in schools. In this finale of the Money Leaks series, Chanie breaks down how underutilized software, paper-based SOPs, missing automations, and messy file systems quietly torch your time capacity and cash. You’ll get a simple, CEO-level playbook to audit your tech stack, automate the right tasks, assign platform “champions,” and build rhythms that stop dependency and start true scalability.

👉 Take the free diagnostic mentioned in this episode: schoolsofexcellence.com/moneyleaks

What You’ll Learn

  • The 5 Admin & Tech pillars that protect profit (workflows, utilization, automation, data & file systems, review rhythms)
  • How to audit your tech stack and cut redundancies without chaos
  • Why automation doesn’t replace people—it gives them back time for what only humans can do
  • The “internal platform champion” model that prevents bottlenecks and builds team capacity
  • A simple naming convention + 10-second file-finding standard that ends “final-final-FINAL-v6” madness
  • How to move from dependency (it only works when Sarah’s here) to system (it works when anyone follows the rhythm)

SOE Playbook: 5 Concrete Moves

  1. Run a Software Audit (30–45 min): List every tool, owner, cost, and actual use. Cancel redundancies, downgrade unused premium plans, and standardize what stays.
  2. Assign Platform Champions: One trained “owner” per platform. Share quick wins, create 1-page SOPs, and stop knowledge hoarding.
  3. Automate Repetitive Admin: Scheduling, reminders, links, confirmations, form routing, basic onboarding steps. Free people for gratitude, 1:1s, observations, feedback—the work only humans can do.
  4. Lock File Hygiene: Cloud-first, consistent naming, and a structure anyone can understand. Measure success by: “Can someone find any file in ≤10 seconds?”
  5. Quarterly Rhythm Block: Every 90 days: review tools, subscriptions, automations, and workflows. One block. Same calendar slot. Always.

Case Studies & Wins

  • Sonia’s Tech Tangle → $4,000 Saved: She listed 19 tools; canceled 5–7 redundant platforms, downgraded others, and named champions for the rest—saving nearly $4K/year and loads of time capacity.
  • The $9,000 Surprise: A leader who “couldn’t afford it” did a money leaks audit, canceled 3 subscriptions, and freed up $9,000—just by telling the truth in the tech stack.

Memorable Lines

  • “If it takes more than 10 seconds to find a file, you have a leak—not a library.”
  • Dependency isn’t a system. It’s a risk.”
  • “Automation isn’t about replacing people—it’s about returning time to the work only humans can do.”
  • “When someone leaves, the brain of your business shouldn’t walk out with them.”

Resources

Free diagnostic: schoolsofexcellence.com/moneyleaks

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253. Stop the Hidden Drain: Admin & Tech Systems That Protect Your Profit

253. Stop the Hidden Drain: Admin & Tech Systems That Protect Your Profit