My dad was a really smart man. He unfortunately never got the opportunity to go to college, but he was a good businessman and a good salesperson. I thought he was really sensitive and wise.
One day, we were waiting in the car while my husband ran an errand, and we started talking about our dental practice. I told my dad about how much work it was to manage the practice. When I told him that I did the payroll every week, he was shocked. He told me that no one did that anymore because it took too much time! He suggested that we do the payroll only twice a month. That way, all of the monthly bills were included within the month, and we would only have 24 payrolls per year. Doing it weekly, we had 52 payrolls! Even doing it bi-weekly there would be 26! Not only did it save me time, but we paid much less to the payroll service to process the payroll! What a good idea!!
Then we started talking about how I did the deposits. We were using a pegboard system at that time because there were no computers then. I told him that every few days I would draw a line on the payment ledger and make a deposit with the money that was there. Dad taught me then that every day should be closed out at the end of the day, no matter how much money there was to deposit. He taught me to balance out the charges and the collections every single day at the end of the day. I did not have to go to the bank every day, but every day’s deposit was in a separate envelope ready to be brought to the bank. Wow, now I felt like a real manager of my business!
One more thing Dad taught me that day was to stop ironing my husband’s shirts that he wore to the office (there was no permanent press then). I was trying to be the best manager and the best wife too! He made me promise that I would take the shirts to the dry cleaner to be washed and ironed!! I learned from Dad to use my time wisely and take better care of myself!
I really miss Dad to this day, even though he passed away over 25 years ago. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!