The Safest & Quickest Way to Become Debt-Free
by Garrett B. Gunderson with Dale Clarke The Counter-intuitive Formula Your Financial Adviser Doesn’t Know Hint: It’s not about your loan interest rates, nor is it just about socking away more money by cutting back or even just about saving money on interest. As a financial advocate to professionals, I deal with this issue frequently with the business owners we work with. You want to get out of debt so you can reduce your risk, increase your cash flow, and have greater peace of mind, right? Unfortunately, in a zealous effort to get out of debt, too many people make critical mistakes that increase their risk and make the process much slower than it has to be. It’s not just a matter of prioritizing which loans should be paid off first. It’s also a matter of minimizing your risk throughout the process. Here’s the fastest, safest, and most sustainable way to do it: 1. Build Savings First. It doesn’t make any sense to start paying extra on loans until you have at least three months of income, and ideally six months, in a liquid savings account. If you have no cash reserves, what happens when you pay down your loans but then experience an unexpected cash flow crunch? You simply increase your loan balances again or even worse, miss payments and hurt your credit score, therefore getting charged more for future loans and you can miss opportunities to lower your interest rates. So before you even get started with paying down debt, build your cash reserves first. This puts you in a much safer and more sustainable situation. Don’t worry if you are wondering where that money might come from, details to follow, read on. 2. Raise Your Insurance Deductibles. Once you have cash reserves you can raise your insurance deductibles and extend elimination periods, which decreases your premiums, an extra benefit of having money in savings. This increased cash flow can then be used to strategically pay down debt. I recommend using your home, auto, and liability insurance to primarily cover catastrophic losses. With higher deductibles (again, assuming you have cash reserves to cover small losses) you’re less likely to make claims, which prevents increased premiums. The larger principle here is that when you approach debt elimination the right way it affects almost every other aspect of your finances. This is a more comprehensive approach that takes every factor into consideration, rather than looking at your debt in a vacuum. 3. Restructure Your Non-Deductible Debt by Rolling Short-Term, High-Interest Loans into Long-Term Tax Deductible, Low-Interest Loans. Again, the goal is to minimize your interest payments and maximize your cash flow. Then you can attack your remaining debt strategically, using your increased cash flow to eliminate one loan at a time. Another benefit of this strategy is that it improves your debt-to-income ratio, which then improves your credit score, which can then be used to negotiate lower interest rates and will result in increased cash flow. Having a better credit score also gives you more negotiating leverage. You can look into a streamline refinance on your existing mortgage. You can call your credit card companies, for example, and tell them you’re considering canceling and switching. They may be inclined to make their interest and terms more favorable for you, especially if you have a higher credit score. Assuming you have enough home equity and after improving your credit, refinance your mortgage and roll as much of your non-deductible loans (credit cards, auto loans, etc.) into it as possible. The tax deduction will also increase your cash flow. CAUTION: Do NOT do any of this if you’re undisciplined and your spending is out of control. If you’re just going to charge your credit cards back up again, you’ll just sink deeper into debt. 4. The Secret Sauce: Cash Flow Index. Here’s where the rubber hits the road. After minimizing your payments and maximizing your cash flow, you’re now prepared to focus on one loan at a time, thus creating the “snowball effect” until you’re completely debt-free. Most financial advisers and pundits will tell you to pay off your loans with the highest interest rates first. My advice is to ignore the interest rate and use my proprietary Cash Flow Index to determine which debt to pay off first. To determine your Cash Flow Index, take all your various loan balances and divide each of them by their respective payments. Whichever one has the lowest number is the one you should pay off first. For example: Home Loan Balance: $228,000 Interest Rate: 7% Monthly Payment: $1,665 Cash Flow Index: 137 ($228,000 ÷ $1,665) Auto Loan Balance: $16,500 Interest Rate: 8% Monthly Payment: $450 Cash Flow Index: 37 Credit Card Balance: $13,000 Interest Rate: 12% Monthly Payment: $260 Cash Flow Index: 50 Student Loan: $107,000 Interest Rate: 3.9% Monthly Payment: $650 Cash Flow Index: 165 In this example, it seems to make sense to pay of the credit card first because it has the highest interest rate. But the Cash Flow Index reveals that the auto loan should be paid off first. The trick is to pay off debt that gives you the greatest cash flow with the least investment. A high Cash Flow Index means your loan balance is high relative to the payment, while a low Cash Flow Index means your balance is low but with a high payment. Knock out those high payments first and you free up cash to work on other debts. In this case, by paying off the auto loan first, you free up more monthly cash, which can then be applied toward the credit card balance. Paying off the auto loan first means you can pay off both faster than if you started with the credit card. 5. Address the Risk Factor. Again, this strategy isn’t just about paying off debt faster and saving money on interest—it’s also about reducing your risk. Banks and other financial institutions tell you to pay off debts that lessen their risk
Building Blocks
A practice’s needs and concerns can stack up What’s the trade-off for Dr. Ben’s credit card dilemma? Ben added yet another piece to the enormous castle he and his son were building. Jonathan scooted around to see the other side and knocked down the eastern battlement. “Oh, shoot!” “That’s okay,” Ben assured him. “We’ll build it again. The building is the fun part anyway.” Carmen agreed, admiring the turrets. “That’s true of so much in life, isn’t it?” Ben smiled. “So, what did you decide about your credit card system? Were you able to negotiate a better rate?” “Not yet. The bank where we have our merchant account doesn’t seem to feel that we’re big enough to be bothered with,” Carmen grumbled. “Speaking of building. I’m going to do some comparison shopping, but I think I might just have to wait till next year to get much of an improvement in the fees.” “It is always based on volume,” Ben agreed, placing a block for a drawbridge. “I’m concerned about that for the practice, too. Manual processing can cost more than swiping, too, in addition to the possibility of errors.” “Do you think errors really happen much?” Carmen asked. “I don’t know about our office, but I read some startling statistics recently,” Ben said. “7.8 percent of recurring transactions are declined. That’s $780 for every $10,000 in transactions. And for that same $10,000 in manual transactions, you can expect another $15 lost just from address verification failures. If we do that every month, the amount we lose could pay for Jonathan’s college tuition by the time he graduates high school.” “That’s sobering.” “The fact that we have both a POS system and manual posting and recurring transactions also makes me wonder if we’re completely PCI compliant. Sending out paper bills and then taking the payment information by phone might not be completely correct — and those bills can cost $1.61 apiece, since I’m throwing statistics at you.” “Never mind the bills,” Carmen said. “The fines for being out of compliance can run you $25,000 a month. That’s high priority.” “So I’m looking into solutions, but integrating and automating everything is going to be expensive. The POS system is separate from everything else in the office, so we might have to make changes there, too. And that’s all in addition to the fees.” “It’s like when we first started our businesses. We used to have to run the numbers every time to make decisions. Now, we’re established, so we know what we’re doing most of the time. When something new comes up, though, we still have to run the numbers.” Jonathan stood and stretched up to add one more block to the top of a tower and it rocked, tipped, and crashed. After a moment of stunned silence, the little boy laughed, so Ben joined in. Building often is the fun part, he thought. What’s the trade-off for Dr. Ben’s credit card dilemma?
ICD-10 | Five Building Blocks | Q&A from Webinar
ICD-10 Questions and Answers ICD-10 is coming soon. As you get your practice ready for the ICD-9 to 10 changeover, you are bound to have questions regarding documentation and compliance. To help you get the answers you need, we have compiled all questions that were asked during our recent webinar “ICD-10 | Five Building Blocks,” along with the presenter’s responses. Feel free to add any new questions in the comment section below. Q: Where can I find CMS guidelines in written form? A: On CMS.gov, click on the Medicare link and you will find a link for both local and national coverage determinations. Q: When can I start finding ICD-10 codes within your software and submitting them? A: Our software already has all the ICD-10 codes listed; we are building the crosswalk now. We recently completed ICD-10 testing with Medicare, and were successful with our front-end edits. We are looking to have this available to practices by June, to really start testing and cross-walking. At this point, payers are not accepting claims with these new codes; they are not coming over until October 1, but we are testing with payers and clearinghouses directly. You will be able to see which ICD-9 codes correspond to the appropriate diagnosis 10 codes, side-by-side right in the travel card.
To Swipe or Not to Swipe?
Credit card processing has an effect on a practice’s bottom line. Now that Dr. Ben sees the potential problems with his credit card system, what is he going to do about it? With their son down for a nap and the afternoon stretching out ahead of them, Dr. Ben Wilson thought Carmen might be in the mood to hear some sweet nothings from him, but he was mistaken. “No way,” she said firmly. “You can talk about my eyes later. Right now I want to discuss credit cards. Don’t laugh! So often when you talk to me about your practice, I don’t really know what you’re talking about. But I know credit cards.” “I bet most of the payments you take at the pizzeria are credit or debit cards.” “You know it,” Carmen agreed. “We don’t take checks, and cash transactions are maybe 20% of the total. I know people who aren’t even accepting cash any more.” “As you say, people are used to paying with plastic at a restaurant. We still get lots of checks, though,” Ben assured her. “Lots of cash for copays. Some of the major employers around here give their workers debit cards for their tax-deferred health savings accounts, and some of our patients use special healthcare credit cards, but it’s still a pretty mixed bag.” Carmen nodded. “You were saying you have both POS sales and also some you have to post manually, too.” “That’s right, and of course that’s an opening for errors. Glitches in the payment processing can lead to stress, distraction from patient care, and even losing patients. Declined payments can fall through the cracks and get overlooked for so long that they never get taken care of. Plus, I think there’s a psychological barrier in having to pull out a wallet.” Carmen laughed at that. “Our customers are prepared for it, but yours may be thinking it’s all covered by insurance.” “Right. And of course many of the items we sell at the counter are not. If a patient is going to pay out of pocket, he’ll add in nutritional supplements or something, but if there’s no immediate transaction, I think they’re less likely to open their wallets.” “Sounds like an improvement in your credit card situation could actually improve your bottom line.” Ben nodded slowly, holding his wife’s gaze. “I think it could.” “You could be right,” Carmen said, leaning closer. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?” Now that Dr. Ben sees the potential problems with his credit card system, what is he going to do about it?
Chiropractic Software | Dr. Brian Paris | Practice of the Month | Advanced Spine & Wellness Center
“I learned about a workflow system versus a reporting system,” says Dr. Brian Paris, Advanced Spine & Wellness Center in Rockville, MD. “So it really allowed me to say, ‘Hey, there’s a software out there. I mean, we’re in the 21st century here. We’ve got to apply this stuff to healthcare and what I’m doing in my business.” Genesis chiropractic software, powered by Vericle, helps providers at Advanced Spine & Wellness Center control and optimize their workflows to achieve better teamwork and stay compliant – not just in scheduling emergency appointments, but in virtually every aspect of practice management. “It allows us, from a quality perspective… we are able to control the services from an internal perspective,” says Dr. Paris. “I am able to control what is going on with the practice.” At a dream practice, there is no room for loss of control, no matter how unpredictable the patient flow on any given day. Advanced Spine & Wellness’ approach to health focuses on spine and posture regeneration beyond the resolution of symptoms. The practice has helped hundreds of Montgomery County residents through state-of-the-art chiropractic, physical therapy, and acupuncture, as patients work to achieve optimal body function, performance and efficiency. “I quickly, when moving over to Genesis software, I was able to see the holes real quick with my Dream [Practice] Analysis,” says Dr. Paris. “And it’s very, very difficult to look at your own weaknesses, especially in something that you built from the ground up.” The professionals at Advanced Spine & Wellness go out of their way to make patients feel comfortable with not only the chiropractors, but also with the office and with the entire staff, before you ever walk through the door. It is the Rockville chiropractor of choice for patients of all ages and genders due to their unique, safe approach to pain relief and injury treatment. “By implementing this workflow system, and in pointing out my weaknesses in revenue and staff management and quality control and compliance, I’m now able to create a vision, accomplish it, and have a space of creation,” adds Dr. Paris. Utilizing a multi-specialty approach to healing, Advanced Spine & Wellness Center does not exclude the known benefits of the medical, surgical, and orthopedic disciplines. They desire and intend to see these philosophies work together to provide patients with the best healthcare. “I [have] learned about a lot of different areas in my practice — primarily three: staff management, revenue and compliance,” explains Dr. Paris. Now, it’s about two or three years later, where I have a very, very transparent picture. I have more time available for myself, and for developing the business, marketing, creating new revenue streams. As this healthcare industry changes, the revenue streams are changing.” Genesis features that simplify staying compliant, while also shoring up the revenue stream during the chiropractic EHR process include: Diagnosis linking to help providers use the right codes. Automated notifications and alarms, such as modifier selection and re-exam due. Compliant SOAP checklists make it easy for providers to create a set of tickets for routine services to make sure they never miss a documentation step. EHR (xDocs and XMR) technology to eliminate errors by auto-populating fields for patient data and reduce documentation time.
Who’s in Charge?
Credit cards are a necessary, but often expensive part of doing business. Could Ben handle credit cards better at his chiropractic practice? “It seems like things are going a lot better at the practice,” Carmen said, turning slowly so Ben could admire the dress she was trying on. Ben was seated in the dress shop, trying to keep their son quiet and still while Carmen found just the right dress for a friend’s wedding. “Yes — but where’d that come from? I thought you were completely focused on the important question of the sarong skirt versus the trumpet skirt.” “Tulip, actually, and yes, I’m very interested in that question. However, I also want to make sure you’re in a good mood before I start using our credit card.” Ben laughed. “I am in a good mood, actually,” he admitted. “The changes we’ve been making at the practice are really paying off. And that dress looks great.” “Good!” Carmen stepped back into the dressing room for a moment and returned with another dress. “Speaking of credit cards…” “I like that dress even better,” Ben offered. Their son ducked under a dress rack. Ben hauled him back out. “Speaking of credit cards?” Carmen was back in the dressing room, but she called through the door. “I’ve been thinking we need a change in our card processor at the pizzeria. The fees seem really high. How about yours?” Ben agreed that he felt his processing fees were high, too, admiring yet another dress. “That blue thing is very nice,” he said as his wife disappeared into the dressing room again. “But, you know, it’s better to pay the fees than not to get paid, and sometimes a patient has an outstanding balance that’s just too high for him to handle in cash.” Carmen stepped out with her arms full of bright fabrics and grabbed Jonathan’s hand. Ben joined her in the line to the cash register. “I guess it’s different at the restaurant,” she said. “We use a point of sale system the same way the store here does. If your transactions are mostly about getting old debts off your books…” “We have some payments through our POS system, both for treatment and for things like back supports and exercise equipment,” Ben said, “but there are also times when we call a client about a bill that didn’t get paid by insurance, and they ask us to put it on a credit card. Those get posted manually, so it’s easy to make mistakes or to miss them.” “I don’t think we have many mistakes in our credit card transactions,” Carmen said consideringly, “but sometimes a card is declined — and the customers have already eaten.” She reached the front of the line and placed her stack of dresses on the counter with a credit card on top. “We’ve had credit cards declined, too,” Ben said. “And as you say, we’ve already provided the services at that point. It’s a hassle to follow up, and I think maybe sometimes we don’t follow up. You can always make them wash dishes, right?” The kids laughed much more than the joke deserved, but Ben hardly noticed. “Hey, how many dresses do you need for one wedding?” “I couldn’t pick just one,” Carmen explained. “Plus, there are other dressy events in our future.” “Like what?” “I don’t know yet, but now that I have these dresses, I promise you there will be some.” Ben didn’t argue, but he was thinking about credit card transactions at the practice. Just how much were those transactions costing him? Could Ben handle credit cards better at his chiropractic practice?
Play Time’s Over
By Kathleen Casbarro Clinicians need to keep coming coding changes in mind How can Ben get on track for the ICD-10 changeover when it comes to clinical documentation? “Ben!” called Carmen, “You’re going to be late for work!” Ben swung Jonathan down to the floor and settled him with crayons and paper. The time he spent with his son in the mornings helped him start his day in a great mood, but it was easy to lose track of time. “Thanks!” he said to his wife, taking the strong, hot coffee she offered. “You don’t have to go in to the restaurant at all today?” “I have an actual day off,” she beamed. “It’s kids’ clinic at your place today, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is, and I think it’s my favorite day of the month.” Ben’s chiropractic office provided monthly well kid checkups for patients, and it worked out best to bunch all those appointments together. “Unless we have an emergency, it’s all happy, healthy kids.” “You can just write ‘Great kid!’ on each chart and skip the paperwork,” Carmen said with a smile. Ben finished his coffee quickly and headed to the clinic, with Carmen’s words ringing in his ears. He had been focusing on getting billing and scheduling systems in place in preparation for the ICD-10 changeover in October, but he knew he was also going to have to make changes in his clinical documentation. What changes, though? Once again, Ben thought, he was facing a possible problem without knowing just what he was up against. He knew he did a good job with clinical documentation, but he also knew that the documentation would be key to success with ICD-10. There would be different codes for the two sides of the body, for various levels of severity of each condition, and more — and payment decisions would be riding on making the right choices. Ben added “clinical documentation” to his list of issues to think about. The list never seemed to get any shorter, but he felt fairly sure that he had no choice with this issue. How can Ben get on track for the ICD-10 changeover when it comes to clinical documentation?
To Grow, You Have to Let Go
By Garrett B. Gunderson How to Escape the Job Trap & Build a Real Business | Part 1 Are you a business owner or an employee? Think that through carefully. Let me put it a different way: What would happen to your business and income if you were to leave today and take a three-month vacation? If your business would fall apart and your income would stop, you’re an employee—even if you technically own a business entity. The truth is that the vast majority of professionals, and even many entrepreneurs, think they own a business but in fact it owns them, as what they really have is a job. They have to be physically present and doing the work or the income stops. They spend their time working in the business, rather than on the business. They don’t have the right people or systems to duplicate themselves. They couldn’t sell the business because it wouldn’t survive without them. Robert Kiyosaki explains the difference between a job and a business in a parable: There was once a village with a problem: It had not water unless it rained. To solve the problem, the village elders decided to solicit bids to have water delivered daily to the village. Two people volunteered and the elders awarded the contract to both of them. The first, Ed, immediately bought two buckets and began running back and forth along the trail to the lake, which was a mile away. He immediately began making money as he labored each morning hauling water from the lake. Each morning he had to get up before the rest of the villagers awoke. The second man, Bill, disappeared and was not seen for months. Instead of buying buckets to compete with Ed, Bill had written a business plan, created a corporation, found four investors, employed a president to do the work, and returned six months later with a construction crew. Within a year his team had built a large pipeline, which connected the village to the lake. Bill’s pipeline delivered cleaner water than Ed’s and it supplied water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bill was also able to charge 75 percent less than Ed. Of course, Ed ran ragged while Bill was able to enjoy life—making money even while he was on vacation. So the question is: Are you hauling buckets or building pipelines? Now, let’s be authentic about this: Building a business is no small task. It’s incredibly difficult, particularly for trained professionals and personality-based operations. When you know as much as you do, you’re as skilled as you are, and you care more than anyone, it’s very challenging to replace yourself. But it is possible. The most common thing I hear from FastTrack members in this regard is that “it’s different for chiropractors and dentists.” I realize that there are some differences between highly-trained and skilled professionals and McDonald’s, but it’s still possible to build a business. It’s a classic case of hard/easy, easy/hard. It’s easy to just show up and do the work every day, but that makes your life much harder over time. It’s hard to build a business, but it makes your life way easier over time. But doing so requires a totally different mindset. It requires that you do things that don’t immediately pay off. Running a business means to be efficient and quick, but building a business is methodical and slow. Freedom FastTrack is a similar business to professionals, in that it is highly-technical and personality-based. But over time I’ve been able to escape the job trap. And trust me, it hasn’t been easy. For me, it was much easier to do a coaching call myself than to train a new coach. But I knew I could only be in one place at one time, and I wanted to impact more people. I’ve had to be committed to building a business. There is still progress to be made, but I rarely do coaching, and I have the time to go on trips, work on the business, and focus on the things I love doing most. Here’s how you can do it, too: 1. Build the Foundation of Culture First, you want to be very clear on who you are, what you stand for, what you stand against, what you really want to define your organization. Write down your non-negotiables and never allow anyone in your organization to stray from them. For example, we have everyone that works with us read our style guide, which details our values, vision, and culture. We also do several interviews before hiring, and we emphasize values over talent. 2. Hire the Right People, Train them Meticulously, Treat them Right There’s an informal debate in the business world right now between Michael Gerber, the author of The E-Myth Revisited, and Seth Godin, the author of Linchpin. Michael Gerber says that building a business is all about systems. He teaches to make your systems so simple that you could insert pretty much any warm body to run them. Seth Godin says it’s all about finding the right people—what he calls indispensable “linchpins.” Linchpins are proactive, responsible, and smart. They see needs and fill them. They’re full of ideas for improving your organization. My take is that any business needs both, but I side with Seth when it comes to hiring. You don’t want the lowest common denominators that will be the cheapest to pay. You want the best and the brightest who can adapt to change and proactively improve your organization. You want people who think like trusted stewards upon whom you can depend to make good decisions. The way to find the right people is to first create the position you need filled. Understand the mindset and skills that will be required to fill that position. Then hire someone whose Soul Purpose fits that position. Be willing to allow other people to express their Soul Purpose by building Soul Purpose networks and teams. There are some
PQRS | How These Four Letters Affect Your Practice | Webinar Q&A
Unless you are billing the right set of PQRS codes on 50 percent of your qualifying visits, then you will lose 2 percent of your allowed reimbursement in 2016 and forward. As a result, you may have concerns about the changes that this reporting system brings to your chiropractic clinic. To help you get the answers you need, we have compiled all questions that were asked during our recent webinar “PQRS | How These Four Letters Affect Your Practice,’ along with the presenter’s responses. Feel free to add any new questions in the comment section below. Q: Is Genesis powered by Vericle an eligible registry? A: Right now, the only way to submit a PQRS code to CMS is claim-based. Vericle is working on becoming a registry. It’s a very long process. Right now, we are working on Stage Two Meaningful Use. This is another way for users to avoid the 2016 penalty. Q: Does pain and medication measure have to be reported on every visit? A: Whatever measurements you choose to report, the documentation has to be in your chart. Q: What is Genesis powered by Vericle doing to maintain compliance with Medicare? A: In terms of compliance with Medicare, Vericle does keep up on the rules. In some cases, if you need a different secondary diagnosis when you’re submitting your claims to Medicare, Vericle is C-CHIT. Vericle completed EHR Meaningful Use Stage One and is preparing for Stage Two, which is Medicare compliant. PQRS codes have been available in the Vericle system.
Mistakes
Office errors can spill over into patient care What are the consequences of mistakes in Ben’s office? “Honey, I’m home!” Ben sang out as he stepped through the front door. His small son ran and tackled his knees, and he was relieved to see that his wife was smiling. Ben swung Jonathan up onto his shoulder and hugged Carmen. “How’d things go at work today?” he asked her. “You were right,” she said. “Once I talked honestly and respectfully with the girls about how much time there were spending on… umm… personal things…” “By which you mean the super-cute delivery guy,” Ben cut in. “Exactly,” Carmen laughed. “Anyway, they saw my point and I think it’ll be okay. It’s just hard to get a conversation like that started.” Ben thought about his own staffing issues. High staff turnover, absenteeism and errors seemed to be a constant problem, and he didn’t feel that he had time to spare to deal with the issues — even if he’d had a good plan for approaching them. Jonathan’s attempts to get down got Ben’s attention away from work, and he set the boy gently on the floor. Jonathan scampered off and Carmen said gently, “Are you worrying about work again?” Ben agreed that he was. “Maybe it’s the upcoming changes in reporting regulations that are making me notice it more,” he said, “but I feel like we make a lot of mistakes.” “Any mistakes in a medical office feel like a lot,” Carmen observed. “Oh, it’s not mistakes in treatment. It’s things like incorrect diagnosis codes, forgetting to collect copayments, incomplete documentation, delayed payments — even overpayments.” “Not things that affect the patients, then?” Carmen asked. “Actually, that kind of mistake can affect the patients,” Ben admitted. “Whether it’s a billing issue that gets uncomfortable and the patient just doesn’t come back, or a feeling that things are falling through the cracks that makes a patient feel less confident about us, we can lose patients because of office problems.” “Plus,” he went on, following his wife into the kitchen as she raced to turn off the oven timer, “Every hour I spend dealing with office SNAFUs is an hour that I’m not seeing patients.” Carmen cocked her head, a steaming pan of baked sausage and eggplant in her hands. “I think it’s always easier to change the circumstances than to change people,” she said, setting the pan onto the table. She began to gather the ingredients for a salad. Ben grabbed a tomato and began to slice it. “The circumstances are pretty settled,” he objected. “We have things we have to do, sometimes by law. There aren’t any points for originality when you’re talking about medical billing.” “I get that, but there must be things that make it easier to make mistakes, or harder. Like lines in the parking lot make it easier to park a lot of cars than it would be if everyone just did their own thing.” Jonathan raced in at that moment with a picture he had drawn, and Ben pushed thoughts of work from his mind, but Carmen’s words came back to him later. It seemed like lots of little mistakes added up to big problems. If his staff couldn’t change, how could he get past the problems? What are the consequences of mistakes in Ben’s office?
