In the beginning of starting a business, you are in full hustle mode and you are trying to get through your long to-do list. If you continue on the hustle, hustle, hustle path of business you will eventually burn out.
What if I told you it could be easier? Just by establishing routines and setting up systems you can streamline your business and give yourself more time!
What is a business system, anyway?
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A business system is a set of processes, tools and strategies that all work together to achieve a goal. Establishing a solid business system streamlines the workload, improves productivity and ultimately, leads to more profit.
Within a business system there are a set of processes {or checklists} known as a business process.
The sooner you can set up systems and delegate tasks to a team member, the quicker you can grow and scale your business because you will have more time to work on income generating tasks.
Where do you start?
Identify Business Activities
What activities do you do to run your business? {daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basis}
Let’s break the activities into categories in terms of: Operations; Sales, Marketing & Customer Service and Finance.
Operations are the backend of your business {planning & goal setting, project management, email management, new employee training, etc.}
Sales, Marketing & Customer Services are the activities that attract and convert buyers {content marketing, email marketing, sales funnels, launches, resolution of complaints, customer comments/suggestions, etc.}
Finances are activities that cover what you do with your money {bookkeeping, filing taxes, payroll, etc.}
Breakdown Activities
Once you have a list of your business activities, breakdown each activity according to resources/tools, purpose, KPIs {key performance indicator}, Policy, Members Involved, Process, and Steps. This is the process of writing SOPs {Standard Operating Procedures}. An SOP is a procedure specific to your operations that describes the activities necessary to complete tasks.
When you breakdown the activities within a process all the areas makeup a business system.
Improve & Adjust
We defined a system as a way to achieve a goal, so revisiting the goal for the system is important to see if the system is working or if adjustments need to be made. Having KPIs or simply identifying a measurable factor to determine progress is a great indicator if a system is working well or not.
Questions to ask when reevaluating a system… What is the purpose of this system? Is there a faster way to complete tasks? Are there automations that can be put in place to reduce the workload and free up time? Can the process make you more money or maybe could it cost you less to complete?
Eliminate
Review the process to eliminate any unnecessary tools, members involved, processes and steps.
Pause
Are there any parts of the system that are helpful but don’t really need to currently be included?
Automate
Are there apps, tools, software that could automate the task? Can you upgrade a current tool to access additional features to save more time?
Delegate
Are you delegating tasks appropriately to other members to alleviate some of your time on tasks? Maybe there are tasks you don’t like doing that you can delegate or outsource.
Batch
Review all the tasks and see if there are similar tasks that you can possibly group together or batch. Maybe a system has a ton of graphics that need to be creating to complete the task. Instead of creating graphics at different steps, group the task together and create all the graphis in one sitting.
Let’s Review
Establishing a solid routine and setting up systems can streamline your workload to improve productivity and lead to more profit. It takes time to identify the business activities, break them down, improve and adjust but it will be well worth it!
Looking for templates to make the process super easy?
The DIY Teacherpreneur is a template monthly subscription. Each month you get a new set of Canva templates and an element guide. I love the templates, but the elements guide is GOLD! The guide is a catalog style of elements that you can copy and paste into your design. It’s all about saving time, with this guide you have the cutest elements in one place. No more spending hours looking for the perfect element. Many of the elements you can adjust the color to match your brand, I know it’s AMAZING!
Join the The DIY TeacherPreneur community today!
