It’s a new year, and one of your first goals should be to stop wasting time in your business by setting up systems and processes so it runs efficiently. When your business runs efficiently, you make more money while also having more time to yourself. You run your business instead of your business running you!
We fail to set up systems and processes when first starting a business because we know how to do everything. Since we are the only one working in the business, there’s no need to write things down. That works for awhile. There are benefits to setting up systems and process even in the beginning stages of business. Putting systems and processes in place now will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Operating Without Systems And Processes
When we don’t have systems and processes in our business, recurring tasks end up taking longer. Each time you start a new task, it may feel like you are trying to reinvent the wheel. You start a new task, and the next thing you know, you are still struggling to finish the task two hours later. You read all the help questions to find the answers. Problems keep popping up, and you have to redo steps after you spend time fixing your mistakes.
This scenario describes me posting a new blog on my website when I first started blogging. I knew I had done the step before, but I just couldn’t remember how to do it correctly. One time, I had posted my blog but forgot to save it. I ended up having to start all over the next day when I couldn’t find my post. Talk about frustration!
Without systems and process in place, it is harder to train new hires because everything is in your head. You need to have someone helping you with tasks, but you end up spending a lot more time training them because nothing is documented.
By not having systems and processes in your business, you end up spending more time on tasks than you should. That extra time could have been spent growing your business or enjoying time with family and friends.
Why You Need Systems and Processes
As your business grows, systems and processes will increase your productivity giving you more time to do something other than managing the backend operations. Spending weekends catching up on tasks that could be automated or done by someone on your team is no fun. In addition, you will be losing out on potential income.
Another positive aspect of creating systems and processes is evident when hiring a new team member. Anytime you hire someone new, you will need to spend some time training. With well-documented processes, training a new team member is simplified.
With tasks documented, not only will your business run more efficiently, but you will also find more time on your hands to work on growing your business or spending more time doing what you want to do.
After just two times of struggling while posting on my blog, I got wise and began to record each step of the process. Yes, it took a little longer because I was recording my steps. The next time I posted a blog, however, I didn’t spend nearly as much time as I had when I didn’t have each step documented. The next few times that I had a new blog to post, I would open up my the document with my steps and add more information to make the steps and descriptions even easier to understand. Over time I’ve continued to update the document. It is a living and breathing document that will need to be changed over time.
Where To Start
Simply put, the more tasks you can document in your business, the more efficiently your business will run. An efficiently run business leads to more income and more freedom to spend your time doing what you want.
Some processes you want to document include:
- Client onboarding and offboarding
- Social media graphic design template
- Email marketing
- Creating an opt-in
- Designing a landing page
- Creating a launch plan
- Producing a podcast
- Creating a content calendar
- Content templates
- Bookkeeping
Here is an example of my blog post template in ClickUp. As I complete each step, I check it off so I’ll know where I’m at in the process. As you can see in the “Upload blog post to website” step, I refer to my SOP, which is attached to this task list, for those specific steps.
Each of the tasks within this process are recurring. If you have a document you can follow each time you have recurring tasks, you will save time because you won’t be re-learning how to complete the task each time.
Having these template lists and SOPs in front of me as I move through the processes has saved me so much time. As I go through a process, I edit the list and SOPs to make it more accurate. What once seemed to take forever and cause frustration, now gets done with minimal effort.
Automation Tools
Another thing that can help your business run more efficiently is automation. When you have processes automated, you save the time it once took to do everything manually.
Sending individual emails each time you connect with a potential client, send a proposal, send a contract, then send an invoice takes time that you could be using to grow your business. On top of that, it’s a lot of information to track for each potential client. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
Now imagine the following scenario. A potential lead fills out a contact form on your website. Once she clicks the submit button, an email with a link to your scheduler is sent to her email so she can schedule a discovery call with you. After the call is finished, a proposal, contract, and invoice are automatically sent to her. Once her payment is received, you are ready to begin working. Easy peasy!
Here’s a short list of possible software you can use to automate your business.
- Client Relation Management (CRM) – Dubsado, Honeybrook, 17Hats, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Thryv
- Email Marketing – Mailerlite, Mail Chimp,ConvertKit, Ontraport, Keap, AWeber, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot
- Project Management – ClickUp, Asana, Trello, Monday.com, Zoho
- Social Media – Tailwind, Buffer, Hootsuite, SocialPilot, Later, Planoly
The hardest part of automating your business will be choosing a software. There are so many choices. Read many reviews to find one that fits well with your business needs. Some offer a free trial so you can try it out before you buy a subscription. Once you make a decision and do the work to automate your processes, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Benefits of Setting Up Systems and Processes
When you set systems and processes up in your business, you save time and your business runs more efficiently. This allows you more time to grow your business, set new goals for your business, attend business conferences, spend with friends and family, take time for yourself, and many other things you’d rather be doing.
It does take a lot of work to set things up, and you shouldn’t try to do it all at once. However, if you start documenting processes and setting up systems today, you’ll be one step closer to saving time and increasing your income. If you need help figuring out where to start or you need someone to set up your systems and processes, checkout my services or schedule a call with me by filling out my website contact form.
P.S. This post contains affiliate links for the software I use in my business. This means that if you purchase a subscription to the software, I receive a portion of the fee. The price you pay does not increase by using an affiliate link. In fact, some softwares offer a discounted price by using an affiliate link.