When you first started your business, you probably wore many hats - the content creator, the accountant, the tech person, the website editor, the social media manager, etc. This can feel overwhelming. As you have grown, you’ve more than likely hired on some team members for support, but have you put in place any systems?
And even if you’re just starting out, you need to be able to streamline BEFORE getting to that bend-or-break point. Systems are how you do that. Systems make fast work of many, many tasks that would otherwise bog down the new or seasoned entrepreneur.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems” - James Clear, Atomic Habits
I’m sharing with you my top recommended systems that EVERY level of business should have in place.
ORGANIZATION
Without an organizational system in place, you can spend HOURS looking for things that should be readily and easily accessible. Google Drive gets my top recommendation because it’s so much easier to collaborate and navigate than, say, DropBox or other file storage systems that require download/upload steps, and has a pretty low storage capacity for the free version.
In your Drive, set up a new folder for each client or program. Then think about the other elements of your business. Do you need a business finances folder to house invoices and receipts? What about a marketing folder for content and copy? Do you have a podcast? Create a parent podcast folder, then include subfolders for each episode to house graphics, transcriptions, social copy, audiograms, etc. in one place for easy access. The key is uniform organization all the way through, though. What you do for one, you want to do for all.
SOPs & TEMPLATES
SOPs, or Standard Operating Procedures, and templates make life and business SO easy! They help you make fast work of repetitive tasks by removing your need to overthink and get lost in minutiae each time you go to do something.
As you create a new system or a new task or even launch a new program or product, TRACK exactly what you do, write it all down, tweak it and turn it into an SOP that explains everything you need to do and when.
SOPs help you stay focused and on track, as well as serve as a guide for you and your team to get big projects done without a lot of back and forth in emails or wasted time in procrastination.
House your SOPs in your project management tool and then use them to train your team as you onboard support, or repurpose it for your next launch, and so forth.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
One word. Asana. Organize your Asana space by project/program, or client, but don’t forget to create an HQ box. You’ll want to store everything in Asana, including all SOPs, links to where your stuff is for each part of your business in your (newly organized) Google Drive, and any tasks/to do’s for yourself and your team
Then, make sure you assign all tasks to yourself, as well as assigning team tasks to the proper members and don’t forget to SET A DUE DATE so you can keep track of what’s completed and what’s off track
This will track workloads for yourself and your team, keep all your ideas and processes in one spot and make sure critical things aren’t forgotten about. Here is an example of how I would organize a client’s Asana:
HQ Team with the following projects: Business Plan, Meet the Team, Admin/Operations.
Content Planning Team with the following projects: (Month of) Content, Podcast, (Insert Name) August Masterclass, Content Template, Masterclass Template
Courses & Programs Team with the following projects: Program #1, Program #2, Launch Template
Whether you choose Asana or another software, an efficient project management tool is CRUCIAL to scale because too much can be lost when you rely on pen and paper...or your head.
AUTOMATIONS
Automate everything!! (If you know me, you know this is my most favorite phrase EVER! I even have a course titled it! ;)) Use automation features like workflows in Dubsado, Automations in ActiveCampaign or FloDesk for email marketing, or Zapier to connect two software together.
Whatever you can automate to take you or someone else manually out of the process…DO IT!
Things you may want to automate right away:
Appointment scheduling
Client Onboarding
Client Gifting
Testimonial Requests
Social Media Scheduling
Lead Capturing
Payment and Course access
Email Marketing
Billing
Bookkeeping.
There’s more, but this is a good solid list to start with.
Likewise, if you can’t see where you can automate, then get your systems and processes assessed by a professional (hi, it’s me!) to uncover places you could be automating instead of putting your hands on more than you have to.
Running a successful business takes systems, especially if you have plans to scale and scale quickly. Get organized, communicate what needs to be done, manage your team and your time, and automate as much as possible and you’ll be left with time to actually focus on your clients and the work you love!
Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.
After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.
Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of three furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.
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