We’ve just reached the end of the first quarter and for some, those resolutions and goals set at the beginning of the year might have already flown through the window or the roof!
Let’s talk strategies.
The key to optimizing business in the online world today is quite simple, yet, there is a level of complexity around implementing these simple aspects in your business.
What’s the key? Systems and Processes!
You’re often told to take care of your health; I’m here to tell you it’s equally important to take care of your business health which comes down to the systems and processes you put in place to shape it exactly the way you want it to be – only then will you see your business goals come to life.
You’re often told to take care of your health; I’m here to tell you it’s equally important to take care of your business health which comes down to the systems and processes you put in place to shape it exactly the way you want it to be. #Youpreneur Click To TweetI love processes – automation and systems bring me heartfelt joy. Loving what you do is also an integral part of keeping your business healthy. This is quite easy if you’ve built your business on something you are truly passionate about.
On the flip side, setting up systems might grind your gears. The backend is pretty much your engine and if you take action to get the right systems and workflows in place, you free up the valuable time that you need to be the visionary in your business.
Here are 3 MIBAs (Most Important Bold Actions) you can take now to optimize your business processes and business systems and clean that engine!
Create a progress screen
This is pretty much your dashboard, the one thing you should go-to on a daily basis. Many of my clients find that placing this as their computer wallpaper is the answer. It doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to speak to you. This could be as simple as an excel sheet which tracks things like metrics, finances, sales, meetings and much more. If you have graphics skills, Canva is a good tool to use for this.
Think about your performance indicators and add those to your spreadsheet. The key to this task is tracking the things that are most important to you in your business. Double points if you have an accountability partner to check in on you and make sure you keep this up to date or a team member who does it for you. This would be a perfect task for a virtual assistant!
Systemize and Automate
The world has evolved so much that the manual side of a business is becoming more and more obsolete. For example, accepting payments and joining an online course has never been easier. The moment you pay there’s an email in your inbox with the instructions to access the course. Awesome right?
More importantly, a few years ago, we all had multiple exchanges trying to schedule meetings; scheduling apps now take that pain away and in no time our prospects and clients can select the times most convenient to them by perusing our online calendars.
Automation can answer many of your timing problems, and trust me when I say, in the online business world there’s no cap on the things we can automate.
Quit avoiding the tech: the old school methods still work, but do you really want to skip out on date night, playing with the kids or going to bed early to check a ton of emails that could be filtered to your needs? Or to create and email invoices that could be automated? I’ll take date night and family activities over emails anytime!
Standard Operating Procedures – They Work!
The backbone to moving forward smoothly when a key team member is on holiday, sick or quit, is having procedures in place. With the perfect automation in place and no procedures, you could end up losing precious time training team members over and over each time someone calls out or leaves your team permanently.
When you document your processes, it’s as simple as giving your new hire or temporary team member a detailed operating procedure, a step by step video process, or both, to jump right in on the day-to-day without you dropping all you need to do to train them for the weeks ahead.
Onboarding does take a few weeks to a few months if done correctly, however, with step by steps instructions for the tasks of every aspect of your business available, you’ll receive fewer calls and emails from your new team member, or even someone already on your team who has agreed to fill in.
As long as they know the details are available on a shared drive, that will be their go-to when they need details on getting the job done without interrupting you. In turn, you will be the last person they reach out to if they don’t understand an assignment, and what business owner wouldn’t love that?
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
