Top Operating Systems Your Business Needs
I realize that most entrepreneurs wear their “busy” and “hustle” badge with honor.
But need not to forget...those badges, long-term, can turn into severe burnout. Yikes. The secret sauce here is to set up those systems and delegate as early as possible in your business. The “One Woman Show” performance is only fun for so long. We need to look at our businesses like a Fierce boss instead of just another cog in the wheel, or employee.
Today, I wanted to share my Top 5 Systems Every Fierce Boss Needs in their Business. Whether you’re making 5k a year in your side gig or pushing 6 and 7 figures, these are the basic areas you should have solid systems. Ready? Let’s do this!
Project Management
Wikipedia says that project management is the practice of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals. So even if it's just you (at least for now), I would challenge you to look at your business tasks through a project management lens. Every email, text, post, and connection is most likely part of a bigger project.
One area that gets us all: Email! Our inboxes can easily get out of hand and most business owners spend hours every day in their emails. By pulling your tasks out of your inbox and organizing them in a project management app like Trello, Asana, or Clickup, you will save hours each week.
Hot tip: I like to identify projects either by taking large goals and breaking them down or by grouping like actions together to create a workflow.
2
Your Schedule
I believe being intentional in our own schedules is massively important, SO many times I’ve seen biz owners allow others to dictate their days. It’s more than OK for you to set the times you have calls, meetings, and work on specific tasks. Most people respect when we have boundaries and for the love of it, STOP responding outside of business hours unless that is when you have your work time. For me, personally, I’m a work-at-home mom, so normal “office” hours I have my kids. I work early and late, but that is my work time. I try to guard my family time and put my phone and computer away when I’m in mom mode. This is hard, be diligent because it is so worth it for you, your family, and your sanity!
HOT TIP: Here is a great mantra for you...If it's not a F&#$ yes, it's a F&#$ NO! It’s GOOD to say no! That allows for your best yesses. So ask yourself this the next time you’re on the fence about saying yes.
3
Conversion Tracking
Personally I hate the term “follow up”, this could be from my years in Direct Sales where it was ingrained in me that “the fortune is in the follow up” Yeah - we get it, follow up is important, but for someone who wants to build a relationship, not just make a sale, I prefer calling it Conversation Tracking. Know that keeping track of who you talk to, what type of services they might be interested in, and how you could collaborate or help each other in the future is a vital part of your success. To date, all of my clients have come through word of mouth and networking. I’ve yet to have a stranger reach out. (Looking forward to that happening one day!) Of course, we need to balance sharing our brand publicly, but we also need solid plans to reach out and build those relationships.
Hot tip:
I recommend having a CRM (and USE IT!) in your business. I’m a big fan of Dubsado as it allows you not only to track potential clients, but you can also create a lot of automation through the platform. The key is to find a platform that allows you to automate as much of the task parts of your business (onboarding, proposals, contracts, invoices) so you can focus on the relationship part.
4
FINANCES
The earlier you start tracking your finances the better! I’m not just talking about your income and expenses, those are extremely important, we also need to be mapping out our goals, potential leads, operating costs and business budgets. I've seen businesses get into trouble because they don't know where their money is coming and going.
I know, I know...many of us don’t like to talk about money, there are so many emotions tied into it from past experiences. I've literally had clients cry after they shared their financial picture with me. Failure and insecurity sometimes, is there, but just like everything else I've shared today, properly managing money, both in your home and business is a skill you can learn!
I can tell you from experience I used to sweat buckets and get that feeling in the back of my throat like I was going to vomit early on in my marriage when my husband wanted to go over our budget. I was so uncomfortable! But after 15 years of weekly talking about it, that vomit feeling and the emotional eating after our budget meeting is almost gone. ;) I have a better understanding now, so most of that fear and shame is gone.
So embrace talking about it and get comfortable knowing your business numbers!
Hot tip:
I am a big fan of the Profit First model. (Plug for the book or audio!) 50% of your income goes to pay yourself, 5% goes into a profit account, 15% comes out for taxes and 30% goes to cover your expenses. I also use Wave Apps Accounting as it’s FREE!
5
Templates
A template is just a pattern, it's your pre-formatted starting point. Templates can be a lifesaver if done consistently! My general rule is anything you write the same way over and over should be a template.
The best templates to start with are estimates, contracts and invoices. Maximize your time and make those easy to duplicate and send. If you are paying for a CRM, I recommend using as many features as you can within the platform and then supplement with other apps as needed. Client onboarding and offboarding emails and/or documents are great to implement templates, try not to overcomplicate it too much, automations and templates should make your life easier! Did you know Gmail allows you to create email templates as well? You just need to turn it on in settings, super easy to create that include your bio and headshot, customer service responses, meeting requests, onboarding and offboarding, estimate and contract emails.
Hot Tip:
Create an FAQ for your business. Base it on the top questions you get asked and then next time a client or customer emails you, you can easily send them the FAQ!
If you made it all the way here, GO YOU! I know it’s a ton of info, but I truly hope this will help you.. I’ve also created a few freebies to help you on your journey. Click the button below to get access to my Fierce CEO’s Guide to a Burnout Free Schedule as well as my Fierce Weekly Schedule Spreadsheet. Both amazing resources to plan out and guard your time.
