Implementing the System
Change can be a difficult thing for people to embrace. Whether it’s you struggling with the new and improved system, or your customers having to get used to a new way of interacting with you, be aware that there may be an adjustment period.
Make sure that when you systemize your business, you let your audience know how it works. Take the time to explain the changes and why it will be beneficial for everyone if it’s done this way.
When you set up or arrange to have your system in place, pick a day of the week and a season that you’re not scrambling to complete a project. You don’t want to add any unnecessary stress if you can help it.
Everyone who needs to use the system needs to understand how to operate it. Confusion can cause a lot of setbacks and you don’t want that. It might take you or your outsourcers a few days or weeks to get the hang of a new system.
Allow time for this. Don’t implement something the day before a brand new launch – where you and your customers will experience a lot of frustration if there are glitches or confusion happening.
Once your system is set up and operational, you’ll want to do periodic spot checks to make sure that it’s working the way that you want it work. If it’s causing more time and hassle because it’s too complicated, then obviously, the system needs revision.
Systemizing a business is intended to make life easier for you as you run your company. If it doesn’t do that, then it needs to be tweaked or changed. Sometimes there’s a simple fix, and other times, you have to chalk it up to a loss and find a replacement.
The goal with systemizing your business is ultimately increased profits.
Every change you make, you should analyze the return you expect to get from the new way of doing things.
For instance, if you hire a virtual assistant part time and pay her $2,000 a year, then you should expect to see your profits shoot up more than $2,000 per year because she’s now handling the drudge work and you’re able to focus on money making efforts.
Sometimes, an entire area of your business can’t be automated. But a portion of it can. You need to map out the entire process of each area of your business and see if there’s anything you can plug in to automate a portion of that task.
For example, with blogging – you may want daily content for your blog because the traffic it generates leads to more opt in subscribers, and ultimately, higher profit margins when you have products to sell to your list.
You might use two areas of automation for this one task. First, you outsource the writing to a freelance ghostwriter. And second, you use the built in scheduler tool on WordPress to post the blog for you. There are even tools that can add the blog link and message to social media accounts for you.
Not all of the blogging process is automated. You still do the brainstorming, add your unique personalization to the content, and upload the item to your blog. But even those can eventually be automated if you find your own talents to be more profitable if you focus on product creation and let a virtual assistant handle the daily blog tasks.
Don’t be afraid to let go of control of your business. It’s a necessary part of the growth process. Find people and tools that you can trust – and don’t be afraid to replace them if you find they’re not working for you.
That’s it! I hope our five day discussion on systematizing your small business has inspired you to start creating systems and working yourself out of a job. There’s time and productivity waiting for you when you’re able to break out of the monotony of menial tasks in your business.
If this series was helpful, please leave a comment below and share it so that other people can benefit.
Make today count!
Jenn Glidden
PS. If you’re interested in training on how to hire and screen exceptional outsourced labor for $1-3/hr, I’ve documented all of my outsourcing systems here.