Are you interested in creating effective processes for your business? What exactly does that mean to the small business operator, the loan wolf? Often, creating effective processes doesn’t happen until the sky falls when you have that ‘Oh *&^%‘ moment, the one that almost brings you to your knees.
It’s not until your ‘Oh *&^%’ moment that you start thinking about if I only I had a plan if only I’d had a procedure so that someone else could have continued to keep the money coming in. It may surprise you, but many small business owners don’t have effective processes, business systems, or procedures in place. Often, there are four reasons why.
- They’re a one-person band.
- It’s all in their head, and no time to pen it.
- Things work fine as they are. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it
- They never get sick or have time out
They are all valid reasons, but they’re not good reasons.
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing”
―
In a recent blog post, I wrote about the importance of taking a risk, changing it up to build a business on strong foundations. It doesn’t surprise me to see how many people make just enough money to pay their bills and keep the wolves from the door. Sadly, there is no plan for increasing income or the longevity of their business. As a side note to this, ask yourself, “what legacy am I leaving?
I’m not going to tell you what you need to do about increasing your income. That’s what you hire other experts for. But what I will share with you is how you can implement simple systems and processes into your business that will allow you to find the time to practice what the ‘other’ experts tell you.
Small Business Solutions
When it comes to business admin, there are several areas of your business that you can make quick changes to yourself so you can start reaping the benefits sooner rather than later. Check out the tips below to help you get some organisation into your business admin.
- Inbox management – Create labels for your clients. If you put an _ at the beginning of their name, they will appear at the top of your label list. Set up filters for the labels, so incoming emails are tagged automatically with the relevant label. It also makes for quick filing.
- CRM management – Use a CRM that has great growth options and one that makes automation easy. Active Campaign is my absolute go-to. Of course, the more you pay, the more features you get, but that’s the same with every great software program.
- Newsletter management – Again, Active Campaign.
- Website Maintenance – Your website is the only 24/7 advertising tool you have, so it needs to work, and regular check-ups are necessary, not a ‘nice to do’.
- Social Media – A simple spreadsheet is all you need here, to begin with. You don’t need fancy calendars or schedulers to keep track or plan.
- Team support – Support those who support you. Get the stuff out of your head and build the procedures that your business needs. Ask yourself, what happens to your business and your income if you are not available? It falls in a heap, that’s what!
Next Steps to Creating Effective Processes
Your next steps should be to determine where you need the business systems and processes in your business. Consider the following three questions:
- What happens if I am not here anymore? Who notifies my clients?
- If I can’t work in my business, how can I make money?
- How can I get more time with my clients to build my business?
I’m not necessarily talking about falling off the perch here for point one. Illness would be a great barrier to you and your clients if you were to be incapacitated for any length of time. What sort of an impact will that have on your business revenue?
The answer to all three points above is creating effective processes, building great systems and procedures into your business. If you have these, then stuff continues to happen, the wheels continue to turn, and the people you’ve assigned the tasks too will do their jobs according to your processes and procedures while you spend time on point three, spending more time with your clients to build your business.
If you’re not good at creating effective processes, contact us to find out how we can help you sort it all out so your team are good to go and you get to focus on the strategic areas of your business which is helping your clients or if you prefer you can reach out and contact me here.
