You Only Have To Do It Once*

Every time I talk to a busy business owner who says they really need to get their systems and processes in order, but just don’t have the time, my answer is always the same… “I have good news and I have bad news for you… you only have to do it once.”

The good news is, that once in place, most Singular Operating Systems (SOS – also known as Sink or Swim) will stand for years to come and only require tweaking and adjusting as your business evolves and grows. The bad news is, you will have to sit down once and do what I refer to as “the brain dump.”

The truth is, most business owners do have systems and processes, they just happen to keep them all in their heads. Taking the time to sit down, document the way you run the daily operations of your business, and then evaluate if it’s the best way to run your business is not only necessary, but once one the other side very freeing as well.

Here’s my personal story to prove that even those of us who live for and love a good system can dread having to document the process. In our family painting business, we usually hire a college student to help out in the summer months when we’re in our busy season. After a few years in the business and a few summer helpers had come and gone, I finally decided to document ALL of the office procedures and create a manual to use for all future training needs. I’ll be honest, it was not a whole lot of fun, and meant taking extra time document each task as I was completing it. BUT, that following summer when we hired another new office assistant, I used the manual to train her, then asked her to try to follow the procedures on her own, and finally tweaked it so anyone with a brain could come in, sit down at the main desk and figure out enough to answer the phone and carry out our basic office functions without any help.

Fast forward ten years and that extra time spent creating that manual has saved me (and our company) hours upon hours of time in training new admins every time we’ve hired one. In hindsight, it was one of the best things I ever did with regards to increasing the productivity in the office and adding consistency and repeatability to all of our office procedures.

What would implementing consistent and repeatable systems mean for your business?

– Would it allow you to delegate with less fear?

– Would it allow you to hire or outsource tasks that are not the best use of your time, but still need to be taken care of?

– Would it allow you to take off one of the many hats you’ve been wearing and breathe a little easier?

If you answered YES to any or all of the above, I highly encourage you to set aside some time to get your systems out of your head and onto paper. And if you’d like some help and don’t want to start from scratch, I’ve done the heavy lifting already to get you 85% of the way there. You can learn more about The Full Circle Customer course here and here’s to doing it once, and once and for all.

*Doing it once the right way will lead to optimal results and not having to repeat the process. 👍🏼