Today I want to share with you something that will accelerate your business growth AND allow you to focus more time ON the business rather than IN it….. all using online business systems.
I hate to say it, but I spent a long long time in a large corporate organization – some 16 years. Sad, I know. Lots of unnecessary bureaucracy, lots of people who don’t give a @#:$!* and lots of people who have zero accountability. But let me tell you it’s not all bad. I learned a hell of lot. It was a great education for me in many aspects of business including:
- Creating profitable product solutions.
- Developing an affordable business structure.
- Product development process.
- How to maintain a start-up mentality within a large bureaucracy.
- Systems, standards, and operating procedures to maximize quality and efficiency.
So rather than treating my prior experience as a disadvantage in this new entrepreneurial world, I use it to my ADVANTAGE.
Let’s talk systems and specifically online business systems…. AND let me start by saying that if you apply sound systems principles to your online marketing, your productivity and profits will literally explode overnight.
A huge statement I know but when I watch the ‘newbie’ online marketer in action one of the biggest mistakes they make is their randomness in approach and ineffective use of their time. I’m going to use a simple example to explain what I mean…..
When I started in the online world, my time was at a premium (this should never change by the way). I was working ridiculous hours in the office, spending too little time with my beautiful family and working through the nights to develop my online business. I’m far from perfect. Despite my prior corporate experience I was doing the most ridiculous things myself rather than LEVERAGE others to do the more transactional work.
Let’s take authoring and posting blog articles as an example. You know I am a strong advocate of authoring content myself. That’s my competitive advantage. So that’s what I do myself. I don’t outsource that and will never do so. I typically type my articles directly into Notepad or handwrite them myself. That’s me getting my ideas onto the computer or on paper. Once I am happy with the content, that’s where my focus ends. I don’t do anything else.
I DON’T put the content into WordPress. I don’t format the article. I DON’T put links in the article. I DON’T add beautiful images. I DON’T optimize for SEO. I DON’T publish the article. All these different tasks are what I call transactional work that I can get others to do at much lower cost per hour than what my time is worth.
So how do I do this? Simple, I have created a ‘Blog Post Publishing’ Operating Procedure which was developed and optimized with the help of my outsource staff. It’s only one page in length, but by developing this, it has ensured the following:
- Allows me to focus on creating value-add content for my customers.
- Provide quality content consistently to my readers and customers. With the operating procedure, my blog posting is standardized & NOTHING is left to chance.
The bottom line is I have systemized my blog posting. It has become one of many online business systems that I have created. It saves me approximately ONE HOUR PER BLOG POST. That’s three hours per week I have recovered to focus on other, invaluable aspects of my business.
When you’re strapped for time, that’s not something you should take lightly.
You can systemize just about anything that is a repetitive task. In fact I recommend you do this as quickly as possible. Here are some other examples for you to consider:
- Search Engine Optimization tasks.
- Article marketing and article directory submission.
- Key performance indicator (KPI) analysis and reporting.
- Product creation process.
This list is literally endless. Here I wanted to focus on just a few that have been important for my success. Remember that by systemizing your business, you will:
- Remove any randomness from any activity you do; everything will be delivered to the standards and systems defined in your operating procedure.
- Be able to focus on those elements of your business that will allow you to focus ON the business rather than IN it.
- Be able to cope more easily with staff changes. Ramp up time for new team members will be kept to a minimum.
Here’s one final word…..
As an entrepreneur you may be thinking that online business SYSTEMS are not for you. If I’ve not convinced you already, and you’re not willing to systemize your business RIGHT NOW, I ask you to reconsider your business goals.
I don’t think you are serious about them IF YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS about systemizing your business.
Without well-developed online business systems, your business growth will stagnate. It will quickly reach a ceiling, beyond which you cannot take it without implementing well executed systems.
Your business will die as your competitors march forward. How do you expect to be able to spend more time with the family AND get others to do high quality repetitive tasks for you if you’re still DOING A BAD JOB of them yourself?
If you are NEW to systems or have some good or bad experiences, let me know what you think by adding a comment below!
Speak soon
