Many business owners struggle to grow their business past a certain point— it’s as though it reaches a plateau based on limiting conditions often invisible to the owner themselves. In this short post, I’d like to share with you a break-through concept so disarmingly simple, it’s easy to underestimate its power.
But before revealing the concept, it’s important to understand the context in order to fully get the “Ah-ha!” moment I know you’ll have—so let me set the scene. Also, if I may be so bold, I’ll make some assumptions, too.
I’ll assume you’re a business owner (or you work closely with one) who already has a great product or service—one which they truly believe in. This product/service is already selling and you get lead flow through your existing marketing, word of mouth and the creditability you’ve built up in the market place.
You work a 60+ hour work week, money always seems tight no matter much business you bring in, you’re overwhelmed and frustrated with your slow progress—it just feels like you’re on the hamster wheel. To top it off, you seem to be the only one in your business with answers.
Like most business owners, your diary or “to-do” list is probably 50 pages long, detailing all the things you *should* be doing. One by one, you check them off, but the list never seems to get shorter.
You have some staff and contractors you recruited to help you complete some of the tasks on your list but you’re still not getting ahead. In fact, initially when you hired them, you thought they’d lighten your load by getting some of your work done but now you actually find you’re busier than ever.
Sure you’re getting more “stuff” done than before, but you spend most of your time putting out fires and you never seem to get to your own list of “to-do’s”.
The good news is, this is normal. Every business owner goes through this phase. The sad news is, most stay there! They never figure out the secret to breaking free. They just keep doing the same old thing expecting that at some point things will miraculously change.
It’s the same secret Richard Branson used to scale the Virgin companies. Which is the same secret Tim Ferris author of the 4-Hour Work Week uses and it’s also the same secret shared in the recent movie about McDonald’s creator Ray Kroc, called The Founder.
At some point, to grow your business to the next level, you need to create business systems, processes, and procedures. Systems do many things, but 2 of the most significant for our purposes here is that…
1. Systems will run your business more efficiently, help it grow quicker and allow it to make more money!
2. Systems release you from the day-to-day operations, giving you the freedom to work “on” the business rather than “in” it.
“How am I going to find the time to document everything I’m doing and create systems when I barely have the time to drink my coffee before it goes cold?”
This is the point where most entrepreneurs get stuck. But I can assure you now that if nothing changes, and you don’t make a move creating systems—in 12 months’ time, you’re going to be in the same position you’re in right now—stuck.
How can I be so sure? Because I was stuck, where you are right now, for the first 10 years of my business career.
So what changed me? One of my business mentors asked me, “Why don’t you just hire an expert systems consultant to create the systems for you?”
My first reaction was “I don’t have the money to hire a consultant to do that sort of work…” At that stage, I didn’t have a multi-million dollar business like my mentor, so I didn’t go out and hire a consultant.
But, that question from my mentor did in fact set off a chain reaction in my brain. I started to question whether or not I should be the one creating systems and after some deep soul searching, it became clear that I was not. My job is to spearhead new business and drive innovation.
So, let me liberate you by saying…
And the best news is, you don’t have to create the systems yourself. —I’m going to give you the system that enables your team, and the people you work with, to do it for you.
Introducing the System for Creating Systems. Following this template any team member can document, organise and optimize how they did things—this system completely takes you out of the loop! This system, coupled with a few smart team members, will set off a chain reaction in your business like knocking down the first domino in a series.
Using the System for Creating Systems, any team member can document, organise and optimize how they did things—this system completely takes you out of the loop! This system, coupled with a few smart team members, will set off a chain reaction in your business like knocking down the first domino in a series.
Notify the new system’s owner (if not you) that the system is ready for review.
A word of caution: there’s more to making systems work in your business than just having a collection of word documents floating around for your team to use. Although that’s a start, it’s not effective.
To take this one step further, discover and overcome The 7 Myths Of Business Systemisation – click here to get started.
Every entrepreneur knows to build a business that works without you – a business that…