If you read my post on Designing Your Biz Around Chronic Conditions with Ease, then you already know about Step #5 – Systems to Save You Energy & Prep for a Team.
In this post we’re going to dive a little deeper into systems and how I use them to grow multiple businesses despite chronic conditions.
I’ve said it before:
Systems, automations, and templates will help you get more done with less time and energy output in the long run…which makes running a business with chronic conditions so much more possible.
It sounds complicated but you have a system to how you do most things in life, we’re just going to apply this concept to business in its most simplest forms that you can do immediately. Let’s cover 5 Systems I personally feel are vital to the foundation and growth of your business. If you implement one per day, by the end of a week you’ll be set and ready to roll!
1. SYSTEM OF PLANNING & EVALUATING
This one was my struggle and that’s why I put it first on the list! I’m good at planning and I’m good at looking back to evaluate that plan afterwards. What I’m not good at is creating the system around it, like when, where, and how I make sure it gets done…then the kicker, sticking to it. ugh that was my struggle initially, consistency in the system I set up.
So, what changed the game on my productivity, sanity, and overall health was turning this into a system. I’m not talking about “Sunday is meal prep day” and “Monday nights I plan my week”. I’m talking about the nitty gritty.
- instead of just setting a S.M.A.R.T. goal and writing in my calendar, I reverse engineer that goal down to weekly tasks, and I do my goal planning the same week every quarter now. (which is when I evaluate last quarter’s results)
- I’ve used the same planner lay out for over 5 years…you can check it out in my shop.
- I use the same workflow to create content (tweaking but it’s the consistently the same and I sit down to do it the same week every month, unless my health says otherwise)
- And yes, meal prep is on the same days every week, groceries are bought on roughly the same days twice a week so food is fresh, cleaning is done systematically and planned ahead to account for energy levels, and I’m constantly evaluating what’s working and what could be shifted or played with.
2. SYSTEM OF STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
The things you do in your business, do yourself a favor, and start documenting step-by-step, exactly how you plan and execute these things. I personally use Google Docs saved in a designated folder that you can link to Trello, Monday.com or ClickUp for your team to have access inside your business management systems. All the way down to how you get content ideas, bookkeeping tasks, plan webinars/content/etc., all the things that fall in the following two categories:
A. Not done daily and require a few minutes to gather your thoughts or remember processes/locations/tools used to complete the task.
B. Done repetitively that could be done by someone else or doesn’t require you being the one to plan/complete and would be beneficial to your business and/or your sanity to be delegated off to a team member as soon as it is possible to do so.
Example A: My Content Strategy isn’t hard necessarily except I plan in a particular order of steps so that as I complete the first few types of content it automatically points to the remainder that’s needed to be done to accomplish that month’s goal. I do this every 3-5 weeks so I sometimes forget in which order I like to start to make it the easiest and fastest, especially on brain fog days.
Example B: Bookkeeping (we’ll cover in #3) or even video editing, graphics creation, workbook designs, publication pitching, scheduling, house cleaning…lots of things lol
3. SYSTEM OF BOOKKEEPING & ADMIN DUTIES
Bookkeeping. Does this one really need explanation? I know a task will “only take me 15 minutes” but I loathe bookkeeping so I procrastinate….and next thing I know I haven’t done any entries for 3 weeks and my billing is behind, my account balances don’t match the bank, and I have no idea where my business expenses are.
So, I have a weekly checklist to at least complete those “only 15 minute tasks” and a once a month balance day to reconcile everything in a particular order (3 businesses over here and I get distracted easily) This will be the absolute FIRST outsourcing I do.
Other admin duties to have checklists or SOPs for are managing emails/email list, scheduling/booking clients, onboarding, offboarding, and keeping up with business filings/reports/etc. required by law or agreements.
4. SYSTEM OF MARKETING
This one is more fun lol I personally use 2 platforms for my entire system of marketing.
A. Canva – houses my content creation system
B. Trello – houses my content strategy system
I simply refer to my Trello board for what I want to post (Purpose, topic, format, etc), then I go to Canva under the correlating “Purpose” type and create my graphics from existing template pages already in that category to match the Trello prompt.
5. SYSTEM OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
I use 3 different project management tools in the 3 businesses I’m involved in.
A. Trello – Content Strategy System
– Publications/Podcast Features Workflow
– Content Idea Bank
B. Monday.com – complete project management for an apparel brand launch with a team
C. ClickUp – will do everything and more of Trello and Monday.com. I’m new to this platform and right now I’m specifically using it to plan programs, courses, tutorials, launches, etc. with the ‘dependency’ and ‘timeline’ functions.
Systematizing Your Biz to Get Your Energy Back will take some time (and energy) up front to get things set up, test, evaluate, and adjust, BUT the reward later will be so worth it!
Systems are kind of like hitting the ‘go’ button when you have no motivation or the mental desire to do things. Those days when you don’t ‘feel’ like doing anything or ‘it’s pointless’ because you’re doing a lot of work upfront and not tasting much reward yet, that’s when systems kick in to save your hind end and keep you building for the future… even on low energy, high brain fog days.
Alright that’s all for now! Chat soon and God bless!