Business can – and does – grow and change really quickly. You might be a solo business owner today but with one successful launch, you suddenly find the need to grow your team. Or maybe you get awarded a new project that is going to take your team from you to 10 over a very short period of time.

There are so many reasons why your business can change. To prevent you from burning yourself out with the system scramble I want to share with you today the 5 core business systems you need to be prepped for growth.

Before we get started, I often get asked, what is the difference between a process and a system? And I think it’s a great question!

What is a process?

A process is a step by step action that you’ll take to make the task you are working on come to life, which means your task will be completed to the highest standard. Depending on how details oriented you are will depend on how many steps you’ll detail in your process. Some business owners choose to create an overall process to make sure tasks are happening while others choose to have every step of the process to be documented and to be adhered to. Neither of these is wrong; it’ll just depend on what suits you as the business owner as well as the individual needs of your business.

What is a system?

A system is all of your processes put together to make the tasks and projects come to fruition efficiently. 

As a general rule, processes address effectiveness, whereas systems address efficiency.

So, as we move through creating our 5 steps for business systems, each one of those systems is created using processes to get the tasks to be completed to your standard.

Step 1: Client Management System

As a business owner, our clients are the bread and butter. I believe the first system we should have in place is how we manage our clients.

Ideally, when creating our Client Management System, we want to build processes that have high touchpoints but are also automated. This prevents the need for us to constantly maintain and be personally involved in creating each and every step along the way.

When building your client management system start by asking yourself 2 questions

What information do I need to provide impeccable service? and;
What questions do my clients and customers have for me?

By understanding the answer to these 2 questions it’ll mean that you check off all the touchpoints your clients need to make them feel like they’ve made the right decision purchasing from you, and to make sure that you have all the information you require to provide the products or services your clients want.

Step 2: Content Management & Launch Plan

Content and launching are intrinsically linked to each other and for this reason, I create my systems based on my content supporting my launch in advance.

The most overwhelming part of creating content can often be figuring out what you should be working on now when you have so many ideas for content. What is it you should be sharing now and what can be for the future?

By creating a content plan that supports your launch plan you’ll take away much of the stress that comes with launching, as your content is already supporting the launch during the process.

Step 3: Project Development

My project development team in Click Up is gold! If you’re like me – an ideas person – you’ll know what it’s like to come up with all the ideas and then get overwhelmed in making them come together. For so long I didn’t take a step forward because all the decisions seemed too big and too hard.

That’s because we all need a system for project development. Instead of having notebooks all over my desk filled with ideas, I’ve created a system to house all the amazing ideas. Then, as I decided to develop a particular project, that gets from concept to a development project.

The project development team in Click Up is decided to all the tasks that need to be done to get a project done and launched! No longer are the ideas too much because I now only work on a task by task, easily achievable in a day so that I can celebrate and continue moving forward.

Step 4: Money & Finance Systems

The way to make more money is to love your money. #truth

We need to take care of our money in our business, it’s energy, and where we create good energy more will come. Building systems to regularly track our income and expenses and plan for future income goals will allow you to move confidently through your business.

One of the best systems I have in my business is a recurring Click Up task board of all the things I do to love my money – eg daily income tracking, subscriptions review, and weekly dates with my bookkeeping and budgets.

You don’t have to be an accountant to show your money some love but creating systems and regular dates will mean you’ll start the process of changing your money mindset and therefore how you show up for your money.

Step 5: Team – SOPS

Finally, start a system for your SOPs. No this isn’t to keep a track of your favourite TV shows. Your SOPs are your Standard Operating Procedures; eg your processes that we spoke about earlier.

Why are SOPs so important to your business, especially if you’re a solo business owner?

Getting these under control now will allow you (if you choose to) grow and scale quicker in your business. It’ll mean you can onboard team members without stress, and finally – let’s be honest with ourselves; often as the CEO we can also take ‘shortcuts’ in doing specific tasks –  which sometimes means things aren’t done to the standard you’d like. Having SOPs standardizes the way we do business. And creating repeatable tasks will actually mean we will start to strengthen our brands – as people know what to expect from us and by when.

HINT: I used to store all my SOPs as a separate document but this wasn’t really conducive to efficiency in my business. Recently, I’ve moved all the links to my SOPs into each task template within my Click Up system and have found this has streamlined and simplified the tasks.