Are you developing your brand, marketing your business, keeping up with bookkeeping, dealing with customer support and creating products? If you are, you are doing too much! By trying to do everything in your business, you could end up ruining the brand that you have worked so hard to build, or even worse work yourself out of a business. It’s time to shift gears! Just because you want to be known and remembered as “The Complete Leader” doesn’t mean that you have to do everything.To lead well, you must find ways to rest and build your brand as a business leader, and this means systemizing your business.
Take my advice, and refuse to create the illusion that you are the only “All Wise One” as an entrepreneur. If you don’t, you will end up being known as a generalist, a “Jack of All Trades”, and lose the ability to have distinct mastery or expertise over anything of great value. Businesses are started to solve problems, but also to make money. If you are trying to cut costs by doing it all, let me tell you this will only end up costing you precious time and money, or even worse, lead to total burnout.
Let it go! RISE UP and simplify your life. The Complete Leader grows their brand with grace and ease, and a big part of this is creating systems in your business. I invite you to join me in the journey of creating more time by strategically doing less, AND being more profitable. I love taking my daily soul retreats over tea during my work day, and you should too!
Why build a business if you can’t sleep well, create freedom and enjoy what you do? After all, isn’t this one of the main reasons you started your business? If you are serious about fulfilling a vision where your business increases your influence, impact and income potential, you must create systems, and this should even include a team of brand ambassadors to carry out this high calling.
Systemizing your business and growing your brand requires automation and outsourcing. Before I share some helpful resources, take out a piece of paper and consider the following questions:
1. What is your vision? What are your values?
2. What is your voice? What is your brand message?
3. What are your daily tasks? How much time do they take? How much does it cost YOU to perform each task? Write out everything that you are currently performing and place a time and dollar value on each one. Hint: If it is more cost effective, physically and financially, for someone else to perform the task, these are the ones you should delegate.
4. What are your strengths (energizers) and weaknesses (time drains)?
Your brand is too valuable to waste, so before you consider solutions for systemizing your business, remember that outsourcing, onboarding and implementing new tools takes time. If you are bringing someone new onto your team, choose wisely. Be sure that the people who support your work buy into who you are and what you do, as they will become an extension of your brand.
As you grow your business, take some of the pressure off by considering some of these helpful tools and strategies for systemizing your business:
1. Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA). Virtual assistants come with varying skill sets and can help you with administrative, technical, and creative tasks. Some common tasks outsourced to VAs are bookkeeping, email management, editing and proofing, customer service, social media, and online research.
2. Hire a Graphic Designer. An experienced graphic designer can create logos, graphic images for your website, design business cards, e-books, or any other number of creative projects that require a professional visual design.
- Fiverr is a great affordable resource.
- Canva, a DIY design tool, comes in handy as it enables you to create quick graphics for social media and otherwise.
3. Hire a Professional Videographer. Video is a powerful way to get your message across. Work with a professional to create videos for social media, as well as promotional and informational messages for you website, events and webinars.
4. Hire a Professional Photographer. A picture is worth a thousand words. First impressions are lasting. Align your visual brand from the inside/out by having professional photos taken. Make sure that you have a professional headshot that speaks well of you and is aligned with your brand message.
5. Set up an Email Management System. Online email marketing systems give you one place to collect subscriber information, send emails, and track your results. Here are two to check out:
6. Implement an Online Project Management System.Project management software helps you to organize projects and tasks with your team. Here is the one that I use with my team:
7. Use Online File Storage. Keep track of, organize, share, and synchronize files all in one central place. Here is my favorite file storage system:
8. Make Use of an Online Scheduler. This helps you to easily book and manage appointments with online 24/7 access. There are several out there, but here’s a great one to try:
9. Set up a Social Media Management Tool. Utilize this tool to save time by managing multiple social media profiles at once, and scheduling posts and updates ahead of time. Here are two great ones to look into:
The reality is that we all have the same amount of time and it’s the one thing we can’t get more of. So commit to caring for yourself and your brand, and reducing your personal stress by simplifying your work, and getting the support you need.
Build a business that will free you up, so that you can spend your valuable time and energy elsewhere doing the things that you absolutely love. By freeing yourself from the day-to-day operations of your company, building a team and systems, you not only will see greater rewards and higher profits, but you’ll also have more time for…….tea!
Have you found helpful, time-saving tools to use in your business that has not been mentioned above? I’d love to hear about them! Tell me in the comments below…