I connected up with Lance Wybrow on LinkedIn recently and he kindly offered me a free report aimed at helping small business owners, particularly start-ups to get their finances well-organised to ensure they remain profitable and viable. While I was somewhat chuffed to tick almost all of his boxes, it reminded me about how important having systems is in any business.
Being a left-brain systems geek, I love a good process! Mainly because I don’t want to spend my time reinventing the wheel at regular intervals. A system streamlines and shortcuts your processes, whether that’s in finances, production, marketing, purchasing or any other aspect of your business.
The whole of my last book, The R.A.V.E. Toolkit, is based on creating systems for your marketing; complete with templates. The aim is to help small business owners and solo entrepreneurs to make the most of their marketing time, without letting it take over completely. When you ARE the business, you have to be everything – from the CEO to the tea-maker! Time is scarce – so something that makes life easier has to be a bonus.
What will make your business life easier?
Have you got a marketing system that isn’t a feast and famine affair?
Are you using accounting software to make invoicing and keeping track of your income and outgoings easy?
Do you have onboarding and retention processes for new clients that will impress the socks off them?
Have you got meeting ‘forms’ that gather all the information you need when you meet with potential customers – so you don’t forget to ask those critical questions?
It’s worth investing the time in creating your systems – as it will save you hours, stress, money and also build your reputation for being an efficient and effective business owner.
BIG TIP: Schedule appointments with yourself to do all the tasks that need to be done each week/month, so they don’t get pushed back due to lack of time.
There are some marketing templates in the Treasure Chest to save you from reinventing the wheel.
