Today I’m going to tell you how you can use systems in your business so you can show up to your desk to get work done, have clarity, no stress, no pressure for deadlines and not have work constantly on your mind. There are so many layers to being unorganized it can be really hard to know where to get started. I am breaking down how to create systems in your business into two major categories. The first is to identify and the second is to execute. The goal for this post is for you to be able to know what system you need to put into place so you can have more time in your house and less in your business.

If you are spending a large amount of time in your business that just means you are unorganized. Ask yourself on a scale of one to ten how efficient you are in your business. The things that are on your mind and distract you are so much bigger than they need to be and can be systemized. You can get rid of so many of these stressors and save so much time AND have work less.

Follow these three steps to identify which areas inside your business need systems.

1. 1. You need to know how many hours you are working each week. If you do not know you need to clock yourself for a week. This includes any time spent on your phone. Write down a really honest number.

2. Write down how many hours you actually need to do your job. When I first started I told my husband I just need five hours a week to start this podcast and send out an email. That then turned into 8, then 10, and now 20 as my business has gained momentum. I still look at how many hours I need and try to keep all I have to do inside those 20 hours.

3. Identify what is causing you the most stress. What is it that is keeping you from working? Maybe it’s your phone but if you’re not sure start time tracking. I do that whenever I feel like I’m being unproductive in my work block. I know you know what is stressing you out. Start paying attention to those tasks that you are resentful of. There may be 5-50 of these things but that’s ok, just start with the biggest thing. Once you tackle the biggest thing it will give you the most amount of return on the back end so you can then start chipping away on the smaller things.

Those are the three parts to identifying where you need systems in your business, let’s move onto the second phase of this.

As I go through execute, I’m going to be using the example of client work being your biggest frustration.  If yours is something else like emails or phone calls it will still all be the same process.

1. First establish your ideal workflow for this major pain point. Establish what you really want this system to look like either on paper or on MindMeister. MindMeister is my second most used piece of software in my business to get my thoughts organized. It’s straightforward and pretty intuitive. 

Either in MIndMiester or on a piece of paper dream about what you want it to be like for a client flow. As soon as a client contacts you what do you want that to look like? Lay out all the steps exactly how you want it. Here are some good questions to ask yourself:

• • What in your current process needs to be tossed?
  • What are you doing right now that is not working?
  • What has to stay and is working really well?
  • What can be outsourced? I got creative with this. My first “hire” was with an intern.
  • What can be automated? Just remember time is money.

When you get these things figured out there is going to be some work to do. You will have to establish the spreadsheet or whatever it is. You are going to build the system and it will take work. Alright onto step number two.

2. Now that you have all your steps put them in the order you want them to go in. Then outline what happens in each one of those steps. Is there a contract that needs to be signed and where is that held?

Then put this information into some type of workflow. This can be a spreadsheet, Asana, Trello, or my very favorite MeisterTask. MeisterTask is beautiful, visual, and intuitive. If you have a lot of client work Dubsado and Honeybook are also great. There is no right or wrong way to do any of these things it’s just about getting these processes into one spot so it is repeatable and you do not have to think about it anymore.

I know you are already overwhelmed but this is not about magic making and unicorns. It’s going to be awkward for a little while and it’s going to take a lot of work. These are the things you need to do so you can get your things done in a lesser amount of time so you can get back to loving on your family well. The point is not to just hustle harder so you’re chronically overwhelmed and exhausted.

3. The third step is to transition. You’re going to have every new person that comes in go through this but you are also going to have old people that will slowly transition. There will be a period of time where it feels like you have created more work for yourself but in the end, you will gain freedom mentally from your business. You will gain back hours of time when you are prepared and mentally not thinking through all these little things.

If you are just dealing with a problem like emails you do not need a whole workflow but you do need a process. What’s your ideal flow for managing your emails? Maybe M-F you show up at 9 am and 3 pm and check your inbox for 5 minutes. Maybe one card you open up inside your workflow that tells you exactly what to do. I don’t know what your process will be but figure out what would be ideal for your business.

If you don’t want to do this on your own, you don’t even want to touch it with a ten-foot pole, I’ll touch it for you. Come over and become one of my besties inside the Systemize Your Life Academy! Come hop on a group call, share your workflow with me, and your mind map, I’ll type in there for you and get into it with you. Get started today with one small system and stop spending more time working and instead spend more time with your family!