You know what to do within your business to get your clients the best result, but what systems should you use to make it all happen? That’s exactly what we’re talking about today. So, if you want to know how to choose the best systems for you – no matter where you are in your business journey, this one’s for you. Let’s get started.
Links for This Episode
- Enroll in the Mama Business Blueprint
- Schedule your Mama Business Strategy Session
- Grab your Mama Business Task Hub
Podcast Episode Recommendations
- #88: Streamline Your Systems Today [PART 1]: How to Create Workflows for Success
- #64: Are Your Business Systems Ready for Growth? 3 Ways to Know
- #63: Tech Overwhelm? 1 Easy Strategy to Implement as a Busy Mama
- #55: How to Design an Effective Marketing Strategy that Works for Your Business
- #26: 7 Online Marketing Tools To Use as a Busy Mama (Plus One To Avoid)
Need Help with Strategy?
Before we jump into this episode, I wanted to let you know that I have just a few more openings for Mama Business Strategy Sessions this month. Here’s the deal: in order to have a successful business, you have to have paying clients and customers. That means, knowing who your ideal client is and how to reach them, understanding why your client should choose you over the competition, and designing marketing systems that work to generate leads – over and over again – without sacrificing your family. That’s exactly what a one-hour Mama Business Strategy is designed to help you do. After the session, you’ll be able to make your first sale (or 10th) without feeling salesy, sleazy, or annoying everyone you know on social media. Overcome decision paralysis when it comes to the practical and technical side of running your business. And sleep well at night knowing you don’t have to do “all the things” in order to be successful. Plus, you’ll know the next right action step to take to jumpstart the next phase of your business life. Sound like something you need? Schedule your session today at sarahbrumley.com/strategy.
Streamline Your Systems Today [Part 3]: How to Choose The Best Systems for You
Well hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Mama Business Podcast. We’re working our way through the Streamline Your Systems Today series and this is actually episode 3. So if you missed the first two episodes, you’ll definitely want to go back and listen to those, because everything we talk about today is actually going to build on the work that we did in those episodes. So, feel free to pause right here and come back after you’ve listened to those.
My goal with this is to help you put together the systems that you need to be most successful long-term in business. I know without a doubt that if we spend time really fleshing this out, you’ll feel a better sense of peace and clarity with regard to how you approach your client leads, project execution, and everything else related to business growth. Not to mention you’ll have the freedom not to spend time and money on things that aren’t actually necessary – because you’ll know exactly what to do and when to do it.
So, today I want to get us some clarity on how to choose the best systems for you and your business. And, I want to preface this once again, the fact that there’s not a one-size fits all option. Your business is different than my business which is different than the next person’s business. That’s why it’s so important that you went through the process in the last couple of episodes, because today we’re going to use that to decide what to implement systems and tech wise.
Determine the Common Themes
So, go ahead and pull out those sheets of paper you got creative with and possibly a couple of different colored markers or highlighters. It’s time to look for similarities across all of those workflows you put together.
Consider the following:
- Contracts and forms
- Tasks for you or your team
- Content creation and storage
- Course host
- Client facing marketing (podcast host, website, email marketing)
- Scheduling and meetings
- Invoicing or taking payments
- Bookkeeping
- Audio or video recording
Starting to see some similarities between your processes? I’m guessing that there’s crossover, right? Like you might see that you send a contract to your clients in your client onboarding workflow, and you also send a contact to new employees in your employee onboarding workflow. That might seem like a small thing to identify, but the reason we do this is because it can be tempting to use one platform for your client contracts and then a completely separate system or platform for your employee contracts. The truth is – that’s not helpful or necessary. And this rings true for so many areas of our business – not just contracts. So by putting this into perspective you’ll end up saving yourself the time involved with learning an extra system, plus the money involved with having two when you don’t actually need a second one.
Okay – so now that you see all the highlights across your pages, this is the indicator of what type of systems you actually need within your business. This doesn’t mean that if you used eight highlighter colors that you necessarily need eight different systems, but it does show you exactly what you need your systems to do for you. That means that now we can take some time to choose the systems and platforms that fit your needs – not the other way around. Remember – you don’t want to be trying to jam your business into a box it doesn’t fit into.
Get Clear on What Your Systems Should Do For You
Before we look at the actual systems, though – go ahead and use a separate sheet of paper or a clear space on an existing sheet to write down what you need your systems to do. For example, if you used a green highlighter to notate meetings, then you’ll want to write scheduler or meetings on that fresh piece of paper. You then know that you need some sort of system in place to allow you to schedule meetings and actually show up for them. Do the same for all of the highlighter colors you used.
Decide Which Systems Will Get You Results
Once you’ve completed that step, it’s time to look at which systems will give you the results you need. That might start by looking at the systems you already use. What purpose do they serve? Are there features that you aren’t using that are applicable to other needs in your business? Do you have systems in place that are duplicates – like in the case of my contracts example?
If you don’t have systems in place, then there are really two ways to go about figuring out which ones to use. The first way is to simply do a search for them. You might head over to Google and put in email marketing services. That’s all well and great, but you are going to get tons of options – and some of them might not be the right fit for your needs. That means that you’ll have to look at each and every one and compare and contrast what they offer. Not a bad way to go about it but definitely time consuming.
The other way you can manage this process is to take the recommendation of people who have gone before you – someone who has used the platform, knows it’s capabilities, and is aware of some of the pitfalls or challenges involved. The easiest way to do this is to simply ask. Or if you have someone that you follow and trust, then you might consider what they have to recommend. And – if you want to know my recommendations, you can head to sarahbrumley.com/resources to see them all.
Take Action: Choose the Best Systems for Your Business
And that brings us to the action part of this episode. And we all know that action is where the dreams turn into the reality. And today’s action step is this:
ACTION: Take the time to go back through the strategy I laid out today. You might need to listen to this episode again, pausing as you complete the individual steps. Ideally, you’ll understand the similarities between all of your workflows, know exactly what your systems should do for you, and do some research on what platforms are best suited for your needs.
Once again, I just want to reiterate the importance of doing this ASAP. Because the sooner you do, the sooner you stop wasting money, time, and energy on things that don’t move the needle in your business. Put the time into getting things into place now – the future you will thank you.
And, like I said, if you need help with any part of this process, head to sarahbrumley.com/strategy and let’s get you some clarity. We’ll strategize and troubleshoot, and you’ll walk away knowing exactly what to do next – no guesswork involved. Once again, you can book your session at sarahbrumley.com/strategy.
Whatever you decide, mama, just know that I’m cheering you on. You’ve got this! Have an amazing day and I’ll chat with you next time!
