3 Easy Steps to Create Systems in Your Business

A few months ago I went to a silent meditation retreat up in the mountains of Northern California.

No cell phone.

No laptop.

No talking.

No fun.

(Just kidding, it was amazing…)

One of the things that really stood out to me were their systems...

This non-religious style of meditation has centers all over the world.

And all of these centers run the same systems.

Everything from the timetables… to the chopping of the fruit for snacks… to how the bedsheets are folded…

Everything has an S.O.P (Standard Operating Procedure)...

What this allows for is consistency - at scale.

Different people can slide in and out of the staff, but the systems remain consistent.

At the end of the retreat they ask for volunteers to help prepare the center for the next retreat.

(It’s a non-profit, and free to attend, so you kinda should volunteer, don’t be a mooch…)

I ended up on bathroom cleaning duty.

Which sounds just about as fun as hanging with your great great aunt… the one that likes to hit the cat with her fake leg.

I was to find this SOP hanging on the bathroom wall.

And sure enough, there it was. In all it’s plastic laminated glory.

Step by step instructions from start to finish.

There were the cleaning supplies, labeled and organized (in order) on the shelf…

There were even gloves to wear, labeled specifically for that role…

I didn’t even have to think. Or ask questions.

I just had to start at Step 1 and finish at Step 9.

So easy a cave man could do it.

Installing Systems into Your Business

One of the big mistakes I made in my online basketball training business was delaying on building out our SOP’s.

I thought that it would take longer to develop an SOP than it would to just do the task myself.

I also thought no one would do the task as well as I would, crazy right?

I also was super hesitant to give up control to other people (story for another day)…

What this led to was me being the bottleneck.

I had to do everything myself, or whatever the team did had to pass through me.

This is about as fun as a fork in the eye.

And a sure fire fast-track to burnout and frustration.

When I finally took the time to sit down and build out our SOP’s… I felt so much relief.

Why?

Well for starters, I wasn’t getting a million questions. I also wasn’t having to micro-manage everyone on the team.

Because they had step by step systems to follow. There was very little room for error.

It also gave us a lot more resilience.

If Employee #3 got sick, or hit by a Tesla Cybertaxi while crossing the road, someone else could cover for them. Or we could hire for that role, rather quickly.

Makes sense, right?

So… how do you actually create SOP’s and Systems for your business?

3 Step Guide to Creating Systems for Your Business

Step #1 - Record a screenflow video showing exactly what the task is and how it’s to be completed.

I like to use the software Loom for this.

I make sure it’s very very clear. Leaving very little room for error or misunderstanding.

The clearer it is, the easier it is to outsource this task.

Step #2 - Create a word document with all the necessary information required to do the task (Account Log in Details, URL’s, Log in pages, etc.)

I like to use Google Sheets for this.

Include screenshots and a written description of the steps outlined in the screenflow video.

This gives you a video, plus a written document outlining the steps to the task.

Step #3 - Upload the screenflow video, the word document, and any corresponding digital assets to a folder on the cloud.

It’s important to label these SOP’s clearly, and keep them organized, so that they are easy to find and easy to assign.

The last step is to set up a system to monitor and track the completion of these tasks.

What gets managed gets done.

Set up a simple spreadsheet that gets updated so that you can quickly see exactly what’s getting done in the business.

— — — — —

Now, when it comes time to scale your company, you can simply look at your SOP’s and see what needs doing, and hire accordingly.

Systems run the business, and people run the systems.

Your business is only as strong as your systems. Without systems, chaos will ensue.

^ ask me how I know :/

There you have it… step by step guide that we used to create SOP’s for every task in the business.

Take a load off yourself.

De-stress your life.

And create a couple SOP’s.

Hope this helps.

- Adam