Following my blog posting yesterday regarding creating standards, procedures and repeatable processes, I had a solo proprietor business owner contact me and ask, “I am a open business owner, do I really need to take the time and effort to create process and standard procedures?

My immediate response, in my head, was ‘Are you kidding, YESSSS”.

But my job as a business coach and advisor is to motivate, support, guide and educate. So I simply responded “Let me ask you a question; are there certain things that you do that you know take way to much time and effort to do it? Or are there things you do you would love to be able to hire someone to do it so you could focus on selling and generating business?”

She responded “Oh, of course”, and she went on to rattle off two or three things; being an online business she noted: creating her weekly electronic newsletter, posting and updating content on her website, and she did note keeping track of her expenses, budget and revenue.

I then asked “How much time do you think you spend on the weekly newsletter?”

“About 90 minutes to 2 hours” she said.

I went on to ask “Are there standard or typical things you do each time you need to do one of those activities, for example: do you use a template for your newsletter, do you have a schedule for content updates, or a filing system, book keeper and spreadsheet to track expenses?”

“Yes and No” she replied. “I really am not sure, I just do it”

I simply stated that there are two huge benefits to her one person business that she absolutely must consider: for example

• If she could just cut out 30 minutes (if not more) from her newsletter update by knowing what needs to be done, what steps can be taken to streamline the work, and documenting the steps she takes each time she creates it, she could:
  • Prospect and sell in the 30 minutes that she just save - generating more revenue
  • Now that she is generating more revenue she could - hire someone to handle the administrative work that she is doing, so she can spend even more time selling and generating revenue.

I asked her is that made sense to her “Oh yeh!”

It is that simply….. 1) cut out administrative or wasteful time out of your daily and weekly tasks and activities and you can turn that time into revenue generating time. 2) standardize and document your processes and you can replicate those tasks and activities easily whether it is you doing it, or someone you are now able to hire due to the time savings and productivity improvements which then drove higher revenue.

It is a WIN WIN!!!   So YES…… whether you are a one person business or a corporate one…. you have to allot time and effort to:

1. Review the tasks and activities you or your team perform in your business
2. Document all of the steps whether manual or automated
3. Look for steps that can be automated
4. Streamline those that cannot be automated but could be improved
5. Document final process and make available to team
6. Ensure everyone operates against those processes and procedures
7. Reassess and continue improving processes

Improve Productivity, Increase Revenue and Optimize Profits !!!!!

Bernadette

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