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Business success is dependent on a solid financial foundation & success looks different to everyone & there is a lack of equity of access to resources and information for small business owners and independent contractors & there is a societal narrative making us believe “balance” is our ultimate goal & … There are so many “&”s that impact being your own boss. Let’s have some frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and find success.
Molly Beyer: [00:00:08] Welcome to The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond, the podcast where we have frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and find success. Each episode is a reminder that success isn't one thing, it's a whole lot of ambiguous ands. Like subscribe or follow and let's explore these ambiguous ands.
[00:00:35] Hello and welcome to The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond. I'm your host, Molly Beyer, and I'm here to lead you through frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Today we are back to Systems that Save Sanity, and we are talking about one of the most underrated systems in your business, and that is your documented processes. So if you've ever felt like your business runs only when you're present, like you're the only one who really knows how things get done, this episode is truly for you. Documented processes are where chaos meets clarity, where knowledge is captured, and where your business stops being dependent on your memory or magic and starts running reliably even when you're not there. So when I first started my business, I thought I had everything memorized. I had a lot of things memorized and really thought I could just wing it because I knew all the steps in my head. Why I thought this with my level of chaos as a human, I don't know. But you know, here's our spoiler alert for people like me, you can't really wing it.
Molly Beyer: [00:01:40] It doesn't work that way. So I had a week where I had a client request, a report that I usually built from memory, and I hadn't documented the steps anywhere and couldn't remember the exact formulas that I had used to build this report the last time. So I spent hours digging through emails and old spreadsheets and notes and all this stuff. And by the time I finished, I was just mentally fried. And honestly, because of the amount of time it took, I think the client's confidence in me wavered a little bit. Even though that final product was fine, it was because I couldn't produce what I had produced before in the amount of time that they thought I could do it. And that's really when I realized that my business can't scale if anything depends on me remembering everything. Because remember, if we are counting on our brains to be the system, our brains don't do that quite in that way. So the documenting of your processes, it gives you consistency. It gives you that same experience for your clients, for your networking engagements, all of that stuff. It provides a lot of efficiency because again, you're not reinventing the wheel daily, weekly, hourly. It gives you that onboarding ease because your new team members can get up to speed quickly. It provides peace of mind just knowing that your systems work, even if you're stepping away.
Molly Beyer: [00:03:05] And this is really where you have a lot of opportunity for growth, because scaling is not possible without repeatable processes. So we want to think about documented processes, sort of like a map. Without the map, you just wander in circles. With a map, you can reach any destination. So there are some different types of documentation to use in this system. We have things like step-by-step checklists that break your tasks down into repeatable actions, things like client onboarding checklists, invoice creation checklists, monthly financial review checklists, things like that. We also have standard operating procedures. You'll hear these called SOPs. These are the detailed guides for recurring tasks. A lot of times they include screenshots, templates, forms or scripts. So an example is sort of like how to prepare a client proposal from start to finish. Basically how to follow through any process within your business. You can also create things like visual flowcharts. Now these are great things for team members to see processes at a glance. It can also help identify bottlenecks and handoffs. So this could be something like a workflow for a client inquiry, where it goes from the client inquiry to onboarding to deliverable to follow up. And again, when we want to build out this system, we have our three process approaches, our manual, our software, and our AI supported.
Molly Beyer: [00:04:29] So a manual approach could just be doing something like creating a checklist using Word docs, Google docs, Notion, OneNote, something like that. Creating that simple checklist or SOP that you just mark off each time you're doing a task. So this is something that's really great for solopreneurs and small teams who just need something fast. So like a new client file setup checklist or something like that, where your points are creating a client folder, sending that welcome email, scheduling your first strategy call, uploading the signed contract, and then invoicing or confirming invoicing information. So, you've got those specific steps that you're going through each time. You can also use things like software tools. There's a lot of really fantastic opportunities out there. Things like Trello, Asana, Clickup, Notion, those are really great project management tools that allow you to create reusable templates and tasks. You can track progress, assign tasks to different people, you can automate reminders. So something like Trello, it's got a board with columns for each step of your client onboarding process, and then you move them through each step. So you can see visually where people are. And then we've got our AI assisted documentation. So AI can be a really great help in building SOPs and checklists and process flows, like really quickly. You can ask AI to create a workflow for a recurring task based on your instructions.
Molly Beyer: [00:05:58] Ai is also a really great space to do things like summarizing meeting notes, extracting key steps from recordings or drafting templated emails, things like that. So I use a combination of these when I'm creating or when I'm documenting my tasks, my workflows, my processes, things like that. What I found really helpful is I use an AI note taker. I really like Fathom, but there's, you know, there's things like Otter, there's a lot of different ones, but I'll jump into a Zoom meeting with myself and my Fathom note taker. I'll share my screen and then talk through my process. So then I can use the AI to create a checklist from the transcript. And then often what I'll do is I'll send it to my VA to sort of create that deeper SOP, because she's got the checklist, she's got all of the video there. It's easy to pause and take screenshots and things like that. So we get all the different components. There's a manual piece, there's a software piece, there's an AI assisted piece. So where we can really get deep, solid and whole and complete systems, processes, and checklists from what it is that we're doing. So we're going to look here for some red flags that your current process isn't solid, just in case you think it is, because it might be. But most of us don't have solid processes in this.
Molly Beyer: [00:07:19] So some red flags are you repeat the same instructions over and over to team members. We all know how annoying that gets. We've got inconsistent tasks from client to client. If your team is constantly asking, how do I do this? Also, if you're the only one who can complete a task correctly, that's a huge red flag. Possibly for multiple things, but generally it's a process thing. Or if you're spending more time fixing mistakes than you are actually creating value. So these are some huge red flags that you have a process that is not working properly. So again, we've got a workbook opportunity that you can use here. The link is in the show description. But again, if you don't have the workbook, here's the growth stretch that I want you to be thinking of this week. So we want to just document one of your processes this week. So just pick one of your recurring tasks and just document it fully, either as you're doing it or using one of these assistance tools. So you want to really break it down step by step. Include screenshots or templates if possible, and decide to, is this a manual process? Is it software based? Is it AI assisted? Figure out what best system that this is going to fall into, and then test it by having somebody else follow it. That's really a key piece here because you already know what it is.
Molly Beyer: [00:08:40] So if you're following your checklist, there might be a step that's missed that you don't realize just because you naturally do it. And so then once you have this and it works, clone the process and adapt it for other processes that you have. That's the easiest way to save some time there. And as with all of our systems that we're building, we want to have those review touchpoints of the system to make sure that we are constantly reflecting, reviewing, and refining. So weekly, check if your documented processes are being followed. Capture any new steps that emerge. Monthly, we want to review completed processes for accuracy and clarity, and remove any redundant steps or inefficiencies that we're finding. Quarterly, it's a good idea to just audit all of your SOPs and then update to reflect any changes and tools, workflows, or client needs, anything that's come up through that time. So again, our workbook highlights this week are going to be the step-by-step checklist templates. We have an SOP template outline, a flowchart section, those review and reflection prompts because again reflection, review, revise. These are the constants in everything that we're doing. And we're going to talk about our growth stretch because this is where your processes really meet accountability. Documenting processes isn't glamorous and it really can feel super tedious.
[00:09:59] I mean, I remember the first time I documented my client onboarding steps in full and it took hours. And I kept thinking, does anybody even need to see this? But yes, because the payoff is that I can hand off pieces of this to my team and I can trust that it's going to get done because again, I am the bottleneck. Business owners, you are the bottleneck. I can also really finally take a step back, because I know that my system works and I can scale without burning myself out, because other people can step into what I've been doing.
Molly Beyer: [00:10:28] Documented processes are really your invisible team members. They carry your expertise forward even when you're not there. So next episode, we're going to tackle basic financial reporting. And that's the system that really gives you clarity, control and confidence in business decisions. And so again, until then, just take one process, any process and write it down, test it, refine it and just watch your business breathe. Thank you so much again for hanging out with us today. We'd love to hear your feedback on today's episode, as well as any requests for future content. Drop a comment or suggestion and join us next time for more frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Please also like, subscribe, or follow so that you never miss an episode. And until next time, I am Molly Beyer and this has been The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond. Have a wonderful day.