How to easily free up time in your business (A step-by-step guide)
Building a business doesn’t give you freedom. Systemising a business gives you freedom.
Hello and welcome to The Monday Memo.
Every Monday, I share practical ways to systemise you business, free up your time and succeed doing work that matters to you.
TO: Business owners who want to free up time in their business.
SUBJECT: Building a business doesn’t give you freedom. Systemising a business gives you freedom.
I’m going to start today’s Monday Memo with a valuable truth:
If your business can’t run without you, you haven’t built yourself a business.
You’ve built yourself a job.
When you started out in business, you most probably didn’t have the luxury of hiring a team of people with specific skills to do specific tasks — most of us don’t.
And today, you’re probably just one person, doing their very best to make their business a success by doing everything yourself.
But without proper systems in place, you’ll quickly find yourself on the path towards overwhelm, overwork and burnout.
Today I’ll walk you through a 4-step process so you can streamline your systems and create a more efficient and easeful business, ultimately freeing up your time so you can work ON the business rather than IN the business. Or to work less. It’s totally up to you!
So, if that sounds good to you, grab a pen and paper and let’s get started!
Identify areas for improvement
Your primary business activities fall under 3 main categories:
Marketing
Sales
Operations
Take a look at the activities below and note any that immediately stick out to you as areas for improvement in your own business. If you have any others that aren’t listed below, go with those.
These might be areas you avoid, processes that feel a bit clunky or frustrating, or even activities that you’re bored of doing over… and over… and over.
Pick one activity to focus on for the next part.
Break the activity down
Break down the activity into its Tools, People and Actions. I’ll use a booking process as an example.
1. List out the tools you have to use in this process.
In our example, it’s email, calendar and zoom.
2. List out the people involved.
In our example, it’s you and your client.
3. List out all the actions step by step.
In our example, there’s a lot of steps involved as you can see!
The 4-step framework to streamline your business
Now go through the Tools, People and Actions individually and filter each item through these 4 steps:
1. Eliminate
In this step you want to ask is there anything that I can get rid of? If so, cross it out. If not, that’s ok.
2. Delegate
In this step you want to ask is there anything that I can delegate to another person? If so, write it down. If not, that’s ok.
3. Automate
In this step you want to ask is there is anything that can be automated in the process? If there is, write it down. If not, that’s ok.
4. Simplify
This is the final tool in our toolbox. If you haven’t been able to eliminate, delegate or automate anything, then you have an opportunity to simplify.
Go through the lists and see if there is anything that can be done in less steps or made more simple. Get clear on what is essential vs. what isn’t essential. And if you’re a colour coding kinda person (like me), go nuts!
Here you can see how what I recommend for the bookings example:
Now implement your new system and that’s it!
You can use this quick and easy 4-step framework each time you want to streamline your systems to create more efficiency and ease in your business.
To summarise:
Focus on a specific business activity
List the tools and people involved. Then list all the action steps.
Go through each item and eliminate, delegate, automate and simplify until you’re satisfied with your new system.
If you found this memo helpful, consider sharing it with someone else who may benefit from it.
Let me know in the comments below what you thought whilst reading this article.
And if you have any questions, drop them below too and I’ll answer them for you and anyone else that may have the same question on their mind.