Creating Systems to Grow a Business

So you want to have a systems based company, one where you can set your business on cruise control and let the profits continue their upward ascent. All you need is a systems-based architecture, which isn’t very complicated, is it?

It may sound simple written down, or thought about as you perform the routine tasks that drive your business. However, implementing systems in your business can be very time consuming. Yet in order to transition from a Level 2 business, where the owner is typically involved in all aspects of the business, to a level three business, where the owner can relinquish standard business activities and work on growing the business further, systems must be put in place.

“People say ‘great, why don’t I build out systems first, why don’t I sit here and write them all out,’ but you can’t do that,” said business expert David Finkel, who is leading the transformation of the two BIG Business Contest winners. “Building systems is an integrative process that you can’t do all at once. You have to implement it, check results and tweak it.”

One of the problems is many business owners didn’t think to implement a systems-based approach to their business from the beginning. Also, many business owners used to running their business may be reluctant to delegate or hand over duties they have performed in the past. All it takes is one instance of an employee messing things up for a business owner to second guess handing over important tasks to employees.

The first step in creating a system-based business is to free up 5 to 10 hours a week to work on creating systems Finkel says. Time is a very important commodity many business owners don’t have, yet by delegating less important task to employees, owners can then spend the time required to build systems.

Secondly, business owners must identify the master system by creating a naming structure to label files and folders for all systems, almost like a file structure in Microsoft Windows. This makes searching for things easier. Next, create a table of contents with a list of systems you think you want to build. Finally, identify the most important two to three systems to build first and begin there.

Have employees help with the creation of systems. While it may take months to build out the first three systems and probably more than a year to fully systemize a business, plus systems constantly need to be tweaked, you’ll find that you don’t have a job at your own business, but you are the owner letting your business cruise.