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If you’re in business or planning to start a business, then this might be some of the most important information you’ll ever read. There's a bottleneck in your business. And it's likely to be YOU!

Every business owner struggles with delegation. You built this business from the ground up. But your inability to let go is turning you into a bottleneck.

You know that implementing systems in your business is vital – in a business sense it’s what separates the men from the boys.

It’s what’s going to give you speed, scalability, and leverage. Without systems, you’re putting a lid on the growth of your business and turning it into a prison for yourself.

But there's a process to building systems in you’re business.

Even if you’re not looking to get out of your business immediately, the day will come when you need to take time off, want to go onto another venture, employ more staff or even sell your business.

When the time comes you’ll be thankful you followed this advice.

Step 1: Think Ten Times Bigger

Your job as an entrepreneur is to be an innovator and a builder of systems. Even if you are a sole operator right now, it’s important to think long-term and think big.

The first part of the process is to think of your business as being ten times the size it currently is. If that were the case, what roles would exist?

For example, would you have someone taking care of the bookkeeping, someone else in shipping, another person in sales, a marketing person, etc.

You get the idea.

If you’re a sole operator or a small business, it’s not a problem if you currently perform all or most of the roles in your business. But it is a problem if you currently HAVE TO perform all the roles in your business.

If you are indispensable, you are a bottleneck and the business will only move as fast as you can.

Step 2: Define the Roles In Your Business

Now we need to start looking at each role in the business. When I say "role," I don’t mean person.

For example, in a smaller business, the same person might be both on reception and doing the bookkeeping. Even though one person does both of these roles they are still two separate roles and if the business were larger these two roles would be performed by different people.

In an even larger business, a single role might be broken up even further. For example, there might be a separate bookkeeper for accounts payable and accounts receivable. Once you have identified all the different roles in your business, you can start defining what tasks each role performs.

For example what are all the tasks we expect the person performing the bookkeeping role to do? The tasks may include:

• Invoicing customers
• Bank reconciliation
• Follow up unpaid invoices
• Entering supplier invoices

Now once we have identified all the roles within the business and defined what tasks each role does. We now need to document exactly how each task should be performed.

Step 3: Become a Creator of Checklists

One of the best tools you can use in building business systems is checklists. These are easy to create, follow, and track.

Once you’ve created a list of all the tasks performed in your business, you are ready to start documenting exactly how these tasks are performed.

A simplified example for the task “Follow up unpaid invoices,” could look something like:

• Run account receivable report
• For any invoices that are 7-13 days overdue, send a friendly reminder
• For any invoices that are 14-27 days overdue, call the customer to remind them to pay
• Forward any invoices that are over 27 days overdue to our debt collection agency

See how we’ve broken the task down into small easy-to-follow steps?

Now granted the above is a simplistic example for illustration purposes.

In fact, some of these steps include subtasks which would also need to be documented – for example how do you run an accounts receivable report?

So to recap – it’s essentially a three step process:

1. Identify all of the roles in your business
2. Define what tasks each role performs
3. Create checklists for properly completing these tasks

Now if you wanted to delegate or outsource a task, it’s going to be so much easier to hand the person a step-by-step process rather than just giving them ad-hoc training and watching over them constantly to make sure they do it right.

Why Systems Matter

Once the system is in place, scaling your business becomes super easy – just add people.

Once you see the awesome power of systems in your business you’ll never go back to the old way of doing things working all the time and wondering why you got into business.

As you can see, this process is a way of getting the systems you already have in place documented. Currently all these systems are stored in your head and accessible only to you – at least until we come up with a way to read minds.

Documenting these business systems will be the only way to easily scale your business and let it run without you.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy our article, Marketing Your Business 101. It covers everything you need to start marketing your small business, get leads and convert them to customers. Check it out now.

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Setting price on your products or services is one of the weightiest decisions you'll make in your business. It will touch every part of your business, from the financials to how you are perceived in the marketplace.

So why do so many business owners get their pricing strategy wrong?

Because you're allowing your own bias to dictate how you price your products or services. I'm going to show you the right way to set pricing.

What to consider when setting your pricing strategy?

Too many small business owners pay little attention to the psychology and marketing potential of price. More often than not, business owners set prices based on what their competitors charge.

So they'll set their prices slightly lower than the market leader in their industry. Or they'll take the cost price and add what feels like an acceptable margin.

Both of these are good starting points. But if you're not thinking about the marketing or psychological implications of price, you're likely leaving vast sums of money on the table.

Don't let your own bias influence how you set your prices

If you’ve been raised to buy the cheapest version always, that will rub off on your prospect.

How many sales have you blown because of your own bias?

A lot of business owners do this. They think I'd never pay that much for a course or a consulting session. So why would someone else?

The truth is, plenty of people would. Don’t let your own bias get in the way of a big stash of cash. Price can be elastic. Make sure you’re not underselling yourself.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my Lean Strategy Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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Pricing for businesses: avoid too many or too few options

Regardless of industry, most products or services offer multiple flavors or variants of the primary offering.

Henry Ford famously offered his customers the Model T "in any color that he wants so long as it is black."

While it may seem backward by today's expectations of infinite choice and expressions of individuality through ever-increasing personalization, the great industrialist brings up an issue relevant to all entrepreneurs.

How much choice should we offer?

Conventional wisdom would have you believe the more choice you offer, the more sales you'll make. Wrong!

A famous study by a professor of business at Columbia University illustrates this point well.

In a California gourmet market, Professor Iyengar and her research assistants set up a booth of samples of jam.

Every few hours, they switched between a selection of 24 flavors of jam to only six flavors.

• On average, customers tasted two jam flavors, regardless of the assortment size.
• 60% of customers were drawn to the large assortment, while only 40% stopped by the small one.
• 30% of the people who sampled from the small assortment decided to buy.
• Only 3% of those confronted with the full selection purchased a jar.

Their findings: offering too much choice can prevent sales.

The psychology behind this finding is that people get caught like a deer in the headlights. Fear of making a suboptimal choice prevents them from making any choice.

6 types of pricing strategies

It's really important that you find a winning pricing strategy for your business. I've listed three of my favorite pricing strategies which I've used in my business and my client's businesses.

1. The Standard/Premium Pricing Strategy

If you look at Apple and its wildly successful products, you’ll see they are usually offered in only two or three variations each.

This seems to be the happy medium between too few options and the brain overload caused by too many options.

Along these lines, a pricing strategy that I’ve seen work very well is offering a “standard” and “premium” variation of a service or product.

The “premium” version is priced at about 50% above the “standard” but offers twice or more value than the “standard” variation.

When using this strategy, it’s essential to ensure that you genuinely offer much more value with the “premium” than the “standard.”

This strategy works exceptionally well in cases where the incremental cost of delivering the “premium” is relatively low because the price differential ends up as pure profit on your bottom line.

2. The Unlimited Pricing Strategy

Most people are extremely risk-averse. They fear being stung by unexpected charges whether this is related to data usage, medical costs or consulting fees.

If you can remove this risk for them, you greatly increase the opportunity for a sale.

An excellent strategy for removing this risk is to offer an “unlimited” variation of your product or service at a fixed price.

For example, an IT company could offer unlimited technical support for a fixed monthly fee, a restaurant could offer unlimited beverage refills, and so on.

While many business owners fear that abuse of an unlimited option will send them broke, this can easily be remedied in your terms and conditions which would allow fair use but would stop or limit abuse.

Especially when you are selling something that needs to be consumed in a particular time frame, the risk of offering an unlimited option is very low.

Looking at your average transaction value over time and working with the law of averages can give you a very accurate idea of what it will cost you to offer an unlimited option.

People tend to overestimate how much they'll use a product or service when they are at the point of purchase – my ab workout machine is a testament to this!

So offering an unlimited option helps you capitalize on this and removes any perceived risk of overage charges.

3. The Ultra High Ticket Item Pricing Strategy

In every market, a small percentage of the population wants to buy “the best” variant of product in its class.

The indicator most often used by consumers as to what is “the best” is price.

Some consumers will pay 10, 20, or even 100 times the price of other functionally similar products, like Rolls Royce car or private jet travel.

While you might not sell these high-ticket products every day, if you don’t offer them among your regular product mix, you are leaving money on the table.

These ultra-high ticket items can

• make up a huge percentage of your net profit even if you only sell a small number of units.
• help you attract a more affluent customer who shops based on prestige, service, and convenience rather than price.
• make the other variations in your product range look much more reasonably priced by comparison.

4. The Price Skimming Strategy

Skim pricing isn't necessarily a strategy that small businesses would employ or one I'd recommend you adopt.

Price skimming is best for attracting early adopters and generating a great deal of profit in a short term.

5. The Penetration Pricing Strategy

I'm sure you've seen this before. Penetration pricing is something I've used myself. Often when you're launching a new product, you'll set the price of your product or service quite low until it gains traction.

For example, when I launched my course it was still under production. I used the early launch to get invaluable feedback from customers and improve it.

While I now sell the course for $497, it launched at $397.

Startups often use penetration pricing to entice customers to switch brands.

6. The Competitive Pricing Strategy

Earlier in this article, I mentioned a competitive pricing strategy. It's the act of strategically pricing your products and services based on competitor prices rather than business costs or target margins.

The problem with this strategy is there's always someone who'll price their products and services cheaper than you.

So really it's a losing strategy.

Winning pricing strategy: 10 top tips for pricing your products or services

1. To determine pricing, start with the product cost and the desired margin, building in room for discounts.
2. Understand what features of your offering are most important to your client. Do these elements make or break a sale? Or are they nice features to have?
3. Keep pricing as simple and transparent as possible.
4. Price products just under a round dollar amount (for example, The 1PMP Course is $497).
5. Make the value of the offer seem higher than the asking price. (For example, noting the normal price of individual items in a package or stating the average gains for past customers.)
6. Create a "most popular" middle-priced item as an anchor.
7. Research competitor pricing.
8. Don't enter into pricing wars - no one in your industry will win.
9. If possible, test higher and lower price points to estimate volume vs. profit margin.
10. Sending or publishing a list of features leaves the prospect guessing what the benefits are. Focus on communicating the benefits to the prospect and help them to understand what type of product is best for their profile. (For example, Personal, Small Business, and Enterprise software products.)

How to display price online

If you run an eCommerce business or sell online, it's crucial that you display prices in such a way that prospects can easily segment themselves.

Here are my top tips:

Pricing Tip 1: Make it easy for your customer to identify the best option for them.

Sounds simple enough, and yet, so many businesses get this wrong.

If you’re presenting a pricing plan choose a good headline and include a short summary that segments your customers according to their needs.

In the example above, we mention exactly who the package is designed for and what it costs. So there's no chance for confusion.

Pricing Tip 2: Add a clear call to action.

Tell your customers what they need to do next. Don’t make them guess.

It could be an apply now, book a call, or buy now button. Really it depends on what is the next logical step.

Pricing Tip 3: Give them the option to choose between monthly and annual billing.

Look, if you give me a 20% discount on the annual price of a service, and I've got the available cash, why would I choose monthly billing?

• I'm saving money.
• Plus, I don't need to worry about this cost until next year.

Now, not all your customers think like me or can afford to invest in annual billing. So always give them options. But some can so give them the option.

Pricing Tip 4: Use a table

Can your customers see what is included and excluded from each plan at a quick glance.

For example, if they want to compare premium with economy they need to see the added value they get.

I’ve found a table is best for comparative analysis. The problem is it can be difficult to view on mobile. Really, it works best on a desktop.

Resist the urge to discount price

When the market you operate in is highly competitive, there is a strong urge to discount your prices. This strategy needs to be used with extreme caution, because of the pressure it puts on your margins and profit.

Unless you have a very specific loss leader strategy whereby you try to entice a customer based on price and then upsell or cross-sell then try to avoid discounting.

A better option than discounting is to increase the value of your offering. Bundling in bonuses, increasing quantities, or adding peripheral services can be of genuine value to your customer but cost you very little to do.

Regardless of which pricing strategies you implement, it is important to continually test and measure.

Consumers are bags of emotion and are not driven purely by rational motivations.

Make setting price a central part of your overall marketing strategy.

In our previous article, we talked about persistence being the most important trait of successful entrepreneurs.

However while persistence is vital, it alone is not enough - you need a methodology for business and personal success, and in summary here it is:

• Decide
• Do
• Measure

Rinse and repeat.

This is a simple and reliable methodology, however, it takes resolve and persistence to follow through consistently. Let's briefly discuss each of these aspects.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my Lean Strategy Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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The Cost Of Indecision

People often fail to count the cost of decisions they make, however even more common and costly are the decisions that are not made. A common misconception is that by putting off a decision, no price has to be paid.

The thinking is that as long a decision has not been made - a mistake can't be made either. The truth, however, is that every single decision or indecision has a price.

In the case of indecision, you still pay the price later, but with interest on top and without any of the benefit along the way.

Decisions give you clarity. Clarity gives you focus. Focus gives you results. Make the decisions in every major area of your life; health decisions, financial decisions, spiritual decisions, relationship decisions, and so on. Settle these critical issues early and manage them daily. Count the cost of your decisions and then get busy paying the price. Putting it off only makes it far more costly in the long run.

Why Easy (But Important) Things Don't Get Done

Once a decision has been made we need to walk the walk and get things done, however, it's rarely that simple.

A man suffers from obesity, diabetes, and eventually dies from a heart attack. Doctors say he could have prevented this by walking around the block for twenty minutes a day. Why didn’t he do it? Sounds easy right? Twenty minutes a day to save ill health and a heart attack?

It turns out that the things that are easy to do are also easy not to do. Neglecting easy (but important) tasks can be absolutely disastrous and tragic. It’s easy to be faked out because, for most of these, the timeframe between cause and effect is long, so there is no perceived urgency.

Take a long view of the important things and don't let yourself be faked out just because of the temporal difference between cause and effect.

Take Massive Action

Lack of information is not our problem - we have masses of good, up-to-the-minute information. In fact, we have such an avalanche that there is a term for it – information overload. If information was the only key to success, then librarians would be the most successful people in the world.

Information needs to be transformed into education. However, we also know that education is not the end of the process. Action is the active ingredient in the success formula. It needs to be preceded with information and education but without massive action, all the information and education in the world is moot.

Resolve to take some action on every single one of your goals daily, even if you think it's small or insignificant. It's the development of this long-term habit that is significant, rather than the actual action you take.

Numbers Tell Us The Whole Story

Want to improve your results? Simple. Just improve your numbers. Income, weight, sales conversion rate, number of books read in your field – all of these have numbers associated with them. Put a post-it note on your fridge with whatever numbers are most important to you. Then measure and work on these daily.

We don’t need a big long complex story when measuring results. Just give us your numbers, because numbers tell us the whole story. Start to improve your numbers in one area and you will notice something unexpected; your numbers in other unrelated areas will start to improve. How did that happen? Success breeds success. Measure regularly and work on your numbers daily.

Having A Healthy View Of The Past

The way we deal with past experiences is absolutely crucial to our future success. This is especially so with past negative experiences. The past, if you let it, can beat you up, put fear into you and prevent you from reaching your true potential.

Missed opportunities, incorrect execution, false assumptions, and disappointment are some of the issues from the past we need to deal with – but how? Ignore them? Just think positive? We know that doesn’t really work as it remains there lurking in the subconscious, still affecting today’s actions and tomorrow’s success.

The healthiest way to view past negative experiences is as a teacher. Education always comes at a price so don’t fail to let life teach you. If you fail to learn the lesson, it will just come back again and again and the price will continue to increase. Don’t pay twice or more for the same lesson. If your mistake cost you money or a failed business or a health issue – learn the lesson but do not let it beat you up. View the past as a teacher.

This three-step methodology for business and personal success is reliable and time-tested, yet most of the time people never even get past the very first step.

The exciting thing is that once you’ve made your critical decisions, the other steps flow naturally. Following this process will give your life purpose and a feeling of control over your destiny.

As an entrepreneur, sometimes it’s easy to get into the trap of focusing on making money rather than on delivering value.

Making money and delivering value are often confused because they often go together.

It’s important to remember that as entrepreneurs we get paid for bringing value to the market.

Sure it takes time to deliver value but here’s the catch – as entrepreneurs we don’t get paid for time. We only get paid for value.

If we deliver a huge amount of value to the marketplace, we get a huge payday.

If we flop, we make a loss.

That’s a risk most people aren’t willing to take. They want to get paid per hour worked.

They want to avoid loss at all costs. Making gain to them is a nice-to-have but their real objective is pain avoidance.

If nothing else that’s probably the one thing that distinguishes entrepreneurs from others – Entrepreneurs play to win. Most other people play not to lose.‍

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my Lean Strategy Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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Bringing Value To The Market

The money we make as entrepreneurs is an automatic side effect of bringing value to the market.

If our focus is on bringing value to the market, this will stop us from making all kinds of foolish mistakes. We’ll treat customers with the long-term in mind rather than just making a quick buck.

The products we create or the services we deliver will not be half-baked. Focusing on the cause (value) rather than the effect (making money) will lead to much greater long-term success.

The more times we deliver value (i.e., get a customer), the more we get paid.

Don't Get Distracted By “Playing Business”

“Playing business” is when you do things that LOOK like you’re “busy” – but that aren’t producing the result that you want – which is getting customers.

Some examples of this include getting your business card perfect, tweaking the colors on your website, and checking your email and voicemail constantly. These are examples of “playing business.”

Instead of playing business, you must DO business.

Winning in business requires a “trick” that you must learn to do.

The trick involves continually bringing your focus back to the ONLY activities that deliver value.

These activities are innovation (aka creating products) and marketing.

Doing Business Is About Getting Customers

We don’t create products and do marketing just to do them.

Each of these activities is actually about an even more important activity: GETTING CUSTOMERS.

When you get customers, it means that you have sold something. It means that you have delivered enough value that someone is willing to pay you for it.

The “trick” of bringing your focus back to products and marketing is actually about getting you to continually do the things that bring you MORE CUSTOMERS.

The battle you must fight every day is a battle with distraction, interruption and “playing business.”

If you allow yourself to be distracted from your work to get customers, your business WILL FAIL!

What commonalities are we distracted by? Things that are more fun, more urgent or things that we think we’re supposed to be doing.

We are wired with a rationalization mechanism that rationalizes all the things that we do when we play business.

There are really only a few activities which you need to do every day to get customers, but you need to do them well instead of playing business.

Your view of time affects everything you do in your business.

For the entrepreneur, time is NOT money. Value is money. Time is just one of the inputs it takes to deliver value to the market.

What is an elevator pitch and is it something you should care about?

Absolutely. A good elevator pitch can be the difference between you getting a job or signing a new customer.

Unfortunately, the 30 seconds that follows "What do you do?" is one of the most commonly wasted marketing opportunities.

The retort is almost always self-focused, unclear and often nonsensical.

This is where many people reply with the most high sounding title they can get away with, as they feel the inquirer’s judgment of their worth will depend on the answer.

“I’m a waste management technician,” says the janitor.

While it’s true many shallow people judge a person’s worth by their job title or line of business, there’s a much better way to respond to this question. A way that doesn’t require you to raid a thesaurus in order to inflate or obfuscate what you really do.

As a business owner, being able to succinctly convey what problem you solve is a real art, especially if you are in a business that is complex.

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What Is An Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch is a succinct, well-rehearsed summary of your business and it’s value proposition. It should be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride, so roughly 30-90 seconds.

The elevator pitch is a powerful opportunity to convey your marketing message on a regular basis and in many different settings.

So at networking events, on Zoom calls, in the about section of your LinkedIn profile.

“What do you do?” is the perfect queue to deliver your “elevator pitch.”

Obviously you don’t want to come across as a pushy, obnoxious salesperson, so it’s important to structure your elevator pitch properly.

Need help crafting your elevator pitch. Check out these tips for writing better copy.

Pitching Your Elevator Speech - Why Most Fail

The problem with most elevator pitches is the same problem as overinflated job titles. It leaves the recipient confused or thinking “what a douchebag,” rather than the intended effect of impressing them.

I once asked a lady what she did for a living to which she replied, “I’m a senior event builder.” None the wiser about what she did, I continued probing until I finally came to understand that she arranges seating for concerts and large events in stadiums.

Bad marketing is highly product and self-focused.

Good marketing, especially direct response marketing is always customer and problem/solution focused.

And that’s exactly how we want our elevator pitch to be. We want to be remembered for what problem we solve rather than for some impressive but incomprehensible title or business.

When do you pitch your elevator speech?

You want to get comfortable with pitching yourself. So I'd encourage you to use your elevator pitch in any of these scenarios.

As a business owner, you might use your pitch when engaging with leads on LinkedIn, or networking at an industry event, even on your company website.

An effective elevator pitch can help you close a deal. For example, say you're selling a course, but your prospect is worried about the cost. You want to demonstrate the value your course offers. So while it might be $497, they could potentially reap their investment within the first three months. Everything thereafter is pure profit.

As a job hunter, you could use your pitch on your resume, during a job interview, or on your LinkedIn profile. Many organizations and recruiters now use LinkedIn to hunt for new employees. By clearly conveying why you're the best fit for their organization you could receive job offers without having to put any effort into the process. Before showcasing your pitch, take time to build your resume so it clearly reflects the strengths and experiences you're highlighting.

A Good Elevator Pitch Structure

While this is an oversimplification, good marketing takes the structure of:

1. Problem
2. Solution
3. Proof

Your elevator pitch should be no different.

So how do you effectively communicate these three components in the space of 30 or so seconds?

3 Helpful Elevator Pitch Examples

The best formula I’ve found to date is:

You know [problem]? Well what we do is [solution]. In fact [proof].

Here’s a three strong elevator pitch examples:

Example 1: Insurance Sales

“You know how most people rarely review their insurance coverage when their circumstances change?

Well, what I do is help people have peace of mind by ensuring their insurance cover always matches their current circumstances.

In fact, just last week a client of mine was robbed, but he was able to recover the full cost of the items he’d lost because his insurance coverage was up to date."

Example 2: Electrical Engineering

“You know when there are power outages that bring down critical systems in large businesses?

Well, what I do is install backup power systems for companies that rely on having a continual supply of power for their operations.

In fact, I installed the system at XYZ Bank which has resulted in them having 100% uptime since the system was installed."

Example 3: Website Development

“You know how most company websites are out of date?

Well, what I do is install software that makes it easy for people to update their own websites, without the need to pay a web designer each time.

In fact, I installed the software for one of my clients recently and they saved $2,000 a year in web development costs."

This gives you a reliable formula to craft your elevator pitch while being customer/problem focused rather you/product focused.

My Best Elevator Pitch Tips

• Keep it short and succinct. So often my clients will send their best attempt at an elevator pitch, and it's always too long. Remember, no more than three sentences.
• Be clear. Don't assume that your audience understands what you're talking about. So avoid jargon-fueled language.
• Use persuasive language. Think of this as a sales pitch. What major achievements have you earned over your career? What could you say that would excite the person you're speaking to. Numbers are always compelling so don't be scared to throw in an impressive achievement. It could be you saved a company a million dollars in tax or you wrote an article that was featured in Forbes magazine.
• Write it down and practice it until you can say it in your sleep. Seems obvious, and yet, I've listened to more than one professional stumble through their elevator speech. This is not the time to ramble.
• Use the formula: problem, solution, proof.

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If you need help crafting your elevator pitch, download the worksheet now.

To many, personal development is all about motivation.

Its true motivation, which feeds action, is a large part of the success equation. However, the tired old “motivational speaker” cliché has run its course.

Genuine personal development begins with education, not motivation. If you take an idiot and motivate him, all you have is a motivated idiot!

Why is Education Important?

Education, especially self-education, is absolutely key to making progress, achieving success, and reaching your most daring goals.

It’s sad when people end their education after they leave school. They have effectively put a lid on their potential. With the accelerating pace of change, Jim Rohn’s classic quote has never been truer; “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

Formal Education vs Self Education

Formal education trains you for a specific vocation, which is important, however, you can go through years of formal education in the form of school, college, etc. without ever learning even the basics needed to achieve a measure of business success.

A chiropractor can spend years in formal education learning how to whack and crack bad backs. But formal education fails to teach the basics of how to use marketing to get new customers or how to systemize a business so that he is able to leverage his time and expand.

This is the first reason why self-education is so valuable - it helps you fill in the gaps in your knowledge so that you are not caught off guard.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my Lean Strategy Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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The Answers Have Changed

The rapid rate of change is the other reason why self-education is so important. Many businesses suffer because they fail to anticipate changes in their industry. In other words, the way they currently do things is now out of date and they have not kept up with the latest trends, techniques, or market forces.

It's said that Albert Einstein was once giving an exam paper to a class. It turned out that it was the exact same exam he had given them the previous year. His teaching assistant, alarmed at what he saw and thinking it to be the result of the professor's absent-mindedness, alerted Einstein.

"Excuse me, sir," said the shy assistant, not quite sure how to tell the great man about his blunder.

"Yes?" said Einstein.

"Um, eh, it's about the test you just handed out." Einstein waited patiently.

"I'm not sure if you realize it, but this is the same test you gave out last year. In fact, it's identical."

Einstein paused to think for a moment, then said, "Yes, it is the same test but the answers have changed."

Just as the answers in physics change as new discoveries are made, so too do the answers in your business and in your industry. If you're still doing things in your business the same way you were doing them years ago, it's likely your business is, or will soon be, going backwards.

It's vital to be constantly improving your skills and understanding the new ways to run and market your business.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Ever heard that silly phrase “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”? Let's correct it!

The book you didn’t read could cost you a fortune. The seminar you didn’t attend could cost you your business. The advice you didn’t seek could cost you a relationship.

Don't be fooled; what you don’t know CAN hurt you.

Nothing will bring success easier and faster than continual self-education and the application of it in the form of action. The most successful people I know are all lifelong students and implementers. Self-education and action are an unbeatable formula for success.

One of the most disturbing trends I have seen over the past few years is people allowing technology to dominate their lives, waste their time, and allow themselves to effectively develop a learned attention deficit disorder.

Email has a special place in this discussion. People are treating email as a real-time communications tool, reacting to the email “ting” or visual cue with an almost Pavlovian response.

While email is a wonderful tool, it has become an absolute menace to productivity for at least two reasons: volume and incorrect usage.

Many email programs check for new messages every minute. That means in a 9-to-5 workday, you are giving people 480 opportunities to interrupt you—not including other methods of contact such as instant messaging, telephone calls, and chatty co-workers asking if you “have a minute.”

Here are two practical tips for getting this monster under control.

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‍‍1. Keep Your Email Program Closed By Default

Open your email program only a few designated times each day - preferably only once or twice per day if that's possible.

This will accomplish two things. Firstly and most importantly, it will allow you to have more focused and uninterrupted concentration on your most important tasks.

Secondly, it will reduce volume because people expecting immediate responses will stop sending you email and when they do it will be more thorough and to the point, as they know they will only hear back from you once or twice a day at most.

Don’t worry, if something is truly urgent, they will pick up the phone and call you (have you ever heard of someone emailing for an ambulance?).

2. Adopt A Productivity System

The simple fact is that most people don’t really know how to use their email.

Some treat it as a to-do list system, while others treat it as an archive for all of their communications. The simple fact is that your email is just an electronic version of your physical mailbox or in-tray.

What do you do when you collect mail from your mailbox? Remove it! You don’t store it there or leave it in the mailbox as a reminder of what to do later. You bring it in and (hopefully) handle it.

Your email handling process should be part of your overall productivity system. I personally use and highly recommend David Allen’s excellent Getting Things Done (GTD) system.

However, go with whatever system works for you. The important thing is to have a system which gives you clear rules on how to handle growing volumes of incoming information, whether this is in the form of email or anything else.

What are business systems and do they benefit your company? Starting, building and growing a business is exciting. But often things get out of control. Balls get dropped and what was once fun and exciting can become a dreary chore. Why? Because of a lack of business systems.

Many founders find themselves working longer and longer hours for little pay.

You might start wondering whatever possessed you to start a business. After all the goal was freedom, wealth and independence. But now it feels like you’re treading water and going nowhere. Sadly some owners end up throwing in the towel.

I don’t want this for you. That’s why I’m going to show you how systems can change your company for the better. It might be just what you need.

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What Is A Business System?

A business system is a series of interdependent tasks or documented procedures that outline exactly how to do something in an organization to achieve a business objective. Good business systems streamline workload, improve productivity and get results.

A business process (also known as a series of checklists) can be given to a new employee and implemented without training. Not only does it improve onboarding new people, it also massively improves customer service.

For example, a system could be a step-by-step guide to writing blog posts. Think of it as best practices for getting eyes on your content marketing.

Here's what that might look like:

• Step one, keyword research.
• Step two, review the top five blogs ranking for that keyword. Note down which questions are routinely answered.
• Step three, write the blog post.
• Step four, place the blog into SurferSEO for keyword optimization.
• Step five, submit the optimized blog for editing and approval.
• Step six, submit the approved blog post to the developer to place into the blog template.
• Step seven, add imagery, include alt text, a meta description, and internal linking.
• Step eight, take the blog live and submit it to Google Console to crawl.
• Step nine, share the blog post on your social media accounts.  

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Are business systems and business processes the same?

No. Business processes are what I like to call standard operating procedures. It's a series of linked tasks, checklists, and activities—business systems—that work towards a singular business goal.

Every business owner needs systems. So, now that you understand what a business system is, let’s look at the benefits of implementing business processes.

Why Are Systems Important In Business?

In my 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I talk about the three E's of business systems—expansion, escape, and exit. Without systems, the "know-how" of running the business is siloed between a few select individuals' ears, and achieving the three E's is impossible.

What happens if you get sick, or a vital employee leaves, does your company stop functioning optimally?

Systems negate this, and I’m going to show you how.

Here are five major benefits of implementing a business system.

1. It builds a valuable asset. Investors can buy your company and know that they've got a committed customer base, a set way of doing things, a guaranteed annual income, that sort of stuff. Check out this article to see the types of assets you should be building.
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2. You can leverage and scale your business more rapidly. Once you've got systems in place, you can focus your time on creating new products that cater to your different customer segments. So you increase your profit margins.
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3. Consistency. Systems allow you to deliver a consistent experience, which is super powerful. It means whenever a customer interacts with your business, they get a world-class experience. And happy customers make for happy business owners. A business system can also be useful for managing multiple sites.
   
   By creating a documented procedure for each site, you can ensure consistency and quality across all locations. This is especially important if your business is expanding rapidly, as it can be difficult to maintain control without clear guidelines.
   
   With a system in place, you can easily onboard new employees and ensure that everyone is following the same processes, improving productivity and results. Implementing cost-effective payroll systems is crucial for streamlining operations and managing expenses efficiently.
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4. Lower labor costs. You can reduce your staff number because technology can handle most of the more mundane and repetitive tasks.
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5. It can improve efficiency. Your employees are more productive because they have a set way of doing things which really makes business activities a synch.

To recap, systems are essential for expanding your organization, improving business functions, adding new people and products, growing your revenue, improving profit margins, escaping your business and taking a well-deserved holiday, and potentially exiting your organization one day.

If you want to learn how you can find and hire great remote talent, check out this blog post.

Why You Need To Systemize Your Business?

If you're wondering why many small businesses don't adopt systems, it's because they're considered back-office functions or boring.

It's not something that requires your attention today, particularly when you're in the startup phase. You're so focused on building your company that there are other more pressing tasks that you need to deal with.

So there's a perceived lack of urgency.

Thing is, without business systems, you don't own a business – you ARE the business. If you want to double revenue, you need to double the hours you work. Since you only have so many hours in a day, that limits how fast and how big you grow.

By automating, delegating, and systemizing your business activities and business functions, you gain leverage, which is the key to creating and scaling a high growth organization.

Even if you're starting out, you need to get into a systems mindset long before hiring your first employee or subcontractor. It's the critical difference between being self-employed and being an entrepreneur.

Don't wait until your organization is in crisis mode and spinning out of control. It's much easier to begin creating your systems from the start than retrofit your business later.  

Are you building a coaching business? Click the link to learn how to start and scale your coaching business.

Getting Started With Systems

Before we can transition from self employed to entrepreneur, we first need to create a subtle but vital mindset shift. Self-employed people ARE the business, whereas entrepreneurs OWN the business.

If you’re ever going to experience financial freedom in your company, the key ingredient is leverage. If I had to pick only one thing that sets apart wealthy business owners from average ones, leverage would be it. You can find out more about The Best Kept Secret Of The Rich here.

Perhaps the only thing more important to an entrepreneur than financial success is freedom. Are you setting up your business in a way that facilitates that kind of freedom? You can read up on Why A Lack Of Systems Is Stunting Your Business Growth And Costing You A Fortune.

Building Your Systems So You Can Be Free

Now that you’ve made the mindset shift from self-employed to entrepreneur, it’s time to start actually building the business systems that are going to run your organization and set you free.

If we’re going to create the kind of speed that’s necessary for a high growth business, we need to eliminate all bottlenecks – starting with you.

You shouldn't be working non-stop, day and night. Build a team and delegate. Try these top time management strategies for better productivity.

What Are Examples Of Business Systems

One of the poster children for good systems is McDonald's.

McDonald's is a multibillion-dollar operation run by young teenagers who can't even be trusted to make their beds. How does that happen? It happens with business systems.

Their operation manuals cover everything from hiring to product delivery to customer interaction. What these systems do is allow McDonald's to provide a consistent experience.

You know that when you walk into a McDonald's, The Big Mac, the fries, the nuggets will always be the same. And it's because they've got those systems in place.

Whether you like the food or you don't, you always know that any McDonald's you go to will deliver a consistent experience.

How Many Types Of Business Systems Are There?

While virtually anything can be systematized, there are four main types of business systems that you need to build. Getting these running is like adding rocket fuel to your startup. I'm going to touch on these below, but you can find out more in this article: Products Make You Money, Systems Make You A Fortune, and you use this to generate a consistent flow of leads into the business.

1. There's your marketing system, and you use this to generate a consistent flow of leads into the business.
2. Then there's your sales system; this is what you use to nurture leads, follow up with them, and hopefully convert them into paying customers.
3. The third system is your fulfillment system, and this is the actual thing you do in exchange for the customer's money.
4. Lastly, there's your administration system, which encompasses accounts, reception, human resources, etc. It supports all the other business functions.

If you had to start with just one of these systems, the one which will give you the biggest returns on time and money would be your marketing system. Click here to learn how to build your marketing infrastructure and assets.

How To Write A Business System In 4 Easy Steps?

So now we're going to cover the best practices for writing a business system. I've built systems in all of my businesses. These are companies I eventually exited for a tidy profit so I like to think I'm qualified to share my expertise.

When you’re building systems there are three questions you need to think about:

1. Who is going to do it?
2. What are they going to do?
3. When are they going to do it?

Some processes will be handled by people, for example outreach to journalists, podcasts, responding to LinkedIn connections, website maintenance, writing emails, how to order equipment, etc. Some will be handled by technology and automation, so a CRM will send an automated series of emails, Google Analytics will track website visitors and opt-ins.

Knowing this early on is important because it influences the processes you create and how you write your business systems.

But before I get into writing your business processes or standard operating procedure, I want to focus on how you can document your systems.

• You can use text and imagery. For instance, you can use a Google or Word document to list the various steps that someone needs to follow. I like to add screen grabs to illustrate my point. So if I am writing a best practice document for writing a LinkedIn post, I'll take screen grabs of some of my top-performing posts. This graphically shows what emojis to include, how to write a question that draws attention, the position of hashtags, etc.
• You can use audio (where appropriate).
• Or you can document your system with an instructional video. I particularly like using a screen-sharing program like Loom to explain how to do something. I just hit record and can walk through the process step-by-step.

Now that you know how to document your business systems, it's time to map out your process or workflow. And really, there are four stages to writing a standard operating procedure.

Here is what I like to do:

Step 1: Come up with a process.

My team and I will get together, and we will try to define what the best method is. So what is the gold standard? During this brainstorming session, we want to identify who does what. Who is going to compile the data? Who will design the document? Who will film an instructional video? That sort of thing.

Step 2: Document It.

For instance, my copywriter will note down in a document exactly how to pitch media on Haro or Source Bottle. She'll write the process, taking screen grabs of each step. Then my designer might create visuals to illustrate each step. And my marketing assistant will take all of this information and compile it into a branded SOP document.

Step 3: Implement It.

Let's say my copywriter leaves, and I hire a new copywriter. They can take the media pitching business system, read it, and hit the ground running. I can also share it with my 1:1 clients, and they can implement the same process into their organization, so that becomes very powerful.

Step 4: Adjust when necessary.

So sometimes we find, "Hang on, there is a better way of doing it" and then we adjust and course correct.

For best results, show your employees and clients how to put a business system together, then let them do it. Make sure you watch them and provide guidance when needed.

Virtually everything in your business can and should be documented in a business process.

You might think that as a solopreneur you don't need to build systems. You'd be wrong. I show you how to start systemizing as a one person business here.

Four People Business Systems Are Valuable To

Now that you know how to put a business system together let's look at the strategic advantages it gives your organization and who values your systems.

A system is valuable to:

1. Business Owners Value Systems

A business system is valuable to you, the business owner, solopreneur or startup founder.  

• With systems, you're not reliant on people.
• You can expand and escape your business.
• You can franchise or license your company which is an additional cash injection that you can look forward to.

2. Employees & Incoming Staff Value Systems

You or management want to be able to pass something over to a recruit and say, “This is how we do it here, this is our checklist, this is our process, this is our procedure," and it’s very, very important that you're able to do that.

You don’t have to train employees up. All they need to do is follow the procedure outlined in the document. And because you’ve mapped it out, it’s easier to pick up and run with.

• This removes unnecessary frustration.
• It improves the quality of work delivered.
• And it means you’re not people reliant.

Someone can decide to leave, and your business won't stop functioning. The recruit can pick up where the last person left off, and that's a great place to be in.

3. Your Customers Value Systems

Customers want consistency. When you implement systems in your business, each process ensures you deliver consistent results with every interaction.

Your customers know what to expect, and that builds loyalty.

But you can also use your systems document as a byproduct which a coaching client, for example, can implement into their business.

So you’re not only advising your client, but you’re saying, “Look, this is how we’ve done this. It’s our gold standard. We’ve had great success using this methodology, and you can too.”

So that’s a big motivator for clients to choose you over a competitor.

4. Potential Investors Value Systems

They're not just buying the customer base, which is really a historical document, or the revenue, which again, is a historical metric. They're buying a system that generates new leads, prospects, and customers, and a process for delivering products and services. Now that makes the business dramatically more valuable to prospective purchases.

And this is your ultimate customer. It's the person who puts you out of business and writes you that big check that makes you leave and do something else.

Some of the biggest fortunes have been created when owners have sold or licensed their companies.  

But if management depends on you to be present to get things done, it’s really a self-made job and worthless to investors.

So Start With The End In Mind and remember, technology has created more millionaires and billionaires than anything else.

Click How Smart Entrepreneurs Use Technology to create value in your organization.

To Recap

Systems provide solutions for common organizational problems.

The startups and small businesses that win in marketing are the ones that do the simple things consistently. They get them done not because of willpower but because of a business system.

I want you to think of systems as your secret weapon—your Iron Man suit that will help you punch above your weight. Systems let you put much of the repetitive and tedious tasks on autopilot, and that's exciting because it frees up your time to focus on coming up with a new vision, a new way of doing things, a new market to serve, whatever.

So like Jim Rohn says, "Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day. Failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day."

Don't repeat your errors of judgment daily.

Just put in those few simple disciplines: start documenting your processes, start putting together your marketing system. Make sure you're using technology to reduce friction, create a more consistent experience for your clients, and deliver a wow experience.

Those systems will free you. They'll help you expand, escape, and eventually exit your SME and that, to me as an entrepreneur, is super exciting.

Every team needs business processes. And every entrepreneur needs a team. Learn why here.

The statistics vary on exactly what percentage of businesses fail within the first 5 years.

Some estimates put it as high as 90%. However, I've never seen this statistic being quoted at anything less than 50%.

That means that if we're being super-optimistic, you have a 50/50 chance of still having your doors open after 5 years.

However, here's where it really gets worse. The statistics only take into account businesses that completely cease trading.

They don't take into account the businesses that plateau at a low level and slowly kill or make the lives of their owners miserable.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my Lean Strategy Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

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Most Small Businesses Suck

Have you ever wondered why most small businesses plateau at a mediocre level?

At one end of the spectrum, there’s Pete the plumber who works 16 hour days, weekends and never takes holidays while barely making enough to keep his head above water.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s Joe who runs a plumbing company with 20 plumbers working for him. It seems like his primary business activity is counting the huge sums of money that keep rolling in.

It's very common for small businesses to never grow past the point at which they generate just enough profit for the owner(s) to make a modest living.

It seems that no matter how hard the owner(s) try, their efforts to get to the next level just lead to frustration. At this point, one of two things happen. Either they get disillusioned or they just accept their fate - that their business is nothing more than a low paid self-created job.

In fact, the reality is that many business owners would probably be better off just finding a job in their industry. They would likely work fewer hours, have less stress, and enjoy more benefits and more holiday time than in the prison they created for themselves.

On the flip side, there are a few business owners that just seem to have it all. They work reasonable hours, have a fantastic cash flow from their enterprise and enjoy continuous growth.

The Blame Game

Many business owners who are struggling blame their industry. While it's true some industries are in decline - examples such as bookstores or video rental stores immediately come to mind. If you are in one of these dead or dying industries it may be time to cut your losses and move on, rather than torture yourself to death financially. This may be particularly difficult if you have been in the industry for a long time.

However for the most part when people blame their industry they are just playing the blame game. Some of the most common industry complaints I hear are:

• It's too competitive
• The margins are too low
• Online discounters are taking customers away
• Advertising no longer works

However, it's rarely the industry that is truly to blame, after all there are others in that same industry that are doing very well. So the obvious question is what are they doing differently?

The Business Owner Versus The Technician

Many small business owners fall into the trap described in Michael Gerber’s classic book, The E-Myth. That is they are a technician e.g. plumber, hairdresser, dentist, etc. and they are good at what they do.

Naturally, they start to think to themselves, why should I work for this idiot boss of mine. I'm good at what I do - I'll start my own business.

This is THE major mistake made by most small business owners. They go from working for an idiot boss to becoming an idiot boss!

Here is the key point - just because you're good at the technical thing you do does not mean that you are good at the business of what you do.

So going back to our initial example, a good plumber is not necessarily the best person to run a plumbing business.

This is a vitally important distinction to note and is the key reason that most small businesses fail. The owner of the business may have excellent technical skills but it is the lack of business skills that will cause their business to fail.

This is not meant to discourage people from starting their own businesses. However, you must resolve to become good at the business of what you do - not just the technical part of it.

A business can be an amazing vehicle for achieving financial freedom and personal fulfillment - but only for those who understand and master this vital distinction.