Entrepreneur Essentials: Why Systems are Sexy
iHi! My name is Andrea and not long ago I left the 9-5 world to pursue my dreams of starting a virtual business. I wanted to help fellow soulpreneurs own the title of CEO in their own business. Within five months I replaced my 9-5 income and even grew my very own team.
Now, I mean this with the utmost humility, but I haven’t met many Virtual Assistants or Online Business Managers that were able to bring on a team and replace their income in less than a year — never mind in less than six months.
Was it the little genius that sits on my left shoulder?
Was it the wit and charm?
Was it the nailed sales pitch?
I really want to attribute my early success to the above, but the truth is my secret lies in the one thing every single entrepreneur needs in order to succeed:
Systems.
Let me explain why I attribute systems to my own quick success.
What exactly are systems?
A system is many parts that work together as a whole to perform a certain task. They hold your business together and create consistency which leads to fewer dropped balls. Until systems are in place, you will always be the hub over the business and this is exhausting.
Stop relying solely on email exchanges when it comes to project management.
Systems are essentially project management tools. They tell us all of the W’s:
Who is doing what.
What they’re doing.
When it’s due.
You know, the important stuff. These three simple W’s keeps you in all of the loops and everyone on task and deadline.
Why you need systems
Foundation to every successful business
I love people. I really do. Maybe you do, too. But the truth is, the foundation for every successful business isn’t people, it’s systems. Systems single handedly keep things in place and moving forward. Without them, your business will never reach its fullest potential.
Systems are the key to working remotely successfully
If you don’t have systems in place, let’s face it, you’re a hot mess. Systems help you know who’s doing what, what’s doing who, who’s doing how, how’s doing where — you get the point. Systems are in place so you don’t have to be all over the place.
How systems will save your life and therefore your business
Successful Time Management
Systems lay everything out in a visible, doable fashion. You don’t have to spend time trying to figure out how much time you’re going to spend doing this, that or the other. Who has the time for that? Not you.
Prioritization
With everything laid out, you don’t have to spend your mornings in a haze not knowing where to start because EVERYTHING is urgent. That’s what systems are for. They do the dirty work.
Effective Communication
You’re one person — one incredible, hard-working, inspiring person — but nonetheless, one person. You can’t be in every aspect of your business at all times. But systems can be, and they can help you to communicate effectively and efficiently by assigning tasks.
Strategic Delegation
When you have the right systems in place, delegating projects and tasks is a literal click away.
The systems I recommend
The number one biggest mistake in project management is running the business out of your inbox, head, or notebook. The key to avoid this mess is to centralize. The project management tools I am recommending below will give you and your team a “location” where everything lives.
Asana
Asana is a cloud-based software where users create a virtual workspace in order to collaborate for the completion of a project. Follow projects, assign tasks, set deadlines, share details, and create visual project plans all in one place. With Asana, remote teams can organize projects, manage shifting priorities, and get work done.
Click Up
Click Up’s slogan is “One App to replace them all” and they definitely live up to that slogan. Click Up is another cloud-based project management tool featuring to-do lists, project management, docs and notes, spreadsheets, email and chats, events, reminders, goal tracking, time tracking, screenshots and recording, and resource management.
Get started with Click-Up – for free!
Trello
The most visual of the three, Trello is yet another tool for organizing your work and therefore your life. It organizes projects into boards and in just one glance, you know what’s in progress, who’s working on what, and when something is in process.
Sign up for Trello – it’s free!
And that’s why systems are sexy
Setting up systems may seem tedious in the beginning, but it’s important to set them up one time and never again. This will save time and mistakes, and saved time and fewer mistakes are pretty darn sexy if you ask me.
All too often my clients come to me trying to juggle every aspect of their business while on the verge of burnout. This cycle puts them out of alignment with their mission of growing a health and wellness company.
If you need help putting in systems and support in place so you can get back to your mission, I want to do that for you.
Let’s set up some sexy systems!
Stay in touch
If you want to follow along with my journey, want to learn some business tips, or see some cute dog videos, let’s be
internet friends!
I have presents for you! Whether you’re a high vibe virtual assistant starting out and wanting a roadmap to build your business, a soulpreneur wondering what an online business manager can do for you, or you want a discount on my favorite business tools,