“The phone was ringing off the hook for sales inquiries and support requests, and I was the only one who knew how to do any of that,” Landon recalled.
He needed order — fast. After Landon hired his eighth employee, Lena Requist, now the current Ontraport President, everything changed. She understood the value of systems and how they can organize the chaos of a startup into clear, repeatable, trainable, measurable and scalable processes.
“Today, at 10x the size, it’s a relative cake-walk,” Landon said. “I’m certain that our focus on systemizing our business has made the difference between success and failure. It’s that big of a deal.”
Landon’s experiences are shared by entrepreneurs everywhere who understand the growing pains of building an emerging business.
Tackling the Demands of a Growing Business
Growing a successful, low-stress business isn’t easy. In fact, a study by the Journal of Business Venturing reveals that there are overwhelming cognitive and emotional demands associated with entrepreneurship.
This is largely due to growing without the right measures in place to handle that growth. Caron Beensley from the FundBox Blog writes that “many businesses find their growth plans thwarted at every turn,” and “one of the biggest impediments to growth is the business itself.” In particular, those with inadequate preparation or issues within their processes “simply aren’t operationally ready for growth.”
The Power of System-building
The solution is as simple as creating systems that are manageable, predictable, measurable and delegatable so you can turn your business into an efficient machine. Systems ensure stability by eliminating chaos, providing consistent guidelines for you and your employees to follow and allowing you to test what’s working and what’s not.
In Systemize Your Business, Landon says, “Building systems is the work that is the actual building of a business. You will never perform enough services or sell enough gadgets to build a business because those things have nothing to do with business building.”
By having detailed, written systems for all operations of your business, you are ensuring reliability from your employees, services and products.
Systems Relieve the Stress
Systems help you create remarkable experiences for your clients by providing a fail-proof framework for consistent, recurring success.
As best-selling author Joseph A. Michelli points out, “Consumers want the predictable and consistent.” Take your morning coffee run to Starbucks as an example. You expect to get a double shot soy latte exactly the same way every day, and you know it will be just as delicious and caffeinated each morning. This wouldn’t be possible without detailed systems of how to make the coffee.
Systems help you relieve the stress of work overload by streamlining your operations and creating great customer service that boosts the overall productivity of your business.
According to an article by Productive and Free, “Systems allow your business to run like a well-oiled machine while making it more streamlined, more productive and ultimately, more profitable.”
Create Systems for Your Own Business
Systems make it possible for you to:
- Successfully train employees the right way the first time so you can be assured that they’ll produce the same results every time.
- Identify what operations need to be performed so that no task is ever overlooked.
- Create a framework of operations that are unique to your business and attractive in the eyes of prospective buyers and investors.
- Reduce the constant stress and responsibility on your shoulders so that you have time to enjoy a good work-life balance.
- Grow your business by establishing processes that work on a larger scale so that your business doesn’t take over your entire life.
- Repeatedly use the same detailed systems so you can make reasonable forecasts about your business results.
If you’re interested in knowing more about how to start systemizing, our free guide, Systemize Your Business, has details on the benefits of systems and where to begin.
