The Seven Gifts You Get From Having Systems in Your Small Business

“I’m a solo entrepreneur,” you say. “Why would I set up systems that might squelch the creative energy in my small business?” After all, you started your business because you wanted freedom, right?

This is a great question, and I hear it all the time from my coaching clients. I’m so glad you asked!

The truth is that while you may have left a more corporate environment with dreams of doing things your own way (having flexibility and freedom), there are some very good reasons for putting systems in place. In fact, I can name at least seven gifts you’ll receive when you systemize your small business:

1. Systems = Freedom - When I was first starting out, I, too, wanted to do things differently and so I resisted any sort of system whatsoever. For example, I would write my ezine only when I felt I had something to say, which felt at first like I was really doing it with integrity. But I found that I never quite wrote the ezine frequently enough to gain momentum, and it was hard to grow my list.

Once I put that system into place, I discovered that it actually made it easier for me to write and create. As a result, inspirational ideas struck me more frequently. I realized I actually had more to say – putting me even more into integrity with my readers. Even better, I learned that having a system in place gave me the freedom to grow and enjoy my business – rather than spending my energy worrying about whether I was going to get an ezine written!

2. Systems Grow Your Capacity - So You Can Grow Your Business. As a small business owner, you’ll find that you quickly hit a point where you can only do so much. (Perhaps you’ve already hit and passed that point!) There are only a certain number of hours in the day, and as a joyful business owner you certainly don’t want to sacrifice time with family and friends (and yourself). Putting systems into place will help you get more done in less time. In fact, it will give you the confidence in yourself you need to handle more clients, a really big opportunity or the results of a bigger program launch.

3. Systems Give You Creative Time - Building creative time into your day is an invaluable practice. As a small business owner, you need that time for inventing new ways of serving your clients better, new products and new marketing methods. And if you’re running at full capacity because you haven’t put systems into place, you’ll never get to that new idea that’s been rattling around in your head. You’ll never design that new program or write that free report for your website. Putting systems to work for you gives your schedule the breathing room it needs for a little creative time.

4. Systems Allow You Time for Reflection. This is a hurdle for many of my coaching clients at first – but once they realize the benefits, they find that starting each day with a morning reflection time helps them get really focused. They can clear the clutter and the “mind chatter,” and really connect to spirit and their inspiration. They get clear on what’s most important that day, and identify the three little steps they’ll take that day toward their vision for their business. Without this system in place, most of us just barrel into our day, heads down, and start tackling whatever comes up first – most of which won’t get you any closer to your goals and intentions.

5. Systems Let You Learn and Grow. I always say that expansion is a law of nature. You simply aren’t designed to stay in one place, never changing. And as a small business owner, you accept that change is a constant. You’re always striving to learn new things and stay on that leading edge – but you just don’t have time to do it if systems aren’t in place. But when you do, look out – you’ll find new learning opportunities everywhere you look. And you won’t feel guilty when you take advantage of them, because you’ll have the peace of mind that everything is getting done.

6. Systems Create More Fun! One of the biggest reasons you may have started your business was to have more time with your family and friends, and more time for you. When you have systems in place that help to automate some of the mundane tasks that need doing on a regular basis, you have the satisfaction of knowing that things are being handled without your direct involvement. You can then open yourself up to the joy of being a small business owner – and you can take that Tuesday afternoon off to take your son and his buddies to the movies (I did recently!). Not only that, but you can enjoy it and have some fun.

7. And Finally, the Biggest Gift of All: Your Positive Energy! When it comes right down to it, your business success depends mightily on your energy. You can have all the rest of the puzzle pieces in place – your purpose, your marketing, your products and services, your spirituality – but if your energy is getting drained by all the little everyday tasks that take you away from your “great” work, your business just won’t thrive. Systems help to ensure this won’t happen!

Is it time to find ways to systemize part of your business? Can you think of the tasks you do all the time that might be better performed by someone else? How many hours per day are you spending on those tasks? What would you do with an extra 15 hours per week? What could you accomplish?